Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-08-23
POLLY sTRADER. THE TRAPpER

POLLY sTRADER, THE TRAPPER.
Away out upon the frontier, on the
bank Of one of those beautiful lakes
that abound in Minnesota, lived Mr..
Henry Strader, Polly's father. He had
emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1856,
and had made "claimn on the finest
quarter-section of land within circuit
of ten miles. According to the "pre-
emption laws" the person who settles
on unoccupied land, and observes GER
tain formalties, has the right to pur-
chase that land from the Government
at any time before it is brought into
market, at one dollar and twenty-five
cents an acre. But if he does not buy
it before the day of sale, il is sold at
auction to the highest bidder.
Mr.. Strader had three children,
Harry, his eldest, Polly and little
Jimmie. All the money that the father
could make by farming in summer and
trapping in winter, he spent in improv-
ing his claim. As the land was not
likely to be advertised for sale for some
years, he did not think it necessary to
make any provision for buying il at
once. But Mr.. Strader was taken sud
denly i'll and died, and the burden of
paying for the claim and supporting
the family, came upon Harry, then
only seventeen years of age. Not
wholly upon Harry either, for, from
the time her father died, Polly, who
was just fifteen, resolved to share every
burden with her brother. She was
stronger than many boys of her age,
and had always been fond of outdoor
life. In fact, she was what you would
call tom-boy, brimful of life, restless
and energetic. She had already learned
TO paddle q canoe, and as the prairie
chickens would come into the yard,
she had become an adept with the shot
gun. The neighbors used to say she
was too wild, that she never would be
good for anything.
But within week after her father
died, she had taken hoe and gone in
to the field by the side of Harry. All
through the hot days she did her part;
and as the winter drew on, she prac-
ticed with the rifle until she could shoot
about as well as her brother. And
through the long cold months she tied
on her snow-shoes as regularly as Har-
ry did his, and by dint of helping her
brother, and taking lessons from him,
she learned all the craft of the trapper.
She knew the habits of muskrat, mink
and otter as well as any man in the
region. Harry used to make her face
grow red, sometimes, by declaring that
she was a "glorious girl"
But the next spring came the COM
mencement of the war; | can not stop
to tell you of all the discussions that
10,
the subject of Harry's enlistment.
They ended in Polly's telling him to go,
that she would support the family, and
that the land wouldn't come into the
market right off, anyway. And wheth-
er right or wrong, Harry enlisted.
That summer Polly succeeded in culti-
waiting that portion of the land that
was broken and fenced in such way
as to get tolerable crop. But during
the summer there came the sad news
that Harry was wounded, and must lie
for long time in the hospital, and
then, perhaps, be discharged, on ac-
count of his disability to do further serv-
ice. To add to their distress, came
the startling intelligence that the land
was brought into market, and must be |
pre-empted before the first of January,
or it would be sold.
There was merchant, five miles
away, by the name of Van Dyke, who
bought furs of the settlers, and sold
them provisions. An utterly mean
man, there was no advantage to be
taken that Van Dyke did not take. He
was delighted to hear that the land in |
the neighbOrhood was to be sold, for |
he was perfectly satisfied that the wild |
ow Strader could not raise the two hun |
dred dollars necessary to purchase her |
land, and he chuckled as he thought Of |
the prospect of buying it at the Gov |
ernment sale, and thus getting all the |
improvements for nothing. Indeed, it |
was shrewdly suspected that, as Van
Dyke had some influence with officers |
of the land-office, he had something to |
do with the bringing of the land into |
the market at so early day; for, as he
was a mOney-lender and speculator,
there were many ways in which a land |
sale would be to his advantage.
Polly applied to Mr.. Van Dyke for a |
loan on mortgage on the land, but |
was refused. Hoping against hope,
she went to work to raise all the money |
she could very early in the fall. Leav- |
ing her mother and little Jimmie to
secure the crops, she commenced to |
trap. She started out at daylight |
every morning, and was picture for a |
painter as she pushed off her canoe.
Her long hair lay on her shoulders, her !
head was covered with regular trap
per's cap, made of wolf-skin. with the |
wot tail hanging down behind. She |
had been pretty successful, but at the |
prices offered by Mr.. Van Dyke, she
had nothing like enough to buy the
land. Polly was very high spirited.
and she vowed that Van Dyke should
not have Il single skin that she capt
ured. In vain he assured her that the
price he offered her was the highest
that could be paid "Mr. Van DYKE,
you have not money enough 60 BUY my
furs."
Al last came the news that Harry was
about to start for home. He had been
discharged, and was scarcely able to
walk but at any rate it was a comfort
TO know that he was coming home
again. 1t was now the middle of
November, but the sky was yet clear,
and the prairies, scared with the frost,
looked like fields of gold beneath the
autumn sun. And every night tho
prairie fires made the sky glow in every
direction. Polly had made a careful
account of her resources, and said that
at least she had enough to buy the
forty acres on which the house and the
principal part of the improvements
were. That was one consolation, at
any rate. They would not be without
a home, if they did have to lose the
meadow and timber land that they
priced so highly. One morning as she
was running bullets and filling up her
powder-horn, Mr.. Van Dyke came in
and handed her "a letter, saying:
"Ihis was in the Office for you, and
i thought would bring il along over,
as was coming. Don't want to sell
your furs this morning, ehP''
aI am ohli0ad 10 40, A. W