Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-16

presence at this place to have satisfied
measure of its desire. l waited a half an
hour by the church bell and not souno
was made. Then l tried going back to the
first floor. Here / sat down on the stairs
awhile, and presently the rapping overhead
began again. 1 therefore took my traps
and went back to camp till daylight in the
heart of the eremy. After wrapping my
self in my rug-the cold sweat en- the fore
head of the dying seemed to hang on the
face of the blackness that was against
me, and was half Hereinafter wrapping
| myself in my rug l placed my planchette
in operation-that is, in what would have
been operation. if it had operated But it
didn't. / sat with my fingers on 1t until
they were stiff, and not a scratch did the
inanimate thing make. Then / tried TO see
what burning alcohol and salt would do.
set fire to some alcohol in a saucer, as
have recently learned is the right thing to
do, by way of determining the color OF
spirits lowering near Then, while the
blue flame licked the blackness, that
grimaced in return in a manner horrible to
see. l threw in salt, which, while it sput-
| tered. turning the blue flame red, Joined
with the proper Logos for bidding uneasy
spirits depart in peace.
Proper PsychfcnI State.
When the flame died down to a mere
point and went out l turned my lantern on
the salt. 1t was white still-not black
mark to betoken spirit stained and
known.
This exhausted my physical means Of
dealing with spirits. So 1 Struggled down
in my rug, in an endeavor to take on the
proper psychical state In which spirits find
medium of manifestation. 1 tried to be
so negative as to think of nothing at all,
and succeeded in thinking hard of every
ghost story have ever heard. l caught an
echo of the "Banshee' which the artist
man had told me in his family makes wall
ing to warn an approaching death, and
softly in my ears there tinkled the ghostly
music OF unseen hands that in another
family 1 know play a piano that is kept
locked and sacred to departed one. when
ever calamity of any sort is to befall the
living. / saw with my minds eye the caul
| that the girl who dresses my hair tells me
she was born with. which enables her to
see people dying across the wide Atlantic.
recalled the homely features of the good
old priest, not long ago passed over into
spirit land himself, who more than once
has gone on sick CALI which human
form made manifest to him. Then memory
turning back upon myself resolved me
again into a child, awe-stricken and cold.
sitting hand-in-hand with a small brother,
listening to rapS on door on the other
side of which We knew no one to be-a
brother that a few weeks after passed into
the great mystery himself
She Sees Visions.
Still the blackneSS about me gave me no
sign, and my vigil of CHESTS, Knocked by
recollections, widened to include the viSils
of all those knew to be battling or brood
ing with ghosts elsewhere. i saw the
mother and the spirit of disease struggling
for the life of a child. L ghosts of
revelry and of vice and of crime warning
with the souls of men and women to pos
sess them. Then l saw
armies and emperors and things.
All carrying different kinds of things,
And marching in grand way,
You never saw the like by day.
$50 fine show was never seen
AT the great circus the green:
For every kind of beast and man
Was marching in that caravan.
"At first they moved a little slow.
But still the faster did they go;
And still beside them did j keep
Until l reached the town of sleep"
know l was asleep till was awake. Then
had moreover. a consciousness of having
been awakened. All my senses were still
vibrating with the impression of Pres
ence. I spell it with capital "P" to there
by indicate somewhat of the character Of
the Presence which ought properly to be
spelled with all capitals, Illuminated ones
at that. Vaguely striving to determine,
was it my eyes, my ears, my hand that
had been addressed by this Presence, there
came with me single precipitation of sound,
a smash, a thud, and demoniacal yell.
Instantly something gripped upon my
heart, constantly widening wave of nau-
seating impotency swelled to my throat.
submerged my ears. covered my head, and
1 knew no more, until / experienced that
awful mad reaching after interrupted iden-
tity that follows imme diately upon faint
ing. InStinctively, without thought rec
election even, L dragged to my feet and
crawled down stairs and out the front
door, which closed with bang behind me.
A Pretty Predicament.
After leaning for a time against the wall
outside, my dropping spirits and fabber-
gasted senses revived when sat down on
the doorstep and had a good laugh.
couldn't help it. There 1 was, locked out
of my haunted house, and locked in was
my bag containing the car fare for me to
get home with-home that was two miles
off-about o'clock in the morning. I'd be
run in for vagrancy or lunacy If l sat there
laughing longer, so with no alternative I
took to my still -rickety legs and walked
home. The grim humor of the situation
did much to carry ME along, and not cat
nor cop" nor anything alive or dead did
l see the two miles.
But speaking of cats. In the gray dawn
of morning l returned to my haunted
house, sought rear window convenient to
a fence whereby to enter for my belong
ings, and found-a round hole in the glass,
some spurts of blood on the sash and on
the dusty floor inside the prints of paws.
Enthusiastically, my demon that broke loose
in the night was just one more case of the
cat coming back, which may not go very
far with the Society for Psychical Re
search in explaining the phenomena OF
haunted houses, but is quite sufficient OF
the subject for PAULINE PRY.
The Clerk knew the Size.
From the Cincinnati Tribune.
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