Ethan’s life had always been one of hard work and rare moments of inactivity, but there were two things that he relished. Often with the baby’s cradle nearby, Ethan took pride in making his own tools, furniture, and other household furnishings, and enjoyed the hours in his workshop, mostly on rainy days or when his other chores were not pressing. It was a special pleasure to sit at his shaving bench, converting the split pieces from a recently cut white oak or hickory tree into hand rakes, hay forks, wooden harrows, furniture, or household equipment for his wife to use. Some beautifully crafted chairs were a special source of pride. The clean splitting of the straight-grained wood, the shaping of posts and rungs with his drawknife and spokeshaves, the careful bending, fitting, and locking together of the pieces, and the final weaving of the seats were a pleasure for him. There was always a sense of challenge and achievement, and a practical benefit when he loaded six of his chairs on a travois and dragged them to the trading center, to be traded for supplies or some of the few pieces of eight that he and his wife saved for future use.

The other great joy was his excursions in the wilderness with his two dogs, his gun and traps, or just taking long trips, sometimes for a full day, under the guise of exploring for future hunting or grazing opportunities. There were no game laws, but the frontiersmen knew about the habits and life cycle of wildlife, on which they depended for income and a major part of their families’ diet. Ethan never shot a turkey hen from late March until the end of July, when it was laying eggs and raising the young poults until they could survive alone. During this time, Ethan knew that the gobblers still wanted sex, and he would conceal himself thoroughly and imitate the mating call of a hen by sucking on a hollow wing bone. When the gobbler came within range, he would harvest enough delicious meat to feed his family for several days. For the rest of the year, he took what turkeys he could find, and when he was lucky enough to kill more game than usual, Epsey would smoke the meat to preserve it. He wondered how soon his son might accompany him on some of these excursions, and planned how he would teach him the skills of a woodsman.

CHAPTER 11

The Pratts and the Morrises

1772