USA > New York > Monroe County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Allegany County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming > Part 1
USA > New York > Livingston County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Yates County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Wyoming County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Steuben County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Wayne County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
USA > New York > Orleans County > History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve; embracing the counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, most of Wayne and Allegany, and parts of Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming. To which is added, a Supplement, or Extension of the pioneer history of Monroe county > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
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1
HISTORY
OF THE
PIONEER SETTLEMENT OF
HELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE, AND
MORRIS' RESERVE;
EMBRACING THE COUNTIES OF
IONROE, ONTARIO, LIVINGSTON, YATES, STEUBEN, MOST OF WAYNE AND ALLEGANY, AND PARTS OF ORLEANS, GENESEE AND WYOMING.
TO WHICH IS ADDED, A SUPPLEMENT, OR EXTENSION OF THE PIONEER HISTORY OF -
MONROE COUNTY.
THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY
OME ACCOUNT OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH DOMINION-BORDER WARS OF THE REVOLU- TION-INDIAN COUNCILS AND LAND CESSIONS-THE PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT WESTWARD FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MOHAWK-EARLY DIFFICUL- TIES WITH THE INDIANS-OUR IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS THE SENECAS-WITH "A GLANCE AT THE IROQUOIS."
BY 0. TURNER, [AUTHOR OF THE "HISTORY OF THE HOLLAND PURCHASE."]
ROCHESTER : PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM ALLING. 1851.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1851, by WM. ALLING, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York.
Stereotyped by J. W. BROWN, Rochester. PRINTED BY LEE, MANN & CO., Rochester, N. Y.
Dedirntinn.
TO THE
SURVIVING PIONEERS
AND THE DESCENDANTS OF PIONEERS OF PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE,
AND MORRIS' RESERVE,
THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED :-
To the first, - as a feeble tribute, a moiety of what is their due, for the physical and moral triumphs they have won through long early years of toil, privation and endurance. In view of the brief space allotted to man by an All Wise Providence, as an average existence- (no more than thirty fleeting years constituting a generation) - you live to be the witnesses of more than it is often given to man to see. The wilderness you entered in your ycuths- some of you in middle age -you have lived to see not only " blossom as the rose," but to bear its matured and ripened fruit. Where you have followed the trails of your immediate predecessors - the Seneca Iroquois - or your own woods paths, are Canals, Rail Roads and Telegraphs. A long line of internal navigation - an artificial River - bearing upon its bosom the products of your own subdued, teeming soil, and continuous fleets, laden with the products of an Empire, that has sprung up around the bor- ders of our Western Lakes - winds along through vallies that you have seen but the abodes of wild beasts; from whose depths you have heard in your log cabins, the terrific howl of the famishing wolf ! Aqueducts, structures that the architects of the old world might take for models, span the streams you have often forded, and over which you have helped to throw primitive log bridges. And upon these Lakes, whose commerce you have seen to consist of a few batteaux, lazily coasting along near shore, putting into bays and inlets, whenever the elements were disturbed - are fleets of sail vessels, and " float- ing palaces," propelled by a mighty agent, whose powers were but little known when you began to wield the axe in the forests of the Genesee coun- try. A subtle agent was occasionally flashing in the dark forests, indicating its power by scathing and levelling its tall trees; then but partially subdued to man's use; now tamed, harnessed, controlled; traversing those wires, and bringing the extremes of this extended Union to hold converse with each other with the "rapidity of thought,"-more than realizing the boasts of the spirit of the poet's imagination, who would
" Put a girdle 'round the Earth in thirty minutes !"
iv
DEDICATION.
