Year: 1870

.-I-E 6 G. ...


You must remember we'll the WILEY
flood as plain as though it was but yester.
day, stranger?" ''tit "


"Did you live in the same place that
you do now s"t f4-


My cabin stood out yonder, near the
bank of the river. You can see the spot
from the doorway here, There, near
where that large elm stands"


psIHhAuld, ,have thought that the water
would have swept it away, standing as il
didyon the low gropndP 80 gss PEFs z


1t did sweep itaway, stranger, and my
wife and child with It. If you have time
to hear it i don't mind telling you the
story ''''-''.'


Plenty of time, and nothing would
suit me better. am always anxious to
hear anything of that night which has
invested the Notch of the mountains with
such mournful interest"


fbe foregoing conversation took place
oIR day last summer between myself and
aHold, settler among tife mountains, at
who esc1ttaeeT had stopped for a glass of
milk, and to rest awhile from my walk.
From one thing concerning the noun
tains to another we passed, aud
found that there were many incidents
which he remembered OF much Interest to





into any of the guides or histories of the
mountains which have been put forth. At
lsstswe came TO speak of the great freshet
Egowa in all the hill country as the
Niheys flood, and which possesses a
mournful interest for all the dwellers in
that region and then ensued the convcr+
satlon which have recorded as preface
to the story hfch l. have reproduced for
the entertainment of my readers:


1t was in 1926, and was young
man then, and had Just get up in the
world for myself / had been married
two years, and my vile had baby boy
ofhsope -sixzmonths. For the first year
L had lived with my father overthe noun
tains yonder, and then I bought this piece
OF intervale, and built cabin on it, and
commenced a life for myself. We had no
neighbors very near then, the highest be-
ing -kolhe{ three miles down z the
RIVER, willie across the mountains to bath
er's it was a mile further. Still they
seemed nearest to rs, for we saw them
much ottener than any one else-there
never being but q few daysat time but
some OF rs passed back and forth. Jy-
| worked hard the year built my cabin,
and by the opening Of the next season /
had quite a clearing made about it, and l
and Mary, as we sat in the doorway in
the early evening, and gazed about over
our possessions, used TO think that we
were on the high road to prosperity, and
booked forward to the time when we
should have one of the best farms lying
about us,ythatthere WAS in all the noun
taineusS region. OF one thing we were
sure aRd-tbat was, that the soil could not
be beat, and labor only was wanted to
make itbring forth abundantly.G = "a q
hn frct aowk.n ~ hot <Nt1r
crops looked finely, and gave promise of
an abundant harvest; but as the season
went on, drought set in; which bade fair
to scorch everything green and tender
from the face of the earth. Every day
the sun came up, and went its fiery round
without cloud to keep its fierce rays
from the earth, and when at last August
came ia, even the little dew that had fall
en- at tnight was withheld, and the crops,
deprived of this, no longer stroVe to live,
but turned yellow, sank upon the earth
and withered away A large part that
had planted went in this manner, and our
CLEARING presented little the appearance
ithad done in the spring time. Still, If
rain would come soon, there would be
enough saved to carry us through the
winter, and that was more than many
would have. FNr


AS the month went on, there came signs
of rain, but all Of them failed. In the
morning, and through the early part Of
Z the day, dark clouds would gather and
cover the SUBMITS of the mountains, and
we would think that it must rain, but by
noon they would all clear away, without
as much as sending down few drops
upon the parched earth.


Z (And so the month wore away until the
morning of the twenty fifth, the one be-
fore that on which the flood came.


That day had been over the noun
tains to fathers, doing some work for
Tim, as he was unwell, and promised to
come back the next morning and com
plete the job. The sky, as usual, had
given signs of rain, but we put no conf
deuce init thinaing that We should be
diaapponted, as we had been all along;
though h an old Indian woman, who dwelt
in lodge on the side of the mountains,
far up the valley, and who CHANGED along,
and paused in the doorway for rest, de-
clared that we should have the greatest
storm within two days that we had ever
known. But we put little confidence in
this, for we considered her half crazed,
and had she not been. We thought 1t was
little that she could know of what was to
come +


The next morning when we arose, we
found that II had rained very little
some time during the night; but the sky
and clouds did not look so threatening as
they had done for days previous. We had
an early breakfast, and when il was over
j set cut over The mountain, TO do my
days work, telling my wife that 1 should
not be back before dark, but should surely
return some time in the evening.


l found, when reached fathers, that
he was not as well as he had been the day
before, and that mother was much wor-
Tied about him. He declared that IL was
nothing, only one of his attacks to which
ha WAS subjeot, and that he would soon
be over It, Mother shook her head, and
hoped that he was right, and went Out
into the field TO work, and did not-coms
agsin to the cabin till noon. w o,-.-


Instead Of being better, he was much
worse, and mother declared that l mus
satl'tle the horse, and go down TO Conway
for Doctor Bugly but father would no
hear To this yet SO after dinner, went
back 10 my work, aud in the course of q
couple OF hours, my sister came running