Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-12-16

tAal way, a.
guessed the young man who was not
interested in ghosts, "and impose q
penalty on any member who refuses
10 come. He who does not join the
crowd at the Halloween party at the
haunted house is a coward!" declared
ae youth. waxing eloquent.
Here! Here!" shouted the crowd
But the Halloween party was plan
ned and the night rolled around when,
n n all, the members assembled
at the loot OF the hill in sheets and
pillow cases to mount to the old home
stead beneath the trees. The moon
shone brightly and the boys carried
lantern On their heads. lanterns fash
Toned of pumpkins.
The Whitehead figures wended their
ways slowly, silently up the narrow
pathway that had once been a drive
way to the house. Now it was over
grown with brush and weeds and tam
gle OF wild vines. Katydids and tree
toads chirruped and all the night
noises sounded weirdly near as the lit
the band climbed step by step closer to
The house they had known all their life
to be haunted. If fearful hearts beat
beneath the white garments, no one
said so. The spirit of Halloween was
upon them.
Arrived at the old gardens, they
stood and gazed at the ancient ruin.
for that it looked, indeed, in the
queer light that sifted through the
heavy tres.
see no spooks but ourselves"
laughed the girl. indistinguishable in
her enVeloping white robe.
IF your Aunt Mary could look
up here now she might see ghosts"
said John Sloan to the little lady near
him.
He believed it to be Helen Ware.
Whether it was or not, she did not
say.
One by one the little group found
courage to seek the old verandas and
explore the premises. And, at, last,
when they had made merry In the old.
fashioned nj at Halloween
sports. they assembled for the picnic
supper they had carried with them.
With the weird faces Of the pump
kins to light their way, they climbed
through the only unlocked window and
spread their feast on the floor. Then
they seated themselves in a circle
around the food and proceeded to make
merry in the long silent halls.
When the last nut had been cracked
there fell over the group, SO oddly as
sembled, a silence. Then. some one
asked for a story-a ghost story.
I'll tell you one." said a girl. the
voice Of whom few OF the young people
recognized. That 1t belonged to nom
Of the members of the club they were
certain; but there were seyeca! guests
present at the gathering.
Adjusting her pillow case the more
easily to speak, the strange voice went
on: s.-
This is a true story-though q
ghost story to some" she said.
When my mother was an infant, her
parents died and left her entirely alone
in the world; but some kindly people.
having known her parents. took her
into the house and treated her like a
member of their own family. AS she
grew up she learned to love them. but
she had been told that she was an
orphan, and that it had been the pleas
ure of these friends to adopt her. The
man and his two sisters-it was not a
IAN and wife who had taken her into
.eir home-were growing old when
my mother fell in love with a young
man who lived in the town. -
THE old people never married them
selves, and they always discouraged
any such idea my mother might put
forth. She did not want to hurt them
they had grown very old by the
time she was $50 she said nothing
to them Of the man she loved and
who loved her in return. Night after
night she climbed out of her little
bedroom window after the old people
had gone to bed. and met her lover.
Then, in an hour or two, she climbed
back, and the good old people never
knew she had been gone.
MY mother knew it was deceitful.
but she knew. too. that the views of
life that these old people had tried to
instill into her we're not altogether the
accepted ones, and she loved the young
man very dearly. She thought It would
do the old people more harm to know
this than It would do her harm to de-
ceive them. and she chose the latter
evil.
I'm time. her adopted relatives died
and my mother was left all alone In
the world again. She had led a quiet
life. for there neve had been gaity
in the house. The night the last sis
r died her lover begged her to run
way n marry him. He explained
that she was alone and that he was
anxious to go to a foreign land and
engage In a business he had long
wanted to enter. Would she 80 with
him?
Broken with grief and with the
prospect OF losing her lover il she did
not &c with him, my mother that night
climbed from the window and mar
ried her lover. Before she left the town
she made all arrangements to cover
her escape, and she was never heard
of again in the little town. The rela-
tives. SO she heard later, believed she
had been stolen. and when the old
house was closed after the burial of
the aged sister she was mourned as
cad with the others. My mother loved
romance and she giided this story with
it as she told 1t to me as q little
girl"
- MNrE y.