Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-06-06
THE MANN THE RESERVOIRS.
A Fantaise Piece.
BY CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN,

senstOrial looking mothers with young chill
dren. pacing the parapct, as we basked there
the other day in the sunshine now watching
the piekerel that glide along the lucid edges
Of the blsck pool within and now looking of
upon the scene of rich ard wonderous variety
thst spreads along the two rivers on either side
' They may talk of Alpheus and Arethuss, -
murmured an idling sophomore. who had found
his way thither during recitation hours ssbut
the CrDton IN passing over an arm of the sea at
SPuyten Duyvil, and bursting to sight again in
this truncated pryamid, beats il all hollow
BY George, too, the bay yOnder looks as blue as
ever the Egean Sea 10 Byron eve gazing from
the AcTOpclis But the painted foliage on
thUse crsgs,-the q reeks must have dreamed OF
such vegetable phenomenon IN the midst Of
their graylsh olive groves or they never would
have supplied the want of it in their landscape
by embTOidering their marble temples with gay
eVlors Did you see that pike break, siri''
i did not"
POUNDS. his silver & n flashed upon the b!ae k
Aeheron, like restless soul that hoped yet TO
mount from the pool
- The place seems suggestive of fancies to
You We observed in reply to the rattle pate
- 1t IS indeed, for have done up good deal
OF snxiOus thinking within a circle # n few
yards where that fish broke just nov"
- singular place for meditation
- You look incredulOus, sir but it's n fact
A fellow can never tell, until he is tried, in
what situation his most earnest meditations NAV
be concentrated. L am boring you though 2"
= Not at all. But you seem 80 familii ar with
the spot, L wish you could tell me why that
ladder leaning down to the water is lashed
against the stone work in yOnder cOrner?''
That ladder" said the young man. bright
ening at the question, why the position. per-
haPS the very existence Of tina; ladder, resulted
from my meditatiOns in the reservoir, at which
you smiled just now. Shall I tell you all about
them
Pray dO'
We'll. you have seen the notice of fo-bidding
any one 10 fish in the reservoir. Now when /
read that warning, the spirit of the thing struck
me at once, as inferring nothing more than one
should not sully the temperance potations Of
our citizens by sleeping bait in it, Of any kind:
but you probably know the common way of
taking pike with n slip moose of delicate wire.
l was determined TO have touch at the fellow
with this kind of tackle.
chose moonlight night; and an hour be-
fore the ediiice was closed to visitors seereted
myself within the walls, determined to pass
the night on the top. All went as 1 could
wish it. The night proved cloudy bat il
was only variable drift of broken clouds
which obscured the moon. 1 had a walking
cane red 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.
IprOwled along the parapet for q consdera-
cloud made Pickering light and shade, that
wholly foiled my stcadfast gaze. / was con-
ylDced that unless they come up thicker nv
whole night adventure would be thrown away
Why should not descend the slOping wall
and get nearer level with the fish, for thas
alone can hope 10 see one ~ The question
had hardly shaped itself in my mind Before /
had one leg over the front railing.
II you look around you will see now that
there are some half dozen weeds grOwing-here
AMI there; amid the assures from whence these
spring, planted foot, and began my descent.
The reservoir was fuller than it is now. and a
lew strides would have carried me to the mar
gin Of the water. Holding on to the cleft
above, felt around with one foot for place
To plant it below me.
In that moment the flap Of a pound pike
made me look around, and the roots of the
weed upon which l partially depended, gave
way as / was IN the act of turning. Sir ones
senses are sharpened in deadly peril: as live
now, | distinctly heard the bells Of Trinity
Ginning midnight, as / rose to the surface the
next instant, immersed in the stone cauIdron.
where | must swim for my life, heaven only
could tell how long,
L am 4 capital swimmer, and this naturally
gave me degree Of self-pOsSesson Falling
a. l had, Of course had pitched out some
distance from the sOping parapet A few
strokes brought me to the edge. / really was
not yet certain but that could chamber up
the face of the wall anywhere. / hoped that
could. L felt certain at least there was some
spot where l might get hold with my hands.
even If did not ultimately ascend il.
L tried the nearcs. spot. The inclination of
the wall was so vertical that it did not even
rest me TO lean against it. 1 felt with my feet
Surely, thought, there must be some fissure
like those in which that ill-omened weed had
found place for its root
There was none. My fingers became sore in
busying themselves with the harsh and inhos-
pitable stones. My feet slipped from the smooth
and shiny masonry beneath the water; and
several times my face came Il rude contact
with the wall, when my foothold gave way on
the instant that seemed To have found some
diminutive rocky elect upon which 1 could
stay myself.
SIR, did you ever see a rat drowned in half
hlle1 hOgshead how he swims round and
round and round; and. after vainly trying the
sides again and again with his paws, fixes his
eyes upon the upper rim rs If he would look
himself out Of his watery prison.
thought OF the miserable yermin, thought
81 him sS | had often watched thus his diving
agonies, when II cruel urehin of eight or ten.
Boys are horribly cruel, sir; boys, women and
sa'ages All childlike things are cruel from
awant of thought and from perYer5e ingenuity,
although by instinct each Of these is so tender.
Iou may not have observed ii; but a savage is
hs tender To ITS own young rs a boy is to a IA
v0rite puppy-the same boy that will torture a
kitten out of existence. / thought, then, /
say, Of the rat drowning in half-flled cssk of
water, and lifting his gaze out of the vessel a.
he grew more and more desperate and flung
myself on my back and floating thus. fixed nv
eyes upon the face Of the moon.
The moon Is well enough in her way, however
You may look at her; but her appearance is, to
say the least of it, peculiar to a man floating ON
has back IN the centre of a stone tank, with a
dead wall If some fifteen OF twenty feet rising
squarely ON every side of him (the young msf1
-niled bitterly as he said this, and shuddered
once or twice before he went on musinyIyD
Tae last time L had noted the planet with any
emotion she WIS on the wane. Mary was with
HIe, | had brought her out here one morning
I" look ut the view from the top of the Reser-
voir- She said little Of the scene but as We
talked Of our old and childish loves, l saw that
Itsfresh features were incorporating themselves
with tender memories of the past, / was content
There was rich golden haze upon the land
Seape; and As my own spirits rose amid the yO-
iap;uous atmosphere she pointed to the waning
PlSnet, diSceralbIe like faint cash in the well
kin, and wondered hoy long il would be before
the leaves would faTf Strange girl, did she