rth they would never suffer him to go
into the forest alone.

SIR WILLIAM PHIPS AND THE SILVER-SHIP.

The story of a poor boy, born on the edge of the
wilderness,--"at a despicable plantation on the river of
Kennebec, and almost the farthest village of the eastern
settlement of New England,"--yet who ended his life as
governor and nobleman, is what we have to tell. It is one of
the most romantic stories in history. He was born in 1651,
being a scion of the early days of the Puritan colony. He
came of a highly prolific pioneer family,--he had twenty
brothers and five sisters,--yet none but himself of this
extensive family are heard of in history or biography.
Genius is too rare a quality to be spread through such a
flock. His father was a gunsmith. Of the children, William
was one of the youngest. After his father's death, he helped
his mother at sheep-keeping in the wilderness till he was
eighteen years of age, then there came "an unaccountable
impulse upon his mind that he was born to greater matters."
The seed of genius planted in his nature was beginning to
germinate.

The story of the early life of William Phips may be told in
a few words. From sheep-tending he turned to carpentry,
becoming an expert ship-carpenter. With this trade at his
fingers' ends he went to Boston, and there first learned to
read and write, accomplishments which had not penetrated to
the Kennebec. His next step was to marry, his wife being a
widow, a Mrs. Hull, with little money but good connections.
She lifted our carpenter a step higher in the social scale.
At that time, says his biographer, "he was one tall beyond
the common set of men, and thick as well as tall, and strong
as well as thick; exceedingly robust, and able to conquer
such difficulties of diet and of travel as would have killed
most men alive. He was of a very comely though a very manly
countenance," and in character of "a most incomparable
generosity." He hated anything small or mean, was somewhat
choleric, but not given to nourish malice.

[Illustration: POND ISLAND, MOUTH OF THE KENNEBEC.]

To this notable young man there soon came an adventure. He
had become a master workman, and built a ship for some
Boston merchants on the river Sheepscote, a few leagues from
his native Kennebec. The vessel was finished, and ready to
be loaded with lumber; but its first cargo proved to be very
different from that which Phips had designed. For Indians
attacked the settl