91 7.75 
 
 "A TRUE PICTURE 
 
 EMIGRATI ON; 
 
 OR FOURTEEN TEARS IN 
 
 Mum tit Bnrtjj Stttmm; 
 
 BEING A FULL AND 
 
 IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES 
 
 AND ULTIMATE 
 
 WHO EMIGRATED FKOM 
 
 BARWICK-IN-ELMET, NEAR LEEDS, 
 
 IN THE YEAR 1831. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PUBLISHED BY G. BERGER, 
 
 19, Holywell-street, Strand ; 
 
 LEEDS: DAVID GREEK; MANCHESTER: A. HEYWOOD 
 AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS.
 
 /w. 
 A TRUE PICTURE 
 
 EMIGRATION : 
 
 OB FOURTEEN YEARS IN 
 
 THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA 
 
 BEING A FULL AND IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE VARIOUS DIFFICULTIES AND ULTIMATE SUCCESS 
 OF AN ENGLISH FAMILY 
 
 WHO EMIGRATED EEOM BARWICK-IN-ELMET, 
 
 NEAR LEED3, IN THE YEAR 1831. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY G. BERGER, HOLYWELL-STREET ; 
 
 LEEDS: DAVID GREEN: MANCHESTER: A. HEYWOOD; 
 
 AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS.
 
 PREFATORY REMARKS. 
 
 In submitting the contents of this volume to the notice of the public, the 
 writer begs to state that the materials and facts herein contained were delivered 
 to him viva voce by his mother, the principal agent in the narrative, during 
 a late visit to this, her native country. 
 
 To him the account seemed interesting in the highest degree, an opinion 
 in which such of his friends as have perused the manuscript have invariably 
 concurred. 
 
 The present state of the public mind in regard to emigration has suggested 
 the propriety of immediately giving publicity to the narrative, which is what 
 might be termed the Diary of a Yorkshire Emigrant in the United States of 
 America. 
 
 How far such a production is required the public will now determine. It 
 is what it professes to be : ' a true picture;' the incidents are facts not fiction ; 
 the language only in which they are described belongs to the author. 
 
 Swillington, August 1st, 1848. 
 
 [ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.]
 
 f d 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 I YT7HATEVER may have been our success in America, I can 
 YY attribute but little of it to myself; as I gave up the idea of 
 ' ending my days in my own country with the utmost reluctance, 
 and should never have become an emigrant, if obedience to my 
 husband's wishes had left me any alternative. His motives, 
 briefly stated, were these : In the year 1817 we took a small farm 
 at a village in Yorkshire on a lease for fourteen years, and as 
 
 ' corn was at that time selling well, the rent was fixed at too high 
 a rate for us to obtain a comfortable livelihood. We did indeed 
 by dint of great industry and strict economy, maintain our credit 
 to the end of the lease ; but the severe struggles we had to en- 
 dure to meet our payments, the gradual diminution of our little 
 ^ property, and the entire absence of any prospects of being able 
 to supply the wants of a large family had tended effectually to fix 
 my husband's purpose of trying what could be done in the western 
 
 . world. We accordingly disposed of our little furniture, settled 
 our pecuniary affairs, and ultimately began our long journey the 
 last week in August 1831. 
 
 The reader will now enquire to what part of America we were 
 going, or whether we had any plans as to the locality of our future 
 home. This is an important consideration for every emigrant, 
 though little attended to by many. We were not, however, like 
 the poor Northumbrian, who, on landing at New York a few years 
 ago, required a person whom he met in the street, to direct him 
 to the back settlements. My husband had travelled many miles 
 to obtain a sight of private American letters, and after maturely 
 considering all the intelligence he could collect, he determined to 
 go to Pike County, Illinois, to a person named Mr. B , who had 
 settled there a year or two before, and written to a brother of his 
 in this country. 
 
 Without further preface, we are therefore to be considered on 
 
 our way from the centre cf Yorkshire to Liverpool, self, husband, 
 
 s and five children, the eldest a boy about nine years old, two others 
 
 J we were leaving behind, the one my eldest son engaged as an 
 under teacher in a boarding school, the other my eldest daughter 
 serving also in a respectable family. To persons such as we 
 
 were, who had never been forty miles from home, a journey by 
 waggon and railway, where every hour presents the eye with some- 
 thing new, does not afford the best opportunity for reflection ; we 
 in consequence reached Liverpool before we fully felt the impor-
 
 tance of the step we were taking. Nature had indeed yielded a 
 little as we gazed upon the scenes of our industry, which time 
 had endeared, for the last time. But it was at Liverpool, when 
 we had got our luggage to a boarding-house and were waiting the 
 departure of a vessel, that the throes of leaving England and all 
 its endearments put our courage to a test the most severe. Our 
 minds were now undisturbed by surrounding objects ; we occupied 
 a small apartment for which we paid two shillings a-day, without 
 even the indulgence of a fire to cook our provisions. The dark 
 smoky walls of the opposite buildings were the only prospect 
 that the situation of our sojourn could afford. Predisposed to 
 melancholy as we were, no one can be surprised when he is told 
 that its effects were soon apparent. A stranger would have thought 
 us a most unsocial family, as we sat in profound silence for an 
 hour together, only now and then a sigh would escape us tending 
 to vary but not to enliven this painful monotony/" Even our 
 children participated in our disquietude, and seemed to lose their 
 wonted vivacity. My dear husband, who before had displayed 
 nothing but hardihood, on this occasion had almost played the 
 woman. After a deep silence I not unfrequently observed his 
 eyes suffused with tears, which though unnoticed by him, fell in 
 quick succession down his sunbrowed cheeks. We were six days 
 in this abode, and I may venture to assert that he did not spend 
 six hours of the time in the forgetfulness of sleep. At last the 
 day dawned on which we were to embark. We had already be- 
 spoke our berths and paid a deposit to secure them. It was a 
 critical period: my husband appeared to feel as if all the respon- 
 sibility was laid upon him. He doubtless felt for himself; but 
 his children and myself were the principal objects of his solicitude. 
 Those he were leaving behind would be left to the wide world 
 without any one to watch over them ; and that at a time when the 
 passions which actuate the human breast, are in the greatest need 
 of parental authority and advice. The destiny of those he was 
 taking with him appeared about to be consigned to a vague un- 
 certain probability. The die was going to be cast. In twelve 
 hours more we should be on the deep, where return would be 
 impracticable. The^e considerations, the perils of the sea the 
 more dreaded because unknown, together with many other weighty 
 considerations which a father and a husband in such a situation 
 could not but feel, got the better of his natural prowess, and that 
 morning he addressed me in the following manner : " Bebecca, 
 I cannot do it, I cannot do it ! for myself I fear nothing ; but the 
 impenetrable gloom and uncertainty attending this step completely 
 bewilders me. Should anything befall me, what will become of 
 you and my children on the stormy ocean, or in a strange land 
 and among pathless woods. Bad as our prospects are in England 
 we must go back ! Such another night as the last has been I 
 cannor survive ! this terrible suspense and anxiety tears me in 
 pieces." Sentiments like these a few months ago would have been 
 hailed with delight, and even then I must confess I felt a sort of 
 inward satisfaction, although I knew them to be rather the effects 
 of his .feelings than his mental decisions. If we returned I knew 
 he could not be satisfied with- his condition, still less with his
 
 present conduct. I however acquiesced in silence, only replying, 
 I would do what he thought hest. We accordingly began to re- 
 move our boxes back to the luggage waggon, whither I accompanied 
 him; but all the time we were thus employed he appeared like 
 one whose movements are coerced. The smile with which he 
 usually accompanied his addresses no longer appeared. I saw it 
 would not do ; we returned to our children like those who return 
 from the interment of a near relative in mournful silence. Never 
 before had I felt so much to devolve on me, and perhaps never in 
 my life did I so much feel it my duty to practise self-denial. My 
 native land was as dear to me as ever : my two children, to whom 
 I had bidden adieu, were strong ties. But the consciousness that 
 it was my duty to bear up the sinking spirits of my partner, left 
 me only one course to adopt. For a moment I raised my eyes 
 to him " who sitteth above the water-floods," and with feelings I 
 am not able to depict, broke silence as follows ; 
 
 " I admit, my dear husband, that our situation is a very trying 
 one ; but remember how often and how long you have resolved 
 to go to America ; hitherto we have experienced nothing that we 
 did not anticipate ; and should any calamity befal us on our 
 journey, you have adopted emigration only from a conviction that 
 it would tend to the good of the family ; and the Almighty is as 
 able to preserve us and our children across the seas or in America 
 as he is in England. Besides, if we return, we have broken up 
 our home and sold our furniture, and should be worse situated 
 than ever ; let ns even go, and look to Providence for success." 
 The above advice on my part operated like a charm. All that 
 has been said of the effects of martial music was here realized. 
 His answer was rather in deed than in word. In two hours more 
 our luggage was removed from the waggon, where it had just 
 been placed with a view of returning home, to the ship in which 
 we had taken our berths. The remainder of the day till four 
 o'clock was spent in procuring stores, cooking utensils, &c., 
 necessary for our voyage ; and when the sun went down on the 
 second of September, 1831, we were on the waters ; having pre- 
 viously confided ourselves to the care of Him " whom earth and 
 seas are ready to obey."
 
 . 
 
 AFTEE we had thus finally determined and put it out of our 
 power to alter that decision, our minds were more at ease 
 than before. There being no longer any doubt as to whether we 
 should go to America, the suspense which had hitherto been so 
 afflicting began in a great measure to subside. My husband re- 
 sumed his wonted cheerfulness, and expressed his belief that the 
 course we had ultimately adopted would prove the best in the end. 
 We were now passengers, in the steerage, on the vessel " Home" 
 bound for New Orleans. Our reasons for sailing to that port the 
 most distant in North America, and not in a direct course to the 
 Illinois, were on account of the ready transit we should make 
 thence into the interior up the Missisippi ; whereas, by landing at 
 New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, we should have had to cross 
 he Alleghany mountains, and travel a great distance by land, 
 which would have been both very troublesome on account of our 
 luggage, and very expensive. 
 
 The perplexed state of mind in which we were prior to embark- 
 ing had prevented our noticing or enjoying the fine sights which 
 the port of Liverpool presents. I speak not of the magnitude of 
 the town, nor of its architectural decorations, but of the immense 
 forests of ships, which on every hand strike the eye of the be- 
 holder as he sails out of the harbour. Whatever might have been 
 my ideas of the greatness and wealth of England before, I am 
 sure they were greatly enlarged when I beheld for the first time 
 in my life those unwieldly instruments of commerce crowded like 
 forest trees on the sea further than the eye could reach. As the 
 wind was faxourable we soon lost sight of the shore. Yet the eye 
 with unwearied vigilance kept steadily fixed on the few eminences 
 whick remained visible, till they gradually waned into obscurity, 
 and at last disappeared altogether. The reader may think me 
 needlessly precise in naming this circumstance ; but I assure him 
 there were many on board, who, as well as myself, felt a gratifica- 
 tion in gazing at the naked rocks that projected from the land 
 that had given us birth; and when it was finally announced that 
 England was no longer visible, there was not a person in the ship 
 who would not have heartily responded amen to the prayer, ' God 
 bless it.' For mgself, I felt as if I was leaving all I had been 
 wont to prize ; and when I could no longer see the shore, I shall 
 never forget how enviously I looked upon the vessels that were 
 approaching the shores I was leaving. I followed them with my
 
 eye, one by one, till quite weary with looking I descended into 
 the cabin, and endeavoured to be reconciled to my situation by 
 exercising myself in some necessary employment. 
 
 Although we were entire strangers to a sea-faring life, we found 
 we had been judicious in the choice of our provisions : we were 
 well supplied with oatmeal and flour, bacon, biscuits, tea and 
 coffee, &c., and as we had to cook for ourselves at a fire which 
 supplied all the steerage passengers, I found I should have some- 
 thing to do besides descrying distant sails, and sighing a blessing 
 to those bound for England. 
 
 At home I had always been fond of regularity with regard to 
 the dinner hour, but I soon found if I continued my punctual 
 habits on board I should often be liable to be laughed at for my 
 pains, and lose my dinner to the bargain. Imagine to yourself, 
 kind reader, a small fire surrounded by half-a-dozen sturdy 
 rustics, as busy boiling, roasting, and frying, as if their lives de- 
 pended upon a single meal, and I will hazard an opinion you 
 would be very hungry before you would venture among them. I 
 do not say they would eat you ; but either from the motion of the 
 ship, or their uncouthness, your fortune would be better than 
 mine if you got your meal prepared without being scalded. For 
 the above reasons I soon forgot my punctuality, and through the 
 remainder of the voyage our custom was to cook and eat when 
 we could, for seasons are not unknown on ship-board when both 
 must be dispensed with. During the first few days the weather 
 was calm : we had sailed down the Irish channel before the much 
 dreaded sea-sickness began to annoy us, I had even begun to 
 think, that like many other evils, its terrors had been overrated ; 
 but before we had been a week on board a heavy gale began to 
 blow from the north-west, the sky became dark and unsettled, 
 when I began to be exceedingly sick; a disorder in which nearly 
 all tl;e passengers participated. Painfully afflictive as this malady 
 was, it soon became of little consideration on account of a more 
 alarming misfortune which threatened to befall us. The sea was 
 beginning to be unusually rough, its huge foaming waves came 
 dashing against the sides of the vessel, as if they had been let 
 loose to destroy it. Sometimes we appeared about to leave the 
 waters, and become inhabitants of aerial regions ; then again one 
 might suppose the ship was instantaneously descending into the 
 caverns of the deep, overwhelmed by the mass of waters which 
 on all sides encompassed it, and at times came sweeping over the 
 deck with irresistible fury. A thousand times I thought the ship 
 would be upset by the force of the tempest, which, roaring tre- 
 mendously, carried all before it, and often laid our masts nearly 
 level with the main ; when suddenly regaining her upright posi- 
 tion, she seemed to be contending with the blast, and by a move- 
 ment I can scarcely account for, obtruding her briny sails against 
 the forces of the storm. The crew were all in action j their 
 shoutings were vociferous ; louder even than the voice of the 
 wind. Terror and dismay were on every hand. The captain 
 alone preserved his serenity ; his orders were delivered in a loud 
 but unfaultering tone ; he might have been a divinity of the 
 wuters so dignified and majestic was his deportment on thi
 
 10 
 
 occasion. Not so the passengers, they were indeed mortals, and 
 suppliants too. Impiety was banished from the ship. You might 
 have seen those, who yesterday could not conclude a sentence 
 without the usual flourish of an oath, now on their knees serious 
 enough. The night came on, the passengers were ordered 
 below: such a night I never witnessed. The storm was incessant. 
 The timbers creaked alarmingly; and the sailors, hurrying to and 
 fro on the deck, filled us with renewed consternation. Every 
 moment we expected the waters to rush in upon us. I shall never 
 forget the horrors of that night, increased as they were by the 
 heart-rending meanings of my despairing companions. It was 
 not the time for reflection : reason had little control over our 
 actions ; as our fears directed, so we conducted ourselves. Na- 
 ture's bonds, however, were not entirely dissevered, for then even 
 I found myself in a corner of the cabin, my husband at my right 
 hand, which he often clasped in his, and our dear little children 
 huddled around us, giving us their little hands to fondle over and 
 caress. Art thou a mother, gentle reader, thou mayest in part 
 conceive what my feelings were ; but there are sensations which 
 no description can embody ; there are emotions which nothing 
 but experience can explain : of this kind were mine. At length 
 the morning began to dawn ; we were all anxiety to see the day, 
 and ascertain our real situation. Of all the emotions of which 
 the human bosom is susceptible, suspense is the most intolerable. 
 We desired to know the worst; but our orders were to keep 
 within, and we feared to disobey. The little light we obtained 
 from the semipellucid glass at the top of our cabin, was of no 
 avail. Our ears had caused us to think the storm was abating; 
 but this only increased our anxiety, as we were afraid to hope, 
 lest we should be deceived, when to our surprise the cabin door 
 sprung open ; it was the captain himself who had opened it. His 
 appearance was like one of those celestial visitors, which the 
 sacred pages have pourtrayed on errands of mercy. We hurried 
 to meet him ; but he desired us to be at ease, assuring us the 
 danger was past. His expressive words " the danger is past," were 
 repeated again and again through all the cabin ; and now the 
 scene was changed. In the place of lamentations and the voice 
 of despair, were immediately heard jocularity and the tumult of 
 mirth. His words had metamorphosed the room. Forgotten or 
 disrogared were all the pious vows which had been made (he 
 preceding night. " They ate and they drank and they rose up to 
 play ;" but few could be seen in the attitude of praise. The storm 
 had indeed abated; and, such is human nature, religion had 
 vanished at the same time. The following day I learnt we had 
 been driven considerably out of our course into the Bay of Biscay ; 
 but no further injury was sustained except a little to the cordage, 
 which the sailors shortly put right, and before evening the sails 
 were again unfurled, and our ship in good repair, majestically 
 making head-way across the Atlantic. This was the only storm 
 we encountered during our passage ; it was a severe one ; even 
 the sailors spoke of it with concern, and seemed aware our danger 
 hadbeen great. 
 A long sea-voyage is generally allowed to be a tedious time, and
 
 11 
 
 there is some foundation for the remark, when it is considered 
 how little variety is there observable. The ship, your companions, 
 the sky above you and the ' dark blue ocean' below, with occasion- 
 ally a solitary sail gliding quietly along at a distance, constitiite 
 the principal objects that come under the notice of ordinary tra- 
 vellers. There is nothing of that everlasting newness and beauty, 
 that pleasing variety of hill and dale, of trees whose foliage is 
 varied by a thousand hues, meandering streams, village towers 
 and spires that everywhere meet the eye in an English landscape. 
 Nor is the ear more favoured than the eye. The creaking of the 
 cables and the mast, the coarse discordant notes of the seamen 
 and the monotonous dashing of the waves against the vessel, are 
 the most common and almost the entire sounds that a sea-breeze 
 can boast. The melodious warbling of the grove are there un- 
 known ; and when the night-dews are falling, the mellow flute 
 notes of the swain breathing innocence and love, never once 
 remind the passenger on the deep that the labours of the day are 
 ended, and the star of evening appears. The sea, nevertheless, 
 has its beauties and grandeur; but these are rather perceptible to 
 the reflecting mind than the external sense. One evening I well 
 remember when we were about half-way across the Atlantic, I 
 was alone on the deck, pensively considering the peculiarity of 
 my situation, and impatiently desirous to know what my future 
 condition should be, when casting my eyes towards the east I 
 beheld a most magnificent spectacle: the large full moon was 
 just clearing the watery horizon. I always love to see the moon 
 beginning her nocturnal rambles; her beams are the light in 
 which meditation appears the most lovely; but when on that de- 
 lightful evening, in the midst of the great Atlantic, I beheld the 
 same kind planet, beneath whose balmly light I had gamboled in 
 my childhood and conversed on subjects the most endearing in 
 maturer age, my whole soul was overpowered with ecstacy. Bear 
 with me, kind reader, bear with a woman's weakness, if I tell 
 thee I looked upon her as an old companion, and addressed her 
 as a bosom friend, so forcibly did she remind me of the many de- 
 lightful and happy hours I had spent under her auspicious beams 
 in my native land. Independent of these interesting associations, 
 her appearance at such a time and in such a place was highly 
 imposing, and calculated in a remarkable degree to remind me of 
 the insignificance of man and his noblest performances. Im- 
 pressed in this manner I gazed upon her broad disk, and how 
 magnificently splendid ! I next surveyed the deep, gilded on one 
 side by her rays and on the other terminating the view by a dark 
 half-visible horizon ; and what a world of water seemed to sur- 
 round me. I then considered the ship, poor feeble bark, thought 
 I, how insecure thou art ! a single wave could undo thee. Lastly 
 I looked at myself: the contrast was sickening; human pride 
 could not bear it ; I cast my eyes once more upon the moon, and 
 returned into the cabin. To proceed, by the time we had well 
 got half-way across the water, our impatience to see land daily 
 increased ; the hours began to pass more tardily along than be- 
 fore. Those that kept their minds most engaged were the most 
 happy; a piece of philosophy this which will generally hold true.
 
