130 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
ghost. It was a moonliglit night, with a little snow on 
the ground, and I was alone, crossing a cleared lot 
where the stumps stood pretty thick, when I noticed, 
crouched down behind*one of them, a figure of some 
sort that looked like an old woman. It had no bonnet 
or hat, nothing but a cap on its head ; it wore a long, 
tattered dress, that blew about in the wind, while I could 
just make out a pair of thin, white arms ; but her face 
was black as a coal. It is no use to saj I was not 
scared, for I think I was. There were some crazy people 
about at that time, who had escaped from the madhouse ; 
but I was pretty sure I could outrun any of them, 'spe- 
cially a woman, and I knew it was no use running from 
ghosts, so I concluded the best thing to do was to keep 
right along and pretend to take no notice ; but, do my 
best, I could not keep my eyes off the old woman. I 
tried to whistle, but not a sound would come. I only 
blew a little, and not very steady at that. I tried to 
sing, but the first note I uttered made me jump ten feet ; 
I thought it was somebody else's voice, as sure as fate. I 
had sidled off as far as I could on account of a* gully 
there was, and did not like to go down that for fear she 
should think I was afraid. The distance between us 
was growing less and less, and as I watched her sharper 
than ever, she appeared to make one or two moves, and 
then stop ; but all of a sudden, she jumped up, threw off 
her clothes, and started after me. I uttered one yell, and 
turned ; but, as luck would have it, caught my foot in a 
root under the snow, and rolled headlong down the steep 
Bide of the gully. 
" I do not know what I said, I think I prayed ; but I 
