Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-11-16
THE WILD BELL WRINGER AND
A BRAVE BOY.

ON II little hill near the mouth Of Patnx-
cnt river. In the summer time no girl
or.boy of Aqunsco need to go to the
scashorc, for salt water flows nj their
feet and the same salt breeze that sweeps
fleet after feet of white sails up and
down the Chesapeake Bay blows in the
windows of the houses in AdHase0. The
good people of Aqnasco go to bed 40
soon after supper that the whippor-will
cries and complains without one person
to pity him, and the grunt of the bull
frog is the only voice that answers tho
whirra and ring Of the clocks when they
strike twelve, midnight.
SO it was that when in the middle Of
tho night of the 25th of last June, Cyrus
Wallace, an Aquasco boy, heard tho
church bell ringing, he sprang ont of bod
and ran barefootet into tho street. As
he reached the gate he saw men run
ming by at the top of their speed.
"What's the natter" shouted Cyrus,
to one of the flying figures.
"a fire guess" said the man.
"Fie, fire, fire" shricked Cyrus, as
he ran after the others, and in II few
minutes the whole town Of Aquasco was
aroused. Everybody was in the street
and everybody was hurrying towards
tho church. Women seized water buck
cts and children gathered up pals.
Aquasco had been very still five minutes
before, but now Aquasco was beside it.
self with excitement.
But where was the fire! The first
man who reached tho church put his
hands to his mouth and halloOed to the
top of the bell tower, where the bell was
still changing away. The second man
did the same and the third called aloud
and so did the fourth. Not II word would
the person in the beethoven answer,
though he rang and rang, until all
Aquasco gathered on tho grass below.
"rhe door of tho stccple is locked"
said one Of tho men. Nobody under
stands it,"
"No, no." said Mr.. Weslcoat, the sen
ton of the church," | was up there in
the afternoon, and there wasn't anybody
in the tower; it's u spirit of u goblin,
that's what it is" Mr.. Wcscoat shook
his head, while some of the children
huddcd together and held their brenth.
ats old Tappan's ghost" continued
Mr.. Wescoat. "'Tappan was sexton be-
fore was, and he rang that bell up
there for twenty years. He's GENE
back
Cyrus laughed when he hoard tho SEX
ton say such things. Cyrus knew very
well that only towards believed in
ghosts. Ho was afraid of big dogs and
drunken men, but common sense told
i. him that there was no such thing ~ a
ghost or creature of the dark of any
kind.
"Give me the keys" said man to the
sexton. ''I'll 20 up and stop that ring
ing" The sexton fumbled in his pocket
only to find that he had left the keys at
home, q half q mile away. Glad enough
to get away from the haunted church,
tho sexton started home after tho keys.
Meanwhile the bell still rang. Every
now and then the strokes would be
faint, but the next instant would come
a loud clans, as though the old bell
didn't like snch mysterious work bit.
The wind was blowing stify in the tops
Of the tall oak trees, but all knew that
the wind could inot ring the boil be-
cause of the lattice-work around the
belfry. While the people were whisper
ing together around tho church, Cyrus
was busy looking for way to get into
the belfry before the sexton could return
with the keys. lie knew that there
was little round window, just large
enough for him to crawl through, some
distance up the side of the tower, and
when he at last got Ladder that reach
ed to this little window he stepped bod
lily up the rounds.
"Tll bring down that ghost before Mr..
Westcoat gets back" laughed Cyrus,
and tho people could see him by the dim
starlight as he put his head through the
window and disappeared.
Cyrus found himself in queer place.
1t was so dark in the belfry that he
couldn't see where to move. He CROPPED
from one step to another, gong up the
belfry stairs slowly, while the sound
from the bell above seemed to crash
down from above with tenfold clangor.
He reached the crank which the sexton
turned when ringing the bell. No one
was there.
"Hello no, there, hop shouted Cy-