a most melancholy
howl about the house at night, so near that my mother could scarcely be
persuaded that they were not under the window. The cow, for security,
was tied to the kitchen door every night; during the day she accompanied
the men to the field they were chopping, and fed upon browse, which kept
her fat and in good heart--the men making a point of felling a maple
tree each morning for her special benefit. Their first sugar-making was
not very beautiful, but they made sufficient of a very bad quality for
the year's consumption. The potatoes gave a great yield; the maize was
eaten and destroyed by the racoons; the apple and pear pips grew nicely,
as did the peach, cherry, and plum stones, and my mother's balsams and
few flowers from the new rich soil were beautiful.

"The summer of 1796 passed away with few incidents at Ryerse Creek,
except the arrival of settlers.

"This year there was a total failure of the grain crops, not only in the
new settlements, but throughout the United States. The Indians alone had
preserved the maize from destruction by the racoons, squirrels and
bears, which had invaded the settlements by thousands in search of food,
as there were no nuts in the woods. The settlers had now to depend upon
the Indians at the Grand River for their bread, and they continued to
sell their maize at the same price as formerly, and during the year of
scarcity never raised it. My father procured his year's supply, but
there were no mills; the nearest ones were south of the Short Hills,
seventy miles distant. Lucky was the family that owned a coffee mill in
the winter of 1797. My father had a number of hands getting out timber
for his mills and clearing land, and when they returned from their work
in the evenings they used to grind in the coffee-mill maize for the next
day's consumption. They soon learned the exact quantity required, and
each man ground his own allowance, dividing that of the rest of the
household amongst them. The meal was made into johnny-cakes, eaten hot
for breakfast, cold for dinner, and the remainder in mush with milk for
supper; and upon this fare they enjoyed perfect good health, were always
cheerful, and apparently happy.

"The greatest good-feeling existed amongst the settlers, although they
were of all nations and creeds and no creeds. Many of those families who
had remained neutral during the revolution to save their property, and
still retained their preference for the British