A Brave boy
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An Incident of Western Life. The following incident, which has just occurred in the family of an Episcopal clergyman in one of our western capitals, as Illustrating the habits of self-reliance and fearlessness taught by western life, may be interesting to our readers:
‘
Edward, a boy about fifteen, was left at home during the visit of his father and mother to their friends in the vicinity of New York, and every night slept alone in the house, which was situated in a piece of woods a mile or two from
Fort Des Moines.
Though the situation was isolated, it was looked upon as safe; no one supposing that anybody would be wicked enough to attack a boy, or foolish enough to look in a country parson's house for plunder.
But one night last week
Ned, who slept in a room on the second floor, at the head of the stairs, was awakened by a noise in the rooms below.
Listening a moment, and all being quiet, he went to sleep again, supposing that some of the dogs might have disturbed him.--After a while he was again awakened, and listening he heard a soft step on the carpeted stairs approaching his room.
He sprang up, seized his shot gun, which he always kept loaded, and springing to the head of the stairs called out ‘"Stand, or I'll fire!"’ All was dark, but a noise on the stairway told him that some one was not standing but moving, and he aimed the gun down the stairs and fired.
Almost immediately he heard the noise of something falling over in the parlor, and running to the window saw a man running away through the woods.
He then struck a light and went down stairs.
The door which opened at the foot of the stairs was perforated with the shot, and in the parlor was everything of any value in the house tied in bundles ready for removal.
All the clothes, silver, linen, cutlery, and every thing moveable, had been packed up in parcels.
’
