560 Our Engraving — Fort Washington. [December, 



the present day. Then they came over the mountains with pack- 

 horses, and paddled down our rivers in frail canoes, or on rude rafts. 

 Then, to go into the wilderness, was an adventure beset truly with 

 perils and dangers, and not unfrequently to meet death by the 

 unrelenting hand of the savage, while to remain in the settlements 

 they were threatened with starvation. 



Oft did they go to their fields with their gun in one hand and 

 their hoe in the other. Frequently some dozen families would 

 unite, and erecting a strong block-house to their cabins, would 

 enclose it with pickets. Often while they were at work clearing 

 their lands and planting, they would appoint one as sentinel, to warn 

 them of approaching danger. At sun-set they would retire to their 

 block-house and cabins, taking every thing of value within the 

 pickets. 



In this manner they proceeded from day to day and week to weeki 

 till their improvements were sufficiently extensive to support their 

 families. Their support was frequently very precarious, depending 

 mostly on wild game, and scanty supplies brought by pack-horses, at 

 a heavy expense, amidst great danger. 



To be a pioneer in those days required no small amount of forti- 

 tude and decision. And when we trace the history of those gone, 

 from the lips of the few who survive their hardships — we become 

 fully convinced that they were men adequate to the occasion which 

 brought them hither and the effecting of results such as we see. 



It will be our purpose to spread before our readers from time to 

 time, biographical sketches of some of those pioneers, and as far as 

 possible gather from the lips of those who survive such incidents as 

 may be of interest to those who now fill many of their places, and 

 still more, to those who may come after. There can be no reading 

 more profitable to the young of the present generation, than the 

 accounts of the trials and hardships of their fathers in the first settle* 

 ments, of their simple manners and stern virtues, of their persever- 

 ance and courage, of their industry and its rewards. Nothing will 

 tend more to stem the current of luxury, effeminacy and vice, setting 

 in before us like a flood, than to teach our sons and daughters to 

 respect their memories and imitate their example. 



The blandishments of wealth, luxury and fashion must be resisted, 

 and the integrity, simplicity and industry of our fathers must be follow- 

 ed, if our country is still to prosper and her republican institutions 

 be maintained. — Ed. 



