nest and resolute answer.

"I don't believe in ghosts, marm."

"Why, Eliza?"

"Honest people never see 'em; if they think they do, they find them out.
It is folks with haunted consciences that see such things, marm; folks
with something wrong, or touched in mind, marm. I wouldn't be afraid to
go right into a grave-yard at midnight. Why should I! I never did any
one harm. This is an awful night to some folks in England--those who
fear a death fetch and have sins on their souls. But to good people this
is the merriest night of all the year, except Christmas, only. It is
Halloween, marm."

What was the girl talking about? A "death fetch," and merrymaking and
"Halloween."

Mrs. Miller dropped her knitting-work into her lap. The cat, who seemed
to feel that there was terror in the air, leaped into the knitting. Mrs.
Miller gave the poor scared little animal a slap, and then looking Eliza
straight in the face, said,

"'Liza, do you speak true? Remember, 'Liza, that you are a bound girl."

"Never a word in jest, marm. My folks were honest people, marm, and I an
honest girl."

"'Liza, what is that awful thing that you told about--that death fetch?"

"On Halloween a person goes into the church and says a prayer, and when
he comes out into the church-yard he sees all the people who are going
to die during the year. An old sexton did it, and he saw himself, marm.
A death fetch is a warning, marm. There is no truth in such stories,
marm; my mother taught me never to believe 'em, marm, and she was an
honest, Christian woman, marm, and she used to say that a person who
always did right had nothing to fear. I would believe my mother's word
against the world, marm. She died in peace, marm, and I want to be just
like her."

"'Liza, what is Halloween?"

Brister Miller stopped shelling corn. The company on the settle snuggled
up close to each other, and the poor cat uttered a faint little "meow,"
and received another slap from her mistress, which seemed to be comfort.

"Ghost night, marm. The night when good spirits visit their friends,
marm. It is All-Hallow eve--the eve of All Saints' day."

"'Liza, remember that you are a bound girl."

"I never forget it, marm."

"Now, tell the truth. What do they do on Halloween?"

"They put apples into deep tubs full of water, and bob for them with
their heads, marm; and they puts 'em also on sticks like a wheel, and
hangs the wheel from the ceiling, with a burning tallow candle o