Litchfield enquirer., 1874-05-07


 alien mind, and not your own, that offers suggestion or inquiry, There is nothing so keen in us as that intuitive perception which recognizes at once, and infa1libly, the thought that has gone through the processes of germination and birth, as our own. It is very different from the same thought offered independently and originally as the product of another in- telligence. That test, without seeking mysteries in spiritualism, every man or woman has. Call up your last nights dream. It has as strongly marked tests of conference with intelligence other than your own, as you will meet to-day. We lose the thread in waking We do not see the connection. and it all looks ium- bled and confused. But how confused our waking thoughts would be, if sub- Jected to like tests, although these go on under the conscious supervision of the Will! In sleep, as in waking, we confer With other lntelligences than our own, and do 1t perhaps familiarly and frequently. 1t Is no answer to call this transcendental- ism or spiritualism. It is question of fact. You do or you do not. Settle in your own mind whether you do receive suggestions in your sleep. independent of any processes of your thought, and ac- cept the whole consequence. It need not be very wise or very prudent; the test is not it's wisdom or it's prudence, but the absolute fact of the independent sugges- tion. That done, do not let spacious phi losophy argue you out of the plain evil dence of your senses. No doubt the Pto- lemaic theory of astronomy gave ration al explanation of the movements of the planetary system, yet it was wrong, though 1t stood the mathematical tests of thou sand years, and received the appreciation of religion and philosophy
 "At this crucial point, when the thought was in my mind to anticipate by a few hours or moments the end, the com l forter came, or rather was with me. Now in my weakness she supported me when I needed support. There has been no day since tho separation of our material ex- lstence when hfe's heavier trials have not found that comfort by my side.
 ''The dawn came slowly and heavily, with no cessation of the fierce shock of the contending elements. At times the sphere of the Armament seemed to burst and shiyer with the blindlng, quivering flash; the solid waves banged and broke upon ane another; and the hugo oaks groaned and fell under the blast. The mighty waters of rain rolled down with ebb and flow, as if 8 lake set upright poured it's surface down and obscured everything at few yards distance The most terrifying fact visible in all this con- fusion was the rapid rising of the lake. The blackjack oak, that had received me out of the aligator's jaws, had now it's top branches and vines sweeping in the water. Below me the contracted surface of the island was swimming in pools. The eye could not detect any difference be- tween the level of the lake and the level of the land. In few hours the island would be entirely submerged, and the rain fell as If the reservoirs of the heavens were inexhaustible. Nothing in that fear ful hour kept up my strength, exhausted by fatigue and twenty-four hours fasting, but the sense of companionship, the as- sured comfort of that loving, encourag- ing presence. Though might take ref uge in the trees as the waters rose, yet they were places of difficult or doubtful security. Every hour some forest giant yielded. As the water rose, and sapped the strength of the roots. what probabili- ty was there that any one would outstand the storm? Climbing the tall, slippery shaft of the one or two pine-trees that still stood was impossible, and the huge oaks branched low with boughs bending downward. Hour after hour went by, the hurricane still at it's height, and clung to the crotch of the oak, planning and re- jecting a dozen impossible modes of es- cape. As it drew on toward noon the wind abated; the violence of the rain ceased, and l could see, to nay surprise and qualification, the cottage at Fannistan still standing. The Hull did not last long. l used 1t in digesting plan of escape.
 II observed that as the storm renewed It's violence the wind was setting from the opposite point of the compass. It had been north-northwesst, and now it was south-southeast. From this fact drew several important conclusions.
 ''First, that the very centre of the cy- clone must have passed over this vicinage. Otherwise there would have been chop plng and changing to various points, as we skirted the circle of the wind. Acyclone moving whirlwind of greater or less di- ameter The body of the storm has it's own general progressive direction. be- sides carrying within itself the long, cir cular, gyratory motion of the wind; just as a top moves down slight incline, while the toy itself is spinning rapidly on its peg. The top, that is, the circle of the wind, crossed us as 1t moved from east to west. It began north-northwest, and continued sc till m1ro in its oou- tre, where there was Hull of short fur ries. The other hemisphere of the wind, the reverse current, caught us in coming back from the south to the north
 "The second consideration, or corolla- ", was Shat as the violence of the wind in one direction had lasted from ten F. M of the 10th, to twelve M. of the 18th, we might expect the same duration of vio- lence, fourteen hours, before the other half had passed over us. This dissipated any doubts as to the practicability of re- maining on the hummock. I had to choose between the risk of drowning in an attempt at escape, and the same haz- ard of drowning if remained on the island.
 ''The lake was certainly an ugly thing to look at. No light craft could possibly live there. I must choose heavier ves- sel; something sluggish. inert, steady, that could not be beaten to pieces or tossed about like skiff, even if that choice was permitted to me. My refuge must be one of the logs or trees that oc- casionally hoated by, or were blown upon the island. I got down into the shallow water and crossed to my point of obser- vation at the blackjack. A little cape jutted out from this end like the blade of an -ax. Obiquely across, similar point on the second hummock reached out into the water. These abutnents projected nearly opposite each other, though on diff ferent ends of the hummocks, and the current of wind, south-southeast, bore di- rectly from one to the other There was my point ofdeparture.
 Dragging themselves loose from en- tangling vines and the bottom. as the wa- ter arose, lay two trees in the water. The farther end of both was beginning to sway out. When they reached the open cur rent, they would swing violently loose. and rush through the gap or sluice; and I had not much time to choose.
 s'The outer one, which would soon be ! free, was the trunk and branches of a huge pine. The fronds were still green upon it, and the limbs unbroken. It had been blown, probably, from the main.