National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-03-07

alt is somewhat unusual TO mingle up fact anC
fiction in our locals, but we might do II II the mat
ter was not particularly fiat"
mind you" said the gloomy man, Il don't asl
any pay for the manuscript; it's story referrin:
to this ghostly haunted house"
The gloomy man thereupon produced yellow
faded roll of paper and forcing it into our report
ar's hands shivered slightly and remarked that i
wasa pretty cold night" The hint failing in making
the desired impression the gloomy man touches
his stomach, rolled up his eyes, and went through
the pantOmime of emptying glass full of som'
mysterious liquid down his throat; having in thl
| delicate and touching way conveyed his apprecla
| ton of a hot SCOTCH our Nib beckoned him Il
follow into the doorway of a popular restaurant
from whence could be heard the cheerful jingle
glasses and the musical reverberstion Of the poo
balls. Then while the gloomy man was slipping
his hot SCOTCH the reporter seated himself at one
of the tables unrolled, the manuscript, and, ganc'
ing momentarily 1.-THE ead-line read as follows
THE GHOST WALKER.
1t is not strange, though a materislist, you
| can detect nothing material in the spiritual
world around you? Sympathies, associations, lido
syncrasies beget dreams, condolences, and mag
| inings; but when sound becomes the radical
| expression of thought-when sound is more pow
! erful and comprehensive than vision, certainly
more inexplicable-does it prove that spirits are
moving around US or that our senses are merely
| chaotic, unreliable, and unsatisfying? Some ma
lures refuse TO accept facts unless demonstrated 10y
ocular proof; yet Sir Walter Scott saw the appa-
rition of a woman dressed in red every day
| occupying the same seat IA chair il his library
and his knowledge explained it satisfactorily, on
| grounds natural and philosophical But sound
! is sound. Listen; am believer in ghosts
not material ones or historical shadows such that
| fitted through the imaginative brain of Pompey
| or a Brutus or classical hObgoblins, elfsh and
spritish with Dante Inferno faries-but ghost OF
sound ncomprehensible, invisible, mysterious, yet
more awful in effect than thousand superstitiOus
fancies fitting in cratic brains. Can sound be
an expression of thought? Listen; We shall see
how easily we can reconcile apparent absurdities
and the ineongruity of spiritualism and material
! ism.
AN An ARTIST,
lover ofthe beautiful, the refined, and the CLASH
cal, something, perhaps, of the pre-Raphaelite
then, too love the horrible, the mysterious the
unexplained. 1 took up my abode in house re-
Gently, which gratifed TO some extent this pas
sion-the absorbing passion of my life-to pene-
trate the subtle labyrinths of materialism and
prove the infnity of mind. This house had been
for some time unoccupied when rented it of the
! too willing landlord who astonished me by pro-
posing, in view of my engaging the house for one
year, to give me the rent for three months.
His over anxiety created suspicion in my mind
that he had motive stronger than the acquisi-
ton of tenant; it led me TO look around the
domicle and study its surroundings A base
ment composed of a moderate sized cellar and
kitchen; parlor fronting the street, and dining
room facing the rear opening on porch, from
whence, by steps, you assembled to the back yard !;
the wide hall, with large, old-fashioned oak
door, which led out in the front garden inclosed
Il
a hall bedroom on the second story, and two at
tics above. The dwelling was not very cid; but it
was somewhat cut of repair. II stood isolated from
all other houses, and the rear was inclosed by a
high, wooden board-fence, 10 keep away the cattle
that occasionally strayed in the neighborhood.
There was nothing peculiar about the place, eX-
cept that it had certain air of uninhabitiyenesS
natural TO any unoccupied premises. The price for
the house was very low, considering that tene
ments were then very difficult to obtain; and this
again led me to suspect that the man-the land
lord-was actuated by some uncommon reason for
Offering it at such moderate figure.
IT LED NE TO STUDY HIN.
He was an old man, just turning the corner of
sixty, with mild flexible face, serious caste OF
eountenance; but his eyes were cunning and gray
and his voice soft-just soft enough to inspire me
with the idea that he might be insincere enough
to keep something back so l now knew that there
must be solid reason for wishing me tenant,
and that this insincerity or want of frankness on
his part was occasioned by his anxiety to secure
me as one. For reasons obvious 10 myself agreed
to the terms. and and my family took possession.
Ny wife and little boy just three years old were
hardly enough to give cheerful character to The
dismal and ghostly- appearing rooms; but in my
mood for learning something yet unexplained l
would have preferred to have been alone, The
e
stead my wife complained that some persons I'M
known TO her were amusing themselves by
knocking at the back door. and then, as she said,
running off, as she saw no one. On further ques-
tioning her, it appeared the malicious intruders
had likewise entered the basement and, while in
the chambers above, she had heard them stepping
around in the attic. Comparing her statement
with the fact that the basement door was locked,
and that no one could have effected an entrance
without literally breaking into the house,
IT STRUCK ME AS PECULIAR.
While discussing this matter some one from the
outside would be heard walking up the wooden
steps and loudly knock on the porch door. hur-
riedly opened it, and found no one there. Here
was mystery, stepping in on the toes of reality
and demanding an explanation. I examined the
high board fence, took general and careful sur
vey of the premises, and all with the same result.
1t was peculiar, but might be accounted for. To-
ward evening the front door-bel rang but SOME
agency was at work unknown to me, for while no
one was apparently there the bell persisted in ring
ing. Rats might be at the bottom of this but pa
ent search developed the fact that rats could not
produce the sounds. When ! retired a conviction
impressed me that, however irrational the idea of
spiritualism and materialism might seem, it was
beginning to shape itself into tangible form.
Sound must express an idea-sound had developed
=
accuracy. Near two o'clock in the morning was
awakened by tread of feet over my head, accom-
panied by the vibratory motion of a cradle rock
ing stole upstairs 10 the attic lit my candle and
carefully scrutinized both the rooms did not en-
pect to see anything unusual, but to strengthen
conviction, I examined the easements; assured
myself of the impossibility of their having been
opened; took survey of the entry, and returned
back to my bed The cradle rocking already re-
ferred to commenced again, it seemed to me- faster
AND WITH 4 FRENzIED MOTION,
rs though the mind that rocked it was agitated by
some fierce, uncomfortable emotion. l listened
several hours to these strange, unnatural noises,
and began to waver in my past belief. Here were
mind and matter coming in direct collision.
Sound was expressing thought, and thus found
it. The tread 1 heard overhead was females
footstep because twas soft and feminine in its
echo; she was young, [ could tell from her way of
tripping across the floor, not dropping her heel as
ON people do, but stepping lightly ON her toes
She was married; the cradle showed that and her
husband was absent was evident from the fact that
she was constantly walking or rocking. She was
apparently anxiously watching for some one from
the nervousness Of her tread; she was constantly
receiving messages from the knocking on the
porch door and the ringing of the bell in 'front.'
So far had explained the theory of these strange
sounds, and when evening came I deliberately
walked over to the business Office of the landlord
You have attempted to deceive me, and wish
to remind you of it,
He turned scarlet, whether from a faint sus-
pieion 1 had heard the truth or that he was con-
scious of using deception.