: Villages, cities, institutions of religion and learning, are upon sites where you have seen the dark shades of the forest rest with a profound stillness, that you could hardly have expected to see disturbed by the hand of improve- ment. But more than all this, you have lived to see an extended region of wilderness converted into fruitful fields; a landscape every where interspersed with comfortable, often Inxurious, farm buildings; surrounded by all the evi- dences of substantial, unsurpassed prosperity. Who else that have planted colonies, founded settlements, have lived to see such consummations ? Peaceful, bloodless, and yet glorious! The conquerous upon battle fields have been destroyers; you, creators; they, have made fields desolate; you, have clothed them with smiling promise and full fruition. They, have brought mourning ; you, rejoicing. Theirs, was the physical courage of a day, perhaps of a for- tunate hour; yours, was the higher and nobler attribute - the moral courage - the spirit of endurance and perseverance, that held out through long years of suffering and privation; that looked dangers and difficulties in the face, till they became familiar associates. In the retrospect of well-spent lives- in view of the consummation of the great work of civilization and improve- ment, you have helped to commence and carry on - now that the shades of evening are gathering around you - now that you are admonished that your work upon earth is done - well may you say : - " Now Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."
To the second, - as the inheritors of a rich legacy, the fruits of the achievments, of the long years of enterprise, toil, fortitude and perseverance, of those Pioneer Fathers; the conservators of their memories. Honors, titles, stars and garters, such as kings may bestow, are baubles compared with what they have bequeathed! Far most of them breaking out from their quiet New England homes, in youth, and strength, went first to the battle field, where it was the strong against the weak, the oppressor against the oppressed, and helped to win a glorious national inheritance; then, after a short respite, came to this primitive region, and won a local inheritance for you, fair and fertile, as rich in all the elements of prosperity and happiness, as any that the sun of Heaven shines upon! Guard the trust in a spirit of gratitude ; cherish the memories of the Pioneers; imitate their stern virtues; preserve and carry on the work they have so well begun !
And both will accept this tribute, from the son of a Pioneer - one " who was to the manor born,"- who has essayed to snatch from fading memories, gather from imperfect records, and preserve these local Reminiscences; - and who, most of all regrets, that in the execution of the task, he has not been able to recognize more of the names and the deeds of the FOUNDERS OF SETTLE- MENTS IN THE GENESEE COUNTRY.
THE AUTHOR.
ODE,
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF WESTERN NEW-YORK.
[BY W. H. C. HOSMER, ESQ.]
High was the homage Senates paid To the plumed Conquerors of old, And freely, at their feet were laid, Rich piles of flashing gems and gold.
Proud History exhausted thought, Glad bards awoke their vocal reeds ; While Phidian hands the marble wrought In honor of their wondrous deeds :
But our undaunted Pioneers Have conquests more enduring won, In scattering the night of years, And opening forests to the sun;
And victors are they nobler far Than the helmed chiefs of other times, Who rolled their chariots of war, To foreign lands, and distant elimes.
Earth groaned beneath their mail-clad men, Bereft of greenness where they trod, And wildly rose, from hill and glen, Loud, agonizing shrieks to God.
Purveyors of the carrion bird Blood streamed from their uplifted hands, And while the crash of States was heard, Passed on their desolating bands.
Then tell me not of heroes fled - Crime, renders foul their boasted fame, While widowed ones and orphans bled, They earned the phantom of a name.
The sons of our New England Sires, Armed with endurance, dared to roam Far from the hospitable fires, And the bright, hallowed bowers of Home.
The storm they met with bosoms bared, And bloodless triumphs bought by toil ; The wild beast from his cavern scared, And clothed in bloom the virgin soil.
vi
ODE.
Distemper leagued with famines wan, Nerved to a high resolve, they bore ; And flocks, upon the thymy lawn, Ranged where the panther yelled before.
Look now abroad ! the scene how changed, Where fifty fleeting years ago Clad in their savage costume ranged, The belted lords of shaft and bow.
In praise of pomp let fawning Art Carve rocks to triumph over years, The grateful incense of the heart Give to our living PIONEERS.
Almighty ! may thine out-stretched arm Guard through long ages, yet to be, From tread of slave, and kingly harm, OUR EDEN OF THE GENESEE.
ERRATA.
Page 131 - arts of peace, instead of "acts."
Page 151-read sister instead of " daughter of Zachariah Seymour."
Page 174-in note- Judge Taylor, should be in place of "Judge Wells. " Two references which belong to page 325 are carried over to page 326. Page 483 -- Shay's Rebellion -"General order" -- date should have been 1786. Page 314-8th line, " after," should precede "his appointment."
Page 416 -9th line $200 instead of $2,00."
