The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-30
A Country Mystery.
". C. Prime in Ne,c York Journal of COM
nIeTCe.

w. e.. PRIME NeU YORK journal OF COM
DIerce.
We live among mysteries Life itself is a
mystery. Death, with all the light that
has been poured on it by revelation, is a
mystery. Every process of nature i'll the
transformation of invisible matter into
green vegetation, purple and gold and blue
flowers ana fruits is mystery But so ac-
customed are we to these wonderful and in
explicable processes which are going on
around us that they excite but little inter
est and small surprise, while if an event
occurs which is out of the ordinary course
of events in our lives or among our sur
roundings, we are curious to know all
about it, and some such events excite our
widest curiosity.
If we lived among ghosts, if intelligent
beings of another than our human race
were constantly visible to us by night or
by day, passing to and fro among but not
of US. we should look on ghosts with as lit
tie wonderment as on the coming up of
trees, the drifting of clouds in the air, the
return of springtime and winter An in
teresting illustration of this is found among
the colored people in parts of the south.
They believe in ghosts or haunt" and
think they see them frequently, 50 fire.
quently and commonly that they think moth
ing strange OF such sights. Did you ever
see a hauhtN | once asked an intelligent
coored man. ooh, yes, everybody secs
haunts" "Do they brighten your What
should a haunt brighten any one forl You
see plenty of 'em all the time. They never
hurt you"
People are fond of minor mysteries, re-
gardless Of the grea' er mysteries around
them. There are few localities in which
You will not find existing some special mys-
terry, some occurrence which has taken
place, about which the local mind exercises
itself vainy to find explanation Of the why
or the wherefore.
Away Gown the valley beyond the Fran
coma mountains is a clearing in which are
tbs remains of a cellar wall, proving that
small house once stood there. Equally
strong proof exists in the tangle of CHINA
mon roses which annually perfume the air
among the thickets Of wild cherry now COW
ering the clearing, and IN the few rotten
boa DIS which crush under your feet as YOU
push through the thicket 10 reach the trout
stream which runs a few rods behind where
the house stood. IL is more than a half cen
tury since the house stood there. 1t was a
lonesome spot, well up on the slope Of the
hills, guarded in rear and on the right and
LETT by the untouched forest, looking out in
front over an extended landscape. 1t was
a mile from the next house, and nearly two
miles from the village. The house was old
wuen stranger bought the farm from tho
man who had built the house aud brought
up family in il, and had then moved to
the west. The stranger was thoroughly a
stranger. No one knew him, or where he
came from, and still more important, his
conversation. habits, tastes, and general
style Of life were wholly strange u those
Of the people IN this locality. lie mad no
employment IN common with the people.
He knew nothing about farming. H. never
plowed or cultivated his land. lie lived
quito alone IN the little house, whose spar q
furniture he had bought with H. lie re-
celyod letters occasionally a. tho village
po,tonice. which probably brought hun the
means Of living, Tor he always had suiii
elt money for the purchase OF the necessl
ties of life. he did not mingle with the
people, hut was nevertheless greatly liked
ny the men because 81 his hudiy ways, his
90 asloaal services ~ those ln neod. hi' val
uab 10 advice often sought anu always given
with willingness, and with ample evilience
that h. wa vel able b adsi-a fs-s-