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day at this kind of work, in fact the first time I ever
got between the handles of the plough. I got on with it
very fairly. Tuesday Morning. Again at the plough.
In the afternoon I went to Strathroye. Coming home I saw
a party of men, and two dogs. The men shouted, A coon,
A coon hunt, I had nothing in the waggon, so I tied
the horses to a stump, made my dog get into the waggon
and off I started following them about half-a-mile into
the woods. On they went till they came to the foot of a
large tree, some three feet through, up which, one of them
had seen the coon. One got one side of the tree, and one
the other, and to work they fell with their axes, 'twas
nothing to them to cut down a tree 3 feet through. First
of all they look to see which way they want the tree
to fall, N.S.E or W. every one talks that way out here. Even
in a street in one of the cities, if they ask the way, they
say go North or go South. Well, when they have ascertained
which way they want the tree to fall, they commence
axing away, about 3 feet from the ground, one that wants
the tree to fall his dide, cutting about six inches lower
then the other. The tree soon came down. The hounds
were loosed, they seized the coon almost before the tree
came to the ground, and killed him after a smart fight