San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-06-30
Was It the Bahx,s Ghost

Il
| In Good Words Mr.. w. c. Canton
publishes a very remarkable ar
ticle made up of extracts from let
tiers of a friend now dead. This
friend lost his first child when she
was 6 weeks old, just before the
death of his first wife. He mar
ried again and had another little
daughter, who lived to be years
and then died. The curious thing
about this child was that she al
ways insisted that she had a little
baby as plaything. Her father
| wrote:
Lately she had taken to nursing
an invisible "iccle gaal" Qittle girl)
whom she wheels about in her toy
perambulator, puts carefully to
bed, and generally makes much of.
This is-"Yourn iccle baby, papa,
old !" if you please. When 1
sit down this accession to the fam
lily is manifest to her on my right
knee; and she sits on my left and
calls it a "nice lovely iccle thing"
When she goes to bed, and when
she has been tucked in, she makes
place for "yourn iccle baby,n
which, of course, l have to give
her with due care. 1t is very odd
to see her put her hands together
for it, palms upward, and to hear
her assurance, 81 not let her fall,
papa"
At first they did not think much
of this fancy of hers, but her per-
sistence in the reality of this child
made some impression upon their
minds, as will be seen by the fol-
lowing extract; but it was not
until the little girl herself died
that the father saw the spirit form
of his first-born lying by the side
of his dying daughter.
81 told you about her invisible
playmate. Both n. his wife] and
| have been wondering whether
the child is only what is called
making-believe, or whether she
really sees anything.
"If / rest my foot on my right
knee, to unlace my boot, she pulls
my foot away. Papa, you put
yourn foot on. your'n iccle baby
She won't sit on my right knee at
all until | have pretended to trans
fer the playmate to the other.
"My poor darling is dead! l
hardly know whether l am my
self alive. Half of my individ-
uality has left me. do not know
myself.
"Can you believe this? I can
not; and yet l saw it. A little
while before she died | heard her
speaking in an almost inaudible
whisper. l knelt down and lean
ed over her. She looked curiously
at me and said family, Papa, l
not let her fall who, dearie"
'Yourn iccle baby. l gotten her in
here She moved her wasted little
hand as if to lift fold of the bed
clothes. | raised them gently for
her, and she smiled like her old
self. How can tell the rest?
"Close beside her lay that other
little one, with it's white, worn
face and it's arms crossed in that
oldwOmanish fashion in front of
her. Its large, suffering eyes look
ed for moment into mine, and
then my head seemed filled with
mist and my ears buZZed.
81 saw that. twas not halluci-
nation. 1t was there.
"Just think what it means if that
actually happened. Think what
must have been going on in the
past, and Inever knew. | remem-
Der now she never called it mann
mas baby it was always your'n.
Think of the future now that they
are both gone.
at actually happened! l saw it.
| am sane, strong and in sound
health. l saw it-saw it do you I'M
derstand? And yet how incredi-
ible it is"
Incredible indeed most people
will think it, but the effect of that
weird vision seems to have been
very blessed to him.
nj