Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-09-11
Gales aud Sketfhes.
nYISG FOR ITS MASTER.

4
mutual interest in discussing a den OF
snakes. IF you would care to hear it,
said the old man, who was old only in
wears. his sturdy form indicating that not
more than three-quarters of his life was
behind him. IF you would care to hear
| If I will tell YOU story about snake. not
one of these foreign reptiles. but home
bred rattlesnake. too common, | suppose.
to find place here.
/ Tell it." said the young man. ''Snake
stories are always interesting And SO
/ if came about that fifteen minutes later
/ the two sat at a table in the quiet corner
/ of a quiet restaurant with a bottle OF To-
/ kav. for which the place is famous, be-
/ tween them. The old man lifted the wine
/ glass between his thumb and finger,
watched the exquisite light playing in the
red depths of the glass, and thus began :
MY name is Thomas Wilman, and
| live in Philadelphia. where my son Harry
! is a prominent business man. lhlrtv-one
wears ago Yesterday married in Great
Darlington. Mass. as pretty girl as that
village famous for its pretty glris) ever
sheltered She had been we'll brought up
but had no fortune. had $1,000, which
| had made by running a saw-mlll. We
were Young and had the world before US,
and we concluded to 90 West in those
DAYS didn't mean. as it seems to now. go-
ing beyond the Mississippi. Going into
York State was going West then had
a cousin in Cattaraugus, little village on
the Erie railroad. 80 miles east of Dun
kirk. and we concluded to 60 there.
at was late in August when we reached
Cattaraugus My cousin gave US a hearty
welcome, and set out looking for spot
to build. The village is surrounded by
hills and the wonder to me is that it
doesn't slide down into the washbowl-like
valley on the side of which it is built. A
little creek runs through the village, and
a mile to the west find itself in deep,
narrow valley, with almost perpendicular
sides, 100 feet high. This valley is called
Skinner Hollow, and is one of the most
picturesque spots on the Erie road. l
went down into the hollow prospecting.
The sides, where they were not steep,
were covered with heavy growth of first
class pine, and the hills were thick with
the same timber saw there was money
in saw-mill right down in that hollow,
and built one on the stream, which |
could see was good sized creek most of
the year 1t is one of the branches OF
Cattaraugus Creek, which emptes into
Lake Erie, thirty miles west of Buffalo.
II built my mill there, and close to it a
little house, so close, in fact, that the two
Joined | took Katie, that is nv wife,
down there, and we began housekeeping.
That was well into the winter, and | be-
gan logging at once. hired gang of
men to help me, raised money by con-
tracing my lumber ahead and started in.
We cut logs on the hills close to the mill.
rugged up slides and ran them down to
the log way. tell you 1t was music to
me when the saw ripped into the first log
and clean cut slab dropped away from
the teeth. We had little Notification.
That was the first log ever cut in Skinner
Hollow, and people drove ten miles to see
it. Business was good. There was lots
of snow which made it easy work getting
logs to the mill and drawing lumber out
to the village, besides giving me all the
water wanted. In fact. water was run
ming over the tail of my flume every hour
from the time turned it into the race I'M
til the middle of July. Then a dry spell
come on, and had to shut down for two
or three hours every day to let my race
up.
But didn't mind that. had had a
tiptop season and had made money. |
had logs enough at my door to keep me
busy for year and | knew where there
were plenty more when they ran out.
And, besides, | had two to look after
instead of one. You wouldn't think if
you'd see Harry, with all his rehnde ways
and education, that the first music he ever
heard was a saw through a pine knot,
But it's so. He was a pioneers son and
Knocked around a saw-mill till he was
in his teens. Well when business was
slow | worked around the house, fixing
up things here and there for Katie, so as
to make her more comfortable. She
couldn't have been more contented. She
used to think that saw mill was Just about
the pieasantest place in the country. Hour
after hour she'd stay out there with me,
and we'd keep up the conversation while
the log was running back and stop when
it went up to the saw. Dear me, Dear
mel Why, | can see her as she used to
look in those days in that little saw mill
just as plainly as if stood there with her
to day. She used to Jump on the log and
ride up pretty close to the saw, and then.
just as would get scared and Jump to
drag her away, off she'd 60. Nobody
was ever happier than we were, and we
have never been as happy since, though
we've been pretty happy. and are yet"
The yellow sunlight flIckered into the
room where the two sat, and the wine
looked like blood as the dancing rays
shone through it. The old man was lost
in happy reverie, and the young man VEN
tured to remind him that there was a
snake story promised.
True said the old man, starting.
I'm just coming to that. lost myself
thinking of those old days. There were
snakes then, and we had killed them
Rattlers used to came on the lodges of
rocks and lay in the hot sun. One or two
had come around the MILL and had shot
one in our door yard. But we thought
nothing of that People living in the
woods or in wild places get used TO things
| that would fill them with horror in set
tied country. We expected to find snakes,
and as long as they kept their distance or
! give us a chance to shoot them when they
/ got too near we didn't mind them.
"As told you. fixed up things around
the house during the slack time One of
| the bits of furniture | knocked together
was bedstead. 1t was more like broad
lounge than bedstead, for it had neither
a head or footboard. One end was raised
/ little like a couch and that was the head