Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-09-25

gagement was eaded. | came out here be-
Cause thought could forget he .
but her cursed false face is always
before me. | can never cease to i,ve and
hate her till die, AID .iernsha Ben
sadly undone by his recent danger sobbed
aloud
Did IL ever occur to You my friend, y
the stranger said after little interval of
/ silence. that you might have misjulged
her?'
"Misjudged her! How" exclaimed Ie-
rush, Ben, with startled look on his
! face.
/ wv hat would you think" the stranger
softly continued, IF the Jerusna whom
you loved had never sent you the message
you received? What ii It were all deceit
on her fathers part, which the girl never
knew until she read his dairy, weeks after
| her fathers death? What would you
think if the girl, too, thought that she
had been Tilted? For one day her lover
disappeared from home and friends. with
out one word to her who loved him so, and
| she never knew the truth, but believed in
his falseness, although it well nigh broke
her heart, until one day, long afterward,
when reading the pages of record pen
ned by her dead father hand she found
those statements which explained it all?
! Would you believe that this girl dearly
and passionately loved you if | told YOU
that, alone and unalded she set out upon
| the course of her unfortunate lover and
YEARLY but surely tracked him over 10 the
| spot where he left the poems to go a.one
into this gloomy solitude?"
on. ned a
Ben half rising with aaazement, hope
and Joy and doubt ali the time showing in
his face.
'Do you mean that you are"
"Of course | do, my darling!' the
stranger answered, and as the hat and
beard were thrown aside, and Jerusha' S
golden hair streamed over her shoulders,
the lips of the partners met in passionate
kiss.
An adventurous zenzontle lighting on
the window of the hut poured out carol
of blessing melody; eying the while the
exposed gold with ignorant superciious-
ness, but cooking his head sidewise and
gazing upon the united lovers with most
appreciative satisfaction.
- An Exciting Experience.
For myself, was chopped down" once,
and once only. 1t happened in this way.
In the midwinter of 1879 | had occasion
to visit the chief camp of the Little NADIA
waska. Coming from the city, and to a
camp where | was a stranger to all the
men, was not unnaturally pronounce
ed specimen of the greenhorn. took no
pains to tell any one what the boss already
well knew, hat is, that had been fire.
| quen'er of the camps from my boyhood.
n fra la11 For
my apparently tender" foot, but avoid
ed them all as if by accident. As for
ciImbinga tree, always laughed at the
idea when it was proposed to me- al
ways suggested that it might spoil nv
clothes. Before long the men, by putting
| little things together, came to the con-
clusion that | was an old stager, and,
rather sheepishly, they gave over their at
tempt to eutrap me. Then | graciously
waved my hand. as It were, and was frank
ly received as a veteran, cleared from every
suspicion of being green.
At last the day did come when | did
wish to climb tree. The camp was on
high plateau, and not far off lowered a
magnificent pine tree, growing out of
the summit of knoll IN such way as to
command all the surrounding country.
|
gi.th of trunk was magnificent And this
tree resolved one day to climb, in order
to get clear idea of the lay of the land.
OF course stroled off surreptiously, and,
as ! thought, unmatched. But there
was much mistaken. No sooner was |
| two-thirds of the way up the tree than.
with shouts of laughter, the mmbermen
rushed out of the surrounding cover and
proceeded to chop me down. The chance
vas too good for them to lose.
| concealed my annoyance, and made
no attempt to descend. On the contrary
| | thanked them for the little attentions
and climbed a few feet further up, to
secure a position which | saw would be
safe one for me when the tree should fall.
As did so, perceived, with "A gasp and
IL tremor, that was not alone in the tree.
There, not ten feet above me, stretched
at full length along large branch, was
huge panther glaring with rage and ter
ror. From the men below the form was
quite concealed Glaring resJlcssly from
me to my pursuers, the brute seemed I'M
certain Just what to do. As | carefully
refrained from climbing any further up,
and tried to assume an air of not having
observed him, he apparently concluded
that ! was not his worst enemy. In fact,
! | dare say he understood what was going
on and realized that he and were fellow
sufferers.
laughed softly to myself as ] thought
how my tormenie rs would be taken aback
wien that panther should come down
among them. decided that, considering
their numbers, there would be at least no
more danger for them than that to which
they were exposing me In their reckless
fooline. And. already influenced by that
touch of nature which makes US so won
drous kind, | began to hope that the
panther would succeed in making his es-
cape.
The trunk of the pine was so thick that
| might almost have reached the ground
before the choppers could cut 1t through.
| At last it gave a mighty shudder and sag
ged to one side. balanced myself nimbly
on the upper side, steadying myself 10y
convenient branch The great mass of
| foliage, presenting a wide surface to the
| air, made the fall a comparatively slow
| one; but the tremendous sweep of the
| 4. 4 4 III