1750 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 29, 1919 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
It is the night before Thanksgiving. 
Here we are before the lire. I made a 
mistake in eating that last piece of pump¬ 
kin pie at supper—but my daughter 
tempted me—and I did eat. In justice 
to my well-being and feeling I should be 
out on the road walking a mile or so be¬ 
fore sleeping—but it's too cold and dis¬ 
mal. There isn't exactly a rain, but there 
is cold, raw meanness in the air. It takes 
the last drop of New England blood to 
force one to be thankful for such weather. 
I sometimes wonder if we Yankees are 
really thankful at this season. That s 
right, pile on those big logs and make the 
fire blaze. Put out the lights—we do not 
need them here. Most of us have reached 
an age when our beauty is best framed in 
the imagination of the shadows. Bring 
out that basket of apples and help your¬ 
self. Some like a Sutton—mine will be 
a mellow Baldwin. You take that big 
chair and I’ll take the other. _ You can 
take a couple of the little children and 
I will take two more. Perch the kids 
on the arms of the chairs and all bite into 
an apple. “Would bring $6 a barrel!” 
you sav? Right! but wnere can you get 
better value out of them than right here? 
I rather fancy teeth service _ in offering 
thanks for a good crop. Bite in! 
* * * 3 = * 
Just the time for a Thanksgiving story ! 
A very broad hint that—what sort of a 
story do you want? I once ate a Thanks¬ 
giving dinner in Plymouth, Mass., within 
about a stone's throw of the very place 
where the Pilgrims celebrated their first 
feast. Another time I fried salt pork 
over a lonely fire in the Colorado desert. 
Again the day found me in a. lumber 
camp in Northern Michigan—eating half- 
frozen baked beans. Nearly every other 
experience has come in between, and here 
I am before this fire in New Jersey none 
the worse for wear. What do I know 
about ghosts and strange things that are 
hard to explain? More than you think, 
for when one sits in the silence for half 
his life strange things come to him. Here 
is one that I think you may put down as 
truth. I warn you that there may be 
some thrills in it, so you should be pre¬ 
pared with another apple, for that will 
take the taste out of a thrill. 
$ $ * * $ 
As we sit here before the fire in New 
Jersey it seems a long distance to that 
rambling old mansion in the South where 
these strange things occurred years ago. 
Mind you. 1 was not there and 1 did not 
hear or see the ghost, but I got the story 
from one who knew of the strange life in 
that lonely old plantation house. It was 
in the days before the war—in slavery 
time—and the master or this old house 
then had more arbitrary power over his 
subjects than any European prince has 
today. It was the night before Thanks¬ 
giving and a company of young bloods had 
gathered for a night of revelry. The South 
cared little for Thanksgiving—ranking it 
with other New England ideas. Christ¬ 
mas was their great holiday, hut the 
master was away, so the young people 
made merry. The son and heir of the 
house was blind. A film had slowly 
grown over his eyes so that he sat in 
darkness; bitter and unreconciled to his 
affliction. His cousin, who lived on the 
next farm, was stone deaf. Strange as it 
may seem, at about midnight the blind 
man and the deaf man fell out in a ter¬ 
rible quarrel. I do not know what it was 
about. They had been drinking—very 
likely the demons which lurk in the 
shadow of affliction lashed them both to 
fury. It seems like a shocking thing, 
but these men, each staggering under af¬ 
fliction. cursed each other in such a way 
that in the Southern code of honor, there 
could bo but oiip ending—a duel. 
# * * $ * 
Take another bite of that apple. You 
will need it soon! It seems like a 
hideous thing, but the rest of these half- 
drunken men arranged the duel. In order 
that the blind and the deaf might have 
equal opportunity they arranged to lock 
them both in the big front room, making it 
absolutely dark—thus reducing the deaf 
man to the condition of the blind. At 
first it was proposed to arm them with 
knives, but it was argued that this would 
give the adrantatje to the blind man, since 
he could hear. They iinally gave each a 
loaded pistol. The men were led to op¬ 
posite corners of the great room, the door 
closed and locked and a pistol discharged 
outside gave the signal. I doubt if there 
ever was a more uncanny or strange duel 
in all history. Outside, the night was 
even darker than the belt of New Jersey 
atmosphere which presses about us here. 
The two afflicted men in that dark echo- 
liaunted room ! The great dark open fire¬ 
place with the wind moaning over the top, 
the ripple and wash of the river outside! 
