The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-07-26
An Ancient
Manner Stale
By F. A. Mitchell

ping. On wooden bench facing the
ocean sat an old man, and /, having
time ON my hands, sat down beside
him. | asked him the cause Of the
tolling. and he said that a sea captain
who had long been a resident of the
place had died and was being buried.
l remarked on the dismal effect of the
strokes. each stroke following the one
before after long interval in painful
regularity.
You think that dismal sound, sir7'
said the old man. What would you
think If you heard a bell a-tollin' for
the dead that had been rugged by their.
selves for that particular purpose? In
this we're case a sexton is pullin' on
the rope: in the case I'm talkin' about
the dead was a-tollin' the bell
| looked aside at the old man curl.
ously. There was something about
him to indicate that he had been a
sailor and light In his eye that
caused me to wonder If he were not
an Ancient Mariner with tale to tell
Though the light did not exactly indi-
cate insanity, the fact of his speaking
of the dead tolling their own funeral
bells looked suspicious | asked him
to explain, and he did so as follows:
when l was younker sailed from
this port every two or three years for
the east. There was no Suez canal in
them days, and we always went around
the Horn or the Cape. On one o. them
voyages when we was in the Pacific
what I'm goin' to tell you happened.
The Pacific is so big that it kind o
lonesome. When pusson has seen
nothin' but water for a month and
nary a ship or sighted land, even a
sailor will sometimes feel as II he's
lost In never endin' space.
Zone night when we'd had reason to
feel that way / was one o. the watch,
and, sailin' along in the darkness
there was neither moon or stars-I
thort heard the faint sound of bell.
/ listened hard and heard 1t again.
When l heard it a third time asked
one o. the watch If he heard 1t too.
He listened and said he did. Then ]
knowed 1t wasn't my fancy.
zone after another the rest O. the
watch heard the sound. It wasn't reg
ular; the strokes come any way. There
wasn't no bell at sea that ever made
such sounds except a bell buoy. But
we was In the middle o. the Pacific
ocean, where there wasn't no need Of
a bell buoy. And yet the strokes kept
comm. sometimes near together, some
times far apart sometimes heavy,
sometimes light, and in that big ocean
O. blackness atop and below they was
awful melancholy.
Either we was movin' toward the
sounds or they was movin' toward us
or mebbe both. Anyway they was
CROWN palmer. The ole man come
on deck all of sudden. He'd heard
the tollin' and couldn't make lit out.
1t drifted past us In the darkness,
soundin' clear for awhile, then CROWN
| fainter astern. The ole man. couldn't
bear 10 lose it without knowin' what
| 1t was and give an order to put the
| shin about and stand by or follow II
needed till dawn, which was a couple
| o. hours of. So we did, and durin
them two hours, the dolefulest ever
experienced. we kept within the sound
| o. that bell
"Mornin' come at last, and couple
| o. miles away we saw somepin black
which, as the light growed. turned out
to be a dismantled ship She was
a-rollin' and a-plungin, and every time
she rolled or plunged we heard thai
solemn tollin'. That's what we'd beer
hearln'-the wrecks bell.
"The old man allowed that she wal
a derelict with no one aboard OF hel
and her bell rope had rolled away OF
become unlashed. We sailed up t
within a short pull of her, and thu
second mate boarded her, | bein' one
O. the boats crew to take him there
Her decks were awash. and 1t wal
Main there was nothiR alive on he
before we got to her. We went on Z
her deck for'ard. which was a htu'
higher than the stern, and looket
around. but we didn't go below. Ont
o. the men looked down hatch, ant
his report was not encouragin' for u
10 go down among the dead men. an'
we let 'em alone.
well, now. told you that II
known a case where the dead tollet
their own funeral bell This was II
The crew, KNOWN they was doomed
had nailed a board up near the bel
and had painted on 1t message
All hope gone. The ships bell win to
our requiem.
"They had cut away the bell rop
entirely.
WED brought blast with Us
! sink the ship. and we put 1t where
would do the work, but the ole mar
fearin' we might fail, had ordered To
mate on no account to leave that be
a-toIlin' to give persons on other ship
, the shivers. We'd brought axes wit
ms. of course. and before firin' tn
blast we chopped away the bells SUI
ports. And, would you believe m'
sir. when it rolled down on to the dec
!. it sounded like a dyin' wall
s'Heave the cursed thing overheard
yelled the mate.
.xfy 5td chat roo and when IL stTuc