Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1844-10-26

full height, he finds himselfa foot above
every name chronicled in that mighty
wall. While his companions are re-
garding him with concern and admi
ration, he cuts his name in rude capt.
tails, large and deep in that tlinty al
bum. His knife is still in his hand,
and strength in his sinews, and new
created aspiration in his heart.
Again he cuts another niche, and
agaih he carves his name in large cap
itals. This is not enough. Needless
of the entrcatics of his companions, he
cuts and climbs again. The gradual
tons Of his ascending scale grow wider
apart. He measures his length at cv-
cry gain he cuts. The voices of his
frieds wax weaker and weaker, till
their words are finally lost on the ear.
He now for the first time casts look
beneath him. Had that glance lasted
but a moment, that moment would have
been his last. He clings with a con-
vulsive shudder, to his little niche il
the rock. An awful abyss awaits his
almost certain fall. lie is faint with
severe exertion, and trembling from
the sudden view of the dreadful dos-
truction to which he is exposed. His
knife is wore halfway to the hait. lie
can hear the voices but not the words
of his torror-strickcn companions be-
low. What amomcnt What a mca-
gre chance to escape destruction J!
There is no chance of rctracing his
steps. Its impossible to put his hands
in the same niche with his feet, and
retain his slender hold for a moment.
His companions instantly noticed this
pew and fearful dilemma, and await
his fall with emotions that freeze their
young blood. He is too high too faint,
to ask for father and mother, his broth
ers and sisters, to come and witness or
avert his destruction. But one OF his
companions anticipate his dcsirc'---
swift as the wind, he bounds down the
channel, and the situation of the lated
boy, is told on his fathers hearth-stonc.
Minutes of almost eternal length roll
on, and there are hundreds standing
in that rocky channel. and hundreds
on the bridge above, all holding their
breath and awaiting the fearful calam-
Iity. The poor boy hears the hum OF
new aud numerous voices, both from
above and below. lie can just distin-
guish the tones Of his father, who is
shouting with all the energy of dispalr,
3" Uilliam : Waiiian don't look
dorm yom mother, and Henry and
Harriet are aHhere praying TOR you!
Don't look do,cn KEEP your eyes
towards the top The boy didn't
look down. He grasps again his knife.
He cuts another niche, and another
foot is added to the hundreds that put
him far from the reach of human aid
from below. How carefully he uses
his wasting blade. How anxiously he
selects the soltcst places, in that vast
pier How he avoids every flinty grain!
How he economiscs his physical pow
crs-rcsting moment at each, again
he cuts. How every motion is watch
ed from below. There stand his faith
CIR, mother, brother and sisters, on the
very spot where, if he falls, he will not
fall alone.
The sun is now halfway down the
west. The lad has made fifty addition
al inches in the mighty wall, and now
finds himself directly under the middle
Of that vast arch of rocks, earth and
trees. lie must cut his way in new
direction, in order to get from under
this ovcr-hanging mountain. The in
spiration OF hope is dying in his BOSOM:
1 its vital heat is fed by the increased
shouts of hundreds perchcd upon cliffs
and trees, aud others who stand with
ropes in their hands on the bridge
above, and with ladders below. Fifty
gains more must be cut, before the long
est rope can reach him. His wasting
blade strikes again into the limestone.
The boy is emerging painfully foot by
foot, from under that lofty arch. Spllced
ropes are ready in the hands Of those
leaning over the outer edge Of the
bridge above, Two minutes more, aud
all will be over That blade is worn
to the last halfinch. The boys head
reels ; His eyes are starting from their
sockets. His last hopes are dying IN
his heart his life must depend on the
next gain he cuts. That gain is his
last. At the last faint cash he makes,
his knife, his faithful knife, falls from
his ncryeless hand. and ringing along