The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1882-04-13

4 While blackberry j., in lovely glass dish,
And thought, while happy as heart could wish,
Nv OIL, things turn out very funny gssl
| - 4 GHOST STORY.
A Story Of the English North Country.
~. So you want me to tell you a I story /, ~
about aghost, do you, echildrenp,' said
Parson Goodharte, looking up from. his
| book, with queer little twinkle in the
corner of hisl dark gray eyes, as his
three nephews and. two nieees, came
trooping around the snug armchair in
which he was sitting by the fire. well,
that won't be very easy, because ney.
er saw a-ghost myself, and I've never
met any enc else. who had, either. But
l once knew man who thought he had
seen one or felt one, rather4and a
very serious matter it was for him, as
you shall hear.
When / first came here as a youno
curate, long before any of .youryoung
folks were born, every man, woman and
| child in the village believed as firmly i1i
ghosts, witches and all that nonsense.
as they believed that the sun shone or
that the wind blew. = s. sl'Fai q.
| tive seen o strapping fellow six feet
high, big and strong enough to knock a
horse down, 60 half d mile out of his
way rather than pass aftertdark "a spot
where highwayman had been hanged
IN chains; and more than one old woIrol-
an was scared into fits by q white. cow
suddenly getting up from behind a
hedge. as she was going home through
the fields in: the twilight. s:ss.sngat
As for the church yard, all the mon
ey'in the Cottonbo trough Bank wouldn't
have tempted any of our village folk to
go through it after nightfall. And GER
tainly twas a dismal place there S no
denying it. .;ss.sf~ ur;.sa s; - +
Our pretty little new church over
the way wasn't built then, and the old
church stood right out at the very end,
OF the village Just where Farmer Thomp-
sons big barntis now. .t's 4 sss -
. 1t was grim old building, all of
dark-gray stone turned almost black by
the weather, and fast crumblinS away.
Ihe tower was one mass of dark ivy,
and the church-yard itself was full Of
gloomy frs and Expresses, growing to-
gether in thick clumps, which harbored
owls and bats without number: and
when the moon glimmered through the
clouds upon stormy night, making the
white COMMISSIONERS Whiter and the black
trees blacker than ever, it certainly did
look as ghostly place as 4 ever saw in
my life. --.ss.- a--eaa.--
1 But as if all this was not enoupb.
the spot had legend attached to it, and
q very grim one. too, Just at the fur
lther end of the church-yard, the, ground
IIen steeply away to dark hollow,
Through which raasaa stream. -
This hollow bore the pleasant name
OF Dead Mans Gully and the tradii
lions OF the county recorded that q.
great battle had been fought in this
place In the days OF King Alfred, and
that number ofalwounded Danes, who
had crawled to the stream to drink. had
been cruelty slaughtered by the Saxons.
despite the entreaties of good 1nonk,l
who tried hard to save them. 80 :. y =
/" Ever since that day-so ran the le-.
gendr-on the anniversary of the massa-.
ere, any one who passed the spot after
nightfaH would hear the shouts of the
slayers, and shrieks of the slain, min
Cling with the hoarse rush Of the water.
and weuld see-if the rooo,, ,.a,.o h. sss,t
enough to show Il to him- I $500 stras.m,
running as red rs blood. III -
$50, what with this nice story (Which
every soul In the district knew by hearty,
and what with the gloominess of the
shy Of Il Is i It had been ! fa~sr -, 8
pital. ..ss. -1.s's - = = ny
q OF course. / was yerv M ucb mn o,,t
ut seeing nv parishioners maL;npr -s soeh
geese of thamsalvas: hut.uhas. vas - 49, -
Talking to them would only hove
made thars -,,,rsa 's1... H.u onIy nave
told me that they who had Hvsd l lr lay -,
country al tier i;yes me, - = sns
about t than I who had nlr ;ust a muse
there. 'ass 0ouo
= IL f,.s+ Z 49,, y Gss
their terrors by Constantly ro iIa, eh ,c =
the haunted sDots mvself 6v ,s??r. 49,
wen as by day. ens =
aBut il was not a b;t of roo for 49,