 | Centeola |  |
THE STARVING SETTLERS.
“I want you should tell me that story again, grandfather,
— that story about grandmother and the children
starving in the woods, and the curious dream you had
about it, you know,” said a small, bright boy, coaxingly
laying his hands on the knee of an aged man, who sat
listlessly smoking his pipe in his easy chair, placed in the
doorway of one of the rural cottages of Vermont, so that
he could look out on the green hills he loved so well, while
enjoying the grateful coolness of a midsummer evening.
“Yes, my boy,” responded the old man, rousing himself
from his reverie, and laying aside his pipe. “Yes,
that strange and wonderful dream! — I love to recall it,
because I shall always believe it came from Heaven to
give me the forewarning that was to be the means of
saving my family from perishing of hunger.
“But in the first place, my boy, perhaps you would
like to know how your grandfather and his family came
to settle here in the woods, at that time so far away from
the homes of any other settlers. I will tell you:
“Fifty years ago I lost nearly all I was worth, by the
which followed the close of the Revolutionary war.
“But I resolved not to lie down and die under the
misfortune. I posted off to the city and got my continental
rags changed to silver, before they grew any worse;
and seeking out a land proprietor of the new State of
Vermont, I soon struck a bargain with him for three hundred
acres for two hundred dollars, paid him on the spot,
and came home with the deeds, maps of the country, &c.,
in my pocket, together with a surplus of one hundred
dollars to get me to, and start me upon, my new purchase.
Within one week we were all, with the team and driver
hired for the purpose, on our way to the last settlement,
in the direction of the place where I was to establish my
forest home; within another, having got my family into
comfortable quarters, I was, with pack, gun, and axe,
making my way through the pathless forest towards the
locality of my land, which, though over thirty miles
distant, I succeeded in reaching that day before sun-set.
I found my land, as I was told I should, lying on the east
bank of Onion river, and embracing a noble expanse of
forest meadow-land, bounded north and south by two considerable
streams, that here came in on the same side of
the river, and less than a mile apart. Here, lodging in
my bark-covered shanty, alone in the wilderness, with no
white inhabitants within thirty miles of me on one side, I
worked through the whole of that long summer and autumn,
built a comfortable log-house, laid up, in part, by the
timely assistance of some transient land-lookers, and then,
as winter approached, returned to my family in the settlements.
“Being now with my family again, I cheerfully worked
through the winter for what I could get, bought a stout
horse, and made other preparations for an early removal
in the spring to our new home in the woods. And accordingly,
when May came, with my wife and our two youngest
on the horse, in addition to the bag of meal, bedding
and clothing, with which the strong beast was loaded down,
and myself, with pot and kettles, filled with seed corn, salt,
plates, knives and forks, slung on my back, and gun and
axe in my hands, and with all my older children placed in a
row behind me, we, early one morning, commenced our
toilsome journey through the wilderness. Not being able
to get through, with all our encumbrances, in one day, we
halted at dark, threw up a bough shanty, and under it,
with a fire at our feet, all slept soundly, except myself
who kept awake to be on my guard against the wolves and
catamounts, which were often heard howling in the woods
round our camp, and once came so near it, that I could see
their eyes gleaming in the light of our camp fire. It was a
hard journey for us throughout; but we got safely to our
new home the next day; and notwithstanding our fatigues
we all felt very happy and grateful. Our long dreaded journey
blind to the terrible trials we were destined yet to encounter.
“In the course of a month, I found our breadstuffs were
getting too low to admit of much longer delay in procuring
a new supply, and with the view of being sure of having
such a supply in season, I resolved to make a journey, at
once, for the purpose, to the settlement on Lake Champlain,
which was rather a shorter and easier route than the one to
the other settlement where I had lived. There were at this
time a few families living on the eastern shore of the lake,
at the place which has since grown up into the populous
village of Burlington. Among these, the leading man,
and life and soul of the settlement, was one Gideon King,
who afterwards became the rich man of the lake country.
When I reached my destination, I ascertained that there
were no breadstuffs to be had in the place. But King said
he had that day dispatchcd a sloop to the south end of the
lake for a load of meal, flour and other provisions, which
were to be brought overland from Albany, and that if I
would wait for her return, which would doubtless be within
five days, I should be supplied, and in the meantime he
would give me employment. Falling in with this proposition,
I went to work, and, for several days, felt no uneasiness.
