The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-21
s25 REWARD.
A Tale of Desolate Frontier Life in
HOrning.

A Tale Of Desolate Frontier Life in
Horning.
John H. Rafferty, in Chicago Record
Herald)
II was late in the autumn when Mrs.
hineh, a raw-boned. tall, angular woman,
9 NE with her TWO children to the neg
l0cted log house that had once been the
nome o.. Hermit Peters. She had rented
the elgnty acres from him, paid for six
m0ntns In advance and meant TO work
II, because her twenty years of woman
mood In the backwoods had made of her
better farmer than most men. But even
ner uull hopes and WORKOUT fancy suf-
Iered a temporary shock when. after
drlVlng i've hours from the little river
Town OF Hofning over fallen trees and
through shallow pools that blocked the
unused forest road she came upon the
squahq nut the abandoned fields and
the utter desFia5ton of her new home"
t1er son Aeke ffas a scraWny child of u,
dressed in thFeadbare teams, WeaZen from
nardship, silent and alert. Her daughter
Maria. puny even for 10 years, was pref
tier. but her flimsy calico and faded
shawl seemed already too slight COW
erlng against the cold breeze which
moaned through the leafless trees AMI
blew the fog Of the river into her peaked
face.
1t was a cherries house warming they
had that first frosty night, but by dint
or heroic lifting, dragging, chOpping and
sweeping the one-hOrge wagon was IN
loaded Of its burden of old household
goods, the pallets were stetched on the
moidy floors, the old horse was stabbed
and led and the coffee pot was steaming
on the rusty stove Then began the Off
repeated struggle to establish home for
herself and her little ones. 1t was too
late to put in a crop, and the best the
widow could do was TO stock her shanty
with piles OF fire wood against the COM
HHHr mi HnH EW-H~-
man inbred instincts. left the tree telling
and the housekeeping to Maria and his
mother. His fathers heavy rifle. a
rusty ak and Scared Barlow knife, be-
came his implements of utility, and never
a day passed that he old not bring home
a few rabbits or squirrels. Before the
first snow flew, he had Whitfield some
rude figure four and at last, creeping
down to one of his traps by the river, he
! found an imprisoned otter.
That settled Zeke in his choice of activi-
ties, for he worked far into the night, long
after his tired mother and sister had gone
70 sleep, heWing, hacking and whiting
I the rude fiat boat, which he hoped 10
shape from the wOrm-eaten planks of
dismantled chicken house. In the morn
ing he dragged the results of his labor to
the rivers brink and there for days he
/ toiled like an inspired elf till the clumsy
vessel seemed fit for launching. His
mother, well aware of the practical value
D
preCOciOus little housewife, helped him to
shove the boat into the deep and sullen
current OF Black river. His little sister
cheered as he pushed out into the stream
and proudly tested the efficiency Of his
heroic handiWOrk But the mother, III
/ shOd and poorly clad, went back to wood
Z chOpping and toiled till her body turned
/ hot with the fever and the ak fell from
/ her hand. Then she went into the log
house quaking with the ague. and to bed
3 al
malady of the lowlands.
From that day Maria, big eyed Ike a
/ gnome, baked and washed, made coftee,
/ scrubbed and shaved, that her mother
might thrive and that Zeke might ply his
/ lonely trade from the gray dawn TIL the
night fOgs rose from the dark mourning
river But though the girl waXed Trailer
and sadder and the boy Drought nome
3 many peits of squirrels, otter and even a
I few mink, the wasted mother felt the firSL
/ breezes of spring waiting in at her open
window and was not able to face even
/ the thought Of blowing her narrow tlelos
/ for the spring corn planting she nouced
I that Ieke. always taciturn, salo less ana
! less. When she praised him for his sue
: cess and sought with caresses TO make
{ amends for the busy, almost neartless
! days when she was well enough TO Work,
( he would shuttle out 81 heF sduHt EN-
( brace and vouchsafe no ooyisn stories q
/ his work along the river. Sne guessed
I that he had some secret. and for the flrst
time sensed the sweet sting Of mother
( tender jealousy.
If she had known that since the early
| days of her illness her boy had kept up q
! singular partnership with a bearded
{ stranger, who slept in the woods IKE 2
hunted animal. she would have wondered
I more. For coming down to trap from
! which his quarry had invariably escaped
Zeke one morning had tOun0 Stranger
| calmly pocketing the captured RABBIT.
/ I'm give IL to you. kid, II you II Ietch
me some bread and coffee. sald the man,
/ glOwering at the scared boy; but don
/ tell nobody you saw me. II YOU 90 u
lift every dang hide or 1eather you
ketch."
The boy only stared. but the man smiled
at his Amusement and said;
Tell you what III do. kid, II YOU
fetch me some bread and coffee every day
I'll watch them traps o yourn az night.
/ And as the man gently held out the ran
bit, Zeke agreed. Thereafter ne stoit
many handfuls of ground conee IRON
home, filed his pockets with bread ano
was glad of the compact Wnen ne saw
| his traps. reset and balted al night ylell
a double harvest Of fresh meat ana pei
| tries.
If the secret burdened his little con
science. the young trapper bore samely g
his pact, for he knew that the time va;
come TO put in the corn and that y Woule
not be put in. Upon his frah shouieers
depended even the hope OF proVldlns noul
and bacon and medicine FOR MS molneI
What must happen when the rem cam'
Que, was an Ominous problem winch efel
/ the worn mother dreaded TO confront. II