The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1881-01-27
SHOOTING THE RAPIDS.

SHOOTING THE RAPIDS.
s'Curious, isn't it, how the old Gus
toners still hold their own? Here i
the fashion of penance by pilgrimage
still in vogue, with the additional ag
gravation of calling it travelling TO
| pleasure
"Wcll, Edward" said sweet voice
"that's very pretty compliment to u
your companions. l think 1 ought t.
| make yon do penancc for that
That's right, Miss Wentworth; keer
him in order" chimed in thiro
speaker. "However, going abroad ha.
this one advantage for us English, tha
! there we can sometimes venture tc
seem amused without thereby commit
ting the seven deadly sins in one.''
Such was the chat which passed
among the group of four-two ladies
and two gentlemen-seated at lunch or
the balcony of the Hotel du Rhin, al
SchaAhausen, one sunny afternoon in
the latter part of May. The first
speaker was n fine looking young man
of three-aDd-twcnty, whose comely fea-
lures, dark curling hair, and tall. well
shaped figure, amply bore out the name
of '-Handsome Ned" given him by his
intimates. Young, rich, good-looking,
popular with high and low, in the plen-
iiude of health and vigor, lately be-
trotEed to the charming girl whose soft
lustrous eyes were watching him half
tenderly, half archly, from the other
side of the board-Viscount Montague
might fairly account himself an en-
tremely lucky young fellow. But upon
that bright young face, firm and manly
as it was, brooded the doomed look
which haunts one in the portraits of
Montrose, of Claverhouse, of Charles /
-ominously bearing out the gloomy
tradition current among the elders of
his native country, that 1.-the last of the
MontaguesH was SO in double sense,
and that with him the grand old line
which had left its mark upon every age
OF English history since the days of the
Tudors was doomed to pass away for
ever.
Beside him sat his inseparable associ-
ate, Sedley Burdett, whose square,
muscular figure, and frank sunburnt
face, looked the very embodiment of
young England at its best. Side by
side. the two young men had shot
buffaloes on American prairies, stalked
moose through Canadian forests,
''bowled over'' royal tigers in Bengal,
and hobnobbed with negro kings on the
coast of Africa, and they were now
foatte de Haieala, escOrting the''Flower OF
Kent" and her mother on the inevitable
tour through Switzerland, not without
a secret hope that some unScaled noun
tain might afford them a chance of
breaking their necks in the good old
British way.
..Did you see how old Johann eyed
me as he brought in the lunch?" said
Montague. ..He's evidently a devout
believer in the Continental creed, that
an Englishman's natural pastime is to
knock somebody down, or set house
on fire, or make heavy bet that he'll
jump headforemost out of the window,
and then do it forthwith.
'.Aye," laughed Burdctt, "just what
DIR. Buchanan said to me yesterday:
Mein Herr, those countrymen of yours!
When / was practicing in Saxony, /
had no peace for them! First thing in
the morning, king! king! at my door.
What is it?' AN Englander, who has
broken his leg in trying to scale the
Teufels-horn, which no one ever
assembled yet 1 set the Herr Eng
1ander's leg, and am making him COM
Portable, when king! king! again.
What nowP' AN Englander, nearly
drowned in swimming across the Elbe
for a wager L wrap the Herr Eng
lander in hot blankets, and bring him to.
Before half an hour is over, king!
klingi once more. .Men Herr, what $
the matter?' AN Englander, who has
broken a blood-vessel in trying to run
twelve miles an hour, because somebody
said he couldn't Mein Herr, 1 am
fo h-xr TO 1,rrf
men are equally devoid of fear and of
reason"
''But you won't do any more of these
horrible things now, Edward. said
Marion Wentworth, entreatingly; '.you
promised to be more careful, you know,
while you were with U.S."
"Don't be frightened, my child"
answered the viscount, with his gay
laugh; '.believe me, have no intention
of being killed any sooner than is nee
essary. Would you believc-it, Sed? this
unreasonable young woman is making
herself miserable, and daily expecting
a notification to attend my funeral, on
no better grounds than an old monk S
prophecy"
''An old Monks prophecy?' echoed
Burdett, inquiringly.
'sWhat, haven't you heard of it?''
cried Montague. '.Well, this is Il treat,
10 find one man to whom that story S
new You must know, then Gas those
fellows in Sanford and Merton keep
saying), that the estate which Harry
the Eighth bestowed upon my respected
ancestor, Sir Anthony Browne, included
Battle Abbey and the lands belonging
to it; and mighty short work he made
of the poor old monks, if all tales be
true. But after they were expelled, it
began to be whispered that one monk
still remained in the old walls, and that
he was not to be driven out by either
king or lord
My wordn' cried Burdett; .'that's
Just the Black Friar of Norman Stone
over again. Do you remember with
what dramatic energy our old tutor used
to repeat that verse
Beware, beware of the Black Friari
For he is still the Church's heir,
Whoe'er may be the lay.
Amundeville is lord by day,
But the monk is lord by night;
Nor vine nor wassail can raise a vassal
To question that friar's right"
s'Wen," pursued Montague, ''when
my worthy forefather came into his