The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1864-03-24

interchange of vows and hopes. But the
course of true love ran no smoother in
old Barbery'a kitchen than it does else
where; and Joe, who was just making up
his mind to treat himself to Il kiss, was
startled by the voice of the Deacon, her
father, shouting from the chamber door
"Sally, what are you getting up in the
middle of the night for?"
''Tell him it's most morning" whis-
pered Joe.
81 cant tell fb," said Sally.
"I'll make it truth, then,'' said Joe,
and running to the huge, old fashioned
clock that stood in the corner, he set it
at FIVE.
"Look at the clock and see what time
it is," cried the old gentleman up stairs.
ats five by the clock" answered Sal
ly, and corroborating her words, the old
clock struck fve
The lovers sat down again and resumed
their conversation. Suddenly the stair
case began to creak.
Good gracious it's father"
"The Deacon, by thunder!' cried Joe.
Glide me, Sal. :"
"Where can l hide your" cried the
distracted girl
80, I know" said he. "I'll squeeze
into the clock case" And without an
other word, he concealed himself in the
case, and drew the door behind him.
The Deacon was dressed, and sitting
himself down by the cooking stove, pulled
out his pipe, lighted it and commenced
smoking deliberately and calmly.
Five o'clock, en-, said he. Well,
| shall have time to smoke three or four
pipes, and then I'll go and feed the crit
ters."
Hadn't you better feed the critters
fust, sir, and smoke afterwards?' sugges-
ted the dutiful Sally.
mo, smoking clears my head and
wakes me up" answered the Deacon, who
seemed not whit disposed to hurry his
enjoyment.
"Bur-r-r-r-whiz-ding! ding! ding"
went the clock
"Tormented lightning" cried the Dea-
con, starting up, dropping his pipe on the
stove, "what in creation is that p
''it's only the clock striking FIVE" said
sally tremulously.
"Whiz! ding! ding! ding!" went the
old clock, furiously,
"Powers of mercy" cried the Deacon
Striking five, its struck hundred al
ready"
deacon Barberyw cried the Deacon's s
better half, who had hastily robed her
self, ana now came plugging down the
staircase in the widest state of alarm
"What is the matter of the clock"
Goodness only knows replied the
old man ''It's been in the family these
hundred years, and | never knew it to
carry on so before"
CIV Whiz. bang. bang. bang went the
clock again
"It'll burst itself"' cried the old lady,
shedding a food of tears, land there won t
be nothing left Of it.
Its bewitched," said the Deacon, who
retained leaven Of New England super
stition in his nature. "Any how" he
said. after pause, advancing resolutely
toward the clock, "I'll see what's got into
il"
80, don't )" cried the daughter, affec-
tionately >eizing one Of his coat tails,
while h.s faithful wife clung to the other.
"Don'tw chorused both the women to-
gether.
''Let go my raiment. shouted the Dea-
con. II amt aieared of the powers of
darkness"
But the women would not let 90; SO
the Deacon slipped off his coat, and while
from the sudden cessation of resistance,
they fell heavily on the floor, he darted
forward, and laid his hand upon the door
of the clock case But no human hand
could open it. Joe was holding it inside
with death grasp. The Deacon began
to be dreadfuIly frightened. He gave
one more tug. An unearfhly yell as of a
fiend in distress, burst from the inside,
and then the clock case pitched headfore-
most on the floor, smashed its face, and
wrecked its proportions. The current OF
air extinguishing the lamp-the Deacon,
the old lady and Sally fed up stairs, and
Joe haywood extricated himself from the
clock, and effected his retreat in the same
way he had entered.
The next day all Appleton was alive
with the story of how Deacon Barbery's
clock had been bewitched, and though
many believed the report. some, and es
pecially Joe Haywood, affected to dis
credit the whole affair, limiting that the
Deacon had been trying the experiment
of tasting frozen cider, and that the vaga
ries of the clock case existed only in q
distempered imagination.
The Cnunties of Pennsylvania