They could make deadfalls, and pits, and traps, and
snares,--they were as expert as Indians in the use of the bow,--they could
pitch a stone, or fling a wooden dart at partridge, hare, and squirrel,
with almost unerring aim; and were as swift of foot as young fawns. Now
it was that they learned to value in its fullest extent this useful
and practical knowledge, which enabled them to face with fortitude the
privations of a life so precarious as that to which they were now exposed.
It was one of the elder Maxwell's maxims,--Never let difficulties overcome
you, but rather strive to conquer them; let the head direct the hand, and
the hand, like a well-disciplined soldier, obey the head as chief. When his
children expressed any doubts of not being able to accomplish any work they
had begun, he would say, "Have you not hands, have you not a head, have you
not eyes to see, and reason to guide you? As for impossibilities, they do
not belong to the trade of a soldier,--he dare not see them." Thus were
energy and perseverance early instilled into the minds of his children;
they were now called upon to give practical proofs of the precepts that had
been taught them in childhood.
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