, 1886-07-10
A REAL GHOST.

where two or three small customers
needed attention. My business with
them was somewhat delayed, 50 that ]
had n few minutes to reach the station.
only to learn that the train had just
gone. The last car, in fact, was dis;tl-
pearing around the curve, and winked q
red eye at me from the rear platform.
while from between the distant hills the
locomotive shricked back its derision al
my discontinue. | was out of breath
and out Of temper, and there was no
train until 10 O'Clock the next morning.
So ] picked up my %valise, and got into a
shabby stage, inscribed with furnished
gilt letters, ~Lodervillc House,
The supper was good. But this adjec-
tive, though applying well enough to the
main body of the repast. does but sc'int
Justice TO the desert. This crown and
glory of the meal vas a pie, a mince
pie, compounded by the landlady
herself. When | think of the worse
than worthless limitation of this noble
American dish that fiaunt ut every rail.
road restaurant, and appears unabashed
at first-class hotel tables, invading even
the sacred domain Of home. to impose
upon the digestion of the very elect. and
then recall the memory OF this magnifi-
cent pie with its delicious depths and
delicately blended ~flavors, l do not
wonder that my prudence forsook me.
Forgetting that pie at nightnever agreed
with me, and that mince pie never did,
/ swallowed section after section, regard
lesso of consequences.
After supper l looked over the local
newspaper, and examined the county
map hanging on the wall, and then sat
down before the fireplace and listened to
the gossip Of the idlers who are the in
variable attaches of every village tavern.
There was much discussion concerning
Crops, " and the coming election, together
with the doctrinal u~nsoundness of Par
son Wobley. and the worldly-minded.
ness of Mrs. Parson Wobley. Then the
misdceds of certain moonshiners was
an absorbing theme.
By and by, n long and melancholy
featured young man made his way in
between the chairs. His brow was dark,
as were his eyes, and his hair was also
dark and long. Though scarcely speak.
ing a word, l recognized him at once as
the village genius. He did not come in
from outside, but apparently lived in thu
house. Then n dozen greetings went up
from the circle, and another familiar APP
partition was framed in the doorway.
Sam lawson, | may as well call him,
Sam at any rate was his name, village
historian, %annalist, and authority for
every local happening twenty miles
around. Without care, and without
hurry. he slouched leisurely in. and
stretched his long limbs in the seat
which was promptly made for him be-
fore the blaze. 1t took him II long time
TO answer, in his slow, deliberate fashion,
all the questions which were put to him.
He had been up the milk-crik- way q
helpen' Widder Baker for 2 .. u
ing n little package s-'" MS Pochel, nc
said: "Gentl~-hen there's some articles
;n-.,.- paper which many of you well
! Tomember. though its nigh on to thirty
venrs sence the owner of them was
amongst rs. | allude to the late Judge
lockwood"
Judge J~edwood!" chorused twenty
voices nj once. What about him: Tel
u.s.
Wv 90 = a. Etiit 'ti-
tinued sam, n~nheeding the clamor, show
the Judge stopped three days at this hotel
before proceedin' o N his last journey to
the other side of Balls mountain. No
body. excepting them as hadn't ought.
knew that he carried $500 in gold sewed
up in his clothes when he set out on
hossbaek. Old Daddy Appleton was the
last who seen him ride into Bakers
Notch. Not n soul ever see him ride
out"
Here II sunburnt farmer broke in.
-Why, that there Notch has been haunted
eve sence. don't care as how Parson
Woblcy says it's onscriptural to believe
in ghosts. Don't ketch me round that
there again after dark, l can tell ye,r he
pursued, with much energy. Il knowed
see n spook the night Idruv home from
Cap'n Beasley's."
Guess it WAS some of Cap. Beasley's
sperrits then. +" retorted one of the younger
skeptics.
"Sperrits or spooks, l don't want to see
no more OF EN-. Didn't Jim Stafford,
who was TUX up on suspicion, move
away from the Notch because he never
could look out of his window nights
without a seem a white figger of the
judge, swallow-tail coat, brass buttons,
and all, a standin' out in the woods"
Here n curious light appeared in the
eye of the Genius, and | was relieved to
see him almost disappear behind tue
chimney jamb.
Gentleman" resumed Sam. impress
QtNaly Aulltafnn hoe hann t,oln D., a..
blue coat with the brass buttons which
the judge always wore. Them ten but
tons with the American eagles on EN-
you all remember EN-, / dare say"
Everybody who was old enough did.
Them ten buttons Sam continued,
were always polished up bright, and
looked like gold pieces. They don't look
so any more, for here they are and he
unrolled the paper.
The excitement following this disclos-
ure was quite indescribable, and the ten
mildcwcd, rusty disks of metal were
eagerly passed from hand to hand amid
questions and ordinations. The faint
outlines of an eagle We're imperfectly
traced on each one. Everybody implored
Sam to explain, which he did, us soou as
they gave him a chance.
WAL, you sec, Widow Bakers grand.
sons We're a stoppin' up at the Notch farm,
and | tell ye, when it comes to raisin' tn,
devil generally, it would be putty hard &c
find the beat of them ere two youngsters.
Yesterday they was a-playin' down At
the erik. and all to vans they set UP a
screech. aud up they Gun through the
brush yellin' and howlin' rs If n tribe Of
injuns Were bs hind 'em. was n chop
pin wood. aid | locked up and see the