Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-05-26


greatly in making his later work
possible befell him on the trail. 1t
was midafternOon, and Jonathan
had accidentally, due to the path be-
ing washed out in the previous
nights storm, wandered off the
main trail.
He was struggling through very
his effort to locate the trail, when
he half stumbled across the body of
an Indian, face downward. Turn
ing the brave over he discovered a
great wound on his leg.
Jonathan cut the soaked logging
away and bound the wound with
strips torn from his own linsey
shirt, which he had worn under his
buckskins. Then he dragged the
trees, and bathed his face and COW
cred him with his own blanket.
Presently the Indian regained
semiconsciousness, and from him
Jonathan learned his first Shawnee
word, the word for water. Shaping
cup, Indian fashion, out of a large
leaf, he brought water which the
Indian gulped thiristly, and then
fell back into unconsciousness.
For Jonathan the better part Of
valor would have been to have hur~
ried away and not become involved
in this obscure Indian feud, and
possibly even this brave might
think, when he awakened, that it
was Jonathan who had shot him. In
stead of fleeing. however, Jonathan
built beacon fire, piling on heaps
of damp fir branches, so that great
gray pillows of smoke rolled out
oeer the tree tops.
1t was near midnight when the
Indians came, silent as apparitions.
Jonathan spoke to them, for he
knew the most of the Shawnee
tribesmen understood at least lit
tie English, having learned it for
trading.
"Your brother is alive" he told
them, ''and when morning comes he
will tell you what has happened.
Without taking their alert atten-
ton from Jonathan one minute,
they looked at the sleeping brave
and inspected the bandage. Then
around the fire, while Jonathan
read his usual chapter in his Bible
and also prepared to sleep.
The Indians were ready to depart
when he awakened They had plac-
ed the wounded brave on a litter.
and he had told his story He had
shot himself accidentally when he
slipped in the mud on the slippery
edge of a creek.
said the spokesman for the Indians,
the braves bones would have been
stripped by the wolves long before
this.
"All men should be brothers in
these woods" answered Jonathan
quite simply
And so was forged the friendship
between the Indians and the Apple
Tree Missionary that was to last all
number he was supplied with In
dian canoes or Indian ponies, and
wherever he went in this unsettled
country, he was safe from harm.
When he wanted to let his horse
Craze, all that was necessary was to
fasten an apple twig in the bride,
and no one, Indian or white, would
molest it.
That apple twig became famous
up and down the Ohio valley, for
when it was seen, people knew that
their beloved "Johnny Appleseed"
was not far distant.
His romance, If one may call it
SO, with Betty, the girl who had
surprised him while he was MAX
ing one of his first orchards. was
one Of the most beautiful things in
his life.
Betty was in reality only few
than was in his very early twenties
when he set out on his mission, and
the fact that he and Betty did not
marry only made the tenderness
between them more poignant, Jona-
than felt it unfair to submit her to
the hardships which he knew his
chosen life held in store, and his
love for Betty was great enough to
reconcile him to her marriage to
build secure home for her.
Always, during the years, how
ever, Jonathan returned each spring
to Betty's home, to rest under the
apple trees he himself had planted
there, and to see her sitting in the
little old rocking chair he had
brought out for her from his own
old home.
The war of 1912 brought hard
ships and tragedies such as had new
er before been experienced by the
frontiersmen. The British had in
famed the Indians against the
Americans, and life in the new Sci
Elements was a thing of terror
Jonathan used all the influence he
possessed to quiet the Indians, but
the British had given them firearms
and supplied them with food with
out the necessity of work, and even
Jonathan's pleas were without
avail.
When the news came that Detroit
had fallen, Jonathan leaped to his
horse and rode night and day warn
ing his cOuntrymen.
Well he knew the atrocities of
which the Indians were capable
once their savagery was aroused.
and his concern was only to save
the lives of the whites. By the
roadside he found a lost child, and
sweeping it to his saddle, he gal
loped on to the next group Of refu-
gees, where he restored the child to
its frantic mother.
Here he learned that Betty's hus-
band had lost his life in defense of
one of the border forts. Anguish
for Betty filled his heart, but he
could not stop. He must go on, SO
long as his horse could carry him,
bringing his warning to every out
lying cabin he could reach.
In the day he passed a smolder-
| ing ruin that had been a home. Not
far away he encountered the band
of Indians that was obviously re-
spOnsible for the outrage, and in
defense of his own life, he rose in
his stirrups and gave wild war
whoop, making them believe he was
one of their race.
But the smoking ruin was like a
burning ember in his mind and
heart What if the Indians got to
Betty's home before he did, where
Betty waited unaware that her huS-