Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1884-09-19
A STRANGE STORY.

! have strange, almost incredible,
story 10 tell Of an experience of my own
one fearful night i'll the woods. I'M
agimtiop had nothing to do with it, fol-
] am backwood's daughter, accus-
t.nned to the wild sounds OF the forest,
tho loneliness, aud all that is terrifying
~ II novice.
My father WIS good man, serving
G.d nhor his own simple fashion, seeing
II,m und loving Him in His works. l
hn,c heard him hold forth on the provi-
drrt ways Of the beaver. "Why the
h'lIc criiler'd starve in the cold season
il it hndn't used its little fiat tail for
lu,llin' lis house, and then film it with
food i'll timo |" have heard him tell Of
the caribou: LOOK at that, too" he
would sny, "and at the moose. Now,
tao caribou has TO travel often matter
ii twenty miles for his dinner, for he's q
dainly 'un, and only eats the long gray
n.,~s That hangs from the trees SO God
eavu him snow-shoes, good as an Iniun
.v,uld make Gun, TO skim over the ice
uu,t--wiile the big, heavy moose there
sinks right in. His dinner is close al
l.and. lie could live for months on ar
w'ru lot He could speak the loon, and
il, adaptation in every way to its watery
h,mo--,Lways ending such talk with
"All Gods works are pom honor
there's no halfway with Him." E
luas the only one left OF ten children
My father, when mourning over and
missing the others, would never com
plain but only say, "They're better of.
Why, if wo can't trust the little chill
dr,n that don't know the meaning OF sin
there amt any chance for the men +
And SO he lived his QUOT life-his hear
b, aling close to natures heart, and hi
soul unconsciously seeking and finding
nnure's God.
NV mott er must have been beautiful
in her youth. She was q lOrette Cana
dienlc, aud her bright French spirit
carried her gayly over many hard trial
IN her life of frequent deprivation. On
great, overshadowing sorrow of her lif
wus the unnccountablo disappearance {
her little ycar-old daughter, her onl
beautiful child-the one in her own in
uyn, Shom from the first she loved wit
peculiar tenderness.
The child had been left alone in he
little birch-bark crib for short ha
hour, while mother was busy at tn
spring, a mile from home, in the midi
ui the woods. ], little 6-year-old, ws
OF IN the canoe with my father, as
treat for having been especially goc
the dry before. Father and l bad
splendid time-we always did when v
eero away together--and, cur canoe fu
of trout, We were coming gayly hon
award evening, when a cold chill IL
on our happiness, and my child's hea
felt a strange thrill as | read sudde
anxiety in my fathers face, whose evei
change / knew. His quick ear hf
caught the sound Of mothers voice, an
after while, I, too, could hear hop
r. less moan, a dreadful, heOrt-brok'
sound. We found mother kneeling
the floor, her hand leaning on the emp
crib, and moaning as one that could n
I've comforted. The baby was got
Z How or where we could not tell
mover knew. Weeks were spent
searching for her, and at length, to so
mothers reason, father forced her
leave the pretty log cabin in the WOO
by tho lake, where this last sorrow h
come upon her, aud We went TO Nc
trend.
There we lived quietly for Years d,