The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-07-29

of three came down from the town
above, and wished to Cross over Ny
father was away from home, and my
dear, kind mother, God bless her. was
attending to her family duties, when she
heard cry for help come up from the
river. 80
The three men had stolen the boat,
broken the lock, and were turning
round and round in the middle of the
stream, and making no perceptible
Roadway, but were now fast approach
ing the falls below, in which no boat
ever went through and came out whole.
The men had been drinking and had
been partially drunken from the effects
Of the liquor, but now were apparently
sobered through fear; for they realized
the great peril they were in, and Justify
did they call for help. My mother took
in their situation at glance, and saw
the cause of their predicament. She
saw that they had committed two
wrongs, which led them directly to this
depending disaster-the drinking Of
rum, which was the greater crime, asst
lom tanother, the stealing Of the boat,
whereby they were now in q fair way to
lose their lives. But with my mother
these things were insignificant in com
parison with human lives, and she con-
Guided to do all in her power to save
them. But what could she do? It
seemed as though she could hardly do
rope at hand, and if she had one it
would have taken more than her strength
to have gotten it to them. But some
thing must be done. She saw that they
were nearly in the middle of the stream.
and were travelling fast, and yet faster,
toward the sharp and jagged rocks,
against which the impetuous water was
dashing itself into foam. No time was
to be lost. Two Of the men were kneel-
ing in the boat and praying as only per-
sons terribly interested can pray. The
other had hopes yet in human help,
and hailed with JOY the coming of my
mother. Her thoughts flashed through
her brain with the rapidity Of lightning,
and she saw that she could only do one
thing toward their escape, and that was
to command. Never will I forget the
appearance Of that noble woman as she
stood upon the embankment, near the
house, and commanded those weak men
to get up and work for their lives. And
they obeyed as child obeys his par
ents- or should obey. They were by this
time, nearer the further bank, and,
bow toward the shore, they were told to
paddle mostly upon the lower side, and,
at the proper time, as the boat began to
turn, they were ordered to paddle upon
the upper side, and this was kept up, the
orders given and strictly obeyed, and
quite good progress was made toward
safety, but, as they, neared the other
shore, they also neared the falls, and, as
they saw how fast they were going to-
ward certain destruction, they aSmost
gave up, but the noble words Of encour-
agement that rang out over the river
from the frail woman upon its bank
stimulated them to greater exertion,
and, as they came into the CLASSY
waters just above the falls, and which is
above and close to all falls, one man
reached an overhanging limb, and,
grasping it with the grip Of drowning
man, pulled safely to the shore. The
men quickly sprang ashore, and, as soon.
as they knew they were safe, fell to the
ground with fear and exhaustion. The
boat went over the falls and was des-
I troyed. :, 1
We're the men thankful for the kind
ness of my mother toward them? Yes,
they were humans. None but an inhu-
man being could be thankless for such
favor. In a few days the party called at
the house, and the many expressions
of thankfulness and gratitude that fell
from their lips were sufficient pay for
saving their lives. .s.-ea -'
I trust that valuable lesson was
learned from this event by these men,
and I am in hope that they refrained
from using rum thereafter, but human
nature is composed of such strange ma
terial that with some nothing but death
will prevent them from doing wrong,
but let us hope that with these men It
was different.
The heroine of this story is alive at
the present time, although aged, and is
still able to peruse these lines, which
are penned in justice to her by the
writer.