Midnight
Each succeeding summer the whole countryside within a radius of many miles gathers there to hear her bright , sympathetic readings of her manuscript stories , sometimes before even her publishers have a peep at them . These occasions are rare events that are much talked over and planned for , as I learned soon after reaching that neighborhood . During the summer of 1895 she read one of her manuscript stories -- _ The Ride of the Midnight Cry _ -LRB- now published in _ The Village Watch Tower _ -RRB- -- to a group of elderly ladies in the neighborhood of Quillcote , who are deeply interested in all she writes . The story takes its title from an ancient stage-coach well known throughout that region in its day , and known only by the suggestive if not euphonious name of `` The Midnight Cry . '' Mrs. Wiggin possesses rare musical taste and ability , and enthusiastically loves music as an art . It is simply a recreation and delight to her to compose and adapt whatever pleases her fancy to her own flow of harmony . She is the possessor of some very rare and interesting foreign instruments ; among this collection is a Hawaiian guitar , the tiniest of stringed instruments , and also one of curious Portuguese workmanship .