person could enter at a time; the windows
few, and only about two and a half feet long by eighteen inches with
thick diamond glass secured with lead, and crossed inside with bars of
iron. The basement had but two rooms, and the chamber was entered by a
ladder instead of stairs; so that the inmates, if driven thither, could
cut off communication with the rooms below. Many private houses were
strengthened and fortified. We remember one familiar to our boyhood,--
a venerable old building of wood, with brick between the weather boards
and ceiling, with a massive balustrade over the door, constructed of oak
timber and plank, with holes through the latter for firing upon
assailants. The door opened upon a stone-paved hall, or entry, leading
into the huge single room of the basement, which was lighted by two small
windows, the ceiling black with the smoke of a century and a half; a huge
fireplace, calculated for eight-feet wood, occupying one entire side;
while, overhead, suspended from the timbers, or on shelves fastened to
them, were household stores, farming utensils, fishing-rods, guns,
bunches of herbs gathered perhaps a century ago, strings of dried apples
and pumpkins, links of mottled sausages, spareribs, and flitches of
bacon; the firelight of an evening dimly revealing the checked woollen
coverlet of the bed in one far-off corner, while in another "the pewter
plates on the dresser Caught and reflected the flame as shields of armies
the sunshine."

Tradition has preserved many incidents of life in the garrisons. In
times of unusual peril the settlers generally resorted at night to the
fortified houses, taking thither their flocks and herds and such
household valuables as were most likely to strike the fancy or minister
to the comfort or vanity of the heathen marauders. False alarms were
frequent. The smoke of a distant fire, the bark of a dog in the deep
woods, a stump or bush taking in the uncertain light of stars and moon
the appearance of a man, were sufficient to spread alarm through the
entire settlement, and to cause the armed men of the garrison to pass
whole nights in sleepless watching. It is said that at Haselton's
garrison-house the sentinel on duty saw, as he thought, an Indian inside
of the paling which surrounded the building, and apparently seeking to
gain an entrance. He promptly raised his musket and fired at the
intruder, alarming thereby the entire garrison. The women and children
left the