Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-04-12

fence. with its big doors opening to-
ward the road. conspicuous land
mark in all my nightly walks. stood
the barn. remember wildly enough,
but in a remote, impersonal sort of
way, the scene on that far-off sunny
summer morning. As night after
night. swung past the ancient doors.
my brain in a pleasant confusion, I
never gave the remembrance any heed.
Finally. l ceased to recall it, and the
rafting of the wind in the time-warped
shingles fell on utterly careless ears.
One night, as Istarted homeward up
on the verge of twelve, the marsh seemed
all alive with flying CLEANS. The moon
was past the full. white and high; the
sky was thick with small black clouds,
streaming dizzily across the moons
face, and moist wind piped steadily
in from the sea. was walking swift
ly, not much alive to outward impress
ions, scarce noticing even the strange
play of the moon-shadcws over the
marshes, and got perhaps stones
throw past the barn. when creeping
sensation about my skin and thrill
of nervous apprehension made me stop
suddenly and take look behind.
The impulse seized me unawares, or
I should have laughed at myself and
gone on without yielding to such a
weakness. But it was too late. My
gaze darted unerringly to the barn.
whose great doors stood wide open.
There. swaying almost imperceptibly
in the wind, hung the body of our
neighbor. as I had seen it that dread
full morning long ago. For moment
could hear again my childish sobs.
and the remembrance of that horror
filled me with selt-pity. Then. as the
roots of my hair began to stir. my feet
set themselves instinctively for flight
This instinct, however. I promptly
and sternly repressed. knew all
about these optical illusions. and be-
gan to congratulate myself on this OPP
portunity for investigating one SO in
teresting and vivid.
At the same time I gave a hasty
side-thought 10 what would have hap
pened had / been one of the super
stitious farm-hands or fishermen of
the district. I should have taken to
my heels in desperate terror. and been
ever after faithfully persuaded of hay
ing looked upon veritable ghost.
said to myself that the apparition.
if looked upon it steadily, would van
ish as approached, or, more probably,
resolve itself into some chance COM
binatlon of moonlight and shadows.
In fact. my reason was perfectly salts
fled that the ghostly vision was due
solely to the association Of ideas-I
was fresh from my classes in philos-
ophy-aided and allotted by my own
pretty, vivid Imagination. Yet the
natural man, this physical being of
mine, revolved in every fiber of the
flesh from any closer acquaintance
with the thing.
began. with reluctant feet, to re-
trace my steps; but as l did SO the Wis.,
ion only grew SO much the clearer; and
cold perspiration broke out upon me.
Step bp step l approached, till stood
just outside the fence, face to face
with the apparition. leaned against
the fence. looking through between
the rails; and now, at this distance,
every feature came out with awful dis
tinctness-all so horrible in its distor-
ton that l can not bear to describe it
AS each fresh gust of wind Kissed
through the chinks l could see the
body swing before it heavily and slow
ly. Ihad to bring all my philosophy
to bear, else my feet would have
carried me off in frenzy of flight. At
last reached the conclusion that since
my sight was SO helplessly deceived 1
should have to depend upon the touch.
In no other way could l detect the
true basis of the illusion; and this way
was a hard one. By much argument and
self-persuasion l prevailed upon my
self to climb the fence, and with a sort
of despairing doggedness to let myself
down on the inside.
Just then the clouds thickened over
the face Of the moon. and the light
fadded rapidly. 10 get down inside
the fence with that thing was. for a
moment. simply sickening, and my
eyes dllated with the intensity of my
| stare. Then common-sense came to
the rescue, with revulsion of feeling,
and laughed-though not very mirth-
fully-at the thoroughness of my scare.
With an air of GOODNESS and defiance
1 walked right up to the open doors;
| and when SO close that 1 could have
touched it with my walking-stick. the
thing swayed gently and faced me in
the light of the reappearing moon.
Could my eyes deceive me? 1t GER
tainly was our neighbor Scarcely
knowing what l did. ! thrust out my
stick and touched it. shrinking back
as did so. What I touched. plain in-
stantly to my sight, was piece of
wood and iron-some portion of now
ing-machine or reaper, which had
been apparently, repainted and hung
up across the door-pOle to dry.