Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1855-06-09

considerable advances IN civilization and
the arts of life. Finding we must wait
nearly week for steamboat, we con-
cluded to hire an Indian to take us the
Journey in a birch canoe-quite pioneer
way Of travelling, and not altogether
pleasant to Sarah, who had never before
seen such a fragile conveyance. Then
the idea of passing the rapids in such
craft, freighted with three living beings,
was quite parallel to the case of the
three wise men of Gothatu' Her good
sense enabled her to overcome any re-
pugnance to the proximity 6f our stall
wart Indian navigator, Sodus, whose
father assured us would carry us a5
safely as he himself could, and whoever
thought uf doubling the ability of 'Old
Sodus' to navigate birch canoe wher.
ever water RAM Having bestowed our
Luggage Sodus placed me in one end of
the canoe, Sarah, in the centre, himself
in the other end, and with the simple in
junction, now keep straight we CONS
mitted ourselves to the beautiful river,
whose banks in many places are over
hung with majestic trees, the growth of
centuries,-at others, the cultivated do
m lin of some thrifty farmer approaches
the water and opens up view suggest
ing thoughts of simplicity, beauty, COM
fort and innocence, scarcely compatible
with more densely populated country.
Our fral bark would scarcely admit of a
change opposition but weary nature would
occasionally compel US to stretch limb,
or vary the posture-any such demon
stration would invariably call forth an
admoritory grunt from our taciturn Cap
tain, and corresponding dip of the
paddle to keep the equilibrium of our
craft. As We approached tie rapids,
how vividly ula some of Coof er's dis
, crfptions Of the cunning and skill of the
Indian in guiding the bark canoe among
foaming waters and unseen rocks, max
ing his intuitive cunning more than
match for the white mans intelligence,
how vividly I say, did those scenes arise
before my excited imagination. AS we
entered the rapids our voices were in
stinctively hushed, the boiling eddies
foamed ard dashed among the rocks,
where fancied we might the next mos
ment be dashed Sarah, pale as marble,
gave no utterance to her thoughts. In
stinctively | stretched out my arms to
support her, but word from Sodus re-
minded me to sit still or man tip over
canoe Sarah closed her eyes, looking
mote like a dead than living woman, till
she felt that we were in smooth water,
when the grateful tears gushed forth and
relieved her overcharged heart. What
would you have done, said I to Sodus, if
we had gone into the riyer' 4 do,' said
he, 81 take squaw and swim OUT What
should | have done, I asked' you
take care yourself A joke that sounded
better at the end, then it would have
done at the beginning of the passage
The next day we arrived at f., where l
paid our faithful Indian friend eighteen
dollars for his services, and dismissed
him with our grateful thanks for his
faitbfulness."
But fortune had not yet done with our
friend. He invested one-half his pro-
perty in business with his father, leaving
the other half to accumulate interest in
the hands Of a numbering firm. A de-
preston in business came on, ruinous to
the branch in which he was engaged,
and causing failure after failure in other
interests. The firm whose notes he held
failed to pay anything, thus was he again
poor. To add the btterest ingredient to
his cup, Death was busy with his friends.
First the fatal shaft was leveled at his
venerated father, then fayorite brother
was killed by accident in the machinery
of factory, near their native town the
wife, by the shock, was prostrated on a
bed of sickness; soon to join her husband
in the unseen world. The wives of the
brothers were sisters, and how gladly
would Frank and Sarah have admiDis-
tered consolation to her crushed and bro.
ken heart, but poverty held them back.
He says-s'this was the severest of all
our trials, and but for my true-hearted
and hopeful wife | might have sank
down in dispondency. but let any man
do that who can, with wife by his side
possessed of hopeful heart and helpful
hands, l could not"