The true Democrat., 1857-03-17
The Man ill the Reservoir.

hung up at the nearest lamp post without ner- cy, aud lett to die like dog
 The Man i'll the Reservoir
 X NIgAt Adventure.
 BY THE LATE CHARLES FENNo HOFFMAN.
 You may see some of the best society in New York on the top of the Distributing Re- servoir any of these fine October mornings- There were two or three carriages i'll waiting, and half dozen senatorial mothers with their young children pacing the parapet, as we basIed there the other day in the sunshine-now watch ing the pic6erel that glide along the lucid edges of the black pool within, and BOW looking off upon the scene of rich and wonderous variety that spreads along the two rivers on either side
 We'll, you have seen the notice torbdding any one to fish in the reservoir Now when read that warning, the spirit of the thing struck me at once, as interring nothing more than that one should sully the tenn erapce potations of our citizens by sleeping bait in it of any kind; but you probably know the common way of taking pike with slipnoose of delicate wire. was determined to have d touch at the fellows with this kind of tackle.
 1 chose moonlight night; and an hour be- fore the ediice was closed to visitors, secreted myself within the walls, determined to pass the night on the top. All went asl could wish it. The night proved cloudy, but it was only variable drift of broken clouds which obscured the moon. 1 had walking cane-rod with me which would reach to the margin of the water, and several feet beyond if necessary. To this Was attached the wire, about fifteen inches in length.
 provided along the parapet for considera ble time, but not single fish could see The clouds made fiickering light and shade, that wholly foled my steadfast gaze. 1 was con- vinced that should they come up thicker, my whole nights adventure would be thrown away < Why should 1 not descend the slopirg wall and get nearer on level with the fish, for thus alone can hope to sec onc?" The question had hardly shaped itself in my mind before l had one le5 over the iron railing.
 If you look around you will see now that there are some half dozen weeds growing here and there, amid the Assures of solid ma sorry. h one of the Assures from whence these spring, 1 planted foot, and began my descent. The reservoir was fuller than 1t Is now and q few strides would have carried me to the margin of the water Holding on to the cleft above l felt rouEd with one foot for place to plant it be ow me.
 Just at that momeutthe flap of a good pound pike made me look round. and the roots of the weed upon which partially depended gave way, as 1 was Tn the act of turning. Sir, ones senses are sharpened in deadly peril; and as l i've Dow distinctly heard the bells of Trinity ;himing midnight as l rose to the surface the next instant, immersed in the stone cauldron, where 1 must swim for my life, Heaven only could tell how long!
 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
 am a capital swimmer; and this naturally gave me degree of sclf-possession. Falling IS had, 1 of course had pitched out some dls 5ance from the soping parape'. few strokes brought me to the edge. really was not yet certain but that 1 could chamber up the face of he wall anywhere. hoped that could l felt certain at least there was some spot where might ge. hold with my hands, even if did not ultimately ascend it.
 tried the nearest spot. The inclination of the wall was so vertical that it did not even rest me to lean against it. 1 felt with my hands lud feet. Surely, thought, there must be some Assure like those in which that ill-omemed weed had found a place for its root.
 There was none. My fingers became sore in ousying themselves with the harsh and inhos- )itabe stones My fee; slipped from the smooth nd shmv masonry beneath the water; and sera times my face came rude contract with the wall, when my foothoid gave way on the instant that seemed to have found some lminutiye rocky elect upon which l could stay myself.
 Sir, did you ever see rat drowned in half filled hugshead? how he swms round and round; and after vainly trying the sides again T .s.I l., {, bi- tine upper rim as if he would look hiD2sey out of his watery prison. thought of the misera- ble vetmin, thought of him as l had often watched him thus in dying agonies, when a cruel urchin of 8 or 10. Boys are horribly cruel sir; boys, women and savages. All chlldiike things are cruel; cruel from want of thought and from perverse ingenuity, although by instinct each of these is so tender. You may not have observed 1t, but savage Is as tender to its own young as boy is to it's favorte puppy-thc same boy that will torture kitten out of eXis- teuce Thought, then, l say, of the rat drown ing in a hall-flled cask of water, and lifting his gaze out of the vessel as he grew more and more desperate, and flung myself on my back, and floating thus, fixed my eyes upon the face of the moon.
 The moon is well enough, in her way, how ever you may look at her; but her appearance k, to say the least of it, peculiar to man float ing on his back in the centre of stone tank. with dead wall of some fifteen or twenty feet rising squarely on every side of him. The last time I had noted the planet with any emotion, she was on the wane. Mary was with me, had brought her out here one morning to look at the view from the top of the Reservoir. She said little of the scene, but as we talked of our childish loves, saw that its fresh features were incorporating themselves with tender memories of the past, and was content
 There was rich golden haze upon the land scape, and as my own spirits rose amid the vo- luptuous atmosphere, she pointed to the waning planet, discernable like a faint gash in the well kin. and wondered how long it would be before the leaves would fall! Strange girl, did she mean to rebuke my joyous mood, as Ii we had no right to be happy while nature whitening in her pomp, and the sickly moon wasting in the blaze of noontide, were there to remind us oi "the- zone for ever?'' "Thev will all renew themselves, dear Mary" said l, encouraglngiy "and there is one that will ever keep trySte alike with thee and nature through all seasons, 1t thou wilt but be true to one of us, and remain as HOW d child of nature"
 A tear sprang to her eye, and then searching her pocket for her card case, she remembered an engagement to be present at Miss Lawson: opening of fall bonnets at two o'clock! And yet, dear, wild, wayward Mary, thought O her now.
 You have probably outlived this sort of thing sir; but |. looking at the moon, as l ioateC
 there upturued to her yellow light, thought 0
 the loved being whose tears would flow wher
 she heard of my singular fate, at once so gro
 tesque, yet melancholy to awfulness.
 And how often we have talked, too, Of tha
 sylvan shepherd who spent his damp nighh
 upon the hills, gazing as do on the lustrou planet. who will revel with her amid those olC superstitious? who, from our own unlegendet
 woods, will evoke their pet undetected, haunt
 ing spirits? Who peer with her in prying scru tinv into natures laws, and challenge the whis
 pers of poetry from the voiceless throat of mat
 ter? Who laugh merriy over the stupid guess
 work of pedants, that never mingled with th infinitude of nature, through love exhaustles