Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-11-05

y
spltters were at work on the point
and one day the foreman fatty re-
fused to go back, declaring that
queer things happened down there,
and that he had seen ghost. Mr..
Kennedy, his employer, laughed at
him and dismissed the matter from
his mind. Some time after this
Mr.. Kennedy had occasion to ride
through the woods to look after
some sheep, there being but one
road and the water on either side.
AS he approached the point his
horse started violently and refused
to go on, regardless of whip or spur.
Glancing about for the carse OF
this unnatural fright, he
SAW A WOMAN RISE UP
from log, few yards in advance,
and stand by the roadside, looking
at him. She was very poorly clad
in a faded calico dress, and wore a
limp sun-bOnnet. from beneath
which her thin, jet-black hair
struggled down on her shoulders;
her face was thin and sallOw, and
her eyes black and piercing. Know
ing that she had no business there,
and occupied in controlling his
horse, he called to her, somewhat
angrily, to get out of the way, as
his animal was afraid of her. Slow
" she turned aud walked into the
thicket, uttering not syllable, and
looking reproachfulIy at him as she
went. With much difficulty he
forced his horse to the spot, hop
ing to find out who the strange in
truder might be, but the most care
full search failed to reveal the trace
of any one, although there was no
place of concealment and no possi-
BILE way of escape, for which, in
deed, there was not sufficient time.
Mr.. Kennedy declared that the
thought of Peg Alley never entered
his mind until that moment; but
upon discovering that nc one was
upon the peninsula beside himself
he turned his horses head home
ward without looking further for
his sheep, and with a decidedly
sympathetic feeling toward the
recusant rail-splitter.
Admitting the undoubted credi-
bility of the witness, it may be
said that this case is easily ex-
plicable under Sir David Brew
ster's theory of the objective pro
lection upon the visual organs of a
subjectively conceived image. But
it is scarcely possible that, in sound
health, so powerful a mental i'm
preston could exist without the
individual being conscious of any
such impression, and without his
ever having heard a description of
the dress and features which he
remembered afterward with all the
vivid accuracy of reality.
AN APPARITION AND DEATH.
The old family seat of the T.'s
one of the most prominent names
in the community, is not far from
the scenes of the aforementioned
adventure. In all this region of
lovely situations and charming
water views, its site is one Of the
most beautiful. The brick man.
sion, with all the strangely mixed
comforts and discomforts OF an
cient architecture, rears its roof up
from an elevated lawn, while the
silvery thread Of a land-lOcked
stream winds nearly around the
whole. Over the further bank
dance the sparkling waters of a
broad estuary, flashing in the
glance of the sunshine or tossing
its white capped billows in angry
mimicry of the sea. The CLEAN
of white sails IS never lacking to
add variety and pitcuresqueness to
the scene. In the dead, hushed
calm oil q summer evening, when
the lifted oar rests on the gunwale,
unwilling to disturb with its dip
tue CLASSY surface, one has a
strange, dreamy sense of being sus
pended in space, the sky, in all its
changing beauties, being accurate
ly reflected in illimitable depth by
the still water, until the charm is
broken by the splash and ripple of
a school of nomadic alewives or the
gliding, sinuous fin of a piratical
shark. In this lovely home it was
wont for the family to assemble on
the occasion or certain domestic
celebrations, and it was at Onr of
these that thu following incident
occurred: All were present except
one member, who was detained by
sickness at her residence, fifteen
miles away. 1t was in early after.
noon that one of the ladies, stand
Ing at an open window, suddenly
exclaimed: "Why, there's Aunt
Milly crossing the flower garden"
The party approached the window,
and beheld, in great surprise, the
lady, in her ordinary costume, slow
ly strolling among the flowers.
She paused and looked earnestly at
the group, her features plainly Wis
able; then turned and disappeared
amidst the shrubbery. No trace
of her presence being discoyerable,
it was natural that gloom fell
upon the company. A few hours