Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-03-09
A Frontier Naturalist.

sclenLlnc party gOlng U Dillieu
America to observe a total eel ipse.
The leader of this party was at
that time an obscure young man;
none other than Professor 81 nOu
Newcomb, now of the Naval Obser-
vatCry at Washington, and known
as widely as astronomy itself. Mr..
FerIel, the eminent mathematician,
now deceased, was the assistant
astronomer. Mr.. Samuel S ;udder,
the now famous entomologist, was
the young man who represented
Professor Agassiz and natural his
tory. After crossing some two
hundred miles Cf what were at
that Ii ne Virgin prairi,s, from ST..
Cloud to Georgetown on the Red
River of the North, we took the
little pioneer steamer, then in Its
first or second season OH that river.
o. the first morning of our vOy'
age, while Mr.. Scudder and my
self stood on the boiler deck OF the
boat in conversation, there came to
US a young man with long brown
hair falling TO his shoulders, he
was clad IN frontier coat made OF
a white blanket, aud reaching to
his knees, with bits of red flannel
sewed on instead of the ornamental
buttos that belong on the back of a
coat. This young man held Domin-
ally the position of watchman on
the boat, bat be was evidently
much more than that, being Indian
Interpreter, ambassador, ,topograph
er, and guide through these
strange waters.
Are YOU gentlemen naturallsts!
he asked.
Nr. S:adder answered in the
affirmative, and tue Young man IN
the white blanket coat asked if We
would like a Red River turtle. He
went below and brought up a tur'
tie, weighing about fifty pounds,
which he saiG he had discovered ID
the water during the night by its
audible breathing. He bad har-
pooned 1t with the fremau's poker
a piece Of iron ten feet in length.
II was while we were eating
turtle aud potatoes at the break
fsst-table the next morning that
CAPTAIN Sam Painter, commander
of our petty steamboat, asked me
# | knew the young man at the
other end Of the table, the captor
of the turtle.
THAT said be, sis Northrup.'
You don't mean to say" l an
swered, in surprise, "that that
young fellow is the famous Nor
thrup that we hear so much about
the one the YanEtons tried tC
kill last winter.7
"Yes," said the captain, with
eagerness, "that is Georg- W
Northrup, aud be knows more
about the frontier than all the resi-
of them but together
Oar great surprise, next to bis
youth, was bis dlctIon. Not only
be did not swear nor use slang
like other frontirrsmen, but thai
be spoke in wel-chosen words
which mad a certain aroma o.
books about them.
His spare hours during ihl'
trip were sIeit IN reading Blaii''
Rhetoric; he was acquainted Will
Bancroft, Irving, Prescott, Long
fellow, aud Cooper. but De QulD
cey was quite his favorite author
found that ho was crammeC
with the facts of history. anclen
and mediaevaI especially. he wa
the only man ] ever knew who had
triumph d over the formidable
stupidity OF Rollin, having master
ed all the facts, the date, place
commander, aud number or mel
on each side, with the details aud
result of every baltle,a and all th'
other useless Information that mel
used to call history. He had gath
cred about a hundred aud NIFTY
volumes. which he kept in a sut
ktler's cabin near Fort Abercrom
bic. at that time two hundred
miles beyond tue lines settlement
lBy his camp fires he had been aC
customed to fight over the world
battles in his imagination, unit
those remote per>onages who seer
like shadows to the rest Of us Wer
substantial people to him; b
, spoke of Gengis Khan in the sam
J familiar way that we do OF th
queen of the Sandwich Islands
. From "The- Man-that- Draw
| the -Handcart," by Z Elward Eggle
ton, in Harper's Magazine for Eel
, ruary.
s------
Sweet GIRLS your love for N
Itniy upoalfah7 dorar-