Jasper Weekly Courier, Volume 14, Number 38, Jasper, Dubois County, 25 October 1872 — Page 6

Hu Olil reute Kail. It lift and ' the rod.-ile. Ann ns the w.theritw i : And biktktxrry liiwm r it. A i.d tk UkUUM liroj' their Ml It, Ueb.w thf Miami :i urruur: lleflouf .if he always fl-wed: Ati.l t in eoj.W Ml trd .1 -i j westwar I. 1 ravel the National K.'aJ. At Muii" : maiden's ulanee Gild it with Inn of .1 nvn. But th cuoolbojr srwrt. with hi nostrils. Kick? it, and ha.ten mi. Above it the iionerr' chiuicer, Louly anil ricknty, lotttl Beside the pioaMr'f a-arde n Ii a wilderin r wth of green.'. It m split by the stalwart settler. One of the undent race. Anil the hands ra hi- tow-haired children Lilted it iutü it- place. Year after the ?nwkv brer Sat un it. dunclinc hi? heels. While his cirl forgot her milking. And the pen. with iu hungry squeals. Ah. the rail has it own romance. The jcer.ei :tnd changed of year.: I pause whenever I see it. And drop on it seveial tear.

UNCLE JAP'S HOST. 1 mppOM there is no doubt that one good, honest ghost, one that could be seen and touched, would lo more toward making the world at large believe in the future life of the soul, than all the sermons and treatises ever written. Indeed, the world seems always to have been in a manner conscious of this. Hence, the eager fascination with which mankind, even after being fooled for thouands of years, still catch at anything .ike a plausible ghost story. In fact, ghost-seeing has always been one of the world's weak spots. Of course, nobody believes in ghosts now-a-days ; yet, let anything like a decently probable story get a going, and it is a little surpiising to see how curious people will become. Take the "haunted house" of Boston, for example. And almost every town or village has its specter, first or last. 1 well remember the sensation which came up in the little parish where 1 used to iive, some years ago. It was a quaint little neighborhood, away back from the rest of the world a hutch (Baptist) and parsonage, a "tavern," some dozen or twenty house, with a wild, unsettled region stretching away on all sides. At the period I refer to. old Elder McKay had just died, and the new u Elder," Mr. Granger, a pale, gravefaced young man, had just come, bringing a wife s pale and grave-faced as himself. Both werecf the calm, spiritual sort models in all respects. But in marked distinction from them was the wife's sister, a a:rl of filteen or sixteen, who rxi -.de her home with them. Nell Burnham, as we soon came to know her, was of quite a different sort. In parish language, she wasn't a 41 professor,'' and moit certainly not a professor of much of that 6omber-visaged piety more in vogue then than now, perhaps. In short, without being in any wav bad. Nell was a truwip among girlswas " hail .'ellow well met" with any one who had a spark of fun about him" and was always bent on a good time some way. The young folks liked Xell. universally all the more from the fact that she was known to be a subject of the most profound gref and solicitude on the part of the reverend pair at the parsonage, a well as an object of distrust among all the deacons and deaconess. Wherever she went there wa sure to be a good time, and something to laueh over afterward. This little neighborhood had also an u 1 rHther unePcd character in the shape of an old Mississippi negro known as Uncle Jap (an abbreviated form of Japan). He had come to the tavern one bl-ak winter evening, some years previously how, nobody" knw exactly ; had been a passenger on the Underground Kail way," probably, sent in here tor safe residence. For those -were the days when Abolition'' raised its crest against the "Fugitive Slave Law." (Wnat an ancient sound these terns have.) Uncle Jap's case was dimly understood. People sympathized with him. He built fires at the tavern, where an attic had been given him for a lodging place, and in process of time, came to be sexton at the church and dug graves when anybody died. And about this time one Martha Wilkins, spinster, did actually die: and Uncle Jap had the digging of her grave on hand. It was a late October evening, moonlight, and the old fellow bad gone up to the church vat d to see something about it. One of my boy friends, Zeke Edwards, and I were playing " backgammon" down in the barroom, at the tavern, with several others looking on, when, all