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About News & planters' gazette. (Washington, Wilkes County [sic], Ga.) 1840-1844 | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1842)
iV E\Y H & PLMTEBS’ GAZETTE. D. (; • COTTIN6, Editor. No. 47.—NEW SERIES.] NEWS & PLANTERS GAZETTE. terms: Published weekly at Three Dollars per annum if paid at the tunc of subscribing; or Three Dollars and Fifty Cents, if not paid till the expi ration of six months. No paper to he discontinued, unless at the option of the Editor, withoirrthe settlement ol all arrearages. O* Litters, on business, must he post paid, to insure attention. Mo commit ni:ulivn shall he published, unless toe are made aamainttd with the name, of the author. TO ADVERTISERS. Advertisements, not exceed : g one square, first insertion, Seventy-five Cents; and for bach sub sequent insertion, Fifty Cents. A reduction will be made of twenty-live per cent, to those who advertise by the year. Advertisements not limited when handed in, will he inserted till for bid, and charged accordingly. Sales of .Land and Nog oes by fixed 1 tors, Ad minisirators, and Guardians, are required bylaw, to be advertised, in a public Gazette, sixty days previous to the day of sale. The sales of Personal Property must be adver tised in like manner , forty days. Notice to DebtorAand Creditors of an Estate must be published forty days. Notice that application will be made to the Court of Ordinary, for leave to sell Land or Ne groes, must be published weekly for four months; notice that application will he made for Letters of Administration, must be published thirty days; and Letters of Dismission, six months. Mail Jirrangcments. rOST OFFICE, > Washington, Get., January, 1842. ) AUGUSTA MAIL. ARRIVES. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 5, A. M. CLOSES. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at 2J, P. M. * MILLEDGKVILLE MAIL. ARRIVES. Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 8, A. YL CLOSES. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 11, A. M. CAROLINA MAIL ARRIVES. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 11, A. M. CLOSES. Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 8, A. M. ATHENS MAIL. ARRIVES. Saturday and Wednesday, at 9, A. M. CLOSES. Saturday and Wednesday, at 9, A. M. ELBERTON MAIL. ARRIVES. CLOSES. Thursday, at 8, P. M. ! Thursday, at 8, P. M. LINCOLN i'ON MAIL. ARRIVES. CLOSES. Friday, at 12, M. j Friday, at 12, M. COTTING & BUTLER, ATTORNIES, HAVE taken an OFFICE over G. P. Co zart’s Store. January, 1842. 29 Doctor F. Ficklen, HAS taken an Office in the new brick build ing on the South-west corner of the Pub lic Square, owned by Bolton & Nolan, where be | may be found during the day-time, and at night at his residence. July 7, 1842. 8t 45 •ft'otice. FI HERE will he an Election held at the JL Court-House in Washington, and the sev eral. precincts of Wilkes county, for two Justices of ;hc Inferior Court of said county, to fill the va cant-, .os caused by the removal of Daniel Lee, Esq. and the resignation of John T. Wootten, Esq., on the first Tuesday in August next. 11. L. EMBRY, l LEWIS S. BROWN, J. I. C. WM. Q. ANDERSON, ) July 7,1842. 45 “morTcheap goodsT JUST received direct from New-York, a fresh supply of new, cheap and desirable Fancy and Staple. Dry Goods, Hats, Ready made Clothing, BfC. ij-c. The following comprise a portion of the Stock, viz.: Book, Mull, Swiss and Jackonet MUSLINS, Cotton CAMBRICS, Thread and Bobinet LACES, Bonnet and Cap RIBBONS, Domestic and Earleston GINGHAM, _ Bro. Drills, Sheetings and Shirtings, BOMBAZINE APRONS—a new article, Palm Leaf HOODS, at 37£ cents, Palm Leaf IIATS, at 12J cents, 40 doz. prs. White, Colored and Fancy HOSE and half HOSE, from 12J- cts. to 50 cts. A beautiful lot of 2d Mourning Calicoes and Muslins, French, English and American PRINTS, from 64 cts. per yard to 25 cts. Bl’k. and White Cotton GLOVES, at 12| cts. pr. ALSO, Gent’s. White and Colored SHIRTS, Linen COLLARS and BOSOMS, White Linen COATS, Cloth and Glazed CAPS, Summer CASSIMER’S and CLOTHS, etc. &.C. &c. O’ Call at BELCHER’S Cheap Cash Store, in Thompson’s Range. Washington, July 14, 1842. 