Dexter In Olden Times

DEXTER IN OLDEN TIMES

A Letter From That Village in '33.

CENTER OF TERRITORY

Is What a Traveling Officer Said It Was. His Country Tramp.

Dexter. Washtenaw Co., M. T., Dec. 15. '33

"I have been waiting here since I last wrote, in order to join an exploring party of three or four individuals, to go up into Shiawassee county to examine lands. A heavy snow storm has set in today, however, and as it will probably put an end to the expedition, I shall probably start by myself for the Kalamazoo country tomorrow. The journey to Grand River, which I proposed to myself, I shall, from the time it would consume, be compelled now to abandon it entirely. I do not regret the time I have spent here, for I am not far from the center of the territory, and while I have my headquarters at a good country in a well settled place, I can in a ride of a few miles plunge at once into the wilderness. It is a pretty dangerous matter, however, for a ranger to go without a guide, reconnoitering through a country where every hill, lake and wood looks so much like its brother, that the ordinary land marks are of no assistance to the eye. The scenery of Michigan will be far more attractive when cultivation shall give variety to a landscape which, however, beautiful at present, is somewhat monotonous.

After visiting nearly a dozen of the transparent ponds of every size which stud the surface of the country, and finding but two or three whose firm banks, of some 15 or 20 feet elevation assumed a picturesque appearance, from the irregular manner in which they pushed their beautifully wooded promontories far into the lakes they bounded, I started the other day to visit a sheet of water, somewhat elevated, about 12 miles off. My way, after going a mile or two from the village, led through oak openings of rolling land, called "The Short Hills," which I can best assimilate to a collection of enormous graves the tombs of households, if you choose--thrown confusedly together upon a perfectly level surface, where a patch of wild meadow land, a cranberry marsh, or a bog that looked like the desolated bed of a lake, and frequently, indeed, the shallow lake itself, filled up the intervals. The huge oaks that crowned the summits of these formal mounds were the only objects that relieved the dreariness of the landscape; even they, I thought, while riding alone beneath their branches, that sighed to the December wind, were not the most enlivening objects in the world.

"I rode thus for miles without seeing a living thing except a raven, which as that description of birds is only found in those parts of the union where wolves still infest the country, I at once took it for granted I was hovering near one of the savage beasts to which he so faithfully plays the jackal. Wheeling my horse suddenly from the trail towards a thicket of dwarf oaks, where I expected to find the carrion deer that attracts these worthies, he sheered from the bush and I was thrown upon the spot. After extricating the foot by which I was dragged a yard or two, from the stirrup, I sprang up but little hurt, and moved as quickly as possible to catch my horse, who, having paused for an instant in a clump of trees near by, turned his head around like a pointer taken aback with the scent after he has passed a bush, and stood calmly gazing at me. At the first step towards the rascal however, he moved nearly a rod sideways, and then ducking his head towards the ground, and throwing his heels high in the air, my ungrateful courser, accompanying these motions with every additional mark of disrespect he could summon to his aid, left his master alone in the wilderness. He disappeared behind a hill in a moment I could not help ejaculating with the Kentuckian, whose house and family had been burnt by the savages; while he was cleaning his rifle at a brook hard by, 'This very ridiculous.'

No time was to be lost, however. It was late in the day, and I was far from any house; while the occasional flakes of snow which began to fall from the black, lowering sky, threatened a storm which might cover in a moment the only path that could guide me homeward. I sat down at once among the long dry grass and stripping off my leggings, and disembarrassing my heels of my now useless spurs, stowed all away in my coat pockets. The coat itself I rolled up in a bundle around my left arm, and taking my gun, to which I applied a fresh cap, in my right, I strode off in as good a humor as one could summon under such provoking circumstances. I could not help thinking, indeed, how much worse matters might have been had I been thus deserted in one of the broad prairies, 30 miles, perhaps, from any house.

"As for the loss of my horse, I felt so indignant against the inconsiderate brute that I confess it did not trouble me. Thus did I trudge on, growing momentarily in better humor with myself. The scene around was dreary at present; but having had all the wild flowers that grow in Michigan described to me, I exercised my imagination by concerning the more attractive appearance it must wear in summer. I thought how the brown woods must look when the lofty oaks around were clothed in their deep green foliage. I thought of the various vines and flowers which then fill the broad openings between their stems--of the clumps of cluster roses that here grow wild and cover whole acres of the crimson daisy and fragrant balm pink, the deep hued lichnidia and gorgeous golden rod which with jonquils and amaranth, the purple fox glove and saffron colored silkweed, pain the surface of the soil. I could fancy the glossy leaves of the nightshade, with its white blossoms and poisonous berries, the creeping ivy and columbine clustering at the foot of the hills; the snow white lily of the valley, the lilac tinted adders tongue and straw colored arrow head, shooting through the long grass between; while the purple fleur-de-lis bloomed along the wet marshes, where the splendid cardinal flower tossed its scarlet blossoms in the breeze.

"I must have practiced horticulture in this way for some time, when, on rising a slight eminence in my path, I saw my amiable roan standing quietly looking in the direction whence I was coming, apparently waiting for me. I was completely mollified. I forgave him the little freak, and advanced with a light heart to lay my hand upon the bridle. He moved a little more, and I stood still. I spoke to him, but he continued moving. I coaxed him, in a tone that would have melted the heart of one of the marble horses of St. Mark's; he was moved by it--only farther from me. I whistled to him--had taught him a day or two before to come to my whistle when he obeyed me like a dog--he stopped, and I advanced once more to lay my hand on the saddle and the scoundrel broke into a trot just as I was about touching him. I brought my piece to my shoulder, and could hardly forbear drawing the trigger upon him as I stood.

The ground now roiled like the waves of a frozen sea; and my nefarious brute, who soon began to stalk leisurely along about a hundred yards ahead of me, would, to carry out the figure, be just topping the combing while I was in the trough, and vice versa--like two children balancing on a plank. It was perfectly insufferable, mile after mile, to see that eternal saddle bobbing up and down a hundred yards ahead of me. Sometime, indeed, the venturous wearer would step aside among a cluster of oaks, to nip the tender grass which still lingered around their roots; and then, as he would arch his neck, and seeming admire the Indian blanket and flame colored surcingle, which, after the gay taste of the west, I had buckled, combining use with ornament, to the back of the ungrateful brute, dash off with a snort into a patch of prairie land; I could not but admire the eye of fire and gracefully gathering limbs of the spirited creature. I wished, however, that he was anybody's horse but mine, disporting himself at that rate. At last, at a turning of the path he disappeared behind a hill, and ceasing longer to tantalize, left me comparatively comfortable. I reached the first 'clearing' about 20 minutes afterward, and looking along the highway, which here commenced, my horse was nowhere to be seen."