Chapter 1 and Communication Summary

Samuel Lehi Smith is 13 years old and lives with his parents in a cabin in western Pennsylvania in 1776. It is a wilderness frontier area with very thick woods filled with deer, bear, panthers and other wild creatures. As Chapter 1 opens, Samuel is hunting for deer with his rifle. He is alone, and moves quietly through the forest. Unlike his city-raised parents, Samuel has grown up in the forest and has an intimate knowledge of the woods around his home.

He stands stock still, waiting for a deer to appear. As he waits, he thinks over the two worlds he and his family seem to inhabit. His parents have moved to the frontier to escape city life, which he knows about from their stories. They are avid readers, and he has learned a great deal about the "east" from the...