The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-08-30
Two Ghosts.

mark carries the inference that the gentle
man has changed his views on the subject
eyes, was the reply, ''he has, and if you
| will not use any names / II tell you how it.
came about
l promised not to use names, and my
friend went on:
'Some eighteen or twenty years ago the
gentleman to whom alludc was in partner.
ship with a friend. They had been together
for years, and as is customary in legal firms
each had his particular line OF business The
firm had very important case in hand and
the elder partner-not the gentleman pres.
ent-had exclusive management of it. 1t
had gone through great many series and
was approaching {. very important crisis
the trial of the cause. just at this juncture
the senior partner died, and on the other
gentleman all the unfinished business of the
firm devolved, the conduct of the case re-
ferred to among the rest.
1.-THE surviving partner went to work to
make himself thoroughly convcrsant with all
the details. The deceased lawyer had taken
q very deep interest in it, and the partner
found all the papers prepared with great ex-
actness and clearness. In preparing the
evidence to be used on the approaching
trial, the surviving partner discovered thata
small but very important document was
| missing. This was none other than a letter
which completed a chain OF evidence that
most thoroughly established the case for my
! friend, the gentleman now in this room.
| He hunted high and low for it, but it was
not in the Office Then he went to the late
| residence Of his deceased partner and
searched there for the letter; but his eXer-
| tiOns were all in vain. The paper was evil
IDENTIFY gone beyond redemption.
what was to be done? Without the
document my friends defeat was almost
certain, and the labor of months would go
for nothing Besides, the letter had been
entrusted to the firm by their clients, and to
| confess that so important document WAS
lost would be humliating, if not ruinous.
| SAT ter a second and third search, during
which every place was ransached and the
papers at the residence of the dead partner
| were again carefully examined, my friend
gave it up as bad job, and returned home
| one night after the last vain quest utterly
dispirited and crestfallen. He went to bed,
but he could not sleep for thinking about
the unfortunate position in which he was
| placed.
'At length he Gozed off into an unquiet
| slumber, but was soon aroused by the con-
seriousness that some one was in the room.
Rising from his reclining position he saw
| his late partner standing by tine bedside.
s'My friend experienced no fear, though
somewhat startled. Fancyng that his senses
deceived him, or that he was in a dream, he
| stepped from the bed to the floor. The
| figure was still there as plain as in life. and
| the old familiar voice was heard once more.
| Don't disturb yourself, it said. Il
| came to tell you where you can find the
missing letter. Go to my private desk at
the house and examine carefully a bundle
of papers marked so and so. You will find
| the letter there
s'Then the shape faded away, and my
! friend, nothing disconnected, returned to
bed, and fully satisfied that he would find
| the letter next morning, went to sleep and
| slept until daylight.
| Next morning he went to the house OF
| his late partner and searched where the nit
night visitor had told him. There, sure
enough, folded inside deed which had
| nothing whatever to do with the case, was
the missing document. ...
ANOTHER LAW YER GOES ONE BETTER.
"That's pretty good story" said anotll-
| er lawyer, ''and don't see why we should
not believe it. Now, if you've no objections,
I'll tell you one which also involves miss
ing document, but beats that just all to
pieces.
.When | was a young man | lived with
my mother and sister in one of the river
counties. Six months before the time |
speak OF my father, who was supposed to be
wealthy, had died, but without a will or any
4 document which could aid us in discovering
what he was worth or where his funds were
placed. All that we could find out was that
| a few days before his death he had drawn
large sum from the bank and sold a quantity
Of stock. Beyond that all was in the dark.
my mother was left in comparatively
poor circumstances, and a heavy mortgage
on the farm and homestead was about to be
foreclosed My mother had often urged my
father to lift the incumbrance. but he had
always answered thas when the time came
there would be ample funds to redeem. it.,
and that in the mean time he could turn the
money to advantage.
Nov, however, the time had come, and
there was nothing in prospect but the loss
of our home and poverty.
s'We had very particular friend, captain
of an East India tea vessel, who made
4 point of coming to sec us whenever he ar
rived in port. He had been away for a
twelyemonth, and knew netting of my
fathers death. He arrived here i'll October,
think, and soon afterwards made his way
to our place. After cordial welcome he
said to my mother: $3.50
''As was coming along South street this
morning, OH my way here, saw your hus-
band standing at Us store, and he asked
me to give you this"
s.He handed my mother a letter, but she
was so astounded that in the act of mechani-
cally reaching out her hand for the envelope
| which Captain A. extended she fell in a
| swoOn.
s'My sister and myself were equally sur
| prised, but our self-possession did not fail
us. The Captain stared with dazed eX-
fpression of co,lntenance, and lifted my
mother to couch. l need not explain the
!, process OF restoration, or recite what fol-
lowed. When the Captain heard that my
; father had been dead for nearly six months,
) it was his turn to be astonished. He sug-
, gested, however, that we should open the
letter, and did so. | at once recognized
) my fathers familiar handwriting, and the
document inside proved to be an acknow-
ledgment from Il. & Co., of $28, 900, loaned
| them by my father to aid them in a specula-
I | ton in tobacco. The matter was put into
} the hands of a discreet and acute lawyer,
7 and we got every cent Of the money back
5 with interest. But for the mysterious let
ter, don't suppose we should ever have
Q known what became of my fathers money.
Nov, make no comment on these facts.
1t is all just as have told you. Where the
document came from | don't know; but l
! heard subsequently, th;rt my father told
s man with whom he spoke on the train not
!; more than three hours before his sudden
death that valuable paper had beer taken
out of his overcoat~ pocket, and that he had
e not had it off all day, except fol few mo-
e ments in It's counting-house.o
The famine in India, to which alusion
was lately made in the Queens speech as of
E extreme severity, is spoken of as a matter
! scarcely less serious than the war on the Dan
! ube. This is the eighteenth famine since the
5 beginning Of British rule in India, and It's
Z coincidence in time with war in the East is
:, of ominous significance. Vast multitudcs
Of people have already died, and the land is
traversed by misunderstanding men and wo
t men. An area of 13S, 9l1 square miles and
h a population OF 2G,s79, 9s1 souls are put in
! peril by the famine existing. This is
u more than three times the area and more
: than twice the population threatened by the
D famine of 1884. Already the outcome of
: the Indian treasury exceeds the income, land
!, the strain on the Indian finances bids fair,
> therefore, to be of unparalleled severity. The
t English government has adopted the most
: approved methods of meeting such emer.
- gencies. Tanks have been erected and ca
!, nails dug for purposes of irrigation, and rail-
roads are built for the transfer of food from
y more favored to less favored territory. 1t is