Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-09-03

|, his family about six months, disappoare
e very suddenly; and as nothing was eve
r heard of him afterwards, a rumor prevaie
among the gossiping portion of the CON
n munity, that Mr. X. had murdered him
t The story, if ever believed at all, was sub
t sequently disproved by the excellent char
, acter of Mr.. K, which was above suspic
: ion. After residence of some five year
| in the place, public roads and thorougfare
: begaE to be laid out, and the one neares
!, to Mr.. K, passing across the opposite en-
of his farm, his establishment was lief
completely in the back ground He accor
dingly disposed of his premises, and re
moved to little village that had sprun!
up about three miles distant and as hi
successor settled upon the road, on th'
opposite end of the farm, the establish
ment fell into ruin, having at the date o
our story, nothing but an old cellar anc
chimney, well, and a heap Of lcacheC
ashes, little short of an Egyptian pyramid.
| 1t was now about the middle of the
summer, before mentioned, and the Dea
con with the rest of his neighbors was
busily engaged in hay gathering. As he
with some half dozen others were clos
ing up the labors Of a long sultry day, he
called Ichabod to him, and thus addressed
him
1--WE shall be detained some half an
hour yet; you may therefore return home
and bring a bucket Of cold water from the
old well, which you will be able to do by
the time we get to the house.
Ichabod looked at the sun, which was
just upon the horizon, scratched his head,
and, though he made no open rcmonstrancc,
it was very evident he did not much fancy
the job. The fact was, for Yankee, his
intellect was none of the brightest, and
having been brought up by superstitious
old grandmother who was continually re-
lating stories of ghosts, witches, goblins,
&c, he had become an intolerable coward,
and several times during his residence with
the Deacon, had afforded the family great
amusement, by some ridiculous fright.
He saw from the position of the sun, that
it would probably be dark before he should
complete his task, and it was this conside-
ration that made it so distasteful. He
dared not demonstrate, and with kind of
desperation set of at fullspeed, hoping thus
to anticipate the dreaded darkness as
much as possible But as it was some dis
tancc to the house, and from thence full
half mile to the well, in spite of his ut
most exertions the short summers twilight
had faded before he arrived at the spot
With palpitating heart he at length
stood by the well. Turning aside his
head, lest in the dark orifcc he should en-
counter some uncarthly spectre, with 4
trembling hand he drew down the bucket.
The well was deep, and on the present oc-
casion it seemed almost interminablc At
length, however, he heard it splash in the
water, and at this critical moment, when
the falling of leaf would have startled
him, a horrid sound, between a screech
and croan, ,asccrdcd from the dark abyss.
To say that he was frightened, would not
even begin to express his emotions. lie
was actually horriiied, and struck dumb
with amazement, and had he not instinct
lively laid hold of the curb for support,
would have fallen to the ground. How
long he would have remained in this con-
dition, it is difficult to say-had not a
second groan, had the tendency Of arous-
ing him from his stupor. He did not
wait for a third, but with all the energy
inspired by fear, set out for home, leaping
whatever obstacle appeared in his passage,
and did not even pause to look behind |
him, till he reached the Deacon's kitchen.
With distorted countenance, pale as
death, and dripping with cold sweat, he
entered the apartment, few moments af-
ter the laborers from the field, who were
not a little surprised to see the poor fellow
in such aplight Recollecting, however;
his constitutional inGrmity, they soon be-
gan to amuse themselves at his expense,
asking variety ofqucstions as to his ad-
ventures, to which, either through obsti-
macy Or inability, he returned no answer.
At length the Deacon, out of patience at
his having returned withoat TIE expected
water, and considering his conduct as the
result of some ridiculous friah, asked in a
stern tone, 'What is the matter 2"
The poor fellow, after two or three
efforts, faltcsed out "The Devil is in the
we'll !" l.
The announcement was received with
roar of laughter, and as the Deacon had
out little sympathy for such folly, he bad
lim, in an angry tone, return TO the well
md bring the water.