The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-09-29

case has been found and properly authen-
ticated where q spook has inflicted any
injury upon a human being. Indeed,
spooks do not seem to want even to
frighten people, and often they have no
other object in view than to give a warn
ing on communicate information. The
chastity and horrible apparitions dear to
writer's of romance are very rare. As al
Utmost inyariable rule, specters show
themselves In ordinary modern dress and
30 not affect old fashioned costumes any
more than real people do. When they
move, they appear to walk along the
ground, instead of adopting the proven
bal gliding mode of progress supposed to
be Characteristic. Now and then they
enter or leave a room through a wall. a
bookcase or a window, but usually they
come in or go out by an open door.
It is unquestionable that many ghosts
are mere Authorizations of vision, and it
Is yery difficult to sift such illusory phan-
toms out from among the real specters.
How is the line to be drawn between the
verftabie apparition and the spook born
Of a piece of boiled cabbage or q sNce
Of mince pie? Yet here lies the bo,1adTy
between the physical world and tSe mysS,
FERROUS beyond. Some persons have
ghosts as familiars which they recognize
as illusions-for example, the famous
scholar Person, who was accompanied
wherever he went by a little old woman
In a tall red hat She used to sit on a
chair and look at him while he wrote at
his desk, and on his walks abroad she
would march just ahead. Now and then
he would thrust his stick through her
just for fun Earl Gray was haunted by
a head which he supposed was IN optical
Illusion until other members of his fam
ny saw 1t also
Many Of the ghost stories c~cmmunicat-
ed to the p~sychical society are extremely
interesting. Some Of them have been col
lected abroad and others in this country.
Only those porchcd for by reliable per-
0 u nave been accepted, and in most in
stances names are withheld. Mrs. A. W.
VerraQ writes:
Zone evening about the middle of Sep
TENDER, 1879, az / wa washing my hands
in a little room at the end of the passage
leading to the front door, at "a Vernon
terrace, Brighton. / heard footsteps and,
looking up, saw a little old lady coming
toward me. She was clad IN a dark dress,
1 grny, knitted shawl ever her shoulders,
fastened with a brooch in front, and a
cap. / did not see her face, though she
was walking in my direction. The figure
disappeared before reaching the room
where ! was. During the next three
weeks ] Baw my old lady, as / called
her, several times, usually when I was
alone, but one when my sister and !
were sitting in the dining room. The
brooch fastening the shawl was like one
worn by my great-grandmother, Mrs.
Watkins, who had died ten years before.
In the end I called the figure my great
grandmother. but / never saw the face.
There seemed a blank within the cap"
Mrs. Gordon Jones contributes the fol-
lowing:
Il have the strongest aversion to cats.
After my marriage ! would never have
one In the house until obliged to do so on
account Of mice. The one Ithen allowed
to come was an ordinary gray and black
one. Onesday / was told hat the
cat was mad, and by my authorization it
drowned by the groom III a copper.
The same evening ! was sitting alone in
the dining room reading- Presently ] felt
impelled to hook mp. The door seemed to
open. and there stood the animal that
had been drowned in the morning, the
same cat, but much thinner and dripping
with water, Its eyes were quite human
and haunted me a~fterwafd, they looked
so sad and pathetic. Never doubling that
it was the living eat which had escaped
drowning, ! rang the bell. and when the
servant came | said; There's the cat.
Take ii out. But the servant looked
frightened and replied, oh, ma'am. I
saw the cat after William had drowned
it and buried Il il NJ garden But j
said. .thefspit iei' Then the eat began to
fade. aud | saw nothing MORE Of II
Gant1iu e. of the British arms CON