28THE OHIO HUNTER

CHAPTER II

REACH MY SIXTEENTH YEAR RETURN TO MY NA-
TIVE PLACE -- WORK OUT AS A MONTH HAND--A
FIT OF LOVE--SCARED BY WOLVES ,DISAPPOINT-
ED-GO BACK TO PIQUAY COUNTY RAIL-SPLIT-
TING--ENTANGLED IN LOVE AFFAIRS -- A STORM
--A CALM --IS MARRIED.

Thus far in my life I have never been confined to hard labor. Had this been otherwise, most of the useless transactions before narrated would never have been perpetrated; for idleness is the fostering parent of many vices. But at the age of fifteen I returned to my native County, and commenced laboring by the month. My first engagement was with a widow lady, whose family consisted of one son, two daughters, young ladies, and a boarder. They were very respectable people, and I was well pleased with my home, until caught in some of my old pranks. I took advantage of the power of rendering myself invisible shortly after. However I afterward obtained forgiveness for my rashness and was re-instated in the family.

There is but little of interest connected with my history for the succeeding three years, for they were spent in hard labor on a farm; and those who have served in the capacity of a hired

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servant for that period of time know better than I can tell them of its monotony.

When eighteen, that strange fascination which is within the power of the other sex alone to exert over the hearts of men, and which has not infrequently affected stronger minds than mine, commenced working a more powerful charm ever me than I had ever exerted over bird or beast; and with weapons more destructive to peace than any I had ever hurled at the lives of the latter, I found my heart assailed by a certain mysterious deity, whom I have since been taught to venerate as the god of love, or as more commonly designated, Cupid. Yes, I was in love; or, I believed myself so, though I afterward found I had been mistaken. I had paid the dear Annie Maria two or three unceremonious visits, and on this eventful Saturday evening set out to make another of the same kind. Had I more thoughtfully informed her of the day and hour she might expect me, this great shipwreck of human happiness might not have come so suddenly. But she was not expecting me in the least at that time, and perhaps I ought to forgive her, since many others have done the same. But there she sat in front of the fireplace, with David Billings close beside her! I stood for a moment all bewildered,--my heart for the first time began to palpitate,-- what should I do! I determined to let her know I had seen them. I rallied strength, and with a bold tread I entered.

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My appearance caused some confusion and extra blushes, but I was determined to show them how little I cared, and think I could have succeeded tolerably well but for a sudden huskiness in the throat, which rendered my speech quite inarticulate. I made my visit short, and with a cool "good evening," I departed. I went about a mile, when I came to the place where the roads crossed; here I sat down by the wayside to watch the time my successful rival should leave, with no other companion than my dog and my own unpleasant reflections. Not long after this the gentleman before mentioned passed by me, and I then proceeded on my solitary way. I had only reached the foot of a large hill that lay in my road, when I was alarmed by the loud barking of a pack of wolves. My knees began to tremble and my hair to rise on my head; not knowing then as well as I have since learned, that they would not hurt me; __ for mingled with the ghost and witch stories, I had heard much of the ferocity of bears, wolves and panthers, and supposed they were really the same blood-thirsty, ferocious beasts they had be represented.

True they are blood-thirsty, but it is not the blood of the human species they thirst for. Our all-wise Creator has so ordered it That they are much more afraid of a human being than the most timid child possibly can be of the bear; -- otherwise the great forest of America never could

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have been rendered habitable for man, without a great destruction of human life. But the loss of life by such agencies as these is much less than are the traditions respecting them. It is only in defense of its young, or when rendered frantic by fright or extreme starvation, that any of the animals of America will molest the human species.

On the occasion before mentioned the sound approached nearer and still nearer, -- my affright became more and more terrible, till I was on the point of lying down in submission to my fate, when we came upon a flock of sheep, and myself and dog were no longer an object of pursuit. I then proceeded at rather more than a usual pace toward home. I reached my mother's gate just before my strength failed, and upon entering the house was immediately questioned as to wheat was the matter. I answered, "Nothing." But with woman's intuitiveness she readily guessed the truth, and said I had been to see Annie Maria, and she hoped the wolves would get me if I didn't stay away. I felt that I was now really forsaken, -- disappointed in love, -- my life hunted by wolves, and my own mother refusing sympathy.

Not many days after this tragical event, the aforesaid Annie Maria came to visit my sister. She told her the story of her wrongs, and her

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to see that a proper explanation was made. A favorable opportunity for talking the matter over was arranged by my sister, and soon an amicable adjustment of matters was made, and I continued to travel the old wolf road for several months. But like many young suitors, I favored a monopoly of attentions, and she concluded I was a little jealous-hearted, and so future services were dispensed with.

In 1829 I returned to Pie[nay County among the Dutch. with whom I always liked to live; for if they were a little too credulous in their views of the marvelous, they were nevertheless an honest, upright, hard-working people. I had by this dine become accustomed to hard labor, and found it much the surest means of making a living. I commenced taking large jobs of rail- splitting and cord-wood chopping, at either of which I could hardly be excelled. I was of robust constitution, with large bodily frame; my height being six feet, with long legs, and amply developed hands and feet, large muscles and strong nerves, with no unnecessary flesh; commonly weighing from one hundred and seventy-five to one hundred and eighty pounds. I had never been sick a day in my life, and, always accustomed to healthful exercise, either from active sports, or hard labor in the open air, I had developed an ample chest, and immense muscular strength, so that I was admirably fitted for the

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kind of business in which I was now engaged. I could easily split eight hundred rails, or cut six cords of wood in a day. To the truth of this statement I expect many who read this book can testify.

