The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-27

i
live hereafter by feeding other hearts with love
lore she has learned from me, and. PygmaAor
like. grow fond Of the images she mas ner r,
crowned with semblance OF divinity, until the
seem to breathe bacs the mystery the SOL
can truly catch from only one.
Glow anxious she will be lest the Corone
shall have discovered any OF her notes IN m
pocket!
81 lelt chilly as this last reflection crossed m
mind, partly at thought Of the Coroner, partly Z
, the idea of Mary being unwillinely compelled
, | wear mourning for me, in case OF such dlsclos
ure OF our engagement. 1t is a provoking thin
for girl Of nineteen to have to go INTO mournin
for deceased lover, at the beginning Of he
second winter in the metropolis.
y 'The water, though, with my motionless pos 81
ton, must have had something to do with m
chiliiness. see, sir, you think that tell m
story with great levity; but indeed, indeed,
steadily to the awflness OF my feeling the create
part of that night. think, indeed, must hav
been most Of the time historical with horror, 70
the vibrating emotions have recapitulated di,
pass through my brain even as I have detaile'
them.
"But as I now became calm in thought, cum
moned up again some resolution of action.
II will begin at the corner" said l, "and swim
around the whole inclosure. will swim slowly
! and again feel the edges of the tank with my
feet. If die I must, let me perish at least from
| well directed though exhausting effort, not sinl
! from mere bootless WEAKNESS in sustaining my
| self till the morning shall bring relief
The sides Of the place seemed to grow higher
| - l now kept my watery course beneath them
Il was not altogether dead pull. l had some
variety of emotion in making my circuit When
I swan in the shadow it looked to me more cheer
fui beyond in the moonlight, and when swan in
| the moonlight had the hope OF making some
discovery when should again reach the shadow.
81 turned several times on my back to rest just
where those wavy lines would meet. The stars
looked victoriously bright to me from the bottom
of that well there was such company OF them;
they were SO glad in their lustrous revelry; and
they had such space to move in! Twas alone,
sad to despair, in strange element, prisoned,
and q solitary gazer upon their mockiDg chorus.
And yet there was nothing else with which
could hold communion!
n turned upon my breast and struck out
almost frantically once more. The stars were
forgotten, the moon, the very world Of which
IS yet formed part, my poor Mary herself, was
forgotten. thought only Of the strong man
there perishing; Of me in my lusty manhood, in
the sharp vigor Of my dawning prime, with fac
ultes illimitablc, with senses all alert, battling
there with phislcal obstacles which men like
myself had brought together for my undoing.
The Eternal could never have willed this thing
could not and would not peris 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 o
wild. wild regret; Of sorrow, o infinite, for q
y
sickening! You may laugh at the contradiction
il you will, cir, but felt that could sacrifice
my own life on the instant to redeem another
fellow. creature from such place Of horror, from
an end so piteous. My soul and my vital spirit
seemed in that desperate moment to be separat-
ing, while one in parting grieved over the deplo-
rable fate OF the other.
"And then prayed! Iprayed. why or where.
fore know not. 1t was not from fear. 1t could
not have been in hope. The days Of miracles
nj NM md ot,,~a1 1svu, 1,vvI
whose providential interposition Icould be saved
did not pray; it prayed Of ITSELF my soul with.
in me.
Was the calmness that now felt torpdity
the torpidity that precedes dissolution, to the |
strong swimmer Who. sinking from exhaustion,
must at last add bubble to the wave as he suf- |
locates beneath the element which now denied |
his mastery? If it were so, how fortunate was It |
that my floating rod at that moment attracted |
my attention az it dashed through the water by |
!angled himself in the wire moose. The rod quiv-
cred, plunged, came again to the surface, and |
rippled the water rs it shot in arrOwy fiightsfrom
side to side Of the tank. At last, driven toward |
The southeast corner of the reservoir, the small |
snd seemed to have got stuck somewhere. The |
brazen butt, which, every time the fish sounded, |
was thrown up to the moon, now sank by its own |
weight, showing that the other end must be fast |
But the cornered fish, evidently anchored some
where by that short wire, floundered several
out to the spot.
The water is low now, and toleYably clear. You |
may see the very ledge there, sir, in yonder cor
ner, on which the small end OF my rod rested |
when I secured that pike with my hands. did
not take him from the slp.noose. however; but,
standing upon the edge, handled the rod in
workmanlike manner, Is flung that pound Of
pickrel ever the iron railing upon the top Of the
parapet. The rod, Is have told you, barely |
reached from the railing to the water. 1t was 1 |
hos I'D nh 7 bod IN