The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-11-27

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/ no darksome forests; all is fertile ant
good to the eye of man just peace ant
plenty. 1t is different, though, as tn,
sound of the thunder ahead grows upo1
you, dull, awful, everlasting, that has
sounded on from creation, and will out
last you and me, stranger, and thousands
Of genations yet to come.
ssWhere lived was, as l said, buta few
miles above this. Further. down the cain
flow Of the river swirls into ripplcs, anc
whirls and grows scared like OF what's be-
tore it. Then it exercises itself Tor thu
hell tits to pass through. It tastes pur
gatory. It's all foam and dash. ano
splutter and growl, through the frothy
rapids that roughen it for awhile. Their
1t settles for steady work. 1t braces it
self tor endurance, and then pluckily
smooths itself 10 face its fate.
How grand that calm deep flood is
that pours along without stay or hurry
that you can see, to its awful plunge
But, stranger, smooth and peaceable as il
looks, its deep enough and strong enough
to astonish weak nerves, or iron ones, IS !
know we'll, and you'll know before I've
done it my tongue does its duty.
just look across the fall. You see il
best from the British side. Run your
eye round the great horseshoe near you,
That curve is some two thousand ieet
broad, and some hundred and fifty feet
deep. Then there's Goat Island, snug in
the midst Of the mighty plunge.
Can you see small, flat speck of rock
not so many yards off its shores9 No2 I
know it, as you'll hear. Our American
fall beyond knuckles under little to this
nearer to US. But it's mighty respect
able watershed, too. Twelve hundred
feet in the breadth, a hundred and fifty
feet high. Your knowalls guess that
every passage minute some seven hun
dred thousand tons of good fresh river
roll over that rock into sprays and foam
in the dim gulf below. f..
GAS boy, used to sec beauty as we'll
as wonder in all this. Where it's not hid
white with foam see what q clear sea,
green the flood is as it shoots over. You
can measure the force Of the rush of wa
tiers, for tho curve of the shining sheet is
fifty feet from the wall of rock it slips
down. -~ ,5.' ~
elbow does it strike you2 You see it, I
dare say, as saw il two score years ago.
To you it is terrible, but not all terror,
It's lovely too. And to me? we'll, to m:
it is horror only; it has been so since that
day when I hung on its very brink for
hours, and thought cf it as one might
think in nightmare dream of some
hideous thing, uncomfortable, unutterable
that held one in its awful grasp. But
mine was no vision CT the night to laugh
at when awakened. Those hours grizzled
the then brown Of my Young head into
the iron gray you see it now. Their iron
entered into my soul, as they say. 1t has
lived there ever since, night and day,
season and season. There it will stay till
the death rattle kills the memory of all
this side of my coffin.
II hunted and fshed then That's how
I lived. Visitors then came pretty plen-
tiful to see this wonder. I could get a
ready sale for what l caught, whether it
was fur or fin. I had canoed it from
when could recollect any thing, and
was pretty spry, tell you, with the pad
dies, and pretty venturesome, too, l be-
came, till thought was strong enough
and skilled enough to run risks here
abputs that Others would have shuddered
froH.
be IN any danger from it, was SO famil-
lar with it, thought of it with none of
the scare newcomers found in it. used
to laugh at their genuine fears at the very
sight and sound oft, I know it by night,
when the calm moon light poured down
light through the silvered spray clouds
that hung over it,; by day, when the glad
sun danced rain bows above its flashing
hoods. Then it was too old a friend of
mine to be dreaded by me. ..-~'
"One day changed all this, and knew
1t tor the hungry monster that it is
pitlle2s, craving for its human prey.
sit was one Wednesday IN August. The
hotels were full. Fish was il 1eauest, as
much as I could pring. Price didn't
matter. Pleasure seekers bleed freely. I |
was paid we'll for what could be CHARGED
for as they liked. I had found that the
nearer the rapids I got the finer seemed
what caught, and the more freely the
bait was taken. I had so often gone
"Hcte HOsC were 100 tlmld to venture !
that had come to believe I could skim
any where.
Even now think, had my paddle |
been sound, I should have come off safe,
''Well, that morning was out at sun
rise. md pretty successful I was. | !
stesdled my course, letting the canoe
drift little by little toward the rapids that
frothed and raved some miles below. !
felt at any moment I could shoot it out !
81 the strength Of the current into the
waters Ey the shore.
81 got fully employed with my lines,
Tor, as [ glided down stream, my take
was rapid, and that of the finest. So |
eager was I that failed to paw that at
tention to the drift Of my canoe which
was so needful. ,..,-..' -.. - ERIE |
''lt was with start at last l felt 7 was
lar too much in the full deep current of
the river, and that it's strength would |
need my utmost efforts to escape from
its grasp. For the first time felt real
dread, for the boiling and hiss of the /
seetling waters could almost be heard
below me. piled the paddles strongly
ana tor while 1 had hopes of safety,
though had never known the need of
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