Life of Daniel Boone, The Great Western Hunter and Pioneer | Page 5

plan was soon arranged. Early the next morning a bottle of
whiskey, having tartar emetic in it, was placed in the bower, and the
other bottle thrown away. At the usual hour, the lads were sent out to
play, and the master started on his walk. But their play was to come
afterward; they longed for the master to return. At length they were
called in, and in a little time saw the success of their experiment. The
master began to look pale and sick, yet still went on with his work.
Several boys were called up, one after the other, to recite lessons, and
all whipped soundly, whether right or wrong. At last young Boone was
called out to answer questions in arithmetic. He came forward with his
slate and pencil, and the master began: 'If you subtract six from nine,
what remains?' said he. 'Three, sir,' said Boone. 'Very good,' said the
master; 'now let us come to fractions. If you take three-quarters from a
whole number, what remains?' 'The whole, sir,' answered Boone. 'You
blockhead!' cried the master, beating him; 'you stupid little fool, how
can you show that?' 'If I take one bottle of whiskey,' said Boone, 'and
put in its place another in which I have mixed an emetic, the whole will
remain if nobody drinks it!' The Irishman, dreadfully sick, was now
doubly enraged. He seized Boone, and commenced beating him; the
children shouted and roared; the scuffle continued until Boone knocked
the master down upon the floor, and rushed out of the room. It was a
day of freedom now for the lads. The story soon ran through the
neighborhood; Boone was rebuked by his parents, but the schoolmaster
was dismissed, and thus ended the boy's education."
"Thus freed from school, he now returned more ardently than ever to
his favorite pursuit. His dog and rifle were his constant companions,
and day after day he started from home, only to roam through the
forests. Hunting seemed to be the only business of his life; and he was
never so happy as when at night he came home laden with game. He

was an untiring wanderer."
Perhaps it was not a very serious misfortune for Daniel Boone that his
school instruction was so scanty, for, "in another kind of education,"
says Mr. Peck,[5] "not unfrequent in the wilds of the West, he was an
adept. No Indian could poise the rifle, find his way through the pathless
forest, or search out the retreats of game, more readily than Daniel
Boone. In all that related to Indian sagacity, border life, or the tactics of
the skillful hunter, he excelled. The successful training of a hunter, or
woodsman, is a kind of education of mental discipline, differing from
that of the school-room, but not less effective in giving vigor to the
mind, quickness of apprehension, and habits of close observation.
Boone was regularly trained in all that made him a successful
backwoodsman. Indolence and imbecility never produced a Simon
Kenton, a Tecumthè, or a Daniel Boone. To gain the skill of an
accomplished hunter requires talents, patience, perseverance, sagacity,
and habits of thinking. Amongst other qualifications, knowledge of
human nature, and especially of Indian character is indispensable to the
pioneer of a wilderness. Add to these, self-possession, self-control, and
promptness in execution. Persons who are unaccustomed to a frontier
residence know not how much, in the preservation of life, and in
obtaining subsistence, depends on such characteristics!"
In the woods surrounding the little settlement of Exeter, Boone had
ample opportunity for perfecting himself in this species of mental
discipline, and of gaining that physical training of the limbs and
muscles so necessary in the pursuits of the active hunter and pioneer.
We have no record of his ever having encountered the Indians during
his residence in Pennsylvania. His knowledge of their peculiar modes
of hunting and war was to be attained not less thoroughly at a
somewhat later period of life.
[Footnote 1: "Pittsburg Gazette," quoted by Peck.]
[Footnote 2: The eldest, James, was killed by the Indians in 1773, and
his son Israel was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, August 19th, 1782.]
[Footnote 3: Bogant gives 11th of February, 1735. Peck, February,

1735. Another account gives 1746 as the year of his birth, and Bucks
County as his birth-place. The family record, in the hand writing of
Daniel Boone's uncle, James, who was a school master, gives the 14th
of July, 1732.]
[Footnote 4: "Adventures of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky Rifleman."
By the author of "Uncle Philip's Conversations."]
[Footnote 5: "Life of Daniel Boone" By John M. Peck.]

CHAPTER II.
Removal of Boone's father and family to North Carolina--Location on
the Yadkin River--Character of the country and the people--Byron's
description of the backwoodsman--Daniel Boone