, 1878-02-16
CARVING HIS NAME.
A Thrilling sketch by E,ihu Barritt.

or four lads standing In the channel below,
looking up with awe to the vast arch of un-
hewn rocks with the almighty bridge over
| these everlasting abutments when the morn
ing stars sung together. The little piece of
| sky snanning those measureless piers Is full
of stars, although it is midday. 1t is almost
| five hundred feet from where they stand, up
those perpendicular bulwarks of limestone,
! to the key-rock of the vast arch, which ap-
pears to them only the size of q mans hand.
| The silence of death Is rendered more i'm
pressive by the little stream that falls from
rock 10 rock down the channel. The sun is
darkened, and the boys have uneonsciously
uncovered their heads, as if standing in the
presence chamber of the majesty OF the whole
earth. At last this feeling begins to wear
away; they begin TO look around them
They see the names of hundreds cut In the
limestone abutments. new feeling comes
over their hearts, and their knives are In
hand in an instant. What man has done
man can do" is their watchword, while they
draw themselves up and carve their names q
foot above those of hundred full-grown
men who bad been there before them
! They are all satisfied with tins feat Of phys
Ical eXef;ion except one, whose example IL
Illustrates perfectly the forgotten truth that
there is no royal road to intellectual emi-
nence. This ambitious youth sees a name
! Just above his reach-a name that Will be
green i'll the memory of the world when those
of Alexander Cesar and Bonaparte shall rot
IN oblivion 1t was the name of Washington
Before he marched with Braddock to the IA
| tai field, he had been there and left his name
| foot above all his predecessors. 1t was
glorious thought of !. boy to write his name
| side by side with that Of the great father of
his country He grasps his knife with firm
hand-and clinging to little juttinS craS,
| lie cuts again into the limestone, about a foot
! above where he stands; but as he put his
feet and hands into those guns, and draws
himself carefully to his full length, he finds
| himself foot above every name chronlcled
in that mighty wall. While his companions
are regarding him with concern and admira-
tion, he cuts his name in huge capitals, large
and deep, into that flinty album. Ills knife
is still Ill his hand and strength IN his sinews,
and new y-created aspiration IN his heart.
Again lie cuts another niche, and again he
carves his name in large capitals. This Is
not enough Needless of the entreaties of
his companions, he cuts and climbs AGAIN.
| The graduations of his ascending scale grow
wider apart. He measures has length at every
gam he cuts. The voice of his friends wax
| weaker and weaker, till their words are
finally lest on his ear He now for the first
time casts look beneath him. Had that
glance lasted a moment, that moment would
have been his last. He clings with con-
uulsiye shudder TO his1ittle niche III the rock
An awful abyss awaits his almost-certam fall.
He Is faint with severe exertIOn, and tremb-
EES from the sudden view Of the dreadful
destruction to which he is exposed. HIS
knife is worn half way to the haft- He can
hear the voices but not the words of his ter
ror-stricken companions below What mo-
ment What a meagre chance to escape
destruction. There is no retracing his steps
1t is impossible to put his hands INTO the
same niche with his feet, and retain his hold
a moment. His companions instantly per
ceive this new and fearful dilemma and
await his fall with emotions that 'ireeZe
their young blood" He is too high, too
faint, to ask for his father and mother, his
brothers and sisters. to come and witness or
avert his destrutt,n But one OF his conl-
panions anticipates his desires Swift rs the
wind he bounds down the channel, and the
fatal situation of the boy is told upon his
fathers hearth stone.
Minutes of almost eterual length rolled on,
and there We're hundreds standing IN that
rocky channel, and hundreds on the ridge
above, ali holding their breath and awaiting
the fearful catastrophe. The poor boy hears
the hum Of new and numerous voices, both
above and below. He can just distinguish
the tones of his fathers voice, who IS shout
inU With all the energy ot ulSpalr
"WilIiam, William, don't look down
Your mother and Henry and Harriet are all
here PRAYING for you. Don't look down
Keep your eyes toward the top
The boy didn't look down-his eyes are
fixed like flint toward Heaven, and his young
heart on Him who reigGs there He grasps
again his knife. He ca,s another niche, and
another foot is added to the hundreds that
remove him from the reach OF human help
from below. How carefully he uses his vast
ing blade. How anxiously he selects the
softest place in that pier! How he avoids
every fiinty grain, How he economies his
physical powers! Resting moment at EACH
again he cuts. How every motion Is watch
ed from below. There stands his father,
mother, brother, ard sister, on the very spot
where if he falls, he will not fall alone
The sun is half down the west. The lad
had made fifty additional inches IN the
mighty wall, and now finds himself directly
| under the middle of that vast arch OF rocks,
earth. and trees. He must cut his way IN
| new direction to get over the overhanSng
| mountain. The inspiration Of hope Is dylng
| in his bosom It's vital heat is fed by the III
creased shouts of hundreds perched upon
cEfsaod trees, and others who stand with
ropes in their hands on the bridge above or
| with ladders below Fifty gains more must
! be cut before the longest rope can reach him.
His wasting blade again strikes into the Line
stone.
The bow is emerging painfully, foot by foot,
from under that lofty arch. Splced ropes
| are ready In the hands Of those who are lean
inc over the outer edge of the bridge Two
minutes more and ell viii be over. The blade
ia worn to the last half inch The boys head
reaIs. his ewes are starting from their sock
cts His last hope is dying in his heart-hls
Eis must hang On the last gain he cuts. That
n;teba is his last At the last faint cash he
,n.Ias bis knife. his faithful knife, falls from
| b;s neryeless hand, and, ranging along the
,,rsc;n;;ce falls at his mother feet
an involuntary groan of dispair runs like
| d.atb.knell through the channel below,
anil all is still as the grave At the heignt
81 rearlv three hundred feet the devoted boy
i;fts his hopeless heart and closing eyes, to
Commend his soul to God Tis but mo-
ment~there one foot swings of-he Is reel
inc trembling, topping over into eternity
Hark! a shout falls on his ear from apo.s
| The man who is lying with hal ms iene.h
over the bridge has caught g,lmPss sh. ., u.
boys head and shoulders oniGk as snoesh'
the noosed rope is within reacn W .. tne sum
onSnynlsive effort the swooning boy drops his
arms into the nose Darkness comes o.e,
h;m. vith the words God, and mother
| -, he Ens inst loud enough to be