 12 
 
 I am not going to describe my fellow-passengers as philosophers, 
 the few traits I have already given prove they were not ; but to 
 do them justice, many of them were expert hands at dispelling 
 melancholy. This they did sometimes by cracking jokes at each 
 other, sometimes by relating portions of their histories, or cele- 
 brating the matchless heroism or strength of their kindred. Thus 
 by degrees having severally acquired an epitome of each other's 
 lives, a sort of community was formed and neighbourhoods es- 
 tablished, less regulated indeed by locality than peculiar likings. 
 When first we set out each must cook for himself, or at most for 
 his own family; now you might have seen three or four messing 
 together, having previously agreed to throw their respective pro- 
 visions into one common store. By this means there were fewer 
 dishes to prepare, and consequently better accommodation. We 
 were too strict economists to adopt the joining system; and our 
 olicitude respecting our journey caused us rather to avoid inti- 
 macy with our companions than to court it. Yes, many a time 
 when mirth and noise have been the prevailing order on deck, 
 have I sought retirement to muse upon the past, and pry into the 
 future. I own such conduct was unwise ; I should have been 
 happier if I could have mingled in the diversions of my compa- 
 nions: but, reader, knowest thou not when the heart is sick the 
 very means which should be beneficial are often the most repulsive ? 
 It was impossible, from the nature of things, that I could be 
 happy, while as yet we were travelling we scarcely knew whither. 
 On one occasion while thus alone on the deck, near the cook's 
 cabin, I perceived an unusual quantity of smoke issuing from the 
 door and chimney, and on looking down I perceived a person 
 named Jack, who by the by had stolen on board at Liverpool and 
 was working his passage, involved in a cloud of smoke and flaina 
 from a pan of pitch, which by accident he had spilled into the 
 fire. I gave the alarm, and all hands were immediately on the 
 spot. The wood was beginning to ignite, and if it had not been 
 attended to with the utmost promptitude our situation would soon 
 have been awful. A mattress, which happened to be near, was 
 instantly put upon the chimney to prevent the draught, and 
 buckets of water were plentifully thrown in at the door, so that 
 in a very short time the fire was extinguished. Poor Jack fared 
 the worst : his right arm was almost roasted, which caused him 
 to be, as an invalid, exempt from duty to the end of the voyage. 
 His misfortune excited the compassion of many on board, some 
 of whom presented him with wearing apparel, &c., of which he 
 was in great need. For myself by being in the centre of the 
 crowd, I became entangled in a rope near the mouth of the cabin, 
 which subjected me to the stench and steam thence arising. I was 
 however soon released from my accidental fetters, and laden with 
 the grateful acknowledgments of all around. Another time while 
 pacing upon the deck, I was almost struck dumb to see my son, 
 the boy before alluded, a fine youth, but uncommonly daring, fast 
 asleep on the bowsprit. The least accidental movement and he 
 would have lost his equilibrium, and been precipitated into the 
 water. Alarmed as I was, I did all that a mother could do in 
 such a situation to preserve the life of oue so dear. My husband
 
 13 
 
 was just at hand. I made no noise, but all in agitation pointed 
 out the cause of my distress. He soon understood me, and, 
 with all the concern of an affectionate father, hastened softly to- 
 wards the lad, and rescued him from that imminent peril into 
 which his daring spirit had unwittingly led him. 
 
 The recital of these incidents brings me, through the order in 
 which they occurred, towards the West Indies ; and to another 
 occurrence which for a short time caused a greater alarm than 
 any thing we met with during the voyage. The circumstances 
 are as fresh in my mind as if they had transpired only yesterday. 
 I had been observing with interest and pity a number of flying 
 fishes occasionally rise out of the water to avoid their pursuers, 
 when several of the passengers came to the side on which I was 
 standing to behold a fine-looking vessel which had recently made 
 its appearance. Various were the conjectures as to whither she 
 was bound and to what country she belonged. It was every one's 
 opinion she approached us, and. no little pleasure was experienced 
 at the idea of having a vessel so near us, after having been several 
 days without one. The captain seemed alarmed, and kept con- 
 tinually looking at her with his glass, and shortly afterwards the 
 sailors were seen all busy cleaning out the guns, and preparing 
 them for action. By and by it became whispered on board that 
 the vessel was a pirate, and the busy manner in which the seamen 
 were employed at their guns tended to confirm the conjecture. 
 The captain caused all to come on deck. His motives were 
 immediately made out : meanwhile the vessel, which was a good 
 sailer, kept growing nearer, and every thing betokened hostility. 
 We were all in agitation ; even the captain and the sailors turned 
 pale with excitement. Every eye was intent on the vessel, and 
 every muscle betokened alarm. She was now within the range of 
 our guns, which were ready for action. At length she hoisted a 
 colour, and immediately a large spreading flag was unfurled on 
 our ship. A breathless silence succeeded ; that moment was in- 
 describable. The flags then flying were symbols of peace. Three 
 cheers, spontaneously given, immediately succeeded. A thrill of 
 transport moved the ship, and not a.few wept for joy. Our cap- 
 tain, with a trumpet, asked their intentions ; he was answered in 
 English from the other ship that they were sailing to the West 
 Indies, and having encountered a storm, they had injured their 
 time-keeper, and could not ascertain their longitude. We gave 
 them all the information they required, and parted with cheerings 
 which were responded to by the other ship, which we soon after- 
 wards lost sight of. The following day a sailor on the mast 
 announced the appearance of land, a declaration which was 
 eagerly received ; during the remainder of the day the passen- 
 gers were constantly on the look-out, and before night we had the 
 unspeakable pleasure of knowing for ourselves that land was 
 visible. The next day we passed several small islands clad in all 
 the beauty of summer; we were sufficiently near some of them to 
 discover negroes at work besides their little huts, cocoa-nut trees 
 and many other kinds, the names of which I cannot give, being 
 not very near them, and but imperfectly conversant with the pro- 
 ductions of tropical regions. The weather was here excessively
 
 14 
 
 hot : but a large sail-cloth being put up to shade us from the sun, 
 we almost invariably remained on deck, feasting oxir eyes -with 
 the luxuriant and beautiful appearance of the numerous little 
 islands we were continually passing. 1 am not aware that the 
 West Indian islands surpass others in beauty, but on account of 
 the length of time we had been without seeing land, we were in- 
 cessant in our encomiums upon them. Never thought I had I 
 seen anything so lovely ; I could have wished this the situation 
 of our future abode, this the America so long in anticipation. The 
 two following days no land was visible, a circumstance attended 
 with considerable uneasiness, as we had begun to consider our 
 voyage at an end. On the morning of the third, however, land was 
 again visible, and this was America. A sort of melancholy came 
 creeping over me as I gazed upon it ; portentous, perhaps, of tha 
 many hardships I was destined there to endure. We were now in 
 the mouth of the Missisippi; that night a large Ian tern was sus- 
 pended on the mast, as a signal for the pilot to come on board 
 and take charge of the ship. Early the next morning, while it 
 was yet dark, my husband, who had been on deck most of the 
 night, came to invite me thither. I followed him shortly after- 
 wards, and beheld a fine large city lighted in a most splendid 
 manner : its appearance was really brilliant, and gave me more 
 exalted ideas of the country to which we were hastening. That 
 morning, by break of day, a small boat came cutting the water 
 almost with the speed of the wind ; it was rowed along by four 
 black sailors on each side ; a dignified person was seated in the 
 midst of them ; it was the pilot ; he came alongside the ship, 
 and was taken on board with his boat and men. After respectful 
 compliments had passed between him and the captain, he under- 
 took the management of the ship, his own sailors obeying his 
 commands, while ours were relieved from duty to enjoy themselves 
 in chaunting their native melodies, which they did most heartily, 
 almost to the annoyance of the pilot and his men. This was 
 Sunday morning, the first in November ; we had been on board 
 two months and a few days a period on which I never look back 
 without emotion, as it reminds me of the anxieties I then endured, 
 and of the consequences which that voyage involved.
 
 t. 
 
 A S I intimated in the preceding chapter, we reached New Orleans 
 IjL on Sunday morning ; but when I came to survey the town 
 more leisurely, I could scarcely believe it was the Lord's day. I 
 remembered that frequently on our passage I had heard it re- 
 marked that the time varied with the time in England a few hours, 
 and for a moment I supposed that the Sabbath varied also. \ The 
 reader will perceive the cause of my surprise, when he is told 
 that the shops were every where open, stalls set out in all direc- 
 tions, and the streets thronged with lookers-on more in the manner 
 of a fair than a Christian sabbath. This I was told was the 
 general method of spending that day in New Orleans. With re- 
 gard to the inhabitants, their appearance was exceedingly peculiar, 
 their complexions varying almost as much as their features ; from 
 the deep black of the flat-nosed negro to the sickly pale hue of 
 the American shopman. This city is a regular rendezvous for 
 merchants and tradesmen of every kind, from all quarters of the 
 globe. Slavery is here tolerated in its grossest forms. I observed 
 several groups of slaves linked together in chains, and driven 
 about the streets like oxen under the yoke. The river, which is 
 of immense width, affords a sight not less unique than the city. 
 No one, except eye-witnesses, can form an adequate idea of the 
 number and variety of vessels there collected, and lining the river 
 for miles in length. New Orleans being the provision market for 
 the West Indies and some of the Southern States, its port is fre- 
 quented not merely by foreign traders, but by thousands of small 
 cijaft, often of the rudest construction, on which the settlers in 
 the interior bring down the various produce of their climate and 
 industry. The town itself, from its low marshy situation, is very 
 unhealthy ; the yellow fever is an everlasting scourge to its inha- 
 bitants, annually carrying off great numbers. As a trading port, 
 New Orleans is the most famous and the best situated of any in 
 America ; but whoever values a comfortable climate or a healthy 
 situation, will not, I am sure, choose to reside there. But to re- 
 sume my narrative: having arrived at the port, it was our intention 
 to proceed immediately up the river to St. Louis ; but as no steam 
 vessel left till the next day, we remained on board in front of the 
 town. The custom-house officers had not yet been on board to 
 examine the ship, but a we had nothing for which duty would be 
 required, our captain gave my husband a document to present to 
 the inspectors, by which we were allowed to pass early the next
 
 16 
 
 morning. Before entering the steam vessel, we got the remainder 
 of our money, all in English sovereigns, exchanged into American 
 dollars. We found that our expenses, since leaving home, 
 amounted to about twenty-three pounds. On leaving the ship I 
 felt a renewal of my home-sickness, to use a quaint expression ; 
 it seemed to be the only remaining link between me and England. 
 I was now going to be an alien among strangers. Hitherto I had 
 been accompanied by persons, who when my pain on leaving 
 home manifested itself, could sympathize with me. I should 
 have preferred the meanest passenger on the ship to any I saw on 
 the packet. As, however, we were all in haste to be on our way, 
 I had little time to spend on those tender associations. I cer- 
 tainly left the ship with an aching heart ; the captain and cabin 
 passengers had been very kind to us during the voyage, and on 
 going away my children were severally presented with small tokens 
 of approbation, of which they were not a little proud. I must 
 now leave the ship to pursue my route up the stream of the Mis- 
 sisippi to St. Louis, a distance of not less than thirteen hundred 
 miles. The country on each side of the river is of a dead level, 
 but to all appearance exceedingly productive, and cultivated with 
 considerable pains. On account of the heat which prevails in 
 these districts, the productions of tropical regions are here grown 
 in great abundance. The extensive plantations, notwithstanding 
 their flat appearance, are exceedingly beautiful ; and if any thing 
 could have made me forget that I was an unsettled exile, the 
 scenery of the country bordering this river must have done it. 
 There was, nevertheless, one drawback: these beautiful plantations 
 are cultivated by slaves, many of whom we saw as we passed 
 along. As we had regularly to stop by the way to obtain timber 
 for our fires, that being the fuel invariably used by the steamers 
 on this river, we had frequent opportunities of stepping ashore. 
 On one occasion a passenger seeing a negro smoking his pipe by 
 his little cabin, which was just at hand, took the liberty of going 
 up to him for the purpose of begging a little fruit, which hung in 
 plenty on the trees around. The negro, without hesitation, 
 granted his request ; and our hero immediately mounted a tree, 
 which he partially stripped of its juicy burden. This little 
 incident might have passed unnoticed, had not the intruder on 
 descending from the tree made use of a kind of box, which was 
 underneath, to break his fall ; its structure was too slender for 
 so unusual a load, and in consequence he burst in the top to the 
 terror of the negro, who immediately darted across the orchard, 
 leaving our companion to make the best of his misfortune. The 
 latter was soon convinced that he had committed a blunder, as 
 the box was a bee-hive, and its occupants, aware they had been 
 insulted, would accept no apology, but drawing their sabres 
 attacked their foe with tremendous fury. Poor Yankee was no 
 Leonidas ; but with all the speed his heels could muster betook 
 himself to the packet, where he was greeted with roars of laughter 
 by his less enterprising associates. As we proceeded up the river 
 the country assumed a more rude and uncultivated appearance : 
 the date arid plantain tree of the lower regions were exchanged 
 for majestic forest trees and untrodden wilds. Further down it
 
 17 
 
 was delightfully pleasant; here magnificently grand eternal 
 forests, in appearance as interminable as the universe, with here 
 and there a patch of ground rudely cultivated by the hand of a 
 lonely settler, constitute the scenery for thousands of miles con- 
 tiguous to this matchless stream. As to the river itself, I shall 
 not attempt a description of it; what has already been said proves 
 its magnitude to be immensely great; even some of its branches, 
 as the Ohio and the Missouri, are to be classed among the largest 
 rivers in the world. The former is noted for being very muddy, 
 and hurrying in its ungovernable career vast quantities of floating 
 timber, which, decayed by age or other causes, fall into it so as 
 often to render it dangerous for the steamers to pass along. Of 
 these the Missisippi contains acres, that coming from above, have 
 in the lapse of years gradually settled together in places where 
 the current is least active. 
 
 Proceeding with my narrative, I must confess I liked the packet 
 much better than I expected. We had engaged to find our own 
 provisions, but on account of their cheapness, or partly because 
 I acted tha part of matron to such as needed my assistance, we 
 were frequently presented with young fowls, coffee, rice, &c., so 
 that our food cost us very little on the river. During this transit 
 we obtained considerable information respecting Illinois, which 
 tended in some degree to lessen our disquietude. We were never- 
 theless very far from being at ease ; our unsettled condition was 
 ever the uppermost in our thoughts, and shed a settled gravity 
 over our conduct. Whilst thus the subjects of painful uncertainty, 
 we were one night much alarmed by the following attempt to rob 
 us : my husband and I were in our berths; I was fast asleep, but 
 he was awake, musing upon our situation, when a black man, one 
 of the crew, knowing we were going to settle in the country, and 
 thinking no doubt we should have money with us, came to the 
 side of our berths and began to search under my pillow, so softly 
 indeed as not to awake me ; he was going to examine under my 
 husband's likewise, but as he was awake, he told him he could 
 get him anything he wanted ; such unexpected kindness was im- 
 mediately understood, and the villain disappeared in a moment. 
 Although this attempt proved a complete failure, we were induced 
 to give up our money to the captain the following clay, which he 
 kept till we arrived at St. Louis. As my husband kept the money 
 under his pillow, I have never looked back on this circumstance 
 but with feelings of gratitude to Almighty God for his protecting 
 providence, for had he succeeded, we should have been in a most 
 miserable situation, not even able to reach the end of our journey ; 
 destitute and penniless in a strange land, wijhout friends and 
 without home. The time occupied in passing from New Orleans 
 to St. Louis was about twelve days. We reached the latter place 
 about noon, and found another steamer ready to convey us for- 
 ward to the situation at which we purposed to remain. I had 
 little opportunity of surveying the town, and therefore can sav 
 little respecting it; but was somewhat surprised to find that this 
 noted city should be built principally of wood ; its situation is not 
 the most eligible as it regards health, being near the confluence 
 of the Missouri and the Illinois. It is however on that very
 
 18 
 
 account likely to become a large and wealthy city, and is indeed 
 by some described as such already. On entering the second 
 steamer I Jound I Lad made a poor exchange ; the weather was 
 beginning to feel uncommonly chill, and our accommodation was 
 here very inferior, so that we felt exceedingly anxious to be at 
 our journey's end. The place at which we intended to leave the 
 river was not more than one hundred and twenty miles from St. 
 Louis; we therefore comforted ourselves with the idea that we 
 should soon be there. We were finally to disembark at Phillip's 
 Ferry, according to the directions seiit by the aforementioned Mr. 
 B. to his brother. We should then be within two miles of his re- 
 sidence. Mr. B,, therefore, and Phillip's Ferry, occupied our 
 thoughts almost to the exclusion of every other subject. We had 
 already travelled nearly seven thousand miles. Our food had 
 been principally dried provisions. For many long weeks we had 
 been oppressed with anxious suspense; there is therefore no cause 
 for wonder, that, jaded and worn out as we were, we felt anxious 
 to be at our destined situation. Our enquiries of the sailors ' how 
 much further we had to go,' a^ost exhausted their patience. 
 Already we had been on the vessel twenty-four hours, when just 
 at nightfall the packet stopped : a little boat was lowered into the 
 water, and we were invited to collect our luggage and descend 
 into it, as we were at Phillip's Feny; we were utterly confounded : 
 there was no appearance of a landing place, no luggage yard, nor 
 even a building of any kind within sight; we, however, attended 
 to our directions, and in a few minutes saw ourselves standing by 
 the brink of the river, bordered by a dark wood, with no one near 
 to notice us or tell us where we might procure accommodation or 
 find harbour. This happened, as before intimated, as the evening 
 shades were rapidly settling on the earth, and the stars through 
 the clear blue atmosphere were beginning to twinkle. It was in 
 the middle of November, and already very frosty. My husband 
 and I looked at each other till we burst into tears, and our chil- 
 dren observing our disquietude began to cry bitterly. Is this 
 America, thought 1, is this the reception I meet with after my 
 long, painfully anxious and bereaving voyage I In vain did we 
 look around us, hoping to see a light in some distant cabin. It 
 was not, however, the time to weep : my husband determined to 
 leave us with our luggage in search of a habitation, and wished 
 us to remain where we then stood till he returned. Such a step 
 I saw to be necessary, but how trying! Should he loose himself 
 in the wood, thought I, what will become of me and my helpless 
 offspring ? He departed: I was left with five young children, the 
 youngest at my breast. When I survey this portion of my histosy, 
 it looks more like fiction than reality ; yet it is the precise situa- 
 tion in which I was then placed. After my husband was gone I 
 caused my four eldest children to sit together on one of our beds, 
 covered them from the cold as well as I could, and endeavoured 
 to pacify them. I then knelt down on the bare ground, and com- 
 mitted myself and little ones to the Father of mercies, beseeching 
 him ' to be a lantern to my feet, a light unto my path, and to es- 
 tablish my g.-ius.' I rose from iny knees considerably comforted, 
 and endeavoured to wait with patience the return of my husbund.
 
 19 
 
 Above me was the chill blue canopy of heaven, a wide river before 
 ine, and a dark wood behind. The first sound we heard was that 
 of two dogs that came barking towards us, so as greatly to increase 
 our alarm ; the dogs came up to us, but did us no harm, and very 
 soon after I beheld my dear husband, accompanied by a stranger, 
 who conducted us to his habitation, whither our luggage was 
 shortly afterwards removed in a waggon. My husband had fol- 
 lowed a sort of cattle track, which led him to the house, which had 
 been concealed by trees and underwood growing around it. And 
 now, for the first time in my life, did I fairly see the interior of a 
 log-house, which, however* rude I might think it, 1 felt, as the 
 reader will readily believe, most happy to enter. It was much 
 more comfortable to sleep on a bed laid on the floor before a fire 
 of glowing embers, than it would have been on the cold ground, 
 which a short time before I feared would be my lodging. The 
 following morning, after a comfortable night's repose, we felt our 
 health and spirits improved. My husband began to examine the 
 soils and produce of the country, and I to collect what information 
 I could respecting American housewifery, manners, religion, &c. 
 Our hostess was a little woman, exceedingly Jond of smoking, as 
 the Americans generally are, particularly the females. Before 
 leaving England I had heard a great deal said in behalf of 
 American hospitality, but these encomiums certainly require to be 
 quaHfied : they are exceedingly hospitable to gentlemen who may 
 be making a tour, likewise amongst themselves as neighbours; 
 but when they know a person really must trouble them, they 
 appear to be aware they are conferring a favour, and expect an 
 equivalent. The little lady I have been describing knew little of 
 generosity ; we understood very soon that we should be expected 
 to pay for mir harbour, although we u?ed our own provisions. I 
 am forgetting that on one occasion she generously told me I might 
 give my children the broth in which she had boiled some cabbage, 
 if I thought they would drink it; I told her they had not been 
 accustomed to such fare. We remained here three days, during 
 which I became tolerably conversant in the theory of American 
 housekeeping, and as Mrs. Phillips (that was the name of our 
 hostess) was very loquacious, she initiated me into the peculiarities 
 of Illinois politeness. No person, however slender his pretensions 
 to knighthood, or how long soever the time since his small-clothes 
 were new, is addressed without the courteous epithet of ' Sir;' and 
 this practice is observed by the members of the same family in 
 their intercourse with each other; of course the females are in 
 like manner honoured with ' Madam,' Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia. It 
 is not etiquette in Illinois to sit at the table after you have done 
 eating; to remain after you have finished your meal implies that 
 you have not had sufficient. This custom I subsequently found a 
 very convenient one. 
 
