The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1880-11-11
THE WHISPERING GHOST.

Tell you about the whispering ghost?
Yes, and the first time we 20 to town
I'll show you, if you put me in mind of
it, the old house on Asylum street
where it all happened. The first floor
is made over into shops and the upper
rooms are used for storage; but twenty
years ago it was 4 boarding house, and
Jane Duncan and her two daughters
kept it. Your mother remembers Jane
Duncan. She was at school with us at
the Pratt street seminary, when Cattle err
e Beecher taught there 1t was a
pity about Jane, too, for she was a like
ly girl and belonged to good family,
| but she threw herself away on worth
less fellow and had to support him for
the rest of her natural life.
Girls, take one piece of advice from
your old maid aunt. Don't marry for
the sake of being married. That's
what Jane Duncan did. She got to be
twenty-four or five years old and began
to be afraid she should be an old maid,
SO the silly thing took up with her first
Curtis or thought he would make her
good husband. She knew as we'll as
anybody that he was lazy, dissipated
fellow but he could save her from the
disgrace, as she though it, of leading a
single life So she married him, and a
poor stick he proved to be, spending
half his time walking Main street in his
fine clothes, and Jane and her two girls
shaving at home to keep him in bread
and butter.
Well, when she moved into this
house on Asylum street, she found
room in the attic locked, the key-hole
stuffed with cotton and no key to be
found. The landlord said the last ten
ants hadn't made much use of the
room, but Jane Curtis with all her
boarders needed it, SO got a key to fit
the lock and furnished it for Molly
Morgan, her servant, to sleep in. Molly
was girl Jane had taken for charity
from the town house, where she had
been abused and put upon because she
was unidentified; but in James hands
she made a good servant, strong, will
ling and obedient.
She took possession of her new room
one night, but about eleven o'clock
came down to her mistress She could
not sleep, she said; there were noises in
her room. "What kind ofnoises," Jane
asked, like rats?' ''No, not rats the
girl said, she shouldn't mind them:
there were thousands at the stone house
-Molly's name for the town house-it |
was worse than rats. "What, them"
Oh, something whispered, and kept
whispering; she was afraid, she couldn't
stay there; might she sleep that night
on the floor at the foot of Miss Curtis
bed? "No, indeed" Jane told her she
must have had a bad dream. No,
Molly declared she had not closed her
eyes, it wouldn't let her. 'It," Jane
repeated. ''The ghost, marin. Oh! Pm
sure it's ghost, and can't stay there"
But Jane had no patience with such
fancies, and Molly was sent back to her
room in hurry. In the morning she
was found curled up in corner Of the
kitchen. "Miss Curtis, you can send
me back to the stone house for not
minding," she said, ''for 1 can never,
never stop in that room another night.
I'd rather be beat to death by live folks
than scared to death by ghostesses."
Another room was found for Molly.
|
tiers, took the attic chamber the next
night They thought it would be fun
to watch for the ghost. They chatted
awhile after they were in bed as girls
will, then said goodnight, and Kate
was just dropping off to sleep, when
Nell asked if the window was open.
| 'NO; why?" said Kate.
| Because I feel such a cold wind"
| In moment she reused her sister
again. "Now stop, Kate, you've kept
that noise going long enough. Pm rry-
ing to get to sleep"
"What noise?" said Kate I'm not
making any noise"
Chow dare you tell such story?
You know you've been whispering
close to my ear for the last five min
utes."
Indeed she had not, Kate declared.
"Well, something whispered"
Then the girls listened and this time
Kate cried out that cold wind was
blowing in her face, and something was
whispering in her ear; "And oh, Nell!
let's run down to mothers room"
Jane charged the girls to say nothing
of what had happened, and determined
to watch the next night in the attic
chamber. Now Jane Curtis isn't the
least bit superstitious and has plenty of
nerve and courage, and she wouldn't
tell a lie to save her life, SO what she
says happened in that room, | know
it happened as well as if l had been
there myself.
She put her lamp on the table, she
said, and sat knitting for half an hour.
1t was near midnight and the house
was still. All at once, around and
above her she felt "a rush of cold air, SO
cold it made her shiver. There was
not bit of wind outside, the door and
window were shut, but this wind stirred
the lace string of her cap and lifted a
bit ofmuslin lying on the table. Twice
this breeze as cold as ice swept past
her, and then close to her ear there
was a loud, earnest whisper. She
couldn't catch word. It was inartic-
ulate but quick and anxious, just as if
some one had lost the power of speech
and was struggling to make himself un-
derstood. This went ON for while, and
then ended in long sigh.
She took the lamp and walked slow
ly round the room, the voice following
her all the way. 1t seemed so close
that if what was speaking had lips they
must touch her cheek,--but when she
looked there vas nothing. Thewhispering
at times got angry and impatient, and
then would sink low down and end in
a half sob;-and whether she sat or
stood or walked about it was always the
same, there was the cold wind, the
whisper without words and the sigh.
L.. L al 4.