The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-11-23
LORD BROUGHAM'S GHOSTLY
COMPACT.

" L
a hot bath before turned IN. And ht IT
most remarkable thing happened to NE
so remarkable that | must tell the story
from the beginning. After l left the
high school, went with c., my most
intimate friend, to attend the classes in
the university. There was no divinity
class, but frequently in our walks We
discussed and speculated upon many
grave subjects, among Others on the i'm
mortality of the soul, and on a future
state. This question. and the possibility,
l will not say 0. ghosts walking, but OF
the dead appearing to the living, were
subjects of much speculation and
we actually C0mmittedt oily of drawing
up IN agreement, wri ten with our blood,
that whichever of us died first should ap
pear to the other, and thus solve any
doubts we have entertained Of the ''lif.
after DEATH" After we had finished our
classes at the college, G-went to In la
having g0t an appointment there IN the
civil service. He seldom wrote to me ami
after lapse of u few years, had almost
forgotten him. Moreover, his family hav
ing little connection with Edinuur9h,
seldom saw or heard anything of them, so
that ali the school boy intimacy had died
Out,and had nearly forgotten his existence.
| bad taken as | have said, warm bath /;
while lying in it and eDj 'ylng the comfort
o the heat ter the late freezing | had
undergone, turned my head around,
10 king toward the chair on which lie
% sit.d my clothes, as | was about to OCT
out of the bath. On the chair SIT c..
looking calmly at me. How [ got on
of the bath know not, but, on recover
ing my senses, found myself sprawing
on lie Il m,. The apparation, or what
ever it was that had taken the likeness Of
c., nad disappeared. This vision
produced such IL shock that had no in
cliiiatIon TO talk about il even to s uart ;
but the impression it made upon me was
too vIvid to be easily forgotten. and SO
strongly was | affected by it that I have
written down the whole history. with
the date, 18th OF December, and all the
particulars as they are now fresh before
me. No doubt | had fallen asleep and
that the appearance presented so distinct
to my eyes was u dream [ cannot for Il
moment doubt; yet for years | had no
communication with C. nor had there
been anything to recall him to my r, col
lection nothing had taken place during
our Sw edjsh travels either connected with
c., or with India,0r with anything re
lating 10 him, or to any member OF his tami-
ly recoIeCted quickly enough our old
discussion, and the bargain we had made
l could not discharge from my mind he
impression that G. must have died and
that bis appearance To me was to be re
ceIved by me as proof Of a future state );
yet all the while felt convinced that the
whole was a dream; and so painfully vivid
and SO unfading was the impression that
could not bring myself to talk Of it, OF
make the slightest allusiOn to it. fin
ished dressing, and, as we had agreed to
make an early start, I was ready by 6
O'clock, the hour Of our early breakfast
The sequel to the above, recorded more
than sixty years after the blood written
compact was made, runs thus:
"BRoUGHAM, Oct. 16, 1901 have Just
been copying out from my journal the nc
count of this strange dream. Cert6Ssima
at0rtis lnagO! And now to finish the
story, begun above sixty years since. Soon
after my return from Edinburgh there
arrived d letter from India announcing
G. s death, and stating that he had died
on the 18th of December Singular
coincidence yet when one reflects on
the vast number ofdreams which night
after night pass through our brains, the
number of condolences are perhaps fewer
and les remarkable than fair calcutta
tion of character would warrant us to ex.
Nov 10
the variety of our thoughts In sleep, anu
that they all bear some analogy to the
affairs Cf life. that dream should some
times coincide with D ContempOraneous
or even with future event. This is not
much more wonderful than that person.
whom we had no reason to expect, should
appear to US at the very moment when
we had been thinking or speaking of
him So common is this that it has
grown INTO the proverb, Speak of the
devil, etc,
The great critic, lawyer, and statesman,
it will be perceived, undertook by reason
to dissipate the spiritual conclusion of
the divinity that was within hin but
he could not discharge from his mind the
impression that his friend had died, and
that his appearance was to be accepted
as PROOF of future state. He tried to
convince himself that it was all a dream,
yet his interior consciousness persisteDtly
accepted the Impression as one Of the
realities OF the outer infinite-a proof OF
existence in the limitcss beyond.
awe are sucl. stuff as dreams are made
OF, saith the great bard of Avon, but
none of US can in advance, tell "what
dreams may come when we have shuffled
OF this mortal coil"
Many will Incline to the opinion that
1t is easier and safer to use solution Of
this mysterious appearance in question
II MN nh USNlnninal -. 49, LIZ,