undoubtedly are, that a very large majority of man
kind, are naturally honest, and do more good, ten
fold, than bad actions.

When I look back upon it now, it seems unac
countable to me how large amounts different firms
in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, have sent
me on credit, with no means of knowing whether I
had either ability or inclination to pay. They all
took my word, that I would remit at some future
time, which I always did. But one firm ever re
quired me to pay in advance, and that was Fowler
& Wells, New York, that being their invariable
rule.

In one of my orders to New York, to a strange
and new firm, I mentioned that I had bought books
of-G. Collins, Philadelphia. They filled my order
immediately, but in about a week I received the fol
lowing from Collins. " A few days since I received
a note from a New York bookseller, asking who you
were ! So I suppose you are getting into an exten
sive business. I am glad to hear it. I stated, in
reply to the note, that I would fill your order to any
amount."

I bought and sold a great many Philadelphia pub
lications, but all of them through the agency of this



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 225

one publisher, in that place. The firms in Boston
who have so kindly waited my convenient pay-day*
are, Abel Tompkins, J. M. Usher, and Bela Marsh.
New York Miller, Orton & Mulligan, C. M. Sax-
ton & Co., and J. M. Emerson & Co. Ogdens-
burgh, H. F. Lawrence has filled my orders to any
amount desired, and, laterly, I have purchased
indiscriminately of him, publications from almost
every house in the eastern cities, and for his kind
ness, affability, and prompt attention to orders, he
has my most grateful remembrance. The same is
true of J. H. Sedley, of Potsdam, and Hall & Rogers,
of Watertown. I have good reason to believe that
I have still the entire confidence of all the above
named gentlemen, though I have never seen one of
them, except the last named. I have two motives in
mentioning these facts ; first,~for the benefit of those
who may have read Miss Mendell's book, the young
lady who was the pioneer female bookseller here, in
northern New York. She speaks disparagingly of
some New Yew York book dealers, and this is to
certify that they have dealt honorably with me with
out an exception. Second, for the benefit of young
men, and women, too, if any should wish to engage
in this pleasant and profitable business. Most cheer
fully do I point to them as worthy of reliance and
patronage. I had not a farthing to commence with,
except the avails of my sales, and perhaps others in



226 PERSONAL SKETCHES

like circumstances, would be inspired with confi
dence to commence on this no-capital scale, by hav
ing a way marked out. The only way for me to
succeed in selling any book, is to become familiar
with its contents, and give the customer a little out
line of its plan and subject. I know, in this way,
that I have sold more than double the books that I
could, to be ignorant of what they treated. In
every place I have visited, I have secured a regular
set of customers ; and, after becoming acquainted
with me, if I told them that I knew nothing about
the merits of a book, they took it as evidence, that
it wasn't worth knowing anything about. Here I
must call your attention to some few publications
that I have read and sold with great satisfaction,
because I consider them very valuable for the gen
eral reader, especially those whose means restrict
them to a small library ; some of these works are a
whole library in themselves. The American Por
trait Gallery, published by J. M. Emerson & Co.,
New York. It contains three hundred and fifty
portraits of eminent Americans, and a sketch of the
life of each, commencing with Christopher Columbus,
and coming down to the present time. These
sketches occupy nearly eight hundred pages, and
include almost every event in American history. I
have sold one hundred and eighty copies of this ;
price $3.50. Livingston's Travel's in Africa, is an



AND KECOLLECTIONS. 227

extremely valuable book, and contains a host of in
formation not found in any other. There are four
different editions and prices of this work. I have
sold large quantities of each variety. The largest
one is sold for $3.00.

I intended, dear F., to speak of many other books,
and give you a little idea of their contents. I dis
tributed eighty copies of S. Gr. Goodrich's (Peter
Parley) Eecollections of a Life Time, which, I
believe, gave great satisfaction to the readers, gener
ally. It contains two large octavo volumes of about
twelve hundred pages, price $ 3.00. This book has
been largely criticized by the press, perhaps more
on account of the political opinions of the author,
than for any other reason. A cousin of mine, an
eccentric genius, John Sheldon, Esq., of Watertown,
being asked his opinion of the merits of this work,
said ; " O, he deals -too much in minutiae ; Peter
recollected too many things." He does not, it seems,
have much affinity for Horace Greeley's opinion of
biographies. Parton, the author of Greeley's bio
graphy, said that he called on him while this work
was in preparation, but Horace was entirely ignorant
of the existence of his own history that was being
prepared, and Parton asked him what he thought of
such and such biographies, pointing to several dif
ferent ones ; " O," said he, " I don't like any of
them ; there is not a perfect biography hi the country.



