Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-09-03
THE STORY OF THE FORT.
BY ISABEL sMITHSoS.

| Six little girls were sitting under an
apple tree. The eldest held a large
book on her lap, and turned the pages
! slowly while the other children look ed
at the pictures of Indians and log
cabins and all manner of exciting
| scenes.
Presently they came to q fort made
| OF posts, with stream of water run
ming near IT, and woods on either side,
while on the banks of the little river
were women filling rails and jugs.
What Is It sbcut?" asked the chill
dren, and Mabel, who was at the head
of her class IN history, answered slow
ly:
There are Indians hiding in the
woods; look, there Is a face, and there's
| another between the trees.
While she was speaking, All old feeble
lady came out of the house and walked
slowly towards the children, support
ed on each side by one of her SONS who
were white haired, wrinkled men.
'Grandmama wants 10 sit with you.
children said Uncle John, and some
of the young faces clouded over at the
interruption.
Mabel exclaimed quickly, however,
perhaps she will tell us a story" and
start TO their feet and greet the old lady
| Ijoyfully.
Heres a nice seat, Grandma," they
cried, land stool for yonr feet"
When her sons had seen her nicely
settled ON the rustic bench with n shawl
over her knees and her grandchildren
and e. at-grand-children clustering
round her, they went back to the ver-
anda to have a smoke and talk poll
tics.
Grandma Hayward had only just
come To 1--we at Fairfield and to most of
the children she was "A new acquaInt-
ance. Her home for many years had
been with Uncle John and his wife,
away of in another state. Uncle Johns
wife had lately died, and as she left no
childrea, her husband and his mother
found the house very sad and lonely
when they were left alone, and So IL was
decided that they should come anu
make their home with Grsndma's other
son who lived in great farmhouse
with his daughters and their children.
So now there were four generations of
one family at HRzelhurst, and very
happy household IT was. The younce
| children were very much surprised
when the gI Iest-grandmother arrived to
see that she did not look very different
from other old ladies, although she was
close on to II hundred years old Indeed,
little Bessie, the five year Old, had Sc
cretly made mp her mind tn It such a
very aged person must be as big AS Il
| giant, and she was nota little surprised
| to find ont her mistake. 1t was III the
summer of Centennial ear that q and
| ma Hayward came to HaZelhurst, and
before she had been there many weeks,
| tba chr l1rar, llSpnyaraI 70 thair ,,r.-at
delight, that she could tell the most de-
! lightful tales about the days of her
youth, when her family were ''eHrly set
| tiers, and lived in log cabin, and her
father aud brother took their guns to
| the hsyfield with them, for fear of In
| dians, The only drawback to the en-
joyment of these narratives was that
the old lady would often, when IN the
most interesting part, stop suddenly
and sit looking straight before her as If
, in a dream, entirely forgetting her
young listeners. She had IA wonderful
memory for things that happened many
years ago, and seemed to grow young
again while she talked about them, but
when the tale was done, she changed
completely, and could not recollect the
names of her grandchildren or tell what
day II was, or which of her two sons
Il uAl RDuc ~ AOS iti, III sDlbc VI
these occasional interruptions, Grand
mas narratives were intensely interest
ing to the young people, and they look
ed upon her as perfect storehouse of
valuable curIosities IN the way of recol-
| lections. 1t was therefore with feel
ings of delightful expectation that the
children saw her eyes turn to the big
book ON NaDers lap.
Indians, Grandma, they said, per
suasIvely, and this Is a fort. and the
women are getting water at the brook.
The old lady looked iKedly at the
picture for several minutes, and then
nodded her head and said slowly, at
was at Brysnts Station, down In Ken
tucky, 1 remember 1t so well!'
Were you there?" cried the children
IN amszement, but Mabel signed them
to be silent, and the old lady went on.
1T seems such little while ago.
Very early one Augnst morning, my
brother Charley and 4 were playing in
the dirt near our cabin, and making
little forts out of chips. Mother was
I cooking breakfast In "A great hurry be
| cause father and the other men were
I going down to Hoy's Station; "A party
| of twenty Wyandot Indians had been
| there and beaten Captain Holders men
so badly that he had sent to us tor help.
While We were playing Charley said
| that he wished he was old enough to
! have "A gun and go and drive away the
Indians, hut | only went on sucking
my thumb and looked at him without
speaking, for | was secretly glad he
/ could not go, to be shot and scslped as
some of the men had been, or stolen
away and never brought back again,
ike little Tommy Blair at the next
! station.
We had "A very hurried breakfast that
morning, and then father kissed us all
! goodbye, took up his gun and told us
/ to be sure not to go far away from the
| fort while he was gone, and mother,
1 taking us by the hand, followed MIN
I out of the cabin.
Our fort was made of forty log cabins
standing In four rows and the outside
| ones joined together by high wall of
| thick wooden stakes, with a strong gate
in each side. We fonnd a crowd of
people standing by one of these gates,
and in a few minutes father went out
with forty-seven other msn, all carry
ing guns ready loaded Just as some
of the boys were going to close the
gate. We heard loud, terrible yells out
side and then the sharp crack of rifles,
and the next minute the men came
hurrying In again, the last ones shut
ting and barring the gate behind tt-m.
"The redskins are on us!' cried my
father. and mother turned - white as