Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-05-11
Old Stone Wall Tenantry.

Know q ruined wall whose history
dates back century and more, now a
scattered, rambling pile of weather
beaten, nature-saturated powders. Hall
hidden beneath its covering leaves and
creeping plants, it seems almost like a
grave, and in many places it is lost be-
meath a covered mound, where Nature
has at last entirely reclaimed it, and
wrapped it in her bosom.
This ancient landmark follows the
border of lane of equal antiquity,
formerly the wood road Of the pioneer
forester who redeemed its neighboring
sunny meadows from the wilderness,
and whose hands laid the wall that, like
himself, has now returned to earth.
The remnants of his old log hut, It is
said, are even now to be traced among
the new-grown timber on the mountain
side, surrounded by the crumbled pile
of the massive log fence built about his
primitive habitation as barricade of
defense against prowling wolves and
bears-and even Indians, too, if the
record of the soil is to be believed; for
many are the tomahawks and flint ar
row-heads that have been turned up by
the pillow among these meadows.
This wall mas long since gone out of
service, but its innumerable foster-chil-
dren have risen up to do duty in its
stead; for here are almost impossible
thickets of hazel bushes, dwarf cherry
and filbert jungles, with here and there
at near intervals majestic shagbark
hickories springing up directly from its
heart of stone. The sloping roots have
raised and rolled away the powders on
every side. There are occasional whole
colonies of pig-nut trees, and now and
then a huge spreading butternut, and
the finest specimens of wild cherry to
be found for miles around-all scattered
along the length of this ancient wsn in
an exquisite abandon.
The sharp whistle of a chipmunk
greets you here at almost every step,
and in such a spot there is more than
ordinary significance in that shrih
voice. 1t is a voice from the heart Of
the wall, for the chipmunk is its COM
panion and its historian. / am aware
that nature has given this little fellow
several black marks. He is doubtless a
little thief, often making havoc among
the farmers stores, and taking his regu-
lar three meals day from the granary.
As type of greed his name is almost
proverbial. His vast subterranean
store houses bear witness to his acquis-
tive and misery proclivities, as they
are often in single season packed
with provender representing ten times
his actual need.
How often have seen this little fell
low on the homeward jump, his head
pulled out with a pig-nut in each cheek
and third between his teeth! But the
inference thus conveyed is as undeserv-
ing as the black marks which he car
RES If his gluttony is proverbial, it is
equally providential. He must not,
therefore, be condemned as profess
sional gormand, for his true vocation
the one with which he is accredited in
the book of nature-is that of q most
skillful planter and landscape gardener.
We have him to thank for many of our
most highly-prized specimens of stand.
ard trees. It is from the providential
plethora of his subterranean treasure
houses that have sprung these noble
oaks and hickories, these massive chest
nuts, and this outburst of hazel and
wild cherry among this bed of stone.
There are other tenants that people
its crevices. The little weasel has its
beaten tracks among them, where he
threads his way in search of hiding
field-mice that make their nests beneath
the stones. The chipmunk sometimes
encounters him in the hallway of his
burrow, where the dreaded enemy has
lain in wait for him, and the partridge
is surprised by that. same stealthy APP
proach while searching for buds among
the hazels.- William Hamilton GIBSON,
in Harper's Magazine.