xt7v9s1khr2s https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7v9s1khr2s/data/mets.xml Heady, Morrison, 1829-1915. 1884  books b92-256-31805428 English Southwestern Methodist Pub. House, : Nashville, Tenn. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Burl  / by Morrison Heady. text Burl  / by Morrison Heady. 1884 2002 true xt7v9s1khr2s section xt7v9s1khr2s 


    B URL.











BY MORRISON HEADY.











        -NASHVILLE, TENN.:
 SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING [IoUsE
            1886.

 

































    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884,
BY THlE BooK AGENTS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHIURCH, SOUTH,
    in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

 










                       PREFACE.

   'OMNIE one has said that inasmuch as tie Preface to a book is the
) last thing that is written, it ought to be the last that is read.
I suppose that some readers prefer to omit thie Preface until they
have read the book, for many writers, Lord Lytton among the num-
ber, really destroy the illusion of a work of fiction by specifying the
conditions under which it was written. A certain amount of faith
in the reality of the things recorded is, to many minds, essential to
true enjoyment of the story.
  However the case may be, I prefer that the reader of this volume
should read these lines of mine before lie proceeds farther.  The
author of this little book is both blind and deaf! For many years
lie has been absolutely blind. Ile has utterly lost the sense of
hearing also; and whilst lie speaks with singular clearness, and
with some modulation of voice, lie can receive no communication
fronm his fellow-creatures except through an alphabet which lie car-
ries upon his hand! Every word must be spelled letter by letter.
  Thus deprived of two of his senses, it is a marvel that he is able
to write at all. That lhe has written a book of more than ordinary
interest I am sure the reader will decide when he has read it.
There are passages of true poetry scattered here and there, and
some descriptive scenes that will not suffer by comparison with those
of the best of living authors. Under other circumstances, I would
exercise my editorial prerogative, and change the form of some of'
his expressions; but the style of Mr. Heady is peculiar: it is his
own, and the merit of originality should not be denied to him, even
in those rare instances in which lie breaks away from the trammels
of recognized laws of language.
                                                        (3)

 




4



PREFACE.



  I am sure that the knowledge of the infirmities under which this
author writes will secure to him a lenient spirit of criticism, whilst
it inspires admiration in view of the great excellence of his work.
Not a line, not a word of complaint against the Providence that has
afflicted 1im-not the slightest allusion to his personal disabilities-
will be found anywhere in this volume. Tile spirit of the writer is
cheerful, to the verge of gayety itself.  ie has a keen sense of the
ridiculous, and exhibits a quiet humor which is couched in quaint
and striking phrases.
  How   thankful ought we to be, to whom. the gracious God has
given the use of all our senses! lShould we not stand reproved in
the presence of this blind and deaf man, who uses for the benefit of
others the means that he possesses, whilst we, enjoying all of God's
bounties, have made so little use of them This work is a sermon
to the despondent, complaining spirit, and a word of vigorous ex-
hortation to the slothful man. May this )noral of the book leave its
record for good in the heart of every reader!
                                        A\. P. HARRISON,
                                  Book Editor, DI. E. Church, South.
 NASHVILLE, Dec., 1883.

 












                INTRODUCTION.

N EARLY twenty years had now elapsed since Daniel Boone had
    slpent that lnelloral)le twelve-niontlh all alone in the depths of
the boulndless wilderness; yet was Kentucky still the IHunter's Para-
dise, or the lan(i of the I)ark and B (loody Giround, just as thle wild
adventurer or peaceful laborer might happen to viewv it. In tihe
more central regions, it is true, a number of thriving settlements
had already sluting ul, and by this tinie-1789, or thereabout-were
qsuite too populous and strong to apprehend any further serious moles-
tation froim their Indian neighbors. But between these poHints and
the Ohio IRiver lay a wivde border of dehatabjle land, where the rest-
less savages still kept up their hostile dlemonstrations, which, though
less 1loodv anid wasting than at an earlier period, were yet sufficiently
freiuent and harassing to keel) time white settlers in perpetual dis-
quietude and fear.
  Sometimes difierent settlements would unite their forces into strong
parties of from fifty to two hundred riflemen, when a dash would be
made across the river and the war carried for a week or two into the
enenmv's countrv. But as the Indians, with their characteristic wari-
ness, had usually timely notice of the approaching danger, and would
abandon their villanes for the more secure shelter of the forest, the
white invaders could do little more in the wav of vengeance and
intimidation than burn the deserted towns and level the corn-fields
to tlme ground. A. brief interval of quiet wotuld sometimes follow
these raids; but it happened not utnfrequently that the pioneers would
har(ly he back to their several stations, disbanded, and fairly at their
labors in the field, when there again was the Indian war-whoop
ringing along the periled border as melodiously as ever, and the

