Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-13

ham. who had eagerly devoured every
word of the discussion, I'm afraid of
ghosts. Della says ghosts come after lit
tie girls if they don t.
Twill you hush?'' said Mrs. bingham,
clasping her hands In despair Aldrich,
what is this? Have you sold the Maple
| lot?
''sold it! Why shouldn' t I?'' said Mr..
Cone, who just then came in with string
of speckled brook-trout They offered
me a capital price, and I'm not rich
man.
But cemetery
Il don't know quieter neighborhood
than cemetery said Aldrich.
And I'm told, said Mrs. Efingham,
| with shudder, ''that some interments
have already taken placer"
Il didn' t suppose you mind it, Aunt
bingham, said the young host.
Mind it! Why, its a semi-barbarous
proceeding!" cried the lady. do we
live in civilized country, or do we
not?'
''Ma!'' screached Rudolph bingham.
the second son jerking at the maternal
skirts. there s a load of lumber at the bars.
a real big load. DO you suppose that 5
to make the collins out of?''
Just then Miss Clare stalked, la Lady
Macbeth. upon the scene.
Il attach no importance to vulgar super
stition, said she, glaring at Mrs. Effng-
ham, with whom she was no longer on
speaking terms. ''Of the dead | enter
tain no fear. But the living are quite a
different thing. And | certainly saw
a man, Cousin Aldrich, proving about
these premises, last night, with a dark
lantern.
1.-The ghost!'' squeaked Della. 81 seen
him, too! I did, with these eyes, the
blissid saints betune me and all harm
Oh? oh! ohr'
peace, foolish woman!'' said Haidee
This was no shade! 1t was a burly thief
intent no doubt on mischief. | saw him
try to open the back parlor shutters, and
then Neighbor Foxley's wagon drove by,
and he disappeared as if by magic And
want you to understand, Lally," to Mr..
Cone, that | can't stand the nervous
shock of this sort of thing. My profess
sion requires that | should be surrounded
by peaceful calm. l will leave here to-
morrow.
An I'll go wild yez," said Della. Il
can t sleep nights in a place where burg
lars is climbin' up the trellis work and
poor ghosts come stalkin' around when the
church clock strikes midnight, and a
whole wagon load more comm to-morry
or next day from the cemetery. Och
hOne) the like of it niver was heard be-
fore
MA, ma, can't we go too?" We're
afraid to stay at Blossom Hedge any long
er!" pleaded the little Efinghams in
chorus.
And so there was a general exodus.
'Aldrich, is this true?" said Mrs Cone,
when the last express load of trunks had
disappeared around the curve of the
road
lis what true? You re not afraid of the
ghosts, are you, Lally?'
mo; but -
Don't fret, my dear said Con, com
posedly. ''The cemetery has purchased
a lot, but it happens to be Maple hill,
four miles to the east of US. | am not
to blame, am I, for Erskine Dillingham; s
blunder?'
''But the load of lumber?''
I've sold the place to DIR. Bassett, and
Anne cottage. | can t imagine any pleas
anter neighbors than the Bassetts will be;
can you?"
yves, - said the bewildered Lally;
''but the interments that have already
taken place there? You said yourself
my dearest girl, don't you remember
that we buried Minnie, your pet spaniel
under the sweet-briar bush there, and the
two canaries, last fall?"
''Oh, Aldrich! aren't you ashamed of
YOURSELF"
"Who-I! Not in the least. .
But the ghosts, Aldrich; the burg
lars?"
Here comes Andromeda," said Mr..
Cone, with sudden assumption of more
than usual gravity. Come here, you
fair damsel, and own up at once what l
have already been sharp enough to dis
cover for myself. F"
ooh, Consin Aldrich!" stammered poor
Andromeda, lblushing celestial rosy red, the
blue-ribboned banjo in her hand.
Il am neither Della O'Rourke, nor the
Efingham children, nor yet Haldee Clare, :"
mercilessly went on Aldrich. ''And I
shewdly suspect that the ghost was Jack
Jocelyn in white tennis suit, haunting
the green field beneath his sweetheart 5
windows, and the burglar no other than
Jack Jocelyn in black, climbing up the
trellis after letter which he we'll knew
where to find"
Andromeda blushed redder than ever.
FNow, I'll have no more of this, :"
said Aldrich with mock sterness. ''Con
fess, young woman, at once, that you and
your love-affair are at the bottom of all
this mystifcation. Jack Jocelyn has own
ed up.
''Oh, Aldrich!'' sobbed Andromeda.
'And will you, too, turn against me?''
mot a bit of it, said Aldrich Cone,
cheerfully. Don t fret, little one Jack
has just told me that he has been appoint
ed to thousand dollar berth in the gen.
eral postofice, and have written to your
mother that things are ali right. He's a
jolly good fellow, and it ism t necessary for
him to play ghost out in the cold any
longer"
Andromeda threw herself weeping with
JOY into Lally Cones arms, and the two
women rejoiced together.
Aldrich smiled,
''My plan hasn't worked so badly" said
he.
A Blind Sculptor.
Vidal, the blind sculptor, is one of the
wonders of the French capital. He has