Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1856-08-23


Them. At last they retired, leaving twelve
dead upon the field. In The heat OF the en-
counter, three or four bears had started 10 charge
upon group Of seven or eight men, in which
was Col. Fremont. In the suddenness offring
the men hardly looked to see who was in front
Of their guns Jerome Davis, who had just
finished loading, and jumped to fire. threw his
head directly in front OF the nuzzle Of Mr. Kings
rifle, as King was pulling the trigger Frc-
mont grabbed Davis by the collar, and eIked
him aside just in season To save his head
The baIometer story is one which always
greatly interested US. Perhaps some of our
readers have not seen it. Col. Fremont tells
the story himself.
SIN crossing the stream ia river in the far,
far West, he says, ! met with a great misfor.
tune in having my barometer broken. 1t was
the only one. A great part Of the interes, Of
the journey for me was in the exploration Of
these mountains, of which much had been said
that was doubtful and contradictory and now
their snowy peaks rose majesically before me,
and the only means Of giving them automatically
10 science, the object Of my anxious solitude by
night and day, was destroyed. We had brought
this barometer in safety thousand miles, and
broke it almost among the snow Of the noun
iains. The loss was felt by the whole camp
all had seen my anxiety, and aided me 10
preserving it. The height Of these mountains,
considered by the hunters and traders the high
est 10 the whole range, had been theme Of
constant discussion among them, and all had
looked forward with pleasure to the moment
when the INSTRUMENT, which they believed 10 be
as true as the sun. should stand upon the sum
mils and decide their disputes. Their grief
was only inferior To ms own.
As soon as the camp was formed, set about
endeavoripg TO repair my barometer. As have
already said, this was a standard cisien haro-
meter, OF Troughion's construction. The glass
cisiern had been broken about midway; bot as
the instrument had been kept in proper post
iion, no air haG found It's way into the tube, the
eud Of which had always remained covered. !
had with ne number Of sas ofio,eTably lhck
glass, some of Which were Of the same diane
ter The eisiern, and spent the day in slow
ly working on these, endeavuring To cut them
Of the requisite length; but as my instrument
was very rough file, | invariably broke them.
A groove was cut In one Of the trees, where
the barometer was placed during the night, 10
be on, Of the way Of any possible danger, and
in the morning ! commenced again. Among
the powder-horns in the camp, | found one which
was very transparent, so that lis. contents could
be almost as plainly seen as through glass
This boiled and stretched on piece Of wood
TO the requisite diameter, and scraped II very
thin, in order to increase 10 the utmost its trans
parency. then secured 1t firmly IN It's place
on the instrument, with strong glue made from
n buffalo, aud filled II with mercury, properly
heated. a piece of skin, which had covered
one Of the vials, furnished good pocket, which
was well secured with strong thread and glue,
aud then the brass cover was screwed 10 ITS
place. The instrument was left some time to
dry ard when ! reversed 1t, few hours aiter
had the satisfaction to find ii in perfect order; I
lis indication being about the same on the
other side Of the lake before il had been broken
Our success in this little incident diiIused pleas
ure throughout the camp and we Immediately
set about our preparations for ascending the
mouuiains."
This shows the man fertile in expedents.-
The instruments play great part 10 Fremoni's
adventures. "Throughout his journeys Col.
Fiemout's astronomical observations were made
BY himself, and were never omitted in conse-
quenoe Of cold, fatigue, hunger, or danger
One Of his men says that he has seen him sit
ting patiently on the snow three or four hours
in the night, with the thermometer twenty or
thirty degrees below zero, waiting patiently for
the appearance of a star, and handing the brass
instrument without gloves"
Here is a characteristic touch
"The SHOWS were deep Before this week
had passed, another critical time came on. An
unsuccessful attempt bad been msde 10 break
through the snow. At night a council was
held by Fremont, Wolfe, the Indian chief, and
Solomon. The Chief spoke first. III was i'm
possible, he said they could not get over the
mountain Solomon silently looked up to the
Colonel for a reply. That is not the point,
said Col Fremont, whether we can get through.
We must cross We are going to cross. The
question is how we eau do H. They crossed
And here is another:
''He wears full beard, after the dictates Of
Nature and the practice of the early Christians.
To this protection he attributes, in great de-
gree, The preservation of his teeth, which are
perfect, amid ihe extremes ui temperature TO
which he has been bieoled, and of his face
from the frost Some time before the Phla-
delphia Convention, a number Of wseacres rec
commended TO Col. Fremont that he should shave
of his beard aud comb his hair differently, as
he would Il us remove one objection 10 his nom
inalion. His reply was worthy Of Jackson
If the support OF the whole New York delega-
iion depended upon my doing such thing
said he, the only effect II could have upon me
would be, that | should wear my beard as ii is.
and my hair little wider than do now
But we must hang up our eager scissors he
fore our space is quite exhausted; particularly
as everybody has read, is reading, OF is just
going to read, full life Of the Pathfinder. In
this city alone, more than ten thousand copies
of his life have been sold in one day. Our four
center has the eandor to say that "almost the
sole object of this brief sketch of the life Of Col
Fremont has been TO promote his election 10
the Presidency II has been written 10 the