The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-03-20
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amt your fault your being scared
You needn't be ashamed unless you
don't do the things you know you'd
ought to just because you are bit
scared"
1t was the first time Samuel had ever
spoken TO Lem about what everybody
from NOblesborougb TO Metcalf Noun
tain had noted and commented on,
not always behind the lads back. Now
with trembling lip and filling eyes he
listened TO the soft words Of his father,
which II seemed showed failing faith
IN his son.
Il don't know" the LAD answered.
"It just seems as If ! couldn't do It,,
and-and it's always So"
What would you do, sonny, il some
time a bear should fight you In the
woods?" the old man continued.
"T-I don't know, but-but / guess
I'd run was the hesItatlng reply.
81 don't believe it, was the hearty
and unexpected response.
One day soon after his talk with his
father, Lem took a pack basket. a
blanket, some bread and bit OF pork,
and while the sun shone bright at mid
day walked back into the woods over
n plain trail, until night found him
far from the nearest man. and whether
he would or no, he must stay in the
woods till the sun rose again.
He did not sleep much that night
and he cried at times because he was
afraid; but nevertheless he went again
and again, and after "A few trips into
the woods he learned that, after ALL
darkness was not so fearsomc But
none Of the neighbors knew what the
lad was doing. They still talked about
him as "skeery in the dark"
Nor did they know that Lem was
schooling himself TO do the things that
he did not want TO do, which Is good
for ones courage and endurance. After
a year of the training Lem waited
eagerly for chance to show the stuff
there was in him-and so he learned
patience. For he had TO wait two
years. Then his opportunity came.
There were summer boarders at
FraZler's; two fishermen, with their
families, and the wife of cousin of
Frazier, and Florence, her twelve-ycar-
old daughter. Florence liked to ride
on the wood wagons and walk logs on
the creek bank. Moreover she loved
the woods, and went frequently into
them. or course she knew Lem, and
he baited hooks so that she could
catch fish out OF the brooks.
But one day Annie Borson told her
that Lem was afraid of everything,
even the dark. 1t was unkind OF
Annie, but when Florence asked Ike
Frazier about II, he told her many
things that Lem had fearcd-the dark.
other boys-and worst of ALL deer
fawn had followed him one evening
down the road, and he running and
hollerlng loud's he could"
The next time Florence met Lem she
did not look ut him. "'Fraid cats"
were not to the liking of such n girl
Annie told Lem some of the things
Florence said about people who were
scared at nothing. But Lem had heard
such things often, and merely waited
for his time to come. lie knew some
things about his heart that others had
never tried to see.
Florence went TO the woods oftencr
than before and wandered around in
them. They seemed very lovely to
her, and each day she was tempted to
go little farther, till ut last one day
she got lost No one in the settlement
had seen her since early In the after
noon, when OH that evening inquiries
began TO be made.
Morning found all the men folks
starting out TO search, and the next
night found the child still missing. All
that night and all the next day passed
Guns were fired. fires were built, far
heard cries uttered. With sinking
hearts the men returned home on the
evening of the third night. feeling that
the search was quite hopeless. Sam
Lawson said il wasn't any use,' and
Ike Frazier was as certain.
But somehow Lem Lawson felt that
here was his opportunity. lie said TO
himself, III trail her like a lone hound
till / find her. dead or alive" and he
went out the next morning with re-
newed purpose in his heart, feeling for
the first time in his life that now he
had something he must do.
How carefully he hunted back Of the
Frazier Clearing, through the briars
of the Old Burning, along the top of
Maple Ridge, and among the alders
of Big Brook need not be told here. IL
was nearly 3 o'clock in the afternoon
when. on the edge OF Black Swamp. he
found a ribbon with which the girls
hair had been tied And that was
eleven miles away from Seaberry Set
Element. when the girl had started.
Lem went down on his knees with n
little cry of Joy, and looked into the
dirt for track. His woods-tralned
eyes found one, and then another
they led into the swamp. Ii was hard
trailing. In one place deer had tramped
out every vestige of the trail, In an
other the keenest searching did not
reveal trace, and only circle made
on his hands and knees disclosed the
track again.
Night came and found Lem lying In
the damp moss through which the girls
footsteps had led. Lem slept a good
deal that night. He knew that he had
hard work before him, and that TO Go
AZ hc must be careful of himself.
In the morning he awakened sore
and sti1f. but he kept on. He grew
hungry after awhile, for he had carried