Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-08-30
BABY OR PIG MEAT.

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find what lot of scrapes I've got into with
the panthers. The brutes seem to fairly
haunt me. Of course, fellows that 60 every
year into the Squatook woods are bound to
have adventures, more or less You maybe
get cornered by an old bull moose, or have a
close shave with some excited bear, or strike
an unusually ugly lynx, or get spilled out of
the canoe when you're trying to run Toledo
falls, but in my case it is panther every
time Wherever go in the woods there is
sure to be one Of these creatures sneaking
around. l declare, it makes me quite uneasy
to thinkof it, though I've always got the best
of them SO far. I'll bet you a trout there are
one or two spotting me now from those black
thickets on the mountain, and one of these
days, if don't look sharp they'll be getting
even with me for all the members of their
family that have cut off in their SINS"
"Oh, you go alongI" exclaimed Sam.
you're getting sentimental lean tell you,
have killed more trout than you have pan
theirs, and there's no old patriarch of trout
going to get even with mel"
The speakers were lying about the camp
fire at the foot of the ''Big Squatook" lake, in
Ontario There were four of lis in the party,
and we were in the genial mood which comes
The night was still, and we were waiting
for story to go to sleep by. Sans practical
remarks went UNDECIDED, and in a few mo-
ments Stranion resumed:
"You see, boys, the beasts began to haunt
me in my very cradle, so to speak. Did any
of you ever hear mother tell that storya"
81 have" CALCULATED Willis Butler; but
Sam and fastened to declare our ignorance
every WELL" said Stranion. "Willis shall
see that stick to the facts"
"Oh, boys, I've a heavy contract on hand,
then," replied Willis.
But Stanton blandly ignored him, and con-
tinued:
"You all have seen the old parsonage, At
the mouth of the Keswick river That's a
historic edifice for you'll Therein was born
There were more trees round it then than
now.
"At the mature age of 10 months moved
the Indian devil, as the panther is called in
that region, had found me out and marked
me as foreordained antagonist.
"One bright June morning, when I was
about months old, and not yet able to be
much protection to my young mother, my
father set out on one of his long parochial
uIlFeS, anu We w ol0 lolG dlOuc-lO3 AOU QulOC
alone; there was Susan, the kitchen girl, for
company. That constituted the garrison Of
the parsonage on that eventful morning
mother, Susan and myself
II cannot say remember what took place,
but have SO often been told it that feel as
if | had taken an active part. Mother and
were sitting by an open window, down stairs,
looking out on the front yard, when suddenly
mother called out, sharply:
"'Susanl Susanl Come here and see what
sort of a creature this is coming through the
grove.
There was frightened ring in my moth
er's voice. which brought Susan promptly to
her side.
Just then the creature which was long,
and low, and stealthy, reached the garden
fence 1t mounted the fence gracefully, and
paused to look about.
with Mortified gasp, mother caught me
to her bosom and whispered:
Its tigerp
but it's all Injun devil, which is pretty nigh
as bad And she ran and slammed down the
window.
''The noise attracted the brute's attention.
He glanced our way, dropped to the ground
anu cTepC SuealUnlly 10 Une HOUSE.
THE atticp cried mother, wildly. AL
the windows down stairs are wide OPEN
~ need hardly assure you, boys, it didn't
take those two women and me very Wong to
get up stairs. AS we reached the top we
heard a crash in the parlor, and mother near
ly squeezed me to death in her terror for me.
but Susan exclaimed, almost gleefully:
Il declare, If he amt got in the wrong
winderl Parlor doors shut'
"By this time we were on the attic stairs,
and the door at the foot of the stairs-a solid,
old fashioned, country door-was safely bolt
ed behind us.
THAT door was the only means Of access
to the attic, and on the head Of the stairs we
all sat down to take breath Then in mo-
ther the anxious housewife began to reap
pear.
What was that the horrid brute broke
in the parlor, Susang she queried.
" Must a. been them dishes on the little
table by the winder, ma'an,' responded the
girl
"Ard then we heard clatter again, as the
beast in springing out Of the window knocked
the fragments of pottery aside
sin few moments he found another en-
trance. The soft pat, pat of his great furry
feet could be heard on the lower stairs. He
was evidently hungry and much puzzled at
our sudden disappearance.
"We could hear him shifting around in and
out Of the bedrooms, and at last that soft,
persistent tread found Its way to the attic
door.
"How he did sniff about the bottom OF
that door, till the blood Of his prisoners ran
cold with horrori Then he began to scratch.
lit
"Terror lent them invention, and mother
put me into basket Of old clothes, while she
helped Susan drag heavy bedstead to the
head of the stairs. This bedstead etfectually
blocked the narrow stairway, and when they
had piled a chest Of drawers on top Of it they
once more felt secure.
"All this trouble was unneeded, however,
as that door, opening outward, was an In
surmouI.table barrier to the panther.
SIN u few minutes he stole away, restlessly.
on the window ledge OF the front bedroom,
devil was getting out Of the window
"Now, the attic in which we had taken
refuge was lighted by two windows-a small
one in the gable, looking out upon the barn
yard, and the other, very small sky light,
reached by sort of fixed step ladder from
the attic floor
GAS soon as mother heard the animals
claws on the side of the house she thought of
the skylight, and cried to Susan to shut it.
''The skylight had an outer shutter Of
wood, which was closed in winter time to
keep the heavy snowfall from breaking the
glass.
"This shutter was now thrown back upon
the roof and the inner sash was raised a few
inches for the sake of ventilation Susan fair
ly flew up the ladder and pulled out the little
stick that supported the sash.
''She had barely got the hook slipped into
tho staple when the panther's round head
and big, light eyes appeared within a foot of
her face She gave startling shrek and
fell down the ladder.
Eat this juncture the two women gave
themselves up for lost, and mother, Selling an
old curtain pole which lay among the attic
timber, prepared to sell my infant life at
pretty high figure.
"All escape from the attic was blocked by
the articles they had so carefully wedged into
the stairway. This it would take them some
time to clear.