Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-12-26

| iHlo leIllnS ABOUT MS youthful start
in the same place. This is his story:
1t seems great deal farther away
20 you than to me-the time when
tohn Jacob Astor was boss of every
hing here, and l was sixteen years
I'D. l suppose l was the youngest
clerk in the American Fur Company,
and I'm quite sure J. was the lone
soonest, after l had been here three
months. A letter from my mother had
come up by bateau and canoe from
Montreal, telling me that my sister
Stella was at deaths door, and the let
ter was five weeks old when l got it.
AS soon as I'd read it l went to Mr..
Crooks-Crooks and Stewart were the
Mackinac agents of the fur company
and l showed it to him, and begged to
be allowed to go home. l was from
New York State, and had persuaded my
father to get me into the service, for
my head was full of romantic notions
of adventure.
'No, you can't CO." Mr. Crooks told
me, firmly, although he seemed sorry
for me. "You are like soldier. You've
enlisted for five years, and you must
serve your time. We couldn't get any
body this side of Montreal to take your
place. Besides, what's the use of go
ing, my boy? The letter is five weeks
old, and your sister is either quite we'll
ncw-or in heaven
That refusal seemed to me like rank
tyranny. | was sick of the service,
|
meant shooting and fishing and having
a good time in the open air had been
all wrong. From five in the morning
| till seven in the evening, except for
an hour at noon, l sorted and packed
and carried furs-and l can remember
those backaches to this hour. At night
couldn't sleep. The company's board
ing house was hot and crowded and
rank and noisy, and in summer the
whole village rang with the yells of
Indians and the shouts and songs of
the voyageurs.
After l left Mr.. Crooks, I began
thinking Of all the hardships before
me. l was only at the beginning of
my trouble! Not to see any of my
! pCOpiS lOl hNS ytdlSs Anu uluSl SOOu
be sent away back in the wilderness,
where l could get no letters at all, or
only once year or so. Then the devil
came along and tempted me.
Among the voyageurs that l had be-
come acquainted with on the long voy-
age from Montreal, was Francois Robi-
dauX, French boatman from Quebec.
| eF;1
to call new men that had not got used
to the company's rations. On the voy-
age up, Francois had been jolly and
| good-natuTed, but after three months
he was still grumbling at the Mackinac
fare. l can remember the very tones
of his voice after more than sixty
years. Francois would say:
''Me, I wish l was back in Montreal
for sure-den l could get good grub.
Hall de way up dey's give out salt pork
and good pea-soup and hard bread, but
now dey's got us here, baptime! we
don't get noting, honly hulled corn and
a small little bit Of tallow, and some
flour for pancakes on Sunday. And
Baptiste Beaubien, he's say I'll be glad
to Mackinac next summer. He's say
hall last winter he's get noting for a
month honly fish wisout salt. Me,
hahn goin' for eat no such trash-no
seh!"
And so Francois had proposed to me
| that we should take a bateau some
dark, moonless night and set out for
Buffalo. He said we could follow the
shores of Lake Huron and Lake Erie,
hoist sail when the wind was fair
and camp on the beach when it was
too stormy to travel, and with good
luck we might make the voyage in two
or three weeks.
had refused his proposal, and I had
even mildly rebuked him for making
it; but it fingered in my mind, and
that evening, when my heart was sore
with the thought of my sisters illness,
it tempted me hard. In fact, l went
to Francois and told him that if he
still wanted to go, I'd have talk with
him the next day about it; and then
1 went back to the boarding house.
l hadn't been there ten minutes when
one of the other clerks came in and
said: Howard, Mr.. Crooks wants to
see you in the private Office"
My heart gave a great bound. |
thought Mr.. Crooks had relented, and
would let me so home, after all. But
1t was for a very different purpose that
he wanted me. A party of twenty-five
men was at work on Bois Blanc Island,
cutting wood foT the use of the agency
at Mackinac through the winter. The
clerk who had had charge of the work
had been taken sick, and two of the
men had brought him across to Macki-
nae in canoe. Some one must take
his place, for wood-cltting could not
be finished for several days. and Mr..
| Crooks had selected me,