The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-01-01

and as | drank my strength was renewed,
and hope and the desire for life grew warm
within me again. And yet on this the
second night of my imprisonment cared
not so passionately-I looked not SO eag-
erly for succor. My limbs were numbed
my brain deadened; life was ebbing toward
death; shadow at times fell over my eyes,
and if held still to the hilt of my sword,
if my feet sought still the ledge that rested
them, they did it mechanically from habit
and not from hope.
think sometimes | was not in my right
mind. [ was among green fields and
woods; | was gathering flowers; | was
climbing mountains; and from these visions
| invariably awoke to darkness-darkness
above, around-darkness below, hiding
the abyss that hungered greedily for my
life. And no friendly face, no voice, no
football near. Not even step, through
all these slow, slow hours IF passing
peasant through the day had heard the
lonely cry rising from the depths, he had
set it down to ghost Or pixy, and had
passed on his frightened way regardless.
And now the night was wearing on and
no rescue. | could not live till morning
| knew that. My mind wandered again.
My mother waited for me, [ must hurry
home; but | was bound by chain, in outer
darkness, and | was going to die There
was no Christian in all the land to succor
me- was forgotten and forsaken left in
the pit-and [ would unclasp my hands
and fall and die No, | would call again
once more. Help help Mercy help
As my fainting voice died in the dark
depths, and quivered up to the glimmer-
ing sky, l felt hope die with it, and I
gave up all thought of life | turned my
eyes toward my grave below, and muir
INJURED with parched lips:
'Out of the depths have | cried unto
thee, o Lord -
The little rill that had saved my life
hitherto still trickled on, and its silvery
murmur, as it dropped on the rocks below,
was the sole sound that broke the deathly
silence around me. My prayer was over,
and [ had not relnquished my hold. was
stronger than | had deemed myself I
would cry out again, ''Help help helpr'
stopped [ listened. A sound was
floating on the wind Coming, going,
joining the drip, drip, drip of the rill-
then dying, then returning. Listening
with my whole being, [ recognized the
sound Bells-church bells-chimes ring
ing in the New Year. 80, God, have
mercy on me have mercy on me !
Bells ringing in the New Year-bells
Ginning in the ears of friends, telling Of
sadness and Of hope-bells clashing in at
merry intervals between music and laugh
ter, loving greetings, kisses and joy.
Will no one in my father house take
pity on me Am | missed nowhere.
The bells chime feasting and gladneSs,
and | am here hanging between life and
death. The jaws of the grave are beneath
me, my joints are broken and the bells
chime on. Would it not be good deed
on this New Year day to save me: o,
feasters and revelers, hear me
Help help 1t is Christmas time.
Help, for Christ sake, good people =
The bells float nearer and drown the drip
of the trickling water, and | cry, 'Help !
help - saying, Now will call till |
die. A film grows over my eyes, but
my voice is strong and desperate as | shout,
christmas tide ! For Christ 5 sake help,
good Christians
A great light-a fash of fire ! For
moment | deem it death; gazing upward L
see, amid glare of torches, faces-O they
were angels to me !-eager faces peering
downward. And close to me swings a
torch, let down into the depths; its light
falls on my hagsard face-a great shout
rends the night sky.
''He is here he is safe he lives !
| cannot speak, though my lips move,
and my heart stands still as | see one, two,
three daring men swing themselves over
the abyss-miners, used to danger-and
in moment stout arms are around me and
am borne forward, carried gently like a
child, placed an instant on my feet, and
then laid down tenderly on the heath. ]
am so weary, and faint, and worn that |
lie with closed eyes, never striving to say
a word of thanks
go not so near the brink, madam, |
entreat r | hear a voice cry sharply.
Then [ open my aching lids, and between
me and the shaft kneels white figure;
between me and the sky there bends a
white face, and tears fall down upon my
brow fast and warm 1t was my be-
throthed, Florian. But even when she
stole her little hand in mine-mine so
cramped and numbed that it gave no re-
sponse to her tenderness even when
she stopped and pressed her lips to my
cheek | could not breathe word to thank
her.
Yet Florian, dear wife, let me tell thee
now that from the depths of my happy
heart there rose a hymn of joy, and l un-
derstood from that moment that thou vert
mine, and | owe my life to thy love.
Then thy sweet lips breathed words
that fell upon my soul like mamma
words of tenderness and pity that made
the torture of those slow hours in the pit
fade away, so nightly did this reward seem
for my suferings.
was carried to Trevesy, and as the
men bore me along, you walking by my
side, heard them tell the tale of my ser
wants fright when my horse returned
home alone, and how they came to your
father for tidings of me. Then they
whispered of the painful search through
the day and night, the tracking of my
horses hoofs upon the snow, and the story
of the scared peasant, who all night long
had heard the cry of tortured ghosts issuing
from the earth. And the sad story seized
upon my Florian with deadly fear and
turning back upon the black moor she
tracked the hoof marks until they stopped
upon the brink of the old forgotten shaft,
the shaft of the worked out mine, well
named the Great Wheal Mercy.
There | was found and saved by her |
had loved so long. And, dearest, as l
slowly came back to life that New Year S