II. 



GLEAM. 



On going up with Will to out 1 attic-room it was 

 impossible for me to go at once to sleep. My fath- 

 er's sudden death brought a great change to us all, 

 a change about which I could not help thinking. 

 He had been fairly successful, as success is counted 

 among pioneer farmers. He had begun to care for 

 himself when a boy of thirteen, and from that time 

 had been dependent entirely upon his own labor. 

 He had given himself a good education, married at 

 twenty-six, moved from the East upon our present 

 farm six years later, had put up good log buildings, 

 cleared sixty acres and subdued it thoroughly, put 

 out, ten years before his death, fifteen acres in 

 apple trees, kept his farm well stocked with such 

 animals as were needed, and, at his death, left every- 

 thing free from debt. As such things are calculated 

 in the backwoods of Michigan our prospects were by 

 no means desperate. Will and I were accustomed 

 to hard work. We could easily take care of the 



farm, and do it well. And the farm would take care 

 14 



