An Amish Family Reunion by Mary Ellis Read Free Book Online Page B

of abject poverty. Resourceful her entire life, the woman decided to navigate the mighty Niagara River in a wooden barrel. Many had tried before but few had succeeded. Annie Edson Taylor believed her bravery in surviving the fall would bring her fame and fortune for the rest of her life. Hoping to generate an income from interviews and public speaking engagements, she alerted the local newspapers about her daring plan. That day they set up their camera tripods downstream of Horseshoe Falls, where the woman’s friends were to watch for the barrel and drag it ashore. Upriver, trusted helpers drilled small air holes in the lid and then helped the sixty-three-year-old teacher, wearing a long dress and fancy hat, into the barrel. Because the schoolmarm realized this stunt could very well lead to her demise, she clutched her beloved pet—an all-black cat—in her arms for the ride. The helpers nailed down the lid and pushed the barrel off into the strong current. Bobbing and jostling, the barrel tumbled in the treacherous rapids to the brink of the falls.
    Eli paused in his narration, while the silent crowd inhaled a collective breath. Phoebe, among others, thought the reckless spinster would surely be pulled out at the last moment and given a stern talking-to by her pastor or perhaps the police.
    After a moment, he continued. “No one on shore suspected a human being was tucked up inside the bobbing cork. Over she went, falling hundreds of feet into the crush of waves and rocks below.”
    “Did the barrel bust apart into a million pieces?” called out a voice.
    “Did the poor soul drown?” asked another.
    “Did they ever find any remains of her body?” inquired a practical-natured sort.
    Questions from the audience sang out as everyone began to clamor with their own likely scenarios. Then Eli raised his hand as though holding a patriarch’s staff. The busload of normally talkative youths grew silent once again. “She lived!” he announced to thunderous applause and hoots of joy. “Miss Taylor’s helpers lassoed the barrel with ropes from small boats and towed it ashore. When they pried off the lid, out leaped the teacher’s cat in fine shape, only a bit perturbed, as we know cats can get. But,” said Eli, roping in his audience like Miss Taylor’s barrel, “the cat’s fur, formerly pure black, was white as new-fallen snow, every bit of it.”
    “No!” cried several in unison.
    “
Jah
,” concluded Eli with conviction. “At least that’s what the reporters said in the newspaper.” He gave his vest a satisfied tug.
    “But what happened to Annie?” hollered Rebekah Glick.
    Eli’s expression sobered. “When they helped her from the barrel, she was bruised and battered but not seriously injured.” There was plentiful applause from the girls’ side with a smattering from the boys’. “The sixty-three-year-old teacher had survived the one-hundred-seventy-five-foot drop over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel—a feat many younger and stronger men could not accomplish.” Applause now rose from both sides of the bus. “However, her scheme to generate a retirement income from speaking engagements never panned out. Alas, her fame soon faded, and she died forgotten and penniless in her old age.”
    Phoebe watched Eli place his hand over his heart upon uttering the word “alas” and felt her own pang of sorrow for a woman dead for many years. She had been enthralled by the story of Annie Taylor… and by Eli Riehl. Needless to say, she’d never met anyone so articulate and verbose. His story came alive in the mind of each who had heard it. That indeed was a rare gift. Phoebe joined with the others in a round of applause. When Eli sat down, he didn’t sit with her again but slipped into a seat on the boys’ side.
    Mrs. Stoltzfus delivered a hands-on-hips warning about the dire fate of most who attempted to “ride the falls” lest anyone on the bus would be stupid enough to get such a notion.
    Phoebe