{"product_id":"2940013691476","title":"Nine Ghosts","description":"The story which follows was told to me rather more than thirty years ago.\u003cbr\u003eThe narrator was elderly then. He died very soon after the end of the\u003cbr\u003elast war with Germany, so there can be no harm in repeating it now. His\u003cbr\u003ename, if you want to know, was Arthur Harberton. As he was a young man\u003cbr\u003ewhen it happened to him I suppose it must be dated not long after the\u003cbr\u003eyear 1870. I made notes of it at the time, and reproduce it now as nearly\u003cbr\u003eas I can in his own words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Three years after my ordination I was offered a post as a college\u003cbr\u003electurer at Cambridge. That was the kind of work which I had always\u003cbr\u003ethought that I should like, at any rate for a few years, so I accepted\u003cbr\u003ethe offer very gladly. I have never regretted that I did so; nor that I\u003cbr\u003edid not devote the rest of my life to academic work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I was not dean of the college, and as in those days the number of\u003cbr\u003eFellows in Holy Order was much larger than it is now it was very seldom\u003cbr\u003enecessary for me to be in the Chapel on a Sunday. Accordingly I used to\u003cbr\u003ego about the diocese a good deal, visiting the country churches. I don't\u003cbr\u003ethink that I was under any illusion as to my powers as a preacher, even\u003cbr\u003ethen. But I thought, without, I hope, undue vanity, that it might be good\u003cbr\u003efor village congregations to hear a fresh voice occasionally, and even\u003cbr\u003efor the incumbent if he were present. That was not always the case, for I\u003cbr\u003ewas always willing to take the whole duty of the day if I were asked, so\u003cbr\u003ethat the incumbent might secure a short holiday.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'As a rule I enjoyed these expeditions thoroughly. They began with a\u003cbr\u003eshort train journey, followed by a drive from the station, sometimes of\u003cbr\u003eas much as ten miles. Country lanes were country lanes then. They had not\u003cbr\u003ebeen blackened with tar macadam and motor-cars were, of course, unknown.\u003cbr\u003eAn occasional traction engine, preceded by a man on foot carrying a red\u003cbr\u003eflag, was the only disagreeable object likely to be encountered. From a\u003cbr\u003edog-cart, which was usually the vehicle which came to meet me, it was\u003cbr\u003epossible to see over the hedges and to get a very fair idea of the\u003cbr\u003ecountry as you went along at eight to ten miles an hour.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'My hosts were generally interesting. For the most part they were\u003cbr\u003ecountry-bred men who belonged naturally to their surroundings. Many of\u003cbr\u003ethem had a wide variety of interests (and sometimes a store of real\u003cbr\u003eknowledge) on which they were ready to discourse to a stranger. When I\u003cbr\u003ehad the house to myself, it was amusing to try to deduce what manner of\u003cbr\u003eman the owner might be from his books and pictures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Most of the churches and a good many of the houses presented features of\u003cbr\u003earchitectural interest, which appealed to me strongly. Besides, I used to\u003cbr\u003eenjoy such conversations as I might have with rural churchwardens,\u003cbr\u003esextons and other parish officials. I remember one churchwarden (a\u003cbr\u003efarmer, I think) who had heard that Huntingdon was a fine town.\u003cbr\u003ePersonally he had never penetrated farther than St. Neots. When I told\u003cbr\u003ehim that I lived at Cambridge I might as well have said Pekin, or\u003cbr\u003eTimbuctoo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'In another place the village school-master was opposed to elementary\u003cbr\u003eeducation in the abstract: not merely to the particular form of it which\u003cbr\u003ehe was required to administer. He thought it unsettled children and took\u003cbr\u003ethem off the land. There was, no doubt, something to be said on behalf of\u003cbr\u003ehis views; but I couldn't help wondering whether he were _quite_ the right\u003cbr\u003eman in the right place. Well--no doubt the countryside is more\u003cbr\u003esophisticated now, and I won't bore you with speculations as to whether\u003cbr\u003ethe gains outweigh the losses or not.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'So, as you see, I had good reason to look forward to these excursions.\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, I only once got to a place which I should not care to visit\u003cbr\u003eagain, and that is the one which I am going to tell you about now. All\u003cbr\u003ethe same, I don't entirely regret that I did go there. Anyhow, it was a\u003cbr\u003eunique experience.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083153096944,"sku":"2940013691476","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013691476_p0.jpg?v=1763584428","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013691476","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}