The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-09-06
NO. IS.

NEST perishable, exult most that you
and /, Ellen, have borne it SO far"
GO Yes, am glad too,p said Ellen;
"your strength strengthens me. In
the midst of this desol&tion the mind
rises, for an hour at least. higher per-
haps than it would have ever done five
had been prosperous.
Yet we might have used our prosper
ity to the same good end, ,'hsaid Paulett.
g 1t is not necessary to be miserable in
order to be noble, Millions have died
before the struggle began; some hardly,
some at ease they had all their occa-
sions of, virtues if they used them; and
some used them and some failed 81
is not over sstE.uSdXge have tof
still; and LEI and ~ = a = = = -
be ready for the good. .phsssges Of he Ithf.si
may be allowed to die" zfd ~ other nsd
ing for while, they rested themsef,
in sight of the desert they had to ira
verse; then with renewed strenth and
steadfast resolution, when the children
awoke, descended the cliffs, and prepared
to trace out path through what had
been the bottom of the sea. The first
part of the journey was infinitely difficult
the rocks oyer which the foot of man
never passed, the abrupt precipices over
which flowed the even surface of the
ocean, and then the height to climb
again, again to find themselys on ledges
and shelves of -rocks-aH these seemed
at times hardly passible impediments.
And when they got to a distance from
what had been the shore, the unnatural
place where they found themselves press
ed upon the imagination. There was
plain of sand, about which at irregular
distances rose rocks, which, north and
south, stretched out beyond the reach
of the eye; and this sand which had
been at such depth that it never felt
the influence of the waves, was covered
in places with slells, the inhabitants Of
which had perished when the waters
gradually died away. There lay mixed
with these the skeletons of some fishers;
here huge heap, and there small bones
which looked less terrible /; and masses
of sea-weed, dried colorless, under which
as it seemed, the creeping things of the
ocean had sheltered a while, and some
had crawled to the surface when about
to perish. But is was not only the
brute creation which had died here;
there was in the middle pile of rocks,
on one side of which they came sudden
ly to pit, SO deep and dark that they
perceived no bottom and here probably
there had been sea water longer than
elsewhere, for there were human bones
about it, and skulls of men, human garbs
which the sun had faded, but which were
un disturbed by waves There was a cord
and metal jar attached to it, for lower
ing into the pit; but Paullett, as he
looked at the attitude OF the remaining
skeletons, and observed how they SEEM
ed distorted in death, fancied that they
must have brought up poisoned water,
or waters so intensely salt as to drive
them mad with additional thirst; and
that some had died On the instant, some
had fingered, some had sought to succor
others, and yielded sooner or later to
the same influence. Ellen and he would
not dwell on the sight after the first con-
temptation of it; they passed on, shud-
dering, and made toward the great wall
of rock which they saw rising to the
south, and which must be their way to-
the land of France But before they
reached it the sun began to decline, and
without light it was vain to attempt to
seek path. There was a wind keener
than they had felt of late, which came
from the west and the little Alice
pressed on her fathers bosom to shield
her from it. He wrapped her closer in
a cloak, and then resolved tie put them
selves under the shelter of the first rock
they reached, and pass the night in the
i.
and found at last the place they sought;
a cliff which must once have raised its
head above the waves, and which now
stood like some vast palace wal, bare
abe huge, upon the ocean sand. Screen
ed from the wind, they collected an
abundance of the dried vegetation of the
sea, partly for warmth and to roast their
corn, partly for Paulett to dissolve some
of the diamons into water; and here
they rested, here they slept, nancy farth-
oms below that level over which naVies
used to SAIL At timesduring the night,
Paulett fancied, when the wind abated,
that he heard sound like th1nder, on
like what used to be the rushing of dis
tant torrent; and occasionally he
thought he felt the vibration in the earth
as if it were shaken by some moving
body. The region he was in was SO
strange that he knew not what might
be here, what about to happen; the
sounds so imperfect that he tormented
himself to be sure of them, or to be sure
they were not; and when the time for
action came he was beginning to disbelieve
them altogether; but Alice brought
all back again by saying, My rock "
flor her cradle was a rocky shook my
head, father" The child could explain
herself no further but the vibration,
which he had fancied seemed to be what
she had felt. And now they climbed
again, and again descended weary rock
after rock it was strange chaos, which
the tides lad swept and moulded, and
which had in places risen to the surface
and caused the wreck of many vessel
Fragments of these lay by under the
rocks they had split upon, but the wan
dering family had no thoughts for them;
wonder and pity had been exhausted
among exciting and terrific scenes-
They thought only of forcing their way
over the rocks, and fearing to think how
much of this they had to traverse be-
fore they should come to what had been
the shore, and to the towns.
Suddenly, as they toiled forward,
Paulett said in low voice to Ellen,
+" Don't you hear it ?''
" I have heard it long time,n said
Ellen in the same tone, and Charles
stopping as well as they, said, Fathe,ru
what is that ?"