The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-08-15

passing the above gem. was refused less than
week ago But a truce to personal grievances;
said Am but humble typo and yet after my
days outing am very glad to get back to my
"typses'' again. have been in danger of MY lite;
| have exposed myself to the ridicule Of my COM
panions, Ihave-but will. with your kind
permission, proceed in detail to relate the Incl
dents of the day. Early in the morning Mr.. Cover
| approached me with benign smile upon his
countenance completely deceiving to his,
mister designs, and remarked interrogatvely,.
! You are not very busy in the Office to-day, are
your? There being several galeys hand to,
correct, hastily answered, mo ST, guess they
can spare me to-day" Well" he continued II
wish to get list of few things lying around the
yard and would like to Lave you make it for me-
l was at provided with (dare call it SOFA,
straw hat. 1t had crown about nine inches high,
coming to point; wide brim with frnged edges,
and a shoestring band to preserve its artistic
shape. ! cannot say it was becoming to my style
of beauty. and will not repeat what ye editor
said locked like. proceeded with Mr.. Cover to
where the new wall is in process of construction
Looking ar out of the corner of h $ eye, he
asked, Can you climb ladder?'' CHANGING at the
long ladder leaning against The wall and conceal
ing my trepidation, answered afirmatively. He
then selected one Of the boys to assist in my
work and directed me to proceed to the top and
make list of all the shovels. tools etc. and to go
over the entire yard and get the amount of hose,
wood coal ETC., in fact, everything belonging to
the state. looked at the ladder with sinking
heart and requested my companion to go up first.
followed M at respectful distance until the lad
der commenced to shake much that preferred
to chance fall where was;so RENAME ed there
I'll saw Il II disappear over the top. Then knew
my time had come. had read a caution some
where, advising those ascending high places to al
ways look upward. fixed my eyes the blue
vault of heaven, ripped the ladder firmly and
! slowly assembled. As neared the top the ladder
sway ed iearfulIy ana thought every moment its
center of gravity would be displaced and
would GO. l rene mber that 1 hoped the boys
would think did 1t on purpose. But the longest
night has lis dawn and finally reached the last
round of the ladder ard 9TH a sigh of gratitude.
that it tied to the wall. and grasping the
friendly rope l scrambled to secure footing
After resting tor few moments to steady my
nerves, we commenced the inventory, which pro-
ceeded without any special diversion except VOL
! ley of questions about the good time and the
formatory. Upon both of which questions l was
ignorant any. The list OF tools here being
completed, it became essary TO proceed to the
other section of the wall did not like to
tackle the ladder again, SO l erquired the feasibi
ity of going over the bluff. The travesty on truth
who was appointed my gu de answered that it was
as easy to higl, treste bridge. So
| started. 1t all right for about fifty feet and
then the bluff grew sleeper and sleeper until it
| seemed almost vertical. You imagine my
feellr gs, there was like fj Il wall clinging
to bluff that descended with scarcely any incline
| to the edge of the excavation and then sheer
plumb descent of at least 500 feet. Charlie Carl
gren may dispute these figures but I'll take my
| oath on them To add 10 my distress, every tuft
| of grass that l could catch hold Of for support
| would instantly yield. could see number of
the boys far below. like pgm e>, look ng up at me-
l saw they preceived my predicament. but l did
not care for appearances my summer pants, nor
any thing else. crawling ON my hrnds and knees
was none to good for me. Every once in Il while
| my foot would slip into a grass-covered assure,
made by the recent rains and ne ry over balance
me. l commenced to think OF all the people who
| had committed suicide by jumping off of high
places. and even tried to fancy how would look
| falling through the air until finally the ground
under me gave way and ;eit myself falling; and
l believe would have gone if the voice of my
comrade had not recalled me to my And
what do you think he was saying? You must look
out for holes along here, for there's a hornets
| nest in one of them" Now wasn't that comfort
ing? L looked back to see how far t to return
Ut being over half way, decided to continue
Still my hands and knees and clutching frantic
ally at every bunch of grass we AT length reached
! the end of the bluff. heaved Oh as thought
| my troubles ended. But here the jump
ing off place. 1t was. seemingly, about twenty
| feet down to a solid rock base. When heard the
shock my partner landed, 1 was in quandary
whether to return to venture the leap
membrance of the dizzy height decided me and
| Jumped. l feel my bones crunching each