The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-05-07

In history there must be many gaps
resulting from contradictions or silence
among the chronicles consulted, which
have been bridged over by inferences
fairly drawn from established events
and thus the current Of narrative has
been made smoothly continuous. so
It is in biography;-and remarkably SO
in the life and adventures of tie hrst
white man that ever stalked through
the virgin Woodlands Of the Dutch
Fork. have gathered many truthful
records which, strewed along his career
like stones in 4 boggy path, enable me
to sten from one to another without
mishap, and thus to present nara
tive not only highly romantic, but
probably very slightly deviatlng from
the true account.
I think, then, that may safely be-
gin the story of this adventurer, by
stating that he was born in Wuertem-
burg, among the Odenwald Mountains.
It will be seen, further on, that the ro-
mantle admiration Of the beautiful and
the novel, so certainly manifested by
him in his developed manhood, had It's
origin in the charming scenery that
surrounded the cottage in which he
was born. The first outdoor objects
that met his infant gaze were the beau-
tiful mountains with their activities
so gradual that their sides more than
half way up towards their tops were
cultivated in narrow, alternating red,
yellow and green strips Of various pro-
ductions, presenting appearances not
unlike Scottish Highlanders, whom be
long after saw, with their plalds
wrapped around them. l can fancy
this pioneer visitor of the Dutch Fork
strolling forth in his boyhood among
the valleys of the Odenwalds, follow
ing the murmuring brooks invisible
under the luxuriant grass overlapping
and concealing their channels; and |
can admire the eager attention he gives
to the old peasants telling him of st.
Eubert's chase-St. Hubert who, with
his pack of dogs, often passes through
the air over the mountain tops.
The hunter and the deer a shade,''
impressing his young imagination with
this old legendary superstition by re-
counting how often they had heard this
aerial chase of the weird monk. Then,
no doubt, the boy would sometimes
stand after dark before his cottage door,
listening to the flight of a flock. of storks
seeking tEv..r roost, the true eXplana-
ton Of ST. dubert's chase, and believe
that he heard the phantom monk with
his dogs in full bry through the air.
He has grown to manhood. He has
become a stalwart peasant, laboring in
the meadows. From time to time he
has walked no-theastward along the
Bergstrasse-the great thoroughfare
designating the sharp line that divides
the Odenwald Mountains on the right
hand from the vast valley Of the Rhine
on the left. On this great highway
did he often look northwestward, be-
vond the TeufeIStein in Rhiae-Bavaria,
far away into France, and wonder at
the wide-stretching Donnersberg, dim
" defined like a misty cloud against
the evening sky; or turning his eye di-
rectly northward have his gaze arrest
ed by the conical form Of the Melibo-
Gus, forty miles away, and hard by the
CITY of Darmstadt. Then, some Sab
bath evening, after spending the morn
ing in strict devotion at his church, I
follow him to Iiegelhaussen on the
Neckar, where he dances like demon,
and falls in love with dozen rosy
checked, fat-armed maidens whose
shadows cast upon wall would meas
ure eight feet across by DIM ofthe null
tiplicity Of uudergarments.
But Germany was in distress. The
wave after wave Of war, that had for
centuries been sweeping over the coun-
try to satisfy the whims of potentates
left little security for life, property, or
hearthstonc. Vast numbers of people
were forced to become soldiers, who
during wars hired themselves to ambi-
tiOus princes, and in peace were divided
into robber- bands who chose their Cap
taias, and committed depredations
upon the unprotected peasants. y ru-
NOR had reached the Odenwald region
that many Germans had fled from this
lawlessness to the new countries across
the great waters. My hero was not
long making up his mind. He would
90 and establish a home in these far-off
lands. Now, he has left his native
valley, and there he goes, working his
way en- timbcr-raft down the Neckar
He enters the Rhine at Mannheim; and,
after toi!in@ day and night for a month:
lie reaches Rotterdam. His offer is ac-
cepted, to work his passage to America
on a Dutch gailiott freighted with Hol-
land gin. Forty days is he on the At
lantic Ocean, tossed and sea-s;ck; and
he arrives in New York. There, he
finds ccmpatriots who tell him that in
i country further South, called Penn
sylvania, be can find large colonies of
Germans. Thither he goes. What
strange appearances meet his gaze,
What vast forests. What strange look
ing people inhabiting them. He meets
will, the Indians. He becomes fasci-
mated with their habits,-their endu-
rance,-their contempt Of danger.
Before he left his fathcrland, agents