986 A GHOST STORY. 



on his death-bed he and his partner had a conversation as to 

 whether there was a future state or not, when the German 

 sa {d <c if there is one, Bill, I will come back and tell you." 

 The man was buried, and the Irishman kept the shop by him- 

 self, no change being noticed in him, till what I am going to 

 relate happened. The store was a long narrow wooden building, 

 the front portion of which was the shop, behind which was a 

 railing, and the back portion was used as a bedroom, there 

 being a bed in each corner, and a large stove stood just behind 

 the middle of the railing, which had talc slides, so as to give 

 light as well as heat. The Irishman slept in one of the beds, 

 the other being empty, when one night, having been asleep for 

 some time, he woke, and looking towards the stove saw what 

 looked like a man sitting between himself and it. Knowing 

 that he bad locked the front door, and wondering how anyone 

 could have got in, he sat up in bed, when, as he did so, the 

 figure turned round, and he saw that it was his friend the 

 German, who looking steadily at him said, " There is a future 

 state, Bill ! " and then seemed to fade away. The Irishman 

 got out of bed and went to the stove, but found nothing, and 

 the doors were both locked and the windows fastened. Our 

 informant added that since that night the Irishman had been 

 a different man, that he had given up drinking and swearing, 

 and conducted himself in every way as a good citizen. So 

 ended one of the pleasantest short trips I ever made. The 

 country we hunted over is now, I hear, thickly settled and all 

 the game killed off; and there are very few places in America 

 now where a man can get such sport as we then had. 



