A Man for the Ages | Page 6

that bade them good-by
thought it a foolish enterprise and spoke lightly of Samson when they
were gone. America has undervalued the brave souls who went west in
wagons, without whose sublime courage and endurance the plains
would still be an unplowed wilderness. Often we hear them set down as
seedy, shiftless dreamers who could not make a living at home. They
were mostly the best blood of the world and the noblest of God's
missionaries. Who does not honor them above the thrifty, comfort
loving men and women who preferred to stay at home, where risks
were few, the supply of food sure and sufficient and the consolations of
friendship and religion always at hand. Samson and Sarah preferred to
enlist and take their places in the front battle line of Civilization. They
had read a little book called The Country of the Sangamon. The latter
was a word of the Pottawatomies meaning land of plenty. It was the
name of a river in Illinois draining "boundless, flowery meadows of
unexampled beauty and fertility, belted with timber, blessed with shady
groves, covered with game and mostly level, without a stick or a stone
to vex the plowman." Thither they were bound to take up a section of
government land.
They stopped for a visit with Elisha Howard and his wife, old friends of
theirs, who lived in the village of Malone, which was in Franklin
County, New York. There they traded their oxen for a team of horses.
They were large gray horses named Pete and Colonel. The latter was fat
and good-natured. His chief interest in life was food. Pete was always
looking for food and perils. Colonel was the near horse. Now and then
Samson threw a sheepskin over his back and put the boy on it and
tramped along within arm's reach of Joe's left leg. This was a great
delight to the little lad.

They proceeded at a better pace to the Black River country, toward
which, in the village of Canton, they tarried again for a visit with
Captain Moody and Silas Wright, both of whom had taught school in
the town of Vergennes.
They proceeded through DeKalb, Richville and Gouverneur and
Antwerp and on to the Sand Plains. They had gone far out of their way
for a look at these old friends of theirs.
Every day the children would ask many questions, as they rode along,
mainly about the beasts and birds in the dark shadows of the forest
through which they passed. These were answered patiently by their
father and mother and every answer led to other queries.
"You're a funny pair," said their father one day. "You have to turn over
every word we say to see what's under it. I used to be just like ye, used
to go out in the lot and tip over every stick and stone I could lift to see
the bugs and crickets run. You're always hopin' to see a bear or a
panther or a fairy run out from under my remarks."
"Wonder why we don't see no bears?" Joe asked. "'Cause they always
see us first or hear us comin'," said his father. "If you're goin' to see ol'
Uncle Bear ye got to pay the price of admission."
"What's that?" Joe asked.
"Got to go still and careful so you'll see him first. If this old wagon
didn't talk so loud and would kind o' go on its tiptoes maybe we'd see
him. He don't like to be seen. Seems so he was kind o' shamed of
himself, an' I wouldn't wonder if be was. He's done a lot o' things to be
'shamed of."
"What's he done?" Joe asked.
"Ketched sheep and pigs and fawns and run off with 'em."
"What does he do with 'em?"

"Eats 'em up. Now you quit. Here's a lot o' rocks and mud and I got to
'tend to business. You tackle yer mother and chase her up and down the
hills a while and let me get my breath."
Samson's diary tells how, at the top of the long, steep hills he used to
cut a small tree by the roadside and tie its butt to the rear axle and hang
on to its branches while his wife drove the team. This held their load,
making an effective brake.
Traveling through the forest, as they had been doing for weeks, while
the day waned, they looked for a brookside on which they could pass
the night with water handy. Samson tethered, fed and watered their
horses, and while Sarah and the children built a fire and made tea and
biscuits, he was getting bait and catching fish in the stream.
"In a few minutes from the time I wet my hook a mess of