The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-03-23
THE SUNDAY MORNING news MARCH, 2s 1850 )


was q courageous old phantom.
stood hesitating, with my finger on
the clock. A wise man world have let
well enough alone; but was not wise
wanted to know all aboutit.n I wanted
TO hear the secret of the clock and Of tho
ghosts.
You are sure they won't como baclz9''
asked.
''I-er-pr omise--hono. Of a gentleman.
Just give me few ticks; SO hard 80 speak
without Ah-er-thanlz you III in aclear
yoice Of great relief, as / set the clock
ticking.
Then the old gentleman began to ges-
ticulate and to talk violently; not to me.
but to the other ghosts. Apparently they
were gradually convinced by his cloquence
the details of which l could not quito
CATCH, for it became less and less yehc-
mcnt; and at last the philosopher turned
to mo Che was now looking perfectly solid
and said with q smile Sits all right;
they have agreed to leave the negotiation
in my hands. always had great influ-
ence with them. Your uncle often con-
suited me on difficult affairs. Now we
can sit down and talk comfortably to-
gether.
before I go any further in my COM
munication," the phantom went on, with
glance at the clock, which WINS comfort
ably ticking in front of MS, I must mako
ono bargain with You, really q very mod
crate one. have great deal of valuable
information to give you, and you cannot
expect to have it, even from q ghost, for
nothing
''Tell mo your terms" responded,
with q brevity in strong contrast to his
courteous circumlocution.
.sThey are very simple, very simple, in
deed, . he said, rubbing his hands together
gently, and keeping his ghostly eye on
me; '.just that you should undertake to
wind this clock up once year. Merely
that;
That WILL IS understand, . replied,
frowning, s'be equal to an invitation to
the--er-to your agreeable friends to come
back and make as much hubbub as they
like y
For eight days only, eight days, or
nights, as | should more accurately say.
What are those in a whole year? must
have something in return for what tell
you. Those at any rate ara my terms. y
He pressed his unsubstanfial lips firmly
together. To DO brief. / consented. It
was again foolish thing to do, but was
never very wise, and my curiosity was
aroused. wanted TO know about these
curious people who lived somewhere on
my premises. can boast of as ancient
descent as most people, and one of my
earliest nncestresses tsone soy the very
earliest, but the point is now disputed
brought a good deal of trouble into our
family by too curious a desire to know the
flavor of IN apple. I had inherited her
curiosity. She was very distinguished
woman, and am not going to blush for
the family falling which owed its intro
duction to her / consented then. The
ghost sat down in my easy chair, crossed
his legs, and began his story with great
affability.
your uncle was very admirable man,
and I should not wish to say a word
against Lin. He had unusual powers.
Everybody with unusual powers has q
right to exercise them at the expense of
weaker creatures. That is, believe, an
axiom of your most advanced thinkers.
Having then such powers, he looked about
for a subject to give them full scope, and
he found-us. We were, each in our diff
ferent spheres, pursuing our appointed
tasks with great credit to ourselves and
satisfaction to the community. Men re-
spected US, women feared US; we had
power, sir, and influence. There was not
one Of us who had not secured q comfort
able situation, and was not doing his best
to fulfill his duty in it. We were active,
then, and useful. We kept alive the past
in the memory of the vulgar, who do not
read and will not think; we threw out
hints of the supernatural: we awakened
the emotions of awe, wonder, compassion.
Are not these the feelings, sir, which it
was the ambition of your mighty poets in
$hn CT
Gun all Of you reverence Eschylus; but
who is grateful to ghost? However,
complaints are useless. Your uncle
brought us from our various ayocations
and shut us up together in u museam,
like set of mummies. What could we
do there but become the trivial miserable,
deteriorated beings that we are? The dig
nifty of our profession was gone. We
could not frighten one another. We could
not act without q pxblic. We became
mere puppets, and might as well have
been worked by strings"
At this juncture l interrupted him.
s'Would you mind telling me the locality
Of that museum?n | asked.
'Not in the least he answered cour-
teously, 'but it would be difficult for you
to visit it, and unadvisable. Your uncle
had it built Oh purpose for us, It is an
immense underground vault in a lonely
spot in the park; after it was finished the
entrance was walled up and soil thrown
over the whole, as before. There is no
way in or out, except for ghosts. Your
uncle did his best to make it comfortable
for us. 1t is well furnished with secret
passages, old pictures, oak chests, bones,
cupboards, curtains and other articles for
which he thought we had a fancy 1t is
in fact Il playground for us, but we wanted
to work. Your uncle could not under
stand that; this was strange. because he
understood # well enough for himself.
We became so unhappy in that place that
at times we broke out, in spite of our re-
spect for him and our dread of his pun
isnments, which were very ingenious, very
ingenious indeed added the phantom,
musingly, as if he remembered one or two
which few men would have thought Of
/ wished that | could think of them.
SAT last things got so bad between rs
that / was appointed ambassador. said
to your uncle; Now, look here, let us talk
it over as man TO man. Ghosts have not
many rights, but they have few, and
really, you know, you should not trample
them under foot. Our feelings may seem
superficial, bat they exist; you ought TO