The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1897-12-11
THE GEORGIA HUMORIST
DISCUSSES GHOSTS THOUGH HE DOES
NOT BELIEVE IN THEM.
some Remarkable Experisnces--Former
Schoolmate Recites a Story-.William il
Acquainted With Modern sold Nor.
taliity."

| Schoolmate Recites a Story-.William il
Acquainted With a Modern "Oid Nor.
taliity."
''Old Mortality was one of Walter
SCOTS most interesting characters.
This long bearded, venerable man
spent all the latter years of his life in
going about from cemetery to cemetery
in rechriselng and remarking the
marble slabs that covered the graves Of
the dead. Not only that, but he clean
ed them of the mould and stain and
set them up square and level and did
it out of respect for his dead kindred
and friends. Nearly fifty years ago I
visited Laurel Hill, the beautiful home
of the dead of Philadelphia, and the
first thing that greeted me at the en-
trance was brown-stone statue of
Old Mortality working on a weather.
beaten marble slab. A little dried up,
specialized old gentleman with pea
jacket on and the big pockets filled
with chisols and rnallets and brushes
| and old rags. Maybe he is there yet.
don't know, but L thought of him
the other day as L was wandering
through the silent city of the dead in
Myrtle Hill at Rome, Ga. 1t has been
about forty years since helped to lay
off that cemetery, and people have
been moving there ever since and a
| 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
I can't help but think of him as "Old
Mortality" for he has been nursing
and cherishing that graveyard for over
thirty years and has made it a place Of
beauty and JOY forever. He has long
since made reputation as an able law
yer and learned judge, but I know
real pleasure in anything as in beautify.
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 marvel of exquisite beauty. I saw
where he had righted up and placed
new foundation under the monument
of the wife of far distant friend.
Within the last year OF 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 we'll nigh
| abandoned. "When 1 get through
with them," he said, 'I shall feel sat.
isfed and take 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, l like that. We all like it:
that is to say, all kind-hearted, re-
Elective people. Some people are
afraid of graveyard, especially young
people, who have a horror of death,
| but it is foolish fear and wears off as
we get older. When / was youth at
a country school there was braggari
sort of boy named Baldwin who said
he wasn't afraid of ghosts. Jim Lin.
ton bet him a dollar that he wouldn':
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 aud hid be-
hind 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 and
like to have tainted at the door.
When I was the little mill boy and
had to pass country graveyard on the
way and happened to be late in get
ting 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 I was
on the lookout for ghost in the twi-
light, but 1 never saw one and I
reckon it helped me later on, for my
wife lived near the village graveyard
and when / was counting her and
kneeling at her shrine i had to pass
near it every night or two and it was
a test of my love and my devotion,
for neither rain nor darkness intimi-
dated me, which proves that love is
stronger than fear. Some moonlight
nights when was little premature I
have walked inside of that time honor-
ed place and sat upon the tombstones
and perused the epitaphs and the
epitaffy for it is 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 number of us were giving In
our experience when my old college
friend, Mckay, took his turn. He is
too old to prevaricate or exagger-
ate. He travelled in Europe with his
wife and educated his children there,
and for eight years lived in Italy or in
the cities among the Mediterranean,