for the contest. The number of rounds fought deponent saith not, but as the story goes 'Vermont' came off victor. 'Vermont' afterwards located at Garnavillo and practiced law. While here he was arrested for horse stealing, and very suddenly disappeared. He is to-day a prominent lawyer of Plattsburg, N. Y. The young lawyer whom I have designated 'Connecticut,' became a distinguished jurist in this district, and now occupies a prominent position as an influential citizen of this State. He believes, with all his strength and might, in narrow-gauge railroads, but is a broad guage man."

And as a companion story of unique weddings, we give the following from the aforementioned contributor to the Journal of the sketches of pioneer life:

"It is related as a fact that in early days a hardy backwoodsman was elected Justice of the Peace. He was accredited to know more of hunting, fishing and trapping than of the law, but being deemed honest, and in the lack of better material was elected to the office. His statute-book had not yet arrived, when an anxious couple visited his house for the purpose of being married. In vain he plead ignorance of any knowledge of the marriage ceremony. They would not take 'no' for an answer. 'Well, then, I will do the best I can,' said the officer, and the couple stood up before him. There the wits of the backwoodsman forsook him, and he tried in vain to recall some words that he had heard on like occasions. At last in sheer desperation he blurted out: "Take her by God. She's yoursshe's yours for life, and I am Justice of the Peace." He had managed to bring in the name of the Deity in the only way with which he was at all familiar. The marriage was considered legal."

JUMPING CLAIMS.

Much of the land was settled before it was properly surveyed, or came into market. And even when regularly entered, it sometimes happened that when a survey was made, two men would be found to have made improvements on the same land, their claims having overlapped. This often gave rise to bitter feuds, and occasionally tragedies. Sometimes a man would come into the county poor, pre-empt a piece of land, and make some improvements, intending to buy the land of the government before the time of pre-emption expired. There were unprincipled men who would not hesitate to deposit money at the land office against these claims, and if the settler failed to be on hand at the time the pre-emption expired, the land with all its improvements would pass into his hands and he could demand any price he chose from the settler, and the law gave the latter no redress. This was called jumping a claim. So much injustice was done that this jumping of claims was considered a heinous crime, and the pioneers.

banded themselves together, and resorted to mob violence to protect themselves, homes, and families; so that the jumping of claims came to be dangerous and liable to cause the offender to be brought before "Judge Lynch," when justice was often summary and severe. Judge Burdick thus describes a case of this kind:

"A trivial difficulty arises between two settlers which results in a law suit. The one is well-to-do and has the title to his landthe other is poor and holds his land by the uncertain tenure of a claim. The one, smarting under supposed grievances, enters the other's house and takes the home from under him. This is an indignity the sturdy settlers will not brook. They call a meeting, wait upon the refractory settler and ask his attendance. He responds and agrees to submit matters in controversy to three disinterested men. A trial is had and the land is awarded to the claimant. They give the aggressor a week in which to execute the deed. Before the week expires, his antagonist is called away, and with two or three friends lie forciby enters the house and turns the family out of doors in a fearful winter storm. The news is carried on the wings of the wind. There is a spontaneous gathering of the people together. Three hundred strong, they repair to his house and bear him away. The land is demanded but he declines to comply. They treat him to the luxury of riding on a rail, and again ask a deed of the land. Again refused, it is suggested that perhaps he would like to fly away. The hint suffices. Tar and feathers are produced and in the usual manner applied. Unyielding still, some one remarks that he is transformed into a goose, and that gozlings swim before they fly. The rail is again produced and he is borne to an adjacent pond. They demand the land again, but his iron will remains unshaken. They cut a hole in the ice and quietly introduce him to the cooling element. The goose is allowed to swim. He still defies them. An Irishman remarks, 'did ye's ever see a goose swim so long widout divin'?' And suiting the action to the word, he commences 'divin" him in true goose style. Twice he is submerged and then asked to comply. I'll die before I'll yield,' is his reply. Then die you shall,' is the response, and he is plunged beneath the wave and held there longer than before. He kicks and flounders and is taken. out. He catches his breath and with accents broken and subdued he says, 'I will, I will give it up.' It was well he yielded, else he there had found a wintry grave. The purchase money was raised and paid by the settlers, the deed was executed and the poor man's home was secured to him."

CONSILERABLY CROWDED.

We read and hear much of the crowded tenement houses in the large cities, but even in this a genuine pioneer's dwelling can sometimes discount them-but with the redeeming feature that there is plenty of fresh air and out door room. Here is a case

which was not by any means a solitary one in pioneer life here. The house was a lone one, with a roof sloping from the front to the back and was without a chamber. There were two rooms, 12x14, each. Now for the inmates. There were three families living in these rooms, and included in these three families were seventeen children, nine of whom were under the age of nine years. There were three infants in cribs. If this large family could not live in harmony in the house, there was plenty of room out of doors. These families wanted to buy a sewing machine (an apparently necessary article) and the agent who visited them thought the house and family remarkable enough to mention, but those who have been conversant with pioneer life can remember many similar ones.

LOST IN THE WOODS.

The scene of the following thrilling narrative, which is no fiction, was partly laid in the present territory of Winneshiek County, and is taken from the sketches of pioneer life already referred to in process of publication, in the Decorah Journal:

Two boys, whom we will call Willie and Johnnie, lived with their parents, in a wild, unsettled region in the Northeastern part of Iowa. Willie was aged nine years, an active, self-reliant boy, and Johnnie was seven years old, large for his age, but less strong and enduring than his elder brother. These boys were always together, Willie being the leader in all the sports and amusements which boys would naturally find in a wild country, without schools or companions.

