But the Deacon had begin to get over bein' skairt, and he looked firm as anybody ever could, as he sez: "The bells never hurt anybody, I know, for here I have lived right by the side of 'em for 20 years. Do I look broke down and weak?" sez he.

   "No," sez I, honestly. "No more than a grannit monument, or a steel trap."

   "Wall," sez he, "what don't hurt me won't hurt nobody else."

   "But," sez I, "folks are made up different." Sez I, "The Bible sez so, and what might not hurt you, might be the ruin of somebody else. Wuz you ever nervous?" sez I.

   "Never," sez he. And he added firmly, "I don't believe in nerves. I never did. There hain't no use in 'm."

   "It wuz a wonder they wuz made, then," sez I. "As a generel thing the Lord don't make things there hain't no use on. Howsumever," sez I, "there hain't no use in disputin' back and forth on a nerve. But any way, sickness is so fur apart from health, that the conditions of one state can't be compared to the other; as Ralph S. Robinson is now, the sound of the bells, or any other loud noise means torture and agony to him, and, I am afraid, death. And I wish you would give orders to not have 'em rung in the mornin'."

   "Are you a professor?" sez he.

   "Yes," sez I.

   "What perswaision?" sez he.

   "Methodist Episcopal," sez I.

   "And do you, a member of a sister church, which, although it has many errors, is still a-gropin' after the light! Do you counsel me to set aside the sacred and time honored rules of our church, and allow the Sabbath to go by unregarded, have the sanctuary desecrated, the cause of religion languish—I cannot believe it. Think of the widespread desolation it would cause if, as the late lamented Mr. Selkirk sung:

   "'The sound of the church-going bells,

   These valleys and hills never heard.'"

   "No church, no sanctuary, no religius observances."

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