EAST AND SOUTH-EAST yy 



place ; on its left, a small second door, which I had 

 not noticed, and which had doubtless admitted the 

 ghost ; and to the right hand, a clothes-press, in 

 which the diaphanous drapery suitable to such a 

 visitant no doubt was kept. 



In the early morning, and not aware of the room 

 being occupied, one of the family must have come in, 

 clothed in ' white samite ' (or a clean nightgown), 

 'mystic, wonderful,' for his or her habiliments. 



Passing from imagination to substantial reality — 

 from the baseless fabric of a dream to actual fact — 

 I would mention that not far off the Ipswich road, in 

 a village postally subordinate to Colchester, the sub- 

 postmistress is eighty years of age. On visiting her 

 office one morning at half-past six, the postmaster 

 found her sitting at needlework. He tells me, also, 

 that on calling one evening with the rural postman 

 on his return journey, it was too dark to see inside 

 the office, so the old lady, without any hesitation, 

 stepped outside, and, kneeling down at the doorsill, 

 timed and signed the postman's bill. This seems to 

 speak well for the healthful tendencies of employment 

 in a small country post-office. I should like to clinch 

 the argument by adding that with this old lady there 

 had lodged for forty years a still older one, who 

 died quite recently at the age of a hundred and two. 

 But, unluckily for my contention, I cannot find that 

 the latter took any part in postal work. 



My brother and I were engaged on the preliminary 

 survey for the railway from Ipswich to Lowestoft. 



