Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-06-04
From the Cincinnati 0asette. - L..Ea p.
The Trapper's Christ mas Story.

son once, and I'll tell you how it was.
"Pve lived the last ten years in Minneso.
ia. When first went there, / trapped for
Fur Company My health was poor, and
thought winter or two spent in trapping
would better it. So l went into the back
woods and had rough time of it for five
years. For some how when had trapped
one season, l liked the life lead and the
beauty of the country so much that became
a regular trapper. assure you, there is
something glorious in living out Of doors. 1t
can't be described, but if you were to be out
on the prairies one Fall night, and to be sud-
denly woke up by the sound of wolves in the
distance, and see your blanket frosty, and
feel the crisp air and see the blue sky above
you, with perhaps the full moon overhead,
and, at any rate, the bright stars shining, you
wouldn't give your blanket bed for the best
bedstead and richest sheets you ever saw,
and it's almost as fine to go to sleep with the
great trees around you, and in the night I've
often kept awake an hour at time in the
woods, thinking-I suppose | must have
been-but | don't recollect anything but
strange feelings of pleasure.
4" And 1t is so exciting too! You don't
know whether the charge you put into your
rifle will kill a deer, wolf or an Indian
whether it will add to your skins or save your
life.
when l first went there the Whites
and the Indians were almost always quarrel
ling, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred
the whites did the first wrong. We had
some reckless men there, who would as
soon kill an Indian as to steal trap, and the
traps they would steal whenever they could
without being cauaght. There was Jack
Moore They say he was little the meanest
man that cverlived; a regular bully, strong as
an OK, and as touchy as wasp.
Gone day Jack was out hunting, and saw
a deer cross his track. Of course he fired
The buck jumped up dozen feet and fell
down dead, Jack loaded his rifle, and went
to cut up the deer. He saw two bullet holes
in it, which showed that somebody else had
! shot it first In little while an Indian came
up and claimed his half of the deer and the
hide for having drawn the first blood. Jack
wouldn't give 1t up, and the Indian called
him a thiet-at least Jack said he did We'll,
to make the story short, Jack shot him. AS
the Indian happened to he big man with his
people, they killed Jack week or two after
that We wasn't sorry about it; but then
we wouldn't let the Indians kill one Of us
without doing something. Soy we made up
party and went out to an Indian village. When
we got to it, all but the women and a few old
men were zone, so we burned their wig
vans aEn then / came back with half the
party, but old Nate Cody had got his blood
up, and he headed the rest Of the party, and
went on after the Indians. In about fort
night thev came back. Every one of them
had a belt of green scalps, but Cody's belt
was the biggest of all, and they did tell some
awful stories about the way he managed to
get them.
-"On that party first saw Nate Cody
had heard of him ever since | commenced
trapping, two years before, and had always
wanted to see him. If you were to ask to
tell you what Nate Cody was like | could
not do it. For never understood him. |
tell YOU what it is, have seen some singular
men in my life, but Nate Cody was little
ahead of and Why, his very looks belied
him. fyou'd had a back view OF him as he
went out hunting, you'd judged from his
walk that he wasn't more than twenty-five
wears old. And then he'd turned round SO
you could see his face, you'd put him down
as not over forty at the eoutside-probably be-
tween that and thirty-fve. Well, for all he
looked so young he wasn't day under sixty
five. knew him three years before | know
his age. Then, Oh day laughing about his young
looks, he pulled oita wig If had seen the
left fork Of the Saint Peters running west |
couldn't have been more astOnished. He
looked as old as the hills. And the idea of
Nate Cody's wearing 3 wig | should
have as soon looked for the skins of mar
ten.
Nate was the son of Minister in Boston;
and I've heard he studied to be minister
himself, and had been to college. Nate had
turned his back on the world. Why, was his
secret and ho keptit; ior though Iknew him
better than any one else, he would never tell
me. About once in three months he would
90 off, and nobody would see anything of him
for fortnight or more. Then he'd come
back as suddenly as he went away. 1 no
ticed that he usually had belt of greer
scalps at these times, and the scalps were not
always red | had kind of opinion that Nate
Cooley had had a great wrong done him by
somebody, and that he hated all mankind be
cause of it. And Nate Codey's hate no mar
would want. For he was bold and strong
and no man ever understood better than die
he, all the ways there were of doing a mar
HARM They told me that when Nate went
to trapping some Of the Fur Company!
men got mad at his extraordinary good luck
and stole all his traps. The rest of the ses
son not one of those men got anything Ant
though they knew Nate Cooley was at tn,
bottom of it, all, he was so cunning that they
never found track of him. After that, Nat,
ives interferred with, and somehow OF othe,
the men who stole his traps never came bacl
to that part of Minnesota.
81 have forgotten what did to Nate, tha
made him take fancy to me. But after tina
war party spoke of, he was the best friend
had. Nate got me to trapping on my owl
hook, and told me where and how to sell IN,
so that made the profit for myself, whcl
the Fur Company's men made for the Com
pany. In time too, he told me the secret o
hunting and trapping.
"You saw me limp awfully when cam
in; that happened this way; got into
fight with painter, and though | killed tn
beast, it wasn't till that leg was pretty muc
chawed up. believe if have cursed tina
beast cnce have thousand times; for whe
got well, and just squeezed through, | ha
limp that told me my trapping was done iol
had liked the life so much that it was YER
hard for me to quit it. There was only on
thhg lett Tor me-to keep store. had me
ney enough IRON my five seasons trapping
thanks to Nate Codey-to stock my store
and leave nest egg besides, OH at New York
for Nate Cooley and deal with New York
er who was an honest nan, and sold our flu,
at good prices, and laid by the money. recl
on some Of you, who have meyer been Yves
of the Mississippi, would have laughed to Sc
my store: 1t was in q town, but each hous
in the town was most half mile from it
neighbor, and there wasn't over twenty hou
es in the whole place, and they were all lc
cabins. might have got into bigger tow
if I'd wanted. But under Nate Coaey
training I'd got to feeling like him, and haiti
everybody, and wanting to live by myself al
al that. Trappers were the only folks wan
cd to see So ! fitted out my store with wh
they wanted, and had nobody to live in N
cabin but myself l staid there about "
years that way. The folks in the town car
st. to see me once in a while when 7 first hi