The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-09-08
THE BOY AND THE PANTHER.
A Wild Western Scene.

1t was fine morning in August, when
little Samuel Eaton, about seven years old,
was making dam in the brook that ran
before bis fathers door, He was an only
and beautiful child, and his mother almost
idolized him. There he was, with his
trousers tucked up above his knees, work.
ing like beaver, his mothers eyes BEAM
ing out from beneath his sunburnt hair,
and with some of his fathers strength tug
ging at large stone in the bed Of a stream.
"Samuel, you had better come in, had
Mt you?" said Hannah, in a tone of half
mother and half-mate.
"No," said Samuel.
An acorn came floating down the stream.
The boy took it up, looked at it, was
pleased and "reckoned in his mind that
there were more up the gully" and when
his mothers back was turned, off he start
ed for the acOrns.
The gorge of the mountain in which he
was about to enter, had been formed (the
work of many centuries) by the attrition
of the stream he had just been playing in
and walking on the level that bordered
each side of the water, he boldly entered
the ravine. An almost perpendicular wall
or bank ascended on each side to the hight
. of one hundred feet, composed of rocks
and crags, fretted by decay and storm into
fantastic shapes and positions. A few
scattered bushes and trees sought nourish-
ment from The earth that had fallen from
the level above, and excepting their assist
ance, and the unseen surface of the rock,
this natural fort seemed inaccessible but
to bird or beast About an eighth of a
mile from the entrance a cataract closed
the gorge, throwing up its white veil of
mist in seeming guardianship of the spirit
of waters The verdant bOughs hanging
over the bank, cast deep gloom upon the
bed below, while 80 lofty was the distance,
they seemed to grow up to the sky. Blue
patches of water were seen peeping be-
tween them,
Hannah soon missed her boy, but as he
had often wandered in the fields where his
father was at work, she concluded he must
= be there and checked coming fears with
the hope that he would return at the din
ner hour. When it came, neither Josiah
nor any of his men knew where he was.
Then the agitated mother exclaimed:
"Hes lost he's lost! Ny poor boy will
starve in the woods
Gathering courage, she hastily summon
ed the family around her, and dispatched
them all but her husband to search in diff
ferent directions in the neighboring for
est. To her husband she said: "Scour
every field you call your own, and if you
can't find him, Join me in the gorge"
"He wouldn't go to the gorge, Han
nah?"
"He would go anywhere. She knew
not why, but presentiment that her boy
had followed the course of the stream
dwelt strongly on her mind.
81 can't find him, Hannah," said the
husband, as he joined her at the mouth OF
the gorge. An eagle flew past the mother
as she entered the ravine. She thought to
herself, 1.-The dreadful birds are tearing
my child to pieces;' and, frantic, she has
tened on, making the walls of the ravine
echo back her screams for her offspring.
The only answer was the eternal thunder
OF the boiling cataract, which, as if in
mockery OF her woe, tnrew its cold spray
upon her hot and throbbing temples. She
strained her eyes along the dizzy hight
that peered through the mist. till She
could no longer see, and her ewes filed
with tears.
Who but a woman can tell the feelings
of q womans heart? Fear came thick
and fast upon the reeling brain of Han