The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-12-14


L write of it had all the requisites of a
thriving town, including population
which dripped with self satisfaction
This very comfortable commodity was
so dense and universal that it fairly COW
cred the place like fog.
Hillsford's s most remarkable citizen was
a hermit, an unkempt and eccentric in
( dividual, who lived in a cabin high up
on the North mountain, and was known
as "Old Weaver" In winter, when the
foliage was less abundant. his small
dwelling could be seen from the village,
a little speck of crude architecture, the
smoke from which curled sometimes into
the very sky. 1t was pointed out to Wis
itors, who were told. without loss of
time, of the hermit, his civilization defy
ing habits and unspeakable appearance.
But it was difficult to exhibit the man
himself He came down to the village
at infrequent intervals and then tarried
only long enough to procure some simple
necessities and departed without holding
speech with any one. The townspeople
had tried to break into the privacy of his
home without avail. They had been re-
pulsed with looks and gestures which
inspired fear and helped TO confirm the
opinion that 'tOld Weaver was crazy and
had better be let alone"
And surely no man in his right mind
could live the life he lived. His hair and
whiskers showed no respect fer the pre-
Vailing fashion in hirsute trimming, and
his clothes were a slap at all decent gar
ments. He rarely spoke at all, but when
he did his words were briefness itself.
In summer they who went near his
cabin sometimes found him sitting out
side reading the Bible, an occupation
from which they could not easily divert
him.
! This caused some to decide that he
was "a religious crank" and helped to
/ dissipate the theory that he had COM
/ mitted some terrible crime. Hillsford
was full of wonder about the hermits
I past life and antecedents, but as there
1 was absolutely no way of finding out it
/ was obliged to remain in cruel ignorance.
I All it knew about him was that several
I years before the time speak of he had
4 arrived in the village, purchased piece
4 of land on the top of tbs mountain,
I reared cabin and begun life of solitude
/ perfectly incomprehensible to the people
4 of the valley.
/ At last they mostly settled down to
/ the belief that ''Old Weaver had been
/ crossed in love-" Everybody knew that
love, if it did not run smoothly, could
/ upset people completely. This gave him
I exceptional interest in the eyes of the
? IOuilk anu diLIOuSl tnc
/ most Imaginative among them could not
picture him as having ever been a per-
/ sonage capable of inspiring the divine
! lunacy.
Never were they fully sensible of his
value as a romantic figure until after he
had been written up" for New York
journal A newspaper correspondent,
on his summer vacation, wandered into
Hillsford. and. of course, soon heard
about the hermit, since he was all there
was outside of the usual and uninterest-
ing IL the place. He at once s2,s-s-s.,g..+ So !,
column and half of solid o,,,,o'.e;i 4
mostly speculation, tinged ,,.;tI sa,,ti'
ment, about the curious reclus ~
This had good result Il. ,,;onisod
!nc oiu ilai ~ SAie itlles - TIC Milford
= LIS ~ Alleu A4iit = ioAa eA rank of O
iiio - n eccentric
possibilities