"She had been tempted by the beauty of some wild berries to leave
the road, and when once in the bush she grew bewildered and could
not find her way back. At first she ran to and fro in an agony of
terror at finding herself in the woods all alone, and uttered loud
and frantic cries, but her father had by this time reached the mill
and was out of hearing.
"With a sagacity beyond her years and not very common to her class,
instead of wandering further into the labyrinth which surrounded
her, she sat down under a large tree, covered her face with her
apron, said the Lord's Prayer - the only one she knew - and hoped that
God would send her father back to find her the moment he discovered
that she was lost.
"When night came down upon the dark forest (and oh how dark night is
in the woods!), the poor girl said, that she felt horribly afraid of
being eaten by the wolves which abound in those dreary swamps. But
she did not cry, for fear they should hear her. Simple girl! she did
not know that the scent of a wolf is far keener that his ear, but
that was her notion, and she lay down close to the ground and never
once raised her head, for fear of seeing something dreadful standing
beside her, until overcome by terror and fatigue she fell fast
asleep, and did not awake until roused by the shrill braying of the
horns and the shouts of the party who were seeking her."
"What a dreadful situation! I am sure that I should not have had the
courage of this poor girl, but should have died with fear."
"We don't know how much we can bear, Mrs. M - -, until we are tried.
This girl was more fortunate than a boy of the same age, who was
lost in the same township, just as the winter set in. The lad was
sent by his father, an English settler, in company with two boys of
his own age, to be measured for a pair of shoes. George Desne, who
followed the double employment of farmer and shoemaker, lived about
three miles from the clearing known by the name of the English
line. After the lads left the clearing, their road lay entirely
through the bush. But it was a path they had often travelled both
alone and with their parents, and they felt no fear.
"There had been a slight fall of snow, just enough to cover the
ground, and the day was clear and frosty. The boys in this country
always hail with delight the first fall of snow, and they ran races
and slid over all the shallow pools until they reached George
Desne's cabin.
