Early Settlement at the Carrying Place 13 



the building of the canal, the coming of the railway, and all 

 the changes that it brought with it. But throughout all there 

 remained one fixed idea of how close to each other in their 

 hardships, with their mutual self-help and common sympathies, 

 the people in those early days had been; how near to primeval 

 Nature, with her pine woods and grassy marshes filled with 

 game and fish, and how intimate, too, with the Almighty Creator 

 of those scenes of pristine beauty, who, nevertheless, seemed to 

 dominate all with some infinite and unseen force, in which as 

 in the loss of the "Speedy" tragic Destiny mocked the puny 

 efforts of men. 



Musing as in a dream, Mr. Keeler was aroused, as usual, by 

 the entry of his sons. 



