Woman on the American Frontier: A Valuable and Authentic History of the Heroism, Adventures, Privations, Captivities, Trials, and Noble Lives and Deaths of the "Pioneer Mothers of the Republic"Fowler, William Worthington
History
Woman on the American Frontier: A Valuable and Authentic History of the Heroism, Adventures, Privations, Captivities, Trials, and Noble Lives and Deaths of the "Pioneer Mothers of the Republic"
Fowler, William Worthington
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States; Women -- United States -- Biography
The hunters, learning their wishes, returned to the scene of the mishap,
and scoured the side of the mountain in search of the articles which had
been thrown from the wagon in its descent. They succeeded in recovering
uninjured a large number of articles, including a few which still remained
in the wrecked vehicle. Then clubbing together, they made up a purse and
bought two pair of oxen and a wagon from a passing train of emigrants, who
also generously contributed articles for the use and comfort of the
resolute but unfortunate pair. Such deeds of charity are habitual with the
men and women of the frontier, and the farther west one goes the more
spontaneously and warmly does the heart bound to relieve the sufferings and
supply the wants of the unfortunate, particularly of those who have been
injured or reduced while battling with the hardships and dangers incident
to a wild country. The more rugged the region on our western border, the
more boundless becomes the sympathetic faculty of its inhabitants. Nowhere
is a large and unselfish charity more lavishly exercised than among the
Rocky Mountain men and women. Free as the breezes that sweep those towering
summits, warm as the sun of midsummer, bright as the icy peaks which lift
themselves into the sky, the spirit of loving kindness for the unfortunate
animates the bosoms of the sons and daughters of that mountain land.
After wintering with their hospitable friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hinman pursued
their journey the following spring, and, after a toilsome march, attended
by no further startling incidents, reached their destination in Oregon.
There in their new home, which Mrs. H------, by her industry and
watchfulness, contributed so largely to make, they found ample scope for
the exercise of those qualities which they had proved themselves to
possess. It is men and women like these whom we must thank for building up
our empire on that far off coast.
The old hunters and gold-seekers in that region are the faithful
depositaries of the mountain legends respecting the adventures of the early
emigrants, and the observers and annotators, as it were, of the passages
made by the pioneers in later times. Around their camp fires at night, when
their repast is made and their pipes lighted, they beguile the lonely hours
with tales of dreadful suffering, or of hairbreadth escapes from danger, or
of heroism displayed by mountain wayfarers. This, as we have elsewhere
remarked, is the hunters' pastime.
While a hunting party were once threading the defiles of the mountain, they
espied below them in the valley certain suspicious signs. Approaching the
spot, they discovered that a train of emigrants had been attacked by the
savages, their wagons robbed, their oxen killed, a number of the party
massacred and scalped, and the rest dispersed.
One of the hunters proceeds with the story from this point.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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