The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-04-11

To their pure and sparkling fount aims exutDgly
Where bleak and towering SUBMITS invade the dark bit
sky,
And Ger their rudsst ridges upon my steel fly"
Dickson.
The Monday succeeding the marriage of Br
tannia and the General was glorious day. TIL
sun rose in cloudless splendor, gliding the sun
mits of the Alleghanies and throwing their shad
ows broad and black upon the valleys And a.
this sublime beauty of earth and sky was re
aected and duplicated in the diamond-clea
waters
The songs of myriads of birds mingled will
the laugh of thousand rivulets and the shout
of many cataracts. And all this grand harmon,
was repeated and re6choed from cavern, rock
and glen
1t was glorious, jubilant morning
Above all this thunder of music was sometimes
heard clear, strong, ringing note! 1t was thu
passing shout of Gertrude Lion, as she cleared
an awful chasm, or gained lofty peak
The passage of the Mad river through de.
file of the Alleghanies is one Of the most sublime
and terrific scenes in nature. Upon this all
glorious morning the travelling carriage of young
Frobisher wound slowly up the ascent Of this
most fearful pass. The young man had left The
Isle of Rays on Saturday-had reached the ham,
LIT of the Peaks, from whence he had set out
this morning, with the intention of continuing
his journey. He had left the village of the Peaks
some miles behind, when his horses began to
struggle up this steep, rugged, and perilous
ascent. Frobisher looked out upon this wild
scene with all an artists enthusiasm thought
less of danger.
Here the rocks seemed to have yawned apart
to admit the passage of the river, or, rather, to
have started apart, aghast at the frenzy Of the
torrent that tore passage through their crags,
and hurried, bowling, leaping, and rebounding,
into the abyss far below
More and more difficult and dangerous became
the ascent of this pass, until having gained the
saadsa hsy Sgsn & a Es of the
racts, came cry:
"Srop, ON YOUR Llvrs You have missed the
road ~
The young man put his head from the carriage
window, and caught glimpse, high upon the
precipice across the torrent, Of goden-haired
Amazon in a blue riding-dress, upon gigantic
white horse
"SroP ON YOUR LIVES! DEATH is BEFORE
YoUln she shouted again, with frantic gestures
1t was too late With rapidly accelerating We
locity the carriage rolling, pitching, and rebound
ing, thundered down the precipice, and was dashed
to atoms on the rocks of the abyss!
Clearing the chasm by flying bound, Ger
trude Lion sprang from her horse, and, leapine
from peak to peak, precipitated herself down te
the scene of death below.
With scowling precipices above, and overhang
ing cliffs around, and jagged rocks below, pitch
dark was the cavernous abyss but'for one strong
CLEAN of sunlight, that, striking through olef
in the rocks, fell red upon the CHASTITY wreck,
mingled heap of broken shafts and wheels, crush
ed and writing horses, and dead and dying
men!
One instant aghast with horror, Gertrude
Stood then she sprang to the spot The horses
were convulsed in their last death throes Int
coachmsn lay with his head crushed The forn
Of the valet was shattered out of every resem
A second look showed her the form OF young
man, with his head, shoulders, and arms, droop
ing backwards over the broken windows OF tn
carriage He hung there, pallid, still, and rigid
This might be from conclusion or swoon-
there was no proof of death, at least. She say
that, and FASTENED to render assistance wher
alone it could be available, if any, to him. Sh
took hold of his shoulders and tried to dra'
him out of the carriage. Finding that a pal
of the timbers had been crushed upon his forn
she let him 60, and went to work with ht
strong hands and hunting-knife until she ha
cut, torn, and wrenched an opening large enoug
to draw him through. She took him In her pc,
erful arms, and laid his helpless head over h,
robust shoulders, and her fine, fierce eyes roll,
from precipice to peak, and from rock to torreu
in search Of dry, smooth spot on which to Is
the maDgled form. She saw nothing Of the SO
until her eyes fell upon the spot near her fet
where the valet and the coachman lay in a hei
with the horses-all still in death.
She laid her burden gently down, AMI with
" Poor fellowsp bestowed impartialy upon mi
and horses, she stopped, and, with her gre
strength, succeeded in stretching them out Al
arranging them into sort Of bed, To keep q
bruised form Of the living invalid from the sha
rocks and foaming water Then she lifted b
patient, and laid him on the heap, arranging hi
as tenderly as possible--a wounded and insen
Die man. resting on a couch formed of the dea
Sei1ing a crushed hat from the ground, s
stopped 10 The water, and dipped it full Kne
ing on the sharp rocks, unmindful of the pa
she laved his head and face, the while sazi
with savage admiration at the pale, aristocra
features, surrounded by their frame of bla
snsy hair and whiskers. How beautiful he
now beautifully che said, lifting the delicate hsr
anu examining with half savage, half child
curiosity the white and tapering fingers, one
"nich was encircled with rich seal ring |" Bes
'iai as sun-gilded cloud beautiful as mou
tam rainbow! OH | hope he will not die ~ A
sne renewed her efforts to recover him "Wi
snail dol Oh! what shall dot What
people DO for dead peOplsl mean drowned p
Pe-no' KILLED people Oh! they bleed ths
The doctor blsd Brutus when he was thrown fr
his horse, and had his head broken-stopv-
took her hunting knife, and felt its poin.-th
lying to rock, she sharpened it--thsn rupui
back to her patient, she ripped up his coat alec
and barred his arm, encircling Il with her thu
and finger, and COMPRISING it, she started