Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-08-17
When the Creeps Came
copyright. 1904. ey c. 7. Lewis.l

and ! was there at an early
evening hour
10 begin with, the sarret was tGe
- apd width Of the house withent
.rt,,ion. as was also the case with
altar on the FIRST floor was a
usrlor sitting room, dining room and
s,,.ben with a pantry OF, and not
ling been teuanted for years the
,o,a building was very much out of
repair.
-, ton to bottom took seat In
~ kitchen and lighted tile lamp
"a brought with me, though l had
sanses beslees. begin reading a
80, had selected. and thus put in
~, time until III o'clock. but even as
read had nervous, uneasy feel
,ar This 50 grew upon me that
sally laid aside the book and passed
AMI az the back door. l remained until
had smoked cigar. and then feel
ing more quiet / re-entered the kitchen.
1s opened the door / found the
-,om In darkness. l had left bright
r,b. on the table. and there was not
1,,ught enough TO Iiare candle.
.,nod for a moment undecided, haY-
Inc no feeling but Of surprise. and of
sdden 1 heard soft footsteps re-
treating into the sitting room. II was
the echo of sllppered feet or one walk
tpg ON tiptue, and / traced their prog
regs for distance OF twenty feet.
When / could no longer hear them
| struck a match and reiighted the
lamp, noticing that the chimney was
still little warm and that the wick
had not been turned down. Although
my heart vas beating like hammer
and my hair curling. | took up the
lamp and went through every room in
the house, finding nothing, of course
After returning to the kitchen light
ed two Of the candies and placed them
In the lower rooms and then forced
myself to sit down.
was trying TO argue things out
when noise like the humming OF a
telegraph wire carle from the hall and
was speedily followed by wall and 6
sObbins., II was like a child crying
out In distress. and II lasted fully thir-
" seconds. AS | rose up shook SO
that | feared to drop the lamp, and
my throat was 30 dry that l could not
have made loud sound, but | passed
through the rooms into the hall and
upstairs again. So upset was that
In descending the stairs l had TO sit
down three different times. ana my
feet dragged after me as | walked
through the lower hall.
However. after dragging myself back
TO the kitchen and taking a seat | be-
gan calling myself a fool and a coward
and to try TO whistle, and determined
10 pay no more attention to the mys-
FERROUS noises.
Ten minutes went by, and was try
ing to smile at my own fears, when n
pat, pat, pat. OF footsteps caught my
ear. They began in room over my
head and descended the stairs and
came along the hall and through the
sitting room sat looking into the
open door Of this room, which was
lighted by a candle: but, though
heard the footsteps, I saw nothing
They crossed the room, they entered
the kitchen. they advanced to the TIA
bic. and as my hair stood up and my
heart choked me the lamp was blown
out, and | was left in semldarkness.
4 talI No MI
jumped for the door and fed across the
fields. you viii not call me eownrdly.
1t was o'clock next morning when
| returned TO the house. The candles
had left burning had not harmed out,
but had been blown out | told my
story 20 number of people. and a
hardhended man, who claiIned never
to hare known what fear was, yolun-
teered to psss night In the house,
claiming thar all the noises had heard
were made By the wind or rats. He
had changed his mind several hours
before daylight came, however.
At O'Clock he aroused ME, and In
all my life 1 never saw man more
broken up. He had heard the wailing
and sobbing and gone over the house
with his lighted lamp. Soon after mid
night, as he sat by the kitchen table,
he had caught the sounds of footsteps
on the cellar stairs. He plainly heard
the footsteps take every stair In rota-
ton until the top. only few feet to his
left, was reached, and then the tightly
closed door swung softly open. He
was looking full at il when II did so.
There was a minute OF deepest silence,
and then the lamp at his elbow was
suddenly turned out.
For a few seconds the man could not
move finger, and though he had seen
no one he fully expected to be struck
or stabbed Then he made a rush for
The outer door. banged 1t to behind him
and ran for his life.
After breakfast / went over to the
house with him. There was the lamp
there the open cellar door-there his
overturned chair What hand had
opened the door and turned down the
lightl What voice had cried out in
that waiting, sobbing way? Had the