But when five days had passed, and no sloop made
her appearance, I expressed my surprise and concern to
her owner. He, however, seemed to feel no apprehensions
the arrival of some part of her cargo from Albany, recommended
me to keep on at work and wait patiently for the
sloop, which now, within a day or two, would certainly
make her appearance. This, I at last consented to do,
though very reluctantly; for I somehow began to feel a
singular misgiving about matters at home; and feeling tired
as well as dejected, I that night went to bed before dark, and
immediately fell asleep; when I seemed to be at once transported,
either in dreams or vision, to my distant home, and
placed on a broad maple stump standing about a dozen
yards in front of the door of my cabin. Without being
permitted to speak, or make myself known, I was allowed
to see all that was going on among the family, who were
quietly moving in and about the house, and preparing for
supper; for it seemed to be just about the time of the evening
I had fallen asleep thirty miles off I perceived that the
fresh fish and game I procured for them had all disappeared,
and that they now had nothing in the house to eat but
bread. And I soon saw my wife and daughter, Minnie,
then a resolute girl of sixteen, in earnest consultation
about something, which I understood related to the necessity
of having some trout caught that night for the next morning's
breakfast — a feat which I knew Minnie had sometimes
performed. It was with no surprise, therefore, that I soon
saw her come out of the house, take down my fish-pole,
with hook and line attached, and taking my next, a boy of
on the hook, proceed to the river, and throw in. Shortly
after this I saw her look up with a significant smile;
and the next moment I saw her bending and straightening
with all her might in a pull upon the pole, while a prodigious
large trout was brought flashing and floundering
to the surface of the water, when suddenly the pole flew
back with a jerk, stripped of both hook and line. It would
be difficult to describe the look of disappointment and concern
which stamped the unlucky girls' countenance, as she
sadly took her way back to the house; and most keenly did
I sympathize with her troubled feelings, for I knew as well
as she did, that the loss of their only hook and line was a
great calamity to them all. Nor was this all that seemed
to disturb me and increase my anxieties for the family.
I somehow felt that there was still some greater misfortune
in store for them, and near at hand. So I kept
my post to watch for whatever might befall.
“It was a bright, starlight night, and, after having
seen my family make their supper, on their Indian Johnnycake
and water, bar the door, retire to their beds, and all
become hushed in slumber, I seemed to employ my time
in alternately casting watchful glances around the house
that held all my dearest treasures, and then, in gazing
around my opening, and on the wall-like masses of forest
which looming up dimly against the sky-light, seemed to
enclose it in far-stretching, mountain ramparts. Standing
be conscious of the lapse of time. A vision which must
have extended through seven or eight hours, did not seem
to occupy one; and before I thought of morning, the chirping
of the wood-birds, and the peculiar chill and ruffling
of the air which are always the precursors of approaching
day, apprised me that the dawn was close at hand. While
making these observations, I heard the cracking of brush,
as if under the tread of some heavy animal, emerging from
the woods into my opening. And, the next moment, I
could discern a large, black, moving object, attended by
two small ones, making a wide circle around my house, but
drawing nearer and nearer, and snuffing eagerly, as if for
some scented food, as they approached. I perceived them
to be a bear and cubs, and knew they were intent on seizing
something; but still I felt no apprehensions for the
family, for I knew that the bears would not be able to
effect an entrance into the house.
“But as I saw the old bear cautiously leading her cubs
under a small, open, bark-covered shed, which I had previously
thrown up against one end of the house, for storing
dry wood, and to serve as a convenient place for my wife
to keep her kettles and such things as she had not room
for in the house, an alarming truth, for the first time,
flashed across my mind. Among the rough articles of furniture
I had dug or hewn out from logs, was a small but
heavy chest, which I had placed under my bark shed, and
of a lid, I had kept covered with a wide roll of peeled
spruce bark. And I now recollected that the morning I
left, wishing to take my bag with me, I had, for want of
a receptacle in-doors, emptied all our remaining stock of
meal into this chest, which, with its wide, overlapping
cover, I supposed would be as secure as if placed inside the
house. And scarcely had the recollection come to mind,
before I saw the old bear approach the chest, tear off the
the bark cover with her paws, and plunge her head within.