228



PERSONAL SKETCHES



They don't write particulars enough. For my part
I want to know what a man ate for his breakfast,
and what kind of stockings he wore." " On this
occasion, says Parton, " Horace's were white, with
a hole in each heel !"



LETTER XXIX.

Journey to Malone, Hopkinton, Nicholsville and Bangor Franklin
County Fair Sketch of the Life of Sam Houston.

Malone, Franklin Co., Sept. 15, 1860.
MY DEAR F. :

Having a little business in this beautiful village,
the county seat of Franklin, by way of collecting a
few stray shillings, and knowing that I should see
" everybody," because it is the time of the meeting
of the Agricultural Society and Fair, and Horace
Greeley was advertised to address them, and, having
a desire to see, and hear speak, a man of whom I
had heard and read so much, I thought this might
be my only opportunity while I lived ; so I rode out
here yesterday from home, a distance of twenty-six
.miles. Being the whole load myself, passenger,
driver and all, I had as much room as I wanted,
and none to interrupt my observations or reflections
over this beautiful road. A panorama of pleasant
fields, meadows, and orchards, slowly opened to my
view, spotted with dwellings of varied hues, size and
20



230 PERSONAL SKETCHES

architecture, and now and then a neat little village
arose before me. The first one of these was Hopkin-
ton, with its broad plat of green in the centre with
its few tasty white cottages hovering around it,
almost hidden in foliage, and back of it, its one
church, with spire pointing towards heaven ; and in
the distance at the left, the beautiful burial-place,
where the high and the low have found their rest
together.

Next in the panorama is Nicholsville, the main
part of it in the town of Lawrence, standing on two
hills divided by a deep ravine cut by the St. Regis
river. This is a busy, bustling little place, more
alive than dead, or they never could raise energy
enough to climb these steep hills. " Better wear
out than rust out," is a good motto, and here they
are practising on it.

Then, West Bangor and South Bangor, both
pretty places, and in the midst of a rich farming
section, now all still and quiet, because they are
gone to the Fair, to a man, woman, and child. Mr.
Greeley's address was plain, practical, and laden
with rather a scarce article, " common sense." He
did not deliver a lingo of hard chemical words and
phrases, wholly unintelligible to farmers, or any
body else but philosophers. He talked about the
different modes of cultivation, and of the implements,
giving his own experience and opinion with regard



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 231

to various experiments. The Fair-ground here, is
the most beautiful one that can be imagined ; a level
surface containing the requisite number of acres and
completely surrounded with hills, except on the side
of the entrance, fronting the broad street. After
the address, almost anything you could think of was
on exhibition, from a baby eight months old, weigh
ing one hundred pounds, down to a cage full of that
" subtle beast " that beguiled Eve. The baby was
a native of Green Bay, in the north of Michigan.
I beg of you, dear F., not to send any more " Michi-
ganders " down this way, if they are all as large as
that one, in proportion to their age.

There are not many prettier or more enterprising
villages in northern New York, than Malone. Its
situation is beautiful ; on hills between which Salmon
River flows, and which overlook a large and fertile
territory. One needs only to pass through a place
to see whether the inhabitants have any enterprise.
Here, thrift and industry are visible at every turn.
The hum of busy machinery, and the hurrying to
and fro of laborers, clerks, and sewing-girls, to their
meals, at the sound of the gong, is evidence that
they do not eat the bread of idleness.

September IQth. Last night there was a great
political demonstration here. Two distinguished
speakers, Hon. L. E. Chittenden, of Burlington,
Vermont, and Hon. H. B. Stanton, of Seneca



232 PERSONAL SKETCHES

County, in this State, besides a great crowd of
" Wide-awakea." I listened until a late hour to
their arguments, and then retired, thoroughly ex
hausted.

