Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-05-14

not for years wages remain an hour
in the haunted house alter nightfall.
The days were at their shortest, and the
husband required To be out at his work.
In this difficulty, her niece, a stout
hearted girl, volunteered to be her COM
panion. Next evening the daylight dis
appeared as usual at an early hour,
and soon afterwards the drawingroom
bell rang. The niece sprang to her feet,
ran into the passage. saw the bell still
shaking and rushed up into the draw
ing-room, which was found as before
still and silent. With good deal of
entreaty the care-taker was induced by
her niece 10 remain in the kitchen.
They again sat down at the fire and left
the passage-door open. A snort time
only elapsed when the DELL in the pas
sage again rang, and his time more
loudly and continuously than before.
The terror of the old woman now be-
came extreme; but the younger crept
cautiously round the halfopen door,
and there she saw the ringer of the bell
a halt starved rat, who, impelled by
hunger in the empty house, had made
his way into the channel along which
the bell wires had been laid from the
several rooms into a common opening
10 the passage, and was discussing in
his own thoughts the feasibility of
jumping down from height OF five or
six feet to the level of the kithen floor,
to seek for a supper. He was SO hun
gered that the presence OF the girl did
not brighten him away, and he remained
with his forepaws i'll Il state of unstable
equilibrium, shaking the wire while his
glistening eyes shone out like two dia-
monds rejecting the light of the solitary
kitchen candle. Had the stout-hearted
girl not detected the presence of the
hungry visitor, the belief would have
been firm and not unreasonable, in the
view of many, that some supernatural
agency had rung the bell, and the le-
gend of a haunted house would have
hung round my little villa.
The following are related in the con.
versational TILE in which they were
told to our contributor:
u am sure none of you were ever so
terrified by ghost rs | was, said my
Aunt Mabel. at was an American
ghost, which perhaps accounts tor its
having been more wild and weird and
altogether electrifying than anything
ever met with in the old country. You
know that went to America when |
was young, and that | spent many of
my early years in lonely farmhouse
in the backwCods."
"And without servants, Aunt Mabel?'
"Quite true, dear. Servants would
not stay in such an out-of-the-way place
without higher wages than we could
give them, and, indeed, the helps we
uied were often more deserving Of the
name of 'hinderers.' But we were all
young and strong, and we never had
happier days than when we all kept
house together, and did the work with
our own hands. Capital training it was,
though at first Of course we made many
mistakes, everything was SO strange and
new 10 US.
1T was soon after our arrival in this
lonely place that | met with terrible
fright. My sister Isabel and shared
the same room, and one night was
awakened by hearing her crying by my
side.
w nat Is Tue lllalteT, lSaOeI!
con, "A toothache, a most dreadful
toothache; aud have nothing to relieve
it. If could only get some brandy,
little burnt brandy would cure it in a
moment
MY DEAR ! said, jumping out of
bed, Il will get you some directly. |
know where it is-in the parlor cup
board, and | have got the key
"'But you have no light
con, l can grope my way to the
room, and then | can easily light my
candle at the stove.
"No sooner said than done. wrap
ped shawl around me, went swiftly
and quietly down stairs, felt my way
through the dark and deserted room,
and succeeded in lighting my candle at
the stove. But no sooner did | hold up
the lighted candle to make my way to
the cupboard, than the most unearthly
shrek ran through the room. At the
same moment the light was suddenly
extinguished. / was left in total dark
ness, and all was still and silent as be-
fore. Chilled with horror, and uem-
bling in every limb, CROPPED my way
back as well as | could, and told my
story to Isabel; but she was in such pain
that it did not make the impression on
her that expected. l got but little
sympathy.
1t must have been the wind, or
wildcat outside that screamed she
said; and as to the light being put out,
that Of course was sheer accident. OF
course, she added, we are not such
fools as to believe in ghosts.
TINS rather put me on my mettle;
and moved besides by her means of IN
tense pain, at last braced myself up to
a second attempt. | went with great
determination, resolved that nothing