The Portland daily press., 1874-12-12

anu tue lnOlHeuI IL UeSdu W WdVei, PiCfiouo
to stopping, he ran for his hat, and darted
down the stairs. But, as he worked IN an
upper story, full dozen got into the boat
before him. He told Andrew to put off, but
Andrews would not till the boat should be
full and soon it was crammed. james Lam
bert then said it was shame of him to let
so many on board. This angered the man,
and, when the boat was so crowded that her
gunwale was not far above water, he showed
her violently off INTO the tide-way, ana said
words which, if he has not prayed God to Tor
give them in this world, will perhaps hang
heavy round his neck in the next.
s"To hell, YOU beggars" he cried.
This rough launching made the overladen
boat wobble. The women got frightened,
and before the boat had gone twenty yards
she upset in dark, icy water. ten feet deep.
1t was night.
"Before the Loaf coupit W altogether,
thew a. flew to me that could; for they a.
kenned me. L the water, them that hadna
a baud O. me, had baud O. them that had
baud O. me, aud they carried me doom Ike
lead"
Now it is an old saying and true one that
"After-wt is eyerybody's wit" were 10
relate at once what James Lambert accom-
plished hundreds would imagine they could
have done the same. To correct that self
correctly, 1 shall step here and entreat my
readers, for the instruction of their own
minds, to lay down this narrative and shut
their ewes. and ask themselves how it was
possible for mortal man to- escape drowning
himself and to save those who were drown
ing him. You have seen that it cost him
the skin of his finger to get clear of single
baker. Here he was cutched and pinned by
at least four desperate drowning creatures,
strong as lions in their wild despair, and the
weight of twelve people more hanging on to
those that clutched him, SO that the united
weight of them all carried down the strong
swimmer like statue in sack.
"Sirr, when we've twa feet i the grave,your
mind warks hard. l didna struggle, tor it
was nae mair use than to wrastle wi klrk.
/ lust STRENGTHENED myself DOT like corp
(W). and let them taxi me dozen to the bot
tom o. the CLYDE; and there stude up right,
am waited for kenned the puir sauls would
droon afore me, and saw just ae wee wee
chance to save them yet. Ye shall under-
stond. SIR, that when folk are droonng, they
dinna settle doom till the water ms tnelr
lungs and drives the air DOT. At first they
wayer up and doom at sairtain intervals.
Aweel, SIR, I waited for that, on the grund.
| was the only ane grunded, yell obsairve.
A slight upward movement commenced. l
took advantage and gied a vi'lent spang WI
nv feet against the bottom, and wi me
choosi 10 my time. up we a. came. My arms
were erippit. but could strike DOT WI my
feet, aud before ever we reached the surface 1
dashed DOT like deevil for the quay. Aweel,
sirr VII all could do, we diana wend abune
yard, or may be yard and a maui, ana
doom thew carried me like Iced. l straucht-
ened myself as we sank, and grunded. The
lave were a. roond me like fon C1). l
bides nv time and when they are inclining
inward I strikes fra the grund; an this
time. mair slaniing towards the quay. That
helpit us, and in a dozen vrlent strokes we
may be gained twa yards this time. Then
doom like Iced Plays the same game again,
up, and deem again. And moo, SIR, there
was something that turned sair against us
but then there was something for us, to boil
ance it. 1t was against us that they had all
swallowed their pint O. water by this time,
and were ma sac buoyaut; it was for us that
the water was shallower now, may be not
mair than twa feet over heed. Moo this two
feet wad droon us as weel as twanty; but wi
nae mair nor tWa feet abune us, l could
spring up fra the grun by mere force; for the
grun gies We an awful poower tor foot or
iva. Sac moo Pm nae suner doom than up
again, and still creeping for the quay, and
the water aye wee bit shalloWer. The next
news is, gat sair spent, and that was pad !:
but to bollance that, some folks on the quay
gat rapes and boat-hooks, and pickit off ane
or twa that was the nearest: and now ilka
time came up, they picket one off, and that
lightenee my burden; and bymby l drave a
couvle iuto shallow water myself, wi my feet.
When was in seven fut water myser, and
fewer folk hauding me doom, got to be
master, and shovt ane, and pu'd anither in,
till we landed the whole saXteen or seventeen
But nv wark was ma done, for l kenned
there were mair in the liver. l saw the last
O. my ain band safe, then DOT into the Clyde,
wherever heerd cries, and sumo ! fand twa
lassee skirling, takes 'em by their lang hair,
and tows them to the quay in minute. just
as Pm landing ~ thir twa, l cry in the
yara middle o. the river, and in 1 splash. 1t
ives strapping lass-they caed her Elizabeth
Whitelaw. 'C'way, We lang daftie,' says l,
and begins TO tow her. ID an behold I'm
prippit VII a man under the water. 1t was
her sweet-hairt. She was hauding him doom
The liizzy was a. reicht, but she was droon-
ing tee lad: PARTS ~ these twa' lovers-for
their gude-and talks 'em ashore, one in each
hand. Aweel, SIR, / saved just one mair,
and then plunged in again, and sairched
but there was nae MAR to be seen moo; three
puir lasses were drooned: bid l did ma ken
| that the time. And moo I'll tell ye farce.
I'm seized VII faintness, and maks for the
shore. But gat weaker, and dazed like, and
the lights O. Glasgee begins to feeker afore
my cen: and thinks I, 'Pll no see ye again
Pm done this time.' 1t was all could do for
the bare life, to drift to the hinder part OF the
quay. hadna the power to draw myself DOT.
Just grippit the quay, and Sobblt. The folk
were a. busy VII them had saved; name OF
them noticed me. and l wad ha' been
drooned that NIGHT: but--wha dye think
saved me that had saved sac mOny ?---an aud
Iln had q
hookit stick, and gied me the handle, and
towed me along the quay into shallow water,
and gat DOT, VII his help, and swooned deed
away. I'm tauld I lay there negleckit
awhile; but they fand me at last, and then l
had fifty nurses for ane." ..
Have exaggerated? Does History record
any other example of man being clutched
by great number of drowning people. and
carried to the bottom, and saving them all IN
the lump, and then Gashing in and saving the
outsiders in detail?
By way of illustration let the reader i'm
agine an umbrella-frame, and only four or
five curved whalebones attached to the top
part of the upright; now fasten several other
curved whalebones high up, to each OF those
four or five curves. Now plunge the whole
frame into water till the upright touches the
ground. Not one of the sixteen curved
pieces will touch the ground. But, in the
water, if person, male or female, clings to a
fixed upright, that PERSONS body floats, up
more or less; at all events, it inclines toward
the horizontal.
Now James Lambert, by artifcially
Strengthening his body, made himself the
stick of that human umbrella, or the upright
post they all chung to directly or indirectly,
and so were kept floating in a curve. instead
of sinking to the bottom. This enabled him,
but only by patiently and artfully watching
the fluctuations up and down of those float
ing bodies, to spring at tee nick Of time
from the hard ground, and carry them all to
the surface for few seconds. The rest is
detail, and his own narrative makes it clear.
But see what intellectual and moral qualities
were here combined. Genius is often with
out courage; courage is generally without
genius, and so indeed is bare skill; and, in
desperate danger, how often has genius lost
its head, and Numbered like an idiot; how
often has courage lacked invention, and re-
lied on precedent, that did not fit the novel
danger, and so lead it to death. But this
man, even as his body touched the water,
was all cool courage and swift inventive
genius. He did not repeat himself, as mere
skill does. Rugged in the water by single
mantle baker-he hit, with prompt inven-
ton, on the one way to gave both lives; he
used the bakers own chest as fulcrum. and