ins that were soon scattered along the shore. The axe
was plied in the woods, and the needle by the fireside, and yet grim
Poverty was ever shaking her fist in the very faces of the settlers, and
whispering sad things of what the uncertain future might have in store
for them.

Cheerily they bore the hardships of the present hour, and a deaf ear
they turned to all such whispers. Yet those settlers were sensible,
matter-of-fact men; and it was soon plain to them, that healthful as
were the breezes that made so rosy the cheeks of their daughters,
Fairport was not the very best site in the world for a settlement, at
least if its people were to depend on the thin and rocky soil won from
the forest, which scarcely produced the bare necessaries of life.

Was Fairport given up in despair? No, no. Her settlers were not the men
to be so daunted and foiled. If the land was unkindly, they could take
to the water; and so they did, to a man. Some were off to the
Newfoundland Banks, tossing about the codfish, and piling them up into
stacks that were more profitable than any hay of their own raising. Some
were on board swift vessels, doing a good share of the carrying trade
between the West Indies and the New England cities. Some were seeking
the whale far in the northern seas; while others, less enterprising,
were content to fish nearer home for all sorts of eatable dwellers in
the sea, from halibut to herring.

Now a new day had begun for Fairport. The original cabins began to
tower in the air or encroach on the submissive gardens, as building
after building was added by the prosperous owners. Miniature villas,
with a wealth of useless piazzas, appeared in the neighborhood of the
town, and substantial wharves bordered one side of the quiet harbor, and
gave a welcome to the shipping that seemed to grow and cluster there
like the trees of a forest.

Fairport had passed the struggles of its early youth when our story
begins, though there were gray-haired citizens yet within its borders
who could tell how the bears had once looked in at their cabin windows,
and the pine-trees had stood thick in what was now the main street of
the rising town.

CHAPTER II.

THE YOUNG ORATOR.

The boys of Fairport were an amphibious set, who could live on land
truly, but were happiest when in or near the water. To fish and swim,
row, trim the sail, and guide the rudder, were accomplishments they all
could boast. A bold, hardy, merry set th