Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-04-03
A REAL GHOST STORY.

the spirits of the dead never walk this
earth, to be seen by mortal eyes after
they have taken leave of their clayey
tenements-I know better Robert
Dale Owen May write in favor of dead
men coming back to visit the scenes of
their mortal tolls, and thousand others
may write against it; it's all one to me-
[ shall have my own opinion, until [
try to come back myself, and can't, and
1t is proved to me, by the best auth ority
of the spiritual world that no one else
can. You will say, [ will make DO
doubt, as my friends have always done,
that my fears alarmed me, and that my
excited imagination caused me to fancy
I saw the person of my old friend, DR..
Fenton Atwick, and heard his voice
speaking to me, when [ knew he was a
crushed and mangled corpse, or you
will conclude that I have been asleep.
You will be equally mistaken in either
hypothesis. In the first place, [ was
not a timid man. [ never had been
afraid of anything in the earth, air or
sea. Ihad walked through lone bury
ing grounds, and by old churches,
hundreds of times, in the dead
of night, and no ssTam D Shan
ter visions had ever yet
caused me to quicken my pace. [ had
been all my life, a sturdy, hard work
had haunted me through long, weary
days of idleness working for ten hours
on the stretch, until you are wearied to
death, and sleeping like log for ten,
is not conducive to romancing, nor did
r IL, 10 ho h,J &c
writing novels, or even ''ghost stories, "
in those days. [ was plodding chan
Gerry lawyer, never ventrring to make a
speech, but drudging as [ have said,
for the clothes [ wore, and the food by
which life was kept IN my body. DR..
Fenton Atw1ck had moved to Darby
town ten years before. It was we'll he
had an annuity to fall back upon, for
there was no need of his diploma, or of
any science here. He had case or so
of "ague and fever" and sometimes
in the autumn few chills-nothing
more Strange that Dr. Atwick' S
should have been the first death! Alas,
poor physician, thou vast "unable
to heal thyself!'' Our salubrious eli
mate and brac1ng mountain air might
battle every effort of miasma to find a
victim among US. But accidcnt-the
creature of fate-how unfortunate, how
impossible to guard against its treach-
erous dealings The veriest invalid on
earth was safer from that than hale,
hearty Fenton Atwick.
[ don't know how [ got into sort of
reverie one evening-thinking of all
our lives, and TIE popular idea that we
all have a emission to perform. I
wasn't given to such things [ should
as soon have thought of joining an
opera troupe-having no more idea of
music than steam englne-as turning
metaphysician. But there I sat, look
ing out at my window at the giant
mountains, ablaze with the golden
aureOla Of the setting sun, with mypen
| behind nay ear, and ponderous vol
ume of Coke all unheeded before me,
asking myself, over and over again, of
what avail my life had been to myself
or others, and whittier it was tending,
until the light died, too, from the west
ern sky, and the shadows of night, or
of death, crept, darker and darker, into
the room. Pshaw - exclaimed, C ]
am as visionary as a child emerging
from, or an old man going into, the
realms OF the unknown. Very soon we,
too, will be dust, as our ancestors are
perhaps part of that which the
young man, galloping madly by but a
few moments ago, sent curling into my
window here, over my books and into
my nostrils. And then our children
| (not mine, of course, as [ am a bach
elor, but other people's) will look out
of this very window, as I am doing
now, and wonder what they were made
for, and witherward they are tending.
! And they viii find thems elyes-in the
dark, as [ am." L struck myself sharp
blow on the forehead, as if by this
means [ should effectually floor the
| goblin thoughts that were bewitching
me; and drawing a parlor match across
the green serge that covered my table,
| lit my lamp and reopened the book.
But, strange to say, could not collect
my thoughts.
''I am tempted" [ muttered, "to
go for Atwick and Fleet and Jones, and
have a rubber at whist, for it seems ]
am determined to be at cross purposes
with time this evening"" / sprang out
of my chair as [ concluded, for heavy
''thud," " like the falling Of human
body, struck distinctly on my ear.
glanced hastily around the room, and,
as nothing was disturbed, listened for 9
repetition of the sound from without
but the silence was profound, and ]
heard some one walking rapidly down
the street cit is some visitor to me,
/ hope" But no the footsteps passed
on. Then there came the sound OF
running feet, and some one came up.
[ turned quickly around as the door was
pushed open.
'tAh, Fleet, it is youl I am glad tc
see you. Come in." He did come in
and there was a CHASTITY look upon him,
heightened to behold.