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| Courtesy of Faithwalk Photography |
The youth felt the splash of the chilly creek
water before he saw it. Goosebumps broke out on his flesh
but his brain registered it just long enough note the water was already
warmer than when he last brought the herd
through these grounds. As the young man and cattle clambered out of the
creek onto the bank, a wide meadow laced with looming, dark forest broke before them. Already the emerald newness of spring was slowly blanketing the earth. A shiver raced up the youth's spine – not from the cold,
but from boyish thrill.
A mile into the midst of the meadow, our herdsman left the cattle to nuzzle the new grass. His sharp, blue
eyes studied the landscape. If a bear or mountain lion were to
attack the herd, the woods would be his best advantage. A smile
spread across his tanned features. Of course the woods; his world;
his love.
The youth spent the morning discovering for the thousandth time the secrets of the forest. With
his gun at his side and his bare brown feet as light and noiseless as a cat, he noted everything. The flick of a squirrel's tail, the soft stepa,
stepa, stepa trot of a deer with her fawn. At one point he even heard
the far away rustle of a bear aroused from her winter
slumber. Later in the year, he would hunt her down, but in the spring
a bear was hardly worth anything. So he listened only long enough be sure she lumbered in a
direction away from the herd.
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| Courtesy of Faithwalk Photography |
A little past noon, he wandered back to his four-legged charges. Some of the older cows were missing. Bother. I hope this doesn't take too long. I'm famished. Those girls probably went toward the river bottoms again. After tracking to the north he found the stragglers and brought
them back to the safety of the meadow. As he settled against a
tree to eat, his thoughts wandered. Herding isn't so bad. If Mother didn't have to oversee the cows while Father kept the store, I'd never been able to roam the woods.
The youth cast his eyes west towards the mountains. Only a few men
knew what lay beyond them. What if he could be one of them? The Virginia
colony – like all the rest of the American colonies – had an
undefined western border. Trappers at his father's store often speculated
about how far west the land must go. Few had ever been west of the
great Mississippi River. The west was a giant question mark that
plagued the youth's imagination. Someday he would know. As soon as I'm a man, I'm going to cross those mountains. Yes, sir. As sure as my name's Daniel Boone.
Is there a future frontiersman in your
home? Did you know most of the men who carved homes from the wildernesses of our land were more
made than born? Before there was a Daniel Boone there was a Sarah
Boone who gave him an outlet to master the unknown about him. No doubt Sarah
only wanted to help her husband put food on the table for their brood; allowing her boy to tramp in the woods was likely the furthest reason in her mind for keeping her dairy. Yet a mother's industry became the wings for her son's future. Think of the up and coming men-to-be in your life. What can you do that would inspire your young sons, brothers and nephews to someday be the men God created them to be?
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