The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-09-25
DYING FOR ITS MASTER.

/
dealing that not more than three
quarters of his life was behind him, II
you would care TO hear it will tell vor
a story about snake, not one Of those
foreign reptiles, but a home bred rat
tlesnake, too common, 1 suppose, t.
find place here
Tel it, said the young man
- Snake stories are always interest.
ing. And so it came about thai
fifteen minutes later the two sat at 3
table in the quiet corner of a quiet
restaurant. The old man thus began
my name is Thomas Wiiman. and
| live in Philadelphia, where my son
Harry is a prominent business man.
Thirty one years ago yesterday | mar
ried in Great Darlington, Mass, AS
/ pretty girl as that Village (famou,
for its pretty girls) ever sheltered. She
had been well brought up, but had no
fortune. l had one thousand five hun
dred dollars. which ! had made bv
| running saw-mill. We wore vouno
ana had the world before us, and we
/ concluded to 90 west Going West la
those days didn't mean, As il seems TO
! now, going beyond the Mississippi Go
/ ing into York State was going West
| then. | had a cousin in Cattarauous. a
| little village on the Erie Railway, thirty
| miles cast of Dunkirk, and we con
/ cludo@ to 90 there.
p" 1t was late in August when we
| reached Cattaraugus. My cousin gave
| us hearty welcome, and l set about
! looking for spot to build. Cattarau-
| gus is curious sort of a place. 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 finds itself in a deep
narrow valley, with almost perpendicu-
lar sides one hundred feet high. This
valley is called Skinner Hollow, and is
| one Of the most picturesque spots on
the Erie BOad. 1 went down into the
hollow prospecting The sides, where
they were not steep. were covered
with heavy growth of first-class pine.
and Tor miles around the hills were
thick with the same timber I saw
there was money in q saw-mill right
down in that hollow, and built one on
the stream which 1 could see was a
good-sized creek most of the year. 1t
was one of the branches of Cattaraugus
Greek, which empties into Lake Erie
thirty miles west OF Buffalo.
q built my mill there, and close to
it little house, so close, in fact. that
the two joined. l took Katie, that is
my wife, down there and we began
housekeeping. That was well into the
winter and L began logging at once. 1
hired gang of men to help me, raised
money by contracting 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. l tell you it was music to me
when the saw ripped into the first log
and clean-cut slab dropped away
from the teeth. We had little iOllifi-
cation. That was the first log ever cut
in Skinner Hollow, and the 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 the lumber out to the vii AGE,
besides giving me all the water / want
ed. In fact water was running over
the tail of my tlume every hour from
the time turned il into the race until
the middle Of July. Then a dry spell
came on, and / had to shut down for
two or three hours every day to let my
race fill up.
''But | didn't mind that. | had had
tip-tOp season and had made money. |
had logs enough at my door to keep
me busy for year, and l knew where
there were plenty more when they ran
out. And, besides, l had two to look
after instead OF one. You WOULDN'T
think if you'd see Harry, with all his
refined ways and education, that the
first music he ever heard was "a saw
tearing through pine knot. But it's
so. He was pioneers son and knocked
around 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
10 make her more comfortable. She
couldn't have been more contented.
She used to think that saw-mill was lust
about the pleasantest 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 run
ming back and stop when it went up to
the saw. Dear mel Dear me! Why,
can see her as she used to look in those
days in that little saw-mill just as
plainly as if l stood there with her to-
day. She used to jump on the log and
ride up pretty close to the saw, and
then, Just rs 1 would get scared and
jump to drag her away, off she'd go.
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 ilickered into
the room where the two sat, and
the old man was lost in happy
rcyerie, and the young man ventured
to remind him that there was 81 snake
story promised.
True, said the old man starting,
I'm Just coming to that | lost my
self thinking of those old days. There
were snakes then, and we had killed
them. Rattlers used to come out on
the lodges of rocks and lay in the hot
sun. One or two had come around the
mill and l 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 a settled 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 L told you, I'd fixed up things
around the house during the slack time.
One of the bits of furniture | knocked
together was a bedstead. 1t was more
like n bed lounge than n bcdstead, for
1t had neither a head nor a foot-board
One end was raised little like couch,
and that was the head. We had some
bearskins and blankets to sleep on, and
more blankets to cover us. II was
big improvement on the floor where we
had been sleeping, and after days
hard work handling logs l used to
think it about as comfortable a spot as
/ knew.
''Well, it got along into the fall and
we began to have chilly nights. The
equinoctial gave Us n big rain, and for
a fortnight / had all the water [ could |
use. Then it got dry again One after |
noon. after several days of threatening |
weather, it began to rain. Hour after |