The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-10-29
DISCUSSES GHOSTS, THOUGH M
DOESN'T BELIEVE IN THEM.
SOME REMARKABLE EXPERIENCES.
Former sohoolmato itecltcs a story-wu-
liam IL Acquainted WIN q Modern
"Old Mortality"

going about from cemetery 20 cemetery
IN rechriseling and remarking tho
marble slabs that covered the graves Of
the dead. Not only that, but he clean
ed them Of the mould aud stain and
set them up square and level and did
1t out of respect for his dead kindred
and friends. Nearly fifty years ago 1
visited Laurel Hill, the beautiful homo
Of the dead Of Philadelphia, and the
first thing that greeted me al the en-
trance was q brown-stoue statue Of
Old Mortality working on a weather
beaten marble slab. A little dried up.
specialized old gentleman with q pea
jacket on and the big pockets filed
with chisels and mallets and brushes
and old rags. Maybe he is there yet.
don't know, but / thought Of him
the other day as / was wandering
through the silent city Of the dead in
Myrtle Hill at Rome, Gu II has been
about forty years since / helped TO lay
OF that cemetery, and people have
been moving there ever since and a
good motto to place over the gate
would be 'Tor men may como and
men may go, but I 90 on forever"
An old time friend was with me, and
! can't help but think Of him as cold
Mortality" for he has been nursing
and cherishing that graveyard for over
thirty years and has made it place Of
beauty and JOY forever. He has long
since made reputation as an able law.
yer and a learned Judge, but ] know
that he never took as much interests or
real pleasure in anything as in oeautify-
ing and adjoining that lovely and ro-
mantle place. He has spent hundreds
of dollars there out Of his own pocket.
His own lot, with its Italian marble
{ monument to the memory Of his wife,
is n marvel of exquisite beauty. I saw
where he had righted up and placed a
new foundation under the monument
Of the wife of a far distant friend.
Within the last year or two he has
been to Macon and reformed and re-
| newed the monuments that mark his
parents graves. He has been to Eaton
ton and worked on those Of his broth
ers and sisters who died in the long
ago, and has placed tombstones over
the graves of his grand parents. He
talked to me feelingly about some ne
elected graves of our friends who
sleep in the old graveyard at Rome
that nobody cares for and is well nigh
| abandoned. "When | get through
with them, he said, 81 shall feel sat
ished and take a rest from this bust
ness and endeavor to be ready for my
own funeral" If he is not Old Nor
tality now he will be if he lives long
enough.
Well, I like that, We oil like it.;
that is to say, all kind-hearted, re-
Elective people. Some people are
afraid Of a graveyard, especially young
people, who have a horror Of death,
but it is q foolish fear and wears off as
we get older When I was a youth at
a country school there was braggart
sort of boy named Baldwin who said
he wasn't afraid of ghosts Jim Lin
ton bet him a dollar that he wouldn't
! go down to the rocky field that night
and cut sassafras 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 be-
hind 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 solemnly in deep bass voice,
"Beware! that's my grave, ;" and Bald
win ran home with Jim after him aud
like to have tainted at the door.
When I was the little mill boy and
had to pass a country graveyard on tRe
way and happened to be late in get.
ting my grist from the miller it was
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 a bag of meal under
you For three OF four years wa'
on the lookout for ghost in the twi
light, but 1 never saw one and ]
. reckon it helped me later on, for my
wife lived near the village graveyard
and when I was counting her ant
kneeling at her shrine 1 had to pass
near it every night or two and it wa
a test Of my love and my devotion
for neither rain nor darkness intimi
dated me, which proves that love i
stronger than fear Some moonligh
nights when I was a little premature
D have walked inside of that time-tonor
ed place and sat upon the tombstone
! and perused the epitaphs and tn
, ep1tafry for it is a redeeming trait il
our humanity to speak we'll Of tn
deed, especially upon their tonos
l don't believe in visible ghosts, bu
, some strange things have happene
. since the Witch of Endor called u
the ghost of Samuel One night i