Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-09-11
From the n. L. Magazine.
THE RIFLE, 4 TALE OF ARK ANSAS.
BY PERCY u. ST. JOHN.

BENJAMIN Smith was perhaps the fullest. most
gallant, and popular of all the backwoodsmen in
the State of Arkansas. Young. OF manly bear
ing, and possessed of great energy. he had. ont
of a dense plot of forest lani. iorn,d in two
years. aided by ii smll capital. an excellent farm,
with Il clearing of several acres. II h1ppened,
however. just as this farm was completed, and
Benjamin was thinking of comm ,Ecing opera
tons which should remuncrate him for all his
labor and expense, that his capital was exhaust
ed. To almost any but an .Arkausaw back
woodsman this would have been "A terrible blow !:
but Ben was so,newhat Ola philosopher, and ac-
cordinyly, Oh, tiln morning at daybrcak h. left
his hut, and seating himself on "A blackcned
stump near the door. Illuminated on what was to
be done. lie gazel with admiration upon his
house, the work of his hands, ON the fenced
acres, on the huge piles of wood which his own
eXcrtions had reared around, on Il stream close
at hand, and appeared suddenly struck with the
conviction that he WIS really a very lucky fell
low. lie had all the elements of happiness
within his reach: but som thing still was want
ing. Across Ben's knees was his long narrow
bored rifle his powder-horn and pouch hung be-
side him in one hand wasa knife, which. in or
der, We suppose, to conluce to the concentration
OF thought, he WI, Waiting at in the most de-
ternin.d mlnner. Chip BY chip fell around
him the thick pine staff was sool reduced to Il
banlle of in'igniIcint silav.ng-: and Just at
this Instant our nero a ,peartd 10 arrive At Il sat
i~stactnry solution of MS dI.iciltits. "Wc!l,'
tIougat h., Il visa | may d, silt il it isn't Il
wit. | wat! I've got til log, a II tn, clearing
i can and mcit in Ileat; W ale | nave tbs RI
iic, AMI at 5 a rell fact; bat | want a wife to
prepare an dinner, AM Lii& u in wicn | co n
home and | do believe | sioild Ak. to nave Il
! chap about as Ii, as M bot to Glll mc'ri!'
! And then the vast Duik of the Arkln-aw back
woodSlnln WAS shaken with inward liughtcr.-
=" Well, its a5Dat tle greatest thing I've hit up
on for some time; bat | don't cX ictly realize
how it is 10 be done. One thing is certain,
wives don't grow on trees like hackle-b,rrias,
and ! mast 90 to Little Rock" With these
words the young man rose, and advancing to-
wards the hat, fastened the door, and snouldering
his rifle, at once began his journey OF fifty or
sixty miles.
LATHE Rock, in Arkansas, on the frontier of
Texas, is perhaps the most disrcputablc town in
the whole United States but neither there, nor
at the White ulphur Springs, are the enormi.
ties p~ractlsed watch travellers would persuade
us TO credit. Still, though Ben ran no danger
OF being chokel by being forced to bolt a
! hearty lneat-dlnner in two minutes and a half
2 nor OF beng gouged, nor shot across the street
4 by accident, nor, by committing murder, getting
4" canonized, and elected into the States lesisll.
ture, was rather dangerous Tor one OF hts rus
tic character 10 be dom ,stIcated in a town where
men of such idle, lazy, AM staggering habit-
i were assembled. Though Little Rock be moi
I, strictly an " Al'atia fpr AL kinls of thieves anC
gamblers, iorgers, horse-stealers, and the ike
| tnougl "gouging, stabblng, and shooting be
not uis prlncipa l occupation of the people, still
: being a irontier iowa, wIence escape into the
q then lnpependent republic of Texts was easy
$ 1t was naturally the resort OF u large number Of
the class enumerated a class, despite all thai
Q has been said, not more numerous across the
! Atlantic than in some places nearer home.
, Ben might easily have found in Little Rock q
place Of Residence suited TO man of good feeling
and moral principles; but, used TO the wood,
4 and wilds, and the society of rough, good-hu
3 m1rej, and well-msanins borderers like nlIn self
he yielded to the request of the first stray &C
: quaintance he met, and accompanied hun t
! about the very worst boarding-nouse in the
8 place. We should he sorry to lnduct our read
3 ers into the mysteries of such an establishment
b suffice it, that Ben saw and heard enough to hav,
made any thinking mln take to flight. Blu
4 Ben, who had required two years to find out tina
3 he wanted a wife, Was not likely to discover il
one evening that he was in a false position; ant
SO rapid, with a supplemented man, is the pro
: cess of contamination from evil communication
|, that one night suiiiced almost to ruin our herr
: forever. Giving way to drink-the root of the
!, greatest amount of crime-the backwoodsmar
! forgot himself. From drinking a little, he ad
, vanced To much. Before, however, his reason