Year: 1877

A most valuable point In a ghost
story, a point too much neglected, is
mystery. People seem to think that
details add to the interest and make
the thing more plausible, whereas a
judiciOus mystery often produces a
much more plausible feeling of
horror. What can be more simple
than an anecdote Of man ia perfect
health and easy circumstances who
insisted on passing a night in haunt
ed room, and who, next morning was
found quite mad, and capable of say
ing nothing but "The Claws The
Claws 7" That leaves everything to
Imagination, which half unconscious
ly produces a shape Of the utmost
vague horror out of two simple
words.


Mrs. Grove has quite a charming
tale Of two lads who wished to play
a trick at a wake. They secretly took
the body OF the dead out of the coffin
and laid it in an clubhouse, while one
OF them lay down In the place Of the
corpse, and was to arise at signal
from his confederate. The signal was
given in due time and repeated with
no effect. Then they found the sham
dead man dead in earnest but, on
looking in the clubhouse, they never
found the real, original corpse, which
is still missing. There is horrible
blank here, in which fancy inserts
half-realized ideas OF terror.


One of the best ghost stories of late
years has an equally unexplained
margin Of mystery. Two men Of the
same regiment, the colonel and a
much younger officer, go to stay at
the house OF a lately married friend OF
the elder warrior. They arrived just
before dinner, and after dressing and
going into the drawing room find
themselves alone with their host.
The lady Of the house sends message
to the effect that she hopes they will
| not Wait f-s ho--and they -dO-IaOt
wait, but enter the dining-room. A
moment after the lady appears, with
q white face, and, as soon as she
comes in, the younger guest becomes
as white as herself. After a few
minutes be rises, stammers out some
| incoherent excuse, aud makes his
way from the room.-As soon as be
can his friend follows him, finds him
standing in the drive under a tree
and naturally asks for an explanation
Ia saw the figure that came in with
lady X" answered the friend
"What figure ?" asks the elder man
thinking his friend had lost his wits


"The tall figure in the plaid tha
stood behind her and pointed at the
knife beside her plate" At this NO
| ,.o,,k q ,oroaJS bnOF olaffarad on tht
drive and the groom, galloping past


has time to say that Lady X, had Gu


her throat with knife. That is thI


whole. Whether Lady Y. recovered


or not, and what the figure May have


been, and whether she, too, saw il


all that is left delightfully."- and horri


bly, vague.


Contrast that with one of the mar


vels of the spiritualists, the ghastl.


story where the extraordinary con


duct Of a golden haired little girl wht


blasphemes carelessly is explained b!


q seer who detects the apparition Of


hideous old woman lurking behin


the child. The tale is told in one Q
the American books OF doctrine, an
: is there expanded, and worse thai


spoiled, by q long account OF how


all happened, and what bscame Of tht


seer and the ghost and the little girl


who probably ended as very precO


cious pupil-teaeher. Ghost storie
ought not to press in this inartistI
way. The little details at the outse
that give an air of reality may be q


minuts as you please. Then come


the moment of suspense and "eeri
ness :" then, suddenly, your ghost
} "s very fearful wild fowl" not to b


described too precisely. II dog o
horse can see him first and fall int
Etageers or show canine symptoms o
supernatural dread, so much the bel
ter.


1t is an uncommon hard thing t
, invent q new ghcst story OF an
merit, and for this reason the story
teller will do well to trust to hi
memory, not to his imagination, es
pecIalIy as truth is nOtoriously strar
ger than fiction, and as mOder
psychological science, as it calls i
: self, is only too easily taken in by
: / koI1 s.1anfinn