Oak Openings

ly it build

it spread

hard to sto

sweet foo

YMNS FOR

e point of the wood, followed by the whole party. The distance was about half a mile, and men so much accustomed to use their limbs made light of it. In a few minutes all were there, and the bee-hunter was busy

distances that would almost seem to be marvellous. But Ben had other assistants than his eyes. He knew that the tree he sought must be hollow, and such trees usually give outward signs of the defect that exists within. Then, some species of wood are more frequented by the bees than others, wh

, a half-decayed elm, as the one likely to contain the hive; and by the aid of his glass he soon saw bees flying among its dying branches, at a height of not less than seventy feet from the ground. A little further search directed h

I shall expect to come in for a share of the honey, and I'm willing to 'arn all I take. I was brought up on axes, and jack-k

g the axe. "I can fell a tree as well as yourself, but have no

his thumb along the edge of the axe, in order to ascertain its

tarve to't, to my mind; but, sich as it is, down must come this

ey had inhabited that tree for a long time; and the prize now obtained was the richest he had ever made in his calling. As for the insects, they filled the air in clouds, and all the invaders deemed it prudent to withdraw to some little distance for a time, lest the irritated and wronged bees should set upon them and take an ample revenge. Had they known their power, this might easily have been done, no ingenuity of man being able to protect him against the assaults of this insignifi

tree was cut in pieces, and split, it was ascertained that years of sweets were contained within its capacious cavities, and Ben estimated the portion that fell to his share at more than three hundred pounds of good honey-com

his sobriquet as applied to the active young bee-hunter-but le Bourdon, to give him his quaint appellation, offered the hospitalities of h

on to partake of his homely fare; "and I should like to hear what is going on in the world. From Whiskey Centre I do not expec

its derivation is to sup-pose "shanty," as we now spell it, a corruption of "chiente," which it is thought may have been a word in Canadian French phrase to express a "dog-kennel." "Chenil," we believe, is the true French term for such a thing, and our own word is said to be derived from it-"meute" meaning "a kennel of dogs," or "a pack of hounds," rather than their dwelling. At any rate, "chiente" is so plausible a solution of the difficulty, that one may hope it is the true one, even though he has no better authority for it than a very vague rumor. Curious discoveries are sometimes made by these rude analogies, however, though they are generally thought not to be very near akin to learning. For ourselves, now, we do not entertain a doubt that the sobriquet of "Yankees" which is in every man's mouth, and

us water had probably its full share in influencing his decision. It was necessary, moreover, that he should be near the river, as his great movements were all made by water, for the convenience of transporting his tools

ing almost as many temptations to the savage as they have since done to the civilized man. Nevertheless, the bison, or the buffalo, as the animal is erroneously, but very generally, termed throughout the country, was not often found in the vast herds of which we read, until one reached the great prairies west of the Mississippi. There it was that the red men most loved to congregate; though always bearing, in numbers, but a trifling proportion to the surface they occupied. In that day, however, near as to the date, but distant as to the events, the Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawattamies, kindred tribes, we believe, had still a footing in Michigan proper, and were to be found in considerable numbers in what was called the St. Joseph's country, or along the banks of the stream of that n

inducing it to go so much out of the ordinary track of its habits. But the love of the bear for honey amounts to a passion. Not only will it devise all sorts of bearish expedients to get at the sweet morsels, but it will scent them from afar. On one occasion, a family of Bruins had looked into a shanty of Ben's, that was not constructed with sufficient care, and consummated their

sing a roof of squared timbers of which the several parts were so nicely fitted together as to shed rain. This unusual precaution was rendered necessary to protect the honey, since the bears would have unroofed the common bark coverings of the shanties, with the readiness of human beings, in order to get at stores as ample as those which the bee-hunter had soon collected beneath his roof. There was one window of glass, which le Bourdon had brought in his canoe; though it was a single sash of six small lights, that opened on h

chain, "if a body may judge by the kear (care) you take on't! Now, down our way we ain't half so partic'lar; Dolly and Blossom ne

the question?" returned le Bourdon, holding the door half-opened, wh

o be sure, as the v'y'gerers an

entre?" demanded Ben, a

as a blister. Whiskey Centre is just where I happen to live; bein' what a body may call a tra

ous smile. "You and whiskey, being sworn friends, are always to be found in company. When I came into the r

th. Travellin' Centres, and stationary, differs somewhat, I guess;

d Blossom; I hope the last

hurt mortal! She tries hard to reason me into it that it hurts ME-

to say truth, came to a so

l her 'Blossom'?" demanded the b

sister. The real name of Blossom is Margery Waring, but everybody

, and had so many palpable marks, that he had fairly earned the nickname which, as it afterward appeared, the western adventurers had given HIM, as well as his ABODE, wherever the last might be, that no one of

