. His form,
never handsome, even in youth, was now disfigured by a stoop in the
shoulders, caused by hard labor and rheumatism. His face corresponded
with his body--being long and thin, with hollow cheeks, and high cheek
bones,--his eyes were small and gray, with heavy eye-brows; his nose
long and pointed; his mouth large and homely, though expressive; and his
forehead medium, surmounted by a sprinkling of brown-gray hair. In
speech he was deliberate, generally pointed, and seldom spoke when not
absolutely necessary. He was a good farmer--such being his occupation; a
keen hunter, whenever he chose to amuse himself in that way; a sure
marksman; and, although ignorant in book learning, possessed a sound
judgment, and a common-sense understanding on all subjects of general
utility. He was a native of Eastern Virginia, where the greater portion
of his life had been spent in hunting and agricultural pursuits--where
he was married and had been blessed with two children--a son and a
daughter--of whom the former only was now living, and has already been
introduced to the reader as Isaac--and whence, at the instance of his
wife and son, he removed, in the spring of 1779, into the borders of
Kentucky--finally purchased and settled where he now resided; and where,
although somewhat exposed, he and his family had thus far remained
unmolested.

The dame, Mrs. Younker, was a large, corpulent woman of forty-five, with
features rather coarse and masculine, yet expressive of shrewdness and
courage, and, withal, a goodly share of benevolence. She was one of that
peculiar class of females, who, if there is any thing to be said, always
claim the privilege of saying it; in other words, an inveterate talker;
and who, if we may be allowed the phrase, managed her husband, and all
around her, with the length of her tongue. In the country where she was
brought up and known, to say of another, that he or she could compete
with Ben Younker's wife in talking, was considered the extreme of
comparison; and it is not recorded that any individual ever presumed on
the credulity of the public sufficient to assert that the vocal powers
of the said Mrs. Younker were ever surpassed. Unlike most great talkers,
she was rarely heard to speak ill of any, and then only such as were
really deserving of censure; while her rough kind of piety--if we may so
term it--and her genuine goodness of heart, known to all with whom she
came in contact, served to procure her