We are all here!
Father, mother,
Sister, brother,
All who hold each other dear.
Each chair is fill'd--we're all at home;
To-night let no cold stranger come:
It is not often thus around
Our old familiar hearth we're found:
Bless, then, the meeting and the spot;
For once be every care forgot;
Let gentle Peace assert her power,
And kind Affection rule the hour;
We're all--all here.
Sprague.
Although most of the people retired to their dwellings, or their labours, as soon as the captain dismissed them, a few remained to receive his farther orders. Among these last were Joel, the carpenter, and the blacksmith. These men now joined the chief of the settlement and his son, who had lingered near the gateway, in conversation concerning the alterations that the present state of things might render necessary, in and about the Hut.
"Joel," observed the captain, when the three men were near enough to hear his orders, "this great change in the times will render some changes in our means of defence prudent, if not necessary."
"Does the captain s'pose the people of the colony will attack us?" asked the wily overseer, with emphasis.
"Perhaps not the people of the colony, Mr. Strides, for we have not yet declared ourselves their enemies; but there are other foes, who are more to be apprehended than the people of the colony."
"I should think the king's troops not likely to trouble themselves to ventur' here--the road might prove easier to come than to return. Besides, our plunder would scarce pay for such a march."
"Perhaps not--but there never has yet been a war in these colonies that some of the savage tribes were not engaged in it, before the whites had fairly got themselves into line."
"Do you really think, sir, there can be much serious danger of that!" exclaimed the major, in surprise.
"Beyond a question, my son. The scalping-knife will be at work in six months, if it be not busy already, should one-half of your reports and rumours turn out to be true. Such is American history."