Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-15

VI IlSIOOy5 ~ oONCAO, oo AiNA WIS., ~
weighty, was the working out of the
theme. And last of all, with most raw
ishing sweetness, came the exquisite
duet and chorus from Memberships
Lobgesang," waited for the Lord"
and as those delicate silvery strains Of
patience and thankfulness streamed
into one another, and melted at last
with the chorus into the great tide Of
praise, / was unconscious of anything
but the music, and could have stayed
there without further thought till the
morning.
was aroused from my ecstacy by
little jim, who had been blowing the
bellows all this time, asking me if he
might go home, as his father did not
know where he was. let him out; and
as the door fell behind him, heard the
low, dying vail of the organ, as Symes
struck one or two Intellectual notes, and
exhausted it's last breath. He came
down and joined me; and as I was tax
ing up my book and lantern, previous
to our departure, he suddenly cried
Hollo that tower-hole is open. Just
fancy looking down through there into
the nave.'
eyes," said Lei daresay it would be
very pretty; in the meanwhile, l am
going home, however"
"All right" said Cymes. Lend me
!
night"
"Why, what are you going to do" 1
said.
"Going up into the tower" he re-
piled.
In vain l tried to dissuade him, using
every argument to represent the folly,
the uselessness, the danger of such a
proceeding. Good-humoredly but OBJ
stinately he threw aside my remon-
strances; and when at last l found him
resolved, Imade up my mind reluctant
ly, and not in the best of hrnmors, to
accompany him on his FOOLS GRAND.
Thank God that didn't leave him alone,
as I had intended !
was little disposed, however, to re-
spond to his lively sallies, as / followed
| him into the staircase which lead to
the tower. The lantern was of little use
to us as we climbed the worn steps. A
cold strip of moonlight came through
an open slit in the wall now and then,
but otherwise, we were in the dark.
After some few minutes ascent we
came to a doorway that led over the
top of the transept arch under the
leads of the roof. Begging Symes to
look about him and to tread carefully,
[ passed him through the darkness into
the tower. From where we stood, the
upper side of the dome-like ceiling of
the centre of the nave, between the
two transepts, rose like an inverted cup
before us; and at the apex of the dome
through the Eopening which had sug-
gested this hayward undertaking, the
moonlight streamed dimly up into the
darkness of the tower. To carry out
his purpose, Symes now proceeded to
crrwl up the dome, in order to look
down through the orifce. [ knew it
was of no avail to say anything, SO [
stood and watched him with anxiety,
as he leaned over the verge of the
| chasm.
AS gazed, / became aware that i'm
mediately above the opening stout
rope was swinging, to which was attach
ed hook. [ remembered that some
repairs had been going on for few
days on the roof of the cathedral and
that I had seen one or two rolls of lead
wound up through the hole on the pre-
vious day. These thoughts were passing
through my mind when Symes, catch
ing hold of the rope, jerked it, to ascer-
tain that it was fastened above, and
leaned forward with his weight upon it,
as he looked downwards with exclama-
tons of delight "Come up, sir, and
see; do !" he cried. Its worth all the
trouble Of climb"
was just about to creep up, that I
might share his qualification, when a
sudden whiring, grating sound of
wheels above-a gasping exclamation
"a scuhiing snatch with his feet, at the
edge Of the hole, and before [ could
move saw the poor fellow disappear
rapidly through the opening, as the
rope uncoiled itself with increasing We
locity from the winch overhead. It
flashed across me in moment. The
handle of the which had been imperfect
]y secured; the jerk and the subsequent
weight had overcome the resistance,
and trusting wholly to the rope, he had
slipped from his footing. The hope
occurred to me that the evident resis-
lance which still restrained the free
revolutions of the winch might prevent
the descent being SO rapid as to endan-
ger life or limb; so that he would possibly
land in safety with only a severe fright
and shaking. These thoughts crowded
pell-mell upon my mind, at the first