Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-04-06

Wh'vh WhH lclt thc' iheIc, w wv
mountains, | settled down again, bull
myself a fort and played hermit. M
jllung girls shoild come near me now,
"A tort 7
"A regular fort IN stockade eighteeI
feet high, with an embankmont foul
feet high around II, aud a strong gait
In the middle. My tent was IN thu
midst of tho enclosure, with my books
aud household goods, firearms and al
tho rest OF my property slowed away
In It,
Were you afraid ofIndians 7
Indians aud white men. Yes,
saw good many indiaas at first
within the range Of my rifle. They
learned to keep away from my fort
finding 1t did not pay TO attempt ar
invasion, Down In the valley below
there we've mining camps aud yo0
perhaps knew what some Of the hang
ers.on Of such camps are, ] soldbeei
that IL, heads Of cattle-.to the
miners and as l had sometimes q
tidy sum of money by me, il was
necessary to be careful,
what strange life Tor young
man !! said Mary 'f'or you Joseph !!
j hcrdcd my cattle, drove them Ia
market, cooked, studied, wrote and in.
dulged in mixture Of misanthropy
aud rifle practice. by the time | had
entered on the second summer 10 the
mountains felt quite ut home, aud
was getting rich. After all, the life
had its charms. a man cannot quite
tire of it when he is but u few years
out ot his teens.
And the girl.wi'e 7
Il am coming to her. Having had
time to forget my i'll usage, u reas-
ton set in, you see, and | thought
after all, | must ride to the Wallamet to
see after my girl. But | was not in
the hurry over i, that l had been be-
fore. THIS is all very dull, you will
say, uut mere II U" some sllr presently
At is not all dull
'One Sunday afternoon (how did |
know it was Sunday you ask Be-
cause / had kept count oft the days all
along-kept my diary regularly)-one
Sunday afternoon was sitting out
side writing, when shadow fell
across my paper, and, looking up, l
beleld a skeleton standing before me.
Accustomed as | was to lonely en- =
counters with strange men of all kinds,
my hair stood on end as ] stared at
the spectre. lie was the merest boy
in years, pretty ana delicate by nature,
and evidently reduced to this shadowy
state by Starvation. Ills story was
soon told He had left Boston on
board vessel bound for the North
west Coast, had been wrecked at the
mouth of the Umpaqua, and been
wandering about in the mountains
ever sirce, feeding on roots and ber-
ries.'
'He vas
No, assure you,' interrupted Jo-
seph with an amused look at my wife,
the boy was not n young woman in
disguise, If that's what your thinking.
He was just poor, weak, halt-starved
lad named Edwards. fed and nurs-
ed him until he was able to work for
himself, and then got Sam Chong
Sung to let him take up claim along
side Chinese camp, promising to
favor the Chinaman in beef contract
if he would be good to the boy. l
still continued to see a great deal Of
him.
And did Edwards succeed z
Yes, he got on. One day two
Chinamen stole some of Sam Chong
Sung's horses, and he offered four
dollars to Edwards if he
would go after the thieves and track
them. Edwards asked my advice.
and l encouraged him to go, telling
him where fancied he would find the
men, So he stated in pursuit, and |
confess | missed him.
"A man came to my fort one day
who was naked and starving. He
was bad looking fellow, very, but
you will say man naturally does look
bad when his clothes are nowhere and
bis bones protrude through his skin.
l clothed him, fed him, cared for him
kindly until he was able to travel, and
then he went away. The next Sun
day l was sitting outside my fort, as
customary on that leisure day, reading
some translatiens from the Greek
poets-for l dare say you remember l
was. pever much of hand at the
original-wheu, CHANGING to looS Of
my book, beheld a vision