The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-06-28
Aunt Jennie's Letter.

willing acquiescence to all his plans stamp her as
a woman of unusual trait of character. Daniel
Boone was a perfect Nimrod, and nothing delight
ed him so much as his solitary hunts in the wild
wood, but he would sometimes consent to take
with him a friend, and he was not always content
with hunting in the day, but soon became an ex-
pert fire hunter, that is, hunting at night with
the aid of a companion who carried over his
shoulder a long handled pan filed with blazing
pine knots, while Daniel followed, gun in hand.
ready to shoot as soon as he could see the eyes of
the animals. But after all, the warp of no life
is ever so plain and homely that fate does not
weave into it the golden thread of romance; and
so it was with these people of the frontier" 1t
was while on one of these night hunts that he
espied a pair of unusually brilliant eyes, and
when about to shoot some unaccountable Fremont
ton stayed his hand, and the deer fled, but it ran
into a house and he followed near enough to see
that it was a dear indeed in the form of a pretty
girl. He had previously met her father Mr..
Bryan, and was introduced by him to his daugh-
ter Rebecca, and thus began the love that ended
only with his long life. She was beautiful no
doubt, but as different biographers express varied
types-some a perfect blond, while others aver
that she was a decided brunette, we take as au-
thentic the description of her appearance from a
personal acquaintance who, writing of her mar
riage, says: "Rebecca Bryan, whose brow now
famed by the breezes of seventeen summers, was.
like Rebecca of old, very fair to look upon, with
Jet black hair and eyes, complexion rather dark
and something over the common size of her sex,
her whole demeanor expressive of her childlike
artlessness, pleasing in her address, and unaf-
fectedly kind in all her department. Never was
there a more gentle, affectionate, forbearing crea-
ture than this same fair,youthful bride of the Yad-
kin" The people knew nothing of bridal tours
in those days, so after the sumptuous supper,
which was partaken of by the whole community,
they all enjoyed the dancing until far into the
next day. The young people were practical, and
so Daniel cut and nOtched the logs for his cabin
himself. and appointed a day for the "house rails
ing" which job required only a few hours work,
with the help of the men of the neighborhood.
Then there was another big supper and dance to
celebrate the establishment of another family IN
their community. But Daniel refused to be estab-
lished for long in his hut, whose dimentions were
diminutive; it was only twelve by fifteen feet, with
one door and one window. You have doubtless
seen stick chimneys. Well, this one was like those.
only when it rained the mud from the chinks
would run down and across the floor, which floor
was too rough for hurried securing, as it was
formed of split logs. The fire place was large
enough to almost accommodate a fence rail, and
there was a wooden crane with an iron pot sus-
pended from it, and together with a bake oven,
(stiIl in existance) were all the cooking utencils
Mrs. Boone. owned, and dishes were few. "The
brides inventory during the first year of house
keeping revealed two ancient pewter plates, one
able and two decrepit spoons, besides a large
wooden one; a couple of old forks, a substantial
wooden bowl, a tolerably good trencher of the
same material and a choice assortment of drink
ing mugs fashioned out of hard-shelled squashes.