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three small children, she heard a noise, and looking out saw a band of thieves stealing provisions from the cellar.
They entered the meeting-house soon after, and she had the presence of mind to call out, ‘Hallo, Jack!
Call Joe, and Harry, and Jim!
Here's somebody coming.’
The robbers, supposing she had a number of stout defenders at hand, thought it prudent to escape as quickly as possible.
The next day, her husband being still absent, she resolved to move into the unfinished house, for greater security.
The door had neither lock nor latch, but she contrived to fasten it in some fashion.
At midnight, three men came and tried to force it open; but every time they partially succeeded, she struck at them with a broad axe. This mode of defence was kept up so vigorously, that at last they were compelled to retreat.
She had a daughter, who was often at play with neighbor Hopper's children; and when Levi was quite a small boy, it used to be said playfully that little Rachel Tatem would be his wife, and they would live together up by the great white oak; a remarkable tree at some distance from the homestead.
The children grew up much attached to each other, and when Levi was twenty-two years old, the prophecy was fulfilled.
The young man had only his own strong hands and five or six hundred acres of wild woodland.
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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