clear cool spring; their bed the fresh turf. Deer and turkeys furnished
their viands--hunger the richest sauces of cookery; and fatigue and
untroubled spirits a repose unbroken by dreams. Such were the primitive
migrations of the early settlers of our country. We love to meditate on
them, for we have shared them. We have fed from this table in the
wilderness. We have shared this mirth. We have heard the tinkle of the
bells of the flocks and herds grazing among the trees. We have seen the
moon rise and the stars twinkle upon this forest scene; and the
remembrance has more than once marred the pleasure of journeyings in the
midst of civilization and the refinements of luxury.

The frontier country in which the family settled was as yet an unbroken
forest; and being at no great distance from the eastern slope of the
Alleghanies, in the valleys of which game was abundant, it afforded fine
range both for pasture and hunting. These forests had, moreover, the
charm of novelty, and the game had not yet learned to fear the rifles of
the new settlers. It need hardly be added that the spirits of young
Boone exulted in this new hunter's paradise. The father and the other
sons settled down quietly to the severe labor of making a farm,
assigning to Daniel the occupation of his rifle, as aware that it was
the only one he could be induced to follow; and probably from the
experience, that in this way he could contribute more effectually to the
establishment, than either of them in the pursuits of husbandry.

An extensive farm was soon opened. The table was always amply supplied
with venison, and was the seat of ample and unostentatious hospitality.
The peltries of the young hunter yielded all the money which such an
establishment required, and the interval between this removal and the
coming of age of young Boone, was one of health, plenty, and privacy.