OLD HOMESTEAD 



Brown, our great-grandfather, and upon which the house shown 

 in the accompanying cuts was built and now stands. 



At first, no attention seems to have been paid to the location 

 or purchase of the lands. They were for some time squatters 

 in the big woods, with no trouble about lines or claims. They 

 were more anxious to be near other settlers than to secure de- 

 sirable lands. Grandfather's location proved to be the most un- 

 desirable of anything in the immediate vicinity. They brought 

 with them the Vermont idea that flat land was no good; that 

 heavy hemlock, birch and beech timber indicated good soil. For 

 pine lands they had no use. I have heard my father say that 

 they could have had the Adams flats on Sandy Creek much 

 cheaper than the Lorraine hills, but would not take them on 

 account of their being covered with pine and the soil too light 



and sandy. They wanted a good, durable soil, and they got it 



good, solid hardpan, filled with shale, flat stones and great hard- 

 heads. 



The history and occurrences of this early period were told 

 over and over again to us children, and upon me made a last- 

 ing impression and are as much a part of my memory as my own 

 actual experience and observation. 



The struggle for a bare existence in this heavily timbered, 

 stony, hilly forest was a long, hard one and at times very disheart- 

 ening. Nothing could be raised until the removal of the great, 

 green forest monsters, and then no plow could be used among 

 their solid stumps and far-reaching roots for years. Such stuff 

 as was raised had to be put in and cultivated wholly by hand. 



The shadows were deep and long around their little clear- 

 ings ; the frosts were late in the spring and early in the fall, and 

 once at least they came every month in the year. Winter snows 

 were early and deep and covered the earth until late in the 

 spring. 



