fall
plowing; where we could hire a yoke of oxen if needed; where, in the
proper season, we could buy a cow. He introduced me to a man whose
specialty was cutting brush, because he had heavy, stooped shoulders and
preternaturally long, powerful arms--a sort of anthropoid specimen who
wielded a keen one-handed ax that cut a sizable sapling clean through
at one stroke. He produced a carpenter properly qualified for repairs on
an old house, because he had always lived in one and had been repairing
it most of the time since childhood. He found us the right men to clean
our well, to do our painting, to trim and rehabilitate our frowsy
door-yard. He took me in his buggy to see some of these men; the rest he
sent for. If you have ever undertaken a job like ours you have a pretty
good idea of our debt to William C. Westbury.

And this was not all--oh, by no means! Westbury kept cows, in those
days, and made an almost daily trip with milk to the nearest sizable
town, by virtue of which he became the natural purchasing agent of the
thousand and one things we needed in that day of our beginning, and the
most reliable and efficient I have ever known. Nothing was too small or
too big for Westbury to remember, and I can see him now swing his team
up to the front step and hear him call out, "Hey, there!" as a
preparation to unloading crockery and tinware, dry-goods and notions,
garden tools and food-stuff, his wagon full, his pockets full, without
ever an oversight or a poor selection. If you have ever lived in the
country you know what a thing like that is worth. It was my opinion that
Westbury was a genius, and he has since proved it.

But I am still going too fast. The family did not immediately come to
Brook Ridge, and perhaps I should say here that the "family," besides
Elizabeth, consisted of three hardy daughters, whom I shall name as the
Pride, the Hope, and the Joy, aged twelve, seven, and two, respectively.
They were boarding at a pleasant farm some twenty miles away, and it was
thought advisable for them to remain there with Elizabeth a week or such
a matter while I came over and stopped with Westbury and his capable
wife, to get things started.

IV

_Those were lovely days_

My impression is that our carpenter came first, though the exact
sequence is unimportant. He was not exclusively a carpenter, being also
a farmer during a considerable portion of the year. He would have to
knock off, now and then, he said, to