at once, in rushed Uncle Jap, bareheaded, and with a countenance frescoed with terror. "Hello! Uncle Jap! What's the matter? What is it?" we all exclaimed. He had fairly leaped behind the stove in his fright, and was turn ing the whites of his eye toward the open door. "De Lord s.ibe us 1" was his first ejaculation. " Whv, Uncle Jap ! what is it ?" " De Lord knows ! but I 'spects it was a spook !" ' A spook ! what's a spook ?'' " A spook or a bogey," cried the old darkey, shivering. "De Lord knows which." "Why, where have Vou been? Where were you ?" asked Zeke. " Up to de church yard only. Was je looking long de side of de Wilkins lot, tinking how hard de frozen groun' would be to break up for ole Martha tomorrow, when the spook riz right up all white, and mos' cotched me." This was the sum and substance of his story ; the main point of which waa that something had frightened him nearly to death, and Zeke and I ran out to see what it waa. There was nothing

;u --.irht from the tavern, -o we kept on

UP to the church vard. But all was now tili aud quiet theie motionless as the i im lU' onliLMit that lav uion it. e were about going back laughing at Und Jap's stampede, when I suddenly caught a glimpse of something white flitting around the corner of the church. l'ye see that ? ' whispered I. 'I did see something I thought."' said Zeke. " But gracious !" exclaimed lie, suddenly, jerking my arm, " look there !" 1 looked. Out of the dark shadow of one side of the church a dim white form was moving slowly toward us, not twenty rods off. We were boys then : and I consider it no disgrace to say that we ran off in a perfect ptnic, never stopping till we were back at the tavern. We had seen a ghost. And by the next day everybody knew it, and talked of nothing else. And when Sunday came, the congregation in the church kept casting furitive glances out into the churchyard, and at noon little groups were to be seen examining the places where the pecter had appeared (iood Mr. Oranger was scandalized: and all the deacons especially old Deacon Orover denounced the "spook" as "mockery, or a device of Satan." But only the next night, as the worthy deacon was going to call on his pastor, the spook suddenly rose from the path in front of him, and waved him back. At first the old man if we may credit his account had withstood it, abjuring it, ;n the name of Heaven, to give place. But it wouldn't budge. And the deacon had in the end fled back to hisdwelling in as great a bright as we had fled from the church-yard. The last " scare" was the signal for a general hubbub throughout the parish. Everybody was on the lookout : and during the next fortnight more than a dosen persons had got a glimpse of the spook, the most ab.-uru anu ririicu ious accounts were current respecting it. The church-yard seemed to be the favorite resort Friday nights at least. Indeed, so rampant tirew the stories x i . r - ),i . :. to eniianuer tue ihiui ami spiritual welfare of the church : so at least Bar on Granger thought. And after coaptation with his deacons, it was leide I that, as God's servant, it was their duty to confront and appease the spirit, it it were a good one : or by virtue of their piety and parochial office, to drive it off, if, as most suspected, it was a foul one. And, as the spook was nearly nocturnal in its habit, and must be met on ifs own ground, they agreed to go to the church-yard the next Friday evening, and there M confront" it. Zeke and I heard of this decision, and resolved to be of the party. Or as they might (very properly) object to such an unsanctified addition as ourselves, we concluded to follow them, unknown, and watch the proceedings from some sate covert. I really don't think we would have cared to go there alone, but with so many good Christians ahead there would be little risk ; for in case of any sudden manifestations, we judged we could get off as fast as any of them. 1 well recall that Friday evening. Zeke and I were on the lookout, and at eight o'clock saw Mr. Granger and his deacons sally forth from the parsonage, and take their way to the church-yard. The moon had not risen ; and we followed them unobserved M far as the gate, where we concealed ourselves in a clump of raspberry bushes, in uch a way as to cemmand a view of what went on in the vard, through the chinks in the fence. But the spook was in