 



6                      INTRODUCTION.

pillaging, murdering, scalping, and burning going on in the good
old orthlodox fashion thepeskv red ravagers loved so well.
  What greatly aggravated this distressing state of things, Kentucky
w:.s still but a district of Virginia, hence powerless to use to tile full
extent the means of self-defense which otherwise had lain within her
reach; while the seat of government was so remote from the seencs
of disorder tih.t the iother State could succor her infant settlements
scarcely more than had thiey lain on the othier side of thle Rocky
Mountains, insteatl of the Alleghanies. Thus trammeled, Kentucky
ouild do little more than, like a tethered Ibison, butt at the dangers
which year in and year out l eset her on every side. To be sure, con-
ventions composed of her lest men, and having for their object her
erection into a separate State of the Union, had been for the last
three years, annd for the next three years continued to be, as frequent
as canip-meetings---quite as demonstrative too, an(l noisy, and quite
as inmuh to the purpose, so far as concerned the object in view.
Why, does not beseein uis here to inquire. Finally, just as the dan-
ger was over and gone, and the last hand of hostile Indians that ever
raised the war-wlo(,) in the land of the "JDark and Bloody Ground"
had been dlriven across the Ohio, Kentelky was untrammeled, and suf-
fered to rear her bleeding front among the mighty sisterhood of States
-an independent, sovereign part of the independent, sovereign whole,
as the phrase shoould go, until thle great rebellion should call for new
constructions and clear definitions. Thenceforth for twenty years
the fierv lines of war receded fitfully northward, till stayed at tIme
Battle of the Thames, quenched in the life-blood of the heroic, time
high-minded, the hapless Tecumseh.

 








                  CONTENTS.


                       CHAPTER 1.                    PAG.
How Iig Black Burl Figured in the Paradise ................  9

                      CHAPTER II.
How Little Bushie Figured in the Paradise ................. 17

                      CHAPTER III.
How Big Black Burl and Bushlie Figured in Each Other's Eyes 26

                      CHAPTER IV.
How Somebody was Lost in the Paradise .................... 39

                       CHAPTER V.
How Grumbo Figured in the Paradise ...................... 46

                      CHAPTER VI.
How Big Black Burl Figured on the War-path by Day .......2 5

                      CHAPTER VII.
How Big Black Burl Figured on the War-path by Night ...... 60

                     CHAPTER VIII.
How Big Black Burl Figured in a Quandary ................ 67

                      CHAPTER IX.
How Big Black Burl Figured in Ambush ................... 73

                       CHAPTER X.
How Big Black Burl Figured in the Fight .................. 81

                      CHAPTER XI.
How Little Bushie Figured in the Fight .................... 90

                      CHAPTER XII.
IHow Big Black Burl and Grumbo Figured After the Fight.... 99
                                                (7)

 



8                      CONTENTS.

                      CHAPTER XIII.                  PAGZ
How Big Black Burl Figured in his Triumph ..... .......... 109

                      CHAPTER XIV.
How Big Black Burl Figured in Oratory .................... 117

                      CHAPTER X\.
How Big Black Burl Sewed it Up in his War-cap .... ....... 127

                      CHAPTER X VI.
How Big Black Burl Figured on the Peace-path ............. 136

                     CHAPTER XVII.
How the Glory of his Race Figured in his Rising . .... ...... 147

                     CHAPTER XVIII.
How the Eagle and the Lion and the Big Bear Figured in the
   Great 'orth-west ..................................... 134

                      CHAPTER XIX.
How Big Black Burl Figured at the Death-stake ............. 164

                      CHAPTER XX.
How Kumshakah Figured in the Light of the Setting Sun..... 174

                      CHAPTER XXI.
How the Glory of his Race Figured in his Setting .... ....... 180

 














                     Ghapter 1.
 How BIG BLACK BURL FIGURED IN TME PARADISE.

