The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-01-29

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bers was quite unintelligible to me.
"Stop ]" cried L but the fatal deco
was done, and was left in darkness.
Dreadful us it was to accompany hel
upon such an expedition, it seemed {
thousand times worse to remain in the
room alone, and, trembling in every
limb, L hurried after her.
To reach the drawing room, it was
necessary to pass through the dining.
room. It was pitch dark, but I could
hear her breathing hard (for her stout
ness made her very short of breath) as
she made her way round the table that
occupied the centre of the room. Feal
lent me wings, and 1 hurried round the
other way to meet her, and rushed into
her arms just as she was feeling for the
drawing-room doorway. Directly L did
so, she uttered shrill scream, and fell
on the floor in dead faint. L had for.
gotten that the poor dear did not know
l was pursuing her, and she very natu.
rally took me for the robbers. L sup.
pose [ tainted too, for the first thing ]
remember was hearing loud purr close
to my ear, which proceeded from ou1
favorite cat, who, having knocked down
the tire-irons in the next room (Which
was the noise we had heard), had come,
as it were, to assure us that there was
nothing the matter. That was the last
night we spent in our country house,
and 1 remained in town for three whole
summers afterwards. Though fresh air
and "change," was told, were indis-
pensable, resolved to do without them,
since one might just as well die as be
frightened to death.
In the July of the fourth year, how
ever, L received an invitation to the
seaside, which I really thought it safe
to accept. My host aud hostess lived
at place called Disney Point, very
lonely spot, it is true, but one in which
no burglary had been committed within
the memory of woman. There were
no bad people," wrote my friends, who
were aware OF my nervous pcculiarities,
within a hundred miles of them" "
When reached their house, 1 was in
clined to believe that this was the case.
A more beautiful and retired spot than
the little village in which they dwelt,
or one inhabited by more simple and
innocent set of people, it was impossi-
BILE to imagine. 1t was situated in a
wooded ravine, through which a trout
stream ran down to the sea and upon
the hilltop between it and the ocean,
were the most pictur esque church and
churchyard 1, or anybody's eye ever be-
held. From the house we could only
hear the distant whisper of the waves,
like the murmuring hum of bees, but
they were giant waves, and the rocks
were torn and split with their fury into
weird and horrid shapes. 1t was the
| II ho1 x-afx ie,f fol
and all day long sat beside it with my
sketch book, or merely watching the
white wrath of the breakers, and lis
tening to the thunder in the caverns at
my feet. 1 was not at all afraid of the
sea-when 1 was upon the land. In
deed, l am not alarmed at anything
Notwithstanding what some people say
to the contrary unless there is a rea-
sonable cause for fear. For instance, /
am not afraid-at least aOaS not, until
the terrible catastrophe occurred which
I am abont to relate-of supernatural
apparitions. When L announced my
intention, one evening, of going up the
hill to sketch the churchyard by moon
light, there arose quite rude litter in
the drawing room. "Surely not alone,
Mary Anne? Let one of the girls go
with you," said my hostess.
"What is there to be afraid of in q
churchyard? No, thank you," said I,
proudly. "The miserable superstitions
of the country do not affect me, L as
sure you"
"But it is so lonely up there, my
dear !'' 81 '-- e..
"What of that +? Solitude and still
ness are the accompaniments of such q
solemn scene. L had much rather GO
there by myself"
I was resolved to exhibit my indie.
pendence, as well as to do away with any
false impressions my excellent hostess
might have received from Charlotte OF
others with respect to my courage but
at the same time she need not have re-
minded me that it was $50 lonely up
there" did not expect to find Disney
churchyard the centre of fashion, or the
scene of an excursion picnic at ten
o'clock at night, of course her remark
was officious and unnecessary, and at
the same time it made my blood run
SO did 1, and, sketch-book in hand,
toiled up to the old church, which was
also, from its prominent position, a
landmark used by sailors, which taught
them to avoid the rocks at Disney
Point. Whatever might be the matter,
there-tv always q wind up there, and
even in that still summer night it was
wandering about the grasses of the
graves, and whispering into the ears of
the stone statues of the church, which
seemed to grin in malice at its news of
storm and wreck to come.
I seated myself on my camp stool
Just in front of the porch, and began
what / intended to be q hasty sketch,
Just few strokes, to be filed in at my
leisure, for I felt the situation to be
uncanny," and already wished my
self at home. My fingers shook little,
certainly not with cold, and, though the
architecture was said to be a "fine
specimen of the perpendicular" it did
not appear so in my sketch-book.
Suddenly heard subdued sob; the
utterance, as it seemed to me, of some
poor creature of my own sex in distress.
1t came from an obscure corner of the
churchyard, where the graves were not
SO we'll cared for and tended as the
others were-a spot, had been told,
where those were laid whom the pitiless
sea had drowned. When a ship was
cast upon the rocks yonder, it was rare
even for one of its crew to reach that
rock-bound shore alive; and after q
great storm, whole ships companies
were sometimes buried at once in the
churchyard of Disney Head.
listened with beating heart, and the
sound was repeated and this time
felt sure it was as had supposed
Doubtless, some woman had come to
weep in secret over the grave of hel