2t 40 ADMINISTRATOR’S SALE. A GREEABLE to an order of the Honorable the Inferior Court of the county of Wilkes, sitting as a Court of Ordinary, w-i]l be sold on the first Tuesday in September next, within the le gal hours of sale, before the Court-Ilouse door of the county of Cass, a Forty Acre I Ait of Land known as Lot No. 148, 6th District, and Third Section .of said county, belonging tc the Estate of Samuel M. Smythe, deceased. JAMES M. SMYTHE, Adm’r. June 30,1842. _ 44 A COMIC SONG. WILL NOBODY MARRY ME? ny GEORGE P. MORRIS. Ileigh-ho ! for a husband ! —heigh-ho ! There’s danger in longer delay ! Shall I never again hav’e a beau 1 Will nobody marry me, pray ! 1 begin to feel strange, I declare ! With beauty nay prospects will fade ! I’d give myself up to despair If I thought I should die an old maid ! I once cut the beaux in a huff’!— I thought it a sin and a shame That 110 one had spirit enough To ask me to alter my name! So I turned up my nose at the short, And rolled lip my eyes at the tall; But then fjust did it in sport, And now I’ve no lover at all! These men are the plague of my life ! ’Tis hard from so many to choose J Should one of them wish for a wife, Could I have thejieart to refuse ‘! I don’t know— for none have proposed ! Oh, dear me ! —l’m frightened, I vow ! Good gracious !—whoever supposed That, I should be single till now j&tarcUaufons. Froty the Ladies’ Companion for July. THE GRENADIERS GHOST. A TALE OF THE OLD STAIR HEAD CLOCK. By the author of “Laftte,” “Kydand the Quadroon .” “Art. thou ghost ot goblin damned! Thou coinest in such a questionable shape I fain must speak to thee.”— Hamlet. “There are unnumeruble histories in ma ny several countries and ages of the world, of extraordinary apparitions, and other un accountable performances, that could only have been done bv invisible powers. Ma ny of these are so well attested, that it ar gues a strange pitch ofobstinacy to refuse to believe a matter of fact when it is well vouched and when there is nothing in rea- SOU to oppose it but an unwillingness to bo lieve in the existence of invisible beings. — It is true this is an arrangement in which a fabulous humor will go far, and in which some are so credulous as to swallow down every tiling ; therefore all wise men ought to suspend their belief and not to go too fast; but when things arc so undeniably attested, that there is no reason to question the ex actness of the credit of the witness, it ar gues a mind unreasonably prepossessed to reject all such evidence. We preecive that we ourselves and the rest of mankind have thinking principles within us ; so from thence it is easy enough to us to apprehend that there may he other thinking beings, which either have no bodies at all. hut act purely as intellectual substances ; or, if they have bodies, that they are so subtil- Led as to be capable of a vast quickness of motion, such in proportion as we preceivo to be in our animal spirits, which, in the minute that our minds command them are raising motions in the remotest parts of em bodies. Such bodies may also be so thin as to be invisible to us : ihore is nothing in this theory that is incredible, and Scripture hath given it much opening to our belief.” Thus discourseth the learned and philo sophical Burnet; and having at our right hand such uu authority, we shall boldly proceed to our narration. Buccleuch, the sceneofthe foflovving sto ry, is an ancient manor-house situated on the banks of the Raritan, a little less than one mile from New Brunswick, in New Jersey. It was erected above a century ago by the father of a Revolutionary colo nel from whom it descended, passing through various hands into the possession of its present hospitable proprietor, Colonel S , a descendant ot the chivalrous Scotts of Buccleuch, in memory of whose paternal home it receives its name. Long before the war of independence the mansion was celebrated for the number of itsdistin guished visiters and for the noble entertain ment of its proprietor. It was it one period the abode of the lord governor, and its halls rung with weekly festivities and gaities. Many was the stately ball given there, in which the gentlemen appeared in the rich scarlet velvet coats emboidered with gold lace, in ruffles, powder and gold buckles ; and the ladies in farthingale and ample train, with their hair dressed as in the por traits of Queen Elizabeth.* During the Re volutionary war it was made successively die head quarters of Lord Sterling and the British General Grant, ihe latter of whom took possession of it on the hasty flight of the family of the proprietor. The house ‘•till retains numerous traces of this occu- *The winter before last one of these scenes was pleasingly revive!’