The Penn's Grove record., 1883-12-01
Among the peer s,ayers.

mo ntmselt upon the grass o
the overgrown carry. "And," he con
tinued. II want TO let up right here ant
tell ye about the last time L trod thi
ere old carry, Lord bless It'll he added
looking around and nodding at thu
limbs Of the trees as If they knew him
"The old place SEEM Just like home Il
me. Dye know SIR" he continued
'it's a great blessing for a man to bt
able to have that quiet feeling of peace
like steal over ye, and have 1t natura.
to feel thankful every time We look al
the trees and hills2 Now I'm y poor
man; might say l amt worth a dollar
in the world, but I'm rich IN appreciat-
in that 1 have got health, easy con-
science, and the privilege of enjoying
life.
"D'ye ever have that kind O. Dustin
feelln' when ye see some wonderful
sight way off In the city, which I've
only heard tell on?-never was there.
Well. l feel sort of so when l get out in
pint. I'm n of the thankful kind.
81 had a chap, or leastwise he had
me. Twas guiding for him. He was
what they call an infidel, 1 reckon;
didn't believe nuthing; didn't see any
thing in anything. Well, that poor
cuss-and l am not speaking figgera-
lively when 1 say poor. for he lived on
his money-he talked to me all one
night, arguing how religion was all
stuff. 'Ye see that Milky Way says
he. Yes We'll, he says, that's a
world ~manufact'ry there the dust of
future worlds Is floating about. What
brings it together? Centri-suthin' force,
What keeps 1t therei Gravity. What
makes 1t cool? Time. What peoples
it? Evolution. Everything is done by
law and proved by philosophy / set
hst'ning to him, and when he'd done
provin' everything / says, I'm with
ye on the evolution. Why? Cause
it's the smoothest way OF unfoldin'
great works. Sudden magic amt half
so wonderful as the evolution of a corn
cob in the fall rom the spring seed;
but, says L, where doe your dust
come i1om? where's the beginning?
that's right where my religion begins.
| don't pretend to know much, but
there's u ~Deglnnin' way back some way
that laid the foundation for all these
trees and hills, and it was mind that
STATED things. Evolution my have
finished them. but that mind, we kin
call it what ye Will, it's the creator Of
the Old TesGiment, it's the god of the
Injuns. and may have a hundred names
by rs many folks, out it's the maker
all the same, and these trees, and mount
ANS, and lakes keep a telling We SO and
We cant hear EN- What dye suppose
he said?" asked the old man.
"'Why, says ne, Amos, l never
looked ON 1t III that light But" said
the speaker, taking out his pipe, I've
kind o got off the rack. As 1 was say
ing, L KEN here two years ago with this
chap, and he had the greatest layout
you ever see. lie had a gun that didn't
nave no hammer, cost $500, so he said,
and his rig was sartln hne-so fine he
was afraid to set any where. Wen, we
made a camp about here, and l had a
rousing fire, and we sat around after
taking a much of suthing. At last he
gifts up and says he'd take a walk about
and look up a panther, 1T being moon
light. So 1 says All right knowing
he was all right, as there wasn't a pan
Their within SIX miles that / knowed on.
Of he goes, the $500 shooter on his
arm. Well" and here the old guide
laughed loud and heartily, 81 was puff
ing away, thinking of my gal and old
woman up at Saranac, when L heard
the awfullest yell ye ever heard, and
suthin come rushing through the brush,
over logs, a-goin' down, then up, and
smoothing i'll the moss. At first 1
thought a buck had gone mad and was
rushln' down on us, but the next mill
ute this ere sportin chap came IN head
and fell ali OF a heap. '5cartl Well,
If he hadn't been a tow-head, / dare
say his hair d been white. What's
yep says |. For a minute he
couldn't say a WORD; then he gasped
out, 'Ghostsl' Well, he swore he'd
one ten feet high, and when he
it first it was waving back and forth,
and it started alter him, and he lett,
dropping gun, hat, and n moccasin,
and reached camp as L said. l couldn't
get him t go back, 30 l started my
self, and abont "a thousand yards OH l
KEN to a clearin', and I'm blessed If it
wasn't there, and kind o skeery for a
green hand. 1t was a piller of light
six feet high, wavin' about, danc-
ing this way anu that, and rising and
But I'D seen 'em before.
Sartin, the ghost of a dead
that had wandered INTO the woods,
got stuck, and died, and the light was
.nis ere rlgnus fatus, or whatever they
GALL 1t. The next day we went over
lls trail and picked up his property,
,nd when / showed him the COW he was
took down you'd a laughed" And
ne man slung his canoe on hi shoulder
md we pushed on again through the
carry to the pond, Just back OF which
We found the rest OF the party IN camp,
! rousing fir. and a spread OF spruce
md tire iImbs-a right royal couoh.
SCOT that jack patented, Amos?' asked
guide, as tnat person was fixing a
within the squash that, followed
showed comlcal eyes, nose, and
mouth.
"You boys make fun O. this jack
was the reply, "'put it's bothered moro
leer than any OF your fancy fandanSles;
LIE auutu, dS Tic tuuiCAOu5 ODicot
was placed IN tine canoe on the lake, |
I'm ready to test her."
Later the writer and Amos showed ON
into the dark water. The silence was
u~nbroken, the old guides padding be-
ing so perfect that the paddle went into
the water and ont with hard a pert
ceptlble sound; the gentle ripples as
the canoe cut the water or the faint
splash of an overturned lilly-pad alone
the ear. Slowly the canoe
skirted the dun shore, the jack-light
its curious glare ahead. SID
denly came a hiss from the paddler,
and ahead, looming out of the darkness,
appeared the ghostly form OF an animal
IS large as an Ok. The
wno had been initiated, escaped
the fever; a binding flash, followed
by a cannonade OF echoes that brought
from the birds, a thundering
and a few strokes of the paddle
brought us alongside OF a dead buck.
dead as a or-nail-right through
the heart, Just where you thought OF"
ao,d Amna in odmirafinn. an1 the ax-