Year: 1870

the quiet villages of CRANKY and South Had
ley, stands lonely house, ten rods from
lonely road. 1t is of two stories and an +,


though the single room in this last is the only


room that is inhabitable. The two story
part, now in ruin, has never been more tba11


a shell. A quarter of century ago Shubael
Jones put it up, planted a little orchard


around it, and brought to it black-eyed
hlgh-tempered wife. But at that time he


was an incipient drunkard and soon every
appearance OF comfort and domestic happi


ness fled the place. And one dismal Noven,.


Der night the wretched wife summoned bnr


neighbors from their beds to where tbe noor


sot lay dead at the foot of the cellar stairs


No inquest was held none doubted that he


was killed by a fall in drunken fit, in at


tempting another visit to his cider barrel.


The widow rented the place to a tenant


who neither kept it well or paid his rent
She went with her little boy, who was not
quite an idiot, to work in the paper mill at
the village then called ''Skipmuck." For


long years she changed from factory to fac


tory, as best she could keep her son employ
ed. He was always obedient under his


mothers eye, and working by her side.


They earned more than they spent, but the
prudent people of Ludlow, where they last
lived, feared to allow them to "gain settle
ment," and thus render their town liable for
their support So they obtained the consent
of the agent chat the widow and her son need
| not keep strict time, and offered to furnish a
| room In her old desolate house. three miles
from the factory, if she would live there.
| The proud woman understood the motive.
! and With flash of her dark eyes declined


their kindness, But she soon bought a little
| furniture Of a family that were moving away.
and re-established herself in the gloomy old
wreck


| 1t was now late in the fall when the widow
Jones first noticed that the grass was disap-


pearing from the roadside by the bars oppo-
| site her door. 1t soon grew obviously worse,
/ and, though bald spot upon mans head
is no great wonder, this bare spot, with no
hoof marks on it, batfed all her ingenuity.
| The fence, too seemed worn as if by loung-
| ers leaning upon it. What could it mean?
| No human gathering could have been held in
that lonely place since the day when the
moudering frame of the owner went to its
| long home.


The explanation of that mystery involves
us in q deeper one. One night in September
as man from Ludlow was passing the house
| he heard a groan. 1t was single groan,
and then all was still. But it was such a
groan as no one utters twice, and he who
| hears it never wishes to hear it again. He


felt it his duty to rush into the house, but


dared not. After long hesitation he went


his way, speculating whether the widow had
murdered her idiot son, or had been murdered
by him. And when he saw them both come


quietly into the village the next morning, he
doubted first his eyes and next his memory


But the same errand again brought him
past that lonely house a few nights later.


Again he heard the nine O'Clock bell as he
approached the house, and again, as he was


opposite the house, the dreadful groan. The


next night he walked out with friend, so


timing his steps that when near the house


both heard the mortal sound. Both were


certain it came from the house.


Three went out, and five, and fifteen, and
thirty. All heard groan all agreed that
!, it was exact to its time, to a quarter of a


minute. Old Captain Hardcaste said that if
he We're shut up in hold as dark as mid


night, he could tell within ten minutes when


the time for his eleven o'clock" came, but


could't keep time with ghost One guessed,


the spirits heard the bell. The agent stopped
the bell one night, but the groan was heard
as usual. And it was not a similar groan.
but the same groan repeated every night.
, No ear could tell any difference not made by
l the direction and force of the wind. Some
J wondered whether it had been repeated
> every night since poor Jones ''broke his


neck" Others said that if they were the
widow, rather than live one month in that
house, they would confess the murder and


be hanged.


One night the lawyer and doctor of Ludlow
; both young men, went out quite early.
. They went into the house, and "wantcd to
wait till the moon rose.n The widow gave
them scant welcome; she had not forgotten
, Ludlow prudence, and she always coniec-
tured that her present guests had had their
share in that affair. Without a candle, she


sat there stretching her skinny hands to the
fN, ~ -l>t Il.
boy who would be nearly seven feet long
if straightened out, and who seemed to have
l acquired his longitude at the expense of his
} latitude, as if put through rolling mill, sat
} there in kinks and silence They heard
t factory bell, they heard cricket, they heard
t a lusty rat, but no groan At halt-past nine


they went out to large, shivering, impatient
= crowd that had missed their groan and felt
, misused. In an instant more the groan was
| heard in all It's perfection Our friends hur-
l ried back to the house to inquire if the law
yer had dropped glove. The widow was
Y making up Il trundle bed, that had been urk-
t ing unsupported by them beneath the large
one, in the darkest corner of the room


They admired this cOntrivance for economic
, ing space Could the widow move it easily !?
, She ran it in and drew it out again. Bv this


time the lawyer had found his glove in his


pocket, and again they wished the widow


good night


Meanwhile the outsiders had heard two


extra groans; the first was somewhat differ
S ent from the usual one, but the last was
t exact.


+? II have found" says the lawyer, ''that
: Ludlow has expended at least three hundred
, miles travel on foot, and all in the highland


a hundred hours loaiing by these old bars, to


hear that woman draw out her trundlc-bed
J, for that Jacobs ladder idiot"


: "And let me recommend YOU" added the
| doctor, 'when you find anything you cannot
i explain, not to Jump at the conclusion that it


is supernatural. 1t is more than probable
e it is certain-that, if you knew enough you
could find physical cause for every physical
: effect"


E And so they all went home and went to
\ bed.


I And the next spring the grass grew again
G around the widows bars.


Deacons are good men. We have known
e deacons who got along as well with their
i wives, in the journey of life, as brokers or
h han arS-almoSt &c comfort n blv curap ~