. The accomplished daughter of the present “ioid of the manor,” gave a fancy ball at which were present many persons of the vicinity who wore the rich and perfect identical dress worn by their ancestors at the old gubernatorial parties a century, ago.— This was an iteresting sight. It was the olden days with the olden people represented in their sons and daughters ! This .speaks well for that old family aristocracy of which the Jersey folks are so proud. I’ ÜBL IS II E D EVE R Y TIIUR SD A Y MORN IN < ; WASHINGTON, (WILKES COUNTV, GA„) .11 I V 21, 1842. I paticy. The broad oaken stair wav, which is wide and shallow enough to be achieved on horseback, is hacked by swords and hal berds ; the bannisters are disfigured with initials and marks of pistol muzzles that have been driven against them ; while the stairs themselves arc thickly covered with the circular rings of the mouths of mus kets that have been struck upon them in the process of cleaning. In fact the whole grand stairway, for Colone] S. suffers nei ther (mint nor plane to efface these Revolu- I tionary marks, looks more like that apper • taining to soldiers’ barracks than to the pri i vate mansion of a gentleman. But Gener i al Grant having possession of the lower j rooms for the use of himself and staff', had ; quartered a grenadier guard in the upper j chambers to which this spacious stair-wav i was the common thoroughfare; besides,our ■ English visiters of the day were not over j nice in the care they took of houses and j churches that they chanced to appropriate i for winter quarters ; and in consideration of the long period it was occupied by Gen i eral Grant, Buccleuch fared better than many oilier mansions belonging to the Re i volutionary officers. It was in the winter of 18—, that cir cumstances of a plainfully interesting char- ■ actor made me a temporary sojourner at Buccleuch manor. It was a sunnv Sep tember afternoon that I first approached the mansion from Brunswick, by a road that wound past an old redoubt constructed on a barren heath that lies between it and the town. From this elevated hill the view is on every side interesting. Buccleuch lay before me in a little vale of its own by the side of tho meandering Raritan, its balco nied roof rising proudly above the grove of elm, acacia and horse-chesnuts that shaded the lawn on which it stood ; further beyond was a thick wood that bounded the estate ; and still further, sleeping in the sunlight of a summer’s evening, was a mill, a hamlet of.white and red houses and an old wooden bridge, all affording a most picturesque va riety to the view from where I stood IE. yond the mill stretched the silver river be tween verdant and sleeping shores, till a graceful bend hid it from the eye amid over hanging woods. Beyond the woods, for miles, stretched a fine countt-}’ of farm and forest, terminated jn the skyey outline by a range of blue hills. Such was tho fair scene ry of Buccleuch as seen from the old fort! On my right was the river with its broad canal locked to its side, adorned with plea sant farms on its opposite bank : behind me was the fair city of Brunswick with its sym motrioal episcopal opirc and hruvv tow ers, its elegant railroad bridge, the most beautiful structureof the kind in America, —and farther below it tho “ old bridge,” ‘ black and tottering with age ; while the ri- j ver, ever a bright feature in the scene, gli- \ ded on shortly to lose itself in the hills’ that enclosed the view on the east. It was on nil adjacent eminence of the same summit on which I stood, and which commanded a wider view of the vale of the Raritan, and a more extensive range of farm land and forest that Washington onco drew rein and after surveying it awhile, exclaimed with feeling: “Tliis is the loveliest scene on earth! If rest and repose ever be my lot I should, next to Mount Vernon, choose this peaceful spot in which to pass my life.” Me was at the head of a detachment of his army when ho said this, and the moment afterwards he rode on leading the tide of war over the valley of peace ! Alas, how seldom are man’s ways those his heart would choose ! After enjoying a few moments the scene which had made a warrior sigh for repose amid the career of arms. I gallopped down the hill and entering a gate at tips left, rode by a winding avenue to tiie mansion which for many subsequent months became my borne, —a home endeared to me by recol lections of mingled sadness and pleasure! Blessings on thy silvery head “good master of Buccleuch 1” Sweet and gentle remem brance to thee, fair “lady of the manor !” Love and fellowship to all the kind hearts at dearofd