New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-08-18
RUSSIAN GHOST STORIES.

In one Of the most charming of the nU
merOus prose idyls contained in his "NOtes
Of q Sportsman" Ivan Turguenief has
sketched a group of Russian boys, sitting
around a fire they have kindled in the
fields, and telling each other stories about
uncanny sights and eerie sounds. The
sportsman, who has lost his way in the
darkness, passes the night at their bivOuac,
listening until nearly daybTeak to their
simple chat, and gazing dreamily at their
young faces, lit up by the blaze from the
burning fagOts. All is quiet around except
when the dogs gTOwl, or one of the horses
they are watching makes himself heard
in the meadows, or some night-bird utters
mysterious cry, or fish splashes in the
slowly flowing river. The silence and the
darkness deprcss the spirits Of the children,
whose conversation assumes a gloomy tone,
in keeping with the surrounding Obscurity
and the deeper blackness of the shadows
thrown by the fitiul freight And so they
talk of the evil spirits that haunt the field,
and food and forest, and Of fOrewarnings
of coming death, and of visions of the
dead, antil the night is far spent, and the
fire dies out; and then the voices sink into
silence, and all things seems to repOse
together
Of such stories as were told by these
young watchers in 1.-THE Beiine Meadows"
and Of others on similar themes, but Of a
still more sOmbre hue, the Russian villagers
possess q rich store. With some of them
the peasantreciteTs delight to while away
the long winter evenings, adding delicious
horror to awe inspired by the night, and en-
abling their hearers to experience those
acute sensations of terror which are so uni
veTsally enjoyed; others are solemnly re-
lated as matters of fact to be religiOusly be-
lieved, and scrupulously preserved by rev.
erent tradition, not Cor the amusement. but
for the edifcatiOn of the listening world. 1t
may be worth while to compare few speci-
mems of these "stOve side tales with the
ghost stories which, in the pre-sCiCntitic pc
Rod, were so popular around our own I'M
tutored fresides.
Even the ghosts of old friends or near
relatives sometimes behave with downright
brutality, utterly fOTgettul Of their former
love. In a Lithuanian story, two girls who
are going to a dance, happen to remember
two former sweethearts of theirs, who are
no longer alive, and are impTudent enough
to give them a sort of invitation to come to
the party The dead listen, and come and
dance with the girls, who after a time,
begin to suspect their gbOstly nature, and,
therefore, take the preC8UtiOn to tread on
their toes. Finding that the boots the
seeming young men wear are empty, the
girls know that their suspicious are well
founded, so they fly at once. Fortunately
=
escape; but they are closely pursued by
their dead loves, whose intention evidently
is to tear them to pieces.
In like manner the Russian stories too
often bear witness to the demOralizing eff
feet of the grave on love and friendship.
still, there are exceptions, some of them
showing that a kindly feeling toward old
acquaintances may be maintained even I'M
DER ground: certain artisan, for in
stance, Is represented as meeting an old
friend one night who had been dead ten |
years.
Come home with me" saws the. ghost:
well drink cup or two once more"
Come along replies the artisan. "On |
such happy occasion as this we may as |
well have a drink
After enjoying themselves for time in |
the dead mans dwelling, the artisan saws |
he must 20 home. The ghost tries to nsr |
suade him to stay, and then, finding he can |
not succeed. offers to lend him a horse. |
The artisan got on its back, the story con |
Cludes, and was carried-just as a whirl- |
wind flies All of sudden a cock Crowed. |
1t was awful All around were graves,
and the rider found he had a graYostone |
under him.
The kindly side of the ghostly character |
makes itself apparent in the following |
story, one belonging to the Well-knOWn Rip |
Van Wrinkle family. They were two young |
it states, who were SO much at /
taohed to each other that they made this
agreement: Whichever of the two married
irst was to invite the other, alive or dead,
to his wedding. After time one of them
lied. A few months later the other was
going to be married, and was on his way to
he church with his friends, when the sight
# the graveyard recalled his promise tOhis
mind. Immediately he stopped, told his
ompanions to wait for him, went to his
Id friends grave, and cried, "COmrade
ear, invite thee to my wedding ~
The grave opened, and the dead man
anne forth and said:
Thanks to thee, brother, that thou hast
opt thy word. And now let us profit by
lie happy chance. Enter my abode. Let
quaff glass apiece of grateful drink"
I'D do so, only the marriage procession I