to the sweetening of society, except such as naturally flow from
uncultivated minds, that have been calloused by ferocity.

Excepting my birth, nothing remarkable occurred to my parents on their
passage, and they were safely landed at Philadelphia. My father being fond
of rural life, and having been bred to agricultural pursuits, soon left
the city, and removed his family to the then frontier settlements of
Pennsylvania, to a tract of excellent land lying on Marsh creek. At that
place he cleared a large farm, and for seven or eight years enjoyed the
fruits of his industry. Peace attended their labors; and they had nothing
to alarm them, save the midnight howl of the prowling wolf, or the
terrifying shriek of the ferocious panther, as they occasionally visited
their improvements, to take a lamb or a calf to satisfy their hunger.

During this period my mother had two sons, between whose ages there was a
difference of about three years: the oldest was named Matthew, and the
other Robert.

Health presided on every countenance, and vigor and strength characterized
every exertion. Our mansion was a little paradise. The morning of my
childish, happy days, will ever stand fresh in my remembrance,
notwithstanding the many severe trials through which I have passed, in
arriving at my present situation, at so advanced an age. Even at this
remote period, the recollection of my pleasant home at my father's, of my
parents, of my brothers and sister, and of the manner in which I was
deprived of them all at once, affects me so powerfully, that I am almost
overwhelmed with grief, that is seemingly insupportable. Frequently I
dream of those happy days: but, alas! they are gone; they have left me to
be carried through a long life, dependent for the little pleasures of
nearly seventy years, upon the tender mercies of the Indians! In the