Buccleuch Hall! I have already alluded to the barbarous vestiges of the occupation of the mansion by the British troops. With a reverence for Revolutionary traces that command our re spect, and with a just indignation against the island foe that evinces his hearty pat riotism, the venerable Colonel has stoutly opposed all advances towards removing them or modernizing the stair-case, from time to time made by his children. Every sword hack on the black oaken banister, every indent of a musket muzzle on tho broad stairs, every gouge in the wainscoat made by a bayonet, is sacred in his eyes. He stood out for a long time most manfully against any innovation in the two front rooms which were pannelled from the floor to the ceiling, with tall harrow mantel pie ces adorned with Dutch tiles and small low windows, with innumerable panes of glass set in wonderfully thick and stout outer sashes. But he at last yielded ; and the two rooms are now modernized, affording a striking contrast to the wide hall between, which still retains its antique air, its pro jecting beams and carved cornices. The chambers are also pannelled and precisely unchanged as in olden time, furnished, as before the Revolution, with rich old high backed mahogany chairs and fitted with a score of little nooks and cupboards. His daughter plead hard for innovation here, but the Colonel was resolute. He had admit ted modern New York chairs into his par lor with centre tables and pier glasses ! there ho resolved to stop ! And these inno | vations were conceded only upon the condi tion of being suffered to retain by tho fire | place his old arm chair—in which Gcner j al Washington, Kosciusco and John Man | cock had sat! Dear to his heart was that j old arm chair! Well did it merit a nook i 111 modernized room ! Its presence con | Ikrred honor and dignity on ail about it!— Long, dear Colonel, may thy venerable i arm chair, hold its honored spot beside the j fire place ! Long niayest thou live to take | thy afternoon nap within its cushioned cm ! brace ! | L ith every apartment in the mansion j there is connected some historical or tradi- j j tionary reminiscence. In the room at the ! | foot of the Stairs, with the antique carved i j “'purei piece, General Grant was dining with Jiis staff when the intelligence was ; brought him that Washington was marcli ing upon Princeton and menaced Bruns wick. In the room above it an English co lonel was killed in a duel that took place with small swords over wine cups in the ‘ sanioVooin. The east chamber in front j had been once occupied by Washington, and that in the rear was Gen. Grant’s slee ping apartment. In one of tho front par lors, (the west one 1 believe,) had been held a council of war, at which Lord Cornwal lis and Ear! Grey were present; and in the cast one an English cavalry officer, a young nobleman, was privately married to ! a lovely American girl, whom smitten with • her charms he had abducted and bro’t here and who subsequently became a much ad mired marchioness both at Altnack’s and j St. James’. The room in the rear of this is the Colonel s library, a miscellaneous j assemblage of books as quaint and old as j the mansion itself. This also has its story. I It is called “The Grenadier’s room!” “The Grenadier’s room?” I repeated, I looking round it ns 1 entered to see if I j could discover any thing that might give it such a name. “The Grenadier’s room,” answered tho Colonel gravely. “There is a story con nected with it I will tell you some time when the ladies are at leisure to hear it.” “What kind, of a story, dear Colonel?”: inquired a lovely married woman who form- i ed one the party of six, which our vener-I able and gallant host was conducting thro’ j the rooms of the mansion. “ A ghost story, dear madam,” lie said j smilling but speaking in a serious tone. “A ghost story !” was the general excla- : mation; and one or two of the party shrunk instinctively buck from the.door of the 1i brary ; for it was twilight and objects with in looked shadowy and mysteriously unde fined to the eye. “Is it is a rea/ghost story, Colonel ?” in quired the fair married lady, Mrs. Mary Odlin, in a hesitating doubtful voice. “It is, I assure you, my dear madam. It is as well authenticated as tho most incred ulous need desire.” “Is it a Grenadier’s ghost?” asked a pret ty black-eyed girl, whose cherry cheek was something blanched while she spoke : “and has any body seen it ?” “I have seen it,” answered the Colonel, solemnly. “Oh, mercy ! Lot us go from this