Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-12-31

1O--N4f panty ~ tAC IOS1 VI MAI J
being unwillingly compelled to wesr
mourning for me in case of such a dis
closure of our engagement. 1t is pro-
voking thing for girl Of nineteen TO
have to 60 into mourning for a deceased
lover at the beginning of her second
winter in the metropolis.
" The water, though, with my notion
less position, must have had something
to do with my chilliness. I see, sir, you
think that tell my story with great
leVity; but indeed, indeed, I should grow
delirious did venture to hold steadily
to the awfulness of my feeling the great
er part of that night. I think, indeed,
must have been most of the time hyster-
ical with horror, for the vibrating emo
tionS | have recapitulated did pass
through my brain even as / have detailed
them.
But as now became calm in thought
1 summoned up again some resolution of
action.
:" will begin at the corner, said l,
and swim round the whole inclosure.' |
will swim slowly and again feel the
edges Of the tank with my feet. If die
must, let me perish at least from we'll
directed though exhausting effort, nor
sink from mere bootless WEAKNESS in
sustaining myself till the morning shall
bring relief
The sides of the place seemed to
grow higher as now kept my watery
course beneath them. It was not alto
gether dead pull. ! had some variety
Of emotion in making my circuit. When
l swan in the shadow it looked to me
more cheerful beyond in the moonlight,
and when swan in the moonlight | had
the hope Of making some discovery when
l should again reach the shadow. I
turned several times on my back to rest
just where those wavy lines would meet.
The stars looked VIGOROUSLY bright to
me from the bottom of that we'll; there
was such a company of them; they were
SO glad in their lustrous revelry; and
they had such space to move in! [ was
alone, sad to despair, in strange ele-
ment, prisOned, and a solitary gazer upon
their hooking chorus, And yet there
was nothing else with which l could hold
communion!
4 turned upon my breast and struck
bat almost frantically once more The
stars were forgotten; the moon, the very
world Of which l as yet formed part,
my poor Mary herself, was forgotten l
thought only of the strong man there
perishing; of me in my lusty manhood,
in the sharp vigor of my dawning prime,
with faculties lllimitable, with senses all
alert, battling there with physical OBJ
stacles which men like myself had
brought together for my undoing. The
Eternal could never have willed this
thing! I could not and Iwould not perish
thus. And grew strong in insolence of
self-trust; and I laughed aloud as
dashed the sluggish water from side to
side
Then came an emotion of pity for
myself-of wild, wild regret; of sorrow.
Oh, infinite for fate so desolate, doom
so dreary, so notwithstanding! You may
laugh at the contradiction if you viii,
sir, but I felt that could sacrifice nv
own life on the instant to redeem another
fellOw-creature from such place of hor-
ror, from an end so piteous. My soul and
my vital spirit seemed in that desperate
moment to be separating, while one in
parting grieved over the deplorable fate
of the other.
And then prayed! I played, why
or wherefore know not. 1t was not
from fear. 1t could not have been in
hope. The days Of miracles are passed,
and there was no natural law by whose
providential interposition / could be
saved. I did not pray; it prayed of
itself, my soul within me.
"Was the calmness that I now felt
torpidity-the torpidity that precedes
dissolution to the strong swimmer who,
sinking from exhaustion, must at last
add bubble to the wave as he suffo-
Gates beneath the element which now
denied his mastery? If it were So how
fortunate was il that my floating
rod at that moment attracted my atten-
ton as it dashed through the water by
me. saw on the instant that fish had
entangled himself in the wire moose.
Tie rod quivered, plunged, came to the
surface again, and rippled the water as
it shot in arrowy flight from side to side
of the tank. At last, driven toward the
southeast corner of the reservoir, the
small end seemed to have got stuck
somewhere. The brazen butt, which,
every time the fish sounded, was thrown
up to the moon, now sank by it's own
weight, showing that the other end must
be fast. But the cornered fish, evident
ly anchored somewhere by that short
wire, foundered several times to the
surface before l thought of striking out
TO the spot.
"The water is low now, and tolerably
clear. You may see the very ledge there,
sir, in yonder corner, on which the small
end of my rod rested when 1 secured
that pike with my hands. l did not take