Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-11-26
MY BROTHERS GHOST.

That [ was believer in occultism
| ghosts, spooks, wraiths, the possibility Of
supernat 1ral spiritual phenomena, and
the probability Of premonitions not In
accord with the recognized order Of things
can be charged to my education. | sup
pose was introduced to this mundane
| planet in the same manner as are all its
inhabitants, but as soon after this protein
| tious event as possible-as soon as my
brain was capable Of receiving impress
sions and of forming mental pictures from
the elequence Of my instructors, am sure
my life's path diverged from the ordl-
nary tread,
Ny mother was an easy-going soul,
whose chief aim in life was to please
everybody, heself included, with the least
possible exertion, mental or physical. 1t
was her plan to correct my department,
not by the rod, the sparing of which is
supposed to spoil the child, but rather by
systematic recital of Hans Christian
Anderson's and other fairy tales, and by
drawing analogies with myself and the
authors heroes as component features.
This served to fill me with superstitious
nervousness of the unseen iilliputs | knew
lowered near me, and who were devising
innumerable rewards to bestow on me
whenever | should attain the necessary
moral excellence, and in the interim were
inficting numerous punishments for my
transgressions.
My mothers adjutant was Kate an Irish
} metamorphosed Gallo brogue. Kate was
also firm believer in FAIRIES and Ives, and
) her thrilling variations Of the doings Of
the Banshee gave me the shudders. Sc
unfavorably did Hates Irish fairies com
pare with Mr.. Anderson's German
) brownies that early formed a deep root
hardly forgive my mother for being borr
ia Wicklow, and my father for being one
: Of 1.-THE last of The Irish kings" Once IL
after life, Iapsed from this dislike anc
married an Irish girl.
Ny father had, in early life, been {
naval officer until he married fair com
petence, after which he reformed, set ul
in business as politician and church
member. The latter a7ocation | always
: though he found incumbent OF the former
) vocation Like all men who ever wen
) down to the sea in saips, he as profound
ly superstitious. If his boots or his hal
we're tight in the morning he would lay
} the misft to his luck. If black cal
howled on the back fence at night, he
could not sleep until lie had thrown his
boots, bootjack, and two stanzas of 8
Haytian anthem, starting 'blank, blank
the luck" at the feline Othello. He
also carried rabbits foot and the family
purse.
, ana hereditary taste for the unknown, ano
was fit "subject" for theosophy, when
at the age of 20, met and loved Miss
Sadie Schneider, October 80, the daughter
of well-to-do grocer. Notwithstanding
Miss Schneider's respectable and prosaic
parentage. that young lady was a pro-
found tbeosophist and spiritualist. To
please my Teutoonic immoriata was in
duced into the religion of "enli ghten.
ment." To further please the divine
Sadie threw my whole soul into the new
work, and advanced to such high degree
that | became one of "the favored lay
men, | let my hair grow long and my
finger nails grow black until my general
tout ensemble was decidedly negligee, but
my mind "developed'' until | could see
more omens and ''signs" in everyday life
than could Kiowa squaw.
Though. as have told, my father was
highly superstitious, yet strange to say
he disapproved of my devotion to what he
| termed "a lot OF blank nonsense" and
often asked me why In the name Of COM
mon sense [ could not be like my brother,
Billy, who was ga man, man, sir; while
you, granny, are only fit to be cook on a
canal boat" his greatest term of reproach
My mother. too, would gently assent as to
my fitness only for the culinary de-
partment mentioned. Yet | was firm in
my faith.
Now this brother William, who "was a
man." was four years my senior, and was
what the enlightened" called Golfer. He
made fun of all my theories and ridiculed
me to his companions, who, like himself,
could not understand the mysterious, and
whose minds craved no more spiritual food
| than Kentuckian, and who cared to look
no deeper into the future ethan the next
card out of the box" In fact, William
| and his companions were worse than SCOT
! fers, they were vandals. Once | got our
supreme medium and prophet to work with
William and his colleague, James Reid,
but they enticed the poor prophet into a
saloon and while under some vile inhuen ce
| the guileless man sang ''Croppies, lie
down." For this song his eyes were con-
fused until they resemblnd damson plums
After that the ''enlig htened" washed
their hands Of brother and his COM
panions.
After several months of this riot0us life
William, who was a civil engineer. was
sent by his employers to Chihuahua, MeXi-
co, to superintend some minina operations.
Aside from his wildness and levity William
me to be separated from him for the first
7 ho
night he and Reid, who went with him,
said farewell. Goodbye, granny, old
boy. Take good care of father and moth
er, and give up your spiritual nonsense. I
tell you what | will do. If your theory is
true and should meet with an accident
that Is, you understand, get killed. will
come back and tell you. Now promise me
you will go no deeper until [ come back In
body or spirit. All right; that's enough.
Goodbye Then his wicked companion,
Reid, said with grin that if there was no
duty on ghosts and he should die, he too.
would come back. An, little they or |
knew now those words would recur to me,
and the fearful night | should spend on
account of promise given in the flesh to
be kept in life or IN death.
For six months after his arrival in
Mexico William wrote home every week
with regularity, until we knew almost to
the minute when the letter carrier would
bring US letter from the absentee. Two
days before the great event of my life a
letter was due, but did not come and the
household was greatly worried. Neither
did it come the next day. Father, mother
and myself were in great suspense. The
night of the second day | retired early and
having slept none the night before, soon
m b a Ioo,, elr,,