The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-12-03

out in terror, while many turned to Mr..
Watterson and urged him to order the
boy back.
"Who is he ?" said the proprietor, in
dazed manner.
s. It's Jerry, sir, Jerry, the bobbin
| boy" said man stepping forward,
AN orphan, sir, am strivin' to care TO,
his sick sister,"
Jerry Is it Jerry ?" cried Mr.. Wat.
terson, turning quickly. "Then he
shall not CO." and he waved his hand
and shouted toward the window: SEQ
back! Go back p
But already it was too late, for, with q
little cry, the boy dropped from his
perch and hung swinging above the roar
ing, grinding ice, the rope which cup
ported him sliding slowly downward
along the chain toward the center of the
dam. The breathless crowd, the terror
stricken proprietor could only watch and
wait now.
Slowly and unevenly the looped rope
from which Jerry was suspended slipped
link by link, down the sagging chain;
slowly his feet neared the great mass of
ragged ice beneath. ct length, when he
was directly over the center of the dam,
and Just above the long beam which held
the jam, allowing the rope to slide quick
~ through his hands, he dropped lightly
upon the timber he had come to cut
At the sight the sympathetic crowd
broke into wild cheer, both men and
women; but Jerry wasted no time listen
ing. A moment, half a moment lost
might mean destruction to the mills, and
before the echo of the shouting had
ceased he was plying his axe with vigor-
GUS strokes, that rang sharp and clear
above the voice of crumbling ice and
gathering waters.
1t was not a long task. The strain
upon the timber already was enormous,
and ere the lad had dealt half score of
blows an ominous cracking sound warn
ed him that his errand was accomplish
ed, and that he must be gone.
Dropping the axe, he turned, seized
the dangling rope, and began to climb
toward the chain above, when, with a
shock like the report of a cannon, the
beam gave way, and in an instant, in the
twlnkllng OF an eye, the air was filed
with a horrible roaring, as the imprison-
ed waters burst the bonds which had
confined them, and in one impetuous,
boiling flood, burst over the dam. tossing
the great cakes of ice that had formed
the barrier high on the frothing waves
so high that the hid from sight the form
of poor Jerry-and there went up from
the people a single cry: "He is lost p
But the jam was broken! The mills
were saved
And Jerry was saved, too Bruised
and stunned and bleeding, hanging half
lnsenslble above the black waters that
swept with swift curve toward the fall,
when the ice that had buffeted him had
passed away, the watchers saw that the
boy still lived; and quicker than it can
be told, boat was procured and man.
ned, long line made fast to it, and
dropping down the stream until they
were close to him, tender hands were up
raised, loving voices called out, and with
long, sobbing cry the little hero let go
his grasp upon the rope which held him
and feel fainting into the waiting arms
below.
To-day the great mills still stand by
the rivers brink, and the rumble of their
machinery Is heard all day long as of old:
but it does not reach the ears of the
bobbn-boy," nor yet those of Sister
Nellie. For the one is at college and
the other at school, both foster children
OF that most pleasant of old bachelors,
the proprietor himself; and 1t is only at
vacation time now when his days are
Enlightened by the appearance of both
his loved ones, that Mr.. Watterson's
memory turns back to that spring time.
long gone by, when Jerry, in simple,
soulful gratitude, risked his life to save
the mills.