Spiritualist papers, under a pretence of being com
munications from this, that, and the other, great
genius who has lived upon the earth. It seems to
me to be right in the face and eyes of the ennobling
doctrine of future progress which the advocates of
this theory profess to believe ; for a large share of it



I



AND RECOLLECTJONS. 187

is utterly beneath their capacity, while in the flesh.
There may be a way with them, to solve these diffi
culties, but, I have yet to learn how it can be done,
before my mind can receive any benefit from reading
their literature ; and some of their writing is so
much above the earth that a person must be versed
in more languages than the English, to get their
ideas. Some of their writers seem to have a vocabu
lary of their own, and pile words enough, coined
from a wholly original mint into one sentence, to
turn the brain of a philoshpher or a Philadelphia
lawyer, to try to decipher them. Of this class is
Andrew Jackson Davis. So you discover that I am
wholly in the fog about this matter, but I mean to
read more, and meantime try to be guided by an
unprejudiced investigation. When I get any new
ideas I will try to be more prompt in reporting pro
gress."

Judge of my feelings, dear F., when I received
the following, which was in a few days, after writing
the above.

Pembroke, Sept. 21st, 1852.

MY DEAR FRIENDS : I received this day a let
ter from sister Abbott to my poor wife, which showed
me that you were ignorant of the overwhelming
sorrows that have come upon our family since Mrs.
Stoddard wrote you. One year ago, last March,
Stoddard and Freeman, of Rochester, failed for a
large amount, bringing utter ruin upon me, as I had
endorsed for them more than I am worth. I think
their failure and circumstances connected therewith,
(which I will not now mention) seriously affected
the mind of my wife, and from that time she ap-



188 PERSONAL SKETCHES

plied her mind assiduously to the subject of " spir
itual philosophy," BO called, and in October, last,
became a monomaniac on that subject, and continued
so for three weeks, when she became a raving
maniac, requiring two men to take care of her.
The first of January, last, I took her to the Asylum
at Utica, where she is now. She has become more
quiet, but the superintendent gives me no encourage
ment of her recovery. Jane was married in May,
1851, to James Bouo-hton, who was in the mercantile

i

business at the corners ; her husband died in Decem
ber last, at his father's, Col. Boughton's. Jane
came home to live with me after Mrs. Stoddard
went to Utica, and died on the 27th of May, about
one year after her marriage. She and her husband
both died of consumption. Jane's death left me
entirely alone ; my health was poor, and I felt that
I could not live here, where there were so many
dreadful associations ; I, therefore, closed my house,
and started for Vermont ; from thence I went to
New York, Philadelphia, and .many other places;
was gone two months, calling at Utica on my way
down and back ; did not see my wife for fear it
would make her worse. Since my return from the
east, I have been to Canada. I have now a Mr.
Stevens and his wife in my house, with whom I
board ; I shall have to leave my farm in the Spring ;
where I shall go, if I live, I know not ; I think I
shall hire my board in this neighborhood, and try to
support myself by my profession. * I feel

that this letter will be read by you with absorbing
interest, and great astonishment, and, that. the first
question in your minds will be, " How does the doc
tor bear it ? " My only consolation is, in the belief
of the distinctive doctrines of Universalism, that all
the afflictions of this life shall work for good to



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 189

those that are afflicted, and, that the final result of
the government of God will be glorious, and termi
nate in the purity, holiness, and happiness of every
individual of the human race ; believing this, I think
I can say from my heart, " Not my will, but thine,
O God, be done."

It would be very gratifying to me to receive a
letter from both or either of you ; do write soon,
and any inquiries you may make I will answer, if I
can. With sentiments of love, I am,
Respectfully yours,

A. W. STODDARD.

After reading this, Dear F., I think you will
agree with me that, this family has passed through a
furnace of affliction. How little we know of the
future ! Jane, whose death he speaks of, was a
niece of Mrs. S.'s, a most brilliant young lady, one
whom they had brought up from infancy, and doted
on with the tender care of parents. Since this letter
we have received no tidings ; probably death has
closed the scene, for both. The doctor was an old
man in 184T. The farm that was taken from them
by the creditors of the doctor's son, was a perfect
garden ; a beautiful residence, literally embowered
with trees and vines. A trumpet honeysuckle,
more luxuriant in growth than any I have ever seen
east of there, had climbed to the roof, and was *
one mass of scarlet blossoms from July till the late
frosts of Autumn. A lovelier home was not to be
found in all Western New York. I have introduced