So far in my life my habits of industry had only been fitful and alternated with fishing excursions, hunting scenes, and the practice of the various arts I had learned when a boy; and my reputation for industry and integrity was far from being fully established. This I learned to my great dismay when not long after' having become greatly charmed with a beautiful Dutch girl whose parents were rich, and having won her affections and the promise of her hand in marriage, I quite confidently solicited the old gentleman's approval of our union. I was considerably humiliated when he replied that he would never trust his daughter's happiness with one who with a dog and gun could spend half his time in the woods. I must first learn to be industrious before I could have one of his girls. This was the most practical lesson I had ever learned. I determined immediately never to be refused for that same reason again. I concluded it would be easier to establish a good reputation where I was not known, and accordingly started for new quarters. I went about ten miles and hired out to another Dutchman. He had a daughter seventeen years old to whom I soon became engaged also. I worked early and

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late, and in the course of a month or two, thought I had sufficiently won the old gentleman's confidence to justify me in making the great and important desire of my heart known; and with the almost perfect assurance too, that he would favor my suit, and that I should eventually become the proud possessor of his daughter's hand. But I was again destined to see the fondest hopes of a lifetime withered in an hour, and the cup of happiness rudely dashed froth my lips by that ruthless word--no. Oh, fate inexorable! why was I doomed to suffer all this? What had I done that I must ever meet with disappointment ? But I soon found that it was not so much on account of what I had done as what I had not. Yes, here was a little balm for the bleeding wound: I could stay and work one year, and if in all that time I proved really honest and industrious, and one likely to make for his daughter a good living, I could have her. So Jacob- like I toiled on, nor thought the time long.

But my affections were not altogether as constant at that age as they should have been; and the sight of a pretty face usually disconcerted me considerably. Well it so happened there lived another farmer not far from there, who had a daughter with features comely and countenance fair. My peace of mind was considerably disturbed by this knowledge, coming to me as it did through the sense of vision. True my Mary was all that heart could wish; but possibly my atten-

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tions might not be disagreeable to the beautiful Kate. I determined at least to form her acquaintance, and perhaps she too might yet learn to love me as well as Mary, and if I were so blessed by the affections of one true heart I should be doubly so when I had won another. This was all very pleasant to think about, but I found the execution of my blissful dream afforded far less delight. It required considerable financeering to lay a plan whereby I might avoid detection; for my presence at home on Sabbath evening was expected as a matter of course, and there was no other evening in the week where I could reasonably hope to meet with a favorable reception at the other place. I could endure this uncertainty no longer. So one Sabbath afternoon I went to a singing-school a few miles distant, and after its close, instead of returning home, I went as far in the other direction. I found the fair-faced Kate looking just her sweetest, her hair lying in beautiful waves above a square forehead, and her dimpled cheeks and ruby lips wreathed in such bewitching smiles. Mary had suddenly lost all the charms that had so captivated my heart, and she now appeared so plain and ordinary that I pitied her. I could no longer love her, --oh, impossible. The love of' Kate was now the all-absorbing passion. I soon found that my presence was in no wise embarrassing, and spent the evening very agreeably, chatting alternately with the old folks and Kate. The evening wore

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slowly away and the old people retired for the night. I remained until a late hour and when at length I endeavored to take my departure I met with a somewhat serious obstacle, in the shape of a large cross dog that would not permit me to retire until he had set his teeth firmly in the leg of my pantaloons, and left a very visible mark of his displeasure by a large right-angled rent. I said nothing about the deeper impressions he made. On returning home I was immediately questioned in regard to my absence, also to the rent in my pantaloons. I replied that coming home I had treed a coon, and with a strange dog that had followed me I had stayed in the woods all night to watch it, and just before I started for home the treacherous dog had tried to bite me, and finished the sentence by saying, '' So much for trusting strange dogs. It is best with dogs as with people to prove them before trusting them too far." I soon saw that this statement was fully believed and thought I was getting out of the difficulty very nicely for two or three days; but then as if to verify the old maxim '" Murder will out," the fatal secret I had so carefully guarded was most unfortunately revealed. I was working in the field with my intended wife's two brothers, when suddenly Kate's rueful little brother came where we were at work. The first word he said was, '' Sam, how is your leg where Nero bit it ?" I motioned him to be silent; but the more anxiously I beckoned him to silence,

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a great deal more he proclaimed it aloud, saying, '' Oh you needn't stand there shaking your head at me for I'll be darned if' you wasn't over to our house and staid with our Kate all night." One of the boys found it necessary to go to the house soon after this information had been communicated, and the whole family were soon in possession of this valuable intelligence. At. dinner I was not long in discovering that a storm was gathering in our domestic horizon, and it was soon broken in thundering accents on my head by the old gentleman, who commenced by saying, "You petter pe leaving here you d--n rascal if dat ish de way you do. I finds you out now, you no marry my gal, you black divil you." The storm continued with little abatement for several minutes, the lightning flashing vividly from all eyes, and the thunder echoing from the hoarse notes of the enraged father. But as there is usually a calm after a storm there happened to be one in this case. The outraged parents were not opposed to a reconciliation, and the faithful Mary was willing to listen to any palliation of the crime, and as such commotions are usually followed by powerful reactions; so it. was not long before our wedding day was set, and the ceremonies solemnized with a father's benignant smile resting fully upon us; and the following was recorded in the great family Bible: Married, Samuel Edwards and Mary Altman, September 22, 1832.