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plied by the hardy backwoodsmen, who, from taste and
inclination, sought homes and employment on the con-
fines of the settlements. However the interior inhab-
itants of the colonies may have been comparatively se-
cure from the inroads of the savages, the weak and scat-
tered settlements on the border were exposed to inces-
sant conflicts, by night and by day, against fearful odds
with their desperate and deadly foe. Not only was the
power of endurance, however, strengthened by the in-
vigorating habits of a frontier life, but a constant parti-
cipation of its nerve-trying scenes, and a consequent fa-
miliarity with its perils and vicissitudes, imparted to them
charms, superior in the estimation of the tenant of the
wilderness, to the soft endearments of polished society,
or to the selfish and tranquil pursuits of ambition and
wealth. The free born wanderer of the woods knew,
only to disclaim, the artificial restraints of society, and
as he roamed through the dark and majestic forest, or
scaled the dizzy heights of the mountains, or traced the
meanderings of some noble river, his attachments for his
chosen pursuits increased with the increase of years, and
he yielded himself to their enjoyment with the proud
satisfaction that he was the free and untaxed proprietor
of the boundless domains of nature around him.
  This absorbing preference of the frontier life charac-
terized the whole class of original western emigrants;
and although the prevailing passion of that period for
adventure and discovery, may have given impulse to
their extraordinary career, to the predominant influence
of their preference for that mode of life is chiefly attrib-
utable the steady and unwavering perseverance, with
which amidst all the discouragements and difficulties
that encompassed them, they maintained their ground
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