The Penn's Grove record., 1899-04-07

- NNM W. IA was " apply
~ (Sa5s priately given to
- NUTjAk that hollow, which
~ was happy in fact
as in name, where, in company with
my boyhood's boon companion, Plato
"a great ugly brindle cur dog, as true
and faithful as dumb brute ever was
I have had many an exciting boyish
romp and ramble in the days long
gone.
One morning in the early fall of
1851, while Plato and / were out for
a rabbit hunt in the upper end of the
Hollow, L had m experience which /
am in no danger of forgetting until
life itself is forgotten. It was my
fourteenth birthday, and my father
had presented me that morning with
a long-coveted treasure in the form of
a shotgun. 1t was a single-barrel.
muzzle-loader concern, and would
doubtless be considered quite anti
quated by boy friends of this advanced
age of the breechloader and the ham
merless. At ell events, it was entirely
up to date then, and 1 am able to re-
call few prouder, happier moments of
my life than when that gum have it
yet-frst came into my possession.
On the morning in question I had it
on my shoulder, feeling like a verit-
able Napoleon Bonaparte going forth
to conquer the world.
The rabbits must have heard the
news, however, for, hunt as he would,
old Plato could not start a single one
of them. They were ordinarily plenti-
full enough.
sat down at the very foot Of the
mountain, which formed an almost
perpendicular wall above my head.
just to the right of me was the
dreaded danger Line" OF the noun
tain range-a rocky, barren, desolate
stretch or belt across the mountain,
with here aud there a cave sunk in or
a huge rock jutting out. When all
the rest of the mountain sides were
clad in the green garments of spring
time, or the russell robes of autumn,
this stretch of sterile, untimbered
land showed, naked and glazing, like
an ugly frown OF natures face. 1t
was some unpleasant freak in the con-
struction of the mountains that Inever
knew the reason for, but l know that
danger Line" was universally
avoided, by white and colored alike
the latter declaring that it was
"hanted, and the former that there
were rattlesnakes, and even worse
things, to be encountered there. My
mother had positively forbidden me
$50 70 -, ip+n tl,f ,oa,& 90 Az .-.
tains, and hitherto l had seer it only
from a distance, curiously.
1 had sat there under the shadow
of the mountain in the sweet autumn
stiffness for perhaps ten minutes,
tired, half dreaming, half wishing my
self at home, when l was suddenly
aroused to life and interest by a furi-
Gus, excited barking far up the cliff
above me and slightly to my right.
AT first l doubted my ears. 1 had
never known Plato to cross into
danger Line" by so much as one
step before, and so I WAS at a loss to
account for it. And yet that was
Plato's well-knovn voice I heard;
there could be no installing it with
me. There was something strange,
romantic, about it all, and l was burn
ing with desire to see what manner of
game he could have freed up there.
1 remembered my mothers warning
and faltered. 1t has been my expert
ence that when a boy falters in the
face OF duty, disobedience has scored
a point and trouble is near at hand.
There was my new gun, as yet IN
tried, except at ~lifeless targets, and,
after all, perhaps it was only a SOUR
rel. In short, mythirst for adventure
got the better OF me, and my determ-
iuation to follow Plato was fixed. The
next thing to be decided was how to
get there. 1 could tell by his bark
that Plato was a considerable distance
above me, and the height was we'll
nigh inaccessible. But 1 was young,
strong and active, as mountain boys
thought that il a fcurteen-year-old
boy determined to climb a sunbeam
he could almost accomplish the task.
The mountain-side was covered with
small underground, and with the aid
of this 1 determined to make the
ascent. Holding the gun with one
hand, slowly and laboriously I pulled
myself up from bush to bush with the
other, guiding my course by the
ceaseless barking of Plato up above
me. At the end of about On hour OF
such toll 1 reached the top of the first
bluff, where, for a width of something
more than a hundred yards was level
ground, reaching to the foot OF the
next bluff, and, with no climbing now
to do, it was the work of but a few
moments to reach Plato.
Coming up to him I found him sta
toned at the end of a huge hollow
log, and bsying with more animation
tn I had ever known him to do be-