Burke's weekly for boys and girls. (Macon, Ga.) 1867-1870, August 31, 1867, Page 71, Image 7

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tom. I missed the fish, however, and in stead of getting it, found myself soused, head and ears, in water beyond my depth. My uncle never laughed alofid, he was too much of an Indian for that, but he laughed inwardly as heartily as any one, and when I was floundering in the water, I saw his sides shake until the tears came into his eyes. The other thing I learned is, that in shooting at an object under water you must aim much lower than the place where it seems to be—how much lower is to be learned only by prac tice, or by seeing how much a spear or arrow is bent by being dipped in the water. His son was a great trapper of squirrels and opossums, oftentimes bringing homo six or eight from his traps in a day ; and though I admired the contrivance by which he did this, I never could bring myself to practice it. ITe would fasten an ear of corn to a nicely set trigger at the end of a rail, and just at the place where the animal must sit to nibble, he suspended a thin loop of tough wood, at tached to a weight. The pulling or nib bling at the ear let fall the weight, by which the poor creature was squeezed to death between the loop and the rail. One day I went with my uncle to his bear trap when it had caught a bear. It was a large, hollow log, inside of which were set some strong spikes of tough wood, sharpened and arranged so that although it was easy for a bear to push his head into the log, he could not draw it back, because the spikes pressed close behind the ears, and were ready to enter the flesh the moment it pulled against them. The trap was baited with wild honey, which the bear could smell but could never reach. On the same plan he caught wolves and panthers, baiting with a piece of fresh venison. But what amused me most at uncle Way’s, although it was a small thing of its kind, was his plan for catching terra pins. Whenever they were to be seen in any number floating on the surface of a pond, he and his son would swim or wade towards them, pushing very gently before them a screen of leafy twigs, until they were near enough to grasp the terrapin by one of his out-spread hind legs, and secure him in a bag. My other uncle, as I told you, Uncle Ridge, was a great “ medicine-man.’ He studied no books, and learned under no doctor. He followed his own head, and took to the work by nature, but he would sometimes work cures in which the white doctors had failed. A case of this kind occurred during one of my visits to him. A white man, who had been for a long BURKE’S WEEKLY. time ailing with a dreadful ulcer, and whose life the doctors despaired of, came to him and asked if his sore could be cured? My uncle looked at it, asked va rious questions, and finally answered : “ Yes, if you will let me tie you.” “ I will let you do anything you please, and will pay you anything you ask, if you will only cure my leg,” the man said. “Very well,” my uncle answered; “come to me to-morrow as soon as your shadow lies your own length on the ground. I will promise to cure you, or I will take no pay.” The man came next day, as directed, bringing a friend with him, and found my uncle seated on a log by a fire, on which was a pot of herbs stewing in deer’s tal low, and close to it lay a piece of iron, with one end lying in the coals. Besides these nothing w r as to be seen, except some thongs of deerskin. After allowing him to rest, my uncle asked him, “ Are you ready?” and he answered, “I am.” “You consent that I shall tie you, and do what I think to be right ?” “I do.”. “ You promise, if I cure you, to pay me twenty dollars ?” “I do.” “ Then come to this post and put your arms around it.” The man looked a little pale, but he did as he was directed, and was then tied fast hand, foot and head, so that he could not move, nor look at the fire that was behind him. My uncle then took the iron from the fire, which was heated not quite red hot, came softly up and applied it to the ulcer. The poor fellow roared and screamed, and tried to break loose, but in vain. My uncle kept moving the hot iron up and down and around the ailing part, until it was burnt as deep and as far as it was sore. He then poured on some cold water to allay the pain, and anointed the part with a salve which had been prepared, and said, as he loosed the man, “I did not know what the sore was yesterday; but it is a burn to-day , and I ca?i cure a burn." f In the course of a week or ten days the man felt so well that he paid his twenty dollars and returned home. A Little Boy’s Answer. A little boy, when asking his mother how many Gods there were, was correct ly answered by his younger brother: “ Why one, to-be-sure !” “But how do you know that?” “Because,” he replied, “God fills every place, so there is no room for any other.” Written for Burko’s Weekly. A RASH ACT. 'TrW HERE was a wealthy g en tleman —one of Po cahontas’. descendants, Jmjp was of a quick and im petuous disposition. He had a very large fine sow that 'f% he valued very highly, as her nu merous pigs were the source of a handsome income to him each year.— However, she had a wicked practice of eating all the young chickens that came in her way. The gentleman was very fond of his numerous broods of chickens, and when any one reported that the sow had been eating them, it enraged him very much. In walking out one day he saw her in full chase of a hen and chick ens. He became so angry that, without a moment’s reflection, lie rushed in the house, seized his gun, and running back, shot her dead. As he stood and gazed at her dead body, there came her litter of little pigs and gathered around her. The strong man bowed himself and actually wept as he saw each little pig settle himself to his accustomed place, and strive to draw nourishment from h^dead body. You little boys who are rash, let this lesson serve to teach you forbearance and moderation. ’Twould have been much better to have removed her to some re mote pasture, until her pigs had become of sufficient size to have done without her watchful care ; then, in the fall, to have fattened her for pork. Don’t you all think so ? Mrs. S. E. Peck. How to Get an Education. Boys say often, “we want an education, but we are poor, and father is poor, and we can’t get it; so we are going to learn a trade, or go into a store, or do some thing else.” Now let me say, every boy that wants an education, if ho will bend his force to it, can get just as good an one as he wants. The way is open. Edu cation does not come through academies and colleges, and seminaries; these are helps, but it comes by study and reading, and comparing. All the schools, and col leges, and seminaries in the world will not make a scholar of a man without these; and with them a man will be one if he never sees a college. The same is true of girls, and what is true of this pur suit is true of any other. The force must be from yourself, and you must develope it. It is that indomitable “I can,” that sets a man astride the world. 71