The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-09-08
THE DEVILS BRIDGE.

Spanish had taken possession Of the islands. |
At least, this applies TO Luzon. And, |
strange to tell, he has not been seen there |
since the Spanish left. Some will have il |
that he was snitten into despairing bash |
fulness during Weylers administration, and |
that when the governor went home with |
a couple Of million dollars in his valise- |
the savings from his saary--the Devil went |
home likewise, awe.struck. His satanic |
majesty's last recorded exploit occurred in |
the view of three men, of whom one may
still be alive to vouch for it, They were |
farmers Of Wild Laguna, a few miles above |
Manila, and on one memorable day were
cutting wood In the ravine near by-a deep |
gulch through which babbles a stone-choked |
stream. This glen has precipitous sides,
but is so thiskly overhung with green that
1t is almost like q verdant cave.
While they were resting-and the Fill.
pino's ability to rest is one Of his striking
quahties-they were startled by the hur.
ried advance Of something, or somebody, on
the bank. There was swish and crash
of underground, hobbling stamp, and
something that sounded like the smiting
of leaves with a club. At first the farm.
ers thought that a water buffalo had run
away from some plantation and was angry
sides and reach the water. Then came a
volley of expletives in an unknown tongue,
and in a voice so deep and harsh that the
hair of the three heads bristled, and three
pairs of eyes goggled with fright. The
farmer who was good crossed himself; the
one who was bad turned white and tried
to remember how prayers were said; the
one who was betwixt and between clung
to the stones on which he was seated and
held his breath; for a tall, lank parsonage,
with overhanging brows, slanting eyes, long
chin and nose, and wrathful aspect was
striding to and fro on the edge of the
ravine, looking at the opposite bank as if
trying to decide whether or not he could
leap that distance. He was scowling,
gnashing his teeth, and brandishing his
arms. Any Spaniard might have done as
much, and brandished a sword besides;
but the terrible thing about this gentle.
man was the great length Of tail, with
dart at its tip, that he was hourishing
among the bushes, for only one being, on
the earth or under it, was known to have
q tail like that
As if to leave no doubt, the stranger,
in stamping on the ground, lifted his leg
so high that the watchers could see that it
ended, not in foot, but hoof. 1t was
Satan himself The farmers did not dare to
tremble, but each shrank within himself 30
far as he could and thought upon his sins,
the worst of the trio with the least com.
| junction, because he was not conscious Of
any immortality In robbing Spaniards. As
LIE tramped back and forth, the Devil now
and then looked up into the branches, as
If guessing the height Of the trees. Pres,
emily he stopped before the tallest, leveled
his finger at it, and cried with a stentorian
voice a command In words that belong to
none Of the 40 or 80 languages and dialects
OF the Islands. Then the souls Of the spec.
tators fell, like chilling currents, into their
boets, and their hearts swelled like bal-
looms and arose In their throats, al. here
was Joy In them; for the great tree bent
slowly down and swung itself entirely across
the chasm. It's reach was great, and Satan
skipped along the trunk as spryiy as a cat
on fence, his arms and tail held out for
balance and twitching nervously. Half way
over he spied the three spectators and
stopped. Their circulation stopped also
He grinned from ear to ear, showing two
rows of tusk-hke teeth, shook his fist play
fully, and shouted laugh so loud, w.
full, that they believed their last moment
had come. But it had not Their hair
turned white, to be sure, and they took
on 90 years worth of wrinkles; but the
Devil was after bigger game He scam,
pered over the arching trunk, disappeared
on the farther side, and hurried off at q
run towards Manila, where certain rich
lawyer was rumored to be dying.
The strange part Of the incident is, that
although the tree was thus ill-used to serve
the DEVILS convenience, and is marked
along its bark by his cloven feet, it was
not blasted, but to this hour is green and
fourishing. The DEVILS bridge, as every
body calls it, is an arboreal wonder, curv
ing lightly and gracefully over the chasm
its branches resting on the bank opposite ia
its root, some Of them growing upside down,
but all as green and healthy as those of any
tree that the Devil spared when he was
looking for a way to cross the ravine. Had
he waded the stream he not only would
have wet his feet, which would have been
unpleasant, but would have touched water
that had once been blessed, and that would
have been torture. The bad farmer did
not survive this spectacle by many years
though it is not related that he reformed.
The fair-to-middlng one lasted for a while
longer. The good one may yet be In the
land of the living, unless he enlisted under
Aguinaldo, which is not likely, because old
men cannot run fast enough to be effective
members of the Filipino army.-Chas. NJ.
Skinner, in Lippincott's Magazine.
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Test Of Polifeneas