 IX feet six he stood in his moccasins, yet seemed not
   tall, so broad lie was and ponderously thick. He had
.n elephantine leg, with a foot like a black-oak wedge; a
chimipanzean arm, with a fist like a black-oak maul; eyes as
large and placid as these of an ox; teeth as large and even
as those of a horse; skin that was not skin, but ebony; a nose
that was not a ncse, but gristle; hair that was not hair, but
wool; and a grin that was not a grin, but ivory sunshine.
Such was the outward man of Big Black Burl.
  Brave as a lion, deliberate as a bear, patient as an ox,
faithful as a mastiff; affectionate as a Newfoundland dog,
sagacious as a crow, talkative as a magpie, and withal as
cheery and full of song as a sky-lark. Such was the inward
man of Big Black Burl.
  Built up and limbed as just described, our hero, as you
may well imagine, must have been a man of prodigious
bodily strength. To be sure, a tall, supple, well-knit, athletic
white man like Simon Kenton, for example, might, in a
wrestling-match and by some unexpected sleight of foot, have
kicked his heels from under him and brought him flat on
his back with ease. But keeping him there would have
been an altogether different matter. That would have taken
                                -             (9)

 


10                      BUR L.

.Sinmon Kenton, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Logan, all men
of uncommon bone and muscle, and all upon him at once;
mul even then he would have tumbled and tousled them so
lu!stily as at last to force them fIroni slicer loss of breath to
yield the po)int and let hini up.
  The station, in and aroun(l which our colored hero was
wi-ont to figture, was one of the most exposed points alongr the
northern bordvr, and(, being the re-ndezvous of iniany of Ken-
tucky's 10ol(est hunmters, was looked upon by the more inte-
rior settlements as their bulwark of' defelnse a-rainst incur-
sions of the INlians. Now, be it knowni that in the numer-
ouls skir-mishies which took place in that quarter between the
Reds an(l the Whites, Bi- Black Burl played a rather con-
spicuous part; proving himself for deeds of warlike prowess
at signal illustration of African valor-a worthy representa-
tive, id(leed, of his great colentrymvna  Alumbo Jumbo, the
flir-filemd giant-king of Congo. In testimony vlwhereof, there
were the scalps of his enemnies taken by his own hand in se-
cret amllussi and in open fight, and which, strung together
like pods of red pepper, or ellttilt-S of dried pumpkin, hung
blackening iii the smoke of his cabin.
  Scalps!  Your pardon, Christian reader; but the truth
must be confessed, bald as it is, and worse than bald. It
was the flishion of the day: the Reds took scalps and the
Whites took scalps. It were, then, hardly fair in us to find
fhult with the Blacks for doing the same, especially as they
coul(l neither read nor write nor cipher, nor had been
taught the absolute truths of any creed whence, as a natural
consequence, proceeds that profound fixedness of belief which
needs must make itself manifest in the persistent exemplifi-
cation of every Christian virtue. Had they enjoyed these
inestinmable advantagces, the Blacks-depend upon it-would
have denied themselves so barbarous a luxury, and set a
more Christian example to the unchristian Whites then

 




