River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1908-04-09


procured a long, stout rope; fastened
one end OF it securely round my body,
and the other end around the body of
one of the fishermen who was to ac-
company me.
We walked quite distance apart,
enough so as to keep the long rope al
most taut. We also walked on a line
with each other, not one in advance of
the other Feeling a security in the
comparative frmness of the ice, / be-
came trifie careless and, instead of
looking straight ahead, / was looking
in other directions at the snow-covered
landscape.
How often in life we feel most Sc
cure when we are nearest danger and
in that sense of security fail to hear
the warning voice! However, in this
case, l had previously heard, listened
and Needed and well it was that l had
done so. At that very momentum I'M
guarded moment felt myself lifted
bodily Can indescribable feeling) and
in less time than 1 can write it l was,
by this unseen power, borne across an
iceless area (where the water was
deepest), distance of many feet in
width-so wide, could neither have
stepped nor jumped it.
If l was surprised what about my
companion? As soon as he felt the
rope becoming more taut he looked in
my direction and saw me moving
through the air without any effort on
my part. There was no break in the
ice at his end of the line. He moved
cautiously toward me. Had he not
been tied, being very superstitious, he
would have moved very rapidly in the
opposite direction. He could not UNI
derstand it; neither could /; can you?
At that time, | could arrive at but
one cOnclusiOn-it was spirits, the dis
embodied spirits of departed friends;
yet / had my doubts.
At this time, can arrive at but one
conclusion-it was a spirit, my own
embodied spirit using the Mnetic en-
ergy resident within myself of this,
have no doubts.
Upon this occasion, as upon all &C.
casions of a similar nature, an ejacula-
tory prayer of thankf1lness escaped
of All Good; for 1 was assured that
whatever the power or whence it came
it was His power. 1t will thus be seen
that this "kinetic energy" is the pow
er that controls the physical forces of
nature, the power of moving and being
moved; "the power that enabled Jesus
and Peter to walk upon the water"
says DR.. Hudson.
During the civil war, while en-
camped at Savannah, Ga, was pass
ing from a cabin to my tent. There
was no occasion for me to halt-no oc-
casion that / could see; but all at once
someone back of me Gas / supposed
placed a powerful hand on each Shout
der and thus prevented my taking an
other step. My feet seemed riveted to
the spot, but l turned my head and
was greatly surprised to behold no one
behind me. Had l taken one more
step the result, undoubtedly, would
have proved fatal; just as l was halted
bullet grazed my chest.
negro Ia former slave VINO HAQ
joined us on the March to the Sea-"
now serving as cook for our "mesS'O
was standing some distance away
when he was attracted by the peculiar
noise of the bullet and the flying of
chip in the air. He said: who froo
up dat chip" I informed him that it
was a bullet that struck the spot
where he saw the chip fly up. He dug
about a foot in the ground and found
the bullet which had completely fiat
tened in its impact with large stone.
In the meantime had not moved from
my position, so that I might gauge
the distance, angle, etc. The conclu-
sion was in accord with my previous
reckoning, viz. that one step would
have been fatal.
The negro handed me the bullet, l
looked at it, tossed it away Outlets
were so common them and thought of
what might have BEEN" and was truly
thankful that it was outside of me in
stead of inside.
Here was another illustration of
'lzinetic energy" which, of course,
did not then understand.
Copyright, 1907 by Joseph B. Bowles.)
MnINE AC IMnEY NE MINT