[Illustration: BEN, JR., TRIES HIS GOAD.--Page 78.]
ELM ISLAND STORIES.
BY
REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG.
[Illustration]
HARDSCRABBLE
_JOHN ANDREW--SON_
LEE & SHEPARD BOSTON.
ELM ISLAND STORIES.
THE
HARD-SCRABBLE
OF
ELM ISLAND.
BY
REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG,
AUTHOR OF “LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND,” “CHARLIE BELL OF ELM ISLAND”,
“THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND,” “THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM
ISLAND,” “THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS
OF ELM ISLAND,” ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED._
BOSTON:
LEE AND SHEPARD.
1871.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870,
BY LEE AND SHEPARD,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
ELECTROTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
19 Spring Lane.
PREFACE.
This volume of the series finds the boys entering upon manhood.
Already, by integrity and energy, have they secured the respect and
confidence of their employers and the community.
Isaac at sea, John behind the anvil, Fred in trade, and Charlie in
the shipyard. Fired by the success of Lion Ben, and the spirit of
enterprise abroad, among a people who, having burst the shackles of
arbitrary power, were leaping forward, with long strides, in pursuit
of wealth, knowledge, and power, they resolve to build a vessel. When,
by severe toil, and all manner of make-shifts, they have completed the
hull, their means fail. Roused by necessity to still greater efforts,
they weave the canvas for the sails in household looms, betake
themselves to the depths of the forest, there spend an entire winter
hunting and trapping. When the spring opens, they build canoes of bark,
and return by water, unloading their furs, and carrying their canoes
round the rapids, thus obtaining sufficient to accomplish their purpose.
So severe and protracted has been the conflict, they call their vessel
the Hard-Scrabble.
She arrives at Martinique during the contest occasioned by the French
revolution; war prices are obtained for the cargo, affording a most
ample return. The property thus acquired is used to create business for
the benefit of the community.
_ELM ISLAND STORIES._
1. LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND.
2. CHARLIE BELL, THE WAIF OF ELM ISLAND.
3. THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND.
4. THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM ISLAND.
5. THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND.
6. THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INSTINCT TRIUMPHANT. 9
II. I’LL GIVE HIM QUICKSILVER. 13
III. THE BOYS CATCH THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE. 31
IV. NEWS FROM HOME. 40
V. TIGE’S NOSE BETTER THAN THE CAPTAIN’S SPY-GLASS. 45
VI. TELLING AND HEARING THE NEWS. 55
VII. CHARLIE AT HOME AGAIN. 64
VIII. JOE GRIFFIN AT HOUSEKEEPING. 77
IX. HOW JOE ENTERTAINED HIS GUESTS. 88
X. TRAPPING AND NETTING. 104
XI. MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS. 118
XII. GENIUS STRUGGLING WITH DIFFICULTIES. 135
XIII. SCATTERING FRAMES. 148
XIV. CHARLIE ACHIEVES SUCCESS. 162
XV. DIFFICULTIES WHET THE EDGE OF RESOLUTION. 169
XVI. SALLY COMES TO THE RESCUE. 188
XVII. CHARLIE’S THEODOLITE. 200
XVIII. HARD-SCRABBLE. 204
XIX. PLEASURE AND PROFIT. 219
XX. CAMPING. 234
XXI. UNCLE ISAAC’S BEAR STORY. 246
XXII. RAID ON A BEAVER SETTLEMENT. 266
XXIII. BREAKING CAMP. 276
XXIV. THE HARD-SCRABBLE WEIGHS ANCHOR.--CHARLIE GETS MARRIED. 284
XXV. STRIKING WHILE THE IRON’S HOT. 300
XXVI. PROGRESS. 312
THE HARD-SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND.
CHAPTER I.
INSTINCT TRIUMPHANT.
We took leave of our young friends at the close of the previous volume
as they separated, John to return to the blacksmith’s shop at Portland,
Charlie to the ship-yard at Stroudwater, while Fred Williams remained
in his store, which was in one part of his father’s mill.
On Elm Island, Lion Ben was recovering from a severe sickness, through
which he had passed without any other attendance than that of his wife,
or medicine save those simple remedies which nature and experience had
taught our mothers, or had been learned from the red man.
As Ben was not reduced by bleeding or purgatives,--the mode of medical
practice prevalent in those days,--he gained strength rapidly after
the first few weeks, soon being able to go about the house, and at
length to extend his excursions to the workshop and barn.
He soon discovered that the partridges were missing; and upon asking
Sally, she told him she remembered having seen them a week before, but
had been so much occupied since that she had not given any attention to
them.
“Then they are gone,” replied Ben; “some owl or hawk has carried them
off.”
“I don’t believe they would go of their own accord,” said Sally; “they
seemed just as tame and contented as the rest. Perhaps the coons have
got them. There are no skunks or foxes on the island.”
“That’s it. I’m sorry, because Charlie will feel bad about it.”
A few days after, Ben went out quite early in the morning to the barn,
and instantly returning, called Sally to the door, and told her to
stand still and listen.
Soon a sound was heard in the woods, like that of distant thunder.
“Do you hear that noise, Sally?”
“Yes; what is it?”
“It is one of Charlie’s partridges drumming. They have taken to the
woods. Uncle Isaac said they would, but I didn’t believe it. It’s all
the better; they will breed, and fill the island full in a few years,
and get their own living. Charlie will be glad of it, for he will have
them to shoot.”
“But won’t they fly away?”
“No; it’s too far from the main land. They can’t fly but a little way
before they have to light. Thus we shall have coons, partridges, and
gray squirrels grow at our own door.”
“How nice it will be for Charlie to have all these things right on the
island! He loves dearly, after supper, when he has done a good day’s
work, to go shooting. How much better it would be, when he was tired
and had not much time, to be able to find game here, instead of pulling
three or four miles to some ledge or island!”
“Yes, this island is so large, we might have almost anything, except
wolves, bears, and foxes; we shouldn’t want them.”
“Ben, what are you going to do with the corn-house that Charlie made?
You don’t want two corn-houses.”
“I thought, when I was able, I would cut off the legs, and make a
pigsty of it. ’Twould make a capital one. He needn’t have set it up on
posts. There are no mice here; but I suppose he thought he must make
it just like Uncle Isaac’s.”
“I never would make a pigsty of it in this world, it is so handsome.
Charlie took so much pains with it, and was so proud of it when he got
it done. Give it to me.”
“What do you want of it?”
“O, I want to keep flax and yarn there in the summer, and perhaps put
the loom there.”
“Well, I’ll stop up the openings left to air the corn, and you may have
it.”