d?

2. Imagine yourself as one of a group of travellers on the way to Kentucky
or Tennessee, and tell all you can about the journey.

3. Tell all you can about the food, clothing, shelter, and other
conditions of life in these backwoods settlements.

4. What sort of training did the pioneer boy receive in school and at
home?

5. Why did Robertson plant a settlement at the place where Nashville now
stands?

6. How did he save this settlement from the Indians? What do you admire
about him?

7. Are you making frequent use of the map?

CHAPTER IX

JOHN SEVIER

Another daring leader who did much to build up the settlements in
Tennessee was John Sevier.

[Illustration: John Sevier.]

Born in 1745, Sevier was but three years younger than Robertson, and was
closely associated with him in later life. Sevier's birthplace was in the
western part of Virginia, but while he was still a young boy, the family
was driven from their home by the Indians and went to Fredericksburg,
Virginia. There he went to the same school which George Washington had
attended not many years before.

John's mother had taught him to read, and at school he learned some useful
things; still he was not fond of books, and learned most from people and
what was going on about him.

He left school when he was sixteen and married before he was seventeen.
About six miles from his father's house he put up a building which was
dwelling, storehouse, and fort all in one. Here on the frontier he carried
on a thriving trade with settlers and Indians, and was so successful that
by the time he was twenty-six he was looked upon as a rich man.

He was attractive in appearance, being tall, slender, and erect, with
frank blue eyes, fair skin, and brown hair. He was a man of commanding
presence, and his athletic figure seemed well suited to the fringed
hunting-suit which every pioneer wore.

His merry disposition and great charm of manner easily won many friends;
and these he kept by his natural kindness and courtesy. He was never
happier than when entertaining generously those who came to his home. Yet
these gentle and lovable qualities did not prevent him from being a brave
and skilful warrior, who could carry terror to the hearts of his foes.

It was while he was engaged in his trading business that Sevier heard of
Robertson's settlement in the west, and became interested in it as a
possible home for himself and his family. In 1772 he decided to r