The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-10-09
ALMOST A GHOST STORY.


something about Barnegat that breeds
an affinity with ghosts and spectres.
There had been a wreck of a ceastine
schooner in the vicinity, and although
the news didn't make much of a sensa-
ton in the newspapers, it brought de-
spair and desolation to one heart at
least-that of the young mates mother.
He was an old school-mate and warm
friend of my own, and volunteered to
go down and see if the body could be
found and brought home.
When | reached there the whole as
pect of the place struck me as forbid
| dinghy wild and lonely; and when, to-
ward the close of a stormy day,
poor old Jacks body was washed ashore,
stark and stiff, and distorted almost be-
! yOnd recognition, / wasn't able to lend
| the fellows down there helping hand.
| was seized with nervous chill, and
went indoors to the brandy flask. Pop
| ped up with an artificial courage, went
out again and found them hauling their
helpless burden toward fisherman's hut
close by. They had flung it in an old
tarpaulin blanket, and l couldn't help
protesting inwardly against the rude
way in which they bumped it along
through the breakers and over the
rocks.
"I thought of that tender, womanly
heart at home in the east, and the gen.
tie reverence that hedged about even
her every thought and feeling about
Jack, and I determined there and then
that he should be taken home to her in
some shape that wouldn't appall or hor-
rify her.
"They laughed at me when I spoke
of a coffin, but nevertheless / resolved
upon getting one, if such thing could
be had for love or money. Not that a
coffin is absolutely requisite in all cases.
It wouldn't have mattered a pin to
either Jack or myself if, tied up in the
old tarpaulin, with a weight heavy as
destiny itself, we were forced to the
bottom of the sea. But to a woman,
an old church-ridden, conventional |
woman, a victim to circumstance and |
custom, a coffin was the only thing that
indeed bearable.
"I passed a sleepless night, and went
off before daylight in search of an old
man that bore a queer reputation about
there for appropriating any thing that
came inshore, and rendering it useful
or ornamental with a rude knack he had
in the carpenter line. The boys told |
me there was a little of everything in |
his old rookery, and they hadn't the |
least doubt could find even a coffin |
there, or something that could be mod
eled into one.
Z" It was a good league to his dwell |
ing, and I reached there with forebod- |
ing that my journey was for nothing ; |
but upon broaching the subject to him, |
he stated his readiness at once to COM |
ply with my demands.
"'B7t what will you do for material?
I asked.
"He smiled grimlv, and opening a
door that led up TO a sort of loft, he |
beckOned me to follow him. In that |
loft there was wood readily adapted to
build a ship, a house, a theatre-any |
thing and every thing that might be de-
sired. Not common wood, mark you,
but wreckers' 'material-panels of French |
walnut, exquisitely carved in bass-re-
lief, bits of precious ebony, of sandal |
wood, of box, and some of that deli cate |
white pine that exhales delicious per-
fume. The boys had said that he was
very clever IN the carpenter line. Twas
inspired with sort of trust in his ca
pacity. and his willingness to undertake
the Job was only equaled by his deter
mination to be paid we'll for doing it.
"'Don't yoU fret, young man, said
the old skeleton. 'I'lI FIX it for you in
a shape that III suit. I'll have it as
scrumptious as n nut-that is, eff you're
able to bear the heft of the expense.
It's costly, yer know, to hev things pi-
ous and nice down this way; we can't
alters afford it then the sea bein' han
dy, it's q temptation to save time and
money; but ef the expense amt counted
in
Never mind the expense, pard,' /
exclaimed. You do the thing up nicely
for me, and I'll see you through but
it must be done at once; the body is
almost beyond saving now, and want
the coffin by tO-mcrrOw-night, 1t must
be ready to be shipped before daybreak
the next morning.
"'AIl right said the old screw. 4
don't mind losin' a little sleep to be
obljgjn', eff only the expense
"' You old vulture,' / roared, I'll
pay you half on the spot = And
ont to him enough greenbacks
to make his sharp old nose come down
and chop over his chin with an unctuous
smack of appreciation.
"'I'll hev it that scrumptious,' said
the wretch, with greedy enthusiasm,
that You'll clap your hands over it.
ItIl be that peart and pious that you
needn't be ashamed of it in a church 7
"I nodded apprOvingly, and started
on the home stretch with the comforta-
BILE feeling of man who has done all
he'could to ameliorate an irIemediable
All that day there was a
aspect of the winds and the
waves that boded more mischief on that
shore. Massive heavy clouds
hung black as ink over the sharp jagged
rocks, and a fierce under-tone in the ele-
ments told of a conspiracy for tenn
pestuous debauch.
My poor old Jack had been washed
and shayen, his last toilet rendered with
all the care that his old friend and
could bestow upon a mel
aucholy labor of love; few hot tears
burst from my burning eyes, and fell
upon tSat strange and unfamiliar face
and finding it become less and less re-
as I gazed upon it, coverei
ib revsrently with my handkerchief, and
sat silent and alone with it and the
darkness, waiting for the old man with
the coffin.
"As the day waned and twilight
gathered, a wall broke forth from the
rocks and waves a few belated gulls
Topped their wings heavily over the
water that began to lash furiously the
low sandy shore. Presently few drops
fell, the precursors of one of those furi-
ous storms that riot on that desert
coast,