The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1873-04-12

the words: .o-
Grown Him, ,'ye martys Of our God,
Who from his altar call ~
but I feared the time when the bass
should be left to carry a line alone.
There were but three or four bass
voices in the whole company, but my
friend was numbered among them. l
saw that he husbanded his breath for
this as a strong man saves his strength
for some great effort. Nevertheless,
l could hear, alternating with the
musical words:
"Extol the stem of Jcsse's rod"
the crack, crack, crack-crack-cr crack
crack of the brittle shell that was be-
tween us and eternity. 1t was a
wondrous relief when four parts in
stead of one, and 100 voices instead
of four, took the words which seemed
like an anthem of praise,
"EKtol the stem of Jesse's rod,
And crown him lord Of all"
We were now approaching the mid
die Of the lake, where the water was
the deepest, SO deep that no line in
the village could reach the bottom,
and where the ice must be the thin
nest, because it is the last to freeze
there. l knew this, but l felt that
now we were going with such rapidity,
there was no break in the song. l
singled out tree upon the shore we
were trying to make, and calculated
that at the rate they were singing,
there were verses enough to last until
we reached it. | feared lest the leader
might omit IL verse, as was sometimes
done in church, and there might be
left space over which we might pass
in silence, OF rather in a silence made
dreadful by the cracking Of the ice.
I had no cause. There was indeed
that awful crack crack crack Of the
ice distinctly heard during the sing
ing of each line Of every stanza Of the
hymn but it was either that l had
become used to it OF that it was in
deed more faint than it was before,
that it failed to affect me as at first.
So, too, there were little breadths of
ice to be passed over, after the singers
had closed the verse:
Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball;
To Him all ma jcsty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all"
But our momentum was then such
that l knew we could reach the shore
in safety, which we soon did.
~, nhinrr fbnrxa xvnc th0 oarno
boisteruus noise that marked our start
ing, each one untyiDg his own sled or
sleigh and joining the little party
with which he came. But Of the peril
through which they had passed, the
danger from which they had been
rescued, not one had the slightest in
timation. For my friend and myself
the only ones who were aware of the
wonderful deliverance-we were left
alone. And there, on that rocky
beach, with stars above IFS, we sank
upon our knees, with our arms en-
twining each others Hecks. 1t was
silent prayer we offered; an offer
ing of thanks to the "Giver of every
good and perfect gift" Not for us
alone, but for all those who had been
brought out of peril. Then We rose
hand in hand and walked to our
homes.
The next day was Thanksgiving
we entered into no boisterous nirth
We kept our secret to ourselves that
day, but during all the time since
then we have not mentioned the affair
to each other. But once long after
this, when we were in the church to-
gether, and the preachers gave out
!" Coronation" | noticed that he did
not sing, but grasped my hands in his
while the tears flowed from his eyes
as though he were child.