Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-08-27
Youths Department.


From The Sunday School .8doOcate
A Wolf Story.
REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF A BOY SEVEN
YEARS OF AGE,
The wonderful escape from the devouring
jaws of hungry WOLF which am now about
to relate, took place with myself when a little
boy in the wilderness of Canada. Wolves are
of the size of the largest dog, and are often We
ny numerous and dangerous in new countries
They live principally on the blood and flesh of
other wild beasts, such as deer, hares and rab-
bits and, whenever they can, rob birds of their
eggs and their young, and eat them. And in
new settlements the inhabitants are obliged to
watch, or keep their sheep near their houses in
the Gay time, and to shut them up at night in
very high fenced yards, or they are sure to be
killed and eaten up by the starving wolves
They often catch the poultry and the calves, and
even the young cattle, if they are not protected
by very high fence, or a secure place very
near the house. Children are often carried off
by them and devoured, and grown people are
sometimes torn in pieces by these hungry wild
beasts They sometimes 60 about the woods
and fields by night in droves, setting up the
most dismal and frightful crying and bowling
About forty years ago, when 1 was a little
boy, my father lived in the province of Canada,
when the country was new, and the wolves were
very numerous My father had bought a new
farm, cleared up some of the land, and planted
some corn on the new ground which had just
been cleared, some distance from the house. In
side of the field large quantity of rails had
been split, which my father wanted drawn to a.
mother place, distance of more than quarter
of a mile 1t was in the middle of the sum
mer, the cattle were running in the woods, and
the man who was drawing the rails with the OK
en- and sled over the leaves through the woods,
got me to watch the gap of the fence, to keep
the cattle out of the growing corn. While the
man was gone with the load of rails, sat down
by the side of large stump on the side of the
fence toward the woods. 1t had got to be about
the middle of the afternoon, and the sun shone{
woods where | was sitting, partly in the shade
had nearly fallen asleep, when | thought
heard something walking near me in the leaves
its walk was not that of cattle, breaking the
brush under their hoofs, but it was a soft, eau
tious, creeping step. l Immediately thought of
some wild beast and sprung upon my feet; on
turning myself round, to see what could dis
cover, perceived, little more than rod from
me, a very large wolf close beside the log which
had been felled from the very stump where was
standing The wolf was looking directly at me,
and had evidently been watching me, and en-
deavoring to spring upon me before could dis
cover him, but the sly fellow had not quite sue
ceeded. | was nearly half mile from home,
and most Of the way was through the woods,
and the man drawing the rails was nearly as far
off; knew that an attempt to run would only
be an evidence of cowardice to the sagacious
prower, and could not enable me to escape the
murderous cruelty Of the furnishing wolf; but
found deliverance and safety in the following ex-
traordinary manner few days before, my
father had brought home for the children two or
three small primers, one of which he gave toI
me- 1t contained an account of HotentotI
and lion, in which the Hottentot was pursued by
the lion until it was nearly dark, and the lion
was nearly upon him. The man perceived that
his escape by running was impossible, SO he turn
ed and faced the lion, until the beast turned and
ran back Remembering this, thought that if
looked the wolf steadily in the eye, should
be safe. stood, and placed my hands upon
the stump that was before me, and fixed steady,
piercing gaze upon the fierce flashing eyes off
my antagonist and there we stood. The wolf,
however, soon sprung upon the log, with his
head toward me, advancing several slow steps i
but fully believed that if did mt turn my
eye from his, | would be safe; yet the struggled
was an awful one. For half an hour we stood
face to face and eye to eye, with only about Si1
feet to separate us. The bright sun shone inI
upon us, with its dazzling light on the one side,
and the dark, dense, deep wilderness upon the
other side. | saw no living object but my dead
lily foe and heard no sound but the faint and dis
tant reverberations ofthe oxman's careless voice.
l distinctly heard the drivers voice in turning
round his oxen, after unloading his rails and
although had faith, and hoped for the man with
his mopng oxen to arrive but, o how long !
Suspense was agony! waited for deverance,
and it finally came.
The place where this scene occurred, as has
been before stated was in Canada, what was
then the wilderness of the township of Hamil-
ton, and where the large and Aourishing town Of
Coburg now stands, with "A population Of sever
al thousands.