The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-08-25
Tho Bell Ringer and u Bravo Boy.

IOWu tlnC no QOlDC many OF the chill
dren never have heard of it before. II
is in the State of Maryland and stands
on q little hill near tho mouth Of Pa.
tuxent river. In the summer time no
girl or boy Of Aquasco need go to the
seashorc, for salt water flows at their
feet and the same salt breeze that sweeps
fleet after fleet Of white-sailed ships up
and down the Chesapeake bay blows in
at the windows of the houses in Aquas-
CO. The good people of Aquasco go to
bed 80 soon after supper that the whip
poor-will cries and complains without
one person to pity him; and the grunt
of the bull-frog is the only voice that
answers the whirr and ring of the clocks
when they strike 10, midnight.
| So it was Jnat when in the middle of
the night of the 25th of last, June, Cy-
rus Wallace, an Aquasco boy, heard
the church bell ringing, he sprang
quickly out of bed and ran barefooted
into the street AS he reached the gate
he saw men running by at the top of
their speed.
"What's the matter?" shouted Cyrus
to one of the flying figures.
ga fire, I guess" said the man.
"Fire, fire, fro! shrieked Cyrus, rs
he ran after the others. In few minutes
the whole town of Aquasco was arous-
cd. Everybody was in the street and
everybody was hnrrying towards the
church. Women seized water buckets
and childron gathered up pals. Aquas-
co had been very still five minutes be-
fore, but now Aquasco was beside itself
with excitement.
But where was the fire? The first
man who reached the church put his
hands to his mouth and hallooed to the
top Of the bell tower, where tho bell was
still changing away. The second man
did the same and the third called aloud
and so did the fourth. Not word
would the person in the bell-tower an
swer, though he rang and rang, until
all Aquasco gathered Oh the grass be-
low.
'"rhe door Of tho steeple is locked, "
said one OF the men. "Nobody under
stands it,
"Maybe some rascal got locked in
there yesterday and fell asleep" said
| Mr.. Rankin the constable.
"No, no." replied Mr.. Wcstcoat, the
sexton of the church. ct wns IN thorn in
the afternoon, and there wasn't anybody
in the tower it's a spirit or goblin,
that's what it is !" and Mr.. Westcoat
shook his head, while some of the child
rem huddled together md held their
breath.
"It's old Tappen's ghost" continued
Mr.. Westcoat. "Tappen was sexton
before was, and he rang that bell up
there for twenty years. He's como
back"
Cyrus laughed when he heard the
sexton say such things. Cyrus knew
very well that only towards believed in
ghosts. He was afraid of big dogs and
drunken men, but common sense told
him that there is no snch thing as n
ghost or creature of the dark of any
kind.
"Give me the keys" said man to
the sexton, "I'll 60 up and stop that
ringing" The sexton fumbled in his
pocket only to find that he had left the
keys at home, half mile away. Glad
enough to get away from the haunted
church, the sexton started after the
keys. Meanwhile the bell still rang.
Every now and then the strokes would
be faint, but the next instant would
come loud clang, rs though the old
bell didn't like such mysterious work a
bit. The wind was blowing stiflly in
the tops of the tall oak trcss, but all
knew that the wind could not ring the
| bell because Of the lattice work around
the belfry While the people wore
whispering together around the church
Cyrus was busy looking for way tc
get into the belfry before the sexton
should return with the keys. He 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 q
ladder that reached to this little window
he stepped boldly up the rounds.
9TH bring down that ghost before
Mr.. Westcoat gets back" laughed
Cyrus, and the people could see him by
the dim starlight rs he put his head
through the window and Disappeared
Cyrus found himself in queer place.
1t was so dark i'll the belfry that he
couldn't see where to move He groped
from one step to another, going up the
belfry stairs slowly, while tho sound
from the bell above seemed to crasl
down with tenfold clangor. He reached
the crank which the sexton turned when
ringing the bell. No one was there.
"Hello no, there, no p shouted Cy.
rus directly into the bells throat. But
the bells roar drowned his words. Hc
climbed still higher and soon sat among
the rafters above the bell. He reached