grandfather in 1648, near the foot of Hathorne Hill, in Danvers, on the
turn-pike road half-way between Boston and Newburyport. It contains many
relics of Putnam's time, but the most interesting portion of the house
itself is the little back chamber, with its one window looking out over
the farmyard, where the infant Israel first saw the light.

Of the house which he himself built, on a distant knoll of the home
farm, nothing now remains but the cellar and foundation stones, near
which is the well he dug, now choked with rubbish and overgrown with
brambles.




CHAPTER II

"OLD WOLF PUTNAM"


Judging from the stability of his position in Danvers, it would seem
that young Farmer Putnam was established for life. He had land enough to
satisfy any ordinary cultivator of that period, and a comfortable house
in which dwelt with him wife and child, to cheer him by their presence.
But the future patriot felt within him an ardent thirst for adventure.
He longed for a wider field, and though to all appearances firmly rooted
in the soil of Salem Village, he was already thinking of transplanting
himself and family into that of another region. Hardly, in fact, had he
settled in the home he had made than he began preparations for removal
to what was then considered a comparatively wild section of New England.