Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-08-26
THE MN IN TIE Bell.

BIackwood's Magazine, November
1921: IN my younger days bell-ringing
was much more in fasion among the
young men of-than it is now. Some
! fifty years ago about twenty of us who
Qwelt in the vicinity Of the cathedral
formed club, which used to ring every
! peal tllat was called for.
/ One Sunday | went With another into
! the beifry to ring for noon prayers, but
! the second stroke we had pulled show
/ ed It's tliat the clapper Of the bell we
) We're at was muffled. Some one had
I been buried that morning and it had
! been prepared, of course, to ring Il
mOlnful note.
| We did not know of this, but the rem
edy was easy. Jack said my com
panion, step up to the loft and cut off
; the hat for the way we had of muff-
! ling was by tying 4 piece of an old hat
OF of cloth (tle former was preferred)
to one side of the clapper which dead
! ened every second toll.
! ] complied and mounting into the bel
fry, crept as usual into tie bell, where
| began to cut away. The hat had
, been tied Oh in some more complicated
manner than usual and ] was perhaps
three or four minutes in getting it Off;
during which time my companion be-
low was hastily called away-by a mes
sage from his sweetheart, / believe
but that is not material in my story.
The person who called him was Il
brother of the club who, knowing that
the time had come for ringing for ser
vice, and not thinking that any one
was above, began to pull. At this
momentI was just getting out when !!
felt the bell moving. [ guessed the
reason at once. II was moment OF
terror, but ny a ha&ty ana almost CON
vuISiye effort | succeeded i'll jumping
down and throwing myself on the fiat
of nay back under the bell
The room i'll which it was was Little
more THAN sufficient 10 contain il, the
bottom of the bell coming within Il
couple Of feet of the floor of lath. At
that time / certainly was not SO bulky
uS | am row, but rs [ lay it was within
;ln inch of my face. | had not lain my
self down Il second, when the ringing
began. 1t WAS a dreadful situation.
over me swung an immense mass OF
metal. one touch of which would have
crushed me to pieces; the floor under
HE was principally composed of crazy
iathS, and if they gave way, l was pre-
Cipitated to the distance of about fifty
feet upon Il loft, which would. in al
probability. have sunk under the i'm
pulse OF lay fall, and sent me to be
dashed to atoms upon the marble floor
Of the ch&ncel, 4 hundred feet below.
This was my first terror, but the ring
ing had not continued a minute before
a more awful and immediate dread
came on me. The deafening sound of
the bell SmOte into nv ears with a
thunder which made me fear their
drums would crack; there was not a
fibre of my body it did not thrill
through. 1t entered my very soul;
thought and reflection were almost ut
telly hanished; | only retained the SEN
sation Of agonizing terror.
Every moment I saw the bell sweep
within an inch of my face. and my
eyes-1 could not close them, though to
look at the object was bitter as DEATH
followed it instinctively in its oscil-
i&tin@ progress until it came back
again. 1t was in vain I said to myself
that it could come no nearer at any
future swing than it did at first: every
time it descended I endeavored to
shrink into the very floor to avoid being
buried under the down-sweeping mass
and then. rejecting on the danger of
pressing too Weightly on my frai1 sup
port would cover up again as far as
I dared
At first my fears We're mere matter
Of fact | was afraid the pulleys above
would give way and let the bell plunge
on me. At another time the possibility
Of the clapper being shot out in some
sweep and dashing through my body. as
| pad seen ramroad glide through a
door, fitted across nv mind. The
dread also. as I have already mention
ed. OF the crazy floor tormented me:
but these soon gave way to fears not
more unfGunded but more visionary,
ana. OF course. more tremendous.
The roaring Of the bell confused my
intellect. and my fancy soon began to
! TEEN with all sorts of strange and ter
r1fying ideas. The bell pealing above
and opening its jaws with a hideous
clamor seemed to me at one time a
raving monster raging to devour me;
at another a whirlpool ready to suck
me into its believing abyss. As I gaz-
ed on it. it assumed all shapes. 1t was
! flying eagle or rather a roc of the Ara
bian story tellers. clapping its wings
and screaming over me.
As l looked upward into it, it would