no hurry ; and for a long time its would be interviewers had nothing better to do than to it on the tombstones and pace up and down the walk through the center of the yard. An hour or two passed ; but meanwhile tlie moon rose, making it a little lighter. "Call rather too early,'' whispered Zeke. ' May not appear at all," said I. Another hour passed. We were beginning to wish ourselves at home,when a sudden exclamation from Mr. Granger came to our ears. "There! there 't is," whispered Zeke, pointing to a distant corner of the yard. Sure enough, just emerging from some low cedars which bordered one of the lots, was the form in white. For a moment it paused, as if uncertain, then glided straight toward the intruding party. "Pause, spirit 1" cried Granger, nervously ; " whether good or evil, stand still and answer us !" Ar.d, with solemn gestures, the spook came straight for the speaker,extending its arms as if to clasp him. Mr. Granger shrank back upon the nearest deacon, who shrank in turn behind his fellow. In short, they all shrank ; and by way of shrinking a little faster, turned and ran. In a trice, and be fore we could get up out of the briers, they wero scampering out at the gate with the spook not two rods behind them. We crouched down and watched with a sort of curious fascination. At the gate the figure stopped a mo ment, threw a hasty glance around, then darted on after the fugitive deacons, who were pounding along down the frozen road, trying to keep up with their pastor. But as it sprang away something white fluttered in the moonlight, and fell to the ground something that looked like a pocket-hand-kerch ief. A sudden suspicion shot into my head. And as the phantom disappeared beyond the church, I bounded out and secured the yes, it was a handkerchief. In a jiffy we were out of the briers,and

viding behind a couple of headstones. We hadn't long to wait, either, tor in a few minutes the spook came back, shaking with stippres-el emotion. We waited till she was abreast of us, then rose up in our turn. The ghost jumped buck. "Oho! old lady !" cr ed Zeke, leaping out and snatching off her tall p aper cap. "Your little game's up!" " t that you, Zeke and Kit, too?" cried Nell, laughing in spite of hen-elf. " Well, I'm caught at last, 1 guess." " Of course you are!" "Yes; but now, Zeke and Kil, don't tell the old folks. Say vou won't, now ?"' " Don't know about th.it. You've frightened us once, you know." " I know such fun, too ! But please, boys, don't tell of this!"

" What will vou give us ?" "Oh! anything a kins? Will that do ?" inquired she, temptingly. AYe thought that would do very well, and closed the bargain. There were no more spooks in that churchyard. But we kept the secretall three of us : and Mr. Grainier and his deacons have never, to this day, suspected that it was pretty, roguish Nell Burnham who sent them a heeling so down the frozen road that ghostly Fri day evening. Foreign Gossip. There are 218 barons in England. Jenny Lind has been singing in the choir of the American Episcopal Church in Florence. The first railway in Tunis has just been successfully opened. The passengers on the first day numbered 12.496. A few weeks ago Great Britain u tested" her ship of war Glatton. Two shots were tired at her, and it cost $68.000 to repair the damages inflicted. r.vRis newsboys are to be uniformed in dark blue, and their unkempt hair is to be crowned with caps of scarlet cloth, similar to those worn by the Neapolitan boatmen. A new history of the Internationale, which has lately appeared in Germany, says there are rot above S,"O0 members of that society now paying their subscriptions in England. The latest reports from England and Ireland give comparatively favorable accounts of tha potato crop, and much exaggeration on the reported failure appears to have oeen made. In Germany chilaren go to school at 7 o'clock in the morning, and do not ieave until 4 in the afternoon. A half an hour at noon is regarded by Dutch schoolmasters ample time for urchins to destroy a bit of black bread and drink a cup of Adam's eclebra ted ale. The sudden growth of Rome has made it necessary to open many new streets upon which to build. The digging of foundations and cellars is the continual upturning of treasures in art, long hidden and unknown. Almost every stroke of the peak reveals a fragment of mosaic