Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-07-29

Some thirty years ago you might have
seen some of the best society Of New York |
on the top Of tho distributing reservoir any
fine October morning. Thoro were two or
three carriages In waiting, an q half a dozen |
senatorial-looking mothers with young chill |
dren pacing tho parapot as wo ourselves, one
day i'm the past generation, basked in the
sunshine, now watching tho pickerel that
glided along tho lucid edges of the black
pool within, and now looking of upon the
scene of rich and wondrous variety that
spreads along the two rivers on each side.
"They may talk of Alpheus and Arethusa,"
murmured an idle sophomore, who had |
found his way thither during recitation hours,
'.but the Croton, in passing over an arm of
the sea at Spuyten- -Duyvil, and bursting TO
sight again In this truncated pyramid beats
1t all hollow. by George too, the bay yonder |
looks as blue as ever the 1sgean Sea to Byron's
eye, gazing from the Acropolis! But the |
painted foliage on these crags 1.-The Greeks |
must have dreamed Of such vegetable phe- |
nomenon In the midst of their graysh olive |
the want of it In their landscape by embroid-
ering their marble temples with gay colors.
Did You see that pike break, sir ?'
"I did not"
,"Ioundsl his silver fin flashed upon the
black Acheron, like restless soul that
hoped yet TO mount from the pool"
"The place seems suggestive of fancies to
| you T' we observed in reply to the rattle
| pate.
alt is, indeed for have done up "A good
| deal of an xious thinking within a circle of q
few yards where that fish broke just now"
"A singular place for meditation-the
| middle of the reservoir "
| "You look incredulous, sir, but it's fact. A
| fellow can never tell, until he has tried, in
what situation his most earnest medtations
may be concentrated. ! am boring you,
thought
"Not at all. But you seem so familiar
with the spot, wish you could tell mo why
that ladder leading down To the water Is
lashed against the stonework in yonder
| corner"
"That ladder" said tho Young man
Frightening at the question; "why, the
| position, perhaps the existence, of that lad
der resulted from my meditations in the
reservoir, at which you smiled just now.
Shall tell you all about them ~
"Pray do"
"Well, you have seen the notice forbid
ding any one TO fish in the reservoir. Now,
when read that warning, the spirit OF the
thing struck me at once as inierring nothing
, more than that one should not suly the tenn
perance potations Of our citizens by sleeping
bait in II Of any kind but you probably
know the common way Of taking pike with
a slip-noose Of delicate wire, l was deter
mined to have a touch at tho fellows with
| this kind OF tackle.
al chose a moonlight night and an hour
before the ediice was closed TO visitors, ]
| secreted myself within the walls, determined
to pass the night on the top. All went as !
> | could wish it. The night proved cloudy, but
I it was only variable DRIFT OF broken clouds
# | which obscured the moon. ] had walking
; | cane-rOd with me which would reach to the
, margin of the water, and several feet beyond
, | if necessary. To this was attached the wire
Il about fifteen inches in length.
IS al prowled along the parapet for cOnsid
cradle time, but not single fish could | see
The clouds made tlickering light anC
Il shade that wholly foiled my steadf,lst gaze
y ] was convinced that should they come uI
u thicker, my whole nights adventure woulC
| be thrown away. why should | not de
o scend the sloping wall and get nearer ON
n | level with the fish, for thus alone can hop
Is | to see oneT The question had hardly shape,
|, itself i'm my mind before l had one leg owe
> | the iron railing.
"If you will look around you will see nov
Is | that there are some half dozen weeds grow
l. ing here and there amid the tissures OF th
l. solid masonry. In one of the assures fron
,s whence these spring, l planted foot an,
began my descent Tho reservoir was tulle
than IL Is now, and few strides would hav
y carried me to the margin Of the water. Hold
O. ing on to tho cleft above, l felt round wit
Of one foot for place to plant 1t below me.
j. ain that moment a flap Of a pound pix
~ made me look round, and the roots of tn
70 weed upon which partially depended gav
= way as j was in the act of turning. Sir, one
IL senses are sharpened in deadly peril ~
a live now, i distinctly heard the bells
at Trinity Ginning midnight, as ] rose to th
re surface the next instant, immersed in I'll
a stone caldron where ] mast swim for III
- life heaven only could tell how long.
" " 81 am capital swimmer, and tn
IN naturally gave me degree of self possession
IN Falling as had / OF course had picked on
~ some distance from the sloping parapet. -.
In | few strokes brought me to the edge. j reall
NJ was not yet certain but that could clambc
up the face of the wall anywhere l hope
u that could. felt certain at least there Wi
o some spot where might get hold with III
d. hands even If did not ascend il.
H. % tried the nearest gppt The iuCliua tic
NJ | of the wall was so vertical that 1t did not eve
in rest me to lean against 1t. / felt with IN
hands and with my feet Surely, though
there must he some fissure like those
in which that ill-omened weed had found
III place for its root.
"There was none. My fingers became sol
in busying themselves with the harsh an
,d | inhospitable stones. NY feet slipped fro
or the smooth and slimy masonry beneath Il
water I; and several times my face came
W rude contact with the wall, when my foe
To- hold gave way on the instant that j SCENE
)st to have found some diminutive rocky Gle
be | upon which | could stay myself.
of "Sir, did you ever see rat drowned in
,st halfflled hOgshead-how he swims rour
'' and round and round and after vainly tr
al ing the sides again and again with his paw
al fixes his eyes upon the upper rim as if
,o- | would look himself out of his watcry prisoi
De 81 thought of the miserable vermi
oo thought of him as had often watched thu
20 his dying agonies, when cruel urchin
ID eight or ten. Boys are horribly cruel, sir,
Id | boys, women, and sayages All childlil
ITS | things are cruel-cruel from want of though
re and from perverse ingenuity, although |
10, | instinct each of these is so tender. You ms
10y not have observed il, but a savage is as te
" der to its own young as a boy is TO a favori
es puppy,--the same boy that will torture
rd kitten out of existence. l thought then,
tn | say of the rat drowning in a half-tiled cas-
n of water, and lifting his gaze out of the We
~, | sci as he grew more and more desperate, an
" i flung myself on my back, and foatir
or thus, fixed my eyes upon the face of Il
er | moon.