The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1900-12-14
TIE NAN IN THE BELL.

In my younger days Oeli-ringing
was much more the fashion among
the Young men Of than it is now.
Some fifty years ago about twenty Of
us. who dwclt M the vicinity Of the
cathedral. formed a club, which used
to ring every peal that was called for
One Sunday ! went with another
into the helfry % ring for noon pray
ers but the second stroke we had
pulled showed lis that the clapper OF
the bell we were at was muii'ed.
Some one had been buried that morn-
ing. and il had been prepared, OF
course, 70 ring mOurnfnl note
We did not know OF this but the
remedy was easy ''Jack, said my
companion step up 70 the lott and
cut on The hat, for the way we had
OF munlina was by tying a piece OF an
old hat crof cloth lthe former was
prciergcd1 10 one side Of the clapper
which deadened every second toll
complied, and mounting into the
helfry, cfept as usual into the bell,
where / began % cut away The hat
had been tied on Ia some more COM
plicated manner than usual and /
was perhaps three or four minutes IN
getting 10 on; during which time my
comnanioa below was hastily called
away-by message from his sweet
heart ! helieye-but that is not ma
tcrial TO my story
The person who called him was %.
brother of the club who, knowing
that the time had come for singing
for service, ana not thinking that
any one was above, began TO pull.
AT this moment | was Just getting
out when / felt the ben moving 1
guessed the reason at once. 1t was
moment Of terror but Ny hasty and
almost c0nyulsiye effort / succeeded
in jumping down and throwing my
self on the fat Of my back under the
bell.
The room In which it was was
little more than sufficient TO contain
it, the bottom Of the hell coming
within a couple Of feet Of the floor Of
lath. AT that time l certainly was
nos so bulky as / am now, but as |
lay it was within an inch uf my face.
] had not lain myself down a second
when the ringing began, 10 was a
dreadful situation.
over me swung a great mass Of
metal, one touch Os which would have
crushed me 20 pieces; the floor under
me was principally composed 81 crazy
laths and IL they gave way / would
be procipitated to the distance OF
aDoNt iifty feet upon loft, which
would, IN all probabilitX have sunk
under the impulse Of my fall, and sent
me to be dashed to atoms upon the
marble floor OF the chancel, a hundred
feet below
This was my FIRST terror but the
ringing had not continued a minute
before a more awful aud Immediate
dread came on me- The deafening
sound OF the bell smote into my cars
with 4 thunder which made me fear
their drums would crack; there was
not Hbcr OF my body they did not
thrill through 1t entered my very
soul: thought and reflection were al
most utterly banished; ] only retained
the sensation of agoniziug terror.
Every moment I saw the bell sweep
within an inch OF my face, and my
eyes-I could not close them, though
To look at the object was litter as
dcath-followe it instinctiyoly in its
oscillation progress until IL came
back agen il was in vain that
said 10 myself that II could come no
nearer at any future swing than ID
did at first; every time it descended
] cndcayored to shrink into the very
floor TO avoid being buried under the
dowu-sweeping mass. and then, re-
fecting on the danger Of pressing too
weightily on my irail support, would
cover up again as fast as / dared.
At frst my fears were mere matter
Of fact ] was afraid the pulleYs
above would give way and lei the
bell plunge on ne AT another time
the possibility Of the clapper being
shot out il some sweep ana dashing
through my body as | had seen
ramrod glide through a u00r, Fitted
across my mind. The dread. also as
/ have already mentioned OF the
crazy 1o0r tOrmcnted me: but these
soon gave way to fears NOT moro un-
fonLded. but more visionary. aad. of
crsrse. more tremendous
The roaring OF the bell confused
my Intellect and nay fancy soon be-
gan 10 TEEN with an sorts Dc strante
and terrifying ideas. The bell Icai-
ling above and Opening ID jaws with
a hideous clam0r seemed to me at one
time a rating monster raging 60 de-
your me; AZ another a whirlpool ready
10 suck me into It's believing abyss
As ] gazcd On It. it assumed an
shapes. It was a dung eagle. or
rather a roc of the Arabian st0rY-tel-
lers ciapplng its wings and screaming
over me
As ! looked upward into 10. j. would
appear sometimes 70 lcngthen into in-
definite extent or - be twistt1 at the
end into the spiral fllds oi the tail Of
aefs=s dragon Nor was The flaming
breath or fiery glance of that tabled