"A few," said Mr. Murray. "Such New England farms, for instance, as still bear the names 'Lonesome' and 'Scrabblehard.' But the histories are not very old, and refer to nothing more picturesque than the struggles of the early settlers."
"What struggles?" Maggie wanted to know.
"Struggles for life. With the hard soil, with the hard climate, and with the wild Indians. But such struggles, Maggie, left an inheritance of strength, patience, and daring to their children."
"Why haven't we stories like those of the Saxons?"
"Why!" exclaimed Fenton impatiently, "are you such a simple? There was nothing here but red Indians till a little while ago."
"We have not been a nation for more than a hundred years, Maggie," said Meredith.
"And before that, were the Indians here at Mosswood?"
"No, no," said Fenton. "You had better study history."
"As you have," put in his uncle. "Won't you tell Maggie when the first settlements of the English were made in America?"
However, Fenton could not.