I do not hear that there was any
carpenter or tailor among the gods. The smith seems to have preceded these
and every other mechanic at Chesuncook as well as on Olympus, and his
family is the most widely dispersed, whether he be christened John or
Ansell.
Smith owned two miles down the lake by half a mile in width. There were
about one hundred acres cleared here. He cut seventy tons of English hay
this year on this ground, and twenty more on another clearing, and he uses
it all himself in lumbering operations. The barn was crowded with pressed
hay and a machine to press it. There was a large garden full of roots,
turnips, beets, carrots, potatoes, etc., all of great size. They said that
they were worth as much here as in New York. I suggested some currants for
sauce, especially as they had no apple-trees set out, and showed how
easily they could be obtained.
There was the usual long-handled axe of the primitive woods by the door,
three and a half feet long,--for my new black-ash rule was in constant
use,--and a large, shaggy dog, whose nose, report said, was full of
porcupine quills. I can testify that he looked very sober. This is the
usual fortune of pioneer dogs, for they have to face the brunt of the
battle for their race, and act the part of Arnold Winkelried without
intending it.
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