New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-02
F, NOVA SCOTIAN GUIDE.
,,o,y lean BAPTISTE LIVES ON THE VERGE
OF THE WILDERNESS.
INTIMACY WITH MOOSE. BEARS BEAVERS
TROUT. SALMON AND PARTMDGEs-rMM1
TIVE SIMPLICITY OF LIFE on
TUsKET RIVER

-, ONT on the very end of the road beyond Tus-
-, Forks. twenty-five miles due east of here
ma house is the last one this side of the great
;Iasrness and if you drive two OF three miles be-
"a IL YOU will find the road gradually disappear
% beneath your feet and losing itself in the great
ha,,rns where Jean Baptste picks blueberries in
,hs simmer and hunts moose in the fall. Then
can had better turn round and drive back, espe-
tally II it is getting dark, or else you will he I'M
.hs to find the road again. for one acre is Just ike
sno,ber in this region-woods and BURBERRY BAR
r.rs stretching away far as the eye can reach, and
not house or human being, or even stray COW
in sight
But for all its loneliness it is just the sort OF
Mace Jean Baptiste likes 10 live in, because u Is
inst within quarter of mile of the Tusket liver
where the trout and salmon stem the swift Rapids
where the wild ducks feed in the fall and where
the cranes and herons and hawks circle ceaseieSsiy
about. watching for their prey And it is right
or the very verge of the wilderness TOO. where jean
Baptiste goes into camp in the winter ana hunts
the moose and the wildcat and the wary ION :
where the patient beaver builds its dam ana tEe
owls fill the long nights with their weird, mdeous
cries
Jean Baptiste is a descendant Of one OF the
Acadian families who were driven from their
homes on the Bay Of Fundy about century ana
a half ago Longfelow has told the story oil their
exile in EvangeliDe' better than any living poet
can tell it, and this Nova Scotan hunter anu gulde
is one of the descendants Of those martyrs VINO stI
fingers beside the forest prlmeval. anu VIII stay
here until his bones laid TO rest-hke tnose OF
Eyanreline and Gabriel. under the shadow OF the
cross-in the little Catholic chUTchyard down at
the Forks II is five miles away, and he tru1ges
over these with all his family every Sunday TO
hear mass celebrated by the French priest, for Jean
still follows the faith for which his fathers were
exiled a hundred and fifty years ago.
lie lives in little house close 10 the roadside
a house with four rooms on the ground moor
and an attic above. to which his children Chamber
at night. One of the lower rooms is the family
hving-room, and serves as kitchen, dining-rOom
and parlor 1t was not furnished by the Decora-
tive Art Society. but it is cheerful and sunny
in the day time and at night as warm as a big
wood-burning cooking-stove can make it. The
house has at least one advantagc-it was built
n live in. and not TO sell. No contractor of the
Buddensieck type had any hand in its erection.
IL was built by the owner himself. twenty-five
years ago. and he has lived in il ever since. Ten
children have been born 10 him beneath its roof
in that time and hunger aud thirst and naked
ness have been kept from the door. So the little
frame dwelling at the edge Of the lonely forest
justly claim the name OF home.
have been spending two days with Jean Bap
tiste fishing on the Tusiet River. and got along
very well together though it would be difficult TO
find two men more unlike in training, occupation
and habits of thought. Writing is my trade
can make n marketable joke with very little
trouble, or at a pinch do a few verses, chiefly
available for advertising purposes. l can tell the
difference between Rider Haggard and HOwels
by q single glance at the open page. so acute have
my senses become through long practice My
friend can neither read nor write nor can his
wife OF any of his children. The only book in
mis- house is an old almanac. and in the evening,
in place of intellectual pursuits, such as reading
or playing the game of authors, he smokes his
pipe by the kitchen stove and Eliminates over the
uncertainties Of the chase, while his wife and
daughters chew spruce gum in a slow, rhythmic
measure BETTING the house of rest.
But Jean Baptiste can teach ne things I never
even dreamt of knowing myself. To him the
Mysteries of the stream and forest an open
book. Go with him down the Tusllet River and
lie will show you every pool and rapid" rap" he
calls it-where there is possibility Of your talk.
ing trout or salmon. Follow him into the
forest where the brown leaves are falling and he
will hide himself i'll thick clump OF frs and
initiate the cry of the cow moose calling to her
from his retreat in the woods across the open
barren until he is within range of the old flint
lock rife. and then-well, then Jean Baptlste and
his family will feast moose steak and there
will be $50 in the exchequer that was not there
before Jean went a-hunting. He has tracked
many moose 10 its death in his time, and stood
fearessy before she-bear and her cubs with moth
ing between him and death but single charge OF
powder and ball in the old fint-lock rifle. He
has seen the beaver at work on his dam, and knows
how he constructs his winter house. He can en-
tertain you for hours at time with stories of this
and other beasts Of the forest and Of the fish
and birds he knows so well.
For Two days Jean Baptist and f1oated down
the Tusket River in his fiat-bottOmed boat, stop
ping at every rapid to throw in our lines on
the chance of getting fish. l told him about
New-York, It's elevated railroads, huge buildings
and the Brooklyn Bridge, with the cars running
across it all the time. / told him there were
men there worth 800, 1000, 40.
My Godfrey" he exclaimed. Il wonder
what would do if ! had all that money"
Well what would you do" l asked.
For moment be pondercd, and then, casting
glance IN the direction of his house, said slowly
I" l think I'd build myself better house than
that, anyway"
And where would you build it ?" continued
Right there" he replied, "Or maybe little
further back into the woods. That's a good
situation, at the end OF road. Your cattle can
feed where they like and 10 one makes any com
plant. Then this is good place for people like
yourself. who want TO come fishing or hunting"
Jean Bapriste's income is about $500 a year,
and that sum supports himself, his wife and the
Six children, who living with them at home.
Part Of this he by guiding sportslDen who
come 20 him for fish or game. Part Of it he makes by
picking blueberries with his family during July.
ana August, for which they are paid about
Genus quart, Ghe berries growing wild on the
oarrens' Then he makes barrel hoops and baskets
ano turns an odd penny in various other ways
Al'nough good many men OF his class live
Oh much less than the income have named, still
Jean Baptistes average is by no means a luxur-