448 



Scarcely a house escaped the fever, and it waa tnily said that there were 

 not persons in health sufficient to take care of the sick. Many a heart- 

 rending scene I saw, for those were the days that tried men's souk ; and 

 day by day my respect for the perseveronce, and my admiration for the 

 patient courage of those determined men and women increased. One 

 case, in particular, I well remember. It was some miles to the north 

 of the village that I came upon a new farm, with a large field of 

 ripe wheat around the log house — a house nearly a mile from anj 

 other dwelling; and, a.s was then my habit, I stopped to enquire if I 

 could be of any service. The farmer was a middle-aged man, with a 

 wife, a grown son, and several younger boys and girls. He had immi- 

 grated the year before, expending all his means in the purchase of the 

 land, fencing, building, and getting in a large crop of wheat. This wa» 

 dead ripe, and perishing on the ground, and every member of the fain- 

 ily, except a little boy, about six years of age, was confined to bed with 

 bilious fever. On this child depended the nursing and cooking for the 

 family, and what was worse, every drop of water con'^umed, was carried 

 by him three-quarters of a mile, while he himself had ihe ague every 

 other day. 



But such cases were by no means uncommon ; and many a time triy 

 heart has bled, as stopping at a new house, far away from neighbors, I 

 found a young mother, accustomed to all the comforts, luxuries, and 

 friendships of the older States, cast here into the woods, with the liu»- 

 band on whom all depended, confined to bed with disease, and never a 

 soul to speak a word of cheering, to lend a helping hand, or say " God 

 bless you." No words can tell, nor mind imagine, the accumulated 

 suffering, and disappointed hopes of these two autumns; and yet, Icau 

 honestly say, that I never heard a murmur, nor an expi-eesion of repi- 

 ning. These are the men and women who settled this country — the 

 pioneers of civilization ; to whom those who have since immigrated are 

 indebted for roads, and a thousand comfort* at first unknown — these are the 

 men and women, who, fifty years hence will be spoken of to our grand- 

 children, as the heroes and heroines who fought the battle of man againat 

 unsubdued Nature, and came off conqueroi'S. 



And yet what are these fine farms, good houses, extensive bams, 

 fences, roads, school-houses, which we now see on every side — what are 

 they but labor — the labor of man's mind and man's body ? In old 



