JOHNNY APPLESEED. 



JOHNNY APPLESEED, by which 

 name Jonathan Chapman was 

 known in every log cabin from 

 the Ohio river to the north 

 ern lakes, is an interesting character to 

 remember. Barefooted, and with scanty 

 clothing, he traversed the wilderness for 

 many years, planting appleseeds in the 

 most favorable locations. His self- 

 sacrificing life made him a favorite with 

 the frontier settlers men, women, and 

 especially children; even the savages 

 treated him with kindness, and the rat 

 tlesnakes, it was said, hesitated to bite 

 him. "During the war of 1812, when 

 the frontier settlers were tortured and 

 slaughtered by the savage allies of Great 

 Britain Johnny Appleseed continued his 

 wanderings, and was never harmed by the 

 roving bandsof hostilelndians. Onmany 

 occasions the impunity with which he 

 ranged the country enabled him to give 

 the settlers warning of approaching 

 danger, in time to allow them to take 

 refuge in their block- houses before the 

 savages could attack them. An inform 

 ant refers to one of these instances, 

 when the news of Hull's surrender came 

 like a thunderbolt upon the frontier. 

 Large bands of Indians and British 

 were destroyingeverything before them, 

 and murdering defenseless women and 

 children, and even the block-houses 

 were not always a sufficient protection. 

 At this time Johnny traveled day and 

 night, warning the people of the im 

 pending danger. He visited every cabin 

 and delivered this message; 'The Spirit 

 of the Lord is upon me, and He hath 

 anointed me to blow the trumpet in 

 the wilderness, and sound an alarm in 

 the forest; for behold, the tribes of the 

 heathen are round about your doors, 

 and a devouring flame followeth after 



them!' The aged man who narrated 

 this incident said that he could feel 

 even then the thrill that was caused by 

 this prophetic announcement of the 

 wild-looking herald of danger, who 

 aroused the family on a bright moon 

 light midnight with his piercing cry. 

 Refusing all offers of food, and denying 

 himself a moment's rest, he traversed 

 the borders day and night until he had 

 warned every settler of the impending 

 peril. Johnny also served as colpor 

 teur, systematically leaving with the 

 settlers chapters of certain religious 

 books, and calling for them afterward; 

 and was the first to engage in the work 

 of protecting dumb brutes. He be 

 lieved it a sin to kill any creature for 

 food. No Brahman could be more con 

 cerned for the preservation of insect 

 life, and the only occasion on which he 

 destroyed a venomous reptile was a 

 source of long regret, to which he could 

 never refer without manifesting sad 

 ness. He had selected a suitable place 

 for planting appleseeds on a small 

 prairie, and in order to prepare the 

 ground, he was mowing the long grass, 

 when he was bitten by a rattlesnake. 

 In describing the event he sighed 

 heavily, and said, 'Poor fellow, he only 

 just touched me, when I, in the heat of 

 my ungodly passion, put the heel of 

 my scythe in him, and went away. 

 Some time afterward I went back, and 

 there lay the poor fellow, dead!' ' 



"He was a man after all." Haw 

 thorne might have exclaimed of him, 

 too, "his Maker's own truest image, a 

 philanthropic man! not that steel en 

 gine of the devil's contrivance a phi 

 lanthropist!" A. P. Russell's Library 

 Notes. 



Robins in the tree-tops, 

 Blossoms in the grass; 



Green things a-growing 

 Everywhere you pass; 



Sudden little breezes, 

 Showers of silver dew; 



Black bough and bent twig 



Budding out anew; 

 Pine tree and willow tree, 



'Fringed elm and larch, 

 Don't you think that May-time's 



Pleasanter than March? 



T. B. Aldrich. 



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