The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-09
bRO[JGHTOI ST.


here for about six months, only to find the
experiment an utter failure.
We are ranged along a wooden bench by
the wall and given especial charge to keep
quiet il we would experience q moment OF
absolute darkness and deathlike stiffness.
We creep closer together as the torches are
taken away. Wives catch hold Of their
husbands hands; the small boy de-
serted by the guide now seeks bis
spirits, but If the departed spirits hover
near they only deepen the darkness with
their dusky wings as the last torch goes
down behind the rocks and the guide calls
out, Good night; | shell see you again in the
morning" Our imaginations begin to play
we are seated in deep ravine; the blue
mountains loom up in outline; overhead
sweep the clouds. shadows cast by torch
lights to us invisible; white spots caused by
the etfiorescence Of sulphate of manganese
upon lofty ceiling coated with black
gypsum, sparkle like the armament by
night, and hence it is called the Starry
Chamber. A single ray OF light now pene-
trates the east, an aperture in the rocks,
the baying of dogs, lowing Of cattle aud
growing Of cocks, noises made by our ven
triloqu:st, the guide, announce approaching
day. We now pass from the main cave
along the Short Route proper into Gothic
Gallery past the seat not of the nymphs,
but OF the mummy, and turn TO examine
the Post OAK formed by the
union Of stalagmite and Stalactite
facetiously called mighty tight" quite
luckily, too for there is no chance of its
gratifying any other than thirst for empty
fame in Register Hall just bsyond-a burn
ing thirst, by the way, If one may judge
from the countless names scratched upon
the ceiling. The cards, some of which have
been deposited here for decades, are still
perfectly intact. Here are the state monu-
ments, those OF kentucky and Iowa being
the largest. People from Australia visit
this natural wonder, while many living in a
radius Of ten miles have never seen 1t.
Each Of our party now discloses the place
OF his nativity by putting stone on his
own states monument
Through the Wooden Bowl Room down
the Steps Of Time we descend to be startled
by the cry OF danger on the right, as we
overlook Side-saddle Pit. said to be sixty
five feet, man overheard makes sixty
seven,n then on through the Labyrinth,
GOWNS Dome, Ariadne's Grotto, across the
Bottomless Pit spanned by the Bridge of
Sighs-"little size" interposes the guide.
AS we leave this wooden structure geoRra-
ply gets decidedly mixed and we are trans
POI ted in imagination from Venice to New
York city, where two by two we go walk
Ing down Broadway, back through Athe
ASSSGhAot NnEEOWbs AVN NiNSSt ~ httSC NAo
the hotel, and on TO the Land OF Nod, to
dream of griffins and gorgons that could
have peopled Revelers' Hall.
Next morning we are waved for O'Clock
breakfast, and devote the day to the Long
Route, which measures eighteen miles from
end to end. IL is the fourth underground
passage, three others partially explored
lying between it and the earth's surface.
We sweep down the Vale of Humility, pass
through Without pulling the trigger Of
Sootchmnn's Trap, where Scotchman once
hesitated, fearing the rock, which seems as
If suspended by tip, might fall and cover
him in the pit below. Knowing that he who
hesitates is lost, we hasten TO onjoy other
peoples misery, this time the Fat Mans, the
latest of his ilk, being one weighing 2S213
pounds, whom the guide is related to have
taken through in sections.
Charon is no longer ferryman at the River
Styx. Another honest man thrown out OF
employment by Ingersolls iconoclasm. At
any rate we cross over on dry land, sedi-
ment deposited by the river. AS we round
Lake Lethe we are painfully obvious of
everything but dinner. There is no such
thing as sleeping even the sleep of forget
fulneSs on an empty stomach. Perhaps that
is just why the guide has us first cross Echo
River before taking dinner in the shade. :"
He knows the acoustic properties of empty
cliffs and without sail or breeze we are pro-
PEELED by the boatman down the current
less, shoreless stream. The guide sounds