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of Mr. Studholme's bill which is forwarded in ye schooner. The officers and soldiers supplies and wooding is to be paid by a draft on the pay master at Halifax." Three years later the trade with the garrison was brought to an end by the removal of the soldiers. Mr. Simonds speaks of this circumstance in a letter dated July 25, 1768, in which he says "The Troops are withdrawn from all the outposts in the Province and sent to Boston to quell the mob. The charge of Fort Frederick is committed to me, which I accepted to prevent another person being appointed who would be a trader. I don't know but I must reside in the Garrison, but the privilege of the fisheries on that side of the River and the use of the King's boats will be more than an equivalent for the inconvenience." The defenceless condition of St. John after the withdrawal of the garrison brought disaster to the settlers there some years later, but of this we shall speak hereafter.
The situation of Messrs. Simonds and White was no easy one. Their life was one of toil and exposure—sometimes of real privation. Difficulties were constantly to be encountered, disappointments to be endured, problems to be solved. Good society there was none. Religious and educational privileges were also lacking. An inventory of certain household effects, made in the year 1775, shows that Mr. Simonds owned a Bible and Prayer Book, and that Mr. White had a Bible and a copy of Watt's psalms and hymns; that they were not regular church goers was not their own fault. We gather from their account books that no business was transacted on Sunday, but there was apparently no observance of any other day, unless we may so consider the issue of an extra allowance of rum to the hands at Christmas.
Probably the first religious services held at our