horrid room!” cried the maiden, shrinking, yet fearing to start. “This old house is haun ted, and I always knew it was ! I will not j sleep here to-night, Colonel !” “He has not appeared for three years, Julia,” said the old gentleman, smiling ; | “do not be alarmed !” ■ I knew you were only joking,” said the •alarmed girl, laughing; “but really I have a great terror of ghosts, yet 1 don’t believe in them.” “Then you should have been with me three years ago, the twentieth of October night,” impressively said the Colonel, in a tone that startled all present with its solemn awe. “What did you see then, dear Colonel?” inquired the pretty Miss Mary Odlin, with all the firmness she could command, anx ious to be acquitted of any suspicion of fear. “I saw an apparition visible and, present where we now stand ! It was habited like i a British Grenadier, and his face wore an expression of painful anguish and sadness, such as I had never—bless me, you have ali flown!” The Colonel was indeed deserted by the ’ladies ere he had completed the sentence. We followed them to the portico, I laughing at their terror, though not unimpressed my self by the seriousness in the tones of his voice. They were, I thought too natural to be assumed, yet that the remembrance of any supernatural appearance bad uncon sciously thus modulated them, I could not believe. A stroll on the lawn in the peace ful twilight, calmed the fears of the ladies, which the seriousness of the Colonel had irresistably excited, and when tea was an nounced, all returned to the house cheer fully, and readily laughing at their ghost, I the bright eyed Julia being the most merry at her own fears. Several weeks passed without farther al- ! lusion to the library and its ghostly grena- j dier, when it chanced that the same party! that were at Buccleuch when the subject I had before been mentioned, were once more j there on a visit of a few days. One eve ning a severe storm, accompanied by terific thunder andlightning, drew all the inmates together after tea was over, in the west room, for companionship and sympathy.— A thunder tempest, at that season of the year, in that climate, was unusual, and there was therefore more apprehensions manifested than on other occasions ; never theless, conversation was lively and and'laughter free arid hilarious! ft work, ■til”'?'’ i on his wt j observed at such times, that people are ei ther very grave or very gay ; the former I proceeding from a serious contemplation of j death, with which they feel every arrow of lightning is feathered and barbed, the 1 at ter from a certain nervous fear, which must I some way vent itself, and as readily in I laughing as in crying. There is a third | class, too, that appear perfectly indifferent I as if hardened into insensibility, when each J moment death may come winged to their I hearts ! Such persons may have hearts ! It singularly becomes all men to be solemn i “ hen tho near lightning is flashing about I their heads, and tho voice of the thunder ; shakes the ground beneath their feet. A j light laugh—a jesting remark—is then, I i feel impiety 1 j Suddenly our conversation, which iiad t been gaily resumed on a temporary lull of I the storm, was silenced by an appalling i crash of thunder that followed the blinding ! lightning so instantly, that the ear and eye were shocked at the same moment. Every | hca'l “'as bowed instinctively, as if to re ceive the invisible stroke, and only lifted when the thunder ceased to redouble its eeh- j oes along the horizon. For several mo- I | merits aiteiwards there was a deep silence, j j which at length, the Colonel interrupted by I | saying. j “That is the lust holt! It has broken! | the storm ! This will ho a good opportu- i j nify to relate my story of the Grenadier’s | Ghost.” | There is, in the human mind, a propensi- , j tv to a higher degree, ofthaYMate in which I |it may be at the moment. A state of pro- I ! sent happiness inclines it to joyousness, to j laughter, to mischiefand to merriment. A j I state of sadness inclines it more easilv to j j sorrow, to tears, and finally to despairing j j grief. This quality of the mind has been | | particularly observed to exist in whatever I | relates to the subject of supernatural up- 1 I pearances. If around a winter’s fire, acci- I dent has drawn attention to the subject of apparitions, there is at once experienced in 1 every mind present, an irresistible propen- j sity, in the ‘very face of bis own fears, to I i dwell arid enlarge upon the theme, ’till