St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-09-24

never say away.
Take al treasures. Tina, cherish, Fame N
Hope, and Life q hat,
Fitting things whicA needs must pertsA-spax
this memory Of H. past
Lying with sprig q shamrock In Q letse,
where The tears
Which have blotssa words together have bee
dried these many yeaEA
-. D. Aaroas, d Detroit Free Press.
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.
A Tale of N 0sd Mans Stxang,
Preeent1mouk
II tell you. no god win come Q
it." declared Uncle Hiram. "You mari
my words. that railroad can't y,
more 60 through the bottomless pi
than il could-well, no nore'n Il couls
the one tie Scripture speaks about Il
wasn't named for nothing. can tel
you- Many and many's the time MI
fathers lost cattle In that swamp, unit
il was fenced in"
The surveyor, who was . young maj
with . great deal Of importance and
confidence In his own knowledge
shrugged his ahoulders and continued
squirting through his instrument aerosl
the piece Of marshy ground which ~
joiced in the appellatioa Of "Bctsomlesa
Pit We boys were considerably more
impressed BY Uncle Hirsm's words
than the surveyor. He was 'Uncle Hi
to every boy In The village and 10 had
always felt great respect for his opinr
ions; but the surveyor Indifference ia
his prophecy rather shook our conf
dence in the good old 1aa.
Perhsps the unwonted excitement Of
the laying out Of . railroad through our
quiet village rather turned our heads,
for We began 70 fuEtively doubt in our
minds Il Uncle hi was really correct IN
his opinion. The Bottomlees Pit % M
had always been plass of mystery. Il
was . woll-known fast that strange
creatures such - giant water snakes.
eyeless Ash md slimy. sealy looking
lizards had been saptsred within il
maxshy confines, and moro than ! score
of COWS and horses turned out 70 pes-
turo had wandered into Il and been lost
In the quagmire.
!: Uncle Hiram had lived within Z
stones throw of The swamp al his life.
In fact Il had oaee been . part Of Tie
tract Of land owned By the old gentle
mans father. and ~ he'd listened %
many times - Unele Hrs tales Of
unfortunate tEavelsss supposed % have
been lost n tie Bottomless Pit, aud Of
the strange creatures inhabiting t.
that 10 eame 70 look upon Il - almost
enchanted and peopled with al the
dragons that were supposed 70 have ex-
listed in the ago Of ehivalry.
A soon - Uncle III heard that the
proposed railroad was to cross the
swamp he propAesisd IL failure. Even
if it could b Temporarily 1lled II and 10
all appearances made solid, hs declared
that Il would still Be dangerous He
was % greatly exercised over the mat
ter that 10 took . trip 10 the city
(something he had not done before in
ten yean) for the purpose Of warning
the ofhcials superintending the new en-
terprise They listened 70 him respect
fully, but paid no attention 70 his i'd
vice. considering it simply . childish
whim q the old gentleman's. In this
century there are few din
culties which human ingenuity and
genius cannot surmouat
Finally lie tracks were all laid and
the branch line connectinR the city
with town so0e miles 70 the north of
us was In runringorasr. Uncle Hiram's
were forgotten By almost
rybody, We boys included. until one
lay. ct the dinner table. father said:
Poor Uncle Hiram = still harping
on the old idea Of the insecurity Of the |
road bed over the Dottcmless Pit |!
Johnson, the station agent told me
hat the old gentleman Hos been 70 see
he superintendent Of the road and
,egged him to establish . nag station
t the edge Of the swsmP and keep .
nan there night and day 70 watch The
rack. OF eoarse Tie superintendent
do il for there b track
walker for that section u the road -
veil Is any other. 30 what IL Uncle
ii about to Do bat build Z cabin for
himself nesr The swamp and watch
yer the track himseG. Poor old man,
'e's fast breaking up Tn afraid"
But isn't that part Of the track dan
crous?'' asked mother. II
NO more dangerous than any other
ortion. /" aaid father. decidedly. and % |
be matter was dropped II
A weekor % later, Al Reynolds and
while returning iron days Ashing.
,nrt eronsv>A ~ rY~~l~ Rs--s~ 49,