A peep at Uncle Sam's farm, workshop, fisheries, &c

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND

MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

A PEEP AT

UNCLE SAM'S FARM,

WORKSHOP, FLSHERTFS. .^, .

Bv P. TOCQUE,

^VDEBIJJC TUOUCiHTS,' &c.

^M /;>.;'«; /^*''«"' «'"'<»'« American continent,

i^OSTONr

AKLIOfS H. PEIRCE AND COMPANY.
1851.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851,

By CHARLES H. TEIRCE & CO.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

George C Kand & Co., Printers,
No. 3 Cornhill, Boston.

T&3

TO HIS EXCKLLXNOT

SIR JOHN GASPARD LE MARCHANT,

Knight, and Knight Commander of the Orders of St. Ferdinand

and of Charles the Third, of Spain, Governor and

Commander-in-Chief in and over the Island

of Newfoundland and its Dependencies,

&c., &C., &c.,

THIS WORK

Is, with His Excellency's permission, most respectfully dedicated,
bj his very faithful and obedient Servant,

PHILIP TOCQUE.

WoreeBt«r, Maasachosettji, U.S., March 1, 1861

(Vi358762

PREFACE

In the preparation of this work, the Author has but
one object in view, namely — a desire to make the
inhabitants of his native country, Newfoundland, ac-
quainted with facts and incidents which came under his
own personal observation, and more particularly those
persons whose information regarding America (a country
which is destined to be the greatest upon which the sun
ever shone) is somewhat limited. In collecting mate-
rials for this work, the Author availed himself of the
works of Mr. Hay ward, the State Records, and local
pamphlets which fell in his way during his travels. He
has spared neither time nor labor to make it useful and
interesting. It must, however, be regarded more as a
compilation than as containing any great amount of ori-
ginal matter. The Author has visited the principal
manufactories of the New England States, with the ex-
ception of Vermont, conversed with the superintendents
and most of the operatives employed in the mills, and in
A*

VI PREFACE.

this way has acquired much valuable statistical information.
The Author has not spoken of half the places which he
visited; to do so, would swell this volume beyond the
limits which he intends it should occupy.

Owing to tlie Author residing at Worcester, he has
devoted a larger space to Massachusetts than to any other
State.

If, therefore, in the perusal of this very unpretending
volume, the reader can catch a glimpse of the agricultural,
commercial, and industrial features of this gigantic
country, the Author's wishes will be abundantly gratified.

P. TOCQUE.

Worcester, Mass., U.S., March 1, 1851.

INDEX

Arrival at Boston, 3

Agricultural Returns, 84

Augusta, 115

Kennebec River, 115

State House, 115

Arsenal, 116

Ship BuUding, 116

Army, 133

American Antiquarian Society, 143

Boots and Shoes, Manufacture of, 90

Boston, 3

Meeting of Old Friends, 3

Mr. Stevens, 4

Statistics of Newfoundland, 6

Climate, &c., 11

Hon. Edward Everett, 11

Landing of the Pilgrims, 1^

Harbor, &c, IS

Churches, 16

Population, 19

Emigrants 21

Health, &c., 22

Shipping, -24

Imports and Exports, 24

Railways, 26

City Officers, 28

Courts, 28

Common, 49

Schools, &c., 30

Vlll INDEX.

Temperance, 32

Public Buildings, 43

Novel Bridge, 45

Brighton Cattle Market, 163

Brother Jonathan, 186

Coal, 84

Charlestown, 49

Navy Yard, 50

Bunker Hill Monument, 51

Ice Trade, 53

Cars, Railroad, 148

California, 213

Cambridge, 64

Gigantic Chimney, 64

Washington Elm, 65

Harvard University, 65

Cattle Market, 66

Vegetables for Boston Market, 70

Cod Fishery, 96

Commerce of the United States, 215

Connecticut River, 1 78

Cattle Market, 66

Congress, 219

Childs, Mrs., Ill

Denominations of Christians, 220

Distilleries, 36

Exhibition of all Nations, 135

Fisheries,

Herring, 97

Whale, 88

Salmon, 97

Cod, 100

Mackerel, 97

Newfoundland, 102

Fugitive Slave Law, 192

Fillmore, Millard, 189

INDEX. IX

Government of the United States, 219

Grapes, Culture of, 36

Gold, 214

Hartford, 180

Scttlementof, 180

Population, &c, 180

Public Buildings, 181

Charter Oak, 184

Tom Thumb, 18S

Death of General Taylor, 186-

Imports and Exports of the United States, 217

Iron, 85

Jenny Lind, 77

Lexington, 75

First Blood shed in the Revolution, 75

Monument, 7&

Lynn 86

Population, 87

Manufactures, 87

Fisheries, 87

Lowell, 157

Population, &c., 158

Manufactures, 158

Harriet Farley, 161:

Spindles, 161

Cotton, 162

Lakes, Commerce and Extent of, 212

Light Houses, 117

Massachusetts Returns, 83

Mount Auburn, 7t

Cemetery, 71

Dr. Webster, 72

Capital Punishment, 7*

X INDEX.

Marblehead, 94

Fisheries, &c., 95

Maine, Inhabitants of, 119

Militia, 133

Mackerel Fishery, 97

Mississippi, Commerce of, 204

Mint, United States, 214

Meteorology, 156

Newburyport, 102

Population, 103

Fisheries and Shipping, 103

Rev. George Whitefield, 106

Navy, 133

Newton Corner, 164

Dr. Teulon, 164

Eliot, 165

Monument, 166

George Copway, 166

Newfoundland, 102

Portsmouth, 115

Navy Yard, 115

First Line-of-Battle Ship, 115

Printing, first in America, 65

Portland, 115

Pin Manufacture, 179

Providence, 171

Population, 171

Manufactures, 173

Brown University, 172

Eoger Williams, 173

Arcade, 172

Constitution, 174

Presidents of the United States, 191

Post Office, 202

Produce of the United States, 218

Population of the United States, 220

INDEX. XI

Railroads, 137

Revenue and Expenditure, 220

South Boston, 56

Rev. Mr. Clinch, 56

Institution for the Blind, 57

Laura Bridgman, 57

Salem, 90

Dr. Bowditch, 90

Shipping, &c., 91

Museum, 91

Witches, 92

Fisheries, 92

Salt, Manufacture of, 101

Ships built in the United States, •. 116

Seamen, number of, &c., 118

Sedgwick, Miss, 166

Schools, 145

Steamers, 205

Springfield, 174

Valuation, 1 74

Beautiful Scenery, 176

United States Arsenal, 1 75

Muskets, 175

Thunder Storms, 176

Fourth of July, • • 178

Slavery, 195

Steamship first crossed the Atlantic, 206

Temperance, 32

Thompson, George, 200

Tonnage, 116

Territory of the United States, 212

Taylor, General, 187

Taylor, Father, 3

Voyage from Newfoundland, 1

Vineyards, Cincinnati, 35

XU INDEX.

Whale Fishery, 88

Whale Candles, 90

Wine Manufacture, 92

Witches, 92

Wages, rates of, 119

Women's Rights Convention, 155

AVorcester, 120

League of Brotherhood, 120

Olive Leaf Circles, 120

Elihu Burritt, 149

Peace Congress, 122

Statistics of War, 125

Population, Churches, &c., 136

Lunatic Asylum, 142

Roman Catholic College, 141

Schools, 144

Medical College, 143

Statistics, &c., 147

Dr. Dick, 150

Paine's Gas, 154

Witch Hazel Pointers, 223

:|!lllllM!ll!!"ii;''l'

A PEEP AT UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

On the 5th of Nov., 1849, 1 left St. John's, New-
foundland, for Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the Royal
Mail Steamer " Falcon," Capt. Corbin. After touch-
ing at Sydney, C. B., for coal, wc arrived in IJallfax
on the 10th. Here I met with many friends whom
I had previously become acquainted with : among
others whom I visited was his Excellency Lieut. Gen-
eral Sir John Harvey, the Governor, from whom I
had received much kindness and attention during his
administration of the Government of Newfoundland,
as well as during my visit to Nova Scotia in 1847.
I was received by Sir John with that courtesy and
cordiality which characterize the good old Englbh
Gentleman.

On the 17th of Dec. I left Halifax in the sailing

packet " Vixen," for Boston. I was glad to have as

Captain my old friend and countryman, Richard

Magher, who had commanded the first mail steamer

1

2 A PEEP AT

ever employed in carrying the mail between Halifax
and Newfoundland, which extended from April, 1844,
down to the period when he was so unfortunate as to
have lost the steamer " Kestrel," at St. Shotts, on
the Newfoundland coast, in the summer of 1849. St.
Shotts has been the scene of a number of shipwrecks,
comprising several of H. M. ships of war, as well as
of merchant vessels. They all appear to have been
carried there by a mysterious current. A highly in-
teresting and philosophic article has been written on
the probable causes of the shipwrecks at St. Shotts,
by Mr. St. John of Harbor Grace, and published in
his paper, the " Conception Bay Herald." I was
grieved to find that Captain Magher was under the
impression that the remarks of Mr. St John did him a
great injury. I endeavored to remove this erroneous
impression. Capt. Magher took great exception to
the remark " guided by the rule of thumb." My in-
timate acquaintance with Mr. St. John led me to say,
that he would be among the last men in the world to
do or say any thing to injure another, particularly
Capt. Magher. Petitions from the merchants and
other leading inhabitants of Newfoundland, had been
sent to Mr. Cunard to reinstate Capt. Magher in the
command of the mail steamer, but apparently without

UNCLE SAM'S FABM. 8

effect. Capt. Magher had not only commanded the
first mail steamer, but also the first mail sailing packet
up to the time of her being superseded hy a steamer.
We arrived in Boston after a stormy and most dis-
agreeable passage of nine days. Among my fellow-
passengers was Mrs. Haddon and family. (Mr. Had-
don had previously gone on.) This gentleman had
been sent over to Newfoundland by the Board of Ord-
nance in London to superintend the erection of
Government House in St. John's, during the adminis-
tration of Sir Thomas Cochrane in 1825. It is said
to have cost the British Government upwards of
£50,000. Owing to adverse circumstances, Mr.
Haddon has been compelled to seek a home in the
great American Repubhc. Immediately on my ar-
rival in Boston, I waited on my Newfoundland friends,
Messrs. Rice and Pearce. The next day I proceeded
to see the Rev. Edward T. Taylor, or, as he is gener-
ally called. Father Taylor. (The aged ministers of
every denomination are called Fathers in this country.)
Father Taylor is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and has been Pastor of the Bethel Church on
North Square from its commencement. It was
erected by the " Boston Port Society " in 1828, at a
cost of $28,000. The building is of brick, eighty-one

4 A PEEP AT

by fifty-three feet, aud -will seat fifteen hundred per-
sons. I have received the greatest kindness from
Father Taylor and his hospitable family. He has
great oratorical powers. He is truly a great original.
He uses very quaint sayings in the pulpit. Some of
his imagery and illustrations are beautiful. Very fre-
quently the same sermon makes the congregation
laugh and weep. Father Taj'lor is a man of high
respectability and great influence in Boston. He was
one of the Delegates selected to go in the Jamestown
with provisions to the Irish in 1847. A few doors
from Father Taylor's residence, I found my country-
man. Dr. Molloy, who had been our family physician
at Carbonear, from my boyhood up to the time of his
leaving for Canada, fourteen years ago. Dr. Molloy
still practises as a physician. ' His eldest son will re-
ceive his diploma to practice some time during the
year. Dr. Molloy frequently accompanied me in my
wanderings through the great thor,ough fares of Boston.
I next visited the Rev. Abel Stevens, A. M., who
is the author of two or three works, and the editor of
^* Zion's Herald," the organ of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church for the New England States. He is a
man of great talent. The most eloquent speech I
ever heard was from Mr. Stevens, delivered at the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. ^

" Young Men's Missionary Meeting," at the Brom-
field street Church. His style and language was
much Uke Richard Watson's. I have on all occasions
received great kindness from Mr. Stevens. I was in-
troduced by Mr. Stovens to Bishop Janes, who was
then on a visit to Boston ; also to the Be v. Mr. Cran-
dall, Presiding Elder of the Boston district. I was
also introduced by Mr. Stevens to all the preachers,
who were then holding a weekly conference at the
Bromfield street Church. During my first interview
with Mr. Stevens, he asked me what they thought of
annexation in Newfoundland. I told him they thought
nothing about it ; that in this respect it was quite dif-
ferent from Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia;
that many parts of thoso provinces were settled by
Loyalists at the time of the American Revolution ;
that these countries were on the continent and joining
the United States, with which they had constant inter-
course by land as well as by sea ; consequently a
great deal of the American habits, customs and man-
ners are diflfused through the continental British prov-
inces ; but that Newfoundland was isolated and
separated from the continent by the Gulf of St. Law-
rence, and had nothing of the American character
diffused amongst her people, nor a particle of sym-

r

6 A PEEP AT

pathj with the annexationists. As Mr. Stevens ap-
peared to know little or nothing of Newfoundland, I
gave him, so near as I can recollect, the following
information. Newfoundland is an island, 350 miles
long, and 200 broad. It is the last land near the
continent, on this side the Atlantic, and about 1900
miles distant from the nearest part of Ireland. It
contains a population of 100,000, scattered along the
sea-coast, the greater part of whom are engaged in
the cod fishery. The population are wholly English,
Irish and Scotch, their descendants being the natives.
One half the population are Roman Catholics. The
other half are Protestants, comprising the following
denominations : 35,000 Episcopalians, 14,000 Meth-
odists, 400 Congregationalists, and 500 Presbyterians
of the Established and Free Church of Scotland. It
is the oldest colony of the British Crown in America,
having been discovered by Cabot on the 24th of June,
1497. It has no interior settlements, and but few
roads leading more than eight or ten miles into the
interior. Almost every family has from one to twenty
acres of land surrounding their dwelHng, from which
they raise their vegetables. The land, however, is
very poor ; not a particle of loam is to be found in
the island. The forest consists of pine, larch, spruce,

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 7

fir, and birch, of a very scrubby, stunted growth.
Maple, oak, ash, beech, elm, or any other of thoso
beautiful trees that adorn the American landscape,
are not to be found in Newfoundland. Although bar-
ren and rocky, Newfcmndland produces some of the
finest potatoes in the world. Last year (1848) it
produced 5,000 barrels of flour. Sir John Gaspard
Le Marchant, the present Governor, is a man of
energy and enterprise, and has greatly facilitated
agriculture in Newfoundland. In 1842, an Agricul-
tural Society was formed under the auspices of Sir
John Harvey, the then Governor. This Society has
greatly increased in usefulness under the fostering
care of the present Governor. It awards premiums
for the best crops, &c. The principal annual agricul-
tural produce of Newfoundland is as follows :

Bushels of Potatoes, 1,300,000
Bushels of Grain, 11,695

Tons Hay and Fodder, 12,000

In 1845, there were owned in the island 2,409 horses;
8,135 cows and oxen ; 5,750 sheep ; 5,077 hogs, and
6,791 goats. The whole agricultural produce annually
has been estimated at X 300,000, or 1,500,000 dol-
lars. Its annual imports amount to nearly X 900,000,
and its exports to about the same sum, amounting to

8 A PEEP AT

4,500,000 dollars. Of the imports, X 230,000, or
1,150,000 dollars worth are from the United States,
while the exports to the United States amount to only
£20,000, or 100,000 dollars. Nearly the whole of
the export produce consists of fish and oil. New-
foundland employs upwards of 300 vessels in the seal
fishery. The number of seals annually taken is about
500,000. Taking into account the fisheries and for-
eign and coasting trade, Newfoundland annually em-
ploys about 2,500 sail of vessels. St. John's, the
capital of the island, contains a population of about
22,000. It has been visited by three terrible confla-
grations, by which, each time, nearly the whole town
was destroyed. The last occurred on the 9th of June,
1846, when over 2,000 houses were destroyed, and
property to the amount of X 800,000, or 4,000,000
dollars, consumed. On the 12th of February, 1816,
a most destructive fire desolated a great part of the
town of St. John's. When the intelligence of this
calamitous event reached the city of Boston, a deep
and powerful sympathy was excited among her citizens
for the destitution of 1500 human beings, left home-
less and penniless amid the frosts and storms of a
Newfoundland winter. Burying in oblivion the recol-
lection that the year previous the two countries were

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 9

hostile to each other, and regardless of the disputed
riglit to fishing on the Banks, which right America
wished to claim, but Britain was unwilling to concede,
the noble and disinterested citizens of Boston only re-
membered the claims of their suffering fellow-crea-
tures upon their hospitality. A vessel was immediately
loaded with provisions, which were sent to be distrib-
uted gratuitously among the distressed inhabitants of
St. John's, where she arrived in safety and delivered
her valuable cargo. It was considered a most daring
and hazardous enterprise for a vessel to brave the
storms of a winter passage to Newfoundland at that
period.

The principal street of St. John's is built of brick
and stone, and some of the shops are equally as fine
as are to be found in the city of Boston. It is more
of an aristocratic place than any other of the Amer-
ican British colonies. Several partners in the mer-
cantile firms are members of the British House of
Commons. A partner in one firm is one of the
Directors of the Bank of England. St. John's is
lighted with gas, and has water-works, connected with
which are numerous fireplugs, to be used in case of
fire, as well as for watering the streets. For the ex-
tent of population, it probably does more business than

10 A PEEP AT

any place in the world. It is the principal market for
the agricultural produce and live stock of Prince Ed-
ward's Island, and the eastern part of Nova Scotia.
The island is divided into nine Districts, which return
fifteen members to the House of Assembly. The
Council consists of nine members, who are Executive
and Legislative, and are appointed by the Crown.
The Chief Justice of the island, the Hon. Francis
Brady, is an Irish gentleman, and a Roman Catholic.
The Collector of Her Majesty's Customs, John Kent,
Esq., is an Irish gentleman, and a Roman Catholic.
There are also two of the Stipendiary Magistrates
Irish Roman Catholics. The other principal oflSces of
the Government are filled by Protestants. Mr. Kent,
the Collector, has "been the leading politician of the
country. He is a great reformer, a good speaker,
and a man of considerable talent.

The carboniferous group of rocks abound on the
western part of the island, where there is a coal field
thirty miles long, and marble in abundance. Copper,
iron and lead have been discovered in difierent parts
of the island.

Mr. Stevens appeared surprised at the resources
and trade, for so small a population, and said he won-
dered how people could live in so cold a country. I

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 11

told Mm he was quite mistaken with regard to the
climate. I said the thei-mometer was very rarely four
or five degrees below zero in the winter season, and
during the coldest days not more than ten degrees.
During the summer the thermometer ranges from sev-
enty to eighty-five degrees. In Massachusetts, the
thermometer is from ten to twenty degrees below zero,
and more in the coldest days ; and in the summer the
mercury ranges from eighty to over one hundred de-
grees. Mr. Stevens said he had no idea Newfound-
land possessed such a climate. I told him it was per-
haps the healthiest climate in the world. No fevers
of any kind are generated in the country. Not a
frog, toad, lizard, snake, or any other venomous rep-
tile, has ever been found in the island.

In all my subsequent interviews with some of the
leading men of this country, I found that whenever
Newfoundland was the subject of conversation, they
invariably carried in their minds the idea that it formed
a part of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
I recollect, in a conversation with the Hon. Edward
Everett, on the meeting recently held in Portland for
the purpose of forming a railroad from the States
through the British Provinces, Mr. Everett began to
speak of the great advantages Newfoundland would

12 A PEEP AT

derive from having the railroad running through it.
But \Yhen I called his attention to the fact of its being
an island, he said, — "I have cause to remember
Newfoundland ; I was near being shipwrecked on
Cape Race." I presented Mr. Everett with a copy
of the Newfoundland Almanac, containing the general
statistics of the island ; and in return received from
him a copy of his last Oration, delivered at the
seventy-fifth anniversary of the battle of Bunker
Hill. I also presented His. Excellency, Governor
Briggs, with a copy of the Newfoundland Almanac,
and also Hon. Millard Fillmore, President of the Uni-
ted States, who expressed himself much pleased with
the amount of information which it contained.

One cannot visit Boston without being reminded
that he is in the home of the Pilgrim Fathers, who
fled from persecution in their own land, and braved
the storms of the Atlantic Ocean, that amidst the
" rocking pines of the forest " they might find for
themselves a burial, but for their children and princi-
ples a home. The landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,
from the Mayflower, on Plymouth Bock, took place
December 22nd, 1620, in the depth of winter, with
no place of abode, amid frost and snow, and sur-
rounded with savages and wild beasts. The first

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 13

settlers of this State ^rere men of learning, wealth,
and religion. Nursed in the lap of luxury at home,
they endured great privation and suffering on their
arrival in this country. They must have had great
courage and perseverance. They used to carry the
hoe in one hand and a musket in the other, to protect
themselves from the incursions of the Indians. The
landing of the Pilgrims is annually celebrated through-
out the New England States. It is called " Thanks-
^ving Day." Service is kept in all the churches,
and business of every kind suspended. Boston is the
capital of the State of Massachusetts, the metropolis
of New England, the literary emporium of the west-
em world, " the City of the Pilgrims,'* " the City of
Notions," the " Raihx)ad City," " the old English
City." As the stranger for the first time paces the
narrow, crooked streets of Boston^ the events of the
Revolution crowd upon his mind. Here it was, that,
in 1773, a number of citizens disguised themselves as
Indians, boarded some British ships loaded with tea,
and threw three hundred and forty-two chests of it
into the sea, rather than pay the tax imposed on them
by the British Government, which finally led to the
Independence of America. Boston took the most
important part in the struggle for Independence. It
2

14 A PEEP AT

is emphatically the birth-place of American freedom,
and up to the present hour has taken the lead in all
political and social reforms of any consequence.
Boston is situated on a peninsula, at the western ex-
tremity of Massachusetts Bay. It is about three
miles in length, and one in breadth. Its surface is
quite uneven, and rises into three eminences, from
which originates the name Tremont, or Tri-Mountain,
by which it was called by the first settlers. Its In-
dian name was Shawmut, It received its present
name on the 7th September, 1630, in honor of the
Rev. John Cotton, who was an emigrant from Boston
in England, and second minister of the first church.
It was incorporated a city in 1822. The peninsula
on which Old Boston, or Boston proper, is built, ex-
tends from Eoxbury to Winnisimmet Ferry, a great
part of which has been reclaimed from the sea. It
is surrounded by the waters of Boston harbor on the
east, and Charles river on the north and west. South
Boston was taken from Dorchester in 1804. It is
connected with Boston proper by two bridges. East
Boston, a few years ago, was called "Noddle's
Island." It is connected with Old Boston by a steam-
boat ferry, which starts from either side every five
minutes.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 15

Boston harbor is one of the most commodious and
beautiful in the world, containing about seventy-five
square miles, in which the whole British Navy might
ride in safety, completely land-locked. The harbor is
perfectly free from sand-bars. The most important
part of the harbor is entered by a narrow pass, about
three miles below the city and Navy Yard, and is pro-
tected by two strong forts. Independence and Warren.
Boston harbor is bespangled with numerous beautiful
islands. The soft materials of which these islands
are composed are gradually yielding to the action of
the sea ; and where large herds of cattle were once
pastured the ocean billow now rolls. Boston harbor
is the reservoir of the Mystic, Charles, Neponset,
Manatiquot, and other small rivers. Boston is the
second commercial city in the Union, and fourth in
population. The whole length of the harbor is lined
with about two hundred docks and wharves, more than
five miles in extent. Boston is called the " Athens of
America." Her citizens are considered more of a
literary people than any other community in the Uni-
ted States. There are over one huudred newspapers
and magazines printed in the city, and about one
hundred and forty charitable and literary societies.

In 1648, all the inhabitants assembled in one

16 A PEEP AT

church; now there are nearly one hundred. Some
of the churches of Boston are splendid. The Meth-
odist Episcopal Church on Hanover street, with its
buttresses, battlements, turrets, and pinnacles, pre-
sents a grand and imposing appearance. It is built
of freestone, in the Gothic style. The pews, pulpit,
organ, and gallery fronts, are of black walnut, richly
carved and ornamented. The spire is two hundred
and twenty-six feet in height above the level of the
ground. It formerly belonged to the Unitarians, and
was purchased by the Methodists for $90,000, or
£18,000 sterhng. The celebrated Rev. Dr. Cotton
Mather, and Rev. Dr. Increase Mather, were con-
nected with the first congregations of this church.

Every visitor of Boston feels a strong desire to visit
the " Old South Church." It belongs to the Congre-
gationalists, and stands at the corner of Washington
and Milk streets, and was one of the places of meet-
ing of the leaders of the Revolution.

" Here was delivered, in defiance of the threats of
authority, and in presence of marshalled soldiery,
Warren's fearless oration on the anniversary of the
Massacre of the 5th of March, 1770. Here was re-
peatedly held the meetings of oppressed freemen,
which called forth those peals of patriotic eloquence.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 17

which aroused this whole country, and shook the
British throne."

The Brattle Street Church, once Congregationalist,
but now Unitarian, has a cannon ball embedded in the
brick m front ; the ball was fired by the American
Army, stationed in Cambridge, on the night previous
to the evacuation, March 17th, 1776.

Trinity Church, on Summer street, is the principal
church belonging to the Episcopalians. It is a splen-
did Gothic edifice, of granite. The organ of this
church is said to be one of the most costly in the
country. The Rt. Rev. Manton Eastbum, D. D.,
Bishop of Massachusetts, preaches in this church.
From this gentleman I have on all occasions received
the greatest politeness and attention. The Bishop is
an Englishman ; he came to America, however, when
very young. He has visited England once or twice
since his elevation to the Episcopal Chair ; he is per-
sonally acquainted with the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, the Bishop of Worcester, and other leading Pre-
lates of the English Church. Mass was first cele-
brated in Boston, in an old French Church, Nov. 22,
1788.

The " Church of the Holy Cross," in Franklin
street, is the principal one belonging to the Roman
2*

18 A PEEP AT

Catholics in Boston ; the present Bishop, the Rt.
Rev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, D. D., is a native of Boston.

There is but one Presbyterian Congregation at
present in Boston, who occupy one of the public halls
for worship.

The oldest church belonging to the Episcopalians,
is Christ Church, on Salem street. It was built in
1723, and is the only church in New England with a
chime of bells. It is built of brick, and has a steeple
one hundred and soventy-five feet high, in which are
eight bells, which peal forth some beautiful tunes
every Sabbath. There are inscriptions on all the
bells, three of which are the following : " We are the
first ring of bells cast for the British Empire in North
America, A. R., 1744.'' '' Abel Rudball, of Glou-
cester, cast us all. Anno, 1744.'' *' God preserve
the Church of England. 1744." The present min-
ister, the Rev. John Woart, A. M., has been the rec-
tor of this church for the last ten years. Mr. Woart
is one of the most intimate friends I have in
America.

Federal Street Church (Unitarian) is the church
over which the celebrated Rev. Dr. Channing pre-
sided from 1803 to the time of his death, in 1842.
This church was first formed by Irish Presbyterians,

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 19

in 1827. It adopted the Congregational order in
1786, and finally became Socinian, or Unitarian.
The Unitarians, I believe, are the wealthiest people
in Boston ; at the same time they are amongst the
most liberal in the support of all benevolent institu-
tions in aid of the cause of humanity and religion.

Of the rich men of Boston in 1849, there were
eight who were taxed for over half a million of prop-
erty ; seven for between $100,000 and $500,000 ;
fourteen for between $300,000 and $400,000 ; twen-
ty-five for between $200,000 and $300,000; and
one hundred and twenty-five for between $100,000
and $200,000. The following are the names of those
taxed for over half a million: Abbott Lawrence,
$1,032,400; Robert G. Shaw, $829,400; David
Sears, $752,600 ; Jonathan Philips, $688,000 ; Jo-
siah Quincy, Jr., $619,000 ; John Wells, $616,000 ;
Thomas Wigglesworth, $556,000; John Bryant,
$549,700.

The population of Boston proper, according to the
census of 1850, just taken, is as follows :

Native bom, 75,459

Irish bom, 52,960

Other Foreign, 10,359

Total, 138,778

20 A PEEP AT

There are 2,112 colored people. But including
South and East Boston, Charlestown, Chelsea, Rox-
burj, and the neighboring towns of East, West, and
Old Cambridge, Dorchester, Maiden, Medford, Brigh-
ton and Brookline, which are component parts of Bos-
ton, and are as much associated with it as Westmins-
ter is with London, Magottj Cove with St. John's,
Newfoundland, or Portland with St. John, New
Brunswick, the population of Boston would be over
300,000. Boston is rapidly expanding itself into a
great city ; and in the course of a few years probably
will contain a population of over half a million.
Places which a few years ago " told of the stirring of
the ocean old," are now laid out in beautiful streets,
lined with fine buildings. The City Authorities are
now reclaiming, or rather making, a great quantity of
land at the " Neck," leading from Boston to Roxbury.
Two of the principal streets of Boston, Washington
and Tremont, lead straight on from the city to the
furthest extremity of Roxbury, a distance of about
seven miles.

The whole number of alien passengers which ar-
rived in Boston, for the quarter ending July 1, 1850,
was 15,559. The total number of emigrants which
arrived in the United States from April 1, 1848, to
April 1, 1849, was 247,500.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 21

The sacrifice is very great indeed in becoming ex-
patriated from one's country. I cannot describe the
painful emotions I felt, when for the last time I saw
the shadowy outlines of my native land die away in
the distance. A thousand fond recollections clustered
around my heart, of home, and kindred, and friends,
perhaps never to see again on earth. Thousands
have been disappointed in coming to America. Many
persons imagine that by coming to this country they
will at once be placed in comfortable, if not affluent
circumstances, without toil. This is a great mistake ;
every body must work here, and " go ahead ; " their
constant course must be — onward and upward.

The following important table exhibits at a single
view the number of emigrants from the British
Islands, in the last eleven years, and the chief
places of their destination.

AoBtralia

North United Colonies AU other rotaL

Yean. American States. and New Places. a""**.

Colonies. Zealand.

1839 12,658 33,536 15,786 227 62,207

1840 32,293 40,642 15,850 1,958 90,743

1841 38,164 45,017 32,625 2,785 118,592

1842 54,123 63,852 8,534 1,835 128,344

1843 23,518 28,335 3,478 1,881 57,212

1844 22,924 43,660 2,229 1,873 70,686

1845 31,803 58,538 830 2,330 93,501

1846 43,439 82,239 2,347 1,826 129,851

1847 109,680 142,1.54 4,949 1,487 258,270

1848 31,065 188,233 23,904 4,387 248,089

1849 41,367 219,450 32,091 6,.590 299,498

Total, 441,034 945,656 142,623 27,680 1,553,993

22 A PEEP AT

A large number of British emigrants are brought
to this country by funds gratuitously provided by rela-
tives already in the United States. A writer in the
London Chronicle, July 15th, after learning the
amount of bills negotiated in this way by five houses
in Liverpool, estimates that the sum of one million
sterling, or nearly $5,000,000, is thus sent over
every year.

The number of paupers in the State of Massa-
chusetts in 1849 was 24,892. Of this number 9,128
were from England and Ireland ; the cost of supporting
which amounted to |441,675, or upwards of "£88,-
000. The value of labor performed by paupers in
Alms House, $17,000, or about <£3,500.

It is estimated that there are 200,000 Canadians
residing in the United States. Boston is the healthiest
city in the Union, standing higher in this respect than
all the larger cities. The weekly mortality of Boston
is from 60 to 80 deaths. According to a table kept
in the City Registrar's office in Boston, the Ameri-
cans present a much higher standard of longevity
than do the foreigners ; and foreign children's diseases
also prove much more extensively fatal than do those
of the children of natives.

Diarrhoea, dysentery, typhoid, typhus, and other

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 23

fevers prevail very extensively. More die of con-
sumption, however, than of any other disease. Three
things operate very powerfully against the health of the
American people : — First, close stoves; air-tight stoves
are every where, in the kitchen, the parlor, the cham-
ber, the counting-room, and the workshop. Secondly,
the constantly eating sweetmeats and confectionary^
morning, noon and night ; thus the digestive organs are
constantly kept in action, when they should be at
rest ; and thirdly, fast eating^ the wearing of thin
hoots and shoes, and the want of exercise hy walking.
No one will think of walking half a mile while he
is able to pay for a cab.

