232
��All Elder of Ye Olden Time.
��four, their attention was attracted by a buzzing, something louder than the humming of a summer bee, which ap- peared to proceed from within the wall near by an old fire-place. The noise in- creased in volume, and a slight effort was made to find its lurking place. An unsuccessful one, however, and the mat- ter was dropped. As night came on it ceased, and no more was heard of it until the following afternoon, when at five minutes past four the humming, loud, as though made in suffering, commenced again. As it appeared a singular thing, the good people made a strong search, •expecting to find, bird, or bee, or fly, confined in the lathing ; they tore off some of the wall, when the noise, as if possessed of intelligence, fled to the op- posite side. This caused a little uneas- iness on the part of Leland ; but, as the hour of his departure came around be- fore the next afternoon, he commended his loved ones to the God he served and upon whose mission he went forth, mounted his steed and was gone.
Week after week passed on ; every afternoon punctually five minutes later than upon the preceeding one came this horrid visitor ; for horrid it grew to be. The noise it uttered grew with the days from the apparent humming of a summer bee, to the shrill, piercing, groan or shriek of some creature in supreme agony. The little ones came to know the hour of its return, and clinging in terror to their mother and burying their sweet, childish faces in her lap would exclaim. " Oh ! the groaner has come, the groaner's here." It baffled every attempt at disclosure and kept its place within the walls, ex- cept on a few occasions it followed the weary, frightened woman down the well- worn path that led down to the spiing. After many weeks the preacher re- turned, having heard nothing of the
��dreadful experience from the heroic woman he had left to guard his home and little ones. She forbade the chil- dren speaking of the terrible guest they had harbored, as she wished to see what impression it would have upon the mind of her husband. It was, there- fore, nearly midnight, the first night after his return that, sitting before his fire, talking of the weeks just gone, he was startled by a groan, so peircing, so sudden, so unlike anything of earth, that he sprang from his chair, terror written in every line of his face, as he inquired of its meaning; nor was his surprise lessened, nor his terror dimin- ished, as he was told of its nightly visits and terrific howlings.
Every effort was made that could be devised by his neighbors or himself; the wall torn away, every place investi- gated, and yet the piercing shrieks went on, until wearied by the unsuc- cessful means used to account for its presence on natural principles, in the darkness and loneliness of the midnight hour, mid the unceasing din, he betook himself to the all-conquering weapon which through all the years had never failed, and sinking upon his knees he prayed. Says one, who still lives to tell the story as she heard it from his lips :
- ' Elder Leland said, ' If I ever
prayed in all my life, that was the place and the hour. I prayed that if this un- welcome visitor was a messenger ot good, I might be emboldened to speak to it and learn its errand ; but if it was a spirit of evil, it might be commanded to depart and trouble us no more for- ever. During the progress of the prayer the gi-oans grew louder and more terrific, until as I pronounced the final words it gave one piercing shriek Avhich died gradually away, disappeared, and
Looking in-
��never disturbed us after.
�� �
