Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-05-23
reply deigned by the corpse was a scarcely
Ii IL. IL.


| wall, in another instant he knew felt it
would be upon him. His frame quivered
| in every fiber, he thought his hour had
came; but the extremity of his fright I'm
| loosed his shackled limbs; back many
PAGES he sprang, and shot like an arrow
| for home, his terror imparting to him ten
| fold swiftness. Stone walls, rail fences af-
forded no obstacles lofty bars were vaulted
with almost superhuman agility: Che very
cattle paused in feeding and lool ed amazed
ly at his velocity Through the thick trees
of the orchard he slackened not his pace,
but continued his headlong, even perilous
course, and plunging right down the per
pendicular descent which led to his home
dashed in upon the little family circle with
his glazing eyes starting from their sock
cts, his hair erect, his face CHASTITY and
wan, as if from an age of suffering and
misery.
The prominent part Hans Anderson had
acted in the tragedy of the spy, and his
solitary, imaginative character were so well
known in the village, that any not very
startling, even though supernatural adven-
lures, would have excited little wonder
ment in those days of nightly visions and
ghost walkings.
But his boldness and daring had also
been proven in many a wild contest with
the savage denizens of the forest, and no
less savage marauders of the neutral
ground and the good people felt so con-
WINGED that 1t must have been more than
common, even awful, occurrence, which
could have palsied the limbs of such
stamina, that no little excitement reigned
in their midst, and it was finally resolved
to call a council of war of all the old Cos
sips and spinsters, and thoroughly canvass
the matter.
As the shadows of night were enveloping
in their dingy mantle the old hills and
homesteads, this self constituted commit
tee poured into the little back kitchen of
the Anderson family. No gilded gas burner
emitted its brilliant flame, deadening i'm
agination and dispelling mystery Not
even the Pickering light of tallow candle
shone from the easements but it was IA
chilly evening, and the cracking logs
hlazed in the old Dutch fireplace, whose
broad mouth, indicative Of vast hospitality,
would have swallowed up IA dozen modern
ones, stones and all, while the sparks flying
up the chimney in "A thousand grotesque
shapes, and the ruddy glow reflected from
the sooty back, hardly bringing out from
the dark the forms of the company, made
the buXom lasses look more fresh, and their
lips more inviting ana the old gossips'
c,untenances, with their sharp angular
features, seem so ghostly and weird like,
that an indescribable, half trembling SEN
sation of mystery was felt by all.
Hans Anderson told his story in a few
manly sentences, and its wonderful char
acter, combined with their own situation,
caused visible pallor to overspread the
countenances of the guests Especially the
fair Kathrine Van Twiller, whose large.
full eyes gazed half lovingly, half pityingly
upon the sufferer; for it was more than
suspected that of the many suitors to the
hand of the plump heiress, Hans was the
most acceptable, the chosen one.
The dead silence which followed this mar
rative was broken by the bluff, hearty
voice of Diedrich Teneyck, whose full,
cheerful tones would have exercised all the
spirits in the colony. He said that for his
part he did not believe in ghosts they were
old wives stories gotten up to brighten lit
tie children and weak minded grown up
ones At this bold assertion the younger
portion of the company exchanged scared
glances, the elder ones frowned Indignantly
at his heresy
For" continued Diedrich, las was re.
turning home late one dark night'-here
the elders frowned again, for Diedrich was
a registering blade, one of your devil-may.
care fellows, whose motto is, enjoy life and
let late hours be no obstacles, and many
was the barnyard which had been emptied
of its feathered denizens: many the gate
which had mysteriously started from its
hinges on tour of observation, and had
been found in neighboring mill pond;
many the good couple who, aroused from
their slumbers by the shoutings of some
midnight reveler, cursed Dedrch as the
cause, and hoped their own offspring would
avoid him, as they turned again to their
quiet sleep-"For," continued Diedrich.
not "A whit disturbed by this unfavorable
reception 1--WE take the liberty of polishing
a little his rough speech), Il was returning
home late, and had arrived opposite the gate
at the end of the lane which leads up to the
hill to our house, when vivid light. and
brilliant as lightning, shot directly across
my path, and stood there quivering and
cleaning like thing of life. With the
graveyard on the right, its white slabs seen
through the dusk, looking so cold and
horrible, and on the left. the ravine
through which the brook, tumbling over
the stones, appeared at that midnight hour
to send forth awful sounds and this in
fernGl light in front, you may imagine |
was in no very comfortable position So |
hastily retreated around the corner of
Widow Van Brout's house, but on ventur
ing forth again there still stood the light.
Get home ] must, so, gathering all my
courage and strength, | dashed through at
full speed, and behold it was nothing but
the blaze of an old tallow candle in the
window of my mothers bedroom"
Neat Widow Van Brout, who was be-
lieved to have cast longing eyes on the
youngster Notwithstanding his wildness.
and kept her cap set until she could no
longer endure his obstinacy and obtuse-
ness, broke in with the exclamation that
not to believe in ghosts was wicked, abso-
lutely wicked; she was astonisheL how any
one could be so depraved. She had often
seen the light herself, and it was derived
from no tallow candle but shone from the
grave of an old soldier who had fought in
the French wars and been killed by light
ming
Besides, when her last baby was sick, she
beheld lying on the easement of the open
window "A child wrapped in the habiliments
of the grave and so much resemhliny bar