The Man In The Reservoir

THE MAN IN THE RESERVOIR
By Charles Fenno Hoffman
You may see some of the best society in New York on the top of the
Distributing Reservoir, any of these fine October mornings. There were
two or three carriages in waiting, and half a dozen senatorial-looking
mothers with young children, pacing the parapet, as we basked there
the other day in the sunshine-now watching the pickerel that glide
along the lucid edges of the black pool within, and now looking off
upon the scene of rich and wondrous variety that spreads along the two
rivers on either side.
"They may talk of Alpheus and Arethusa," murmured an idling
sophomore, who had found his way thither during recitation hours, "but
the Croton in passing over an arm of the sea at Spuyten Duyvil, and
bursting to sight again in this truncated pyramid, beats it all hollow. By
George, too, the bay yonder looks as blue as ever the Ægean Sea to
Byron's eye, gazing from the Acropolis! But the painted foliage on
these crags!-the Greeks must have dreamed of such a vegetable
phenomenon in the midst of their grayish olive groves, or they never
would have supplied the want of it in their landscape by embroidering
their marble temples with gay colors. Did you see that pike break, sir?"
"I did not."
"Zounds! his silver fin flashed upon the black Acheron, like a restless
soul that hoped yet to mount from the pool."
"The place seems suggestive of fancies to you?" we observed in reply
to the rattlepate.
"It is, indeed, for I have done up a good deal of anxious thinking within
a circle of a few yards where that fish broke just now."

"A singular place for meditation-the middle of the Reservoir!"
"You look incredulous, sir; but it's a fact. A fellow can never tell, until
he is tried, in what situation his most earnest meditations may be
concentrated. I am boring you, though?"
"Not at all. But you seem so familiar with the spot, I wish you could
tell me why that ladder leading down to the water is lashed against the
stonework in yonder corner."
"That ladder," said the young man, brightening at the question-"why,
the position, perhaps the very existence, of that ladder resulted from my
meditations in the Reservoir, at which you smiled just now. Shall I tell
you all about them?"
"Pray do."
"Well, you have seen the notice forbidding any one to fish in the
Reservoir. Now, when I read that warning, the spirit of the thing struck
me at once as inferring nothing more than that one should not sully the
temperance potations of our citizens by steeping bait in it, of any kind;
but you probably know the common way of taking pike with a slip
noose of delicate wire. I was determined to have a touch at the fellows
with this kind of tackle.
"I chose a moonlight night; and an hour before the edifice was closed to
visitors, I secreted myself within the walls, determined to pass the night
on the top. All went as I could wish it. The night proved cloudy, but it
was only a variable drift of broken clouds which obscured the moon. I
had a walking cane-rod with me which would reach to the margin of
the water, and several feet beyond if necessary. To this was attached
the wire, about fifteen inches in length.
"I prowled along the parapet for a considerable time, but not a single
fish could I see. The clouds made a flickering light and shade, that
wholly foiled my steadfast gaze. I was convinced that should they come
up thicker, my whole night's venture would be thrown away. 'Why
should I not descend the sloping wall and get nearer on a level with the

fish, for thus alone can I hope to see one?' The question had hardly
shaped itself in my mind before I had one leg over the iron railing.
"If you look around you will see now that there are some half-dozen
weeds growing here and there, amid the fissures of the solid masonry.
In one of the fissures from whence these spring, I planted a foot and
began my descent. The Reservoir was fuller than it is now, and a few
strides would have carried me to the margin of the water. Holding on to
the cleft above, I felt round with one foot for a place to plant it below
me.
"In that moment the flap of a pound pike made me look round, and the
roots of the weed upon which I partially depended gave way as I was in
the act of turning. Sir, one's senses are sharpened in deadly peril; as I
live now, I distinctly heard the bells of Trinity chiming midnight,