The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-10-17
BILL ARP ON GHOSTS
He Doesn't Believe in Them,
but Has Heard Remark
able Stories.
NOISE IN AN OLD MANSION
An Old College Mates Experience at Dresden =
A Modern "0Id EoruIity" Arp Knows.

"Old Mortality was one of Walter
SCOTS most interesting characters. This
.ong- heareI. venerable man spent all
he later years of his life in going about
rom cemetery to cemetery in rechiselng
md remarking the marble slabs that
covered the graves of the dead. Not
only that, but he cleaned them of the
mould and stain and set them up square
and level and did it out of respect for
MS dead kindred and friends. Nearly
fifty years ago | visited Laurel Hill, the
beautiful home of the dead of Philadel-
phia, and the first thing that greeted me
at the entrance was a brown-stone statue
of Old Mortality working on a weather
beaten marble slab. A little dried up,
specialized old gentleman with ea-jacket
coat on and the big pockets filled with
chisels and malets and brushes and old
rags. Maybe he is there yet. l don't
know, but | thought of him the other
day as | wandered through the silent
city of the dead in Myrtle Hill at Rome,
Ga. 1t has been about 40 years since |
helped to lay off that cemetery. and peo-
pie have been moving there ever since
and good motto to place over the gate
would be For men may come and men
may go, but / go on forever"
An Old-time friend was with me, and
| can't help but think of him as "Old
Mortality" for he has been nursing and
cherishing that graveyard for over thir-
ty years and has made it a place OF
beauty and Il joy forever. He has long
since made reputation as an able lawyer
and a learned judge, but | know that he
never took as much interest or real pleas
ure in anything as in identifying that
lovely and romantic place. He has spent
hundreds of dollars there out of his own
pocket. His own lot. with it's Italian
marble monument to the memory of his
wife. is marvel of exquisite beauty. !
saw where he had righted up and placed
n new foundation under the monument of
a wife of a far distant friend. Within
the last year or two he has been to Ma
con and reformed and renewed the
monuments that mark his parents
graves He has been to Eatonton and
worked on those Of his brothers and sis
tiers who died in the long ago, and has
placed tombstones over the graves or
his grand parents. He talked to me
feelingly about some neglected graves
Of our friends who sleep in the old grave
yard at Rome that nobody cares for and
is well nigh abandoned. when / ger
through with them he said, Il shall
feel satisfied and take rest from this
business and endeavor to be ready for
my own funeral" If he is not Old Nor
tally now he will be if he lives long
enough.
Well. | like that We all like it; that
is to say, all kind-hearted, reflective peo-
pie Some people are afraid Of a grave
yard, especially young people, who have
a horror OF death, but it is a foolish fear
and wears off as we get older. When
| was a youth at a country school there
was braggart sort of boy named Bald
win who said he wasn't afraid of ghosts.
Jim Linton bet him dollar that he
wouldn't go down to the rocky field that
night and cut a sasafras bush that was
near an old grave and bring it to the
house. The money was put up. Just
about dark Jim slipped around and hid
behind a rock pile that was near the
bushes that had grown around the grave
When Baldwin got there and was about
to cut the sassafras Linton said solemn
~ in deep bass voice: Beware!
that's my grave" and Baldwin ran
home with Jim after him and like to
have tainted at the door. When
was the little mill boy and had to pass
a COuntTy graveyard on the way ana
happened to be little late in getting
my grist from the miller it was a strain
on my youthful courage to go slow by
the sacred mysterious place. But go
fast. yOu can't on an old sway-back
mare with bag of meal under you
For three or four years / was on the
look out for Il ghost in the twilight. but
never saw one and | reckon it helped
me later on, for my wife lived near the
village graveyard and when l was court
ing her and kneeling at her shrine l had
to pass near it every night or two and
it was test of my love and my devotion,
for neither rain nor darkness inundated
me, which proves that love is stronger
than fear. Some moonlight nights when
| was a little premature | have walked |
inside of that me-honored place and |
sat upon the tOmbstones and perused |
the epitaphs and the epitaffy for it is |
a redeeming trait in our humanity to
speak well of the dead, especially upon |
their tombs
| don't believe in visible ghosts, but |
some strange things have happened since
the Witch of Endor called up the ghost
of Samuel. One night in Florida a |
number of us were giving in our expert |
ence when my old college friend, Mckay, |
took his turn. He is too old to prevari |
cate or exaggerate. He travelled in |
Europe with his wife and educated his |
children there, and for eight years lived
in Italy or in the cities along the Medit-
erranean, staying sometimes several |
months in one place On arriving at
Dresden be sought for a pleasant house |
to rent and found one on a hill in the |
suburbs, large, massive rock built man
sion of the olden time. He and his wife |
and daughter were pleased with the |
place and rented two rooms. The rooms |
were high and large and had a heavy |
cornice about four feet below the ceiling. |
On this cornice and just over the mantel
was portrait of a man. 1t was an old
oil painting and the massive frame was
fastened to a hook in the ceiling. There |
was piano in the front room and set
of fine old-fashioned furniture. The |
landlady was a sad-featured old woman.
The first night of their domicile Mr..
nj