THE FAITHFUL GHOST
by Jerome K. Jerome
Before You Read
Do you believe in ghosts? If you had your own ghost story to tell, who would the ghost be? What would he be haunting? Why?
I was a very young when I first met Johnson. My parents had just moves into an interesting old house. I was home from boarding school for the spring holidays, and on Saturday night I was allowed to stay up late. At midnight when I opened my bedroom door, I found myself face to face with Johnson. Uttering a long, low wail of misery, he passed right through me and disappeared out the window.
I was startled for the moment - I had never seen a ghost before - and I felt nervous about going to bed; but eventually I went to sleep.
In the morning I told my father what I had seen. “Oh, yes, that was old Johnson,” he answered. “Don't be afraid of him. He lives here.” And then he told me the history of Johnson's ghost.
It seems that when Johnson was alive, he loved the daughter of a family who formerly lived in our house - a beautiful girl named Emily. Johnson was quite young then, and too poor to marry the girl, so he kissed her goodbye and told her he would return as soon as he made his fortune.
Then he went off to find gold in Australia. Johnson finally made his money, but not in the goldfields. He became a robber, and he robbed every traveller he could find. Of course in those days travellers through the Australian bush were few and far between, so it took Johnson nearly twenty years to “make his fortune”. When at last he thought he had enough, he managed to escape the authorities and returned to claim his bride.
He reached Emily's house, only to find it silent and deserted. All that the people who lived nearby could tell him was that one foggy night Emily and her family disappeared and nobody had seen or heard anything of them since.
Johnson sought his lost love all over the world, but he never found her; and after years of wasted effort, he returned to spend his last days in the house where he and Emily had passed so many happy hours.
He lived all alone, wandering about the empty rooms, weeping and calling to his Emily to come back to him. And when the old fellow died, his ghost kept on weeping and wailing (although, as far as we know, he never shed a tear over his wicked deeds in Australia).
My father told me that Johnson's ghost was there when he and my mother first took the house. In fact, the agent had lowered the selling price because the place was haunted.
Well, we were continually running into Johnson about the house. At first we used to walk around him or stand aside to let him pass, But as we grew more accustomed to having the ghost around, there seemed no need to be so formal; and so we would just right through him.
Regardless of what he had done during his lifetime, Johnson as a ghost was gentle and harmless, and in the beginning we all felt sorry for him. But as time went on, my parents grew tired of him. You see, Johnson's ghost was full of sadness. There was nothing cheerful or friendly about him. He would sit on the stairs and cry for hour at a time. And when we had a party, the ghost would come and sob outside the living room door. His presence cast such a gloom over everybody that our parties were no longer much fun.
“I'm getting sick of this,” my father said one evening. (Johnson had just spoiled a good game of chess for him by moaning and groaning until my father couldn't tell the king from the pawns.) “We'll have to get rid of him somehow.”
“Well,” my mother said, “you won't see the last of him until he's found Emily's grave. That's what he's after. Find Emily's grave for him, and he'll stop there. That's the only thing to do.”
It seemed a spending idea, but the trouble was nobody knew where to find Emily's grave. My father suggested that we could show some other Emily's grave to the old robber. But, as luck we would have it, there wasn't a single Emily buried anywhere around. In fact, you've probably never come across a country so completely lacking in Emily as ours was.
I felt sorry for the old ghost, so I offered my own suggestion. “Couldn't we make up a grave for old Johnson?” I asked. “We could try it, anyway.”
“Excellent!” my father exclaimed. “We'll do just that!”
The very next morning we had the workers in. They fixed up a little mound at the bottom of the orchard with a gravestone over it bearing the following inscription:
SCARED
TO THE MEMORY OF
EMILY
HER LAST WORDS WERE:
“TELL JOHNSON THAT I LOVE HIM”
We led the ghost down there very night, and - well - it was one of the saddest sights I've ever seen, the way Johnson took on at that gravestone.
Since then, Johnson's ghost has never troubled us. He spends each night sobbing on grave, and he seems quite content with the arrangement.
