Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1843-01-18
souETuIyG MUST BE DONE.

SOMETHING MUST BE DUNE -.
Men may say that such or such thing
ought TO be done, or that they wish it was
done, Blu! it is only when they say 1t must
be done that we can properly say /" L1bor
conq1ers all things" *~.*
A few years age a steamboat left the
American shore OF Like Erie, with pas
SINGERS for The Canadian side. An unex-
pecied wind drove them into the current OF
the Niagara river. In their fright they
wheeled about TO gaia the land, but the
wind continued to bio V, and the water to
force It's way, the steamer drlfted back
wards down the stream. They had already
gone some miles, and though the steam
had been crowded and the engineers had
used their mostskii, they were carried
f,ster and faster as the strength ofthe wat
er increased. till they approached The fall.
The people from the nelghboring hills and
! fields had diScerned the misfortune, end
gathered along tie shore. They knew
the steamboat, they saw the anxious pas
sengcrs, and they saw their approaching
fate. They saw that without speedy
remedy, the steamer, passengers and crew
would be all carried over the Fails OF
Niagara. They stood on the shore con-
cludiug that no hing could be done, they
burst not venture in any thing for fear OF
adding their own number TO those destined
10 DO dashed in pieces. +"
i There was a man more Interested than
the rest: he cane running along, and out
of breath with fatigue. In a loud voice he
asked them what they were doing. and
whether they were going TO let that seam
boat 90 over the fills. They told him
they could do nothing, but he had IA privi-
lege of doing all be could Well said he
something mast be DOM, for my wife and
children are among the passengers. Near
I BY, 90 the same beach, an anchor had been
lief. with its cable coiied by lis side. He
hooked the anchor into the branch of a
tree, took the cable into a little boat, and
away he went where man had never dared
to go before, to the middle oflhat resistless
tide, and waited the approach OF the steam
er. She soon drew near when rope was
i thrown which was made fist to the cable,
aud he and the cable were Immediately
drawn on board together. The steamboat
f was fastened and drawn to the shore; and
by the sole energy of one man, whose in
terest prompted him 10 say that something
must be done, all Oh board were rescued
from the very verge ofdesruction.
Who said something must be done,
for the poor drunkard whose wife and
children were on board The drunkard' 5
bark just ready TO be launched over the
precip ice of The graYe-lhat great abyss
that swallows up the human f,miiy2
All saw that something oug alto be done
TO reform the world, but none had the for
itude 10 do the work.
Incorporate men had been unexpectedly
drawn into the channel Of drunkenness
and the faster they went, the faster thC
carrent urged them on; and many one
I alas! had even gone beyond the falls, and
plunged into the drunkard's grave.
The people standing round knew all
: their dangers and wished that it might b.
otherwise; they got Up iiltIe temperance
I societies, aud there discussed whether
} brandy, rum, and gin ought TO be used a:
common drink, and many one came tc
t the conclusion that nothing could done
? ill by and by six men in Baltimore became
t more interested than the rest. They haC
for many years been OF all men the mos
miserable. They hal spent their repula
} ton, their health and straightforward al
|, was gone. And when they saw themselye
. dragging their families in The same chan
: nel-when they saw their wives and fimi
lies waste away through their neglect
and about to reach the fall, and be hnrleC
with them into the gulf Of eternity, il wa
E time for chem 10 say that something mus
II be done" They SAID il, and at the wot(
: they looked round aud saw the anchor
! was total abs hence. They fastened upoi
The tree Of hrh, they saved themselves
u their families, and vast mullitudes Of 9th
$ eFs who were fellow passengers on til
} same stream,and 50 bject to The same peril
& 10 lie AMI in death.
I Resolution is The spring OF action, it i
u the arbler Of power Mans utmost eh
5 Is seldom used, though like The tame fio
q or The Young lion of the forest he know
a it not Wtscasset Family Reader.