The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-02-11
QUEER COMPANY HOME.

The oak fire burned briskly in the pol
ished stove, and putfs of delicious air
came in with the opening of the door,
making the lamps burn bright, while we
girls pared and clipped the golden pump
kin rind, and Mother Forrest told us a
story of her own childhood
None so ready for new country as
an old pioneer; and this woman with
the bright black eyes and hair. contented
with her children and grandchildren on
the new prairie farm, was brought up on
the mountain-sides of West Pennsylva-
MIA when it was the home of panthers
and bears. who were very socially fire.
quent and familiar. Her father moved
from Delaware County, New York, when
she was little girl, and she grew up as
much at home in the wilderness as the
catamounts. All summer long she
roamed the woods with her brothers and
sisters after berries and flowers and fun;
the woods their Fairgrounds from the
time sap flowed in sugar-making till
hazel-nuts were hidden by the snow
The mountains were free, breezy, sun
ny home for them; and though there
were plenty of . creatures, - that is, wild
ones, the children were wild and fear
less, and brought up to take care of
themselves.
Il wan a mite afraid of animals"
said the smart, comely woman, who
never would grow old. "Only one
thing skeered me, and that was men. If
saw or heerd of man outen the
woods I xtrD,,lI 4 IL 4
1t was a rough, hard set got loose among
the mountains in those times. But /
had the queerest comp'ny home one
time ever you heerd of, or anyb'dy else
so far as heard from. The fall / was
fourteen, my next youngest brother, and
sister and me, father took us down to
the island, bout eight miles from our
place, to pick apples on shares. Our
trees hedn't got to bearin' vet, and we
was mighty glad to get EN- this way,
pickin' two baskets for the farm-folks
and keepin' the third for our own. We
went Wednesday, and We're goin' to
Stay three days, and father was coming
with a team for us and the apples we
gathered. We slept at the farmhouse,
and had plenty of provision along, and
the folks gave us all the bread and milk
and cheese we wanted, and we had q
real larkin' time. BY Saturday we
were good ready to 90 home and see
mother. We waited till near shutdown,
when my next oldest brother came for
us and said father couldn't take the
team off that day and we were to walk
home, and he would send for the apples
next week. We had between seven and
eight barrels picked, enough to do us
all winter How them Pennsylvania
orchards did bear those times Bill had
been started after us early in the fore
noon, but he played along the way and
took swim, and hunted a woodchuck,
and picked berries, till, instid of gettin'
there bout two o'clock and givin' us
plenty of time to get home in, it was
most night. The folks told us we'd
better stay over night, but we was so
anxious to see mother and get home, it
seemed we couldn't stay over Sunday
nohow. Sowe took some apples in u
basket and started just little while be-
fore shutdown.
1.-The road went along the mountain,
with the steep bank like wall on one
hand, goin' down just as steep to the
bed of the river on the other, and it was
woods nearly all the way. We was so
glad at the thought of gettin' home and
SEEM mother by ten O'clock that we
was just as full as we could be. We
sang, and ran, and whooped, and joked
about wolves and bears, and those first
two miles didn't take very long to get
over. But then it was fairly dusk, and
the woods darker than pocket, so dark
you couldn't make out anything, and
we was glad to hear something come
along pit-pat, and find the old dog from
the farm had come after us. We could
just see his form and each other-spots
darker than the dark We couldn' lose
the road, for it was the only one, and
cut among the thick trees, and all we
had to do was to follow our noses over
the mountain straight home. BY way
of keepin' our spiritsup, we began to
train. sI. . ... auu .H,U auIr,.-4y
We Knocked every creature we knew.
We hooted like owls, and screeched like
cats, m howled like wolves, and sang
and hollered at the top of our voices,
and we wan't weak hinged either. And
that sober old dog trotted long side of
us, never changin' his gait or gettin'
ahead, but alters keepin' up with US.
was awful glad Of his comm, for
didn' like the idee of walkin' six miles
through the woods black as darkness It
had never been skinned. The walk
was nothin', for we could go six miles
any time after huckleberries, but
didn't know what we might meet before
we got through. l"'''- "l3
ave called to the dog and tried to
stir him up, but he kept the same trot
just behind us, and wouldn't take any
notice Of our frolics. We called him.