Say not so, old Eester, for few fathers and mothers have greater reason to be boastful than ourselves." "Thankful, thankful," muttered the humbled woman; "ye mean thankful, Ishmael!" "Then thankful let it be, if you like the word better, my good girl,--but what has become of Nelly and the young?
The child has forgotten the charge I gave her, and has not only suffered the children to sleep, but, I warrant you, is dreaming of the fields of Tennessee at this very moment.

The mind of your niece is mainly fixed on the settlements, I reckon." "Ay, she is not for us; I said it, and thought it, when I took her, because death had stripped her of all other friends.

Death is a sad worker in the bosom of families, Ishmael! Asa had a kind feeling to the child, and they might have come one day into our places, had things been so ordered." "Nay, she is not gifted for a frontier wife, if this is the manner she is to keep house while the husband is on the hunt.

Abner, let off your rifle, that they may know we ar' coming.

I fear Nelly and the young ar' asleep." The young man complied with an alacrity that manifested how gladly he would see the rounded, active figure of Ellen, enlivening the ragged summit of the rock.