River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-11-28

ance. Deliverancef was II dellTerauee
For how oug} / yet breathed. but wh'
would, who could. save me from the rush
ing food that tore past me, from tht
/ laundering cataract that fell almost with
in reach of my touchl
"Oh hcavenl What had saved life for
I For prolonged agonyl For such misery
az must end in starvation, madness, sui
cider Could my mind long bear the strain
now upon it, How could it,
j "Let your eye skirt The rounding eige
of this nearest fall You can see the verg
rock was ON. 1t looks but yards from
the larger space o. Goat Island. bus those
yards were as bad as miles. They were
"a impossible gulf between me and the
stretch of rock that seemed so near.
"What were my chances OF escapei
Dared | hope there We're any | was al
most two wild with terror TO think at all.
Yet the brain seemed fevered with life in
such moments.
"Shouid I re staryed2 Should | slide
into the rushing tide from cold and ex-
haGsttona Would sheer, unbear@hle ter
ror fling me TO death from nay utter In
ability to endure the horror that possessed
me2
What could be done for me2 Was res
cue possibiel Could boat be tioa'ed 10
any way down 10 me2 Esen if 1t could be
guided to so sulall point, could | dare
to trust myself to itl
would any rope be strong enough to
bear the force that the mighty flood would
require it TO endure and overcome2
An instant's relaxation of the strain on
the rope that might hold 1t till it towed
it to shore, and I, il not it, would be
where my own canoe had gone.
would hrman strength, could human
endeavor, snatch me from the doom that
had 50 nearly already ingulled me2
'All these thoughts we've in nv brain
in that instant, even while the very power
to think seemed frozen in me.
How could [ dare TO see2 | shrieked
to be senseiess. Oh, for madness. if mad
ness would rid me of the terror in nv
brain, in nv very blood, that was, as 1t
seemed. my life--Ihat so possessed me,
that existence had room for nothing but
unutter2ble horrorl
II looked to this very rock on which
we stand. Here, on this spot, saw a
throng of excited spectators. was seen;
and who could see q human being in
such peril, and not family share the
terror that felt?
81 could hear the calls Of men to me 10
haze heart. I could catch cries to me
thar | should be saved, | could see
women wild with pity. All, what could
their pity do for me9 Yet that, perhaps,
was the saving OF my lite. ANY thing
any thing to make me forget the ever
rus...- waters tha increasingly flashed
Vy my. feet and disappeared.
"hIen were cfowding the river oank.
They were consulting, i could see, ex
citedly, debating what should DC Zone.
There is rush of some from the
crowd. Time passes, ages TO me, in my
agony. At last boat comes borne on the
of boatmen at a run. They lay
it at the waters edge. Delay delay
On, Godl Oh, Gnd There is a rush Of
others with coil of cable, not rope; rope
they knew would be murder.
II see them boring the boats sides
passing the cable thro .gh-knettng IT.
mailing it securely.
'sThe boat is towed along the still side
water far up the stream. The crowd fol-
low it. What will they dol God what
will they do2 What sane being will ven
.ure his life to save mine! Delay ] delay
They have stopped. Talk. chatter! will
they never actl Oh, dear God, help him
: bless him 4 canoe pulls out FROM
shore, with the boat in tow. The canoe
as we'll as the boat, has cable secured to
ii, by which those On the bank regulate
Its drift down stream. How strongly it
up and out into the full food !
Both cables are secured round trees and
paid out by numbers.
Fighting up and across the tide, drift
ed down it IS the cables slack their
length, I watch--with what hungering
ewes The canoe steals inch By inch to
where it and the boat holds it are in q
line with my feet The set OF some cur
rent drifted me to The rock | stand on.
The boat is detached, straining on the Ca
BILE, guided, too, by rope from the nea
ly stationary canoe. The current sets 1T
toward me. 1t is brought up by the
strain of the cable ashore. Still it drifts
nearer and nearer.
There are moments in life that swal-
low up all the rest of existence in our
mem9ries. They haunt us awake, We
dream them always. If l shonld he a
Methuselah with centuries OF breath it
seems to me one thought would always
absorb all others, as Aagon's snake de-
vOured Pharoah's magician's serpents.
/ remember nothing else but that
woke out OF dreaEa of hell in bed at
F0rsyth's was TOLD | had been in death
agony with BRAN fever. What mattered
that2 ] was out of the torment of the
damned / felt the blessedness of peace,
of safety, OF life wrung from death.
They dared not tell me it was real
that all am now telling you had been
awful realty--that | had dared as the
boat drifted abreast of me to risk a leap
into it--that, on the very edgd and utter
brink of perdition, the strength of scores
ashore had overpowered the rushing flood
that amid the shouts and tears and sobs,
not of women only, but of bearded, iron
nerved men, had been lifted senseless
from the boat and borne to enjoy BRAN
fever safely in the hotel yonder.
"Do YOU think have told you lie or
bellevable truth--the bare factl know
it IS plain truth, and yet only half credit
myself Well, stranger, dream or truth,
never forget it; it's rart of me always.
God save any one from ever trying, IN
fact or fancy, such an experience as mine
Now you know why | don't see any
thing of beauty in Niagara. leave that
to be discovered bv those who never came