 But I am forgetting the house. It was a fair specimen of a 
 log-house, and therefore a description of it will give the reader a 
 pretty correct idea of the American peasantry. There were two 
 rooms, both on the ground floor, separated from each other with 
 boards so badly joined, that crevices were in many places obser- 
 vable. The rooms were nearly square, and might contain from
 
 20 
 
 thirty to forty square yards each ; beneath one of the rooms was 
 a cellar, the floor and sides of which were mud and clay, as left 
 when first dug out ; the walls of the house consisted of layers of 
 strong blocks of timber, roughly squared and notched into each 
 other at the corners ; the joints filled up with clay. The house 
 had two doors, one of which is always closed in winter, and opeii 
 in summer to cause a draught. The fire was on the floor at the 
 end of the building, where a very grotesque chimney had been 
 constructed of stones gathered out of the land, and walled to- 
 gether with clay aud mud instead of cement. It was necessarily 
 a great width, to prevent the fire from communicating with the 
 building. The house was covered with oak shingles ; that is to 
 say, thin riven boards nailed upon each other, so as just to over- 
 reach. The floors of the house were covered with the same 
 material, except a large piece near the fire, which was paved with 
 small stones, also gathered from the land. There was no window 
 to the house I am describing, although many log-houses may now 
 be found having glass windows. This inconvenience I pointed 
 out to my hostess, who replied, ' upon the whole it was as well 
 without, for in winter the house was warmer and in summer they 
 had always the door open, which was better than any window.' 
 It is in reality true, that the want of light is felt very little in a 
 log-house ; in winter they are obliged to keep fine blazing fires, 
 which, in addition to the light obtained from their low wide chim- 
 neys, enable the inmates to perform any business that is requisite. 
 It is however by no means to be understood that an American 
 log house equals in comfort and convenience a snug English 
 cottage. It is quite common to see, at least, one bed in the same 
 room as that in which the fire is kept ; a practice which inva- 
 riably gives both the bed and house a filthy appearance. There 
 was no chamber, only a sort of loft, constructed rather with a 
 view to make the house warmer, than to afford additional room. 
 Adjoining one side were a few boards nailed together in the form 
 of a table, and supported principally by the timber in the wall. 
 This was dignified with the name * sideboard.' In the centre of 
 the room, stood another small table, covered with a piece of coarse 
 brown calico ; this was the dining table. The chairs, four in 
 number, were the most respectable furniture in the house, having 
 bark of ichory platted for bottoms. Besides these there were 
 two stools and a bench for common use, a candlestick made 
 from an ear of Indian corn, two or three trenchers and a few tin 
 drinking vessels. One corner of the house was occupied with 
 agricultural implements, consisting of large hoes, axes, &c., for 
 stubbing, called in America grubbing, flails and wooden forks, all 
 exhibiting specimens of workmanship rather homely. Various 
 herbs were suspended from the roof with a view of being medi- 
 cinally serviceable, also two guns, one of them a rifle. There 
 were also several hams and sides of bacon, smoked almost till 
 they were black; two or three pieces of beef, &c. Under one of 
 the beds were three or four large pots filled with honey, of which 
 Mrs. P. was not a little lavish, as she used it to every meal along 
 with coffee. The furniture in the other room consisted of two 
 beds and a hand-loom, with which the family wove the greater
 
 21 
 
 part of their own clothes. In the cellar I observed two or three 
 large hewn tubs, full of lard, and a lump of tobacco, the produce 
 of their own land, in appearance sufficient to serve an ordinary 
 smoker his life. During our sojourn at Mr. Phillips', my hus- 
 band found Mr. B., and on the third day after our arrival, brought 
 that gentleman's team, two stiff oxen yoked to a clumsy sledge ; 
 on which we placed our beds, boxes, &c. and bid good by to 
 Mrs. P., who, as we paid her for our harbour, contrived to shed 
 a tear or two at the thoughts of parting. After arriving at Mr. 
 B.'s house, I certainly felt I had been a little cajoled. My hus- 
 band had seen him the clay before, but had made no mention of 
 his condition. He was in the fields when we arrived ; but as the 
 door was unlocked, or rather lockless, we took the liberty of in- 
 troducing ourselves and luggage. Mr. B. was at once a bachelor 
 and solitaire. He had left England precipitately, and what is 
 more unusual, a great part of his money, which at this time he 
 was daily expecting by a remittance. The property he had taken 
 with him was all expended in land and cattle, so that a littie 
 money was a desideratum. Shortly after our arrival, Mr. B. made 
 his appearance, which, as I before intimated, was rather myste- 
 rious. In his letters sent to England, he had spoken of his situ- 
 ation as ' a land flowing with milk and honey' ; but I assure you 
 patient reader, his appearance would have led any one to suppose 
 that he gathered his honey rather from thorns than flowers. He 
 was verily as ragged as a sheep : too much so for decency to de- 
 scribe. And his house was more like the cell of a hermit who 
 aims at super-excellence by enduring privations than the cottage 
 of an industrious peasant. The bed on which he slept was only 
 like a bolster which he had used on shipboard, and laid upon a 
 kind of shelf of his own constructing. Then again the walls of 
 his house were of hewn timber as others, but the joinings or in- 
 terstices were left quite open. The first night I passed in this 
 miserable abode I was almost perished. My husband was obliged 
 to heat a flat iron, and after wrapping it in flannel, apply it to my 
 feet, so little were we protected from the inclemency of the wea- 
 ther. Finding our comforts here so few, we determined to have 
 a home of our own as soon as possible. Mr. B. was too busy in 
 his farm to render my husband much assistance in selecting a 
 piece of ground. Besides the condition of this haut-de-chausse 
 rendered it almost imperative upon him to keep near home, es- 
 pecially as he was a bachelor. 
 
 Before I proceed any further with my narrative, perhaps it will 
 be of advantage to the reader to explain the method of purchasing 
 land in the United States. The land in the various states has 
 all been surveyed by direction of the government, and divided 
 into portions of eighty acres each. For the sale of the land thus 
 surveyed and laid down on large plans, a land-office is established 
 in various central situations, where all the allotments of a certain 
 district are sold, and the purchasers' names registered. Any per- 
 son, therefore, who wishes to purchase one or mere of these sub- 
 sections, can see the plan, and select any that are unsold. They 
 will even sell as small a quantity as forty acres ; but as they do 
 this merely to accommodate new settlers, no person already pos-
 
 22 
 
 sessing eighty acres, can purchase a smaller quantity than that at 
 a time. In some of the older states the government lands are all 
 sold off. It must there be bought of private owners ; but in 
 Illinois and other new states there is plenty unsold. The govern- 
 ment price everywhere is one hundred dollars for eighty acres. 
 As there are myriads of acres yet in its native luxuriant wildness, 
 any person may with impunity cultivate as much as he chooses 
 without paying anything; and, as a further inducement, when a 
 person begins thus to cultivate, no other person can legally pur- 
 chase that laud, till four years have expired from the time of his 
 beginning to cultivate. By obtaining what is termed a pre-emption 
 the improvement arising from his own industry is as secure to 
 him for four years as if he was the actual owner. Should, how- 
 ever, he fail to pay for the land before the term expires, an indif- 
 ferent person may then purchase it; but this seldom happens. 
 Every person purchasing land at the office, must declare upon 
 oath, if required, that no other ^>arty has an improvement on it. 
 And, if it be proved to be otherwise, such purchase is in every 
 case invalid ; and the fraudulent party liable to a heavy fine. An 
 irupr'oved eighty acres was the first land we purchased : we ob- 
 tained it in the following manner: A person named Mr. Oakes- 
 having heard that a family about to settle was sojourning at Mr. 
 B.'s came to invite my husband to buy some venison, which he 
 had killed with his rifle just before. My husband went with him, 
 and in conversation found he was disposed to sell his improve- 
 ment right; for the four years were not expired, and he had not 
 entered it at the land office. For this right he wanted sixty dol- 
 lars. My husband told him he would call upon him the next 
 day, and returned to Mr. B.'s after buying a quantity of nice veni- 
 son at a halfpenny per pound. The following day, my husband 
 and I visited at Mr. Oakes's, who took us round the estate, shewed 
 us the boundaries, which were marked out by large stones set at 
 each corner, termed the corner stones. On the land there were 
 about four hundred sugar maples which Mr. Oakes had tapped 
 the preceding year. These trees grow plentifully in the United 
 States, and promise with proper culture to supersede the use of 
 West Indian sugar in America. They like a low situation and a 
 deep soil, and grow to a larger size than any trees in this coun- 
 try. They are said tu thrive the better the oftener they are 
 pierced. The method of obtaining sugar from them is very sim- 
 ple. A small cabin, or, as it is there termed, camp, is built in 
 the midst of the trees ; two or three large coppers, holding from 
 five to ten gallons each, are set within it, to boil the liquor, which 
 being drained from the trees into hewn wooden troughs, is car- 
 ried into the camp. The incisions are made with an ttuger in 
 the beginning of March, when the sap is beginning to rise. Into 
 each of these holes a tube is inserted, about an inch in diameter, 
 so as just to fill the hole, through this the liquor Hows as through 
 a spout. The tree from which these tubes are made, is admirably 
 adapted for the purpose, growing somewhat like the elder, only 
 its branches are straighter and contain more pith. It is visually 
 called in Illinois the shoemaker's tree, its botanical name I do 
 not know. The most suitable weather for the discharge of this
 
 23 
 
 liquor is when the days are fine and the nights frosty. After the 
 liquor is thus collected, it is boiled down to the consistency of 
 thin treacle. It is then strained through a coarse woollen cloth, 
 and afterwards boiled again at a slower fire till it becomes hard 
 and 'firm like raw sugar. It is at present much used in the 
 United States, and always sells at a higher rate than that from 
 the West Indies. On the land now under consideration, Mr. 
 Oakes had broken up about twelve acres, three of which were 
 sown with wheat, and the remaining nine ready to be sown with 
 Indian corn, oats, &c. the following spring. As we liked the 
 situation and land very much and were wishful to be settled, the 
 agreement was completed that evening, and the money paid and 
 possession obtained the following day. The reader is aware that 
 the sixty dollars given to Mr. Oakes, were only for his house, 
 improvement right, sugar-making untensils, &c. One hundred 
 more we paid at the land office, at Quincy, and we obtained the 
 usual certificate or title deeds ; and thus by the first of Decem- 
 ber, having spent about thirty pounds in travelling, thirty-five 
 more in land, &c. we were the rightful owners of a farm of eighty 
 acres, with a log house in the centre of it. What more could we 
 require ? The reader will perceive in the next chapter. 

 
 tr. 
 
 DURING the time we were at lodgings we had felt ourselves 
 dependent, and looked forward with anxious expectation to 
 the time when we might again taste the sweets and independence 
 of home, and those enjoyments which are only to he expected at 
 one's own fireside. That period had now arrived. We had indeed 
 a house such as I have already described, hut we had no furniture 
 except two large hoxes, two beds, and a few pots and cooking 
 utensils; besides, our provisions were just finished. Till this 
 time we had been using principally the remains of biscuits, &c., 
 purchased at New Orleans. The first wants of nature must be 
 first attended to : whether we had a chair to sit on or not, some- 
 thing to eat we must have. Our nearest neighbour lived about 
 half-a-mile from us, and we were at least two miles and a-half 
 from any place at which flour was sold; thither, however, my 
 husband went, and as our money was growing scarce, he bought 
 a bushel of ground Indian corn, which was only one-third the 
 price of wheaten flour; it was there sold for thirty cents a bushel. 
 Its taste is not pleasant to persons unaccustomed to it ; but as it 
 is wholesome food, it is much used for making bread. We had 
 now some meal, but no yeast, nor an oven; we were therefore 
 obliged to make sad paste, and bake it in our frying pan on some 
 hot ashes. We procured a little milk of our nearest neighbour, 
 Mr. Paddook, which, on account of the severe frosts that prevail 
 in Illinois, we generally received in lumps of ice. Thus we lived 
 the first few weeks at our new estate. Hasty pudding, sad bread, 
 and a little venison which we had left, were our ordinary food. 
 The greater part of my husband's time was spent in cutting and 
 preparing wood for our fires. About this time we made further 
 purchases of a cow and calf, for which we paid fourteen dollars, 
 a young mare, which cost us twenty dollars, two pigs, and a 
 shallow flat-bottomed iron pan, with a cover to it, to bake in. 
 This is the common, and indeed almost the only kind of oven 
 used in Illinois. It is vulgarly called a skellit. To make it hot 
 it is immersed in glowing embers, the lid is then removed till the 
 dough is put in ; it is then replaced and ashes again thrown over 
 it, till the cake is baked. Hence it will be perceived that a quan- 
 tity of bread beforehand is unknown in Illinois : their custom is 
 to bake a cake to each meal, which is generally very good ; eggs 
 and milk being so plentiful, are regularly used in their bread, 
 along with a little celeratus to lighten it, whereby it becomes very
 
 25 
 
 rich arid nutritive. The Illinois settlers live somewhat differently 
 from the English peasantry ; the former have only three meals 
 a-day, and not much variety in them: bread, butter, coffee, and 
 bacon, are always brought to the table, but fresh meat is a rarity, 
 and is never obtained as in England by going to a butcher for it. 
 In Illinois the farmers all kill their own cattle, and salt what is 
 not used immediately; sometimes, however, they distribute por- 
 tions among their neighbours, with the view of receiving as much 
 again when they kill theirs. It is by no means uncommon for an 
 old settler to have a couple of fowls, ducks, a goose, or a turkey 
 to dinner ; and, generally speaking, everybody has plenty of plain 
 good food. [The object contemplated in this work requires that I 
 should occasionally leave my own history, to render more complete 
 the information I have to impart; I hope, therefore, the reader 
 will not think me incoherent. To proceed :] we bought the live 
 stock above described of Mr. Oakes, and as it was winter, we 
 wanted something with which to feed them. Indian corn is 
 nearly the only winter food used in Illinois ; and as the culture 
 and management of it occupy a great portion of the farmer's time 
 and industry, it may be not out of place to explain the method of 
 cultivating it: the land intended for Indian corn should be 
 ploughed and harrowed once or twice to make the earth loose and 
 mellow, that the roots may strike with greater freedom ; furrows 
 are then made at the distance of about a yard from each other : 
 these are afterwards crossed by other furrows made at right angles 
 to the first, and about the same distance apart ; by this means 
 the field appears divided into numberless little square portions, 
 each somewhat less than a square yard as if hollowed at the 
 centre ; into each of these crossings four seeds are thrown, and 
 slightly covered with a hoe ; this is done in the beginning of 
 March, and after the young blades make their appearance the 
 plough is occasionally drawn along between the rows, for the pur- 
 pose of checking weeds and keeping the mould as light as pos- 
 sible ; as these groups of plants are so far apart, kidney beans, 
 melons, and pumpkins are frequently sown among them, for which 
 the strong stems of the corn are excellent supports. Indian corn 
 usually ripens about the beginning of October, and is of an im- 
 mense produce. There are commonly four or five ears to each 
 stem, each ear having from five hundred to a thousand grains in 
 it. As the ears ripen they gradually assume a pendent form, and 
 are in that position severally overhung with the leaves of the 
 plant, which form a sort of sheath, securely protecting them from 
 rain ; in this manner, when properly ripened, it will remain in 
 perfect safety all winter uncut; and it is by no means uncommon 
 to sow the land with wheat before the corn crop is all removed. 
 It is not always allowed to ripen ; part of the crop is often cut, 
 when the corn'is about half-fed, which being dried in the sun, the 
 stem and leaves make excellent hay ; in this state it is both hay 
 and corn, and is in fact the only hay the farmer preserves for 
 winter, of which he makes small stacks of a peculiar construction, 
 so as not to require thatching. Nothing can be more beautiful 
 than a field of Indian corn in full blossom, and perhaps nothing 
 in nature displays the munificence of Providence more strikingly
 
 26 
 
 than tliis matchless plant. In order to supply our cattle with 
 winter meat, we applied to Mr. Paddock, our nearest neighbour, 
 who sold us part of a field unreaped; some of it we cut down and 
 took home, the rest we allowed to stand and turned our cattle to 
 it The reader may think it strange that we should turn cattle 
 into the fields in the depth of winter, especially as the winters 
 are there more severe than in England; it is however the regular 
 custom : the cattle are inured to it, as they are never kept up any 
 part of the year, either day or night. The two pigs we had 
 bought we were obliged to kill shortly after we purchased them, 
 as we wanted them for our own use, and we wished to spare the 
 small stock of Indian corn we had on hand. The reader must 
 also know our money was nearly done : I believe we had not 
 more than four or five dollars remaining; part of it we were 
 obliged to spend in sulphur, to cure what is called the Illinois 
 mange, from which we were all suffering. 
 
 This complaint invariably attacks new settlers, shortly after 
 their arrival, and is a complete scourge until it is removed. 
 The body breaks out all over in little spots, attended with intoler- 
 able itching. It is generally attributed to the change of water, 
 but as theirs possesses no peculiarity of taste, I cannot under- 
 stand how that can be the cause. We were soon cured after using 
 the sulphur, and never felt anything more of it. 
 
 It has already been said that when we entered our house we 
 had no furniture ; this inconvenience my husband, although no 
 joiner, had undertaken to remove, by making for himself and me 
 each a stool, and a low bench for our children, or more properly 
 a log of wood, squared and laid across the hearth for a seat. He 
 had also contrived to make a table, which if not as neat as those 
 used in England, was quite as substantial: having met with a 
 section of a strong tree about two feet long, he rolled it into the 
 house, and set it upon its end; had it been a little longer, its 
 upper surface would have been just what we wanted ; we however 
 nailed a few boards upon it, making them fit as well as we could, 
 and having covered it with a cloth to conceal its roughness, it was 
 far from being contemptible, at least for persons like us, who had 
 been some clays without any. As to bedsteads, we were a few 
 weeks before we got any ; of course we had them to make our- 
 selves, and as we were ill furnished with tools and unaccustomed 
 to such employment, when they were finished they served rather 
 to shew how little ornament is absolutely necessary, than our 
 skill as expert carpenters. Hitherto the light of the fire had 
 served us instead of a candle, which was very inconvenient, as I 
 wished to sew a little in the evenings. It is certainly true that 
 days are never so short as in England, nevertheless we were very 
 wishful to have some candles. The inhabitants commonly make 
 their own, in tin moulds ; but as we had neither moulds nor tal- 
 low, we were obliged to put a little lard into a saucer, and light a 
 piece of rag previously inserted in it ; by this we could see to sew 
 and read pretty well ; but as the rag frequently got immersed in 
 the melted lard it was very troublesome, and by constant use we 
 had three or four saucers broken with the heat, a circumstance 
 much to be regretted, as pots of all kinds are dear in Illinois. To
 
 27 
 
 prevent a recurrence of this misfortune we Tiltimately made use 
 of our kettle lid, inserting the knob or holder into a piece of 
 board to make it stand. Our next great inconvenience was want 
 of soap : having however learnt from Mrs. Phillips the method 
 of making it, we were by this time in a state of readiness for sup- 
 plying ourselves. The reader will remember we had before this 
 time killed two pigs, the entrails of which we had cleaned and 
 preserved, along with the bits of offal, rendering, scraps, &c., and 
 now the finest of our ashes were collected and put into a large 
 wooden trough, and boiling water poured over them, whence we 
 obtained a strong solution of potash, which we poured off and 
 boiled down ; fresh ashes were then used as before, and a fresh 
 solution obtained ; the whole was next boiled down to about one 
 third of the original quantity, by which means the solution be- 
 came so caustic, that it would have taken the skin off one's fingers 
 in a moment. In this state the waste meat and entrails were 
 mixed with it, which it very soon assimilated. After it had 
 obtained the consistency of soft soap, it was poured into a vessel 
 appropriated for the purpose, to be ready for use. 
 