Boston is the capital of the State of Massachusetts.
The State contains 7,250 square miles; 321 cities
and towns ; and has a population of 973,715. It
sends ten members to Congress. The number of
State Senators (which correspond to the Council in
the British colonies) is 40, and the number of State
Representatives (corresponding to the House of
Assembly) is 356. The present Governor of Massa-
chusetts His Excellency George N. Briggs, LL. D. ;
belongs to the Baptist denomination. Lieutenant
Governor, His Honor John Reed, LL. D. The
Governor receives a salary of $2,500 per annum, or

24 A PEEP AT

£500 sterling. Boston has railroads branching ofiF
in almost every direction, thus connecting it with the
remotest parts of the country. It is the great depot
for all the manufactures of the New England States ;
all contributing thus to make it a city of great com-
merce. The following is the number of vessels arriv-
ing at the port of Boston for the past six years : —

Year.

Foreign.

Coast'wise,

Duties
on Foreign

1844

2,174

5,009

$5,956,962

1845

2,305

5,259,441

1846

2,090

4,780,186

1847

2,740

7,004

5,448,361

1848

3,009

4,908,927

1849

3,111

5,031,994

Besides the above, a great number of vessels are
employed in the fisheries, wood carrying, &c. It is
computed that altogether over 12,000 vessels annually
enter the port of Boston. In arrivals from foreign
ports in 1844, New York excelled Boston by only
thirty-four vessels.

The following are a few of the principal articles
of import during the undermentioned years : —

Year. Bales of Cotton.

Ilhds of

Molasses.

Bbls. Flour.

Bush. Com.

1843 151,090

61,774

610,964

1,540,306

1844 175,529

77,426

686,586

1,960,663

1847 197,824

82,219

1,036,783

2,601,424

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 25

*

The exports were : —

Year.

Bbla of Flour.

Bales of Cotton.

1843

94,675

1,876

1844

107,862

6,000

The value of the domestics exported (principallj
cotton goods) in 1844, amounted to $1,234,458.

In 1847, 518,800 barrels flour came into Boston
by the Western Railroad. In 1845, the freight of a
barrel of flour from Albany to Boston, 200 miles, was
25 cents ; from Buffalo to Boston, 521 miles, 85
cents ; from Detroit, 848 miles, 105 cents ; and from
Chicago to the same place, 1,563 miles, 125 cents.
The average price of flour in Boston for the previous
ten years, up to 1844, was $6,80. The British
reader will bear in mind that 100 cents make a dollar,
and five dollars make one pound sterling.

The following is an extract from the inaugural
address of Mr. Quincy, the Mayor of Boston in 1846 ;

" A few years ago Boston had no facilities for com-
municating with the interior ; and when the Wesk
and the North began to develop their vast resources,
^nd to become at once the consumers of our manufac-
tures and the producers of our food, our easiest com-
munication with them was through our sister cities.
To them our manufactured articles went } to them our
8

26 A PEEP AT

merchants resorted ; our city was shut out from the
advantages of the fertilizing tide that was flowing
between the Old World and the New, and we were
almost stationary while other cities progressed. But
the railroad has changed all this, and given us a new
facility for the transaction of our old business ; has
created and developed new and incalculable resources,
and given, perhaps, a greater impulse to our city
than to any other in the world. Five years ago,
Boston had comparatively no back country; now,
nine hundred miles of New England railroads centre
here, and as many more within New England are in
the process of construction. These render Boston
emphatically her capital. Considered in this light
alone, the position of Boston is one of present power,
with a certainty of rapid advancement. But her
connections already stretch far beyond New England.
She is on the high road between Europe and the
West ; and that vast country has become tributary to
her increase. The car that leaves our city this morn-
ing may deposit its merchandise in thirty-six hours on
the shores of Lake Erie, five hundred miles from thg,
place of its departure ; from thence, inland seas,
navigable by vessels of the largest class, stretch away
for hundreds of miles along shores fertile for agricul-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 27

ture, or rich in minerals. Canals already connect
these lakes with the valley of the Mississippi, and
with the navigable waters of her tributaries, which,
extending twenty thousand miles, communicate with
forty thousand miles of shores unrivalled in fertility.
But more rapid modes of communication will this year
be opened. The railroad from Cincinnati to Sandus-
ky, built by the aid of the citizens of Boston, will
bring the Ohio within a journey of three days ;
enabling the traveller to reach Boston from Cincin-
nati in twelve hours less time than he can Baltimore,
although the latter place is three hundred miles the
nearest.

" But these are but a small part of the railways
that are to increase the prosperity of Boston. There
are already in process of construction roads stretch-
ing towards Montreal, Burlington, Ogdensburg ; roads
branching from Albany will reach Kingston, and
extend thence through Canada West ; others running
from Buffalo to Detroit on both sides of Lake Erie,
will ere long reach the upper sources of the Missis-
sippi ; and the child is now bom who will see them
terminate at the Pacific. The time may come when
the expectation that led Columbus to seek a passage
to India from Europe by proceeding west, will be

28 A PEEP AT

realized, and the direct communication between those
points may pass through the city of Boston."

There are in the citj of Boston twenty-seven
banks, with a capital of $19,280,000, and out of
Boston ninety-two banks, Avith a capital of $7,320,-
000 ; making a total of one hundred and nineteen
banks for the State of Massachusetts, besides which
there are forty-two institutions for savings in the
State.

The officers of the city of Boston are a Mayor,
eight Aldermen, forty-eight Common Council-men,
twelve Overseers of the Poor, and twenty-four School
Committee-men. They are chosen annually.

The Mayor and Aldermen are elected. The Mayor
only receives pay. The Common Council are elected
by the wards, but receive no pay. The two branches
of the city Government usually act separately. In
their collective capacity they are called the City
Council, who appoint the city officers, and fix their
compensation, &c.

The following is the number of Courts held in
Boston : —

Circuit Court of the United States. This Court is
holden at Boston twice a year.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 29

District Court of the United States. This Court
is holden at Boston four times a year.

Supreme Court of Massachusetts, for the counties
of Suffolk and Nantucket. Law Term, in Boston, in
March. Nisi Prius Term, in Boston, in Septemher.
Adjourned Nisi Prius Terms of the Supreme Court
in other counties are frequently holden in Boston.

Court of Common Pleas. A term of this Court is
holden in Boston quarterly.

Municipal Court. This Court is holden every
month, for the trial of criminal actions, for the city of
Boston. The judges of the Court of Common Pleas
preside alternately.

The Police Court of the City, for the trial of crim-
inal cases, is a court of similar, hut inferior, jurisdic-
tion to the Municipal Court. It sits daily. Three
Justices preside alternately in this Court. There is
no jury. An appeal lies to the Municipal Court.

Justices' Court. This is a Court for the trial of
civil suits, under twenty dollars. The Justices who
preside in the Police Court alternately preside here.
There is no jury. An appeal lies to the Court of
Common Pleas. This Court sits twice a week. It is
a Court of Record, and much of the minor business
of the city is transacted here.
3»

80 A PEEP AT

The Probate Court is liolden at the Probate OflSce
once a month.

All the above-mentioned Courts, excepting the
Probate Court, are holden in the Court House, a spar
cious and elegant granite building in Court street.

The Supreme Court of the United States is held in
Washington, and has but one session annually. It
consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Jus-
tices, who reside in different States. The Chief Jus-
tice, the Hon. Roger B. Tanej, of Maryland, receives
a salary of |^5,000 per annum, and the Associate
Judges $4,500 each.

The United States are also divided into nine
Judicial Circuits, in each of which a Circuit Court is
held semi-annually, by a Justice of the Supreme
Court, and the District Judge of the State or district
in which the Court sits. The United States are also
divided into forty-three districts, in which District
Courts are held by thirty-five judges.

The educational institutions of Massachusetts are
not surpassed by those of any other country in the
world. There are now in Boston 197 schools with
20,000 pupils in attendance. These schools are sus-
tained at the public charge. The following sums
were paid from the City Treasury in support of these

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 31

schools during the past year, (1849.) For instruction
the sum of $176,930 ; for repairs, fuel, and other
expenses of school-houses, $57,695 ; for new school-
houses, $99,489; making a total of $334,114.
There are about 2,000 children attending private
schools not educated at the public expense.

Manufactures of almost every description are carried
on at Boston ; the whole in 1845 amounted to $10,-
648,153.

The Mayor, in his inaugural address in 1 850, says :
" The city debt, exclusive of that contracted for water,
(which is $4,540,000,) amounted on the 31st day of
December to $1,623,863. It is estimated by the
Auditor that the debt, even if no anticipated expen-
diture shall be authorized, will amount at the close of
the financial year (30th April) to the sum of $1,726,-
803. To meet this sum we have bonds and mortgages,
$242,000 ; balance to credit of Committee on Reduc-
tion of Debt, $28,000; City Wharf, valued at $600,-
000 ; all amounting to $770,000 : besides the Mar-
ket, (yielding over $30,000 per annum,) many other
public buildings, the Public Garden, and nearly ten
millions of feet of upland and flats in the 11th and
12th wards. The specific appropriations for the cur-
rent financial year were $1,415,600. The Auditor

32 A PEEP AT

estimates that the total amount of expenditures for
the year will not be less than $1,729,300. The
increase is caused mainly by appropriations ; — for
filling up the flats, (of which I have already spoken)
$100,000 ; for carrj'ing on construction of new jail,
$123,000; and for additional paving, $70,000. The
city tax assessed for the year was $1,174,715."

According to law no liquors are allowed to be
retailed in the State of Massachusetts. Yet we find
Boston well supplied with oyster saloons and bar-
rooms, where a great quantity of liquors of every
description are vended ; probably a greater quantity
of spirits is sold in this way than if they had to pay
for licenses. I do not remember, however, to have
seen but one or two drunken men during the three
months which I remained at Boston.

The city is well supplied with Temperance So-
cieties. There are 42 Divisions of the " Sons of
Temperance,'^ with 3,000 members ; besides which
there are ten or a dozen other Temperance Societies.
I heard Gov. Briggs deUver an address at a meeting
of the " Cadets of Temperance " in the Samaritan
Hall. I also heard Mr. Gough lecture at the Tremont
Temple, who is said to be one of the most popular
lecturers on temperance in the country. The lecture

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 33

was good, but did not come up to my expectation.
Father Mathew is now visiting the South.

The Rev. Paul Denton, a Methodist minister in
Texas, lately advertised a barbacue, with better liquor
than usually furnished. When the people were
assembled, a desperado in the crowd cried out: "Mr.
Paul Denton, your reverence has lied. You promised
not only a good barbacue, but better liquor. Where's
the liquor ? "

" There ! " answered the missionary, in tones of
thunder, and pointing his motionless finger at the
matchless double spring, gushing up in two strong
columns, with a sound like a shout of joy from the
bosom of the earth. " There ! " he repeated, with a
look terrible as lightning, while his enemy actually
trembled at his feet ; " there is the liquor which God
the eternal brews for all his children.

" Not in the simmering still, over smoky fires,
choked with poisonous gases, and surrounded with the
stench of sickening odors and rank corruptions, doth
your Father in heaven prepare the precious essence
of life, the pure cold water. But in the green glade
and grassy dell, where the red deer wanders, and the
child loves to play, there God brews it ; and down,
low down in the deepest valleys, where the fountain

34 A PEEP AT

murmurs and the rills sing ; and high up in the moun-
tain tops, where the naked granite glitters like gold in
the sun, where the storm-cloud broods and the thun-
der-storms crash, and away far out on the wide wild
sea, where the hurricane howls music, and the big
wave rolls the chorus, sweeping the march of God —
there He brews it, that beverage of life, health-giving
water. And every where it is a thing of beauty ;
gleaming in the dew-drop ; singing in the summer
rain ; shining in the ice-gem, till the trees all seem
turned to living jewels, spreading a golden veil over
the setting sun, or a white gauze around the midnight
moon ; sporting in the cataract ; sleeping in the gla-
cier ; dancing in the hail shower, folding its bright
snow curtains softly about the wintry world; and
weaving the many-colored iris, that seraph's zone of
the sky, whose warp is in the rain-drop of earth,
whose woof is the sunbeam of heaven, all checked
over with celestial flowers, by the mystic hand of re-
fraction. Still always it is beautiful — that blessed
life- water ! no poison bubbles on its brink ; its foam
brings not madness and murder ; no blood stains its
liquid glass ; pale widows and starving orphans weep
not burning tears in its depths ; no drunkard's shrink-
ing ghost from the grave curses it in words of eternal

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 35

despair ! Speak out, my friends, would you exchange
it for the demon's drink, alcohol ? "

A shout like the roar of a tempest, answered
"No!"

It is estimated that the annual cost of intemperance
is, in France, $260,000,000; in Great Britain,
$105,000,000 ; in Sweden, $65,000,000 ; and in the
United States, $40,000,000; besides the cost of
prisons, police, asylums, work-houses, &c., which is in
a great measure attributable to intoxicating drinks.

A great quantity of wine is now manufactured in
the United States. Several cargoes, I believe, have
been shipped from New York to Europe. In Cincin-
nati, the capital of the State of Ohio, the " Queen
City of the West," grapes are cultivated to a great
extent. Within twenty miles of the city there are
743 acres of vineyard culture. The average produce
per acre in 1848, (a good season,) was 300 gallons.
In 1849, (the worst year ever known,) it was 100
gallons. New Catawba wine, at the press, brings 75
cents a gallon. When ready for sale, it is sold at
$1,25 per gallon. The product of the Catawba per
acre is considerably more than that of the wine grape
in France. The following is a calculation of the cost
and profit of a vineyard on the Ohio river : —

36 A PEEP AT

Cost of a vineyard per acre, say $250 ;

interest per annum, $15,00

Cost of attending, per acre, 60,00

Cost of making the wine, 25,00

Probable average annual product, 200

gallons, at $1,00 per gallon, 200,00

Supposed profit per acre, $100,00

Considerable quantities of the wild grape of Mas-
sachusetts are being manufactured into wine. A
farmer of Princeton a few days ago informed me that
he made 65 barrels of wine during the past year.
The number of distilleries at present in Massachusetts
is 43.

The following are the principal distilleries and
breweries of New York.

Messrs. Cogswell, Crane & Co. have an immense
distillery situated in Williamsburgh. The various
buildings occupy seventy-five lots of ground in all,
valued at 150,000. At this extensive distillery, there
are manufactured vast quantities of saleratus, whiskey,
alcohol, New England rum, and domestic liquors of
all kinds, and the work is done with steam-power, by
three engines, from ten to nineteen horse-power, and

UKCLE SAM'S FARM. 37

a number of boilers. The above firm gives constant
employment to upwards of seventy-five men, and the
following materials are consumed annually at their
factory : — 300,000 bushels of grain ; 7,500 hhds. of
molasses; and 5,000 tons of Lackawana coal. The
establishment has been in operation ten years.

Messrs. Nathan C. Ely & Co. have a very extensive
distillery at Williamsburgh. The buildings (con-
structed of brick) cover twelve entire lots of ground,
and cost $30,000. They have two steam engines, of
fifteen horse-power, also two large boilers. With this
steam power a vast quantity of saleratus, N. E. rum,
and other kinds of domestic liquors for exporting and
this market, are manufactured. Messrs. Ely & Co.
consume annually, 7,000 hogsheads of molasses ;
800,000 gallons of whiskey, and 2,000 tons of coal.
They have been in operation about eighteen years,
and at present give employment to some forty men in
the various departments of their establishment.

Messrs. 11. Havens & Son have a large distillery,
where they manufacture great quantities of rum, gin,
brandy, alcohol, pure spirits and saleratus. The
buildings cover five lots of ground, and the establish-
ment has been in operation over thirty years ; and with
their apparatus the distillery is capable of manufac-
4

88 A PEEP AT

turing 20 hogsheads of liquor per day, and 200 casks
of saleratus per month.

Miles' Brewery. — This Brewery, owned and con-
ducted by Messrs. W. B. & J. Miles, occupies five
lots of ground. It has been in operation for the past
27 years. When first started it was a very small es-
tablishment, the building was about 20 by 30 feet ;
but now it is one of the largest in the city.

The article of pale and amber ale manufactured
here, is very choice, and brings from $5 to $8 per
cask ; and even at these rates, notwithstanding the im-
mense quantity of the article manufactured, being
generally about 10,000 or 11,000 casks yearly, their
houses of storage are seldom burdened.

At this brewery is made a quality of ale equal to
any brewed in England or Scotland, and the bottling
of this article is an important part of the business.

In order to manufacture a sufficient quantity of ale
to supply their customers, Messrs. W. B. & J. Miles
have now in course of erection an additional building
in the rear of those they now occupy. The building
will be of brick, six stories in height, and 50 feet long
by 34 wide. All of the building will be used for
brewing purposes, except the two upper stories, which
are intended for public halls.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. • 39

The Empire Brewery, belonging to Messrs. Nash
& Beadleston, covers about twelve lots, and has been
established since 1845. They employ 20 hands, and
use a steam engine of six horse-power. Beer and
amber ale are the articles manufactured.

Messrs. Pemie & Co.'s Brewery. The building is
large. They have been in operation but one year,
and during that time upwards of 7000 barrels of pale
and amber ale have been manufactured by them.
This brewery is one of the best regulated and con-
stinicted of any in the city. The machinery is all
driven by one engine of six horse-power. The num-
ber of men employed here, on an average, is about
forty.

Adjoining the above extensive establishment is a
large rectifying distillery, owned and conducted by
Messrs. P. B. & H. Pemie, who rectify all kinds of
liquors and cordials, and occupy several buildings
in the rear for the storage of the same. This estab-
lishment has been in successful operation for nearly
forty years.

Messrs. Rogers & Crane are large manufacturers
of alcohol, (various proofs) and all kinds of domestic
liquors, and are also extensively engaged in rectifying
domestic whiskey. Their establishment, consisting of

40 ' A PEEP AT

various sized buildings, covers eight lots of ground,
and cost upwards of $50,000. The factory has been
in operation nearly a quarter of a century, during
"which time it was in the hands of James Waterbury
& Co. for about twelve years, and since then Messrs.
Rogers & Crane have been the proprietors. The
above firm give constant employment to a large num-
ber of men, and transact a vast amount of business
annually.

Messrs. Johnson & Lazarus are extensively engaged
in rectifying whiskey and converting it into domestic
liquors. Besides a large amount of charcoal, 300
tons of Lackawana coal are used during the year.

The distillery of Blair, Bates & Co., which has
been about two years established, consumes 600 bush-
els of grain per day, employs 20 hands, and uses a
steam engine of 20 horse-power.

The rectifying distillery of Messrs. Hunter & Man-
ley covers five lots of ground, and employs twelve
men. They have a steam engine of six horse-power
in operation. It has been established about ten
years.

The distillery of Swede, Schcnck & Co. is one of
the largest on Long Island, and together Avith the rec-
tifying department and lofty grain stores, covers about

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 41

40 lots. It has been established about 25 years, and
employs on an average between 40 and 45 men. The
machinery is driven by a steam engine of 50 horse-
power. The quantity of grain consumed each day is
1200 bushels, and about 2,800 tons of coal are used
during the year. The value of the whole property is
estimated at $100,000. This firm are also engaged
in the manufacture of N. E. rum and saleratus.

IN BROOKLYN.

The rectifying distillery of Bach, Sons & Co. covers
six lots. It was established in the year 1811, nearly
40 years ago. They employ about a dozen men.
The business is entirely confined to the rectifying of
alcohol, Cologne spirit, gin, brandy, and pure rye
whiskey. About 3,600 gallons of spirit undergoes
this operation per day. A small steam engine of six
horse-power is used in the establishment, for the pur-
pose of pulverizing charcoal, 1,800 bushels of which
are consumed during the year ; also, for pumping
whiskey and other purposes.

In Wallabout a new grain distillery has just been

established by Messrs. Tower & Dingleburgh, and

though only a short time in operation, does a large

amount of business. They employ about sixteen men,

4*

42 A PEEP AT

and consume 600 bushels of grain per day. Their
machinery is worked by an en-ine of forty horse-
power.'

In Skillman Street, near Flushing Avenue, East
Brooklyn, are two distilleries adjoining each other,
one belonging to Charles Wilson, and the other to J.
J. Wood & Co. Mr. Wilson's establishment has been
in operation about 17 years, and, together with the
stables attached, in which are stalls for 800 cows, oc-
cupies the whole block from Franklin to Skillman
streets. It employs from sixteen to eighteen hands,
and consumes 800 bushels of grain per day. A steam
engine of 20 horse-power drives the machinery.

The distillery of Messrs. Wood & Co. is on the
same scale as the preceding one ; they consume about
100 bushels of grain per day. The buildings are
constructed in the most substantial manner, of brick.
The whiskey they manufacture is principally used for
burning fluid, after undergoing the necessary processes
in the establishment.

At the corner of Jay and Pearl streets a new
brewery has been recently established by Mr. John-
son, who for the last 31 years has been engaged in the
business in this city. Eight men are employed, and
a small steam engine is in use for washing the grain.

UNCLE SAMS FARM. 43

At present they consume at the rate of 20,000 bush-
els of grain per season in the manufacture of beer.

The distillery of Manley & Embury, at the comer
of Tillary and Gold streets, covers an extensive area
of ground. It has been established about seventeen
years, and employs fifty men. The machinery is
driven by a large steam engine of fifty horse-power,
which is supplied by several boilers. About three
thousand gallons of whiskey are made each day.
The principal public buildings of Boston are : —
The State House, which is situated on Beacon
street, fronting the Common. Its length is one hundred
and seventy-three feet, breadth sixty-one feet. It was
commenced in 1795, and finished in 1798. It cost
$133,333. In the month of May I paid a vbit to
the top of the State House, accompanied by my friend
Emmett from Newfoundland, the view from which is
exceedingly interesting and beautiful. It is a splendid
panorama, embracing a circumference of sixty or sev-
enty miles. Immediately beneath the spectator is the
city, with its numerous spires and crooked streets.
On the east appears the ocean, covered with ships in
all directions ; and in every other direction appears
hill and dale, farms and villas, towns and cities, the
whole presenting one of the grandest pictures of na-

44 A PEEP AT

ture and art that can well be Imagined. The first time
I visited the State House, I heard the Hon. Amasa
AValker (to whom I had been introduced by my friend
Ehhu Burritt) deliver an eloquent and telling speech
in the Senate, in condemnation of the Hon. Daniel
Webster's speech delivered in Congress on the slavery-
question.

The Custom House is located on India street, be-
tween two of the principal wharves. It is in the form
of a cross, built of granite, and cost upw^ards of a
million dollars. It is one of the most beautiful and
substantial buildings in the United States.

Eaneuil Hall Market, or, as it is generally called,
" Quincy Market," is one of the finest in the United
States. It is built of hewn granite. It was com-
menced in 1824, and finished in 1827, while Hon.
Josiah Quincy was at the head of the city govern-
ment. It is nearly 600 feet in length, and 50 feet
wide. The ground floor is divided into 129 stalls,
each furnished w4th beautiful polished white marble
slabs. The centre part of the building is 77 feet
high, capped with a beautiful dome. In the second
story is " Quincy Hall." The land upon which this
building stands was reclaimed from the sea. The en-
tire cost of the building was over one million dollars.
The market yields over $30,000 per annum.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 45

A short distance from the Market is Faneuil Hall.
It was built in 1740, by Peter Faneuil, a citizen of
Boston, and presented to the city. It is three stories
high. The lower story is used as shops ; the second
story is the Hall, which is seventy-six feet square,
twenty-eight feet high, and has deep galleries on three
sides. It will hold upwards of 5,000 persons. Its
walls are ornamented with paintings of patriots, war-
riors and statesmen. The third story contains the
armories of the different military companies of the
city. It is renowned in the history of Massachusetts
as the place where the fathers of the Revolution used
to meW. It is called the " Cradle of Liberty."
During the past autumn a " Mechanics' Fair " was
held in Faneuil and Quincy Halls, consisting of a
rare exhibition of the mechanical genius of this coun-
try. A unique bridge was thrown across the street
from one hall to the other. This bridge has received
the unqualified praise of the Bostonians, for strength,
novelty and elegance. The inventor of this novel
bridge, Mr. Lanergan, is a native of Port-aux-Swax,
on the western coast of Newfoundland ; he was my
fellow passenger from Halifax to Boston on his way
from St. John's, Newfoundland, and is one of the
most interesting and intelligent persons I ever

46 A PEEP AT

travelled with. Mr. Lanergan is a Pyrotechnist, and
made the fireworks which were to have been exhibited
on Boston common on the 4th of Julv, but were
delayed in consequence of rain to a later period.
The fireworks were quite a grand display for design,
color and brilliancy.

The Boston Museum is situated on Tremont street.
It is an immense granite building, in the Venetian
style of Architecture. It was erected in 1846 at a
cost of upwards of $200,000. The collection com-
prises nearly half a million objects of interest, em-
bracing almost every variety of birds, quadrupeds,
reptiles, insects, shells, minerals and fossils, an exten-
sive gallery of costly paintings, engravings and
statuary, together with a great variety of curious
specimens of nature and art from all parts of the
world. Its usefulness as a Museum is in a great
measure destroyed, owing to the rear of the building
being occupied as a theatre ; a theatrical performance
is considered part of the exhibition at the Museum.
The charge for visiting the Museum is twenty-five
cents, including the theatre.

The Athenaeum is a large and beautiful sandstone
building on Beacon street ; it contains a library of

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 47

nearly 40,000 volumes, beside pictures and statuary
to the value of about $50,000.

The Merchants' Exchange, which was erected in
1841, is a magnificent structure, built of granite and
brick, and laid with hydraulic cement. " Its front on
State street is seventy-six feet ; its height, seventy
feet ; its depth to Lindall street, two hundred and
fifty feet ; covering thirteen thousand feet of land.
The front is entirely of Quincy granite, with four
pilasters and two antes, being forty-five feet in height,
weighing on the average fifty-five tons each. Up-
wards of one million six hundred thousand bricks
have been used. The roof is constructed of wrought
iron, and covered with galvanized sheet iron ; and all
the principal staircases are of iron and stone, and of
course fire-proof. The front is occupied by banks,
insurance offices, and places of business ; the rear is
an hotel ; the basement is occupied by bath rooms,
and the top as a telegraph station.

" The great centre hall is the Merchants' Exchange
and reading room. Its dimensions, fifty-eight by
eighty feet, having eighteen columns, twenty feet in
length, in imitation of Sienna marble, with Corinthian
capitals. The most finished and highly ornamented
work in the structure, is the enamelled skylight of

48 A PEEP AT

colored glass, in the centre of the dome of the great
hall ; and a more splendid crown to the noble edifice
cannot be imagined, for it seems to be composed of
every brilliant that the richest fancy could conceive.
The centre of the basement story is occupied by the
Post Office, and is thirty-six by ninety-nine feet. It
has entrances from State, Congress and Lindall
streets, through a spacious lobby of twenty by eighty
feet. This story has a vaulted ceiling, which supports
the principal floor, and is entirely fire-proof, the win-
dows being provided with wrought iron shutters
of superior construction. The total cost of the
building, exclusive of land, was $175,000.''

Boston is well supplied with large and elegant
hotels. Amongst the principal are the Revere House,
Tremont House, Adams House, and United States
Hotel, each containing from 150 to about 400 rooms.
Frequently in front of these hotels are to be seen a
line of boarders, sitting in the true Yankee fashion,
with their legs thrown either across the arras of the
chair upon which they sit, or the back of another
chair, puffing a cigar. At the Marlboro' Hotel for
the first time I saw the celebrated and world-renowned
American philanthropist, Elihu Burritt, Esq., A. M.,
who from that hour became my most intimate and

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 49

best friend. I also saw Frederika Bremer, Tvhose
reputation is so well known as a distinguished writer.

In front of the State House is the Common, a
delightful promenade, containing about seventy-five
acres of land, beautifully laid out in walks intersect-
ing each other in every direction, and shaded with
upwards of one thousand trees, consisting of maple,
ash, lime, horn-beam, button-wood, English and
American elm, with a jingo, (a native of Java ;)
the whole of which is enclosed with an iron paling,
one mile two hundred and seventeen yards in length.
About the centre of the Common is a small pond
which contains two fountains, capable of throwing
the water into a variety of fantastic shapes to the
height of about one hundred feet. Near this spot
stands a majestic elm, which has withstood the storms
of more than a hundred winters. Its branches
spread more than eighty feet, (which are now sup-
ported by iron braces) it is sixty-five feet high, and
its girth near the ground nearly twenty-two feet.

Charlestown is connected with Boston by a bridge
six thousand one hundred and ninety feet in length,
which cost upwards of $76,000. The first time I
visited Charlestown, I spent the day going through
the Navy Yard, and visiting the Bunker Hill Monu-
5

60 A PEEP AT

ment. The Navj Yard is about one mile long, and
contains one hundred acres. On the side nearest the
town, the Yard is enclosed by a stone wall sixteen
feet high, and on the water side a wall extends the
whole length of the Yard, embracing several wharves
and a drj dock. This dock was commenced in 1827,
and opened for the reception of vessels in 1833. It
is constructed entirely of beautifully hewn granite,
and will contain a ship of the largest class ; it is three
hundred and forty-one feet long, eighty feet wide, and
thirty deep, and cost about 675,000 dollars. In
this Yard is a rope- walk, built of granite, which is said
to be the longest and most perfect in the world. It is
one thousand three hundred and fifty feet in length.
All the cordage used in the United States Navy is
manufactured here by machinery. In this Yard are
two lineo-f -battle ships, the Virginia and Vermont, on
the stocks, the former of which was built during the
last war. Within the yard are ship-houses, various
machine shops, carpenters' shops, stores, dwelling-
houses for the officers, and marine barracks. In the
engine-house are the pumps for pumping out the dry
dock; these pumps are so capacious that twelve
hogsheads of water are said to be thrown off at one
stroke, and the time occupied in pumping out the
dock is about six hours.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 51

The Bunker Hill Monument is two hundred and
twenty-one feet high. The hill on which the monu-
ment stands is called Breed's Hill ; the hill a little
beyond is Bunker Hill. Orders were given to fortify
Bunker Hill, but Breed's Hill was fortified, and the
battle fought thereon the 17th of June, 1775. The
redoubts and entrenchments which sheltered the men
of that sanguinary conflict are now levelled with the
dust. On that bloody day four hundred and forty-
nine Americans, and one thousand and fifty-five
British soldiers, were slain. The town was burnt by
the British on the same day.

The monument is composed of granite, and has
been erected to point out the spot where was fought
the most memorable battle during the whole struggle
for independence. The comer stone of this obelisk
was laid on the 17th of June, 1825, by the illustrious
Frenchman La Fayette ; for want of funds, however,
the building was not completed till 1842. On the
17th of June, 1843, a celebration in honor of its com-
pletion was held, upon which occasion the President
of the United States (John Tyler) and all his
Cabinet were present. The Hon. Daniel Webster
delivered an address to the great assemblage. The
following is the inscription upon the two guns in the

52 A PEEP AT

top of the monument — the " Hancock " and
" Adams " : —

Sacred to Liberty.

This is one of four cannons which constituted

The whole train of field Artillery

Possessed by the British Colonies of

North America,

At the commencement of the

War,

On the 19th of April, 1775.

This cannon

And its fellow,

Belonging to a number of Citizens of

Boston,

"Were used in many engagements

During the War.

The other two, the property of the

Government of Massachusetts,

Were taken by the enemy.

By order of the United States,

In Congress assembled,

May 19th, 1788.

" Let that be," said Elihu Burritt, pointing to the
monument, " the grave-stone of all American war."

The town of Charlestown and Charles river are
so called in honor of Charles I., the reigning sovereign
of England at the time of its settlement. According

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 53

to the census of 1850, it contains a population of
fifteen thousand eight hundred. It is a place of
considerable trade and manufactures.

At Charlestown, a large business is done in the ice
trade, which first commenced at this place in 1803.
Cargoes of this export are sent to the Southern
States, the West Indies, South America, and to
England and the East Indies. In 1850, the exports
amounted to 55,000 tons ; the value of the ice
exported from the United States in 1849 was $95,-
000. About 15,000 tons of ice are annually used
in Boston and its vicinity. This ice is brought to
Charlestown by railroad, from ponds at Cambridge,
Watertown, and Lexington, towns in the vicinity of
Boston. At Watertown, large brick buildings are
erected near the pond for storing the ice. The ice is
cut and taken from the pond by machinery ; three
hundred horses, and a greater number of men, are
employed about it. A great quantity of ice is also
exported from Salem, where it is brought from
Wenham, a town which formerly formed part of
Salem. The following is a short account of the man-
ner of cutting and preserving the ice at this place for
exportation : —

" The ice-house is built of wood, with double walls
6*

54 A PEEP AT

all around, the space between which is filled with
saw-dust, thus interposing a medium that is a non-
conductor of heat between the ice and the external
air; the consequence of which is, that the ice is
entirely unaffected by any condition or temperature
-of the external atmosphere, and can be preserved
\without waste for any indefinite time.

