532 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
The Ghost in the Garret; or, A Thanks¬ 
giving Day Surprise. 
BT ISABEL SMITHSON. 
“ At that moment, the dock struck,” said Ger¬ 
tie, solemnly; and by a strange chance the clock 
did begin to strike just as she pronounced the 
words. Five little faces Hushed excitedly at fhe 
sound; five rosy mouths opened in breathless 
wonder, and five pairs of eyes glanced around half 
fearfully, for Gertie had just reached the most 
the house, to play such a trick; but at that mo¬ 
ment Uncle Ben himself drove up to the gate. 
The little girl remembered that he had gone to 
town directly after breakfast, so it could not be 
that he was the ghost. Then Minnie and Jamie 
Blake came and bade Gertie good-bye, and when 
her friends had gone she hurried down to tea, for 
the bell had rung, and Gertie was always in time, 
ghost or no ghost. She found her little twin sis¬ 
ters telling papa all about it, both talking at once 
as fast as their tongues could move ; and brother 
Harry, who had not been able to squeeze a word in 
edgewise even, waiting with his mouth open, in 
hopes that one of them might get tired. 
Uncle Ben, who had just come home from South 
America in his ship, had not learned to understand 
the younger children’s “pigeon English,” so he 
asked Gertie to translate what they were saying, 
and listened in mock terror to her recital. “ My 
advice to you, children,” he said, “ is not to go up 
to the garret at all. You might see the ghost next 
time !” at which they shivered all over, and then 
began eating bread and butter hungrily. 
matter had been well talked over, it was decided 
that, after all, the sitting-room was' the best place 
for telling stories, and that the ghost in the garret 
might have it all to himself up stairs. 
The next day was Thanksgiving, and a delightful 
odor of roast turkey filled the house. Every one, 
except the baby, went to church in the morning, 
and after that, when the family had gathered in 
the dining-room, Uncle Ben showed all the treas¬ 
ures he had brought home in his ship, and had 
kept secret until to-day. Such beautiful and 
curious things there were ! The prettiest little toys 
and ornaments made of tortoise-shell, vegetable- 
ivory, and satin-wood; stuffed birds with bright 
feathers, for the new winter hats; wonderful beans, 
butterflies, birds’ eggs, and sea shells; two beauti¬ 
ful jaguar skins, to be made into rugs; great 
cocoa-nuts ; jars and jars of delicious sweet-meats, 
and, last, but not least, dozens of pictures of places 
and forests in South America, to be looked at 
through the stereoscope. Such a lovely Thanks¬ 
giving Day treat! It took two hours to show and 
explain all the things, and when they were spread 
out on a table, it seemed as if Christmas had come 
already, and Uncle Ben was Santa Claus. Dinah 
came in with the turkey and stopped short in 
astonishment, while the children called to her to 
look at a dozen things at once, and it was all 
mamma could do to make any one sit down to dinner. 
At last, however, the meal was fairly under way, and 
a very gay one it was. When every one had finished, 
Uncle Ben said suddenly : “ Well, children, how 
about the ghost in the garret?”—“ Oh, do come up 
and look for him,” cried his little nieces, “ we 
shan’t be a bit afraid to go with you.”—“ Why no, 
who’s afraid ?” said the uncle, with a roguish 
twinkle in his eyes, as he opened the door of the 
sitting-room, “ but first I want to show you-” 
“ The Ghost!" said a voice which made the chil¬ 
dren start, while Dinah ran around behind papa’s 
chair, showing the whites of her eyes and mutter¬ 
ing : “Law sakes, chillen, the ghost in dar, slio 
enuff.” Then Uncle Ben threw the door wide 
open, and the secret was out. 
Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
“ frightening” part of her ghost story. It was de¬ 
lightful to have the big clock in the hall strike just 
in the “very nick of time,” thought Gertie, as she 
saw the change that came over the feelings of her 
hearers. Until now, the children had all agreed 
with Jamie Blake, that there was nothing to be 
frightened at in a ghost story, and though they 
were very glad to have the tale told, had tittered 
disrespectfully from the beginning. Now, how¬ 
ever, they were sobered suddenly, and not a word 
was spoken until the last stroke of the clock had 
sounded ; then, Gertie, in a still more solemn tone, 
repeated the words: 
“ At that moment, the clock struck,” and after a 
moment’s pause, she added: “ theD a voice, that 
came from no-one-knows-where, whispered, hoarse¬ 
ly-” 
“A ghost, a ghost! Who’s afraid ?” said a harsh, 
whispering voice, from “no-one-knows-where,” in 
reality ! Even Gertie herself turned pale, and half 
Started from her seat; and her listeners, not wait¬ 
ing for any explanation, leaped to their feet, rushed 
down the garret stairs, threw back the door at the 
foot with a crash, and tore pell-mell into mamma’s 
room, waking the baby and knocking down all the 
clean clothes that were just up from the wash. 
Gertie came down quite as eagerly, but more 
quietly, wondering all the way whether it could be 
that there was really a ghost in the garret. Was 
such a thing possible, or was Uncle Ben hiding be¬ 
hind the trunks on purpose to frighten the chil¬ 
dren ? He was just the one, and the only one in 
Next morning Minnie Blake and her brother came 
to see Gertie again, for Jamie wanted to find out 
about the ghost, and so, after a long pause, at the 
bottom of the garret stairs, the three children 
went bravely up, and looked about expectantly. 
The large, low-raftered room did not seem half 
as ghostly as it had done the day before, for the 
morning sun was streaming in at the little window; 
there were no dark, strange shadows flitting about 
in the corners, and not a sound was heard except 
the waving and rustling of the tree-tops outside. 
“Don’t be afraid,” said Jamie, sitting down on 
the floor, and beckoning to the girls ; but, before 
she joined the others, Gertie looked back, to make 
sure that the door at the foot of the stairs had not 
chanced to shut since they came up. Suddenly a 
low, scraping sound was heard behind a pile of 
empty trunks, in the corner. “Rats !” whispered 
Jamie, knowingly; but the next instant a deep, 
long sigh was heard from the same corner. “ The 
ghost!” cried the girls, both at once, and Jamie, 
jumping up, began pulling out the trunks, man¬ 
fully. Peering eagerly into the space thus ex¬ 
posed, the children heard the scraping sound again, 
and saw—nothing ! Then, while they were look¬ 
ing at each other in silent astonishment, a voice, 
close beside them, cried : 
“ The ghost! Don’t be afraid 1 He ! he ! he !” 
ending with a mocking laugh, and two minutes 
later Gertie and her playmates were down stairs. 
They tried in vain to escape the other children’s 
eager questions and expectant eyes, and when the 
