, 1860-12-01


"Nore you ever in the Mammoth Cave? 1t
is, with all its wonders, the t-god-forsakcn,
drcary, gloomy spot mortal ever entered. Yet
there IS some strange mystic power in the
place to transfgure the weakest, most wretch
cd music into harmony 1t for the celestial
spheres.
"Af.er poking about in the bowels Of the
earth for three or four hours, visitors to the
cave arrive at Echo river, where they embark
on a disgusting}y muddy scow, or If tue party
Is large enough, two or three wretched boats
are brought into rcquisltlon. The women arc
all dressed in fancffully colorcd bloomer dress
cs, and with the uplifted lanterns, present n
strange and weired appearance us the boat is
pushed from the shore, and doats down into
tue black gloom, the lights rejecting them
selves On the surface Of the deadly still water,
and lighting up with strange effect tho arch OF
sight VIC enter the other boat, and ourselves
push'ou into the dark stream. Dark, awfully
dark 1t is. The dark river Of death finds on
earth no more vivid parallel than this. You
know, in The first picture Of Coles "Voyagc
Of Life" the gloomy river Of the past from
which floats out into life and light the little
boat Of the baby v7yagcr. The stream issues
from dark, rocky cavern, mysterious aud I'M
known. Such stream is this Oh which wc are
embarked. Silent and gloomy, dark and mys-
teriouB, It serves as a type of the past and the
future-of the past mystery whence Ill life
crolves, of the inscrutable future whittier all
life tends.
"Thc feeling Of security is not very great.
The boats Riuk down almost to tho waters
edge, and the perpendicular slippery rock on
either side offers no ledge on which ship
wrecked voyager might find a temporary foot
ing. Above, sometimes 20 Low thut you must
crouch to avoid it, and again SO high as to be
scarcely visible, rises the rock roof while Il
water in which you glide is thirty feet i'll depth,
aud us cold Us the brow Of q corpse. There is
no sound but the ripping made by the boat :;
not cricket along the shorclcss stream, not a
fish to plunge up and flash moment i'll the
air before returning to it's ,watcry homa-no
symptom Of lifc-no sound, no motion, eare
+ that made by ourselves.
"uark! there ia soundl Far of a delicate
Shade Of music, 60 faint as to seem the ghost
| Of some wandering echo. But By degrees 1t
increases. It becomes clear and defined. Rich
| harmony, trembling with strange scnsuous
| wfldness, huttering around the rocky prnjcc-
ti0ns, swelling in waves Of harmony to tic
| arched roof above. Nor: It appears to como
from one direction, now from another. Anon
higher note or strain is heard, like some
clear voice rising above mighty chorus.
| Never did syren sing more 1n,glc songs to lis
tening traEelcr-nevcr did tho mysterious
maiden Of Lurlei<burg chant moro entranclng
melody to the lnwary boatman who floats
along the meonl1t Rhine.
"Suddcn1y turn Of the boat brings you op
! posite break in the perpendicular rocky
| shore, and, perchel upon 4 lnass of broken
rock you see party Of four negroes playing
upon yiolias ind cornct. Those arc the sy
rens, these the Lurlines Of Echo river: Ont
| on the cartil's surface their music would bt
merely quaint aud odd, but here. In tho Man,
moth Cave, it is weird and unea-thly.
"F1oatipg away, out Of sight Of the aboT'
milslre1s-who arc, in fact, the barber, boot
black, or waiter from the hotel 1T the 1noutl
of the cayc-tlleir music resumes its s,iperna
tural tones and effect, and so, until we Land a
the opposite shore Of the dark river, it haunt
the ear with its peculiar harmony, while eve
after 1t forms the most vivid "reminiscences q
| visit to the Mammoth Cave"