pavements, medals, bas-reliefs, jewels, or ancient tools. Even statues in marble and bronze are occasionally executed. The pat.i of the workman is followed by a troop of eager curio-ity seekers and antiquarians. Personal. It 13 hard to respect old age when one gets sold ou a venerable pair of chickens. Forrester has been living a very chaste life. He has been chased ail over the United States. Robert Lincoln-, says the Fijaro, has lately arrived in Paris, where tie lives, with his family, at the Grand Hotel. William Ccllen Bryant and his son-in-law, Park (todwin, have made $400,0O0 or $500,000 each out of the Evening Post. Sir Roundell Palmer and William It, Evarts became so excellent friends at Geneva that Palmer will visit Evarts next summer. Editing a newspaper is very much like raking a fire every one thinks he can perform the operation better than the man who has hold of the poker. This is the way in which Dow sometimes published his appointments. After eating his supper at a backwoods tavern, a gaping crowdihered about the room, and oneol thepives pushed himself into Dow's presence. "Go," said the eccentric preacher, "and tell one woman and three men that I will preach at the court house to night." One woman against three men for spreading news was Dow's idea. Limitations of Life. Some very curious discoveries have been made by medical gentlemen, in the service of life insurance companies, not generally apprehended by wellinformed physiological savants. It is this, viz. : the children of long-lived parents. If only one is long-lived and the other is from a stock with less vital force, then the children have a sort of division of vitality among them. One will live to be very aged, while another falls considerably short of the life period of the short-lived parent. But there is another fact still more surprising, pretty nearly as well estab lished. When a child arrives at the age at which either p rent died, aside from accidental cause, it will become indisposed, gradually sicken and mav die. If it survives at that time, it may pass through a similar state of vital disturbance on or about the anniversary of the other parent's death ; but if that ia passed, some years more mav be safelv predicted as a life-lease for the individual. Laws of limitation ore not exclusively legislative acta. Nature established them before Parliaments and Congresses were organized.

Broken Tale.

The cash must accompany all tales and poetry published m this depait ment. j The following extract is a portion of a thrilling story of love, icvenge, benzine and dry lades that the local editor received yesterday, from a talented young writer, whose literary tar is in the ascendant, und is now beginning to twinkle above the hills of Bed Hot. Our usual custom has been to publish original tales at our regular advertising rates of .-o much per line, aud. as we ate determined not to deviate from this rule, we only print as much of thisatory as four dollars and thirty cents bad ed by the fair authoress will pay for : THE .S1LYEU MUX KEY W BENCH ; 01. TUE LOST BILL WHEEL. A Tale of the Pipe Line and Teamsters' Crusade. The late September twilight was loth to leave the family starred, dim blue heaven. Wafts of delicious fragrance tloated down over the town of Titusville from the sweet scented acid works, the hillside brewery, the golden jungle of sunflowers, and dew covered patches of sauerkraut in the raw. Low above the rugged line of forest that (ringed Kerr's Hill, hung the young silver crescent. Two lovers stand at a garden gate. The woman's fuce is fresh and fair as that of the Sistiue Madonna, and from the same cause paint, mid on by a master hand. ou can (if not near sighted) see distinctly tue lustrou.. richness of her hazel eyes, as the soft light of the moon fulls aslant her lightiy ajuiline nose. The man is naudsom, too ; tall and symmetrical as a telegraph pole, well shaped, and muscular as the sheet iron statue of William Shakespeare on the I'arshall Opera House, and with a face of graceful con tour, slightly oval, like that ot a Hubbard squash. It is Elsie De Ferguson's voice that comes over the gate and breaks the stillne.