Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

112 ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
which had always marked for us our position. When little
sister thought we were lost her dear little body trembled with
fright. To be lost in the deep wilderness and perhaps have to
sleep far from our home and dear mother all came to her
imagination as a dreadful experience. I remember how I
clasped the sweet child in my arms and tried to encourage
her, while attempting to keep myself quiet so I would not lose
what little I knew of direction, as with tearful eyes I searched
for a way out. As I looked for the thinnest shade I discovered
a rail fence made by one of our neighbors, and then I knew
where we were, and tears soon ceased to blind our eyes as we
began to gather flowers and mosses again; but we did not take
any more ventures outside our landmarks.
We had great confidence in our brothers, and when they
were with us we would venture down into some dark ravines
where alone we would not go. While out one day we found
some lovely flowers to which we had never been introduced.
They grew in great bunches loaded with the most beautiful
sky-blue and lavender flowers. We just shouted for joy, and
gathered both flower and root. I think a peck measure would
scarcely cover a clump of these lovely blossoms; they grew
by a brooklet and were daintily mirrored there. I planted
the bunch on the north side of a picket fence, where they grew
for some years, always giving us pleasure. I sent a bunch over
to Farmers' College that the blossoms might be analyzed, and
a young botanist examined them and gave to them the commonly
accepted name of harebell and told us they were quite
rare.
While on one of our walks in Cook's Woods we discovered
at the foot of a hill some mossy stones looking like head- and
footstones of some old grave. As there were some old trees
near the mound we thought it might mean hidden treasure.
There seemed to our imagination to be an air of mystery about
the place, which might refer to the time when early explorers
buried their treasures. When we went home we reported the
find, and the fact was mentioned that people of that day had
not ceased to talk of Captain Kidd and his buried treasure;
and it is true that once in a while some one did find, under a