Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-01-19

! were motley crew OF varied nationality,
tor the best Of the native pitmen had
been allured away by the gold and silver
OF the tar West, while the sturdy Irish
| immigrants preferred open-air labor to
| earning livelihood below ground. So
high were the wages we were forced to
give that Cornish miners and GOLFERS
| from Scotland often found it worth their
| while to cross and recross the Atlantic,
spending their own slack season protita-
bly, among our shafts and galleries.
| Salaries in the United States are per
haps not quite on proportionate level
with weekly wages, but then the oppor-
tunities of rising in the world are prob
| ably more frequent than at home; and l
did not complain, anticipating the time
when, as permanent manager, | should
be in receipt Of better income and, pros
pectively, Of some share in the profits of
the firm. For the time being had board
| and lodging, at the rate of $3.50 day, in
an upland farm house, and ran no risk of
damage, either in person or property, by
the inundation that menaced the dwell
/ was therefore mere spectator, though
ready and willing at pinch to be useful
to those who were less fortunate.
There's woman on Ship Island,
there, waving something and calling to
us. May never, but IT'S young Nine.
Parnell herself! Yes, and there's the
child with her." said one of men on the
bank
Cant be-" said another, incredulously.
"The farmer would never have fingered
this long till he's right in the grip of the
ice.''
"ParnelFs not tew hum, | tell you"
answered the other in his New Jersey ac-
cent. Hes away this week past to
Philadelphia city. Yes, that's the wife
calling for help poor young thing! Guess
those cowardly skunks of hired men hev
gone off in the tlatboat and left the woman
and child to shift for themselves"
To explain this | may briefly say that
two miles above Ithaca and almost oNpo-
site to the bluff on which we were stand
ing there is an islet in the river shaded by
trees and which takes its name from some
fancied resemblance in its shape to that
OF ship. On it stood a farm house with
, brightly painted gables of carved wood
work, Il tiled roof and "A porch which in
summer was festooned with twining roses
IA picturesque object in the landscape,
Often in the still sultriness of an August
day | had looked admiringly at this
house, with its peach and apple orchards,
! its grassy meadows shaded by tall cotton
| wood poplars, and its sunny garden slop-
! ing to the waters edge, where the great
streaked melons and yellow pumpkins lay
basking in the midst of blooming flowers,
and had considered il rs the very abode OF
| peace. | knew the proprietor of this en-
viable dwelling Seth Parnell, by name
| but very slightly, and had never met with
the other members of his family or set
foot on his tiny domain.
| That the island farm was in great dan
ger from the advancing Ice was but too
manifest; and was astonished when, on
| demanding who was ready to assist me in
carrying aid to the deserted woman and
child, 10 response was made beyond a
deprecatory grOwl of dissent from my
| proposal THROWN life away as you'd
| throw corn-stalk, that's what | call il"
pithlly reioined after pause the old yeo.
man from the hills. "'Ta.nt the drift
| that's speaking the river now that I'd
value the swapping of gunlock," he
continued, pointing to the loose ice float
| ing by; it's the gorge itself that would
smash in the side of IA hundred-ton sloop
as boy cracks peanut; and see, mister,
the jams breaking alreadym
| And indeed the ice-wall, which had for
some minutes been stationary, having
probably anchored itself on some shoal
or sandbank, was again in motion, urged
by the resstless pressure of the flood above
it, while the shrieks and despairing gest-
ures OF the lonely occupant of the islet
showed in what an agony of alarm she
beheld the near approach of the destroy
ing wave. Still, although | made an
urgent appeal to those around me to aid
in manning a broadhorn--one OF num-
Der of boats, of various build and size,
that lay moore1 in the creek hard by--no
volunteer answered to the call and when
| declared my intention OF going alone to
the rescue of those on the island, efforts
were made to dissuade me from running
the risk Of what, to the bystanders, APP
peared to be all but inevitable death.
Good grit; FL say that Tor the Brit
isherp Such were the old farmers vale
dictory words as sprang into canoe,
grasped the paddle and pushed off.
=" Pity, too, to see it done. We oughter
hev held him back by force, neighbors."
However was by this time well out of
the creek, which formed sort of mina.
ture harbor, and plying my paddle with
the vigOr necessary to contend with the
force Of the current, now swollen by the
effects of the long-continued thaw Luck
lily, during my residence beside the Della
ware | had acquired that deXterity in the
handling of canoe which nothing but
practice could confer, and | succeeded in
GLIDING the shock of those sheets OF float
ing ice-7,he impact Of which might have
proved fatal TO my slender skiff--and had
almost gained the southern extremity OF
the island when loud shout of warming
from those on shore made me turn my
head, to behold, with dismay, that
quantity OF gigantic masses of the
cleaning crystal had broken away
from the slow-moving gorge and
We're rushing furlously down the