The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-10-20

out to sea, and it is my opinion that
some night he will come back and
haunt you"
go away, Bartolo" cried Sandro.
'There are no such things as ghosts.
When a man dies, either that is an end
of him or else he goes so far away that
he never can find his way back. Be
sides, / should not be in the least
afraid of a ghost, even If there was
one who came to see me. If 1 am not
afraid Of live men, l need not be afraid
Of dead ones"
when you say there are no ghosts"
replied Bartolo, you forget the picture
In the academy which proves that the
blessed Saints Mark and Nicholas and
George appeared to a fisherman and
made him row them V e to s. Andrea.
If there are ghosts of saints, there
must be ghosts of Sinners"
"Not at ALL" said sandro. 1.-THE
saints-and 1 don't deny that there
may be saints, though l never have
seen one-can, of course, work miracles
and consequently they can make
ghosts Of themselves if they want to.
But Nardo was not a saint, as every
one will agree. So whatever st. Mark
n his comrades may have done has
nothing to do with what Nardo can or
cannot do. Besides, | am not so sure
about that story OF the saints and the
fisherman. True, there is the picture,
but any n could have painted it.
What l want to know is where is the
ring that the ghost of st. Mark gave
to the fisherman. Show me that ring
and perhaps ! may believe the story"
Just then a loud clap of thunder
Shook the wall of the Osteria, and two
of the younger gondoliers crossed
themselves. you see, Sandro," said
the old gondolier solemnly, sit does not
do to say blasphemous things about st.
Mark. There is going to be a storm,
and who knows that it is not sent to
rebuke thee? There was a man whom
l knew. a man much of thy age and
appearance. He, too, was an unbeliey-
er, and he said one night at the ira
ghetto of S. Toma, in the presence of
four or five of us, that he didn't con
slider st. Mark fit to be a patron saint
because he did not send German trav-
elers to Venice except in the spring.
Ten days later that man played eight
soldi in the lottery, putting two soldi
on each of four numbers. What hap
pened? Why every n Of those num-
bers won, and the man was fit to kill
himself because he had not played on
the quaterno. Instead of winning a
few lire he might have won a fortune.
That shows that it is dangerous to
speak lightly of the blessed saints"
II have nothing to say against the
saints" returned Sandro, who did not
seem very much impressed by the
others narrative. 81 let them alone,
and l expect them to let me alone. But
ghosts are a different thing. Now l
don't are a centesimo for all the
ghosts in p%urgatory. In the first place,
there isn't any purgatory; in the sec
ond place, there are no ghosts, and, in
the third place, If Nardo has a ghost
looking for me, I shall be glad to see
him here or anywhere else and will
agree to offer him a bottle of wine and
to share it with him."
"For heavens sake, Sandro!' cried 3
! young gondolier-Antonio, the foolish.
don't speak such wild and wicked
words. Who can tell who is listening?
Above all, don't talk in that way while
there is a thunderstorm growing. 1t
is as black as midnight outside. l my
self don't always believe in everything
when the sun shines, but when it is a
dark as this and the thunder may
strike at any minute, l believe every
thing"
A fresh thunderclap that seemed to
rush from n side of the heavens rel
Venice to the other and back again, as
if it was in search of some one, com
PEELED the company to keep silence.
When quiet returned, Sandro once
more, with unabashed spirits, resumed
his skeptical comments on ghosts.
you are wretchedly superstitious-
all of you," he said. II don't so much
mind your ideas about religion, for I'M
less you waste too much money in
masses and other
Another crash that sounded as If the
Osteria itself had been struck or
smashed into a million of pieces, inter-
rupted Sandro, and when he was able
to continue his remarks he did not take
the trouble to mend his broken sen
tence.
"As I was saying" he continued, 81
don't find fault with you for believing
in religion and saints and all such
things, for if you want to be children
you have a right to suit yourselves.
But that you should believe in ghosts
and be afraid of them, is trying to my
temper. Consider a little. How can a
ghost hurt you? He neve carries a
knife; no man ever yet pretended to
have seen a ghost with a knife. He
can't hit you, for he is as thin as SO
much smoke, and you might as well
expect a Whit of Toni's cigar to hurt
you-which is strong enough in all COD
science to hit you between the eyes and
knock you down. If there are ghosts,
they are as harmless as so many girls,
and for my part l should as soon think
of being afraid of a 2-months-old girl
L -