St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-08-06
/ BIG Ben BECKETT, HERO!
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES t1lJl5|N1l1lN
: By Elliott Flower.
By Elliott Flower.

DIG BEN BECKETT stood in tn,
- crowd at Elk Rapids, looking on
over the frozen waters of Gran,
Traverse bay. Far away, in the direc
ton OF the long, narrow peninsul,
that splits the great bay into wha
are known as the East and West bays
was moving speck. se*s
Big Ben Beckett and the other watch
ers knew that this speck was Pet.
Kline and his homemade sled. They
also knew that Pete's chance of reach.
ing home was SO slight al to be hardly
worth considering. It was because OF
this that they we're lined up along
the shore. 4 & IN
Pete was almost the exact opposite
OF Big Ben in both spirit and physique
He was small, he lacked strength and
endurance, and he was as weak of
heart as OF body. If he ssaw.his danger
1t would be like him to sink YEARLY
down and resign himself to his fate;
Tor he was weary and discouraged, and
the watchers knew it: And the danger
was great, as they also knew. 1t was
time fol- the ice to break. Already
there was an inch or more of slush
over much Of it, and a strong, warm
wind had sprung up from the south.
A wiser man never would have at
tempted to cross to the peninsula
when Pete started, but Pete was not
gifted with great amount OF FORE
sight He had made the nine-mile trip
over when the conditions were GER
tainly bad enough, and he was on his
way back when the conditions were in
dnitely worse. The ice was only wait
ing for that warm, strong south wind.
He ought to turn back" comment
ed one of the watchers.
'He doesn't know enough" asserted
another. StFS
"why doesn't he hurry" was tho
question of a man who had been using
= field-glass. "He seems to be hardly
moving .
"Such "a trip on that ice would use
up even q strong man." remarked Big
Ben by way of explanation. HE must
be close to his limit 3fz 81
Probably doesn't realize his dan
ger, anyway"
Probably not" admitted Big Ben.
The people Of Elk Rapids did not
have a high opinion Of Pete. He was
a stolid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. but slow,
and far from resourceful. Even man
of no experience in that region should
have known enough tostay at Old Mis-
sion on the peninsula when the wind
began to RISE OF course, Pete wanted
to get back to his wife and child, and,
even II he appreciated the danger,
which the watchers believed doubtful,
his only chance for some time would
be to cross before the ice broke But,
from every point of view, he would
be better of At Old Mission than he
would ut the bottom OF Grand Traverse
bay or floating out to Lake Michigan
on an, fee foe. II he failed to con-
slider that, 1t was his own fault; he
alone was responsible for his present
predicament, and
s'The ice has broken on the other
shore! cried the man with the field
glass.
There was no chance for him to turn
back now. II the ice broke from the
east shore, as 1t had from the west, he |
was lost. And, whatever they might |
think Of the ignorance or folly of |
man who would do as he had done, he
was human being nevertheless, and
he was facing fearful death. Then,
too, his wife was back little from
the crowd of men, looking out over
the tce% with bewildered, frightened
eyes. while several other women tried
to assure her that he would reach
land in safety. She knew that he was
in danger, but she did not know how
little OF hope there was. She did not
weep, but her piteous, pleading, Ques-
tioning eyes, as she turned them from
the figure far out on the Ice to the hg-
ures on the shore, were enough to In
spire men to action even IL the plight
of Pete proved insufficient.
Big Ben looked at her and then at
The ice, Then he started out over the
frozen bay. It required great and
courage to do this
thing. AS his name implied. he was
big and strong, but he was deliber-
ately placing himself in situation
where his size and strength would
avail nothing-and to what purpose?
He could do nothing but hurry Pete
1 little,s If he reached him. No physi-
cal proWUSs, no mental resourceful-
ness, would enable him to escape the
danger. If the ice broke from the
East shore, he would be as helpless as