I can picture those half-drunken, afflicted 
men, each crouching in his corner waiting 
with fierce hatred for some sign of the 
other. Thanksgiving? Well, I am of a 
cheerful disposition, but that would beat 
me—and I advise you to take a new 
Outside, the rest of the revellers waited 
in silence. It bad been agreed that they 
would wait five minutes after two shots 
and then open the door. “Every man to 
his taste.” but I will, from choice, spend 
my Thanksgiving far away from such 
scenes. They waited in silence for 10 
minutes. There was no sound but the 
moaning of the wind, the ripple of the 
river, or the creak of a timber some¬ 
where in the old house. Suddenly a shot 
rang out inside the room. In half a mo¬ 
ment came another, followed by the sound 
of someone falling. Then all was dead 
silence once more. Once they thought they 
heard the sound of footsteps on tin 1 great 
veranda—something moving through the 
darkness outside! The dogs stood up, 
listened for a moment doubtfully and 
then lay down once more as if puzzled at 
something. At the end of five minutes 
as agreed they opened the door and 
brought a light. The deaf man stood at 
one end of the room with the empty pistol 
in his hand, a chair overturned near him. 
The..blind man was not there! 1 
All the deaf man knew was that stand¬ 
ing there in the dark the horror and sin 
of it all had come to him and he had fired 
his pistol at the ceiling. There was a 
hole at the top where the bullet had gone 
through. Almost instantly the blind man 
had fired, and the deaf man in moving 
had knocked over a chair with great noise. 
That was all he knew. He had seen and 
heard nothing, yet with that instinctive 
feeling which belongs to the deaf he knew 
that the blind man had groped his way 
along the wall, past the open fireplace. 
The big shutters were bolted on the out¬ 
side. There was no secret trap door or 
opening. A normal man might have 
crawled up the chimney', but no blind man 
could do that, and the chimney was still 
hot from the fire. 
The blind man had disappeared! 
The blackness of the night had swal¬ 
lowed him up. The deaf man cried out 
in his grief at what he had done, and 
his companions, sobered through terror, 
called up the negroes and hunted through 
the blackness for the blind man without 
avail. Say—I am a little sorry I started 
this as I see you glancing around at the 
shadows. It’s all right, I can assure you 
—just take another apple. 
* * * * * 
They searched for him far and wide, 
but never found him. The negroes de¬ 
clared that the house was haunted and 
they declared that for a time, they heard 
strange and unearthly noises in the chim¬ 
ney. They said the ghost of their blind 
master was there. The house stood un¬ 
occupied and lonely until nearly. Christ¬ 
mas, when the master and his wife came 
home. Then the rambling, echoing old 
mansion was lighted up to receive them. 
It was a sad homecoming, for their blind 
boy had disappeared. There was a whis¬ 
per of suspicion that he was at heart a 
coward, and had fled in fear—crawling 
away through the chimney. That seemed 
worse than death to many of them. His 
mother did not despair, saying that her 
boy would come back, It seemed im¬ 
possible, but they humored her and said 
little. The company shunned that great 
front room, until aftpr supper. Then 
they knew they must face the memory 
of it, and they ordered a dance. The 
great candles were lighted, the darkeys 
came in to provide the music, and the 
master took his lady by the hand to lead 
the march into the room. Both were pale, 
but they put on a brave face. But the 
guests found the room full of smoke. The 
big fire would not burn—the chimney 
would not draw. Then there came a 
gigantic negro carrying a long pole. He 
knelt down before the fire, thrust that 
long pole up the chimney and worked it 
about. There was a rattle and a clatter, 
and down there came into the room a 
cloud of thick soot— and a skeleton. 
That’s right—a skeleton. It’s about time 
you sampled another Baldwin. 
* * * * * 
There was a scream from the lady of 
the house—not of fear but of joy. She 
rushed across the room, for there in the 
doorway stood her boy—no longer blind, 
but with eyes that saw. for he went 
straight to his mother. He reached out 
a hand to the deaf man who stood staring 
as one who sees the dead come to life. 
In truth the blind man had come back 
with sight restored, at least in part. A 
miracle? No, as he told his story it 
seemed quite matter-of-fact. Standing in 
that fated room with the pistol in his 
hand he seemed to live years. When the 
deaf man fired there came into the heart 
of the blind man ft wild desire to kill. 
