Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-10-20
VOL. 71.-36O1. NO. IL

will, no muscle, no nerve, no soul, but the
brave soul Of old Jerusalem. win he get
US home Can he ever, ever keep ahead so
longP Oh, how the arrows hy We shall
be hit, we shall be hit o mother, mother,
mother
Tam, why doesn't father come 10 meet
us Why don't they do something for us.
Tam Has mother forgotten us ?"
That, think, must have been tho cruelest
minute in all the cruel story.
And yet, perhaps not so cruel as the min
ute when the mother. at the attic window,
gave one long, echoing cry, and came, stag
gering from her post, down stairs 10 say
still in that strange voice that mothers such
as she will have at such minute, John,
they are hit the arrow struck them both.
Let me 10 the kitchen window You stay
at the door. There's just moment now"
There was but a moment, and like a wild
dream, the whole dreadful sight came sweep
ing up, over the garden, into the yard.
Now John could not see anything but the
mighty form Of the horse Jerusalem. To this
day, he SAYS that saddle, 10 his eyes, as the
magnificent creature leaped by, was empty
as air. lie only saw the horse--and the
horse made straight for the barn.
But why did the savages pursue a rider
less horse And whooping aud shooting
cruelty after it, into the barn they plunged.
"The boys are on the horse" in hoarsc
whisper said the mother; " ! saw them both.
They are bleeding aud failing. fhe arrow
has pinned them together, John, but they've
kept their seat"
"My boys are pretty good riders said
John, turning his white face round with a
grim, fathers pride, even then {" but even
my boys can't keep a horse after they're
shot through the body. Fright has turned
your brain, Susan"
! tell the story just as ii was told to me,
and the way of that was this How Jerusa-
lem leaped into the barn, with the boys, or
so the mother thought, bleeding upon his
back how the savages secured the barn, the
yard, the garden, plundered a little here and
there, and itfully attacked at intervals the
barricaded house how John. brave and
white, at one door, and Susan, white and
brave, at the other, abundance Of powder
and unhnching hearts, and the love Of three
helpless babes, drove them, by-and-by, sui
lenly away how, when they had been long
safe hour gone, the parents, shivering and
sad, crept out with white lips, little by little,
as they dared, to hunt for the bodies OF their
murdered boys.
"They amt in the barn." said the father,
bringing his hand heavily across his eyes.
an go TO the woods. suppose they
scalped the little fellows and left them
there"
But the mother, when he was gone, went
around and around, stealthily as a cat, about
the barn. All, blessings forever on the
mothers ear, and blessings on her eye
From pile of fresh earth thrown up in
the barn yard, little stream of blood came
trickling down-and she saw it. Deep from
the middle of the mound little cry came,
faint, terrorstricken, smothered-but she
heard it.
TO be sure When Jerusalem-bless him
went leapng through the barn door, Just
an arrows length ahead of his pursuers, off
tumbled Tam and Titus, and out into the
barn yard, aud down into the pile of mud
and gravel, deep and safe. And about and
about, and here and there, the Indians had
searched and secured, and grumbled-and,
gone and there they were.
Pinned together with the arrow Truly,
yes. just under the shoulder (and Titus
had the worst hurt, as will sometimes hap
pen with the good boys y and how they ever
did it and lived | don't know.
I'm sure they never would have, but for
their brave, black-eyed little mother, who
picked them up and washed them off, aud
carried them in (but she pulled out the ar
row first), and put them to bed, and ban
daged, and contrived, and cared, and kissed,
and cried, and prayed-and they got well.
Probably if she had lived in the city of Bos-
ton, where there are two medical schools, or
in Philadelphia, where there are three
more, or in New York. where there are five,
to say nothing of nobody knows how many
full hedged doctors, the boys would have
died. But as she lived in bowling wilder
ness, and they had nothing but clean water,
and soft bandages, and mothers eyes and
hands and love to get well upon, they lived.
They lived to be six feet high; and as
they are living now, presume they mea-
sure six feet still.
II is pretty long story, know, but it is
a true one, for I've seen the arrow. John
| gave the arrow TO gentleman; and the gem
tleman gave il TO his daughter and the
daughter-no, she wouldn't give it 10 me I;
but | held it for five minutes in the very
hand with which | write these words. And
il that doesn't prove that the story is true,
/ what could
And Jerusalem o, Jerusalem lived TO a
good old age, and was buried in the barn
yard with great honors. And Tam and Ii
tus cried and John and Susan cried, and
Betty, and the new and the newest, and the
very newest and the very, very newest, and
all the babies cried, and it would have been
very sad, if it hadn't been little funny.
But | think, take it altogether, it was an
Arrow Escape.