SECOND JOURNEY. 



121 



cat and broomstaff should be considered as conductors 

 to and from the regions of departed spirits. 



Many years ago I knew poor harmless 

 Mary ; old age had marked her strongly, just 

 as he will mark you and me, should w^e arrive at her 

 years and carry the weight of grief which bent her double. 

 The old men of the village said she had been very pretty 

 in her youth • and nothing could be seen more comely 

 than Mary when she danced on the green. He who had 

 gained her heart left her for another, less fair, though 

 richer than Mary. From that time she became sad and 

 pensive ; the rose left her cheek, and she was never 

 more seen to dance round the May-pole -on the green : 

 her expectations were blighted ; she became quite in- 

 different "fco everything around her, and seemed to think 

 of nothing but how she could best attend her mother, 

 who was lame, and not long for this life. Her mother 

 had begged a black kitten from some boys who were 

 going to drown it, and in her last illness she told Mary 

 to be kind to it for her sake. 



When age and want had destroyed the symmetry of 

 Mary's fine form, the village began to consider her as 

 one who had dealings with spirits ; her cat confirmed 

 the suspicion. If a cow died, or a villager wasted away 

 with an unknown complaint, Mary and her cat had it 

 to answer for. Her broom sometimes served her for a 

 walking-stick i and if ever she supported her tottering 

 frame with it as far as the May-pole, where once, in 

 youthful bloom and beauty, she had attracted the eyes 

 of all, the boys would surround her, and make sport of 

 her, while her cat had neither friend nor safety beyond 

 the cottage wall. Nobody considered it cruel or un- 

 charitable to torment a witch ; and it is probable, long 