the i j indulgence of this morbid and diseased cu- ! I riosity leads to the most fearful consequen- I | cos. 4 I I There was a feeling something like this j that actuated every bosom tho instant the j I Colonel mentioned the subject of the ghost ! of the library ! Al! sensation bad been ap : palled by tiic fearful thunder clap, and deep awe yet filled each mind : yet it was at this state, of feeling that the Colonel pro posed a subject that would only increase their sensations of fear and add to their mental discomfort. Nevertheless, such is j the propensity of the mind, to which we I have alludpd, that no sooner was it sug- j gested, than each one present, though j shrinking at the idea, felt an irresistible i impulse to desire him to relate the story, j It was therefore with no little surprise and | gratification that lit in ard from half dozen ! voices, “Oh, ves, yes Tin ghost story ! Do, i Colonel !” “Do, dear Colonel!” entreated Julia, I half trembling. “ 1 should like it of all things !” cried ! Mrs. Odin. “ Tell it ! do tell it !” was the universal I response. The Colonel paused a few moments, as i if to recall the past, his anxious audience i the while instinctively drawing nearer to I each other. The wind howled about the ! corners of the old mansion, at times wail ing dolefully, as if the ghost himself were without, plaintively asking shelter from the inmates. After a few moments’ death-like silence, in which the heart’s beating might have been distinctly beard, the silvery headed veteran began. His eye, during the narration, was fixed alternately either upon the lovely Mrs. Mary Odlin, or upon the fair Julia ; for the Colonel was a gal lant cavalier of the old school, studiously and attentively polite to the young and beautiful, from whom he was the envied recipient of many a bright kiss, which he j punctually exacted from all tho young and | fair that visited Buccleuch Hall ! and ma- I ny and fair were the youthful females that j gathered, from time to time, beneath its lies- I pitable roof, and he was “dear grandpa” I to one and all ! Surely cheerful old age | hath its pleasures and its privileges “ It was on some such night as this, three years ago,” cdhimenced the Colonel, in a low, grave tone, that at once commanded j their attention, and awed their minds, “that 1 was engaged to a late hour in my library on a capital case which I was to argue the next day, (lor the Colonel was, at this time, the eldest sergeant at law at the bar.) I had just completed my minutes of refer ence, and laid down my pen, when I heard the tall old mahogany clock which you have all seen standing on the first landing of the hall stairs, begin to strike. “ Bless me, is it twelve o’clock 1” 1 ex claimed, taking out my watch and looking at it, after I had heard the twelfth stroke of the hammer; “I will take a glass of this fine old port beside me and go to bed!” “ I took up the bottle of wine which Har ry had brought in with two glasses on a waiter, and placed beside me, as his usual custom was, and began to pour out the rich blood of the grape, when my hand was ar rested by a heavy step descending the hall stairs. I listened with the bottle suspended above the half-filled glass. Step slowly followed step, heavy and firm, and I was confident some person was coming down Iho scaihjhambers into the hall. But who picking the sheriff’spocfcvny daughter and ay to the penitentiary ) ill. .V. KAPPEL, Printer. \ Mary were away, and, save my servant, Harry, who slept in a room adjoining the kitchen, 1 was the only soul in the whole house. There was something in the heavy, deadweight with which each foot fell upon the stairs, that made upon me a singular impression. The house was still as death, so that I could hear distinctly tho full sound ot the footfalls as they successively re sounded through the echoing hall. At length the heavy tread fell upon the hall (loor, and 1 felt the house tremble beneath it, and and stinctly saw the wine tremulate in the glass ! I assure you, fair ladies, I nev er had, until that night, faith in supernat ural visitations. That this was any thing superhuman, 1 had not the first idea. I was thinking all the time who could have got into the house, and marvelling if he was a thief that he should send before him such note of his approach. But indeed I hardly knew what to think. The step still rung upon the hall floor, and was, I perceived, evidently approaching the door of the libra ry ! With this, I set down the bottle, and rising quickly