The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-07-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
AMID TIE WATERS.

You must remember well the Wiley
food as plain As though it was but yester-
day, stranger?'
Did You live in the same place that
y0u 10 n0w?'
My cabin stood ont yonder, near the
bank OF the river. Y0a can see the spot
from the doorway here. There, near
where that large elm stands"
| should Aave thought that the water
would have ~ept i. away, standing as it
did on the low ground"
Il did sweep itaway, stranger, and my
wife and child vi h it. If you have time
to hear it / don't mind telling you the
story"
Plenty of time, and nothing would
suit me better. | am always anxious to
hear ANYTHING of that night which has
Invested the Notch of the mountains with
such mournful interest"
The foregoing conversation took place
one dag last summer between myself and
an old settler among the mountains, at
whose cottage had stopped for glass Of
milk, and to rest awhile from my walk.
From one thing concerning the noun
tains to another we passed, and /
found that there We're many incidents
which he remembered of much interest to
the tourists, that had not found their way
into anv of the guides or histories of the
mountains wbicG have been put forth. At
last we came ~ speak of the great frcShct
known in All the hill coxntry as the
Wiley food, and which possesses a
mOaTnful interest FOR all the dwelers in
that region and then ensued the conver
satiOn which have recorded as q preface
u the story which | have reproduced tor
4 O. ra- +aT- # INV dor
II was il 1926 a1d.I was II young
man then, and had just set up in the
world for myself / had been married
two years, and my wife had baby boy
of some six months For the first year
had lived with nv father over the noun
tsins yonder, and then bought this piece
at interVaIe, and built cabin on 1t, and
commenced life for myself. We had no
EeighbOrs very near then, the highest be-
ing some three miles down the
river, While across the mountains to faith
er's il WIS a mile further. Still they
seemed nearest to US, fox we saw them
much ofteEer than anv one else-iheTe
never being but few days at time but
some of Us passed back and forth.
worked harG TIE year builtmy cabin,
and by the opening of the next season
had quite clearing made about 1t, anG l
and Mary, as We sat III the doorway In
TIE early evening, and gazed abont over
our possessions, used to think that we
were ON the high road TO prosperity. and
looked forward to the time when we
should have one Of the best farms lying
about us, that there was il All the noun
famous region. Of one thing we were
sure, and that was, that the soil could not
he beat, and labor only was wanted to
MAKE IL b-;uy f.ri n abuu1anfiY
The first part Of that summer, our
crops looked finely, and gave promise ol
en abundant harvest; but as the season
went on, a drought set In, which bade 1AlI
10 scorch everything green and tender
from the face of the earth. Every day
the sun came up, and went It's fiery rouno
without a cloud to keep its fierce rays
from the earth, and when at last Augus1
came In. even the little dew that had fall
en- AZ night was withhold, and the crops
deprived of this, no longer strove to live
bat turned yellow, sank upon the eartf
and wlihered away A large part that
had planted wcrt in this manner, and on
clearing presented little the appearance
il had done in the spring-time. SUI, /
Tsia would come soon, there would D.
enough saved 10 carry US through tn'
Writer, and tlnt WIS more than many
would have.
As the month went on, there came sign
ci rain, but all of them failed. In ,h
morning, and through the early part
the day, dark clouds would gather an
cover the summits of the mountains, an
we would think that it must rain, but D,
noon ihey would all clear away, withou
as much as sending down q lew orop
uDOn the psrched earth.
co Tho poo.-f n vyOrp aWaV unrll III
morning of the twenty fifth, the one DC
fore that ON which the flood came
That day had been over the noun
tains To fathers, doing some WORK 10
him. as he was unwell, and / promised I
come back the nsxt morning ana con
pIete the lob The sky, as Usual, ma
given signs Of rain, bat we pu. no conf
dence in il. thinking that we should
disannointed, as we had been all along
tbough an old Indian woman, VINO dWe
in lodge on the side of the mountain
far up the valley, and who chanced alon!
and paused in tho doorway for rest, d
ciared that we should have the creates
storm within two days that we had eV'
known. But we put little confidence
this for we considered her half craze
and had she not been, we thought IL wa
little that she could know OF what was
come 1000 -
The NEXT morning when we arose, v
found that it had rained very ht,
some time during the night but tne SIX
and clouds did not look so threatening
they had done for days previous. we nd
an early breakfast, and when 1t was ov'
set out over the mountain 10 90 It
DAYS work, telling my wife that l snou
not be back before dark, but should SURE
return some tine in the evening
found, when / r%ached tather 8, IN
he was not as well he mad been the os
before, and that ,ther was much wo
ried about him. Ge declared that IL w
nothing, only one of his stacks TO wnle M
he was subject, aud that he would 500
be over it. Mother shook her head, al
hoped that he was right, and l went o.
into the field to work, and oid not con
sgain To the cabin till noon:
Instead of being better, ne was n'us
worse, and mother declared that 1 mu
saddle the horse, and go down TO C0nw'
for Doctor Bogly; but father wonia q
hear TO this yet so after dinner, L we'
back to my work, and in the course Oh