THE
DEVIL'S LEAP
SARAH
ANN TREADWELL
As
if it were ringing a funeral knell;
From
morning's dawn until evening gray,
The
minister and the elders stand,
Each
with a Bible and hymn book in hand;
And
the sexton pulls with all his might,
For
the church is lit up with a brimstone light.
The
doors are barred and the windows too,
And
the lamps in the pulpit are burning blue;
And
a smell of sulphur is strong around,
And
the building shakes from the roof to the ground.
They
know that the Father of Evil strives
To
enter the church; so they pray for their lives!
They
list for the flap of Apollyon's wing,
And
the louder he threatens the louder they sing.
The
fiends are clustering on roof and on spire,
They
peep through the panes at the frightened choir;
They
race and gibber, and still the more
They
try to break in at the great front door.
All
through the night until morning light,
The
Parson kept praying with all his might,
Till
at last the Evil One made a jump
Over
the church and came down with a thump
Of
his foot on a rock! And still on the green,
On
a stone may the print of his foot be seen:
And
still on each Sunday the Parson prays
To
be kept from the Devil and all his ways;
And
still Apollyon goes prowling about
Whilst
the Elders work hard to keep him out,
And
the sexton labors to scare him as well,
By
ringing and swinging the