on's agent took possession,
there was no post-office, no ferry over the river, no newspaper, no
hotel, no Protestant church, and no school. Nor could any one hold land
who was not a Catholic. Instantly, and as a matter of course, all
restricting laws were swept away; and before two years had passed there
was a ferry, a post-office, a newspaper, a Protestant church, a hotel,
and two schools, one French and one English.

ISRAEL PUTNAM.

It is strange that so straightforward and transparent a character as
"Old Put" should have become the subject of controversy. Too much is
claimed for him by some disputants, and much too little is conceded to
him by others. He was certainly as far from being a rustic booby as he
was from being a great general.

Conceive him, first, as a thriving, vigorous, enterprising Connecticut
farmer, thirty years of age, cultivating with great success his own farm
of five hundred and fourteen acres, all paid for. Himself one of a
family of twelve children, and belonging to a prolific race which has
scattered Putnams all over the United States, besides leaving an
extraordinary number in New England, he had married young at his native
Salem, and established himself soon after in the northeastern corner of
Connecticut. At that period, 1740, Connecticut was to Massachusetts what
Colorado is to New York at present; and thither, accordingly, this
vigorous young man and his young wife early removed, and hewed out a
farm from the primeval woods.

He was just the man for a pioneer. His strength of body was
extraordinary, and he had a power of sustained exertion more valuable
even than great strength. Nothing is more certain than that he was an
enterprising and successful farmer, who introduced new fruits, better
breeds of cattle, and improved implements.

There is still to be seen on his farm a long avenue of ancient apple
trees, which, the old men of the neighborhood affirm, were set out by
Israel Putnam one hundred and forty years ago. The well which he dug is
still used. Coming to the place with considerable property inherited
from his father (for the Putnams were a thriving race from the
beginning), it is not surprising that he should have become one of the
leading farmers in a county of farmers.

At the same time he was not a studious man, and had no taste for
intellectual enjoyments. He was not then a member of the church. He
never served upon the school committee. There was a Library Asso