kegs, was carefully piled along one side of the apartment, in a way to occupy the minimum of room, and to be rather ornamental than unsightly. These kegs were made by le Bourdon himself, who had acquired as much of the ar

ithin the last two months. Three more were stretched on saplings, near by, in the process of curing. It was a material part of the bee-hunter's craft to

or fowling-piece, were standing in a corner. These were arms collected by our hero in his different trips, and retained quite as much from affection as from necessity, or caution. Of ammunition, there was no very great amount visible; only three or four horns and a couple of pouches be

magnificent elm. In the storehouse he kept his barrel of flour, his barrel of salt, a stock of smoked or dried meat, and that which the woodsman, if accustomed in early life to the settlements, prizes most highly, a half-barrel of pickled pork. The bark canoe

ed man, offered facilities for communication that the active spirit of trade would be certain not to neglect. In the first place, there were always the Indians to barter skins and furs against powder, lead, rifles, blankets, and unhappi

their own kind. But Buzzing Ben loved the solitude of his situation, its hazards, its quietude, relieved by passing moments of high excitement; and, most of all, the self-reliance that was indispensable equally to his success and his happiness. Woman, as yet, had never exercised her witchery over him, and every day was his passion for dwelling alone, and for enjoying the strange, but certainly most alluring, pleasures of the woods, increasing and gaining strength in his bosom. It was seldom, now, that h

ess. Under this feeling-we might call it habit also-le Bourdon now set himself at work to place on the table such food as he had at command and ready cooked. The meal which he soon pressed his guests to share with him was composed of a good piece of cold boiled pork, which Ben had luckily cooked the day previously, some bear's meat roasted, a fragment of venison steak, both lean and cold, an

iente, to enjoy their pipes in the cool evening air, beneath the oaks of the grove in which the dwelling

o his two red guests pipes of theirs, that he had just stuffed with some of his own tobacc

elder Indian, holding up a finge

added the runner, in the

r, by way of showing he was we

ed Whiskey Centre, who saw no great

ned le Bourdon, gravely; "a

wry face, but h

he bee-hunter, waiting, however, a decent interval, le

n behalf of his own dignity. Then he removed the pipe, shook off the ashes, pre

brother-he r

the moment when it might suit his younger guest to speak. That moment did not arrive for some time, though it came at last. Almost five minutes after El

e-faces call young men tog

red le Bourdon, with a saddened counte

hatchet too, eh?" d

n the Openings, and it would seem

o Ojebway-no Po

can be to it, here. If the English and Americans fight, it must be

, 'till see. English wa

here. This country is a wilderness, and there are n

bear any longer, had gone to the spring to mix a cup from a small supply that st

but he and I are countrymen, and we ca

so. Plenty

ings sagacity, though he felt a good deal o

THAT" he answered, "but I

ppewa-"no, mustn't say DAT. English;

is true, though we are countrymen, notwithstanding.

to friendship instead of hostilities, while his admissions would rather put him in an antagonist position. It was probably with a kind m

said, with marked deliberation

a peaceable bee-hunter, as you see, and wish no man's scalp, or any man's

ely, "My part, don't know. Go, now, to see. But plenty Mont

Canada, and a good friend, too, though he is to be my enemy, according to law, who gave me to understand that the summ

soon. Canada war

a, I would be off this bles

k better

I died for it

be no such foo

whole Ojebway nation was on my trail. I am an American

hunter, just now," retorted the

ivilization in this respect)-would, notwithstanding these high claims, carry on their AMERICAN wars by the agency of the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, and the brand. Eulogies, though pronounced by ourselves on ourselves, cannot erase the stains of blood. Even down to the present hour, a cloud does not obscure the political atmosphere between England and America, that its existence may not be discovered on the prairies, by a movement among the In-dians. The pulse that is to be felt there is a sure indication of the state of the relations between the parties. Every one knows that the savage, in his warfare, slays both sexes and all ag

is provincial practice, makes no such distinction, confounding all alike in his resentments, and including all that bear the hated name in his maledictions. It is a fearful thing to awaken the anger of a nation; to excite in it a desire for revenge; and thrice is that danger magnified, when the people thus aroused possess the activity, the resources, the spirit, and the enterprise of the Americans. We have been openly derided, and that recently, because, in the fulness of our sense of power and sense of right, language that exceeds any direct exhibition of the national strength has escaped the lips of legislators, and, perhaps justly, has

n movement, some power was probably behind the scenes to set them in motion. Pigeonswing was well known to him by reputation; and there was that about the man which awake

remarked, after a long pause and a good deal of smokin

ou," answered Pige

at, Chi

so'gers-got whole island

egulars. Still, habit had given the fortress a sort of sanctity among the adventurers of that region; and its fall, even in the settled parts of the country, sounded like the loss of a province. It is now known that, anticipating the movements of the Americans, some three hundred whites, sustained by more than twice that number of Indians, including warriors from nearly every adjacent tribe, had surprised the post on the 17th of J