El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-08
WAS 1T HAUNTED?
) 90.
BY BARRY PAIN


and say it with all modesty-it may be-
enough 10 refer To my work. my studios
Of primitive peoples. and more especially
NV tract on the Origin Of the Alcuiian>.
Ny controversy on this point with r.
fcssor Pumpernickcl or Heidelberg. may
Ice remembered. 1t attracted some ;rtivn-
ton in rho learned world at the tifir'.
Some months ago | was in I."i'i"n { II
the purpose of research at the i:-IS''i'ii.
During my stay | saw far III" !;r't :i;n"
a Typewriter and was greatly .inpr'>,.'!
with its usefulness. My Own hdf'i %tii-
ing l. perhaps a Iiiilc ii".illr ." tics"
who are not used 1" il. Indeed ] have
always supposed that this il the reason
for the omission 81 several coinnunica-
tions that ! have made from tin' Ia
time To- tho editor Of The Times ncwspa-
per NV wife has also taken this view.
! now purchased u Typewriter to prevent
such accidents in future IL was a >"c-
ondhand machine. I have since found
out that il came from the office Of Tic
Merry Jester. n weekly paper of am
given to understands humorous charac
fer. u is important ro notice this in
view OF the extraordinary incident that I
am about to- relate. For the rest the
machine was in excellent condition. the
paper which originally owned il only hav-
ing been in existence for six weeks.
With six lessons and n few months
practice I found that / was practically
master Of the machine I will not say
that I was able to type any extravagani
number Of words i'm n minute. aud indeed
accuracy rather than rapidity has al
ways been my aim. but ! was able {"
transcribc my manuscript Mt q pace that
satisfied my needs. ] made n point "f
fyping everything. even signing my L. {
tors in the typed character. My usual sig
nature is particularly illcgible- To alter
il would possibly occasion trouble at my
bank: Ia leave IL as il is means that III
itors neglect contributions from my pen
which they would bc glad 10 Use il they
only had the usual assurance to their
bona fides.
For some weeks I found nothing abnor-
NAL or worthy OF remark about the ma
chine. II did Mt first seem TO have n
tendency To print one line on the top OF
another, hut there the fault was prob
ably ia the operator. Its manifestations
of a pretcrnaturaI order only commenced
shortly after the return Of my hoy
Charles from his tutors Charles is Mt
present being prepared for the army 10y
the Rev. William Dotjerslcy. who re
ccives q limited number Of pupils. Curl
ously enough. hc has not inherited even
In n small degree his fathers love nf
learning. He has. moreover. a tendency
to turn everything into idle jest-a tend
ency which ! dcplore and find absolutely
unaccountable. Neither his mother nor
suffer in the least in this way
One day ] WIS at my typewriter and
began Z" transcribe an article on The
Early Civilization Of the Chinese wh.h
! had intended for publication. The ar
ticle began as follows:
Before entering upon n full considers
ton of the subject Indicated in the title
OF this article one PREDATORY remark must
be made. IL is this
! had typed so far when I happened To-
notice through the window that the fowls
had got out. and left my work 10 speak
To the gardener about il. While in the gar
den thought ! heard the typewriter
clicking. hut dismissed the idea a. all
surd. However. ! found on my return
to my room that my article had br'':'
mysteriously continued as follows:
Hearing so much about the capabili-
ties OF Billy Smiles Of Wandsworth. TIE
undersigned would he glad to meet him
any night with three weeks notice il any
gent will give n purse.
] was unable myself To find any sense
in this. but Charles. who for once in his
life seemed serious. said that il looked
like prizcfilhter's challenge. But how
did il get there? Is il possible that ,h"
ma chine was operated in some mysterious
manner 10y the personality or its origi-
morous paper. he might. il in teIcpathic
sympathy with the machine. find pleas
ure in introducing homogeneous matter
into = learned and disnified article. In
congruiiy. ] find on consulting the an
thoritics. is factor in the production If
n humorous effect.
My next experience was far more scri-
Gus. ] had written n long letter To thu
Rev. William pojdersley with regard O."
a., ..I. u l. l. 4
inclination to idleness, of which Mr.
Dodderslcy had complained. and thank
ing the reverend gentleman IN warm
terms for all the care and trouble that
he was taking with my son. I typed Tia.
letter IN the morning. left the sheet on
the machine and went out for my usual
walk. On returning. ] took the sheet IN
the machine without further examinin=
IL. put il in an envelope and posted il
myself. The letter was sent back 10 me
by Mr. Doddersley with n note say;n-
that he had received il. but could not lee
lfeve that u really came from me. II.
was right. 1t was typewriter letter
with my name Mt the bottom of il. bui l. |
was certainly not the letter that I com |
posed myself. I alluded To- Mr. and MrS
Doddersley in the most familiar and d'S.
terms. With reference To-
Charles il said: My sons n mighty fine |
chap. though not appreciated at home.
The rectory beer is particularly poor aud |
should he changed for n better quality |
In that case ] think il would he advisable |
To have recourse 10 IL about IL in t!.,.
thus making pleasant chang.
from your rotten quadratics ] WAS
also made To say that ! thought MT
enough time was given To golf and thai |
was sorry the girls In the neighborhnoL
we're not pretticr.
This was inexprcss IDLY shocking TO me.
and wrote TO Mr.. Doddersley at once
Ia say so. But in this case again thor.
seems ia me To he an attempt at bumor-