The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-01-03

4.gH:iglHMa a house OF which
H4EZSE Father Time had
tSSEEs been the 8 o e
painter, and where
every board bore the mellow, brown
ish impress of the suns and rains OF
more years than Hiram Melwyn cared
to count.
Just in front magnificent butter
nut tree tossed it's plumes OF foliage,
like deep billows of green; and lilac
bushes, all empurpled with fragrant
spikes of blossoms, hedged in the
well-worn stone doorsteps. Melwyn
Farm was the oldest place in the
neighborhood, and Hiram Melwyn was
proud of its unpretentious antiquity.
June evening though it was, there
was chill in the air, and great wood
fire blazed, with cheerful, cracking
IDaound, Spon the hearth, with ruddy
reflections playing on the wall and
ceiling. A bright-colored rag carpet
woven in stripes, covered the centre
of the floor; the splint bottomed chairs
were ranged neatly in their places,
- and the tall clock in the corner, with
asparagus ,wreathedsin misty green
round its face, ticked solemnly in
unison with the monotonous purring
of the gray cat on the hearthstone-a
scene of cozy content. .....
There were only two persons in the
room, Miss Prudence Melwyn-an
antiquated spinster-and her pretty
young cousin. Mabel, from the city,
who had come to Melwyn Farm to
drink new milk, and absorb the GRIM
son glow of freshly gathered strsV+
berries and roses into her somewhat
pallid cheeks. And an artist would
have enjoyed the tableau-Mabel lean
ing forward with the freight mirrored
in her satin.brown hair and dilated
& blue eyes, and the spinster equally
absorbed in the recital of her thrilling
tale
"Oh, Cousin Prudence, how ter
& rible!" ....
eyes, it's all true, I assure you, my
dear. Right on the edge of the woods
drank yourself at the spring
fAis afternoon-the Indians scalped
her, in cold blood, a hundred years
ago; and on moonlight nights they
say y.u can see her ghost fitting
about through the trees, all in white,
with outstretched hands, as if calling
for aid; and the groans, my dear, they
say are quite trightful!"
"Did Won ever see ia. Cousin
Prudence?"
mol can't say I eyer did; but
I've talked with those HAT had, and
they say it's sight to freeze the
blood in your veins!T
"a hundred yeats agor' repeated
Mabel, musingly. u
cold Chloe, WHO used to live here,
: declares she has (often seen the white
figure lfslming up and down the stair
case in this very house, when the
moon was at the full; and, my dear,
I some nights there are certainly
sounds about the old garret that I
can't call wind, nor rats, whatever
Hiram may say"
Mabel drew nearer to her cousin
with little shudder.
sob, Cousin Prudence" she said,
81 have always wanted to be in a
haunted house! How 7 wish I could
see the ghost! Hush! What's that?"
Both women sprang to their feet
with little scream; but there was no
more serious cause of alarm than q
hearty peal of laughter from bluff
Hiram Melwyn himself, who had
entered noiselessly at the back door.
$50 Prue's been telling you ghost
stories, hey, little Bell? Don't you
believe word of 'em, my girl!
Ghosts have enough to do in their
own world, without coming back to
this"
Indeed, Hiram" said his sister,
bridling, you know very we'll that
Chloe"
'Bother Chloe-an old bundle of
bones and superstitions! I'll be will
ing to eat all the ghosts that ever
haunted Melwyn Farm-aye, and
without salt or pepper!"
GLOW can you use such dreadful
language, Hiram?"
"And how can you women folks be
such fools? That's what I want to
know. Come, stir around, and get
the supper, Prue; it's seven o'clock,
and I'm as hungry as a grizzly bear!'
Miss Prudence obeyed. She knew
very well, from daily experience, how
difficult it is, in this prosaic world,
for the ideal to combat the real.
Supper had elbowed the shadowy
assemblage of ghosts completely off
the field, and even Mabel, in spite of
her sympathetic thrills of terror,
showed o good appetite for stewed
apples, country cream and haky ten
biscuits.
She sat up late that night, in her
own room, reading an ancient and
o moth-eaten copy Of "Alonzo and
Melissa" which Miss Prudence had
kummaged out of an old chest, as a
ing tribute to the sentimental
ss of her young cousin-sat up
be fire on the hearthstone had
/ down to heap of white
the tall clock in the room
king twelve, in solemn,
K! and I promised
M ' closed her book,
sdbegan to pre-