Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1899-08-12
TALES OF PLUCK
and ADVENTURE.

Rescued by n Lad OF Seven.
Just outside village among the
Western Catskills, where the writer
prepared for college, there was and
probably is to-day large mill-dam,
and, running from it, down to the
mill quarter of mile away, a deep
and wide Grace" At the time OF
which ] write there were no houses
nearer the race than some six or seven
hundred yards. One day in summer,
five or six children, their ages ranging
from six to twelve years, were playing
in the field near the dam, and, tempted
too near, one of the little girls fell into
the swift-running water, just where it
swept out of the pond and started on
its dash for the mill.wheels.
The rapid current carried her
swiftly down the stream, and her
companions, after moment of terror
stricken silence, went screaming
across tho field, and left her to the
mercy of the swift water. But not all
of them. There was in the party a
little boy about seven year. old,
named, for tho purposes ofthis sketch,
Charlie Barwood. He too ran, but
not away from his unfortunate play
mate. AS fast as his little legs could
carry him he sped along the bank of
the race, gradually drawing ahead of
the little girl as she was carried down
by the current. A few rods below
there was single log thrown across
the ditch at height OF about two and
half feet above the water. The
little runner reached this place few
seconds ahead of tho girl, who had
already been under water two or three
times.
As he ran, he had pulled off his
coat, and now held it in his hand
ready to use as lifeline. But a
glance at her, as she was swept toward
him, showed that this would be use
less, since the poor child was too
nearly unconscious to grasp it. What
man might have done with ease was
mighty task for a boy only seven
years old, aud the risk of what he did,
when his strength and size are taken
into account, was very great.
Running out upon the log and
throwing himself prone upon it, he
held on with one hand while the little
girl, borne swiftly downward, passed
just under him. Swinging almost off
the log, he reached and with his free
hand grasped aud held the wide collar
of her dress.
The sudden strain and the Juggling
of the current almost loosed his hold
upon the log. He swung down and
hung with his feet in the water, while
with one arm he chung to the log, and
with the other held the girl. He had
neither the strength nor the skill to
draw himself back while holding his
charge; but after moments rest he
began to work his way back along the
log, taking care that the face of his
playmate was kept above the water.
1t was task to try the strength OF a
gymnast, but he accomplished it; and
when some older people arrived, a
few minutes later, his little charge
lay on the grass, pillowed with his
coat, while he was putting in practise
the primary department lessons in
"First Aid For the Drowning"
+ have not seen Charlie for years,
and if he still lives he is now just old
enough to have been with Dewey ut
Manila or with Roosevelt at San Juan.
But in neither of these places could
he do drawer deed than he did when
only a little lad in knickerbockers
among the Western Catskills. Grace
Ferguson, in the Voice.