The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-11-03

To oppose at the mouth of the mine, had
no thought of being stopped byawoman,
and he unwound faster and faster, until
a firm grasp was fixed upon his hand
and the speed arrested.
"Gently, gentlyw gasped the little
woman, " If you will save your broth
er's lifc.n
At the words Arthur turned white
with fear, and let go, leaving all that
fearful strain upon the small hands that
could but just hold in their grasp the
crank of the windlass, and the rope was
so old that it must give way soon, and
might Mt any second; it had not been
used for months.
Aunt Nudge seized the crank with
both hands, and cried, "IIelp! help
quick !"
Arthur caught It just in time; it was
slipping from her grasp, and the two
gently lessened the motion until the
bucket stood still.
Paul had jumped in very bravtly, an
|ticipating fine time, and terrible sur
prise to the miners below, when he
should suddenly drop into their midst !;
but even as the blue sky was shut from
his sight, he gasped with an emotion
very like fear. When the rays of light
disappeared one by ono, he began to
tremble and cling fast to the sides of the
tub, that was only large enough to hold
hin, ,,prf,,nt llna1r,,po., In, n
shaft, and the air that rushed up as he
felt himself to i,e rushing down was not
like the sweet air that he had breathed
under the blue of the sky; it made him
think of suffocation, and the darkness
was 80 dense that he thought it was bu-
rying him alive; he felt its weight driy-
ing down upon his head.
In that moment Paul Vail would
have given everything he possessed to
be safely out of the coal region.
Suddenly he felt himself to be no long
er going downward; the motion had
changed to a swift circling course, that
would have made his brain dizzy but for
the fearful darkness. The rope was I'M
twisting, but he knew it not one strand
had parted.
He shouted aloud, and from the
depths his own voice thundercd back to
him, May be Arthur cannot hold the
crank any longer" and the fearful Sc
quence came" "What if he lets go?"
Paul Vail had never before been in n
position of utter helplessness. He had
always had his own strong arms and feet
to aid him in his movements, his eyes
to tell him where he might move; and
now he found all these gifts of no man
ner of service-there was nothing for
him to do but to pray. God shuts every
soul in thus at some point of life, with
himself, that the soul may feel after
God, if, happily, He may be found.
1t is not always in mines, or on the
ocean and pillows, and natures wrath,
or in the earthquakes tremor, that the
soul of man meets this point of utter
dependence on its Creator. 1t comes
in still, small ways-the friend in whom
we trusted fails us, or all our plans are
crossed by counter plans, or we watch
the feeble, fiuttering breath, and know
that it is going out, unless the giver of
life breathe anew upon our loved one.
Paul Wallis time for prayer caue5ERlld d
the cry went forth for help.
"Now, my boy, hold fast, wind gen.
tly, and God willing, we will have him
safely up,n said Aunt Nudge; but her
voice tremblcd, and only her hands
nerved themselves to the task. ii was
quite Il different affair, Arthur drawing
up the bucket. Their united strength
could but just compass it, and then the
awful danger of the rope parting, and
necessity for uniform tension. Once or
twice the little woman's eyes wandered
down the mountain; but no help came.
Steadily, steadily around the windlass
wound the rope until there came into
view the parted strand-it was giving
away fast.
Have mercy % calculated little
Aunt Nudge, and bidding Arthur hold
fast, she sprang down, close to the open
shaft, and with arms stretched over the
edge, she caught the rope below the
parted strand. Her hold was just sufli-
cient to balance the break.
No mortal can tell how long the boys
muscles could have done service in hold,
ing the crank, or how long the brave
little arms could have done duty over
the shaft, and there is no need to tell,
for God sent q strong hand that reached
down beside the weak arms, and anoth-
er and another came, and Paul Vail was
drawn upward, and once more he saw
the blue of the sky, that seemed 50 pre-
cious to him when shut out from it.
Arthur and Paul had, in their careless
zeal to explore the mine, aVailed them
selves of an old, WORKOUT apparatus that
no miner would have thought of riskiag
his life by, and the miners from the other
side of the mountain had arrived just in
time to save Paul. There had been heard
strange noises in the earth that day, O
great grooming of gases, that gave warn
ing of danger to he, and the men were
going down to clear the depths in time
Little Aunt Nudge watched the de-
scent, and then invited Paul and Arthur
/, into her little hut.
i She did not scold them, nor tell then
= what bad, naughty boys they had been
| but she told them story. And this il
the story she told them:
"Twenty years ago last May eamC
. tn tbiG hit pf a bpnSa lu tha ,rrnot ana