Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-01-31
The House When Alone.

When the house is alone by itself, mex
perienced persons may believe that 1t be
haves just exsctly as 1t does when there
are people in II; but that is deluslOn, as
YOU will discover If you are left alone in II
at midnight, sitting up for the rest of the
family. At this hour il is true disposition
will reveal itself. To catch it at IFS best,
pretend to retire, put out the gas or lamp,
and go up stairs Afterwards come down
softly, light no more than one lamp, go
into the empty parlor, and seat yourself
at a table, with something 20 read. No
sooner have you done so than ycu will
hear chirp, chirp, chirp, along the top of
the roonl-a small sound, but persistent.
1t Is evidently the wall paper coming of;
and you decide, after some tribulatIOn, that
if it does come eff you can't hep II, and
20 on with your reading.
AS you sit with your book III your hand
Won begin to be quite sure that some one
is coming down stairs Squak-sguak-
squak. What follyI There is nobody up
there TO come down; but there-noi il is
on the kitchen stairs. Somebody is COM
ing up. SqIsk-snap. Well, if II is u
y
get the poker, and stand with your back
against the wall. Nobody comes up. Fin
ally you decide that you are goose, put
the poker down, get magazine and try
TO read.
There, that's the door. You heard the
lock turn. They are coming home. You
run to the door, unlock and unbOlt 1t, peep
out Nobody therei But as you hnger,
the door tick gives a click that makes ou
jump. By Daylight neither lock nor
stairs make any Uf those noises unless they
are touched or trodden on. You go back
to the psrlor in hurry, with feeling
that the next thing you know something
may catch you by the back-hslr, and you
try to remember where you LEFT OF. Now,
IL is the table that snaps and cracks as if
all the splrltualIstic knocEs were hidden
IN Its mahogany. You 90 not lean on it
heavily without TINS result; but it fdgets
you, and you take a easy chair char and
put the book on your hnee. Your eyes
wander up and down the page, and you
grow dreamy, when, apparently, the book
cases fires off pistol; at least, a loud.
fierce crack comes from the heart of that
piece of turniture-so loud. so fierce, that
you jump to your feet, trembling.
You cannot stand the parlOr any more.
You go up stalrs. No sooner do you get
there than it seeps TO yol somebody is
walking on the roof. II the house Is a
detached one, and the thing is impossible,
that makes 1t all the more mysterious
Nothing ever named IN the chimney be
fore. but something means ROW. There |
is a ghOstiy step In the bath rom. You |
md out Afterwards that Il Is the tap drip |
ping, but you do hot dare 10 look at that |
time. And 1t IS evident that there Is some |
thing UP the chimney-you would moi ike |
10 ash what. If you have gas, 1t bobs up |
and down in a phantom dance. Ii you /
have lamp, 1t goes out in blue explosion. |
II you have candle, shroud plainly en-
WRAPS the wick and falls towards YOU.
The blinds shake as If a hand clutched |
them; a10, finally dOleful cat begins to |
moan IN the cellar. You do not keep a
cat, and this finishes you.
You pretend to read no longer, and. SIT
ting with towel over your head and face,
and hearing something below 90 ''Shew
;hewl shewl sheSI" like saw, you be
ieve in the old ghost stories. Ten minutes
Afterwards the bell rings; the belated ones
comes home; the lights are lit; perhaps
must be got out to eat People
ak and tell where they have been, and
isk If you are lonesome. Ard not stair
'reaks. No steps heard on the roof. No
lick at the front door. No bookcase nor
able cracks. The house has on Its COM
amy msnners-Only you have found out
low II behaves whea II IS alone.