RIVER LIFE. 219 



and vanity of worldly possessions more deeply realized, and that 

 this singularly appropriate antidote to a bold and Heaven-daring' 

 intemperance may dilute, if not wash it entirely away. 

 " Very truly, your friend and brother, 



" John "West. 



" Baugor, Maine, March 30, 1849." 



The editor of the Bangor Courier, in some cheerful remarks 

 upon the incidents of the event, observes : 



"We could not bring ourselves to believe that the market- 

 house, in which we had our office, would be removed. We were 

 induced to move our materials at the earnest solicitation of friends, 

 and under their strong advice. We felt all the while as though 

 the alarm would soon be over, and labor resumed in the old prem- 

 ises, and therefore a clumsy article here and another there were 

 left, until the value of the aggregate was about two hundred dol- 

 lars, the removal of which we thought we had wisely avoided. 

 The market moved off majestically, but with gentle dalliance, 

 until it plunged forward from the bridge into the fast receding 

 current of the stream, when it righted with a ship-like propriety, 

 bearing aloft a beautiful flag-staff — emblem of Liberty, erected in 

 honor of Henry Clay, the beloved and whole-hearted patriot and 

 orator, who in private station receives the highest attentions and 

 sincerest regards of the American people — and sped its way on- 

 ward to the ocean, until happily bethinking how many little ar- 

 ticles it contained which would be so missed and mourned, that 

 it settled down with a determination to proceed no further. We 

 visited the wreck in the evening, and, fearing it might prove our 

 last, we bore away several pamphlets and documents as prizes. 

 At an early hour yesterday morning we paid it another visit, 

 when, in company with our office hands, and the kind help and 

 timely suggestions of personal friends and a few strangers, we 

 succeeded in securing every article of value. There happened to 



