The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-06-01


described when a-f6hd cry startled us
Mother, mother, zniotherFz szs5
THE little boys were in bed in the
dressing room Angela, dropped her tea
cup and dashed out of the room. forget
above MS
Il caught up candle and followed her
quickly We found the children sobbing
wildly Jacks arms were almost strang-
ling his mother. while he cried in great
excitement. oh, the old woman in the
black bonnetl The old woman in the
black bonnet! Oh-oh-ohr
Il thought little fatherly correction
would be beneficial, but Angela would
not suffer me to interfere She tried to
soothe the little beggars. and in few
mirsutes they were coherent enough in
their story A frightful old woman.
wearing black bonnet. had been in the
room She came close to them and bent
over their cribs, with her dreadful face
near to theirs
How did you see herT we asked
There was no candle here.
She had light about her, they said.
at any rate, they saw her quite we'll An
exhaustive search was made No trace
of "a human being was to be found | re-
Trained from speaking to the other chill
dren. who slept in an upper story, though
| softly entered their rooms and exam
ined presses and ewardrobes and peeped
behind dark corners. laughing in INV
sleeve all the while Of course we both
believed that Hal had been frightened
by dream. and that his little brother
had. roared from sympathy Don't
breathe a word of this to the servants
whispered Mrs. Henniker
I'm not such fool. my dear re-
piled But pray search the lower re-
gions. and see if Jane and Nancy have
any visitor i'll the Kitchen she continued
She came through your door, mother
from the sitting room, sobbed Hal. with
eyes starting out of his head
Who. lovey asked his mother.
. The old woman in the black bonnet
Oh, don't go away. mother.
so Angela had to spend the remainde,
of the evening between the children's
cribs sf 5sstf
What can we. do tomorrow even
ingy asked she. f'I9have it! Lucy shall
be put to bed beside Jack. Lucy was
our youngest. aged two 80 sf.
'All went well next night There
was no alarm to summon us from our
papers and novels. and we went to bed
at IL. Angela remarking that the three
cherubs were sleeping beautifully, and
that it had been a! good move to let
Lucy bear the other two company /
was reused out of sound sleep by wild
shrieks from the three children
What! More Bad dreams? This sort
of thing must be put stop to- | said.
and ! confess was very angry with the
young rascals My &ifeLwas furnbIing
for the match box TVyHushr she whisper.
ed. 'thereis somebody in the room And
l. too. at that i1istan b felt the presence of
some creature besides ourselves and the
children The candle lighted, we again
dressing room zbedrSon or the drawing
room beyond. the door of which was
shut But the curious sense of a pres
ence near us-stronger than any feeling
of the kind had ever previously expe
rlencedl- was gone. You have all felt
the presence of another person unseen
You may be writing-you have nor
heard the door open. but though youi
back Is toward the visitor you know
somehow that he has entered
Quite true, Mr.. Henniker-but there
is nothing unnatural or unpleasant in
that sensation ? - g-R
Nothing. of cSursess merely instance
it to give You some idea oflwhat we felt
on that occasion We were astonished
to find the sitting room untenanted
Meanwhile poor Hal, Jack and Lucy
shrieked in chorus. ,Ohy the old woman
in the black bonnetl Oh, take her away!
Poor Angela, trembling, hung over
the cribs trying to soothe the children
1t was a good while before they could
tell what had happened She came
again. said Hal, and she came close.
close to Inc. and she put her cold face
down near my cheek till she touched
me. and don't like her-oh. don't like
her, inotherr --.-f tsa-' ''
Did she go 70 Jack and Lucy too?
Yes yes: and she made them cry aS
well
why do you not like her? Is it the
black bonnet? You dreamed of a black
bonnet last night, you know said |. half
puzzled, half provoked
"'She's so frightful.' cried Hal
How could you see her? There was
no candle "a
This question perplexed the little
boys. They persisted that she had Il
light about her somewhere need hard
ly say that there was no comfort for Ms
the rest of the night. If any one is try
ing to frighten us out of the place I'll bs
even with him yet,fsaidI My wife be
heved that trick had been played upon
the children. and she was most indig
nant sar7-s
Next day the cribs were removed to
the upper story. and Charlotte and ,,Jo-
anna. our daughters of twelve and four
teen. were put to sleep in the dressing
room We predicted an end to the an
noyance we had been suffering. The
urrca xxyoc a A,3ioI~ Ha,,,,1-11 s,--.x...-.