Israel Potter

Book Excerpt: ur before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heardthe soft, prophetic sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath ofthe morning. Like the leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of hisheart trembled within him; tears fell from his eyes. But he thought ofthe tyranny of his father, and what seemed to him the faithlessness ofhis love; and shouldering his bundle, arose, and marched on.His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward andwestward, lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and theYankee settlements on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude allsearch. For the same reason, for the first ten or twelve miles, shunning the public roads, he travelled through the woods; for he knewthat he would soon be missed and pursued.He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a monththrough the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut.Meeting here with an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about thehead waters of the latter river, hRead Mor