Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-27
ya-d down dab, an Ise dun KEEP yo

y
grabe green fur fc'teen yeah!"
That | who had been born and rcareu
in the North, and Lnew. but lit OF tne
? ory of owning Slaves, shond be ad-
dressed as "Massa," was queer enough;
but to be thus warmly fawned uron y
strange darky, and earnestly to that
my grave had tecn ke pit green for fifteen
years, was startling in, eod. OF cou Sc,
| imTediatey saw that the venerable
black had simply made a mistake IL
identity. AS he insistc on continui &
to 60 into ecstas,e ,eS over me and to al ude
10 me as his "Own goJd Massa Mal'l," |
had to shake him away and explain 10
him his error. He seemed very rcluc-
tant to accelt the truth and was real y
disappointed. A ter | had convinced
him that wa3 not his deceased master
come to life, no matter how closely |
might resemble that gentleman, we had
a ong talk conc lning the Villa Mon
tinni learne from him that his nus
ter had been one OF the younger EI
Muzas; also that the FL Muzas, and an,
other family, the Ell Zega S, who had
been in partnership with the Montnnis,
and had made Their home at t VII for
many years, were Spaniards of Moorish
ancestry, dcs enda' IS of princes of the
Alhambra, and were cry proud OF the
purity of their lineage
The old negro views of the haunted
house were queer. He held the idea that
all the doors, pieces of furniture, etc,
were animated with life AMI could move
aro md justas they cho;e. lie had seen
them move back out of the way, ex'
change PLACES, etc, but cid not seem to
understand the 'act that they were man.
ipulatod by invisible hands His common
negro instinct ave him terror of
ghosts, Lut Notwithstanding this he had
freqre ltly venture into tie old ouse
in the day time. Only once bad he Le'
he d a spiritual manifestation, and hen
he fell down upon h face and raycd for
mercy, tor 10 thought that his timo
to perish had c)me; but his fear had
turned to rapture when he behe.d the
far face of the phantom lady fixed in
the air be Gre him. He thought she
was an angel como to take h. m TO the
promised blessedness.
81 10 yo' v a. it am, maSsa," he said,
"whcn l seed dat spirit lady knowcd
as 'twuz de Senorita El legal al-Zcyna
wuz 'er fust namc-aS died wild or heart
b eaked kos dc OF folks parted her frum
de chap she lub y see &c chaps mud
der, as wuz a Ell Mu a, an married a
knglishman, wuz &C :urt9d by er bus-
BAN an dc folks wouldn't TO ieb in de
legwa ity oo de marriage, so Gey
wOuldn et dc son court de ga. De
las time de chap coud get to see 'er he
Con glib 'cr big w'ite-roSe an a paLab
wild somethin' writ on it, an aftah he
went away she lca1 de writ;n an kiss
de rose an cried. | knowed dat it wuz
forbid dat dey see each udder a,tah dat.
Zen de young lady as wuz dubbed by
ebrybody took sick an died an wuz laid
away. | digged de grabe. / knowed
jiS whar dat young chap pick dat w',te
rose, an COED an Gig up dc bush an
sot it out on de head oh de grade, for |
knowed dat de young lady wuz angel
an woa'd look down fro Il hebben an b.
glad an Ike o. Ben for putin dat rose
bush dab. v hen | seed 'er face in de
haunted house I thought dat my time
to go had come an dat she had come to
lead me up to hebben. But laws! maSsa,
hab libbed fCah yeah since dat time
She lis don han me a noospapah an
say: IF gemmcn eber come to yo' frum
dis house dat puts yo' in min OBJ some
body dat am dead an dat 20 used to
like to serve, han dis papah to Linn for
it has news in what he as uddcrs wi be
concerned An den she dom van
ished.
Another point had come in my dcs
tined work l knew that was the per
on to whom the newspaper in question
was 10 te given.
"Ben," l sid, "do you remember that
came from the haunted house, and
that you m stock ne fer person whom
you once delighted to serve? That pa
per is for me. You must let M see it
by all means 1t may do power OF
good
ITO DE CONTINUED