 This is the manner the American peasantry supply themselves 
 with soap. Their practice of burning wood furnishes them with 
 potash, which they saturate with other ingredients as above de- 
 scribed. Since we were thus obliged to provide necessaries for 
 ourselves in a manner very different from that to which we had 
 been accustomed in England, it may be asked if there are no 
 shops in that country. Illinois, it must be known, is very thinly 
 populated, and on that account it is not the situation for shop- 
 keepers. There are, however, in various places, what are termed 
 store keepers, who supply the settlers with articles the most 
 needed, such as food, clothing, implements of husbandry, medi- 
 cine, and spirituous liquors : for which they receive in exchange 
 the produce of their farms, consisting of wheat, Indian corn, 
 sugar, beef, bacon, &c. As these store-keepers exercise a sort 
 of monopoly over a certain district, their profits are great, and 
 they often become wealthy. Besides their store, they often have 
 a saw-mill and a corn -mill, at which they grind the corn they ob- 
 tain from the farmers, for the purpose of sending it to New 
 Orleans, or some other place where it can be readily sold. Stores 
 therefore are in Illinois, nearly what markets are in England, 
 only there is more barter in the former country. The mills in 
 that neighbourhood are chiefly turned by water. We were des- 
 tined to be unfortunate with the young mare we had purchased 
 of Mr. Oakes. Having been accustomed to run in the fields with 
 other horses, she would not settle with our cow and calf. Every 
 day she was lost ; no fences could turn her. We were therefore 
 obliged to sell her, or rather exchange for one not near so good ; 
 only she was expected to have a foal the following spring. Shortly 
 after we had parted with the young mare, my husband found two 
 strange horses in the field feeding upon our corn, he turned them 
 out and returned home. On going to the field again they were 
 there a second time ; he felt assured some one ha : turned them 
 in, as the fences were all good. The next morningexplainod tie 
 circumstance, for the horses being in the field as before, he was
 
 28 
 
 about to drive them out, when a tall man hastened towards him, 
 and bade him desist, telling him that the horses were his and he 
 intended them to be there. My husband remonstrated with him 
 on the injustice of such behaviour, and persevered in his attempts 
 to drive them out ; at which the person, whose name was Brevet, 
 went up to him, and struck him a blow on the forehead with his 
 fist, and threatened further violence if he did not allow them to 
 remain. Seeing that physical force was the only available argu- 
 ment, my husband began to prepare for resistance ; but calling 
 to mind the situation of his family, and not knowing what perfidy 
 might be resorted to, he wisely concluded to leave the man and 
 his horses where they were. I mention this circumstance prin- 
 cipally to shew how much we were indebted to an over-ruling 
 Providence for the preservation of my husband's life on this occa- 
 sion. We afterwards learnt that Brevet was a pest to the neigh- 
 bourhood, and that he had told one of his acquaintances of this 
 interview, and declared he would have stabbed my partner with a 
 large dirk which he always carried with him, if he had resisted. 
 In a short time afterwards he left the- neighbourhood, dreaded or 
 detested by all who knew him. We have already seen that consi- 
 derable labour is required to prepare fuel, as a good fire in 
 America is essential during the winter season. The frosts are 
 intensely keen, a wide river is sometimes iced over in a single 
 night, so as to be unnavigable, Every thing of a fluid nature, 
 exposed to the weather, is formed into a solid. For two or three 
 months the milk freezing as soon as it is taken from the cows, 
 affords no cream, consequently no butter. It is nevertheless 
 possible to obtain butter, by keeping the churn near the fire, and 
 churning cream and milk both together; but as this method is 
 exceedingly troublesome it is seldom practised. The nights in 
 winter are at once inexpressibly cold, and poetically fine. The 
 sky is almost invariably clear, and the stars shine with a bril- 
 liancy entirety unknown in the humid atmosphere of England. 
 Cold as it was, often did I, during the first winter, stand at the 
 door of our cabiii, admiring their lustre and listening to the 
 wolves, whose howlings, among the leafless woods at this season, 
 are almost unceasing. These animals are numerous in America ; 
 and, unless the sheep be regularly folded, their depredations are 
 extensively injurious, as they lacerate the throats of nearly all the 
 flock ; sometimes also they will seize young pigs, but as they 
 fear the old ones, unless they are impelled by hunger, these ani- 
 mals are not in much danger. The timid submissive sheep is 
 always their favourite prey. The reader will perceive we had not 
 much intercourse with the rest of the world. For a while no 
 one seemed to notice us, except Mr. B., our neighbour Mr. 
 Paddock, and one Mr. Burns, who lived about two miles off, (all 
 are Misters in America.) But indeed the villainous conduct of 
 Mr. Brevet had made us so suspicious, that we scarcely kiu \v 
 whether to wish for an increased circle of acquaintance, or entiic- 
 seclusion. One (hing was very afflictive, our being deprived of 
 Christian Sabbath ordinances. We always honoured that day, by 
 abstaining from our accustomed labour: we read our Bible, and 
 meditated thereon: but Sabbath after Sabbath passed away
 
 without our once being able to assemble with those who ' keep 
 holy day,' or in the great congregation to unite our tribute of praise, 
 with the aspirations of those whose sentiments are ' how amiable 
 are thy tabernacles Lord of Hosts !' At this time we were five 
 miles from any place where public worship was regularly con- 
 ducted ; subsequently preaching-houses much nearer were opened, 
 the character of which will be noticed in its proper place. The 
 motives which occasioned this work to be written require that a 
 strict regard to truth be maintained; ami, iu matters of fact, that 
 nothing be introduced calculated to mislead, either by deterring 
 or alluring ; this rule has hitherto been carefully observed. Am 
 I then asked if we thus far were satisfied with the step we had 
 taken, my answer is, we regretted it very much. We had indeed 
 plenty of corn-bread and milk, but neither beer nor tea ; coffee 
 was our chief beverage, which we used very sparingly, for want of 
 money. All the water we wanted we had to thaw, and during the 
 nights, on account of the severe frosts, we were very cold indeed; 
 although we always kept the fire burning. Our bed-clothes we 
 had taken with us from England, and we were unable to procure 
 any more, as they were dear, and our means almost exhausted. 
 We had indeed some good land, but it was nearly all uncultivated, 
 and we had nothing to sell except our cattle, which we wanted. 
 The only ground of hope we had was in our industry and perse- 
 verance. My husband worked very hard; the little time we had 
 to spare, after feeding the cattle and procuring fuel, was spent in 
 splitting trees to make rails. All the fences here are made of 
 rails, there are no thovns in the neighbourhood. The method of 
 fencing is peculiar ; they use no posts ; but having prepared their 
 rails, they lay one down on the ground, where they wish to make 
 a fence ; not precisely in the same direction as the line of their 
 intended fence, but making a small angle with it. Another rail 
 is then laid down with its end overreaching the first, with which 
 it forms a cross like the letter X, only instead of the crossing 
 being at the centre, it is near the end of each rail. A third is 
 then made to cross the second as before, and so on to an inde- 
 finite length. On each side of these several crossings a stake is 
 driven into the ground to prevent their being removed. Other 
 rails are then placed upon these, crossing each other in a similar 
 manner, till the fence is as high as it is required. Generally they 
 are about nine rails high. From the description here given, the 
 reader will perceive that the fences are not straight as in England, 
 but in a continued zig-zag. The reason for this difference is, 
 timber and land are of comparatively little value in America, 
 while their method requires less labour than ours. In this man- 
 ner we spent our first winter; we had plenty of work ; our amuse- 
 ments even tended to advantage. Great numbers of quails 
 frequented our home-stead to feed on our small stock of Indian 
 corn ; we caught several of them with snares, whi0i were excel- 
 lent eating. My husband also shot a few rabbit?, of which there 
 are vast numbers in America. We likewise saw several deer, but 
 as we had no rifle, we could not kill any. We observed several 
 kinds of birds, which we had not before seen, one in particular, 
 which we took to be a species of turkey, engaged our attention ; 
 c
 
 30 
 
 my husband tried several times to kill one, without effect. One 
 Saturday, however, he was successful, and brought home his game 
 with as much apparent consciousness of triumph, as if he had 
 slain some champion hydra of the forest. The following day 
 we expected Mr. B., who by this time had received his money, to 
 dine with us. We accordingly dressed our bird, and congratu- 
 lated ourselves with the idea of having our countryman to dine 
 with us on a fine boiled turkey. Sunday moruing arrived, and in 
 due time our turkey was in the pot boiling for dinner. Mr. B. 
 came; we told him how happy we were on account of the treat 
 we were going to give him. He was surprised at our story, as 
 those birds are difficult to obtain with a common fowling-piece, 
 and desired to see the feet and head. But the moment 'he saw 
 them, he exclaimed ' it's a buzzard,' a bird which, we subse- 
 quently learnt, gormandizes any kind of filth or carrion, and 
 consequently is not fit to be eaten. We were sorely disappointed; 
 our turkey was hoisted into the yard, and we were obliged to be 
 contented with a little bacon, and a coarse Indian corn pudding, 
 for which our stomachs were not altogether unprepared, although 
 recently in anticipation of more sumptuous fare. The reader 
 may think we were stupid not to know a turkey : the bird in 
 question is very much like one, and indeed on that account is 
 called in Illinois a turkey-buzzard. 
 
 As spring approached we felt some symptoms of those hopes 
 which had animated us in England with reference to our success 
 as emigrants. Man's career in prospective is always brilliant; 
 and it is providentially ordered that it should be so. Could we 
 have foreseen our destiny, the prospect would have thrown us into 
 despair. It would have robbed us of much present enjoyment, 
 and unfitted our minds for the difficulties with which we had to 
 struggle. I am, however, anticipating my history. The symp- 
 toms to which I referred originated with the idea of being the 
 cultivators of our own land. How those prospects were realized, 
 the sequel will explain. By the beginning of March our Indian 
 corn was done, and it had served so long only through the great- 
 est care. There was however by this time a little fresh grass in 
 the woods, to which we were very glad to turn our little stock, 
 consisting as before stated of a cow and calf, and a mare near 
 foaling. As this method of summering cattle in America is 
 peculiar to that country, and affords to the farmer considerable 
 advantages, 1 shall endeavour to be explicit in the account of it, 
 which I am about to give. I must then premise that all unen- 
 closed lauds, whether purchased of government or otherwise, are 
 considered common pasturage; and as there are in Illinois thou- 
 sands of acres in that state, any person can keep as many cattle 
 during summer as he chooses. They are turned out at spring, 
 and thus run where they please. A person unacquainted with 
 these habits would naturally be afraid of losing them in such 
 immeasurable regions. This, however, seldom happens. There 
 uTfj few animals having a sufficiency of food that are fond of 
 nvnging over strange domains. Kven in this country we observe 
 foxes and hures to have their favourite haunts, from which 
 it is difficult to break them. Domesticated animals m,.m-
 
 31 
 
 fest this principle of attachment still more strongly. Hence no 
 American fanner, having his cattle on the range, would fear being 
 able to find them in a few hours: and indeed a person unac- 
 quainted with the haunts of any certain herd, would most probably 
 go directly towards them. Rivers and smaller streams have cer- 
 tainly some confining influence, but independent of that, their 
 habits are to frequent those situations only to which they are 
 accustomed. In that country cattle have a great liking for salt, 
 and indeed it seems essential to their health, particularly in sum- 
 mer. An English farmer would smile to see a herd of cattle 
 contending with each other over a few handfuls of dry salt which 
 had been thrown on the floor for them. This is seen every day 
 in America. The milch cows require more of it than the rest, 
 and unless they are regularly served with it, their milk becomes 
 unpleasant. This induces them to come to their stand to be 
 milked twice-a-day. Oxen and heifers will take no harm if they 
 have a little twice-a-week, or even not so often. Where so many 
 different herds of cattle run at large, there is a greater clanger of 
 their intermixing than of their being lost. To prevent this, great 
 <;are is taken by each grazier at the spring to mark his own. 
 Some cut their ears in various ways. Others burn certain marks 
 on their horns with a hot iron. There is not, however, much 
 confusion. The cattle which have been fed together during win- 
 ter, most generally associate with each other in summer; all 
 having an unaccountable attachment to the master beast of the 
 herd, apparently considering his presence a source of protection 
 or honour. For this reason the owner usually suspends a bell 
 round this animal's neck, which enables him to find his cattle 
 with greater ease. Hence the phrase, ' bear the bell,' is common 
 even in this country. In this manner the cattle graze during 
 summer, and when the pasturage fails, they cease to range ; but 
 besetting their master's cabin with incessant lowings remind him 
 that winter is approaching, and that their claims to his bounty 
 deserve attention, and must have it. At this time if any strange 
 Battle have joined the herd, the law requires that the farmer 
 cause them to be valued, and their mark to be taken down and 
 sent to four of the nearest mills for publicity; if they are not 
 owned within a year they belong to the herd. I must now leave 
 our small herd of cattle running in the woods, to acquaint the 
 reader with our first summer's performances and success. The 
 first fruits of our industry were derived from our sugar orchard, 
 the care of which devolved principally on me. We were in want 
 of nearly all kinds of implements of husbandry, without the 
 means of procuring them, except by running into debt, a practice 
 which we felt reluctant to adopt. Our sugar trees therefore at 
 this time afforded us a seasonable boon. The weather was 
 favourable, and by hard working we made nearly three hundred 
 weight, besides a barrel of molasses. We disposed of the greater 
 part of it to a store-keeper named Mr. Varley, at the rate of seven 
 or eight cents per pound. It must not be understood that we 
 got money for it. Business is seldom transacted after that man- 
 lier in Illinois. My meaning is we were allowed to take anything 
 we wanted from the store by paying for it with sugar at the above
 
 32 
 
 rate. Our first care was to have some Indian corn for seed, and 
 some more meal for our own use, which at that lime we wanted. 
 We likewise obtained a little coffee, two or three hoes, and a 
 Yankee axe, which is much larger and broader thiin the one used 
 in this country, and better adupted for the every-day business of 
 hewing large blocks of timber for fuel and other purposes. 
 
 And now, kind reader, if thou hast any intentions of being an 
 emigrant, I cordially wish thee success ; but before thou forsakest 
 the endearments of thy present home, consider the situation in 
 which we were placed wuh a helpless family dep udeut upon us. 
 Thou hast seen us expend our little money wiih the utmost fru- 
 gality: thou art acquainted with our possessions, real and personal. 
 It was now the middle of March, when Indian corn, the 
 most useful produce of that country must be sown, or the season 
 would be past. We had land and teed, but no plough, nor any 
 team, except an old mare, that we feared would scarcely live 
 while she foaled, and consequently we could not yoke her. What 
 could we do? If we did not sow we could not reap; we should 
 have nothing to feed our cuttle with the ensuing winter. Labor 
 omnia vincit was our motto. We set to work with our hoes ; I, 
 husband, and son, the latter under ten years of age, and day after 
 day, for three successive weeks, did we toil with unwearied dili- 
 gence till we had sown and covered in nearly four acres. We 
 should probably have sown more, had not the rains which fall in 
 torrents at this season prevented us. Whilst referring to the 
 weather, it will be proper to observe that during the month of 
 April in Illinois, a great quantity of raiu usually falls, accom- 
 panied almost invariably with thunder storms of a most awful 
 character. A person who has lived only in England can have 
 hut an imperfect conception of these electrical phcenomena. 
 They happen most frequently in the night, which considerably 
 increases their power of striking terror through the most iutrepid 
 bosom. The weather is at this time close and sultry, and as the 
 sun declines the sky becomes gradually overcast : midnight ar- 
 rives, a pitchy darkness overhangs thn earth : by and by the wind 
 begins to roar in the trees, and the hoarse thunder in the distance 
 announces the coming of the storm. As it approaches the thun- 
 der claps wax louder and louder, while the lightning begins to 
 play across the gloomy firmament, in a most awful Mid terrific 
 manner. Every moment the voice of the thunder acquires addi- 
 tional compass, never ceasing even for a moment; but before one 
 peal has well broken ou the ear, it is drowned by another still 
 more tremendous and loud. The lightning is even more over- 
 powering thin the thunder. One moment all is in obscurity, a 
 second the heavens seem rent asunder, the bright blue lightning 
 dancing in all directions with a frightful and deadly velocity ; 
 meanwhile the rain descends in torrents, threatening to sweep 
 away the foundation of the dwelling. The length of time these 
 storms continue is generally about an hour. The first I witnessed 
 made an impression on my mind that will never be forgotten; 
 my senses were completely disordered: I became alarmed at the 
 slightest noise, and for a while felt more afraid of a thunder 
 storm than of any calamity which appeared in the power of mis-
 
 83 
 
 fortune to inflict upon me. Probably my late anxieties and be- 
 reavement preying on my mind had indisposed my nerves for 
 such phenomena, at once terrific, awful, and sublime. But what- 
 ever was the cause, I have great pleasure in stating that I soon 
 got the better of my timidity. Trees have frequently been struck 
 near our house, but hitherto no accident has befallen us. We 
 uo\v consider these storms rather as annoying than dangerous ; 
 one reason perhaps is that a dry log house is a bad conductor of 
 the electric fluid. About this time we were soreJy tormented 
 with another scourge, which unlike the one just noticed, pos- 
 sessed exceedingly little of a poetical or sublime character. It 
 certainly operated on the nerves powerfully enough, but that in 
 a manner rather calculated to move the lower than the more 
 elevated passions of our nature. I refer to the musquetoes; 
 swarms of which infest that country during spring aud autumn, 
 much to the annoyance of its inhabitants. This troublesome 
 insect is not unlike the gnat, which in this country so often ter- 
 minates its existence by flying into the candle. Its bite is slightly 
 venomous, causing small blisters somewhat like those occasioned 
 by the sting of a nettle, only the pain attending it is more acute. 
 They are the most numerous in low situations, or among thick 
 woods where the heat is less oppressive. This insect cannot bear 
 great heats, and on that account is never seen during the hottest 
 weather, except in very shady places. It is always most trou- 
 blesome in the nights ; and as it makes a constant humming 
 when it flic;?, it is a most noisy as well as a most unwelcome 
 guest in a lo Iging room. I do assure the reader I have lain for 
 hours together with a handkerchief in my hand, fanning them 
 from uiy face, when a little sleep would have been a more seasonable 
 relaxation. Various methods are practised to drive them off or 
 avoid them. We frequently made a fire at the door, and covered 
 it with green leaves to make as much smoke as possible, and 
 thereby to banish them from the neighbourhood ; but the moment 
 the smoke was dissipated they again made their appearance as 
 numerous as flies in England on a summer day. Many persons 
 make what are termed nmsquito hangings for their beds; these 
 are constructed of laths strung together so closely as not to allow 
 a space for them to pass through. They seldom are seen on 
 the praries, or indeed in any place remote from thick shady 
 woods; thus some of our neighbours have been quite free from 
 them, while we were tortured incessantly. We however had the 
 advantage of being near fuel, a consideration of great importance 
 in that country, especially as the soil of wood land is always 
 more valuable than that of the praiies, and when cleared is like 
 wise free from musquitoes. Having referred to the praries, it 
 may perhaps be necessary to be a little more explicit, Many 
 persons in England have a wrong idea of the uncultivated lands 
 in America, imagining they are all wood. This is by no means 
 the case. In Illinois there are thousands of a^res with not a 
 tree upon it, but covered with a sort of strong wild jirass, growing 
 sometimes three or four feet high. These lands are termed pra- 
 ries, and require only to be broken up with a prary plough, and 
 they become at once fine arable land. As 1 before intimated;
 
 34 
 
 this kind of land, though the soonest cultivated, is not the most 
 productive being, as the farmers term it, of a stronger quality 
 than the other. The soil of hoth praries ami woodland is quite 
 black, probably owing to the vegetable matter, which for aget 
 has decayed thureon. At the season of the year now under no- 
 tice, these praries present to the eye a most charming appearance. 
 Let the reader imagine himself by the side of a rich meadow, or 
 fine grass plain several miles in diameter, decked with myriads 
 of flowers of a most gorgeous and varied description, and he will 
 have before his mind a pretty correct representation of one of 
 these praries. Nothing can surpass in richness of colour, or 
 beauty of formation many of the flowers which are found in the 
 most liberal profusion on these extensive and un rodden wilds. 
 The naturalist would here meet with abundance of materials for 
 his genius to arrange, while the poet, reminded of his elegies, 
 would perceive how 
 
 " Many a flower is born to blush unseen, 
 
 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 
 In contrasting the hues of flowers grown in America with those 
 in England, 1 must acknowledge that the former country presents 
 the more splendid ; but if they are superior in colour, they are 
 much inferior in odour. Perhaps the superabundance of light 
 and heat, which produces such fine colour, is prejudicial to the 
 production of odoriferous plants, as any thing at all approaching 
 the fragrance of the honey suckle or sweet briar, I never wit- 
 nessed in America. In the woody districts, the trees most com- 
 monly met with are the oak, ichory, walnut and sugar maple, 
 besides a great deal of underwood and wild fruit trees of the plum 
 family. As all these grow in a wild state, it is not to be supposed 
 that the trees are as numerous as they are in the plantations of 
 this country. The strong timber trees grow at various distances 
 from each other, sometimes being as near to each other as they 
 pan possibly grow, at others twenty or thirty yards apart. They 
 not only vary considerably in this respect, but also in magnitude 
 and age. Not a few are to be found in the last stage of decay, 
 their patriarchal dignity gradually submitting to the all-subuuing 
 influence of time. Numbers more are quite hollow, in which 
 bees, owls, and rabbits severally find shelter and propagate their 
 species. Every thing here bears the mark of ancient undisturbed 
 repose. The golden age still appears, and when the woodman 
 wilh his axe enters these territories for the first time, he cannot 
 resist the impression that he is about to commit a trespass on the 
 virgin loveliness of nature, that he is going to bring into cap- 
 tivity what has been free for centuries. In resuming the thread 
 of my narrative, I have to state, that as soon as we had sown 
 our Indian corn, and planted a few potatoes, we began to prepare 
 for taking in more land, although we had four or five acres un- 
 sown of that which Mr. Oakes had broken up. We hoped, 
 nevertheless, that before another season we should be able to 
 plough and sow in a regular manner. Accordingly my husband 
 worked hard every day with his grubbing hoe and axe, tearing 
 up the roots of underwood and cutting down some of the largest 
 trees. When trees are cut down in America, as little legard i
 
 35 
 
 paid to the timber, they do not cut them off level with the ground 
 as in England, but about three feet from it. The remaining 
 part is burnt after it has been exposed to the sun's rays a few 
 months. Many trees however are allowed to remain standing, 
 after the bark has been cut, to cause them to die. In this state 
 they remain even after the land is sown, for, being destitute of 
 foliage, they do no harm to the crop. 
 