One Sabbath morning in the autumn of 1843, the parents of these boys started on horseback to attend a religious meeting several miles distant, leaving the boys at home to amuse themselves as best they might. Having soon exhausted all their resources at home, they set out for a ramble in the woods accompanied by two large dogs, their inseparable companions in all their rambles, and without which, they had been cautioned not to leave the house, for savage wild animals were numerous, and sometimes troublesome.

It was no unusual thing for these boys to take long rambles in the woods, with only the dogs for their companions, they, having always lived in a wild region, and all their education and training tending to make woodsmen of them, besides, the elder was somewhat vain of his accomplishments in this direction, never having been lost,' and being often praised for his ability to keep a true course in the woods anywhere. This Sabbath morning was clear and cool. The boys took a course north from their home. They found plenty to interest and amuse them. Squirrels chattered and leaped from limb to limb. A few belated birds were gathered in flocks, preparatory to a flight southward; acorns dropped to the ground at their feet. The drum of a partridge in

the distance drew them further on. In this way they had wandered about a mile and a half from home, when the loud and excited barking of the dogs led them to hasten their steps, to find out the cause. On arriving at the spot they discovered that the dogs had 'treed' some large animal, and upon nearer approach saw that it was a large panther. They had seen a good many panthers, and had often heard their unearthly screech, (which resembles the cry of a woman in distress), but they had never before seen a live one, and their curiosity was aroused for a nearer view. According to all stories I have ever read of the nature of this animal, the panther should have attacked and speedily dispatched both the dogs and children, but truth compels me to record that the beast behaved in a most cowardly manner. He not only showed his fear of the dogs, but seemed to have obtained a knowledge of how human beings use their guns, and seemed intent on keeping the tree between his body and the place where the boys were. their eagerness to obtain a good view of the panther, the boys. kept running around the tree, first in one direction, then in another, the panther all the time changing his position to keep out of their sight. In this manner considerable time was consumed, but at last our boys were satisfied with the occasional glimpses they had been able to obtain, and were ready to go home.

In

In passing so many times around the tree, absorbed with looking up into its branches, they had failed to observe the direction by which they came, or to note how many circuits they had taken, and although they set out with full confidence that they were going in the direction of home, they took an entirely different

course.

This was, as near as they could afterward judge, about noon, when they commenced their perilous journey. The elder boy took the lead, as was his custom, and they chatted gaily of their adventure, and of the many sights that met their gaze, for an hour or more, when suddenly turning to his companion, with something of a look of fright in his face, Willie said:

"Johnnie, we are not going home! We are LOST!'

At this the younger and less heroic brother cried a little, but in the feeling that he must act as protector and guide, the courage of the oldest was aroused a courage that never deserted him through all the trials that awaited them.

He tried to comfort and encourage his brother that they would soon find their way out, and all the while the two hurried on as fast as their short footsteps would take them, as if in haste lay their only hope.

About four o'clock, as near as they could tell, they came to a traveled road. Instead of following it, as an older person would have done, they crossed it. Willie insisting that it was a road with which he was familiar, and that their home was about three

fourths of a mile distant and that by taking a near route, with which he was certain he was familiar, they would soon reach their father's house.

This road, however, lay about seven miles north of their home, and when they had crossed it, keeping, as they did, a northward course, they were in a dense forest.

In an hour or more they came to a small stream. Here they were divided in their opinions as to the course to pursue. For the first and only time during their journey, Johnnie put in a plea. He wanted to follow the stream downward. In his anxiety to do so, he offered to give his knife, his sled, and all the few playthings he possessed to Willie, if he would take the route down the stream. On being refused he made the crowning offer of all,

said he:

"If you will go this way with me, I'll give you a million dollars when I get to be a man."

The answer was characteristic of the esteem in which the other held himself, said he:-

"When I get to be a man I will have all the money I want, and shall not need any of yours," and as usual, his will conquered. As was afterward learned, had they taken the downward course of the stream, they would have soon come to settlements, and would have found their way out that night, but crossed it instead, and soon lost its course entirely.

They wandered on and on, and at length, night began to cast its shadows around them. The stars seldom looked down upon a sadder or more lonely sight than that of these two children, hardly past the age of babyhood, alone in a deep, dense forest, inhabited by beasts of prey, and in a spot where the foot of white man, had perhaps never trod. The two faithful dogs still kept them company, and watch and guard over them.

One of the boys was provided with a knife, a flint, and a piece of "punk," the common means of producing a fire in those days and in that region, for although matches had been invented they did not find their way often into that unsettled, western region. As the shadows grew dark, they found the shelter of a fallen tree-top, and gathering sticks they built a fire, and laid down. Johnnie slept the sleep of weary childhood, but Willie was watchful, and kept the fire burning all night, with only a few snatches of slumber, his main care to keep his brother warm and comfortable. The parents had returned home late in the day, and learning from the other children that the two boys had gone into the wood early in the morning and had not yet returned, the wildest alarm was felt. The few neighbors within reach were aroused, and search commenced. But no one could have had the slightest idea as to the distance to which the little wanderers had rambled. Fires were built, and men watched by them all night, and were ready to resume the search early next morning.