^* The machinery employed for cutting the ice is
very curious, and is worked by men and horses, in the
following manner : From the time when the ice first
forms, it is carefully kept free from snow until it is
thick enough to cut ; that process commences when
the ice is a foot thick. A surface of some two acres
is then selected, which, at that thickness, will furnish
about two thousand tons ; and a straight line is drawn
through its centre from side to side each way. A
small hand-plough is pushed along one of those lines,
until the groove is about three inches deep, and a
quarter of an inch in width, when the ' marker ' is
introduced. This instrument is drawn by two horses,
and makes two new grooves, parallel with the first,
from twenty to forty inches apart, the gauge remain-
ing in the original groove. The marker is then
shifted to the outside groove, and makes two more.
Having drawn these lines over the whole surface in

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 55

one direction, the same process is repeated in a trans-
verse direction, marking all the ice out into squares.
In the mean time, the * plough,' drawn by a single
horse, is following in these grooves, cutting the ice to
a depth of six inches. One entire range of blocks is
then sawn out, and the remainder are split off toward
the opening thus made with an iron bar. The bar is
shaped like a spade, and of a wedge-Uke form. When
it is dropped into the groove the block splits off, a
very slight blow being sufficient to produce that effect,
especially in very cold weather. The labor of
' splitting ' is light or otherwise, according to the
temperature of the atmosphere. ' Platforms,' or
low tables of frame-work, are placed near the opening
made in the ice, with iron slides extending into the
water, and a man stands on each side of this slide,
armed with an ice-hook. With this hook the ice is
caught, and by a sudden jerk thrown up the slide on
to the platform. In a cold day every thing is speedily
covered with ice, by the freezing of the water on the
platforms, slides, &c. ; and the enormous blocks of ice,
weighing, some of them, more than three hundred
pounds, are hurled along these slippery surfaces as if
they were without weight. Forty men and twelve
horses will cut and stow away four hundred tons

6Q A PEEP AT

a day ; in favorable weather, one hundred men are
sometimes employed at once. When a thaw or a fall
of rain occurs, it entirely unfits the ice for market, by
rendering it opaque and porous ; and occasionally snow
is immediately followed by rain, and that again by
frost, forming snow-ice, which is valueless, and must
be removed by the ' plane.' The operation of
planing is similar to that of cutting.

" In addition to filling their ice-houses at the lake
and in the large towns, the company fill a large num-
ber of private ice-houses during the winter, all the ice
for these purposes being transported by railway. It
will easily be believed that the expense of providing
tools, building houses, furnishing labor, and construct-
ing and keeping up the railway is very great ; but the
trafiic is so extensive, and the management of the
trade so good, that the ice can be furnished at a very
trifling expense."

At South Boston, for the first time, I saw my friend
and talented countryman, the Rev. Joseph II. Clinch,
A. M., Rector of St. Matthew's Church ; he is one of
the most eminent ministers belonging to the Episcopal
Church in America. Mr. Clinch is at present en-
gaged in writing on the origin of languages, a work
involving immense labor and research. One of the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 67

most interesting institutions I ever visited was the
Institution for the Blind, at South Boston. On the
elevation where this building stands, Gen. Washington
stationed his troops immediately preceding the evacu-
ation of Boston bj the British ; some of the fortifica-
tions are still seen near the asylum. I was quite
delighted by what I saw and heard at this institution.
It was truly astonishing to see and hear girls and boys,
perfectly blind, reading, writing, cyphering, playing
musical instruments, and accurately describing the
most wonderful discoveries of science. In this insti-
tution I saw Laura Bridgman, who is deaf^ dumb and
blind. Her sensibilities were deeply moved when the
account of the Irish famine in 1847 was communicsr
ted to her — she set to work immediately, and plied
her fingers night and day, until she finished a piece
of beautiful embroidery, which was sold for a barrel
of flour, and that barrel of flour was shipped on
board the " Jamestown," to assist the famishing
Irish in 1847.

" She was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, Deo.
21st, 1829, and is described as having been a
sprightly and pretty child ; but during her infancy she
was deprived by a violent stroke of disease at once of
sight and hearmg ; nor was it until four years of age

58 A PEEP AT

that her bodily health seemed restored, so that she
was able to enter upon her apprenticeship of life and
the world. She grew up in the simple mountain
home where she was born, until she was nearly eight
years old, when her case reached the ears of Dr.
Howe, the director of the institution for the blind, in
Boston, who immediately hastened to Hanover to see
her. He found her with a well-formed figure, a
strongly marked nervous-sanguine teiiiperament, a
well shaped head, and with the whole system in
healthy action. Her parents were easily induced to
consent to her coming to Boston, because she was
growing unmanageable, and because they could not
make her understand their wishes or her duties ; and
in 1837 they brought her to the institution. It was
ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt that she
could not see a ray of light, could not hear the least
sound, and never exercised her sense of smell, if she
had any. No instruction had been given her, nor had
anybody conceived the practicability of penetrating
within the dark cell which enclosed her mind, for
there was no case upon the records of history where
the attempt had been successful ; but on the contrary,
the vain case of Julia Bruce, at the institution of the
deaf and dumb, in Hartford, seemed to make it hope-

UNCLE SAM'S FAKM. 59

less. It is impossible, in our brief space, to describe
the humane and persevering care, inspired by the
highest genius, which has since presided over her edu-
cation, and gradually opened to her mind, through her
solitary sense of touch, the light of knowledge. She
has been taught the manual alphabet of the deaf
mutes, and now converses by these signs with wonder-
ful rapidity. She receives the communications of
others on the palm of her hand, while her own words
seem to fly from the points of her fingers like electri-
cal sparks. She now reads with fluency the books
printed in the raised character for the blind, and
writes with ease."

The following is an extract from the last report of
Dr. Howe : —

PROGRESS OF LAURA BRIDGMAN.

" Her progress has been a curious and an interest-
ing spectacle. She has come into human society
with a sort of triumphal march ; her course has been
a perpetual ovation. Thousands have been watching
her with eager eyes, and applauding each successful
step, while she, all unconscious of their gaze, holding
on to the slender thread, and feeling her way along,
has advanced with faith and courage towards those

60 A PEEP AT

who awaited her with trembling hope. Nothing

shows more than her case the importance which,

despite their useless waste of human life and human

capacity, men really attach to a human soul. They

owe to her something for furnishing an opportunity of

showing how much of goodness there is in them ; for

surely the way in which she has been regarded is

creditable to humanity. Perhaps there are not three

living women whose names are more widely known

than her's ; and there is not one who has excited so

much sympathy and interest. There are thousands

of women in the world who are striving to attract its

notice and gain its admiration, — some by the natural

magic of beauty and grace, some by the high nobility

of talent, some by the lower nobility of rank and title,

some by the vulgar show of wealth ; but none of them

has done it so eJGTectually as this poor blind, deaf, and

dumb girl, by the silent show of her misfortunes, and

her successful efforts to surmount them.

" The treatment she has received shows something
of human progress, too ; for the time was when a child,
bereaved of senses, as she is, would have been regard-
ed as a monster, and treated as a burden and a curse,
even among the most civilized people of the world ;
she would, perhaps, have been thrown into the river,

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 61

or exposed upon the mountain to wild beasts. But
now there are millions of people bj whom it is recog-
nized as a duty and esteemed as a privilege to protect
and cherish her, or any one in the like situation.

" There is something, perhaps, in the rarity of such
cases of manifold bereavement — something in the fact
that she is the first person who ever came out of
such a dark and silent prison to tell us plainly of its
condition — something of pride in the proof which she
gives of the native power of the human soul ; but still,
bating all this, the amount of tender sympathy in her
misfortunes, and of the real attempt to lighten them,
which has been shown by thousands of sensitive hearts>
is most gratifying to reflect upon.

"lauka's present state.

" At the period when the last mention was made of
her in our Annual Report, she had gained a sufficient
knowledge of language to converse freely by means of
the finger alphabet, on all topics which would be under-
stood by girls generally of twelve years old. She had
begun to come into relation with a variety of persons;
with the teachers and pupils in the school for the
blind, all of whom could converse rapidly and easy

with her. She had become intimate with several
6

62 A PEEP AT

instructed deaf mutes, and had formed quite an exten-
sive circle of acquaintance, -v^'ith ladies for the most
part, who had taken pains to learn the manual alpha-
bet, and with whom she was very fond of talking.

" These influences were found to be favorable to
the development of her character, and she was left to
them. I thought it better to pursue this course than
keep her as strictly under the influence of her teach-
er's mind as she had been in the early period of her
instruction. She needed, however, and has continued
to have, special instruction. Miss Sarah White has
continued to give all her time and attention to her
education. She has been to her a constant com-
panion, friend, teacher and exemplar. She has
devoted herself to Laura for years, by day and by
night, in health and in sickness, in joy and in sorrow,
with zeal, patience, and discretion, and has had a
wholesome influence upon her mind, heart and
character.

" I can claim no other credit for the improvement
which Laura has made in latter years than that of
securing for her such a teacher. If she is short-
coming of any natural qualification for the task which
she undertook at my urgent request, I can only say,
on the other hand, it would be very hard to find any

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 63

one who possesses so many natural and acquired qual-
ifications for so novel and arduous an undertaking.
Her success has been great. She has done far better
than I could have done. Her gentleness and equa-
nimitj of temper have tended to keep her pupil in that
happy mean between excesses of feeling, to which
persons of her temperament are constitutionally
disposed.

" Laura loves her and respects her, and makes no
severer criticism upon her than the playful one in the
following extract from her little diary : —

" ' I had a very pleasant day. I havo been very
hilarious. I could not help laughing incessantly. My
mind is very full of drollery and mirthfulness. I wish
that my dear teacher would have a little share of my
mirthfulness. She does not like fun as well as I do
— I love fun so much.

" * As I was very busily engaged at eleven o'clock,
I was agreeably interrupted by some circumstances
which occurred so unexpectedly. It was [the
entrance of] one of my dear friends, Miss E. R., the
sister of my old teacher. She took my dirty right
hand, greeting me very warmly — who wore gloves.

" ' I asked her how she liked our sunny home ;
she said she admired it very much. She surveyed it

64 A PEEP AT

Vf'ith. much interest. She asked me whose the boquet
of flowers were. I assuredly told her that they
belonged to Miss W. She returned that they smelt
very fragrantly and delicious. E. altered her mind
at length, as she could not stay as long as she [had]
hoped.'

" The words included between brackets are added ;
the rest is an exact coi[)y, punctuatim et literatim, from
her diary, which she writes in a legible hand.''

I have visited Cambridge twice. Cambridge com-
prises, Cambridge Port, Old Cambridge, West Cam-
bridge, and East Cambridge, which are connected with
Boston by several bridges. When I was crossing the
bridge to East Cambridge, in the month of August
last, I observed the American flag flying at the top of
a gigantic chimney, belonging to the Cambridge
glass works, which had just been finished. It is 240
feet high, which is twenty feet higher than the Bunker
Hill monument ; its form is an octagon, and erected of
brick, upon a massive granite foundation of thirty feet
in diameter. It was two and a half months in process
of erection ; 800,000 bricks and 100 cubic yards of
granite were used in its erection ; it is said to be the
tallest chimney in the United States,

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 66

Cambridge is a celebrated place in American His-
tory ; it was called Newton in 1630, and in 1G38 it was
called Cambridge in honor of the principal inhabitants,
most of whom were from Cambridge in England. In
this town Washington became commander-in-chief. It
was the head-quarters of the American army during
the Revolution. On Cambridge common is the
Washington elm, under which Washington is said to
have stood while his commission was proclaimed to
the army of twenty thousand men. The original
external appearance of the " Craigie House " is still
preserved, which Washington occupied. In this town
the first printing press was estabhshed in America by
Stephen Day, in 1639. A great variety of manufac-
tures are carried on in the various parts of Cambridge.

Old Cambridge is the seat of Harvard University,
which is the oldest in the United States. It was
incorporated in 1638, and named Harvard College, in
honor of the Rev. John Harvard, its principal founder.
The principal College Buildings are : University Hall,
built of granite, containing a chapel, lecture rooms,
dining halls, &c. ; Harvard Hall, a brick edifice, con-
twning a library, philosophical apparatus, and minera-
logical cabinet ; six other large brick buildings, each
four stories high, and the Library, an elegant granite
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66 A PEEP AT

edifice. The library is the largest in the Union, and
contains more than 57,000 volumes, besides pamphlets,
newspapers, and maps. The Law Library contains
13,000 volumes ; the Divinity School Library, 3000
volumes; the Medical Library, 1200. Diifferent
societies connected with the College have libraries
amounting to about 10,000 volumes. The president,
the Hon. Jared Sparks, LL.D., very kindly offered
me the use of any volume which the library contained.
In the library I saw several old works on Newfound-
land, written by Whiteburn and others. Cambridge
is about three miles from Boston, and contains a
population of upwards of 14,000.

West Cambridge is a great market for cattle from
the interior country. The following is the number for
sale in the market on Wednesday, October 2d, 1850 :

At market 3361 cattle — about 1361 beeves and
2000 stores — consisting of working oxen, cows and
calves, yearlings, two and three years old.

Prices : Market Beef — extra $6.12 1-2 per cwt. —
first quality $5.37 — second ditto, $5.50 — third ditto
$5 — ordinary, $3 to $4.60.

Hides, $5 per cwt. —Tallow, $5.50.

Stores — Working Oxen, $63, $70, $85 to $97.

Cows and Calves, $18, $27 to $35.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 67

Yearlings, $7, $10 to $12.

Two years old, $10, $15 to $22.

Three years old, $16, $20, $28 to $30.

Sheep and lambs — 4630 at market, nearly all sold.
Prices: extra, $3, $4 to $6. By lot, $1.50,
$1.75, $2.25 to $2.75. ^

Swine — retail, $5 to $6.

Seventy-six cars came over the Fitchburg railroad,
and eighty-four over the Boston and Lowell railroad,
loaded with cattle, sheep, horses, swine, and fowls.
Number from each State : —

Cattle.

Sheep and
Lambs.

Swine.

Hones.

Maine,

1987

New Hampshire,

635

2300

Vermont,

644

1685

15

Massachusetts,

95

645

25

12

New York,

130

Canada,

30

Total, 3361 4630 155 57

There have been at this market during the year
ending October 22d, 1850, 56,144 cattle, of which
about 28,814 were beeves, and 27,330 were stores ;
consisting ofworking oxen, cows and calves, yearlings,
two and three years old. There have also been at

68 A PEEP AT

market 168,204 slieep and lambs, 7,678 swine, 1,245
horses, and a large number of fowls and veal calves,
not numerically calculated.

Since the first of last January (less than ten
months) 2,843 cars have come over the Fitchburg
railroad, and 1,447 over the Boston and Lowell
railroad, loaded with cattle, sheep, horses, swine and
fowls. Number from each State, during the year : —

Cattle.

Sheep
and Lambs.

Swine. Horses.

Maine,

17,233

14,056

24

JSTew Hampshire,

13,411

48,371

15 69

Vermont,

17,914

88,445

1381 418

Massachussetts,

5,749

14,657

431 237

New York,

511

1,043

5733 15

Canada,

1,326

1,635

482

Ohio,

118

Total, 56,144 168,204 7578 1245

The Market is situated within four miles of Bos-
ton. Operations were commenced about one year
ago ; since which time it has increased in business
and importance with unexampled rapidity. It con-
tains one hundred and eighty-eight yards for the
accommodation of cattle and sheep, one hundred and
thirty-seven of whiph have been built the present

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 69

season, "with convenient lanes leading to all of them ;
the whole covering an area of twelve or fourteen
acres. The yards are all free, no charge ever having
been made for the use of any of them. The Fitch-
burg Railroad, which connects with the Vermont and
Massachusetts, the Cheshire, the Rutland and Bur-
lington, the Sullivan, Central, Ogdensburg, and the
Connecticut and Passumpsic Railroads, passes through
these yards. By means of these roads, cattle, &c.,
are brought from Canada, New York, all parts of
Vermont, from New Ilampshire, and Massachusetts,
and landed from the cars direct into the yards. The
Fitchburg Railroad Corporation have now nearly
completed two side tracks for the accommodation of
the cattle trains, where they will be able to run oflf
the main track about ninety cars, which can remain
there until wanted.

The Boston and Lowell Railroad, which connects
with the Northern and several other railroads, lead*
ing through the different sections of New Hampshire,
has a spacious cattle depot at Somerville, within two
hundred rods of the market, with an extensive side
track for running off the cattle trains from the main
track ; and all other requisite conveniences for land-
ing and yarding the cattle, sheep, &c,

70 A PEEP AT

Great quantities of fruit and vegetables are culti-
vated at West Cambridge for the Boston market.
George Pierce has nineteen acres of his farm devoted
to "the raising of vegetables expressly for the Boston
market. Mr. Pierce's average weekly sales of vege-
tables for nine months in 1849, were as follows : —

March, $49

April, 60

May, 80

June, 90

July, 140

August, 139

September, 140

October, 180

November, 39

The total cash receipts for the sale of fruits and
vegetables for 1849, were as follows : —

Peaches,

$591

Porter Apples,

149

Pears,

23

Greening Apples,

12

Baldwin do. (windfalls,)

36

30 bbls. do. (picked,)

186

$99T

Total vegetables of all kinds.

2,629

$3,626

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 71

The farmers of Massachusetts in general prefer
cultivating Indian corn instead of wheat, as the corn
gives a greater profit. Indian corn will yield from
fifty to one hundred bushels to the acre, besides a
large amount of fodder for cattle ; when cut green, as
many as twelve tons to the acre of the best fodder for
cattle has been obtained.

About one mile west of Cambridge University is
Mount Auburn Cemetery — the magnificent monu-
mental " city of the dead." The Cemetery com-
prises 110 acres, and was consecrated in 1831. It
is enclosed with a massive iron fence about ten feet
high. In the centre is a lofty entrance-gate con-
structed of granite, which cost upwards of $10,000.
It is beautifully laid out in gravel walks, shaded with
almost every variety of trees and flowers. Lots of
ground are laid out as family burial places at equal
distances, between which are beautiful pathways
fringed with flowers. Numerous costly marble pillars
and monuments burst upon the view in every direc-
tion amid the foliage, which add to the beauty and
grandeur of the scene. The avenues and paths are
named thus, " Willow Avenue," " Myrtle Path," &c.

In front of " Central Square " is a monument

72 A PEEP AT

bearing the simple inscription of Hannah Adams,
"first tenant of Mount Auburn."

The Cemetery has a beautiful granite chapel in the
Gothic style of architecture, measuring sixty-six feet
by forty, and about eighty feet high. The exterior
is surrounded with a row of octagonal buttresses and
pinnacles. All the windows are of stained glass,
with emblematic designs. The first and only time
that I visited this Cemetery was a few days after
the interment of the unfortunate Dr. Webster, who
was executed in Boston on the 30th of August last,
for the murder of Dr. George Parkman.

The following is the inscription upon the monument
on the lot owned by Prof. John W. Webster, on the
Narcissus Path, Mount Auburn : —

" Angel of death ! did no presaging signs

Announce tliy coming, and thy way prepare ?
No warning voice, no harbinger was thine —

Danger and fear seemed past — but thou wer't there !
Prophetic sounds along the earthquake's path —

Foretell the hour of Nature's awful throes ;
And the volcano, ere it bursts in wrath,

Sends forth some herald from its dread repose ;
But thou, dark Spirit ! swift and unforeseen,
Cam'st like the lightning's flash, when heaven was all serene."

A cold shiver came over me as I passed the jail-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 73

yard while the people were assembjing to witness the
execution of Professor Webster. Who can contem-
plate it without a shudder, to think of a fellow-being
sent into the eternal world, in the full possession of
his physical and mental energies, for the awful crime
of murder ? Very able arguments have been adduced
for and against Capital Punishments ; my own views
are decidedly against Capital Punishments. In the
State of Michigan the abolition of the Death Penalty
works well where it has been tried for several years ;
and in the convention which was held during the past
year for revismg the Constitution, there was nearly a
unanimous opinion in favor of the law as it stands,
which has abolished the gallows. The trial of Dr.
Webster excited a deeper interest in the public mind
than any trial which has taken place in the United
States for many years. The following brief sketch
of Professor Webster is taken from one of the Boston
newspapers published on the morning of his execu-
tion.

" John W. Webster was the son of Dr. Bedford
Webster, at one time a member of our State Legis-
lature ; he was a man of considerable wealth and
great respectability. John W. was bom in this city,
about the year 1788. He received a most liberal
7

74 A PEEP AT

education, and adopted the profession of medicine,
but finally devoted his studies and time to subjects
more congenial to his tastes — geology, mineralogy,
philosophy and the arts. In 1823, or '24, he trav-
elled in England and Scotland, in company with Pro-
fessor Boue, of Paris ; then visited the gay metrop-
olis of France, and afterwards went to the Azores.
At the latter place he resided for some considerable
time, and on his return home published an interest-
ing and valuable work on the geology of the Azore
Islands. A valuable collection of minerals, which
he had procured in his travels, he sold to Harvard
College for eight thousand dollars. He edited, for
a time, the Boston Journal of Philosophy and Arts.
"In 1837 he was elected Erving Professor of
Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mineralogy and Geol-
ogy, in the University at Cambridge. This honor-
able post he obtained, it is said, through some peculiar
partiality shown him ; and he was indebted much to
the friendship and assistance of Dr. George Park-
man. The same year he delivered his first course
of lectures before the Medical Class of the Univer-
sity, at the institution in Mason street, in this city,
at which time he succeeded the late celebrated Pro-
fessor Gerham. Professor Webster's salary was

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 76

fixed at nineteen hundred dollars per annum. In
this position he commenced that awful epoch in his
life which has this day closed with his death.

" By the decease of his father, in 1834, Professor
Webster inherited a fortune of about $40,000 ; but
this has gradually been wasted, until his family are
now left with but a comparatively small income.
Extravagant in his habits — generous to his family —
wishing to maintain a brilliant position in society —
he threw his fortune heedlessly away into the vortex
of fashionable life. Money went, and debts came ;
pecuniary troubles accumulated thick and fast ; his
was not the calculating economy that could avert
impending ruin. Old friends became ruthless cred-
itors — poverty and the jail stared him unpitying in
the face — at first he practised fraud, and finally,
when disgraceful exposure of some kind must come,
he meditated the violent death of his most persecuting
creditor. The world knows the rest."

The town of Lexington was formerly a part of
Cambridge ; here it was that the first blood was shed
in the cause of the Revolution, and on the spot a
monument is erected bearing the following inscrip-
tion : —

76 A PEEP AT

Sacred to Liberty and the Rights of Mankind!

The freedom and independence of America,

Sealed and defended with the blood of her sons.

This monument is erected

By the inhabitants of Lexington,

. Under the patronage and at the expense of

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

To the memory of their fellow-citizens,

Ensign Robert Monroe, Messrs Jonas Parker,

Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jan.,

Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown,

Of Lexington, and Ashael Porter, of Woburn,

Who fell on this field, the first victims to the

Sword of British tyranny and oppression.

On the ever memorable

Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775.

The die was cast !

The blood of these martyrs,

In the cause of God and their countiy,

"Was the cement of the Union of these States, then

Colonies, and gave the spring to the spirit, firmness

And resolution of their fellow- citizens.

They rose as one man to revenge their brethren's

Blood, and at the point of the sword to assist and

Defend their native rights.

They nobly dared to be free !

The contest was long, bloody and aff'ecting.

Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal ;

Victory crowned their anns ;

And the peace, liberty, and independence of the

United States of America was their glorious reward.

Built the year 1799.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 77

The last time I visited Boston, Jenny Lind, the
" Swedish nightingale," was holding her nightly con-
certs. $600 was paid for a single ticket.

Jenny Lind gave in the Tremont Temple in Boston
her first charity concert in this country, the pro-
ceeds of which were $7,255,09, and appropriated as
follows : —

Boston Port Society, $1,000

Association for Aged and Indigent Females, 1,000

Musical Fund Society, 1,000

Farm School for Indigent Boys, 600

Charitable Orthopedic Association, 500

Boston Female Asylum, 500

Howard Benevolent Society, 500

Young Men's Benevolent Society, 500

Society for Prevention of Pauperism, 500

Parent Washington Total Abstinence Society, 500
To Messrs. Charlto & J. M. Spear, to be appropriated to

the Reformation of the Prisoner, 255
To a poor Swedish woman, the mother of nine children, 100

To a poor woman of Boston, 100

Total, $7,255

Jenny Lind also contributed large sums of money
for benevolent objects in the other American cities
which she visited.

It is said Jenny Lind pays X4,500 annually under
the English Income Tax. She has invested in the
British three per cents, about $750,000. Her
7*

78 A PEEP AT

annual income, from that source alone, is about $22,-
000. She has given away in charity about £84,000 ;
$400,000, as nearly as can be estimated. <£ 27,000
of this was given in England ; ^SjOOO in Edinburgh.
The entire amount of her European wealth is esti-
mated at $1,000,000. The Rev. George Scott,
Methodist minister, who for several years was sta-
tioned at Stockholm, says : —

" Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true,
that Jenny Lind has contributed not a little to
increase the present religious excitement. We know
that this celebrated cantatrice had not been received
in the capital of her country with the enthusiasm
which might have been expected ; the reasons are
before me, though I am not at liberty to make them
all public ; — thus much is, however, known, that the
amiable songstress not only positively refused to
appear on the stage as an actress, but on many occa-
sions openly declared that the ungodliness of her
fatherland filled her with alarm, and in her regular
attendance on public worship selected those churches
the pastors of which were known to be spiritually
minded. The fire now broke loose ; all the papers,
with the exception of two, boiled over with the
bitterest invectives against the pietists, who not only

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 79

started the Home Mission, but had, worst of all, taken
captive the * Swedish Nightingale.' "

The following account of Jenny Lind is from the
pen of Hans Christian Anderson, one of the most
distinguished literary men of Sweden, and of whom
an interesting sketch has been written by Mary
Howitt : —

" One day in my hotel at Copenhagen, in the year
1840, 1 saw the name of Jenny Lind among those of
the Swedish strangers. That same year I had been
in the neighboring country, and had been received
with much honor and kindness. It would not, there-
fore, be an unbecoming thing on my part, were I to
visit the young artist. At this time she was almost
entirely unknown out of Sweden ; even in Copen-
hagen her name was known to but few. She received
me with great courtesy, but distantly and coldly.
She was, as she said, on a journey with her father to
South Sweden, and was merely come over to Copen-
hagen to see the city. We shortly after separated,
and I had the impression left upon me of a very ordi-
nary character. It soon, however, passed away, and
I had forgotten Jenny Lind. In the Autumn of
1843, Jenny Lind again came to Copenhagen.
Boumonville, the ballet master, one of my friends,

80 A PEEP AT

had married a Swedish lady, a friend of the fair
singer. He informed me of her arrival, and told me
that she remembered me very kindly, and had now
read most of my writings. He entreated me to go
with him and make a call upon her. I did so. I
was no longer received as a stranger. She cordially
extended her hand. She spoke of my writings, and
of her friend. Miss Frederika Bremer. The conver-
sation then turned upon her appearance in Copen-
hagen. ' I have never made my appearance out of
Sweden,' she said. ' Every body in my own land is
so affectionate and loving to me. If I made my
appearance here, and should be hissed ! I dare not
venture on it.' I said that I, it was true, could not
pass judgment upon her, having never heard her
sing; but that, nevertheless, I felt convinced that
such was then the disposition in Copenhagen, that she
was certain to be successful. Boumonville's persua-
sion eventually gained for the Copenhageners the
greatest enjoyment they ever had. Jenny made her
first appearance in the part of Alice. It was a
new revelation of the realms of art. The fresh
young voice found its way into every heart. Here
truth and nature reigned. Every thing was full of
meaning and intelligence. At one concert she sung

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 81

her Swedish songs. They were so peculiar and so
bewitching, that, uttered by such a purely feminine
being, they exercised an omnipotent sway. The
whole of Copenhagen was enraptured. The first
artist to whom the Danish students gave a serenade
was Jenny Lind. Torches blazed around the villa
where the serenade was given. She came out and
expressed her thanks by singing one of her Swedish
songs. I saw her then hasten into the darkest comer
of the room we were in, and weep from emotion.
' Yes, yes,' she said, ' I will exert myself. You shall
see that I will bo better qualified when I again visit
Copenhagen.'

" In her public exhibitions she is the great artist
who rises above all that are around her. In her own
chamber she is a young and sensitive girl, possessed
with all the humility and piety of a child. In Copen-
hagen her advent made an epoch in the history of our
opera. She showed our art in all its sanctity. I
had beheld one of its vestals. She returned to
Stockholm. Thence Frederika Bremer wrote to me :
* We are both of us agreed as to Jenny Lind as a
singer. She stands as high as any artist of our time
well can stand. But as yet you do not know her in
her real greatness. Speak to her of art, and you

82 A PEEP AT

will wonder at the expansion of her mind. Her
countenance is lighted with inspiration. Converse
with her upon God, and of the holiness of religion,
tears will spring from those innocent eyes. She is a
great artist, but she is still greater in the pure hu-
manity of her existence.' Indeed, nothing can les-
sen the impression made by Jenny Lind's greatness
on the stage, save her personal character in her own
house. Her intelligent and child-like disposition here
excites a singular power. She is happy, belonging
no longer to the world. Yet she loves art with her
whole soul. She feels her vocation. Her noble and
pious disposition cannot be spoiled by homage. On
one occasion only, in my hearing, did she express joy
and self-consciousness in her talent. It was during
her last stay at Copenhagen. Every evening she ap-
peared either at the concerts or in the opera. She
heard of a society, the object of which was to take
unfortunate children out of the hands of their pa-
rents, by whom they were compelled to beg or steal,
and place them in better circumstances. Benevolent
people subscribed annually for their support, yet the
means for this excellent purpose were but small. ' I
have an evening disengaged,' said she ; 'I will give
a performance for these poor children, but we must

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 83

have double prices.' Such a performance wag given,
and returned large proceeds. When she heard the
amount, her countenance lit up, and tears filled her
eyes. ' It is beautiful,^ said she, * that I can sing
so.' "

According to the Assessor's returns, for the State
of Massachusetts, for 1850, we have the following
results : —

" Since 1840 at least 800 miles of railway have
been finished in the State, and many lines of stages
displaced ; but the horses in Massachusetts have in-
creased from 60,000, in 1840, to 74,000, in 1850.
In the same period cattle have increased from 278,-
737 to 299,000, while sheep have declined from
343,390 to 179,537. The product of wheat has de-
clined from 101,178 bushels to 28,487, and Indian
corn increased from 1,775,073 bushels to 2,295,856.
While cotton and woollen spindles have doubled in
number, distilleries have decreased from 78 to 43.

1850.

1840.

Number of Houses in Mass.,

134,041

96,550

Baras

74,765

63,806

Superficial feet of Wharf,

14,834,350

8,402,886

Number of Cotton Spindles in Mass.,

1,220

624,540

" Woollen " "

208,848

113,457

" Bleacheries "

23

10

« Paper Mills

114

98

" tons of Shipping "

628,770

498,057

84 A PEEP AT

" The Railways in the same period have increased
nearly 600 per cent."

Massachusetts annually produces over 1,000,000
bushels of fruit, valued at $800,000; 600,000
pounds of Maple Sugar, 8,000,000 pounds of butter,
and about 8,000,000 pounds of cheese.

Massachusetts is the greatest manufacturing State
in the Union. There are about 480 Tanneries
throughout the State, which manufacture annually
about 2,000,000 hides of leather, and employ up-
wards of 2,000 hands. The number of boots and
shoes made is over 22,000,000 pairs, which give em-
ployment to 27,000 males and 19,000 females ; be-
sides which almost every description of manufacture
is carried on.

