. The New England magazine . extensive warehouses,street railways, concrete walks, gas andwater mains, and electric lights, thereexisted then only the virgin forest throughwhich ran long-used Indian trails, to markthe presence of human beings. In that almost unbroken wildernessfate, or fortune, decreed that ElderJohn Jones should make a beginningtowards civilization. He was an enter-prising, pious young man—as we areglad to regard all those sturdy pioneersof the eighteenth century in New Eng- 198 HO FED ALE AND ITS FOUNDER. land. At daybreak John Jones mighthave been seen, with axe and dinner
. The New England magazine . extensive warehouses,street railways, concrete walks, gas andwater mains, and electric lights, thereexisted then only the virgin forest throughwhich ran long-used Indian trails, to markthe presence of human beings. In that almost unbroken wildernessfate, or fortune, decreed that ElderJohn Jones should make a beginningtowards civilization. He was an enter-prising, pious young man—as we areglad to regard all those sturdy pioneersof the eighteenth century in New Eng- 198 HO FED ALE AND ITS FOUNDER. land. At daybreak John Jones mighthave been seen, with axe and dinner pailin one hand and old flint-lock in theother, briskly making his way from hislodgings in Mendon, through the forest,to the spot which he had selected where-on to lay the foundation of his futurehome. There his strong arm felled thegreat trees which, had they eyes to seeand ears to hear, might have had muchto tell of what had happened in theirpresence since, and long before, the land-ing of the Pilgrims down at Mrs. Adin Ballou. Young John Jones possessed the sinewwhich subdues wildernesses as well askingdoms, and the heart whose hot cur-rents find their way into a dozen genera-tions. At noon he would spread hisfrugal dinner, consisting of Indian ban-nock and a bottle of milk, upon someclean stump or rock and kneel before itin humble thanksgiving, while his twofaithful dogs kept ears and eyes alert todetect the approach of wild beast orunfriendly red man. In a short time hisstrong arms constructed a rude barrack of logs, within which at night and duringthe sudden tempest he found shelter andsafety. More than a hundred yearsafter, the charred remains of this oldbarrack were dug up near the OldHouse. It was not long before the ground wascleared, boards and timbers were broughtfrom the mill four miles away, whencethe logs had been hauled, and the foun-dation of that mansion was begun whichwas to be the refuge of five or six gener-ations. To that abode John Jones took
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