dwelling in the Paradise. The glory of such a manifestation
,was reserved to the nineteenth century, when the lovers of
thre great brotherhood of man should (liscover an(l proclaim
to the listening carth the latent saint inherent in the nature
of ebony, from 11am, the favorite son of Noali, (lowni to Un-
cle Tom), the best man that ever lived.
  lin the corn-field, barefooted and shirt-sleeved, Burl was like
the 1patient, pledding, slow-paecd ox; but let the alarin-cry of
Indiants! Indians! " ring alon-v the border, and in a trice,
with imoccasins on fret, war-ca) on head, rifle on shoulder,
tonmahawk and hbuting-knifo in belt, he was out upon the
vwar-lpatlh-a roaring lioe, thirsting for scalps and glory.
Indeed, so lfamous dlid he in time become for his martial
exploits as to win for himself amiong Whites a distinguished
title of " The Fi-lhti- N-i-,er; " while aniong the Reds, by
lwhoim he was regarded as a sort of Okeeheedee-half man
and half devil-he grew to be known as " The Big Black
Brave of time BushI Iknad."  When out on his " Injun"
hunts, the Fighting Nigger usually chose to be alone. His in-
stinct told lhii-and that mnonitor rarely spoke to Big Black
Burl in vain-that lie must not presume too far upon that
fellowship iuto which, in virtue of his great achievements, the
White hunters had condescended to admit him; lest famil-
iarity, which breeds contempt, might ilicur him the risk of
being snubbed, or thrust out altogether as an impertinent
intruder, who had forgotten where he stood in the secial
scale. Whereas, by the general observance of this prudent
policy, not only should he win additional commendations
from his White superiors for additional deservings, but se-
cure to himself the undivided honor of the scalps the tro-
phies of victory-taken by his own hand in battle. For,
colored though he was, with a nose inclining neither to the
Roman nor Grecian, our hero showred that he cherished a
genuine, therefore jealous, love of glory. In this. respect,



B URL.



11

 


12                      BURL.

we may liken the Fighting Nigger to such godlike speci-
mens of our race as Alexander the Great; to Napoleon the
Great; or, perhaps more fitly still, to Mumbo Jumbo the
Great, the far-fanied giant-king of Congo.
   But if there was one thing in the Paradise that Big Black
Burl loved more than scalps and glory, it was his little mas-
ter, Biishie-or, as the name had been written down in. the
Good Book, some eight or nine, years before, Bushrod Rey-
nolds, jr. Bushrod Reynolds, sr., the father, and Jemima
Ileyniolds, the mother, were natives of the Old Dominion,
whence they had migrated but a few months prior to the birth
of their little son; Bushrod, with his whole worldly estate
across his shoulder, in the shape of rifle and ax; Jemima, with
her whole paternal inheritance close at her heels, in the shape
of an unslhapely, gigantic ne-ro votuth, destined in after years
to win for himself anion- the Red warriors of the wilderness
the blii,-soundiwr title of" The Big Black Brave of the Bushy
Head."   With brave and cheerful hearts, which the pioneer
must maintain, or sink, they had gone to work, and cutting
out a broad green patch from the vine-inwoven forest, had
erelong, in the midst of the sunshine thus let in, built them
a rustic home. Here, in the due course of nature, a playful
little pioneer made his appearance, whom they bundled up
in red flannel and christened Bushrod, and called Bushie-
Burl's household idol.
  Now, as a hunter and Indian fighter, Bushrod Reynolds
had few equals, even in the Paradise-a land prolific be-
yond precedence of the heroic in that line. Hence it nat-
urally followed that he should take the lead of the other
pioneers, who made Fort Reynolds as in compliment to him
the station was called-their place of refuge from the incur-
sions of the Indians, or their rallying-point for repelling the
invaders. Thus on a certain day it so befell that an In-
dian chase was started near Fort Reynolds-a band of the

 


                        BURL.                        13

Red marauders having made a bloody, burning pounce
upon the settlements the previous night, and now, loaded
with booty and scalps, were making all speed for the Ohio
River, to throw that broad barrier between themselves and
danger.
  The chase had been kept up for several miles, and the pur-
suers as yet had failed to catch a glimpse of the fugitives.
Swifter of foot than his comrades, Captain Reynolds had im-
prudently, perhaps unconsciously, pushed on fur in advance,
when on a sudden he found himself waylaid and set upon
by four or five of the savages, who, bolder than their fellows,
had dared to be the hindermost and cover the retreat. These,
having caught sight of their foremost pursuer, and marking
that he ran quite alone, had agreed among theimselves to
waylay and capture him; a prisoner being a more coveted
prize than a scalp, since, while yet alive, he could be both
scalped and roasted. But he resisted so desperately, dealing
about their heads such ugly blows with the butt of his rifle,
as quickly to convince them that he was not to be taken.
alive; and aware that the rest of their pursuers should soon
be upon thenm, and exasperated by the bruises he had given
them, they shot him down on the spot-nor turned to renew
their flight till they had scalped him, though still alive and
conscious. The Red dastards were yet in sight when the
other hunters gained the spot, where they found their leader
wounded and dying. With a commanding gesture, he
sternly bid them forward, nor mar the chase for him, who
had but a few moments to live. Fortunately, it so chanced
that on the present occasion Big Black Burl was with the
White hunters; therefore they left him to minister to his
dying master, and again pushed on in hotter, fiercer pursuit.
  For many a weary mile of bush-entangled forest and
grass-entangled glade, of rocky dell and precipitous hill, the
chase for life and death went on-nor ceased till it had

