The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1897-08-14
flask of whisky, which he refused in

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a gr1lf manner.
1.-THE second morning we reached
the summit of the pass. The road
was steep, difficult and in places
very dangerous. The driver, how
ever, seemed always cool and began
to exact the confidence of all the
passengers.
1T was not quite light when we
reached the divide and began the
, descent on the farther side. The
pass was scarcely pass in any
proper sense of the term. 1t was
simply a broken, ragged hollow
which cut through the ridge at an
elevation of many thousands of feet
above the level of the sea. The
shadows of night were just sinking
from the mountain tops and the
! scene was one of grandeur.
"Above us to the left rose a single
peak clad in snow, and which, catch
ing the earlier rays from the eastern
horizon, stood in the clear atmos-
phere clean cut, massive and gilt
tering with a resplendent opales-
cence Just below us extended a
cloud formed ocean, still dark and
with the shadows of night, which
was as level as floor, and which ex-
tended to the distant horizon. The
high peak, with it's brightness,
seemed a huge dome of light, as if
giant to illuminate the cloudland
below. AS we descended we entered
the ocean of clouds, which receded
little way from us, making it seem
as if we were dropping down into
an enormous we'll. Through the
walls of this cloud shaft we could
see distorted objects. Pines assumed
fantastic shapes and great fragments
of fallen rocks became hideous mon
STEERS. The composition of this ocean
was something wonderful It was
of two colors, feecy white and
blue These two colors were not
intermingled except in large masses
There was clearly a defined stratum
of one and then the other everything
it.. They were like facie of the
blue and white, all exhibiting a
superb striation.
"Suddenly we passed through the
cloud masses, which left open the
view below The hollow into which
we began to descend had sunk rapid
~ to fathomless ravine, and we
were seen to be crawling along a
narrow shelf blasted out from the
eide of the mountains and which
was but few inches wider than the
space required for the wheels of the
coach. We were between what
seemed to be two parallel noun
tains. l glanced up. It was like
looking out of deep slit in the
EARTH l looked down to the right
and withdrew my eyes with dizzy
feeling of horror. It was on the
very edge of the precipice that we
were moving, and so close was it's
outer edge that it seemed that with
! my extended hand l could have
+ dropped pebble directly into the
abyss In the momentary glance !
had caught sight of a border of pines
SO far down that they seemed like
dollhouse plants strewn along the
walls of the chasm. Not a sound
was heard, save the querulous creak-
ing of the leathern hinges and
springs of the coach and the dull
grating of the brakes on the wheels.
Even though the latter were SO fas-
tened that the hind wheels no longer
revolved, they were not sufficient to
control the speed of the coach, and
the wheel horses, almost on their
launches, were Juggling at their pole
straps till they were apparently
about to be carried from their feet.
glanced along the road in our front
with the hope that there might be
some visible termination of the ap-
palling situation.
AT this moment we entered on
comparatively straight line OF road,
which appeared to run till it was
cut off a long distance down by
spur of the mountain, which ex-
tended across to the track and at
which the road seemed to end. We
were descending at an angle of not
less than 80 degrees, and at each
step it looked as if the horses would
be carried off their feet by the tre-
mendous pressure of the coach. The
wheels at one moment would sink
into the soft wash from the noun
tain side and the next strike de-
tached fragment Of rock, sending
the vehicle now to the walls on the
left, then over to the right, till the
abyss yawned beneath like the raw
enous jaws Of hell.
I'VE had descended short dis
lance down this straight piece of
road, when in the midst of lurch
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