The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-01-29
Ysovv 60 Tell . tioot. aaost story.

a most valuable point m u Snos1 ssos J,
point too much neglected, Is mystery. Peo-
pie seem to think that details aad 10 the IN
forest and make the thing more plausible,
whereas a iutlicious mystery often produces
a more pleasurable feeling OF horror, w hat
can be more simple than the anccdote OF a
man in perfect health and easy circum-
stances who insisted on passing night IN a
haunted room, and who next morning was
found quite mad and capable OF SAYING
nothing but " The Claws! The Claws
That leaves everything to the imagination'
which hall unconscicusly produces shspe
Of the utmost vague horror out OF TWO SIN
pie words. ;,
two lads who wished to play trick at
wake. They secretly took the BODY OF tne
dead out OF the coffin. and hid 1t IN an OUT
house, while one of them lay down III .ac
place OF the corpse, and was to rise at asis-
nal from his confederate. The signal was
n;vcn i'm due time, and repeated. with no
effect. Then they found the sham dead
man dead in earnest; but on looking in the
clubhouse they never found the real. original
c,rnse. which is still missing. There is
horrible blank here, in which the fancy IN
serts half-reakZed ideas OF terror.
One OF the best ghost stories OF late years
has an equally unexplained margin OF mys-
tery. Two men Of the same regiment the
colonel and a much younger officer) go to
STAY Mt the house OF lately married friend
of the elder warrior. They arrive just be-
fore dinner, and, after dressing and going
into the drawing-raom,sT lind themselves
alone with their host. The lady OF the
house sends message to the effect that she
hopes they viii not wait for her, ana they
do not wait, but enter the dining-room. "A
moment afterwards the lady appears with
white face; and, as soon Us she comes III,
the younger guest becomes as wnite as ner-
self. After q few minutes he rises, SIAM
mers ont some incoherent excuses, and
makes his way from the room. AS soon
~ he can his friend follows him, finds
him standing in the drive under tree, and
naturally asks for explanation. 81 saw the
figure that came in with Lady N.," answers
the friend. "What figurc?" asks the elder
man, thinking his friend has lost his wits.
1.-The tail figure in the plaid that stood be-
hind her, and pointed at the knife beside
her plate" At this moment horses hoofs
clatter down the drive, and the groom, gal
Looping past, has time to say that Lady 4.
has cut her throat with knife. That Is the
whole. Whether Lady Y recovered or not,
and what the figure may have been, and
whether she, too, saw it-all that is left de-
lightfully and horribly vague.
Contrast that with one OF the marvels OF
the spirituaiists, the CHASTITY story where the
extraordinary conduct OF golden-halred
little girl, who blasphemes ceasclessly, is eX-
planned by seer who detects the apparition
OF a hideous old woman lurking behind and
prompting the child. The tale is told IN
one of the American books OF doctrine, and
is there expanded and worse than spoiled
by long account of how it all happened, and
what became of the seer, the ghost, and the
little girl, who probably ended as a very
precocious pupis-teacher. Ghost stories
ought not to be pressed in this inartistic
way. The little details at the outset that
give an air Of reality may be az minute as
you please. Then comes the moment OF
suspense, and "eeriness -; then, suddenly,
your ghost, ga very fearful wild fowl," not
to be described too precisely. II a dog or
horse can see him first, and fall into the
staggers or show canine symptoms OF super
natural dread, so much the better.
1t is an uucommonly-hardt thing to invent
new ghost Of any merit, and for this rea-
son the story-teller will do well to trust to
his memory, not to his imagination, espe-
cialIy as truth is VIGOROUSLY stranger than
fiction, and as modern psychological science,
as it calls itself, is only too easily taken in
by bold lnvention.-Lo'sdonS Saturday Re
1,ie1p.