They Are Made Quite Sharp In The Winter Season,
When There Is Ice And Snow Upon The Ground, But They Are Generally
More Blunt In The Summer.
This prevented the ankle's being cut as
badly as it would have been, if the corks had been sharper.
Forester
looked at the ankle, and found that nothing had been done for it. It
was inflamed and painful. He got the woman to give him a basin of warm
water, and then he bathed it very carefully, which relieved the sense
of tension and pain. Then he made an ointment of equal parts of tallow
and oil, which he put upon the end of a bandage, and thus bound it
up. This treatment relieved the poor sailor very much. Then Forester
proposed to the sailor to get into the wagon and go with him to the
next house, and the sailor consented. Forester was then going to pay
the woman for his night's lodging, but the sailor said at once, - "No,
squire, not at all. I'm much obliged to you for doing up my foot, but
you need not pay any thing for me. I've got plenty of shot in the
locker."
So saying, he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a handful of
gold and silver pieces. But the woman, who began now to feel a little
ashamed that she had not done something for the wounded foot, said he
was welcome to his lodging; and so they all got into the wagon, and
Nero carried them rapidly back to his master's.
Chapter IV.
The Village.
In due time, and without any farther adventure, Forester and Marco
arrived at the end of their journey. The village where Forester's
father lived was situated in a gorge of the mountains, or rather at
the entrance of a valley, which terminated at last in a gorge. There
was a river flowing through this valley, and the village was upon its
banks. At the upper end of the village a branch stream came in from
the north, and there was a dam upon it, with some mills. The river
itself was a rapid stream, flowing over a sandy and gravelly bottom,
and there were broad intervals on each side of it, extending for some
distance toward the higher land. Beyond these intervals, the land rose
gradually, and in an undulating manner, to the foot of the mountains,
which extended along the sides of the valley, and from the summits of
which, one might look down upon the whole scene, with the village in
the center of it as upon a map.
Marco was very much pleased with the situation, and with the
appearance of the village. The street was broad, and it was shaded
with rows of large maples and elms on each side. The houses were
generally white, with green blinds. Most of them had pleasant yards
before them and at their sides; these yards were planted with trees
and shrubbery. There were also gardens behind. The mountains which
surrounded the scene, gave a very secluded and sheltered appearance to
the valley.
The house in which Forester lived was the largest in the village. It
was a square house of two stories. It stood back a little from the
road, in the middle of a large yard, ornamented with rows of trees
along the sides, and groups of shrubbery in the corners and near the
house. There were gravel walks leading in different directions through
this yard, and on one side of the house was a carriage-way, which led
from a great gate in front, to a door in one end of the house, and
thence to the stable in the rear. On the other side of the house, near
the street, was the office, - for Forester's father was a lawyer. The
office was a small square building, with the lawyer's name over the
door. There was a back door to the office, and a footpath, winding
among trees and shrubbery, which led from the office to the house.
The morning after they arrived, Forester took Marco out to see the
village. He intended not only to show him the various objects of
interest which were to be seen, but also to explain to him why it was
that such villages would spring up in a farming country, and what were
the occupations of the inhabitants.
"The first thing which causes the commencement of a village in New
England," said Forester, "is a water-fall."
"Why is that?" asked Marco.
"There are certain things," replied Forester, "which the farmers can
not very well do for themselves, by their own strength, particularly
grinding their corn, and sawing logs into boards for their houses.
When they first begin to settle in a new country, they make the houses
of logs, and they have to take the corn and grain a great many miles
on horseback, through paths in the woods, or, in the winter, on
hand-sleds, to get it ground. But as soon as any of them are able to
do it, they build a dam on some stream in the neighborhood, where
there is a fall in the water, and thus get a water power. This water
power they employ, to turn a saw-mill and a grist-mill. Then all the
farmers, when they want to build houses or barns, haul logs to the
mill to get them sawed into boards, and they carry their grain to the
grist-mill and get it ground. They pay the owner of the mills for
doing this work for them. And thus, if there are a great many farms in
the country around, and no other mills very near, so that the mills
are kept all the time at work, the owner gets a great deal of pay, and
gradually acquires property.
"Now, as soon as the mills are built, perhaps a blacksmith sets up a
shop near them. If a blacksmith is going to open a shop anywhere
in that town, it will be better for him to have it near the mills,
because, as the farmers all have to come to the mills at any rate,
they can avail themselves of the opportunity, to get their horses
shod, or to get new tires to their wheels, when they are broken."
"Tires?" repeated Marco.
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