Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1875-01-19
The Wraith OF the Wihthrop Man
sion.

wastes which stretch between its eastern
limits and the ocean. II diving TO it,
beach. the road winds drelrily aud clum
silly along. aud your view now embraces
the wide and unbroSen sea. white with
breakers in shore, and with the SAILS OF
hardy and veniuresome shippers beyond
when, anon, the dazzling hill, hide lhem
sll, and distract your attention to your
poo, beas, wading in the thick and deep
oning sand
About midway the road forks. and. if
the reader will take the fork to the right,
be will. if he pleases. arrive with me At
the point where the incident which wish
here briefly to narraIe actually occurred
on the night OF the nineteenth day OF
October, in the yOAr Of grace olc thou
sand eight hundred and five.
would premise, however, that in the
old towns OF Massachusetts, known par
eIctileRcc as fishing lowas-such a. Mar.
blehead' Ipswich, Beverly, and salem
one may visit civilizations and precincts
50 utterly and strangely at variance wiki
what he meets elsewhere upon this con.
linent. that a sojourn in one OF them is
like the dream OF forgotten world.
Queer people. quain; customs. strange
dialects. and strange aItiros, surround
and absorb him at every step. Legends
and stories of-the marvellous and the
weird-sal, stories OF goblins and guomes
born oi the salty sea. whose wailing ever
ooniures strange iancies in the simple
brains Of its simple children; and most
OF all, relics OF thc witch lore ioSiered
long ago in their grAndsircs, by the wise
old wi,lessness OF Father Cotton Mather.
live and dwell ia these strange by.ways
OF a busy State.
The weird. sad cry OF the sea, ever
varying -sometimos like The shouts OF
shipwrecked and freezing sailors in the
surf, anon plaia,ive ike the call OF a
frightened child TO lis mother. OF sharp
and piercing ike The shrek Of terrified
girl; The long silent. snow, bound nights
and mono,onous wiatyg days OF these
towns. when no traveller rcache, them.
and no ,idings of the hustle and glare OF
great cilies pene,rates TO the ears OF their
qniel denizens; the ever present memo
res OF neighbors who one day went oGl
upon the tossing ocean. and OF whose
alter history they had nothing else 10 DO
but dream-all OF these make it not un.
natural th=, The marvellous. Tue weird. the
supernatural aud the strange. should
dwell most Of all 10 the minds and brains
Of he housewife and tAe Kittens in tho
sun. and. thence transmitted 10 The Chi.
dren. should come 10 be staples OF these
tranquil towns, until the miads Of all.
men. women. and children. are ike
ghosIly story books OF the past
But. most OF sll. in the town OF Ipswich
SO remote and ancient that 1t might.
Tor al i, knows OF the outside world. or
the outside world OF it, be on the floating
island Of the Puritans (waich, tradition
tells US. is huggius all this sioried shore)
iIsell-do these legends breed aud thrive.
Besides the sea. touched long ago by
Puritan keels-ior the story OF how the
Mayfower first sighted Ipswich. bu, was
frightened away again by its rough
breVkers, first having lei. Harry Main in
the surf. is old and fsmiiar--it is full Of
tales Of the regicides. who lived long
months in the cellArAge OF an old man
sion which still stands under its elm trees
on the hillside; and of the witches who
remained in iron chains in lis stone Jail.
bu, who came outsider eGHtm e. !Hpum.
and scared The peaceful people into more
subjects Tor those nnsightly laws; il has
as vel! It's stories OF the litIle old gen.
tleman in black. which princely person
age. once having heard that Whtefeld
Was about to preach in Ihe FIRST COngre.
gational Church OF that village. entered
the sanctuary himself the hight before,
and barricaded oil the DOOR. "But the
next day being the Sabbath" says the
old chronicle. "Mr. WhytdeIds he weute
alonge with ye good people and prayed
earnestlie before ye doore. whereyal ye
diyil sir0ve migh,ilie, but inalie ye doore
opened. and Mr.. Whyiielle and they
that were with him entered, and ye diyil
was seen to run to ye top of We sIeepil,
whence he leaped down upon ye rock :"
and where. to quote from poetical story.
teller OF the place
they show you still.
Embedded deep in the solid r. OK.
The indei.ble print OF his irOi. hoof;
Aud tell yoa the devil has never shown
Face or hoof since that day, 10 the honest
sJWu "
II we-the reader aud take this
right fork of the beach road, We vii hnd
that il soon strikes upon a ,pire OF high
ground that interrupts lie otherwise
sandy precincts. a"d rms almost to the
low tide line. terminating in a bluff OF
rocS, partly carpeted with t.rf, and partly
barren and bare. which stands squarely
facing out TO sea.
Halt way up this bluff, an fronting on
the ocean, there was erected. in 1880, a
mansion, which still stood there on The
10Th OF OctOber, 1906. and bich had no.
lost a c.apboard oil is flowning side. or
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