With the
coming of spring their "life in the woods" began in earnest. When the
earth was relieved of its snowy mantle, the fallen trunks of the trees,
with piles of brush-wood, were scattered in every direction about their
dwelling. But the fallow was burned as soon as it was considered
sufficiently dry, the blackened logs were piled in heaps, and the ground
was prepared for its first crop of grain. The green blades soon sprang
up and covered the ground, where a short time before was only to be seen
the unsightly fallow or the remains of the partially consumed logs.
It was a long time before Mr. and Mrs. Ainslie became reconciled to
the change in their circumstances, when they exchanged the comforts and
conveniences of their home beyond the sea, for the log cabin in the
wilderness. Cut off as they were from the privileges of society to which
they had been accustomed from childhood, they felt keenly the want of a
place of worship, with each returning Sabbath, and next to this, the
want of a school for their two boys; for taken as a people the Scotch
are intelligent; and we rarely meet with a Scotchman, even among the
poorer classes, who has not obtained a tolerable education.
Pages:
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285