Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-01-05

People L Don't want to Meet.

People Don't Want to Meet
Gravity Croakf You know him not
\ on have never met him? Never dine
at his house in Ghouls place, Sarcop
hagus squares II it wasn't that untol
gold shall never again get me within thos
dread portals, I'm hanged if / wouldn'
take you for the fun of the thing.
! What houses those are in Ghoul's place
and what house his is! From years ent
to years end III be sworn not one solitar,
ray of sunshine ever struggles into an
part of it. The great stone-paved hal
is like q vault, the dining room like Gel
lar, and place there is on the grount
floor, where sometimes you are asked 4
wash your hands with stony hearted
sharp-edged square cake of white soap
which looks like grave yawning at thu
end of the passage.
On pegs in the hall hang dusty hat
whose owners / believe to be dead. Per
chance guests who never survived one o.
those funeral meals and for what l know
their bodies may be buried under the flag,
in the ghastly little back yard.
There are two female Croaks, a mother
and a daughter, about the same age 6
casual observer might suppose, the 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 art
said TO abound below stairs and maybe now
and again reach the dinner table in the
soup or stews.
The female Croaks are good deal like
black beetles and the phantom himself re-
minds you Of one as he crawls about the
mildewed drawing room with a wretched
scrap of paper in mis- hand on which he has
told of the doomed. See, at this moment
he is asking one of them if he will take the
eldest Miss Hatchment down to dinner
the lady in black there, upon the sofa"
What guests. and where does he collect
theml The Misses atchment, Mr.. and
Mrs, Sowerby. Mr.. Mould, the Earthworms
and The o 'Boguey.
And, heavens what meal! | know
not of what it is composed, except that
here and there fancy come across q ia
vor of beetles. Soupe au corbillard shall
We say, to begin withf Sole perdu au
beurre noir. Tete de veau au grand NAL
,heur, CroIuets au croquemort. Vol-au-
vent fnanciere, sauce funebre. WOking
pudding and Kensal- green cheese.
And the talk. As rule every body sighs
when he has said anything. Questions
are asked respecting parties long dead and
gone, and their age and a. meats lengthily
discussed and this is a subject that turns
af tnfa L.
there is pause, You may hear one of the
female Croaks winning upon some church
question, or old Earihworm numbling
about the passing of the Reform blil, or
the y Boguey babbling oil the Irish rebel
lion.
1t is not that l have any objection to the
conversation being mostly on bygone topic;
but as one who has listened lengthily, vino
affilction sore long time has borne, l pro-
test that Croak d Co., have nothing note
worthy to say about anything they pretend
10 talk about. Indeed, 1 have reason to be-
lieve that at the time the events occurred
of which they speak they were one and
ali in profound ignorance OF the fact, and
only picked up wzdetslis -e0ainsediy
As to the bearing the events had Upon
tLeir lives, why, they simply had none
whatever, and therefore appeal to any
person why they should bore
me about them over my wretched meal
Occasionally a comparatively modern
occurrence is referred TO, as in this case.
There was book came out by for.
get the fellows name-that was not bad.
{ To mel You know it, Mister, daresay.
.Mickpick. that was it. 'Wickpick,' TO
be sure; and the authors name was-let
me seel To be sure. Phiz-the authors
name was Phiz. i wonder whether he has
written anything since. A sharp, shrewd
ycung fellow that. He'll do, that fellow
will" 1t would be a wicked pity TO dis
turb any of these facts that Croak has fav-
ored us with. l don't.
When the female Crosks and the other
beetles have crswied away, we males sip
our port and sherry, and a conversation,
If anything more prosy than before, sets
in. Then coffee Is announced, and fun
eral procession ascends the stairs. have
Joined it, but only once.
What an awful, awful time was that! I!
The two Misses Hatcbmeut played many
pages of something which l have since
learned was classical music.
Heavens. how yawned, and one OF the
female Cfuaks Caught me-
About an hour and half l 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 a
bold plunge, SAID goodnight, and escaped
Outside in Ghoul's place l rubbed my
hands and aughed aloud. In Sarcophagus
square oanced.