Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-03-16

you cannot be this-a laundress and cook
You can hire, ard little to nav:
Dut Woman's Leart and woman's life
are not TO re won that way.
a TERRIBLE FIFTY MINUTES.
FROM THE FRENCH.
In August, 1859, l arrived at Chamouni,
with one of my friends, a traveller Iik,
myself. For about five weeks we hat
Deed exploring Switzerland, so tat W.
mad had plenty of time to get used t.
snow and glaciers. We had made severa
ascents, one OF $4,000 feet well remem
Der the sensation felt when I first saw
one OF those crevasses which seam the
surface OF the glaciers Holding firmly
by my guides hand, / leaned over thai
yaWnlng guilt, and tried to gaze down into
Its terrible depth. The two perpendicular
walls OF ice appeared to meet some 800
1eet below, but | believe it was only the
e1ecs OF perspective, the rent being prob
aDiy prolonged as far as the solid rock.
A man who falls there is certain never
to come out alive, " said one of my guides.
True, replied the other; " but l knew
one who was rescued. A narrow escape.
indeed, it was; he still lives at Grindel.
valid. He is chamois- hunter; he was
returning home; in descending the gla-
cler he made slip and fell into the ere
vase His fall was broken by projecting
blocks OF ice, which yielded, however, be-
meath his weight when he clung to them.
When he reached the bottom, a distance
OF some hundred feet, he had a leg and an
arm broken, Between the earth and the
ice he found hollow place into which a
stream was running; crawling long, suffer
ing terrible pain, he followed the course of
the water, and in three hours he was out
OF the glacier"
Crevasses vary in breadth from two to
SIX feet at the mouth, but the sides ap-
proach rapidly as they descend, so that a
man may lind himself jammed in between
two walls of ice long time before
Ee reaches the bottom, and then, if ropes
long and strong enough are at hand, it is
possible to save him from dreadful death
But generally the ropes are not long
enough, and the traveller perishes of cold.
or falls lower down into the crevasse dur
the hours which elapse while some of the
party have gone to the nearest village to
fetch longer ropes. Thus an unfortunate
Russian nobleman perished in glacier
near Lermatt some years ago.
We had ascended the Brevent, we now
had only the Mer de Glace and the Jardin
to visit We slept at the Montanvert
the solitary little inn at the foot of the
glacier. Next morning we were up at
dawn. Furnished with some provisions
and two bottles of wine, we started with
our guide. 1t was a splendid morning,
and argued we'll for our excursion. For
half an hour we followed rough path
which skirted the Mer de Glace. which
displayed below us it's surface riven with
crevasses and covered with rocks and frag-
ments. Our road ended at the glacier.
upon which we now began to descend,
and to traverse in zigzags in the midst of
numerous fssures. The Mer de Glace is
not considered dangerous and it is quite
the exception to take axes and ropes, when
crossing it. Alert and cheerful, we
hastened on without taking notice of the
guide, who, some way behind, cried out to
us several times to be cautious and wait
for him. We were obliged at last to halt
before crevasse which barred up our pas
sage. 1t opened with length of some
sixty yards, and ended upon our left in
q slope of ice. somewhat steep, but which
thought l could easily mount. Using
the iron spike of my alpenstock as a
hatchet, began to cut the holes in the ice,
large enough to put my feet in. He
looked at the slope and at the yawning
crevasse below it, and said in q grave tone,
1t IS dangerous; let us go round it"
With the aid of my alpenstock had
already got half way up this icy hillock,
and was now quite convinced that it was
too steep and slippery to be crossed with
out an ak. The guides warning confirmed
my opinion. l resolved to retrace nv
steps. was cautiously lowering my right
leg, seeking for the hole that l had made
in the ice; my foot passed it; I felt that
was sliding down; there was nothing
rough to stop me, not the least projection
by which | could hold myself in. The
decliyity became perpendicular, and fell
into the gulf
heard the cry of despair of my COM
panion and my guide. My own sensations
cannot be described. l was giddy and
half stunned, sent backwards and forwards
from one wall of ice to the other; felt
myself descending to a great depth, CON
demned to be dashed to pieces, to die by
an herriblei death. Suddenly something
stopped me. felt myself suspended. /
took breath again, and could cry out, I" A
rope a roper
By Gods mercy had fallen upon a mar
row ledge of ice, which formed a sort of
bridge across the crevasse This frail sup
port, as far as I could judge, was about four
inches broad and eighteen thick. My head
hung from one side of it, my feet from the
other. Instincively and Immediately, by
what means know not, I raised myself up
and stood upright on this projection, where
there was hollow just large enough for
me to plant one foot.
Then heard my companion say above
me, We never hoped to hear your voice
again; trust in God and take courage The
guide has run to Montanvert to seek men
and ropes; he will come back directly"
ss" If he is long" I replied, l shall not
come up alive"
My position was a terrible one, the thin
ledge OF ice was SO narrow that could not
place both feet on it. could only support
myself on one leg, half resting against one
OF the ice walls, and pressing the other
with my hand. The ice was smooth as a
mirror there was nothing to grasp. A
stream of ice-water flowed down upon my
shoulders, piercing me to the very bones ;
above my head saw the long and narrow
streak of the sky, round which the mouth
of the crevasse formed frame. The ice,
which was of darkest blue color, encircling
me on all sides, looked threatening and
gloomy. The two walls seemed as if they
were about to meet in order to crush me,
rather than to release their prey. Nume-
rous Water-courses streamed down their
sides, but in this extent of more than sixty
yards | could not see any other projection
or obstacle except this ledge on which ]
had SO miraculously fallen.
). risked looking, for one second only
down into the terrible abyss, above which
l was suspended. At the spot where ]
was, the crevasse was not more than two
feet wide, lower down it narrowed rapid
ly, and q hundred yards below the two
sides appeared to touch each other. be
lieve if had fallen but very few inches
on either side from the narrow bridge
which had arrested me, ! should have beer
buried and jammed up at depth where
no rope could have reached me. had re
manned about twenty minutes in my peri,