Year: 1872

Among the earliest settlers OF Wood
stock, beautiful town in the Green
Mountain State, was man by the name
of Silas Sloey, who had left his early
home near the sea, and following the
windings of the new Connecticut, had
at last pitched upon place in the will
derness, where he erected his cabin, and
then commenced an onslaught upon the
giants of the forest that reared their
heads in stately grandeur abont him,
but. gave way beneath his relentless
strokes, and in couple of years he had
quite an open space encircling his cabin.
During this timeh he had lived alone, but
when the second autumn came another
Journey was undertaken to that old
home by the sea, and when he returned
a young wife bore him company, to share
with him the joys and privations Incl
dent to a pioneer.


Three years came and went, and the
clearing had greatly enlarged its bor-
ders, although no arm but his own la
bored within its bounds. The trees that
at first had come close up to the cabin,
had now retreated to respectable dis
tance, and the ground they had once
occupied was now usurped by hourishing
crops that cheered the heart of the set
tier, and encouraged him to still greater
eXertion.


The three years spent in the forest by
the young couple had been those of
peace and contentment. A son was
born to them at the commencement of
the second year of their married life,
and who was, at the time the adventure
we are about to relate transpired, nearly
two years of age, and as bright little
fellow as ever cheered the hearts Of pa
rents, whose very life seemed bound up
in that of their child.


The nearest neighbors Of the Sloeys
were more than three miles away
through the forest, SO it was seldom that
they saw others than themselves. The
settler was too much occupied with his
work to pay much attention to making
visits, and the distance was SO great that
it was not safe for his wife to go alone,
as the forest swarmed with wild beasts,
which rendered the night hideous with
their cries. Bears and panthers
abounded, but the wolves were most to
be dreaded and proved the greatest an
noyance; for often they would gather
around the cabin at early dusk and keep
up their horrid cries until the arly gray
of the dawn sent them howling into the
dim alsles of the forest and up the dark
ravines among the mountains, where
shadows almost like those of night
lurked all through the day.


One day late in October business called
the settler to the nearest settlement of
importance in that section, which
chanced to be some eight miles distant
and he sat out early in the morning,
telling his wife she need not look for
him before nightfall, as it was very un-
certain what time he would be able to
accomplish his business. and it might
be that he would not be at home till late
in the night, but come he would before
he slept, unless some unforeseen event
interposed to prevent. Bending over
his child that was sleeping in the bed,
he kissed it, and then having bestowed
the same mark of affection upon his
wife, he babe her be careful not to stir
from the cabin or to allow the child to
wander from her sight for fear that some
harm might come to them from the
wild beasts. With this caution, which
she promised readily to observe, he
threw his rifle over his shoulder and
| took his way across the clearing, and
| his wife watched him from the doorway
until the forest thicket hid her from his
sight.


The morning had given promise of a
beautiful day, which assurance was well
kept until a little past meridian,
when the wind changed to the cas-
ward, and dark clouds began to obscure
the sky to the south and east, giving
strong indications that storm was nigh
at hand. Busy with her work and the
care of her boy, Mrs. Sloey did not no.
tice the approaching storm until near
nightfall. when the sudden darkness
that seemed all at once to throw deep
gloom about the cabin reminded her
that the night and storm were
close at hand, and going to the door
way she gazed anxi usly toward that
point in the forest whence she expected
to get the first sight of her husband.


Although her gaze was long and ear
nest, 1t was not rewarded by glimpse
of her husband; then with a g.ance al
the dark clouds that seemed to hem the
little clearing in as if with huge pail
she tried to calculate how long it would
be before the rain would begin to fall
and to guess the distance her husband
might be away, and the chance he hao
of reaching home before the storm.