The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-01-10

rope had come to an end. 1t wasn'G
quite as long as he had supposed that it
was, and the upshot was that there was
Miss Payson about 30 feet from the
ground with no possible way of reach
ing it unless Halsey should let go his
end of the rope.
He thought Of letting go Of it, but
being humane, good tempered man, as
1 said, he couldn't bring himself to do
it, since the result would have been
that either Miss Payson would have
been killed or at least mostpf her limbs
would have been broken. So he mado
the end of the rope fast to beam and
called out to Miss Payson not to lose
courage, and he would soon think of
some way of getting her out of the diff
Guilty. She begged him to draw her up
again, and he actually tried to do it,
knowing. all the while what the conse-
quences would be if he succeeded, but
he found that he didn't have the neces-
sary strength. Miss Payson was heavier
than she looked to be, though she was
mostly bones, but she was good rs
feet below him, and it would have
taken two men of his strength to have
hoisted her up into the steeple again.
He pulled at the rope till he was pretty
nearly exhausted, for he naturally felt
a little ashamed of acknowledging to
woman that there was anything that lie
wasn't strong enough to do. However,
he had to come to it at last and tell her
that if it was to save both their lives he
couldn't manage to pull her back into
the steeple. So she settled down to cry,
and he settled down to smoke pipe,
with view to clearing his ideas.
"All of a sudden he saw what he
ought to do and wondered that he had
been such an idiot as to not have seen
it before. There was the bell just above
his head, and all he had to do was to
climb up and ring it by swinging the
olapper from side to side till the alarm
should bring back the sexton with the
keys. By this time it was getting rath-
er dark, and Halsey set to work at that
bell and kept Oh telling it slow and
regular, for that was the only way he
could manage TO ring it.
cts the custom with us to toll the
bell when anybody dies and to give
just as many strokes on the bell as the
deceased had lived years. When Halsey
began to toll tho bell, the Athensville
people listened to find out how old the
deceased had been. When the strokes
had got up among the eighties, they al
lowed that the Oldest settler i'll the
town must have died very sudden, for
he had been seen drunk, as usual, and
in perfect health that afternoon as late
as 3 O'Clock But the bell kept en-, and
bimeby, after it had tolled some $50
times and showed no signs of stopping,
folks began to think that the sexton
had just happened to hear about the
death of Methuselah and was notifying
other people of the fact.
"You may ask why didn't somebody
go to the church and find out what the
bell was ringing for. Well, for one
thing, it was just supper time, and no.
body felt anxious to take walk of a
mile or two just at that hour, Then,
too, it had been said that the Baptist
churchyard was haunted, and there
wasn't any general desire to interfere
with ghosts in case they should have
taken notion to toll the bell. The toll
ing kept on till Halsey had tolled the
bell over 400 times, and then Rev. Mr.
Humphreys arrived on the spot, and
when he heard Miss Payson's voice
somewhere in the air over his head he
was considerably startled, though not
being believer in ghosts he wasn't the
least bit frightened.
''How Oh earth did you come up
there, ma'am, asked the minister, and
what are you tolling the bell for?'
"Miss Payson explained what was
the matter She said that she and Mr..
Halsey had come to the church in the
afternoon, cal'latin to find. the parson
there and to get married; that not find
ing him they had gone into the steeple
to see the view and had accidentally
been locked in. She was sure that she
couldn't live many minutes longer, she
felt so weak, and she hoped Mr..
Humphreys would marry her to Mr..
Halsey without another minutes delay,
and so save her reputation even if it
didn't save her life.
"The minister wanted to send for
help and get her safe on the solid
ground before marrying her, but she
said that she must be married before
she could dare to face any Of her towns
men. Such, she said, were also dear
Mr.. Halsey's views, and if Mr.. Hum
phreys had the feelings Of man and
Christian, let alone Baptist minister,
be would go ahead with the marriage
service.
"Mr. Humphreys finally consented
and called out to Halsey to nod when
he should see the minister wave his right
arm, that being the only way in which
Halsey could make the responses, see
ing as his voice didn't fairly reach to
the ground. Having arranged this sat
isfactorily, as he thought, Mr. Hum
phreys went ahead, and in about two
minutes he had Miss Payson married to
Mr.. Halsey. Just then the sexton came
up with keys, and knowing where he
could lay his hand on a length of rope
ho took 1t up into the steeplo with him
and bent it on to the bell rope. Then
he and Mr.. Halsey lowered Miss Payson
to the ground and came down the stairs
together.
You'll find your wife waiting for
you in the graveyard, says Mr.. Hum
phreys to Halsey. She naturally a lit
tie excited, and she's resting on Il fiat
If you mean Miss Payson,' says
Halsey, 4 can't understand why you
call her my wife.
"I call her your wife, says the
because have just married
you two, and don't allow no man to
question the binding character of any
that have hand in.
Married usp cried Halsey. When
md where? This is the first time Ihave
heard of it.
Young man, says the parson, this
lyer's serious subject, and don't ap-
prove of jokes OH either weddings or
unerals. Miss Payson told me. while
hD was swinging there in the air, that
'Ou and she wanted to be married the