A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. | d1 
opinions upon any subject at all polemic, but he would 
tell you what he had seen and known. What he had 
seen and known about spooks was briefly this : — In 
company with a neighbor he was passing the night 
with an old recluse who lived somewhere in these 
woods. Their host was an Englishman, who had the 
reputation of having murdered his wife some years be- 
fore in another part of the country, and, deserted by 
his grown-up children, was eking out his days in pov- 
erty amid these solitudes. The three men were sleep- 
ing upon the floor, with Uncle Nathan next to a rude 
partition that divided the cabin into two rooms. At 
his head there was a door that opened into this other 
apartment. Late at night, Uncle Nathan said, he 
awoke and turned over, and his mind was occupied 
with various things, when he heard somebody behind 
the partition. He reached over and felt that both of 
his companions were in their places beside him, and 
he was somewhat surprised. The person, or whatever 
it was, in the other room moved about heavily, and 
pulled the table from its place beside the wall to the 
middle of the floor. “I was not dreaming,” said 
Uncle Nathan; “I felt of my eyes twice to make 
sure, and they were wide open.” Presently the door 
opened ; he was sensible of the draught upon his head, 
and a woman’s form stepped heavily past him; he 
felt the “swirl” of her skirts as she went by. Then 
there was a loud noise in the room as if some one had , 
fallen their whole length upon the floor. “It jarred 
the house,” said he, “and woke everybody up. I asked 
old Mr. if he heard that noise. ‘Yes,’ said he, 
‘it was thunder.’ But it was not thunder, I know 
that ;”’ and then added, “I was no more afraid than I 
am this minute. | never was the least mite afraid 

