The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-06-21
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOtrtlser.
SATURDAY. JUNE 81.
Illusions.

= A8lFs NlE VII u q hEt&LnF E4hlLEs hat4 tiLEA
a pro;rscted illness, and on the evening after her
deceaze her husband, de=irous TO pass q solitary
hour bv the body. cent the nurse, who was watch
inc beside IL. our Of the room. Before the expi-
ration Of an hour, the bell b. which the deceased
had been in the habit Of surum0nning the nurse.
rang violently. and the woman, ~faneyinE the IN
fortunate widOwer was taken suddenly III. hurried
into tie room. tie dismissed her angrilv. how
ever. protesting that he had not runS. Shortly
agerword the bell wac ruus q second time, When
tic woman observed 20 one Of the servants shat
soc should not attend 20 the Summons. a. the
gentleman might again repent having summoned
her. and dismiss her ungraciously.
II cannot Dc my master who is ringing now"
replied the ~footman, "for | have this moment
lett INN in the dnwing-room."
And while be was still speaking, the bell Of the
chamber Of death rang a third time, and still more
violently than before.
The nurse was row literally afraid 70 obey the
summons nor was it I'LL several Of the servants
agreed TO I'M her that she could command
sufficient courage. At length they yentured 10
open the door. expecting 70 discover within some
terrible spectacle.
All, however, was perfectly tranquil: the corpse
extended upon the bed under a Holland sheet.
which was evidently undisturbed. Such, row.
ever, was the agitation Of the poor nurse, that
nothing would induce her to remain alone with
rhe body, and one Of the housemaids agreed TO
become her companion in the adjoining dressing
room.
They had not been there many minutes when
the bell again sounded nor could there be any
mistake on the subject, for the bell-wire passing
round the dressing-rOOm was IN motion, and the
servants in the Offices could attest to the vibra-
tons Of the bell. The family butler accordingly
determined to support the courage of the terrified
women, by accompanying them back 10 the dresa-
ing room, in which they were TO sit with the door
open. 20 rs 20 command a view of the bed.
These precautions efectually unraveled the
mystery. y string had been attached to the bell
pub to enable the sick lady 10 summon her at
tendants without changing her position, which,
still unremovcd, HING down upon the floor, and
a favOrite kitten, often admitted into the room to
amuse the invalid. having entered the chamber
unobserved was playing with the string, which,
being entangled in her feet, had produced this
general panic.
But for the oppOrtunc explanation of this triv-
ial accident, the family mansion would have OBJ
tained the DOtoriety Of q haunted house, and
probably been deserted
Such was the case with the Crown Inn at Ant
werp, where, some years ago, a white spectcr,
bearing a lamp In one hand and a bunch OF keys
in the other, was seen by a variety of travellers,
passing along a corridor till it disappeared III a
particular chamber.
Nothing would satisfy the neighbors that an
unfortunate traveller had not been, at some time
or other, dispatched in that fatal room by one of
the previous landlords Of the house; and the
NlOhn HAdhudll Obltliicu liz IEdtlt Oh llC
Haunted Inn and ceased to be frequented by It's
old patrons.
The landlord, finding himself on the brink of
ruin, determined to sleep in the haunted room,
with a view of proving the groundlessness of the
story, and caused his hOstler to bear him COM
pany, ON pretence Of requiring Il witness to the
absurdity Of the report, but in reality from cow
ardice. At dead OF night, however, just us the
TWO men were composing themselves 10 sleep in
one bed, leaving another which was in the room
untenanted, the door flow open and in glided the
white spector.
Without pausing to ascertain what it might at
tempt on approaching tho other bed, toward
which 1t directed its course, the two men rushed
ont Of the room, and by the alarm they created
confirmed more fully than ever the evil repute of
the house. Unable longer to sustain the cost of
so unprOductIve an establishment, the poor land
lord advertised for sale the house IN which he and
HE father before him were born and bred. But
bidders were as scarce as customers, the inn re-
naming on sale for nearly q year, during which,
from time To time, the specter reappeared.
At length a young officer of the garrison who
had formerly frequented the house, moved to COM
passion in favor of the poor host, undertook to
clear up the mystery by sleeping in the haunted
chamber; nothing doubling that the whole was a
trick OF some cnylOus neighbor, GesiTous of de-
teriorating the value of the freehold, in order to
become a purchaser.
His offer having been gratefully accepted, the
Ndlttiu tJOh up Ills qudIlcTS III IHe Idtdl IOOlu
With a bottle of wine and u brace Of loaded pis-
tois on the table before him determined to shoot
at whatever object might enter the doors.
At the usual hour Of midnight, accordingly,
when the door flew open and the white specter,
bearing a lamp and r buch of keys, made its APP
pearance, he seized his weapons of destruction
when 10! as his finger was on the point of the
trigger, what was his panic on perceiving that
the apparition was no other than the daughter of
his host, n young and pretty girl, evidently walk
ing in her Sleep Preserving, then, the strictest
silence, he watched her set down the lamp, place
her keys carefully on the chimney-piece and retire
10 the opposite bed, which, as it afterward proved,
she had often occupied during the lifetime of her
late mother, who slept i'll the room.
No sooner had che thoroughly composed her
self, than the officer, after locking the door Of the
room, went in search of her father and several
witnesses. including the water-bailif of
the district, who had been one of the loudesu in
circulating rumOrs concerning the Haunted Inn.
The poor girl was found quietly sleeping in bed,
and her terror on waking in the dreaded chamber
afforded sufficient evidence to all present of the
state OF somDambuiism IN which she had been en-
From that period the spector was seen no more;
probably because the landlords daughter re-
moved shortly afterward to IL home of her OWN,
by the young offcer.-Rcfogned Church
Messenger.
The Present Frederick the Great of Prussia.
BY HAYDN n. BAKER.