The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-08
PeriIs Of the Wilderness.

''l suppose you; saw some pretty hard
times when you first settled in the Western
country 2" Il once said to an old pioneer.
"Indecd I did, sir !" he replied, with
the look of one who is taking a retrospec-
tive view. FL am an old man now, and
my hair, you see, is white-but it was as
black Us coal:on the night,I WAS showed UP
among wolves, All, mc! that was ter
rblc night, sir and never think of it,
but involuntraily shudder at the recollec-
tion, and thank God that was 80 wonder
fully preserved through It," 30 ,
"Can I not prevail on you to tell Ire the
storya' = at'sfs& = @ Il )
q "Oh, yes, I will tell It to you, as T have
told 1t to many others before you-so many,
in fact, that I have it quite by heart
though If had never mentioned the mat
ter from that day to this, am certain
should have no trouble now in recalling the
minutes detail, 80 strongly are the facts
impressed upon my memory. ''.
g 1t was just after tho war of 1919, that
got married and took my wife to pur-
chase had made from government, within
what is now the limits of the State of Illi-
nois. The Indians, previous to this time,
had been somewhat troublesome to the set
tiers in that region; but, after peace was
declared, they buried the hatchet, and we
no longer had any occasion to fear them in
tho vicinity where located myself.
"When built my cabin and moved into
it, with the few Housekeeping articles !
had brought from the eastward, everything
around me looked gloomy enough, and my
poor wife sat down and had hearty crying
spell from sheer inconsistencies. laughed
at her, and talking largely of what I was
going to do, and all that sort OF thing; but,
to tell you the honest truth, I felt a good
deal more like crying than laughing myself.
Our nearest neighbor was ten miles distant;
the only mill where we could get grinding
done was fifteen all the stock l had in the
world were the two horses which had
drawn us and our effects out there, and
one of these was blind and the other lame;
while, to crown all, l had no money, and
besides seed grain barely provisions enough
to last us till early harvest"
"Now suppose you would like to ask,
what made me fool enough to venture into
new country and set up housekeeping
under such circumstances; and l will
answer you, that I was young, strong, poor
and ambitious, and thought, and so did
my wife. that this would be the only way
we could ever gain, IAN independonco.H~.>,,,e
"Wcll, things were not so bad rs they
might have been; and consolyi myself
with the reflection that we wore great
deal better off than a good many others
who had settled in the Wilderness before
us. My farm was about half woodland
and half prairie--a rich, alluvial soil-and
30, without being obliged to clear the
ground first, could proceed to. plow, plant
and SOW at once, Which did, $itlbeinglthe
right season oftheyepr forthc work.
"We got through the summer very well,
all things considcred, and our crops were
such as to make both of us look forward
with a degree Of chocrfulness and hope.
My wife, though not exactly contcnted and
happy, had got over hor first severe attack
OF home sickness, and, using alf the phil
osopiy and reason she was master of, had
become rs resigned to her lot rs I could
expect. When was with her, she gener-
ally seemed quite cheerful; but had to
be away more or less; and duringi my ab.
sence she became timid and low.spiritetl;
always fearing that something would han.
pen to me- For this reason I made it q
point, no matter where went, to either
take her with me, or return homo tho same
night, even though might not get in til
late" -
One, pleasant morning, late in the fall,
mounted my blind horse and sot Off 70,
the mill-7to get grist had left there. Of
was the custom, a week beforc-tcllng my
wife had not the least doubt l should be
back beforesdark. " a. Gs gs asaA
'And If you arc not, Petor,' she said,
you know / shall be terribly frightened,
and shall sit trembling by my lone fire til
] hear your Voioe.inoS a5YEll F,an 81
Poor iNancyI sho little knew how
many long hours she would sit trembling