St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-30
SHUT IN A CLEARINGHOUSE.
was wandering through one Of our II.

was wandering through one of our little
village churchyards in Somersetshire, when,
seeing the sexton coming up the path, I
went over to him, and began to talk. He
was pleasant, garrulous old man, and many
q tale did he tell me- about the graves and
their occupants; but none SO noticeable as
the one / am going to relate.
We were sitting on one of the tombstones,
when he said: "D'ye see You little mounda
Well, there's sad, weirish story to tell about
it; and if you like to hear it, there's none
can tell 1t better than ~ Finding ME as
Wiling to hear the tale as he was to tell it, he
began as follows:
It's a long time ago. and my memory
AMT so good as it used to be, but I'll try to
tell all can, just as 1t happened. was but
a young man then, and what Pm going to
tell happened just before / became sexton
here, where I have been ever since. The
sexton who was here before me was q cross,
unpleasant fell wv; not really bad at heart
at least never thought so--but very sour
and churlsh in his manners. No one
seemed to like him, and he seemed to like
nobody. And as it turned out, peoples dis
like of him was not so ill-founded after all,
| though don't think be was so wrong as il
seemed. But won't deny that what he did
was cruel, heartless thing, and the chief
victim of it was the poor little child in yon-
der grave.
! She lived alone with her grandfather in
| pretty little cottage near the end of the viii
lage. Folks said the old man was of gentle
birth, and ought to have had more money
than he did, but he always seemed happy and
contented. Both the child's parents were
dead, poor thing! but she was too young to
mourn for them. They had died when she
was babe, and she had lived ever since
with the old man. She grew up sweet,
winsome little body. You might almost
have said that the old man adored her; but
| mol he loved his bible too well for that. Yet
| if he ever loved any mortal thing, he loved
| that child, as, indeed, did every one in the
| village. Many time would I carry the
little thing about in my arms and play with
| her and pick flowers for her or toss her in
the haytields. We all liked the old man. TOO
and some one or other would often look in
to see if he was com Portable, or put the house
in order. But there was not much to set to
rights in his little cottage; just two rooms,
and very poorly furnished they were.
cat the time am going to speak of the
child was about years old.
at was a fine summers day, and she had
gone out alone in the afternoon, while the
old man took his forty winks.' She was
alone, but in quiet little village one never
gets anxious about ones children. This
time, however, the day wore on, and she did
not return. The old man awoke from his
| nap, and began 10 feel rather uneasy. Sew
eral neighbors, who looked in aud chatted
with him, found him getting very nervous
and restless, as though he had vague fore
shadowing Of some evil coming. Without
guessing what It was. Tea-time passed and
the little maid did not turn up. One old
man brought word that he had seen her near
the churchyard. But no one could tell any
thing more. At last, 6 and O'Clock passed,
| and the village folk began to feel more sym
pathy with the old mans fears. Some sug-
gested that she had fallen into the river
some talked mysteriously about the gypsies-
some pointed to the dark, lonely woods in the
distance. But, though none could offer any
solid consolation, all volunteered gladly to
| go and search for her; and many went. Per-
| haps there was only one in the wnole village
who showed no interest in the matter, and
| that was the old sexton. But, as l said be-
| fore, he was a cross, solitary creature, and as
he lived alone some way from any house he
never heard of the child's being lost till next
morning.
Snow, I myself, being stout, stalwart
young fellow, used sometimes to help the old
sexton by doing little odd jobs about the
church, digging graves and the like, for he
was touched with the rheumatics. and on that
| very night it CHANGED that had to go up tC
| the church alone 20 fetch something had
left the day before. 1t was not quite late, fol
the evening had soon passed In useless search
| ing. There was bright moon shining, and
| the air was fresh and breezy. Any other
| man would have dreaded to go into the lone
some church, but | used to boast that
wouldn't mind going there at any hour, in
| spite OF ghosts and ghouls. But the bodies,
| heart feels creepy sometimes. And thai
| night felt peculiarly timorous. There was
many strange tale told about that church,
as doubtless there Is of every church In the
country, and one can't help remembering
| these tales just when one doesn't want TO-
| The souls Of suicides, murdered persons, and
| uubaptized babes we're all said to throng iu
| numbers In this particular spot, setting aside
| n few lunatics and harmless naturals.
"Well, managed to fetch what | wanted
! from the church without any adventure,
| when, all at once, thought that perhaps the
child had wandered in there and fallen asleeI
in one Of the pews, or got shut in. So
| looked about but couldn't see her. / saw
something, however, that gave me bit of &
clew, and that was her little hat, torn anC
trampled on the ground. This was rather
more than ! expected, or indeed liked.
felt that must stay and look for her. But
| T fntt b,,r IN,
away from the place. Every moan Of the
wind give me quite turn, and the white
moonlight looked quite CHASTITY. So / was
| Just thinking Of basty departure, when
| suddenly new thought struck me! Could
she have got into the vaults belows When
| thought OF this felt bound, somehow, &c
| search for her felt / should not be doing
my duty by the old man, II didn't do all
could TO find bis little maid. But 10 90 down
into the cold damp vaults at that hour Of the
night was more than many a man would
liked TO do, and kind Of shivered at the
very thought Of it. And yet / didn't like Il
run away from nothing, so tried to pluck
up my courage, and, after listening awhile
at the top Of the steps, l began to descend tc
| the crypt.
''Oh It was dark and fearful l seemed
to see all sorts Of strange figures .ftting abou
in the shadows, and to hear weird voices
ringing through the silence. Ny tread Wa;
not very firm, can tell you. felt as timo
rous as hare. could hear my heart pit-a-
pat, throbbing as though It would burst, and
| every breath took seemed TO wake echoes
and noises around me. But | managed to
get as far as the crypt. 1t was used as q
charnel-house then, and nasty place en- ough
it was even in the daytime, but at night!
Irrh the very thnupht il horrible