Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1916-04-21
CHAPTER XI CONTINUED.


from the house. Clean straw was
brought from the barn, and blank
cts laid over it, making comfortable
beds; over which they raised their
tent, then built a campfire in front
of the open tent. Mr.. Lovejoy and
brother and the older children came
out and enjoyed the evening and
campfire with the visitors.
"Neighbors seem to be pretty far
apart in this mountain region, said
Marktree. while discoursing about
the campfire.
Yes" replied Mr.. Loveioy, but
they are closer than they were when
we first moved in here. In the win
ter we are often showed in so deep
that it would be a good many days
before we could get out to FIND how
our neighbors were. We lost our
best neighbor year ago. The last
time | saw him he said he was going
to leave the woods. but he didn't
say when, nor where he was going.
He lived alone back in the woods
two miles from here. He was very
accommodating and always ready to
lend a hand in time of need, espec-
tally in sickness. Once when the
road was so drifted that it was i'm
possible to get through with horse
to go for a doctor, he went through
the woods five miles on snowshoes
and set a broken leg for an old
wood chopper. He stayed right by
him until the old doctor from Wild
woodville came up a few days after.
The doctor said twas a first. class
job of bone-setting, as good as he
could 90. At another time when
one of our old neighbors died, he
and Silvanus Bradford went after
the coffin on snowshoes and drew
the remains five miles on handsIed
to the grave yard, facing a driving
snow storm. He never made long
calls unless he found he could be of
service. In conversation he was
brief and to the point, and it was
always on matters present and time
ly. The first time | ever saw him
was at a meeting in the school house
in Wildwoodville where the people
had gathered to discuss the freedom
of the slave. He came in unob-
served and modestly took a back
seat. After the last speaker had
sat down this man arose and asked
if he might be allowed to trespass
few moments on the time, to say a
few words upon this most vital SUBJ
ject-that he would like to cast his
mite into the treasury of freedoms
offering that night. He was granted
the privilege, of course, and aston
ished the crowded backwoods assem-
bly, by his clear, concise, convincing
statements and soul-stirring appeal
for the slave. The audience was
awed by his eloquence. 1t was a
remarkable scene--that backwoods
hermit in his blue drilling frock and
pants, his hair and whiskers long, in
the dim light of the tallow candles,
with passionate eloquence pleading
for the slave, while his hearers,
wild with enthusiasm, cheered and
shouted their applause Freedom
for the slaven After the meetin G
he quietly slipped out of the school
house with just a handshake and a
sad smile to few who pressed to
reach his hand and say, You spoke
my mind exactly. Hurrah for Free
, dom' We are on the road to
! Canaan
! " To Freedom of the African!
g Hallelujah!' and such like express
e sions were heard as the mountain
r people went forth from the door.
e enquired of a number who this sing.
0 ular person was, and no one seemed
0 to know. Two or three weeks after
e that he called on us to tell us that
t if we were sick and needed help any
n time to call on him. He directed
t us where to go to find his trail He
y came to be known here in the woods
az the hermit of the hemlocks'