The hungry cubs quickly followed her example, and
all three, the next moment, were obviouly engaged in devouring
our little treasure of meal, while, with feelings
amounting to perfect agony, I was compelled to witness
the destruction without the power of stirring from my
post, or of raising the least outcry to drive the thieving
brutes away. They made short work of it, and turned to
retreat from the place, when in so doing, the old bear trod
on the bark cover, which broke under her great weight
with a loud crash. The noise evidently, for the first time,
awoke my wife, for I at once heard a stir within, and the
next moment, I saw her hastily thrust her head from the
window, glance wildly after the retreating bears, and then
look down, in utter consternation, into the empty chest
beneath. She seemed to comprehend everything in an
instant, and turned away with a cry of anguish and despair
that pierced me to the heart like a sword. I made
side, and thought I was succeeding, but instead of striking
the ground, I landed on the floor of my bed-room in
King's house, on the lake shore, and found myself awake,
just as the first flushes of the morning were breaking
through my window. For some time I could not give up
the idea of the reality of what I seemed to have witnessed,
so vividly had every scene been impressed on my mind.
But, after rubbing my eyes, striking my head and collecting
my confused senses, I was forced to pronounce it all
a dream. But it seemed to me to be a providential warning
of some terrible calamity impending over my family;
and so I hurriedly dressed, went down, related my dream
to my employer, and told him I believed I ought to start
immediately for home. But King had no faith in dreams,
and especially none in the one I had related, which he
said was too absurd to spend a thought upon. And besides,
he said it would be no use for me to return now,
for I could carry no meal; that he was almost out, himself,
and no other family in the place would dare to part with
a pound. No, I had better keep at work, as the sloop
would be along that day or the next, and I could then
have for my family all the supplies I could carry.
“Over-persuaded, but not satisfied, I again proceeded,
after breakfast, to my work, and kept on, thinking every
morning that the sloop would surely arrive at night, and
every night, that she would be in by morning, and being
my family, I staid several days longer; when, on the
tenth night of my absence from home, I had another
dream, a complete counterpart of the former one. I was
again transported in spirit, at the same hour, to my old
stand before my house, when my mind seemed first to be
drawn back to the time I was there in vision before, and
then to take up events where I had left them, and follow
them day by day as regularly as in a journal, to this my
second visit. I saw my wife, the day following the loss
of the meal, go out into the yard, in response to the cries
of the children for food, pick up the feet of a deer I had
killed a fort-night before, and make of them a broth,
which was all they had to nourish them that day. The
next day, after gathering a mess of wild onions or leeks,
which, as miserable as they were for food, were the only
things they were certain of obtaining, my daughter and
oldest boy ranged the woods till nearly night, with poles
or clubs, in the hope of being able to knock down a partridge
or squirrel, but without success. And they renewed
the vain search on the third day, and kept it up
till my boy gave out, when my daughter brought him to
the house and gave over the profitless attempt. They
had then lived three days on no other food than on the
wretched deer-feet broth and then on the green, trashy
leeks that thickly grew on the banks of the river, and all
the younger children had grown so feeble that they could
thin and haggard that I should hardly have known her,
could not walk steadily across the floor, and they all
were evidently fast running down to helplessness and
death — all but my brave daughter, who bore up wonderfully
against the threatened calamity. On the evening
of the day last mentioned, she gathered a large
quantity of leeks, and early the next morning she was
astir, preparing to carry out a resolution she appeared to
have secretly formed for the relief of the family, which
was to try to reach the southern settlement and return
with food in time to save them from perishing. Accordingly,
despite the remonstrances of her mother, who,
when informed of the bold resolve, said it could only result
in her death on the way, she left the house, and disappeared
in the direction of her proposed destination.
“I seemed readily to understand why Minnie had gone
to the southern settlement, instead of following me, who
might be expected to bring food as soon as any was to be
had. During our residence there, the winter before, she
had received attentions from a young man named Constant
Martin, which he was very anxious should result in marriage;
and she knew, if she could reach there that day,
he would not only procure provisions, but attend her
back with them the next day, and in time, she believed,
yet to save them all from death. The day of her departure
was a sad one for the rest of them, but it at length
second vision. I was left to take direct note of the present
condition of my suffering family. But O, what an
agonizing sight for a father and husband to witness, was
there! The pinched, skeleton faces of my prostrate children;
the feeble wails and piteous cries for food that every
few minutes burst from their lips, amidst their disturbed
slumbers, and the sobs and prayers of their almost as
feeble mother, vainly trying to encourage and comfort
them, were the only sights and sounds that greeted my
pained senses during the night, through the whole of
which I seemed compelled to keep up my distressing vigil.
At daybreak, however, I appeared to be suddenly released,
and awakening, found myself, as at the close of my previous
vision, in my bed-room at Burlington.
“This second dream, so curiously connected with the
first, instantly removed every lingering doubt from my
mind. I now knew them both to be true, and determined
not to delay another hour in starting for home.
