hborhood and rather
careless about the look of his coat and trousers.

John Irons and Solomon Binkus were differing examples of the new man.
Of large stature, Irons had a reputation of being the strongest man in
the New Hampshire grants. No name was better known or respected in all
the western valleys. His father, a man of some means, had left him a
reasonable competence.

Certain old records of Cumberland County speak of his unusual gifts,
the best of which was, perhaps, modesty. He had once entertained Sir
William Johnson at his house and had moved west, when the French and
Indian War began, on the invitation of the governor, bringing his
horses with him. For years he had been breeding and training saddle
horses for the markets in New England. On moving he had turned his
stock into Sir William's pasture and built a log house at the fort and
served as an aid and counselor of the great man. Meanwhile his wife
and children had lived in Albany. When the back country was thought
safe to live in, at the urgent solicitation of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, he
had gone to the northern valley with his herd, and prospered there.

Albany had one wide street which ran along the river-front. It ended
at the gate of a big, common pasture some four hundred yards south of
the landing which was near the center of the little city. In the north
it ran into "the great road" beyond the ample grounds of Colonel
Schuyler. The fort and hospital stood on the top of the big hill.
Close to the shore was a fringe of elms, some of them tall and stately,
their columns feathered with wild grape-vines. A wide space between
the trees and the street had been turned into well-kept gardens, and
their verdure was a pleasant thing to see. The town lay along the foot
of a steep hill, and, midway, a huddle of buildings climbed a few rods
up the slope. At the top was the English Church and below it were the
Town Hall, the market and the Dutch Meeting-House. Other thoroughfares
west of the main one were being laid out and settled.

John Irons was well known to Colonel Schuyler. The good man gave the
newcomers a hearty welcome and was able to sell them a house ready
furnished--the same having been lately vacated by an officer summoned
to England. So it happened that John Irons and his family were quickly
and comfortably settled in their new home and the children at work in
school. He soon bought some land, partly cleared, a mile or so down
the rive