The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-06-30
BY EDWARD GILLETTE
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

j Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911. =
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There Is no more dainty bit of seen
cry, to my thinking, than one of those
little patched up, tumbledown, moss
covered water mills Of the oden time.
They are always situated at the lower
end Of a pond. nesting under trees
and half buried In shrubbery. They
speak of past when farmers were
used to carrying a sack or two Of
grain to mill on horseback before them
to have It ground. Now the grain Is
grown on bigger farms In bigger bulk,
and the individual farmers product is
lost in great cereal river that flows
to mills driven by steam and with
stacks towering hundreds Of feet high.
Progress is there, but the little water
mill Of the past is only useful to fur
nish themes for the artist.
am one of these knights Of the
brush myself. One day. coming upon
such simple scene as l have men,
toned. l opened my three legged stool.
set up my easel and began to work in
my colors. have the picture l made
of the mill. and no money would In
duce me to part with It, There Is
story connected with 1t, told me while
was painting, which, appealing to
my fancy, rendered my work especial
ly successful. The picture and the
story go together.
While I was at work a man under a
faded straw hat and suspenders I'M
covered by coat or waistcoat came up
behind me and looked at my work.
He was a middle aged countryman,
with those burrows In his face that
seem to be transferred there from his
eyes being constantly fixed on burrows
made by his plow. He seemed to take
q deep interest In my picture.
There's somep'n wanted on that
little space beside the Wheel" he said.
whats thatf" asked,
"a boy and girl"
What boy and girlT
"Somep'n happened there onct l
kin tell y about 1t If y want to hear
it."
60 ahead"
Its about myself and the girl.
was nigh on to seventeen, and Janey
was fifteen. Children haven't got any
sense. and Janey wasn't much past
bein' u child We had been playin'
together when we was at an age to
play. and now we was Il little older
We kept on playin together. Anyway,
Juney was a wild little thing and up
10 all sorts Of FRANKS. What | was
dom about this time I'm speakin' of
was tryin to keep her from tumblin'
off the peak of the barn roof, or fallin'
down through a hole In the haymow
floor. or gittin' drowned In the pond.
"One day we was over there where
a dirt road led down to the mill It's
all grown over with grass now. but
you can see where II was. At that
time the mill was run whenever there
was any grain to grind. and when
there wasn't the water was turned
of the siuice. That day 1t was turned
off
The first thing | knew Janey she
climbed ont OH to the wheel Her
weight was Just enough to turn 1t and
let her down slow. While she was
sinkin' she looked nj me and laughed.
1t was purity enough laugh, but
somehow ! didn't like to see her goin'
down into that hole. cause there
wasn't any way for her to git out. 1t
was walled In. except near the top,
where an opening had been left to let
the water out. OF course when Janey
got to the bottom the wheel stopped
turnin'
Then | asked Janey to stand on II
and let me turn II and her back ag'in,
but she got off and dared me to come
down. can see her eyes nSw just
as they looked then with lot of dew
iltry In EN-
There was two simplctons instead
Of one. ! got on 10 the wheel, and 1t
turned quicker with my weight than
with hers | Joined her at the bottom,
aud she was amusin herself In all
sorts of ways dancin' and runnin
around the wheel and hollerin' to hear
how queer II sounded down there.
Two or three times | tried to git her
TO let me take her out. 1t wouldn't
be an easy matter in any event. The
only way II could be done was for US
to balance each other by climbin' on
opposite sides Of the wheel But II
the water should be turned on we
couldn't do that,
First thing knew heard somep'n
moved student above, and down come
the water. | looked at Janey. scared
out of my boots. but Janey seemed to
consider 1t q good Joke, the little fool.
and began to dance about In the wa
ter on the stone floor But gradually
the water rose. From the bottom to
the lowest part Of the wheel 1t was
ND to our necks. I lifted Janey on to
the wheel and got up myself. The
only thing for us to do was to climb
as the wheel turned.
81 shouted with all my might, hopin'
the miller would hear me. But he
was inside the mill, and the noise OF
the water down where we was was
enough to drown any boys voice. l
looked about for somep'n to stop the
wheel with. but there wasn't stick
as long as my arm anywhere The
only hope l had was that the miller
had a small lot of grist to grind and
he'd git through before we was tired
out. But | didn't think he'd start the