Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-07-20


.ocks for an hours angling or two 10 the eve
ming, when the large trouts came 10 the sravei
Iv shadows. and. as we waded midleg deep,
would sometimes take the fly among our YER!
feet. Or would GO with US into the hear' o,
the great wood, TO show US where the ioxes haa
their earths-The party being sometimes 80
fortunate as 10 see the cubs disportlng at the
mouth of the briery aperture in the strong ana
root bound SOIL Or we followed him, SO TAR
as he thought it safe for US 10 do SO, up the
foundations of the castle, and in fear and won
der that no repetition Of the adventurous ieal
ever diminished. saw him take the young starr.
ing from the crevice beneath the TUT oil wal
f1owers. What was there of the bold and ia.
ring that Laurie Logan was not, IN our oe'lei'
able 70 perform? We were all several years
younper-boys from nine to flteen-and ne
sbot nm into a sudden manhood--not only into
i,s shane but il. strenglh--yet still the boyish
spiri. was fresh within him, and be never wea-
ried of us in such excursions. The minister
had good opinion Of his principles knowing
how he had been brought up, and did not dis-
countenance his visits to the Manse, nor ours 70
Logan Braes Then what danger could we
be in, go where we might, with one VINO mao
more than once shown how eager lie was !"
risk his own life when that OF another was III
jeopardy? Generous and fearless youth o
thee l owed my own life-although seldom IS
that rescue now Recommendations what VIII
not in this turmoing world be forgotten
when in the pride Of the late acquired art OF
swimming, 1 ventured-wilh my clothes on too,
some ten yards into the Brother Loeb, to
disen,angle my lire from the water lilies. 1t
seemed that hundred cords had got enianSled
round my legs, and my heart quaked too des-
perately to suffer me to shriek--but Laurie l-o-
gan had his hand on me in minute, and brought
me 10 shore as easily as a Newfoundland dog
| lands bit of timber But that was 4 momen-
,ary danger, and Laurie Logan ran but small
risk, you will say, in saving me; so let me
| not extol that instance of his intrepidity. So
| fancy to yourself, gentle reader, the hideous
mouth of an old coal pit, that had not been
worked for time immemorial, overgrown with
thorn, and briars, and brackens, but still visi-
BILE from small mount above il, for some yards
down its throat-the very throat oil death and
perdtion. But can you fancy also the child
| ISL and superstitious terms with which we all
regarded that coal pit, for il was said TO be a
| hundred fathom deep-with water at the bot
tom--so that you had TO wait for many mo-
ments-amost mInutc-before you heard
stone, first beating against its sides; from one
to the other, plunge at last IN the pool pro.
| found. In that very field, too, murder had
been perpretrated, and the woman's corpe flung
by her sweetheart into that coal pit. One
day some unaccountable impulse had led a
| band Of US into that interdicied field, which
l remember was not arabic; but said 10 be
place where hare was always sure TO be
| found sitting among the bin weeds and ihsles.
A sort ofthriling horror urged us'on closer
| to the mouth OF the pt-when Willie Logan's
! foot slipping on the brae. he bounded with In
| applicable force in among the thorns, briers
and brackeus-through the whole hanging mat
| and without a shrek, down-down-into dcs-
,ruction. We all saw it happen every one
| Of us--and il Is scarcely too much o'say, that
we were for while all mad with distraction
Yet we felt ourselves borne back instinctively
from the horrible graveyard as aid we could
give uone, unless God had granted 10 our pray
ers an angels wings-we listened if we could
hear any cry-but there was none-and we all
flew together out of the dreadful field, and
again collecting ourselves together feared to
| seperate on the different roads to our homes.
Oh ! can il be that our Wee Wise Willie has
this moment died sic dea,h-and not single
ane amang us greetIn' for his sake 2" said one
of us aloud; and then indeed did we burst out
into rueful sobbng, and ask one another who
would carry such tidings 20 Logan Braes. All
d. oHSC VIC CledI, INFLOW WIS
,le-as Of blackbird-and there with his ia
vorite colley, searching for stray lamb among
the knolls, was Laurie Logan, who hailed US
With laughing voice, and then asked US,
Where is Wee Willie?-hae you flung him
like another Joseph into the pitt" The consier-
nation in our faces could not be misunderstood;
whether we told him or not what had happen.
ed do not know; but he staggered as If he
would have fallen down; and then ran off with
amazing speed; not towards Logan Braes; but
the village. We continued in helpless horror
to wander about back and forwards along the
edge of the wood, when we beheld multitude
ofpeople rapidly advancing, and in few min
utes they surrounded the mouth of the pit II
was about the very end of the hay-harvest; and
great many ropes that had been employed
that very day in the leading of the hay of the
Landlord Of the Inn, who was also an extensive
farmer, were tied together to the length Of at
leas, fifty fathom. Hope was quite dead; but
her work is often done by despair. For while,
great confusion prevailed all round the pit