Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-04-03
A GH0STLY GLASS.

A GI0STLY GLASS.
The death of an aunt had called me
to the city. The funeral over, | was
weary and lonely, and overcome by Il
disagrecable forcboding of future I'M
certainty something which always at
tacks me after funeral. went to
the room assigned me, lighted the
gas, then sat me cautiously down in Il
''slcepy hollow and looked about
me.
say "sat me cautiously down." be-
cause am Il coutry girl, and know
very little about the springs and
strange contrivanccs which 90 to fur
nish fashionable city housc-as, in
truth, my story will certainly prove to
you.
Country girl though | am, | have
read enough to understand that strange
things happen to us, seemingly for no
purpose whatever, and they call it the
workings of Fate. Now, there was no
great need of me coming to the city.
| accomplished nothing by so doing; |
received Il terrible fright, and return
ed home feeling like fool generally.
And | have come to the conclusion
since that Fate, wishing to, try her
hand upon me, played that trick to her
own satisfaction and my great
woe.
When left my home, in Clovcrdalc,
| had decided to remain in San Fran
cisco but two days, for | hate the city;
it STILES me, makes me nervous and
hurts my eyes. Besides, the city pave
mcntS weary my feet, and | seem to
lose all my pride and strength under
so many eyes and in such n crowd.
My cousins, when they come TO us in
the summer, complain of WEAKNESS
from perfectly opposite causes, and
suppose it is natural to weary of that
which we are not used to.
Well, sitting there in that blue satin
"sleepy hollow | looked about me
and sighed at the grandeur of my sur
roundings. There were two immense
rooms divided by blue satin curtains
and white lace draperies. had no
desire to look behind those curtains,
for it looked very dark and uninviting.
did not like to feel that the room
was there. wished from the bottom
of my heart that they had given me
one Of the servants rooms, instead of
doing me so much uncomfortable hon
or.
The rooms were the back suite,
which overlooked the city. pulled
aside the lace and satin, opened Il
blind, and was at once fascinated by
the brilliancy of the view.
| When | look out of my own little
muslin-curtaincd window at home, IN
the night, unless it be moonlight, |
am obliged to imagine all that lies be-
fore me. But here was fairy-land at
my feet. Lights ilickcred and iloated
as far as | could see, and in the south
crn extremity of the city was an i'm
mcnsc curve of lights; then there were
lines of lights; then there lights in
every conceivable shape, and when |
looked at the star-lillcd sky, and then
at the lamp-lit earth, | could not tell
in my rapture whlrc Earth left off and
the heavens began.
At last | turned from the window
and stood still in the vast place, and
felt, | am sure, very much like Il
mouse in church.
Suddenly the thought occurred to
me that my aunts rooms were adj
joining these which she had given me;
that but II few hours before her still
body had lain there; and, in spite of
myself, | shuddcred.
am afraid my imagination was get
ting the better of me, for the more |
allowed myself to think, the larger
seemed to grow the rooms. The long,
lace draperics seemed like huge ghosts
looking down upon me- The Fireplace
looked like an immense mouth,
opened to take me in. The bed in
the corner, which was an ancient
French affair, with misunderstanding
roll ut the head instead of a pillow,
looked to me like Il tomb. could not
help fancying that in that bed should
look like the stone figures on the pill
lars in Westminster, with nose and
toes turned upward, and hands folded
on the breast, as ] had seen them in
pictures. Again | shuddercd, and
longed for my comfortable bed at
home, with which felt at least ac-
quainted.
At last | saw what | took to be a
French plate mirror. Forgetting for a
moment my discomfort in the pros
pect of seeing myself in real plate
glass, | hurried across the room, stood
in front of the awful mouth, and
peered into the mirror.
Hooked and was amazed. | looked
again, but it was the same. Puzzled
and alarmed, l sat down on the nearest
chair to get my breath. | put my
hands to my face, to make sure / had
one. Yes, it was there, and being
assured of this, it gave me courage to
look again. did so, but the mirror
obstinately refused to cast back any
reflection. 1t reflected the room, but
not me.
"Am / thcn," l said, "of so slight
: importance that city mirrors refuse to
| ltI lllt sou NY ocll Oh tlltll oulluItbE
Again looked, and felt very much
like the man who sold his shadow to
the demon. ! felt more lonely and
chilled than before.
Then l determined to go over every
article in the reflection of the room
and see if that were perfect. Yes,
there was the tomb-like bed in the cor.
ncr, there the chiffonier, there the
"sleepy hollow" the hassocks, the
long, ghostly curtains, the table in the
, center of the room. Slowly l turned
my head over my shoulder and started
on seeing no table. Again looked in
the glass. Yes, there stood queer
little table.
This decided my next move. Ipulled
the bed clothes down from the tomb