The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1878-01-26
Tom Legget's Ghost,

lOm LeggeTS Gh0St.
Tom Legget was the name of very &C.
centric individual who formerly lived in
the town of Greenfield, Vermont. His
eccentricity was not of that kind which
made him unpopular by either word or act.
Indeed, Tom would not have willingly
| injured the meanest insect, that ever
crawled. Still, he had his errors-grave
errors-and excessive drinking was one of
them.
In Squire Deans store, on stormy night
in winter, after inviting all hands to drink,
Tom would launch into the greatest maze
of yarns about this, that and the other,
ever heard of. It was acknowledged by
all that, when about half tipsy, he could
invent more hes than any other man in
town.
On the night when the following story
of his was told-whch I give as near
verbatim as l remember-the squire's store
was pretty we'll filled with motley assem-
blage of neighbors. Some were seated in
chairs around the stove, others on top of
barrels, and some on the lower end of the
counter Customers were scarce, and the
company present were mainly bent upon
the enjoyment of their pipes, with nip
now and then at the squire's cider which
contained something little stronger than
apple juice. A few feeble jokes had been
gotten off at somebody's expense in the
company, which were not relished any too
well, when Tom opened with the follow
ing interrogatory:-
II say, squire, did ye ever hear tell Of a
genuine ghost about these purts - real,
downright, out-and-out ghost 2"
mo, Tom, I never did; unless that lame
mule of Farmer Jones', which the boys
whitawashed and tied to the church-beIl
was one."
mary time squirrel" said the unlucky
owner of that piece of mule flesh, WHO oc-
cupied one of the barrel heads. ''Those
boys got their deserts, and that ere mule
is jest as pretty an animal as ever ye laid
eyes on, now"
'rThen Tom had better give us his story,
for 1 have never heard that one about
the mule beaten yet. What say the COM
pany?"
"The story The story" they all ex-
claimed
Tom cleared his throat, adjusted himself
to more comfortable position in his
chair before the glowing fire, and COM
menced-
eye all remember the cold, clustering,
disagreeable weather of last twentieth of
November, suppose? 1t was the night
Jeff Knoxs brintlled steer died, and all the
ponds hereabout froze up solid. Well, On
that night, as some of you well know, for
I see em here now, | was seated with
you around this stove and engaged in
about the same advertisement. We got
rather noisy as the hours wore on, and at
last the squire here turned US all out OF
doors Didn't ye, squire?"
''It was about the hour Of closing,
think" mildly answered the squire,
eyes, and as we stood shivering around
the doorstep, the midnight express came
laundering through the town, and ye asked
d us all in again for nightcap. Well when
| reached home that night, some one had
left a light on the sitting-room table, with
mate to it in the fireplace. | thought il
: strange that such big, roaring fire should
have been left for me to go to bed by
, quite an unusual thing. The old people
, have set up later than common, thought
never once thinking of the boys. | sal
: down in the big armchair in fropt of the
fire place, took off my boots and put then
! beside the fender and then lay back ant
watched the huge back log blaze.
1 "'This is solid comfort thought
Here I am, having nice time of it, anc
outside the weather is cold as blazesn
II decided to have little smoke, ant
I then retire; so blew out the light and pu
: my feet upon the fender. Very soon afte
t l fell asleep in the chair, with the pipe il
, nv mouth. | had distinct remembrance
of hearing the bell ring one, and of com
pairing the time with our old clock in tn
J corner. 1t was just two minutes behind
3 When l awoke, the hand pointed to three
+. l had slept two hours. Rehghting m,
+ pipe, turned my attention toward tn
. fire which had got down to err.,'vvrs rue
5 was a}ded, and I soon had the pleasure O
. . feeling myself growing warmer, for tn
, room had cooled off rapidly during M
. sleep
at was half-past three o'clock when