CHAPTER IV
TRADING IN THOSE DAYS--BEN IS APPRENTICED--THE ENLISTING SERGEANT--COURTDAY AT CONCORD
About this time my life changed a good deal. Bishop Hancock had diedduring the previous winter. Young John was adopted by his Uncle Thomas,the Boston merchant, and went to Harvard College. Edmund's mother, whohad been a widow several years, married Squire Bowman, and went to liveat his house at the south end of the town. As for myself, I was growingup, and had my stint of work with the others. In the spring, driving theoxen, while father held the plough. Then came sowing the land andplanting corn. Then half-hilling and again hilling it. Then helping tohay, and to gather in the crops. In the fall, picking apples and makingcider. And as the winter came on, I helped to kill and dress a steerand a couple of hogs, and to put them in the powdering tubs and picklethem. Then we hung the hams and sides of bacon up in the chimney to becured. Beside these things the daily care of the cattle and milking keptme busy all the time.
And it seemed to me that we got but small return for our labour. We hada large barn full of cattle and horses, and the loft full of hay forthem. A snug home for ourselves and plenty to eat and drink. We raisedthe flax and wool from which our clothes were made. When we killed an oxor a calf, the hide was tanned to make into shoes.
But we had very little ready money. Whatever dealings we had with ourneighbours was done by exchanging goods,--trading we called it. Tradingwas going on all the time.
One morning, as we boys were walking up the road, and had reached theupper end of Captain Esterbrook's land, Edmund said, "Hello, Ben, lookover there. Captain Joe Esterbrook and Matthew Mead are trading.Whenever you see one man sitting on a log and another walking up anddown with a straw in his mouth, then they're trading. And the man withthe straw in his mouth is the one anxious to have the trade go through.See how nervous Matthew is, and Captain Joe, sitting on the logwhittling, looks just as calm and contented as a frog in a puddle. Whenyou trade, Ben, don't chew a straw, but sit down and whittle. CaptainJoe probably wants the trade to go through as much as Matthew does. Butthe whittling keeps his hands and eyes busy, and steadies his nerves. Itgives him a chance to look as if he didn't care a snap about it."
[Sidenote: TRADING]
"I don't think there's any need of Captain Joe whittling," said I. "He'sas keen as a razor at a trade. I was going by his place a little whileago, and he had his old horse Bjax out in front of the stable, showinghim to a fur trader from the Back Country, whose horse had gone lame.
"'Yes,' says he, 'he's a fine horse, kind and sound, and I wouldn't partwith him for anything, if the other one hadn't died. I had a horsecalled Ajax, that I got of one of the professors down to the college,and the next one I bought I called Bjax. But now that Ajax is gone,there don't seem to be no sense to the name. When I had Ajax, Bjax wasall right; but Bjax alone sounds sort of ridiculous, and I'll let youhave him cheap.'
"His black boy, Prince, was hanging round, looking as if a funeral wasgoing on. He stepped up, and said, 'Oh, massa, massa. Don't sell thathorse. That's just the best horse we ever had.' Then the black rascalwent behind the man, winked at me and grinned."
Late in the fall, after we had killed off some of the cattle, fatherwould load a couple of pack-horses with beef and pork, which he sold inSalem. For in those days Salem was more easily reached than Boston.Probably not more than one or two families in the town spent over twentySpanish dollars in the course of the year.
Money came most readily to those who had a handicraft, and there washardly a house on the main road in which there was not an artificer ofsome kind.
[Sidenote: BEN APPRENTICED TO A BLACKSMITH]
A prudent father took care that his son learned a trade. Edmund was sentto Concord and became a cordwainer or shoemaker. Davy Fiske was aweaver, and soon after the fox hunt I was apprenticed to RobertHarrington, to learn the blacksmith's trade. He was a large, strong man,of a kindly nature, and was an excellent bass singer. As we workedtogether in his shop, with his son Thaddeus, we frequently sang psalmtunes, and his younger son Dan piped in a treble.
One day Major Ben Reed rode up, and brought his horse in to be shod.
"Well, Robert, we're going to have war again with the French. GovernorShirley's got word that they are making a settlement and building a fortdown on our eastern frontier, and has ordered Colonel John Winslow toraise a regiment, and go down there to put a stop to it. Captain Frye ofLittleton is raising a company, and if any of the boys want to join theexpedition, they'd better enlist with him."
Davy Fiske's two older brothers, Jonathan and John, did enlist. Theyjoined this company, and so did Joe Locke.
The regiment went up the Kennebec, built a fort, and then half of themwent further up the river, to the Great Carrying Place, but found nosettlements, no French nor Indians, nothing but immense and terribleswarms of black flies, midges, and bloodsucking mosquitoes; and afterconsiderable blood was shed on both sides, they retreated and returnedhome.
This was but the beginning of the great struggle that we had with theFrench for seven long years. In the next year, 1755, early in thespring, Colonel Winslow was again ordered to beat his drums through ourProvince, and raise a regiment to proceed against Acadia; and CaptainSpikeman began to enlist a company in our county.
The captain made his headquarters in Concord at Rowe's Tavern, which waskept by Edmund's uncle, Captain Thomas Munroe.