This morning at seven o'clock, when the breakfast
bell rung, and found me still wandering in the land
of dreams, I felt as though I should make a good
captain to a company of fast-asleeps, if such a one
could be formed ; and, at the table, Mr. Hardy, my
good host, thought he could furnish me with a lieu
tenant, looking up at his wife. There are, at least,
four candidates for the Presidency, in this campaign,
and not the least in the estimation of the people, is
Major General Samuel Houston. He is a man of
very eccentric character, and no diminutive calibre
intellectually, and, would, perhaps, honor the office
as much as some who have already filled it. This is
saying but very little in his praise. From the first
dawn of his public career, which commenced as
early as 1820, he has been the subject of a large
amount of newspaper vituperation and bickering.
Some of the public prints make him a native of
Kentucky, and say that, he was early in life elected
Governor of that State. Probably neither is cor
rect. He was born in Virginia, and removed to
Tennessee when he was but a young lad, and became
Governor of that State in 1827, after having been
member of the House of Representatives, for severa*



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 233

successive terms. Soon after his term of office of
Governor, expired, he divided his property with his
wife, and they separated, for reasons best known to
themselves. He has been a very successful military
man, serving under the immediate eye of General
Jackson, and, in after-life, enjoyed the honors of
high offices in various military companies. When
he separated from his wife, from some wholly unac
countable motive, he left the society of civilized life,
and took up his abode, for several years, with
savages. A writer of a Vermont paper says, he
travelled with him on a steamboat down the Ohio
river, on his way as Indian agent, to visit a tribe in
the far West, the chief of whom had adopted him
as a son. He is described as having on a suit of
Indian clothing, unsocial and stiff in his manners.
He visited Washington after returning to civilization,
in his usual garb, and was supposed to be an alien
from savage life, until he practiced a little of it in
cowhiding Stanbridge, M. C., for slandering General
Jackson. After this we find him in Texas, acting as
commander-in-chief of the Texian forces against
Mexico, where he is described by Kendall in his
Santa Fee expedition, or some other writer, perhaps
Jones, in his American Biographies, as being at the
head of a varied multitude, embracing all classes,
from the most moral to the utterly abandoned ; but
his military tact and natural disposition to govern,
20*



234 PERSONAL SKETCHES

kept them in subjection, and then followed one of
the most remarkable and bloody struggles on record,
which resulted in a complete Texian victory, though
their army numbered less th,an one-fourth that of
the celebrated Santa Anna. In May, 1836, a
treaty of peace was signed, acknowledging the inde
pendence of Texas, who unanimously elected their
brave General, their first President. In this remark
able war, Houston's loss was- only seven killed and
thirty wounded. One of his officers gives an anecdote
of a spy he had taken. He said he was bivouaced,
(on guard or watch), on the eve of the battle of
San-J acinto. The General says, " Bob, it is in my
power to redeem you, and I will do so, if you will
redeem yourself." "I give you," says Bob, the
full assurance that I will." " Then," says Sam,
will you obey my orders?" "Yes, inviolably."
" Then inform me, before the rising of the sun, the
situation of Santa Anna and his army." He pro
mised, and Sam ordered the officers to let him go.
"We were on the march," says the officer; " ( and
were informed by our leader that we were within
twenty miles of Santa Anna's camp. AJ1 this hap
pened in the night, and we were soon informed that
the distance to the camp was very short. As we
scaled the breast-works made of logs, my attcntk
was arrested by a man fighting desperately, armec
with knives, .striking right and left, but soon fel



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 235

wounded, and requested to see General Houston. I
soon discovered that it was the prisoner whom the
General had rescued on that night from a worse
fate, and I made his request known to the com
mander-chief, who sought him out. No sooner than
he recognized him, he stretched forth his hand, and
said, " Have I not kept my word ? " In answer, the
General replied ; " Yes, Bob, you have." A few
words more passed between them, and after a brief
" farewell," uttered with feeling, he expired.

After General Houston had been President of
Texas, he took to the intoxicating bowl, and on one
occasion was himself whipped by a citizen of Austin,
for slanderous words, spoken while in a state of in
toxication. Afterwards he thanked him, and said
he would heed the chastisement as a temperance lec
ture, however severe.

These sketches are all from memory of newspaper
paragraphs, and, perhaps, not wholly correct. The
Original language of the narrators would have been
preferable had it been accessible, but my intention
was not to write the life of Mr. Houston, only to
give you some of the leading traits in his character.
If good fighting is a good recommendation for a
President, Sam would be a charming one, for that
seems to be his leading propensity.



LETTER XXX.

Journey to Westville The place and its inhabitants Death of Mrs.
Oberia Mann.

