John was
social, and did not like to go up into the belfry and stay an
hour or so alone, and as my grandfather positively forbade him to
take any other boy up there, he one day got permission for us two
little girls to go with him, for company. We had to climb up a
great many stairs, and the last flight was inclosed by a rough
door with a lock inside, which he was charged to fasten, so that
no mischievous boys should follow.
It was strange to be standing up there in the air, gazing over
the balcony-railing down into the street, where the men and women
looked so small, and across to the water and the ships in the
east, and the clouds and hills in the west! But when he struck
the tongue against the great bell, close to our ears, it was more
than we were prepared for. The little sister, scarcely three
years old, screamed and shrieked,--
"I shall be stunned-ded! I shall be stunned-ded!" I do not know
where she had picked up that final syllable, but it made her
terror much more emphatic.
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