River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-09-29

or had been heard in any other held, II
would not have caused even ripple OF
excitement among the stolid farmers;
but that that pacti cular bell should
ring in that one field and in no other,
Just at that particular time, and that
no one should ever catch sight of the
mysterious ringer, was enough tOcause
excitement. even in a place where SEN
satiOns were more common than they
were in that little baclIwOOds settle
ment.
Clark's Crossing had been named after
the wealthy owner of the largest farm
in the township. 1t Is doubtful if this
name would have been chosen if the
man who had first applied it TO the
cluster OF houses that stood near the
spot where the railway crossed the main
road had supposed that his ne .ghbOrs
would adopt the name, for Mr.. Clark
was not popular among them. They
distrusted and disliked him.
He was an ignorant man, but no one
could say he was positively dishonest.
He was too acute to be caught in any OF
the petty meannesses of which they
felt sure ne had been guilty; therefore
they could only watch him closely in
all their dealings, and probably believed
him guilty of many things he never
thought of doing.
Feeling thus toward him. IL was not
strange that when Widow Carrots
COW was run over on the track just be
low the crossing, where the railway
ran through portion of Mr.. Clark's
farm, there should b. a number
ready to say that he had let down the
fence and driven the animal on 10 the
track; else, how did she get there:
Not from the road; the cattle guards
prevented that, and the railway itseli
was well fenced
The COW was known TO have broker
into the wheatfield in the afternoon
She wore a heavy, cracked. peculiar
sounding bell that was well known I,
all Two of the neighbors had after
terward said that. returning home late
from the village. three miles away, they
had heard the cow there again.
Later still, when the express train
went by. several had been aroused
from sleep by its short. sharp danger
whistle; but the train had gone on, an,
afterward the cow had been found by
the section men beside the track. dead
They notified Mrs. Garrett, and, to saw,
her any trouble or expense, bu-' the
carcass where It was found
Tommy Garrett, freckled. under
sized, big-eyed Tommy-Mrs. CARROTS
dull, commonplace fourteen-year-olC
and only son-went over and watched
them. and Mrs Garrett grieved, for thS
COW had been a help to her. and shs
could not afford to replace il.
Did they take the bell off Brindle?'
she asked Tommy that evening, as h
sat staring stOlidly into the fire.
mo" he replied thought it wasn't
worth it. It's buried. but not deep
though"
well. we can't get it. even If II
isn't deep" answered his mother. ''But
I'm sorry it wasn't taken off. The bel
aud strap would have been worth some
thing at the junk-shOp in town, even il
no one here wanted them Fifty cents,
maybe"
Tommy's dull face frightened some
what, and his why figure Strengthened
for a moment
The old bell worth fifty cents, What
a pity he had not known it.
This was the way the matter stood
when. the second night after the COW
had been buried, Mr.. Clark heard cow
bell in his wheat field
He dressed hastily, grumbling mean
while about people who allowed their
stock to run in the road-although he
was one of them-lit his lantern aud
fastened out to the field
All the way from the house TO the
wheat field fence he could hear the