190 PERSONAL SKETCHES

this correspondence for the purpose of showing the
effects of any excitement like that occasioning the
ruin of this family upon a weak and nervous system ;
hoping it will be a warning to those in a like state of
health ; and prevent them from allowing any one
subject to get the mastery of their minds. I do not
say that Spiritualism is the only agency which
could effect the same result, for I do not think so.
Now, after a lapse of eight more years, 'as much
of absurdity and nonsense as has been published to
the world under its name, no person of common
observation can fail of discovering that some good
has been accomplished through its agency. The
general tendency of the age had been to infidelity ;
and the world was filled with mourners, who had no
hope of a future reunion with the loved and lost of
earth ; no voice could speak to them of hope and
comfort from beyond the door of the sepulchre ; no
angel, with noiseless tread, could " roll the rock
away." The veil of unbelief between them and the
immortal world, had been woven with so firm a tex
ture, that the dim eye of faith could not penetrate it.
Suppose it is no benefit to some who have already a
faith in the Gospel promise ? How uncharitable the
interrogatory we daily hear ! " Where's the good ? "
A Id to this, the fact that, with all its error, there is
truth and beauty in the system, which is interwoven
with our former faith and trust, and is identical



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 191

with our highest and best conceptions of God and
heaven. Then I answer, the good in it, is inasmuch
as the difference between a cold, unfeeling dread of
annihilation, heart-yearnings unsatisfied for a con
tinuation of existence beyond this transitory state of
trial and affliction, a mourning without hope for the
loss of friends, an unhappy solicitude and regret for
a misspent life, with no hope of a boundless field for
future amendment, no inventive for aspirations of a
higher life, a despair which prompts the dismal
words of the poet,

" Like bubbles, on a sea of matter borne,
We rise and break, and to that sea return.' '

And a cheering, glorious anticipation, which finds
vent in these hopeful and blessed sentiments :

" We start in life an unbroken company ; brothers
and sisters, friends and lovers, neighbors and com
rades, are with us ; there is circle within circle, and
each one of us is at the charmed centre, where the
heart's affections are aglow, and whence they radiate
on society. Youth is exuberant with joy and hope ;
the earth looks fair, for it sparkles with May-dewS
wet, and no shadows hath fallen upon it. We are
all here, and we could live here forever. The home-
centre is on the hither side of the river ; and why
should we strain our eyes to look beyond ? But this
state of things does not continue long. Our circle



192



PERSONAL SKETCHES.



grows less and less. It is broken and broken, and
then closed up again ; but every break and close
makes it narrower and smaller. Perhaps before the
sun is at its meridian, the majority are on the other
side ; the circle there is as large as the one here ;
and we are are drawn contrawise and vibrate between
the two. A little longer, and almost all have crossed
over ; the balance settles down on the spiritual side,
and the home-centre is removed to the upper sphere.
At length you see nothing but an aged pilgrim,
standing alone on the river's bank, and looking earn
estly towards the country on the other side."*

* "Fore-gleams of Immortality," by Edmund H. Sears, page 136,



LETTER XXIH.

Genesee County Its fruit Orange County Butter General appear
ance of this State from Rouse's Point to Dunkirk Every-body's
own Country the Best Skaneateles Cooperstown Rochester
Mount Hope Cemetery Mount Hope Nursery.

MY DEAE F.:

In my last letter I intended to tell you something
about the scenery and natural advantages of Gene-
see County, but the large space occupied with per
sonal sketches and recollections, and my say about
Modern Spiritualism, crowded out other things
which would, perhaps, have been more interesting.
The particular production of fruit has made this
county too well noted in any part of this State, or
New England, to need any reference to it here, and
there is as much " Genesee fruit " sold in the eastern
market, as there is " Orange County Butter," and
there is more of both sold in a single year, bearing
these names, than either county ever produced of
these farm articles. There's everything in a name.
Ever so stale an article of butter that has the phrase
17



