The Opelousas courier., 1899-06-24

were sitting behind the vines whic,
screened the piazza of our villag
home, pairing apples. It was time t
retire, but this fact stimulated, rathe
than otherwise, a desire to displa,
my arguments and to enjoy the some
what restful triumph in which I wa
confident they would result.
ITO begin WITH" [ opened, g
ghost from its very nature can never
be apprehended by the senses SO
called. 1t is of necessity a spiritual
immaterial, incorporeal existence, ifi
is anything. Clothe it with the meres
drapery of matter, SO as to render i
visible to the eye. and your ghos
ceases its existence, or rather begiu'
an existence as a material object. Th,
subtlest luminous gas that the chemis'
can generate, even il it were coaxed
into the semblance of some departed
friend, would not be a ghost, but
material entity. The term we are
using denotes a breath, which. strictly
speaking, no man aver saw. The
synonym apparation aids us to OBJ
serve also that ghosts are mere APP
pearances or seemings born of the
Imagination. We form our idea Of
what a ghost should be and, 10, the
thing appears, fresh from our menta.
workshop and exactly as we made it.
People are always conjuring up
spirits, for instance, that are deathly
pale; but there's no earthly reason
why these shouldn't sometimes appear
in their gin blossoms and purple
noses"
1T must be SO, Plato; thou reason
est WE'LL" interjected Nell rather pro-
vokinglY.
Given if by some incredible feat of
magic q poor stalking ghost were
made visible to u.s." I continued,
''why should we fear him? He
couldn't do Us the slightest harm.
We ought to pity him, condole with
him, warm him up, if necessary, and
not go off into Mysteries like fools.
Why, did you eve think that a thou
sand ghosts wouldn't weigh as much
as the tail Of that little starved mouse
we caught the other day with a hand
kerchief? They WOULDN'T turn the
scale, indeed. if placed opposite the
wing of this saucy June bug flying
about my head. Afraid of such things!
File on the thought"
GLOW charming is divine phil
osophy," quoted Nell, quite inappro-
priately, as I thought, again indulging
her mania for using quotations.
"How unfortunate it u.s." 1 went on
to say, "that no n has ever sue
ceeded in capturing a ghost. Once
get one imprisoned under a glass re-
ceiver and your fortune would be as
sured in%stanter. What a priceless
curiosity for a Snowman! Hundreds
would give their last cent to see it and
be enabled to say during the rest of
their lives: I've always told you So
Talk about Egyptian mummies! There
are people who would go a thousand
miles to see q genuine spectre who
wouldn't cross a street to see the whole
eighteen Ptolemys of Egyptian history
boxed up as mummies. In the way
such a spirit exhibition, however,
n obstinate barrier. The
nan who invented ghosts made them
If such fimsy material that they go
where they will in spite of mems de-
7ices. Fl, therefore, a sprite should
dissent, it would be utterly useless to
bottle him, for he wouldn't stay bot
ed while you were corking him up"
cit harrows me with fear and won
Nell ..recited, but I disdained to
aotice the interruption.
"For once, it is true, science is COM
bafaed. If the microscope or
;est.ttbe could be applied the matter
would soon be cleared up. But the
Instant these discover something's
'resto!there's no ghost. Aspectre ter
ifes a whole city, but when an in
luisitive bullet finally finds the object
# terror, beholdl it's no spectre. If
7ou find it you lose it; if you have it
'ou haven't it; if you see it you don't
it at all, since you see something
Use. In such a case there's no refuge
nut in common sense and cold logic.'
"Logic is logic, that's all I say"
mined in my exasperating listener.
"Once more, if it were possible for
pirits to revisit the living in visible
orm they would roam about the world
n legions. There's old Tom Bottles
# the gin.mill-he'd have at his heels
small army of bloated and blear-eyed
OTIS long gone hence and starved
Widows and frozen children. Many a
nan, too, who now holds his head way
'bove his neighbors would be haunted
lay and night by the wretches he has
uined. Yes, it is a veritable disgrace
Q an age like ours to cherish this
aoldy relic of superstition and ignor-
nee! Away with ghosts, say T."
This time Nell was not prepared with
quotation. Her head was resting on
he back Of her chair and she was fast
Taking this to be proof that
had set her mind at rest. upon the
ubject considered, I reused her and
70 entered the house. Fathers bust
Iess had called bin from home, and
who was a s~emi-invalid, had
one to visit friends, prepared to spend
he night. Nell and 1 thought moth
ng of being left alone, as this Lad
tten happened before, and after hay.
NJ closed the house and retired were
ooa asleep. There was 10 reason for