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The Pioneer Settler
upon the Holland Purchase, and his Progress
by
Orsamus Turner from the History
of the Holland Purchase
Second Scene
[Illustration will be posted shortly.]
No 2. — It is Summer. The pioneer has chopped down a few acres,
enclosed them with a rail fence in front, and a brush fence on the sides
and in the rear. Around the house he has a small spot cleared of the timber
sufficient for a garden; but upon most of the opening he has made, he
has only burned the brush, and corn, potatoes, beans, pumpkins, are growing
among the logs. He has got a stick chimney added to his house. In the
back ground of the picture, a logging bee is in progress; his scattered
pioneer neighbors, that have been locating about him during the winter
and spring, have come to join hands with him for a day, and in their turns,
each of them will enjoy a similar benefit. His wife has become a mother,
and with her first born in her arms, she is out, looking to the plants
she has been rearing upon some rude mounds raised with her own hands.
She has a few marygolds, pinks, sweet williams, daffodills, sun flowers,
hollyhocks; upon one side of the door, a hop vine, and upon the other
a morning glory. Knowing that when the cow came from the woods there would
come along with her a swarm of musquitoes, she has prepared a smudge for
their reception. A log bridge has been thrown across the stream. It is
a rugged home in the wilderness as yet, but we have already the earnest
of progress and improvement.
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