The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-09-22
THE DEAD CLEARING.

BY c. =. HOFFMAN, AUTHOR OF "a WINTER IN THE
"PAR WEST"
".Unapprebensive thus, at night
The wild deer, looking from the brake
To where there CLEANS ftful light
Dotted upon the ripping lake,
Sees not the silver spray drop dripping
From the little oar, which, softly dipping,
lmpels the willy hunters boat
But on his ruddy torchs rays,
As nearer clearer now they float,
Tho EAtod quarry stondst gaze;
And, dreaming not Of cruel sport,
Withdraws not thence his gentle eyes,
Until the rifles sharp report
The simple creature hears, and dies"
1.-THE Indian An,bIseads.
ScHRoo LAKE is the largest, and perhaps
the finest, body of water among the myriad
lakes which form the sources of the Hudson.
Z" The Schroon," as it is called by the country
people, has, indeed, been likened by travellers
to the celebrated lake of Como, which it is
said to resemble in the CONFORMATION of its
shores. 1t is about ten miles in length, broad,
deep, and grit with mountains, which, though
not so lofty as many in the northern parts of
the State Of New York, are still picturesque
in form, while they enclose thousand pasto-
raj valleys and sequestered dells among their
richly wooded defles.
In one Of the loveliest Of these glens, near
fine spring, well known to the deer stalker,
there fourished few years since, a weeping
willow, which, for aught know, may be still
grazing the spot. The existence of such an
exotic in the midst Of our primitive forest
would excite the curiosity of the most casual
observer of nature, even if other objects ada
cent did not arrest his attention, as he emerged
from the deep woods around, to the sunny
glade where it grew. On the side Of steep
bank, opposite to the willow, there were the
remains Of an old fireplace to be seen, and
blackened timbers, with indications Of rough
masonry, could be discovered by turning aside
the wild raspberry bushes that had overgrown
the farther side Of the knoll. These ruins be-
tokened something more than the remains Of
hunting camp and the forester who should
traverse an extensive thicket of young beeches
and wild cherry trees, within few hundred
yards of this spot, would be at no loss to de-
termne that he had lighted upon the deserted
home Of some settler of perhaps forty years
back-a scene where the toll, the privation,
and the danger Of pioneers life had been
once endured, but where the hand of improve
ment had wrought in vain, for the forest had
already closed over the little domain that had
been briefly rescued from its embrace; and
the place was now what in the language Of the
country is called "dead clearing"
The story Of this ruined homestead is a
very common one in the private family annals
of the State of New York, which has always
been exposed to the perils Of frontier warfare,
and which, for twenty years, at the close of
the seventeenth century, and throughout the
whole Of that which followed it, was the battle
field of the most formidable Indian confedera-
CIV that ever arrayed itself against the Christian
powers on the shores Of this continent. The
broken remains of that confederacy still pos
sess large tracts Of valuable land IN the centre
of our most populous districts; while their
brethren Of the same color, but Of feebler
lineage, have been driven westward thou
sand miles from our borders. And when this
remnant of the Iroquois shall have dwindled
from among US, their names will still live in
the majestic lakes and noble rivers that en-
balm the memory Of their language. They
will live, too, unbappily, in many a dark le-
gend Of ruthless violence, like that which have
to relate.
II was in the same year when Sullivan's
army gave the finishing blow to the military
power Of the Six Nations, that settler, whu
had come in from the New Hampshire
grants to this part Of Tryon County, (as the
northern and western region Of New York was
at that time called,) was sitting with his wife
who held an infant to her bosom, enjoying ms
evening pipe beside his hearth. The blaze o.
the large maple wood fire spread warmly upor
the implanted beams above, and lighted up the
timbers of the shanty with mellow glow tina