A Border Alarm

      There is nothing that will excite the sympathies of a border settlement more than the alarm of a child missing or lost in the woods.  The uncertainty as to its fate, compassion for its agonized parents, and a realizing sense of the feelings of the little one, exposed to Indian capture, or to be torn in pieces and devoured by wild beasts, or to the slower process of perishing by cold and hunger,-all call forth the deepest human sympathy.
     In 1810 the entire population of Bethel* town turned out, and for eight days searched the woods for little  Johnny Glass, and did not relinquish their efforts until all hope of finding him alive was abandoned.
     The lad was living with his parents near White lake. His mother sent him to carry dinner to his father, who, with some men, was chopping wood about a mile away.  He reached them safely and started for home, but for some reason got bewildered and lost his way.  When the lad did not return in the afternoon, his mother felt no anxiety, as she surmised Johnny had got permission from his father to remain in the woods with the men until they returned at nightfall. But when the father arrived in the evening and reported that the lad had immediately started on his return trip, the dreadful truth flashed upon the minds of the household.
     Every parent can imagine the scene that ensued-the distress of the mother, the wild energy of the father.  Hastily summoning his nearest neighbors, the father spent the night in a fruitless search in the woods, while the mother remained at home rendered frantic by the intensity of her grief.
     By the next morning the tidings had spread far and wide, and a thorough and systematic search was instituted--all the settlement joining in the work of beating the swamps and thickets.  The search was continued from day to day, until all courage and hope were lost.  No trace of the boy could be found, and the supposition was that he had perished from terror, cold and hunger, or that he had met with a more speedy and less dreaded death by being devoured by wild beasts, which were then numerous and ferocious.
     As was afterward ascertained, when little Johnny left the path he traveled almost directly from home.  When night overtook him, bewildered, weary and hungry, he lay down by the side of a fallen tree and cried himself to sleep, where he slept until morning.  On awakening he again started to find his way out of the woods, wandering at random.  In this way he continued to travel ten days, with nothing to eat except wild berries, and seeing no living thing except the beasts and wild birds of the forest.
     One night as he lay in a fevered sleep on his couch of leaves alongside a log, he was aroused by the bleating of a deer in distress; then he heard the angry growl and snarl of a catamount, and knew the ferocious animal was drinking the blood of his harmless victim.  He lay very quiet, as he did not know how soon he might meet with a similar fate.
     On the eleventh day of his wanderings he was a pitiable object.  His clothes were tattered; his body emaciated and cheeks sunken; his limbs had scarcely strength to carry his body about, while his feet were so sore and swollen that he could scarcely bear his weight on them.  He was about to lie down exhausted, first calling the name of mother, as he had done scores of times before, with no answer save the echoes of the forest, when his ears were greeted with the tinkling of a cow-bell.  The sound gave him renewed life.  It nerved him for one more effort.  With difficulty he slowly made his way in the direction of the sound, leaving marks of blood on the leaves at every step.  He soon came to a clearing in which were several cattle feeding.   At the sight of him the animals started for home.  It was near night and he knew if his strength lasted he could find succor.  Finally he was obliged to crawl on his hands and knees, and thus he proceeded until he came in sight of a house.  This proved to be the dwelling of a  Mr. Lain, who lived on the Callicoon.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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