The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-10-15

Hlc
Of NAT hne where in Marlow's Or.
Faustus he speaks Of the charms Of
his lady love |,
on thou art fairer than the evening
Clad in the beauty Of A thousand
stars
But had NARROW been on Poas he
would have made that thousand mil
mons. The whole sky was peppered
with stars, and each one seemed a
planet.
Shortly after we left the hotel we
mad a magnificent view of this valley
OF the upper Andes, in which A~Iajuela,
San Jose and other towns lie. San
Jose Was lighted by electricity. and
it seemed a great golden lake on the
star-llt expanse before us.
For the first few miles the road was
fairly good. We passed through
sugar and coffee plantations, and by
rude factories where with lamps or
candles the men We're already grind
Ing the cane. They start at | o'clock
in the morning and at about 8. have
enough juice to boil down for the
day.
Climbing Up the Volcano.
so far all was peaceful enough and
as We rode rapidly along on our Costa
Rlcan ponies | thought Of the remark
or the British consul at San Jose that
the ride was a hard one and | rather
sneered at his Judgment, saying TO
floeckher, Why, my boy. this is a
clnch. 1t is like riding a rocking
horse over the Washington asphalt
| was soon to find my mistake. We
shortly left the road and took q trail
over the mountains. Senior de Soto.
who | venture is a descendant Of the
man who discovered the Mississippi,
ana the guide. a peon named Eoja,
agreed that we had better take a
J short cut over the hills as it was
too dark to go through the woods.
We did this and came at once into
a series Of raVines and gorges SO deep
that we could not see our horses
heads in front of US.
In the meantim the clouds had
obscured the stars, a mist rose, and
the~eliffs seemed to extend up on ali
sides. We forded several streams
and ] was warned to put only my
tees in the stirrupS lest in case Of 4
fall | should be dragged. We climbed
UP hill and down and finally anne
into a canyon, which seemed exceed
ingly perilous. Out Of this we crawled
UP into the open. where a stiff wind
? was blowing. The region was wild
z and hillocky. 1t was scanned with
! earthquake cracks and gullies down
which the horses would almost sc
T on their noses, and up which they
8 would climb like panies Of the
{ Alps.
1 Last ON Mt. Poas.
All his time it was growing darker
and darker. The land was, full OF
8 stumps and down timber, and the
guide, who was scrambling along upon
his bare feet, fell again and again
!: I could keep track Of him only by his
white straw hat, which he carried il
80 too~1 VNh;. ,r,Ia n foirt 1iDbt fnY
; a. time, but at last yer the hat was
invisible. Then, to crown it all. the
man stopped and said he had lost his
way. He advised us that we had bet
! ter wait there until daylight, as some
of the earthquake cracks were eX-
ceedingly dangerous. He said, how
3 ever, that the path could not be zfal
8 off, and | insisted on our trying tc
. find it. I got off my horse and trieC
r to make my way over the gullleS anC
D the fallen trees and Jump but | Was
r more often on my face than my feet
e | soOn became Winded and then con
cluded | would rather die on the bach
of q horse than on foot. SO | got OF
again and thrashed my steed intO &C.
e ton. Then the saddle girth broke ant
| slid down to the ground. Iloeckhel
n lost first his hat. and in trying to fins
q that his horse disappeared and IL
went along for a time upon foot
AileI d WINE : y ~ - CIV
started on again. finally reaching {
: path on the edge Of the woods aftel
many climbs over logs. The wind hae
now died away and the guide used
candle, by which he finally brough
US through sullies to a shed known
8 as the Lecheria, perhaps two hour:
t, from the crater.
e 1t was now daybreak, but the cloud
0 we're thick on the volcano and tn
mist fell in drops like rain. 1t i
strange how ones mine works at suci
s times. MY memory went back to tn
n lessons Of my boyhood, the commit
It ting Of which one Of my ancestors
e a sainted United Presbyterian docto,
h Of divinity, enforced upon MS Gnu
It dren to the second and third genera
- ton and / found myself rehearsin
% parts of the xiii Psalm, Rouse's Yer
d sion. You may remember the verse,