634
RIDLONS OF HOLLIS, MAINE.
and money. In personal appearance he resembled his father in many
respects, although not as large a man. He was more than six feet in
height, very broad across the shoulders and hips, and when walking car-
ried his feet far apart. He was raw-boned and muscular; his weight was
never more than one hundred and eighty pounds. His arms were un-
usually long, and when walking his hands reached his knees. The cords
of his wrists were like ropes, and few men were his equal in strength.
His neck was short and large, his jaws square and wide, his cheek-bones
high, his forehead narrow and receding, his crown high and of peculiar
form; his old doctor once said "Uncle Tom's head is shaped like the top
of Mount Washington." He was very bald from early life; his hair in
his prime was jet-black and somewhat curly; his beard was worn on the
sides of his face, sometimes quite long; his brows were very long and
thick, and hung out over his eyes with a peculiar curve; his eyes were
gray and deep-set, and his complexion very ruddy. The expression of his
face was always calm and determined. Exposure to pure air, living on
plain, nutritious food, and an acquaintance with healthful exercises when
young, invested him with a vigorous constitution, and fitted him to endure
almost any exertion unwearied and unimpaired. Daring, full of hope and
physical vitality, he drove on through heat and cold, storms or calms, fre-
quently exposed to danger, passing almost within the jaws of death and
coming out without serious harm.
He was at Saco with his father when a boy, and started to return
to Hollis (then Phillipsburgh), about dark, both being mounted on one
beast. The road then ran through an almost unbroken wilderness,
and as they left the settlement and entered the woods, his father said,
"Now, Thomas, you must hold on, or the wolves will get you." Sure
enough, before they reached Salmon Falls they heard the distant howl of
a wolf.
"That means us," said the father. Presently another howl echoed
through the deep, gloomy forest, but much nearer than the first. The
horse became excited, and increased speed. Soon there was another pro-
longed howl, and in a moment it was answered to by others in various
directions. They gave their horse the reins and let the strong beast take
its own course. In a few minutes a pack of howling, hungry wolves were
gathering around them, their eyeballs, in the darkness, shining like coals
of fire. The lad clung to his father's coat; the horse was urged forward,
and away they flew like the "wings of the wind." The number of wolves
increased as they followed on, and their howls became almost deafening.
Thus the race for life kept up until the father and son safely entered the
clearing of his neighbors, when the lights and barking of dogs turned the
wolves back in disappointment and "supperless to bed." It was a narrow
escape; had the horse stumbled and the boy lost his hold, he would have
been torn in pieces in a moment. Thomas never forgot that night-ride
from Saco, and till old age always became much excited when relating
the adventure.
He was once hunting for his cows, and failing to find them as the dark-
ness came on, he turned his steps homeward; as he approached his field he
heard a noise near his feet like the mewing of a kitten, and stooping down
he found two young wild-cats coiled up at the roots of a large tree. He
quickly seized them, buttoned his heavy coat around them, and ran for
his house; he had not gone far, however, before he heard the angry screams
of the mother-cat, and knew she had missed her babies. On he ran with
all his speed, but the young cats continued to cry, and in a minute the old one
