Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-06-11
Selected Mislellanp.
THE MAN In TIE BELL.

much more in fashion among the young
men of 1T than it is now. Nobody, l
believe, practices it there at present ex.
cept the servants of the church, and the
melody has been much injured in conse-
quence. Some fifty years ago, about twen-
ty of US who dwelt in the vicinity of the
cathedral, formed q club, which used to
ring every peal that was called for; and
from continual practice and rivalry
which arose between us and q club at
tached to another steeple, and which
tended considerably to sharpen our zeal,
we became very Mozarts on our favorite
instruments. But my bell.ringing practice
was shortened by a singular accident,
which not only stopped my performance,
but made even the sound Of q bell terrible
to my ears.
One Sunday, / went with another into
the belfry to ring for noon prayers, but
the second stroke we had pulled showed
US that the clapper of the bell we were at
was muffled. Some one had been buried
that morning, and it had been prepared, of
course, to ring mournful note. We did
not know of this, but the remedy was
easy.
"Jack," ;" said my companion, "step up
to the loft, and cut off the hat !" for the
way we had of muffiing was by tying a
piece of an old hat, or Of cloth (the former
was preferred), to one side of the clspper,
which deadened every second toll.
Icomplied, and mounting into the belfry,
crept as usual into the bell, where began
to cut away. The hat had been tied on
in some more complicated manner than
usual, and was perhaps three or four
minutes in getting it off; during which
time my companion below was hastily
called away-by message from his sweet
heart, believe-but that ls not material
to my story. The person who called him
was brother of the club, who, knowing
that the time had come for ringing for
service, and not thinking that any one
was above, began to pull. At this moment
was just getting out, when felt the bell
moving; guessed the reason at once-it
was moment of terror; but by a hasty
and almost convulsive effort, succeeded
in jumping down, and throwing myself on
the fiat of my back under the bell.
The room in which it was, was little
more than sufficient to contain it, the
bottom of the bell coming within couple
of feet of the floor of lath. At that time
certainly was not 80 bulky as am now,
but as lay it was within an inch of my
face. l had not laid myself down q
second, when the ringing began. It was a
dreadful situation. Over me swung an
immense mass of metal, one touch Of
which would have crushed me to pieces !;
the floor under me was principally COM
posed of crazy laths, and if they gave way,
/ was precipitated to the distance of about
fifty feet upon loft, which would, in all
probability, have sunk under the impulse
of my fall, and sent to be dashed to atoms
fho ort<l In Al<~ 49, h. a1a
hundred feet below. I remembered
fear is quick in ecollection-how com.
mon clockweight, about q month before,
had fallen, and bursting through the floors
OF the steeple, drove in the ceilings of the
porch, and even broke into the marble
tombstone of q bishop who slept beneath
This was my first terror, but the ringing
had not continued minute, before more
awful and immediate dread came on me.
The deafening sound of the bell smote
into my ears with q thunder which made
me fear their drums would crack; there
was not fibre of my body it did not thrill
through. 1t entered my very soul thought
and reflection were almost utterly banish-
ed / only retained the sensation of agoni.
zing terror. Every moment saw the bell
sweep within an inch of my face and my
eyes-I could not close them, though to
look at the object was as bitter as death
followed it instinctivtly in its oscillating
progress until it came back again. 1t was
in vain said to myself that it could come
no nearer at any future swing than it did
a. first; every time it descended, I endeav-
ored tc shrink into the very floor to avoid
being buried under the dowp-sweeping
mass and then, rejecting on the danger
of pressing too weightily on my frail sup
port, would cover up sgain as far as /
dared.
At first my fears were mere matters of
fact. was afraid the pulleys above would
give way, and let the bell plunge on me.
At another time, the possibility of the
clapper being shot out in some sweep, ano
dashing through my body, as ! had seen
ramrod glide through q door, fitted
across my mind. The dread also, as have
already mentioned, of the crazy floor, tor
aen:ed me; but these soon gave way to
iears not more unfounded, but more Wis
lonary, and of course more tremendous.
The roaring of the bell confused my in
tellect, and my fancy soon began to TEEN
with all sorts of strange and terrifying
ideas. The bell pealipg above, and open
Ing its jaws with q hideous clamor, seemed
to lie at one time q ravening monster.
raging to devour me; at another, a whirl.
pool ready to suck me into its believing