 




brought pursued and pursuer to the banks of the broad
Ohio. Here thev who had dared to be the bindermost found
themselves reduced to desperate straits, whether to fight or
swim-their comrades, unmindful of them, having pushed
off in all the canoes, and beings by this time far out upon the
river. Needing but a glance to tell them where their ehnnc(,s
lay, with a loud yell of defiance, they leaped from the high
bank into the deep stream and swam for dear life. The in-
stant after, the rifles of the White hunters rang out from
among the trees along the shore: there was a stain of blood
upon the water, and the next moment they who but now
had stemmed the current with desperate sinews floated life-
less with it-all who dared to be the hindermost.
  Mleanwhile, the faithful Burl had borne his wounded mas-
ter to the banks of a forest brook which ran hard by, and
had set him down, reclined against the trunk of a tree.
Then he took his powder-horn, having emptied its contents
into his ammunition-poueh, and filling it from the stream,
gave his master to drink-the clear, cool, sparkling water,
so refreshing to the tired and thirsty, but to the wounded
man sweet and grateful beyond expression. When he had
drained the flask and revived a little, that hapless hunter
thus addrcssed his slave: "Burl, you have ever been faith-
ful to me. Have I been as kind to You"
  A big sob was the only answver, but it came from the
depths of the heart, and said " Yes " a hundred times.
  "Then, be faithful still. You have a brave heart and ti
strcD" arm, and to your support and protection must I, in
some sort, leave my poor wife and child. Then give me
your word, your solemn promise, that you will be as faithful
to .Miss Jenminia as YoU have been to mne; and that you will
take good care of her fatherless boy, till he lie old and strong
enough to shift for hinself, and for his mother, too. Do
you give me yotor promise"



14



B unL.

 


                        BURL.                        15

  "0 master! " Burl at length sobbed out, " it ain't much a
pore nigger kin do fur White folks in dat way; but what
I kin do I will do, an' won't never stop a doin' it." Here,
with a blubbering expression of grief, the poor fellow broke
down.
  "Your band upon it, my good old boy," whispered the
dying hunter, his breath now almost gone. "Bid Miss
Jemima and dear little Bushie good-by for me, and carry
them my dyingI blessing."
  In pledge of the promise, never to be broken, Burl took
the hand that was now powerless to take his, and held it
till death had fixed its answering grasp and the hunter was
gone to find another paradise. Then he laid his master's
body upon the streamlet's brink, to wash away the blood.
How gently the huge hand laved the gory locks and dashed
the soft water into the dead, pale face! It was a stern, rug-
ged, weather-beaten face; but the light of the last loving
thoughts still lingered upon it, lending it a beauty in death
which it had never known in life. This part of his pious
duty duly done, then tenderly in his mighty arms he took
up the precious burden and laid it across his shoulder to
bear it to the distant home. Through the fast lengthening
shadows of sunset, through the glimmering shades of twi-
light, through the melancholy starlight, through woods,
woods, woods, he bore it, till the lamp that always burned
at the little square window, when the hunter was abroad in
the night, was spied from afar, telling that the faithful, lov-
ing heart was waiting and watching as she should never
wait and watch again.
  Burl stepped softly over the low rail-fence ihto the yard
and laid his master's body upon a puncheon bench which
stood under a forest-tree directlv in front of the cabin.
Having composed the limbs of the dead, he stole with noise-
less tread across the porch to the cabin door, at which he

