26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



D«c«iiilM>r 2S, lOIB 



you have alrcaily tlioueht out iioin« wiir to give a touch of vnripty 

 to the inoootonouR livot) of thp niountainccr* of »hom you wroto nip. 

 If lh« opportuuity conies to you I know you will not let it |mM, for 

 never nince you »ore n rhilil hnve I knonn you to niiu nn oppor- 

 tunity to lit;liton the Innd of the weary or to let lunnhine fall on 

 I nr« gloomy. Rcuicnibcr t hIiiiII Im thinking of you nil 

 'iny. MOTIIM. " 



'1 )u>ar(l in silenro, and the lilcncc wnN not broken until 



the I ...'or continued: 



"I think we'd better chaage the progrnni. I hnvo been doinj; 

 «on •■ • ' ' •' .■ pnsi fifto4>n uiinnti-N. You nnd I hnvo seen 



nil I but what nlmiit these mountnin people who 



I'*'' 'I move thnt ho appro- 



pri:' iiir these people." 



"I yoiKiHl the motion,' Uiumiered ii husky voice lielonuinp; to n 

 man who had once lioon the champion lojj driver of the Kiskiminotis 

 river. 



The loggers took tlio nearest way to the object in view. They 

 appointed a committee of one, consisting of Bank Tluddlcson, put 

 the money in his hands, told him to go ahead, nnd the prize ttght 

 was called off without a dissenting vote. 



There were about t^vcnty children among the ridges nnd fl.ats of 

 Seldoniscen. and the county went through the motion of [iroviding 

 tliem It school during tliree months in winter. The schooUiousc was 

 of logs, had one window, nnd was scarcely on a par with the sheds 

 in which the rural farmers of Pennsylvania stable tneir cows m 

 winter. The only redeeming thing was the teacher, a .voung lady 

 imbued with the missionary spirit nnd who faced the hardships of that 

 hope-forsaken place from a sense of duty more than for the pusil- 

 lanimous salary of twenty-five dollars a month which the trustees 

 grudgingly paid. She wa-s the only real li^ht that had ever came 

 into the lives of the i>eople. Somebody told the trustees that a home 

 missionary society in Pittsburgh was paying her something in addi- 

 tion to her salary, and they decided to cut her pay to fifteen dollars 

 n month; but when they found that the rumor was without founda- 

 tion they let the twenty-five dollars stand. 



Bank Huddleson went down to see the teacher and talk the Christ- 

 mas tree over with her. She was con^derably surprised at the 

 vis^it from the prize fighter whose fame had gone throughout the 

 Scldomseen settlement; but when he mentioned his plans she entered 

 into his scheme with a world of enthusiasm. They made lists of all 

 the children, and decided on the presents most suitable for every one. 

 The old folks in every cabin were to be remembered with some small 

 gift. A few kerosene lamps were to be mustered to light the old 

 ramshackle schoolhouse for the occasion. 



Ten days later Huddleson left with the company's wagon for town, 

 twenty miles distant, to buy the things, and Duck Luzeer, who had 

 laid hold of the Christmas undertaking with as much vim as he would 

 lay hold of a handspike to break a log .iam, went with him to help. 

 The appropriation came out exactly even. Wlien the last present 

 on the list was paid for, the last of the money was gone. 



"It was lucky that the money held out," Huddleson remarked 

 proudly to Luzeer as they loaded the things in the wagon, filling it 

 full to the top of the tent. "Right you are," replied Luzeer no 

 less proudly. 



At that moment Huddleson seemed to think of .comcthiug. He 

 walked slowly back to the store, leaving Luzeer to hold the horses. 

 The long list of presents contained nothing for the teacher. Hud- 

 dleson had overlooked that but fortunately thought of it at the last 

 moment, and he went back to the store evidenly puzzled as to what 

 •would be the proper thing to buy for a young lady. The clerk helpe.l 

 him out with a running fire of suggestions. A pair of mink fur 

 mittens were beautiful. Huddleson looked at tlicm a second time. 

 They would be serviceable as well as elegant in that snowy wilder- 

 ness of Seldomseen — but the price was six dollars. It was more than 

 he had thought of paying for a present; but he picked them up the 

 third time. Six dollars was the price he had expected to pay for 

 the boxing gloves with which he had calculated to knock Luzeer 

 over the ropes. 



