Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-08-05
THE GOWNSMAN



THE conditions under which the sum =
l. mer ghost materializes and mani
tests are alike peculiar and expensive.
Out Of the limbo Of the unknown he
or she--it is most frequently she and
sometimes even they-are wont to ap-
pear. and into that limbo they depart
at least when they do depart. No one
knows where the summer. ghost So
journs when not on visitation. His ad-
dress is as uncertain as that Of other
ghosts. It Is doubtless some bourne
from whence no traveller ever returns
except the summer ghost. And he
prates not OF visitations to others, de-
spite much other prating unless 1t be
to whet your emulation to retain him
little longer. But you need not be
npprehensive the summer ghost Is pos
scsscd of the haunting habit like other
ghosts. and If he likes your best room,
appreciates the efforts of your cook and
If man (no, this qualification Is
unneccssar ary)-approves the brand OF
your choicest cigars, he will contrive
again, and once again, to be manifested
to you in the flesh, perhaps successfully
more in the flesh on each repeated visi-
tation.
ct HAD letter last night says
l. Mary, "from Cousin Judith; you
remember Cousin Judith
mo. my dear; l have just succeeded
past my fohdest expectations in forget
ting Cousin Judith" replies John.
"But. John. she really Is a cousin
not like Tabitha. whose uncle's first
wife was Cousin Jonah's niece. Judith
is my third or fourth cousin once re-
moved"
II only wish that she was but once
removed and that for once and all,
says John ungallantly. for he has.
peculiar prejudice against the cousins
of Mary, who are only less numerous
than his own. 'And what does she
announcer
"Her arrival"
That's very good of her." for true
to the form Of summer ghosts. Cousin
Judith usually just appears. suddenly
and unannounced, often in the deep of
night burdened with heavy luggage
and endless packages which John has
to see to- as all the servants have long
since gone to bed.
WERE this "gownsman" Of piece
w with fiction, we might 90 on par
ticularizing but generalization and alb
stractions are the province OF science.
wherefore perhaps the sketchiness,. the
shakiness, the wobbleosity Of much. OF
It. But this Is a specimen OF what
lawyers call obiter dicta, and our topic
Is concerned with one Of the stcrnest OF
the realities. The summer ghost, even
in your own cheerful home. dwells ever
in the fringes Of tragedy. In the daily
scances which he authoritatively inflicts
upon you every time he catches you or
poor Mary especially poor Mary
alone (you have achieved an elusive
cvasivpncss which Is credit to your in
genuity, the summer ghost unfolds the
slnuositics of al intolrrable tale Of woe
which he trails like a cloud of glory.
howsoever the recital thereof sobers
sunny day. 1t must be hard to bear up
and be n summer ghost even while
battening on the land at some dear
relatives" expense. 1t ought to be
enough almost to persuade one to De-
come a real ghost and transfer those
haunting ways. that narrowing voice:
that sepulchral manner and eternal
of tho chains of misfortune, and
mischanee to some better world from
whence all this would prove valuable
material for psychical research.