-s of the gloaming. " And so, Paul, you have signed the contract not to Urul any more weils for thirty day f" "Yes! yes! of course I have," he murmurs, as he takes her hand in his while murmuring his words, and at the same time MUOVing a chaw of fine cut, which he slyly hides on the gat post, and stoops to kiss her wnite forehead that glimmers in the moonlight. " But what aie you going to do for a living, PauU'" asked the unsuspecting maiuen. Elsie did not see the sinister smile that flitted over l'aul's face as he heard her quest on. no: did she catch the muttered words, M three queens beat one pair, mat tell lrooi ms lips. This is all of the above interesting stoiy that will appear in these columns. We regret that suca is the cae, but business is business, and if we commenced any relaxation from our rules, biet Harte, Joaquin Miller and Walt Whitman would li;l our columns chuck up every day. The public must be pro tected, ami unless we receive another installment of very hard (looking) ca-h the reader may consider the tale finished. Titusviile Press. Agricultural Postal Laws. There is no one, however remotely ho may be engaged from the garden or the farm, but who is interested jn the fowl he eats or the raw material fiom which his clothing is made. Hence all that has been done during the j-ast few years in aid of the agricultural interest has been cheerfully acceded to by the whole community. i.'ne of the greatest boons to this great interest was the permission to sena seeds, grafts, plants and cutting" by mail at the rate of two cents for every four ounces in quantities of not less than four pounds. It was thankfully accepted, and by this means innumerable vaiietiesof valuable vegetable articles have been introduced into parts of the country where railroads and express companies failed to reach. No one ever complained of the Ikw that we have heard of. It was thought it might operate to the disadvantage of the express companies, but in the main the parties who have availed themselves of this accommodation would not have used the express : and besides, the matter is so small an item in the express business that it is unlikely that it would seriously interfere with them. At any rate, this good step in progress is virtually repealed by the new postal code, and the agricultural community feel very indignant thereat, the more ro as no one can see any particular reason why this retrograde 6tep should have been taken. By the present law packages of only twelve ounces can be mailed. Some of the smaller kinds of roots and seedn can yet go in this way, but of larger varieties not enough can be sent to be of any service to any except to raise a half dozen specimens for a botanic garden ; and as for living vegetation, where so much of packing material has to be employed to preserve them fresh and from injury by the pressure of other mail matter, the postal limit will be reached before the plant is inclosed. The great topic of conversation in agricultural circles just now ia what interest, public or private, is to be served by this unasked and unexpected change. But it is probably nothing more than a piece of hasty legislation, adopted without reflecting much on the conse quences, and which, if brought to the notice of their Representatives by those interested, will no doubt be remedied next eaon.PhUadelphia Prcts. The annual coal yield of Ireland is 120,000 tons. Ireland is said to contain some ot the richest coal Hehls in the world, but they are worked only moderately. Chicaoo has grown since April at the rate of a four-story brick or iron build ing every twenty-four hours.

Country Children. Little frr.h violet, liurn in tlie w ilil wii, Mvuetljr (HuMMting Inmire-nt ehtldfcoodi Baj e tu- aataltip i Bfowa ii berry l'rf a- the mountain air. lli uipinu and uierry. Blue vr nnil hii eyes rata Iroiu tbe lleflfM, fs'h.tilcil tiy sun bonnets t-myeii at (lie e.Je. I I' in the anile tree,; lleelle4 of .l.inm-r. Alnnhool in euitryn tariM ut the t ranter. Out in the hilly iatoh. Seekinjr tlu lierrie.tt nJer tUe orchard treei, ftM-tins "n i-herrie, lr.oui'lin th blo.-s.inn. lown 'wont the (ruMcs, Kg voles to hiraler theui, Deur la I., ami lagan, Nirim i.ronriety No interdiction ; Free in the birllingn from city rMtrictii.n! Cwinir the purest blool. Strong-th'ninK each niii-.-;.?, Donnia- health uriuor 'ualait life'. oouiiUK bustle. Dear little innocents! Horn in the wild woods;! Oh. that all little one Baa such a ein,. lb 'oil ! God's blue -preid over them, Hod's Karlen beneath theui: N- jiireeter heriliiae Coubl e briueth them !

