The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-11-14
UNCLE JAP'S GHOST.

anu tOuCneQ, would do more toward
making the world at large believe iB the
future life Of the soul, than all the ser
mons and treaties ever written. Indeed
! the world seems always to have been in q
manner conscious of this. Hence in the
eager fascination with which mankind,
even after being fooled for thousands OF
years, st II catch at anything likes plausi-
bic ghost story. IL fact ghost-seeisg has
always been one of the worlds weak spots.
OF course, nobody believes in ghosts
nnw-a days; get, let anything like de-
Gently probable story get going, and it
is little surprising to see how curious
people will become. Take the "haunted
house of Boston, for example. And al
most every town or village has its speeter,
! first or last. er
| | well remember the sensation which
came up in the little parish where I used
to live, some years ago. 1t was quaint
little neighborhood, away back from the
rest of the world-a church CBaptist) and
parsonage, a tavern" some dozen or
twenty houses, with a wild, unsettled re-
| gion stretching away on all sides. -
| At the period refer to, old Elder Nc
Kay had just died, and the new s'EIder,"
Mr. Granger, pale, grave faced young
man, had just come, bringing W e as
pale and grave faced as himself Both
were of the calm, spiritual sort-models
in all respects.
| But in marked distinction from them
was the wife's sister, gIrl of fifteen or
sixteen, who made her home with them
Nell Burnham, as we soon came to know
her, was Of quite different sort. In par
ISL language, she wasn't "professor."
and most certainly not professor of much
of that somber-vsaged pretty more in
vogue then than now, perhaps. oaC.#
In short, without being In any way bad,
Nell was trump among girls-was "hail
fellow we'll met" with any one who had
a spark of fun about him, and was always
bent ona good time some way. 1gh#
The young folks liked Nell, universal
ly-all the more from the fact that she
was known to be a subject of the most
profound grief and solicitudo on the part
of the reverend pair at the parsonage, as
we'll as an object of distrust among all
the deacons and deaconesses. Wherever
she went there was sure to be good time,
and something to laugh over afterward
This little neighborhood had also an
other rather unexpected character in the
shape of On cid Mississippi negro known
as Uncle Jap Gan abbreviated form of ia
PAM He had come to the tavern one
bleak winter evening. some years previ-
ously-how, nobody knew exactly; had
been passenger ON the Underground
Railway" probably, sent i'm here for a
safe residence. For those were the DAYS
when abolition" raised it's crest against
the Fugitive Slave Law" (What an
ancient sound these terms have.) Uncle
Jap's case was. dimly understood. Peo-
pie sympathised with him. He built fires
at the tavern, where an attic had been
given him for lodging. place, and in pro-
cess of time, came to be sexton at the
church and dug graves-when anybody
died. And about this time one Martha
wilkins, spinster. did actually die; and
Uncle Jap had the digging of her grave
on hand. 1t was late October evening,
moonlight, and the old fellow had gone
up to the church-yard to see something
about it. One of my boy friends, Zeke
Ed wards, and I were playing "backgam-
mon" down in the bar room, at the tavern
with several others looking on, when, all
at once, in rushed Uncle Jap, bareheaded,
|
ror.
"Hellol Uncle Jap! What's the mat.
ter? What is it," we all exclaimed.
He had fairly leaped behind the steve
In his fright, and was turning the whites
Of his eyes toward she open door.
Ode Lord sabe us J" was his first ejacu-
lation.
"Why, Uncle Jap what is it?'
ODE Lord knows but l 'spects it was
spook"
GA spook! what's spook ?''
ga spook or a DOGGY" cried the old
darkey, shivering. "De Lord knows
which" 80" stt- s
"Why where have you been? Where
were your" asked Zekc.
"Up to de church yard only. Was les
looking long de side of de Wilkins lot,
thinking how hard de frozen greun' would
be to break up for ole Martha tomorrow
when the spook 1iz right up all white and
mos cotched me-"
This was the sum and substance of his
story; the main point of which was that
something had frightened him nearly to
death, and Zeke and ran out to see what
it was. There was nothing in sight from
the taverns, so we kept on up to the
church-yardA But all was now still and
quiet there-motionless as the dim moon
light that lay upon it. We were about
going back, laughing at Uncle Jap's STAN
pede, when / suddenly caught glimpse
of something white around the corner of
the church.
"D'ye see that ?" whispered
81 did see something's thought" said
Zeke. "But gracious" exclaimed he,
suddenly, jerking my arm, look there p
l looked. Out of the dark shadow of
one side of the church dim white form
was moving slowly toward us, not twenty