Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-09

appear it. A small boy who had been kept after
school because he had not learned his lesson from the
hornbook told how he sat in his seat and the teacher
at his desk had suddenly spoken in the
just above his head There scarcely person who
had not something mysterious to relate OF the
most damnng evidence was afforded by the tornado,
which they all without exception attributed to the
jurng power of the self appointed minister in league
with the devil The damage that had resuted-even
the death of the minister went far as to attribute
to that infamous compact-was real grievance and it
requires considerable degree of civilization not to wreak
vengeance for losses. The Hebrews had a scapegoat.
The eliminating bit of evidence was furnished a few
days later and by else than Penelopes father
He frightened by what he had seen that his words
were hardly coherent but the gst of 1t that as he
had passed by the graveyard at night he had the
schoolmaster engaged in converse with figure larger
than life. which stood swaying and waving its He
could see the trees through it; the moon shining
brightly. The schoolmaster reciting awful
jibberish and also waving his The miller
scared that his hair stood end with terror he could
not move limb; his eyes were rresstby attracted to
that enormous FORM which three times taller than
any he had The Schoolmaster
wholly oblvous of his presence and at last he had man.
aged to creep away and when he was once out of sight
he had so hard that he reached his doorway
with such pain in his heart that he thought he should
expire He added that up to that Sunday ne had felt
the highest respect for the young man; but that he
firmly convinced in his mind that he a
to the community.
Meantime many other strange phenomena were TAX
ing place in the village 1t is well known that such OBJ
sessions contagious there seems to be something in
the air that nfects even young children. Some were
taken with st. Vituss dance; Others had bos; many
dishes that had been brought from old England and
priced for association were broken. In some houses
strange rappags were heard tin pans fell to the ground
with soul terrifying reverberations Trihng incidents
that would ordinarily have passed unnoticed were
exaggerated into great significance.
DENELOPE of course soon learned what was brewing,
and she could secure an interview with
Christopher she told him all that she knew and urged
him to make his escape You will be put under arrest
tomorrow and taken before the deputy Governor and
of Council PeneODe SeWall
has been in consultation with the Rev. Mr.. Mather
They are hot against you"
IL should be forever ashamed of myself he replied,
"f ran away. The whole thing is absurd. Hast thou
not confidence in me?'
Indeed l have!" declared Penelope stouty. @But
that dreadful Sewal is determined he says to extr
pate this foul weed of wtchcrat and he has persuaded
himself that you guilty of all the charges that these
crazy old maids and children have made against you
Even my father came home the other night and had
chill because he had seen you in the graveyard dealing
with colossal figure that in the moonlight higher
than the meeting house seeple and touched the sky
He is ready to vote against you. know not what he
would say if he were aware that have told you this.
II was indeed in the graveyard replied Christopher.
"Iwent to the grave of good old friend Parson Prem
dergast, and reced over his buried remains beaut
full passage from the Greek playwright Eurpides which
his would have loved hear. Would only that he
had been lowering in the air. that his spirit might have
caught the sweet accents of that gracious poet!"
"But what could have been the gigantic figure that
nv father saw
"Probably it was his imagination. But bethink
that passing by the brook winters night
and through a hole in the ice l strange figure
rising 1t took various shapes like that famed Proteus
which the Grecian legends describe Being unafraid of
ghosts approached and discovered that merely
the mist rising from the What your father may
have seen was belize exfaation from the SOIL"
@That seems to suitable explanation, unused
Penelope; "but the people will not hear reason. AL
ready in Salem"
ayes, YES know This madness comes from gno-
rance Hundreds have been burnt to death in England
and Scotland We shall outgrow it. just we have out
grown other supersttions. Don't worry about me-.
A the schoolmaster made attempt to escape his
Z arrest easily effected. Judge Sewall presided