Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-11-07
dor the Freeman.
4 Journey 10 Nlf1leheim.
DUBUQUE, lows

| DCbCQI T., lOWa.
Away back in the days when our ances
tors were all good Scandanivians, that
| northern otf.hoot of tho Indoo. Argan race,
they had according to popular belief, some
nine different homes, or states of existence.
for the soul OF man. OF these NIflleheim.
the abode of mist and darkness and cold,
Mannheim, the home Of man or the earth
The privilege of visiting and returnin ,
from these strange abodts is not often
granted US poor mortals, but-there are
'ome things that We may just as well
begin to accustom ourselves to- At least
so thought small company of us on one
Of these late September days, 80 we pack
ed our lunch baskets and started.
l have lntimated that we went Journey
to N tl1eheim. To the home of darkness
and cold' we certainly went; but in
unc!assic western parlance the place is
designated as "Richs Cave"
The earth had draped herself in Il thick
veil of mist-perhaps as a counter attrac
through which the sun wtded in
slow and subdued fashion, leaving the
restless winds free to dash hther and
hlther, shaking the round walnuts from
he bending branches, and whirling the
golden leaves of the hickories down
'mong the woodbine's crimson tanoles
April, the tickle goddess, may win favor
with her smiles and tears; and June, the
perfect, may be the bride of the summer
but September, the regal, wears the COL
len crown, the crown of the years com.
pleteness.
AS we rode away out of the busy streets,
'ut among the yellow cornheds past the
golden brown stretches of stubbIe where
10 Ruth, but only a modern reaper and
'lnder had garnered in the ripened wheat,
We watched tie purple cranes swinging
mong their uptulned leaves, and listened
o the jtys as they chrtterei and called.
ashng from limb to limb OF the great
AXIS, cleaning in the sun ike bits OF
oished lapis lasuli. Again Whit of
list came stealing along on the winds
'ings, up from the little watercourse
here the cows were cropping the short
RAISES.
Somewhere | have used the word
lunch-basket," and therefore follow, -, ,
ght the day, the word picnic, so once at E
II journeys end we spread our c!o b E
meath the giant oaks, boiled our cotfse i
ld-but we will be safe to lei the imagr. p
ION OF the reader supply the rest. d
Among the faces gathered about the
stive--tableclcth, WIS that OF a Yer -
onter, just now ona western tour, whose
ckets at that moment were filed with
chatterng teeth of the brave cd CHIEF til
some Indian band Whose bones had Il
en- honored by a mound" The sion of Ga
yaIiy among the ancient inhabitants of b
IS particular section of ManAriu, and til
lose place Of slumber he had ruthlessDy -
d laborlously dug down into Our post
andlal speeches were few; toasts we
d none. although the coffee was good, no
casts OF reason was not the order of 81
day as we rushed away to the dressing III
1m, and when we next made our appear. =
&c our own mothers would not have +
own us. When we reached the mouth So
the cave" which is simply Il shaft, of I
~; fifty feet depth, IL feeling Of prefer
: one to aaother ran about the circle.
were all waiting to take back seats. to
some one else have the first chance,
now we began to realize that jus ice
iab'e ia the end to be motel ont to all
H. and that the time had arrived
en- We We're TO have the moose ABUSED
swing off at a ropes end
When from the abyss came back the
ssage,a moment after W" he'd sacrificed
first victim, "IIo, tins is all rightw
n we began to take heart of courage
as the creaking capsttn brought the
,se again to the surface. seated our lie
yes, one by one, in the moose. 1t is an tie
sensation to feel oneself dangling out ant
pa
r the darkness and sinking slowly tas
Vn into it, with the knowledge that pm
Y ore mans hand holds you. What if 90 o
role should slip or the capstain break, a. a.
what if that man should forget and let us
The result would be simply an
mple Of rapid transit" in any case, ,ns
ali such things have way of dan cling Ne'
ut in one's consciousness at most s Se'
Dportuue times. but we were all safely Fen
IN at last, and presently found our Ma
es in narrow passage, each with a t Ll :