The Red Cloud chief., 1888-08-10
MY
A limo Whom I Was Afraid Of
Being Frightened.

but i am sure most OF the girls who read it
will not wish for any thing more tragic In
their own experience.
lived with my parents on the slipping
side OF Skitchawaug. q long, low mountain
IN the west side of the Connecticut river.
The mountain was nearly covered with
wood, but the trees OF the two sides diff
tered in kind. Sugar-maple, white pine
and white beech grow more plentifu!ly on
the western slope; blue beech and pitch
pine on the e~astern-and the pitch pine tree
was the indirect cause Of my adventure.
The events l am about to relate took
place long ago. at a time when cone work
Wa, among the young ladies Of our section,
the leading passion in fancy work. My sis
Ter and I had made work-baskets. frames
and brackets. using the scales Of the white
pine cones to make q scalloped edge. and
spruce and hemlock and the pretty little
tamarack cones to cover the rest OF the
woodwork.
But we were dissatisfied because we had
40 pitch-pine cones in our collection They
were stih. intractable things, hard to work
and OF littl. NsNsuty, but w wanted them
oecsuse wesaid not have them. W. knew
there were pitch-pine trees on b south
Eastern slope of the mountains. 1t was far
we had no idea how far-from our usual
oaunts for play or for p~icnicking, but we
were convinced that we should eve know
happiness till we had some cones from those
Iees. 1t was q long. rough climb, we in
!erred. and we could easily have made .
pleasant excursion of it by . taking . lunch
and spending the day in the undertaking.
but this did not occur to US.
Ellen Story was to accompany Us after
school-after tea, in fact. The schoolhouse
was half a mile on our way, but a it was .
ha~stily-formed plan, we were Obliged to 60
home for our tea.
We had some dificulty in p~ersuading
mother to consent to our excursion. She
Was born on the side of Skitchawaug. but,
IS she had never been Of An adventurous
iisposition-and il was Q standing puzzle
that both Of her daughters were 90 different
from herself in this respect-she had almost
40 knowledge of the wilder parts of the
mountain.
do you know where the trees grow" she
asked.
90, yes. they'reright over the east corner;
we go in by Mr.. Towards gate"
This was true as far a il went, n we
had no intention Of deceiving her, though
the truth was none Of US had ever seen a
pitch pine tree to know it.
Are they near the rattlesnake dens"
20. no. l guess not. Don't care il they are.
You know we always wantedt to kill q rattle
snake"
Mother had seen us start On too many
such excursions to hold out long with her
objections; sometimes we went for chest
nuts, and got them by climbing the trees;
sometimes we went after moss. or flowers,
Dr. acorns. and very often we took full sup
ply OF weapons for killing rattlesnakes; but
as we never killed nor even saw one, mother
by and by ceased to fear hat we would en-
counter any. So. bidding US . some out
side garments and be sure to leave the woods
before dark. she turned to the dairy, and We
toward SkitchawauG.
Although il was late. we strolled along,
talking and planning. We stopped to peep
in al the school house window. for old sake's
Jake. probably. though it was but little more
thar an hour since we had left it. Turning
in through the Howard gate, we stopped to
tell our erraud. Mrs. Howard discouraged
Us more decidedly than mother had done.
at is too late; it will be dark before you
get there. II is more than two miles from.
here
1T won't take us long to go two miles"
we answered. stOutly, though somewhat
iismayed. We had not estimated the dis
lance in rods and miles. but I hin about
half q mile was the distance I had in mind
wben looking beyond Mrs. Howard's.
'But you don't know any thing about n
where you are going. You'd be just a
likely to go into the lockwood swamp or the
rattlesnakes' dens - anywhere"
I'm not afraid" said !.
'.No, Jane Plumley, I don't s'pose there
is any thing that you are afraid OF. Those
that know nothing fear nothing: but l dc
wondNS your mother let you 60"
%. don't are where we gor' I said
without considering what | said.
well, Jane, do have . care to keep away
from the snakes densw These 'tdens" were
aquantity OF loose, shelly rocks on the out
side of the mountain, where the rattlesnakea
were supposed TO breed.
Hoping that Mrs. howard was mistaken
In the distance, but fearing she was not. We
made . little more haste when We started
away from her door; but we soon forgo,
about it, and stopped to gather 6owers and
ferns and curious iichens on the way. Soon
after entering the woods, we found . guam
tity OF white pine-cones so smooth in texture
and 80 rich in coloring that we made . Large
pile by the foot of . tree. proposing to gath,
er them in our aprons wheI we came bach
with on. baskets filed with the otherA
We al lived in the valley, where We en-