Varieties. A man" that ought to be re-m-'mberei A one-legged soldier. Ir you court a young woman, nnd you are won and s-ho is won, you will both be one. u Tue Pacific slope" The Quaker Pence Commissioners running from the Indiana u Have you heard my lust speech ?" asked a political baimafOW Of a wit. " 1 incerely hope so," was the reply. A man bearinn of nnodier who was a hundred vears old. said, contemptuously, " Pshaw ! what a foH about nothing ! Why. If my grandfather was alive he would be 150 years old." A dving Iriihman, aaktd by his confessor if he was ready to renounce the devil and all his works, replied : " I'on't ask me that: I'm L'oinc to a iimum countrv. and I don't intend to make myself enemies." A HocsEKEnrER sent Bridget out one morning to buy some heads of lettuce. She returned with postage 6tamp. When a-.ked how she made the mistake, she pertly answered, " An' sure, wasn't I told to get headsof letters?" A man who has a red headed sweetheart addressed hern- Sweet Auburn, loveliest of the plain." Sweet Auburn got mad about it. She objected to being classed among the ' plain," even though called the loveliest Of them. In Arkansas a man was sentenced to be hanged, but all the carpenters in the DCighborbood refused to build the scaffold. As the condemned man wa hitn-elf a carpenter by trade, the lieritf tried to induce him to put up a gallows, but he steadfastly declared that he'd be hanged if he did". A railw ay watchman caught napping at his post, and convicted of willful negligence, said to the jailer, who tri about to lock him up, I always supposed that the safety of a railroad depended on the soundness o!" the sleepers." " So it does,'' retorto 1 the jailer : ''but such sleepers are never safe unless they I re bolted in." A lady, who had received a severe bite on her arm from a dog. went to Dr. Abernethy, but hearing of his aversion to hear the statement of particulars, she merely uncovered the injured tart and held it before him in silence. After examining it, he said, in an ln-juinn tone, " Scratch ?" " Bite," said the lady. "Cat?" inquired the doctor. " Dog," rejoined the lady. So delighted was the doctor with the brevity and Eromptntss of the lady's answers that e exclaimed, ' Zounds, madam, you are the most sensible woman I have met with in all my life f Curious Will. Chambers' Journal gives some strange facts and figures appertaining to willmaking: In 1S14, Lady Francis Wilson, laughter of the Earl of Aylesbury, was informed by Archdeacon Potts, that a parishioner of his, named Wright, then lying dead at a poor lodging in Pimlico. had lett her a valuable estate in Hampshire. The fair legatee ridiculed the idea, as she knew no such individual. However, she went to Pimlico, and recognized her defunct friend as a constant frequenter of the opera, who had annoyed hr by continually staring at her there. One would natur ally suppose mat the iriendless man had fallen in love with the lady, or been attracted, perhaps, by her resemblance to some lost love of his youth. There may have been some tender feeling in the case; but theu, how can we account for his leaving 4.000 to the Couness of Koaslyn, .4,000 to the Sneaker of the House of Commons, and 1.Ch0 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, all of whom were ignorant of his existence. The worthy Archdeacon would have scouted the notion of the man being insane, for had he not proved himself in his right mind by leaving him 1.000, "as a mark of approbation of a setmon he had heard him preach.' In 1772, a Monmouthshire squire left 20,000 to a laboring man to whom he would not spesk while living. A Mr. Furstonc left 7.000 to the first man bearing his surname who should marry a female Furstone. This was one way for a lone man to provide himself with heirs, but we prefer the practice of honest George Watts, of Stoke Bishop, who, having no kinsman or kinswoman to whom he could bequeath his sundry cottages of which he had by industry and self-denial made himself proprietor, left each of his humble tenants the cottage in which he lived.