The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-12-06

partition was signifcant-the ship was never
heard Of again.
The rocky coasts of New England are haunted
by many ghost ships. The Palatine is the best
known specter. The coasters and fishermen of
Long Island Sound will tell you that when sight
of her is gotten. disastrous and longlasting
storms will follow The Palatine, Dutch trader
msled by false lights shown by wreckers. ran
ashore upon Block Island In the. year 1852. The
wreckers when they had stripped the vessel
set her fire in order to conceal their crime
AS the tide lifted her and carried her flaming
out to sea, agonizing shrieks came from the
blaze and the figure of woman who had hid
den herself in the hold in lear of the wreckers
stood out black amid the roaring blaze. Then
the deck fell in and> ship and woman vanished
The whaling in Nantucket as you will remem-
Der, was in its palmy days carried almost en-
tirely by Quakers One Sunday evening a meet
ing In progress; the simple service seemed
as though 1t might pass, and the spirit moved
none of the company. The elder Friend was Just
about to offer his hand to his neighbor in the
closing of the meeting, when a stranger rose
and declared that the Lords wrath was upon
certain whaling ship, and that he had seen her
In a vision descending a huge from the
hollow of which she rose. The meeting
closed hurriedly, but the speaker could not be
found, and the ship never heard Of
Some of the best ghost stories are those which
tho writer has heard from the simple folk of the
salt marshes 1t is hardly possible to describe
these dreary districts for when one has said
they are fiat, stretching for miles, and rather
subject to mists, has said pretty we'll all that
Is to be said-the rest must be felt However
Just as there is call of the sea- so there is a
call of the marshland You shall 60 into the
satern and feel its moist breath upon your cheek
and the breath Of its salty winds and the ozone
OF Its Gains. You shall be lost in its vastness
and, threading its innumerable twisted narrow
waterways which lead to nowhere We shall
tread its carpet of scentless flowers You shall
go to its very edge where the sea comes often.
most and where the flowers decaying leave their
rust-coored remains There you shall meet mud.
and the cry OF the curlew shall mock as YOU
founder in its filth. The moon shall come I'M
refracted by the mist into unacceptable shane.
which shall be blood color. You shall be a gray
shape, differing little from the common things
that are there for you shall be enshrouded by
fog nay, 1t shall sink into your very soul until
you are not flesh and bones but a particle Of
tog yourself. You shall listen to its silences. YOU
shall be told things by them and strong man
that you are. YOU shall be afraid
Is X TO be wondered at, then. that these simnle
Essex marsh-dwellers remember such tales as
that OF the Young skipper, home from a long
voyage. whose haste to embrace his wife and tho
babe ne had not yet seen bid him to go the naa
way OF the marshes? The tale has IL that IN
crossing narrow gutway. near Pitsea he sank
IN the mud So deeply did he sink that he could
not eNtrtcate himself; the more he struggled the
ne seiiN' aiu with the horror of knowing
'hat the tide was rising and would come stealing
up the creek, he shouted As the tide rose higher
me louder were his screams The salterns near
Pitsea are lonely; the cries were heard only by
haif"itted peatcutter, who often in his less
sane moments heard such screams and thought
no more OF the matter So the shrieks became
gurgies, and by the time the tide had lifted the
peatcutter's punt they had ceased
ne Older folk at this stage OF the story as.
sumo mysterious air and. with larveevas
gancings athwart their shoulders, will tell Won
that the shippers shrieks are heard on starln
nights as the tide glides up that creek
30 mere are my ghost stories. and II some
times believe In them when sail all alone ON
the midnight deep, YOU will not laugh at me,