The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-08
THE Dogs GHOST.
Hal Rowland's Story.

Rowland Farm more'n 4 hun ired
years, and part of it is Just as when
they first owned it. The kitchen is
And it's large enough for a dozen New
York City kitchens-fat kitchens. |
mean-with great BIG fireplace,
smoky old rafterS, brick floor and enor-
/ nous closets. Our folks don't use it
'cept in summer. cause it's too cold
there at other times, and there isn't
any way to warm it unless We spent a
fortune on fire-woOd: They use the
new kitchen on the other side of the
, house, which isn't as picturesque, but IS
a good deal more comfortable
! And the rooms over the old kitchen
are just as they were first built, too,
with little high-up windows and low
ceilings. One of them is nv den, and
the other is a spare room for boys
! And there long paSSageway lighted
by a slylight leading from these rooms
to the new part of the house. l chose
that room sOon's / got Old enough to
| have room to myself, cause | could
stamp round and whistle and sing as
much as had mind to there without
somebody calling out every III mute:
"Oh, Hal! for mercy's sake do stop
/ that noise" And | wasn't bit afraid
to sleep there, though lots of old people
down in the village said thai in old
times the long passageway used to be
haunted from eleven till twelve o'clock
by phantom dog. II seems one of my
great-great- grandfather was VERY
bad-tempered man, and very cruel to
animals, and one night a poor, half
starved dog got into the house. ara.
whined and howled and made row
generally outside of his bedroom door.
Well, my amiaUle g.-g.-g. got up,
dragged the wrctched beast downstairs,
through the kitchen, and out into the
back yard, and there he shot him. And
ever after that until nv g-g.-g. died
so the story gOes-the ghost of that dog
came every night, at the hour it had
been shot, and howled at my g.-g-g-'s
door. And that isn't all. Some of the
village Venerabies declare that it has
been seen several times since my g.-g.-
=. died.
l never took much stock in the story
myself, cause | don't believe in such
things, neither does my mother: but, to
tel the up ard down truth, L did feel q
Little queer on two or three very dark
nights when l was Weakened out OF a |
sound sleep by a big strange bark |
Well, rs | was saying. the phantom dog
story didn't scare me much. but one 1
night | pretended it did Twas one
night in the last part of May. when my
second cousin, HJbe Horton, was visit
ing us.
Hobe had lived way off West ever
since he was baby, aud I'd never seen
him before this visit. He's - slim chap,
with enormous gray eyes and curly light
hair. ana he speaks soft rs @ rl-soiter
than lots of girls, cause there's no de-
nying most girls yell Is though Won
Were deaf, uR Jess they're whispering
secrets l Thought when they told me
he was coming that was 90 NO to see
a regular out-and-out backwOodsman,
chOck full OF iun and stories bout tears
and buflaloes and Iniuns.
But Hobe said his mamma hadn't let
him hunt bears and butfaloes and In
luns much. And oh! wasn't he good?
He was too good for an thing. And
my mother and my grandmother and
my aunts--Ive got iive-kept a-saying:
% Take pattern by your cousin, Hal.
He never talks slang nor shins up q tree
and tears his trousers, nor blacks
friends eye, nor puts mice in the COM
pany's hat, nor spills 'lasses on the door
mat. And he always says yes, sir
and mo- SIR AM yes. ma am and
no, ma'am.' ms cad Of yep and
nope, and it's pla n to be seen that he
would act like a perfect gentleman
under any circumstances. and never go
yelling round, as you do sometimes,
even i! the house were aiire-" /.
Well. you know that sort Of talk to
fellow bout another fellow nearly sets
1 fellow wild. AMI got to almost hat
ng that Hobe. did, and 1 made up nv
mind that I'd try tonlake him yell once,
md that without Sc ting the house a
ire either. And so one night went to
dobe's roOm-it was the room opposite
o mine-and L began talking about the
phantom dog.
"And do you know any one that has ,
'eally seen it?" said Ho5e.
Two of our servants who used to
leep in this part OF the house say they
aw something strange around here ,
nee, and they were SO. frightened that ! ,
ny mother had to give them a room
lear her, said /.
I'D a you ever see it?'r said he.
"No" said 1 81 can't exactly say
hat | have, bnt I've heard Queer howl
NO ard barking several times in the
mid lie of the light shat Didn't belong
o this neighhOrhood-
Then l said ''Good-night. and went ,
o NY own room. ooh, must tell voTz ,
hat neither of oar DOCS could be- ,
o ked, cause I'd lost both the keys-) I
t vas near twelve O'Clock, and / WIS ,
'.se HObe was a little ; AIRED, for, 10
{ I the up-and-down. truth, l was nE- ,
81. 'Canse no matter how much you ,
ant behave in sach things, if YOU salk
bout tn N at night. Win no light but
coonligst. and sEerythi ng solemn still.
on get sort Of chilly creep in spite OF
ourselI Special doxn your back.
But all the same, soon 8 / cot into
ny oSa room | began to turn myself
nto phantom dog.
took our bathroom rug--it's one of
hose big white shaggy-haircd rugs
nd ted il around me w1h . fish-line,
nd then lput on a mask like dogs
ace that my brother VIM bought to
wear to a masqusr de party, and my
'ster's long seal-skin mItens didn't
he raise a jolly row when she found
EN- n my room next day., and then
vent down on all fours, and made for
aobe's door with fearful bark.
But the very monent barked some |
hing gave tremendous howl, and
here n the passageway, glancing at
ne with fiery eyes. stood creature r