 



softly knocked with his knuckles, but holding it fast by the
latch-handle, lest it should be too suddenly opened. Straight-
way a quick step was heard approaching the door from with-
in. The wooden bolt slid back with a thump, the wooden
latch went up with a click, but the door remained shut.
   "It 's nobodv but me, Miss Jemimy; nobody here but me.
You 's awake, is you"
  " Yes, Burl, I 'm awake," answered a gentle voice within;
and ti-aii the latch went up with a click.
  "rNot yit, Miss Jemimy, not yit. I said dare 's nobody
here but mle; but did n't 'zaclv mean what I said. You 's
awake, now, is you-wide awakes"
  "Yes, Burl, I am wide awake, and have been all night
long But why do you ask And why do you hold the
door so fast"  And now there was a tremor of alarm in
the gentle voice.
  "Den, put out de light, Mfiss Jemnimy; 0 put out de
light! " and the great sob which shook the door told the rest.
  In sweet pity we shall refrain from dwelling further upon
the scene. But as Burl stood out there in the night and wit-
nessed the widow's anguish, and heard the wail of her father-
less child, from that heart whence had ascended to heaven
the promise never to be broken there rose a terrible oath
that never from that day forward, while he had life in his
heart and strength in his arm, should an opportunity for
vengeance slip his hand. How faithfully that oath was kept
full many a Red man's scalp, which hung blackening from
his cabin beams, but too plainly attested.



16



B sabLe

 









                    Chapter 11.
  How LITTLE BusHIE FIGURED IN THE PARADISE.

"NO, Bushie, my boy, you can't go to the corn-field to-
     day," said Mrs. Reynolds to her son of nine years old,
one fine May morning, about two years after the sad event
recorded in the foregoing chapter. The little fellow had
been teasing his mother for two or three hours to let him go
to the field where Burl was plowing corn, knowing full well,
as every only child does, the efficacy of importunity.
  "But, mother, Burl is singing so big and glad out there,
and I should so love to be with him. And I should so love
to wvatch the squirrels running up and down the trees and
alcng on top of the fence; and the little ground-squirrels
slipping from one hollow log to another; and the little birds
building their nests; and the big crows flopping their wings
about the limbs of the old dead trees. And then, too, Burl
would be-"
  "Let Burl go on with his singing," interrupted the mother;
"and let the squirrels go on with their playing; and the
birds with their nest-building; and the crows with their
idling about the limbs of the old dead trees. All this is very
nice, I know, but hardly worth the risk you must be at in
getting there to enjoy it."
  "But, mother," urged Bushie, " Burl would be so glad to
see me sitting up there on top of the fence, just where he
and old Cornwallis would be coming out at the end of the
row. I know just 'zacly what he 'd say, the minute he sees
me: 'I yi, you dog-s!"'



2



(17)

 




  " Yes, and somebody else might be glad to find a little
white boy sitting up there on top of the fence," rejoined
the mother, with a warning look. "Somebody who would
steal up from behind, as soft as a cat upon a bird, and before
knowing it, there! you would find a big red hand clapped
over your mouth to keep you from screaming for help.
'Then, hugged tight in a pair of red arms, cruel and strong,
oif you 'd go through the woods and over the hills and across
the Ohio to old Chillicothe, there to be made a wild Indian
of, for the rest of your days, if not roasted alive at once.
Only this morning, Captain Kenton, on his way from Lime-
stone to Lexington, dropped in at breaklist-time, and told
us that be had seen fresh Indian signs in the woods not more
than five miles from the fort. And, Bushic, my boy, have
you forgotten that only this spring Burl shot a panther in
the woods between here and the field And that only last
winter he knocked a bear in the head with his ax, at the
big sink-hole spring in the middle of the field And that
only last fall lie trapped and killed that terrible one-eyed
wolf in the black hollow just beyond the field" And see-
ing her little son opening his mouth and fetching a breath
for a fresh effort, the mother, with more decision, added:
"No, Bushie, no! Play about the fort as much as you
please, but go to the field to-day you must not, and you shall
not. There!" And with this she clapped his little coon-
skin cap upon his head, and ramming it down to his ears,
bid him go and hunt up the other children and play at
home, like mother's good boy.
  Now, Bushie loved his mother dearly, even tenderly, for
a juvenile pioneer, especially at meal-times and at nights;
the fort, too, in bad weather, he liked well enough. But on
Burl, between meals, and on the woods and fields, in fine
weather, be fairly doted. The weather on the present oc-
casion was as fine as the heart of a healthy, growing, advent-



18



1i EARL.