194 PERSONAL SKETCHES

" Orange County " breathed over it, has a charm in
it to raise its value, and warrants a quick sale. It is
just so with " Genesee fruit." I have sometimes
thought that a bag of Crab-apples might be made
so rich as to " melt in your mouth," if these magic
words could be whispered in it. What was called
the " Genesee country," once embraced the whole
of Western New York ; perhaps that accounts for
so much " Genesee fruit." All that portion of the
State, except the mountainous districts in the ex
treme south, presents to the eye of the traveller
one complete series of gardens and orchards, spotted
with lakes and rivers. I have travelled in every
northern, central and western county of this State,
from Rouse's Point to Dunkirk. Clinton is the
north-east corner county, and Chautauque the south
western line. It seems impossible that such con
trasts could exist as there is in the general appear
ance of these two counties, in one State, though it is
as large as the Island of New Holland. I have
been over this route by the river St. Lawrence, and
the Lakes, by railroad, and by private conveyance,
and traversed different sections of nearly every
county, and resided in five of them, and become
familiarly acquainted with the inhabitants of these
various sections, and, what is to me a little singular,
by far the largest majority of those I have heard
express an opinion of the merits of their locality, in



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 195

comparison with others, think they have got if not
the very identical garden of Eden from which Adam
and Eve were driven the counterpart of it. One
town in Erie County is named " Eden ;" for conveni
ence, all the rest had to be named something else ;
but that would have been the most appropriate
appellation, according to the estimates of the resi
dents. This satisfied spirit, with the places in which
our lot has been cast, is certainly a great blessing,
for which we ought to be thankful ; for, we, who
live in these hyperborean regions, cannot all find
places in the orange-groves of the torrid zone, and I
doubt whether our happiness would be enhanced by
the change. In all this region of country I have
spoken of, to me, the paradise of all, for country
places, and those are the most pleasant of any, is
in Skaneateles, Onondaga County. Including the
little villages and hamlets in this town, the lake by
the same name, and the gently rolling slopes in the
vicinity of the main river, Skaneateles outlet, I
never saw so much perfect beauty in one town. It
seems that the inhabitants must be immeasurably
happy there. One reason for the beautiful appear
ance of the country here, is the fact of the high
lands overlooking such an extent of territory, in
cluding so large a variety of scenery. Fairies must
have had a hand in forming and polishing these
beautifully rounded hills, and human industry has



196 PERSONAL SKETCHES

completed a picture of unsurpassed loveliness, a land
scape of continuous and highly cultivated farms.

The village that struck us as the prettiest in this
garden of New York, is Cooperstown, in the town
of Otsego, Otsego County, at the foot of Otsego
Lake. The main street in the village rises, gently,
from the lake back to its termination, and has some
elegant residences ; among them is one, honored by
being that of James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist ;
a beautiful mansion with ornamental grounds, near
the centre of the village. The Cooperstown Semi
nary and Female Collegiate Institute has extensive
and beautiful buildings, which, with the adjacent
grounds, is an ornament to the place. From almost
any part of the village, the lake is the most promi
nent, natural feature. Its surface is a clear, smooth
sheet, spread out like a mirror, fit home for the
fabled nymph. The town of Otsego is a high ridge
of land, -lying between the two lakes, Otsego and
Schuyler, with the advantages of a rich soil, and
under a high state of cultivation.

The city of Eochester has the most attractions of
any of the western and central cities of the State
and they are too numerous to mention. Among the
most prominent, is Mount Hope Cemetery. It is on
the highest ground in the vicinity of the city, em
bracing a territory of seventy acres, and from it is
a magnificent view of the surrounding country.



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 197

Genesee Falls is one of the prominent natural attrac
tions, besides being the scene of " Sam Patch's "
fatal leap. Men like him and M. Blondin, who can
find no better employment than calling thousands
together to be wrought to the highest pitch of ex
citement, just for the sport of witnessing their dar
ing feats, are a small loss to the world.

Time and space would fail in the attempt to merely
mention the objects of deep interest in this lovely
city, and I will only cite you to one in addition to
those already referred to ; but the descriptions have
been often given by abler pens than mine. Ellwan-
ger and Barry's Mount Hope Nursery. Here are
five hundred acres, in which the skill, taste, and
labor of the experience of years are combined, to
propagate and cultivate fruit and ornamental trees,
shrubs and flowers, on the most extensive scale of
any in the United States, if not in the world. What
more delightful, profitable, and elevating employ
ment, than the cultivation and care of fruits and
tender plants ! Here, just outside the great " wick
ed city," where are disgusting scenes of drunken
ness and human degradation at its lowest point, is a
temple of nature, filled with beauty, and the balmy
air is freighted with a thousand odors, a realization
of the most romantic dreams.
17*



LETTEE XXIV.

