212 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



county seat is Columbus, there is the tradition of a 

 squirrel hunt in the fall of 1822 which surely eclipses 

 all previous or subsequent records. The squirrels hav- 

 ing become quite numerous and threatening the farm- 

 ers' crops, and therefore a pest, a bounty was offered 

 for every scalp of a squirrel brought in ; with the result 

 that a general "hunting caucus" was called for in all 

 the various townships and a mighty hunt planned to last 

 for several days, the astonishing total of nineteen thou- 

 sand six hundred and sixty scalps being the outcome of 

 the slaughter; nor was this really all, for many of the 

 hunters did not put in an appearance at the close, and 

 consequently made no returns. I think, after this, there 

 need be no further questioning as to the truthfulness 

 of the phenomenal hunting stories of the early settlers. 

 It is a fact, however, that in pioneer times squir- 

 rels — and big gray ones, too — were killed by the hun- 

 dred where now only one is seen. It was an every-day 

 thing in grandfather's day to go out with no other 

 weapon but a club, and no trouble at all to bring in a 

 few rabbits or squirrels with it for breakfast. There 

 are traditions hereabouts of an old farm hand, in the 

 halcyon days when the woods were well filled with 

 game, who could throw a stone from his hand with 

 about as unerring and fatal an aim as any fair shot 

 with a rifle. He never even took a sling, not to speak 

 of a gun, but would, like David, pick a few smooth 

 stones out of the brook, and stroll beneath the hickories 

 armed cap-a-pie; and he never failed to bring back 

 enough squirrels for supper. He could hit three crows 

 out of every five In the top of a big oak. And what 

 is more, these facts are pretty generally authenticated 



