Year: 1877




verge of the torrent and expert
enced in its full force the tremen-
dous roar of the rushing waters.
Why, here was occupation for
weeks, l thought, in merely listening
to these beautiful noises; and had
not the doctor told me that this was
one of the wavs in which | should
employ myself? Had he not said:
"Listen to the music of running wa
ter?" Well, / never expected to
find a holiday diversion in such
pursuit; but here it was, and for
whole fortnight / gave myself up to
this delicious idleness. Then, as if
further to develop the unsuspected
music, poetry, or whatever you may
choose to call it, of my nature, |
found among the few coffee-room
hooks a copy of Southey's poems.
instinctively l read again and again:
'How does the water come down at
Lodore? | took the volume down
to the wood, to the waters edge, to
the very foot of my waterfall,
which seemed to me to be doing all
that the poet described as possible
under the circumstances.


The weather heretofore had been
superb, midsummer sunshine, and
not drop of rain. H


The sunshine glinting through the
trees; the pure sky above; the song
of birds, not yet all hushed, in the
woods; the fresh, breezy odors-
these all became such novelties and
charms as 1 had never conceived
possible. But seated on my isolated
rock, it was still, after all, out of
the Emusic of the waters" that l
got my chief mental enjoyment.


At last there was sudden change
of wind. Heavy clouds swept over
the land-shape, burying in mist or
occasional showers all ferns save
those close at hand.


Regular Welsh weather, sir!
said fresh-colored, elderly, gentle
manlike man, in a tourists suit,
whom found the next morning in
the coffee room. My party will
be house-bound for a couple of days
at least, if l know anything of this
country; shocking place for weather.
Been here long, sir?


l told him how long, and that l
had not had a drop of rain the
whole time.


Disadvantage in that, too, he
went on; mountainous scenery
wants mist and rain to drift round
the peaks, fill up the torrents and
bring out the waterfalls. This one.
here will present a fine sight after.
another four-and twenty hours of
such weather; it was a mere dribble
last night when we arrived.


1 was consoled by this gentle
mans words for having to spend the
best part of the day indoors; there
was a new sensation then yet in
store for me; and l was little dis
appointed to find when, early the
following afternoon, lull in the
weather enabled me to go dowE to
my favorite rocky haunt, that there
was very little perceptible difference
in the volume of water coming over
the fall.


So here sat, | suppose, for more
than an hour in my accustomed
state of placid enjoyment. With
my eyes half shut ] was saying over
to myself the first few lines of
Southey's "Lodore," and trying to
make the music of the waters fit in
to them as an accompaniment,
when there suddenly sounded in my
ears roar so loud, and increasing so
rapidly in volume that | started, and
looking up perceived that now in
deed the fall had become grandly
augmented. l stood up quite excl
ted, but not even then for one mo-
ment dreaming of danger. Town
bred idiot that | was, quite unac-
quainted with the terrific force of
the elements when once unloosed, |
never imagined for a second that 1
could be placed in peril by fact so
beautiful as this now before me. In
the exaggeration which ignorance
gave to my estimate of these natu-
raj wonders, l thought | was gazing
at the harmless Niagara; | had new
er seen anything half so beautiful;
whilst the almost deafening, thun-
derous roar which accompanied it
was such a new phase of my favor
ite music that | stood spell-bound
with a sort of wlld delight. Not
for many minutes, however, for a
heavy rain cloud that had suddenly
over swept the sky warned me to re-
treat. | turned with this purpose
toward the stepping-stone by which
/ always regained the precipitous
bank of the river. To my horror
they had all ~disappeafed, and in
their place. a boiling, Etnbling fer=
ment of brown water and frothy
foam was sweeping along at a tre-
mendous pace. Then in an instant
| knew that the river was rising rap
idly. Any one but a fool would
have fOreseen this as the'2 natural
consequence of the increase Of the
waterfall. Right and left and all
around the river had now become a
boiling ca'dron of broken water;
was cut off from all hope of retreat,
and should be washed away like a
fly, I knew "a'2 sg. "


Helpless and scared, l stood irres,
olute yet moment longer.


l recollect in this dire emergency
suddenly observing still further
increase in the volume of the fall,
and almost simultaneously with il
feeling my legs slip from under me
as the brown water gurgled in my
ears and glistened in my eyes
Then there was a choking, tumbling
pressure forward, several sharp
blows upon my legs and arms. an
effort to strike out, met by coming
in contact with more rocks, and
then a whirl and twirl and a spin
ming around as if l had been a cork


The swimmers instinct, however
was Of some use after all, for in the
first place it enabled me to retain 8
little presence of mind, and in the