The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-12-15
UNCLE HUGHS SECRET

day warm and oppressive. and [
wearied almost beyond endurance.
If Uncle Hugh had had his way.
every visitor to Mount Graham
would have come all the way by
carriage, but fortunately it was be.
yond even his power to enforce that.
What he could do he had done, how
ever. Several years before, there
had been prospect of having a
railway station within ten miles of
the place. The very idea made Uncle
Hugh frantic. Tooth and nail he
fought it, and, alas, was successful.
The railway was turned aside, and
though the struggle had left him
Strengthened in circumst ances, al
most impoverished, I do not believe
that he had ever felt one regret.
AS the carriage swayed and jolted
along, and the old coachman nodded
on his box, with full faith in the
time.tried fidelity of his fat horses, I
tried to beguile the tedium OF the
way by recalling the incidents of tho
one summer which I had spent with
Uncle Hugh In my childhood.
Mount Graham was a quaint, CID
fashioned place, built long before the
Revolution, and the queer stories
which were told about it had been
the romance of my childhood. or
course it was peopled by ghosts of
every shape and hue. There must
have been d regular colony ofghosts,
for there was one devoted to every
spot in the house from cellar to attic.
There was the spectral carriage, which
was heard, but never seen, to stop DIT
the front door in tho middle of the
night A British officer haunted one
bedroom, and a White Lady anoth-
er. Ut would be interesting to know
whether they ever met. and Upon
what terms they were in private
Black Nancy held possession of the
garret, where she still groaned and
clanked her chains as she had done a
hundred years before when she was a
living maniac. Indians and negroes
had played a part in the early histo-
ry of the house, Ii was before the
Revolution, when the country was
still an unbroken forest, that old
Colonel Graham conceived the idea
of building a homestead here. He
went himself to select a site, and left
q gang of black mon behind him,
with provisions enough to last
through the summer and autumn.
But, alasl the winter came that year
with unprecedented suddenness and
severity, shutting in the poor black
men to what seemed certain death.
Vainly were exploring parties sent to
their relief The cruel cold bafled
all efforts, and the negroes were,
perforce, left to their fate, In the
spring Col. Graham went to the scene
Of the tragedy. He expected to hear
only the moan of the forest and the
dash of the waterfall. He heard
these indeed, but mingled with them
were the ring of hammers and the
clamor of cheerful voices. Hesxpect-
ed to find ten meldering skeletons,
perhaps with the mark of the cruel
tomahawk upon them. He found in.
stead ten of the latest and joliest
darkies that his eyes ever rested
upon. Instead of fighting the Indians
they had fraternized with them, and
as soon as the weather allowed red
and blackmen went cheerfully to
work upon the new house. And that
was why ghostly negroes and In
dians stalked amicably through hall
and corridor.
The house was q plain one enough
"a long, low, rambling building, with
q pizza whose roof extended above
the second-story windows, wonder
fully shaded with grape-vines and
trumpet-creepers. Inside all that was
queer and cramped, according to our
modern ideas. The rooms were tiny,
and opened oddly out of each other
by narrow folding-doors. The ceilings
were low, some plain, Others crossed
by huge beams. There deep cushioned
window-seats in the small paned win
dows. which still bore upon their
faithful transparent breasts the
name OF by-gone bellies. "Miss Polly"
and "Miss Betty" had been dust for
many year, but the names which
their admirers had scratched upon
the fragile glass were as fresh as the
day they were cut. And there was
not a decent closet in the house.
That, of course, was quite absurd,
but Uncle Hugh never could be made
to see it.
cit served my fathers, and will
serve me" he said, and never could
be induced to make the slightest al
The furniture suited the house.
There were great hair-cloth-covered
sofas with frames of solid mahogany,
some with brass trimmings, Others
curiously carved into the form of
scaly dragons. There were bureaus
with claw feet and brass handles on
the drawers, and great clumsy four
post bedsteads, with heavily carved
Eggs and shrouding curtains. The
ballest man could not open the upper
drawers of the bureaus or step into
the beds unaided. Therefore STEP
ladders were provided, small but |
mahogany affairs, neatly
and made to serve a
double purpose, as the top lifted up
and showed a receptacle for night |
clothes. There were stiff-backed |
chairs and spindle-legged tables, tall |
slender candle-stands, and quaint |
little work-stands, with futed sides,
and faded satin bags suspended be-
meath, and all the rest of the odd old |
furniture, which in these days would |
set a collector mad with longing, but |
1T which we privately turned up
scornful noses.
There was not much fault to be
found with the garden, for all it |
was prim and old-fashioned. Never
Vpra how hordnrS an foil ond trim,