Repository: UIHistories Project: Sophograph - 1891 [PAGE 18]

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s o i ' HOORAPH,

COMPLETE ANNIHILATION.

^ O U T H E E N Illinois, or the Egypt * ^ s of the New World, has often been - ^ ' termed the "land of milk and honey." Its broad and fertile prairies, interspersed with dense forests, its many rivers and creeks, forming a network of waterways, present to the mind the scenes of that faroff land from which it lias received its appropriate name. With Cairo at the point of the great waterway of this country, its inundating rivers and creeks, depositing their sediment and fertilizing the country, it is surely a remarkable likeness to Egypt of the Old World. Relics and antiquities abound. In paradoxes it excels Egypt proper, and approaches Australia. Most of these are well known and have often been rehearsed, I shall relate one which I. personally witni I and can hence vouch for. A hot July afternoon found me on the inks of Silvi ek fishing. My outfil v wholly taken from uature, and consisted of, first, a poL . the thorn of a common Loci] thirty feet in length. light, and

*

found in great abundance bj the river sid< Thus equipped 1 sal anxiously i iting for ;i bite. Suddenly my attention ws drawn to the opposite side of the str< m, where a struggle of some kind was going on. A minute later I saw ;i mass of living matt tumble from out of the flowers, roll down the steep bank of the creek and alight below on a wide sand bank. The animals w slightly stunned by the fall and I could for

t h e first t i m e m a k e out what it w;i

It consisted of three frightful snak' >i exactly the same length and thickness. Each

h a d t h e o t h e r by t h e tail. K.ich Wafl BWallowing at the same rate. T h e circle Unif o r m e d , w h e n first o b s e r v e d , wi n o 1. than t w e n t y feet in d i a m e t e r . * T h i s , bowevc as gradually contracting as the swallowing eontinned. I sat on t h e o p p o s i t e h a n k , n o Ion w a t c h i n g t h e fish, b u t t h a t s t r a n g e spectacle w h i c h c o n t i n u e d for two h o u r s . T h e circL gradually became smaller and smaller, and

at last nothing whatever remained. I returned home, satisfied that this was the first case of total annihilation of matter which had come to mv notice.

I t r y t<» p i e r c e t h e g l o o m t h a t l i a n a s b e f o r e m y f a c e .

line p o i n t .

Second, the

line

litv feel long, t h e t e n d r i l of ;l wild grape v < ron] and flexible as a common thread. \. hook, a peculiarly beni and barbed toi »f ;i s h r u b Settohkcifi fori //•<(/!<•),

'I'h. curtain dark between wh is and is t«» b< : And as I look, behold ! before mv e i is r 1 A life of perfect action, crowned with love of man. I < > nol >• R blot or stain. The spotless p i < Reveals no trace of time ill-spent of sin's revi All'- beauty, happiness and joy, such is my d m. I turn from this fair >cf\\c to what I am; and think How oft, in times beyond recall, the tempter bland Has wrought my fall and led me um the path tit To wander in his wa B BO dark. Then >wn 1 fall And pray, 0 God, not of myself m I aspire To live the righteous life. Thou an tin Chr .:.'* *

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