Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-11-26
THE GHOSTS.
TWO STRANGE STORIES OF TIE SUPER.
NATURAL.
Mother Appears to Her Son After Death
a Miners Narrative Of an Occur
rance in Amador County.

tlOIF YOU e1GGuu J1lS I6ducI5 VI b1c IeENOhD-
UNION to relate an apparently supernatural
experience in the life of friend Of my youth
one 10 whom / had the utmost confidence,
and concerning whose character for veracity
there can be no question. If my friend is
now alive, and this narrative meets his eye,
he will verify my relation of his singular ex-
perience which / am conscious Of relating tar
less wildly than his story justihes. You
shall judge for yourselves if this is ghost
story. Some twenty-five years ago was re-
siding in the State of Illinois. l was young
man of warm sympathies, and while not
over ready to form close relations with other
young men, was 30 fortunate in such attach'
ments as I did make as to become the close
Companion Of those only whose habits and SEN
timents we're without reproach. My associates
therefore while few, were those with whom L
held close converse. In one OF the groups oil
this early companionship was young man
who had come West from a far Eastern
State. and at that time held responsible po-
sition in a large manufacturing establishment.
became acquainted with him in somewhat
romantic manner. I was much attached to
Young lady in the village, and was paying her
dsvoirs Of warm nature. Her elder sister
had an admirer in the person of the young
man of whom spoke and this peculiar re-
lationship-the interest we took in the SIS
ters-drew us closer together and made US, In
the fullest sense, intimates. Finally, my
friend (whom for the purpose of this narrative
1 shall call r. proposed marriage to the
object of his affections. | have no intention
of Rejecting upon the young ladies of
these later days. in stating that at
the period, and in the community OF
which 1 write, young women were
not given to making response to such offers
until they had counseled with their parents
or friends and thoroughly informed them
selves concerning the past life of the man
who sought them in marriage. It was good
old custom, the rigid observance of which the
youths Of the West were brought up to re-
spect So it came about that l, as q friend
of both parties, was called to the meeting
between the elder brother and guardian of
the lady, and my friend r. AT that meeting
heard the following story, which formed a
part of the narrative of his life that my
friend submitted for examination. We met
Ia his Office in the factory on cold winters
night, and, grouped around the blazing
hearth, with only the light of the back logs
blaze to half-illuminate the cayernous depths
of the large apartment, r. toll his story
with deep feeling.
ST was born in the New England town Of
B, and as boy had such fair advantages
at the town school as my parents, who were
In humble circumstances, could afford me.
MY father and my mother-they were the
two who of all others l have held closest to
my heart. Before me they had set the exam
pie of blameless lives and industrious habits
To me they were devoted, without being
blinded to my faults by tie enthusiasm
of parental love for an only child. l
remember them as a father and mother
all gentleness and love, tempered by
Justice aud profound sense of their RESPONSE
bility as parents. 1 was but mere boy,
and to me my father stood for ali that was
strong manly, good and trua in the world,
and my mother for all that was pure and
loving and patient, when, at that period,
was left orphan and my mother a widow.
1 chung to her for time all the closer for this
bereavement, and the love between US grew
to be bond of even greater strength than
that existing usually between mother and
child. And yet, strange as it may seem, [
have no recollection that, after passing from
mere beyish years, [ ever told my mother
that loved her-how deeply, unutterably
loved her. I knew thereafter what
the longing meant in her eyes. 1t was
the unuttered desire for expression
OF love on my part. She knew that loved
her beyond compare, but her woman's heart
longed to be fed by the mama of words of
affection from the lips she had first kissed
a;vss the throes of maternity, Wien, my
friends, will men and women come to learn
that the sealed heart, howsoever warm its
depths cannot overflow its fullness of love
into responsive bosoms, while the lips are
locked? The eyes may speak it all 50 fondly,
the dear face be an open page OF affection,
but the lip confession of love, the outward
manifestation of the souls depth of feeling,
drives away all doubts, nourishes the heart
that heats for US, ana il the banquet where
1--we SITS and has It's fill. If feel aad speak
warmly upon this subject, you Will presently
understand why | have done so. was, then,
an administrative son, who, despite the
longing of his heart, never crept up to his
mothers breast, and with clinging arms about
that dear neck kindled the fire anew in her
faded eyes by fond recitals Of my love for her,
whose sole care and burden 1 had been.
God forgive me that it has been SO.
I have not in memory
an act of my life for which l
need to be ashamed, or which L should
confess to you, with solitary exception
am deserter from the United States navy.
1t was many years ago; l was but boy;
nevertheless | lack that honorable discharge
which it should be the pride of every servant
of his country to possess on leaving her SER
vice. and upon that fact of desertion hangs
the single sorrow of my life-the one regret
for another and a heavier has been taken
away, Could 1 but blot from my history
thst one folly of flight from duty, I could
hold toward your sister the open and I'M
stained hand of an honest man. You, her
brother, shall hear, and you, my friend, shall
Judge between US. 1t is now nearly six years
since l came among you, and why came is
the key to nay story. Here l have found
peace, and in new love have sought to
Danish the regret that follows error.
/ left my mother fairly situated.
and assured of her comfort, to ship
in the sloop-of-war A, in the service of
the United States. was favorite with
my mess and my officers. Taught from early
youth that industry is not only duty, but
the true source of pleasure, l came into the
service without lazy bone in my frame !;
and with health, strength and light heart
on my side, no lad of nineteen ever had
better berth off the quarterback of one OF
Uncle Sans men-of-war. My pay, in largest
part, was RENTED to my mother, and had
the comfort OF knowing, by her affectionate
and frequent letters which met me In every
port and on every station, that she was well,
comfortable, and, in the shadow of her past
sorrow, had but one living regret-the alb
sence OF q son now douDly dear TO ner. 90
went the days and years. and l was just
twenty two when, on entering home-port
where I was to have some weeks of liberty,
in which TO visit the home of my boy
hood, letter for me came off in the
first mailbag. I rolled into s coil of
rope to read in semi-privacy the missive from
home, whence, the post-mark told me, 1t had
come. But as pressed my nail upon the
seal to break it there came upon me, with
what 1 can only denominate as an awful
force, and for the first time, the cenvi tioa
that [ had never told my mother, whose
qusint dear hand l recognized in the super
scription on the letter held half opened in
my hand, how truly loved her. A full real
izstion was suddenly unaccountably upon
me that had fallen short of my full duty to
her. She had hungered for expressions of a
sons love, which had selfshly, thought
lessly withheld why, know not, unless it
was simply the result of an undemonstrative
-,at,,-o b,t mona the less now realized that