Immense quantities of Iron and Coal are raised in
the United States. The quantity of anthracite and
bituminous coal raised throughout the Union in 1847,
is estimated at 5,000,000 tons, the average value of
which, at the place of consumption, is estimated at
$20,000,000, or $4 per ton. The greater part of
this coal was from Pennsylvania. The number of
furnaces in the United States is estimated to be 540,
yielding 486,000 tons of Pig Iron ; 954 bloomeries,
forges, rolling mills, &c., yielding 291,600 tons of

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 85

bar, hoop, sheet, boiler, and other wrought iron, 30,-
000 tons of blooms, and 122,000 tons of castings ;
the whole valued at $42,000,000. Pennsylvania
alone is said to produce 250,000 tons of iroji au^
nually.

Some idea of the extent of the iron trade inland
may be formed from the quantities carried on the
canals. In 1847, there came to the Hudson, on the
New York canals. Pig Iron 21,608,000 pounds ;
bloom and bar, 26,348,000 pounds ; Iron-ware 3,014,-
000 pounds ; 340 tons Iron and Iron-ware cleared
on the canals at Buffalo and Oswego ; St. Lawrence
Co., N. Y., shipped 515 tons of pig, a surplus made
there ; 7,716 tons of pig Iron reached Buffalo, via
Lake Erie, and 1,256 kegs of nails; 15,103,565
pounds of Iron and nails arrived at Cleveland, via the
Ohio Canal, and 4,085 tons of Iron and 12,537 kegs
of nails were shipped from Cleveland coastwise.
There cleared at Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Massillon^
and Akron, in 1847, about 5,713 tons of Iron ;
5,269,055 pounds of nails were shipped at Akron.
The trade in Coal and Iron on the Western rivers and
lakes is very large.

The Coal trade of Pennsylvania is now probably
greater than the Iron ; both employ the canals and
8

86 A PEEP AT

railroads, and require thousands of canal boats and
railroad cars for transportation. A ton of pig Iron is
made with two and a half tons each of ore and coal,
and a ton of limestone ; also, say for labor and pro-
visions while smelting the ore, and contingences, $6
— in all $20 ; other $40, chiefly for labor, coal and
provisions, are required to convert pig into a ton of
bar. Iron canal boats were in common use in Wales
thirty years ago — they are beginning to be made
here ; also war steamers. Fences, and even porches
to houses, are often of iron. The pipes for the Cro-
ton water in New York required many thousand tons.
The annual value of 150,000 tons of iron ore of Ma-
ryland is worth $600,000 at Baltimore. A single
foundry in Tennessee sold, in 1844, of sugar-kettles,
$50,000 worth.

In the month of April I made a tour through the
States of New Hampshire and Maine. The first
place which I visited was —

Lynn, which was first settled in 1629. It received
its name from a town in England. Its Indian name
was Saugust. It is about six miles in length, and is
almost surrounded by water. The river Saugus
flows on the West, the harbor on the South, the ocean
on the Southeast, and a chain of Ponds, called the
" Lynn Lakes," on the north. The town has broad

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 87

and pleasant streets. It is one of the most thriving
towns of New England, containing a population, in
1850, of 13,613. In the northern part of Lynn is a
Mineral Spring, which is a place of great resort. It
is one of the most celebrated places in the country
for the manufacture of shoes. It was noted for this
manufacture before the Revolutionary war. There
are about 3,000,000 pairs of women's and girls' (or,
as the Yankee would say, misses') shoes annually
made here, valued at $2,000,000, or X400,000
sterling. The manufacture of calico amounts to
$70,000, and of Morocco, $34,000. There are va-
rious other manufactures, too numerous to detail,
besides agricultural produce. The value of fresh
fish taken amounts to $13,950. In 1849, Lynn em-
ployed sixteen vessels in the Cod and Mackerel fish-
eries, and two in the Whale fishery.

The following is the quantity and value of the
"Whale Oil produced in the United States in 1845 :

Gallons of Sperm Oil, 6,704,716

Value of Sperm Oil, $6,233,276

Gallons of Whale Oil, 9,572,990

Value of Whale Oil, $2,961,619

Gallons of other Oil, 72,409

Value of other Oil, $28,764

Pounds of Whalebone, 2,937,509

Value of AVhalebone, $1,147,518

Capital Invested, $11,805,910

88 A PEEP AT

It will be seen that the value of the Whale Fishery
alone, amounts to the enormous sum of £2,074,233
sterling ; whereas the total quantity of Seal and Cod
Oil of Newfoundland does not amount to more than
£300,000 per annum.

The greatest quantity of Whale Oil exported from
Newfoundland was in the years 1830 and 1834, which
was about 200 tons ; valued at £30 per ton, amounts
to £5,000. There were also 117 hundred weight
Whalebone; valued at £4 per hundred weight,
amounts to £470. Previous to the last war between
America and Great Britain, ten or twelve vessels
belonging to Massachusetts frequented the Western
Coast of Newfoundland in pursuit of Whales, and
were very successful ; but after the war broke out,
the Whale Fishery on the Newfoundland Coast by
the Americans was abandoned.

The following is the number of vessels employed in
the Whale Fishery in the United States during the
years 1848 and 1849 : -—

Years.

Ships and Barques.

Brigs.

Schooners.

Tonnage.

1848

581

21

12

196,110

1849

510

20

13

171,483

The falling oiF in the outfit for the Whale Fishery is
attributed to the emigration to California. The ves-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 89

sels employed in the Whale Fishery belong princi-
pally to New Bedford, Fairhaven, Westport, Nan-
tucket, Warren, Stonington, Mystic, New London,
Sag Harbor, and Greenport. They have generally a
crew of twenty-five men each, which makes an aggre-
gate of 12,750 men. Taking into the account those
employed in carrying the oil, &c., to market, we find
it takes about 860 vessels of various tonnage, navi-
gated by 12,000 seamen — about one tenth of the
whole mercantile marine of the United States. It is
estimated that the expense of manufactories, wharfs,
stores, and other expenses connected with it, amount
to no less a sum than $70,000,000, or upwards of
£14,000,000 sterling, and that more than 70,000 per-
sons are employed in it. In the prosecution of this
business, there are consumed 46,000 barrels of flour,
36,000 barrels of beef and pork, 900,000 pounds of
copper and copper nails, 1,500,000 barrels, 2,500
tons of iron hoops, &c.

The following are the imports of Sperm and Whale
Oil, and Whalebone, into the United States, for the
week ending January 7th, 1850.

Ships. Bbls. Sperm. Bbls. Whale. Founds Bone.

3 8,780 300 1,400

8*

90 A PEEP AT

Most of the common Whale Oil is exported from
the United States to Northern Europe. Most of the
Whalebone is also exported. The product of the
Spermaceti Whale is used as lamp oil, making can-
dles, and various other purposes. The quantity of
Spermaceti candles annually made is over 3,000,000
•pounds. By a chemical process these candles can be
tinged with any color. Candles from Nantucket are
often sold for pure wax.

From Lynn I proceeded to Salem, which is fifteen
miles east of Boston, and contains a population of
nearly 19,000, and in point of wealth and commerce
it has always ranked as the second town in New Eng-
land. It was first settled in 1626, and the earlier
inhabitants thought of making it the capital instead of
Boston. Here the celebrated John Endicott resided
for some time after his arrival from England, and who
was the first Governor of Massachusetts under the
First Charter. Here was born the great American
Mathematician and Astronomer, Dr. Bowditch, one
of the most remarkable men of his day. Salem took
an important part in the struggle for independence.
About sixty armed vessels were fitted out from this
place during the Revolution. It has a commodious
harbor and good anchorage, and is more extensively

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 91

known for its East India trade than any port in the
United States ; but it has greatly declined in commer-
cial importance, most of the shipping having been
removed to Boston, although continuing to be owned
in Salem. The following are the number of vessels
belonging to Salem in 1850 : —

20 Ships,

9,953 Tons.

34 Barques,

8,500

u

42 Brigs,

6,782

<(

8 Yachts,

185

u

Coasting and fishing

vessels.

16,000

((

Total, 41,420

Chestnut street is one of the principal streets of the
city, has rows of trees on either side, and contains
many beautiful buildings. The East India Marine
Hall was erected in 1825, and cost $25,000. It is
100 feet by 45, built of granite. In this hall is a
very fine Museum, consisting of upwards of 5,000
specimens of natural and artificial curiosities, collected
from all parts of the world, amongst which is a model
of the first ship sent from Salem to the East Indies,
in 1784. One of the most interesting specimens I
have ever seen is in the possession of an old gentle-
man, consisting not only of animals, fossils, &c., but

92 A PEEP AT

also some of the most curious pieces of machinery,
invented bj himself.

The value of the manufactures of Salem amounts to
upwards of $2,000,000, consisting of leather, boots
and shoes, cordage, cabinet ware, tobacco, alum, ves-
sels, &;c., &c. The value of the cod, whale, and
mackerel fisheries amounts to about $300,000. Here
there is a large steam cotton factory, employing up-
wards of 500 hands.

Salem is celebrated in the history of America on
account of its Witches ; although the delusion ap-
peared in other places before Salem. In 1692, nine-
teen persons were tried and hanged here as Witches.
At this time laws were in force in England against
Witchcraft, Avhich received the sanction of the re-
nowned Sir Matthew Hale. The Rev. George Bur-
roughs was executed in 1692 on Gallows Hill, in Sa-
lem, for Witchcraft. The following is in the hand-
writing, on the church record, of the Rev. Samuel
Parris, who was born in London, and settled at Dan-
vers in 1689, a town adjoining Salem. In 1692
Witchcraft first made its appearance in America, in
the family of Mr. Parris.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 93

" 27Tn March, Sab., 1692.
Sacrament Bay.

" After the common auditory were dismissed, and
before the church communion of the Lord's Table,
the following Testimony against the Error of our sis-
ter Mary Sibley, who had given direction to my In
dian man in an unwarrantable way to find out witches,
was read by the Pastor. It is altogether undeniable
that our great and blessed God hath suflfered many
persons, in several Families of this little village, to be
grievously vexed and tortured in body, and to be
deeply tempted, to the endangering of the destruc-
tion of their souls, and all these amazing facts (well
known to many of us) to be done by Witchcraft and
Diabolical operations. It is also well known that
when these calamities first began, which was in my
own family, the affliction was several weeks before
such hellish operations as witchcraft was suspected.
Nay, it never broke forth to any considerable light
until diabolical means was used by the making of a
cake by my Indian man, who had his directions from
this our sister Mary Sibley, since which operations
have been plenty, and exceeding much mischief hath
followed. But by this means it seems the Devil hath

94 A PEEP AT

been raised amongst us, and his rage is vehement and
terrible, and when he shall be silenced the Lord only
knows."

From Salem I proceeded to Marblehead, the sterile
appearance of which reminded me of mj own native
land. Marblehead is Newfoundland in miniature.
On the barren rods which for the most part surround
the harbor, are erected fish-flakes, for the purpose of
curing fish on. What would a Newfoundland fisher-
man think of seeing fish-flakes only three feet high,
six or eight feet wide, and from ten to twenty feet
long, built of narrow strips of board, and so frail as
to be incapable of bearing a person to walk on them !
I am sure he would laugh at such an aifair. Such,
however, are the fish-flakes of Marblehead. From
the first settlement of the country to the present time,
Marblehead has been celebrated for its enterprise in
the fisheries. At the commencement of the war
between Great Britian and America, this was the
second important town in the colony of Massachusetts.
It is distant from Boston sixteen miles, and contains
a population of 8,000. The number of vessels be-
longing to this place is about 100, which are employ-
ed at the Banks, and in the Labrador Cod Fishery

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 95

and Mackerel Fishery. The annual value of the Cod
and Mackerel Fishery is about $170,000, or X35,-
000. The various manufactures of the place are said
to amount to $400,000 annually, or £80,000. A
steam Cotton Mill was erected here five years ago,
the statistics of which I have not been able to obtain.
The land near the sea is very hilly and rocky. When
the celebrated "Whitefield first visited Marblehead, he
asked where they used to bury their dead. Notwith-
standing its rocky appearance, the land surrounding
the town is very fertile, the Agricultural Society hav-
ing awarded premiums for the largest quantity of
hay, barley, and corn, obtained here from an acre.
This town produced in one year 1,500 bushels of
gram, 2,000 bushels of fruit, 17,525 bushels ot vege-
tables, 550 tons of hay, and 1,295 pounds of butter.
When I sat down to breakfast at the neat, homely
hotel of Marblehead, I fancied myself sitting at the
hospitable table of Newman & Co., at Harbor Briton,
in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland. The first dish which
appeared on the table was a nice dish of fine fried
halibut. The whole place has a Newfoundland-like
appearance. The barren, naked rocks skirting the
water, covered with fish-flakes, the fishermen moving
about, the schooners preparing for the fishery, and

96 A PEEP AT

the ocean billows in all their wildness dashing without
the harbor, wrapping the rocks in sheets of spray and
foam, all strongly reminded me of my native home.
The Cod fishery in New England first commenced
at Dorchester, about five miles distant from Boston,
in the year 1633. The following will show the value
of the Cod fishery for the State of Massachusetts in
the year 1844.

Vessels employed,

967

Tonnage,

51,796

Barrels of Mackerel,

86,628

Value of Mackerel,

$637,052

Quintals of Cod fish.

334,901

Value of Cod fish.

$746,263

Value of other fish and Lobsters,

$100,822

Bushels of Salt consumed.

491,064

Capital invested,

$1,238,640

Hands employed.

7,866

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

97

Annual Return of the amount of mackerel and
other fish, estimated in barrels, inspected in Massa-
chusetts in 1849. Those re-inspected are probably
from the British Provinces.

MACKEREL.

Bis. No.1 Bis. No.2

BIs.NaSj Total

Bostou, (re-inspected) .
Boston, (inspected) . •

Salem, " ...

Marblehead, " ...

Beverly, " ...

Manchester " ...

Gloucester, " ...

Rockport, " ...

NewDuryport," . . .

Hingham, " ...

Cohasset, " ...

Scituate, " ...

Plymouth, " ...

Yarmouth, " ...

Westport, " ...

Egertown, " ...

Dennis, '• ...

Barnstable, " ...

Harwich, " ...

Chatham, " ...

Wellfleet, " ...

Truro, " ...

Provincetown" . . .

Nantucket, " ...

7,896

4,100

88

60

60

27

14.686

1,459

4,148

4,147

8,229

392

76

1,487

24

163

2,629

2,085

6,039

1,627

6,504

3,335

7,080

106

12,886

6,327

82

46

97

178

19,822

2,106

6,818

4,681

5,207

677

218

1,821

48

188

4,181

2,066

6,401

1,861

7,726

4,666

9,256

106

2,126
4.014

80

82

11,121

822

6,914

4,566

6,859

442

277

2,524

4,275
2,111
4,166

869
6,819
8,861
7,010

218

69.300

94,847

14,441

115

104

187

287

46,679

4,886

16,880

13,424

1^,298

1,411

566

6,832

146

866

11,086

6,212

14,60&

8,84&

18,649

11,862

23,347

430

67,702 I 231,f

RECAPITULATION.

Mackerel 231,856

Salmon 1,821

Shad 415

Herring 872

Alewives 2,189

Cod 97

Menhaden 78

Sword Fish . . . .
Tongues and Sounds
Halibut Fins . . . .
Salmon Trout . . .
Blue Fish

'474
U13
' 62
76
142

Barrels, total 238,49l>

Fish Inspection

JOHN P. OBER, Inspector General of Fish.
?ce, Boston^ Janxtary 7lh, 1850.

98

A PEEP AT

Statement of the tonnage and men employed in the
Bank or Cod Fishery of the United States, the
product of the same, and the amount of allowances
paid to the owners of vessels engaged in the Fish-
eries, during the year ending 30th June, 1848 : —

Vessels

Number. Tonnage.
. 1,597 86,069

Men.
8,495

Boys.

484

Quantity. Value.

Codfish (cwt.) 558,640 $1,566,919

Fish Oil (gallons) 165,210 73,654

Tongues and Sounds (bbls.) 607 3,370

Halibut, Hake, and Pollock (cwt.) . 44,933 99,491

Total value $1,743,434

Amount of allowances paid, $243,432.

Statement of the quantity of Pickled Fish exported
from the United States, the bounty paid on export-
ation, and the amount of allowances paid to the
owners of vessels employed in the Bank or Cod
Fishery, from 1843 to 1848, inclusive : —

Pickled Fish exported

Allow, to
Fishing

Vessels.

Total

Years.

Barrels.

Rate
per barrel.

Bounty.

Bounty &
Allow.

1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848

17,575
33,318
20,871
27,703
32,441
29,915

20 cents
((
({
u
((

2i cents.

$3,515
6,663
4,174
5,541
6,488
748

$165,932
249,074
289,840
274,942
276,429
243,432

$173,247
255,737
294,014
280,483
282,917
244,180

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

99

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100 A PEEP AT

WASHINGTON.

A statement of the amount of Bounties on salted Fish
exported, and of allowances to Vessels employed in
the Bank and Cod Fisheries annually, for the years
endino; 30th June, 1844, M5, '46, '47, and '48 : —

Bounties on Pickled
Fish exported.

Allc

•w. to vessels employed in
Bank & Cod Fislieries.

1844,

$6,663.60

$249,074.26

1845,

4,174.20

289,840.07

1846,

2,540.60

274,942.98

1847,

6,488.20

276,429.38

1848

747.80

243,432.23

Tonnage of Vessels enrolled

and

licensed for the

Mackerel and Cod Fisheries from 1844 to 1848,

inclusive.

Mackerel Fishery.
Tons.

Cod Fishery.
Tons.

1844,

16,171

75,179

1845,

21,413

69,826

1846,

36,463

72,516

1847,

31,451

7 0,178

1848,

43,539

82,632

Kate of allowance to Vessels in the Cod Fishery : —

If 5 tons and not above 30 tons, per ton $3.50

If above 30 tons, per ton, 4.00

If above 30 tons, and having a crew of 10 persons,
and employed at sea for 3^ months at least, but
less than 4 months, 4.00

Allowance to any vessel not to exceed 360.00

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 101

TOTAL VALUE OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES IN 1848.

Qoantitj. Talae. Pounds sterling

Codfish (quintals) 558,640 $1,566,919

Fish Oil (gallons) 165,210 73,654
Tongaes and Sounds,

(barrels) 607 3,370
Halibut, Hake, and

Pollock (quintals) 44,933 99,491

Mackerel (barrels) 173,256 1,274,104
Shad, Herring, Ale-

wives,Bluefish,Lob-

sters, Ac 150,000

£633,507

Value of the Whale OU in 1845 :—

Sperm OU, $6,223,276

Whale Oil, 2,961,619

Other Oil, 28,754

Whalebone, 1,147,518

£2,074,233

Total, £2,707,740

The value of the Fresh Fish consumed in the
United States must be enormous ; probably much more
than the above.

A great quantity of salt is manufactured in the
United States, which is used in the Fisheries, as well
as for other purposes. The first salt produced by
solar evaporation in America was made in the town of
Dennis, near Cape Cod, in the year 1776. In the
9*

102 A PEEP AT

towns about Cape Cod, there were manufactured in
1837, 669,064 bushels of salt, valued at $219,870.
Great quantities of salt, however, are manufactured in
other parts of the States.

AL VALUE OF THE

NEWFOUNDL.

AND FISHERl

IN

1847.

Quantity.

Value.

'Codfish, quintals

837,973

£596,990

Oil, Seal and Cod, tuns

8,670

243,646

Seal skins, number

436,831

46,280

Salmon, tierces

4,917

12,794

Herring, barrels

20,903

11,234

Total, 910,954

About the same quantity as the above is taken by
the French and American fishermen on the Banks and
along the shores of ISTewfoundland.

The exports from Newfoundland in the year 1814
were 1,200,000 quintals of codfish, valued at <£2 per
quintal ; 20,000 quintals of pickled fish, in barrels ;
6,000 tuns of cod oil, at ^32 per tun; 156,000 seal
skins, at 5s. each; 4,666 tuns seal oil, at =£36 per
tun ; besides salmon, mackerel, furs and berries to the
amount of .£10,000 ; the whole amounting to no less
a sum than X 2,828,976.

Newbury port is considered as one of the most
beautiful towns of New England. It is situated on
gently rising ground, on the south bank of the mouth

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 103

of the Merrimac river. It is distant from Boston
thirty-four miles, and contains a population of about
10,000. Many years ago it was a place of great
commerce. As many as ninety ships have been in
process of construction hero at one time. In 1808
the tonnage of this place was 30,000 tons. It has
several times been visited with severe commercial
depressions, as well as a conflagration which destroyed
the most valuable portion of the town. It is now,
however, recovering its former prosperity. The num-
ber of vessels now belonging to this port is as follows :
— 24 ships, 17 brigs, 9 barques, 9G schooners and 1
steamer : total tonnage, 23,962 tons. There are
several cotton mills in operation here, the annual pro-
duce of which is, one million five hundred thousand
yards of printed cotton, and four million yards of the
finest cotton manufactured in the country. They
consume about one million four hundred thousand
pounds of cotton, ten thousand gallons of oil, and three
thousand tons of coal. These mills employ about one
thousand operatives. In addition to cotton goods
there are other manufactures of almost every descrip-
tion. Newbury is connected with Newburyport ; it
was once three miles distant, but the buildings now
extend from one town to the other. Newbury was

104 A PEEP AT

first settled by persons from England in 1633. It was
called by the Indians Quassacumcow. The quantity
of fruit annually raised in the two places is 51,997
bushels, valued at $41,000, or .£8,000. The number
of vessels employed in the cod and mackerel fishery,
at Newburyport, is 57, and at Newbury 18. Having
heard of a family residing here from Newfoundland,
we sought out their residence. They emigrated a
year ago from Carbonear in Newfoundland. True as
the needle to the pole, my heart beat warm towards
this family. They were all born within three rods of
me. I thought of the beautiful lines of James
Montgomery : —

" There is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dear, a sweeter spot than all the rest ;
Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found 1
Art thou a man, a patriot, look around.
Oh, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam,
That land thy country, and that spot thy home ! "

We spent a couple of hours very pleasantly wan-
dering through the beautiful cemetery. It is inter-
spersed with venerable oak and elm trees, and on all
sides magnificent monuments are to be seen, the whole
forming one of the most elegant cemeteries I have yet
seen in the country. In High Street, near the Court

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 105

House, is a fine pond of about six acres, which is
embellished with a mall and terraced promenade, a
delightful place of resort in the summer. About half
a mile from this, on the same street, are the remains
of the residence of the celebrated Lord Timothy
Dexter, so called. He was a rich, but most eccentric
man. I have heard a great deal of his eccentricities
from the good people of Newburyport ; one or two
incidents, however, will suffice. The whole front of
his dwelling, which was a very large house, was orna-
mented with about a hundred figures of men, beasts,
and birds, a couple of which were still standing when
I visited it. He at one time bought a cargo of warm-
ing pans, and shipped them to the West Indies, where,
quite unexpectedly, they wxre bought for either
straining or dipping molasses. This strange specula-
tion turned out a most profitable one. A few years
previous to his death, he had a tomb erected in his
garden, had a coffin made, and then had his funeral
ceremonies performed on a certain day, while he him-
self stood at a distance as an observer.

Newbury and Newburyport have been the birth-
places of some of the most celebrated men America
has produced. Among other distinguished men born
here were Theophilus Parsons, LL. D., an eminent

106 A PEEP AT

jurist, Judge Bradbury, Judge Jackson, Hon. Wm.
Bartlett, and Moses Brown, two of the mercliant
princes of America ; the distinguished mechanician,
Jacob Perkins, who pursued his inventions here till
fifty years of age, and then went to England. Here
John Quincy Adams, one of the Presidents of the
United States, resided during his early days, pursu-
ing his legal studies, under Mr. Parsons. It has also
been the birth-place of many eminent ministers of
various denominations. Here I saw the remains of the
celebrated George Whitefield. They are deposited in
the First Presbyterian Church. I descended to the
vault with the sexton, who carried a lamp. I cannot
describe my feelings when I laid my hand upon the
naked skull of this eminent and devoted servant of
God. The bones are very little decayed. The coffin
is made of hard wood, and perfectly sound. It has a
door at the head about seven or eight inches square,
as have all the coffins of this country. There is a
painted inscription on the coffin stating the time of his
death and age. Immediately beneath the pulpit of
the church is a marble tablet with the following
inscription : —

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 107

. Under this Pulpit

arc deposited

The Remains

of

THE REV. GEO. WHITEFIELD,

and

THE REV. JONATHAN PARSONS,

The first Pastor of this Church,

whodied July 19th, 1776;

also

OF THE REV. JOSEPH PRINCE,

Who died 1791.

On the right of the Pulpit is a beautiful marble
cenotaph, "with the following inscription : —

This Cenotaph

is erected with affectionate veneration

to tlie memory of

THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD,

bom at Gloucester, Eng., Dec. 16tli, 1714 ;•

educated at Oxford University; ordained 1736.

In a ministry of 34 years

he crossed the Atlantic 13 times,

and preached more than 18,000 sermons.

As a soldier of the cross, humble, devout, ardent, be put on the

whole armor of God,

preferring the honor of Christ

to his own interest, repose, reputation or life.

As a Christian orator, his deep piety, disinterested zeal, and vivid

imagination, gave unexampled energy to his look, action and utter-

108 A TEEP'AT

ance, — bold, fervent, pungent and popular in his eloquence; no
other uninspired man ever preached to so large assemblies, or
enforced the simple truths of the Gospel by motives so persuasive
and awful, and with an influence so powerful on the hearts of his
hearers.

He died of Asthma, Sept. 30th, 1770;

suddenly exchanging his life of unparalleled labors

for his eternal rest.

There are two other coffins m the same vault with
Mr. Whitefield's, one the Rev. Jonathan Parson's, and
the other a poor blind man's, who had a strong desire
to be buried with Mr. Whitefield. I have visited the
house where Mr. Whitefield died ; and while I trod
the very floor of the room in which he breathed his
last, I seemed to be walking on holy ground. The
house has undergone some considerable repairs, but
the old room is still preserved ; the chair in which
Mr. Whitefield died is in the Boston Library. One of
the principal bones of Whitefield's right arm had been
missing from among the remains for a number of
years — until last summer, (1849) when the minister
of the church, the Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, received
a letter from a gentleman in England, from which the
following is an extract : —

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 109

" Some years ago, a brother clergyman was
requested to obtain an original letter of the dear and
honored Whitefield for me, which he thought he could
easily do. He failed, however, in the attempt, but, to
my gi-eat surprise and mortification, sent me what he
called a precious relic of the holy man of God, one of
his bones ! and precious it is, but it was of too sacred
a nature to expose to the public eye, and I have pre-
served it, hoping to restore it to its proper place with
my own hands. This I must now entrust to you, and
shall be happy to learn from you that it has been
done."

Mr. Stearns had the memorable relic conveyed to
the vault where its kindred remains lie, on the 27th
of September, 1849, after having twice crossed the
Atlantic, and performed a pilgrimage of at least a
quarter of a century.

The Rev. George Whitefield was one of the earliest
and latest friends of the Wesleys, — one of that little
band of faithful men who were called Methodists at
Oxford, more than a hundred years ago, whose names
will live through all generations. Whitefield first
arrived in this country in the year 1738. He landed
in Savannah, Georgia, and laid the foundation of an
orphan house a few miles from Savannah, and after-
10

110 A PEEP AT

wards finished it at a great expense. He returned to
England tlie same year. While preaching in aid of
the Orphan House Charity, one of his hearers had
gone resolved that he would give nothing ; but after
hearing the preacher a little, he determined to give
what copper money he had. Another stroke of the
preacher's eloquence made him ashamed of that
intention, and he determined to give his silver ; but so
completely was he won over by the admirable conclu-
sion of the sermon, that when the collector's plate
came round, he emptied his pockets of copper, silver,
gold, and all. In 1739, Whitefield visited America
again ; he landed at Philadelphia, and began to preach
in different churches. In this and his subsequent
visits to America, he visited most of the principal
places. Immense numbers flocked to hear him where-
ever he preached. Such was the eagerness of the
multitude in Philadelphia to listen to spiritual instruc-
tion, that there was public worship regularly twice a
day for a year, and on the Lord's day it was celebra-
ted three or four times. During his visit to Philadel-
phia, he preached frequently after night from the
gallery of the Court House. So loud was his voice at
that time that it was distinctly heard on the Jersey
shore, a mile distant. Whitefield was devoid of the

TNCLE SAM'S FARM. Ill

spirit of sectarianism ; his only object being to
" preach Christ and him crucified." The following
striking description of Whitefield is given bj Mrs.
Childs, an American lady of great talent, now living
at Brookline, in the vicinity of Boston : —

" There was nothing in the appearance of this
extraordinary man which would lead you to suppose
that a Felix would tremble before him. He was
something above the middle stature, well proportioned,
and remarkable for a native gracefulness of manner.
His complexion was very fair, his features regular,
and his dark blue eyes small and lively ; in recover-
ing from the measles, he had contracted a squint with
one of them, but this peculiarity rather rendered the
expression of his countenance more rememberable,
than in any degree lessened the effect of its uncom-
mon sweetness. His voice excelled, both in melody
and compass ; and its fine modulations were happily
accompanied by that grace of action which he pos-
sessed in an eminent degree, and which is said to be
the chief requisite of an orator. To have seen him
when he first commenced, one would have thought
him anything but enthusiastic and glowing ; but as he
proceeded, his heart warmed with his subject, and his
manner became impetuous and animated, till, forget-

112 A PEEP AT

ful of every thing around him, he seemed to kneel at
the throne of Jehovah, and to beseech in agony for
his fellow-beings.

" After he had finished his prayer, he knelt for a
long time in profound silence ; and so powerfully had
it affected the most heartless of his audience, that a
stillness like that of the tomb pervaded the whole
house.

"Before he commenced his sermon, long, darkening
columns crowded the bright sunny sky of the morn-
ing, and swept their dull shadows over the building,
in fearful augury of the storm.

" His text was : ' Strive to enter in at the strait
gate ; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in,
and shall not be able.'

" ' See that emblem of human life,' said he, as he
pointed to a shadow that flitted across the floor. ' It
passed for a moment and concealed the brightness of
Heaven from our view — but it is gone. And where
will ye be, my hearers, when your lives have passed
away like that dark cloud ? Oh, my dear friends, I
see thousands sitting attentive, with their eyes fixed
on the poor, unworthy preacher. In a few days, we
shall all meet at the judgment-seat of Christ. We
shall form a part of that vast assembly which will

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 113

gather before his throne ; and every eye will behold
the Judge. With a voice whose call you must abide
and answer, he will inquire whether on earth ye
strove to enter in at the strait gate — whether you
were supremely devoted to God — whether your
hearts were absorbed in Him. My blood runs cold
when I think how many of you will then seek to enter
in and shall not be able. Oh, what plea can you
make before the Judge of the whole earth ? Can you
say it has been your whole endeavor to mortify the
flesh, with its affections and lusts ? That your life
has been one long effort to do the will of God ? No !
you must answer, I made myself easy in the world,
by flattering myself that all would end well ; but I
have deceived my own soul, and am lost.

" ' You, oh, false and hollow Christian — of what
avail will it be that you have done many things —
read much in the sacred Word — that you have made
long prayers — that you have attended religious
duties, and appeared holy in the eyes of men ?
What will all this be, if, instead of loving Him
supremely, you have been supposing you should exalt
yourself to Heaven, by acts really polluted and
unholy ?

" ' And you, rich man, wherefore do you hoard
10*

114 A PEEP AT

your silver ? Wherefore count the price you have
received for him whom you every day crucify in your
love of gain ? Why, that when you are too poor
to buy a drop of cold water, your beloved son may be
rolled to hell in his chariot pillowed and cushioned
about him.'

" His eye gradually lighted up as he proceeded, till
towards the close, it seemed to sparkle with celestial
fire.

" ' Oh, sinners ! ' he exclaimed, ' by all your
hopes of happiness, I beseech you to repent. Let
not the wrath of God be awakened ! Let not the
fires of eternity be kindled against you ! See there ! '
said he, pointing to the lightning which played on the
corner of the pulpit. ^ 'Tis a glance from the angry
eye of Jehovah ! Hark!' continued he, raising his
finger in a listening attitude, as the distant thunder
grew louder and louder, and broke in one tremendous
crash over the building. ' It was the voice of the
Almighty, as he passed by in his anger ! '

" As the sound died away, he covered his face, and
knelt beside the pulpit, apparently lost in inward and
intense prayer. The -storm passed rapidly by, and
the sun, bursting forth in his might, threw across the
heavens a magnificent arch of peace. Rising, and

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 115

pointing to the beautiful object, he exclaimed, ' Look
upon the rainbow, and praise him that made it. Very
beautiful it is, in the brightness thereof. It compass-
eth the heavens about with glorj ; and the hands of
the Most High have bended it ! ' "
The effect was irresistible.

