The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-04-26
A NEW LIFE-PRESERyER

.''-OTuEIIo
have read somewhere of traveller who car
ried with him brace of pistols, carbine. a cut I
lass, dagger, and an umbrella, but was indebted |
for his preserva ton to the umbrela-it prappled |
In like manner, my friend v, though armed |
with a sword, rife, and hunting knife owed his |
eXistence-to his wig.
HI was specimen hunting (for W is first |
rate naturast) somewhere in the backwoods of !
America, when, happening to light upon a dense |
covert, there sprang out upon hm-not a panther |
or catamOuntain-but, with terrible whoop and |
yell, wild Indian, one OF tribe then hostile 10
twinking himself stretched on the earth. the bar
barous knife, destined to make him baider than
Granby's celebrated marquis, leaped eagerly from
its sheath.
Conceive the horrible weapon making its prelim-
mary hourishes and crcumgyratIons; the savage
features, made savager by paint and rudde work
ing themselves up to demoniacal crisis of tri-
umphant mali eighty; his red right hand clutcbipg
the shearingkne; his left the ftizzled top-knot;
and then, the artificial scalp coming off in the Mo-
| hawk grasp!
W says the Indian catchpole was for
! some moments mOtionless with surprise; recover
! ing at last, he dragged his captive along through
| brake and jungle, to the encampment peculiar
! whOop soon brought the whole horde to the SPOT
! The Indian addressed them with vehement gestures
| in the course of which W was again thrown
! down. the knife again performed its circuits and
the whole transaction was pantomimically de-
scribed. All Indian sedateness and restraint
were overcome. The assembly made every demon
stration of wonder; and the wig was fitted on
rightly, asllew, and hind part before, by hundred
pair of red hands. Captain Gulliver's glove was
| not greater puzzler to the HOuhyhnms From
the men it passed to the squaws. and from them
down to the least of the urchins; W-'s head
in the mean time, frying in a midsummer sum-
AT length, the phenomenon returned into the hands
ofthe chief, venerable graybeard; he examined
it afresh, very attentively, and, after long DELHI
| Grafton, maintained with true Indian silence and
gravity, made speech in his own tongue that
procured for the anxious, trembling cap
tive very unexpected h9nors. In fact, the
| whole tribe of women and warriors
danced round him, with such unequivocal marks
| of homage, that even VI comprehended that
he was not intended for sacrifice. He was then
| carried in triumph to their wigwams, bis body
daubed with their body colors oil the most honora-
Bile patterns, and he was given to understand that
he might choose any of their manageable maidens
for squaw. Awaiting himself of this privilege,
and so becoming, by degrees, more proficient in
their language he learned the cause of this
extraordinary respect 1t was considered that he
had been a great warrior; that he had, by mis-
chance of war, been overcome and tufted; but that
whether BY valor or stratagem-each equally esti-
mabe amongst the savages-he had recovered his
liberty and his scalp.
As long as W-kept his own counsel he was
safe; but trusting his Indian Delilah with the Sc
cret OF his locks, it soon got ind amongst the
Squaws, and from them became known to the war
iiOrs and chiefs. solemn sitting was held at mid
night, BY the chiefs, to consider the proprety of
knocking the poor wig-owner on the head; but he
had received timely hint of their intention, and
when the tomahawks sought for him, he was far on
his way, with his lfe-preserver, toward British
settlement.