The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-03-07

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When Hawthorne was American
consul at Liverpool, he was often a
guest ut the house Of the late Mr. John
Pcmberton Haywood Of that city. Up
on one occasion when he was dining
with the family he related q ghost
story which Mrs. Haywood thought so
remarkable that she asked him to
write it out for her. This lie did, np-
parently keeping no copy of the manu-
script, for 1t has neveri appeared in
any volume bearing his name. The
manuscript has been for all these years
in the possession O. Mrs. Heywood's
sister, the Hon. Mrs. Richard Denman,
who has allowed it to be communi-
Gated to The Nineteenth Century for
publication:
am afraid this ghost story will bear
a very faded aspect when transferred
to paper. Whatever effect it had on
you or whatever charm it retains in
your memory is perhaps to be attrlb-
uted to the favorable circumstances
under which It was originally told.
We were sitting. remember, late in
the evening In your drawing room,
wbere the lights Of the chandelier were
so muff ed as to produce q delicious
obscur!ty. through which the fire diff
fused dim red glow. In this rich
twilight the feelings Of the party had
been properly attuncd by some tales
of English superstition, and the lady
of Smithills Hall had just been de-
scribing that bloody footstep which
marks the threshold Of her old man.
sion when your Yankee guest (zealous
for the honor Of his country and de-
sirous OF proving that his dead COM
patriots have the same ghostly privi-
leges rs other dead people If they think
1T worth while to use them) began n
stogy Of something wonderful that long
ago happened to himself
Possibly in the verbal narrative he
may have assumed little more license
than would be allowable in written
record. For the sake Of the artistic ef-
feet he may then have thrown in here
and there few slight circumstances
which he will not think it proper to re-
tain in what he now puts forth us the
sober statement of n veritable fact.
A good many years agc-it must be
rs many ne %. perhaps mere, nnd
while was still bachelor-I resided
in Boston. In that city there is O large
and long established library styled the
AthenRum, connected with which Is
reading room well supplied with for
eign and American periodicals and
newspapers. A splendid edifice has
since been erected by the proprietors Of
the institution, but at the period I
speak Of 1t was contained within q
large, old mansion. formerly the town
residence of nm eminent citizen of Bos-
ton. The feadiLg room, capacious
hall, j7iiS tne group Of the LAGOON at
one end and the Belvedere Apollo at
the othcr. was 'freccented by not few
elderly merchants retired from busi-
ness, by clergymen and lawyers and
by s::c!. literary Iieu as we had among
us. These good people were mostly
old, leisurely and somnolent and used
to nod and doze for hours together
with the newspapers before them. ever
and anon recovering themselves 80 far
as to read word or two Of the politics
OF the day, sitting, as It were, on the
boundary Of the land Of dreams and
having little to do with this world ex-
cept through the newspapers which
they so tenaciously grasped.
One OF these WORTHLESS whom occa-
sionally saw there was the Rev. DR..
Harris, Unitarian clergyman of con-
siderable repute and eminence. He
was very far advanced In life, net less
than 80 years old and probably more,
and he resided, think, at Dorchester,
81 suburban Village In the Immediate
Vicinity oe Boston. had never been
personally acquainted with this good
old clergyman. but had heard OF him
all Of my life as q noteworthy man, SO
that when he was first pointed out to
me looked at him with q certain
speciality OF attention and always sub.
sequently eyed him with degree OF
interest whenever I happened to see
him at the Athenar nm or elsewhere.
He was q. small. wi thered, inf1rm, but
brisk old gentleman, with snow white.
hair, d somewhat sttpping figure, but
yet a. remarkable alacrity of move
ment. remember It was In the street
that first noticed him. The doctor
was plodding along with q star, but
turned amartly aHolt ON being address .
ed u yS the gentleman who was with me
and Responded With eec::.. q 1s5.s eai or
Tvivacity. 81 ,5c
ssyVho Is hep, I inquired as soon as (
he had passed. ssThe Rev. DR.. Harris
l0s Dorchester, :, replied my companion.
Ano from that time ! often saw him
}and never forgot his aspect. his espe.
cfal haunt was the Athennnm. There
I used TO see him daily and almost al
waysewith 81 newspaper. tho Boston
Post which was the Leading Journal of
the Democratic party in the northern
sstates As old DR. Harris bnd been a !
noted Derno nocrAt during his more active
life ST. was q y'ery5 natural thing that
lie should sim like to read the Boston
Post. There his reverend iigure was
nccusto toned TO sit day alter dny In the
selfsan1e chair by the firesltle, and BY (
degrees. seeing him there 80 col tant-
~ s ward him IA ai1s