Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-17

- HOST parties are much in fashion
- ~ just now. All you need is o jolly
~ On company-a little good old ale, in
SS0mugs il possible, is an addition quite
appropriate-and q small quantity
| OF alcohol burning on q saucer in the darkeneo
| room. While the spirits fare blue and ghastly
each one of the people present takes his or her
turn at telling some weird yarn-personal ex-
periences are by far the best-of grizzly phan-
toms and spooks almost too horrible to mem
ton. 1.-THE story telling is good the test of its
quality is established by the thrills that run
down the backbones of the listeners.
At such party here in Washington the other
night young Noodles was telling Of a ghost he
met with at an old country house last summer,
where he had been invited to stay for a week.
On the evening Of his arrival he was told in q
Joking way by members Of the family that the
bed room allotted to him was haunted; but he
paid no attention to the matter his belief
being firm against the existence of phenomena
supernatural. So, when the time came for
seeking his couch. he went off to sleep without
much delay, and must have been in the arms
OF Morpheus for more than an hour. according
to his reckoning, when he was aroused by a
noise. He sat up suddenly IN bed and found
himself confronted with what he at once
recognized as
SUPERNATURAL APPARITIoN.
1t stood at the foot of the couch and eyed
him, with face Of CHASTITY whteness and gar
ments that seemed of luminous consistency,
swayiug to and fro. Somehow it appeared as
if it were the image of himself in grave clothes
Noodles shrunk beneath the quilt and lay
there for at least three minutes-It seemed an
hour to him-before he dared look out again.
by Jove!" he said, lit must have been only
DREAM
Then he raised himself once more to a seated
m md fntv .
sepulchral image rose again before his gaze at
the foot of the bed
With burst of resolution that afterward
surprised him Noodles jumped out of bed and
turned up the gas light close by, which he had
prudently left at a bead before retiring. Then
the gruesome mystery was quickly dispelled
Facing the rear end of the bed with windows
on either side, was an old-fashioned bureau.
Through the windows streamed the moonlight,
while the summer breezes played with the white
muslin curtains. When Noodles sat up in bed
his reflected image naturally appeared in the
looking glass, his torso clad in a 99-cent ruffied
night shirt. The moonlight, shining full upon
his own person. made the reflected smulacrum
appear very bright, while the curtain floating
about in the wind gave the effect of white dra-
perry such as is suitable to corpses that walk
abroad.
Noodles looked sharply at the faces Of the
family when he came down to breakfast the
next morning, but he did not understand then
and he has never been sure since. whether or
not his experience was the result of rather
il-judged practical joke.
THE soMNAMBULIsr's STORY
The next story teller told of an experience
much more narrowing, though no ghosts were
concerned, which she and her sister had met
with in childhood. Both of them were addicted
to walking in their sleep, and it was not I'M
usual for them to join in a sort Of cooperative
sonambulism and wander off at night from
their bed room together. On one occasion
their mother had met them in the hallway
under such conditions and slapped them so
severely that they did not repeat the offense for
quite twelvemonth But about year after the
event referred to they got up in company and
made their way down stairs into the cellar
Probably the chill air woke them up-at all
events they did wake, aud not finding them
selves in their snug beds they were put in a
fright. Said one of the little girls to the other:
'Where are we?"
And the other replied:
''We must be dead and buried"
She had felt the damp, cold wall of the cellar
trickling with clammy exudations. No wonder
that such horrible thought occurred to her
mind What else imaginable could account for
situation thus encountered? The little girls
felt their way along the prison that inclOsed
them. Nothing but a wall of moist stone for
many feet, and then a corner, and again to the
right at an acute angle for what might have been
mile or two, SO 1t seemed Once more a cor
ner and to the right the children CROPPED
their hearts half dead within them, past the
endless wall wet as with the dews of death
Wonder it is that they did not die of sheer
fright But, as it happened the little girl who
told the story, now woman grown with chill
dren of her own, touched something that was
made OF wood and gave great cry of JOY. For
the wooden object was a step, and it was not
four seconds later when the two children had
run up the cellar stairs, mounted to the second
floor, and sought consolation in their mothers
arms.
SUPPOSED BURGLAR.
The next story teller told about fright that
he had one night while he was engaged in lock-
ing up his house in suburban Washington about
one year ago. He was going from the dining
room to the culinary quarters when his at
tempt to open the kitchen door was met by an
unmistakable resistance. When he strove to
throw wide the portal it was showed back upon
him. He gave leap across the threshold and,
upon looking behind the door, beheld man
somewhat taller than himself, with a remark
ably large aqulllne proboscis and long black
whiskers. So much of the intruder was visible in
the gloom and the master of the establishment
struck at him with all his might. He hit some-
thing, but withdrew his knuckles somewhat
bruised and cut, while the Objectionable person
with the Roman nose remained apparently
unhurt and undisturbed. Again and once
again he struck, and only after the third
blow had been delivered did he discover
that the offender was merely a
underground turkey that had been hung up
behind the kitchen door for the next Sundays
dinner. The breast bone was the Roman nose
and the wings, left on the bird naturel, rep
resented the black whiskers.
HE WANTED TO JUMP.
Speaking of sleep walking the next story
teller told about a little experience he had
with a young boy who was addicted to that
form of nocturnal entertainment. Of this fact
he was not aware and he was much surprised
on being awakened at night to see the youth
standing at the window in the moonlight
Said the boy:
II wonder if the water is very deep"
Evidently he though: that he was in a boat
on the lake.
The teller of the tale awoke at once to a
recognition of the situation and to an awful
sense of the emergency.
ats very deep" he said. II wouldn't try
to swim if were you"
why not?" asked the somnambulist. otis
Just as calm can be-"
But there are sharks in the water"
Il don't believe it, said the boy-the two
had been out fishing all day long. Il mean to
take bath"
With that he would have dived out of the
window had not the person who told the story
managed by this time to creep up and seize
him by his night clothes.
The narrator who came next told about her
husband. who had but one fault, she said.
About once a month he would have horrible
nightmare. Whenever he exhibited to his wife