Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1855-06-12

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care. scarcely knew how it was. l recol-
lect taking few steps forwa I'd, when sudden
" a stone on which l stood gave way. fell,
the distance / know not. ] ne first sensation
l recollect, was a belief Il lat the mountain
had fallen in and buried m beneath Its foun-
dation; tie next that it As a mementary,
fearful, dehrious dream. But l awoke. 1
had been stunned by the ill Ny torch had
gone out, and found mys ,lf in darkness most
horrible, hacker a thousp'd times than had
ever witnessed or coHcei' ed. Ny first effort
was TO feel whether the ,undation stood on
was firm, the next was 10 raise, my arms and
search in every direction for means of escape.
It was in vain. had t;lllen down a perpen-
dicuar rock, many, many feet a thought
then struck me that perhaps there might be
some other passage viii ch would lead me out.
10 one direction grolE!d my way few feet,
but was met by a huoG vof water which stop
ped INV progress. l turned in another and
another, aud at last und narrow passage,
through which l atte npted to force myself,
but as it seemed to ssrow more narrow was
obliged 10 return.
Hope now foIsook ne. was already chill
ed to tisihes,rt, and he water dropped on me
perpetually, cold Is the winter rain from the
arch above. sat down on the wet stones,
and gathering all my strength, sent forth I.
shrek for help, so loud, and shril rc-and pie
ing, that thought the echoes would be eter-
naI-tne cry seclIed to come back in every
dolorous, aud a1rguished, AID heart-rending
tone. In my fnenzy 1 thought had fallen
into the caYernS. OF the lost, and that the
shrieks of million tiends were tearing my
soul-in atoms. rat last the voices died away
but the silence lat followed was scarcely less
horrible. Now [ felt what it was to be cut
suddenly off from all the hopes of life-to
pass by a rapid and frightful transition, from
the possession of health and youth-iron
every hope, aud from all the pursuits of plea
sure, to that untried existence beyond the
grave. The world with its sunny skies, its
green fielus, and variegated foreSts-its loves,
Its friendships, its alurements seemed now
closed forever on my sight; there remained
only the slow and torturing, and nameless ag
Onics of Giss olution and these were TO be en-
dlred unseen, unpited and alone, far down in
the bowels OF the earth, where mountains were
piled above me, and where my body must re-
main till the last hour-g!ass OF time. Oh! /
thought how sweet death itself would be, if
my eyes could grow dim beneath the light OF
the SUN, or my quvering lips be noistcned by
human breath. Now, too, thought of home
aud friends, weeping father, broken-heart-
cd mother, and Mary-she would live on and
forget me. l thought before, that had vo-
leutly broken the powerful ties that bound
me to her; but, now, in my last extremity,
her image too canIo back thought l had
been the means Of conveying deep wouhd
to her feelings; but that was never TO be
permitted to ask her forgiveness or tell her
when | was diving, how much longed for her
l,,,,r,in.e, l,,l,r,l
gloom around me seemed to speak of the
words. tried then to compose myself, and
think of heaven the angels, and the mvste-
rious Deity; but my mind was ftrvered, dis
tractcd. | sunk beneath the iierccness OF my
despair, that rived and gashed, and frittercd
away my heart.
At las: a kind Of dreaming stupor fell upon
me. | thought stood on mountain top
alone, and looked abroad upon desolate
world, from which n pestilence had swept all
life. The sky was full Of stormy clouds, that
gathered backer and blacker, until they burst
in one tremendous peal of thunder, and the
mountain sunk with me a thousand miles into
the earth, and the rocks, and hills and rivers.
closed in n mighty mass above Inc. / felt
that my limbs and body were crushed, and yet
that | could not die. There seemed TO be q
dark, open space, above me; aud my favor
ite dog looked over the brink, and howled
most piteousIy. tried to speak TO him, but
death had paralized my tongue. L next fan
cird myself dead, and that my soul was DOOM
ed TO this dismal prison-house ten thousand
years. Gradually all these frighttul phanta-
s;4s subsidized but my mind was lost; and l
seemed tc have slept an age, when suddenly,
pain and & distressing heart sickness took pos
session of rg:e-I strugg!ed-my eyes opened,
aud ! found myself in rude log hut my only
human attendant o care worn old woman. |
was stretched upon the tiool, and my two faith
ful dogs SIT by my side, anxiously, looking in
my face They no sooner saw this appearance
of returning liie than they demonstrated their
gIadncss by every act in thcir power-they
fawned upon me, aud licked my hands and
barked forjoy.
was soon able to sit up and converse
The woman told me that my dogs, whom re-
membered to hare left at the mouth Of the
cave. when J entered it, had come 10 her hut,
two miles distant from the spot, and Gy their
behavior induced her to follow them. They
led her to the cave, with every part Of which
she was acquainted; and with their assistance
she fcdud me apparently lifelcss, afterI had
been there sixteen hours. had entered 1t by
the wrong aperture, ard had fallen twenty
ieet. FROM .lhe place where LAY HoNCNcir
there was an opening which / had not found
in the dark, and which led into an up
per cavity, through which size lad dragged
me aud conveyed me to her cabin. l re over
I'd rapidly by her attention and was soon on
INV feet again. She seemed to be naturally
woman Of kind heat, but found her bitter
against my sex. When offered to fix her in
more comfortable situation if she would go
with me to the village, she. scornfully replied
that she preferred her solitpde-it was hers by
choice. Ny offers of compensation rendered
her noFose and unconversible:, she refused to
eommuhtcate one particular of her life-exeePt
that she had lived in that abode two years,
and had never been further from it than the
nearest inhabited dwelling, to which sometimes
her necessities forced her to repair That man
was a scoundrel by nature; that husbands
we're traitors and murders, and that society
was utterly corrupt, whose azioms she, avowed
without, taking the trouble to establish then
by argument.
There was something in this suffering. but
wild Snd yyayyard woman that excited the