 While my husband was thus engaged I frequently went to him, 
 and, assisted by our little boy, gathered the most portable pieces 
 of brushwood, and took them to our cabin to be ready for fuel ; 
 thus, by continued exertions, we had cleared three or four acres 
 by the end of May, and made a fence half round the piece we 
 intended to enclose as our next field, consisting of about eight 
 acres. Before this time our old mare had foaled, and as we partly 
 expected, only survived that event a few weeks, Near our house 
 there is a sort of rivulet, termed in Illinois a branch, in which 
 one Sunday evening, after we had walked ten miles in going to 
 ana from the chapel, we found her laid ; we got her out with the 
 help of BL rope, and after a while she appeared little worse ; a week 
 or two afterwards, however, her foal came by itself neighing to our 
 door ; we were immediately assured that something had befallen 
 its mother, and set out in search of her, whither the foal, going 
 before, led us as naturally as if it had been endowed with reason ; 
 she had again fallen into the branch, and was quite dead. The 
 foal, notwithstanding its loss, throve very well, and subsequently 
 became a very valuable brood mare. 
 
 In the month of June, notwithstanding our economy, we were 
 obliged to purchase some meal on credit. Mr. Varley, the store- 
 keeper, very willingly allowed us to have as much as we wanted, 
 and indeed offered to sell us anything else on the same terms. 
 His miller, however, as soon as lie knew we were not giving ready 
 money, only partly filled the bushel, thereby making it dearer to 
 us than before, and we dared not complain to his master for fear 
 he should refuse it altogether. The debt we contracted was very 
 small, not a dollar for which we had bread for the family not 
 less than six weeks ; the expiration of which brings us to the end 
 of our first wheat harvest, a season conspicuous in my history 
 on account of the severe trials I then experienced.
 
 tr. 
 
 FT!OWARDS the end of June our three acres of wheat began to 
 X look ripe, and we consequently to consider how we should 
 reap it; we had no sickles, nor were any to be had under a dollar 
 each ; we therefore, self and husband, resolved to go to our frieix* 
 Mr. B., who lent us two, for which we were thankful enough, al- 
 though they were poor ones. As we were returning borne, my 
 husband had the misfortune to stumble over a log of wood, and 
 having a sickle in his hand, he pitched upoa the edge of it with 
 his knee, and cut it severely. We were then a mile from home, 
 and the wound bled profusely. I bound it up with a handkerchief, 
 and after a little faintuess he was able to proceed. The next day, 
 on examining the f.ut.we found it to be more serious than we had 
 imagined : tLo symptoms were also bad ; instead of being warm 
 and irritable, it was cold and numb. In vain did we apply lotions, 
 it kept growing worse and worse. The following day it began to 
 swell very much, and to be exceedingly painful at a distance from 
 the cut. The pain took away his appetite for food, and symptoms 
 of inflammation and fever became rapidly apparent. My situation 
 requires no comment : I could not but perceive I was likely to 
 lose my dearest earthly friend, and with him all visible means of 
 supporting myself, or maintaining my family. I was almost 
 driven to frenzy. Despair began to lay hold of me with his iron 
 sinews; I longed to exchange situations with my husband; there 
 was no one near to assist or encourage me. My eldest child alone 
 manifested any signs of sympathy: the poor boy went up to his 
 father's bed, and with afifectionate and chiid-like simplicity said, 
 ' don't die, father, don't die.' Meanwhile the swelling increased ; 
 my husband had taken nothing but a little coffee for two days. 
 Here was a crisis : I saw a short time would determine whether I 
 was to be reduced to a situation the most wretched imaginable, or 
 see my husband restored to me again. The latter idea seemed to 
 contain all I had in this world to cling to. I could not give it up. 
 I fomented the swelling with increased diligence, till at length he 
 began to perspire, and his leg to possess its wonted sensibility. A 
 change for the better had evidently taken place, and by degrees 
 all the bad symptoms disappeared. On perceiving this, I felt 
 myself the happiest woman on earth, although my situation was 
 still embarrassing. Our wheat was quite ripe, indeed almost 
 ready to shake, and if not cut soon, would be lost. We had no 
 means of hiring reapers, and my husband could not stir out, I
 
 87 
 
 was therefore obliged to begin myself; I took my eldest child into 
 the field to assist me, and left the next in age to attend to their 
 father and take care of the youngest, which was still unwearied. I 
 worked as hard as my strength would allow ; the weather was in- 
 tolerably hot, so that I was almost melted. In little more than a 
 week, however, we had it all cut down. Meanwhile my husband 
 had continued to mend, and was now able to leave his bed and sit 
 in a chair, or rather on a stool placed near the wall for support 
 to his back, and made further comfortable with the help of a 
 pillow or two. The wheat was still unhoused, and exposed to the 
 rays of the burning sun, by which it was in danger of being dried 
 so as to waste on the slightest movement. It was absolutely ne- 
 cessary that it should be gathered together forthwith. Having 
 neither horses nor waggon, we here encountered another difficulty. 
 The work, however, could not be postponed. With a little trouble 
 I got two strong rods, upon which I placed a number of sheaves 
 near one end of them ; T then caused my little son to take hold 
 of the lighter end, and in this manner we gathered together the 
 whole of the three acres. i\Jy partner had by this time so far 
 recovered as to be able to move about with the help of a strong 
 Btaff, or crutch, and thus he came to the door to shew me how to 
 place the sheaves in forming the stack. The reader may probably 
 suppose I am endeavouring to magnify my own labours, when I 
 tell him I reaped, carried home, and stacked our whole crop of 
 wheat, consisting, as bofore stated, of three acres, with no other 
 assistance than that of my little boy under ten years of age. My 
 statements are nevertheless uncoloured facts, and what renders 
 them still less credible, the work was performed in addition to the 
 attendance necessarily required by my young family and sick hus- 
 band, and during the hottest part of the year, in a climate noto- 
 rious for excessive heat. I would not be understood to represent 
 the climate of Illinois as greatly prejudicial to the health of En- 
 glish emigrants. My health had hitherto been much better there 
 than in England, a circumstance which I attribute in part to the 
 beneficial effects of the voyage, but still more to the difference in 
 the state of the atmosphere between America and England. > The 
 reader must know that previous to leaving this country I was 
 slightly affected with ashrnatic symptoms, which entirely left me 
 for a number of years after my arrival in America. -A dry air is 
 always allowed to be favourable to persons troubled with the 
 above disease ; and it is no less notorious that the atmosphere of 
 England is comparatively moist and humid, its insular situation 
 being probably a principal cause. Physical causes, however, I 
 pretend not to understand ; I merely refer to them because they 
 seem to bear upon the facts I have to narrate, and because I deem 
 it necessary to be precise and perspicuous on a subject of such 
 importance to the emigrant as is the climate of the country to 
 which his capabilities may be invited. The atmosphere of Illinois 
 then is much drier than that of the British islands. This is 
 apparent from the comparatively few rainy days that occur in that 
 country : in summer the droughts are excessive and long, from 
 which the corn crops sometimes suffer severely ; and in winter, 
 during the two coldest months, scarcely any rain falls. Spring
 
 38 
 
 and autumn are often very rainy ; but, even then, the number of 
 fine days is not less than those in England during the same 
 season., When it does rain it falls in torrents, and is generally 
 accompanied with thunder and lightning, as before stated ; a cir- 
 cumstance which corroborates the statements above-named rela- 
 tive to the dryness of the air. A continental situation like that 
 of Illinois must necessarily be affected with greater extremes of 
 heat and cold than a country surrounded by water like Britain. 
 The influence of the sun's rays in the latter place is considerably 
 diminished by the process of evaporation, for which such facili- 
 ties are offered where water abounds ; while on the other hand the 
 cold is less intense on account of the abundance of caloric given 
 out by water to the superincumbent air, when the temperature of 
 the latter descends below the freezing point. The striking differ- 
 ence between the climate of America and England therefore is, 
 that the extremes of heat and cold are considerably greater in that 
 country than in this ; hence tobacco and cotton may be cultivated 
 with success, though the climate in Illinois is scarcely hot enough 
 for tbe latter; every farmer, however, cultivates tobacco for his 
 own use, in the same manner as the peasants in ihis country grow 
 cabbages and potatoes; it is sown in beds like ouions, at the 
 spring of the year, and though of all seeds apparently the slowest 
 to manifest the vegetative principles, when it has begun to put 
 forth its leaves it grows with unaccountable rapidity. At this 
 period of its growth it is much infested with a species of green 
 caterpillar of an enormous size, from whose ravages the plants 
 require to be daily protected, or they would shortly dissppear. 
 When ripe its appearance is very much like that of the rhubarb 
 cultivated in our cottage gardens in England after it has seeded, 
 only the leaves of the tobacco plant are larger and not so heavy. 
 In this state they' are cut and dried in the sun a day or two, and 
 afterwards gathered together to cause them to sweat, which gives 
 them that peculiar fragrance common to tobacco. As a further 
 illustration of the temperature of the climate, it may be remarked 
 thatmelons, pumpkins, cucumbers and peaches ripen early without 
 any assistance from art. The woods abound with wild plum-trees, 
 for which the climate is nevertheless too hot, as they frequently 
 wither on the trees before they are fully ripe, and are eaten by 
 pigs, or remain to decay and fertilize the ground. Grapes, straw- 
 berries and raspberries likewise grow wild in great abundance ; the 
 settlers gather them near their houses, in order to make wine of 
 them ; but there are thousands of bushels left to decay where 
 they grew, after birds and insects have devoured as many of them 
 as they choose. The raspberries are of a different species from 
 those grown in England ; the bushes themselves are quite similar 
 in appearance, and the flavour of the fruit not much different; 
 but when thu berries are ripe they are quite black like the fruit of 
 the bramble. Of all the fruits that are met with in the woods, 
 nuts are the most plentiful ; hazels and filberts are found in all 
 directions. During the first two years of our residence in that 
 country my children gathered bushels of them, and even recently 
 I have often been surprised that no bad consequences have ensued 
 from the quantities they have eaten. There are two different
 
 39 
 
 kinds of walnut, termed the blank and the white walnut, and in- 
 deed the ichory is considered as belonging to the same genus, but 
 its fruit is different. 
 
 Notwithstanding the beauty and luxuriance of the vegetable 
 productions of Illinois, the summary account here given being a 
 mere sketch, the animal kingdom is still more remarkable for 
 numbers and variety. The naturalist must not search for enter- 
 tainment in the description about to be given ; as a common and 
 unscientific observer I saw and admired them, ani as such alone 
 I am able to desciibe them. 
 
 America is certainly and emphatically the country for the 
 feathered tribe, whether numbers, variety, or beauty be the sub- 
 ject of special consideration ; nor will any one wonder that they 
 are so numerous when he considers the comparaiive safety with 
 which they rear their young, and the abundance of food that 
 must be found in a country highly productive, whose seeds and 
 fruits are the undisputed property of the first finder. During 
 the breeding season, their noise, I cannot call it music, is, in the 
 woods, one continued gabble; as their species are so numerous, 
 their tones possess every degree of hoarseness, chatter and chirp, 
 that can possibly be conceived. To represent their performances 
 in writing is a thing absolutely impossible, especially to persons 
 accustomed to identify their vocal powers with something like 
 music. Some idea of their noise may be gathered by imagin- 
 ing an assembly consisting of magpies, jays, and turkeys, together 
 with a few of the minor species as the gold-finch, the spink, and 
 the sparrow, all giving full play to their vocal energies, and each 
 endeavouring to make his own favorite note as significant as pos- 
 sible ; there is nothing of that fine flowing sweetness with which 
 the " early lark " and " sooty blackbird " announce the approach 
 of summer in this country. But if their voices like that of the 
 peacock are offensive to the ear; like that majestic bird's their 
 plumage is exceedingly beautiful. I must not be understood to 
 include all kinds of birds met with in Illinois, in the description 
 now given ; one kind is completely black like the rook, and this 
 sort is a downright pest to the ripe and ripening crops; assem- 
 bling in flocks almost like a cloud, they require all the farmer's 
 vigilance to prevent their flying away with the fruits of his 
 industry. Of the parrot, the owl, and the jay families there are 
 great numbers, but the humming bird is the most interesting 
 little bird of any I notice, of which there are hundreds buzzing 
 about during the summer season. As it would be out of keeping 
 with the character of this work to describe the peculiar habits of 
 the various classes of birds seen in America, I deem it unneces- 
 sary to give the names by which they are known among the 
 unlettered inhabitants of Illinois, especially as those names are 
 mostly provincial terms; notwithstanding they are so numerous 
 there are very few that I could recognize as species common in 
 my own country. In vain did I listen for the cuckoo at the 
 spring of the year, and happy should I have been to see the tame 
 confiding redbreast hopping about our door, but it never appeared. 
 Proceed we next to notice another class of animals, which, though 
 not as numerous as the one just described, are now by no means 

 
 40 
 
 rare during warm weather in Illinois: snakes are the creatures 
 now referred to, of which there are not only a great variety, but 
 vast numbers of each species, many of which are exceedingly 
 venomous, one kind called the black snake, alias the racer, is 
 noticed for pursuing people who may chance to come near them 
 during the breeding season; it is large and completely black, its 
 bite is not venomons, nor does it attempt to pursue intruders, 
 unless they shrink from its intimidating appearance, and even 
 then it generally returns to its post as soon as "it fancies it has 
 driven them off, sometimes however, it will wrap round a person's 
 legs, and if the individual in that situation attempts to fly, he is 
 almost sure to fall; he may however, soon release himself with a 
 small stick or a knife ; as it is the only snake in America that 
 will approch man without being previously irritated, it is fortu- 
 nate that its bite is not vemonous : one kind about the size of a 
 small eel is able to raise itself nearly in a perpendicular direction ; 
 when struck it immediately appears to be broken or disjointed 
 into three or four pieces not unlike the herb or weed termed fox- 
 tail, when its joints are disunited : a third called the copperhead 
 has a most angry appearance, and its bite is vemonous, but it 
 usually endeavours to get away on the approach of man. The 
 species are too numerous for me to attemptto enumeratetbemhere; 
 it seldom happens that any one is injured by them, but as they 
 are known to lurk in concealed situations, hollow trees, and some 
 even among the branches, they cause people to be constantly on 
 their guard when they have to enter situations favorable for them 
 to lie in. The rattlesnake, however, is not to be despised, for 
 although it is not so numerous as some of the other kinds, it is 
 more dreaded tban they all ; this formidable foe never attacks 
 mail except in self-defence, and then its bite, if no antidote be 
 taken, is speedily fatal. The usual medicine given to a person 
 thus bitten, is a strong infusion of a herb called the rattlesnake's 
 master. The rattle from which the reptile has its name, is situ- 
 ated at the end of its tail, and composed of thin hollow bones 
 articulated so as to make a rattling noise when the animal moves, 
 thereby warning other animals of its approach ; the number of 
 bones contained in the rattle varies^ according to its age, one 
 being added every year, from which it appears to live about 
 twelve years, as snakes are sometimes killed with that number of 
 bones in the rattle; when .about to strike an animal it coils itself 
 up like the contraction, (&) to enable it to dart forward its head 
 with greater rapidity, and without any part of its body touching 
 the ground, except tbe tail, on which it supports itself during the 
 time. This reptile is becoming less and less numerous, as none are 
 allowed to escape when once observed. They are usually found 
 iu pairs, and often among the growing corn. A neighbour of 
 ours was once bitten with one on which he had accidentally 
 trodden. He killed it immediately afterwards, and then hastened 
 to the nearest house, but before he could reach it he was obliged 
 to hollow to make the occupiers know what was his misfortune, 
 as he felt his tongue and limbs begining to grow stiff; the anti- 
 dote was immediately administered, but not before he had become 
 insensible, he however, recovered. When an individual attacks
 
 41 
 
 these reptiles he should be cautious how he approaches them 
 when in their favourite coiled position. When they are extended 
 at length on the ground, they may be approached with safety, as 
 they are then not able to dart forward their heads as they do when 
 they attempt to inflict a wound. Insects are likewise numerous 
 in America, and many of them of a larger size than any to be 
 met with in England. There is' a species of ant found on the 
 praries, about half the size of a working bee. In traversing these 
 grounds, particularly in summer, a person will naturally feel in- 
 clined to rest himself occasionally, and may probably select for 
 himself, as a seat, some little hillock, of which there are many. 
 If he does, however, I will venture to assert he will be caught 
 trespassing, and have to pay the smart too. The butterflies in 
 America are really splendid, nothing can surpass them in design, 
 depth of colouring, or in the delicacy with which their finely 
 powdered wings are finished. I have sometimes observed in very 
 hot weather, when I happened to throw to the door a little greasy 
 or soapy water, that the place thus moistened has been covered 
 in a few minutes with butterflies of the richest and most brilliant 
 dress. All the hues that the prism can elicit from the " parent 
 of colours," have been there manifested, and that with such a 
 beautifully variegated combination, as to render imitation utterly 
 impracticable. The plan proposed in this narrative requires that 
 mention be made only of such objects as would come under the 
 notice of common observers, whereby a tolerably correct idea of 
 the general state of the country may be obtained. I cannot how- 
 ever close these succinct observations on insects, without noticing 
 one which flies about during the evenings in summer, and emits 
 a light considerably brighter than that of the glow worm. When 
 I first beheld it, I was not aware of its existence. It was one 
 evening as husband and I were returning from the chapel, on a 
 road that was principally through an uncultivated piece of wooded 
 land. As we were passing along, we observed in many places 
 what we took to be sparks of fire dancing about most mysteriously. 
 Our curiosity was excited not a little, but not knowing what to 
 think, we dared not approach them, for fear they were connected 
 with something super-human. Superstition certainly got hold of 
 us, and we hastened home imagining some strange catastrophe 
 was about to occur. On reaching home we found a neighbour 
 waiting our arrival, to whom we related what we had witnessed. 
 He smiled at our simplicity, and told us they were light bugs, the 
 name they are known by in Illinois ; fire-flies I believe is a more 
 general term, which gave us no small satisfaction; as we had 
 been much disturbed to know what such a prodigy could imply. 
 A few pages back I attempted to describe the appearance of a 
 winter night. I may now be allowed to make a few remarks on 
 the peculiarities of a night in summer. As our situation in 
 America is about fourteen degrees further south than Yorkshire, 
 I scarcely need say tbat the shortest summer night there is longer 
 than the shortest in England by two or three hours. In this 
 country, as the shades of twilight gradually usher in the more 
 sombre aspect of night, a delightful silence seems to repose on 
 the bosom of nature. Hence Milton : " Now came still evening
 