From Newburjport I proceeded to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, which is the principal town in the
State, although Concord is the seat of government.
Portsmouth contains a population of about 15,000.
Here there is one of the United States Navy Yards.
The North America, the first line-of-battle ship
launched in America, was built here during the revo-
lution.^ From Portsmouth I proceeded to Portland,
visiting all the intermediate towns as far as Augusta,
which is the capital of the State of Maine. It is dis-
tant from Boston 165 miles, and situated at the head
of navigation on the Kennebec river, forty-three
miles from the sea. It lies on both sides of the river,
connected by a bridge 520 feet long ; a short distance
above the town, a dam has been constructed across
the river, at a cost of $300,000, forming a
very extensive water power. The State House
is a spacious and elegant structure, built of white

116 A PEEP AT

granite, located upon a beautiful eminence, and
surrounded with trees. On the east bank of the
river, stands one of the United States arsenals, a very
fine building, a short distance from which is the State
Insane Hospital ; it is a splendid granite edifice,
occupying a plat of 70 acres. It is one of the finest
buildings of the kind I have seen in the country.
Ship-building is carried on more extensively in this
State than any other in the Union. The following is
the number of ships built in the United States during
the years 1849 and 1850 : —

In 1849

In 1850.

Ships,

198

247

Brigs,

184

117

Schooners,

623

547

Sloops and Canal Boats,

547

290

Steamers,

175

159

Total,

1547

1360

Tonnage,

256,577.47

272,218.84

Of the 247 ships built in 1850, Maine constructed
127 ; of the 117 brigs, she built 75 ; and of the 547
schooners, 115.

The total amount of tonnage employed in the
United States in 1849, was 3,334,015 tons.

A ship is now building at New York, said to be the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 117

largest merchant ship in the world. She is 230 feet
in length, 42 breadth of beam, 25 1-2 depth of hold,
and clipper built ; she will be 25 feet longer than any
merchant vessel sailing from that port. All the prin-
cipal pieces are to be of live oak, and, what is alto-
gether novel in the construction of American merchant-
men, a system of iron lattice- work, or diagonal iron
bracing, is to be introduced, with a view to secure the
greatest practicable degree of strength. She is to
be finished in about six months, and will run from
New York to Canton, via Cahfornia, and thence
home, completing the circuit of the globe with each
trip. She will measure near 2,500 tons.

The number of light-houses in the United States is
288, and 32 floating-lights ; 61 of which are on the
northern lakes.

The Secretary of State has communicated to the
two Houses a list of the number of seamen registered
in the United States for the past fiscal year, of which
the subjoined is a recapitulation : —

118

A PEEP AT

State.

Natives.

Naturalized.

Total.

Maine,

1058

16

1074

New Hampshii'e,

69

—

69

Massachusetts,

4062

120

4182

Rhode Island,

576

6

582

Connecticut,

38

1

39

New York,

2011

1

2012

New Jersey

4

—

4

Delaware,

6

1

7

Maryland,

711

23

734

District of Columbia,

4

—

4

Virginia,

431

—

431

North Carolina,

22

—

22

Georgia,

134

5

139

Louisiana,

664

56

720

Florida,

53

12

65

Aggregate totals.

9843

241

10,084

It is calculated that the division of the occupations
of men in the United States is nearly in the following
proportions : —

Number engaged in internal navigation, 33,076

" " on the ocean, 56,021

" " in the learned professions, 65,255

« " commerce, 119,607

« " manufactures, 791,749

" " agriculture, 3,719,951

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 119

Thus it will be seen that those who are engaged in
agriculture are three and a half times greater in num-
ber than those in all the other divisions.

The inhabitants of the State of Maine I found a
verj hospitable and generous-hearted people. The
manners of the American people generally are very
cold and reserved, and there is a great want of that
politeness which is exhibited among the English
people. That open-hearted, unreserved social inter-
course, to which the people of Newfoundland are
accustomed, is almost unknown in this country.

The American people, generally, are a moral and
highly intelligent people ; in this respect, superior to
the masses of Europe. Book pedlars, newspaper
agents, tract distributors, and colporters, are to be
found every where, going from house to house. In
this way, a vast amount of useful information and
general literature is scattered broadcast over the
country, and brought within the reach of those who
otherwise probably would have never become possessed
of it.

The following are the rates of wages in the New
England States : Day-laborers get one dollar per day ;
servant-girls from two to four dollars per week ;
tradesmen from one to two dollars per day ; clerks

l20 A PEEP AT

from $150 to $400 per annum ; book-keepers from
$400 to $1,200 per annum. Ministers of every
denomination are paid by their respective congrega-
tions from $200 to $3000 per annum. Dry goods
and provisions are at a lower price than in any of the
British Colonies.

The first week in May I spent in the city of
Worcester, attending the annual meeting of the
" League of Universal Brotherhood," preparatory to
Elihu Burritt's departure for London to attend the
great Peace Bazaar. The bazaar was opened in the
Hall of Commerce, London, on the 30th May, and
continued three days. This demonstration far ex-
ceeded the expectations of its best friends. Stalls for
the sale of the various articles were appropriated
to different countries. Thus there were English
stalls, Scottish stalls, American, French, German and
Belgian stalls. Most of the articles contributed for
the American stalls were given by the Ladies'
" Olive Leaf Circles." Ladies' " Olive Leaf Circles"
have been formed in all the principal towns of
England, Scotland, and America. The object of
these societies is to raise funds to circulate a little
book called the " Olive Leaf," written by Elihu
Burritt, containing information on peace, in the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 121

French and German languages, as well as to open a
correspondence with each other. These messengers
of peace are now being circulated by thousands over
the continent of Europe.

The " League of Universal Brotherhood" origina-
ted with Elihu Burritt. The following is the pledge
of Universal Brotherhood, which was drawn up bj
Elihu Burritt during his visit to England in
1846: —

PLEDGE.

" Believing all war to be inconsistent with tlve spirit of Christianity,
and destructive of the best interests of mankind, I do hereby pledge
myself never to enlist or enter into any army or navy, or to yield
any voldntart support or sanction to the preparation for or pro-
secution of any war, by whomsoever, or for whatsoever proposed,
declared, or waged. And I do hereby associate myself witli all
persons, of whatever country, condition, or color, who have signed
or shall hereafter sign this pledge, in a ' LEAGUE OF UNI-
VERSAL BROTHERHOOD,' whose object shall be to employ
all legitimate and moral means for the abolition of all war, and all
the spirit and all the manifestations of war, throughout the world ;
for the abolition of all restrictions upon international correspond-
ence and friendly intercourse, and of whatever else tends to make
enemies of nations, or prevents their fusion into one peaceful
brotherhood ; for the abolition of all institutions and customs which
do not recognize and respect the image of God and a human bro-
ther in every man, of whatever clime, color, or condition of
humanity."

11

122 A PEEP AT

Upwards of 30,000 persons have signed the pledge
in the United States. Leagues have been formed in
all the principal towns of Great Britain, France,
Germany, and America, and addresses on the subject
passed between each other. The first peace congress
met in London, in 1846 ; the second peace congress
met in Brussels, in 1847 ; and in the month of
August, 1849, the third congress met in Paris.
France, Germany, Belgium, England and the United
States were there represented by large numbers of
men, eminent in business, in politics, in literature, in
religion, and in philanthropy ; the Catholic archbishop
of Paris, and the eloquent protestant preacher, M.
Cocquerel ; Michael Chevalier, Horace Say, and F.
Basteat, distinguished political economists ; Emile de
Girardin, the most important political editor of
France ; Victor Hugo, illustrious in her literature ;
Richard Cobden, the well-known British statesman;
Elihu Burritt, the renowned American linguist and
philanthropist ; and the celebrated Lamartine. The
fourth and last peace congress met at Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, in Germany, on the 22d of August last,
(1850.) M. Jaub, ex-minister of the State of Darm-
stadt was appointed president of the congress. Among
other eminent men who were present from Great

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 128

Britain, were Richard Cobden, C. Hindi ej, and
J. B. Smith, members of the British Parliament;
Joseph Sturge, Rev. J. Burnet, E. Miall, editor of
the Nonconformist, G. Dawson, &c., &c. From
America there vktq Professor Hitchcock, the eminent
geologist. Dr. Buller, Professor Cleveland, Rev. Mark
Trafkon, Methodist minister, the world-renowned Eliha
Burrit, Rev. G. Gamett, a colored man. Rev. G.
Cop way, (Kah-GeGa Gah-Bowh) one of the red
Indians of America, whose appearance in the congress,
attired in his costume as a chief, excited great
interest, and many others. From France there were
M. Emile de Girardin, J. Gamier, M. Guillaumin,
and others. From Brussels, M. Visschers. From
Amsterdam, M. Suringar, and M. Druka. Pro-
fessor Liebig, the celebrated chemist, was at the
meeting. A very interesting letter was also read
from the Catholic archbishop of Paris, giving his
cordial approval of the object of the congress.
The most unexpected visitor to the peace congress
was General Haynau, the " Austrian butcher,'* who
listened to several speeches. During the third sitting
of the congress, a proposition was made by Schles-
wig-Holstein to appoint a committee to decide the
merits of their present dispute with Denmark, and

124 A PEEP AT

offering to submit to the arbitration of the congress.
The committee, however, decided that in consequence
of the proposition coming from only one party, they
could not interfere. But that if Denmark and Hol-
stein were to unite in such a proposal, the congress
would engage to find an arbitrator. After the
termination of the peace congress, Elihu Burritt,
Joseph Sturge, and Frederick Wheeler visited the
two governments of Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark,
by whom they were received in the most courteous
manner. Denmark could not exactly comply with
the terms of arbitration proposed by Schleswig-Hol-
stein, and so the matter rests. There is no doubt,
however, but that the object of the visit of these bene-
volent men would have been accomplished but for the
interference of the great powers of Europe.

At the peace congress at Frankfort, Mr. Cobden
read a letter from Baron Von Reden, one of the most
eminent statistical authorities in Europe, in which he
estimates the armed force of the European States,
including all persons who are paid out of the appro-
priations to the army and navy, in numbers about
4,000,000 men. Assuming the whole population of
Europe to have been, in 1840, 257,000,000, then,
according to elaborate investigation, he estimates the

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 126

males of this number at 128,120,000, of which
10,678,000 are between twenty and thirty-three.
Reckoning one-third of these as incapable of service,
7,118,000 would remain, more than half of which
number are actually enrolled. The labor of a man
for a year is worth, on an average, 60 thalers. Thus
the withdrawal of 400,000 young men from labor is
an actual loss of 240,000,000 thalers per annum. The
annual expenditure of the European States upon their
land and sea forces and fortifications, he says, is, in
ordinary times, something over 541,188,000 thalers ;
which, added to the loss of 240,000,000 in labor,
amounts to 881,000,000, or a sum equal to the value
of the annual product of all the mines in Europe.
The whole of this expenditure, during thirty years of
peace, has been 16,230,000,000 thalers. One third
of this sum would have constructed 15,028 miles of
railway, or from thirteen to fourteen times as many as
are now completed in Germany.

A French paper publishes a statement of loss
of life and the cost of wars of Europe in 1849,
remarking that the calculation is below the cost, and
that it does not include the Schleswig war, which was
both bloody and expensive, but concerning which
there is insufficient data to estimate correctly. The
IV

126 A PEEP AT

loss of life is set down at 151,812, of which 62,000
was in the Hungarian war, 31,023 in the Italian, and
23,000 in Naples and Sicily.

The cost in money was $336,400,000, of which
Austria incurred $125,400,000 ; France $85,800,-
000 ; and Russia $100,000,000.

It is estimated that all the agricultural labor done
in England, in 1848, cost X18,200,000. Official
letters show that the cost of her army establishment
for the same year, was X 18,500,000. That is,
£300,000, or a million and a half of dollars, more are
paid for preparations for consuming and impoverishing
war, than for all her golden harvests, and to the
700,000 laborers who produce them.

Elihu Burrit says — " Look at the fortunes which
nations have squandered away in the sanguinary
litigation of the sword. Take Great Britain for
instance. Her wars with the neighboring nations,
from 1688 to 1815, cost her £3,383,022,500,
including the interest she has paid on money borrowed
for the work of human slaughter. How can we
measure this vast amount thus wasted ? Let us
weigh it in pure gold, and we shall find it weighs
73,543,967 pounds troy. It would require 36,770
able-bodied men to carry it from the mint, each

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 127

having 200 pounds, or 9200 sovereigns in his sack.
Placed in a line of sovereigns, each touching the
other, and averaging three-fourths of an inch in
diameter, thej would reach 484,330 miles, or twenty
times around the globe at the equator. It would
require 313 men to count it in a year, each counting
at sixty sovereigns a second, working ten hours a day,
and 300 days in a year. The wages of laborers
in Great Britain, including old and young, women
and children, will not average over 10«. a week.
Then, at this rate of wages, it would take 13,011,621
laborers ten years to earn what Great Britain
expended in the litigation of the battle-field from 1688
to 1815. It would require 520 ships to convey that
amount in silver, each freighted with 1000 tons
of that precious metal. Surely, war is the consum-
mation of all human follies, waste and profligacy.

" Here are a few of the reminiscences of war
entirely shorn of poetry. They are bloody witnesses,
and let them testify. In the periodical butcheries in
the human family, the following hecatombs have been
offered up to that god of battles which Christians and
Pagans have worshipped with the same devotion : —

128 A PEEP AT

Loss of life in the Jewish Wars, 25,000,000

By wars in the time of Sesostris, 15,000,000
By those of Semiramis, Cyrus, & Alexander, 30,000,000

By Alexander's successors, 20,000,000

Grecian Wars, 15,000,000

Wars of the twelve Ciesars, 30,000,000

Eoman wars before Julius Caesar, 60,000,000
Wars of the Roman Empire, Turks and

Saracens, 180,000,000

Wars of the Reformation, 30,000,000

Wars of the middle ages, and nine crusades, 80,000,000

Tartar and African Wars, 180,000,000
American Indians destroyed by the

Spaniards, 12,000,000

Wars of Napoleon, 6,000,000

683,000,000

" The above is a mere extract from the bloody
statistics of glorious war ; one chapter in the annals
of the violence, crime, and misery that have followed
in the foot-prints of the great destroyer. The loss of
souls is entered where human eyes may not read the
list. Dr. Dick estimates the number of those who
have perished directly and indirectly by war at four-
teen thousand millions^ or about one-tenth of the
human race. Edmund Burke placed the number at

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 129

thirty-five thousand millions. Taking the estimate of
Dr. Dick, and assuming the average quantity of
blood in a common-sized person, the veins of these
14,000,000,000 would fill a circular lake of more than
seventeen miles in circumference, ten feet deep, in
which all the navies of the world might float ! Sup-
posing these slaughtered millions to average each
four feet in length, if placed in a row they would
reach nearly 422 times around the earth, and four times
around the sun. Supposing they average 130 pounds
each, then they would form a globe of human flesh
of nearly a mile in diameter, weighing 1,820,000,-
000,000 pounds — fourteen times more than all the
human beings now living on the globe.

What a spectacle to the eyes of Him, with whom
time and eternity, things present, past, and to come,
are one omnipresent Now ! with whom all the actions
and conditions of his creatures are not matters of
memory, or prescience, but of clear and consentaneous
vision ! Not a drop of that sea of blood has evaporated
from the sight of that all-seeing eye. Its red, putrid,
vapor is still going up into the nostrils of the God
of peace. Before him that solid globe of human flesh
revolves, in its crimson atmosphere, a horrid satellite
around the green earth he made for man. Oh,

180 A PEEP AT

Christian ! disciple of the meek and lowly Jesus, look
at that blood-dripping planet ! It is the flesh of the
tenth part of your race. Shall its purple surface
swell with more butcheries of God's human children ?
Look into that dead sea of blood ; shall it be deepened
and widened from the veins of more victims to the
destroj^er of mankind ? If not, say so. Say it in the
majesty of your Master's spirit. Let the Christians
of Christendom say to the world, that all war is a vast
and unmitigated violation of the spirit and pre-
cepts of the gospel, and the principalities and the
powers of the earth would soon bow to the name of
Jesus, and nations learn war no more.

" During the last century or two, there have been
twenty-four wars between England and France, twelve
between England and Scotland, eight between Eng-
land and Spain, seven between England and other
nations — in all 51. The ascertained amount, though
doubtless far below the actual amount of British
money expended during the last six great wars, was
as follows : —

1.

War ending 1697,

£21,500,000

2.

War ending 1712,

48,000,000

3.

War ending 1737,

46,000,000

4.

War ending 1756,

111,000,000

5.

American war of 1775,

139,000,000

6.

War from 1793 to 1815,

850,000,000

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 131

These wars have also cost other nations much. The
last one, besides burthening Britain to the amount of
X850,000,000, cost France X690,000,000, Austria
£220,000,000, the rest of Europe Xl,012,000,000,
the United States of America £27,000,000 ; total,
£2,799,000,000 ; a sum which probably falls consid-
erably below the actual cost of those wars ; nor should
we over-estimate their cost by putting it (reckoning
one pound sterling five dollars, or a little less,) at
$15,000,000,000, all wasted, worse than wasted, by
men calling themselves Christians, for the purpose of
plundering and destroying other Christians. Since
the great religious Reformation Great Britain has
spent sixty-five years in war, and sixty-two in peace.
She borrowed in seven wars, which occupied the
sixty-five years, £834,000,000. In the same time
she raised by taxes £1,189,000,000, thus forming a
total expenditure of $8,982,120,000. This enor-
mous sum, extorted from the strained sinews of labor,
would have constructed fifteen railways around
the globe, allowing $25,000 per mile ! To raise
another such sum would require a tax of $10 on
every human being on the globe. The interest of this
sum for one month at 5 per cent, exceeds the amount
contributed by the whole Christian world for preach-

132 A PEEP AT

ing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen for the
last thousand years." Macaulaj sajs : In 1684, the
whole non-eflfective charge, military and naval, of
Great Britain, can scarcely have exceeded .£10,000
a year. It now exceeds .£10,000 a day ; and
Charles Sumner, the eloquent author of the " Grand-
eur of Nations," says : —

"By a table of the expenditures of the United
States, exclusive of payments on account of the public
debt, it appears that, in the fifty-three years from the
formation of our present Government, in 1789, down
to 1843, there have been $246,620,055 spent for
civil purposes, comprehending the expenses of the
executive, the legislative, the judiciary, the post-
office, light-houses, and intercourse with foreign
governments. During this same period there have
been $368,526,594 devoted to the military establish-
ment, and $170,437,685 to the naval establishment ;
the two forming an aggregate of $538,964,278.
Deducting from this sum the appropriations during
three years of war, and we shall find that more than
four hundred millions were absorbed by vain prepara-
tions in time of peace for war. Add to this amount
a moderate sum for the expenses of the miUtia during
the same period, which a candid and able writer

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 133

places at present at $50,000,000 a year ; for the
past years we may take an average of $25,000,000,
and we shall have the enormous sum of $1,335,000,-
000 to be added to the $400,000,000 ; the whole
amounting to seventeen hundred and thirty-five mil-
lions of dollars, a sum beyond the conception of
human faculties, sunk under the sanction of the Gov-
ernment of the United States in mere peaceful pre-
parations for war ; more than seven times as much as
was dedicated by the Government during the same
period to all other purposes whatsoever."

The number of militia in the United States in
1850, was 1,914,101 ; regular army, 12,326, includ-
ing oflficers. Of these, 7,G96 are under orders for
Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, thus
leaving but 4,530 in all the rest of the States and
Territories.

According to the report of the Secretary of the
Navy, the navy of the United States now consists
of: —

Ships-of-the-line, 7

Razee, I

Frigates, 12

Sloops-of-war, 21

Brigs, 4

Schooners, 2

12

134 A PEEP AT

Steam-frigates,

5

Steamers, of the first-class,

3

Steamers, less than first-class,

6

Store-ships,

6

Of these there are in commission : —

Razee,

1

Frigates,

7

Sloops-of-war,

15

Brigs,

4

Schooners, (coast survey)

2

Steam-frigates,

2

Steamer of the first-class.

1

Steamers, less than the first-class,

3

Ships-of-the-line, (as receiving ships)

3

Steamer, «

1

Sloop,

1

There are also on the stocks four ships-of-the-line and
two frigates.

There is also a contingent naval force of vessels,
owned bj individuals, but built by contracts with the
Government, and employed in the transportation of
the mail, and liable to be taken in any emergency at
valuation, and converted into vessels of war. This
force, comprising four steamers of the first class, is
employed on the line between New York and Liver-
pool. A fifth is contracted for, but not constructed.
One steamer of the first class between New York and

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 135

Panama. A second steamer on this line has been
brought into use, but has not been finished so as to
undergo inspection and be received. The contract on
this line, as on that to Liverpool, provides for five
steamships.

The Secretary recommends the appointment of two
rear-admirals, in order that the oflScers of the Ameri-
can navy may rank with the naval officers of the
other maritime powers.

The peace question is making great progress in
America ; some of the leading men of the country
are advocating it. At the public meeting held in the
month of May last, in Boston, for the purpose of
selecting delegates to represent the State of Massa-
chusetts, his excellency Governor Briggs presided,
and delivered an effective and eloquent speech ; and
I attended a peace meeting in the city of Roxbury
with Elihu Burritt, where General Dearborn took the
chair, and made a noble speech, denouncing all war.
Elihu Burritt is now in Hamburgh, still absorbed with
his one idea, his big thought, Universal Peace and
Brotherhood. The next peace congress is to be held
in the city-world of London, during the great
*• Exhibition of all Nations." The American Govern-
ment have decided to freight the " Pennsylvania,"

136: A PEEP AT

the largest ship in the American navj, -vvith the pro-
ducts of American genius and manufacture, for the
Exhibition of all Nations, in London. This great
man-of-war was built some years ago at Philadelphia,
and cost about $800,000. She has never yet made
a voyage. Her first voyage, then, will not be to
produce desolation and death, but to exhibit the arts
of peaceful and happy industry of the country to
which she belongs.

My home for the present is the city of Worcester,
which is situated in the heart of the State of Massa-
chusetts. It is called the " Heart of the Common-
wealth," and contains a population of over 17,000
inhabitants. It is the centre of a great inland trade,
and of an important railroad communication ; which
makes it one of the greatest thoroughfares in the
country, and contributes much to its growth and pros-
perity. It has railroads diverging from it in almost
every point of the compass.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

137

Worcester,

Western,

Providence,

Taunton,

New Bedford,

Lowell.

Nashua,

Boston and Maine,

Fitchburg,

Eastern,

Old Colony,

Fall River,

ej^sasssssESKS J^'^

DOLL4BS.

4,908,338

9,996,958

3,370,270

106,930

498,477

1,945,647

641,083

3,980,057

3,445,799

3,619.348

9,999,461

1,146,004

o
S

r

Number
Paaseng.
carried
in cars.

959,557
435,805
573,360
100,987
97,748
593,898
958,865

1,905007
875,410

1,049114
773,194
252,767

Tons
M'ndize
carried
in cars.

248,768

273,608

96,642

36,546

15,404

978,313

181,623

102,485

987,032

70,348

83,541

62,554

DOLLS.

330,606

.561,575

225,640

33,783

50,639

179,790

67,097

332.214

204,668

404,072

167.963

102,630

1?

3 S
* a

M
O

M

?

DOLLS.

379,795

789,936

198,699

27,009

36,691

936,698

89.449

190,191

969.691

113.857

84,897

71,404

ill

IK>LLS.

703.361

1,345811

354,339

60,799

87,960

416,488

156,539

474!:<59
517,929
959,790
174,043

1

DOLLS.

86,883
198,301
41,876
6;i89
6,353
60,987
91,433
55,635
97,859
41399
95,094
15,773

U

H
H

DOLLS.

72,298

105,551

22,202

8.056

7,608

62,448

28,569

44,101

a5,373

25,111

39.686

24,546

DOLLS.

246,370

354,469

99,604

23,135

28,4fil

1.37,470

49,454

158,7.58

173,234

117,477

110,459

70,556

§"8

£ T-

D0LL4.

405,551

588,323

163.ri82

37,373

42,420

260,903

99,456

258.494

236,459

183.980

175 239

110,875

UOLLS.

297,810

755.488

190.650

23,419

44,840

155,585

57,083

263,841

237.900

333,900

77,551

63,168

o »

o

•n

2.

•5*

•-J
o

00

J2'

138

A PEEP AT

The following is the number of miles of railroad laid
out in the United States : —

New England States.

Massachusetts.

1049

New Hampshire,

416

Rhode Island,

64

Connecticut,

446

Vermont,

287

Maine,

Middle States.

202
2464

New York,

1306

Pennsylvania,

613

Delaware,

39

Maryland,

316

New Jersey,

236

2510

Southern States.

Georgia,

665

Virginia,

336

North Carolina,

264

South Carolina,

226

Alabama,

68

1549

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 139

WesUrn States.

Ohio,

390

Michigan,

342

Illinois,

105

Indiana,

102

Louisiana,

70

Mississippi,

70

Kentucky,

55

Tennessee,

10

1144
Total number of miles of railroad in the United States, 7677

A writer in the Mobile Herald and Tribune makes
use of the following statement, as showing the bene-
ficial result of combining capital with labor ; —

Georgia has 640 miles railroad, costing $11,500,-
000 ■ — 138 miles of which were built by the State at
a cost of $3,500,000 ; South Carolina has 244 miles,
costing $65,000,000 ; Virginia has 473 miles, cost-
ing $7,000,000, and a general law authorizing the
subscription on the part of the State of two-fifths of
any railroad chartered and built within the State ;
Maryland 571 miles, built and building, at a cost of
$22,000,000, upwards of $5,000,000 of which the
State has finished by the loan of State bonds ; Penn-
sylvania 1,050 miles, costing $35,000,000 — 82 miles
of it were built by the State, at a cost of $4,225,000 ;

140 A PEEP AT

New Jersey, 206 miles, costing $6,800,000; New
York, 1,009 miles, costing $35,637,000, of which the
State has finished, bj loans and gift, over $4,000,000 ;
Massachusetts, 954 miles, costing $46,700,000, of
which nearly $6,000,000 have been furnished by the
State, $1,000,000 in stock subscription, and $5,000,-
000 by a loan of the State bonds ; New Hampshire,
212 miles, costing $7,700,000 ; Ohio, 429 miles,
built and building, at a cost of $8,400,000 ; Michi-
gan, 355 miles, at a cost of $8,100,000, about $6,-
000,000 of which were furnished by the State ; —
making together in eleven States, 6,042 miles of rail-
road, upon which there are daily at work 750 locomo-
tive engines and about 24,000 men, doing an amount
of work which, if it were possible to be done in twice
the time by horses and men, would require 1,400,000
horses, and 350,000 men. The labor performed by
these 750 engines and 24,000 men, in one year costs
the United States $36,600,000, all of it being done
in time totally impracticable by any other mode. Eut
suppose the year's work was done in the old way by
horses and men in five years, requiring 100,000 horses
and 25,000 men constantly at work, then the cost
would be $95,000,000, or $58,400,000 more than
the existing railroads in four-fifths less time. This

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 141

$58,400,000 is all of it the indirect advantage to the
public for wbich nothing is asked or paid. The capital
employed in building the roads, assumed at an average
of $30,000 per mile, and amounting in the aggregate,
for 6,042 miles, to $181,260,000, is fully compen-
sated, and all expenses of transportation, repairs, and
wear and tear, paid in the sum of $36,600,000,
actually charged and paid for the work done. Thus
showing the annual public gain to be, through the
labor-saving capacity of railroads, over thirty per cent,
of the capital invested, or, in other terms, $9,664
per mile.

The city of AYorcester is pleasantly situated in a
valley, surrounded by hills of slight acclivity. It
is abundantly supplied with water, brought through
an aqueduct from the neighboring hills. The most
important street is called Main Street, one hundred
feet wide, shaded on either side with chestnut, elm,
maple, oak, and a variety of other trees ; it is two
miles long, lined with elegant brick and stone build-
ings. There is one Episcopal Church, two Metho-
dist, one Roman Catholic, and four Congregation-
alist; besides which, there are a number of churches
belonging to other denominations. The Catholic
College of the Holy Cross was founded by the late

142 A PEEP AT

Bishop Fenwick, of Boston. It is under the care
of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and de-
signed for the education of young men for an eccle-
siastical or professional course of life. It is beauti-
fully situated on the slope of a hill, about a half mile
from the city. A farm of ninety acres is attached to
it. The Roman Catholic population of Massachusetts,
according to the census of 1850, is 180,000. The
Diocese of Boston comprises Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It "was created
in 1808.

Worcester is one of the most beautiful towns in New
England. As many of my distant readers may not
know what is meant by New England, I must inform
them that New England comprises six States, viz. :
Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and Vermont. The State Lunatic
Asylum, at Worcester, is one of the best institutions
in the United States. It is built of brick, and con-
sists of centre buildings, 76 feet long and 40 wide,
and four stories high. At each end of the wings are
two other buildings, 134 feet long and 34 feet wide,
forming, with the main building, three sides of a spa-
cious square. It will accommodate 450 patients.
The present number of patients is 234 males and

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 143

229 females. Tke Medical College is situated on tlie
outskirts of the citj. It is a large and elegant struc-
ture of brick and granite. The fee for a full course
of lectures is $60 in advance, "with a matriculation
fee of $3. There are several fine halls and other
public buildings in Worcester. The American Anti-
quarian Society, at this place, was founded in 1812,
by Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., who published the first
newspaper in Worcester, in 1775, and, a few years
after, the first English Bible in America. The hall of
the society is a large and elegant building, 104 feet
long and two stories high, in which is a library of
12,000 volumes, a valuable cabinet of antiquities, and
many interesting specimens of early printing. Wor-
cester is well supplied with schools, some of which are
splendid buildings. The school at which three of
my children attend, is built of brick, fifty by fifty-
eight feet, three stories high, and crowned with a
cupola. It cost $11,000. In the lower story is a
sink-room, play-room, ward-room, and committee-
room ; on the second floor are two Infant school-rooms,
each accommodating one hundred scholars, with
spacious recitation rooms adjoining. The third floor
is a Primary school-room, with two recitation rooms,
and will seat one hundred and sixty scholars. The

144 A PEEP AT

visitor is forcibly struck with the order, beauty, and
cleanliness wbich reigns throughout the whole. Each
of the children sits in an arm chair fastened to an iron
post, in front of which is a polished mahogany desk,
about two feet long, for each. There are in Worcester
nine Infant schools, six Primary, three Grammar, one
for colored children, and the Classical and High
school. The latter is open for the children of the
whole city, as soon as they are qualified for admission.
There is also, during the winter months, a school for
apprentices, and three evening schools for all, whether
children or adults, who wish to learn, and cannot
attend school during the day. The above schools are
all free. In addition to these schools, there are nu-
merous private schools. The appropriations for
support of schools for 1850, was $18,000, besides
about $10,000 for building new school-houses. The
Educational Institutions of Massachusetts are not
surpassed by any country in the world. It is a hard
■thing to find an ignorant Yankee. The following are
the appropriations voted by the City Council of "Wor-
cester, for 1850 : —

For Schools, $18,000

" New School-Houses, 8,400

Additional for Sammit St. School-House, 1,100

Total for Schools and School-Houses $27,500

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 145

For Interest on City Debt,

$3,350

C(

Repairs of Roads and Bridges,

6,500

i(

Paving Main and Front streets,

10,500

u

Common Sewers in Main street,

1,500

C(

Salaries of City Officers,

4,185

(1

City Watch,

2,100

(C

Lighting streets,

1,500

(1

Fire Department,

3,600

"

Ringing Bells, &c.,

150

t(

Funerals properly chargeable to the City,

850

4C

Book printing, &c..

800

u

Support of Poor, in addition to allowance from

the State,

3,300

<c

Board of Health,

500

1<

Discount on Taxes,

5,000

((

Contingent Expenses,

5,000

u

Iron Lamps, posts and fixtures,

1,000

u

New Engines, in addition to the amount to be

received for the old.

