The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-10-18
The House when Alone.


When the house is alone by itself, i'm
experienced persons may believe that it |
behaves exactly Is it does when therei
are people in it.: but that is delusion,
as you will discover, if you are left |
alone IN it at midnight, sitting up for
the rest of the family at this hour its
true disposition will reveal itself.
To catch it at its~best, pretend to re-
tire, put out the gas or the lamp, and
go up stairs. Afterward, come down
softly, light no more than one lamp. go
Into the empty parlor, and seat yourself
at table, with something to read.
No sooner thin you have done SO
than you will hear little chip, chip.
chip, along the top Of the room "a
small sound, but persistent. It is evil
identity the wall paper coming off; and
you decide, after some tribulation, that
| if it does come off you can't help it, and
! go on with your book.
AS you sit with your book in your
hand. you begin TO be quite sure that
some one is coming down stairs
i Squeak-squeak squeak What fol
lllyi There is nobody up there to come
down; but there-no, it is on the
kitchen stairs. Somebody is coming
} lup.
] Squeak-snap! Well, if it is rob
Der, you might as we'll face him. Yot
get the poker, and stand with your bach
7 against the wall. Nobody comes up
Finally, you decide that you are 4
goose, put the poker down, get maya
e zine, and try t0aead.
Il There, that's the door. You heart
: the lock turnl They are coming home
e You run to the door. unlock and unbol
: it, and peep out. Nobody therel
81 But, as you linger, the door loci
+ gives click that makes you jump.
Il BY daylight neither lock nor stair
o makes any of these noises unless the,
{, are touched or trodden on.
!, You go back to the parlor in hurry
8 with feeling that the next thing yo'
e know something may catch you by TIT
9 back hair; and you try to remembe
e where you left off.
u Nov, it is the table that snaps an,
t cracks and snaps, as if all spiritualisti
= knocks were hidden in its mahogany
e You do not lean on it heavily, withou
e this result; but it fdgets you, and yo'
! take an easy chair and put the book OF
e your knee.
], Your eyes wander up and down th
d page, and you grow dreamy; when, ap
0 parently, the bookcase fires off pistol
f at leasta loud, fierce crack come
y from the heart of that piece of funitur
s 80 loud, SO fierce, that you jump +
!, your feet, trembling.
o You cannot stand the parlor an,
s more. You 60 up stairs.
t No sooner do you get there, than i
= seems to you that somebody is waikiki,
o on the roof. IF the house is a detached
e one, and the thing is impossible, tina
0 makes it all the more mysterious.
II Nothing ever mourned in the chin
u ney before, but something mourns now
t There is ghostly step in the bath
r room. You find out afterwards that i
!. is the tap dripping, but you do not dar
to look at that time.
And it is evident that there is some
thing up the chimney-you would no
like to ask what.
IF you have gas, it hobs up and dow
in phantam dance. If you have
: lamp, it goes out in blue explosion
If you have a candle. a shroud plainl
enwraps the wick and falls toward you
The blinds shake, as if hand clutch
IS ed them and finally, a doleful cat be
g gins to moan in the cellar. You do no
; keep a cat, and this finishes you.
Ell You pretend to read no longer; and
d sitting with a towel over your head an
: face, and hearing something below g
}, "shew, shew, shew," like a little saw
; you believe in the old ghost stories.
t Ten minutes afterward the bell rings
: the belated ones come home; the light
! are lit; perhaps something must be go
/ out to eat. People talk and tell wEer
+ they have been, and ask you if you ar
t lonesome.
n + And no stairs creek. No step
!, heard on the roof; no click ut the from
: door. Neither bookcase nor tabl
e cracks The house has on its compan
: manners only yeu have found out no,
| ;t bobo Voc xu},n,, II 10 lone FIR