sufficiently strong to have carried him off on a full run, had he
fallen into its power. He now reloaded and went to the tree where her
kittens, or the young panthers were, and soon brought them down from
their grapple among the limbs, companions for their conquered and
slain parent.

"Wheaton dismantled them of their hides, and hastened away before the
night should set in, lest some other encounter might overtake him of a
similar character, when the disadvantage of darkness might decide the
victory in a way more advantageous to the roamers of the forest. Of
this feat Ben Wheaton never ceased to boast; reciting it as the most
appalling passage of his hunting life. The animal had found him while
asleep, and had him concealed, as he supposed, intending to give her
young a specimen of the manner of their future life; or if this is too
much for the mind of a dumb animal, she intended at least to give them
a supper.

"This circumstance was all that saved his life, or the panther would
have leapt upon him at first, and have torn him to pieces, instead of
covering him with leaves, as she did, for the sake of her young. The
panther is a ferocious and almost untamable animal, whose nature and
habits are like those of the cat; except that the nature and powers of
this domestic creature are in the panther immensely magnified, in
strength and voracity. It is in the American forest what the tiger is
in Africa and India, a dangerous and savage animal, the terror of all
other creatures, as well as of the Indian and the white man."

The German Palatinates who settled in the upper Susquehanna were noted
for their physical endurance and their fondness for sports, but the
same can hardly be said of their desire for intellectual culture.
Perhaps they were no worse, in this respect, than circumstances made
them. Poverty and hard work were their portion, and the share was not
stinted out to them. There were no newspapers, that is, during the
earlier history of the settlement, published at a nearer point than
Albany. Even those papers were but poor affairs. They were filled
with the unimportant doings of the Dutch burghers--perhaps enlivened
now and then, with a highly seasoned article, full of indignation
because some obscure man in Massachusetts had committed a trespass by
cutting a forest tree on the manor of Livingston.

School teachers were not numerous nor were they well qualified for
their work. School houses were at a great dist