The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-12-29

sharp turn toward the beach
remember the rising IN thu a;r the
crash through the to- 4, Of tho hedge and
my own iaii. whie ., was followed by the
most unoarth, r yell i. is possible to i'm
agihe-a Hhrlek that seemed to die away
into 40 bowels of the earth Then q
mildred stars danced before my eyes
there was a strange dizziness in my head
ali grew dark and knew no more.
How long lay before coming to my
self | cannot tell nor could | rccolloct,
for considerable time after my senses
returned, what it was that had happened
kumbed with the intense cold, | was ly-
ing on my back with the wind shrieking
above me but where was the horse and
what meant the awful yell l hoard after
taking the leap?
| found that ! was lying on Il slope,
and turning over on my right side
reached out one hand intending to lean
upon il and raise myself. To my horror |
grasped nothing, fort makes me shud.
der to think of it--l had turned over inio
the mouth of partly disused pit. Already
! was hanging half within it, and while
struggling to recover my balance, could
feel myself slowly but surely slipping fur
thcr into the hideous gulf yawning TO Rs
ceive rae. gave one cry for mercy, ard
grasped wildly about till succeeded N
ciutching one OF the boards with which,
the shat, was lined. In smother second !
i ...I, ,.pl~ y
nearly wrenched my hands from their
hold but the strength of dispair was in
that clutch and held on. Then death
" faintness crept over me as thought Of
the depths below, and imagined myself
falling, falling helplessly into them. The
strain upon my arms became intolerable,
and To ease IT, tried TO insert my toes
between the crevices of the boards, crying
franJjcally but family for help the while,
though the sound OF my own voice startled
me ii was 80 strangely hollow. AS
raised myself little, piece of the rotten
wood broke of, and for dreadful mo-
ment | was han ging by one hand but ere
my quailing heart could give another fut-
tering throb had regained my grip. and
found foothold too. More than this L,
dared not venture in that profound dark
ness, but told myself that | was compar-
atively safe as long as my aching limbs
would sustain me. When they failed 1
hnew tla; should go down-down-duwn
until lay a angled corpse by the side
OF the poor horse whose dying cry still
rings in my ears.
Those were minutes of horror, and be-
lievo must have gone off ny head bit,
for | iancied that fearful sounds came wall
ing up from the pit. and that some invisi-
bic power was trying to drag me down
into il. Then a temptation assaied me TO
let 60, TO end at once the anxieties of my
Tile and the pain and terror ! was endur-
inr But tie poor. pale face of Mary
Mary who was watching for me ut home
rose before my eyes, and with renewed
strength held on, and prayed to Heaven
To save me.
As if in answer 10 the prayer, CLEAN
of TIC moons light broke through the
uurky clouds vanished and then shone
out again 50 clearly that was able to per
ceive the ladder not many feet away. As
cautiously as my cramped limbs would
permit worked my way toward it, and
before the clouds gathered again, l was
! krecling on the bank above the pit, saved
Cold weary and sad, | made my way
home without interruption, and told Mary
what had happened. AS she hung about
my neck, shivcring and sobbing, she made
me promise that ! would never again be
drawn into anything that my conscience
told me wasn't just right and thank God
I am able to say that, come fair weather
or foal, have been faithful 10 my worl