The national leader., 1889-05-04

/
awake, as was my custom, reading. L
to put out the light, when from the
partly opened door of the smaller room
stepped the form of my dead brother.
| Our bed was in the corner of the room
directly opposite. My first thought was
that 1 must have dropped asleep. But
| rubbed my eyes, sat up in bed and
looked about me. There was my wife
quietly sleeping, there was the lamp
burning brightly, there were my books
and newspaper, and there was my
brother. l did not notice that he stop
ped while I took the hurried survey,
but now l saw that he was approaching
me- He had on his dress suit and soft
black hat. His face was not so worn as
when he left us, but it bore the look of
patient endurance which pain heroically
borne had stamped upon it, and through
that shone the cheerful spirit that brave
youth never lost and which could not be
conquered. He came to within few
feet of me, and [ was strongly minded
to speak, but he appeared to be about
to address me and [ kept still. Just
then his eye seemed to light on my wife,
and he turned his face away and hurried
from the room, leaving by the outer
door. His manner was such as it might
have been in life if he had unwittingly
intruded into my wife's sleeping room.
The outer door was open, the blinds be-
ing closed, and the only unusual thing
about the affair was that he passed
through the blinds without opening
them. / was not at all startled by the
n ol><
he had stopped and talked with me as
If he had been permitted to return for
visit with us. Indeed, after | had con-
vinced myself that was awake, [ did
! not think of the appearance as other
than a reality, and only waited the
pleasure of one whom l dearly loved,
and whose untimely death made me
feel that [ was crippled for life. 1 was
glad to see him. After he was gone [
told my wife of what had passed, but
mentioned it to no other for long
while.
'In childhood l had been taught that
there were no such things as ghosts, of
which some of my playmates stood in
mortal fear. And | never took any
stock in spiritualism. Ny own expert
ence | could not deny, and could only
consider it a mental phenomenon. [
confess, however, that for q long time
| felt as if / had really been granted
one more look in life for which we
long after the earth has swallowed up
our beloved; and [ was secretly eased
by it. | am cool headed, practical
man and may say with any one: What
] have seen, [ have seen l had lost
dear friends by death before, and even
dearer ones have been snatched from
me since, but in my waking hours /
was never vouchsafed any open vision
of any of them This seemed strange.
But in all my life / never had any ex-
perience more vivid, nor any the de-
tails of which are fixed more complete
ly and clearly in my memory than that
of the few minutes | spent with my
brother few weeks after we had COM
mitted his wasted form to the earth" :"
A man named George Greene dwells
in a lonely house several miles from
! Norwich, Conn, which is haunted by
novel ghost. In the dusk of evening
colOrless human shape imprints itself
on the gloom of his bed chamber 1t
remains motionless. When he arises
from his bed and lifts the curtain for
the light to come in at the window the
apparitiOn vanlshes. In the daytime
the family hear the sounds of an invisi-
BILE object moving about the room or in
distant chambers. The furniture re-
spends to the pressure of unseen hands.
Once a case of drawers was thrown
down with loud clatter and nothing
was seen to touch it. On another day
chest was tipped over, table danced,
door opened and shut noiselessly, and
capering of feet was heard on the
back stairs
When MIR. Greene goes out OF the
house rustic follows him and when he
comes in it goes ahead of him. He has
searched every nook and Granny OF the
habitation in vain for an explanation of
the phenomena, and now he has decided
to flee from the haunted house. The
dwelling was built about 200 years ago,
and there is tradition of ghost in its
history.
In Bullock county, Ga, not long
since, man and family by the name OF
Bremen moved on to a farm formerly
occupied by a very old and miserly
couple. These old people (man and
wife) had no children or relatives, and,
both dying within few weeks of each
other, were kindly buried by friends in
the neighborhood.
1t was found that they had been liv-
ing in the most abject poverty. The
place presented miserable appearance,
there being very little furniture or
cooking utensils, with scarcely any pro
visions, and several emaciated cats and
half starved fowls completed the pow
erty stricken aspect. Mr.. Bremen
bought the place at auction shortly