Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1912-01-25
AN OREGON KITTEN.

seekers for new homes, In one company,
drove their long, lumultuouS Caravan OF
ox-leamS across Ine plains and over the
mountains from WeSlport OIL the Missouri
to Oregon and Washington.
Wnat bold journey that was across a
conunentl lrue westward d-moving ArY-
ans were these pioneer Settlers, VINO iol-
lowed the sun across The worlu, as their
rdce hau always done, IN quest OF falrer
lands.
"lhen come along, c1me along
Make no utidy.
Come Irum every nation,
Come from every way.
For our lands Iney are broad enough,
80 uon't lake diarnl;
FOR uncle odiii Is IICn enough
10 give US ali d 1drhI.
How young the country was then! Yet
1t wds but sixty -elshl years ago. Some
OF lhese iorner emlgranIS are Suli living,
ana love TO tell OF the beginnings OF the
now great and prosperous Northwest.
All that summer and TIL lale IN the fail
The slow ox-wdgonS, beanng whole TAM
nieS with tneir household goods, creakea
on through heat and dust, IN spite OF
hardship and accidents innumerdole.
those great-hearted men, Marcus Whit
man, Appiegate, NeSmltn aud Burnett,
were leaulng the way; new land OF
promise, rlcner, talrer, more fertile than
Inc East, was ahead.
MY Story IS about the Gage family,
from the Scloto Valley, Ohio, which tell
behind the great migration" and did not
arrive in Oregon TIL the following sea-
son. The family at that time consisted
OF the father, Freeman Gage, his wife,
Fanny, anu their two children, Lucleitd,
aged eleven, and little jeff, then in his
tenth year.
Serious illness from bad water on the
plains west OF Laramie held the Cages
back. Then Mrs. Gage was bitten by a
ralllesnake, and lay at deaths door for
DAYS. Their herd, all except one yoke
OF steers, an old Zine back" COW and a
two-year-old heifer, was slampeded by
The indians. After that the little "spark
ed" heller and the old cow had to labor
with the steers, to draw the wagon.
BY night, wolves howled round their
campfire; and for one whole week they
were buffalo bound" that is, so sur
rounded by vast herds OF bison that they
dared not move from the clump OF cot
ton-woodS, where they had fenced them
selves in by telling the trees.
Among the mountains the way grew so
rough that their large ox-wagon had to
oe converted into a small two-wheeled
cart. Many OF their household goods
had to be left behind. When they finally
arrived in Oregon, they had little enough
lett with which to begin lite anew.
OF all these disasters, however, the
one which little Lucietta Gage lamented
most was the loss OF her pet kitten, Silvy,
which she had brought all the way from
Ohio in basket. That kitten was the
one object dearest to Lucietta's heart.
Even in sickness and in great dearth of
provisions, the little girl had contrived
somehow to feed and care for Silvy.
But one doleful night. after they had
passed Fort Hall and were in the hot
sage-brush country of the Snake River,
where the weather was very oppressive,
Silvy, in her basket, had to be set out
side the, wagon. AS Lucietta and little
left were both sick that evening from the
Dad water, Silvy was forgotten, and dur
ing the night wolf carried her off, oas-
ket and all. When her pallid little mis-
tress thought of her and crept out the
next morning, the kitten was gone.
Lucietta wept bitterly; jeff, too, felt
very sad and till long afterward, even
after they were settled in log house at
a little clearing in the mighty Oregon for-
est. they did not cease to lament the fate
OF their pet. If Silvy could have been
replaced by another kitten they might
have transferred their young affections to
it. House cats, however, were scarce in
Oregon; the Cages could hear OF none.
Then one day in April when the chill
dren had begun to go out into the borders
of the forest round the clearing where
their father was hard at work, planting
and sowing for the first years crops. jeff
made great discovery.
For while they had been very timld
about venturing forth. Everything in this
new, strange land looked large and form-
liable. The mountains lowered enor-
mously high and rocky, unlike anything
they had ever seen in Ohio. The creeks
and rivers, especially the. mighty Colum-
bia, were rapid and roared hoarsely, not
at all like the gentle creek BY, which they
had formerly lived. The huge Douglas
frs and pines, towering in deep-green
majesty to the skies, filled them with
awe. These giants were little like the
pleasant low hlckories and naples OF the
placid Scioto.
But gradually their courage grew; and
on this warm afternoon in April they
strayed off farther in the woods than ever
before. They wdtched the antics OF tire
squirrels, they listened curiously to the
harsh crakings OF the crows, and admired
the great iridescent woodpeckers. New
er before had they heard such crows,
seen such squirrels or looked upon such