Page 597-15th line, receipts of Rochester P. O., should be as in a few lines above, $3,46, instead of "$346."
PREFACE.
A WORK, commenced nearly one year since, the publication of which has been delayed far beyond the promised period, owing to causes unforseen - principally to the fact that it is of greater magnitude, and has involved a far greater amount of travel, labor and research than was anticipated - is now presented to the public.
The general plan of it will hardly be misunderstood by its readers : - It is a his- tory of the Pioneer, or FIRST SETTLEMENT, of that portion of the Genesee Country em- braced in the purchase of Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham of the State of Mas- sachusetts and the Seneca Indians, and of that portion purchased by Robert Morris, which he reserved in his sale to the Holland Company. The boundaries of the region embraced are indicated in the title page, and are more clearly defined in the body of the work. It is the eastern, and nearly the one half of what constitutes, properly, Western New York ; its eastern boundary being the Massachusetts line of pre-emption.
The work commences with the advent of the French upon the St. Lawrence, and . traces their progress to this region, and along the shores of the Western Lakes to the Mississippi ; briefly recognizing the prominent events that followed under English and French dominion.
Enough of colonial history has been embraced - that which tended in the direction of our local region - to make such an induction to the main design of the work, as would secure an unbroken chain, or chronology of events, commencing with the landing of the French upon the St. Lawrence, and continued through the period of French and English occupancy. As all this was but incidental, it has been, generally, briefly disposed of, for the author was admonished that his space would be required when he had entered upon a less beaten track. Yet he may venture to anticipate that even the student of history, will find something of interest in this precedent portion of the work ; for it is not wholly an explored field, and each new gleaner may bring something from it to add to the common stock of historical knowledge.
It was the original design of the author to incorporate in the work, something of the history of our immediate predecessors, the Senecas. It was mainly abandoned however, on learning that a local author, quite competent for the task, (as his now published work bears witness,) was preparing for the press, a work which would em- brace much of interest in their history .* Much of them, however, will be found scattered throughout a large portion of the work, and a separate chapter is appropriated to them, from the pen of a native, and resident of the Genesee Valley - a scholar and a poet, whose fame has gone out far beyond our local region, and conferred credit upon its literature.t ( See chapter II, Part I.
The colonial period passed, - the local events of the Revolution briefly disposed of ;- Indian treaties, commencing under the administration of GEORGE CLINTON - the almost interminable difficulties in which the State, and individual purchasers were involved in with the Lessees, - the slow advance of settlement in this direc- tion - are subjects next in order. Much of all this has been drawn from authentic records, and did not previously exist in any connected printed record.
The main subject reached - settlement of the Genesee country commenced - a general plan of narrative, somewhat novel in its character was adopted : - History and brief personal Biography, have been in a great measure blended. This has vastly increased the labor of the work, but it is hoped it will be found to have added to its interest. It will readily be inferred that it involved the necessity of selecting the most prominent of the Pioneers in each locality - those with whom could be blended most of the Pioneer events. In almost every locality there has been regretted omis- sions ; a failure to recognize all who should have been noticed. This has been partly the result of necessity, but oftener the neglect of those who had promised to furnish the required information. While the work contains more of names and sketches of personal history, than are to be found in any other local annals that have been pub- fished in our country, there are hundreds of Pioneer names reluctantly omitted.
* " League of the Iroquois," by Lewis H. Morgan, Esq., of Rochester.
+ W. H. C. Hosmer, Esq., of Avon.
viii
PREFACE.
In all that relates to early difficulties with the Indians ; to threatened renewals of the Border Wars, after the settlement of the country commenced, the author has been fortunate in the possession of authentic records, hitherto neglected, which gives to the subjects a new and enhanced interest. The accounts of the treaties of Messrs. PICKERING and CHAPIN, with the Indians, are mostly derived from official correspon- dence ; while most of what relates to the councils held with them to obtain land ces- sions, west of the Seneca Lake, are derived from the manuscripts of Oliver Phelps and Thomas Morris, the principal actors in the scenes.
