Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-06-06


ana yet dear, wild, wayward Mary, though
Oh her now. You have probably outliyed thi.
sort OF thing, sir; but /, looking at the moon q!
hoated there upturned to her yellow light
thcught OF the loved being whose tears knew
"ouid now When she heard of my singular fate
| ness.
And how often we have talked too, of thai
Carian shepherd who spent his damp night.
upon the bills, gazing as did on the lustrou.
| planet. Who will revel with her amid those
old superstitions? Who, from our own unlegend
woods, will evoke their yet undetested, haunt.
| ing spirits! Who peer with her in prying scru-
tiny into natures laws, and chall epge the whis.
pers of poetry from the vOiceless throat of mat.
| ter! Who laugh merrily over the stupid guess
work OF pedants, that never mingled with the
lnhnitude OF nature, through love exhaustless
and all embracing, as we have? Poor girl, she
viii be cOnpanionless.
Alas cOmpanionless forever-save in the ex-
citing stages of some brisk Irritation. She will
| live hereafter by feeding other hearts with
loves lore she has learned from me, and then
Pygmalion like, grow fond of the images she
has herself endowed with semblance of divinity,
| until they seem to breathe back the mystery
the soul can truly catch from only one. How
anxious she will be lest the coroner shall have
| discovered any Of her notes in my rocket
| L lelt chilly As this last reflection crossed my
mind Partly at thought OF the coroncr partly
mt the idea OF Mary being unwillingly conn PEELED
| To wear mourning for me, in case of such a dis
| closure OF our engagement. II is provoking
| thing Tor girl of nineteen to have to 90 into
mourning for deceased lover, at the begin
| ming OF her second winter in the metropolis
| Ihe water though, with my motionless posi-
ton, must have had something to do with my
hlillness. see, sir, you think that tell my
| story with great levity but indeed, indeed, I
should grow deliriOus did venture to hold
steadily to the awfulness of my feelings the
| greater part OF that night think, indeed,
must have been most of the time hysterical
with horror for the vibrating emotions have
recapitulated did pass thrOug gh my brain even
as | have detailed them.
But as 1 became calm in thought. T sum-
| moned up again some resolution of action.
will begin at that corner, said /, and swim
slowly, and again feel the sides Of the tank
with my feet. If die | must, let me perish at
least from well directed though exhausting
| efforts, not sink from mere bOotless WEAKNESS
in sustaining myself till the morning shall
| bring relief.
The sides Of the place seemed to grow higher
as now kept my watery course beneath them
1t was not altogether dead pull had some
variety ofemOtiOn in making my circuit. When
swan in the shadow, 1t looked to me more
cheerful beyond in the moonlight When I
swan IN the moonlight, I had the hope of
making some discovery when I should again
reach the shadow. turned several times on
my back to rest just where those wayy lines
would meet The stars looked viciously bright
| to me from the bottom of that well; there was
such a company Of them; they were so glad in
their lustrous revelry; and they had such space
10 move in. was alone, sad to despair in q
strange element, prisOned and a solitary gazer
upon their mOcking chorus. And yet there was
nothing else with which could hold communion
turned upon my breast and struck out al
most fantically, once more. The stars were for
gotten, the moon, the very world, of which as
yet formed a part, my poor M4ry herself was
| forgotten. l thought only of the strong man
there perishing; of me in my lusty manhood.
IN the sharp vigOr of my dawning prime with
faculties illimitsble, with senses ali alert bat
tllng there with physical obstacles which men
like myself had brought together for my undo
| ing. The Eternal could never have wiIled this
thing! could not and 1 would not perish thus.
l grew stronger in insOlence of self-trust; and
laughed aloud as dashed the sluggish waters
from side to side.
Then came an emotion of pity for mysclf-of
wild, wild regret; Of sorrow, oh, infinite. for a
fate so desolate, doom 50 dreary, 80 heart
sickcning. You may laugh at the contradic-
ton, II you will, sir, but felt that could
| sacrifice my own life on the instant to redeem
another fellow creature from such a place of
horror, from an end so piteOus. NV soul and
my vital spirit seemed in thatdesperate moment
to be separating; while one in parting grieyed
And then prayed
Iprayed, why or wherefore know not II
was not from fear. 1t could not have been in
hope. The days of miracles are passed. and
there was no natural law by whose proyidential
interpretation could be saved. L did not pray:
1t prayed Of itself, my soul within me.
Was the calmness that now felt torDidity9
the tOrpidity that proceeds dissolution to the
strong swimmer who, sinking from exhaustion
must at last add a bubble 10 the wave as he suf-
locates beneath the element which now denied
his mastery? If it were so, how fortunate was il
that my floating rod mt that moment attracted
my attention as it dashed through the water bv
me. l saw that a fish had entangled him
self in the wire moose. The rod quivered plum
ged, came again to the surface and ripplcd the
water as If shot in arrowy fight from side to
side of the tank. At last, driven toward the
southeast corner of the reservoir, the small end
seemed to have got foul somewhere. The bra
zen butt, which, every time the fish sounded.
was thrown up TO the moon, now sank by its
own weight showing that the other end must be
fast But the cOrnered FISH, evidently anchored
somewhere by that short wire fioundered sew
eral times to the surface before thought of
stricking out to the spot.
The water is low now and tOlerably clear
You may see the very ledge there, sir, in yon-
der corner, on which the small end of my rod
rested when L secured that pike with nv hands
L did not take him from the sipnOose however
but standing upon the ledge, handled the rod
in workmanlike manner, as I flung that
pound pickerel over the iron railing upon the
top of the parapet. The rod as have told you.
barely reached from the railing to the water.
1t was heavy. strong brass rod which had
borrowed in the Spirit of the Times Office: and
when | discoyerd that the fish at the end of the
wire made a strong enough knot to prevent me
from drawing my tackle away from the railing,
around which it twined itself as threw, why.
a you can at once see had little difficulty in
making my way mp the face of the wall with
such assistance. The ladder which attracted
your notice is, as you see lashed to the railing
in the identical spot where thus made nv es,
cape; and for fear Of similar accidents thew
have placed another one in the corresponding
corner of the other compartment of the tank,
ever since my remarkable nights adventure in
| the Reservoir"
We give the above singular relation verba-
tim. as heard from tho lips of our chance sc-
qusintance; and, although strongly tempted to
work 1t up" after the fantastic style of n
famous German namesake, prefer that the
reader should have it in its American simpli-
city.