"If Luzeer is worth six dollars, the teacher is worth it," mum- 



bled the prize fl){htor nn hi* hand wont into hi* pocket, and he walked 

 out uf the ttoro witli tlie daintiest pncknito of nil the ChriMmni* 

 purrhuae*. 



It M '••■^ dark thnt evening when thi< uagon »itli ilH top- 



hi'iivy : Mt lumbering along the ^Idling road at Ihn foot of 



the mouiilitiii uitliin wven milcH of ' iloniiu'on. There was 



ICC, the wagon skiddetl, wont over II < the road, NUianhed ■ 



wheel, upnet, nnd scntlored the load nil the way to tho bottom of 

 the ruvine. 



"Better go Uio rest of the way to holl while you arc nlraut it," 

 roared I^irxyr, addrcning tho wagon and the tumbling cargo. 



"You arc excusable, Duck," Huddlenon replied, "but iiup|>oiio wo 

 postpone the cussing until wo get tJie things out, and then I will 

 help you do a good job of if." 



They worked by lantern latfl that night nnd Rnlvagod the wreck. 

 Kxcopt the wngon whoel, nothing was broken, not even the horses' 

 necks. Rnow fell like thunder and hiitzcn all night and in the morn- 

 ing it was almost two foot deep. They intended to make tho horsca 

 carry tlie things up the mountain to the camp; but the draft animals 

 wore not trained to iiack, and they kicked nnd Vjil until Iho plan 

 had to be given up. 



"Confound your reeking hides," Hudilleson exclaimed as he 

 turned the horses' heads up the road toward the camp, "if you 

 won't pack, you can brc.nk trail," and giving them a few swipes 

 with a hickory, they struck for home, opening a path through the 

 snow. 



The prize fighters trussed up the Christmas presents in bales and 

 took them on their own backs. On top of the other bundles were 

 strapped nine boys' sleds. These did not add greatly to the weight, 

 but enormously to the bulk; and as the men moved away with their 

 loads, they looked like burdened dromedaries of the Sahara desert, 

 or probably like genuino Santa Clauses of real flesh and blood. The 

 seven miles up the mountain as they plowed through the snow was 

 a long, hard, fatiguing pull, despite the trail broken by the homing 

 horses; but the men finally made it with the entire Christmas outfit 

 on their backs, and without the loss of the smallest article. 



The mountaineers were not slow in catching the yule spirit, and 

 they joined eagerly so far as they knew how. One old patriarch, 

 Duce Flanagan, however, was skeptical. He shied at innovations nnd 

 wa-s suspicious of Pennsylvanians. He had been in the Confederal* 

 army in his younger days, and he had not yet fully realized that the 

 war was over. It was in the army he had acquired his dislike for 

 the Pennsylvania troops. "They w^ere the n-istiest fighters in the 

 Yankee army," he was accustomed to say, "and I hoped when the 

 war was ended that I was rid of them, but here they are again." 



The old man advised against taking part in the Christmas fes- 

 tivities. He feared a trick somewhere, but he was in a hopelc-ss 

 minority in his opposition, and when the people assembled at the 

 schoolhouse Christmas night, he came along also, but still shaking 

 his head and muttering "Dod gast the Pennsylvanians." 



A fine young stackpole fir that grew in a mountain glade where 

 winds had toughened it and sunshine had made it limby, was set up 

 in the schoolhouse, where it was loaded with as much as it would 

 hold, and tho presents loft over, including the sleds, were piled at 

 one side in full view. The eagerness and the nervous expectancy 

 exhibited by the mountaineers, old and young, while the gifts were 

 being distributed, were almost pathetic. 



The distribution of the gifts was managed by the teacher and the 

 two prize fighters. The list was checked as names were called, to 

 make sure that nobody was missed. The Pennsylvanians were the 

 only ones who got nothing, but they understood it. It was their 

 treat and they enjoyed it possibly more than those who received the 

 presents. Every boy who was big enough to haul a sled got one, 

 factory-built, and as brilliant as red lead could make it. They 

 had never seen or heard of a real sled before, their whole expe- 

 rience going no farther than a rude contrivance of hoop pole frames 

 and dogwood runners. Every girl was remembered with a gift dear 

 to her heart and more to her liking than if she had been privileged 

 to name what she wanted. Every baby was the recipient of a 

 whistle or a rattle. The old people came in, every one of them. 



