Daily Republican., 1884-02-11
The Hal Hoy.

"T-ll me about your pa. l haven,
heard Anything from him for n Ions
time" said the grcccryman as ht
handed the hoy cracker, and sal
down On Il halt uI5bel measure by the
stove.
"WclI, You see, last night we got ia
talking about haunted houses, and pa
said there was no such thing rs a haunt.
ed house. He aid whenever any un-
usual noise was heard in u house, in.
Stead of investigating it, people got
scared and went around talking about
the house Hing banD'ed, and before
long everybody believed it, the repna-
ton Of the house WAS ruined, and every.
body was nervous. Ia said that haunt
ed houses was on par with spiritual
ism, and people OF SENSE never took any
stock in either.
"He said II ever heard of q haunted
houte, TO lot him know and he would
90 through 1t and investigate it in the
dark. thought to myself, boss you
can't fool Hennery, and laid for pa
That evening my chum's cat came ovel
to visit our cat, and when it was time
to go to bed the two cats were sleeping
by tho stove, and pa told me l bettel
put the cats out doors and go to bed
SO | took the cats up carefully ant
raised up the cover to the piany, ant
laid the cats down in the back side o
the instrument, among the strings, ant
pet,rd them, and they went 10 sleep
and | shut down tho cover, and We al
went to bed.
".Pa and ina sleep right over the par
lOr, and sleep at the back Ofthe house
Along about 2 o'clock In the morning
about the time cats usually get wok,
up and begin to prowl around, ther,
was a faint scratching of toe-nails OF
the strings, and yowl, that sounded al
though it came from the sewer. 1t wa,
evidently music, such az you get a
clearinghouse where boarder prac
tioes on the piano for her board. lis
tened, and pretty soon there was two
meous' and spit, and the strings
acted as though they were being walk
cd on the way a cat does when she put.
her paws up in your lap and lets bel
toe nails 60 through your pants.
81 got up and went to pas room, and
ma was sitting up in bei with hel
nightcap on, her hair standing right W
straight, and she was trying to get pa
TO raise up and listen, and he put his
head under the bed clothes and tried tC
snOre, but knew pa was scared. told
pa that wasn't afraid, but wished he
would let me sleep on the lounge in his
room, and pa raised up and wanted tC
l., ha MI NJ
the cats in the piano seemed to have
come together for their regular evening
fight, and of all the music you ever
heard, that beat everything.
"Pa listened and said that 1t was
somebody next door trying to play
opera, but ma said something was in
the house, and told pa The house was
haunted, and for him TO get up and in
vesti gate. Pa was kind Of shamed tt
be afraid, 40 he got up, and all wa,
still, and he got his pants on and went
out in the hall, and just then the catt
got to fighting another round, and pa
rushed into the bathroom and closed
the door, and yelled for ME to open The
window and boiler for the police.
~ got up and asked pa, through the
door, ii he was afraid, but he thought
seeing he was in the bathroom hi
would takea bath, and l told him If hi
was afraid would 60 down and invest
gate, because there was no haunted
house that had any terror for Hennery
and i went down and lot the cats ou
aud they got on the back fence and had
real sociable time, and otter 1t was al
still pa came out with a towel in hi
hand and tried to make III believe HI
had taken = bath at two o'clock In thu
morning with cold water. | don
think 1t 10 right for a father TO try II
deceive his little boy that way. RI
must have washed himself real hard
for he was pale as ghost when hi
came out OF the bath room, but he wa
paler still in the morning when he found
the piano full of cat hair. He think
the air from the register blew into thu
Manu.