Ionia High School - Ionian Yearbook (Ionia, MI)

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A MYSTERIOUS CURTAIN. I had been sick for some time and doctors and medicine failed to do me any good. At last I was urged by my friends to go and stay a few weeks with an old country doctor whom they believed would be able to help me. At first I did not wish to go, but as the old fellow had a reputation for curing where others had failed, I thought it would do me no harm, and finally consented. For some time after arriving I was confined to my room, which was connected with the doctor’s office, and did not have much chance to explore the place. The doctor’s hostler came in every morning to build the fire, and, as he was a talkative fellow, I asked him if the doctor had never been married. He replied that the doctor had been married, but that his wife had mysteriously disappeared, and the people generally supposed that he had rid himself of her, since they had quarreled inces- santl). He then pointed to a doorway on the other side of the office, which was hung with a dark, heavy curtain, and said he would not go through there if it cost him his life. L had not noticed this curtain before, but there was some- thing ghostly and weird about it, and I felt a cold chill run down my back every time I glanced that way. At night, and some- times even during the day, I could hear a murmur of voices, a clanking of chains, and a sluifiiing of feet, followed by a heavy thud, as of a falling body, and 1 was nerved to the highest pitch. At last 1 was able to sit up and walk about a little, but I never came near the curtain or even thought of it without a shudder. Finallv the doctor and his housekeeper went out riding one afternoon, and I thought that this must surely be my opportu- nity for solving the mystery of the curtain and the doctor’s wife. So, with this purpose in view. I rummaged about through the doctor’s drawers and found among other things a revolver and a pair of brass knuckles. I armed myself wdth these, and, throw- ing aside the curtain, dashed bravely forward, only to find that 1 had entered the kitchen through a passage-way that was lit- tle used. —O. G., '08.

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THE EMAXO.X. 2 S and that by a race as far above our human kind as man is super- ior to the ape. Etta Storey was demonstrating in grocery stores, a product of her own invention—a food for brain workers. Leo White was engaged in an undertaking which I would have thought hopeless—he was reforming the Mormons. Grace Conner was a noted reader and impersonator, often delighting her audiences with original selections. The next information was in the form of a newspaper item, which read thus: “Rhea, Countess of------, nee Dunham, was last night presented to their majesties, the King and Queen.” Thede Preston was a worthy student and emulator of Sher- lock Holmes, his last achievement in detective science being the recovery of the jewels of the above named countess. Now behold the irony of fate. Florence Kerstetter in 1923 was yet a bachelor girl. I was gratified to learn that social arts had not been neg- lected by our class, for Galusha Carpenter was flourishing as a teacher of dancing and a specialist in facial expression. Lora Goodwin (Mrs. Blank), as the mother of a large family, was testing the elasticity of a ten-dollar bill. Amy Brown had continued her classical studies, and was publishing ‘‘Brown’s Translation of Virgil.” I tried in vain to learn the fortunes of George Carpenter, and was turning away disappointed, when my eyes fell upon my guide, no longer a gnome, but—George himself. —KATHLEEN STACKHOUSE, ’07.

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30 Till-: EMANON A GHOST STORY. My friend, who lives about twelve miles in the country, asked me to visit her during the following week, and as she had often invited me, I determined to accept the offer. She lived in rather a lonesome place, I thought. The house was an old one, but very comfortable, and was surrounded, or so it seemed to me, by extremely tall pine trees. The family was composed of my friend, her father and mother, and they seemed to be very refined, cultured people. As the farm house was so lonely and isolated, my friend’s father always took particular pains to see that the house was well locked at night, and if for any reason he was obliged to be absent at night, he always worried for fear the family would neglect to lock the house properly. Nights after I had retired, I would hear him going about from door to door to see whether the servant had dene his duty. Each day at the farm home was like the day that had gone before. My friend and I enjoyed many hours wandering about the farm or reading some of our favorite books. While I was at my friend’s home her father died. The fu- neral was held at the house and was attended by a large number of friends and relatives. While these people accompanied the sorrowing wife and daughter to the cemetery, 1 stayed at home and prepared the supper. Before long the people returned. Some of the near relatives were to remain for supper and after the meal was eaten we talked upon various subjects till about ten o’clock. When we were finally left alone we talked a while longer and then sought our rooms. My bedroom was downstairs, and the room they were to occupy was on the second floor. I was naturally timid and did not like the idea of being so far away from them at night. 1 did not say anything, though, for I did not like to trouble them. I soon fell asleep, for I was somewhat tired after the day’s labors. I think I must have simply fallen into a doze, for I seemed to hear someone walking about from door to door, fastening each one, as my old friend had been wont to do. I finally fell asleep again, too tired to think much about anything. The next morning 1 said nothing about what I had heard, for I thought it must have been only my fancy. The