 42 
 
 on and twilight grey," &c. The reverse of this is nearer the 
 truth in Illinois. It would be a burlesque on language for any 
 one during a night in summer, to repeat Grey's admired line, 
 " All the air a solemn stillness holds." I have already stated 
 that owls are very numerous, they are also very noisy during the 
 night. There is another bird, however, that outdoes them in 
 this respect. It is about the size of a lark, and has a loud voice, 
 but only three notes, which it keeps continually repeating. It 
 thus appears to keep crying : " Whip away," or " Whip poor 
 Will," as some will have it. Hence one or other of these terms 
 is the name of the bird, which I believe is common through all 
 North America. Unceasing as are the noises made by these noc- 
 turnal performers, there is a species of frog known, as the 
 bull-frog, whose voice completely drowns the preceding; it 
 abounds in small creeks and ponds, of which there are many in 
 some districts, though none near our farm. The moment this 
 animal observes darkness approaching, it begins its tremendous 
 croakings, which, as its name suggests, are more like the bellow- 
 ing of a bull than the voice of a frog. Other animals might be 
 mentioned with propriety, as being peculiar to that country, as 
 the mink, the opossum, and the racoon; but as these are fully 
 described in works on natural history, I forbear to enlarge, after 
 I have related the following little incident. The foot-print of the 
 last-named animal is precisely like that which a little child, just 
 able to walk, would make. There is the rounded heel, the hollow 
 under the rise of the metatarsus, the toes, and toe nails, as exactly 
 delineated as if it had been actually made with the foot of a 
 child. This impression we observed before we knew anything 
 about it. My husband's curiosity led him to trace it across a 
 ploughed field, as he really thought these prints had been made 
 either by fairies or the diminutive offspring of some concealed 
 Indians, and was a long time before he could be persuaded they 
 were made by a quadruped. If the reader consults a volume on 
 natural history, he will find this animal classed among the plan- 
 tigrada, which will partly account for the above circumstance. 
 The continuation of my narrative presents my partner recovered 
 from his lameness, and busy thrashing our wheat in the open 
 air : we had a small barn, but as the ground is almost as hard as 
 a boarded floor at the season I am now speaking of, the corn is 
 often thrashed in the open air. Many farmers thrash as soon 
 as harvest is over, and, without winnowing it, place it on a large 
 heap, and cover it with a thick coat of straw and another of 
 earth, as farmers preserve potatoes in England. In this state it 
 will keep very well for several months if required. As the cattle 
 lie out all the year round, the straw is of no use, they therefore 
 burn it out of their way. The time had not yet arrived for us to 
 practise this system of preserving corn ; we wanted the full worth 
 of our wheat, and that as soon as we could get. As we had no 
 winnowing machine we were obliged to winnow with the wind, 
 which, though a troublesome method, is frequently practised in 
 Illinois, for the same reason as that which induced us to practise 
 it on this occasion. The farmers in that country are much trou- 
 bled with a weed that grows amongst the wheat, and of which it
 
 is next to an impossibility to clear it. This was the first time 
 we had anything to do with it. Its appearance when growing can 
 scarcely be distinguished from wheat till it begins to ear ; on this 
 account it is called ' cheat,' and not undeservedly, as it sometimes 
 stands on the ground as abundant as the crop itself, and yet it is 
 so valueless, that even the poultry will not eat it. I have not 
 seen anything in England that resembles it more nearly than the 
 weeds termed by Yorkshire farmers droke and darnel. It is more 
 like the former than the latter. Having thrashed and winnowed 
 our wheat in the manner above described, our next consideration 
 was how we were to sell it. The produce of the three acres might 
 be about eighty bushels, one-fourth of which was but imperfectly 
 cleared of cheat, and was therefore unsaleable. We had only five 
 sacks, which we had taken with us from England, but these even 
 we did not require, as we subsequently learnt the store-keepers 
 were accustomed to furnish the settlers with bags for their corn. 
 My husband took a specimen of wheat, which as it had been 
 sown too sparingly on the ground was a fine sample. Mr. Varley 
 offered half a dollar per bushel in money, or a few cents more in 
 barter. We borrowed a waggon and a yoke of oxen of one of our 
 neighbours, and carried to the store fifty bushels. The first 
 thing we did was to settle our meal account ; we next bought two 
 pairs of shoes for self and husband, which by this time we wanted 
 as we did other articles of apparel, which we knew we could con- 
 veniently procure. The truth is, we had intended to have a little 
 more clothing, but finding the prices so extravagant, we felt com- 
 pelled to abandon that intention. For a yard of common printed 
 calico, they asked half a dollar, or a bushel of wheat, and pro- 
 portionate prices for other goods. We gave ten bushels of wheat 
 for the shoes. I may just remark that the prices are considerably 
 lower at the present time for all kinds of wearables than they were 
 then. Our next purchase was a plough, bought in hopes that we 
 should, at some time, have cattle to draw it, as we were tired of 
 the hoeing system. We also bought two tin milk bowls; these 
 and the plough cost about twenty bushels. We obtained further 
 a few pounds of coffee, and a little meal ; the coffee cost us at the 
 rate of a dollar for four pounds : and thus we laid out the greater 
 part of our first crop of wheat. We had only reserved about 
 twenty bushels for seed, besides a quantity imperfectly cleared of 
 cheat, which was unfit either for sale or making bread. On bal- 
 ancing our account with Mr. Varley, we found we had to take 
 about five dollars, which we received in paper money, specie 
 being exceedingly scarce in Illinois. The interval between this 
 time and the latter part of September, was spent in further clear- 
 ing the field which we had before fenced somewhat more than 
 half round. Our Indian corn was likely to be a failing crop, 
 partly because it had been sown late, and partly for want of a 
 plough it had been but imperfectly cultivated. The autumnal 
 rains had now begun to fall, and while other people's corn was 
 ripe, a great part of ours was quite green, and not likely to ripen 
 before the frosts. The little that was ready, we cut, and made it 
 into small stacks, to be ready for seed the ensuing spring. Octo- 
 ber arrived ; it was the season for sowing wheat, and we were
 
 little better prepared than we had been the preceding spring; for 
 although we had a plough we had no team. We could readily 
 have hired one had we possessed the means. Five or six dollars 
 were all the money we had. and we fully purposed to buy a pig 
 or two with them, as we had been some weeks without any animal 
 food, except a few fowls for which we had bartered one of our 
 china tea-cups. Our inability to raise a team and sow our wheat, 
 was a source of very great anxiety. The hoeing system had 
 answered so indifferently that we felt determined, if possible to 
 have it ploughed. We knew a Mr. Knowles who ploughed for 
 hire; his house was about two miles from ours. My husband 
 waited upon him and offered him one-fifth of the produce of 
 eight acres for ploughing and harrowing it. Reward, it is said , 
 sweetens labour: of this Mr. Knowles was conscious ; but the 
 idea of waking for the reward till the ensuing harvest did not 
 suit his genius: in short, he declined undertaking the work on 
 any such terms. My husband was coming away almost in de- 
 spair; but happening to look at his watch, Mr. Knowles accosted 
 him in a tone of surprise that he should want any one to work on 
 credit while he possessed such a watch as that, telling him at the 
 same time, that he would plough and harrow the whole eight 
 acres for it. I need scarcely say they immediately agreed, as the 
 watch had been bought in England a year or two before for 
 something less than a sovereign. We were thus relieved from our 
 distressing anxiety, and got the wheat sown as conveniently as 
 we could possibly wish. This acquaintance with Mr. Knowles 
 led to a further bargain between him and my husband for three 
 young pigs just taken in from the range ; for which we paid him 
 the small sum of three dollars. They were scarcely fat enough 
 to kill ; we therefore gave them a little unsaleable wheat which 
 fed them very rapidly, so that in about a month's time they 
 became nice pork, weighing between nine and ten stones each. 
 By this time our little stock of cattle required to be fed daily with 
 Indian corn, part of which was uncut, and what is worse some of 
 it was unripe. That which had ripened was excellent fodder, the 
 greater part of which we had cut: the little that remained in the 
 field, being ripe, suffered no harm ; whereas, the last sown, not 
 ripening before the frosts came on, was much injured, the cattle 
 would scarcely touch it. There is nothing peculiar in this : water, 
 it is well known; expands when it is frozen. Hence, all sorts of 
 succulent plants or soft grain, having their vessels filled with a 
 watery or juicey substance, must of necessity, when frozen, ex- 
 perience a disarrangement of their parts, and have their vascular 
 structure destroyed, and consequently be liable to putrefaction 
 and mould. In the various transactions I have had to enumerate, 
 I have overlooked our potato crop which was abundant; for 
 although we had only planted half a rood, we had more than 
 sufficient for our own use. The reader must be aware that no 
 manure is used for any thing that is grown : the land is as fat as 
 nature requires, and tillage would, in its present state, rather 
 injure it than otherwise. We had not sown any turnips this year; 
 they are generally sown in July, immediately after the wheat 
 crop is reaped, and often on the iand on Avhich it has grown. In
 
 45 
 
 all probability we should have endeavoured to sow some, had not 
 my husband at this time been an invalid. The first Sunday in 
 November was the anniversary of our landing in America, for 
 we have now gone through the principal events of our first 
 year's residence in that country. It was further distinguished as 
 being the day on which the yearly feast is held at the little 
 village where we had lived in England. This circumstance, 
 trifling as it is, had a tendency to bring to our recollection in a 
 most vivid manner, bygone associations and endearments, the 
 value of which we only discovered when they were lost. Does 
 the reader ask for an explanation? f-et him consider for awhile 
 our condition; and if experience has taught him anything of the 
 nature of those feelings which the love of one's country inspires; 
 if he knows even what emotions are kindled by being removed 
 from old and congenial attachments, he will perceive we had 
 reasons for being sad on the occasion here referred to. The diffi- 
 culties and privations we had already endured were not forgotten. 
 The tattered appearance of our children's clothes, compared with 
 what they had worn in England, made an impression on our 
 minds, which even patient endurance could not resist. We were 
 again on the eve of a hard winter with less warm clothing to meet 
 it, than we had the preceding winter by the wear of a twelvemonth. 
 This was one of the gloomy days in our history. The previous 
 winter we had been prevented from attending religious worship 
 on account of distance, we were now prevented from another 
 cause, want of decent clothing. It was on this occasion that we 
 perceived something more than poetry in the lines of Cowper : 
 " When I think of my own native land, 
 
 In a moment I seem to be there; 
 But alas ! recollection at baud 
 
 Soon hurries me back to despair." 
 
 There was however one cheering consideration: in all respects 
 except clothing, we were better situated than we had been the 
 foregoing season. We had four acres more of wheat sown this 
 year than the year before; we were now in possession of a 
 plough ; our cattle had likewise increased in value ; the cow had 
 calved again, and the former calf had grown a fine-looking heifer, 
 we therefore saw, after all, we were gaining ground. In accor- 
 dance with my pretensions, I ought here to state that both I and 
 husband had the ague very bad this month ; happily not both at 
 the same time. This complaint is too well known to require any 
 description of it from me. It generally attacks new settlers at 
 the end of their first summer, and, even afterwards. At the fall 
 of the leaf it is by no means an uncommon complaint. As land 
 becomes better cultiv ated and drained, this disease is less frequent. 
 At the present time, notwithstanding its prevalence in autumn, 
 it rarely proves fatal, except in instances where the constitution 
 has manifested previous symptoms of decline, and like a withered 
 leaf ready to be blown down by the first fresh breeze that blows. 
 The inhabitants have various specifics, real and imaginary: a 
 weak infusion of common pot-herbs drunk hot appears to be as 
 efficacious as anything. When the patient ceases to shake, the 
 ague is said to be broken, and unless fever ensue, as it sometimes
 
 46 
 
 happens, he is in a short time quite well. After we had recovered, 
 for a while nothing occured worthy of note. As, in the winter 
 previous, our chief employment consisted in attending to the 
 cattle, preparing firewood, and splitting rails. As before, our 
 cattle remained out day and night, generally resorting, during the 
 latter, to some sheltered situation. About Christmas, a person 
 with whom we had bad several interviews, named Mr.Vanderoozen, 
 came to our house and wished us to buy two young steers and a 
 inilch cow. We replied we could not purchase them for want of 
 money. " That reason," said he, " shall not prevent you : I am 
 going to keep a shop at St. Louis, and shall often have to come 
 up into the country, you may pay for them when it is convenient, 
 meanwhile I shall expect interest for my money." At the time I 
 am now speaking of, the usual interest paid for the loan of money 
 was twenty-five percent, per annum. It has since very properly 
 declined to twelve per cent. Having considered Mr. Vanderoozen's 
 proposal, we felt inclined to accept it; the only impediment was 
 in the failure of our Indian corn crop. By using the remainder 
 of our unsaleable wheat, however, we presumed we should be able 
 to winter them, and felt assured that when spring arrived they 
 would be able to do well, and greatly add to our advantages. The 
 bargain was accordingly struck : my husband gave him a pro- 
 missory note for thirty dollars, with interest for the same at the 
 same rate. We thus appeared to have increased our possessions, 
 and endeavoured to brave our privations and the severity of the 
 weather as well as we cuuld. We were obliged, nevertheless, to 
 economize our winter fodder, which was seen in the condition of 
 our cattle ; by degrees they began to loose their flesh, a circum- 
 stance which made us doubly anxious for the return of spring. 
 
 After much anxiety and unceasing diligence to preserve the 
 health of our stock, the first of March arrived. In a fortnight 
 more we expected there would be plenty of fresh grass in the 
 wilds, and we consequently looked forward to the time with plea- 
 sure, little anticipating how sudden a check to our satisfaction we 
 were about to receive. On the third of March, who should 
 darken our door but Mr. Vauderoozen, who had, as he expressed 
 himself, called upon us for the money we owed him ; that is to 
 say, the thirty dollars we had agreed to give him for the steers 
 and cow. Thunderstruck at a request so unexpected and unrea- 
 sonable, we expostulated with him on the terms of the agreement, 
 and explained our inability to answer his demands. Unfortu- 
 nately the note we had given him contained 110 intimation as to 
 the time our creditor had allowed us. All our expostulations 
 were unheeded ; he withdrew, assuring us he would immediately 
 make use of the means the law allowed him for obtaining his 
 money. He was as good as his word; the following day an 
 Esquire* waited upon us with a writ, which allowed us only a 
 few days to prepare for its demands. Our only method of pre- 
 venting the seizure of our property forthwith was either to replevin 
 or pay the money. The idea of a law-suit was neither adapted 
 
 * A legal officer, so named, whose duties embody both those of attorney 
 and policeman.
 
 47 
 
 to our feelings nor circumstances ; but how were we to raise the 
 money ? It is not so easy to raise money for cattle in Illinois as 
 in England ; besides ours were at that time looking ill, and 
 would consequently be undervalued. Should an execution be 
 issued our cattle would be driven to the appointed place for the 
 sale of distrained goods, and sold by auction, be the price what it 
 would. In all probability our whole stock thus sacrificed would 
 be inadequate to the debt and expenses, which would place our 
 very land in jeopardy. Now it was that we regretted having 
 bought them on credit. Kemorse the most pungent preyed 
 on our heart-strings. The emaciated appearance of our cattle 
 condemned our cupidity, and upbraided us with all our con- 
 trivances to economize their provender. 
 
 Meanwhile the time approached for us to answer the demands 
 of our creditor, or submit to the process of the law. We had only 
 one plan in view which appeared at all likely to avert the threat- 
 ened calamity. Our friend Mr. B. had been privy to this specu- 
 lation, and had commended our resolves. He had plenty of 
 money in his possession, as he had made no heavy purchases 
 since he obtained the remittance, and he was naturally thrifty. 
 Two days before the time expired, my husband went to him and 
 explained the conduct of Vanderoozen, requesting him either to 
 buy some of our cattle or lend the money, for which ample in- 
 terest should be paid. It is unpleasant to record this part of the 
 conduct of our countryman, yet truth demands that I should say 
 he refused to do either, alleging that he did not want any more 
 cattle, nor did he like to lend his money. This refusal rendered 
 our wretchedness complete. After my husband had heard his 
 denial his feelings were too heavily laden for him to urge any 
 more. He came home melancholy enough, without having made 
 any reply to his refusal. I shall never forget his return that 
 evening. During his absence my mind had been in a state of 
 vacillation between hope and fear; but the moment I saw his 
 countenance hope entirely fled. What kind of a night we expe- 
 rienced, those alone can conceive who have struggled earnestly 
 and perseveiingly with adversity without success. In vain did 
 we extend our languid limbs on our homely couch. Spirits so 
 disordered as ours, were beyond the powers of sleep to lull into 
 forgetfnlness. The entire labours of a, twelve month were doom- 
 ed to disappear. On other occasions when my spirits had been 
 depressed, I had laid my cause before the Supreme Ruler, and 
 found relief; but at this time I felt no disposition to look upward. 
 We seemed despised and forsaken by all. In this state of mind 
 we continued until morning, when a knock was heard at the door, 
 to which my husband attended. Will the reader here believe my 
 story ? Shall I not rather be charged with fabrication ? I can, 
 however, tax no one with incredulity, inasmuch as I doubted my 
 husband's assertion myself, when, returning from the door, he 
 told me that Mr. B. had brought us the money, and gone away 
 saying he could not rest any longer without lending it. This ac- 
 count I am aware has too much of the air of fiction, appears too 
 nearly allied to the marvellous to obtain general credit. It might 
 have been suppressed, but as I am prompted to regard it as an
 
 -18 
 
 instance of the over-ruling power of that being " who maketh 
 the wrath of man to praise him," I deem it to be my duty to re- 
 cord it as it occurred, and where it is now placed. The story is 
 now easy to conclude : the following day, to the surprise of our 
 creditor, we paid the money, and thereby put an end to the pro- 
 ceedings. We had no sooner settled this affair than we turned 
 out our cattle into the woods, having previously marked them on 
 the right ear. The sugar trees were now ready for tapping, and 
 as we were anxious to pay Mr. B. as soon as we could, we resolved 
 to make the best of them, especially as sugar is an article for 
 which money can be easily obtained. We made incisions into a 
 great many trees, and shortly had our large kettles boiling down 
 the liquor; the greatest difficulty we experienced arose from an 
 insufficiency of troughs to place at the bottom of the trees. We 
 were obliged to cork up the holes of the greater part to prevent 
 the liquor from wasting, while the rest alternately were running 
 into the troughs. Notwithstanding this hinderance, we made at 
 least three hundred and fifty pounds of sugar, which enabled us 
 to return our friend fifteen dollars, half the sum we had borrowed. 
 For the loan of the remainder my husband agreed to work for 
 him five days in the year, till we could return it. The sugar this 
 year did exceedingly well ; for besides raising the above sum, we 
 exchanged about forty pounds of it for a sow and a litter of pigs, 
 which we kept near home till they knew the premises, and after- 
 wards allowed them to run at large till autumn. 
 
