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

"Do buy the house, Charlie; am not
at all afraid of ghostsr
My husband leans against the worm
eaten fence and looks thoughtfully at
the dull, old fashioned house, with its
shutters tapping from broken hinges, its
porches overgrown with vines. its gar
den full of rank weeds, and the river
singing beyond its garden gate.
90 1t is very cheap, Amy" he says, at
length. "They only charge me for the
land, and nominally nothing. for the
such a deserted place, and in the city
all dayP Why, all sorts of noises can
be heard here day and night, and have
heard good, intelligent people, with con
sciences. say they had seen the spirit OF
woman, with little child in her arms,
walking all about these grounds at
evening. Nobody else would dare buy
it. Why, it has had no tenants for
year. fear it will frighten away your
friends, and that you-yourself will have
to succumb to the spirit-induence of the
place"
He stops, seeing the expression on my
face. | can bear anything better than
the allusion to spirit or to the
belief of the progressionists. Charlie is
a good business man; but he has read n
men who thought they were very wise
on the subject of spiritualism; and he
has investigated, or, rather, invested n
great deal in the same. He has pro-
gressed 10 such an extent that he can
sometimes hear raps on the headboard
and feel cold shivers down his back,
and in mosquito-time he often feels
pin chrs from unseen spirit-fngers.
l do not like to reao scientific books
and during the short time we have been
married, l have employed my time, in
stead, in practicing waltzes, making pies
and embroidering baby-clothes. Still,
Charlie worships me. believe it is
Gods unseen law of recompense that
there should always be some one to
ador even women with freckles, wide
mouth and figure like Dutch doll.
AT all events, my will is always law
so Charlie takes his knife and cuts away
the rose brambles that have thrown
their arms across the front door, and to-
gether we enter the vacant echoing
rooms. The ceilings are dim with walls
of cobwebs, the spiders run up the walls
at our approach. The house has ruin.
Gus, moldy smell, but it does not oppress
me as it does Charlie. Already in my
minds eye / see what it will be like
cleaned and aired, with open windows
ana cheerful furniture.
ran through the house, exclaiming
What II beautiful wide hall!-this
room facing the south shall be our sit.
ting room, l will rout all the ghost:
with sunshine. See those hollyhocks
smiling over that picket fence, and those
summer pears all rotting on the ground
what shame !-and all those rose
bushes choked in the long grass"
Charlie shakes his head
IF you had heard all l have about
this house, you would he in no haste tc
live here. You know the Widow Wool
sons daughter that has been missins
from town year, and supposed to b'
murderedP Well, Geoffry Clare wa!
passing here one night, only last week
and you know, whatever else he will do
he won't le-and he told me he saw
Grace, Woolson's face as plain as da,
over that garden fence.n
Ichecked him suddenly again. Ihav
never had but this one secret from IN,
husband, that three years before me
him | had fallen hopelessly in love witt
handsome Geoffry Clare. He had 500,
who had afterWard disappeared so mys
teriously that no trace of her could b
found, although l.er mother and Geoffr
had searched for her many months.
think l loved him no longer, an
sometimes thanked God for taking N
future out of my unskillful hands, y
the mention of his name always mad
me vince.
AS Charles only objections were @
my account, and as we were not ric
enough to buy such home as we migl
have chosen, within a week he ha
paid the small sum required for Il
haunted house, and we had moved I'M
1t, bag and baggage. | liked the plac
which was neither town nor countr
but was embowered among its tree
just at the terminus of the pavement
with such grand old garden and SUE
glimpses OF wood and water. The fir
thing did was to open all the windov
wide, and let in the summers sun.
Martha Ann, my one servant, clean
aNaJ the mold and cobwebs, and frel