ISSo 



c;JJ':an*L\(;s ix hEi: culture. 



•285 



a short distance by the help of a torch, and 

 told his family, when he got home, of such 

 wonderful sights he saw. that his wife and ] 

 three children accompanied him back. They ! 

 became so interested with the rocky forma- 

 tions that they wandered on until he stum- 

 bled and dropped his torch. lie tried to 

 light it again, but failed, and for two days \ 

 and two nights they wandered in its awful ' 

 darkness. Finally liis wife sought for the 

 spots made by their damp feet when they 

 came in, and by this means got near enough 

 the entrance so they could see light. 



In LSP; the cave was owned by Thomas i 

 Moore, Init he was ruined by being connect- 

 ed with the Burr and Blennerhasset conspir- 

 acy. At one time a Mr. McLane bought 

 the cave for S40.(J0, and liOO acres were tlirown 

 in to make him satisfied with his bargain. 

 In 18S7 a Mr. C. F. Harvey was lost in the 

 cave for 8!) hours. Ills fright became so 

 great that he lost his mind ; and when the 

 guides got track of him he tied from them ' 

 like a wild animal. He recovered, however, 

 after being among his friends for a time. 



(3ne of the romantic features of the cave 

 is, that for more than sixty years people 

 have hunted for some other opening, and 

 many attempts have been made to sink a 

 shaft that should strike some of its subter- 

 ranean caverns. Stephen Bishop, whose 

 tombstone I have mentioned at the mouth 

 of the cave, once discovered a sec-ond open- 

 ing, lie was a slave at the time; but his 

 master, who owned the cave, hearing that 

 he knew of another outlet, questioned him 

 about it. He admitted that lie did kudw of 

 such an entrance. In order to prove it be- 

 yond doubt, his master, with old Matt 

 Biansfoi'd, the one who was to guide us 

 dining our trip, went and plac( d tiieniselves 

 at the mouth of the cave, sending Stei)hen 

 in, and locking the iron door, tliey both keep- 

 ing watch at the entrance If" he got out 

 without coming throngh tliat door, of course 

 they had i)r(!Of of the otlier opening, .\long 

 in the afternoon he came (piietly down the 

 side of the mountain. Xow. the other open- 

 ing might be on some other man's hmd. and 

 the cave was getting to be valuable projierty. 

 Said liis nnister.— 



■• Stei)hen. if you will give me your prom- 

 ise to carefully close this secret oi)ening 

 you have discovered, so that no one will ever 

 be likely to find it, either on the outside or 

 inside, and then will agree to let the secret 

 of it die with you. I will give you freedom. '" 



Stephen gave the promise; and although 

 he lived numy years afterward, tlie secret 

 was kept lockect in his own breast, and he 

 died with it. Our narrator informed us, 

 with a sly twinkle, tliat l;e never told even 

 hisw//e.' 



There are in the Mammoth ("ave,2L'3 aven- 

 ues already explored, and the united length 

 of thes;' avenues is equal to l.'O miles. I'he 

 short route takes in eight or nine miles of 

 the most interesting portion ; and the long 

 route, which crosses the rivers, and includes 

 a boat-ride on one of them, is about is miles. 

 At the time we were there, the rivers were 

 too high to permit of taking the long route, j 



Pretty soon a horseback messenger in- j 

 formed "us that_the other party for whom we 



were waiting were not a great way off. Old 

 Matt, our guide, trimmed his lamps and pre- 

 pared for the trip. He was quite talkative, 

 although he was an old man, and seemed 

 quite willing to be plied with questions. 

 The lamps were about the size of a tin cup. 

 set in the center of what looked like a tin 

 plate, and three chains enabled us to carry 

 them conveniently. The tin-plate arrange- 

 ment was to prevent breaking the lamps by 

 knocking them against the rocks. Each 

 visitor has a lamp and a cane. The time for 

 starting arrived ; but. as usual, two or three 

 of the company of eleven were lagging be- 

 hind. My friend Matt hnally pulled a rope 

 and rang a bell that was perched on a post 

 near us. Even then they would not all come 

 without considerable lu-ging. I felt like 

 dancing around the guide, like a schoolboy 

 who is going chestnutting ; but I concluded 

 it were better to remember that I was al- 

 most an old man, the father of a family, and 

 — editor of Gleaxixc^s ; so I walked sober- 

 ly, but I was not behind anybody, you may 

 be sure. Here we go, down the' gravelly 

 walk, and we are actually before the mouth 

 of old ^lammoth Cave. The little water- 

 fall makes a pleasant ringing as it spatters 

 among the rocks. Our party of eleven are 

 in good spirits, and down we "go those rocky 

 steps till we stand before the mouth of this 

 great cavern— one of the wonders of the 

 world. 



I wanted to run on ahead, but our friend 

 Matt objected. The iron gate across the 

 narrowe(i-up passageway liefore us made me 

 think of the wicket-gate in the Pilgrim's 

 Progress. Matt was our interpreter, and I 

 ho[)e we were all Christians. We stood 

 around him while he unlocked the gate and 

 swung it back on its hinges. Just now we 

 began to discover that our guide was to be 

 boss during the evening, and we were to be 

 his subjects. He ordered us to hold our 

 lamps before us, and walk straight ahead un- 

 til he called on us to halt. Somebody ven- 

 tured to ask what we were to do that for, 

 and he simply replied. •' Do as I tell you." 



We found out pretty soon, for the breeze 

 tliat was coming out "near the entrance now 

 increased to almost a gale, and it was with 

 ditliculty that we kept our lamps from blow- 

 ing' out." This iron gate is about HOO feet 

 from the mouth of the cave. When the 

 guide called on us to halt, we looked aromid 

 and discovered that the ceiling had raised, 

 and the walls had receded until we were in a 

 large room as it were. All around the sides 

 of the room were bats hanging to the walls 

 and ceiling. Now. Ernest once had bats 

 for a hobby ; and for a week or two he ques- 

 tioned everybody he came across, as to 

 whether they knew any thing of these ani- 

 mals that could fly. and yet did not have 

 feathers. His grandpa gave him the most 

 information of anybody, but still he was not 

 half satisfied. I t'lii-neil to him and told him 

 now was his time to push his investigations. 

 The guide told us they came there to wait 

 for summer. 



'■ Why. Matt.' said I, •• you do not mean 

 to say these chaps hang here in this way 

 from "fall imtil spring, do youV" 



" That is exactlv what thevdo do." said he. 



