Lewisburg chronicle, and the West Branch farmer. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1849-1849, 1849-11-28

$, in his attempting TO communicate the
lame TO the brushwood.
Fergus was pretty we'll skilled 10 kind.
ing fire in the woods in windy day
and was familiar with all the necessary
He turned towards the fence.
kneeIed down in the snow, and bent his
head over, and spread The lappeIs Of his
crea, coat at the sldes, SO as to enclose and
shelter completely rhe space beneath him.
On opening his undertook he found he had
bu. three matches. He struck FIRE without
any dfficulty-igni'ed a match. and then
lighted the paper; bu. in attempting to
convey the paper then 10 the brushwood,
The violence Of the ~iud exlnguisked it i'll
. moment.
lie tried again with his second match
although this time he waited until the wind
lulled, and by thus taking advantage Of
momen,ary calm, he succeeded in getting
the blazing paper under corner OF bis pile
Of fuel and in few moments had the plea
sure Of seeing bright crack ling flame rise
several inches up through the dry twigs.
The inexperienced reader will perhaps i'm
agine that the crisis as now passed but II
vas no, so. For ii was nearly as difficult
10 get pile OF ight dry brush burning, as
Il is, when i! is fairly burning, to put ii out.
; Fergus gazed at the fame for moment
with delight, but it soon grew dim and pre-
.enlly died all away again. leaving little
hollow in The heap. with the glowing ends
OF ,wigs oil around it, pointing in~urds.
Fergus ha,tened TO push these together
again, but all his efforts only hss.ened the
sxtinguishmeni Of the fire.
lie gazed on the hlackene3 branches
minu'e or TWO, and then SAID to himself,
"Oniy one match more. Now | must
be careful" So he began TO look all around
him, To do what in fact he ought TO have
done q, Srs,, thai is procure q supply Of
birch bark--ihst universal foster father Of
lores, fires. lie rs1lblc! sro1nd for some
time, taking care no. 10 go out OF sight oi
his cucamrmen,,nnd stripped oti from. trees
and logs large qUtG,l.y oi the bark. lie
put part Of this in and under his pile Of
fuel, and The rest he LAID IN lille heap
near the ience, so that lie could shel;er II
by leaning over ii, as before, and have the
ilnder-boA close 10 il when he struck hle.
With these precautions his success IVES
almost sure. He lighted his match snd
communicated the fame without much dit
icuity 10 the little heap OF birch bark near.
!-.heltern2 il with his great coat until II
as well on FIRE. Then he transferred
,ne blazing piece after auother to his pile
of brush wood. The fame ION the birch
bark va. so powerful that the wind did
not extingnish i, he pulled off other
branches and bushes from the fence and
heaped them upon The fire. and piled or
also small, half decsyed stumPs and logs
which he RULED up around from under the
SNOW. He dragged out tall bushes from
tie fence, and laid the tops down upon tn
ire which b'azrd and crackeIed up ,hro'
them. into the air. Then ss the tors were
gradually sburned out, he. pulled oui In
stems below and lad them on again. ahn
thus in half an hour he had n solid IRE.
with substantial bed Of coals and 'aret
turning brands in the centre. and brosc
space irsmpet down oil round 1t. Fergu,
hen got some green branches Of hemlock.
and spread them berwee the FIRE aud the
fence and sat upon them, putting his feet
to his fire and resting the heels on piece
of dry wood-his back against the fence.
which, hisheilered him fromtthe. wind. Il.
then took up The nut-cakes at his side. and
utter brushing Of The snow ~hich covered
them. btgan to eat, saying 10 himself, "Ali
wish now is that my poor mother only
knew what a comfortable place I've got"
Fergus sat n shor, time enjoying his resi-
and The bright. cheerful influence Of the
fire, when he thought he heard a cry. H-
listened. The wind roared so loud ihro' the
toy OF the trees thai he could scarcely henr
any other sound. bu' he was soon satisfied
hat he heard a, SHIRT intervals a man )
voice calling for help. He started up and
shouted as loud as he could in reply turning
bis head in the direction Of the SOUND
aud Immediately ciambered over the brush
fence aud began 'oi!ing thro' the snow i'll
the direction ui The sound. He came upon
! the brink Of deep ravine, when The vnice
seemed pretty near, but on The other side.
"Iielp-IIeIp::" SAID the voice.
"Ilal-lo," er.d Fergus.
.Can-yoL-cone- p-us T.
cried Out The vn'ce again.
"Ycs." said Fergus, "ws;t moment
will try TO come over" lie ran down
luto The rsvne. for the snow was blown
almos, entirely off the decl'vi,y, bui it had
drilled in very deep at the bottom, so that
he found it hard 10 get ,hruogh. However,
Re struggled up The other side, and mel al
the top man ~ading towards him with
thick waddrd wrapper, fur cap, tippe.
around III, neck, and ho'se~hip in his
hand. The man -eemrd utterly astoni>hed
to see such ch ID before him. why,
my hoy" said he, here DO you come
from lis there house near hefe y
No, sir,' SAID Fergus. there is no
hou,e--hut ! have 90, noble great hre
on, here. a lille way"
There WAS somtihing So calm and llno-
cen, and cheerful in Fergus look and tone
tia, 60 cos,rasied with the traveller S intense
nrxiery and terror. ,Ha, he could scarcely
b lieve that the iair form before him was