 Thus, the reader will perceive our circumstances kept improving, 
 as we had now two milch cows, two steers almost ready for the 
 yoke, one young heifer, a calf, a fine young mare, and the family 
 of pigs just named. In agricultural pursuits every season pre- 
 sents its peculiar task to the husbandman, and situated as we 
 were that task was not a small one ; the season for sowing Indian 
 corn had again arrived, and again we were unprepared with a team. 
 In the whole round of our agricultural labours nothing so much 
 perplexed us as the sowing of our corn ; we had only four acres 
 this spring as we had sown eight with wheat, and all our other 
 land was unbroken up; having no fixed plan in view and not 
 knowing what means to adopt to get in the seed, we were agree- 
 ably surprised one morning to behold a person in the field busy 
 ploughing; this was Mr. Burns, the person named on a previous 
 occasion, with whom we had formed an intimacy, or rather a 
 friendship, which up to the time I am writing has only increased 
 in degree and in value ; in any country such a person as he 
 would be valuable as a friend, but in the thinly inhabited regions 
 of the " far west," his worth cannot be fully set forth ; his kind- 
 ness towards us at this time is, however, a specimen ; he and his 
 wife had been at our house the previous week, and perceiving our 
 coming difficulty, gave us the above seasonable boon ; we thus 
 saw the whole of the twelve acres systematically sown : the wheat 
 was a fine thriving crop, we therefore began to feel ourselves 
 more composed, and to use a good old English pbrase " more at 
 home;" hitherto we had no garden, my husband therefore dug up 
 about a rood of fine dryland, and fenced it round with brush-work 
 after the Yorkshire style of dead fencing; the greater part of it
 
 49 
 
 we planted with potatoes, and the rest with other kinds of vegeta- 
 bles, obtaining the seeds and plants from older settlers ; before 
 our wheat crop was ripe we had finished the fence round the 
 new field, and rooted up the greater part of the underwood grow- 
 ing thereon ; most of the stronger timbers we allowed to stand, 
 having. previously cut the bark on the trunk to prevent their 
 growing ; the rest we decapitated, and kindled fires round their 
 stems to burn them away ; this employment and the attending to 
 our cattle, employed the whole of our time till the wheat harvest, 
 and I assure the reader we were not idle: at the usual time, about 
 the end of June, we began to cut our wheat, retaining the old 
 sickles which we had borrowed the year before. Mr. B., who by 
 this time had got married, intimated to my husband that he 
 should require his help a few days, according to agreement for the 
 loan of the money. As our corn was ripe and in that state 
 requiring immediate attention, my husband tried to mow some of 
 it down with an old scythe we had taken with us from England ; 
 this was tremendous heavy work, as the crop was abundant. 
 Scarcely anything that occurred to us, taking into account the 
 comparative insignificance of the article was more vexatious than 
 the want of something with which to sharpen our tools; I have 
 heard my husband say he would cheerfully work a fortnight for a 
 good Yorkshire scythe-stone and a wrag-whetstone ; the stone 
 we used for that purpose was a very poor one, being a sort of 
 flinty limestone which we found on the land ; subsequently we 
 met with another, much superior, apparently a piece of sand- 
 stone, but so fine as not to appear granular. Not knowing how 
 soon Mr. B. might require assistance, my husband continued 
 mowing, while I and our son used the sickles, thus cutting down 
 in the whole about an acre per day, leaving from necessity the 
 mown part abroad on the ground, to be taken up and bound into 
 sheaves afterwards ; we had finished within a day's work before 
 Mr. B. required my husband's help ; my son and I, therefore, 
 were left to cut the remainder, which we did in two days ; we 
 then proceeded to take up the remainder and bind it into sheaves ; 
 while thus employed a circumstance occurred,' which at the time 
 was quite alarming; the excessive heat of the sun, added to 
 another cause which the reader will understand when he is told 
 that the September following I was confined of twins, made me 
 feel much fatigued, and caused me to rest on a sheaf several 
 times during a day : one time while thus seated, a large full- 
 grown rattlesnake crawled idly out of the sheaf on which I was 
 sitting; horrified with the sight, and scarcely knowing what T did, 
 I seized my rake and struck it on the head several times, whereby 
 it soon died ; this event, although not of two minutes continu- 
 ance, proved a lasting warning to me to be cautious, and even to 
 this moment I never call it to mind without feelings of peculiar 
 uneasiness ; the sudden start made me so feeble for a while that 
 I could not proceed with my labour. I however took care not to 
 rest on a sheaf : shortly after, as we expected, we saw another, 
 apparently in search of its mate, which I destroyed in like man- 
 ner; when they were dead, my children took them home as 
 trophies of triumph, to shew to their father in the evening, who
 
 50 
 
 at the recital of my story, joined with me in thanks to Heaven 
 for preservation in such imminent danger ; the following day my 
 husband heing with us, we expected to get through this part of 
 our business in the harvest field ; having nearly finished before 
 dinner he took one of the children with him, during the noon- 
 tide recess, to look at the fires kindled around the trees as before 
 explained; trivial as this circumstance appears, its consequences 
 were dreadful ; by some means the little child set fire to her dress, 
 which frightened her so much that she immediately ran among 
 the sheaves which were lying on tha ground just at hand; my 
 husband, all intent to the situation of the girl, did not perceive 
 that the sheaves were on a blaze till he had put out the fire on 
 the child's clothes; he immediately gave an alarm, I ran to the 
 door, but who can depict my feelings when I beheld our fine 
 crop of wheat, the greatest treasure we possessed, and that on 
 which our hopes principally rested for the speedy supplying of 
 our various pressing necessities, blazing and cracking with pro- 
 digious vehemence. I need scarcely say every nerve was strained 
 to its utmost to extinguish*it ; a small stream or branch ran at a 
 short distance ; guided by the first impulse of reason, we hastened 
 thither immediately with the first vessels we could lay hold of, 
 but although we ran both ways to the utmost of our strength, the 
 flames spread further and further, we soon perceived this method 
 would be unavailing. 
 
 Here was a trial for all our powers, mental and bodily. To 
 extinguish the flames was impossible, the straw was so dry, and 
 the heat became intolerable. There is generally a time for consi- 
 deration, and a time for active labour. It was not so here, while 
 we were considering our property was burning, and that with a 
 speed indescribable. Directed, I cannot but think by Providence, 
 we hit upon a plan which promised success. This was to make 
 a separation between the side that was on fire and the other. It 
 was no sooner conceived than we began to effect it. We removed 
 the sheaves with all the expedition in our power to cut off all 
 communication with the bulk of the crop. As much as we were 
 able, we removed to the further side : but to save the side in 
 question, we were obliged, from want of strength, to throw some 
 to the devouring element. A division was at last happily com- 
 pleted, and the vacant space was too wide for the flames to cross, 
 although in some instances they appeared to bound from one 
 sheaf to another. Want of additional fuel alone extinguished the 
 flames. Not a particle of combustible matter was left uncon- 
 sumed where the fire had raged ; it was one entire plain of 
 smouldering black ashes, we thus lost about an acre and had it 
 not been for one apparently insignificant circumstance, the whole 
 would have been inevitably lost: the fire prevailed only where 
 the wheat had been mown, had it once obtained possession of the 
 long shorn stubble, all our attempts would have ended in woeful 
 disappointment, as it was, in our situation the loss was no trifle, 
 yet the uppermost emotions in our minds were rather those of 
 pleasure than of pain, and with sufficient reason ; we had seven 
 acres remaining, whereas, half-an-hour before we had feared it 
 was all lost. After we were fully assured the fire was out we sat
 
 51 
 
 down and wept; but our tears were, if I may use the expression, 
 tears of thanksgiving. We called to mind the various difficulties 
 through which we had successfully struggled, and we looked upon 
 this as another pledge of ultimate success. We may indeed date 
 the commencement of a moderately comfortable existence from 
 this occurence. The wheat was very fine indeed, but, as before, 
 mixed with cheat ; we had about two hundred and twenty bushels, 
 forty of which were unsaleable on account of this troublesome 
 weed. It is unnecessary to trouble the reader with all the parti- 
 culars of our future proceedings, as it would be a repetition of 
 customs and exercises I have already described. 
 
 Having been tolerably minute in detailing our various transac- 
 tions and difficulties for nearly two years, till, as the reader has 
 seen, our narrative begins to wear a brighter aspect, it will now be 
 sufficient for the purpose here contemplated to give a sketch of 
 the most prominent features of our future proceedings : we pur- 
 chased several articles of wearing apparel with our wheat, paid 
 off a small account for salt, and obtained gearing for a yoke of 
 oxen, purposing to plough our land this fall with young oxen 
 bought of Vanderoozen, besides supplying our immediate wants 
 in clothing, which we did only sparingly, we were enabled to 
 leave in the hands of Mr. Varley, forty dollars, for which he 
 agreed to pay us interest if we allowed it to remain in his hands 
 six months. We should have paid Mr. B., but as my husband 
 had worked for him five days we considered it as our own to the 
 end of the year. There was one trivial advantage in our wheat 
 taking fire ; we intended to sow an acre of turnips, and this part 
 having no stubble on, it was the part we selected as being the 
 most ready for the plough. We engaged Mr. Knowles to plough 
 the land, giving him three dollars for his labour. We made a 
 further arrangement with this gentlemen to plough our late 
 enclosed field with his prairy plow at the fall of the leaf, and in 
 the meantime we endeavoured to cleanse of roots the part unfin- 
 ished ; it is exceedingly heavy work to break up the land with 
 this plough, requiring four yoke of oxen to draw it; we paid him 
 four dollars per acre for doing it. According to our intentions 
 we yoked our two young steers to plough the land for wheat, our 
 kind friend Mr. Burns, voluntarily spending the first day with us 
 to give my husband a little instruction relative to driving and 
 gearing them. They served our purpose very well, which gave 
 us unspeakable pleasure and satisfaction ; nor did we value this 
 advantage unduly, considering the anxieties we had felt on former 
 occasions for want of it. During the summer, our cattle throve 
 very well; the cow we purchased of Vanderoozen had calved 
 again, and our other cow and the heifer were both near calving. 
 Cattle begin to breed much sooner in Illinois than in England ; 
 this may partly be attributed to the climate, which causes them 
 to grow to maturity sooner in that country than in this ; another 
 reason is, being allowed to range at large during summer, where 
 cattle of both sexes abound, the farmer has no means of prevent- 
 ing this circumstance. We have before noticed that it is 
 customary for the farmers to kill as many of their hogs and 
 horned cattle at the fall of the leaf, as they do not intend to keep
 
 over winter. They are often in excellent condition when they 
 come up, not exactly what an English butcher would call prime 
 beef. Hogs are scarcely fat enough to be killed, they are usually 
 served with a little corn a few weeks after they have ceased to 
 range, and thereby become very good bacon. Fat cattle is a 
 source of income to the farmer, from which we had hitherto 
 derived no benefit, nor at present had we ought but our pigs 
 which we purposed to kill, and of these we had not sufficient to 
 offer any for sale, as we wished to keep some over winter to breed 
 the ensuing season. 
 
 The interval between this and the following autumn contained 
 nothing deserving particular note. We sowed the new field with 
 Indian corn. It was readily ploughed, having been broken up as 
 before stated the previous fall, and exposed to the frosts during 
 winter. The weather was too hot during the sugar season, which 
 prevented our realizing as much from that article as we had done 
 the foregoing year. It however enabled us to pay Mr. B. the 
 money we owed him without entirely exhausting our little fund 
 of reserve. After reaping our wheat this season, our neighbour, 
 Mr. Paddock, expressed a wish to sell us the pre-emption right to 
 his land.. Like many persons in Illinois, this individual wanted 
 industry, as he rarely worked more than half of his time. He 
 had been more than three years on it, and would consequently lose 
 all right to it in a short time, unless he paid the government 
 demands one hundred dollars, before the period expired. Not- 
 withstanding his love of ease, he was not without the means to pay 
 for it; but preferred, as he said, a change, and intended to migrate 
 to another unimproved situation, and then spend four years, or 
 perhaps longer, if 110 one thwarted his interests. As his land was 
 contiguous to ours on one point, we thought it would be a good 
 speculation to purchase it, especially as the price he set upon the 
 improvement was very moderate. He had fourteen or fifteen 
 acres broken up, besides the house, which was a tolerably good 
 one of the kind. He valued his labour at fifty dollars, and 
 offered to receive payment ill either cattle or wheat at a fair price. 
 "We hesitated a long time before we decided, foreseeing that unless 
 we paid for it at the land office the succeeding spring, we should 
 be liable to lose it. We however finally determined to have it, 
 and as our cattle had again done well, we gave him a good cow, 
 a heifer, and seventy bushels of wheat, which he disposed of at 
 his pleasure. Mr. Paddock, after this, speedily vacated the house, 
 wishing to erect another before the frosts should set in. The only 
 instrument we received as a proof of the bargain, was the pre- 
 emption certificate, which Mr. Paddock had obtained from the 
 recording office, endorsed with his name, ratifying the agreement. 
 This was, however, sufficient testimony. One day shortly after, 
 a Mr. Carr, hearing that Paddock had removed, came to his late 
 possessions and found my husband repairing a fence. He seemed 
 to interest himself very much in the situation, and asked several 
 questions respecting the pre-emption right, &c. His questions 
 were evaded as well as civility would allow. They, however, 
 served to premonish us that Mr. Carr had some sinister plans 
 affecting that property, and we knew that if he took possession of 
 the house it would be a very troublesome affair.
 
 53 
 
 Though these considerations were based only on conjecture, 
 the disreputable character of Mr. Carr, added to his suspicious 
 manner, gave them much of the force of reality. Perplexed with 
 these ideas, we scarcely knew what course to adopt. At one time 
 we thought it advisable to set fire to the house and burn it down ; 
 then again we wished it not to be known that we feared for its 
 safety; besides it would be very useful to keep farming imple- 
 ments in, or it would serve as a piggery or sheep cut if we wanted. 
 We would have gone immediately to the land office and paid for 
 it, if we had possessed sufficient money; we expected, however, 
 our sugar-orchard would make up the deficit the following spring. 
 To quiet our apprehensions in the present instance, our only 
 feasible method appeared to be, that we should take possession 
 of the house ourselves. But here was another obstacle : it was 
 impossible that we could leave our present establishment, on 
 account of our cattle and dairy being kept there. We found we 
 should be obliged to divide our family, and have one part at Mr. 
 Paddock's late residence and the other at our own. My husband 
 would have cheerfully gone to the newly purchased situation, had 
 not his presence and services at home among the cattle been 
 indispensable. It evidently therefore became my duty to under- 
 take the unpleasant task of leaving home, to occupy a house 
 which we feared an unprincipled intruder wished to inhabit. 
 I had however grown accustomed to hardships even more severe 
 than this. I took with me our two youngest children, something 
 with which to warm our food, and a bed. As the house was only 
 half a mile from our own, I frequently saw the other parts of the 
 family during the day ; but the nights seemed dreary and long. 
 For a few days nobody came near us, and I would have gladly 
 hoped our fears were groundless. They eventually proved but 
 too true, as the following account sufficiently manifests. One 
 afternoon, after I had been living in this manner about a week, a 
 person drove a clumsy waggon to the door, containing a little 
 furniture, a woman, and two children. I shut the door, and en- 
 deavoured to fasten the latch, there being no lock. But the man, 
 who I afterwards learnt was Mr. Carr, quickly forced it open, and 
 bidding his wife walk in, said to her, well, my dear, this is our 
 house : how do you like it ? without seeming to notice me in the 
 least. He then carried in their furniture, and then, for the first 
 time, found leisure to speak to me. He told me they could do 
 without my company pretty well, and wished me to be a good 
 neighbour and go home. There were two rooms ; I took my bed 
 and other articles into the other which was unoccupied, and felt 
 very anxious to see my husband. He carne in the evening, and 
 saw what had occurred. Mr. Carr held up a paper as a defiance, 
 and told him that it was the certificate obtained at the land office, 
 Quincy, as a title to the estate. We were assured he could not 
 have purchased it legally; and we even doubted that he had paid 
 for it at all. \Yhcn my husband attempted to enter the house, 
 Mr. Carr Shut the door, and resisted with all his force ; but being 
 inferior in strength, admittance was obtained. On perceiving us 
 engaged in a whispered conversation, he intimated that if we in- 
 tended to spend the night in his house, he would go and make 

 
 54 
 
 use of ours, to which we made no reply. The result of our 
 deliberation was, that my husband should ride over to Quincy, a 
 distance of fifty miles, take the pre-emption certificate with him, 
 and ascertain whether through perjury he had purchased the 
 laud. Shortly after, my husband went home, and on his arrival 
 found Mr. Carr, whom, as I afterwards learnt, he quickly made 
 scamper. Next morning he called with a quantity of provisions, 
 and took leave of me for his journey, which would take him three 
 days; no one but myself knowing the purport of his leaving 
 home. It was most uncomfortable for ine to be thus left with 
 only two little children under the same roof with a family whose 
 sentiments towards me were the most unfriendly imaginable, and 
 whose character stood assuredly not very high for probity. In 
 the fullest and worst sense of the word, I was a prisoner, not 
 daring to leave the room, and exposed to the jeers and taunts of 
 a malicious man who left no means untried, short of personal 
 violence, to expel me from the house ; telling me my husband 
 had sent me there to get rid of me, with a thousand other fabri- 
 cated and tantalizing remarks. The third day, which was the 
 Sabbath, having sent for my Bible, I endeavoured to solace my- 
 self by perusing its sacred pages. This made him more furious 
 than ever; uttering the most blasphemous imprecations, he vowed 
 ' he would be both rid of me, and my cursed religion before long.' 
 About ten in the forenoon, two or three of his friends came to see 
 him, who, finding or knowing how matters stood, assisted him in 
 his attempts to^deride me. I really thought I now must surrender, 
 and had it not been for the man's wife, who checked their scorn, 
 I am apt to think I should have been obliged to withdraw. After 
 'dinner my situation took a favourable turn. By some means or 
 other many of our neighbours having learnt where I was and on 
 what account, came to the house to see me. For a while my 
 keeper refused admittance to all, till by and by there was quite a 
 crowd at the door. I conversed with some females whom I knew 
 through an aperture in the wall, which served for a window ; and 
 as many of them wished to enter, a number of men favourable to 
 our interests told my disappointed persecutor if he did not allow 
 the females to visit me, they would convince him he was no mas- 
 ter. Awed by this declaration, he opened the door and the house 
 was immediately filled, Mr. Carr and his party appearing com- 
 pletely nonplused. And, so strangely had matters changed, that 
 religious worship was held in the place that evening, suggested 
 by a few pious friends, who seeing my bible, had thought it their 
 duty to propose it. This was too much for Mr. Carr; he entirely 
 left the premises during service. Towards nightfall the arrival 
 of my husband was announced, who was much surprised to find 
 me so well attended. He told Mr. Carr, in the presence of the 
 persons congregated, where he had been, and how his perjury was 
 detected. He likewise gave him to understand that he would 
 probably find he had acted imprudently as well as wickedly. But 
 the most agreeable part of the intelligence to me was, that there 
 was no necessity for me to remain any longer in the house. I 
 therefore very willingly left it and accompanied my husband to 
 our own habitation, having first thanked my friends for their kind
 
 55 
 
 interference and regard. The sum of the particulars is, that Mr. 
 Carr had paid for the land, having previously sworn there was no 
 improvement on it ; although a pre-emption certificate had been 
 obtained at the recording office, Pitsfield. Of course the purchase 
 was illegal, and Carr liable to a heavy penalty. The following 
 morning, we learnt our firmness had acted powerfully on the 
 mind of our opponent, as his wife called upon us to say that her 
 husband was willing to make a compromise, and would either pay 
 us for our claims on the estate or sell his certificate. This pro- 
 posal required some consideration; we therefore gave her no defi- 
 nite answer, but told her if her husband wished to have an 
 interview with us, notwithstanding his base conduct, we would 
 treat him with civility. In the meantime, we considered it best 
 to sell our pre-emption right, if he would produce the money, as 
 we knew we could not buy his certificate at that time. In a day 
 or two our opponent waited upon us wishing to have us pacified, 
 as he knew he had acted criminally. We told him we would 
 allow him peaceable possession on the payment of eighty dollars 
 for the improvement, which he agreed to pay, and shortly after- 
 wards the affair was settled, eventually to our advantage, though 
 it cost us some anguish of mind. The peculiarity of the American 
 law respecting the purchase of land, although framed originally 
 with the view of assisting new settlers, is not unfrequently a 
 source of strife; at the present time there are many persons who 
 have cultivated land for numbers of year/}, without paying any- 
 thing for it ; and there is no means of knowing, except by apply- 
 ing at the land office. Should, however, this counsel escape them, 
 some one would be sure to go and purchase it, or even reap some 
 of the corn when ripe, the original cultivator having no legal 
 power to prevent them. 
 
