, know that John Newbegin has come back to
them from a land they know not of."

A SINGULAR MEMBER OF SOCIETY

"The idea, of having a ghost--somewhat more condensed it is true than
the traditional ghost--as a member was not at first overpleasing to the
311 inhabitants of Pocock Island. To this day, they are a little
sensitive upon the subject, feeling evidently that if the matter got
abroad, it might injure the sale of the really excellent porgy oil
which is the product of their sole manufacturing interest. This
reluctance to advertise the skeleton in their closet, superadded to the
slowness of these obtuse, fishy, matter-of-fact people to recognize the
transcendent importance of the case, must be accepted as explanation of
the fact that John Newbegin's spirit has been on earth between three and
four months, and yet the singular circumstance is not known to the whole
country.

"But the Pocockians have at last come to see that a spirit is not
necessarily a malevolent spirit, and accepting his presence as a fact in
their stolid, unreasoning way, they are quite neighborly and sociable
with Mr. Newbegin.

"I know that your first question will be: 'Is there sufficient proof of
his ever having been dead?' To this I answer unhesitatingly, 'Yes.' He
was too well-known a character and too many people saw the corpse to
admit of any mistake on this point. I may add here that it was at one
time proposed to disinter the original remains, but that project was
abandoned in deference to the wishes of Mr. Newbegin, who feels a
natural delicacy about having his first set of bones disturbed from
motives of mere curiosity."

AN INTERVIEW WITH A DEAD MAN

"You will readily believe that I took occasion to see and converse with
John Newbegin. I found him affable and even communicative. He is
perfectly aware of his doubtful status as a being, but is in hopes that
at some future time there may be legislation that shall correctly define
his position and the position of any spirit who may follow him into the
material world. The only point upon which he is reticent is his
experience during the four years that elapsed between his death and his
reappearance at Pocock. It is to be presumed that the memory is not a
pleasant one: at least he never speaks of this period. He candidly
admits, however, that he is glad to get back to earth and that he
embraced the very first opportunity to be materialized.

"Mr. Newbegin says that he is consumed