The First White Man of the West | Page 4

and showing from the beginning rudiments of
character, of which history has recorded no trace in his ancestors. The
promise of the future hunter appeared in his earliest boyhood. He
waged a war of extermination, as soon as he could poise a gun, with
squirrels, raccoons, and wild cats, at that time exceedingly annoying to
the fields and barn-yards of the back settlers.
No scholar ever displayed more decided pre-eminence in any branch of
learning, than he did above the boys of his years, in adroitness and
success in this species of hunting. This is the only distinct and peculiar
trait of character recorded of his early years. The only transmitted fact
of his early training is presented in the following anecdote.
In that section of the frontier settlement to which Boone had removed,
where unhewn log cabins, and hewn log houses, were interspersed
among the burnt stumps, surrounded by a potato patch and cornfield, as
the traveller pursued his cow-path through the deep forest, there was an
intersection, or more properly concentration of wagon tracks, called the
"Cross Roads,"--a name which still designates a hundred frontier
positions of a post office, blacksmith's shop, and tavern. In the central
point of this metropolis stood a large log building, before which a sign
creaked in the wind, conspicuously lettered "Store and Tavern."
To this point, on the early part of a warm spring morning, a pedestrian
stranger was seen approaching in the path leading from the east. One
hand was armed with a walking stick, and the other carried a small
bundle inclosed in a handkerchief. His aspect was of a man, whose
whole fortunes were in his walking stick and bundle. He was observed
to eye the swinging sign with a keen recognition, inspiring such
courage as the mariner feels on entering the desired haven.
His dialect betrayed the stranger to be a native of Ireland. He sat down
on the stoup, and asked in his own peculiar mode of speech, for cold
water. A supply from the spring was readily handed him in a gourd.
But with an arch pause between remonstrance and laughter, he added,
that he thought cold water in a warm climate injurious to the stomach
and begged that the element might be qualified with a little whisky.

The whisky was handed him, and the usual conversation ensued, during
which the stranger inquired if a school-master was wanted in the
settlement--or, as he was pleased to phrase it, a professor in the higher
branches of learning? It is inferred that the father of Boone was a
person of distinction in the settlement, for to him did the master of the
"Store and Tavern" direct the stranger of the staff and bundle for
information.
The direction of the landlord to enable him to find the house of Mr.
Boone, was a true specimen of similar directions in the frontier
settlements of the present; and they have often puzzled clearer heads
than that of the Irish school-master.
"Step this way," said he, "and I will direct you there, so that you cannot
mistake your way. Turn down that right hand road, and keep on it till
you cross the dry branch--then turn to your left, and go up a hill--then
take a lane to your right, which will bring you to an open field--pass
this, and you will come to a path with three forks--take the middle fork,
and it will lead you through the woods in sight of Mr. Boone's
plantation."
The Irishman lost his way, invoked the saints, and cursed his director
for his medley of directions many a time, before he stumbled at length
on Mr. Boone's house. He was invited to sit down and dine, in the
simple backwoods phrase, which is still the passport to the most ample
hospitality.
After dinner, the school-master made known his vocation, and his
desire to find employment. To obtain a qualified school-master in those
days, and in such a place, was no easy business. This scarcity of supply
precluded close investigation of fitness. In a word, the Irishman was
authorized to enter upon the office of school-master of the settlement.
We have been thus particular in this description, because it was the way
in which most teachers were then employed.
It will not be amiss to describe the school-house; for it stood as a
sample of thousands of west country school-houses of the present day.
It was of logs, after the usual fashion of the time and place. In

dimension, it was spacious and convenient. The chimney was
peculiarly ample, occupying one entire side of the whole building,
which was an exact square. Of course, a log could be "snaked" to the
fire-place as long as the building, and a file of boys thirty feet in length,
could all