AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



research, however, disclosed the fact that in 1630 

 there was a Parish of Woodhill, in County Bed- 

 ford, in this valley, but that the name had been 

 gradually contracted until nothing but " Odell " 

 was left of it, the original name surviving in the 

 traditions of the Emerson family. 



The Maine man dislikes to receive commands, 

 and is therefore chary about giving them, even 

 when clothed with ample authority, and instead 

 of bidding another to do thus and so, is apt to 

 reduce the command to a question, saying to one, 

 " Ain't it pretty nigh time to feed the horse ? " 

 or to another, " How 'd it be to try your bar on 

 that far corner ? " The Maine man has the 

 American dislike to commands in a superlative 

 degree, and the way they avoid giving direct 

 orders to each other is interesting. There is 

 something in the mountain air, the vastness of 

 the woods, that begets independence and a love 

 of freedom. During the Civil War a couple of 

 stalwart lumbermen came from Potter County, 

 Pennsylvania, to Harrisburg, with the intention 

 of enlisting. Walking out to Camp Curtin, they 

 watched with interest a sergeant drilling a file of 

 troops. As the full import of the scene dawned 

 on their minds, one turned to the other, and said, 



56 