So, after glancing out of my window down to the landing
on the lake, and ascertaining that the sloop had not arrived,
I hastened to my employer, related my fresh dream,
and announced my resolve for an immediate departure.
This time making no effort to delay me, he brought out
the remains of a cold, boiled fish, with a small piece of
bread, bade me eat and begone, adding, that I could at
least go and kill wild meats enough to keep my family
fifteen minutes, I was on my way home, which, by strong
exertions, I thought I should be able to reach by the middle
of the afternoon. But in endeavoring to save the distance
of several miles by striking directly across the forest,
instead of following up the river round the northern
bend of the last fifteen miles of its course, I got bewildered
and lost in the woods; and after wandering about
all the forenoon, I reached the river only a mile or two
nearer home than my first starting point. To make up
my lost time, I now made the most strenuous efforts to
get forward, pausing only to throw myself down at the
cool rills I crossed on my rough and tangled way, to
quench the burning thirst that was continually parching
my lips and throat to fever heat and dryness. But
with all my exertions, I perceived the daylight declining,
and a dark, cloudy night settling down upon the wilderness,
while miles of my journey yet remained to be accomplished.
How I then, in fading twilight, forced my way
over and through the obstructing objects of the forest, it
is now impossible for me to tell, and I only know that,
after a long and terrible struggle, I at length emerged
into my opening, and threw myself panting and exhausted
upon the ground. While lying there to recover
my breath and strength before going forward to present
myself to my family, I felt while turning on my hip,
something in my pocket, which I did not know was there;
that morning, Mr. King came up behind me and slipped
something there, which till then I had forgotten to examine.
I now eagerly thrust my hand into the pocket,
and drew forth a small flask, which I found to contain
a good half pint of Jamaica spirits. I blessed God for
the discovery, for, while taking a much needed swallow
myself, I thought how beneficially this spirit might be
used in the restoration of my family, if I found them
in the situation I so much apprehended. But what if,
by this time, they were all dead? In the pang of anguish
that shot through me as the dismal fancy crossed
my mind, I sprang to my feet, and rushed forward to the
top of a little swell, which commanded a full and near
view of my house; my heart sank within me as I sent a
searching glance over the dimly discerned outlines of the
building and perceived all to be as dark and silent as the
grave!
“Dead! Yes, all dead! I groaned in an agony of
spirit that almost smote me to the earth. But stay!
what was that? O joy! it was a twinkling light, issuing
from the crevices between the logs composing the
walls of my house. Now Heaven be praised! I shouted.
they are yet alive! And, the next moment, a bright flash,
as if caused by the stirring up of a decayed fire, and the
plainly audible sounds of the naturally accompanying
movements within the house, fell together on my overjoyed
warrant it, after all this fright and fuss, I exclaimed in
the sudden and intoxicating revulsion of feeling. Now
what a prodigious fool I have been to be so worked up by
those miserable empty dreams! They shall never know it,
however; and I will put on such a face, as I meet them,
that they cannot even mistrust I have been guilty of such
folly. So, with an assumed lightness of manner and motion,
I passed on rapidly to the house, and entered the
door, briskly exclaiming, `hurrah! to you all — here I
am, at last, but as hungry as a bear. So, now, wife,
for a good supper!' But as my eyes fell on the face
of my wife, and then glanced over those of the children,
as they lay feebly moaning and sobbing on their pallets,
I stopped as short as if I had met a staggering blow.
My wife raised her pale, emaciated, wo-begone face, and
gave me a look of anguish and rebuke, that, to my dying
day, I shall never forget. She made an attempt to speak,
but her lips trembled, her frame became convulsed, and
she burst into a paroxysm of weeping, so violent as to
prevent her from uttering a word.
“`Never mind, O, never mind, dear wife,' I soothingly
said, as soon as I could speak, `you need not try
to tell me — I know all. But cheer up, now; for
though I bring no meat, you and the children shall yet
be saved.'
“With that I ran to my cupboard, took down a large
and poured it into her mouth, and then administered,
one after another, a like dose to each of my children.
I then kindled up a smart fire, hung over it a pot of
water, into which I flung a little salt, seized my gun, examined
the priming, and saying, in answer to the inquiring
look of my wife, that I would be back with some
kind of game within an hour, rushed out of the house for
the woods. I remembered that there was a cove of still
water in the river, about half a mile from the house, in a
deep and dark part of the forest, where the moose often
resorted, to keep the musketoes and flies from their legs,
by standing in the water during the fore part of the night.
