Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1851-12-31


heaven TO strengthen him through life to
resist the tempter.
Time rolled on, and Sam. like a man,
kent his resolution, and the consequence
was, he not only improved himselfin OUT
ward appearance, but improved his cabin
and ferry also, and although he did not
give up his fayorite pursuit, he did not
daily as before, sally forth with his rifle.
One day, this settlement, which had con-
siderably increased in inhabitants, was
thrown4in state Of excitement by the ar.
rival Of mail wagon, and besides the
mail, the driver brought private letter to
Sam which contained commission APP
pointing him Postn,asteri Sam swore at
once he wouldn't have it, but the mail
carrier told him hemust accept it-that
he was appointed and if he refused was Ii
able to arrest for treason Sam had an
indlstinct recollection Of one Arnold, who
was execrated for turning traitor during
the Revolution, and a recollection of his
ignomy, and the persuasions of his wife,
who was gratifed at Sans official eleVa-
ton, at length overcome his objections,
and agreeable to what he conceived to be
his duty, according to instructions,
namely, to open the mail with closed doors,
he turned his family out of the cabin while
he assorted the contents ofthe bag. The
letters for that point were of course few,
and the duty of distributing them would
have been light to some men, but it was a
vast labor to Sam. His official honors
hung heavily upon him, until one day along
came letter, which evidently had stray
ed from it's proper destination. 1t was
directed as follows:
SAM HARPER,
Harper's Ferry, Va.
The chirography on the outside of this
eDistle was SO bad that no one would own
it. Sam said it couldn't be for him, be-
cause there was no one correspondent with
him except the Post Office Department,
so the missive remained uncalled for. AT
length our new Post master was anxious
to make some disposition of it, he accor-
dinghy consulted his neighbors, and they,
after due deliberation, unanimously agreed
that it was dead letter, and that it was
Sans duty to carry it to Washington,
where they had heard the Dead Letter
Office was located. The necessity of car
rying this defunct epistle to its manuscript
grave at length became strongly impress
ed into Sans mind, but he kept off COM
plete conviction for another week, even
after the necessity of the trip had been
almost fully established in his mind. AT
length with a sad heart, new buckskin
suit, his old nag Pete brushed and sad
died, and the dead letter rolled in dozen
folds of what was once the tail of his tow
shirt, over which his wife sowed a COW
ering of buckskin, Sam prepared to make
this eventful journey. 1t is needless to
say that before he consigned his destiny
to the road, he rode around the settle
ment and kissed all the women farewell,
especially young ones, and then with his
trusty rifle in hand he turned Pete's head
in the direction of the capitol.
Nothing important occurred tointerrupt
his progress, until one morning, when he
had fairly progressed into the hills of Vir-
ginia, and was traversing what was in
those days dresry region. Suddenly
he saw two wolves stealthily following
him, but among the catalogue of four-leg-
ged animals, Sam ranked wolves of very
Slight account. He, however, had under
estimated the large grey prowler of the
Alleghanies. Presently the number of
these former quiet followers began to in
crease, and ere long the foremost of them
broke into howl of confidence. This
sound soon brought more to the ranks of
the pursuers, until finally they began to
poke out their noses towards old Pete in
such significant manner, and howl boo
a-e-s! after him so hungrily, that he broke
into an uneasy trot, then into a eanter'
and finally he began to show them his
heels in a hasty kind of galloP. Sans
new travelling companions however, had
no idea of being shaken off in this man
ner, but broke into louder howl, and an
accelerated gait. In short, a race COM
menced of most exciting nature, and
continued with but slight diminution of
speed for an hour, when it became apps.
rent to the Postmaster that old Pete would
soon be forced to yield the race to his
competitors-his gait began to flag, his
breathing became rapid, and his eyes, al
most starting from their sockets with fear,
glanced around piteously upon the hun
cry crowd which commenced to close in
upon him. Horse and rider were in fear
full danger, for they were menaced by a
revolving death. AT the very moment
the leader of the rapacious gang was
meditating spring upon old Pete's haun-
ches, he whined the pleasing announce
ment of succor at hand, and as they
emerged from the ravine upon broad
plateau, Sam, Pete and the wolves, dash
ed in among well armed emigrating
party of FIVE men who were accompanied
by several noble looking dogs. The
wolves broke away on each side, receiv-
ing as they fed volley, which set them
bowling a different sort of cry than their
signal of pursuit. Gratefulness was part
of Sans nature, and he felt truly so to-
wards these men-he had nothing to pre-
sent them with as token, but he told
them if they only passed by his ferry in
old Kaintuck, and told the old woman