Demoine courier., 1854-09-28
From the Hunter Naturalist.
The HUNTERS OF KENTUCKY,

/ AFTER all the bombast Of hero-wor
Shippers, 1t is astonishing how little il
taxes 10 make a real hero Like many
OF those important discoveries in me
chaaics which have revolulionized The
world, The combinations are so simple,
| that when men come 10 realize them, the
| general exclamation is, away. pshaw, |
could have done that myself" No doubt
such wlseacres could have done i, them.
selves, but somehow they didn't do il.
and what renders the parallel still more
complete is. that when the humble me-
chanlclan has accomplished the work,
mas chaned an element with sllken
thread, he looks upon the achievement as
nothing, and is bowed down with shame
that men should SO wonder a, thing so
PLAIN. Your true hero never understands
why men should marvel that he has on
ly done his duty. and the plaudi,s of the
crowd are 10 him only hear,sickening
commentary upon lis own nnworthiness.
Why should they applaud him for only
acting like man! Had they expected
him 10 act like trule, and therefore
been surprised into raptures! Or was II
that they were conscious that :hey would
have acted like brutes themselves under
The same circumstances!
The world may say what il may of
The natural equality of mankind, but
there is often more in one large brain aud
large heart than in a whole nation. 1t, is
not by any means. learning, station, or
honors that constitute this greatness;
these are bu. The iinsel, the appliances,
the outward shown word. "rhe
mans the man for a that" and 1t was
indeed among the early scenes of the
settlement of Kentucky that the fine
gold was separated, and that the man
stood forth in the nude grandeur of the
heroic virtues.
There was nothing OF the pomp and
circumstance here of adven,iIious place
10 bolster up padded and pre,en,io us
nobility. Stale was trampled in the
bloody mire OF struggle. and all regalia,
but such as nature had bestowed, ,urred
into plow lines and signifcan, hal,ers.--
The contest here was hand 10 haai, aud
foo, to foot, with foes TOO stern and real
for silken diploma, to soo,he. La his
unhoused. wild condition, the strong man
wres led with the panther for its cave,
and took its dappled hide for covering.
Scratched rufTs and white gloves would
have served ill in such battle. The
death hug, when the white man and The
red man met, would have poorly become
the voluptuous court, and the bleak, win
Try winds would have scarce put shirt
on warm. There was no doGging here;
The axe was frs, swung by brawny arms
and then shelter rose; and before no
dainty strength that fed on syllabubs,
would those tail forests bow, that bread
nigh, grow! No shaky nerve, or eye
dulled IN the sickly glare Of show, could
holc the heavy rifle in vice like grasp,
and guide it clear and sure as deaths own
arrow flies. Here action was eloquence,
with deeds for words, and The Clio and
oily art of demogogues learns no such
language; the axe spoke louder than the
honeyed phrase, and forests, laundering
in their fall, rolled ou, the grandest sen.
tences; the rifle cracked the sharpest
jokes, and staggering buGaloes roared
pa.hos best upon the bloody plain.
Que of these men of nature, whose
brain and large heart, hard hands aud
gian! thews, best fitted them to cope in
mastery with such conditions. was Mr..
James Harrod, the founder of Harro ds.
burgh, Kentucky, and one of the noblest
of The early companions of Boone
Harrod was one OF those persons who
make their appearance in The world much
as on oak tree comes into II; nobody hears
it grow, sees it grow, or knows tina, it is
and has being, until suddenly people
look up and find themselves sheltered
beneath lis boughs. and nourished by the
nuts it rains in benediclion upon their
heads.
So lille was known of the youth Of
James Harrod, that the histories of that
time do not even name the colony from
whence he came, not even the precise
year in which he emigra,ed; they only
know that he came early with Boone.
was mos. probably Virginian. went
back to that State, and returned to Ken.
lucky in l774; joined Colonel Lewis and
his followers on the way, and was with
them in the battle Of the Kenhawawa
and that in the next year he settled him.
self on the site of tic presen, town Of
Harrodsburg. This is abou, the ex,en,
of the chronology bearing upon the early
period Of his history. Blu, for years
before this period the aame of the stall
wart young hunter was familiar along the
/ borders, and associated with that of Dan
Boone in many fea, of self sienying har-
dlhood and generous chivalry. He was
tall. strong, modest and simple. He had
read no book but that of nature, knew
no art bu. woodcraft, hated nothing upon
earth but an Indian and poleca,. and
never said "Boys you 90 il!' but, "Boys
come on!" His rifle was the longest,
the heaviest, and tho suresi; his calm.
frank eye was never at fault TO make
the distant game, 10 meet the gaze Of a
deadly foe, or TO smile back truth 10 a
friend. His arm was as resis,less as his
tongue was slow. How can you make
hero ou. of a block so rough as this!
/ The unwritted history Of that lime tells