The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-02-15
The House When Atono.

When the house Is alone by itself, inox-'
perienced persons may believe that 1t be-
haves just exactly as 1t does when there
are people in 1t: but that Is a delusion, as
YOU will discover If you are left alone in 1T
at midnight, sitting up for the rest of the
family. At this hour 1t Is true disposition
will reveal itself. To catch it at lis best,
pretend to retire, put out the gas or lamp,
and 60 up stairs. Afterwards come down
softly, light no more than ono lamp, 20
into tho empty parlor, and seat yourself
at a table, with something to read, No
sooner have you done 80 than you will
hear chirp, chirp, chirp, along the top of
the room-a small sound, but persistent.
1t Is evidently the wall paper coming of;
and you decide, after some tribulatlon, that
IL 1t does come off you can't help 1t, and
20 on with your reading.
AS you sit with your book IN your hand
you begin to he quite sure that some one
Is coming down stairs. Squak-squak--
squak! What folly! There is nobody up
there to come down; but there-nol it is
on the kitchen stairs. Somebody is COM
ing up. Squak-snapl Woll, II 1t is a
robber, you might as well face him You
get the poker, and stand with your back
against the wall. Nobody comes up. Fin
ally you decide that you are a goose, put
the poker down, get magazine and try
to read.
There, that's the door. You heard the
lock turn. They arc coming home. You
run to the door, unlock and unbolt 1t, peep
out. Nobody thcrel But as you linger,
the door lGck gives click that makes GU
jump. BY daylight neither lock nor
stairs make any uf those noises unless they
arc touched or rodden on. You go back
to the parlor in a hurry, with feeling
that the next thing you know something
may catch you by the back-halr, and you
try to remember where you left Off, Now,
| II is the table that snaps and cracks as if
| all tie splrltuallstic KNOCKS were hidden
III Its mahogany. You DO not lean on i,
| heavily without this result; but it tidgets
you, aud you take 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 furniture-so loud. so fierce, that
you jump to your feet, trembling.
You cannot stand the parlor any more.
You 60 up stairs. No sooner do you get
there than it seems to you somebody is
walking on the roof. If the house ls a
detached one, and the thing is impossible,
that makes 1t all the more mysterious.
Nothing ever marned IN the chimney be-.
fore. but something means now. There
Is ghostly step In the bath. room. You
hnd out afterwards that 1t ID the tap drip
ping, but you do not dare to lcok at that
time. Ard 1T ID evident that there IS some.
thing up the chimney-you would not ike
to ask what. If you have gus, 1t bobs up
| and down in a phantom dance. If you
have lamp, it goes out in blue explosion.
If you have candle, a shroud plainly en-
| wraps the wick and falls towards YOU.
| The blinds shake as IL a hand clutcbcd
them; and, finally IL 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 a towel over your head and face,
and heaIiug something below 90 "Shew /!
shew! shew shewl" like saw, you be-.
lieve in the old ghost stores. Ten minutes
afterwards the bell rings; the beated ones
comes home; the lights are lit; perhaps
something must be got out to eat People
talk and tell where they have been, and
ask If you are lonesome. Ard not a stair
creaks. No steps heard on the roof. No
click at the front door. No bookcase nor
table cracks. The house has on It's COM
pany manners--only ycu have found out
how 1t behaves when II Is alone.