The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-03-04

paint and paper changed the rooms as

paint and paper changed the rooms as
if by magic.
Charlie left his scientific researches
after business hours and pruned the
trees, cut the grass, trimmed the ragged
vines, rehung the shutters, and made a
small paradise out of the reclaimed
lawn.
When all was completed, there was
no place for ghosts in those wide, sunny
rooms. My bedroom was the pleasant
est room of all, facing the east, and
looking out upon the pear trees, the
been my color when a girl, so / took
fancy my room should be all pink The
dull drab paper, with green vines wan
dering about and clutching aimlessly at
nothing all over it, was changed for
delicate pink and white. The carpet
, was pink and white, the color under the
cheap muslin pillow shams was pink,
the lace curtains hung over pink shades.
and were looped back with pink rib
bons, making as whole too rose-hued
bower for any specter to fancy.
believe l was as entirely happy,
| after getting settled that first week, as
any one could be who had lived in
rented houses all her life, and owned
one of her own for the first time.
had but one distaste for the place,
and that wss for the basement, which,
covered with clinging vines, was rotten
underneath. 1t had formerly been a
cellar. kitchen, but was now fallen into
disuse, and full of refuse piles of lumber,
old cans and unused rubbish. The
heavy vines grown over the broken
bricks had made it damp and noisome
place, and / never cared to explore it,
| or to put it to any use, except the por-
tion directly under the trapdoor going
down from the kitchen. l had Martha
Ann clean away space here, and fill a
cupboard with canned fruit, vegetables,
etc
l grew to have dread of this dark
and cherries cellar, and never came out
of it without shivering, though l would
not own it even to myself.
1t had scarcely been my receptacle for
fruit day before began to miss things
in most mysterious manner. Before
could realize it there would be glass
of jelly, pie, loaf of cake, n melon,
or a plate of peaches gone. could ac-
cuse no one but the ghosts and Martha
Ann, and she had always heretofore
been the soul of truth and honor.
Twice l iancied, when in the cellar,
had heard a sigh and a rustic of ghostly
garments, and l could have sworn /
heard the wailing of a y:.ung child
several times; but l would have died
rather than own this to my husband.
Martha Ann" said I, one day, COM
ing up in great haste from the cellar,
"do ghosts like picked figsp"
81 az, sure l don't know, ma'am!
Martha AIMS eyes are as wide, as in
nocent and uuquailing as ever.
"Well, you know that jar of picked
figs my cousin sent me from California,
that was saving till mother came to
visit meP Well, they are two-thirds
gone, rs well as that pie that was laid
away expressly for Charlie! What am
to think"
I am angry and excited. Martha
Ann says nothing, as usual. but sec
her tears are quietly falling over the
dish-apron she is hemming. | am rather
relieved the day after when she asks me
for Il months vacation to visit her sick
grandmother. do not like to accuse
alone to ferret out this mystery. have
fresh bolts put on the cellar-do@rs, and
the chinks in the bricks filled in. The
trap-door | keep fastened down with
heavy weights, still the. depreciation;
go on-pies, cakes, ice-cream left in tho
freezers, cream off the milk, portion
!, of every available thing is missing from
, day to day.
/ am too proud to confide in Charlie
but my life is getting to be burden
One bright September day sit down il
the kitchen in tears, with my feet in til,
oven, and would fain cover my head
with my apron. like Artery Flintwincl
in Little Dorrit, to shut out the fain
walls of some child that ! am sure are
coming from the cellar.
Martha Ann will not be home for twt
weeks; am tired out and discouraged
Charlie will be home in half an hour Il
a five O'Clock dinner, and the spirit
t have eaten ali the cold roast and tart
, that have laid away for that especia
} banquet.
shall be forced to tell him that fo
my hardihood in making him buy thi
, haunted house, he is destined to 20 o.
/ half-rations generally, | think with
sob, when / hear faint step below an,
, see the trap-door slowly rising, and tn
S blanched face and thin shoulders of
5 woman, with skeleton child in he
: arms, coming into view.
S Can believe my eyes? Yes, it is tn
y shrunken, faced form of Grace Woo
!, son, which | know in an instant, thong
S the sunken eyes ana claw-like hands an
skeleton figure, make but silhouette c
4: the rosy, dimpled girl remember.
s | am not a nervous woman, and
: have expected this ghost to appear S
5 long, that do not scream OF faint ava
5 when she comes toward me, and th
e pathetic, dropping air with which sl
1 holds out the visionary baby, and the
: bursts into such human agony of tear
would make one feel tender and akin
even a hobgoblin.
t "Oh, Amy" she gasped, you are
o good woman, and will you try and say
: my child's lifep If it had not been d.
g ing | should have staid hidden AWAY
G but knew you would help me if yo
s could. l was sorry to take your fiji
= and things, and would not if l coul
}, have kept from starving; but ft
v mothers sake l have hidden in yol
y cellar three months, for | knew she an
Geoffry Glare would find me if the
e could
y 1t is his child, thenP" 1 asked, NJ
It with any idle curiosity, but much
h one would frame a question to fill
n pause.
a, YES" she said, simply.
s. "Well, have not q word of blan
De for you. / nearly went crazy myst
y in love with him once, and had not G,
been very kind to me, might ha
I'd been as badly off as you. We will sa
ly the baby if we can"
ct l have pulled her into chair Will,
lie am talking, ard am holding the bah,
chilled feet to the fire, feeling its feel
On pulse, and noticing how faint and gas
| = I 4 n. L..