enemy would be conquered and compelled to agree to a treaty of peace.

In the preceding autumn my father either moved to another part of his
farm, or to another neighborhood, a short distance from our former abode.
I well recollect moving, and that the barn that was on the place we moved
to was built of logs, though the house was a good one.

The winter of 1754-5 was as mild as a common fall season, and the spring
presented a pleasant seed time, and indicated a plenteous harvest. My
father, with the assistance of his oldest sons, repaired his farm as
usual, and was daily preparing the soil for the reception of the seed. His
cattle and sheep were numerous, and according to the best idea of wealth
that I can now form, he was wealthy.

But alas! how transitory are all human affairs! how fleeting are riches!
how brittle the invisible thread on which all earthly comforts are
suspended! Peace in a moment can take an immeasurable flight; health can
lose its rosy cheeks; and life will vanish like a vapor at the appearance
of the sun! In one fatal day our prospects were all blasted; and death, by
cruel hands, inflicted upon almost the whole of the family.

On a pleasant day in the spring of 1755, when my father was sowing
flax-seed, and my brothers driving the teams, I was sent to a neighbor's
house, a distance of perhaps a mile, to procure a horse and return with it
the next morning. I went as I was directed. I was out of the house in the
beginning of the evening, and saw a sheet wide spread approaching towards
me, in which I was caught (as I have ever since believed) and deprived of
my senses! The family soon found me on the ground, almost lifeless, (as
they said,) took me in, and made use of every remedy in their power for my
recovery, but without effect till day-break, when my senses returned, and