y were then called, and taken on board an English man-of-war to be
impressed into the service of Great Britain.

The vessel was anchored about one and a half miles from shore, the better
to prevent the escape of the impressed seamen; but, notwithstanding the
strict surveillance under which they were placed, John Cochrane and a
comrade one dark night, tied their clothing into a bundle, which they
fastened on their heads and dropped into the water from the fore chains of
the vessel where they were stationed, and swam to the shore and made good
their escape. The story as frequently told me by my mother, is a long one
and filled with thrilling incidents, as was also the military life of my
father, John Cooper. My father died October 23d, 1831, when I was only
eighteen months old, leaving my mother with a family of nine children, one
of whom was a babe only a few weeks old. Her only income was the products
of a farm of 25 acres, and the trifling wages as a carpenter's apprentice
of my eldest brother, Lorenzo.

In the spring of 1836, my mother having sold her farm in Victory and
bought fifty acres in Sterling, we moved into a new log house that my
brother had built during the winter and early spring, and around which he
had made a clearing of sufficient dimensions to avert the danger of the
house being crushed by falling trees. This clearing was extended during
the summer to ten or fifteen acres by cutting off the timber, and afforded
us youngsters plenty of work, piling brush and burning them, and the log
heaps which a bee of neighbors had constructed. The house had not been
chincked, and the floor was made of split basswood slabs, hewn smooth and
nicely fitted together, which if not as elegant as the more modern floors,
at least possessed the elements of strength and durability. A large Dutch
fire place, and a wide chimney built of sticks and mud, took up nearly
half of the north side of the house, while at the right of the fire place
was constructed a rude pair of stairs leading to the upper rooms. The
lower part of the house consisted of this one room, about 16x18, which
served as parlor, dining room and kitchen, and a bedroom and recess
occupied the south side.

The upper rooms were two in number and were supplied with rough board
floors, and with a window in each room. A cellar was dug under the front
room for the storage of apples and vegetables during the winter, and was
entered by a trap door near the center of the