Year: 1868

hear me calling, the sound of my voice
ringing dismally from the depths below
would urge them to fy.with desperate
haste from the accurscd spot.


| knew that whatever might be ny
ultimate fate, / had no hope Of extricat
ing myself from tho pit in time to leave
Port Carbon by that nights train; and
in that knowledge--for it brought with il
tho awful thought that my wife would BIZ
dead before | could reach her-I lay upor
the cold, wet ground and resigned mysel
to die, forgetting, in my despair, that 4
motherless orphan-my Marys child
still held claims upon fathers love and
protection


oh, that cold, sad night! The morn
ing found me still lying in the position in
which had lain all night. My limb,
were spraincd, and the terrible bruise.
that had received in my fall made ne
as weak and helpless as a child. / lay
as the hours passed, callous and reckless
of what was TO befall me in the future
/ could see, with mournful distinctness
the solemn ceremony which was going on
in that humble home in Reading, where
the pale face of Mary-palcr and whittier
than the pillow upon which it rested
was set in that rcposc which must, al
some time or other, come TO all of us.
could see tho form Of my mother bending
down aud weeping over that gentle face
which was never again to fall upon my
| LIES path with its cheerful radiance
weeping aud wondering, in her happy ip.
norancc of what had befallcn me, why |
was away from her side. And could
hear, saddest of all, the wall Of the moth.
erless child breaking out upon the quiet
aud darkened room.


Slowly passed the hours, and still no
help came. Gradually the sky over
cloude,. with the promise Of heavy rain.
Shouting at intervals during the day, |
heard only tho echoes of my own voice
come in answer. could sometimes faint
ly catch, it is true, the sounds Of faint
cries in tho direction Of the village, as of
people driving in cattle; but, whatever
might have been the cause Of these sounds.
no one came in response to my calls.
Weary and heartsick, / lay down 10
another night of agony, and to think.
through the long hours, Of what was be-
ing enacted at that darkened home in
Reading.


Why should recount, 10 detail, the
weary hours Of mental aud physical suf.
ieriug which were mine for three nights
and two days, in that lonely sepulchery
Why should | narrate how hunger and
thirst and grief had we'll nigh done their
work when relief came TO me at last, and
at time when perhaps an hours delay
might have proved fatal?


Let me now speak Of that hour which
brought with il the sound of human
voices and the shuttle of human feet.
gathering about the mouth of dead
Mans Pit"


1t was on the morning of the third day
that Witnessed my burial in the living
death of the pit. Weakness Of body and
mental despair had settled heavily upon
me, and lay staring, through the aper.
ture, At the gray, drifting clouds. had
no hope left; experienced only an abase-
ment of every faculty, and l patiently
waited for the cnd | felt that unless
relief should come TO me before this day
should be spent, if ever, in future days,
mems eyes should fall upon me again, it
would be when some other wretch-more
fortunate, perehance, than would fall
upon " Dead Mans Pit," and be rescued
thence; for then, perhaps, tho skeleton
which would be found there, the mystery
that would then be revealed, would recall
to the minds of some who might remem.
Der the legend, how John Taggart, coal
miner, had disappeared long, long ago
from tho miners settlement-when his
wife lay dying in Rcading-and had new
er been heard of from that time until the
moment of his discovery. felt this, for
the reason that in the ominous appear.
ance of the heavens | could foretell new
and more certain warning of death |
could sec plainly that one of those terri
BILE storms which frequently cause such
torrents as suffice to flood the caverns
and pits of the neighborhood, was about
to add its fatal effects to my misfortune


With patience that could have been
born of long resignation only, | waited fol-
the storm to burst upon me. In that mo
ment | thought that the self-same rain
would beat upon the grave of my dead
darling, and waited with happier hear
than had been mine since my fall the coming
of the messenger that was to summon mC
once more to her presence. With Mary
in her grave, there was little else for mt
to live for This was selfish and {
wrong feeling | kne "; for did | not have
my good mother, and my helpless child
still to care for and protect? But
was weary with exhaustion, and wishcG
to die.


The clouds above me grew gradually
darker and darker. The semblanee 0
day was gradually blotted out in th'
shadow of the impending storm. Their
the drops fell with an irregular fall, in
! tensifed, after little while, into dense
binding, sutfocating flood of angry wa
ters, as the skies showcred their content
upon the drenched earth.


As if to ensure the more speedy over
flow of the pit, the water from the sur
face, taking the shape of little streams
fell in multitude of little cataracts owe
the ledge and added itself to the rapidl
rising lake which already compelled M
to stand upon my feet in order to say
! myself from drowning. With fearfu
sense of the nearness of my doom, | he'll
to the sides Of the pit for support. Th
, roar of the rain falling above, the cease


less splash of the cataracts around me
the momentary approach of the waters t
level with my shoulders-all these tel