1,600

$78,375

The following statistics are taken from the abstract
of school returns for the State of Massachusetts, for
1848-9 :

Number of towns in the Commonwealth which have made

returns, 315

Valuation, $299,878,329

Number of Public Schools, 3,749

13

146 A PEEP AT

Number of scholars, of all ages, in all the schools : —

In Summer, 173,659

In Winter, 191,712

Number of Male Teachers, 2,426

Number of Female Teachers, 5,737
Average wages paid per month, including value of board,

Males, $34,02

Average value of board per month, Males, $9,00
Average wages paid per month, including value of board,

Females, ' $14,19

Average value of board per month for Females, $6,17
Amount of money raised by taxes for support of schools,

including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $830,577
Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public

schools, $35,281

Number of Incorporated Academies, 64

Average number of scholars, 3,834

Aggregate paid for tuition, $61,694
Number of unincorporated Academies, Private schools,

and schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 1,047

Average number of scholars, 27,583

Aggregate paid for tuition, $240,786

Amount of Local Funds, $354,620

Income from same, $21,584

Income of Surplus Eevenue, appropriated to schools, $5,483
There are three Normal Schools for training Teachers.

Among the School-masters employed at Worcester
was John Adams, the second President of the United
States. Here, also, the American philosopher, Ben-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 147

jamin Franklin, worked in his early days as a journey-
man printer. There are five Banks in Worcester,
with an aggregate capital of ^650,000. There is
also a Savings Bank, with a deposit of $1,124,000.
Besides these, there are five Insurance Companies,
Life Assurance, and various other Associations. The
valuation of the property of Worcester in 1850, was
$11,082,501. Almost overy kind of manufacture is
carried on at Worcester. The following is the value
of some of them in 1846 : —

Cotton goods, $45,184 ; Woollen goods, $194,040 ;
Iron ware, $134,500 ; Machinery, $310,000 ; Card
wire, $110,000 ; Ploughs, $48,000 ; Paper, $3,-
000 ; Hats and Caps, $24,752 ; Cards, $22,000 ;
Cars and other carriages, $221,100 ; Chairs and
Cabinei^ware, $27,500 ; Tin-ware, $38,500 ; Boots
and Shoes, $288,550 ; Straw bonnets and hats, $10,-
000; Bricks, $28,000 ; Cotton Carpeting, $26,000 ;
Building stone, $23,500 ; Mechanics' tools, $12,000 ;
Presses, $25,500 ; Door and other Carpentry, $16,-
500. Fruit raised, 27,604 bushels — value $9,201 ;
Butter made, 97,300 pounds — value, $16,217. The
value of grain produced in the town was $24,897 ;
of Vegetables, $25,980 ; and of Hay, (5,100 tons,)
$51,000.

148 A PEEP AT

Worcester is distant from Boston forty-five miles ;
from Albany one hundred and fifty-six ; from New
York one hundred and ninety-four, via Norwich, and
from Providence forty-five miles. The whistling steed
is seen prancing about Worcester in all directions, and
though a fiery fellow, yet he is not hostile, but carry-
ing peace and prosperity in his train. Seven passen-
ger trains pass over the road from Worcester to
Boston each way daily, besides freight trains. Some-
times over two thousand passengers go in one train.
Each passenger car is windowed throughout with
Venetian blinds. The cars are about forty feet long
and seven feet high, and will seat about eighty per-
sons. They cost from $2,000 to $2,500 each. The
interior of a car is a spacious and elegant saloon, with
an aisle down the middle. The seats are of polished
mahogany, (as is also the whole interior, with looking
glasses and gilding,) lined and cushioned with velvet.
Eich car has a stove in cold weather. The time oc-
cupied in going from Worcester to Boston is one hour
and a half. The Worcester Common is a beautiful
place ; it is surrounded by a railing, outside of which
are wide streets lined by handsome buildings. It is
shaded with trees of various kinds, and gravelled
walks extend in different directions throup^h the whole.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 149

The Norwich Railroad passes through the centre.
Worcester is the residence of several celebrated men,
among some of whom are two Ex-Governors of Mas-
sachusetts, Senators, Judges, Lawyers, &c., and the
celebrated Elihu Burritt, who is the proprietor and
Senior Editor of the " Christian Citizen.'* Ilis
associate Editors are Thomas Drew and James B.
Syme, a Scotchman. Mr. Burritt is the author of
several books ; he understands fifty-three languages.
One of the most interesting Memoirs which I have
read of Mr. Burritt was written by Mary Howitt,
and published in the " People's Journal " in London,
in 1846.

" Among the many remarkable men," says Mary
Howitt, " of this remarkable age, most of whom we
hope to present to our readers, no one seems to us
more worthy of notice than Elihu Burritt. Elihu
Burritt is not merely remarkable for his knowledge of
languages — a knowledge which is perfectly stupen-
dous, and which, having been acquired under circum-
stances which at first sight would seem to present
insuperable barriers to any thing beyond the most
ordinary acquirements, may naturally excite our sur-
prise and admiration — but he is remarkable in a high
moral degree ; and this it is, combined with his great
13*

150 A PEEP AT

learning, wliich entitles him to our love and reverence.
His many-language d head is wedded to a large and
benevolent heart, every throb of which is a sentiment
of brotherhood to all mankind."

During the past winter, Mr. Burritt greatly in-
terested himself for the Rev. Thomas Dick, LL. D.,
whose name and fame as a writer are so well known.
A benevolent gentleman of Philadelphia published the
whole of Dr. Dick's works for sale at a reduced price,
and transmitted him nearly the whole of the proceeds
of the sale.

The following letters, written by Dr. Dick to Mr.
Burritt, will show the circumstances in which he is
placed, after having contributed so much by his
writings towards the moral and intellectual reformation
of the world : —

I was favored with your kind note of February 5th,
accompanied with a bill of exchange for twenty pounds
nine shillings, which has come to hand without the
least charge or expense.

I feel almost unable to express my sense of the
obligations I feel for your disinterested kindness, and
for all the trouble to which you have been subjected
on my account, and to promote my interests. May

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 151

He who is the Original Source of all happiness recom-
pense you a thousand fold, and enrich you with those
blessings which shall endure for ever.

I wrote you a letter about the 18th January, en-
closing one to Messrs. Thomas Campbell and J. Meston,
Boston, and another to Mr. W. T. Stone. I also
wrote you a pretty long letter on the 30th January,
all of which I trust came duly to hand. I am happy to
say that, with the exception of some slight colds, I have
enjoyed tolerably good health during the bye-past part
of this winter. Mrs. Dick, though sometimes a little
delicate, has likewise, on the whole, enjoyed good
health. Mr. Milne has been very feeble, though
generally able to move about the house after mid-day ;
and all our young friends are well.

Lord John Russell has again been reminded of the
memorial which was formerly presented to him, and
has been frequently spoken to of late by several mem-
bers of Parliament, but all the answer he has hitherto
been pleased to give, is " that he will take the matter
into consideration," which may, perhaps, be considered
as amounting to little more than a polite denial. The
extravagance, however, which has been displayed in
pensions to the aristocracy, and in expenditure for

152 A PEEP AT

fleets and armies, palaces, royal yachts, &c., is be-
yond what is found in any other nation.

I am glad to see that the cause of Universal Peace
is still continuing its progress, and acquiring new
supporters.

I consider the tribute I have received from your
friends in America as conferring a greater degree of
honor and respect than if the British Government had
conferred upon me a large pension similar to that
which was given to Mrs. Dr. Chalmers, who stood in
no need of it.

Hoping you will excuse this short epistle, and wish-
ing all happiness, and much success in your editorial
labors, I am, my dear friend.

Yours, most sincerely,

Thomas Dick.

BrougJity Ferry ^ near Dundee^ Feb. 25, 1850.

About three years ago, I was advised by certain re-
spectable gentlemen in Dundee to apply by memorial
to Lord John Russell for a pension from the fund
allotted to authors, which was accompanied with
recommendations from Lord Kinnaird, Lord Duncan,
and about a dozen other official gentlemen ; but no
answer was ever returned to it. Some gentlemen

UNCLE SAMS FARM. 153

having lately got a copy of this memorial, inserted
certain paragraphs into some of the London journals
and newspapers, which tended to convey the idea, to
which you allude, that I was approaching to a state of
destitution. To such an idea I never gave the least
sanction. The sentiments contained in the paragraphs
alluded to, are the inferences my kind friends have
deduced from the representations made in the memorial
to Lord John Russell. Except in this instance, I never
uttered a complaint to the British Public, except to a
private friend.

And here, my dear friend, I may use the liberty of
stating to you more particularly and unreservedly the
iteins of my income. I have an annuity of X20 from
an educational establishment I formerly occupied. I
derive about X23 from rentals, subject to deductions
for pew duty, poor's rates, duty on windows, &c. I
have a few pounds in the bank, which are gradually
melting down, and which serve to supply the deficiency
of regular income. By dint of the most rigid economy^
I and Mrs. Dick have been enabled to move onward —
though without some of those comforts we could have
wished — notwithstanding many difficulties and encum-
brances. We now keep no servants, give no social
dinners — we ivalk short journeys when we are able, or

154 A PEEP AT

take tlie lowest priced railway carriages ; and in this
way we have endeavored to keep ourselves from being
involved in serious debts.

I have spent a good deal of money on books and
instruments for the illustration of some parts of my
writings, and erected an observatory for the same
purpose; and if my writings be of any value, the pub-
lic have partly derived the benefit of such expendi-
ture. In consequence of repeated attacks of illness,
I have written nothing for the press for two or three
years past. About two months ago, I had to undergo
a severe surgical operation on my breast, from which
a large tumor was extracted ; but the wound is now
healed, and, thanks to God, I enjoy at present good
health and spirits. You have somewhat mistaken my
age. Though I am a few years beyond seventy, I am
not yet on the verge of eighty.

With the most grateful acknowledgements for all
your kind attentions, I am, my dear Sir,

Yours, most sincerely,
Thomas Dick.

Mr. Henry M. Paine, of Worcester, a machinist,
has succeeded in evolving oxygen and hydrogen gases
from water, through the agency of electricity.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 155

The electricity employed is generated by philo-
sophical apparatus. The gases are to be used for
light, heat, and motive poT^'cr.

The light is extremely cheap. One cubic foot of
iirater will yield 2,100 feet of gas. The apparatus is
simple and convenient. Mr. Paine's gas is considered
one of the most important discoveries of the age. Mr.
Paine has just obtained patents for his discovery, both
in this country and in Europe.

During the summer Worcester was visited by
Female Delegates from all the principal States of tho
Union, who for several days held a " Woman's
Rights Convention," the object of which was, that
Women should be placed on a perfect equality with
Men, in the exercise of the franchise, the pulpit, the
bar, and the Senate. These ladies delivered eloquent
addresses in behalf of their " Rights,' ' and were
listened to with profound attention by crowded
audiences.

Massachusetts and other States have Female
Medical Colleges, where Females are trained for the
Medical Profession, &c.

I felt great pleasure in hearing Mrs. Brown preach
at the City Hall in Worcester; she graduated at
Oberlin College, Ohio.

156

A PEEP AT

The following is taken from a Meteorological Journal,
kept bj the Superintendent of the Lunatic Hospital
at Worcester, for five years. Worcester stands at
an elevation of 483 feet above the level of the sea.

Fair days

Cloudy days

Days on which rain fell
" " snow fell

halos of moon seen
aurora borealis seen
north wind prevailed
north-west "
west "

south-west "
south "

south-east "
east "

north-cast *'

Inches of rain-
" snow

1841

255

110

92

40

10

19

28

107

13

82

24

17

2

56

42.94

82

1842 1843

242

123

107

32

4

12

27

83

24

134

5

11

41

40.78
40

246

119

89

45

5

7

26

90

46

79

12

17

1

43

48.67

91

1844 1845

230

136

93

30

3

2

113

29

102

1

23

2

61

37.85

57

248

117

93

29

120

29

107

2

15

1

57

42.49

59

Apple trees flowered May 24, 1841, May 9, '42, May 14, '43,
May 8, '44, May 2, '45. First frost averages from the 20th Septem-
ber to the 20th October.

In the early part of the month of May, at Worces-
ter, I mounted the iron horse, who puifed, snorted,
and rushed away at the rate of twenty-five miles an
hour. The sun hid his burning brow behind a misty
cloud, which for some time obstructed the view of the
picturesque and beautiful country through which the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 157

steam horse bore U3. As we approached the Merri-
mac River, however, the mist cleared awaj, and
piles of fleecy clouds were distinctly mirrored in the
waters of the beautiful river, along the banks of which
we now passed, through smiling towns and villages,
until the bell and loud steam whistle announced that
we were approaching the Lowell depot. Lowell is
the Manchester of America, the manufacturing empo-
rium of the Western world. Forty years ago it was
an unsettled territory. It is now covered with mills,
churches, hotels, stores ; and the hum of business
amid streets of beautiful houses, the prosperous homes
of thirty-five thousand people. Lowell is twenty-five
miles from Boston, and is the second city in popula-
tion in the " Old Bay State."

Lowell derives its name in honor of Francis Cabot
Lowell, who was the founder of the manufactories.
It is situated at the confluence of the Merrimac and
Concord rivers. The spot where Lowell now stands,
about 200 years ago was the headquarters of one of
the five great tribes of Indians which were found
in New England, numbering 12,000. This place
was highly valued by the Indians on account of the
vast quantities of salmon, shad, alewives, and sturgeon
with which the river abounded. The abundance of
14

158 A PEEP AT

the latter fish gave the name " Merrimac " to the
river so called, the meaning of that word being
" sturgeon " in the Indian tongue. Here, as early
as 1653, John Eliot, the celebrated " Apostle to the
Indians," came, spending many days, and preaching
to the natives. Here courts were held annually, in
the month of May, by an English Magistrate, assisted
by some Indian chiefs. I have seen the spot where
the log church stood which Eliot used to preach in.
But Eliot and these sons of the forest have all passed
away, and are now in the far off land of the Great
Spirit.

The population of Lowell in 1828 was 3,532. It
is now estimated at 35,000. There are fifty mills at
work here, managed by twelve corporations, whose
capital is $13,210,000, which keep in operation
319,946 spindles, and 9,885 looms. The number of
yards made per week is as follows : 2,110,000 cotton ;
20,477 woollen ; 12,000 carpets ; 40 rugs. In the
manufacture of woollen, are consumed 69,000 pounds
of wool per week ; of the cotton, per week, 653,000
pounds. 345,000 yards are printed ; 3,515,000 dyed.
The kinds of goods manufactured are the following :
Prints, sheetings, shirtings, drillings, flannels, broad-
cloth, cassimere, plain and fancy woollen goods.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 169

carpets and rugs. Besides these are machinery,
locomotives, steam engines, machinists' tools, and
mill- work. 27,620 tons of anthracite coal are used
per annum, and of charcoal, 35,903 bushels ; 2,390
cords of wood ; 82,917 gallons of oil ; 35,000 pounds
of lard ; 1,380,000 pounds of starch ; 1,365 barrels
of flour. These buildings are built of brick, and
warmed by steam. The mills employ 8,260 females,
and 3,744 males. The average wages of females,
clear of board, per week, is $2 ; and the average
wages of males, clear of board, is $5 per week,
which is paid in money every month. Price of board
^1,37 1-2 per week at the boarding-houses. These
boarding-houses are built by the owners of the mills,
for the use of the operatives. The Middlesex Com-
pany make use annually of 6,000,000 teasels, 1,716,-
000 pounds fine wool, 80,000 pounds glue, $60,000
worth dye stuffs, and $17,000 worth of soap. They
also own the Wamesit Carpet Mill, where are con-
sumed, annually, 93,600 pounds coarse wool, and
36,400 pounds of worsted yarn, producing 91,000
yards Ingrain Carpeting.

The several manufacturing companies have estab-
lished an Hospital for the convenience and comfort of
persons employed by them respectively when sick,

160 A PEEP AT

\

which is under the superintendence of a physician.
Other manufactures are produced' in the city than
those which I have specified, of the value of $1,500,-
000, employing a capital of $400,000, and about
1,500 persons.

There are also Powder Mills, Paper and Batting
Mills, and Saw Mills belonging to private individuals.
There are two institutions for Savings — the " Lowell"
and the " City." The Lowell had on deposit in 1849,
from 4,650 depositors, $792,291. The City, at the
same time, had on deposit, from 615 depositors,
$75,970. The operatives in the mills are the prin-
cipal depositors in the above banks. There are
several other banks beside these established in the
city. There is a valuable Library of 7,000 volumes
belonging to the city, to which any one can have
access by paying fifty cents per annum. Railroads,
gas works, magnetic telegraphs and water works inter-
sect the city in every direction.

It is almost suffocating to a stranger to enter
a cotton mill ; it is intensely hot, and the windows
are closed so as not to admit the slightest air ; added
to which is the smell of oil, and the atmosphere of
the room filled with fibres of cotton and other small
particles, which one would think would be highly

UNCLE SAM'S FAKM. 161

prejudicial to health, although very few of the opera-
tives complained of their health. Several of the
young ladies informed me that they would prefer
working in the mills to any other employment.
America is fast becoming a great manufacturing
country, and bids fair to outrival old England.

In Lowell I saw Harriet Farley, who is the editor
and publisher of the " New England Offering," a
very popular magazine. Miss Farley informed me
that the articles in the magazine were written by
female operatives employed in the mills.

During the destitution in Ireland, in 1846, the
factory girls of Lowell sent over 1,000 garments for
the relief of the distressed.

The number of spindles at work throughout the
United States (where cotton spinning was first com-
menced in 1821,) is 2,500,000.

the number of spindles throughout the world, in
1849, was as follows : —

Great Britain, 17,500,000

France, 4,300,000

United States, 2,500,000

Austria, 1,500,000

ZoUe-Verein, 815,000
14*

i2

A PEEP AT

Russia,

706,000

Switzerland,

650,000

Belgium,

420,000

Spain,

800,000

Italj,

300,000

Total, 28,985,000

In 1790 America did not export a single pound of
cotton. In 1846, out of 467,856,274 pounds im-
ported into Great Britain, 401,949,393 came from
the United States. The total amount exported from
the United States in 1849, was 5,718,209 bales.
The amount consumed in manufactures in the United
States in 1849, was 628,039 bales.

Numerous towns and villages are situated upon the
road between Boston and Worcester. The view from
some points is exceedingly picturesque and beautiful.
Brighton is'distant from Boston five miles, and is cel-
ebrated as being the largest Cattle Market in New
England. There are large paved yards, sheds, barns,
and stables for the convenience and sale of live stock
of every description. There are extensive slaughter-
ing establishments, where large numbers are weekly
slaughtered for the Boston market. The market day

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 163

is Thursday of each week, when throngs of persons
meet to traffic. The following is the number of cattle
at market Thursday, Oct. 3d, 1850 : —

1480 Beef Cattle, 2100 Stores, 22 pairs Working
Oxen, 78 Cows and Calves, 600 Sheep and Lambs,
and 1050 Swine.

Prices. Beef Cattle — Extra, $6 ; Ist quality,
$5,75 ; 2d do., $5 ; 3d do., $4 to 4,50.

Stores — Yearlings, $7, $9 ; Two years old, $12 to
17 ; Three years old, $20, 27.

Working Oxen — $65, 66, 73, 85, 100.

Cows and Calves — $18, 20, 24, 27, 31, 38.

Sheep and Lambs— $1,50, 1,62, 1,75, 2, 3.

Swine — 4 to 5c. ; retail, 4 1-2 to 6c. Old Ilogs,
4 1.16c.

Sales of cattle at Brighton Market in 1843 and

1844

1843.

Beef Cattle,

22,915

Stores,

19,605

Sheep,

98,829

Swine,

43,060

Sales estimated at $2,126,644.

164 A PEEP AT

1844.

Beef Cattle, 87,610

Stores, 4,136

Sheep, 92,274

Swine, 62,740
Sales estimated at $1,689,374.

Average prices of live stock in 1846 : —

Neat Cattle, $19,26

Horses, 52,94

Sheep, 1,57

Swine, 8,75

A short distance from Brighton, on the bank of the
Charles river, stands one of the United States
arsenals, where are every day seen flying the stars
and stripes. The arsenal occupies forty acres of
ground, and contains a large amount of the munitions
of war.

At Newton Corner, I called to see Dr. W. F.
Teulon, who formerly lived in Newfoundland. He is
now a Universalist minister, and also practises as a
physician. This place was called Nonantum by the
Indians. Here the red men first heard of Christian-
ity from the puritan apostle Eliot, in 1646, and here
was erected their first house of prayer.

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 165

" A school was soon established among them, and
the general court gave the neighboring Indians a
tract of highland, and furnished them with various
implements of husbandry. The Indians, many of
them, professed Christianity, and the whole in the
vicinity became settled, and conducted their affairs
with prudenx;e and industry. They erected a house
of worship for themselves ; they adopted the customs
of their English neighbors; made laws, and had
magistrates of their own. The increase of the Indian
converts was such, that they found the place too strait
for them, and there was a removal of the tribe to
Natick, about ten miles southwest. The first organ-
ized church, purely Indian, was at Natick. The
ardor and zeal of Eliot and others was crowned with
such success, that in 1660 there were ten towns of
Indians in Massachusetts who were converted to the
Christian religion."

The Ojibwa, or Chippeway, nation, in Canada and
the United States, numbers over 30,000, who inhabit
all the northern part of Michigan, or the south shore
of Lake Huron, for 800 miles, the upper part of
the Mississippi river, &c. Numerous other tribes of
Indians inhabit the Western and Southern States.

Mr. Eliot translated the whole Bible into the

166 A PEEP AT

Natick (or Nipmuc) dialect. This Bible was printed
at Cambridge, in 1663, and was the first Bible printed
in America. Owing to sickness, and other causes so
fatal to the race, the red men have now become entirely
extinct in Massachusetts. A monument is now
being erected at Roxburj to mark the spot where
rest the ashes of the Puritan, Pilgrim, and Apostolic
Eliot, who tamed the ferocity of the red man by the
proclamation of a plain, old-fashioned gospel. Thus,
after the lapse of 160 years, a Corinthian column is
to remind the traveller of the " Apostle to the
Indians. '^ The first name on the list of subscribers
to the monument is Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, (George
Copway) the Indian chief, who recently attended the
peace congress in Germany ; he subscribed $25.
Mr. Eliot settled in Roxbury in 1632. He died in
1690, aged 86 years. There are many other places
of great interest on the road between Boston and
Worcester, but to speak of every place would swell
this volume beyond the limits which I intend for it.
On the Western Railroad are places of surpassing
beauty and loveliness. The following is written by
Miss Sedgwick, a native of Stockbridge, Berkshire
County, Massachusetts. Speaking of Berkshire, she
says : —

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 167

" This county, until recently, has, from its seques-
tered position, remained in obscurity. Its communica-
tion with its own capital, even, has been impeded by
the high and rugged hills that enclose it. But now
the hills are brought low, and the rough places are
made smooth. Man has chained to his car a steed
fleeter than the reindeer, and stronger than the
elephant, and we glide through our mountain-passes
with a velocity more like the swiftness of lovers'
thoughts than any material thing to which we can
liken it.

" That section of the western railroad which tra-
verses the wild hills of Berkshire is a work of
immense labor, and a wonderful achievement of art.
The pleasure of our citizens in surveying it is not
impaired by the galling consciousness that there is
yet a foreign debt to pay for it, or doubtful credit
involved in it.

" Berkshire lies midway between the Connecticut
and the Hudson. After leaving the wide meadows of
the Connecticut, basking in their rich inheritance of
alluvial soil and unimpeded sunshine, you wind
through the narrow valleys of the Westfield river,
with masses of mountains before you, and woodland
heights crowding in upon you, so that at every puff of

168 A PEEP AT

the engine, the passage visibly contracts. The
Alpine character of the river strikes you. The huge
stones in its wide channel, which have been torn up
and rolled down by the sweeping torrents of spring
and autumn, lie bared and whitening in the summer's
sun. You cross and recross it, as in its deviations it
leaves space on one side or the other, for a practicable
road.

" At * Chester Factories ' you begin your ascent of
eighty feet in a mile, for thirteen miles ! The stream
between you and the precipitous hill side, cramped
into its rocky bed, is the Pontoosne, one of the tribu-
taries of the Westfield river. As you trace this
stream to its mountain-home, it dashes along beside
you with the recklessness of childhood. It leaps
down precipices, runs forth laughing in the dimpling
sunshine, and then, shy as a mountain nymph, it
dodges behind a knotty copse of evergreens. In
approaching the * summit level ' you travel bridges
built a hundred feet above other mountain streams,
tearing along their deep-worn beds ; and at the
* deep-cut ' your passage is hewn through solid rocks,
whose mighty walls frown over you.

" Mountain scenery changes with every changing
season — we might almost say with every change

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 169

of atmosphere. In the spring, vihWe the skirts of
winter still hang over this high cold region, and the
trees seem afraid to put on their buds, the Pontoosne
breaks forth from its icy bars, and leaps and rushes
on as if with conscious joy for its recovered liberty.
It is the first sound that breaks upon the wearisome
lingering of winter, and its music strikes upon the
ear like the sweetest of human sounds, the morning
song of a child waking one from a dreary dream.

"In summer, as there is little on these savage
hills of what is peculiar to summer, flowers and
fruitfulness, it is a happy chance to make this pass
when piles of clouds hide the hot sun, and the rain is
pouring down in sheets, when every little dropping
rill that has dried away in the summer's heat is sud-
denly swelled into a waterfall, and over the banks and
down the cliffs they come pouring and leaping,
reminding one of that wild fable of German, imag-
ining Undine and all her clan of water-spirits doing
their whimsical feats.

" In autumn, the beeches and maples on the hill-
sides are glowing with a metallic brightness, softened
and set off most exquisitely by the evergreen of the
towering pines, the massive cones of the Norway firs,
15

170 A PEEP AT

and the graceful, plumy hemlocks that intersperse
them.

" In 'winter, the art that sends you swiftly and
securely through these stem solitudes is most grate-
fully felt. The trees bend creaking before the howl-
ing blast, the snow is driving and drifting, here it is
piled on either side in solid walls above your car, and
there the hideous roots of the upturned stumps are
bare. Even the hardy mountain children have
shrunk from the biting blast, and the whimpering dog
has begged an inside berth. You see no little tow-
head, with its curious eyes peering at you through the
icy window ; you hear not even the salute of a bark.
On you glide, by the aid of the most recent discover-
ies and ingenious contrivances of art, through a coun-
try whose face is still marked with the savage grand-
eur of its primeval condition. To give the transition
to the smiling valleys below the full force of contrast,
it should be made in summer. Then you slide down
amid green pastures, meadows and orchards. You
glance at Hinsdale and Dal ton, and enter Pittsfield,
famous for its lofty elm, the last veteran of the origi-
nal forest, (now, alas ! a dying veteran,) for its
annual fairs, its thriving medical institution, and for
its rural wealth, possessing, as it does within the limits

UNCLE SAMS FARM. 171

of ifc3 township, perhaps more cultivable land than any
other equal district in Massachusetts.

" "We have entered Berkshire by a road far supe-
rior to the Appian way. On every side are rich
valleys and smiling hill-sides, and, deep-set in their
hollows, lovely lakes sparkle like gems. From one of
these, a modest sheet of water in Lanesborough, flows
out the Housatonic, the minister of God's bounty,
bringing to the meadows along its course a yeasty
renewal of fertility, and the ever changing, ever
present beauty that marks God's choicest works. It
is the most judicious of rivers ; like a discreet rural
beauty, it bears its burdens and does its work out of
sight; its water privileges for mills, furnaces, and
factories, are aside from the villages. When it comes
near to them, as in Stockbridge, it lingers like a
lover, turns and returns, and when fairly off, flies past
rolling wheels and dinning factories, till, reaching the
lovely meadows of Barrington, it again disports itself
at leisure."

In June I visited Providence, which is the Capital
of the State of Rhode Island. It is the second city
in New England, being next to Boston in population
and trade. It is forty-two miles from Boston, and
contains a population of forty-two thousand. The

172 A PEEP AT

city is at the head of Narraganset Bay, -where it
receives the Mooshasuck River. It occupies both
sides of the river, connected by t^YO bridges, which
have been thrown over the river near the head of the
tide-waters, which is thirty-five miles from the ocean.
On the east side are three principal streets running
parallel with the river. On these streets are a num-
ber of public buildings, and many elegant private
residences. On this side of the river the land rises
abruptly, and the cross streets have a steep ascent.
On the hill overlooking the city is Brown University,
a Baptist Institution, established in 1770. From this
place is an extensive view of the surrounding country.
On the west side of the river is Westminster street.
The finest shops in the city are in this street ; here
also is one of the fronts of the Arcade, one of the
finest buildings of the kind in America. It is built of
hewn granite and fronts two streets, eighty feet wide,
presenting colonnades of the Doric style, of six columns
each. These columns are twenty-five feet in height,
the shafts being twenty-two feet in length. This
building is two hundred and twenty-five feet long,
eighty feet broad, and seventy-two feet high, diyided
into three stories, containing upwards of eighty shops ;

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 173

the whole lighted hy a glass roof. It was finished ia
1828, at an expense of $130,000.

Among the public buildings are a State House,
City Hall, Hospital, Jail, State Prison, Custom House,
Athenajum, &c., and a number of Churches. There
are several mills here ; the manufactures consist
chieflj of cotton goods, steam-engines, machinery,
and copper, brass, and iron. There is probably more
jewelry manufactured here than in any other place in
the United States.

The State Legislature is held alternately at Provi-
dence and Newport. Providence is memorable as the
place of retreat of Roger Williams. The first settle-
ment of the town was made by Williams and five
others in 1636. Roger WilHams was persecuted in
Massachusetts for his religious sentiments, and was
eventually banished from the State by the Congrega-
tionalists in 1635, when he took up his residence in
Providence. He is represented as an eccentric and
self-opinionated man, but sincere and pious, — he was
a minister of the Baptist persuasion. He in turn for
a short time persecuted the Quakers who settled in
Providence. In 1644 Williams visited England and
obtained a charter. A new charter was granted to
Rhode Island by Charles II. I have read this docu-
15*

174 A PEEP AT

ment — it was full too centuries in advance of the
policy of the British Government. So exceedingly
liberal was this instrument, that the State Govern-
ment of Rhode Island continued it as the basis of their
government, till it was superseded by the adoption of
a Constitution in 1843.

One of the most beautiful places which I have
visited in America is the lovely village of Springfield,
the " Queen Village" of New England. Springfield
was first settled in 1635, and for forty years after
lived at peace with the Indians. During the cele-
brated " King Philip's War," however, this village
suffered with other settlements. The manufactures
of Springfield consist of railroad cars, carriages,
leather, boots and shoes, brooms, bricks, tobacco,
cotton, paper, building stone, &c., &c. The valuation
of Springfield, as ascertained by the Assessors in
1850, is.

Real Estate, $4,230,973

Personal, 2,081,093

Total, $6,312,030

It contains a population of upwards of 11,000,
situated upon the east bank of the beautiful Connecti-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 175

cut River. It is the centre of a large inland and
river traffic, as Tvell as of railroad communication. It
is ninetj-eight miles from Boston, and a hundred and
forty-two from New York city. The principal street
of the village is called Main Street, and extends about
two miles, running parallel with the river, shaded on
either side with trees of various kinds clothed with the
richest foliage. The buildings are of wood, brick,
and stone, some of which are elegant. There are
several fine Halls, Churches and other public buildings.
One of the United States Armories is kept here, and
is the most extensive in the country. I have been all
through this arsenal. It stands on an elevated plain.
The buildings, which are nearly all of brick, are
arranged around a square of about twenty acres, pre-
senting a handsome appearance. A cupola on one of
them affords a delightful view of the River and sur-
rounding country. The Store House is an immense
brick structure, having a dome and lantern on which
is every day seen flying the national flag. There are
about three hundred men employed in the arsenal.
About 15,000 muskets are annually made here, and
150,000 are stored in the building connected with the
establishment. When shall the time come when these

176 A PEEP AT

warlike instruments shall be converted into implements
of husbandry, and men shall learn war no more ?

The scenery around Springfield is extremely beauti-
ful. A few minutes' walk, and you pass smiling fields
decked with verdure, and beautiful gardens containing
almost every variety of fruit grown in a tropical
climate. You still walk on, admiring the lovely
plumage and listening to the sweet notes of the
warblers of the grove, until you find yourself on the
brink of the Connecticut river, where you behold the
finny tribes frisking and sporting on its sparkling
waters. A walk in another direction brings you to
what is called the Hill ; this is the most beautiful part
of the place. Here you enter a broad and elegant
street lined with private residences, in front of some
of which is a spacious lawn, in the centre of which is
a fountain with its waters in full play. The lawn is
laid out with gravel walks, shaded with trees of the
most magnificent fofiage, interspersed with rose trees,
and other flowering plants.

