{164} While the learned and thoughtful men of Europe were thinking, the pioneers of America were acting. Nothing could restrain them from peopling the wilderness. To be a land-owner was the ruling passion of the New England man. In general, marriages were early and very fruitful. The sons, as they grew up skilled in the use of the ax and the rifle, would, one after another, move from the old homestead; and, with a wife, a yoke of oxen, a cow and a few necessary implements, build a small hut in the forest and by dint of industry soon win for themselves plenty and independence. The beautiful lines of Albert B. Street well describe the circumstances as well as the character of the men who founded American institutions and moulded the national character: "His echoing ax the settler swung Amid the sea-like solitude, And rushing, thundering down were flung The Titans of the wood. Loud shrieked the eagle as he dashed From out his mossy nest, which crashed With its supporting bough, And the first sunlight leaping flashed On the wolf's haunt below. "Rude was the garb, and strong the frame Of him who plied his ceaseless toil: To form the garb, the wild-wood game Contributed their spoil; The soul that warmed that frame disdained The tinsel gaud and glare, that reigned Where men their crowds collect; The simple fur untrimmed, unstained, This forest tamer decked. "His roof adorned a pleasant spot, 'Mid the black logs, green glowed the grain, And fruits and plants the woods knew not Bloomed in the sun and rain. The smoke-wreath curling o'er the dell, The lowing herds--the tinkling bell, All made a landscape strange. Which was the living chronicle Of deeds that wrought the change. {165} "Humble the lot, yet his the race, When liberty sent forth her cry, Who thronged in conflict's deadliest place To fight--to bleed--to die; Who cumbered Bunker's hight of red. By hope through weary years were led And witnessed Yorktown's sun Blaze on a nations banner spread-- A nation's freedom won." A century and a half had now passed since the first colony had been planted on American soil. The colonists were fast ripening into fitness for independence. They had increased with marvelous rapidity. Europe never ceased to send forth her needy thousands. America opened wide her hospitable doors and gave assurance of liberty and comfort to all who came. The thirteen colonies now contained a population of about three millions. Up to the year 1764, the Americans cherished a deep reverence and affection for the mother country. They were proud to be considered British subjects, and of the lofty place England held among the nations of the earth. They gloried in the splendor of her military achievements. They copied her manners and her fashions. Her language, laws and literature were as fondly cherished by the colonists as by the English themselves.