Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1902-09-13

\" HE Canadian YoyaSeufS are
described in st. Nicholas, in
the fourth Of Cleveland Mof.
fett's papers on Careers of
Danger and Daring" .rE....r
Let us stand on the long iron bridge
that spans the ST. Lawrence just above
Montreal, the very place to study the
river as 1t narrOws and runs swifter
for its smashing plunge through yon-
der rapids to the east, the dreaded
Lachine Rapids, whose snarllng teeth
fash white in the sun. Look down into
the greenish rush, and see how the
waters hurl past these good stone piers,
sharp-pointed upstream against the
tearing ice! Here goes the torrent Of
Niagara and the inland ocean OF Su-
perior and Erie and Ontario, all
crushed into funnel Of land by this
big island ut the left that blocks the
flow, and gorged by the inpour of the
Ottawa a few miles back that brings
down the floods of Southern Canada.
AS fast as horse can gallop runs the
river here, and faster and faster it goes
as the long slant takes it, ten, twelve,
fourteen miles an hour (Which is some
thing for a river, until dozen islands
strewn across the tunnels lower end
goad the rapids to their greatest rage.
Here is where they kill. Then sud
denly all is quiet, and the river, spread
Ing to a triple width, rests, after Its
madness, in Montreals placid harbor.
Standing here, think Of my first
experience in shooting these rapids, Git
was on one of the large river boatsJ'
and must confess that 1t gave me no
xWy thrilling sense of danger. There
| 1ere two or three plunges, to be sure,
Mt the steepest part and a little sway
Ing, or lurching, but, so far as move
ment goes, nothing to disturb one ac-
customed to the vicissitudes of, say,
ordinary trolley car navigation. How
ever, when came to the reason of this
fairly smooth descent, and saw what
1t means to stand at the wheel through
that treacherous channel, found my
wonder growing. ! thought of the lion
tanner, whose skill Is shown not so
much by what happens while he is in
the cage as by what does not happen.
A hundred ways there are of doing the
wrong thing with one of these boats,
and only single way of doing the right
thing. For four miles the pilot must
race along squirming, twisting,
plunging thread Of water, that leaps
ahead like greyhound, and changes
Its crookedness somewhat from day to
day with wind and tide. In that
thread alone is safety; elsewhere is
ruin and wreck. Instantly he must
read the message of a boiling eddy
or the menace Of reckoning reef, and
take it this way or that instantly, for
there are the hungry rocks on either
hand. He must know things without
seeing them; must feel the pulse Of the
rapids, as 1t were, so that when mist
clouds his view, or the shine of low
hung rainbow dazzles him, he may still
60 right. 1t is fact that with all the
pilots in this pilot-land, and all the
hardy watermen born and brought up
IN the st. Lawrence, there are not ten
perhaps not six-men in Canada to-day
French or English or Indian, who
would dare this peril. For all Other
rapids of the route the Gallop Rapids
the Splitrock Rapids, the Cascades, and
the rest, there are pilots in plenty; but
not for those of Lachine. And. to use
| ha cirnila roin I that thl
shooting of these rapids is like the tam
ing of particularly fierce lion; 1t Is
business by itself that few men care
to undertake.
So it came that I sought out one OF
these few, Fred Ouillette pilot, ant
son of pilot, an idol in the cOmpany's
eyes, a hero to the boys of Montreal
a figure to be stirred at always by anx
iOus passengers as he peers through
the window atop the forward deck, I
man whom the people point to as HI
passes: 'There's the fellow that tool
lis through the rapids. That's Dull
lette." This unsought notoriety ha
made him shy. He does not like t.
talk about his work, or tell you how !
feels to do this thing. A dash of Indial
blood Is in him, with some Of the silent
stole Indian nature. Yet certain. fact
he vouchsafed, when went to hi
home, that help one to an understand
ing Of his life.
He emphasized this, for instance, n
essential In a man who would face tina
fury of waters with many lives in hi
keeping; he must not be afraid. On
would say that the rapids feel wher
the mastery is, whether with them o
with the pilot, and woe to him
pounding heart or wavering hand be
tray him. The rapids will have n
mercy. And there are pilots, 1t aT
pears, who know the Lachine Rapids
every foot of them, and could do Oui
lette's work perfectly If Ouillette wer
standing near. yet would fail utterl
II left alone. Every danger they ca
overcome but the one that lies In then
selves. They cannot brave their ow
fear. He cited the case Of a pilot
son who had worked in the Lachin
Rapids for years. helping his fathe
and learned the river as well as q ma
can know 1t. At the old mans deaf
this son announced that he would tax
his fathers place, and shoot the rapid
as they had always done; yet seaso
passed, then a second season, and n
ways he postponed beginning. an,
with one excuse or another looks Ii
boats through the Lachine Canal,
safe but tame short cut, not likely