Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-04-07
WILL O THE MILL.

WILL " THE MILL.
. ny ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
. r. The pin where Will lived with his adopted
parents stood in a falling valley between
pine woods and great mountains. Above,
hill after hill SCARED upwards. until they
SCARED out. .oe thede Of the hardest tim
Der, and stood naked against the sky Some
way up. . long gray village lay like a seam
or rag ofyapor on "A, wooded hillside, and
when the wind was favorable, the sound Of
the church bells would drop down, thin and
silvery, TO viii Below, the valley grew
ever steepsrl and steeper,s and at the same
time widened out on either hand, and frori
an enainence beside the mill it was possible
yto,ses ~ whois length and away beyond II
ever . wide plain, whars the river turned
md shone, and moved oa4 from city to city
on Its voyage toward the sea. It CHANGED
that over this valley there lay pass into o
.neighboring, kingdom, so that, quiet and
rural as il was, the road that ran along
beside the river was a high thorough
fare betwem two splendid and powerful
societies All through the summer,
travelling carriages came crawling up, or
went plunging. briskly- downward past the
lnill; 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
Win saw 60 by, five-sixths were plunging
brizkly downward and only ,one-sixth crawl
tns upS Much, more was this the case with
foot passengers. All the ightfooted tour
ists, all the peddlerg 'ladsn with strange
wares, were Tending downward like the river
that accompanied sheir path. Nor was this
all; for when wiz wasyee child disas-
trous war arose over q great part OF the
world Eho uewspapers were fun OF defeats
and victories, the earth rang with cavalry
hoofs, and often for days together and for
miles aroundthe coli of battle terrified good
people from their labors In the field. OF all
this, nothing was heard for long time in
the valley; but ut 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 the mill. All
day the child stood and watched them on
their paasage-the rhythmicd stride, the
pale, unshaven faces tanned about the eyes, the
discolored regimentals and the tattered flags,
f1lled him with a 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 one In the valley ever heard the
fate Of tho expedition, for they lay out Of the
way Of gossip in those trsublous times; but
VIII saw one thing plainly, that not Q man
returned Whittier had they all gonei
Whittier went all the tourists and
evu,t,i& has all fha
brisk barouches with servants in the dickya
whittier the water of the stream, ever cours-
ing downward and ever renewed from abovel
Even the wind blew ofsener down the valley,
and carried the dead leaves along with 1t in
the fall. II seemed like q great conspiracy
of things animate and inanimate; they all
went downward, heetly and gayly down.
ward. and only he, it seemed, remained be-
hind. like stock upon the waysida. 1t some
timss made him gled when he noticed how
the fishes kept their heads up stream. They,
at least. stood faithfully by him, while all
else were posting downward to the unknown
world.
One evening he asked the miller where the
river went.
at goes down the valley" answered he,
''and,tarns e,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 q sight OF
fine cities $50 they sayl where kings live all
alone in great palaces, with sentry walking
uD and down before the door. And it goes
under bridges with stone men upon them,
looking down and smiling SO curious at the
water, and living folks leaning their elbows
on the wall and looking over too. And then
iteoss on and on, and down through marshes
and sands, until at last it falls into the sea,
where tho chips are that bring parrots and
tobacco from the Indies. Ay. it has long
trot before it as it goes singing over our weir,
bless ita heartmc . Hf REs1Se
"And yghat is the ssAF' aslsed Will. = -
1.-THE seam cried the miller. Lord helr
us. all, it ia the greatest thing God madei
That Ii where all the watsr in theworld runs
down into great salt Lake There 1t lies, as
nst as my hand and as innocent like a. q
childS but they do say when the wind blows it
gets up into. water mountains bigger than
any ef ours and swallows down great ships
bigger than our mill, and makes such Q roar
ing that you can hear IL miles away upon the
land. There are great 6Sh In it 1--WE times
bigger than bull, and one old serpent as
long as our river and as old as all the world,
with whiskers like man and crown OF sill
yer On her head" ,.,, =. ~. s,., "a .s.:
Win thought he had never heard anything
like this. and he kepton asking question after
question about the world that lay away down
the river. with all its perils and marvels,e un-
til the old miller became quite Interested
himsalf. and at, last took him by the hand
~nd led him to the hilltop that over
looks The valley and the plain. The sun
WAS near setting and hung low down
In eloudleS sky. Everything was defined
and gloritied In golden light Winhad never
seen 20 great an expanse Of country in his life;
he stood and gazed with all his eyes He could
see the. cities, and the woods and fields, and
the bright curves of the river, and far away
30 where the rim OF the plain trenched along
the shining heavens An overmastering
smotion seized upon the boy, soul and body;
his heart beat 30 thickly that he could not
breathe; the soene SWAN before his eyes; the
sun seemed to wheel round and round, and
throw of, as IL turned, strange shapes which