diameter at the butt, cut into poles of about ten feet in length,
sharpened at the larger end, and driven into the ground; those that
were split or cloven were used as rails. In this way, lots were fenced
in. In some cases, the upright posts were placed close together, as
palisades in fortifications, to prevent the escape of domestic
animals, and as a safeguard against depredations upon the young
cattle, sheep, and poultry, by bears, wolves, foxes, the loup-cervier,
or wild-cat, with which the woods were infested. Grover seems to have
wrought on the Orchard Farm for a short time. We find, that, a few
years after the point to which his testimony goes back, he had a farm
of his own. Some wrought there for a longer time, and were permanent
retainers on the farm. In 1635, the widow Scarlett apprenticed her son
Benjamin, then eleven years of age, to Governor Endicott. The
following document, recorded in Essex Registry of Deeds, tells his
story:--

"To all christian people to whom these presents shall come,
I, Benjamin Scarlett of Salem, in New England, sendeth
Greeting--Know ye, that I, the said Benjamin Scarlett, having
lived as a servant with Mr. John Endicott, Esq., sometimes
Governor in New England, and served him near upon thirty
years, for, and in consideration whereof, the said Governor
Endicott gave unto me, the said Benjamin Scarlett, a certain
tract of land, in the year 1650, being about 10 acres, more
or less, the which land hath ever since been possessed by me,
the said Benjamin Scarlett, and it lyeth at the head of Cow
House River, bounded on the north with the land of Mr.
Endicott called Orchard Farm, on the South with the high way
leading to the salt water, on the West with the road way
leading to Salem, on the East with the salt water, which