Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, May 1850Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, No. 5, May 1850
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Superstition, when not arrayed in her full horrors, had charms which
makes us regret her banishment in a state of society enlightened by
reason and education. Her system of imaginary terrors had something
exciting to minds fond of feeding upon the marvelous. This is especially
true with regard to the lighter forms in which she sometimes appeared
when fortune-tellers were introduced as part of the amusements of the
age, and their auguries regarded as serious and prophetic earnest. But
as we have seen, none of the lighter forms by which imagination works
upon her subjects were here indulged as the food of a wild and wayward
fancy. Their belief, though not less erroneous, was founded on the
records of that page which cannot lie, and which warned them of the
existence of one great and mighty spirit of evil, wandering to and fro
in the earth, and seeking to decoy the souls of mankind to his abode of
darkness. The object of this dread was no other than he who had once
stood high in Heaven, and afterward became prince of the powers of Hell.
Recollecting that the wiles of this same adversary practiced upon the
mother of our race, had become the means of expelling her from the
bowers of Paradise, and bringing “death into the world and all our wo,”
it is not surprising that Lucy and Jessy Ellet were now regarded with
suspicion on all hands. The gossips, like the sybils, after consulting
their leaves, arranged and combined their information, which passed
through a hundred channels, and in a hundred different varieties in the
village of L. The rumors to which their communications gave rise were
strange and inconsistent. The result was that the society of the sisters
became as much avoided as it had been previously sought after. Closer
observation, however, caused the chief blame to rest upon Lucy, who was
seen daily, at sunrise and sunset, wending her way to the haunted spot.
It was some weeks after Stanley’s first sight of the phantom lady that
twilight overtook him on an evening ramble. He had carefully, since the
time we have described, avoided bending his steps toward that vicinity
in any of his walks. Accordingly, on this evening, he had turned off at
the outskirts of the village, at a place where another road met that
leading to the fearful spot. Having been occupied with reflections of a
deeper cast than are common to youths, he had remained until the slow
departing sunset reminded him to retrace his steps. On approaching the
place where the two roads met, he was startled by the sight of a light
figure emerging into the main path. The thought of the strange lady of
the mist instantly suggested itself to the mind of the youth. A new moon
had just risen behind the dim embodiment, and shed her soft rays upon
the spot where it stood. The last beams of the setting sun were almost
lost beyond the distant hills, and nothing but the soft light of that
evening-queen lit the scene.
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