Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/159

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Local Meetings and OtJier Notices. 147

ef 't was an ole woman. Fer the' was an ole woman's ghost that haanted the house anyhow ; they said it could n't rest no way, 'count o' the murder the ole lady done when she was alive. Anyhow Mr. Peacock see her reach out her arm, long an' skinny-like, under the bed, 'n' she jes' turned it over so, 1 with him on it. But he on'y crep' out from under it an' went back inter the kitchen 'n' begun to read away in his Bible. An' thar he stayed all night, on'y afore day the ghost came once mo' an' said, ' Ef yo' come back 'yer agen, yore a dead man.'

" Well, nex' night Mr. Peacock came back again, yes indeed, an' he 'd got two preachers ter come too an' try to lay that ghost. One was a Methodis' 'n the other was a Catholic, an' they both brought their Bibles, 'n' all of 'em kep' readin' forward an' backward. 'T wan't no time at all tell that ghost came agen, an' then it jus' went on mos' outrageous.

" The Methodis' he did n' stay ter hear much o' the racket tell out he run an' never come back that night. The Catholic he heF out a good bit, but 'fore long kexnn an' lef Peacock ter stay it out by himself.

" Well, they say the ghost never spoke ter him no mo', but sho' nuff in the mornin' thar was Peacock a-lyin' dead with his head cut clean off, — yes indeed, sir ! — 'an the' ain't no one ever tried to lay that ghost sence."

Fanny D. Bergen.

��LOCAL MEETINGS AND OTHER NOTICES.

Baltimore. — The Baltimore Folk-Lore Society has closed its meetings for the winter of 1898 and 1S99 with the feeling that interest in the work of the society is increasing, and that valuable results will in time be real- ized from efforts now being made to interest the people of the State in the matter of preserving a record of the folk-lore about them.

The first meeting of the season was held on November 25 in the Dono- van Room, Johns Hopkins University. The papers of the evening were given by Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Mr. La Flesche, who were guests of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Wood. Miss Fletcher's paper was on " Song and Story in Indian Life," and certain parts were illustrated on the piano by Miss Jane Zacharias, and at its conclusion an Indian song was sung by Mr. La Flesche.

Following this, Mr. La Flesche gave a paper of his own on "The Splin- ter, the Thorn, and the Rib," in which he told in a humorous vein the way in which certain portions of the story of the Garden of Eden struck a group of Indian boys at a mission school, he being one of them.

After his paper Mr. La Flesche by request sang other Indian songs, Miss Fletcher accompanying him on the piano. There was a large and appre- ciative audience, and the evening has since been referred to as a classic one.

The December meeting was held on the 30th in the Donovan Room,

1 With a graphic imitation of the ghost's action.

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