The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1862-09-17

10atlOS on large lSlduu Vi lCei nhich inc
swift current of the river was already
driving rapidly out upon the lake.
What sudden dismay came over MS
as we gazed at the increasing chasm no
effort of ours could bridge! The bride
groom was eager to swim the space, and
bear tidings to the farm but 1t would
only have been a useless sacrifice of life,
for long ere he had gone half the distance,
he would have died in his frozen clothes.
There was but one chance left-that we
miuht yet bit on some projecting polGt
of the Iake-shore But as our raft hoated
steadily further and further out from land,
that last hope vanished ; and before long,
We who had lately been so joyous, stood
sadly watching the white outline Of the
hills fade into the night, as they whose
last sight of land it was, and with the
sorrowful knowledge that the only doubt
remaining on our doom was, whether we
should perish miserably upon our frozen
resting place, or be swept off into the ice
cold waters of the lake
1t was a terrible prospect; and The
remembrance that we had in manner
brought the evil upon our own heads,
increased its bitterness tenfold. Had we
but apprised any one oil cur route when
we diverged from the usual track, we
should undoubtedly have been sought for
in canoes, and most probably rescued
while, as it was, the blind path by which
we turned off to the shore would put them
all at fault. The bridegrooIn's self
reproaches were kecnest of any, for he
felt himself the destroyer Of the bride so
lately committed to his care; while the
poor girl wept in utter abandonment of
spirit, not only for the blighting Of her
bright hopes. and for the young life she
must shortly render up, but for the sud-
den parting from the beloved ones she
should never see again.
Meanwhile, the moon rose in the deep
blue sky, making night beautiful, flooding
our ice-raft with its silvery light, culver
ing in broken rays on the broad lake,
which now rolled in waves around US,
and shining like glory on the distant
hills, giving US one more z lance at earth.
But the cold was intense. The wind,
straight from the frozen north, swept over
the lake in ftful gusts, and seemed to
pierce US like icy arrows; and though,
wrapped in the heavy sleigh furs, we
crouched within its narrow limits, we
could scarce endure the rlgor Of the night;
and, worse than all, our fair companion
had to share these hardships with no pro-
lection save the most sheltered corner
of the sleigh, and the warmest wrapper;
yet she never murmured, but, with the
gentle heroism Of her sex, laid her head
silently and now tearlessly on her huS-
bands shoulder and / thought she
prayed. Day at last broke on this long
night of misery and desolation. The
imperceptible current of the lake had
swept US ont of sight of land, and the
huge mass of ice lay steady as an island
among the surrounding waves. We told
ourselves we had no hope Of rescue, yet
long and anxiouSly we watched the cir
cling horizon for some sign of coming aid,
and it was with deeper pondeucy we
discovered that, as far as the eye could
reach, there was nothing hut lake and
sky, save on one spot some five miles
distant, where floated fragment of our
raft, which, cracked from the commence
ment, had parted during the night, pear
lug away with it both our horses. Aud
as the day wore on, another hardship was
added, which redoubled all the rest-that
of hunger Since the preceding morning,
we had eaten nothing, and our long ex-
posure to the cold began to make The want
severely felt; while, though many birds
few over the lake, not one came within
reach of our rifles to soften this new
calamity.
Two days passed, and no words can tell
the eintenslty of our suferings as we hoated
on that frozen prison, which the wiuds
and waves appeared poweress to destroy );
each hour served but to augment our mis-
cry and when the third day broke upon
Us, cold and exhaustion were fast doing
their work, and we lay helplessly in the
corners of the sleigh, as it seemed about
to die. But the young bride still bore
up; whether it was the unbroken vigor
of her youth sustained her, or that mar
velous endurance of her sex, which has so
often carried them thro' wreck and tempest,
| know not, but she was still compare
lively unsubdued, and while she drew our
coverings more closely around US, she
earnestly entreated US still to hope and
trust. | began to think with horror that
a time would shortly come when the un-
happy girl would be left alone upon the ice.
Thus another night closed on our sore
extremity, aud we did not think to live it
out. As the hours passed, furious
storm arose upon the lake, lashing its