The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-14

nized to attempt to reach Mount Mitchell!
that day. This peak was not even in
sight. and as far from me, now real
lied, as when had first begun the as
cent of the range. My more sensible,
and decidedly safer, plan was to try to
lind n y way back to my late hosts cabin,
since ! now had some idea as to its d.
rection.
Leaving the sun directly on my left,
faced about, and again entered the
balsan. thickets. ] now found them not
quite so impene trable as before. although
it still required no little amount of skill
full engineering to work my way through
them. | seemed to be going up all the
time, rather a steep incline at that,
which made my task the more arduous
Every now and then huge rock would
loom up in front of me. Sometimes ]
had to climb directly over the top of
these, and again to make my way eau
tiously around some dangerously pro-
iecting ledge.
The hands of my watch pointed to five
o'clock, and had been for nearly three
hours again wandering in the balsams,
as hopelessly perplexed as before, when,
just as | had fallen forward upon a
spongy bed of moss, utterly despairing,
| caught the sound of softly falling
water. / had eaten nothing since my
early start of the morning, with the ex-
ception of small piece of corn dOdger
and fried bacon, the mountaineers in
evitable daily diet. So great had been
n Cfrncc Of ind f., bn 80:
seven hours, all thought of hunger had
been completely driven away, although
| had long ago become aware that was
suffering terribly from thirst. The sound
OF the trickling water therefore re-
minded me again, and most forcibly, of
this want l soon found the tiny stream,
making its way from a fissure in the
huge rock near where | had thrown N.Y.
self.
My thirst slaked, and small portion
of my lunch partaken of, was prepar-
ing to start off once more on what now
realized, only too painfully, was hope
less sort of wandering, when a thought
struck me with sudden hopefulness.
would follow the course of the stream.
Surrounded as the range was with nu-
merous large watercourses, nearly every
one of which had its source near the
SUBMITS of the peaks, / did not doubt
that this tiny trickle was the head
waters of some one of the numerous
creeks in the valley below. had much
difficulty at first in tracing out the
thread-like flow of water, but gradually
it grew more and more distinct, till,
finally, | had all that | could do to
maintain my footing upon the slippery
rocks and roots along it's course.
Very soon my further progress was ar
rested by what seemed to be the edge of
precipice of no small extent, for the
water fell with considerable sound to
what | judged was a pool below. The
rhOdOdendrOns, or mountain laurel,
fringed it's edges with thick tangle,
while above, the great balsam frs, in
terlOcked their boughs.
was cautiously approaching the edge
OF the precipice for the purpose of
glancing over, when a treacherous rock
gave way beneath me, and the next mo-
ment | felt myself plunging downward
with that horrible sensation one ex-
periences when falling into space. My
feet struck the water, when, with sud-
den, terrible shock, felt my further
course arrested.
Stunned and rendered senseless as /
was. for the first few minutes, by the
terrific force with which my downward
plunge had been checked, it was some
little time ere | recovered sufficient con-
seriousness to take note of my surround
ings and of my own situation.
When | did so, I discovered that in
falling the roll made by my blanket had
caught in the bare, projecting spur of
dead balsam that lay top downward in
the pool. 1t was a veritable monarch of
the forest, with huge trunk gray with
age and almost branchless. What was
now the upper portion, with the roots
attached, rested securely against the
topmost edge of the precipice, while the
other end was buried deep in the pool
The pool itself was about twenty-five or
thirty feet across, and of considerable
depth as judged by it's dark, still-look-
ing surface.
10 unbuckle straps 3that held the
blanket across my shoulders was the
work of but few moments when once !
had recovered possession of my facul-
ties Leaving the blanket and straps to
to take care of themselves, / scrambled
upon the balsam, after considerable eff
fort, and with great difficulty, for | was
still suffering from the shock of the fall
and made my way by means of the
hoary trunk to the top of the precipice
1t was now after six o'clock, and the
iense gloom of the balsams had SO
1eepened that could scarcely see how
to make my way through Them. Realiz
izing the utter foolhardiness of attempt
ing to do any thing further towards
finding my way out through tho dense
night that was now fast settling down, |
selected the dryest and most sheltered
spot could find near to the stream, and
building fire of the dead balsam boughs
prepared to spend the night.
The next morning about eleven o'clock.
after many hours again spent in what
seemed but useless effort, struck dis
tinct trail. Following it with no great
difficulty, l soon reached the hut of one
of the mountaineers. On relating to
him an account of my adventures, the
honest fellow seemed considerable struck
with what he looked upon as my most
miraculous escape from death.-Win-
throp Burroughs, in Yankee Blade.
The best people need Affections for
trial of their virtue. How can we exer-
else the grace of contentment, if all
things succeed we'll: or that of forgive
ness, if we have no enemies. bish-
op Tillotson.
-Self-respect is the foundation of
character and of progress. Break it