Boston, Erie County Our Children A Land " Flowing with Milk
and Honey " Yankee Anecdote of Dairying Western New York
as it is As it was, in an extract from Turner's Pioneer History
The Inhabitants of 1860 contrasted with those of 1800 Ignor
ance of the Poorer Class in the Cities with regard to the Superior
Advantages of the Country Extracts from Miss Sedgwick's Let
ters.

MY DEAR F.:

From the Summer of 1848 to the Spring of 1849,
our residence was in the beautiful valley of Eighteen
Mile Creek, in the town of Boston, Erie County.
This is the birth-place of our daughter. Her
brother was born in Watertown, in 1850 ; these are
our only children. The town of Boston is wholly
made up of two hills passing through the town from
northeast to southwest, and the valley spoken of,
which is nearly or quite one mile wide. There are
three little villages on this creek, from two to three
miles apart, containing seven or eight churches, all
pleasantly located ; the inhabitants are an enter
prising and industrious people, as well as in the farm
ing districts on the hills. The road from the top of




AND RECOLLECTIONS. 199

either hill to the valley belew, is full a mile long,
and the descent, the most of the way, is frightfully
rapid for timid pedestrians. In one short year, I
could not get accustomed to such a getting up and
down of steep declivities, and always rode with fear,
over them. Almost every farmer here keeps a dairy,
and is a cheese-maker, and the dairies are the largest
of any I have ever seen in other places ; sometimes
numbering a hundred cows, or over.* One other
feature of their domestic economy, struck me as
somewhat remarkable ; that is, nearly every man
that had a house, whether a farmer or mechanic,
kept bees ; this makes it similar to the promised land
of old, literally " flowing with milk and honey."
We never lived in a place I regretted leaving any
more tlian this one. The inhabitants were kind and
generous, and they still occupy a prominent place in
my most grateful remembrances. Sweet dreams
still come to me of that happy valley, and of the
little cherub whom I first folded in my arms, there.
Heaven be blessed for the awakening of these tender
ties, and the influence of the little gentle spirits on
the heart- of a mother!

* Speaking of the large dairies of the Bostonians, reminds me of
an anecdote I once heard of a couple of Yankees, travelling south.
While in the cars, one of them told the astonished Southerners how
many hundred cows his neighbor kept. Seeing the crowd rather
incredulous, as proof of his assertion, he referred to his travelling
companion, who said, *' about the number he did not precisely know,
but one thing he did know, he kept twelve saw-mills all going with
buttermilk.



200 PERSONAL SKETCHES

What has been written, dear F., will give you but
a little idea of the natural and cultivated advantages
of what is acknowledged to be the favored portion
of these northern States, Western New York.
What little idea you have been able to get from ray
disconnected descriptions, is with regard to this
beautiful country as it is now ; and that you may
better imagine how large a share of it has been
accomplished with labor, patience, and ingenuity,
I will try to give you some idea of what the country
was near the commencement of the present century,
by a short extract from Turner's Pioneer History,
from the pen of the widow of John Young, one of
the first settlers in the town of Elba, Genesee
County :

" My husband having the year before, been out
and purchased his land upon the Holland Purchase,
in the fall of 1804, we started from our home in
Virginia, on horse-back, for our new location. We
came through Maryland, crossing the Susquehannah
at Milton, thence via Tioga Point and the then usual
route. In crossing the Alleghany Mountains, night
came upon us : the horses became frightened by
wild beasts and refused to proceed. We wrapped
ourselves in our cloaks and horse-blankets, and
attempted to get some rest, but had a disturbed
night of it. , Panthers came near us, often giving
terrific screams. The frightened horses snorted and
stamped upon the rocks. Taking an early start in
the morning, we soon came to a settler's house, and
were informed that we had stopped in a common






