into the air several times on the way to
the bushes by the brook. But that is another story. We have already had
the bee history; hornets would be in the nature of a repetition.

[Illustration]

We found something of still greater interest in the old shop. One day,
digging over the leather scraps, we uncovered the records above
mentioned--that is to say, the old account-books of Captain Ben Meeker
and the two generations of shoemakers who had followed him. These
ancient folios, stoutly made and legibly written, correlate a good deal
of Brook Ridge history for a hundred years. The names of the dead are
there, and the items of their forgotten activities.

From Westbury and others we already knew that Benjamin Meeker and Sarah,
his wife, had occupied our house at the beginning of the last
century--young married folks then--and that there had been a little girl
(owner of the small brass-nailed trunk, maybe) who in due time had grown
up and married the young shoemaker, Eli Brayton, of "distant parts," he
being from eastern New York, as much as fifty miles away. Brayton had
remained in the family, set up his bench in one end of the building
across the road, and there for a generation made the boots of the
countryside, followed in the trade by his son, the "Uncle Joe" who at
eighty-five had laid down the hammer and the last a year prior to our
coming. This was good history in outline, and Westbury had supplied
episodes, here and there, embellished in his improving fashion. The old
books came now as a supplement--an extension course, as it were, in the
history of Captain Ben and his successors.

While not recorded, we may assume that Captain Ben belonged to the
militia, hence his title. That he had another official position we learn
from certain items of entry:

To serving one summon on S. Davis 3 shillin
To serving one tachment on J. Fillow 2 shillin
To fees: execushun Eli Sherwood 2 shillin 6 pnc.

Evidently a constable or deputy sheriff, and I think we may assume that
the last item records a process, and not a performance. The fees are
reassuring. Eli could hardly have been dismissed mortally for two and
six.

Captain Ben had still other activities. He owned teams for hire; he
dealt in livestock; in addition to his farm he owned a sawmill on the
brook; he even went out at day's labor--certainly a busy man, requiring
carefully kept accounts, and an office.

The accounts begin in 1797 and are