The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-06-13
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
Richmond. June IS, 1888.
THE PANTHER sENTINRLs.

o'Coont suon tuut edtue region Ddck OF Madi-
son City. Old Black Hawk, as good a Judge
of soil as any human being, told me in 1887.
while eating with him at Montrose, that the
country styled "The Sac and Fox Purchase ),
was the best land he ever saw and he had bu,
lately returned from his Government -Four
through the United States, and, besides that.
was familiar with the lay of land as far West
as the Rocky Mountains. bear testimony to
the same fact, and will m aintain it against all
odds, that Iowa is the best farming country in
the United States, md were il not so extreme.
ly cold in winter, my four children should have
hailed it as their birthplace, instead Of a more
Southern cline. The peculiarity of the coun.
try consists in the equal and beautiful distri.
button of small fertile prairies, with tall, ex.
cellent timber, distribution not often seen, as
timber near prairies is generally scrubby, and
| prairies near timber usually barren. When
| first visited Iowa, the land was not surveyed by
Government, aud consequently was not in
| market. The settlers were all squatters, and
| were establishing themselves, cultivating and
| building, in hopes that some new pre-empiion
law would secure to them the rights against
| the ravenohs NAV of the speculalor. Among
| the rest who we're engaged in this enterprise,
| were Uncle Bobby Box, and his nephew,
Jeremy Cossit.
| shall not weary the reader with an extend.
| ed account of these worthless; they are just
such as form the staple of the stories OF Long
street and Hooper, and, soolh to say, these
facetious writers have used the pie well.-.
Uncle Bobby was old and incorporate, guar
! relsome and blasphemous. Marks ofhard SER
| vice in the cause Of Bacchus, were upon all
parts ofhis person, and those who helped "lay
| him out" in 1889, gave his fame in few words:
"Weil, if this chap hasn't had more bruises
| than any other human, it's a wonder.'
His nephew, Jeremy Cossi,, was raised up,
very unfortunately, as an orphan; unfortunate
| ly tor two reasons that il is hard to miss the
humaniZing influence of kind parents, and
still harder to fall into such hands as those oi
| Bobby Box. But so it was.-tbe only edu
cation he ever got was the foul language OF
old Bobby, the only work he ever did was to
walk twice a week to Burlington, to fill old
Bobby's Jug, the only discipline exercised
upon him was a hearty kick whenever he was
gone too long, or broke the jug. With this
brief sketch of characters, | may prudenlly
proceed with my story. About the first oi
| May, Bobby Box had "raisi1g,' and an ex-
| ira supply of whiskey was demanded.
| Starring Jeremy on ahead with the jug, he
followed after, having the keg strapped to his
back, and his heavy rifle on his shoulder, look
| ing as much like palmer as red-faced back
woodsman looks like anything else. The pre-.
cious fluid was duly purchased, and the amia
| Dle pair I6tIdCeu tu6H steps, DIIuCucu Win tue
| load, but elevated by considerable portion of
It's contents-for say what you will Of old
| Box, he would not refuse to others the comfort
that he took himself. The journey lay across
| several small prairies, and then wound up by
| passing through Skunk River Bottom, dense
| thicket of cane, pspaw and other shrubby
growth. The travellers left Burlington 10 good
| season to have arrived home by dark, but I'M
| fortunately, the youth, not being practised in
measuring bis capacity for spirits, allowed
himself to indulge too freely, and was compeli
| ed to stop for several hours in consequence, a
proceeding that excited the wrath of the pat
riarch to an unlimited extent; but whether he
| was most offended at the delay, or at Jeremy s
| weakness, cannot at this late period be ascers
| tanned. Sunset overshadowed the prairies be-
| fore the boy could be sufficiently aroused to
! proceed on the journey. Difficulties now COM
lnenced in right earnest, tor there was Egyp
tian darkness just as they entered the bottom.
| Not moon was in the sky-it never is on a
| dark night when most wanted-and as for the
stars, though there were thousands of them
| winking over that beautiful prairie landscape,
| not one is sharp enough to wink through a pa.
! paw tree into cane thcket. The road was a
| mere pathway, sometimes travelled by OK wa.
| gons it is Tue,-not by such oxen nor such
| wagons as anybody ever saw except border
| settlers-but by oxen that can go through hard
ships, and wagons to match. Our rule in the
| backwoods is the ScriE tural one in its most
| literal nterpretation-rwhere the tree falleth,
| there shall it lie"-and when one blows across
the road, we quietly yield to the necessity OF
the case, and turn the road round it. 1t is true
| that Dutchman once innovated upon our
custom, by cutting a large tree out of the way,
| but we sneered at him SO much for his folly,
| that he never repeated il, and since that time
| the principle has been universally acknow.
| lodged
Ii follows, therefore. that Uncle Bobby Box
| and his nephew, Jeremy Cossit, each nonpa
riels in the way OF travelling bee line, would,
| neve, heess, find considerable difficulty in tra-
yelling through Skunk River Bottom in the
| dark the more especially, as the uncle had
but one eye. and the nephew had obfuscated
both Of his by getting drunk three hours before.
The first catastrophe was the fall of Uncle
Bobby over swinging grape vine, by which
| he broke his gun-stock short off the second
| was aying visit of Jeremy down sharp ra-
| vine, which cost the loss OF the jug the third
| was their leaving the path and finding Them
selves completely out Of their bsarings-these
| three following each other 10 close succession,
and the last Gaping of the climax Of their mise.
rles. Out Of breath at last, the elder withdrew
the cob from his keg, and commenced to drown
his sorrows as rapidly as possible by getting
|
| il not been for a certain sharp, ringing sound
which thrilled through the forest, and caused
him suddenly to drop the keg and spring to bis
feet. For moment all was still, save the
loud beating Of two terrified hearts, and then
| arose a wailing sound like the voice of many
mothers crying for their lost babes, that chilled
the very blood in their veins.
"Irs young one that's got lost" whis-
pered Jeremy, to which his venerable guardian
sternly replied
"Young one It's painter ~
| Another and another scream echoed through
the woods, and by their increasing loudness
| gave token that the animal was rapidly api
preaching them.
No time was to be lost il they would escape;
| but where would they 60! 10 6ee was impossi-
bic; one bound of the animal would settle that;
to climb was even less secure 10 the face OF a
| brute whose leap was thirty feet.
"Hunt out hollow" cried the old man, and
at II they went. Those ofmy readers who have
travelled on the upper Missss' 'ppi, have doubt.
less been struck with the immense size OF the
larger sycamores, that range from six feet TO
twenty in diameter. After they grow to GER
tain size, they are universally hollow, and then
they furnish 10 the settlers convenient ecepta
cles for grain, curbs for wells, and with small
trouble OF saving and removing. These eavi-
ties are usually open on the ground, and give
fine shelter 10 swine in winter, as well as 10