With his perfect ears he could hear the 
deaf man breathing. It would be easy 
to creep upon him unobserved and shoot 
him down. For an instant this desire 
over came him. Then no came to bis 
senses, and in order to prevent the crime 
he fired his pistol at the ceiling. He 
heard the chair fall and feared that he 
had killed his friend. In sudden remorse 
he felt his way along the wall until he 
found a loose shutter at the window. 
Passing noiselessly through lie bolted the 
shutter on the outside and walked off into 
the darkness. It was then that the dogs 
acted as they did. He wandered off 
down the river, until by accident he same 
to a little landing place. There lie nearly 
ran into a group of men who where just 
climbing into a boat. They were abo¬ 
litionists taking two runaway slaves oil' to 
a steamer which lay in the river. Caught 
thus in the act, one of these men. not 
knowing who he was, threw a handful of 
red pepper right into the eyes of the 
blind man. Stung by the awful pain, the 
blind man fell worward into the boat, and 
in their fright the abolitionists took him 
with them and carried him on board. By 
morning they were miles away. The blind 
man lay with that frightful pain in his 
eyes until a young man came and washed 
them with some cooling liquid. In the 
We have4lie Fish 
T O FARMERS who know the value of fish and want it 
in their* fertilizer, we announce that we have laid in 
an ample supply of fish scrap to meet all demands. If you 
want the genuine, original Fish Scrap Fertilizer, insist on 
ROYSTER'S 
FERTILIZER 
«?PAOE HAB* 
REGISTERED 
The Fertilizer That Made 
Fish Scrap Famous 
F. S. ROYSTER GUANO CO. 
Baltimore, Md. 
Toy Tractor in His Stocking 
for Christmas—Only 25c 
Looks just like a big Avery Tractor. Cast 
iron—has rolling wheels —finished in beau¬ 
tiful red and black enamel with gold striping. 
He’ll be delighted with it! Stands 3% inches 
high, 5 inches long. Makes a dandy toy— 
or table ornament. Worth many times its 
price. 
Send 25c (35c in Canada) with the names of those 
talking of buying a tractor, cultivator or a grain 
thresher. Also mention as many tractor and thresh¬ 
er owners as you can remember. That’s all. We’Jl 
send the toy by return mail. 
AVERY COMPANY Tllriif.' 
Motor Farming, Threshing 
end Road Building Machinery 
Great Reduction on Lighting Plants 
A few shop worn Light ing Plants in good or¬ 
der at groat reduction from original prices. 
Some new Air Cooled Engines, 1!4, 2J4 and 
3 H. P. at bargain prices, also Rheostats, 
Cutouts and other parts necessary for the 
building of Isolated Lighting Plants. 
Write us for prices, or call and pick out 
what you want. Seo Mr. Balch. 
DYNETO ELECTRIC CORP. 
DEPT. F. L. SYRACUSE, N.Y. 
67 Bushels in 
60 Minutes 
T HAT beats any “husking-bee” 
we’ve heard of. Red ears and 
all husked clean and quick. 
Send for our catalogue telling all 
about this and other labor saving 
farm machinery. 
BELCHER & TAYLOR 
AGRICULTURAL TOOL CO. 
P. O. Box 75 
CHICOPEE FALLS - MASS. 
$120.00 FOR BEST NUTS 
Beechnuts. Black Walnuts, Butternuts, English 
Walnuts, Hazel Nuts,Hickory Nuts.JapanWnlnuts. 
Pecans. Full information from Willard G. Bixby, Sec'y. 
Northern Nut Growers Assn. Baldwin, Nassau Co., N. Y- 
AGENTS WANTED i-ffiy-SfflS 
subscriptions for ltuiiAii New-Youkf,u 
in Ohio. Prefer men who have horse 
or auto. Address 
J. C. MULH0LLAND, General Delivery. Columbus. Ohio 
or 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 333 W. 30th St.. NewYork City 
—RAW FURS- 
Write for our price list today. Highest prices paid—Square 
deal guaranteed. All shipments graded personally by our 
Mr. Maurice Rosenstiel. 
ROSENSTIEL FUR CO., Inc. 
112 West 29th Street NEW YORK 
1 
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When you write advertisers mention The R. N.-Y. and you’ll get 
quick reply and a “square deal.” See guarantee editorial page. 
