The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1860-06-21
THE LAST SHOT.
BY WESLEY BRADSHAW

The traveller, as his eye takes in with
delight the beauties Of the scenery in
Ashtabula county, Ohio, with its meander-
ing streams, and sweeping, undulating
meadows, dotted here and there with farm
houses and cottages, could scarcely credit
the innumerable and fearful hardships to
which the early settlers, the forciathers of
the present generation, were subjected.
4 little over half century ago, and in
the very place which now teens with
abundance, starvation often stared the pi-
oneer and his wife and little ones in the
face.
The following real incident of wilder
ness life will therefore serve to show how
fifty years have made the silent, mighty
wastes to 'blossom as the rose and be-
come "a land flowing with milk and
honey"
In the month of May, 1893, native of
North Haven, Connecticut, Joel Thorp by
name, resolved to Journey forth into the
almost unexplored tract then known as
the Connecticut Western Reserve. His
wife cheerfully assented to the adventure
and accordingly, selling out what little he
was possessed Of, Thorp obtained those ar
tlclcS OF WHICH lc tAOuSHI ht ohouiu NC
most in need in his future home, and,
loading an ox-team Herewith, shouldered
| his rifle and set forward, trusting for sue
cess in an all-seeing Providence and his
his own right arm.
The pioneer, after few hardships and
! dangers, at last reached what was after
ward Millsford, in Ashtabula county, where
he determined to settle. A few days Ia
ter, and he succeeded in raising rough
but comparatively comfortable log-hut
wherein his wife and children found shell
ter Still, his eXertions were not ended
and day after day the silence of the fores
was broken by the resounding blows OF hi:
axe; and the land, which was rich ant
mellow began to be cleared. But, IN hi
eagerness to accomplish so much in 81
short space of time, Mr.. Thorp had en-
tirely overlooked the fact that his provis
ions were rapidly failing.
As soon, however, as his wife brough
the alarming fact to his knowledge, h
set off, without any guide, save his pocke
compass, to the nearest settlement, whlcl
was fully twenty miles distant, to Obtain
-four. Very shortly after his departure
the remainder of Mrs Thorp's scanty stor
was consumed by her three chlldren-sh
depriving herself of any morsel of it i
order that they might have the more
Soon after, they began to feel the shar
pangs of hunger, and asked their mothe
for sustenance, which she of course wa
unable to give them.
Long and anxiously did she stand i
the cabin door and strain her aching eye
in the hope of beholding, through til
dimlv lit aisles of the forest, the approach
ing form of her husband. And the hun
pry little ones-of whom the eldest, Basi
was but eight years of age-as though b
intuition, followed her example, standin
at her side, watching eagerly for papa
return. But still he came not; and
!; the sun went down on the day on whic
he was expected, a thousand new and tea
full emotions swept through the mother
heart The wilderness abounded wit
dangers and by turns her fancy led n
into the belief that he was either killed
wild beasts, or murdered, or taken capti'
. bv still wilder men And score of tim
after she had succeeded in lulling h
children to sleep, did she imagine tn
she heard him groanips at the cabin doc
! And each time impulsively, almost uneo