The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-08-19
A BOLD BACKWOODS BOY.

Jad was eleven years old and little
Chic, his sister, was two years younger.
But this was a great many years ago
when their father, Mr.. Dunlap, had just
moved into township in the western
part of Maine, which was then a wild,
uninhabited region, save where here and
there an adventurous settler had planted
his little log hut in the heart of the
wilderness, and laid bare few acres of
the forest as a nucleus of the future
home of himself and thriving family
almost always a small colony in itself.
All, who can tell what homesick mo-
ments and longings for the old associa-
tions our pioneer fathers and mothers
endured, coming, as did many of them,
from wealthy States and pleasant sur
roundings. There must have been
mighty attraction in the wild, free life
of the backwoodsman and q genuine love
of the simple and homely joys of the
rough hearthstone, to have held them
in these rude homes, almost isolated, as
they were, from the world. But they
lived in anticipation, looking eagerly
forward to future of plenty, when the
wilderness should become cultivated
and fruitful through their first persis.
tent and hardy efforts.
With an energy CHARACTERISTIC of the
first settlers, Mr.. Dunlap pushed his
way on through toll, hardships and many
privations, at first telling and clearing
patch large enough to put up log
cabin for his family, then by degrees
cutting farther and farther into the
primitive forest, till now quite a large
track lay open to the sun, q part of
which was under tolerable cultivation,
the rest laying black and still smoking
from recent burninss.
AS before stated, Jad was now eleven.
He was a dark-faced, sinewy lad, tough
as thong, inberiting much of his
fathers pluck and endurance. What
ever he undertook TO do he was pretty
sure to carry through.
In these unsettled regions wild ami
mails were numerous, especially the wild
cat lynx and glutton, or wolverine.
These creatures often came into the
clearings, and their frequent depreda-
tions became n great pest to the settlers.
There was also an abundance OF
smaller game to be had for the trapping,
and this fall Jad was anticipating no
end Of enjoyment in the warm Indian
GUNNER days, trapping for "musquash"
(muskrat) and mink along Kenny Brook,
which ran past the clearing half milo
away in the woods. His father had
helped him make his traps, and on his
very first visit he was greatly elAted by
finding sleek and glossy mink in one
of them. This piece of good luck had
set Jad half fwild for mink skins brought
q high price at the "big settlement"
twenty-five miles down the country,
where his father always went to do his
trading,
Jad watched his traps eagerly, as n
miser watches his money bags. But
with all his vigilance, what was his dis
may to find, one morning, in the trap
iarthest up stream, that mink had
been caught and taken outby some wild
beast and devoured. The tail and little
featherly clumps of fur lay scattered
about the trap. Dire vengeance against
the wild marauder possessed his heart.
Little Chic was keen sympatbiaer in
his troubles. She was also his compan-
ion in this trapping expedition, in which
u wm her duty to carry the bait-gome'