Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-06-13

tect-slipped Into the '+Old woman's"
Arms Inside a Hollow Tree.
1t was a lazy afternoon in July, one of
those afternoons in the mountains when it
! Is hot in tho sun and languorous in the
shade, when man loafs around in his
shirt sleeves and the dog goes under the
porch to keep the flies from disturbing his
rest, and was sitting on a sawlog behind
the company's mill, talking to an old
mountaineer. The Cumberland river was
not 100 yards away, and he had been try
ing to catch "mess of fish for supper"
but the fish were evidently taking siesta,
for he had caught nothing and when he
noticed me taking it easy in shadier
place than he was fishing from he stuck
his pole in the bank and joined me, He
was a man of 20, and typical mountain
eer whom the civilization of a sawmill had
begun to show its effect upon
| "By the way" said l, after we had been
chatting laZily for half an hour, weren't
| you ut one time great hunter? I've never
heard you mention it, but one of the boys
told me the other day that you didn't have
| your equal in the mountains when you
were young man"
Il reckon you're about right, colonel,
he replied. "Leastways of thar wuz u bet
ter one than me he wuZn't goin round the
country telin it"
"That was when there was something
else to hunt besides squirrels and deer now
and then wasn't it,"
"Oh yes It's been 40 yer err better,
and thar wuZnt no trouble in skeerin up
a bar or painter or cattermount most any
whars / recollcct mighty well that right
whar this mill is thar used to be a big syc-
amore that was II powerful roostin place
fer bar. The boys ulster skeer 'em up in
tho mountain and the'd allus make fer
that tree. Then they'd come after me, the
/ boys would, and I'd take my dogs and
tools and go down fer tho fun NV the thing
reckon we got ten bars out that tree fust
an last. In them days done huntin fer n
livelihood an the excitement of it,.
did you ever have any close callsP Did
the bears ever hunt you for u changer"
"Well, colonel" he said, 81 reckon |
know lcctle somethin in that line You
see that scair?" and he showed me strag
Cling dark red mark on his arm. Il got
that one time not 40 foot frum whar we
, air settin. Tho boys had run n ole she bar
down to the sycamore, an l happened to be
along. She wuz mighty ugly, an they wuz
Altered to go nigh the tree. But | had my
caracktcr to keep up, an | never blinked
when | seen that that bar had to be tuck
keer NV. So got out big butcher knife
that l carried fer close quarters an stuck
1t down my collar, an takin bundle of
straw along to set fire to an drap in onto
her, | elm the sycamore up to the mouth
NV the hollcr whar the old woman had hid
herself. 1t wuzn't much NV II holler, about
eight feet deep, reckon, an Iwuz figgerin
on drappin in the straw an skinnin out n
limb that wuz handy tell she got burned
enough to come out NV her hole. The hol-
lcr wuz kinder in tho forks, and when
, wuz slippin round tryin to git straight
throw, my foot hit on rotten place, and
the next thing l knowcd had went ker
chunck inter the holler with the old lady.
Eff that holler had been any bigger than it
wuz, colonel, and the old fellow drew n
long breath as he told it, II reckon l
wouldn't be hero tcllin this story. But it
wuz jist big enough fer me to slip in be-
twixt the bar and the Sides and we plug
ged up the holler like ca eff we had been
druv in it. l went in on the front side
NV tho old gal, too, an that didn't help
matters mono to speak NV. But i wuz too
/ SipNNu IVA NV W. y wa VIZ '''ii 'Ni 49,
foot an do any rppln, an she couldn't git
her fore feet in play, SOS to claw me in
tho chiSt or face.
"She might ~ chawed me some but l
| stopped that by chuckin my head along
| side hern SO she couldn't "a kissed me to
save her life. She was standin right up in
| tho holler, ready to git out in hurry, an
! when l drappcd in on her she wuZ kinder
| tuck by surprise like | wuz. In second,
though, she begun to squirm an growl an
chaw the air round my yers, an seen that
| somethin had to be done an done powerful
| quick cr thar would DO u funeral in that
holler, an it wouldn't be the bar nuthcr.
| So rctch round to git my knife outen my
! collar an | got my arm acroSt her mouth
| some way, an down she como onto 1t with
| them teeth NV hcrn that seemed to me rs
| If they wuz u yard long an rcdhot all the
way. While she was busy chawin on the
, mouthful that she had got rctch up 10th
| or hand an got that knife out in two
i shakes NV n lambs tail, an reachin under
my own throat l let her have it fer the
! whole length, an l hit her in the right
place. fer the next minute felt like some
body wuZ pourin n bucket NV hot water
over me, an the old woman kinder gulped
| an let go my arm, but l KEEP on a-jabbin
till l knowcd fer shore that she wuz sink
! in down az fer ~ she could, considerin the
room we had. Then l kinder begun to
slide up cz she slid down furder inter the
hollcr, an l set up a yell that fotch the
boys round in no time, an one er two NV
! 'om clim' up to see what wuz goin on in
side wuz limper'n n rag when they got
! ter the mouth NV the hollcr, but told EN-
to give me n lift, fer the bar wuz fixed, an
then they helped mo out an let me down
the tree an begun to scrapc the blood OH
ter SEQ whar l wuz hurt Look out fer the
! bar, says ], meanin that the bar wuz
wuss hurt than wuz, an IN be doggoned
Of they didn't run away IN leave me, but
they como back purity soon an got 81 fer
| that b'arskin, not to count the meat But
| l wuzn't able to do much more huntin fer
u matter NV month, an then l had to do
it with my arm in n sling. New York
| Sun.
With the Qualities of n Speaker.
The two qualities in speaker which
most delight reporter are lucid thinking
! and distinct uttcrances, and whatever Else