Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-01-15

VI buC edlutn Was IL blSub VI blG lIOQt
door, thought this good time to do it.
| might have chance to catch the fel-
| lows I had worked until almost noon.
time without being disturbed. The little
rogues see me at work, thought [: they
will not come again while I am here; but
| Just before my work was completed the
bell rang again. | looked up quickly
from my work-so quickly that no one
could slip away from the door without
nv seeing them-buU there was no person
in sight Mother opened the door from
within as | approached from without.
"'Oh, was that you, Mark?' she asked,
apparently relieved at seeing me. Did
you ring?' l asked, in reply, scarcely re-
| aliZing how foolish was nv question. 4
ring? No: did YOU? We seemed to be
mutually confused, and mutually confus.
| ing each other. | did not ring; she did
not ring; there was nobody there who did
ring, and yet the bell was constantly ring
ing.
"'Perhaps the bell isn't hung right
said mother, as if anxious to explain
away her own fears, and the jar Of our
! footsteps makes it ring But even as she
spoke the bell rang once more without an
! echo of football to disturb, and without
hand upon the bell-pull.
1T must be rats said I.
| "SWe have neither rats nor mice said
mother, The house is new, and have
not seen a rat or a mouse since we have
lived here
Together we went down in the cellar to
examine the bell itself. There it hung,
looking in all respects like every other
| bell, apparently innocent of all intention
to puzzle US. could see nothing about
/ it which would cause it to ring in any alb
| normal manner.
"'Pshaw, it's nothingr said mother; 4
don't mind it., betraying in her very
| tones the anxiety which her words de-
MED.
However, we could not stand there
watching the bell, so I went out in the
garden to my work, and your mother went
to her churning, each of us striving to
hide from the other the annoyance we
felt but were unwilling to confess. At
long intervals through the day the bell
rang, and even at midnight we were
aroused by the short, sharp twang of the
wire and tlie Jingle, tingle of the bell. I
could not sleep. | lOnged for the daylight
to appear that I might make a more
thorough examination into the matter. |
arose at the dawn, and proceeded to make
Il lICSu luNtSIlS dllOu. INT DCll-pulI WIS
all in order; the bell itself was beyond
the reach of anyone passing; we did not
use the cellar where il hung, and in spite
of my endeavors | could not account for
the mystery.
Z" Ben Smithers, who was very super
stitious, said at once it was the ghost of
old Mis- Watkins; that she was still
walkin', even eff the old house was pulled
down about her earsp
. was sorry to have Ben get on that
track, for I dreaded, of all things, to have
the peace of my family disturbed by such
idle reports. Without telling any one
about il, | cut off the wire close to the
bell-pull, but this did not prevent re.
newal of the ringing. Sometimes for
whole day it would cease, and just as we
were about to congratulate ourselves that
we should have no more trouble it would
ring again.
"Mary Ann gave warning that she
should leave if this trouble continued,
and even Ben declared he wouldn't live
in house where the ghosteses were a
goin' it day an night
: Mother began to be so nervous that
she could neither eat nor sleep; and as
for myself, / wished | had never heard of
Mrs. Watkins and her ghost, for although
| tried to reason with myself that such a
loud and distinct sound could not be pro-
duced by any other than some natural
cause, yet my rest was so disturbed at
night that | found myself getting irrita-
BILE and impatient and felt angry at any
allusion to the bell.
81 was almost provoked enough to kick
old neighbor Greene off the premises be-
cause he came hObbling along with the
aid of his stout staff to ask me if it was
really true that Mis- Watkins ghost had
come to the new house, | snubbed the
old man in the most disrespectful way !;
| and [ heard him say as he walked beside
Ben to the barn, that needn't be so cross
about it. I might we known the ghost
wouldn't give up the old place.
cold Mr. Greene had hardly disappear
ed down the Springfield road, before I
saw Deacon Hadley climbing over the
post and rail fence that separated his farm
| from mine. The Deacon was a great
talller; I knew if he got hold of the story
it would be told from one end of the town
| to the other. I stood there with long
wooden rake over my shoulder, and felt
| almost angry enough to fling it at his
| head as he rested a moment on the top
rail, took off his hat, and wiped his fore
| head with the red handkerchief which he
| carried in the crown.
| Gust at that moment mother came out
| from the kitchen and ran toward me with
such a smiling face that felt sure she
must have some good news to cOmmuni-
| cate, and as nothing could seem pleasant
to me or cause me to feel happy so long
as that ringing bell lay like an incubus
upon my breast, | knew she mus have
| made some discovery in regard to it.
mark, come here, quick!" she called
| towards the house. She tripped lightly
| down the cellar steps, and led me to a
room which had not yet been used. 1t
was lighted by small window placed di-
rectly under the front piazza.
ooh, Mark! IL have found the cause
| of the b-bell-' She was so bTeathless
| from the haste of running up and down.
the stone steps, and the sudden change
| from the hot summer morning without to
| the chill of the dark, damp cellar, that in
| her excitement she could not gasp out the
| words / looked from the stone walls
around to the cement floor below, and
| really could see no explanation either of
| her actions or the cause of our annoyance.
| began to add new fear to my troubles
| in the thought that perhaps all this eX-
citement and worry had bewildered her,
and that she was becoming insane. | was
about to take her in my arms and carry
her upstairs, when she pointed to the
dusty glass of the little window. Direct
" in front of it ran the bell wire, Just be-
low where had cut it Off Between the
wire and the posts that supported the
flooring of the piazza a hen had made a