Page:Historic towns of the middle states (IA historictownsofm02powe).pdf/135

 EDISON HOTEL.

by accident or flight, numbered about two hundred and fifty. Their distress cannot be described. They buried their dead, their beloved pastor being among the slain. They made what provision they could against the severity of the winter and then took thought of the future. Should they abandon the place where for a quarter of a century they had lived in peace and plenty, and seek safety elsewhere? Help and counsel came to them from Albany, Esopus and New York, from Massachusetts and Connecticut, and not least from the friendly Mohawks, all encouraging them to stay. Indeed, there was no place of assured safety in the whole province. The war threatened all the English colonies. The