from my chair, took down grandfather’s sword with the basket hilt', which lie used at Cullodcn, and which I have showed to von hanging in the library with my other old family armor. It hung i then where it does now, directly above the ■ uniform I wore in the last war. 1 had no i sooner got the good blade in my grasp, than I felt that confidence and serenity tho hold of a stout weapon always affords an old scl . dier. The slop approached the door, slow, | measured and heavy, like a military tread, and J was convinced that whoever the in truder was who tints disturbed tho mid night repose of the house, he had, at least, been trained in the camp, and 1 thought I detected the ringing of arms as he moved. But 1 was astonished at the dead weight of Ins footfall more than any thing else. I bad never conceived any thing like it.— Every joint in the old mansion groaned, and every beam sprung'beneath it. Mv mind misgave me, and 1 began to prepare myself to encounter something that might give me trouble ! Rut I had no time to in dulge or increase, by dwelling on them, my rising apprehensions, for the walker was at the door of the library. I grasped my grandfather’s basket hilt more firmly, and awaited tiie result. For several seconds there was a perfect silence without in the hall, broken only by tho sighing o.f the hoarse winds in the trees. My heart was in my mouth ! I began to feel uneasy at this suspense, which momently became less endurable, and I was impulsively about to throw open the door and terminate it, when a hand upon the lock made me experience a sensation throughout my body I recollect never to have known before. It might have been fear, but what followed has led me to refer it to an instinctive intimation in the mortal flesh of the presence of a disembodi ed soul ! I started back at tho sound, and cried, ‘ Who is there ?’ “ The door slowly turned upon its hin ges, while I threw myself into an attitude of defence, with my sword presented in tho direction of tho entrance. My heart ceas ed to beat, yet my nerve was good and my band as steady as in my best days in the war. With mingled curiosity and misgiv ing, I fixed my eye on the door, and as it o pened, I beheld standing in it a tall figure in the dress of a Captain of British Grena diers, and carrying in his hand a small camp lantern, in which a miserable flame flickered, in the act of expiring. It cast upwards upon his face a ghastly reddish glare, giving to features already horrible from their expression of pain and anguish, a most fearful aspect to human eyes. His head was bare and grey, with mildew upon the long hanging locks, and his helmet hung by its chinband or. bis shoulders. It was rusted and moulded, his uniform was also old and mothv, and Ills sword was rust ed in its scabbard. He stood erect, and witli a military air, and after casting a mel ancholy glance around the apartment, he fixed his hollow gaze upon me. I was pet rified with fear and astonishment, for I saw in his face that the skin was shrunk upon the bones as no living man’s could bo, and that the hand which held the lamp was that of a skeleton. For several seconds I stood gazing upon the spectre, and the spectre upon me ; for it was plain from the looks of surprise, that it did not expect to find me there. At length I addressed him with what resolution I could command, in these words: “ Being of another world, what would’st thou here ?” It made me no reply, but pointing silent ly and with a solemn gesture to his dicker ing lamp, commandingly waved me aside, as if I had stood between him and some ob ject he sought beyond me. I irresistibly obeyed, when with the same heavy step I had heard in the hall, the tall figure moved past me across the library in the direction of a little shelf where I kept little miscel laneous articles, such as hammer, nails, cork-screw, the oil can, and the like, and while 1 wondered and watched it, I saw him stretch forth bis skeleton hand, and with a ghastly smile of gratification, take the oil can from the shelf and deliberately fill his rusty little lamp. He then replat ed it upon the shelf, and sighed, as if reliev ed from some great evil he had apprehend ed. Tito lamp so lately expiring, now burned brightly, and the spectre turning upon me a look of gratitude, pointed tow ards the table with his outstretched finger of hones, 1 had, by this time, become in some degree accustomed to his presence, extraordinary as it was; and feeling an inexpressible curiosity to learn whv the [VOLUME XXVII.
