American citizen., 1872-08-03
Saved by Old "COrOnatIOn.'

illustrating most remerkSple ana praise
sTorthy self.control and presence OF mind,
is told in 9 Maine paper; by gentleman
who recoiccts the circumstances aEd was
himself party to the event
1t was-l do not remember the precise
ycar--but it was when / was about sew
enteen years old, an, -h"n ! lived in the
New England village where L was no.r,
and from which had hardly ever been
away. 1t was a pleasant old town, built
in Colonial days, and containing but few
inhabitants sate those who were de-
scended fr.jm the early settlers. 1t was
built, as most Hew England towns are,
among the hills, and was siit;ated on the
eastern side of a lake some two miles
long and less than mile in breadth.
That lake, or pond as we called it, fur
nisheb fDGst OF the pleasure for the peO-
pie in the village. There sc sTein, and
fished, and boated in the summer, aid
when the Geld of winter had stiffened the
surface of its pure waters, there we skat-
ed till the unwclcomc snow came to I'M
pede our course. On the east there was
a succession of green fields and orchards,
while its western shore was Hf!ed by a
primeval forest of pine trees. Only one
clearing had been made among these old
cone bearing trees, and that was re-
cent one, and embraced but few acres.
The great trunks of the trees had been
taken to ship building town on the
kenne6ec for spars of vessels, while the
branches had been piled in heaps among
the huge rocks that occupied so much of
the ground.
1t was the day before Thanksgiving,
the only holiday that New England
knows much about, and about which the
rest of the world knows so very little.
For three nights before, the cold had
been very severe for that time of the
year, and the newly formed ice on the
pond was "a smooth and clear as look
ing glass The Portland stage and the
extra carriage that followed it, had brought
in most of the family friends that were
expected to join in the family reunion.
Brave boys came from the stores of Bos-
ton and the saw mills of Oldtown. Brave
girls beautiful in the devotion they show
ed to the families they were supporting at
home. came from the cotton mills of
Lowell and Mancheste Houses where
plain and almost scanty food had been
served for many a week, were filled with
Righteousness now, for tomorrow was
THANKSGIVING. What were we all to do
the next day. ''the gladdest merriest day"
of all the year, besides go to church and
eat the feast that had been so long in
preparation? That was the question
asked by my strong, earnest, older friend,
who had come from Boston to spend
Thanksgiving.
"Skate, of course" answered.
But why not try the ice to-night?" he
asked.
l could see no reason and so we bound
on our skates and flew as it were over the
CLASSY surface of the pond to the cove
about which were the piles of pine tree
boughs. Once there, we conceived the
idea of how grand it would be to skate
back to the village, collect together the
women and girls take suitable provisions
for picnic, place them all in sleighs and
on hand sleds, draw them to this place,
and to eat a supper on these rocks, amid
the glare of the burning tree tops. We
were not long in carrying out our plans,
for almost every house had its sleigh and
skaters, and those who were destitute of
either, united with some of their neigh
bors. An hour, and the little lake was
covered by the merriest skating party that
it had ever witnessed. And then the
supper the bonfire, the song, the merry
making l shudder to think of such
boisterous sport, with an impending
death so very near! The sport was over
at length; the apples eaten, the cider
drank, the songs sung, the stories told,
and the once great flames among the
resinous pine needless were now smother
ing among the limbs or lingering in the
stumps and roots. 1t was clearly time to
60 And so the company was breaking
up into little knots as we came.
''Tie all the sleighs and sleds together"
my strong friend shouted the last to
leave the spot. The order from our lead
er was soon obeyed. Each little vehicle
was ranged from ten to twenty feet apart
according to the length of the ropes or
leading lines which we had; and three or
four skaters were stationed between them.
Then two much longer ropes were stretch
| A. =. 81
| which some twenty more skaters took
hold With shout and a whoop, such
as Indians give when rushing to battle,
we started on the ice. The line first
straight, or waving little, where the
poorer skaters were, soon took the foIm
of a crescent, and, with clamor of
voices and the grating of skate-irons, we
sped over the ice.
MY strong friend and I were on one of
the side ropes, and we held the place
nearest to the sleighs. We had not pro-
ceeded far before perceived that the ice
was bending up in front of us, and |
could scarcely hear it crack, amid the
noise of the skaters. 1 spoke not a word,
but looked intently into my companions
face | only thought that SO long as we
kept in notion as we were then doing, that
we might pass the terrible danger. But
knew very well that if the true state of
illdlTS was ulSCoNtlc', l'dhiS Npuiu
spread along the line-some skater would
drop out, and then the sleighs and their
precious burden must sink to the bottom.
i cannot forget the horror of that mo-
ment-a moment that seemed an age. l
was faint myself, but / only shuddered
lest some skater should fall. l could not
speak for fear but l almost feared lest
the other voices should stop, and the
cracking of the ice should be heard by
the women, who would be sure to scream.
NV thoughts were on God my eyes We're
fixed on the face of my friend. l was
fairly drawn along up the curving ice,
that seemed to rise higher before us
every moment. Cold sweat was my
forehead, but could not loosen my hand
from the rope to wipe it off My friend
noticed that l was lagging-I, who was
50 expert skater. His eyes caught
mine, and by that sort of intutive knowl
edge that we sometimes have in time of
great dangers, he became aware of our
dreadful situation, heard the cracking of
the ice and saw it-felt it rising in front
of us
What did the strong.man do? Flee Ikea
coward from the dangers he had brought
us to, and escape to the land? Did the
alarm seize him that had overpowcred
me- Far otherwise Raising his voice,
so that it could be heard above the din
of the skaters and the merry voices of
the women, he shouted: 'All sing, so
we will keep better step; all sing Corona
ton" And without lowering his voice
he sang:
g All hail the power of Jesus name
Let angels PROSTATE fall
Brin" forth royal diadem,
And crown him Lord of all -