The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-04-19

| learning That he must be dull boy
who does not como out IN the spring q
| lair skater, an accurate ow-baller, and
an accomplished liderdown-hlll with
or without a board, o. his seat, on his
stomach, or his feet. Take moderate
! hill, with foot-slide down it worn TO
| icy smoothness, and there is nothing
| ike it for whit ing away boot leather.
| The boy is the friend of the shoemaker.
An active lad can wear down a pair of
cowhide soles in a week, so that the ice
will scrape his toes. Shedding or coast
! ing is also SOW fun compared to the
- bare. back" sliding down "A steep hill
| hill over a hard, glistening crust. 1t is
not only dangerous, but destructive TO
Jacket and pantaloons, to "a degree TO
make tailor laugh. If any other
animal wore out his skin az II school
| boy does his clothes in winter, he would
need new one once a month. In a
country district school, patches were not
by any means sign Of poverty, but Of
the boys courage and adventurous dis.
position. Our elders used to threaten
10 dress us in leather and put
sheet-iron seats in our trousers.
| The boy said he wore out his trousers on
| the hard seats in the school-house,
cyphering hard sums. For that extra
ordinary statement he received two
castigations, one at home that was mild,
and one from the schOolmaster, who
was careful to lay the rod upon the boys
sliding place, furnishing him, as ne
loosely called it, on sliding scale, ac-
cording TO the thinness OF his panta-
| looms.
What | liked best, however, was the
study Of history, carly history, the In
dian wars. We studied it mostly a.
noontimes, and we had it illustrated as
the childrens nowadays have "object
lessons"-though it was not so much TO
have lessons as to revive old history.
Back OF the school house rose round
hill, upon which, tradition said, had
stood in colonial times, a block-house,
built by settlers for defense against the
Indians. For the Indians had the
idea that the whites were not settled
enough, and used to come nights and
settle them with q tomahawk. 1t was
called Fort Hill. 1t was very steep on
each side, the river running close by.
1t was a charming place il summer,
where one could find laurel, and checker
berries, and sassafras roots, and sit in
the COL breeze looking at the noun
tains across the river, and listening to
the murmur of the Deerfeld. The
Methodists built meeting house there
alterw ards, but the hill was so slippery
in winter that the aged could not climb
it, and the wind ragged 80 iercely that it
blew nearly all the young Methodists
away (many OF them were afterwards
heard of in the Vest, and finally the
| - nj
the valley, and grew steeple, and en-
loved itself ever afterwards. 1t used TO
be a notion in New England that
meeting house ought to stand as near
heaven as possible.
The boys in school divided them
selves into two parties one was the
early settlers, and the other the Pc
quots, the latter the most numerous.
The early settlers bullt a snow fort on
the hill, and strong fortress 1T was,
constructed OF snow balls rolled up to
vast size (lsrser than the Cyciopian
blocks of stone which form the Etrus-
can walls in Italy,, piled one upon an
other, and the whole cemented by pour
ing water upon it, which froze and made
the walls solid. The Pequots helped
the whites build it, 1t had covered
way, under the snow, through which
only could it be entered, and it had
, bastions, and towers and openings
through which to fire, and great many
other things for which there are no
names in military books. And it had
glacis and ditch outside.
When it was completed, the early set
tiers, leaving the women in the school
house prey to the Indians, used to re-
, tire into it and await the attack of the
, Pequots. There was only a handful of
, the garrison, while the Indians were
many, and also barbarous. And 1t was
in this light that the great question was
settled, whether a boy might SNOWFALL
with balls that he had soaked over night
and let freeze. They were hard as cobble
, stones, and if boy should be hit on the
! head by one Of them, he could not tell
, whether he was Pequot or an early
settler. 1t was considered as unfair to
use these ice balls IN open fight as it Is
to use poisoned ammunition IN real war.
, But as the whites were protected by a
fort, and the Indians were treacherous
: by nature, it was decided that the latter
> might use the hard missiles.
The Peauots used to come swarming
/. up the hill, with hideous war-whoops,
? attacking the fort on all sides with great
: noise and a shower of balls. The garri-
E son replied with yells of defiance and
|, well-directed shots, hurting back the in
: vaders when they attempted TO scale the
: walls. The settlers had the advantage
a of position, but they were sometimes
= overpowered by numbers, and would
: often have had TO surrender but for the
o ringing of the school bell. The Pequots
were in great fear of the school bell.
do not remember that the whites
ever surrendered voluntarily; but once
or twice the fort was carried by storm,
:, and the garrison were massacred to a
c boy and thrown out OF the fortress, hav-
{, ing been first scalped. To take boys
u scalp was to take his cap, and after that
s he was dead if he played fair. There
e were a great many hard hits given and
v taken, but always chseriully, for 1t was
n in the cause OF our early history. The
/ - - opl RAr,a tya = III