AND RECOLLECTIONS. 201

resort of the panther. My husband built a shanty,
which was about ten feet square, flat-roofed, covered
with split ash shingles ; the floor was made of the
halves of split basswood ; no chimney. A blanket an
swered the purpose of a door for a while, until my
husband got time to make a door of split plank. We
needed no window ; the light came in where the
smoke went out. For chairs we had benches, made
by splitting logs, and setting the sections upon legs.
A bedstead was made by boring holes in the side of
the shanty, inserting pieces of timber which rested
upon two upright posts in front, a side piece complet
ing the structure, peeled basswood bark answering
the place of a cord. We, of course, had brought
no bed with us on horse-back, so one had to be pro
cured. We bought a cotton bag of Mr. Brisbane,
and, stuffing it with cat-tail, it was far better than
no bed. The second year we were in, I had an
attack of the fever and ague, which confined me for
nearly a year. That year my husband cleared four
acres, besides taking care of me and doing the
cooking. Mr. Young died in 1836.

Since reading the above, I have thought much
about the present condition of the inhabitants in
that very locality ; and in connection with it, the
ignorance of the young ladies of all this favored
land, of the perils and toils of their fore-mothers.
Reared in the lap of luxury and abundance, reposing,
many of them, after an idle and listless day, upon
beds of down, from which they are called by servants
in the late morning, to their cups of coffee and toast,
then pass a long day to them, making calls or read-



202 PERSONAL SKETCHES

ing " The Ledger ; " mayhap their white taper fin
gers have labored months on the embroidery of
one pocket-handkerchief. What kind of wives
would they make for the pioneers of your own
State, for instance ? Have you any such in Milwau-
kie ? How would they like a horse-back ride over
the AUeghany Mountains, and then spend a night
with the panthers, on the rocks ? My opinion that
the bears and wolves would hold peaceable posses
sion some time in the future, in the primitive forests,
if they did not " clear the track," before some of
our ladies of 1860, shared the toils of the brave
pioneer.

There are yet millions of acres belonging to this
Republic, untrodden by the foot of the white man,
and a " host that no man can number," both men
and women scattered all over the world, dragging
out a miserable existence, for want of employment,
ignorant of the existence of any country outside of
the dirty city where they were born. Think of the
needle-women in London, thirty-thousand of them
in that one city, working for a few pence a day, and
what is still worse, other thousands, dragging out a
miserable life in the coal mines. Compared with
their lot, the rudest hut in our back settlements is a
palace. Why don't some benevolent or missionary
society, contrive to open a way to our immense tracts
of uncultivated lands for these armies of wretched






AND RECOLLECTIONS. 2Q3

beings, many of them in our own cities, who would
at once be made happy by it, and the places they
leave, as well as those to which they would remove,
be the gainers ? Such a society, would, if they ac
complished such a glorious object, become the bene
factors of their race, and the world would owe them
an everlasting debt of gratitude. The change to
the poor victims who have the iron heel of oppres
sion upon their necks, from the dirty lanes of the
crowded city, to the open air of heaven as God
made it, would play upon their worn spirits, as the
gentle breeze upon the -ZEolian harp.

Miss Sedgwick, in her letters from Europe, speaks
of people who never heard of America ! " K.,
asked a boy in Italy, twelve years old, who wore a
cotton jacket and trousers, (December 9th, two
thousand four hundred and seventy feet above the
Mediterranean), and manifestly no under clothes,
if he knew where America was ? ' No, nor Eng
land, nor Rome, nor Florence ! ' Another, still
older, had heard of Rome, but he had been four
years to school ! ' His mother was dead and there
was no one to pay for him, and give him bread any
longer ; ' and, he concluded, ' there is no work.'
1 Ah, signorina, molto miserable ! '

In Switzerland she fell into conversation with a
peasant : "In the course of which, he found out that
I came from New York, at which he made a vehem-



204 PERSONAL SKETCHES

ent exclamation, and added that he had a brother in
my country. ' In what part of it ? ' I asked, ' for it
is somewhat bigger than Switzerland. ' 'In Buenos
Ayres ! and if madam would have the goodness to
take a letter to him ! ' ? With all my heart,' I said,
* but that New York was much farther from Buenos
Ayres, than St. Martin's from Paris.' ' Ah! but it
is on the same side of the great sea ! ' :

Nor are the boys and peasants all, who are igno