St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-07-27

elry, and they had such space to move
in. I was alone sad to despair in a
strange element, prisoned, and soil
tary gazer upon their knocking chorus
And yet there was nothing else with
which could hold communion.
II turned upon my breast and struck
out almost frantically once more. The
stars were forgotten. The moon, the
very world of which / as yet formed a
part, my poor Mary herself, was forgot
ten. l thought only Of the strong man
there perishing; Of me in my lusty
manhood, in the sharp vigor Of my
dawning prime, with faculties illimita-
BILE, with senses all alert, battling there
with physical obstacles which men like
myself had brought together for my I'M
doing. The Eternal could never have
willed this thing. I could not and I
would not perish thus. And / grew
strong in insolence of self trust, and |
laughed aloud as dashed the sluggish
water from side to side.
"Then came an emotion of pity for
myself-of wild, wild regret; of sor
row, oh, infinite, for fate so desolate,
doom SO dreary, SO heart sickening.
You may laugh at the contradiction if
you will, sir, but felt that I could
sacrifice my own life on the instant to
redeem another fellow creature from
such place of horror, from an end so
piteous. My soul and my vital spirit
seemed in that desperate moment to be
separating, while one in parting grieved
over the deplorable fate of the other.
"And then l prayed prayed, why
or wherefore | know not. 1t was not
from fear. 1t could not have been in
hope. The days of miracles are passed,
and there was no natural law by whose
providential interposition could be
saved. | did not pray. 1t prayed of
itself, my soul within me.
"Was tho calmness that I now felt
torpidity, the torpidity that precedes
dissolution, to the strong swimmer who,
sinking from exhaustion, must at last
add bubble to the wave as he su1fo-
Gates beneath the element which now
denied his mastery? If it were SO, how
fortunate was it that my floating rod at
that moment attracted my attention as
1t dashed through the watar by mel |
saw on the instant that fish had en-
tangled himself in the wire moose. The
rod quivered plunged, came again to
the surface and rippled the water as it
shot IN arrowy flight from side to side
of the tank. At last, driven toward the
southeast corner of the reservoir, the
small end seemed to have got foul some
where. The brazen butt, which every
time the fish sounded was thrown up to
the moon, now sank by it's own weight,
showing that the other end must be
fast. But the cornered fish, evidently
anchored somewhere by that short wire,
fioundered several times to the surface
before l thought of striking out to the
spot.
"The water is low now, and tolerably
clear. You may see the very ledge there,
sir, in yonder corner, on which the
small end of my rod rested when l Sc
cured that pike with my hands. did
not take him from the slip moose, how
ever, but standing upon the ledge han.
died the rod i'll workmanlike manner,
as flung that pound pickerel over the
iron railing upon the top of the parapet.
The rod, as l have told you, barely
reached from the railing to the water.
1t was heavy, strong bass rod, and
when discovered that the fish at the
end of the wire made strong enough
knot to prevent me from drawing my
tackle away from the railing around
which it twined itself as threw, why,
as you can at once see, l had but little
difficulty in making my way up the
face Of the wall with such assistance.
"The ladder which attracted your
notice is, as you see, dashed to the iron
railing in the identical spot where
thus made my escape, and for fear of
similar accidents they have placed an
other one in the corresponding corner
OF the other compartment of the tank
ever since my remarkable nights ad-
venture in the reservoir. "-Charles
Fenno Hoffman.