The author cannot but conclude, that poorly as the task may have been executed, it has been undertaken at a fortunate period. More than one half of this volume is made up from the reminiscences, the fading memories, of the living actors in the scenes described and the events related. No less than nine, who, within the last ten months, have rendered in this way, essential service, -- without whose assistance the work must have been far more imperfect - are either in their graves, or their memories are wholly impaired.
The thanks of the author are especially due to HENRY O'RIELLY, for the use of val- uable papers collected with reference to continuing some historical researches, he had so well commenced ; to JAMES H. WOODS, for the use of papers of CHAS. WILLIAMSON ; to OLIVER PHELPS and JAMES S. WADSWORTH, for the use of papers in their possession, as the representatives of OLIVER PHELPS and JAMES WADSWORTH ; to JOHN GREIG and JOSEPH FELLOWS for access to papers in their respective land offices ; and especially to the former, for the essential materials in his possession as the representative of ISRAEL CHAPIN, and his son and successor, ISRAEL CHAPIN ; to the managers of the Rochester Atheneum, for free access to their valuable Library ; to C. C. CLARKE, of Albany, and S. B. BUCKLEY, of Yates, for valuable contributions; to numerous other individuals, most of whom are indicated in the body of the work. And to LEE, MANN & Co., the Printers, and WM. ALLING, the Publisher, for their liberal terms, and the business accommodation with which they have aided the enterprise.
" The manner of publishing is a material departure from the original intention. Instead of publishing ONE WORK, there will be FOUR. This is the first of the series. Those that will follow in order - (and in rapid succession if no unforeseen difficulties occur) - will be : -- P. and G. Purchase - Livingston and Allegany ; - P. and G. P. - Ontario and Yates ; -- P. and G. P. -- Wayne. In this plan it is confidently believed the interests of Author, Publisher and Purchaser, will be made to harmonize. It obviates the necessity of a large work of two volumes, and a HIGH PRICE, fatal to that general sale that a local work must have, within its scope, to remunerate the labor of its preparation and defray the necessary expenses attending it. While the citizens of Monroe, for instance, will have all the GENERAL HISTORY of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, and Morris' Reserve - 493 octavo pages -- brought down to a late Pioneer period ; they will not be under the necessity of purchasing at an an enhanced price, the mere local history of other counties. The only alteration there will be in the main body of the work, in the subsequent volumes announced, will be the correction of any material errors that are discovered ; but there will be in each one of them, the " Supplement," or "Extension," of the Pioneer history of the counties, as in this in- stance - Monroe.
The historical works which have been essential to the author's purposes, other than those duly credited, are : - Conquest of Canada, Travels of the Duke De la Roche- foucault Liancourt, Mary Jemison or the White Woman, History of Schoharie, His- tory of Onondaga, History of Rochester.
de" There are no illustrations : - partly because they are not essential to history, but mainly because they enhance the cost beyond what the sales of any local work will warrant. The leading object has been in the mechanical execution of the work, to furnish a large amount of reading matter, in a plain, neat and substantial manner, at a LOW PRICE, - which object, it will probably be conceded, has been accomplished.
" It will be observed, that little is said of the early history of Steuben. In an early stage of the preparation of the work, the author was apprised that a local histo- ry of that county, was preparing for the press.
Errors in names, in dates, in facts, will undoubtedly be discovered. De- pending upon memories often infirm, one disagreeing with another, labor, weeks and months of careful research, could not wholly guard against them. IT With reference to the future enterprises announced, the author will be thankful for any corrections that may be communicated to him personally, or through the mails.
PART FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
-
BRIEF NOTICES OF EARLY COLONIZATION.
Ir was one hundred and sixteen years after the discovery of America by Columbus, before the occupancy of our race was tend- ing in this direction, and Europeans had made a permanent stand upon the St. Lawrence, under the auspices of France and Cham- plain. In all that time, there had been but occasional expeditions to our northern Atlantic coast, of discovery, exploration, and occasional brief occupancy ; but no overt act of possession and dominion. The advent of Champlain, the founding of Quebec, from which events we date French colonization in America, was in 1608. One year previous, in 1607, an English expedition had entered the Chesapeake Bay and founded Jamestown, the oldest English settle- ment in America. In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, in the employ of the East India Company of Holland, entered the bay of the river that bears his name, and sailed up the river as far as Albany. In 1621, permanent Dutch colonization commenced at New-York and Albany. In 1620 the first English colonists com- menced the permanent occupancy of New England at Plymouth.
