Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-03-08
THE DOUBLE DANGER.


THE DOUBLE DANGER.
AMONG the earliest settlers of Wood
stock, a beautiful town in the Green
Mountain State, was man by the name
of Silas Sloey, who had left his early
home near the sea, and following the
windings of the new Connecticut, had at
last pitched upon place in the wilder
ness, where he erected his cabin, and then
commenced an onslaught upon the giants
of the forest that reared their heads in
stately grandeur about him, but gave way
beneath his relentless strokes, and in a
couple of years he had quite an open space
encircling his cabin. During this time he
had lived alone, but when the second au-
tumn came another journey was under
taken to that old home by the sea, and
when he returned a young wife bore him
company, to share with him the joys and
privations incident to a pioneer
Three years came and went and the
clearing had greatly enlarged its borders,
although no arm but his own laboyed
within its bounds. The trees that at first
had come up close to the cabin, had now
retreated to respectable distance, and
the ground they had once occupied was
now usurped by flourishing crops that
cheered the heart of the settler, and
encouraged him to still greater eXer-
ton.
The three years spent in the forest by
the young couple had been those of peace
and contentment. A son was born to
them at the commencement of the second
year of their married life, and who was,
at the time the adventure we are about
to relate transpired nearly two years of
age, and as bright little fellow as ever
cheered the hearts of parents, whose very
life seemed bound up in that of their
child.
4 he nearest neighbors of the Sloeys
were more than three miles away, through
the forest, so it was seldom they saw 9th.
ers than themselves. The settler was too
much occupied with his work to pay
much attention to making visits, and the
distance was so great that it was not safe
for his wife to go alone, as the forests
swarmed with wild beasts, which render
ed the night hideous with their cries.
Bears and panthers abounded, but the
wolves were most to be dreaded, and
proved the greatest annoyance; for often
:, they would gather around the cabin at
early dusk and keep up their horrid cries
until the early gray of the dawn sent them
howling into the dim aisles of the forest
and up the dark ravines among the noun
tains, where shadows almost like those of
night lurked all through the day.
One day late in October business called
the settler to the nearest settlement of i'm
portance in that section, which Glanced
to be some eight miles distant; and he sat
out early in the morning, telling his wife
she need not look for him before night
fall, as it was very uncertain what time
he would be able to accomplish his bust
moss, and it might be that he would not
l,ta In, ,t,yI,t, Int
he would before he slept, unless some un-
foreseen event interposed to prevent.
Bending over his child that was sleeping
III the bed, he kissed it, and then having
bestowed the same mark of affection upon
his wife, he babe her be careful not to
stir from the cabin or to allow the child
to wander from her sight for fear that
some harm might come to them from the
wild beasts With this caution, which
she promised readily to observe, he threw
his rifle over his shoulder and took his
way across the clearing, and his wife
watched him from the doorway until the
forest thicket hid him from her sight.
The morning had given promise of a
beautiful day, which assurance was well
kept until little past meridian, when the
wind changed to the eastward, and dark
clouds began to obscure the sky to the
south and west, giving strong indca-
tions that storm was nigh at hand, Busy
with her work and the care of her boy,
Mrs. Sloey did not notice the approach
ing storm until near nightfall, when the
sudden darkness that seemed all at once
to throw a deep gloom abSut the cabin
reminded her that the night and storm
were close at hand, and going to the door
way she gazed anxiously toward that
point in the forest whence she expected
to get the first sight of her husband
Although her gaze was long and ear
nest, it was not rewarded by glimpse of
her husband then with glance at the
dark clouds that seemed to them the little
clearing in as if with huge pail, she
tried to calculate how long it would be
before the rain would begin to fall, and
to guess the distance her husband might
be away, and the chance he had of reach.
ing home before the storm.
Standing in the doorway the gloom
seemed to deepen every moment, while
the wind that had been signing dismally
in the forest died away, leaving every
thing almost as still as death.
The kettle singing on the hearth re-
called her to the fact that she had com
menced preparing supper, and turning
away from the door, she approached the
rude stone fireplace, and after paying
due attention to what was cooking there
she approached the bed upon which her
boy was sleeping, and found the air of
the fast deepening night appeared to
strike him where he lay, Not caring to
close the door, as she wished to catch the
first sound of her husbands footsteps on
his return, she bethought herself of quilt
that was in the loft, which she could
spread upon the bed without disturbing
her little son.
Listening for moment, to make sure
no footsteps were approaching, she as
oended the rude ladder, and felt her way
along in the darkness--the loft was un-
provided with windows - to the spot
where, she supposed the object of her
search to be lying, but il was not there
Either she or her husband had moved it,
and cropping her way about in darkness,
she, after few moments delay, succeed
ed in finding it, and taking it on her arm,
she approached the ladder and was about
to descend when She caught sight of an
II Al. Al -