 There is another peculiar clause in these laws respecting origi- 
 nal rights ; I refer to the erection of mills. I have before stated 
 that water mills are the most common ; the reason of this is 
 obvious. When, therefore, a person purchases a section of land, 
 it is his interest to examine whether there is a mill-seat on any 
 stream that may run through it; if there is, he must apply to the 
 recording office to have it " condemned." This prevents any 
 other person from erecting a mill within a certain distance ; I 
 believe two miles. If, however, after two years the site is not 
 built upon, the owner loses his prerogative. This law caused a 
 piece of knavery to be practised upon us ; the branch running 
 through our farm had a very good site on it for a mill ; some of 
 our friends advised us to get it condemned ; we did so, rather with 
 a view of selling the site than of erecting a mill ourselves. 
 About a year and a half afterwards, a person called upon u 
 named Phillips, the identical person at whose house we had spent 
 the first night in Illinois, with a view of buying it; after a little 
 deliberation we sold it him for one hundred and fifty dollars; not 
 having cash by him, as he said, he would call again in a short 
 time and pay for it ; my husband desired to have the agreement 
 drawn up in a proper form, but as Mr. Phillips averred his word 
 was his surest bond it was omitted. He, however, proved a vil- 
 lain and the tool of another ; for, by continuing to evade payment
 
 50 
 
 by specious promises, he contrived to keep us in suspense till the 
 two years had expired, when another person, his employer, imme- 
 diately began to erect a mill very near our farm ; thus were we 
 defrauded of our right to be millers. Perhaps the foregoing 
 incidents may place the inhabitants of the western world in an 
 unfavourable light; as a few remarks appear, therefore, to be 
 called for, not indeed to unsay what has been said, " facts are 
 stubborn things ; " but to serve as an explantion to the occurren- 
 ces above narrated. It must be borne in mind that ignorance is 
 a predominant feature in their character, indeed it can hardly be 
 otherwise ; not that they are less gifted than the Europeans from 
 whom they have originated, but because their opportunities for 
 cultivating their minds are so limited ; besides, their pursuits and 
 manner of living do not require much intellectual training; a 
 really learned man would be in solitude amongst them, and his 
 talents, like the vaticinating genius of an ill-fated Cassandra, 
 unappreciated or unperceived. The American government has, 
 indeed, very humanely appropriated a certain portion of land for 
 the maintenance of schools through the length and breadth of 
 the country ; this endowment naturally varies with the value of 
 the land. In the States where the land has become more valuable 
 by an increased population, it is pretty good, and consequently 
 commands men of talent; but in the remoter regions there are 
 numberless school allotments for which no candidate could be 
 found. In Illinois th% teachers of these endowed schools, and 
 there are few of any other class, except in large towns, do not 
 assuredly make great pretensions to literary distinction. Hap- 
 pening to be one of a party at the examination of a candidate for 
 the school-land near our house, I was surprised to see how 
 easily the bonus was obtained; the reader will perhaps smile 
 when he is told that the spelling book was the only standard by 
 which his qualifications were tested ; what may be expected from 
 the pupils of such masters is left for the arithmetical capabilities 
 of the reader to determine. I may, however, remark, that were it 
 not for the influx of European emigrants and settlers from the 
 more eastern states, all traces of a scientific nature would very 
 soon disappear. 
 
 I have introduced this trait of character with a view to qualify 
 the opinions which some of the foregoing facts might give rise to. 
 In human nature, all the world over, there are certain bold mental 
 and moral features, which, under similar training, seldom fail to 
 shew themselves. I would by no means be understood to imply 
 that ignurance and dishonesty are synonymous terms, or that 
 an acquaintance with the arts and sciences prevents a person 
 from being a knave. All that is here meant is included in the 
 well-known statistical fact, that crime is the most prevalent where 
 the attainments of society are of the lowest order. This is a 
 truth which modern investigation has fully established, although 
 the ancients were not ignorant concerning it. 
 
 " Ingcnuas didicisse fideliter artes 
 Emollet mores, nee slnit esse feros." 
 
 The influence of Christianity on the morals of mankind is con- 
 sidered sufficient without the aid of education to restrain viciout
 
 57 
 
 propensities. True Christianity practically enjoyed, must, I am 
 persuaded, make its possessor a good man and a good citizen. 
 But I am equally certain that the blessings that accrue to society 
 thence arising, bear a direct proportion to the state, as to intelli- 
 gence, in which that society is found. For proofs to this asser- 
 tion, I refer not to the experience of times gone by, when 
 " A second deluge learning over-ran, 
 And the monks finished what the Goths began." 
 I intend rather to make good my position by a short account of 
 the religious peculiarities of the people whose character I am 
 attempting to pourtray. Prior to leaving England, I had been for 
 nearly twenty years a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Society, 
 and consequently felt wishful, as soon as our circumstances 
 would allow, to join the religious body called the Methodists in 
 that country. I attended a class meeting held in a house about 
 two miles from our residence ; but the manner in which it was 
 conducted was by no means congenial to my views and sentiments. 
 The company being assembled and seated, the one acting as 
 leader, rose from his seat, which was a signal for the others to do 
 the same. A sort of circle or ring was then immediately formed, 
 by the whole assembly taking hold of hands, and capering about 
 the house surprisingly. Their gesture could not be called danc- 
 ing, and yet no term that I can employ describes it better. This 
 done, worship commenced with extempore prayer, not indeed in 
 language or style the best selected, but with this I have nothing 
 to do. I have no right to question the sincerity of the individual, 
 and if his taste differed from mine, it is no proof that his was 
 wrong. The following part of the service was exceedingly 
 exceptionable. All the persons present being again seated, an 
 individual started from his seat, exclaiming, in a loud and frantic 
 shriek, " I feel it," meaning what is commonly termed among 
 them the power of God. His motions,which appeared half con- 
 vulsive, were observed with animated joy by the rest, till he fell 
 apparently stiff upon the floor, where he lay unmolested a short 
 time, and then resumed his seat. Others were affected in a 
 similar manner, only in some instances the power of speech was 
 not suspended, as in this, by the vehemence of enthusiasm, for I 
 cannot give it a more moderate name. Finding in this mode of 
 worship little that I could really respect, I resolved not long after- 
 wards to absent myself from them altogether, I found moreover 
 that some of the most rapturous members were far from being 
 exemplary in their conduct, practically considered. As to their 
 other forms of religious worship I have few remarks to offer. 
 The Americans are fond of the word liberty, it is indeed the bur- 
 den of their song, their glory, and their pride. In some respects 
 this is praiseworthy an essential ingredient in national honour 
 and national greatness ; but in my opinion it is carried too far 
 when it enters the sanctuary. It may be pleasant to hear of 
 religious bodies worshipping under their own vine and fig tree, 
 in the manner best adapted to their views and feelings. Views 
 and feelings, it is well known, are dependent on educational pre- 
 cepts and original impressions. These therefore must vary, 
 and experience shews they do vary proportionally to the endow-
 
 58 
 
 ments or discipline of the individual. And yet religion is only 
 one, the gospel is only one ; and consequently no two conflicting 
 creeds can be both right. How far a person's private judgment 
 ought to be at liberty to originate, select, or improve modes of 
 faith and worship, I pretend not to determine. If it be a privi. 
 lege which all classes of the community may claim with propriety, 
 no consequences can be more natural than those which have 
 hitherto thence arisen, viz : the continual appearance of new 
 sects or denominations. Either from constitutional peculiarity 
 or educational bias, the minds of mankind possess faculties for 
 thinking and feeling too widely different for them ever to be con- 
 sentaneous, especially in matters where much is left imperfectly 
 defined, probably as a test obedience and faith. I have been led 
 into this digression, because, on hearing some of the preachers 
 in Illinois, I have often thought them out of their place when they 
 have been attempting to substantiate whimsies of their own, 
 rather than truths fairly deduced from the Word of God. The 
 fact is, too little regard is paid either to the fitness of the preachet 
 or the sanctity of the office. If an individual's inclinations 
 prompt him to become a preacher, little or no further explana- 
 tion is demanded. This, of course, can only be understood to 
 refer to the thinly inhabited districts, where, I assure the reader, 
 it is not necessary to be very fastidious, in order to find ample 
 reason for doubting whether, under the name of religious wor- 
 ship, there is not a mixture of superstition and unhallowed 
 excitement. Besides the usual sabbath observances, camp meet- 
 ings are frequently held in the open air. These are commonly 
 termed two-day meetings, though they are frequently kept up the 
 greater part of the week. They are attended by persons of 
 different denominations, and conducted in a very irregular man- 
 ner; one part of the assembly being on their knees, while 
 another is listening to an exhortation from one of the preachers. 
 It is now requisite that I should once more resume my narra- 
 tive. The reader is aware I do not pretend to preserve it 
 unbroken to the present time. The greatest difficulties incident 
 to emigrants, commonly occur at the commencement of their 
 enterprising career; what our beginning was, has been explained 
 in detail ; it remains, therefore, only to describe our present con- 
 dition. Before I can properly effect this purpose, it will be 
 necessary to state the particulars of that event which induced me, 
 once more, to visit the shores of Old England ; " my own sweet 
 native earth." Mr. B., the reader has been informed, got married 
 about four years after our arrival ; being an industrious and fru- 
 gal man, his affairs kept continually improving ; he put out, as 
 loans, several hundred dollars, for which he received good 
 interest: his cattle, also, was numerous, from which he obtained 
 a good livelihood, by keeping under the plough as much land as 
 grew them provender for winter. He lived, however, only a few 
 years ; T shall never forget, poor man, the last time he was at our 
 house, I was rather unwell ; after seeing me he went round our 
 farm with my husband, and then called in again to bid me good 
 evening, saying, he hoped I should be better when he came again ; 
 but " how frail at best is dying man ; " that very night he began
 
 59 
 
 in the typhus fever, which terminated his earthly existence in a 
 few days; he died childless and without will. Being in regular 
 correspondence with my children in England, although I have 
 till now felt it my duty to he silent on that subject, lest the reader 
 should be entirely bewildered with the recital of anxieties arising 
 from so many sources, I sent them an account of his death, and 
 wished them to name it to his brother; this being done, the 
 latter, who has a large family in England, and is consequently 
 anxions to better his condition, took it into his head to visit 
 deceased's widow in America, hoping to become entitled to some 
 of his property; accordingly he left his family to take care of his 
 home, and in company with another person wishful to emigrate, 
 sailed for New Orleans early in the present year, neither we, nor 
 Mr. B.'s widow were aware of his coming ; we were all taken by 
 surprise; well do I remember the first appearance of these two 
 Yorkshiremen, who had agreed to introduce themselves as stran- 
 gers. Little did we think when we saw them rambling in our farm 
 like two incurious travellers, that they were objects of such inter- 
 est to us as they proved to be ; self and husband were in the 
 fields when they found us. I fancied I perceived a likeness of 
 the Mr. B., in one of them, and challenged him as his brother, 
 I was right: silence confirmed the conjecture, and we immediately 
 invited them into the house, and treated them with good Old 
 English hospitality, eagerly devouring all the tidings we could 
 elicit from them. I dare say we were thought tediously inquisi- 
 tive, as we kept our guests in talk till after midnight, before we 
 allowed them to retire. The following day was spent in looking 
 over our farm, and as the reader has been made acquainted with 
 our difficulties, it is but just that he should know how we were 
 situated on this occasion. In the first instance I may state that 
 the house we at present occupy has been recently erected,^and 
 though in externals there is nothing to boast of, it is much supe- 
 rior to the one we occupied during former years. The situation 
 itself is more airy and open. Our furniture is also more in 
 accordance with modern times than that we occupied at the com- 
 mencement of our career. The three-footed stools which then 
 served as our ordinary seats, have long since been banished the 
 house, and designated with the humble title of milking stools ; 
 and in short our house has been entirely refurnished, and useful 
 articles of various kinds have been procured. It is however not 
 so much either in the house or its furniture that our success 
 manifests itself: were these to be made the principal objects by 
 which possessions are estimated, there are after all few cottagers 
 in England that would 'not be on an equality with us, with this 
 exception, theirs are generally rented, while ours is otyr own free- 
 hold. I may further observe, with reference to the furniture of 
 our house, that we have for many years had abundance, and I 
 might say a superabundance of those essentials of housekeeping, 
 which, if not the most ornamental in a sitting room, are not the 
 least valuable in a family ; that is to say, we have known no lack 
 of good food, such as beef, pork, butter, fowls, eggs, milk, flour, 
 and fruits, all of which we have, as Yorkshire farmers say, within 
 ourselves ; but as I intimated before, our out-door possessions
 
 40 
 
 rare during warm weather in Illinois: snakes are the creatures 
 now referred to, of which there are not only a great variety, but 
 vast numbers of each species, many of which are exceedingly 
 venomous, one kind called the black snake, alias the racer, is 
 noticed for pursuing people who may chance to come near them 
 during the breeding season; it is large and completely black, its 
 bite is not venomons, nor does it attempt to pursue intruders, 
 unless they shrink from its intimidating appearance, and even 
 then it generally returns to its post as soon as~it fancies it has 
 driven them off, sometimes however, it will wrap round a person's 
 legs, and if the individual in that situation attempts to fly, he is 
 almost sure to fall; he may however, soon release himself with a 
 small stick or a knife ; as it is the only snake in America that 
 will approch man without being previously irritated, it is fortu- 
 nate that its bite is not vemonous : one kind about the size of a 
 small eel is able to raise itself nearly in a perpendicular direction ; 
 when struck it immediately appears to be broken or disjointed 
 into three or four pieces not unlike the herb or weed termed fox- 
 tail, when its joints are disunited : a third called the copperhead 
 has a most angry appearance, and its bite is vemonous, but it 
 usually endeavours to get away on the approach of man. The 
 species are too numerous for me to attempt to enumerate themhere; 
 it seldom happens that any one is injured by them, but as they 
 are known to lurk in concealed situations, hollow trees, and some 
 even among the branches, they cause people to be constantly on 
 their guard when they have to enter situations favorable for them 
 to lie in. The rattlesnake, however, is not to be despised, for 
 although it is not so numerous as some of the other kinds, it is 
 more dreaded than they all ; this formidable foe never attacks 
 mail except in self-defence, and then its bite, if no untidote be 
 taken, is speedily fatal. The usual medicine given to a person 
 thus bitten, is a strong infusion of a herb called the rattlesnake's 
 master. The rattle from which the reptile has its name, is situ- 
 ated at the end of its tail, and composed of thin hollow bones 
 articulated so as to make a rattling noise when the animal moves, 
 thereby warning other animals of its approach ; the number of 
 bones contained in the rattle varies^ according to its age, one 
 being added every year, from which it appears to live about 
 twelve years, as snakes are sometimes killed with that number of 
 bones in the rattle; when about to strike an animal it coils itself 
 up like the contraction, (&) to enable it to dart forward its head 
 with greater rapidity, and without any part of its body touching 
 the ground, except the tail, on which it supports itself during the 
 time. This reptile is becoming less and less numerous, as none are 
 allowed to escape when once observed. They are usually found 
 iu pairs, and often among the growing corn. A neighbour of 
 ours was once bitten with one on which he had accidentally 
 trodden. He killed it immediately afterwards, and then hastened 
 to the nearest house, but before he could reach it he was obliged 
 to hollow to make the occupiers know what was his misfortune, 
 as he felt his tongue and limbs begining to grow stiff; the anti- 
 dote wns immediately administered, but not before he had become 
 insensible, he however, recovered. When an individual attack*
 
 41 
 
 these reptiles he should be cautious how he approaches them 
 when in their favourite coiled position. When they are extended 
 at length on the ground, they may be approached with safety, as 
 they are then not able to dart forward their heads as they do when 
 they attempt to inflict a wound. Insects are likewise numerous 
 in America, and many of them of a larger size than any to be 
 met with in England. There is" a species of ant fou,nd on the 
 praries, about half the size of a working bee. In traversing these 
 grounds, particularly in summer, a person will naturally feel in- 
 clined to rest himself occasionally, and may probably select for 
 himself, as a seat, some little hillock, of which there are many. 
 If he does, however, I will venture to assert he will be caught 
 trespassing, and have to pay the smart too. The butterflies in 
 America are really splendid, nothing can surpass them in design, 
 depth of colouring, or in the delicacy with which their finely 
 powdered wings are finished. I have sometimes observed in very 
 hot weather, when I happened to throw to the door a little greasy 
 or soapy water, that the place thus moistened has been covered 
 in a few minutes with butterflies of the richest and most brilliant 
 dress. All the hues that the prism can elicit from the " parent 
 of colours," have been there manifested, and that with such a 
 beautifully variegated combination, as to render imitation utterly 
 impracticable. The plan proposed in this narrative requires that 
 mention be made only of such objects as would come under the 
 notice of common observers, whereby a tolerably correct idea of 
 the general state of the country may be obtained. I cannot how- 
 ever close these succinct observations on insects, without noticing 
 one which flies about during the evenings in summer, and emits 
 a light considerably brighter than that of the glow worm. When 
 I first beheld it, I was not aware of its existence. It was one 
 evening as husband and I were returning from the chapel, on a 
 road that was principally through an uncultivated piece of wooded 
 land. As we were passing along, we observed in many places 
 what we took to be sparks of fire dancing about most mysteriously. 
 Our curiosity was excited not a little, but not knowing what to 
 think, we dared not approach them, for fear they were connected 
 with something super-human. Superstition certainly got hold of 
 us, and we hastened home imagining some strange catastrophe 
 was about to occur. On reaching home we found a neighbour 
 waiting our arrival, to whom we related what we had witnessed. 
 He smiled at our simplicity, and told us they were light bugs, the 
 name they are known by in Illinois ; fire-flies I believe is a more 
 general term, which gave us no small satisfaction; as we had 
 been much disturbed to know what such a prodigy could imply. 
 A few pages back I attempted to describe the appearance of a 
 winter night. I may now be allowed to make a few remarks on 
 the peculiarities of a night in summer. As our situation in 
 America is about fourteen degrees further south than Yorkshire, 
 I scarcely need say that the shortest summer night there is longer 
 than the shortest in England by two or three hours. In this 
 country, as the shades of twilight gradually usher in the more 
 sombre aspect of night, a delightful silence seems to repose on 
 the bosom of nature. Hence Milton : " Now came still evening
 
 62 
 
 its victims; that it was in vain for me to think I could do as I had 
 done. My decisive reply to these and many other obstacles 
 which comfort, prudence, maternal and conjugal love suggested, 
 was, " it must be now or never." 
 
 Decided, therefore, to carry out the resolve to which I had 
 come, I prepared to accompany our guest, and finally left Illinois 
 for England on the 20th of April, where we arrived after a pros- 
 perous voyage on the 19th of June; 'and thus am I again, for a 
 few short summer weeks, in my own county. I will not trouble 
 the reader further with my story. If the account I have given of 
 our proceedings, adverse and successful, does not allure his fancy 
 with ideas of visionary prosperity as the invariable result of 
 crossing the seas, it may perchance tend to make him a little better 
 satisfied with his present condition, though it should only be a 
 snug little cottage in the land where his childhood was reared. 
 If it does this, it will be something myfpurpose will be served 
 and thus, reader, I wish thee farewell. 
 
 NOTE. The writer feels it due to state that the subject of this 
 narrative, as implied above, returned, after a stay in England of 
 about three months, taking with her the daughter, mentioned at 
 the first outset as being left, the husband of the same, and their 
 two children, besides a family or two of connections. Since their 
 departure three or four other families from their own immediate 
 neighbourhood have followed.
 
 THE FOLLOWING WORKS MAY BE HAD OF THE 
 SAME PUBLISHERS: 
 
 Eafoottr's Wrongs anb 
 flavour's 
 
 Or the AGE OF MIGHT and the AGE OF RIGHT. 
 BY J. F. BRAY. 
 
 It is long since we read a work which displays so vigorous, great, 
 and cogent a reasoning power. The logic of the author is the weapon 
 of a master. If the workers would qualify themselves for bettering 
 their condition, let them study this Political Economist of their own 
 order, this Adam Smith of the producing classes." Howitt. 
 
 Price, Stitched Is. 9d., Boards 2s.; or by Post 2s. 3d. 
 and 2s. Gd. 
 
 28eggars,<ritttittals auto 
 
 A Tract, Showing the shocking depravity which exists in 
 
 large Towns, and how Ragged Schools may alleviate the 
 
 evil. Price Id., or by post 2d. 
 
 ommtmitg 
 
 antr practicable, 
 
 Pointing out the Remedy for the evils existing in Society, 
 with a statement of the Community System as now exem- 
 plified in some parts of the World. By a Member of the 
 Redemption Society. 
 
 Price Id., or forwarded per post 2d.

 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 917.73B92T COOS 
 
 A TRUE PICTURE OF EMIGRATION: OR, FOURTE 
 
 30112025337491