The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-15
Fey TAe ASkanssw Trerslty. BEN STEGALL'S GHOST
BY NJ. R. WHITE.

rh NJ. K. WHITE. In every mans mind there is a lur.,-, germ of superstition which only ne.l feeding to become a full-fedged be- .s There was Ben S,egall who said ,h.-. never was such a thing as a phos, 5r. one time he nearly came to the cor .. sion that he was wrong on that point.
 He lived in sparsely settled country and was the accepted suitor of the pre-. est and liveliest girl in the commu.5y Millie Harkrider. He went to see ae, twice week, their homes being bu; few miles apart-soon reached on horse. back. On one of his visits the cone. sation turned upon ghosts. and thovsb he denied the possibility of supernatu-a sisitations, Millie was sure tha, ghos.. were to be seen al certain times .r5 places. and told him that on his road ore had been seen the night before. He r,ye no credit to the stoy-leaded it out .: original matter-and soon forgo, !; |. together.
 When the hour tor him to return nc arrived, he mounted his horse and -s:e oil. About half way he reached an e, tremely dark and lonely piece of wos5. when suddenly his horse stopped ..-s snorted. Looking up he saw diree.!y front of him small figure drapeC whites and was somewhat startled. b.. soon collected himself and attempted b ride forward. His horse, however. -e fused 10 go. He then dismoun,ed as tied his horse 10 sapling that grew :. hand. determined 10 ind out what |; "A. ,ha, blocked his way Bythis time, how- ever, the appari,ion had dsappesre and no efforts of his could trace t,
 To his mind there was sometht. peculiar in this, for he was perfectly familiar with every foo, of the ground i. the vicinity and could conceive ot It place where man or ghost qeuld hlde. lie pondered the matter over on his wav home asd till sleep closed his eyes. D.. could gain no light on the sub,ec,. Could il be, thought he. that such thing as ghost did exist: Ina, i, had pee no optical illusion he was quite certain. for his horse had seen ii as well as hi,,. self. Then what was it:
 Soon after this, Ben again called 10 see Millie. and. as usual. remained un.. after dark. He said nothing of his re cent adventure. les, he should frirh.ea her. On his way home his horse aqals stopped with fright while he was pass- ing through the dark stretch of woo,.s. and there in the same place stood ,.e white hgure This time Ben spoke ,e +. hoping 10 find out what i, was.
 Who are you v said he.
 Ask me not. came the answer.
 But why do you cross my path ,"
 l am your guardian angel and wosla befriend you
 In what way
 Do you not knoS there are foDeel. Tn this country
 II do.'
 Well, l am here 10 frigh,en ,he... away
 As the apparition thus spoke i, passe.. behind tree and disappeared. ben 20; down from his horse and made anotheF search, bu, in vain. He was halt con vinced that he had seen a verltabIe spirit from another world Look q, i, AS he would he could not account for what he had seen upon any other hypothes.s than that some supernatural agency was at the bottom oi the affair There had been several highway robberies com mltted Tn this vicinity recently. and the remarks of the appari,ion seemed piaas- ble 10 Ben. and he fel, rather please: tha, the ghost, or whatever 1t migh. be. had taken such an interest ia him, H. did not fe.r il. bu, |; puzzled him.
 In few days Ben once more vis,.eG the Harkriders'. Again. while returning nome after dark, he was met in the roac by his ghos,ly friend A few words passed between them and the ghost was Iust turning to go away when it fell Ben sprang from his saddle and wi,hou, wal. ing 10 tie his horse. hastened forward to where the pros,rate form lay. Tearins away the shoe, tha, enveloped the for;a he beheld the fair Millie. She haa slipped on rock and sprained hef ankle
 She soon explained 10 him how she had ,ried to frigh;en him out of pure mischief. how she had prepared bark door which she placed in front of large hole Tn tree which stood near and how she would go in there and hide. She knew shorter way from her home ,o the place, and by riding a horse to w;,i.- in nifty yards of the tree she managed 10 get there and iix herself as the ghost be- fore Ben came along.
 Ben and Millie are now one and cf,er Iaugh over their experience with or as ghost, and Ben ayers that for a while he believed m ghosts as strong as anybody
 A New Kind of Plant.