Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-08-31

the moon shone bright, and it was re-
markably cold. l awoke supposing it
nearly day, and sat out, not being sensi-
bic of the cold. and being thinly clad
soon found was in danger Of freezing,
and began to run. jump, thrash my hands,
&c. The path being full of holes and a
light snow had just fallen that filled them
up, | often fell, and was in danger of
breaking my limbs, &c. The cold seemed to
increase, and | was forced to exert my ut
most strength to keep from freezing; my
limbs became numb before got through,
though | ran about every step Of the 8
miles, and when got to McDaniels' the
cocks crowed for day. was surprised
upon coming to the fire to fnd that the
bottoms Of my mockasins and stockings
were cut and worn through the bottoms
of my feet being entirely bare, having
cut them by the holes in the path, but
notwithstanding the severity of the frost,
l was preserved, not being frozen in any
part Had broken limb. or but slight
| ly spraiut joint, which | was in inmi-
nent danger of doing l must have per-
ished on the way, as few minutes of re-
spite must have teen fatal. da H"''.l
In the early part of my residence in
Wolcott, by some means obtained knowl-
edge of there being beaver on q small
stream in Hardwick and dcsirous to i'm
prove every means in my power for the
support Of my family, and to retrieve my
circumstances, determined on tour to
try my fortune at beaver hunting Ac-
cordingly, late in the fall, | set out in
company with my neighbor Taylor on the
intended enterprise We took what was
called the Coos road, which was nothing
more than marked trees in about seven
miles we reached the stream, and pro-
cceded up it about three miles farther, and
searched for beaver, but were soon con.
vinced. that they had left the ground.
We, however, set few traps. Soon after
VIC started it began to rain, apd before
night the rain turned into moist snow
that melted as fast as it fell. Before we
reached the hunting ground. we we're wet
to our skins; night soon came on-we
found it necessary to camp (as the hunt
ers use the term); with difficulty we
struck up fire, but our fuel was poor,
chiefly green timber-the storm increased
the snow continued moist our bad ac-
commodations grew worse and worse our
fire was not sufficient to warm US and
much less to dry US we dared not at
tempt to lay down. but continued on our
feet through the night, feeding our fire
and endeavoring to warm our shivering
! limbs. This is memorable night to me
the most distressing ever experienced ;
we anxiously looked for day. At length
the dawn appeared, but it was dismal
and dreary scene. The moist snow had
adhered TO every thing in its way; the
/. trees and underwood were remarkably
! loaded, we're completely hidden from
sight-nothing to be seen but snow, and
. nothing to be heard but the cracking Of
the bended boughs under the enormous
|, weight, we could scarcely see a rod al
MONDAY. When light enough to travel
we set out for home, and finding it not
! safe to leave the stream for fear of getting
bewidered and lost, We followed it back
it was lined the chief of the way with
beaver meadow, covered with thick
: growth of alder; we had no way to gel
through them but for one to go forward
and beat off the snow with heavy stick
We thus proceeded, though very slowly
. down the stream to the Coos road, anC
worried through the ten miles home a
/. the dusk of the evening, nearly exhaust
{ ed by fatigue wet and cold, for it begaI
to freeze in the morning; our clothes wer'
q frozen stiff on our back when | pullet
off my great coat it was SO stiff as t.
stand up on the floor. In order to saw
: our traps we had to make another trip
/: and one solitary muskrat made up ou
compensation for this tour. 4f o
: A painful circumstance respecting m.
family nuat here mention In the yea