The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-08
PENNSYLVANIA PIONEERS.
Some Idea of Their Privations and
Many Anxieties.

From THE Story of the Pioneers" Pub
lished by the National Book Company,
Cincinnati.
When the third year after Brad
docks defeat rolled round. the bound
less brutalities of the Indians, instead
of being checked, were more constant,
more widespread, and more terrible
than ever before.
What at the beginning of the war had
been the interior. in which danger was
never apprehended became in turn the
frontier. The territory now forming
many counties, which, in 1866, was toll
erably settled, became bowling will
derness, and was abandoned to saw
ages and wild beasts. The bold inVad-
ers pushed farther and farther to the
east. one day Philadelphia learned
that band of warriors had sacked and
plliaged the country and massacred the
lnha bitants, only thirty miles away.
The instances we have given are only
few drops from a mighty flood, only
Il lew dead Goals raked from the embers
or tremendous conflagration. There
Is enough of insecurity, of transtori-
ness in life at best. The universal
tragedy goes on around us perpetually.
Each of us comes to take his turn in
the last sad act Of the dreadful drama,
Yet to all this, for the pioneers of
pennsylvania were added the horrors
or border warfare. AS the family hud-
dled around the fireplace at evening
they felt that each rattle of the shutter
IN the Wintry blast might be the work
OF savage hand, The ruStling leaves
or the forest might only conceal the
stealthy approach of mOccaSined feet
fach trip to the well after nightfall
Tor q bucket of water was like a sally
tfon beleaguered fort. Every shadow
might hide dusky form. Behind every
tree might lurk a murderous enemy.
The bark of the dogs. or the uuerulous
cacklings of the sleepy hens. might be
lhe warning of the approach of an In
ulan war party. Life had no security
The regularity of toll. the pursuit of
ambitions, the routine of the family
the quiet succession of tasks in the re-
spective seasons-al this was broken
into and Interrupted.
but why not fly? WHY wait until the
crimsoned tomahawk was raised in air
ana the little cabin cracked i'm the
names 1t is easy to answer, To fly
was 10 lose home and all means of sub
SIS'eHce' and become homeless refugees
Starving wanderers, pensioners on a
'"Id ana reluctant charity. Added to
the real dangers of the situation were
the fantastic horrors of the imagina-
ton, In such community wild ru-
mors filled every breeze Hardly a dav
passed that some messenger of alarm
did not dash past the cabin on flying
steed. a hundred times year the set
tiers took refuge in the forts from
imaginary enemies.
In such sOrrOws did the riyalries of
France and England involve the inno-
cent settlers of distant Pennsylvania,
Maryland ana Virginia. In this way
did the arts of the Frenchman turn the
rage of the Indian against the English
in favor Of himself. Yet it was useless.
England, defeated and Inundated on
every battlefield. whether in Europe
OF America, called TO her help a single
man, an invalid, without fortune,
family or party. That man was Will
lam Pitt. With the voice of an arch
angel he reused the states Of Protest
antlsm to wage war for mastery
against the despotic monarchy and the
institutions of the Middle Ages, anC TO
secure to humanity its futurity of
lfeeuohL The mighty alliance which
ne created humbled the naughty mon
arch Of the French and changed the
destinies Of mankind.
In 1853 three great military expedj-
tions were fitted out by the English in
America. One oI these achieved the
conquest of Louisburg; another that of
Fort Frontenac. third was dis
patched, under General Forbes. to at
tack Fort du Quesne, and if possible
drive the saVages from the country. II
was successful. The fort at the iunc-
tion Of the Allegheny and Mononga-
hela rivers once more passed into the
hands of the English. With unani-
nous voice the new fort rising on the
ruins of the old was named Fort Pitt,
in honor of the great statesman, whose
genius was overwhelming the enemies
Of England. "Pittsburg," says Ran
croft is the most enduring trophy of
the glory of William Pitt. Long as the
Monongahela and the Allegheny shall
tlow To form the Ohio. long as the Eng
| lish tongue shall be the language Of
freedom in the boundless valley which
their waters traverse, his name shall
stand inscribed on the Gateway OF the
West"
I