Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-05-27
long lofty stems Of the undraped trees

long lofty stems OF the undrapeO Trees
crowding up into the light. and the
aisles on one hand extending into
shadow, and on the other huge moss
grown powders and thorny thickets
lining the bank, where, some eighty feet
below, the river went brawling along
over rapids and falls in q way to please
poet or q fisherman. And Ii was
picturesque little body in the wood that
Angelica looked, the wind tossing her
hat half of, her glowing CHEEKS, her
sparkling brown eyes, and her great
shock OF light brown curls blowing
all ways at once as she leaned over
the edge of the bank to gaze into
the seething torrent below, and won
dered, meanwhile, whether pond-lilics
grew in that sort OF water. Just then
the wind slapped her skirt round n
young walnut sapling. Vexed with the
rudeness, she slapped it back again she
lost her balance as she did it, and over
she went with cry.
Poor little Angelica! How many
thoughts there are in a second! Her
first thought was, Its the end of me !;
I'm being torn to pieces on those rocks!"
Her second enc was, ooh, what will
grandma do without me nowP" The
third one ran, "And I've been so bad
about Mr.. Wilston, and he'll be 80 sorry
for his little Angelica; and I pushed
Tommy yesterday; and once | told
grandma lie" And then there was
wild whirl of horror, of sharp rocks and
drowning whirlpools, and great gulfs of
hated and oblivion.
When the little body came to herself
she was lying comfortably suspended in
mid-air, in cradle made of wild plum
bushes and the old horse brier and
grapevines that had interlaced them
selves together there, growing from the
crevices. Above her was more than
twenty feet of almost sheer rock, and be-
low her the boiling river, rushing and
roaring on. With start of terror, as
memory swept back upon her, she
seized stout stem of the vine, and
clutched it with all her might; but q
gust of wind coming at the moment,
and rocking the cradle well, assured her
that her clinging amounted to little. and
she presently found the thousand and
one briers of the wild smilax holding
her more securely than it was possible
her tiny fingers should.
Before long she was able to gather
her senses from their trance of horror,
in which all reason had been dissipated,
and she looseLed her dress, and sat up
in her nest to look about her. It's OF
no use," she said at last. "The only
way to get down is to free grapevine,
and climb down on 1t; and it wouldn't
be long enough, and it wouldn't be
strong enough, and If / got down at all,
it would only be into boiling pit of
deep water. and in freeing il I might be
like the man who sawed off the end of
the branch he sat on-if could free il
any way. And / might as well die of
starvation and be picked by the birds,
as die Of drowning and be picked by the
fishes. But, oh, dearl dearl dear!
what are they doing at home now? Why
can't some of them come after me2 Why
doesn't Mr.. Wilston know how horribly
! hang here between heaven and earth?
Why doesn't somebody follow meP Oh,
to be punished this, way? Oh, you don't
die here! Oh. how cruelr And then
she wrung her hands. and cried again.
But the crying over, for the time be-
ing, Angelica began to look about her.
The blow had been struck too power
fully TO do much less than stun, and she
yet hardly realized her situation in full.
- don't quite give il up" she said.
Somebody may come this way" and
she hallooed till she was out of breath.
:" 1t wouldn't be n bad place for pleas
ure," she thought, eff one could get
down or up when one wished, and If one
had plenty of books and lunch basket.
Oh, how hungry / ami" Certainly Il
was not ut all bad place of its sort
q w N oiY n ~ cd s..w
air, with the birds darting all about
one; with the great sky full of sunshine
overhead; with that fish-hawk sailing
in slow circles ere he plunged. This
is the way some of the Puget Sound In
dians bury their dead" she thought,
high up in air among the branches.
Only they have tin pans hung with
them. And that does so put me in mind
of our Nora's cream-the very last pan
she let me skim. And now I'm hungrier
than ever. wonder what time It is
long past lunch, of course. I'm hollow
now; / shall be famished by dinner
time; tomorrow morning | shall be
giddy. wonder how long It takes peo-
pie to die OF starvation, and If it's very
fearful? | mustn't think about broths.
and haricots, and stews, and chicken
pies. and And Angelica paused,
holding this Improbable meditation for
one about to die. ~ ought to be read
ing my Testament" said she. '"And vet
the only thing | should enjoy reading
just now would be a cookery book. Oh,
didn't know / was such gluttoni
suppose in my heart OF hearts | am sure
that Mr.. Wilston will come after me-"
II was in the pause ofthought follow
ing that she heard voices-a myriad, It
seemed to her. She had shouted from
time to time ever since she fell: now
she raised her voice again, and she
couldn't make ou, whether it was the
children answering her OF flight of
echoes from the opposite rock. No, It
was the children, she Mt length was sure.
Yes, yes, indeed, there were the little
faces peering over the brink, through
the stems of the saplings-faces OF those
very children at whose paper garlands
she had laughed; and she called out
Justify again-called, and called. with
furious and half frenzied cries, till her
Ynice refnsed To come for morn plainlr,