Last night (July 5th,) was the most awful and
terrific night I ever witnessed. At six o'clock it
commenced thundering and lightning ; the lightning
was in the zig-zag form — a form in which it is never
seen in Newfoundland. About nine o'clock it was

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 177

truly terrible ; the rain poured in perfect torrents ; it
was preceded by a hurricane whirlwind, which tore
up trees by the roots and did considerable damage to
houses, &;c. While the storm was at its height, be-
tween 10 and 11 o'clock, the lightning struck a bam
and dwelling house, both of which were consumed,
although the Firemen exerted themselves to put it out.
The storm lasted till one o'clock. Steamboats on the
river ran ashore and waited until the storm was over,
afraid to proceed on their voyage. No one living at
Springfield had ever seen the like before. The light-
ning was incessant, and circled the whole heavens.
The whole concave of the firmament appeared one
mass of fire, in one place appearing as " sheet light-
ning," and in another place assuming the zig-zag
form — appearing in both forms at once. It was not
a flash and then a pause, but a continuous unceasing
fire over the entire heavens for three hours. It was
like as if the world was on fire, and the end of all
things at hand. The Rev. Mr. Conklin, Congregational
minister, and myself, paced the room in the greatest
anxiety. Every one was solemnly impressed with th©
awful grandeur of the scene. The lightning appeared
blue, white, and red.

178 A PEEP AT

Thunder storms in America are terrible. Lightning
conductors line the houses every -svhere.

At Springfield I witnessed the annual celebration
of the Fourth of July, — being the seventy-fifth year
of the Independence of the United States. Upwards
of twenty thousand persons assembled to see the fire-
works.

At Springfield I went on board a Steamboat and
proceeded down the Connecticut river as far as Hart-
ford, distant twenty-seven miles. The Connecticut is
a beautiful river. It was called the QuoneTctacut by
the Indians, which is said to signify Long River ^ or
the River of Pines, After forming the boundary line
between New Hampshire and Vermont, it crosses the
western part of Massachusetts, passes the State of
Connecticut, nearly in its centre, and empties itself
into Long Island Sound. Eoth sides of the Connecti-
cut are lined with rich farms, dotted with beautiful
white painted houses with green Venetian blinds. The
principal villages between Springfield and Hartford
are Longmeadow, Thompsonville, and Windsor.
Thompsonville is a place of importance in the manu-
facture of Carpetings. A short distance below this
place the Connecticut river is divided by a large
island. The river on both sides, at this place, during

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 179

the summer is very shallow, owing to Enfield Falls.
Boats pass these falls through a canal eight miles long,
with numerous locks. The steamer passes through
Windsor Locks, where Paper Mills and other manu-
factories extend along the river for a considerable
distance.

The manufactures of Connecticut are too numerous
to mention. At Waterville, a capital of $125,000 is
employed in making pocket cutlery ; two hundred
hands are employed in the establishment. At Water-
bury, the American Pin Company employ 80 hands,
"who make one thousand packs of pins per day, of
twelve papers per pack ; also make two thousand gross
of hooks and eyes daily. There are also at this place
various button manufactories, some of which employ
two hundred hands, and turn out $350,000 worth of
goods annually, &c., &c.

Windsor, six miles distant, is one of the oldest towns
in Connecticut, and rich in meadow land ; the scenery
is very beautiful. The Connecticut river passes
through a valley of twelve thousand square miles, em-
bellished with towns and villages in every direction,
presenting to the eye a lovely landscape of nature and
art. Salmon formerly were very plentiful in this

180 A PEEP AT

river, but have now entirely disappeared. Large
quantities of shad, however, are still taken.

The city of Hartford is the principal city in the
State of Connecticut ; it is situated on the west bank
of Connecticut river, fifty miles from its mouth. It
contains a population of 17,000. Its Indian name
was Suchiag,

A company of Dutch traders settled at Hartford in
1633, who opposed the first English Settlement, but
afterwards relinquished their claim. Hartford was
first settled by the English in 1635, by John Steel and
his associates, from Newtown (now Cambridge) Mas-
sachusetts. The main body of the first settlers, with
the Rev. Mr. Hooker at their head, arrived at Hart-
ford from Newtown the following year. The emigrants
numbered about one hundred, men, women and
children, who pushed their way over mountains,
through forests, swamps, and rivers, with one hundred
and sixty head of cattle. They subsisted chiefly by
the way on the milk of their cows. Many of those
persons were entire strangers to fatigue and danger,
having lived in England in honor, aflluence, and
luxury.

Hartford was incorporated in 1784. It is one hun-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 181

dred miles from Boston, and one hundred and fifty-
three from New York, by which it is connected with
lines of Steamboats and Railroads. By means of
Canals and other improvements the Connecticut has
been made navigable for boats nearly two hundred
and fifty miles above Hartford. A covered bridge,
one thousand feet long, and which cost $100,000,
connects the City with East Hartford. The compact
part of Hartford is more than a mile in length and
three-quarters of a mile wide. The ground rises
gradually from the river, which shows the City to ad-
vantage. Main street is the principal street of the
City, and contains many fine shops and houses. Little
River, which crosses the south part of the City, is
crossed in this street by a stone bridge one hundred
feet wide, of a single arch of one hundred and four
feet span. Little River furnishes valuable water
power for the manufactories of the City, which are
numerous.

The aggregate School Fund of Connecticut for
1849, was $2,076,602. The number of chHdren
returned, 90,700.

Among the Public Buildings and Institutions is the
State House, a large and handsome building sur-
mounted by a cupola. It stands upon the public square
16

182 A PEEP AT

fronting Main street, and is enclosed with an iron
railing, shaded with trees. In this building are the
public offices of the State. The Legislature meet
here and at New Haven alternately. The City Hall
is a large and commodious building, of the Doric order
of architecture. Trinity College is situated in the
west part of the City. It was founded in 1824, and
belongs to the Episcopalians. The President intro-
duced me to the library and presented me with the
last report of the College. The College consists of
two edifices of free-stone, one a hundred and forty-
eight feet long by forty-three feet wide, and four
stories high, containing forty-eight rooms ; the other
eighty-seven feet by fifty-five, and three stories high,
containing the Chapel, Library, Mineralogical Cabinet,
Philosophical Chamber, Laboratory, and Recitation
rooms. There are 6,000 volumes in the College
library, and 2,500 in the libraries of the different
Societies. A complete philosophical apparatus, cabi-
net of minerals, and botanical garden and green-house,
belong to the Institution. The Faculty consists of a
President, six Professors, and two Tutors. There are
one hundred and thirty students in the Institution.

The American Asylum for the instruction of the
Deaf and Dumb was the first establishment of the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 183

kind in the United States. It was opened in 1817.
It has spacious buildings, with a large tract of land
attached. All instruction here is communicated by
means of signs. I saw several pupils say their lessons,
and work sums in arithmetic on the black board.
The Retreat for the Insane is a beautiful stone build-
ing, opened in 1824.

One of the most interesting Institutions which I
visited was Wadsworth Athenseum. The site of this
building was a donation from Daniel Wadsworth, and
the building was erected in 1844, by the voluntary
contributions of the citizens ; the entire cost of which
was over $50,000. It is a granite structure of the
castellated style of architecture, one hundred feet in
length and eighty feet in depth. It is appropriated
to four distinct Societies, viz : — Young Men's In-
stitute, for a reading-room, quarterly and other
meetings, and for their library of 10,000 volumes ;
the Connecticut Historical Society, for the use of their
books and other collections ; the Natural History
Society, for the use of their collections ; and a gallery
of splendid Paintings, some of which are eighteen feet
long. There are also some beautiful Statuary.
Among the paintings is the Battle of Bunker Hill ;
Declaration of Independence ; Assault of Quebec ;

184 A PEEP AT

also a full length portrait of Benjamin West, by Sir
Thomas Lawrence ; a portrait by Raeburn ; a St.
John, by Spagnolletto ; the Children of Reubens, and
many other beautiful pictures. The Rev. Dr. Rob-
bins, Congregational Minister, presented the Histori-
cal Society with a valuable library of books. This
venerable old gentleman is a library in himself, and is
greatly respected by all the citizens of Hartford. The
finest and most beautiful Churches I have seen in
America are at Hartford. The first Church estab-
lished in this city was of the Congregational order.
The first Episcopal Church was established in 1762 ;
the first Baptist, in 1789 ; the first Methodist Epis-
copal Church in 1820 ; and the first Roman Catholic,
in 1831. The city contains sixteen Churches, viz ; —
Four Congregational, and one African Congrega-
tional ; two Episcopalian ; two Baptist ; one Advent ;
two Methodist, and one African Methodist ; one
Roman Catholic ; one Universalist, and one Unitarian.
While at Hartford I went to see the " Charter Oak,"
so celebrated in the History of Connecticut. It stands
in a field near Charter street, at the south part of
Main street. The trunk of this famous tree is
twenty-one feet in circumference. The cavity which
was the asylum of the Charter was near the roots, and

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 185

large enough to admit a child, which in the course of
years closed up. There is now a large orifice near
the roots, which is closed by a door. It was locked
at the time of my visit. The history of the Charter
Oak is as follows : — Sir Edmund Andros, being ap-
pomted the first Governor General of New England,
arrived in Boston in December, 1686, from whence
he wrote to the Colony of Connecticut to resign their
Charter ; they, however, did not comply with this
request, but continued to meet in Legislative Session
as heretofore. Sir Edmund, with his suite and a body
of troops, visited Hartford while the Assembly were
in session, and demanded the Charter, and declared
the Government under it to be dissolved. The
Assembly, however, were very slow to pass any
resolution to give up the Charter. The tradition is,
that Governor Treat strongly represented the great
hardship and expense he and his fellow-colonists
endured in defending the Colony, both against the
Indians and foreigners. The matter was debated and
kept in suspense until evening, when the Charter was
brought and laid upon the table where the Assembly
were sitting ; the lights were instantly extinguished,
when Captain Wadsworth, silently and secretly,
carried off the Charter and hid it in a large hollow
16'

186 A PEEP AT

tree. The people all appeared quiet and orderly.
The candles were relighted, but the Charter was gone,
and no discovery could be made of it, or the person
who carried it away. Sir Edmund Andres, however,
assumed the Government.

Connecticut is the State of which Jonathan Trum-
bull was Governor, from whom originated the epithet
" Brother Jonathan," as applied to Americans. It is
said that General Washington was accustomed to
consult Governor Trumbull on all matters of im-
portance, and would generally say, when things of
importance were under consideration, " I must seek
the advice of Brother Jonathan."

At Hartford I first saw the famous General Tom
Thumb, together with his ponies and carriage, pre-
sented to him by Queen Victoria ; and also other
valuable gifts from the crowned heads of Europe.
While I was at Hartford, the news of the death of
General Taylor, President of the United States,
reached that city. The President's death was
announced by the firing of sixty-six minute guns —
sixty-six years being the age of the President. The
funeral at Washington is said to have cost over $100,-
000. Some time after the funeral obsequies in Wash-
ington, mocTc funerals took place at Boston, New

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 187

York, and all the principal cities of the Union,
attended with great expense. I was surprised to see
80 intelligent a people as the Americans engage in so
foolish and meaningless a display to

** Mimic gorrow, when the heart's not sad."

General Taylor was a slave-holder, and is said to
have had upwards of three hundred slaves ; he ap-
peared, however, opposed to the extension of Slavery,
to the compromise of Messrs. Clay, Foote, Webster,
and others, and to the encroachment of Texas on
New Mexico.

The following is a brief sketch of the principal
events in the life of the deceased President, and also
of the Hon. Millard Fillmore, now President of the
United States: —

General Zachary Taylor was born in Orange
County, Virginia, in 1790. His father. Colonel
Taylor, served in the war of the Revolution, and in
1790 emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky, where
he bore a conspicuous part in the labors and struggles
of the early settlers.

In May, 1808, Zachary Taylor was commissioned
as a Lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of U. S. In
fantry. In 1812 he was made Captain, and placed in

188 A PEEP AT

command of Fort Harrison, on the Wabash. When
the war with Great Britain commenced, the Fort was
attacked bj four hundred Indians, and for his success-
ful defence of it he was brevetted Major. After that
war he received the rank of Colonel, and during the
Black Hawk war, in 1832, distinguished himself at
the battle of Bad-axe, which resulted in the capture
of Black Hawk and the Prophet.

In 1836 he was ordered to Florida, in command of
a separate column, and in December, 1837, fought at
the battle of Okee-cho-bee, which resulted in the total
defeat of a large body of the Indians. In May,
1845, Texas was annexed to the Union, and in August
following, General Taylor, then in command of the
first department of the army, proceeded with a portion
of his troops to Corpus Christi. On the 11th of
March, 1816, he took up his line of march for the
Rio Grande, where he arrived on the 28th. On the
12th of April he was summoned by the Mexican
General to evacuate his posts on the river, which he
refused to do. On the 1st of May he left his in-
trenchments opposite Matamoras to open the com-
munication with Point Isabel. On the 8th of May,
on his return to relieve Fort Brown, which was bom-
barded by the Mexicans, he was encountered by 6000

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 189

of the enemy at Palo Alto, "whom he defeated. His
own force consisted of 2100 men. The next day,
the 9th, he again met them at Resaca de la Palma,
and afler a hard fought battle routed them with great
slaughter, and took possession of Matamoras. These
two signal victories, obtained with such disparity of
force, produced an enthusiastic admiration of General
Taylor, and of his gallant companions in arms. On
the 21st and 22d of September he assaulted Monte-
rey, a fortified city in Mexico, which, after a desperate
resistance, capitulated. On the 22d February, 1847,
with a force consisting of five thousand men, (General
Wool being second in command, ) he encountered the
Mexicans at Buena Vista, under Santa Anna, twenty
thousand strong, and totally defeated them. On the
14th February, 1849, on an examination of the elec-
toral votes for President and Vice President, he was
declared duly elected President of the United States,
and was inaugurated the 4th of March following.

Hon. Millard Fillmore was born in Summer
Hill, Cayuga county, New York, January 7th, 1800.
His father, Nathaniel Fillmore, is a farmer, still living
in Erie county. New York. Mr. Fillmore spent four
years, in early life, in working at the clothier's trade,
and during that time devoted all his leisure hours to

190 A PEEP AT

reading and study. At the age of nineteen he
attracted the notice of Judge Wood, of Cayuga
county, who took him into his office. In 1821 he
removed to Buffalo, and entered a law office, teaching
for his maintenance until the year 1823, when he was
licensed to practice in the Court of Common Pleas.
In 1827 he was admitted an Attorney in the Supreme
Court of the State of New York. In 1829 he was
elected a member of the Assembly from Erie county,
and was twice re-elected. He was elected to Con-
gress in the fall of 1832, and after the expiration of
his term resumed the practice of his profession. In
1836 he was again sent to Congress, and was subse-
quently re-elected for another term. During this
Session he was placed at the head of the Committee
of ways and means. In 1844 he was nominated by
the Whig party as their candidate for Governor. In

1847 he was elected Comptroller of the State. Iti

1848 he ^vas elected Vice President of the United
States, and on the fourth of March, 1849, he entered
upon the duties of the office.

It is a singular fact, remarks the Philadelphia
Bulletin, that within a space of a little over nine years
there have been six Presidents of the United States :
Van Buren, March 3d, 1841 ; Harrison, from March

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

191

4th to April 4th, 1841 ; Tyler, from April 4th, 1841,
to March 4th, 1845 ; Polk, from March 4th, 1845, to
March 4th, 1849 ; Taylor, from March 4th, 1849, to
July 9th, 1850, and on the 10th of July, 1850, Mil-
lard FiUmoro succeeded to the ofl5ce. Previous to
that time there had been but eight occupants of the
office during a period of fifty-two years. The periods
of service, age, &c., of the various Presidents, from
Washington to Taylor, inclusive, are given below : —

Washington,

John Adams,

Jefferson,

Madison,

Monroe,

J. Q. Adams,

Jackson,

Van Buren,

Harrison,

Tyler,

Polk,

Taylor,

Senrice.
8 years
4 years
8 years
8 years
8 years
4 years
8 years
4 years

1 month

3 yrs. 11 mo. 1845

4 years
1 year 11 mo

Rotii'd.
1797
1801
1809
1817
1825
1829
1838
1841

1849

Died.
1799
1826
1826
1836
1831
1848
1845

1841

1849
1850

Age at
Retiro't.
66
66
66
66
66
62
70
59

55
54

Age at

Death.
68
90
84
86
72
81
78

69

54
66

James K. Polk was the youngest of the Presidents
at the time of his inauguration, being but forty-nine
years and four months old. Mr. Fillmore is the next

192 A PEEP AT

youngest, being at the present time fifty years old.
Jackson was the oldest of the Presidents at the time
of his retirement, and John Adams was the oldest at
the time of his death. The youngest of the Presi-
dents, at the time of his retirement and his death,
was James K. Polk.

Great excitement at present prevails in all the
Northern States against the "Fugitive Slave Law,"
which the Government recently passed. This law
disregards all the ordinary securities of personal
liberty ; tramples on the Constitution by its denial of
the rights of trial by jury, Habeas Corpus^ and ap-
peal ; and which enacts, that any person who shall
harbor or conceal a fugitive slave shall be subject to
a fine of one thousand dollars and imprisonment for
six months. Public meetings are being held through-
out the Free States, in condemnation of this iniquitous
law. In Worcester a Committee of Vigilance has
been appointed, numbering forty persons, who are to
look out for the appearance of slave-catchers, and to
request them, as soon as known, to leave the city.
One of the resolutions passed at the pubhc meeting
held at the City Hall, is as follows : —

" That as God is our helper, we will not sufier any
person, charged with being a fugitive from labor, to be

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 193

taken from among us ; and to this resolve we pledge
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

The Constitution of the United States, (Art. 4,
Sec. 2) provides that " No person, held to service
or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping
into another, shall, in consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or
labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party
to whom such service or labor may be due. " This is
the only clause which provides for the return of
persons held to service or labor. Some contend that
it refers to apprentices and servants generally, and
not particularly to slaves. The Constitution of the
United States, however, provides for a fair and im-
partial trial by jury, which right is denied by the
infamous Fugitive Slave Law.

One could hardly believe that in America, " the
home of the brave, and the land of the free,'* he
would read in the New Orleans papers advertisements
of Sheriffs' sales of property, among which are four
lots of slaves : — one lot containing one hundred and
seventy-eight slaves, men, women and children, rang-
ing from two years old to mature age ; to be sold
with the estates on which they work, without reserve,
to the highest bidder in the New Orleans market.
17

194 A PEEP AT

During the summer, Box Brown was exhibiting at
Worcester a Panorama of Southern Slavery. At the
exhibition I heard him give the following account of
himself. A few months ago a gentleman in Kentucky
managed to open a correspondence with a gentleman
in Philadelphia, with a view to effect his escape from
bondage. Having arranged every thing, the gentle-
man paid a person $40 to box him up, and mark him
" This side up, with care," and take him to the ex-
press ofl&ce, consigned to his friend at Philadelphia.
On the passage, being on board of a steamboat, he
was accidentally turned head downwards, and almost
died with the flow of blood to his head. At the next
change of transportation, however, he was turned
right side up again ; and after a passage of twenty-
six hours arrived safely at his destination. On receiv-
ing the box, the gentleman at Philadelphia began to
doubt whether he should find him alive. He tapped
lightly on the box, inquiring, " All right ? " and was
answered, " All right, sir." Poor Brown was in-
stantly liberated from his " living death."

The number of slaves in the United States is about
three millions. The following is taken from the " Al-
bany Evening Journal : " —

" The progress of the Free and Slave States is in-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 195

dicative of tlie merits of their respective political and
social systems. In this view the following comparison
is of great value :

Bj^ the 2d section, article 1, of
the Constitution, the repre-
sentation in the House stood,

Bj the Ist census,

By the 2d census.

By the 3d census,

By the 4th census.

By the 5th census,

By the 6th census, (1840,)

" It must be remarked that since the last census,
"Wisconsin, with three members, Iowa, with two, Flor-
ida, with one, and Texas, with two, have been admit-
ted, thus making the majority of the Free States 49.
The present census will no doubt largely increase the
disparity. The admission of California will of itself
increase the majority to fifty-one."

The following is an extract from a speech of Hon.
C. E. Clarke, of New York, in the house of Repre-
sentatives, during the session of 1850 : —

"The area of Virginia is 61,352 square miles.

Free
State?.

Slave
States.

Maj.

35

30

5

57

43

9

76

63

13

103

78

25

123

89

34

141

99

42

135

88

47

196 A PEEP AT

The area of New York is 46,000. If the states of
Vermont and Massachusetts were added to New York,
their joint area would be 72 square miles less than
that of Virginia alone. The soil of Virginia is nat-
urally as fertile as that of New York, her resources
of the forest as great, her mineral resources at least
equal, her fisheries vastly more valuable, her hydrauHc
power as great, her position for commerce and her
natural channels for commerce better, her climate is
immeasurably superior.

"In 1790, the population of Virginia was 748,308,
of which 203,427 were slaves. The population of
New York, 340,120, of which 21,324 were slaves.
Virginia had 226,085 more white inhabitants than
New York, and 182,103 more slaves. In short, Vir-
ginia, in 1790, had 408,188 more inhabitants than
New York.

" In New York the number of slaves gradually di-
minished till 1820, when slavery became extinct.

" In Virginia, slaves rapidly increased, till in 1840
they numbered 448,987, and her white population
numbered 790,510. In all, bond and free, 1,239,-
797 ; while the free white population of New York
had increased to 2,428,921 — a difference in the in-
crease of the whole number of 1,597,312, and a dif-

UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 197

ference in the increase of the free white inhabitants
of 1,864,191 in fifty years.

" In that period Virginia has made 381 miles of
railroad ; New York about 1,000. Virginia has
made about 182 miles of canal ; New York about
850 miles.

The School Fund ia New York is $6,491,803

That of Virginia 1,488,261

The productive Public Property of New York, is 39,136,992

The productive Public Property of Virginia, is 6,107,364
The Domestic Produce exported by New York in 1848,

amounted to 38,771,209

Exported by Virginia the same year, amounted to 3,679,948

New York exported of Foreign Produce 14,579,948

Virginia exported of Foreign Produce 1,554

" Virginia, the mother of the Presidents, the Old
Dominion, larger and of greater natural capacity than
New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, combined,
exported, in the year of grace, 1848, to the amazing
amount of $1,554 — about the ratio of 100 to 1,000,-
000.

" The registered and enrolled tonnage of Virginia in
1848 was 128,364 tons ; that of New York 845,742
tons — 717,378 tons difference. The State of New
York paid to this Government for postage, in the year
ending June 30th, 1849, $694,532.81. The State
17*

198 A PEEP AT

of Virginia paid in the same year for postage $109,-
301.93. The transportation of the mail in New
York cost the Government, in the same year, $238,-
680; in Virginia, 166,130. New York pays in
postage $456,002 more than it costs to transport the
mail in that State. Virginia pays in postage %^^^-
833 less than it costs to transport the mail in Virginia
— a difference between these two States of $512,-
835 in one year. Virginia does not pay for the
transportation of the mail within $56,833. There
are but three Slave States — Delaware, Missouri, and
Louisiana — that do pay their own postage. It costs
this Government to transport the mail in the Slave
States $519,438.15 more than those States pay in
postage. There are twelve States in the Union from
which bounty lands have been distributed for service
in the Mexican war — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis-
souri, Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michi-
gan, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Florida. Six of these
are free, six slaveholding. The area of the six slave-
holding States is 323,146, that of the six free States
is 290,259 square miles — 32,887 square miles more
in the six slave than in the six free States. These
six slave States have a better climate, and are better

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 199

located, are as fertile, and have greater natural advan-
tages than the six free States.

" There have been located in those States for military
services in the Mexican war, up to March 28th, 1850,
41,780 land warrants, of which 34,434 have been
located in the six free States, and onlj 7,346 in the
slave States — about six to one. The soldier who
locates his land with the view of being a freeholder,
and having a farm and a home, the speculator who
buys to sell again, rush, full gallop, to the free State
— they flee from the slave State as they would from
the Cholera."

At the time of the declaration of Independence in
1776, the whole number of slaves in the colonies was
estimated at 500,000, and they were divided among
them as follows : —

Massachusetts, 3,500

Rhode Island, 4,370

Connecticut, 5,000

New Hampshire, 639

New York, 15,000

New Jersey, 7,600

Pennsylvania, 10,000

Delaware, 9,000

Maryland, 80,000

200

A PEEP AT

Virginia,

165,000

North Carolina,

75,000

South Carolina,

110,000

Georgia,

16,000

Total, 502,144

In August, 1620, the first slaves ever brought to
this country were landed on James river, in the
colony of Virginia, from a Dutch ship-of-war.

From 1776 to 1790 the slave population in the
United States increased about 39 per cent. The cen-
sus of 1800 exhibited a slave population of 893,041 ;
that of 1810, 1,104,364; of 1820, 1,638,964; of
1830, 2,009,031 ; of 1840, 2,486,355 ; and of 1850,
2,959,137.

I very recently had the pleasure of hearing George
Thompson, M. P. for the Tower Hamlets of London,
the largest constituency in England, deliver an elo-
quent and powerful speech in the City Hall of Wor-
cester. Speaking of the political institutions of Eng-
land, Mr. Thompson said :

" Our system is a fetid dunghill, out of which
springs, with frightful luxuriance, under the warm sun
of every general election, all kinds of rank weeds
and poisonous plants. It is a stagnant reservoir of

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 201

putrid water, breeding from year to year every perni-
cious exhalation, and all sorts of noxious reptiles, to
find their way at every election into the regions of
pollution and iniquity, and which are always to be
traced by the filthy slime they leave behind them.'*

He referred to Massachusetts, and his advocacy of
slavery emancipation, as follows : —

" Massachusetts has not forgotten the God that
guided the Mayflower to Plymouth rock — and though
the peerless intellect of Massachusetts may suffer
from the stroke of a Southern sun, the heart of the
old Bay State is sound, and still beats responsive to
the instincts of nature, the dictates of humanity, and
the claims of the trembling outcast who asks a shelter
on her soil.

" If it be imputed to me that I have identified my-
self with those who are held in slavery on this soil,
and have sought to promulgate the doctrines of eman-
cipation, I acknowledge the justice of the impeach-
ment, and plead guilty. My offence reaches far be-
yond the limits of the United States. My aspirations
for freedom are as wide as the soil polluted by the
footprints of a tyrant. In advocating the rights of
humanity I know of no geographical boundaries. I
walk upon God's earth, among God's children, and

202 A PEEP AT

wherever I see one of them smitten down, I will de-
nounce the aggressor, and demand the deliverance of
the captive.'*

I endeavored to give Mr. Thompson some informa-
tion regarding the miserable blundering of the Colo-
nial Office, in regard to ruling the Colony of New-
foundland. Lord Boughing has announced his inten-
tion to visit America during the year.

A very important reduction has been made in the
rates of postage by the United States Government.
Previous to the law of 1845, under the old postage
rate, the letters decreased in number from 29,360,-
992 to 24,267,552, and remained nearly stationary,
at 24,000,000, for several years. The Post Office
revenue, also, decreased about $700,000. In July,
1845, the law reducing the rates of postage to five
cents and ten cents (more than 50 per cent.) went
into operation. The result of this reduction has been
the increase of letters during the year 1850 to 62,-
000,000, with a corresponding revenue. The gross
revenue of the department, according to the Report
of the Postmaster General, for 1850, was $5,552,971,
of which $4,775,663 accrued from letters. The ex-
penses were $5,212,053, leaving an excess in favor
of the Department of $340,018, and making all of

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 203

its available funds $1,132,026. Sixteen Mail Steam-
ers are employed in communication between the At-
lantic and Pacific. The whole number of Post Offices
is 18,647. Different mail routes, 167,703 miles. It
is estimated that letters and packages to the amount
of $800,000 are sent and received free through
the mail. This is owing to the franking privilege ;
members of the Legislature being allowed free
postage.

The new postage law comes into operation on the
first of July, 1851, when letters are to be carried
throughout the length and breadth of the United
States at a uniform, pre-paid rate, of three cents, and
newspapers circulated free of postage within a circuit
of 30 miles from the place where they are printed ;
half a cent within 100 miles, and one cent for all dis-
tances beyond. In order to make the postal system
complete, the ocean postage should be reduced to one
penny. We hope this great desideratum will soon be
conceded.

In Great Britain, under the penny postage system,
the letters increased from seventy-six millions, under
the old system, to 359,000,000, being nearly a mil-
lion letters a day ; besides this, there were issued
within the year no less than 4,203,727 money orders.

204 A PEEP AT

or receipts for money paid at one ofiSce and to be re-
paid at another, to the amount of $40,756,475. The
gross receipts of the British Post Office for 1849 were
$10,962,390 ; expenditures, $6,934,265 ; net rev-
enue, $3,702,145.

America is the largest country in the world, pos-
sessing a greater extent of territory than any nation
either in ancient or modern times.

The commerce of the Valley of the Mississippi
alone is estimated at the value of $439,000,000 ; be-
ing double the amount of the whole foreign commerce
of the United States. The number of steamboats on
the " Father of waters," the Mississippi, in 1848,
was 572; tonnage, 118,655 ; valued at $5,189,979.

Previous to the year 1800, some eight or ten keel
boats performed all the carrying trade between Cin-
cinnati and Pittsburg. In 1802, the first Govern-
ment vessel appeared on Lake Erie. In 1811, the
first steamboat, the Orleans, was launched at Pitts-
burg. Previous to 1817, about twenty barges, aver-
aging one hundred tons burden, comprised all the
facilities for commercial transportation between New
Orleans and the country on the Ohio river as high up
as Louisville and Cincinnati. Each of these boats
made one trip down and back, between those two

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 205

places and New Orleans, each year. On the upper
Ohio, from the falls to Pittsburg, some one hundred
and fifty keel boats were employed about 1815 -'17.
The average size of these was about thirty tons ; and
they occupied from sk to seven weeks in making tha
voyage both ways.

In the year 1818 the first steamboat, the Walk-in-
the-watcr, was built on Lake Erie. In 1819 this boat
appeared in two or three trips on Lake Huron. It
was not, however, until the year 1826 that the waters
of the Michigan were first plowed by the keel of a
steamboat ; a pleasure trip from Buffalo to Green
Bay having been planned and executed in the sum-
mer of this year. In 1832 the first steamboat ap-
peared in Chicago. In 1833 nearly the entire trado
of the Upper Lakes — Erie, Huron, and Michigan —
was carried on by eleven small steamboats. So much
for a beginning.

In the year 1845, there were upon the Upper
Lakes sixty vessels, including propellers, moved by
steam, and three hundred and twenty sailing vessels ;
the former measured twenty thousand tons in the ag-
gregate ; and some of the latter carrying one thou-
sand to twelve hundred tons each. In 1846, accord-
ing to the official statements exhibiting " the consoli-
18

206 A PEEP AT

dating returns of both exports and imports," the mo-
neyed value of the commerce of the harbors of Erie
was $49,142,750. The average annual increase, for
the five years previous, is shown by the same ofificial
documents to have been eighteen per cent. Suppo-
sing it to have been ten per cent, per annum for the
four years since, it will give $68,799,850 as the pres-
ent net money value to the commerce of Erie and
Michigan.

In the year 1834 the number of steamboats on
the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and their tributaries,
was ascertained to be two hundred and thirty, with
an aggregate carrying capacity equal to thirty-nine
thousand tons. At the present time the entire num-
ber of steamboats running on the Mississippi and
Ohio, and their tributaries, is probably over rather
than under six hundred ; the aggregate tonnage of
which is not short of one hundred and forty thousand
tons. In 1846, Col. Aberfc, from rehable data, esti-
mated the net value of the trade of the Western
rivers at $183,609,735 per year. In 1848, Judge
Hall stated it at $220,000,000, in his statistics;
while the United States have since ordered a docu-
ment to be printed which estimates it at $256,133,-
820, for the year 1849 ! The same document puts

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 207

the aggregate value of the vessels employed in this
commerce at $18,661,500.

A monster steamer, four hundred feet in length,
has been contracted for at Cincinnati, to run as a reg-
ular ten-day packet between Louisville and New Or-
leans. She will cost $240,000, and will be the most
splendid craft afloat at the West.

