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THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

 

The Drowned Boy.

NLESss you can swim well, never
venture into deep water. I well
remember, when a boy, being
present when one of our com-

panions was drowned. He ventured out
too far, and the current of the river car-
ried him off his feet. Although there
was no hole or dangerous spot where we
were bathing—for a man seven feet high
might have walked out foot by foot, and
not lost more than two or three inches of
his height in the water at a stride, so
gradual and sure was the slope of the
gravel bed—yet the torrent swept this
careless boy off his feet, and he was
drowned !

The scene rises as vividly before me as
if it had but happened yesterday. I re-
member well it was his birth-day; in
honor of which his mother had allowed
him to put on his Sunday clothes. It
was after dinner, when we went out for a
walk. His mother bade us not stay very
late, and invited two or three of us (his
chosen playmates) to come home with
him to tea. She had made a large plum-
cake to celebrate his birth-day, for he was
their only child, I forget now who it
was that first proposed we should go and
bathe. It was in June; a beautiful hot
sunshiny day ; 80, instead of going to the
Long Plantation, a bird-nesting, as we at
first intended to do, we turned off, passed
the old oil-mill, and wandered on the
banks of the river, over a field or two,
until we arrived at the gravel-bed, our
favorite bathing-place. We placed our
clothes, as usual, carefully under the wil-
lows on the bank, one or two kindly
throwing down their every-day garments,
that our companion might put his Sunday

  

clothes upon them, and so preserve them
from being soiled. I was reckoned a
good swimmer, and, if I remember right-
ly, made my way at once across the deep
river. Greatly have I regretted this since,
for, saving myself, there was but another
among us who could swim, and he was
close upon my heels when the alarm was
given that our comrade was drowning.
The river Trent, in which we were bathing,
is rather wide; and as I was resting my-
self on the opposite bank, I did not at
first clearly comprehend what had hap-
pened ; for no young savages ever yelled
or shouted louder at the sight of a white
man, than we were wont to do while
bathing. It was the silence which fol-
lowed that alarmed me most, and I swam

back again with a heavy heart ; for, with-
out being told, I knew that something
had happened. On the bank the group
of boys was huddled together, some cry-
‘ing, others silent, but all sorrowful. My

companion who could swim assisted me,
and we dived for him in turns, until we
were compelled to lie down on the shore,
breathless and exhausted, and almost
black in the face through our exertions.
I shall carry the scar to the grave which
marks the wound I then received, through
the cap of my knee striking against &
stone, while searching for him at the bot-
tom of the river. It was a melancholy
picture, that scene on the banks of the
Trent; and such a one I hope it will
never be my lot to witness again! We
looked over the water, on which the sun-
shine streamed, trying to fix upon the
very spot where he last rose, as if we
expected to see him appear once more,
but the river rolled on as smoothly as if