He had reared a family of good looking young men, and the place looked very fine. This man had been in the habit of cutting the timber and wood from any part of the lot and selling it on his own account. We were told on our arrival at the village in the vicinity, that this old fellow had understood the land had been sold, " but," said he, " let any one enter my house, and order me off, I '11 shoot him as quick as I would a bear." As the farm was at the top of the hill, and it being quite a walk to reach it, we concluded however, that as we were to be shot on reaching the summit, to take it very moderately.
The pathway, though somewhat meandering, was very steep, and the journey fatiguing. We at length reached the house, and came suddenly upon them. In one house, Mrs. C was washing, and when we entered the door, she turned quite pale, and left her work. I told her not to be alarmed, assuring her that we were friends. We then enquired for her husband; she at first hesitated, and then said he was in the next house. We went into the next house and found him, sitting as though in deep meditation. We saluted him, with, "How are you, sir?" He responded, bade us be seated, and after the usual prefatory talk had subsided, we said to him that we were the purchasers of the lot, and had called on him to arrange about his farm.
He seemed much agitated, and in order to suppress any unnecessary fear_ I told him that we were not disposed to trouble him or to distress his family; that we had called on him to request that he would not cut off any more timber or wood from the place, and as he had never paid anything for his farm, we required him to pay two dollars per acre for the one hundred and sixty, which he then held in possession; giving him seven years in which to pay it; to which he cheerfully agreed. His good spouse had in the meantime tidied up a little, and brought us some fine strawberries and cream. In a joking manner, I alluded to the shooting story, at which he laughed very heartily, declaring that he had not owned a gun for five years, observing that he knew the villagers did not like him, and he believed that their dislike was occasioned on account of his having the best farm in that vicinity.
He appeared to be an intelligent man, related the hardships he had endured in raising his family. "Every slab," said he, " in these houses, I brought from the mill on my shoulders, and many a time have gone several miles through the snow for a bag of meal. I cleared away the place with my own hands, and made all the improvements you now see." After having made our proposition to the old man, with which he appeared perfectly satisfied, we left him, and ^ descended from this fair mount again into the world of mosquitos, monstrous blue flies, bogs, briars,and reached the village late in the evening. As the next day was the Sabbath, we concluded to remain here until Monday morning.
We stopped with a private family, consisting of a man, his wife, and two children. There was no place of worship here, and I think the nearest meeting-house was seven miles distant. There were perhaps twenty families, and quite a number of interesting children. This good lady told me that once in a great while, a preacher would come along, and when notice was given that there would be religious services for but one evening, the news would spread round the country, and those who lived on the borders of the river, if they could not obtain canoes or boats, would come down on logs, and get back the best way they could. And she had known them to come ten miles on a single log, greedily devouring every word the preacher said, and eagerly entreating him to come again.
I gave her my Bible, which she received with much pleasure. Notwithstanding what I have said about the scarcity of religious instruction here, it happened that for a few weeks past, there had been a man from Bangor, who had preached once on Sabbath morning, and in the afternoon held a Sabbath school. As he intended to preach in the schoolhouse, I very gladly attended, but was sorry to observe the behavior of several young men — fishermen, which was indecent and unbecoming. The preacher, His true, was not only uneducated, but quite illiterate, and what may be termed a vulgar man. His speech was bad, and before commencing his sermon, took from his pocket a plug of tobacco, opened his knife, cut off a quid, and commenced his sermon.