The following interesting account of the first steam_
ship that ever crossed the Atlantic is taken from the
" New York Journal of Commerce.''

" To the American steamship Savannah, built by
Crocker & Fickitt, at Corlear's Hook, in this city, is
universally conceded the honor of being the first
steam propelled vessel that ever crossed the Atlantic
Ocean. From the memory of one of those who
formed her crew, (Mr. A. Thomas, then fireman,)
and believed to be, with one exception, the only sur-
vivor, we are enabled to give a succinct narrative of
her voyage. According to his understanding of the
facts, she was built by a company of gentlemen with
a view of selling her to the Emperor of Russia. This
company was organized through the agency of Capt.
Moses Rogers, afterwards her commander. The Sa-
vannah was a vessel of 380 tons, ship rigged, and was

208 A PEEP AT

furnished with a horizontal engine. This was placed
between decks — boilers in the lower hold.

" The Savannah sailed from New York, ' in the sec-
ond year of the presidency of James Munroe,' to use
the words of our informant, or in the year 1819.
She first went to Savannah. The passage occupied
seven days, four of which she was under steam.
There she was chartered by the corporation, as an act
of courtesy, to proceed to Charleston for the purpose
of affording President Munroe, who was then on a
travelling tour through the States, with a pleasure
excursion. For some reason he failed to go, and the
steamer returned to Savannah. While there, forming
an object of much attraction, she took out a pleasure
party to Tybee Light. From Savannah she proceeded
direct to Liverpool, where she arrived after a passage
of eighteen days, during seven of which she was under
steam.

" When about entering St. George's Channel, off
the city of Cork, she was descried by the commander of
the British fleet then lying at that city. Seeing a
huge mass of smoke ascending from the vessel,
enveloping her rigging, and overshadowing the sky,
he naturally inferred that a vessel was on fire and in
distress, and with commendable promptitude des-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 209

patched two cutters to her relief. After passing
near her a few times, taking a full survey, and
firing a few guns across her stern, the steamer
was boarded. Finally, being satisfied that all was
right, the cutters bore away. The news of her
approach having been telegraphed to Liverpool,
as she drew near the city, with her sails furled, and
the American colors flying, the pier-heads were
thronged by many thousand persons who greeted her
with the most enthusiastic cheers.

" Before she came to anchor, the decks were so
crowded that it was with difficulty that the men could
move from one part to another in the performance of
their duty. Sho was afterwards visited by many
persons of distinction, and departed for Elsinore, on
her way to St. Petersburg. She next touched at
Copenhagen, where she remained two weeks. During
her stay, Mr. Hughes, the American consul, went
out in her on a pleasure excursion, about fourteen
miles, accompanied by the king and other noted
personages. From Copenhagen she went to Cron-
stadt and St. Petersburg. Not being able to get
over the bar, at the latter place, she lay opposite the
city, six miles distant. Here, too, she was visited
by the American Consul, Mr. Campbell, and by the
18'

210 A PEEP AT

Emperor. Here, as at other places, she was an
object of much wonderment. She, however, was not
sold, as had been expected, and sailed fur home, put-
ting into Errlngton, on the coast of Norway, on the
passage. From the latter place she was twenty-two
days in reaching Savannah. On account of the high
price of fuel, she carried no steam on the return
passage, and the wheels were taken oif. A similar
course was adopted during a portion of the time
occupied by the passage out from the United States.
As it was nearly or quite impossible to carry sufficient
fuel for the voyage, during pleasant weather the
wheels were removed, and canvas substituted. On
Hearing Liverpool, the more effectually to ' astonish
the natives,' the wheels were restored. At the
completion of this voyage, the Savannah was pur-
chased by Captain Nat. Holdredge, divested of the
steam apparatus, and used as a packet between
Savannah and New York. She subsequently went
on shore on Long Island, and broke up.

" Although Captain Rodgers was offered $100,000
for her, by the King of Sweden, to be paid in hemp
and iron, delivered at New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston, the offer was not accepted — the cash being
wanted. It is said that $50,000 or $60,000 were
sunk in this transaction.

UNCLE SAM'S FARil. 211

" Captain Rodgers, the commander of the Savannah,
died a few years ago on the Pee Dee river, North
Carolina. lie is believed to be the first man that
ran a steamboat either to Philadelphia or Baltimore.
The mate was named Stephen Rodgers, and now
resides at New London, Connecticut."

It is but about half a century since Robert Fulton
first applied the wonderful agency of steam to the
propelling of boats. Now it is stated that the entire
European capital in steamboats is $140,000,000.
Of the English 1,300 boats, not fewer than TOO are
sea boats. It is less than thirty years since the first
steamer navigated a German river. The steam
navigation of the Rhine did not begin till 1827, nor
that of the Upper Elbe till 1837. How significantly
does the progress of society in the arts, and the
means of intercommunication, foreshadow the coming
of the day when " many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be increased." Ours are tij[ies full of
the seeds of future wonders. How thoughtfully
should the influence which we may exert after we are
dead be put forth at such a time.

The "Old Thirteen" United States, with Ver-
mont, contained 371,124 square miles. The thirty
States, now in the Union, include a territory of

212 A PEEP AT

1,449,124 square miles. The following is the total
extent of territory over which the stars and stripes
wave, larger than the whole of Europe.

Sq. miles.
Total surface of old territory, east of the Rocky-
Mountains, 994,435
Total of new territory, west of the Rocky

Mountains, 867,741

Texas, in square miles, 325,520

Total north of 36' 30", 1,644,784

Total south of 36' 30", 545,012

Total, , 4,377,492

Length of the United States sea-coast : —

Miles.

Atlantic coast, 1,900

Gulf coast, 1,600

Pacific coast, 1,620

" Shore line," including bays, lakes, &c., 33,063

The value of the American lake commerce, in
1847, was as follows : —

Imports. Exports.

Lake Ontario, $9,668,445 $11,627,770

Lake Erie, 51,450,975 58,147,058

Upper Lakes, 5,087,158 5,309,105

Total, $66,226,618 $75,683,933

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 213

Extent of the great lakes

: —

Lcneth in Greatest Average
miles. width, width.

t Square
miles.

Greatest
depth

Cham plain,

105 12

8

840

282

St Clair,

18 25

12

216

44

Ontario,

180 52

40

7,200

591

Erie,

240 57

38

9,210

270

Huron,

270 105

70

18,900

2.800

Michigan,

340 83

58

19,720

1,013

Superior,

420 135

100

42,000

940

Total

1,573 4G9

32G

97,5

It is estimated that there are 22,000 miles of mag-
netic telegraph throughout the United States.

The following is the number of emigrants who
went overland to California, in 1850, according to
the register kept at Fort Lawrence : —

Men, 39,500

Women, 2,500

Children, 600

Total, 42,600

It is supposed that at least one-fifth did not enter
their names. The Mormon emigration is set down at
5000. The animals recorded are 23,000 horses,
8,000 mules, 3G,000 oxen, 7,000 cows. There was
great suflfering from scarcity, and it is supposed there
must be at least a thousand deaths between Mis-
souri and Sacramento.

214 A PEEP AT

The whole number of vessels cleared from the
different ports of the United States for California,
in 1850, was 698.

It is estimated that California has sent into the
world, during the past two years, full one hundred
and fifty millions of dollars worth of gold dust,
which is said to have been distributed as follows ; —

Shipped to the United States, $20,000,000

Taken to Oregon by miners, 10,000.000

Taken to Mexico by miners, 20,000,000

Taken to England, through Mexico, 15,000,000

Taken to England, via Panama, 20,000,000

Shipped to South America, 25,000,000

Shipped to Sandwich Islands, 5,000,000
Shipped direct to England, via Cape Horn, 10,000,000

Shipped to other parts of the world, 15,000,000

Total, $150,000,000

Deposits of gold at the United States mint and
branches in 1849 : —

From California, $5,481,439

« Virginia, 129,382

" North Carolina, 102,688

" Georgia, 10,525

" New Mexico, 32,889

" Other sources, 10,169

Total, $5,767,092

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

215

FOREIGN COMMERCE OF THE UNITED
STATES.

Value of Exports of Domestic Produce, for the Year ending
June 30. 1849.

PRODUCTS OP TQE S£A.

Dried fish, $419,002
Fickled fish, (herrinp,

shad, galmon, macK-

erel,) 93,066
Whale and other fish

oil, 965,697

Spermaceti, 672,763

Whalebone, 887.714

Sperm candles, 159,403

§2,647,664

THI rORZST.

Skint and furs,
Ginseng,

Staves, hewn timber,
boards, shingles,

Other lumber,

Masts and spars,

Oak bark and other dye.

All manufac. of wood.

Tar, pitch, rosin and
turpentine,

Ashes, pot and pearl,

1,776,749
60,844
87,720

846,164
615,603

S6,917,994

AaRICUtTtniK.
Products of Animals: —
Beef, tallow,hides,horn-

ed cattle, 2.058,958

Butter and cheese, 1,654,157

rork.(pick.) bacon,lard,

live nogs.
Horses and mules,
Sheep,
Wool,

9,245,886

16,305
81,015

$13,153,302

Vegetable Food.

Wheat, 1.756,848

Flour, U;280.582

Biscuit, or ship-bread, 364,318

Indian corn, 7,90^,19

Indian meal,

Kye meal,

Rye, oat«, pulse. &c.,

rotatoes.

Apples,

s££r

81,169,625

218,824

139,733

83,313

93,901

2.569,362

926,642,862
Other Agrietdtttral Produce.

Tobacco, 6,804,207

(Cotton, 66,396,967

Hops, , 29,128

Brown Sugar, 24,908

Uemp,&c., 8,611

•72,263,714

MAKUFACTCEM.

Soap and candles, 627,280
Leather, boots, and shoes, 151,774
Household furniture, 237,342
Coaclies and other car-
riages, 95,923
Hats, 64,967
Saddler\', 371276
Wax, 12i;720
Spirits from grain. 67,129
" " molasses, 288,462
Beer, ale. porter, and

cider, 61.320

Snuir and tobacco, 613,044
Linseed oil and spirits

of turpentine, 148,056

Cordage, 41.636

Iron, pig, bar and nails. 149;358

" castings, 60,175

" manulactures of, 886,639

Sugar, refined, 129,001

Chocolate, 1,941

Gunpowder, 131,291

Copper and brass, 66,203

Medicinal drugs, 220,894

JiH,191,427

216

A PEEP AT

Foreign Commerce of the United States. — Continued.

Cotton Piece Goods.
Printed and colored, $466,574

White, 3,955,117

Kankeen, 3,203

Twist, yarn and thread, 92,555

Other cotton manufactures, 415,680

$4,

,129

5,558

Manufacture of Pewter
and lead,
" Marble and

stone,
" Gold and

silver,
Gold and silver coin,
Artificial flowers and

jewelry.
Molasses,

75.945 '^;rV»^S' ,,.
38 133 ! Bricks and lime.

Flax and hemp manu-
factures,

Wearing apparel.

Combs and buttons,

Brushes,

Umbrellas and parasols,

Leather and morocco
skins,

Printing presses and
type,

Musical instruments.

Books and maps.

Paper and stationery,

Paints and Varnish,

"Vinegar,

Earthen and Stone ware.

Manufacture of Glass,

" Tin, 13,143 Grand Total, $132,666,955

Of this amount $88,574,063, or nearly two-thirds, wei'e sent to

Great Britain and its Colonies.

2,924
5,800

9,427

28.031
23,713
94,427
86,827
55,145
14,036
10.632
101,419
13,143

Salt,

Coal,

Lead,

Ice,

Articles not enumerated

Manufactured,

Other articles.

$13,196

20,282

4,502
956,874

8,557
7,442
5,099

8.671
82,972

$6,607,046

30,198
95,027

1,409,439
769,557

$2,177,835

VALUE OF IMPORTS DURING THE SAME PERIOD.

The gross amount of imports was $147,857,439, of which $13,088,-
865 was exported, making the net imports $134,768,574. The
amount from each country was as follows :

Great Britain. $61,154,538

British E. Indies, 2.036,254

British W. Indies, '997,865

Canada, 1,481.082

Other British Colonies, 1,728;244

France, 24,363,783

French Colonies, 94,886

Spain, 1,319.177

Cuba, 10,659,956
Other Spanish Colonies, 3,130,894

Portugal, 322,220

Portuguese Colonies, 92,665

Holland, 1,501,643

Dutch Colonies, 865,908

Germany, 7,742,864

Belgium, 1,844.293

Russia, 840,238

Sweden and Norway, 731,846

Swedish W. Indies, 15,892

Denmark, 19,206

Danish W. Indies, 839,141

Prussia,

$17,687

Italy,

1,550,896

Sicily,

630,244

Sardinia,

42,538

Austrian ports,

409,178

Turkey,

376,064

China,

5,513,785

Other parts of Asia,

. 209,669

Africa,

495,742

Hayti,

901,724

Mexico,

2,216,719

Venezuela,

1,413,096

Kew Grenada,

158.960

Central Kepublic,

56,017

Brazil,

8,494,368

Chili,

1,817,723

Argentine Republic,

1,709.827

Peru,

446,953

Other parts of S. America

96,083

Sandwich Islands,

43,875

! South Sea Islands,

85,318

UNCLE SAirS FARM.

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218 A PEEP AT

Aggregate value of breads tuffs and provisions,
exported each year, from 1846 to 1849, inclusive : —

Value.

In the year 1846, $27,701,121

" 1847, 68,701,921

" 1848, 37,472,751

1849, 38,155.507

Total, $172,031,360

Annual products of United States industry, with
the export to England and the rest of the world : —

Exports : —
Annual Total from Of which to

Product. U. States. England.

Agriculture, $654,387,597 $111,059,378 $73,495,849

Manufactures, 239,836,224 11,809,501 541,540

Mining, 42,388,761 375,154 194

Forest, 16,835,060 5,917,94 1,649,869

Fisheries, 11,996,008 2,547,654 843,053

Total, $965,413,650 $131,710,081 $76,530,205

More than one-half of the whole export of Ameri-
can industry is to England, and of the remainder,
J1S,043,858 is to her dependencies, leaving but
$48,136,000 as the value of exports to all the rest of
the world. Nearly the whole of these exports to
England, it will be observed, are raw products, which
go to the direct consumption, as food, which

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. . 219

amounted to $14,732,927, and raw material for
manufactures, that is to say, articles indispensable to
feed and employ the operatives of Great Britain.
The British returns give the annual production at
£247,000,000, and the exports to the United
States £9,564,902.

The Government of the United States. —
Congress sits at Washington. The Senate is conv
posed of two members from each State, elected by
the Legislature for the term of six years. Their
terms are so arranged that one-third expires every
two years. There being thirty-one States, the num-
ber of Senators is now sixty-two. Tho Vice-
President is President of the Senate. Wm. R. King,
of Alabama, has been elected President of the
Senate, in consequence of Mr. Fillmore being exalted
to the Presidency by the death of General Taylor.
The House of Representatives consists of 231 mem-
bers, chosen from the several States, in the ratio of
1 to 70,680 persons. Their compensation is $8 per
day, and that of the Speaker $16 per day, during
the session, and $8 for every twenty miles travel in
going and returning. The pay of the Senators is the
same as that of the members of the House of Repre-

220

A PEEP AT

sentatives. The salary of the President is §25,000
per annum ; of the Vice-President, $5,000 ; of the
Secretaries and Postmaster General, $6,000 each ;
and of the Attorney-General, $4,000.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES OF GOVERNMENT FOR
THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1849.

Receipts.
From Customs, $28,346,738

Public Lands, 1,688,959

Miscellaneous sources, 1,038,649

Treasury IS'otes & Loans, 28,588,750
In Treasury, July 1, 1848, 153,534

Expenditures.
Cash, $46,798,667

Treasury Notes funded, 10,898,342

Total Receipts, $59,816,630 Total, $57,697,009

Estimated receipts for the year ending June 30, 1850, $37,823,-
464; expenditures, $43,651,585. Public debt, December 1, 1849,
$64,704,693.

The population of the United States at the time of
the Declaration of independence was about 2,500,-
000. In 1850, the population is estimated at 22,000,-
000, 3,000,000 of which are slaves.

The principal denominations of Christians, accord-
ing to the latest returns, are as follows : —

Communicants.
Methodist Episcopal Church, 663,310

« « " South, 504,530

" Protestant and Wesleyan, 81,000

Total of Methodists,

1,248,830

Not Cora'ts.

5,000,000

UNCLE SAM'S FARM.

221

Communicants.

Not Com'tB.

Baptists, regular,

686,807

♦• Anti mission,

67,845

« Free-will,

56,452

Campbellito,

118,618

" minor sects,

27,700

Total of Baptists,

937,422

4,000,000

PresbTtcrian, Old School,

192,033

New School,

155,000

" Associate,

18,800

" " Reformed,

26,340

" Reformed,

5,300

" Cumberland,

50,000

" others,

44,000

Total of Presbyterians,

491,473

3,000,000

Congregationalists,

197,196

500,000

Reformed Dutch,

33,980

100,000

German Reformed,

69,750

250,000

Protestant Episcopal,

67,550

2,000,000

Lutheran,

163,000

400,000

United Brethren,

67,000

Evangelical Association, (German)

17,000

Unitarian,

30,000

Roman Catholic,

1,233^50

Christian Connection,

325,000

Church of God,

10,000

Mennonites,

60,000

Friends or Quakers, Evangelical,

100,000

Hicksites,

50,000

Universalists,

60,000

Advents,

Jews,

30,000

Mormons.

19*

222 A PEEP AT

There are said to be, in the United States, forty-
two theological schools. They are designated as
follows : —

Baptist, 10

Congregational, 5

Dutch Reformed, 2

Lutheran, 3

Methodist, 1

Episcopalian, 8

Presbyterian, 11

Unitarian, 2

42

Of the 120 colleges, there w^ere, in 1849, under the

Direction of the Methodists, 12

" •' Baptists, 12

" " Episcopalians, 10

" " Roman Catholics, 13

The remainder are divided between the Congregation-
alists and Presbyterians, &c.

The Methodist Episcopal Churches employ 8 bish-
ops, 5642 travelling preachers, and 8000 local preach-
ers ; the Protestant Episcopal, or Church of England,
have 30 bishops and 1467 ministers ; the Roman
Catholics have 6 archbishops, 28 bishops, 2 vicariates,
1109 priests, and 1073 churches. The Roman
Catholics are probably the poorest denomination, and
the Protestant Episcopalians the richest denomination,

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 223

in the United States. The bishops, ministers, priests,
and clergy of the above churches exceed in number
30,000. The religion, the blood, the laws, and insti-
tutions of Old England live in America. Thus that
wonderful Anglo-Saxon race that is diffusing itself
over the globe is rapidly absorbing all other races
in America.

I now close this volume with the following interest-
ing article from the pen of an educated and scientific
physician of Haverhill, Massachusetts.

WiTcn Hazel Pointers. — Singular Electri-
cal Phenomena. — It has been a common belief
among a large class in the community for many
years, that springs of water beneath the earth's sur-
face were pointed out by the mysterious movements
of witch hazel rods, held in the hands of persons cap-
able of exercising this wizard power.

Statements made, time and again, by men of
much probity and intelligence, of the wonderful
accuracy of these witch hazel pointers in directing to
the proper locality for success in boring for water,
have attracted but very little attention from men of
science. They have probably regarded them as
savoring too strongly of that vulgar necromancy,

224 A PEEP AT

which a portion of mankind manifest a strong aflSnitj
for, to entitle them to serious consideration.

My attention has recently been called to this mat-
ter by witnessing experiments of a character anala-
gous to thos3 alluded to above, and I am free to
confess that they have interested me much, and
shaken somewhat my previous incredulity in this
matter.

It has been ascertained that several kinds of
wood, of dense, compact fibre, answers the purpose
equally as well as hazel, and that rods of whalebone
are still better than vegetable substances.

A few weeks since a highly intelligent and scien-
tific friend remarked that he had been very much
surprised and interested in observing the movements
of the whalebone in the hands of a guest of his, a
minister of high standing, from a distant town in our
State. His knowledge of the phenomenon was alto-
gether accidental, and when we consider his un-
doubted integrity of character, the suspicion of trick
or deception on his part is dispelled entirely.

He first observed the attraction of the rods down-
wards while workmen were engaged in excavating for
a well upon his premises, and directed the excavation
in accordance with the direction of the rods. Com-

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 225

plete success crowned the labor ; a fine, gushing
spring Tvas reached, and a copious supply of water
obtained. It is worthy of remark, that repeated
attempts had been made before this, to find water
in this locality, but without success. He has since
tried the experiment upon the premises of his neigh-
bors and friends, and in every instance the rods have
proved unerring guides.

The instrument is very simple, consisting of two
pieces of whalebone about 16 inches long, of a size
that will bend with tolerable facility. These are
pointed at one end, and then tied firmly together with
a bit of twine. In experimenting, the two extremes
of the rod are grasped, one in each hand, and held
apart a few inches with the point vertical, describing
a figure like the letter V inverted. It is a singular
fact, and one that can bo accounted for upon no
known principles of electrical science, that the exper-
iments fail, and the instrument remains quiet, unless
the thumb and fingers are turned outward in grasp-
ing the rods. This has proved true in the case of all
experimenters who have come under my observation,
and should be remembered by those who may here-
afler be desirous of testing the 'truthfulness of the
experiments described in this communication.

226 A PEEP AT

The following is given as the results of some exper-
iments made at the suggestion of the writer of this
article, and which are deemed worthy of especial
notice. There being a small stream of water beneath
the cellar of his place of business, formed by the
waste from a fountain, he requested the clergyman
alluded to above to find its locality with rods. This
was done with surprising accuracy ; not only was the
commencement of the rill pointed out, but its some-
what serpentine course towards the river accurately
traced. When the operator stood over the stream,
the rods with a sudden impulse turned over and
pointed directly downward. So strong was the
attraction that the resistance w^as sensibly felt when
its movements were opposed by the finger. In trac-
ing the course of the stream, any deviation from the
true one was marked by the quick uprising of the
points. So delicate and accurate was this attraction,
that the deviation of an inch was indicated by the
instrument. These motions were as marked and de-
cisive when two floors interposed between the stream
and the operator. As corroborative of these experi-
ments, I must not forget to say that this stream has
since been detected by others entirely unacquainted
with its locality. Neither must I forget to mention

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 227

the fact that when passing the bridge over the Merri-
mac the rods turn downwards as soon as the edge of
the stream is reached, and remain in this position
until the opposite shore is gained, when the point re-
sumes a vertical position once more.

Before alluding to some experiments to determine
the nature of this attraction, I will say that experi-
ments similar to and equally as unequivocal and deci-
sive as those described have been tried upon grounds
belonging to the writer. Upon these grounds is a
well, recently excavated, and from careful observa-
tions made during the excavation, he was satisfied
that no spring or gush of water was reached by the
workmen. But as the side infiltrations were copious,
it was decided to depend upon them for a supply of
water, and suspend further boring. The rods held
over, and within a radius of five feet on either side
the well, remained unaffected. Beyond that number
of feet westward the attraction is powerfully felt, and
the course of a stream across the garden pointed out.
Other streams, within a few feet of each other, have
been found, one of which was traced directly to the
well of a neighbor, who has an abundant supply of
pure, soft, water.

There may be considered nothing very remarkable

228 A PEEP AT

or reliable in these experiments when shown only by
one person. But when others, knowing nothing of
previous experiments, are taken upon the ground, and
precisely the same attracting influences are found in
precisely the same places, the experiments then
assume an importance which imperatively demands
investigation. Such has been the case in this in-
stance, and each trial has been productive of precisely
the same results.

Admitting, then, that the phenomenon described
be as stated, and that imposition on the part of the
experimenters is impossible, are there any principles
of natural science which will explain it. It is obvious
to my own mind that it is owing to electrical influen-
ces, and that it may be found to act in obedience to
known laws in electrical science.

To prove this, let the conducting medium be cut
off by interposing a silk handkerchief between the
point of the rod bent downwards and the stream or
attracting influence below, and the rods instantly fly
back again. Remove the handkerchief, and the rods
point down as before. Insulate the operator, by pla-
cing him upon wax, or the insulating stool, and the
attraction instantly ceases. Connect him with the
earth again by passing a chain from one foot to the

UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 229

ground, and the attracting influence is instantly felt.
Let the point when bent down be connected with a
delicate galvanometer in such a way that the current
will pass across the needle, and it will be deflected
several degrees. Place in each hand a piece of oiled
silk, so that the hands may be insulated while in con-
tact with the instrument, and it will remain entirely
passive, though it may be directly over the attracting
influcDces.

These experiments of themselves abundantly show
that the phenomenon is due to electrical excitation,
and to this department of natural science are we to
look for an explanation of this interesting matter.
In a future communication I will mention some other
experiments, and perhaps venture upon an hypothesis
in explanation of this singular and unexplained phe-
nomenon.

CATALOGUE

OP

NEW AND VALUABLE BOOKS,

rVBLISUED BY

CHAS. H. PEIRCE & CO.,

KO. 5 COBNUILL, BOSTON.

DIVINE UNION.

BY T. C. UPHAM, D. D.

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1

2 CHARLES H. PEIRCE & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS.

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THE YOUNG MAN'S COUNSELLOR.

BY REV. DANIEL WISE.
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4th Edition.
*' The Young Man's Counsellor : or, Sketches and Illustra-
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THE EMINENT DEAD;

OB,

THE TRIUMPHS OF FAITH IN THE DYING HOUR.

BY BRADFORD K. PEIRCE.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY A. STEVENS.

*' The Eminent Dead" is the title of a new work from the
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CHARLES H. PEIRCE & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 3

their deaths. Several similar works are extant, but none as
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Zion's Herald.

THE GENIUS AND MISSION OF METHODISM, .

EMBRACIXO

WHAT IS PECULIAR IN DOCTRINE, GOVERNMENTS,
MODES OF WORSHIP, ETC.

BY BEV. W. p. STRICKLAND,

Of the Ohio Conference.

Price 37^ cents.

The author of the present volume has conceived that an
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the labor of his mind and pen, in the subject which he has
presented to the reading public.

As a •* hand-book" of Methodism, presenting the provi-
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various means for spiritual culture and growth, it will find,
we trust, a welcome place on the shelves of the family library,
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The want of a small portable volume, giving, in a popular
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exhibiting, without controversy, the peculiarities which give us
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nected view of our ecclesiastical polity, — has been considered
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also for the perusal of maturer members of the church, who
cannot aflFord the expense or time required for the purchase
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4 CHARLES H. PEIRCE &; CO.'s PUBLICATIONS.

WISE'S QUESTIONS ON ROMANS.

A new and revised edition of this popular Sabbath-school
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The author's familiarity with the wants of the Sabbath-
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volume. The subject, one of the most interesting and import-
ant books in the Scripture Canon, will afford a valuable field
for study and discussion in the Bible class. — Zion's Herald.

CLEAVELAND'S VOYAGES.

*d JVarrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises.

BY RICHARD J. CLEAVELAND.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY BILLINGS. ILLUSTRATED WITH FOUR
ELEGANT STEEL ENGRAVINGS.

12mo. Price $1.00.

This is one of the most interesting volumes of voyages and
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The present is the third edition of this valuable and popular
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tiful paper, and is bound in the richest styles of the art.

Charles H. Peirce, Boston, has issued an exceedingly inter-
esting " Narrative of Voyages and Commercial Enterprises,"
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some forty-five years since, and closed about twenty years ago
They extend, therefore, over a period of our commercial his-
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CHARLES H. PEIRCE & CO.'S PTJBUCATIONS. 5

estiog than if they were more recent. The author writes with
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THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MELODIST.

BT REV. A. D. MERRILL

The music, a large portion of which is original, has been
prepared expressly for the use of children in our Sabbath-
schools. Of the eminent qualifications of the author, — so
well known and beloved in all our churches, — to prepare such
a work, those acquainted with the previous musical produc-
tions of Bro. Merrill will need no further guarantee. The
hymns have also been selected with great care, both in refer-
ence to securing a variety and as to their lyrical merits.

The publisher proposes to issue the volume at the lowest
price at which it can be afforded, that it may enjoy a general
circulation in our schools. The following commendation of
the work, while passing through the press, was forwarded to
the publisher by the Secretary of the Preachers' Meeting : —

At a meeting of the Preachers of Boston and vicinity, held
at the Committee-room, No. 7 Comhill, Boston, the following
resolution was unanimously adopted, and it was voted that a
copy of the same be presented by the President and Secretary
to Brother Charles H. Peirce : —

Resolved, That we cordially recommend the publication of
the book of music and hymns prepared for the use and benefit
of Sunday-schools, by our excellent father in the Gospel, Rev.
A. J). Merrill. Loranus Crowell, President

LuBfAN BoYDEN, Secretary.
1*

D CHARLES H. PEIRCE ic CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

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and for the choice of the Methodist Church as his spiritual
home. The work has already become popular in New Eng-
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PEACE IN BELIEVING. ^

EXEMPLIFIED IN

PASTOR'S DAUGHTER, CLERGYMAN'S WIFE, PIOUS MOTHER,
AND DYING SAINT.

BEING THE MEMOIRS OF MRS. ANN EAST.

BY REV. JOHN EAST, A. M.
Third Edition. l8mo. Price 50 cents.
A most affecting biography of an eminently devout lady,
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OR,

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CHARLES H. PEIRCE «e CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 7

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EVANGELISM

IN THE MIDDLE OF TEU:

NINETEENTH CENTURY.
BY REV. C. ADAMS.

Of this new and valuable work, the Zion's Herald gives the
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It is an exhibit, descriptive and statistical, of the present
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and is illustrated with maps. The five great divisions of the
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cipal Christian benevolent societies, and finally an appendix
on the non-Protestant divisions of the world. The reader will
perceive at once the value of such a volume. It will tend to
stir up the general church in behalf of the evangelization of
the world, and it will be a standard of continued and authen-
tic reference, to clergymen and other advocates of missions
We prize it as an indispensable book, and hope its circulation
will be extended over the whole church. Mr. Adams has
devoted much labor and research to his task^ and has done
it with a master's skill.

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BY THE AUTUOa OF SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS, MEMORIALS OF
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18mo. Price 62 cents.
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MAHAN ON ROMANS IX.

A new work, by President Mahan, consisting of a series of
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thought, by good judges, to present the best exposition of this
important and difficult Scripture extant, and will be read,
especially by Armenian Christians, with peculiar satisfaction.

RAMBLES IN EUROPE.

BY REV. MARK TRAFTON, A. M.

A, few of the sketches of a late European tour, composing
the present volume, have appeared in the Herald and Ladies'
Repository, which afford the public a fair promise of the rich
treat in store for them.

THE LAST WITNESS.

BY REV. 0. C. BAKER.
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TOKEN OF FRIENDSHIP.

A GIFT BOOK FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

EDITED BY BRADFORD K. PEIRCE.
Seven elegant engravings. Elegantly bound. Price f 2.00.
We referred to this work lately. It is now before the pub-
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CHARLES H. PEIRCE & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 9

phy and engravings constitute their pretensions usually. The
present one has been edited with good taste, by Rev. B. K.
' Peirce. Its engravings are seven in number, and are finished
specimens of the art The contributions amount to nearly
forty, and some of them are from the pens of our best writers,
including a profusion of titled dignitaries. We bespeak for
this volume a generous patronage, for three reasons : one is,
that it intrinsically merits it; another, that it will take tlie
place in our families of those often equivocal, if not excep-
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at the holiday season; and another is, that it will, if sus-
tained, bring out in elegant form, from year to year, a class
of good denominational writers. — Zton'« Herald.

The present volume has many attractions. Its letter-press,
paper, and binding, are of a character to make them credita-
ble to Boston, — that, too, in 1850. The matter is chiefly
from our best writers, and, so far as we have examined, it is
quite worthy of the beautiful exterior which invests it

JVbrthern Christian Advocate.

A very fine annual this. The pieces are short, and, in gen-
eral, well executed, by our best writers.

Christian Advocate and Journal.

This is an annual, well gotten up, and presenting, in paper,
typography, binding, and engravings, not only a fine speci-
men of artbtic skill, but a very attractive and presentable
book. It has a large list of very readable articles, mostly
written by Methodist ministers. It will make a handsome
Christmas gift, and we hope many a family circle will be
graced with the presence of this interesting annual.

Richmond Advocate.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

Return to desk from which borrowed.
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.

NOV 11 1953 LU

LD 21-100m-7,'52(A2528sl6)476