The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1857-09-10

deadly peril; and a. live now, distinctly
heard the bells Of Trinity Ginning midnight
a. rose to the surface the next instant,
immersed in the stone cauldron, where l
must swim for my life, Heaven only could
tell how long!
THB sTRU00L8 FOR LIE.
! am . capital swimmer and this natu-
rally gave me degree Of sdf possesion.-
Falling a. l bad, l Of course had pitched
out some distance from The sloping parapet.
A few strokes brought me to the edge. l
really was not yet certain bat that l could
Chamber up the lace Of the wall anywh here.
I had hoped that I could. f'feit certain q
least there were some spots where l might
get hold with my hands, even IL l did not
ultimately ascend it.
] tried the nearest spot. The inclination
Of the wall was % vertical that II did not
even rest me to lean against it. Surely,
thought there must be some 6ssure like
those 10 which the ill-0mened weed had
found . place for its root.
There was none. My fingers became sore
in busying themselves with the harsh and
inhoseitable stones. My feet slipped from
the smooth and Shiny masonry beneath the
water and several times my face came In
contact With the wall, when my foothold
gave way on the instant that l seemed to
have found some diminutive rocky cleft upon
which l could stay myself.
Sir, did you ever see rat drowned in u
half6lled hogshead! How he swims round
and round, and after vainly trying the-sides
again and again with his paws, fixes his
eyes upon the upper rim as il he would look
himself out Of his watery prison. thought
Of the miserable vermin. thought OF him a.
had often watched him thus in dying ago
nies, when cruel urchin Of eight or ten
Boys are horribly crsel sir-boys, women
savages. All chiId-likc things are cruel
cruel from want Of thought and from a per-
verse ingenuity, although by instinct each
Of these is 80 tender. You may not have
observed it, but savage is as tender TO its
own young a boy is to its favorite puppy
the same boy that will torture kitten out
Of existence. thought, then, say, Of the
rat drowning in half-6lled cask Of water,
Us lifting his gaze out of the vessel he grew
more and more desperate, and | flung my
self on my back, and floating thus, fixed my
eyes upon the face Of the moon.
The moon ID well enough, in her way,
however you may look ut hcr /; Lut her sp
pearance il, to say the least Of il, peculiar to
man floating on his back in the centre of
stone tank, with dead wall of fifteen or
twenty feet rising squarely on every side Of
him. The last time had noted the planet
with any emotion, she was On the wanc.-
Mary was with me. had brought her out
here one morning TO look ut 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 in
cooperating themselves with tender memo.
ries Of the past, and was content.
TbeIe was rich golden haze upon the
landscape, and as my own spirits rose amid
the voluptuous atmosphere, she pointed TO
the waning planet, discernable like faint
cash in the welkn, and wondered bow long
1t would be before the leaves would fall -
Strange girl did abe mean to rehuke my
joyous mood. a. il We had no right to b.
happy while nature, withering in her pomp.
and the sicky moon vast ng in the blaze Of
nOOntile. were there TO remind Us OF Z" the
goneforevcr: They will all renew them.
selves. dear Mary" said !, eneouragingly,
" and there IL One who will ever keep trysi
alike with th,e anil nature through all sea
sons, il thou wilt but b. true To one Of ~,
and remain a. now child OF nature
A tear sprang to her eye, and then search
ing her pocket for her card case, she remem-
berel al engagement 10 be present at Miss
Lawson's opening Of fall bonnets at o'clock.
And yet, dear. wild, wayward Mary.
thought Of her now.
Yoa have probably outlived this sor, OF
thing sir: but !. looking At the moon. a. |
foated there uptarned ~ her yellow light,
thought Of the loved being wbose tesrs
woald flow when she heard Of my singular
fate. at once 50 grotesquc, yet melancholy to
awfulness.
And how often We have talked. too, OF
that sylvan shepherd who spent bis damp
nighr upon the hilb. gazing NJ do On the
lus,ryus planet Who will revel with her
amid those Old supcrstitions: Who. from our
own uDiegendcd woods, will evoke their yet
uDdetecttd haunting spirits! Who peer
~lth her in prying scrutiny into natures
laws, and challenge the whispers Of poetry
from the voicel.ss throat Of matter. Who
laugh merily at the stupid xu~swork 0f
poiants. and never mingled with the iniini-
tnde of nature. through love exha,stIess and
aiie1nbracing. As we have. Poor girl. she
will be eompanionleas
Alas coinpAssioniess, nevr-saye 10 the
exciting stages II soEne brisk nirtstiOn.--
She viii live hereafter by feeding other
hszrn with the loves lore khe he's leaspe1
from NJ. and then Pyg,naiioo-like grow
ioUd Of the images she has heref endowed
with semblsnce Of divinity, until they seem
70 breathe back the mystery the sal can
truly catch from only one.
How snxious she will he lest the eosooe9