Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-06-30


! sounds of shutting feet and short,
chuckling laughs in the room where
she slept. Fred had heard the same on
the nights when he was at home. He
declared the place was haunted. They
intended to move as soon as possible.
One night about this time | dreamed
of seeing Julia and her husband walk
ing hand in hand up the graveled path,
shaded by chestnuts, which led ito the
Butler homestead. Though their faces
were familiar they seemed to be chill
| dren in stature, and their clothes were
in rags
Within a week I heard that they
were both back to the homestead, and
that Fred had lost his position.
When l went over to the house I
found Julia changed from the rafting,
thoughtless girl of six months ago TO a
subdued, unsmiling woman, disinclin-
ed to talk much.
After awhile Fred got another posi-
ton, though it commanded small pay.
Julia remained at home with her moth
err. Within four months her little girl
was born. l was sent for that night.
Julia seemed to want you here" her
mother whispered. "She has the
queerest notions. She thinks her aunt
Rhoda haunts her and that you will
have some power to lay the ghost. OF
! course il. is all foolishness, but Julia
knows she was not very kind to her
aunt and in her state of health she is
liable to notions. l am glad you are
here"
went in and spoke cheerily to Julia.
She looked beyond my shoulder ner-
vously.
Il want you to stay round and keep
her away" she said. THE doctor would
not understand if l told him anything.
He would think I was crazy
Julia still remained with her mother.
| When little Grace was a beautiful
child six months old she suddenly
sickened and died The doctor had no
diagnosis to reach the case. The child
had been perfectly healthy and was
laughing and growing in her mothers
arms, when the little form became con-
vulsed with pain and before the doctor
got there she was dead
Il saw black shadow come over her
face like a flash just before the convul-
sion" Julia told me- 1T seemed like
Aunt RhOda's hand reached out to
snatch my baby from me-"
Surely not" I said hastily eve
must not be foolishly superstitious.
1T was not long after this that Julia
Joined her husband in the new, though
rather humble home he was now able
to make for her in the distant town
where his work lay. They were only
fairly settled when Julia succumbed to
illness.
The rest of this curious story hangs
upon the old shoes, Rhoda's wedding
present. Julia told me all the circum-
stances three years afterward, when
her second child had come to cheer her
heart
She had never been troubled with the
strange noise since the birth of little
| Grace thought had seemed to her dur
| ing her sickness that some grim, re-
lentles form was always by her bedside.
But one night, when she was conval-
escent and was free from pain once
smiling at her bedside, while she held
up the old shoes and chuckled over
them.
In jiffy she had them on her feet
and was dancing around the room like
a madcap schoolgirl, strewing small
silver pieces on the carpet after her and
! Julia saw that the silver was issuing
| through the omen toes of the old shoes
faster and faster, and awOKe herself,
laughing nj the OddifV of if
A week later word was brought to
her that Fred had been injured in a rail-
way smashup and had been carried to
the hospital.
One morning the bell belonging to
her second floor rooms gave a resound-
ing peal
She FASTENED to the door as fast as
her weakness would permit and found
there a man standing who was envel-
oped in loose garment resembling tho
Roman toga. His face was of chalky
whiteness, and his round keen black
eyes seemed to bore holes through her
head as he looked at her.
Good morning" he said, with bow,
and speaking with a foreign accent. Il
will state my bushes at once. l am in
search of pair of dead mans shoes"
4 am perfectly sane" he said with a
peculiar smile. Il repeat, ! want q
pair of dead mems shoes, genuine ones.
Let me explain. | am before the pub
lie as a spirit mesmerist. In the course
of my training | discovered by mere ac-
cident that by stepping into pair of
shoes that belonged to a man now out
the body l could become en- rapport
with his spirit. l could call him up be-
fore an audience with all his spirit asso-
ciates and make them provide enter
tainment. Some influence directed me
to your door and indicated the second
bell"
Il have a dead woman's shoes, Julia
said rather sharply. 1t was only that
morning that she had come across them
in the bottom of box packed by Alice
She went up stairs and soon returned
with them. The man in the toga took
them in his hands and held them up.
"She suffered" he said in a whisper
"She was unforgiving. She was just
but not generous. She is an earthbound
spirit now, but she is progressing They
are worth $50 to me"
at is foolish, l know" Julia said at
the close of her story, but | half be
lieve that aunt Rhoda has engineered a
good part of my life since she crossed
over. Just as she said she would. After
| had suffered enough for my heartless
treatment of her the old shoes l de-
spised were the means
Nonsense" l interrupted. ut is
all your fancy. But what ecame Of the
man in the tOga?"
20. he put up big posters, hired a
hall. drew big crowds and made money
while the papers told of his wonderful
mowers. Perhaps he was a humbug
hnt he saved me from starvation. -