Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-09-13

walked toward the door, saying,
though inwardly / was quaking
with an indefinable sense of fear
"Well, Harry, if you don't 20
down stairs, l will"
With an exclamation, he Jumped
to his feet, snatched the revolver
from my not unwilling hands, and,
thrusting me back, went down the
front stairs in about four bounds, not
waiting even 10 take lamp.
heard the door open in the dining
rOOm-a strong smell of smoke
rolled up the stairway, and i heard
Harry call out:
"Don't be alarmed, Bessie; STAY
where you are for q few moments;
l there's no danger.o
OF course I didn't mind him, but
snatched baby from the crib and
ran swiftly downstairs, to find the
dining-room full of smoke, and
Harry dashing water on the floor
and wainscOt, which was now
smouldering, and in few moments,
/ thanks to there being three tubs of
water in the kitchen in readiness
/ for the wash-day, the fire was en-
tirely extinguished.
A coal must have snapped from
/ the fireplace in some way said
/ Harry, as he wiped his smoke
grimed face, "and caught the dry
oak floor"
This was the only way we could
account for it, and it is a mercy that
we were not burned alive in our
beds, for, as Harry said, the old
house was as dry as finder, and with
1 the gale then blowing, it would
have been an impossibility, had the
/ fire gained few moments more
Roadway, to have eXtinguished it.
OF course, conjecture as to the
/ warning of the bell was simply flu
tile. There was no one but our
selves in the house-not even a
sagaciOus dOg-and as rats are not
in the habit of taking a bell from
the upper shelf of a remote closet,
opening a heavy oak door and
kindly notifying the inmates of a
house that it is on fire., at least,
was completely nonplussed, and as
for Harry, why / couldn't get d
word out of him on the subject.
/ took the trouble next day to
look at the bell, though l confess L
didn't touch it, and there it was
exactly as / had left it, while the
ugly little face on the carved handle
seemed to leer at me in such an
impish way that / turned away
with almost a shiver.
! Well, after a time the feeling
| wore off-two years went swiftly
by; Harry got a position as cashier
of the Easton National Bank, little
Joe was born, and we were as hap
by a family as ever lived.
One night-ah, me! shall / ever
forget it?-baby Edith, who had
been unusually quiet during the
day, came to me, and laying her
golden head in my lap, said: Baby
so tired. Please, mamma rock baby
to Sleep"
So / took her in my lap, noticing
with a thrill of alarm that her
cheeks were fever-fushed and her
hand hot, and when Harry came l
! posted him off for the doctor.
Well, it's all right now. God
knew best; but one evening the fol-
1 lowing week our little one lay with
only feeble pulse of life beating in
the tiny heart; and as we hung
over her in dumb agony, from the
hall below came that warning
sound, this time slowly and regu-
larly struck, as one would toll
bell.
But it brought no sense of fear
/ only a wild surging up of bitter,
angry feelings against God himself
"a feeling which l trust he long
| ago fOrgave me, for he knows how,
after the first pangs of bereaved
motherhood, j surely repented my
/ sinfulness.
1t was a long, long time after the
patter of Edith's little feet had
ceased to echo in the old house, and
her childish voice was hushed for
ever, before life again for us took on
the semblance of the happiness
which we had known; yet in Gods
time we began to think of our Edith
as only removed from us a little
space-a tender flower transplanted
into Gods garden that should be
restored to us in the hereaftar.
Only once afteTward did we hear
the warning sOund-it was the night
that Harry's only sister died in
Santa Barbara, where she had lived
for many years in constant eXpecta-
ton of, and perfect readiness for,
the coming of the death angel and
by her husbands letter, making
due allowance for the difference of
time, Mary passed away on the
very hour that we heard the stroke
of the bell.
AS l said in the very beginning of
this sketch, l attempt no cOniect-
ures, offer no explanations as to that
which / have WRITTEN only know
that it is plain statement of facts
which have actually occurred.
And as to the legend connected
with the bell itself, that it has been
for five centuries a harbinger of
warning to the Hazeltine family, |
and that a terrible curse is invoked |
upon the person who would destroy
or make away with it-all of which |
is written on parchment, with a
date of a century ago, and in Har- !
RVS pOssessjOn-I regard it in the |
light of all other similar legendary |
nonsense.
Yet the condolences are undenia-
BILE, and Frank regards them with |
such wonder that / have written |
this almost for his special benefit |
alone, though it would be just like
him to have it printed.
WE don't believe in reputation. |
The best thing to be done in all |