Oh, yes! In case you want to visit him, his general hours are 10 P.M. to 4 A.M. - 10 to 2 on Saturdays.
TASKS AND ACTIVITIES
Why did Johnson go to Australia?
a to find Emily; b to make money; c to get married
What did Johnson do in Australia?
a robbed travellers; b dug for gold; c claimed his bride
Why did Johnson leave Australia?
a to return to Emily and marry her; b to escape the authorities; c both a and b
What did Johnson find upon his return?
a Emily and her family; b Emily twenty years older; c a silent, deserted house
What finally happen to Johnson?
a He went to prison; b He returned to Australia; c He died without finding Emily
What was Johnson's ghost doing in the house?
a scaring people away; b weeping for Emily; c taking care of the house
What effect did the ghost have on people?
a It made feel gloomy; b It made them feel happy; c It made them feel afraid
Why did the family put up a gravestone for Emily?
a to show that they had been fond of her; b to get the ghost out of the house; c to frighten people out of the orchard
What could be another title for this story?
a The Famous Australian Ghost; b A Happy Ending for Johnson; c The Ghost Who Got Away
You can tell the meaning of the words by reading the words around it. Look at each number in parentheses. Find the paragraph in the story with the same number. Then find the word that fits the given meaning. Write the word.
sadness; distress (1)
suddenly frightened (2)
law; police (5)
useless; fruitless (7)
ruined; taken the fun out of (12)
chess pieces of the lowest value (12)
engraved words (17)
settlement; plan (19)
Look at each number in parentheses. Find the paragraph in the story with the same number. See how the word in heavy type below is used in the paragraph. Decide whether it has meaning a, b or c
bush (5)
plant; shrub
thick tail
wild country
cry (11)
call out loudly
make one's usual sound
weep; sob
KEYS
Tasks and activities
b
a
c
c
c
b
a
b
b
misery
startled
authorities
wasted
spoiled
pawns
inscription
arrangement
c
c
THE FAITHFUL GHOST
by Jerome K. Jerome
Before You Read
Do you believe in ghosts? If you had your own ghost story to tell, who would the ghost be? What would he be haunting? Why?
I was a very young when I first met Johnson. My parents had just moves into an interesting old house. I was home from boarding school for the spring holidays, and on Saturday night I was allowed to stay up late. At midnight when I opened my bedroom door, I found myself face to face with Johnson. Uttering a long, low wail of misery, he passed right through me and disappeared out the window.
I was startled for the moment - I had never seen a ghost before - and I felt nervous about going to bed; but eventually I went to sleep.
In the morning I told my father what I had seen. “Oh, yes, that was old Johnson,” he answered. “Don't be afraid of him. He lives here.” And then he told me the history of Johnson's ghost.
It seems that when Johnson was alive, he loved the daughter of a family who formerly lived in our house - a beautiful girl named Emily. Johnson was quite young then, and too poor to marry the girl, so he kissed her goodbye and told her he would return as soon as he made his fortune.
Then he went off to find gold in Australia. Johnson finally made his money, but not in the goldfields. He became a robber, and he robbed every traveller he could find. Of course in those days travellers through the Australian bush were few and far between, so it took Johnson nearly twenty years to “make his fortune”. When at last he thought he had enough, he managed to escape the authorities and returned to claim his bride.
He reached Emily's house, only to find it silent and deserted. All that the people who lived nearby could tell him was that one foggy night Emily and her family disappeared and nobody had seen or heard anything of them since.
Johnson sought his lost love all over the world, but he never found her; and after years of wasted effort, he returned to spend his last days in the house where he and Emily had passed so many happy hours.
He lived all alone, wandering about the empty rooms, weeping and calling to his Emily to come back to him. And when the old fellow died, his ghost kept on weeping and wailing (although, as far as we know, he never shed a tear over his wicked deeds in Australia).
My father told me that Johnson's ghost was there when he and my mother first took the house. In fact, the agent had lowered the selling price because the place was haunted.
