Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-01-26
WILL o. THE MILL.
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

The mill where Will lived with his adopted
parents stood In falling valley between
pine woods and great mountains Above,
hill after hill scared upwards until they
scared out of the depth of the hardest tim
Der, and stood naked against the sky. Some
way up, long gray village lay like seam
or rag Of vapor on a wooded hillside, and
when the wind was favorable, the sound of
the church bells would drop down, thin and
silvery, to Will Below, the valley grew
eyer sleeper and sleeper, and at the same
time widened out on either hand, and from
an eminence beside the mill it was possible
to see its whole length and away beyond 1t
over wide plain. where the river turned
and shane, and moved on from city to city
on its voyage toward the sea. It CHANGED
that over this valley there lay q pass into q
neighboring kingdom, so that, quiet and
rural as it was, the road that ran along
beside the river was a high thorough
fare between two splendid and powerful
societies. All through the summer,
travelling carriages came crawling up, or
went plunging briskly downward past the
mill; and as it happened that the other side
was very much easier of ascent, the path was
not much frequented except by people going
in one direction; and of all the carriages that
VIII saw go by, five-sixths were plunging
briskly downward and only one-sixth crawl
ing up. Much moro was this the case with
foot passengers. All the lightfooted tour
lists, all the peddlers laden with strange
wares, were tending downward like the river
that accompanied their psth Nor was this
all; for when VIII was yet a child disas-
trous war arose over q great part Of the
world. The newspapers were full Of defeats
and victories, the earth rang with cavalry
hoofs, and often for days together and for
miles around the coil of battle terrified good
people from their labors in the field OF all
this, nothing was heard for a long timo in
the valley; but at last one of the command
ers pushed an army over the pass by forced
marches, and for three days horse and foot
cannon and tumbril, drum and standard
kept pouring downward past tho mill All
day the child stood and watched them on
their passage-the rhythmical stride, the
pale, unshaven faces tanned about the eyes, the
discolored regimentals and the tattered flags,
filled him with sense of WEAKNESS, pity and
wonder; and all night long, after he was in
bed, he could hear the cannon pounding and
the feet trampling, and the great armament
sweeping onward and downward past the
mill No ono in the valley ever heard the
fate of the expedition, for they lay out Of the
way of gossip in those troublous times; but
VIII saw one thing plainly, that not man
returned. Whittier had they oil comet
Whittier went all the tourists and
peldlers with strange wares? whittier all the
brisk barouches with servants in tho dicky?
whittier tho water of the stream, ever cours-
ing downward and ever renewed from abovel
Even the wind blew oftener down the valley,
and carried the dead leaves along with it in
the fall. 1t seemed ike great conspiracy
of things animate and inanimate; they all
went downward. fleetly and gayly down.
ward. and only he, it seemed, remained be-
hind, like stock upon the wayside 1t some
times made him glad when he noticed how
the fishes kept their heads up stream. They,
at least. stood faithfully by him, while oil
else were posting downward to the unknown
world.
One evening he asked the miller where the
river went
1T goes down the valley" answered he,
''and turns power of mills-six score mills,
they say, from here to Unterdeck-and it
none the wearier after all. And then it goes
out into the lowlands, and waters the great
corn country, and runs through a sight Of
fine cities $50 they say) where kings live oil
alone in great palaces, with sentry walking
up and down before the door. And it goes
under bridges with stone men upon them,
looking down and smiling so curious ut the
water. and living folks leaning their elbows
on the wall and looking over too. Aud then
it goes OH and ON, and down through marshes
and sands, until at last il falls into the sea,
where the ships are that bring parrots and
tobacco from the Indies. Ay, it has "a long
trot before it as 1t goes singing over our weir,
bless It's hearth
s'Aid what is the seaf" asked viii.
''1'be sear' cried the miller. Lord help
us all, it is the greatest thing God madei
That is where all the water il the world runs
down into great salt lake. There il lies, as
fat as ray hand and as innocent like as
child; but they do say when the wind blows it
gets W into water mountains bigger than
any of ours and swallows down great ships
bigger than our mill, and makes such roar
ing that you can hear it miles away upon tho
land. There are great fish in it five times
bigger than a bull, and one old serpent as
long as our river and as old as oil the world,
with whiskers like man and crown of sill
yer on her head"
viii thought he had never heard anything
Ike this ard he kept on asking question after
q14s lion alb )ut the world that lay away down
the liver, with all its perils and marvels, IN
I'll the old miller became quito interested
himself, and at last took him by the hand
AID led him to the hilltop that over
looks the valley and the plain. The sun
was near setting and hung low down
in cloudless SKY. Everything was defined
and glorified in golden light. Win had never
seen so great an expanse Of country in his Ike;
he stood and gazed with all his eyes. lie could
see the cities, and the woods and fields, and
the bright curves of tho river, and fer away
to where tie rim of the plain trcnchcd along
the shining heavens An overm:stering
emotion seized upon the boy, soul and body;
his heart beat SO th;clsly that he could not
breathe; the scene swan before his eyes; tho
sun seemed to wheel round and round, and
throw of, as it turned, strange shapes which
disappeared with the rapidity Of thought, and
were succeeded by others. VIII covered his
face with bis hands and burst into violent
ct of tears; and the poor miller, sadly disap-
pointed and perplexed, saw nothing better
for it than to take him up in his arms and
carry him homo in silence.
From that day forward Will was full Of
new hopes and iongings. Something kept
tugging ct his heart strings; the running
water carried his desires along with it as no
as it ran over innumerable tree tops, hailed
him with encouraging words; branches beck
oned downward; the open road, as it
shouldered round tho angles and went turn
ing and vanishing fast aid faster down the
valley, tortured him with its solicitations
He spent long whites OH the e-linencc, loos-
ing down the rivershed and abroad on the
fat lowlands, and watched the clouds that
Travelled forth upon the sluggish wind and
trailed their purple shadows on the plain; or
he would linger by the wayside, and follow
the carriages with his eyes as they ratified
downward by the river. 1t did not matter
what it was; everything that went that way,
were it cloud or carriage, bird or brown
water in the stream, he felt his heart flow
out after it in al ecstasy of longing.
We are told by mei Of science that ell TIE
ventures of mariners on the sea, all that
countcrmarching of tribes and races that
confounds old history with its dust and rumor,
- A. A.