Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-05-29
w "A d. 2GNO.3


his terror-stricken companions below.
What moment! What meagre chance
to escape destruction! There is no re-
tracing his steps. 1t it impossible to put
his hands into the same niche with his
feet and retain his slender hold mo-
ment. His companions instantly per-
ceive this new and fearful dilemma, and
await his fall with emotions that "freeze
their young blood" He is too high to
ask for his father and mother, his BROTH
ers and sisters to come and witness or
avert his destruction. But one of his
companions anticipates his desire.
Swift as the wind he bounds down the
channel, and the situation Of the fated
boy is told upon his fathers hearth
stone. Minute of almost eternal length
roll on, and there are hundreds standing
in that rocky channel and hundreds on
the bridge above, all holding their
breath apd awaiting for the fearful ca
tastrophe. The poor boy hears the hum
of new and numerous voices both above
and below. He can just distinguish the
tones of his father, who is shouting with
al the energy of despair:
civilian William don't look down!
Your mother, and Henry and Harriet,
are all here praying for you! Don't
look down: Keep your eyes toward the
top"
The boy doesn't look down. His eye
is fixed like flint toward heaven, and
his young heart OH Him who reigns
there. He grasps again his knife. He
cuts another niche, and another foot is
added to the hundreds that remove him
from the reach Of human help from be-
low. How carefully he uses his vast
ing bladel How anxiously he selects
the softest places in that vast pier! How
he avoids every fiinty grain. How he
economies his physical powers, resting
a moment at each gain he cuts. How
every motion is watched from below!
There stands his father, mother,
brother, and sister, on the very spot
where, il he falls, he will not fall alone.
The sun is halfway down in the west.
The lad has made fifty additional inches
in that mighty wall, and now finds him
self directly under the middle Of that
vast arch of rock, earth and trees. He
must cut his way in new direction to
get from his overhanging mountain.
The inspiration of hope is in his bosom;
its vital heat is fed by the increasing
shouts of hundreds perched upon cliffs.
trees, and others WHO stand with ropes
in their hands upon the bridge above,
or with ladders below. Fifty more gains
must be cut before the longest rope can
reach him. His wasting blade strikes
again into the limestone. The boy is
emerging painfully foot by foot, from
under that lofty arch. Spliced ropes are
in the hands of those who are leaning
over the outer ledge Of the bridge. Two
minutes more, and all will be over. The
blade is worn to the last half inch. The
boys head reels; his eyes are starting
from their sockets. His last hope is dy-
ing in his heart; his life must hang
upon the next gain he cuts. That niche
is his last. At the last flint cash he
makes, his knife-hs faithful knife
falls from his little nerveless hand, and
ringing along the precipice, falls at his
mothers feet.
An involuntary groan Of despair runs
like deathknell through the channel
below, and all is still as the grave. At
the height of nearly three hundred feet,
the devoted boy lifts his hopeless heart
and closing eyes to commend his soul to
God. IT'S but a moment-there one
footswings off! he is reeling, trembling,
topping over into eternity! Hark! a
shout falls on his ears from above! The
man who is lying with his length over
the bridge, has caught glimpse OF the
boys head and shoulders. Quick as
thought, the noosed rope is within
reach of the sinking youth. No one
breathes. With a faint, convulsive ef-
feet, the swooning boy drops his arm
into the moose. Darkness comes over
him, and with the words "God" and
"mother," whispered on his lips just
loud enough to be heard i'll heaven, the
tightening rope lifts him out Of his last
shallow Eiche. Not lip moves while
he is dangling over that fearful abyss;
but when a sturdy Virginian reaches
down and draws up the lad, and holds
him up in his arms before the fearful,
breathless multitude, such shouting,
and such leaping and weeping for joy,
never greeted human being so recov-
cred from the yawning gulf of eternity.
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