Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-11-03

turned their eyes IN the same direction
there stood the figure, and now its arm
was raised, and it beckoned to them
but, overcome with terror, they hid
their faces under the bed-clothes man
minutes passed away before they ven.
tured to lift their heads again; when
they did so, the figure had disappeared,
They lay awake for length of time,
before sleep returned to their eyes,
When they awoke in the morning the
mystery was solved-a poor servant
maid was found lying dead in the kitch-
en-. She had fallen in fit on the heavy
iron fender, and the blow on her temple
had proved the cause of her death. She
had, it seemed, been subject to fits, and
1t was supposed that feeling one of them
coming on, she had gone to the chamber
Of the young ladies, to seek for help, and
having lost the power of speaking, she
had made signs to entreat them to come
to her help. Had they done so, the
frightful fall on the kitchen fender might
have been prevented, and she might OF
have been found dead.
l quietly opened the churchyard gate,
and went up at once to the mysterious
figure, and put my hand upon no ghost,
but upon most substantial body, that
of stout man stumbling and stagger-
ing among the tombstones no ethereal
shadow from another world, but a heavy
drunken man, too stupefed by intoxiea
ton to know where be was, or how to-
get out of the labyrinth Of graves, the
mounds and tomb-stones by which his
unsteady feet had become, as it were, en-
tangled On coming close to him, dis.
covered what it was that had made him
appear, in the gloom of the night and at
a distance, figure in white He was /,
carpenter, and when he had left his
workshop that day, instead of going
home to his wife and family, be had
turned in at the open door of a public
house, and bad been drinking there till
late in the night. How long he had been
stumbling and falling among the tomb
stones, he could not have told me. lam
sorry to say that he was the clerk of the
parish, and | must do him the Justice to
add that he was usually sober, we'll con
Quoted man, and much respected His
house was on the opposite side of the
churchyard. The grand old church OF
Hadleigh, one of the largest churches il
Suffolk, stands in the centre of the spa
cious churcbyard, but being too much
intoxicated to know the right path to his
home, he had missed his way, and turned
to the north side of the church-yard, in
stead of the south, and it was well for
him that | had seen him from window
which overlooked the side of the church
yard, for if | had not gone to his assist
ance he might have broken limb or
been found seriously i'll or senseless, af-
ter that night among the tombs. The
white apron which covered the front OF
his broad person, from his knees to his
shoulders, accounted for his ghost-like
appearance.
All that ! had to do was to defer my
lecture till the next morning, when he
would be in his sober senses. and be
able to understand and receive it, and to
help him to find his way out of the
tombstones, and to support and guide
him carefully, till | had brought him
safely to his own house. There, stand
ing at the open door with lighted can
die in her hand, which she was holding
up into the dark night, and LOOKING out
anxiously for her lost father, found his
daughter, modest and amiable young
woman, deeply attached to him. How
often she had come out, or how long she
had watched and waited, | did not stay
to hear, for she was too thankful to see
her father again, and too much shocked
and ashamed at the condition in which
had found him, to say much that night,
either to me or to him.
This, then, is my ghost story 1t may
be useful in showing that it is advisable
to exercise little presence of mind on
such occasions. If | had not gone into
the ehurchyard that night, determined
to know and Judge for myself who and
what that strange and most mysterious
figure was, could never have discover
ed the truth, no one could have conyin-
ed me that had not seen it, and might
always have had a vague impression left
upon my mind that, whether l could ac-
count for it or not, it might have been
ghost, and not the bodily form of that
drunken carpenter-Leis,we Hour.
A stupid exquisite, at wedding, wish
ed the bride "many happy returns of the