Well, we were continually running into Johnson about the house. At first we used to walk around him or stand aside to let him pass, But as we grew more accustomed to having the ghost around, there seemed no need to be so formal; and so we would just right through him.
Regardless of what he had done during his lifetime, Johnson as a ghost was gentle and harmless, and in the beginning we all felt sorry for him. But as time went on, my parents grew tired of him. You see, Johnson's ghost was full of sadness. There was nothing cheerful or friendly about him. He would sit on the stairs and cry for hour at a time. And when we had a party, the ghost would come and sob outside the living room door. His presence cast such a gloom over everybody that our parties were no longer much fun.
“I'm getting sick of this,” my father said one evening. (Johnson had just spoiled a good game of chess for him by moaning and groaning until my father couldn't tell the king from the pawns.) “We'll have to get rid of him somehow.”
“Well,” my mother said, “you won't see the last of him until he's found Emily's grave. That's what he's after. Find Emily's grave for him, and he'll stop there. That's the only thing to do.”
It seemed a spending idea, but the trouble was nobody knew where to find Emily's grave. My father suggested that we could show some other Emily's grave to the old robber. But, as luck we would have it, there wasn't a single Emily buried anywhere around. In fact, you've probably never come across a country so completely lacking in Emily as ours was.
I felt sorry for the old ghost, so I offered my own suggestion. “Couldn't we make up a grave for old Johnson?” I asked. “We could try it, anyway.”
“Excellent!” my father exclaimed. “We'll do just that!”
The very next morning we had the workers in. They fixed up a little mound at the bottom of the orchard with a gravestone over it bearing the following inscription:
SCARED
TO THE MEMORY OF
EMILY
HER LAST WORDS WERE:
“TELL JOHNSON THAT I LOVE HIM”
We led the ghost down there very night, and - well - it was one of the saddest sights I've ever seen, the way Johnson took on at that gravestone.
Since then, Johnson's ghost has never troubled us. He spends each night sobbing on grave, and he seems quite content with the arrangement.
Oh, yes! In case you want to visit him, his general hours are 10 P.M. to 4 A.M. - 10 to 2 on Saturdays.
TASKS AND ACTIVITIES
Why did Johnson go to Australia?
a to find Emily; b to make money; c to get married
What did Johnson do in Australia?
a robbed travellers; b dug for gold; c claimed his bride
Why did Johnson leave Australia?
a to return to Emily and marry her; b to escape the authorities; c both a and b
What did Johnson find upon his return?
a Emily and her family; b Emily twenty years older; c a silent, deserted house
What finally happen to Johnson?
a He went to prison; b He returned to Australia; c He died without finding Emily
What was Johnson's ghost doing in the house?
a scaring people away; b weeping for Emily; c taking care of the house
What effect did the ghost have on people?
a It made feel gloomy; b It made them feel happy; c It made them feel afraid
Why did the family put up a gravestone for Emily?
a to show that they had been fond of her; b to get the ghost out of the house; c to frighten people out of the orchard
What could be another title for this story?
a The Famous Australian Ghost; b A Happy Ending for Johnson; c The Ghost Who Got Away
You can tell the meaning of the words by reading the words around it. Look at each number in parentheses. Find the paragraph in the story with the same number. Then find the word that fits the given meaning. Write the word.
sadness; distress (1)
suddenly frightened (2)
law; police (5)
useless; fruitless (7)
ruined; taken the fun out of (12)
chess pieces of the lowest value (12)
engraved words (17)
settlement; plan (19)
Look at each number in parentheses. Find the paragraph in the story with the same number. See how the word in heavy type below is used in the paragraph. Decide whether it has meaning a, b or c
bush (5)
plant; shrub
thick tail
wild country
cry (11)
call out loudly
make one's usual sound
weep; sob
KEYS
Tasks and activities
b
a
c
c
c
b
a
b
b
misery
startled
authorities
wasted
spoiled
pawns
inscription
arrangement
c
c