oilsome were the first years of their settlement, and great their
privations; but they were young and happy, and willing hands and loving
hearts made toil a pleasure. In a few years, woods were cleared, fields
inclosed, barns built, and then, agreeably to Solomon's advice, the
Buckinghams thought of building a commodious dwelling. "Prepare thy work
without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build
thy house." The aid of neighbors, ever ready for such an undertaking,
was called into requisition, and soon they removed from the small and
only too well ventilated hut, through the chinks of which the sun shone
in by day and the moon by night, and the rain penetrated whenever it
would, to the ample, pleasant home already described. Here it was that
little Emily Buckingham, their only child, first saw the light; and then
the cup of their happiness seemed only too full for mortals to quaff. As
the child daily grew in beauty, and her engaging ways filled their
hearts with delight, then first did they realize the absorbing nature of
a parent's love, and regret that _they_ were separated from those who
had so felt to Emily's mother, when she lay, a helpless infant, in their
arms. Yet pride prevailed, and no overtures were made to those whom they
still thought severe and unrelenting.

Few, and scattered far, were the farmers in that region, for they were
on the very outskirts of civilization. At a short distance rose a
primeval forest, untouched by the axe of the settler, where the deer
roamed freely, unless shot by the Indian hunter; and many were the
friendly Indians who visited the cottage, and exchanged their game,
their baskets, and their ornamented moccasins, for the much-coveted
goods of civilized life. Frequent among these guests was Towandahoc,
Great Black Eagle,--so called from his first boyish feat, when, riding
at full gallop, he had shot down an eagle on the wing, so unerring was
his aim; and its feathers now adorned his head. Towandahoc was a great
hunter, and did not disdain to traffic with the "pale faces," not only
for rifles and gunpowder, but for many domestic comforts to which most
Indians are indifferent. But Great Black Eagle, although fearless as the
bird whose name he bore, was a humane man, more gentle in character than
most of his race, and a great friend of the whites, the brethren of the
good Onas, as the red men called the man who laid the foundations of our
commonwealth in peace, b