DeLand news. [volume] (DeLand, Volusia County, Fla.) 190?-1921, 1909-10-01
x MISS BOUCHELLE'S
LAST LETTER

} projected over chasm many hundred
feet deep. There are artists on every
bank and rock. good bad and Indifferent
but all painting away as if they wcr,
AFRAID the whole scene would presently
fade away and they might lose the
picture OF lifetime. At first YOU walk
warily up and sit down, before YOU dar,
peep over, clnging hard meanwhile to
the edge Of the rock Then you look,
and look again, and still look; till the
inSiS'CnCc Of the artists, who are dis
putting as to whether they shall walk the
two miles to their hotel or send for a
carriage and risk being late for dinner,
drives you to another projecting rock
Just below you, and out Of carshot.
There You settle into nook with your
feet dangling into space but there is Il
little crcvice in reach of your heels, and
you have thumped the solid rock at
your back till YOU are sure that, since it
has wcathcred the world-old ages it will
hold YOU safely. You are near the
point OF crescent-shaped precipicc ,
across the head of the gorge facing you
is the other point, rock walled, though
more Sloping. The winds from all
poinst If the compass collect in this
intervening gorge and sweep over the
cliff with considerable force, even on a
calm day, The legend Of this is that in
the wild and free anti-touriSt DAYS an
Indian maiden stood on the rock, while
a young chief told Of the wonderful
wealth and social position that would
hc hers il she would only 60 with him as
the first lady Of his tribe To prove
the strength Of his devotion and bravery
and satisfy her vanity she told him to
throw himself over the cliff. which nc
promptly did, Like most any modern
maid, she straightway changed her
mind and wished she hadn't Frantic
ally calling upon the winds Of the north
and OF the east, the west and the south
she prayed them 70 combine and watt
her lover back to her This they did.
and forever after they have been at the
beck Of the foolish maidens who won't !
believe al their lovers tell them. Any |
way it is told on good authority that
since that day no man has ever jumped |
over the prccipce but he was promptly
waited back and set on his feet ;yain.
until this summer, when very youth.
full brave pitched rather preciptatcly
over. Evidently his maiden didn't re-
pent soon enough, for after splitting
t he wind" head first for twcnty-t five or
thirty feet he crashed through the tops
Of a scrub pine, demolishing one side OF
it, but finally hanging suspended, in
imminent danger Of death, till men
threw him rope and hauled him up.
Besides the interest the cliff and
gorge has in itself. the scenery from
his point is unrivaled in point of beau
y, even the Alps Of Switzerland, &C.
,ording to persons who have seen both
From Flat Lap mountain, on the Cone
state you can stand an the observatory
md with the feeling that you are high
bove it all you view the kingdoms of
his world, apparently. Revolving ..
lowly you try to compass the magniti-
'ence of the panorama before you, )
save by the limitations of !
he human eye A friend of mine
tanding near this point once remarked:
My, | didn't know this world was SO
ig! why it goes away over into Vir-
inia" You feel that way too. p
There is an optical illusion that is al !,
lost sure to greet you as you go from t
IL village to the rock; and as it has 81
lterested travellers for many years, it is 9 9
orth mentioning. At one place the Y
,ad swings around point of hill and Fl
angs for space over the valley below. a
lancing out through the trees, you =.
most catch your breath and eNclaim, h
The ocean," For surely that can be p;
thing else. 1t is only after rubbing b.
,ur eyes and forcing yourself to see it u.
light that the mighty sea of silent y,
alter dssolves itself into the blue haze SC
at persistently hangs over the valley. m
ever have seen anything approaching 10
Oh perfection in the way of an illus or
n. Often as ! have seen this, con- II
IS it catches me mapping nearly every
ne.
A view of the sunrise from any of -, -,
csc high peaks would fill your soul lie,