erlawn and at Barcreek, a small, nearby town, had been born within
the borders of the State. All hailed from New Hampshire, and were Yankee
bred as well as born.

The original emigrant to Kentucky had been Duncan Lyon, one of four
brothers, who had settled at Riverlawn and made a comfortable fortune
in raising hemp, tobacco, and horses. Duncan Lyon had been as
good-hearted as he was successful, and under his care Riverlawn had
become a model plantation and stock-breeding farm, with Levi Bedford as
superintendent or overseer, and with fifty-one slaves, old and young,
who thought "Mars'r Lyon de best gen'men in de hull world."

The next member of the family to come West had been Titus Lyon, another
of the four brothers. Titus was a mason by trade, and inclined to be
shiftless, and when Duncan Lyon wrote that the mason at Barcreek was
dead, Titus had very promptly come on with his wife, two sons, and three
daughters. It had taken a good deal of help from Duncan to place Titus
on his feet, and even then the proprietor of Riverlawn was pained to
note that the mason was more inclined to loaf around the village,
drinking whiskey and talking politics, than he was to work at his trade.

During the times that Duncan Lyon and Titus were locating in Kentucky,
Noah Lyon was attending strictly to his farm in New Hampshire, not a
large place, but still one upon which, by economy, he managed to earn a
living not only for himself, his wife, and his two children, Dexter and
Hope, but also for the two children of his deceased brother Cyrus,
Artemas and Dorcas. From the time that Artie and Dorcas came into the
family they were looked upon as brother and sister by Deck and Hope, and
both always referred to Mr. and Mrs. Noah Lyon as father and mother.

The somewhat unexpected death of Duncan Lyon had proved a shock to all
his relatives, but when Lawyer Cosgrove, of Bowling Green, the county
seat, came forward to read the plantation owner's will, the second
shock, to Titus Lyon, was even greater than the first.

Duncan Lyon had valued his estate at one hundred thousand dollars.
Riverlawn was put down as being worth twenty-five thousand dollars, and
this magnificent property, including all things in the house and on the
grounds and the fifty-one slaves, went to Noah Lyon, who likewise
received ten thousand dollars, half cash and half stocks, for having
taken care of Artie and Dorcas since they had become orphans. It may
here be remarked th