Several times, a sergeant, corporal, and a couple of drummers came downto Lexington, and marched through the town, beating a rub-a-dub ontheir drums. The sergeant would speak to the crowd, and try to get themto enlist. He would promise them--well, what wouldn't he promise them?Lands, booty, rich farms, the chance of becoming a general at least. Hewas an oily-tongued fellow, and Uriah Hall's son Uriah, Phineas Parker,and Tom Blanchard enlisted with him. He and his drummers stopped at ourshop one day, and he came in. He placed his halberd in a corner, brushedthe dust from the top of a box, and sat down.
[Sidenote: EXPEDITION TO ACADIA]
"Well, which of you young men is going to serve the King? There neverwas such a chance for a soldier as this. Here we are, going down to therichest country in the world, to turn these Acadians out of house andhome; and any soldier who wants a farm can have it for the asking.Richest soil in the world. You can raise anything there. Level as atable, all cleared, not a stone in it, farm tools, housen and outhousen,and everything all ready for you. Hundreds of acres for the asking, andlots of booty besides. What better chance do you want?"
Mr. Harrington, who was leaning on his hammer by the forge, asked:--
"But why do you turn them out? Why don't you let them alone?"
"Why do we turn them out? Because we must. That country has belonged toEngland for forty-two years. And not one of those people will take theoath of allegiance. They have the easiest time in the world. Not a pennyof taxes was ever asked them, and they have been treated like pet lambs.Their priests tell them not to take the oath of allegiance, and theyexpect every year that the King of France will retake the country."
"Well, what of it? They say they are neutrals, and if you leave themalone, and they mind their own business, and till their farms, they'llcome round all right in the end."
"Will they? They're the funniest neutrals you ever saw. They are deadset against England, and claim to belong to France. If a garrison wantsto buy food, not a bit will they sell. But when the French and Indiansmake an inroad into the country, they run to them, give them all theyhave, join in with them, and fight us. When the French are driven back,they scatter and go back to their farms, as innocent as can be. No, sir.There's no getting on with them. It has been tried over forty years. Theonly way to stop this constant trouble and fighting is to carry thewhole of them out of the country, and give their rich farms to good,honest young men like these here.
[Sidenote: THE ACADIANS MUST BE DRIVEN OUT]
"Come now! Take the King's shilling. Serve his Majesty, good KingGeorge, for a few months; and you can live like lords for the rest
ofyour days."
Thaddeus and I were mightily tempted by the man's talk, but Mr.Harrington said that he could not spare us, and that we were too young,anyhow. "And very likely, boys, instead of hundreds of acres, withhousen and outhousen, and farm tools, and booty, all that you'd getwould be six feet of ground and a pine box."
The days when the court sat at Concord were holidays with us, and thepeople flocked up there to see the court come in, and to watch thetrials. And this spring, Spikeman's company was there too.
On the second day of court I rode to Concord, found Edmund at thetavern, and we went round the town together.
The court had disposed of some cases already. We saw a couple seated onthe gallows, with ropes round their necks.
"Are they going to hang them, Edmund?"
"Not unless they tumble off and hang themselves. I suppose they put themup there to show that hanging would be none too good for them. Look atthose fellows in the stocks. They don't belong here, and did not leavewhen warned out of town by the constable."
Near by the stocks was the pillory. There was a man standing in it, withhis head and hands sticking out through the holes. Of all humiliatingpunishments, this always seemed to me to be the worst. A man in thatposition looks thoroughly mean and contemptible. He appears to be putthere on purpose to have something thrown at him; and it offers atemptation that boys cannot withstand.
[Sidenote: THE PILLORY]
"Bill Wheeler's been missing his hens right along. He suspected thisman, and caught him one night, and the judge sentenced him to stand inthe pillory. There's Bill over there; listen to him!"
"Well, you miserable thief, how do you like it now? I had a good deal oftrouble to catch you; but it was worth while. You like hens? I wonderhow you will like hen-fruit."
He turned aside, and I heard him say to a boy: "Here's a shilling,Hiram. They tell me eggs are pretty cheap up at the store, speciallypoor ones."
The boys asked the man in the pillory all manner of impudent questions.He resented it, and threatened them, when plump went a couple of eggsagainst the boards near his head, and the yolks spattered over his face.
"Don't! Don't you do that, boys! That's mighty mean. When I get out,won't I give you a licking!"
More eggs were thrown, and as he ducked his head, one struck him on thetop of his pate. When he raised it, the yellow yolk ran down over hischeeks. Edmund and I told the boys to stop throwing eggs.
"We ain't doing nothing, and 'tain't your business, anyhow."
We stood guard over the boys till we saw the crowd turn toward thewhipping-post; and the boys went there to see a man tied to it, andsoundly thrashed on his bare back with the cat-o'-nine-tails.
"I've had enough of this, Edmund. Come over to the tavern."
The drummers were beating their drums in front of the inn, and thesergeants were telling their story of the glory, honour, and booty to begained.
Captain Spikeman stood near by, and if he saw a likely looking man, whoseemed to be tempted, he would begin talking to him, and ask him intothe tavern to have a mug of flip. Soon after, the sergeant would becalled in to pin a cockade on his hat and give him the King's shillingto enlist him.
Edmund knew all the officers, who lived at the tavern, and was full ofenthusiasm. "Ben, I'd like to go ever so much. I've set my heart onbeing a soldier. But my time isn't up, and I must serve out myapprenticeship."
[Sidenote: RECRUITING]
"That's just my fix. But if the war lasts, we may get a chance yet."
In the afternoon I bade him good-by, and rode back home.