Decemboi* ilo, lOlo 



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Christmas at Camp Seldom^seen 



BY lit; 



The lumber camp at Seldomscen among the spurs of the Allegheny 

 mountains in West Virginia «as opened back in the eighties and s^■as 

 manned by Pennsylvanians who went down there from the Susque- 

 hanna river. The name of the camp suggested its remoteness; for 

 it was seldom that any outside person went in there until tlie Penn- 

 sylvania company es- 

 tablished the camp 

 and began cutting 

 yellow poplar. Up 

 to that time not 

 even a w'agon road 

 had been built. The 

 few mountaineers 

 who lived in that 

 remote locality made 

 a precarious living 

 by hunting, digging 

 ginseng, and rais- 

 ing a patch of corn 

 and tobacco. They 

 used a trail for 

 traveling in and out. 

 and the largest car- 

 goes that ever went 

 over the route were 

 strapped on the hur- 

 ricane decks of 

 packhorses. 



The coming of the 

 Pennsylvanians into 

 t; h a t little-known 

 wilderness was a 

 great event. It was 

 the first sign of de- 

 velopment ever re- 

 corded there ; and 

 when they construct- 

 ed a wagon road to 

 facilitate the deliv- 

 ery of supplies, the 

 event was an epoch 

 in the annals of Sel- 

 domseen. The ar- 

 rival of tlie first 

 wagon brought all 

 the settlers together, 

 but the report that 

 they followed tlie 

 wagon five miles to 

 see "the big hind 

 wheels overtake the 

 little fore wheels, ' ' 

 was only an idle 

 joke sprung by one 

 of the Pennsylva- 

 nians at the expense 

 of the unsophisti- 

 zated mountaineers. 

 As Christmas drew 

 near the log cutters began to 



cast about for some befitting celebra- 

 tion. They wished to do something which would not only bring amuse- 

 ment to themselves but would astonish the mountaineers. They 

 finally fixed on a prize fight as the proper thing. They were fortu- 

 nate in having two genuine ring artists in the crew of log cutters. 

 Bank Huddleson, six feet two, and turning the scales at two hundred 

 arid eight, had never been knocked down, either in the ring with 



M.V.WVELL 



gloves or in an ordinary scrap with bare knuckles. Duck Luzeer was 

 not so well known in the camp, being a later comer there, but he 

 was reputed to hold all records for which he had contested in or out 

 of the ring. His size and build were about the same as Huddleson 's, 

 and all lookeil forward to a battle royal on Christmas day. A few 



months before that 

 the two men had 

 tied in a peeling 

 contest. Each 

 rossed exactly forty 

 yellow poplar trunks 

 between sunrise and 

 sunset. Both were 

 eager to settle the 

 championship by a 

 finish fight in the 

 ring. 



The camp raised a 

 fund to finance the 

 affair. The chief 

 expenditure was to 

 go for three dozen 

 boxes of beer, which 

 was not to be 

 touched tiU the fight 

 was over, so that all 

 could begin at the 

 same time and share 

 alike. 



A day or two 

 later the mail pouch 

 came in by private 

 carrier over the trail 

 from Bed Creek 

 jiostoffice. It was 

 never a fat pouch, 

 for the loggers at 

 Seldomseen did not 

 send or receive nuich 

 mail. To be exact, 

 the mail bag that 

 particular day had 

 only a small bundle 

 of papers and one 

 solitary letter. The 

 letter was for Bank 

 Huddleson. Nobody 

 noticed him as he 

 read it, but it was 

 observed later that 

 he was taking little 

 part in the camp 

 conversation, and 

 they commenced to 

 badger him good- 

 naturedly to draw 

 him out. Finally he 

 stood up where he 

 h a d been sitting 

 back of the table, took the letter from his jumper pocket, saying: 



\KRIV.\L AT r.\MP SELDOMSEEN OF THE SPECI.VL M.VIL B.VG FROM THE RED CREEK 



POST OFFICE. 



short," and as the noise 



' ' Boys, I will read you a letter : it is 

 subsided and all became quiet, he read: 



"Mv Dear Boy: I am very sorry to hear that you cannot come 

 home for Christmas, but I shall enjoy you that day, for I shall be 

 with vou in spirit, as I always am. I know you wUl do something 

 to bring happiness to others, as you always try to do. Probably 



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