The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1888-08-11
"Poohl Who's afraid I'm going that

foot.bridge. had no argument in favor OF
my plan, except to say that we should reach
the highway soonerby that route; but was
unusually obstinate that night, and repeated:
II shall go by the way Of the sawmill. You
can go which way you choose"
"But we all want to go together" said my
sister. ~ asked mother II we might stay
| with Ellen tonight"
~ don't want to; rather sleep at home.
| You need not wait for me IL you got out
| first"
Saying which l plunged into thick
| growth Of underbrush in the direction of
the sawmill. The way was rougher than
thought. The bushes were very thick and
| tangled, but stumbled along fcw rods
Then heard, or thought heard, tho girls
calling me. Quite glad of an excuse to for
sake my plan, l turned toward them and
called, but received no answer. I called
again and again, and ran to and fro to avoid
the rocks dimly seer through the incrcas-
ing darkness, till grow quite angry with
them for not answering, but for a long time
had no thought of being lost.
When gave up the hope of overtalsing
the girls, stopped quite bewildercd, for
had lost the points OF compass entirely. l
could not judge of my course by "the lay OF
| the laud,n for the mountain rises in combs,
and the growth of trees was so dense that 1
could not sec the clipper" which was the
only constellation 1 really knew.
began to run back and forth at random,
controlled by fear which every moment
| grew more intense, till seemed to be en-
veloped in an atmosphere Of terror. ran
and ran, and screamed and shouted, beat
ing against trees and stumbling over rocks
and roots till at last 1 fell headlong down a
precipice, only few feet probably, though
l seemed to be falling through miles of
black space.
Dumb with terror, lay on the soft bed of
leaves where / had fallen. All was dark
ness and silence, except the signing of the
wind and the cry of screech-owl in the
distance. was not brought up in the woods
to fear an owl, but that low, mournful
tremolo, which has brought chill to many
an older heart than mine, added to the gloom
| of the situation.
| l lay where l fell till I became calmer.
| MY fears had been altogether vague, for
had not once thought of rattlesnakes, cata-
| mounts or ghosts, with which the mountain
was said to be infested.
| began to reason with myself with such
| success that soon came to the conclusion
| that had not been frightened at all--at
least not much-and then 1 formed plan
for getting home. l arose, peered carefully
round, and started toward the lightest part
| OF the woods, which 1 hoped indicated
clearing. | felt my way slowly between the
trees, which were very small and thickly
set, till on putting my foot carefully for
ward, set it on one end Of some cylindrical
object which yielded under my foot, while
the other end flew up and hit me near my
waist.
Without doubt it was a flexible branch,
m nj " hnn "a
with one wild shrek and bound, started of
through the woods, frenzied with fear, beat
ing and bruising myself against the trees.
Finding that running was out of the ques-
tion, crouched down by the foot of tree
and waited for The snakes, for l felt sure
that was just where Mrs. Howard warned
me not to go--in the rattlesnake dens. l
fancied could hear them coming from all
directions, creep, creep, creeping along. But
they never reached me, and after awhile
common-sense came to my aid and instructed
me that snakes did not travel at night. /
breathed freer till the swapping of a dry twig
supplied me with new terror. Panthers
of course! night was just their time for
prowling, and 1 made no question but that I
should be dragged away to make d supper
for litter of young catamounts within
few minutes. In less t,an that time 1 saw
| from my mind for the rest of that night.
| My father was singularly fearless man
and taught us to be so. He allowed US to ex-
plore the mountain and take our chances,
which. he said, were ten thousand to one
that we never saw rattlesnake; and the
last panther known to have been on that
mountain was killed, he told us, eighty
years before. As for ghosts, which were
said to float uneasily over the old cemetery
on the south slope, we did not even so much
as dare mention them in his presence But
| If ever mortal eyes saw ghost, here was
| one
| Just before me was little opening and
| beyond, under low, branching hemlock,
was the ghostly presence, swaying and
beckonirg to me in the dim starlight. If /
was terrified before was frozen with horror
now, and l felt my hair rising under my
pink calico sun-bonnet Again and again /
looked, till could endure it no longer; then
l covered my eyes till the unseen terror was
worse than the sight itself.
As have said, my education in ghosts
and hobgoblins had been neglected, but Aunt
| Chatty, an old woman who sometimes
washed for my mother, had told US of various
appearances" ON the mountain. AS the
latest of these apparitions was fifty years
before, we felt tolerably secure, but now
ordinary weeks SOON short to the time l
stood confronting that diaboical whiteness
Il shut my eyes and counted fifty, one hun
dred, even one thousand, but each time l
looked. tho appearance stood swaying and
floating before me.
"Speak to ghost" Aunt Chatty had
said, ''and it will disappear"
But what should say9 what converse
tion could one hold with such shape! but
any thing was better than this. l deter.
mastering all my courage, shouted:
'sGit aeout!"
cautiously opened my eyes hoping the
coast was clear, but there 1t was, beckoning
and swaying; almost thought 1t grinned
at me.
At last, l thought might as we'll go tc
meet it and die at once as to stand there
dying of dread and fear. / closed my eyes
again, ran few stops and opened then
quite near to-a white birch tree! The low
branches of the hemlock had swayed In the
breeze before it, but the stalwart white
trunk certainly neither swayed nor beckoneG
nor yet grinned.
sat down and cried and laughed in pure
nervousness The noise woke some bird
lings in the nest over my head, suppose
for heard the mother chirping u soft lula
by, and tho old words: "Ye are Of more
value than many sparrows" stole into my
7 heart with inexpressible comfort.
now felt that l must spend the night OF
the mountain and make the best of II.
found heap of dry leaves near the ghostlA
birch and broke II quantity of boughs from thu
4 al ba N, lnrk IN mn Ea ma a had b,,f ho