CHAPTER XI.

"Life hath its changes like the weather too, Cares match cold days as storms do controversies."

MR. HOSKINS, after the purchase I had made from Mr. Nackets, became less anxious to return home. He saw, as he often said, "the settlement was a-going to do," and his intention of moving to it from Vermont when he could get his farm there sold, was every time we conversed on the subject more and more strengthened. We agreed, however, not to open store regularly before the Spring, when we should have a proper place constructed, and a right assortment of goods laid in; at the same time we thought it would be as well, not absolutely to abstain from supplying the settlers who could pay ready money for such ar

ticles as we then had. Thus it came to pass, that he stayed with us till the snow fell, with the first of which he set out in a sleigh to bring Mrs. Hoskins, and to dispose of his land and betterments. He had no children, and about this time he began to speak of leaving the bulk of his property to my family, if they should happen to survive himself and wife.

He had not, however, left us above three or four days, when symptoms of a change began to appear in the settlement-so long as the public works, roads, clearings, &c. undertaken by the speculators had continued to give employment and wages to the settlers, every thing went on prosperously, and even for some time after the seasonable suspension, no visible diminution of their contentment and industry was discernible. But the savings of their wages were at last exhausted; the severity of the winter caused a greater outlay among them for clothes than the most provident were prepared for, and so general was the distress in consequence, that the Agent grew seriously alarmed, lest the settlement should be broken up.

In this crisis, one day when he came to see

how we were getting on, he entered my house, and familiarly taking a stool by the fire, spoke to me of his anxieties, pointing out how detrimental any considerable desertion would be to the speculation, especially following so close upon the heels of the failure at Olympus.

I sympathised with him, but I was naturally more affected by the description he gave me of the condition of several poor families he had just visited, lamenting his inability to afford them adequate assistance. Here, thought I, is an end of the golden dreams that I and Mr. Hoskins have been dreaming. I said nothing, however, of my fears to him, but continued to discuss with him the means of remedying the present evil. He was deeply perplexed, and saw great difficulties in every suggestion. In short, the occasion was above his management, and he as much as confessed it was so.

At last, I happened to observe, that if he would send in a supply of provisions to the village, there would be less cause for anxiety as to other necessaries, and these might be distributed and charged on account against those who received them, till they had time to wipe off the

debt by their labour in the summer. This notion consorted with his own, and before he left the village, it was agreed that I should take charge of the distribution when the provisions arrived.

I have been the more particular in mentioning this trifling casualty, as it may seem, because out of it, mustard seed, as it may well be likened to, sprung the great tree of my subsequent prosperity. For in the distribution I acquitted myself so much to the purpose, giving all satisfaction, both to the settlers and the agent, that it came to pass, as will in due time be mentioned in the sequel, I received from him a permanent trust which redounded both to my credit and profit. It was a business, nevertheless, not to be coveted by the pityful and humane; for many of the settlers had numerous families of little children, and it was plain to see that it would be long before they could pay their debts: it was indeed a heartbreaking thing to send away in a bitter cold morning, small weeping and shivering bairns, with the bags empty that they had brought, poor things, to get a modicum of flour for their breakfasts.

A grievance of another kind, a spiritual hunger, fell upon us about the same time. While the roads were bad, we saw but seldom either priest or preacher; but when the sleighing began, we had one every Sunday, and sometimes two. I cannot say that I thought much either of their doctrine or their orthodoxy, considering, however, that we were like Elijah in the wilderness, it behoved us to be thankful for the food the ravens brought to us; at least, it would have been far from me to have complained, for I regarded the occasional visit of a clergyman as having a salutary influence on the minds of the people, estranged as we were from the jurisdiction of laws and magistrates.

But it was not so among the settlers in general; they began to have their favourites, and schisms arose among them, and controversies grew to such a pitch, that among other calamities we were weekly threatened with a holy war: all this gave the agent and the better order of settlers much molestation, and they were pleased to say, had it not been for my temperate handling, they did not know what the upshot of such an unruly spirit might have been.