Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1898-08-06
Where They Found Her
A Tale of the westphSitan
0eistcrsehers.
BY JOSEPHINE cLlFFoR
BY JOSEPHINE cLIFFoR

.sSchucking, In his book, "Das Roman
Gische Westphalen," says that these men
arc dying out, and the power to fore
see is growing very rare in old West
phalia.
1t is not source of pleasure to the
men themselves, this strange gift to
foreteI the death and burial of their
fellow1nen, and they would willingly
dispense with it if they might. In my
earliest youth saw one of these spoken
kicker or geisterseher, and remember
him very well. A tall, ungainly man,
was old Nolte; with grayish hair, kind
expression on his face, with light-blue,
melancholy eyes, that stood out of his
head with terror, people said, when he
had one of his visions, called vorgesicht.
He was baker by trade, and his ap-
prentices said that they had seen him,
In the middle of the night, leave the
kneading-trough without n moments
warning, and with glazed eyes walk
through the house to the street, and
there with straining eyes peer through
the darkness, moaning and wringing
his hands as in deepest grief. Pres
emily he would begin to count: "One,
two, three"-sometimes up to ten, and
more
1t was then that he counted the num-
ber of mourners who followed the dead;
aud he knew who they were, too; but
be never could be made to tell. He
would tell the sexton, who was the
grave digger, to prepare grave, either
for a child or grown person, as the
case might be; he would tell the color
of the horses that drew the wagon with
the coffin; but, If he knew, he never told
who was inside the dread casket.
must explain that Petershagen,
only small village Itself, contained the
parish church and graveyard; and the
country people of the other villages,
Eldagsen, Dotenhauscn and Maaslingen,
had to bring their dead here to bury
them. AS there were no hearses in the
rural districts, the coffin was loaded on
to an open wagon, and the mourners
walked behind it on foot; and as there
were not many streets in PetershageD,
the road to the church and graveyard
iran directly past old Notes house.
l The ancient castle at Petershagen,
on the Weser, partly renovated in the
beginning of this century, had been
assigned as residence to my father,
after he had quilted the army
at the close of the Napoleonic
wars. He had entered civil service in
Prussia, and as surveyor and civil en-
gineer, was engaged in retransferring
into German measurement the land
which during Napoleon's occupancy
had been divided and cut up as best
suited the French. 1t was a labor of
many years, and father had large
staff of field help and Office clerks,
skilled geometricians and chainbear-
ers; and a part OF the old building was
'IHsed for offices and bureaus, by them.
/ VI was in the nature of fathers occu-
patton that he should be guest to-day
fat castle or manor house of the proud
est baron in the Iand, while the next
day would find him at the hof of some
Bauer, no less proud of his estate and
descent than the nobIeman on his edel-
Eitz. For there men, though we call
them peasants, slightingly, and who
wear the dress of the peasant-of finest
cloth, with buttons of silver, to be sure
are as proud, and prouder, than titled
mobility; and their estates, or bauer
lhofe, are often in better condition and
sot greater money value than those of
Ttheir more aristocratic neighbors.
t For myself I have very pleasant rec
oIlections Of tn. bauerhof at Eldagsen,
where I spent one whole happy day in
my earliest childh ood. 1t happened one
morning that father, rumblipg along
In our old caleche, overlook Yette, the
nurse maid, with his two youngest in
charge, and I, the Oldest of the two,
set up a howl to be taken along to
iEIdaSsen. Of course, the bauer and his
SEister paid me every possible attention,
and / was fed and petted all day long.
The sister had face like an apple
blossom. pink and white, and her name
was Louise-which is abbreviated to
Wieschen, in Low German dialect, and
pronounced Veeshen-and the last
thing could remember that night was
that as veeshen laid me, fast asleep
Anto the old calche her long, fiaxer
@raids swept my face as she stopped
aver me.
Perhaps the only living soul in th'
whole country who had no faith in ole
Kolte and his weird power, was
young man on fathers staff, skilled
Reometrician, who laughed at every
thing he did not understand. He wa
with father almost constantly, thougl
he did not belong 10 Westphalia, II
came from the Rhine, and held lighte'
views Of life than the dull though hon
est people on the Weser. He CAV
more particular offanse to the old sex
ton, who swore that IN every instanc
the old baker had been correct in hi
prophecy.
In the castle grounds, below the ter
race, there was an avenue defendu-a
least in summer time, when the berrie
were ripe. 1t was a lcng walk, bordere
by hedges of gooseberries, currant
and raspberries; and the female sery
ants of the family knew we'll enougl