Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-09-06

|. WHICH WOulu serve me as Il Deu. oOIue
of the leaves were beginning to fall,
| but of course there was not enough oe
| them to form covering for the
| ground, and the dampness seemed to
have penetrated everywhere.
l wandered around through the
woods for two or three hours looking
! for shelter. but without any success,
! for, although the trees were large, the
| forest was lot dense, and there was
practically no brush or shrubbery.
/ Consequently one could get 4 fairly
clear view fer some distance. and I
knew it would be unwise to drop off
| to sleep jus: any place, or someone
would surely happen on to me.
Once I came very near to the ends
of the woods and heard voices of men
driving by in a wagon, but l couldn't
make out just what they were, and
instinct told me 1 had better not come
out of the woods, so l turned back.
Here and there small artificial bitches
had been dug, which at dry season
might have cradled n weary fugitive,
but now they, too, were filled with
water. Once 1 singled out q good big
tree and large branches and thought
might climb into it and 60 to sleep.
but the longer 1 looked at 1t the more
I realized that it would require more
energy than had in my present weak
and exhausted condition, so didn't at
tempt that,
Finally 1 chose a spot that looked a
bit drier than the rest, concluded to
take a chance on being discovered and
threw myself down for nap. I was
extremely nervous, though, throughout
that whole day, and would scarcely get
settled into a comfortable position and
doze off for few minutes when,
startled by some sound in the woods,
would suddenly awake.
After what seemed like a year or
more, night finally came, and with
"dud" sky, low-hanging clouds and still
more rain. There was not a star in the
sky, of course, and that made it very
bad, because without the aid of the
stars had absolutely no way of know
ing which direction l was going. 1t
was just case of taking a chance. l
probably would have been better off if
1 had simply picked out a place and
stayed there until the weather i'm
proved, but naturally 1 was impatient
to be on my way when each day with
out food only lessened my strength and
my ultimate chances of reaching the
frontier,
So 1 left the woods and struck off in
the direction which / thought was
north. I hadn't been at all sure of my
bearings the day before, and as it had
rained the sun failed entirely to help
, me out, but l was almost sure l had
the right direction and trusted to luck.
That night found more rivers, canals
and swamps than l ever found in my
, life before, but l had the good fortune
to stumble on TO some celery. and after
|, my diet of beets 1t surely was treat.
Perhaps it's unnecessary to add that I
took on a good supply of celery and
for days 1 went along chewing celery
,, like COW would a cud.
Along towards morning, when l sup
; posed I had gotten in fairly good lap
of my jOurney-perhaps seven or eight
miles-I began to recognize certain OBJ
; jects as familiar landmarks. At least,
! l thought l had seen them before and
rs Travelled along I knew positively !
had seen certain objects very recently.
Off at my right-nOt over Il quarter of
a mile-I noticed some fairl Y good
sized woods and thought I would GO
over there TO hide that day, because II
looked as though the sun was going to
shine and I hoped to get my clothes
dry. and perhaps get decent Sleep
? I had this celery and a large beet, SC
i knew would be able to live the day
through.
n Finally I made my way over to the
l woods. 1t was still too dark in among
n the trees to do much in the way OF
l selecting my quarters for the day and
y l could not go a step farther. So
Y waited on the edge. of the forest unit
t dawn and then set out to explore the
e place, with a view to finding some nool
where l might sleep. Imagine my dis
e gust, and encouragement too, when ar
p hour or so later came upon the exac
e place where had spent the day before
d and realized that all night long I hat
been circling the very woods was try
n ing to get away from. I think perhap!
o had gone all of quarter of mile il
It the right direction, but then had los
y my bearings entirely, and dayligh
Ii found me with nothing accomplished
The sun, however, did come out tina
day, and 1 welcomed its warm rays
l. as they, perhaps, have never been wei
X coined before. 1 was very tired-jus
i about all in-but l spent better da.
in the woods than the previous one,
d That night the stars came out;
"a located my friend, the North Star, ant
g tried to make up for lost time. Bu
y when one is making only seven or eigh
N miles day, or rather a night, on
lie night lost means a whole lot, especi
T. ally when each day keeps him fror
h freedom. Such i'll fortune and dis
Il cOuragements as this were harder t
is endure, / believe, than the actua
or hunger, and the accompanying worr
lie naturally reduced my weight. At time
IS was furiously angry with myself fo
L the mistakes 1 made and the FOOLS
III things 1 did, but 1 always tried to Sc
SOLhCllllllS IhIllly dDCuI llC
ID whatever it might be, that relieve
he the strain Of habit and helped to pas
~ the time away. l think if man
SO Overburdened with Il sense of humO
10 and wants to get rid of it, this trip
u took would be an excellent remed
e. for it. Right at this time 1 woul
a have welcomed anything for a cOmpaI
no ion. l believe even snake woul
OF have been a GodSend to me.
With a name as Irish as mine, it
e- only natural that 1 looked for goat
ed along the way, thinking that I migf
to be able to milk them. There are yer
id few cows in this country, and the OF
er- portunities for milking them fewe
nd than the COWS themselves because the
to are housed in barns adjoining IL
hit homes and always alertly watched b
We their fortunate owners. 1 did hoI
that l might find a goat Staked OF
q