Government, now sought
homes in Canada, or assisted their sons to do so. The Quakers and
Yunkers were amongst the best settlers, as they always brought some
property with them, and were generally peaceable and industrious.

"Lands were so easily obtained, and so much encouragement was given by
Government to settlers, that many of the half-pay officers and soldiers
who had gone to New Brunswick found their way here, as well as many of
the idle, discontented, dissipated, vicious and worthless of the United
States. But at the Settler's Home all were made welcome; the meals,
victuals and night's lodging were freely given to all, and for years
after, to my recollection, during the summer season our house was never
free from travellers; not that there was any particular merit due to our
hospitality, for the man that would have closed his door against a
traveller would have been looked upon as worse than a savage. My mother,
this summer, had a dreadful alarm, which she used to describe to me with
great feeling many years after. My little brother (George), for whose
sake she had encountered all the privations and hardships of an early
settler, gave rise to numerous fears and anxieties if he was out of her
sight a few minutes. Endless misfortunes might befall him; he might be
eaten up by wild beasts; or, he might be stolen by the Indians (their
stealing children not being a very uncommon occurrence in those days,
and during the summer season there used to be hundreds encamped on the
beach); or, he might be drowned; or, he might wander away and be lost in
the woods; and he would steal away and follow the men to the field when
not closely watched. One day George was missing, and great was the
commotion. Search was made everywhere, and George's name sounded through
the forest in every direction. At last his hat was found in the creek.
My mother sat perfectly quiet on the bank, with feelings not easily
described, while my father probed the deep holes, and thrust his spear
under the driftwood, expecting every time he drew it out to see George's
red frock rise to the surface, when she heard with delight a little
voice say 'Mamma,' from the opposite side of the creek. And there was
George, with his little bare head peeping through the bushes, with his
pet cat by his side. The reaction was too much for my mother; she fell
fainting to the ground. George had lost his hat walking over a log which
the men used as a bridge.

"The settlement