Legends of the Shawangunk2 JR.pdf - Friends of the Sabbath ...

46 Legends of the Shawangunk.
It was at a time when thousands of oppressed subjects, fleeing from the intolerance
and tyranny of old Europe, first sought freedom and happiness in the new land beyond
the seas—the America of the west. William Bull, an Irishman, with no fortune but youth
and a good constitution, imbibing the prevalent feeling among all classes, took passage in
an English packet bound for New York. He counted his money—five guineas—to the
skipper of the packet, and was told the amount would pay for his passage. Arrived in
port he tendered his five guineas, and was gruffly told it was not enough. “But it’s all
I’ve got,” said the Irishman. “Then you must be sold to pay the balance of your passage
money,” said the captain. All expostulation was vain; and the skipper affected to have no
recollection of a previous understanding. William Bull saw he was in the captain’s
power; the laws of England made it obligatory on his part to render an equivalent in hard
labor for the balance claimed, and he had no friend to take up his cause against the
purpose of the over-reaching captain.
“Then I’ll go back in the ship,” said the outraged Irishman; “if I’ve got to be a slave,
I’ll be one in my own land!”
It so occurred that Daniel Cromline, who resided on the Wawayanda patent, was then
in the port at which the packet had arrived. The advent of a ship in port in those days was
an occasion of importance, and always drew a crowd of interested persons and curiosity
seekers, and Cromline was among the number attracted thither by the novelty. The story
of the Irish passenger had got abroad, and his case had excited considerable sympathy,
especially as the avarice and tyranny of sea-captains was a trait by no means rare.
Cromline, being in want of a “hand” at his new settlement, forthwith asked to be presented
to the distressed passenger. The result of the interview was that Cromline
advanced an amount covering the deficit in Bull’s passage money, and took the grateful
Irishman home with him.
William Bull proved to be a great accession to the working force of the new
settlement in the wilderness. He was strong and willing, and of a mild and hopeful
disposition. He was skillful in the use of tools, and fertile in expedients—qualities that
were especially valuable where tools were scarce and the facilities limited; and where, if
a much-needed article was obtained, it had to be ordered from Holland, or England, and a
year was required to get it.
Daniel Cromline set to work to construct a log mansion that should be far superior to
any house for miles around. As an innovation in the building art, the puncheon was
discarded, and real boards, sawed by whips in a saw-pit, entered into the construction of
the floors and doors, and were held in place with wooden pins. The prime workman and
chief architect was William Bull, but for whose ingenuity and physical strength the
edifice would have been lacking in many of its sterling excellencies.
Though William Bull had emigrated thousands of miles from the scenes of his youth,
and had apparently buried himself in the heart of a vast wilderness, it must not be
supposed that he had turned savage like the wild beasts and Indians by whom he was
surrounded. His young and susceptible heart began to