Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1869-02-06
A CLIMBING ADVENTURE.

When / was at Cambridge (not &C
very long ago. / was renowned among
ths members of that ancient university
for my proficiency in gymnastics oil
every kind. 1t was an amusement Of
which I was particularly fond. and to
which gave myself up heart and soul;
and in consequence, though by no
means a big man, ] acquired a hard
ness of muscle, and a degree of conf
dence and presence of mind in
dangerous situations, which have since
frequently stood me in good stead.
When the time came for me to leave
college, and settle down quietly as q
curate in certain cathedral town in
north OF England, did not give up
my old a.nusements aud at one time
great scandal was caused in the place
by report that the cirate OF st.
Bones had been seen depending by his
toes from a horizontal bar in his gard
en-, and in that inverted position nurs.
ing his baby-for [ was the fortunate
possessor of such an article, having
taken a wife and my 3. A. degree
much about the same me. But my
favorite relaxation, when I hal an
hour to spare, ard the sun was not too
hot, was to obtain access, by q small
fee to the verger, to the roof of the
huge old cathedral, and (haviug pre-
viously Invested myself of my long
coat and spotless necktie) to light IL
cigar, and have good ramble scram-
BILE all by myself.
1t was during one of these expedi
tons that the incident which ! am
about to mention, and which cured the
for some months of my love for climb
ing, occurred. l must premise that
round the outside of the cathedral,
where the roof ended, there ran u ledge
of about foot broad. Below this, at
some distance, and directly above the
great doors was an immense stone
bracket, which had at one time sup
ported ~ colossal statue of St. Peter,
bearing large iron lamp. This statue
however, had been hurled down by
the icnoclastic followers of Oliver
Cromwell, and nothing was left bnt
the lamp, which was secured to the
wall by two stout iron bars. One side
of the wall had been rusted or broken
or rusted or broken away. SO as to pre-
sent the appearance of an arm chair
without legs and as I stood on the
ledge above, looking ut it, it struck me
that it would be rather an exciting
novelty to let myself down into it and
rest while I smoked cigar. Without
u moments hesitation / turned ronnd,
knelt down, took a firm grasp If the
ledge, and in second was dangling in
the air about hundred feet from the
ground On looking down at the
lamp, / found / was not exactly above
it !; in fact, it was qnite two feet further
out than L had imagined but this did
not cause me such uneasiness. Giving
myself a slight impetus by striking my
foot against the wall, / swung ont, and
dropped nearly over the side of the
lamp into the desired resting place.
l sat there some time, kicking my
heels, and smoking, and enjoying the
delicious GOODNESS of the evening air,
at such height and the sun was be-
ginning to set before | thought it time
to be moving, especially as had no.
ticed one or two persons stopping to
look up at me, and quite little crowd
to collect in the close, to
gaze at the strange spectacle ola man
sitting in st. Peters lamp.
"Hallo p thought I, ST must think
about going. Somebody will be fihd-
ing out who am, and then there will
be nice TODD" when it suddenly
flashed upon me that going would
be an extremely ticklish process, 1 was
seated in kind of chair that seemed
as if it had been made to tit me; /
could not get either leg up, in order
to stand upright in the lamp, for the
seat was too narrow aud the sides were
in the way. I could not help myself
up by these sides, for they We're
smooth iron, afforded no grasp, and
were too high for me to reach the top.
saw at once what was the only thing
to be done ] must rest my hands be-
I,;,,l mo c,, tbo I,doo Of tba cant LOT