[23] They probably meant it as a reproof of the girls' attempt to mix up their childish nonsense with a subject too great and grave for such trifling on their part.--ED. Maggie went into the parlor bed-room, and I laid down on the sofa. She took a cane and I a shell from the table to rap with. I precautionally placed matches near me in case of need. She rapped _once_ (with the cane) upon the ceiling, but before I could make any attempt at using my shell the house was in an uproar. The piano was violently sounded, the match-box rattled against the ceiling. I called to Maggie to know if it was she who was pounding the piano so violently. Mother cried out, "God have mercy on us!" She saw a very tall man--or the form of one--standing in the open doorway, and recognized him as her father. Mother was so frightened that she started up, and as she did so tore down the window-shade, which let in the light of a bright moon. I was unceremoniously seized upon and lifted through a circular aperture in the ceiling (large enough to admit four small pipes, leading from the parlor stove into a sheet-iron drum in the room above, in which Calvin slept). (See diagram on page 209.) I was there held suspended for several minutes by two iron hands (as they seemed to me), the one felt icy cold, and the other almost burning hot. Calvin, in bed in the room above, lay quietly listening to the uproar, but made no remark. I entreated him to come down to us, but he positively refused, saying, "No, you have raised the Devil, and must take the consequences." This uproar continued all night, and people gathered around the house to listen to it. We found, by experience, that nothing we could do in our attempt at a little fun played off on mother, would equal the performances of the Spirits at our expense. The second of these private domestic incidents, designed perhaps for rebukes and lessons, was as follows: To make this story understood, it will be necessary to describe the situation of the old homestead. The public road runs north and south; and both houses face eastward. The old house stands about two hundred yards from the road, surrounded by trees. Father's house (which was being built at the time he was living in Hydesville) stands near the road, with ample yard room surrounding it. When turning into the lane, there is a slight descent until you reach a little bridge, called the "Tell-tale Bridge," over a small stream, which in wet seasons runs through the vale; after which you gradually ascend until you reach the level on which the main buildings stand. It is called the Tell-tale Bridge because the hoofs and wheels always announce the approach of visitors.