The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-01-15
People Z Don't Want to Meet.

| feople 4 Don't Want to Meet.
Gravity Croak2 You know him not
\ on have never met him2 Never dined
ut his house In Ghoul's place, Sarcop-
hagus square2 If 1t wasn't that untold
gold shall never again get me within those
dread portals, I'm hanged If l wouldn' t
take you for the fun Of the thing.
| What houses those arc in Ghoul's place,
and what house his is From years end
| to years end III be sworn not one solitary
ray of sunshine ever struggles into any
part Of 1t. The great stone paved hall
is like u vault, the dining room like Gel
lar, and place there is on the ground
floor, where sometimes you are asked to
wash your hands with a stony hearted,
sharp square cake of white soap,
which looks like grave yawnlng at the
end Of tho passage.
| On pegs in tho hall hang dusty hats
whose owners l believe to be dead. Per-
chance guests who never survived ono of
J those funeral meals and for what l know
their bodies may be buried under the flags
| in tho ghastly little back yard.
There are two female Croaks, mother
| and daughter, about the SANS age q
casual observer might suppose, tho only
difference being that the mother is possibly
year or two the youngest. These and
the old phantom himself, and three SER
wants, are all the living things the house
contains, except the beetles, which are
said to abound below stairs and maybe now
and again reach the dinner table In the
soup or stews.
The female Croaks arc good deal like
black beetles and the phantom himself re-
minds you of one as he craws about the
mildewed drawing room with wretched
scrap of paper in his hand on which he has
told OFF tho doomed. See, at this moment
he is asking one Of them if he will take the
eldest Miss Hatchment down to dinner"
the lady i'll black there, upon the sofa"
What guests, and where does he collect
them3 The Misses Hate hmcnt, Mr.. and
Mrs, Sowcrby, Dir. Mould, the Earthworms
and The O'Bogueyl
And, heavens what meal! know
not of what it is composed, except that
here and there l fancy come across u fa.
vor OF beetles. Soupe au corbillard shall
wo say, to begin with2 Sole perdu au
beurrc noir. Tele dc veau al grand mai
heur, Cro4ucts au croquemort. Vol-au-
vent fnanciere, sauce funebrc. Woking
pudding and Kensal-grecn cheese
And the talk. AS a rule everybody sighs
when he has said anything. Questions
are asked respecting partica long dead and
gone, and their age and ailments lengthily
discussed aud this is subject that turns
up again ut intervals. Sometimes, when
there is q pause, you may hear one OF the
female Croaks whining Hp9p sYms fhSgGb
s.uuuu .Ilu pnsslny OI the hcIorm Dill, Or
the O'Boguey babbling of the Irish rebel
lion.
1t is not that have any objection to the
conversation being mostly on bygone topic;
but as one who has listened lengthlly, who
aftliction sore long time has borne, | pro-
test that Croak 81 Co., have nothing note
worthy to say about anything they pretend
to talk about. Indeed, have reason to be-
lieve that at the time the events occurred
OF which they speak they were one and
all in profound ignorance of the fact, and
only picked up u few details confuscdly
long atterward.
AS to the bearing the events had upon
their lives, why, they simply had none
whatever, and therefore l appeal to any
unprcjudiced person why they should bore
me about them over my wretched meal.
Occasionally u comparatively modern
occurrence is referred TO, as in this case.
"rhero was book came out by for
get the fellows namc-that was not bad.
GO nle) You know it, Mister, daresay.
.Wickpick.' that was it. 'Wlckpick,' 10
DC sure; and tho authors name was-let
me see7 TO bo sure. PhiZ-the authors
name was Phiz. wonder whether he has
written anything since. A sharp, shrewd
young fellow that. He'll do, that fellow
will" 1t would be wicked pity TO dis
turb any of these facts that Croak has fav-
ored US with. | don't.
When the female Croaks and the other
beetles have crawled away, we males sip
our port and sherry, and u conversation,
If anything moro prosy than before, sets
in. Then cotfee Is announced, and a fun
eral procession ascends the stairs. have
joined it, but only once.
What an awful, awful time was that
The two Misses Hatchmcnt played many
pages Of something which l have since
learned was classical music.
Heavens! how yawned, and one of the
| female Croaks caught me.
About OIL hour and half | sat up In
that dreadful room hearing music varied
| by conversation, waiting for some one to
move. But no, they stuck TO it, all OF
them, like barnacles. AT last l made n
bold plunge, SAID goodnight, and escaped.
Outside, in Ghoul's place rubbed my
hands and laughed aloud. In Sarcophagus
SQUARE ! danced.