lf a dwelling; a third is
hoeing in his field of Indian corn. Here comes a huntsman out of the
woods, dragging a bear which he has shot, and shouting to the neighbors to
lend him a hand. There goes a man to the sea-shore, with a spade and a
bucket, to dig a mess of clams, which were a principal article of food
with the first settlers. Scattered here and there are two or three dusky
figures, clad in mantles of fur, with ornaments of bone hanging from their
ears, and the feathers of wild birds in their coal black hair. They have
belts of shell-work slung across their shoulders, and are armed with bows
and arrows and flint-headed spears. These are an Indian Sagamore and his
attendants, who have come to gaze at the labors of the white men. And now
rises a cry, that a pack of wolves have seized a young calf in the
pasture; and every man snatches up his gun or pike, and runs in chase of
the marauding beasts.

Poor Lady Arbella watches all these sights, and feels that this new world
is fit only for rough and hardy people. None should be here but those who
can struggle with wild beasts and wild men, and can toil in the heat or
cold, and can keep their hearts firm against all difficulties and dangers.
But she is not one of these. Her gentle and timid spirit sinks within her;
and turning away from the window she sits down in the great chair, and
wonders thereabouts in the wilderness her friends will dig her grave.

Mr. Johnson had gone, with Governor Winthrop and most of the other
passengers, to Boston, where he intended to build a house for Lady Arbella
and himself. Boston was then covered with wild woods, and had fewer
inhabitants even than Salem. During her husband's absence, poor Lady
Arbella felt herself growing ill, and was hardly able to stir from the
great chair. Whenever John Endicott noticed her despondency, he doubtless
addressed her with words of comfort. "Cheer up, my good lady!" he would
say. "In a little time, you will love this rude life of the wilderness as
I do." But Endicott's heart was as bold and resolute as iron, and he could
not understand why a woman's heart should not be of iron too.

Still, however, he spoke kindly to the lady, and then hastened forth to
till his corn-field and set out fruit trees, or to bargain with the
Indians for furs, or perchance to oversee the building of a fort. Also
being a magistrate, he had often to punish some idler or evil-doer, by
ordering him to be set in the stocks or sco