To that spot I now directed my steps. After reaching the
place, as I did with much difficulty, owing to the thick
underbrush, and the darkness which was there so great
that I could not see a hand before my face, I cautiously
crept forward to the edge of the water and took my stand
opposite to the path in which the moose used to come
down into the cove. Here I stood some twenty minutes,
when suddenly the well known, heavy and peculiar tramp
— tramp — tramp of the long-stepping moose distinctly
fell, and fast grew louder, on my ear. And, presently,
with a crash and a splash, the animal came down the bank
in the old path, and plunging into the water, came to a
dead halt within fifty yards of the spot where I was
standing. My heart leaped into my mouth at the sounds;
finger involuntarily began to draw on the trigger. But
what was the use in firing, when the animal was as invisible
to me as if he were a mile distant? None, unless
some higher power interposed to assist me. Yet fire I
must; and therefore, in an agony of earnestness, I
breathed the prayer:
“`Father of all — helper of the suffering — feeder
of the hungry, thou seest the situation of my starving
family, and the certain death that awaits them, without
speedy relief. Then, O, wilt thou not in thy mercy,
direct the bullet, and provide the food which shall
save them from perishing. Amen!'
“With the last word I pulled the trigger, and the
deafening report of my heavily loaded gun pealed out on
the hushed wilderness; while the sudden and terrible
plunging and splashing, as of a strong animal in its death
struggles, told me how well my bullet had executed its
heaven-guided mission. After waiting a minute for the
animal's struggles to subside, I ran round to the part of
the cove where he lay, dashed in, seized one of his hind
feet and drew him ashore, just as he was bubbling out from
his submerged nostrils, his last breath of life. Instantly
whipping out my hunting knife, and guiding mainly by
the sense of feeling, I ripped down and tore away the skin
from one of the haunches, cut out a good junk of solid
flesh, and with it made my way with all possible speed to
the house.
“When I reached there, I found the family, who had
been sufficiently revived, by the spirits I had given them,
to take note of passing events, in a state of tremulous excitement
and expectation, occasioned by hearing the report
of my gun, which, from their faith in my skill in hunting,
they took as the certain herald of success. And as the
eyes of the children fell on the moose-meat I brought
swinging in my hand, all came hastily tottering and
crawling to my feet, and clutched the meat with tooth
and nail, as though they would have gulped it down raw.
But knowing the danger of permitting them to eat solid
food till the tone of their enfeebled stomachs had been
somewhat restored by gradual feeding on nutritious liquids,
I snatched the meat away, shaved off a good quantity
of thin slices and dropped them into the now seething
pot I had placed over the fire in anticipation of some
such event as had now so providentially occurred.
I then did my best to keep the clamorous brood quiet
for the next half hour; when I began to dip out the
broth in small quantities, and administered it with a
spoon to each of the family in turn. This I diligently
pursued for the next hour, each new mess of broth, as I
drew it from the pot, being perceptibly thicker and more
nutritious. By this time, so fast had they all revived,
they began to appear like themselves, move round the
house, go out into the yard and engage in conversation.
My wife, after saying she had been wondering why I
when she had left, and expressed fears for her safety.
But I here also cut her short, telling her I knew all about
that too, all which in good time I would explain, but bid
her borrow no trouble; for I had full faith that the girl
was safe. While I was yet speaking, my oldest boy, who
had been some time out in the yard, came hastening
in and said he had heard some one in the woods to the
south. I rushed into the yard and raised a long halloo,
which was quickly answered by a voice which I knew to
be my daughter's, and which by its tones indicated joy
and exultation, instead of trouble. Presently I raised
another call, that as promptly as before brought my
daughter's response, this time accompanied by a male
voice, which I recognized to be that of her lover, Constant
Martin. `They are coming!' I shouted, now relieved
of my last anxiety, and dancing about for joy.
“In five minutes more, with eager inquiries and joyful
exclamations, they came running to the house, ladened
with meal, flour, and other provisions. Our trials and
sufferings were now over. We felt that we had passed
from the very gates of death to the joys and comforts of
life; and the bounteous meal to which we all within the
next hour sat down, was more truly a Thanksgiving supper
than any one, I will venture to say, which was ever
partaken in the Green Mountains.”
“But, grandfather,” here spoke the listening boy, as
name is Minnie, and my father's is Constant Martin?”
“Yes, my boy; they were married the very next winter
after the remarkable event I have been describing, and
all the sooner for it, as she had not before fully made up
her mind. Yes, they are your parents; and they both,
as well as the rest of us, have reason forever to remember
the Dream and fulfillment.”
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