Georgia Boy Read Free Page A

crowd of people standing in front of the church when we got there, but Pa only waved at them and we hurried into the vestibule.
    Preacher Hawshaw was standing right beside the bell-rope just as he said he would be doing. He was pretty nervous by that time, and it was all he could do to keep still in one place. As soon as he saw us, he began pacing up and down and glancing at his watch every few steps.
    “This is an important wedding, Mr. Stroup,” he whispered out loud to Pa. “The parties represent two of the firm pillars of my church. I wouldn’t want any thing to go wrong for the whole world. This marriage means a lot to me. It will unite two bickering families and heal the bad blood that’s been keeping the whole congregation upset.”
    “You don’t have to worry over my part,” Pa told him. “You just go ahead about the rest of your business, and I’ll take care of the bell-ringing. I used to ring the bell at the school house when I was the janitor up there, and I know all there is to know about ringing bells.”
    “I’m glad to hear that, Mr. Stroup,” he said, wiping his face with his handkerchief. “It’s a big load off my mind to be able to turn the bell-ringing over to an experienced hand.”
    The people were walking into the church by that time, and the organist began playing music. Pretty soon I saw Miss Susie Thing, all dressed up in fluffy white clothes and carrying a big armful of flowers, come in one of the side doors. Almost at the same time Hubert Willy came in one of the other doors. That was a sign that the wedding was about to begin and I told my old man that it looked as if it would be time to start ringing the bell almost any minute. Preacher Hawshaw came running back up the aisle, looking at his watch and almost tripping over somebody’s foot that was sticking out from one of the benches.
    “All right, Mr. Stroup!” he whispered in a hoarse loud voice to Pa. “As soon as you see me reach down and pick up my little black book from the table, you’ll know it’s time for you to start ringing the bell.”
    Pa nodded and got up a good grip on the heavy thick rope that hung down from the belfry through a large round hole in the ceiling.
    “Grab a good hold on it, son,” he told me. “It’ll take both of us to get this thing started. It’s a heap bigger than the school-house bell.”
    Both of us got good grips on the rope as high up as we could reach.
    “Now,” Pa told me, “look at Preacher Hawshaw and tell me when it’s time to pull on this rope.”
    Miss Susie Thing and Hubert Willy walked up in front of Preacher Hawshaw. Hubert’s face was as red as a beet, but I couldn’t see Miss Susie’s because she had her face almost buried in the big bunch of flowers. Preacher Hawshaw reached down and picked up the little black book he had told us about.
    “Now’s the time, Pa!” I whispered as loud as I dared. “They’re starting off!”
    We pulled on the heavy rope until we got the bell swinging back and forth in the belfry. Pa showed me how to pull down as hard as I could, and then to turn loose and let the rope run back upward through the hole in the ceiling. After five or six times the clapper hit the bell, and we had the rope going up and down the way we wanted it.
    The bell was ringing long beats that sounded a little peculiar, but I looked up into my old man’s face and he looked so pleased that I decided it was ringing the way it should. I happened to look down the aisle just then, though, and I saw Preacher Hawshaw beckon to an usher and whisper something to him. A lot of people were turning around in their seats and looking back towards us in the vestibule as though we were doing something wrong. The usher came running up the aisle, and as soon as he got to us, he leaned forward and whispered in Pa’s ear.
    My old man shook his head and went on ringing the bell just as we had done from the start. The usher hurried back to where Preacher Hawshaw was standing in front