The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1878-02-17
E.etfer from EViIlia
CENTRAL TEXAS, February

CENTRAL TEXAS, February y. 1878.
To the Editors otthe CIarion:
Strange things occur in this land of the
lariat. Some days ago | went to large
white house, not far from the road, and
found it to be the former residence of a
wealthy Brazos' bottom planter, long since
dead His children were gone,and his wild
ow, third wife, had abandoned the prem
iSes In the corner of the front yard were
! some excavations, which | learned had Civ
en- NJ the bones of our planter anC his two
first wives. The shrubberv had all degen
Grated into ugly weeds and BRAN bles. |
! passed into the yard through gate, in toll
cradle repair, and proceeded to the front
! door Here 1 was met b. venerable color
ed man who told me that he answered to,the
name of Mr.. Young. He invited me through
the hall into a small house in the rear of the
main building. In this house was small
cooking stove, upon which kettle was sit
ting full of water. Being very cold, [ sat
down to warm myself and began a CONVEX
sation with Mr.. Young So soon as | spoke
two colored women, Mrs. Young and her
mother, entered from an adjoining room.
The conversation was uninterrupted for a
time, but upon being resumed Mrs. Young
said:
This house was built by Col. - who
owned five hundred slaves, and made over
thousand bales of cotton previous to the
war. Frequently parties would come from
Houston and Galveston and feast and dance,
| and drink for days at q time. They would
bring music and baskets fun OF bottles,
that would poop same as guns" when the
cOrks were drawn. In the parlof, which
you saw on the left, as you entered, was &
piano and other musical instruments. |
was here then, Mr.. William, and those were
good times, never comm any mo-" / am
now hired to live mere and guard the prop
erty''
| Mr.. Young stopped and drew his sleeve
across his eyes. | inquired ii he ever heard
any noises about the house. The party each
| looked at the other, and finally the
mOther-in-law said in a shril, cracked
voice, noises YES" | replied edo
you hear any noise % We are told that
when a man or woman enters Il room, HIS
or her picture is taken upon the wall, and
the voice is photographed, and, in coming
time, long after the living become dead,
| these pictures become visible and the voice
long unheard, rings out, revived by some
unseen cause, and alarms those who visit
the place" The old lady arose and stared
me in the face, and said: Il don't know
what you mean, you are too high learnt,
| but do know that last Friday night, duriu q
! the storm, | was lying in that little room,
when L heard something like music. 1t
sounded like The old times, and [ thought
| the old woman woman was dreamin', but
somehow | didn't. think | was dreamin', so
pinched my arm and found out | was
awake, and called Mr.. Young. He and
and Matte went round the big h )use by the
parlor; the blinds were closed and all was
dark. | knowed There was nothing in the
room, but SIGN music, sich music, as was
sounlin'. Me and my daughter stood fiji
teen minutes and listened, [ could hear
the same old songs Miss G. used to play
My old limbs began to give way, and |
turned and saw my daughter holding up
both her hands. We went back to our
house and went to bed, leaving the music
About an hour after, this Mr.. Young looked
out the window and said, Bless de Lord,
old masters room is lighted up, look.'
thought had seen enough, so | covered up
my head
| | questioned Mr.. and Mrs. Young and
| their statements were the same. Now, as
the veracity of these living witnesses has
not been questioned, / call upon Mr. Jones
to explain this matter. [ left that house
feeling that, perhaps, in the near future,
developments will be made in human
knowledge, that will put the telephone Into
a deep shadow. Can it be possible that
sounds never perish and only some eXciting
cause to reproduce them? Is it possible that
shadows leave their form upon every wall
they strike? Is it possible that every
word spoken, can, by some unknown pro
cess, be repeated? If shadows and sounds
-words-whispers, are immortal, will not
some of our preachers. who are agreeing to
| the abolition of hell, cry out, in agony,
sometime or other, myself am help"
/ Long time ago, in Georgia, [ heard of all
these sounds, and people believed in ghosts
but Mr.. Jones says there are no ghosts,
and had given them up. Now it Barney
Trice or Bro. David johnson can explain
these things, | shall be glad. Somehow or
other it occurs to me that if all the people
believed in the immortality of words, many
that are spoken now, would be silence. 1t
is pleasing, however, to believe that all