In tracing the advent of our race to our local region, French colonization and occupancy, must necessarily, take precedence. Western New-York, from an early period after the arrival of Cham- plain upon the St. Lawrence, - until 1759, - for almost a century and a half, formed a portion of French Canada, or in a more ex- tended geographical designation, of New France.
France, by priority of discovery, by navigators sailing under her flag, and commissioned by her King, in an early period of partition among the nations of Europe, claimed the St. Lawrence and its tributary waters and all contiguous territory, as her part of the New World. Setting at defiance, as did England the papal bull of Pope
10
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
Alexander VI., which conferred all of America, "its towns and cities" included, upon Spain and Portugal, her then King, Francis 1. entered vigorously into the national competition for colonial pos- sessions in America. While the English and Dutch were cruizing upon our southern and eastern coasts, entering the bays, and mouths of their rivers, hesitating and vascillating in measures of permanent colonization ; and the Spaniards were making mixed advents of gold hunting and romance, upon our south-western coast; the French were coasting off the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and unappalled by a rigorous climate, and rough and forbidding landscapes, resolving upon colonization upon its banks. "Touch and take," was the order of the day ; with but little knowledge of the value of the vast region that had been discovered, of its capabilities and resources, but such as had been gained by navigators in a distant view of the coasts, and an occasional entrance into bays and rivers ; the splendid inheritance was parcelled out, or claimed by the nations of Europe, as lightly and inconsiderately as if it had been of little worth.
The subjects of France, as it would now seem, when such a vast field had been opened for possession ; after they had seen and heard of more promising and congenial regions, made but a poor choice of her share in the New World. We are left principally to con- jecture for the explanation : First, the broad stream of the St. Law- rence invited them to enter and explore it ; no where were Europe- ans met by the natives with more friendly manifestations ; and a lucrative trade soon added to the inducements. It was a mighty flood that they saw pouring into the ocean, with a uniformity that convinced them of the vast magnitude and extent of the region it drained. Though ice-bound for long and dreary months, when spring approached, its fetters gave way, and on rolled its rushing tide, a " swift witness" that it came from congenial regions embraced in their discovery. Beside, a " shorter route to the Indies," across this continent, was one of the prominent and early objects of European navigators, following the discovery of Columbus. It was in fact, a main object, allied perhaps with visions of precious metals ;- for actual colonization, was at first but incidental to the leading objects .*
* Upon the shores of the Chesapeake, upon the Hudson and St. Lawrence, and in the bays of New England, the first information sought after by European adventures, of the natives, through the medium of signs, had reference to the directions from which the rivers flowed, and the existence of precious metals.
11
PHELPS AND GORHAM'S PURCHASE.
It was but a natural deduction, that the broad and deep river they had entered from the ocean, and its tributaries, were stretched out in a long line toward the Pacific coast .*
The progress of colonization in all the northern portion of the continent, after discovery, was slow. What in our age, and espe- cially where our own countrymen are engaged, would be but the work of a year, was then the work of a century. It was before the world had been stimulated by the example of a free government and a free people, unineumbered by royal grants and charters, and their odious and paralizing monopolies. It was before governments had learned the simple truths that some of them are yet slow in appre- ciating, that the higher destinies of our own race are only to be worked out in the absence of shackles upon the mind and the phy- sical energies of the governed. It was when the good of the few was made subservient to that of the many ; and Kings and their favorites were central orbs around which all there was of human energy, enterprize and adventure, was made to revolve as sattelites. It was when foreign wars and conquests, and civil wars, in which the higher interests of mankind were but little involved, were divert- ing the attention of Europe from the pursuits of peace, civilization, and their extended sphere. There was no prophet to awake the sleeping energies of the Old World to an adequate conception of the field of promise that was opening here ; - no one to even fore- shadow all that was hidden in the womb of time; and had there been, there would have been unfoldled to Kings and Potentates, little for their encouragement; but how much to Max, in all his noblest aspirations, his looking forward to a BETTER TIME !
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