 


                        B   RL.                       19

urous boy could wish for recreation under the open sky-
it being, indeed, the last day of May, which, as nobo(dy ever
ii-kes a holiday of it, is always perf'ctly delightful. There-
fore' was he strongly tempted to give a suapping pull at the
apron-strings and make for sweet liberty-a thing he was in
thle habit of doing about once a week, when the keeuest
switcllin  anld thle liveliest dancing that one could wvish to
witlicss would follow, sure as fate. To (lo our urchin hero
justice, however, lhe rarely yielded to the temptation without
miaking sonme considerable effort to resist it; etl3rts such as
olders transgressors are apt to set down largely to their own
credit in their priv;ate accounts between self and coinscience,
vaguely hoping thereby to l)anmboozle soinebody besides
themselves perhaps the recordi hg angel. So, this morning,
he hunted np the other children, as his mother had bidden
him, and made a maniful-nay, despe'rate-ecfrhrt to besportive
at home; but the little fort, within the shelter of whose wood-
en. valls had been their home ever since that melancholy
night two years ago, had never seemedl to hiiil so dull and
lonesome. The hunters and field-laborers, belongni,' to the
station, were all abroad, and the other children seemed as
little inclined to play as himself
  Finding that quiet amusement was not likely to come of
its own accord, Bushie was minded to dra2w it out by a little
gentle persuasion, and to this intent challenged the tallest
boy of the company-taller than himself by a head, though
not so broad-to cope with Iiimn in a boxing match. Hav-
inga already tried that game several times and invariably
cone off with a savage griping in the pit of the stomach,
the tall boy made it a point just then to hear his mother's
call-though heard by no one else-which answering, he
walked off briskly, under press of filial obedience, to see
what was wanted. As if hoping to force what would not come
of its own accord, or by persuasion, Bushie now laid unau-

 




thorized hands on Grumbo's tail, and giving it a cracking pull,
got his finger bitten; ditto, then, on Tom's tail, and giving it a
cracking jerk, got his leg scratched. Evidently, quiet amuse-
ement at home to-day wis a consummation quite out of the
question, lowever dev-outly to be w-ishled. So, he gave it up as
a nmoral achievenicrit beyond his pjrcsent resourecs, and with
the f     oir of a bov who though he had fihild in the discharge
of duty had vet endeavorcd well, lie went and stood in the
gate-wayoftlhe iirt, which, as it directly ficed thedistant field,
wa:s jmst the phlce to give the Tempter a fiair chance at him.
  The sky-how sunny and blue it beiit above him! The
wvo&d--how sh.dy and green they rose before hiim! The
little log iort-how dull and lonesomie it lay behind him!
The little Iog grist-mill dowi-n there on the banks of the river
at the foot of the hill-how tiresonmely it went on creaking
aund hunmingi and dronhing, forever repeating, "' What a
piity! what a pity-! what a pity! " or, " Clip it, Buslhie ! clip
it, Bushie! clip it, Bushic!  4 co'rding to the tune one's
fancy nmight chance to be singingi at the moment. The
Temn ter was creeping upon him   apace. The melodious
strains of that pow-erful voice-how cheerily, sweetly they
come resouindin r, throu -ih the echoing woods growing more
               _                            growitng
and more distinct as the singer neared the hither end of his
furrow! The distance was too great for Bushic to distingiuish
the words of the song; but to his longing ears, the burden
of it seemed to be something very much to this effect:
             "Conic, conic, come, Busbie, come!
             Btirl a' Iplowvin' in (le fiel',
             A singii' for bis little nian to come."
  Here the Tempter crept up close to him and whispered in
his ear: "Do n't you hear him Bushie He's singing for
you. Clip it! Panthers, bears, wolvcs, Indians! Pslhaw!
They '11 never dare to come a-nigh you, with that voice ring-
ing in their ears. Clip it! Ain't he singing for his little man



20



B URL.

 




to come Clip it! I say. To be sure your mother will switch
you well for running away, but who minds that It's all
over in the shake of a sheep's tail, and by the time you 've
rubbed your back and legs a little, eaten your supper, and
said your prayers, you '11 be feeling just as comfortable as
ever. Clip it, I say; clip it!"
  Buishie could endure it no lonoer. So, after a short, one-
sided debate between the good of hiu and the evil of him-
th