Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-05-19

eiS heathACS VI " luWOOuy WIFI ITO
starch mill, grist mill, carding mill,
tavern, store, saw mill, blacksmith
shop, cobbler's shop, school house
and meeting house. Here they stop
ped and baited their horses and took
dinner at the tavern. Dusky eve
found them winding up in the
mountains west of Wildwood. Their
guide, turning off from the noun
tain road, led them over a bride
path into the deep timber until they
came to a wonderfully secluded dell,
where in the midst of thick growth
of gigantic hemlocks, by the side of
a mountain brook running clear and
sparkling, stood a snug log cabin,
with tall ferns and young fir trees
grown thickly around.
A great cat owl called out to them
from the hemlocks, "Whoo hoo ah
hoo" as they arrived.
Did you ever come upon a more
secluded wild spot?" said hardwood.
"'Oh for a lodge in some vast will
derness, for such as this is enough
to make the poet sigh," said he.
This is the cabin of the hermit
of the hemlocks' said Uncle Ezra
Barker; he hiked away a year or
two ago; he could play on a flute
so'st t make We cry"
They were resting around the
campfire after their repast, Uncle
Ez smoking his pipe, and the horses
burying their noses in the grass that
the men had cut with hunting
knives in some sunny spots along
the streams.
Hank, what's that?" asked Mark
tree. "Meeawae, mea-wae."
Sounds like a CRYING kitten,
said the judge.
You'll hear the mother in min
ute," said Hunter John. There!
hear her. 100000 ah-hoo!" She's
a-bylobyin' her young uns to sleep"
She's a motherly old bird, isn't
she?" said Marktree.
"Ya-as," replied Hunter John,
"jes' like some old grandmams;
stays jes' so, sings the same old
tune, does up her hair always the
same, wears the same style bonnet.
Lots O. folks has owl fashions, ye
know"
The mother owl had hushed her
babes to sleep, and the stiffness of
the forest came on. The brook
seemed to flow more noiselessly, and
often the faint cracking of bushes
or dead leaves told that some small
animal was astir, or the creaking or
groaning of. some tree moved by The
breeze, to whose pressure it was eX-
posed, only served to emphasize the
silence. Looking toward the lone
cabin in deep meditation, Marktree
asked, Who was that hermit?
Where did he come from? How long
did he live here? Where did he go
to-"
The judge replied, Il will tell you
his story so far as know and have
heard. 1t was along in the thirties
he came in here and bought two or
three acres of this timbered land.
With the help of one or two woods
men he built this little cabin. No one
found out where he came from, or
anything of his past history, nor
during the time he spent in here
did anyone get hold of his life's
secret. 1t was rumored at about
the time he came, that he had been
seen with a small company of
negroes in the night, making their
way to Canada, and that he might
have been their conductor. But
that was only rumor. He obtained
his living mostly from his handi-
work at the cooper's bench and at
cabinet making. He would take his
tubs, sap-buckets and keelers, and
different articles of furniture, such
: as bureaus, tables and stands, load
them on handcart and draw them
J down to the Wildwoodville store and
| barter for things he needed. Later
he got hold of a French pony to