There, with the ox team for the transportation of timber from the adjacent forest, and with their own natural Yankee skill to hew it, and their own strong arms to raise it, they constructed the old log cabin, without a "raising," and, as Amos always took pride in adding, "without whiskey."

This log house was nearly square, with the front door in the middle, and the windows, about two feet

square, in each end. It was ready for occupancy in the early spring, and in time to sow the front yard with wheat. During the summer other cabins were erected within a circuit of a mile and a half, so that they did not long feel the weight of an almost complete isolation. It required the closest management for the new farmer to secure a livelihood through the months preceding the sale of the first crop, and no little watching to keep his family from the wolves and from the possible visits of fiercer beasts. But all seem to have willingly endured all the privations of poverty and isolation with cheerfulness, often making jokes of their greatest hardships. The brothers often exchanged work, and so together cleared the fields of stumps, constructed fences, and set out fruit trees. Such saplings, seeds, or stock as they needed, one or the other procured at Cleveland. So that at the close of the autumn of 1830 both farms were in a prosperous condition, giving promise of rich harvests in the year to come.

Other relatives, and many of his former acquaintances, purchased tracts of land in the county and in adjoining counties, and the three years which fol

lowed Abram's removal to his new home saw many clearings and improvements made in that whole region. His fifty-acre tract of land underwent a complete transformation. Early and late he toiled with the oxen; and such a share did those beasts of burden have in the establishment and improvement of his home that Abram regarded them with affectionate fondness, and treated them with the most friendly and patient consideration.

It was a grand thing to see the forest and wildwood give place to the garden of vegetables, the fields of grain, and the orchards of apples. Abram and Eliza appreciated the wonderful change. Those were their sweetest, best days, when they watched for the sprouts of corn and wheat with the eagerness and innocence of children, when the whole family joined in the gathering of the harvest, or when about the roaring winter fire they sat and talked of the past or planned for the future.

Soon a log school-house was constructed, across the ravine at the back of Abram's house, and at one corner of his clearing. This furnished a means of education for their children, and Abram and Eliza were happy.

BIRTH OF JAMES. -THE FOURTH CHILD IN THE FAMILY. REJOICINGS. HUMBLE SURROUNDINGS. -NAMED AFTER HIS UNCLE AND HIS FATHER. -DEATH OF HIS FATHER. - THE EFFECT OF THAT CALAMITY. THE SYMPATHY OF THE NEIGHBORS. IN DEBT. — WIDOW ADVISED TO GIVE AWAY HER CHILDREN. ATTEMPTING TO SAVE THE HOME, — FINISHING THE RAIL FENCE. -INDUSTRY OF THOMAS.- HIS SELF-SACRIFICE. OCCUPATIONS OF THE WIDOW.HER LOVE FOR READING. TEACHING LITTLE JAMES.

NOVEMBER 19, 1831, nearly two years after Abram had taken his family to their new home at Orange, the household was made happier by the birth of another son. Yet, so far as the child was concerned, it cannot be said to be a very auspicious beginning of life. It had been a difficult task to feed the children already in the family. The gloomy log cabin, made more shadowy by the attempts to shut out the cold winds of November, could not be said to be an augury of future brightness. The crying of a child within the humble abode, and the barking of wolves in the woodland near at hand, suggest nothing unusual, prophetic, or propitious. Such circumstances have surrounded the birth of many men, and will attend the nativity of many more. These circumstances neither make nor unmake men. But they do present the encouraging thought that if, from such