28 THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 



made her an invalid for nearly a year, as the huge 

 cat treated her as a "Tabby" would a mouse, letting 

 her Avalk along the path a few feet ahead of him, stop- 

 ping when she stopped and running when she ran. 

 Mrs. Mary De Long, of Stover's, in Brush Valley, 

 Centre county, in walking along a forest path saw a 

 panther crouched above her on the limb of a large 

 white oak, but the animal suffered her to pass 'beneath. 

 On another occasion at night, when going for help 

 when her mother was ill, she met a panther by the 

 path. By holding the lantern between herself and 

 the monster she was allowed' to go her way, the 

 panther keeping abreast of her just far enough in the 

 shadows to avoid the light, until she reached the 

 neighbor's cabin. The fear of panthers was so firmly 

 implanted in her that her descendants to this day 

 always instinctively look up in the forks of large trees 

 when passing through a forest. Panthers often 

 leaped on roofs of shanties at night, frightening the 

 female occupants considerably. John S. Hoar tells of 

 an instance of this kind in Treaster Valley (Mifflin 

 County) about 189G, and another similar occurrence 

 is recorded in Miss Blackman's "History of Susque- 

 hanna County." 