MY DEAR F. :

Just as the golden sun was sinking behind those
exquisitely moulded hills at the west of Malone, I
started with Mrs. Powell, your neice, for a visit to
Westville. The road was nice, and having good
company, not the least entertaining being Mrs. P.'s
crowing baby ; it seemed short, though the distance
is ten or twelve miles. In this town, the scenery
and inhabitants, all, are so familiar to yourself, that
I cannot mention any of them without your antici
pation of what I would say. The best recommenda
tion I can give the inhabitants of your old place of
residence is, what I heard a gentleman of Burke say
of them who formerly lived there. He said they
were the most united and happy community he ever
knew, and to use his own phraseology, "There is
no backbiting there, they all know enough to mind



AND KECOLLECTIONS. 237

their own business." Happy place, surely ! and a
good model for imitation. Nature has done her
share to make the place attractive, and now the in
habitants do not deprive themselves of the enjoy
ments of their privileges, by neighborhood quarrels.
The same beautiful river passes through it, that
carries all the machinery of Malone.

There are some changes here since your lasj visit,
and the most sad one is in the family of your "own
sister, Mrs. Mann. Her grief seems as poignant as
at the first shock. The dear gentle Oberia is missed
at every turn of the house, and a gloom is cast upon
all her familiar places of resort. The departure of
such a sweet spirit from the household, leaves an
aching void that nothing earthly can fill. One so
lively and happy, and at an age when the world is
bright and beautiful to them, the severing of ties
seems a double affliction to those who are left. A
faded bouquet of wild flowers, her own hands gath
ered, are among the preserved mementoes, and affec
tion's hands still place fresh flowers she loved so well
upon her grave. The golden chain that bound her
heart to parents and sisters, is not severed, though
the river of death flows between them. When I
think of the mourning mother, of this promising
young lady, and the scalding tears of grief I have
seen bedew her care-worn cheek, I unconsciously
find myself repeating Mrs. Mayo's beautiful lines
for her :



238 PERSONAL SKETCHES.

" Why should I Tainly weep

Where the green mosses creep
Above the ruins of a beauteous shrine ?
The sweet divinity I dared call mine
Does not beneath them sleep.

Why do I haunt this spot,

Where, by the world forgot,
Ashes are sleeping, whence the fire and light
Long since have fled, and left but dust and blight

Beneath the flowery plat ?

Why on this fresh, bright sod,

Where foot hath never trod,
Save it be angel foot-steps, tending flowers,
Have I so humbly knelt, through long sad hours,

And wildly called on God ?

0, Father, lift mine eyes

To thy bright, glorious skies,
Where nothing fades nor passes to decay :
Woo me by smiles of love, gently away

To thy pure Paradise. "



LETTER XXXI.

Franklin County Rivers, Roads, and Farming Lack of Fruit-
Villages Moira The northern part Westville Fort Coving_
ton and Bombay Indian reservation Hogansburgh St. Regis
Village Allen Lincoln Salmon River Bangor An Incident
Clinton County, &c.

MY DEAR F. :

What I have said of the general aspect of Malone
and Westville, in beauty of scenery, is true of
nearly all the cultivated portions of Franklin County.
The noble St. Lawrence River bounds it, or a portion
of it, on the north, and numerous smaller streams rise
in the mountainous regions of the southern part of the
county and empty into it. Within my remembrance,
almost the entire northeastern part of this State was
called " Chatauque woods." The beautifully laid
out roads, hard and smooth as a pavement, with the
cultivated fields and orchards on each side, make
the appearance of the landscape almost vie with
that of the western part of the State, and it lacks
nothing but fruit to make it as desirable a locality.
Perhaps want of attention in the cultivation of it,



240 PERSONAL SKETCHES

has more to do with its scarcity than natural advan
tages. It is hard to bring one's mind to the fact, in
passing through this well-cultivated part of the
county, of its having been so recently covered with
the primitive forests, especially in view of the
numerous little villages which are laid out in unsur
passed loveliness and taste. Among the prettiest
of these is Moira, on the eastern border ; the dwell
ings are neat and attractive, and the churches have
the appearance of thrift and comfort. From here,
through to the line of Clinton County, about three
or four miles east of Chatauque, the surface of the
ground is level, and almost without an exception,
well and neatly cultivated, with buildings which do
honor to the taste and industry of their owners.
The northern part of the county of Franklin, has,
perhaps, more natural advantages than the interior,
but being on the border of Canada, and so freely
mixing with inhabitants of entirely different pursuits
that, to say the least, the premises of farmers have
a somewhat less tidy appearance, though there are
very many exceptions to this, especially in the towns
of Fort Covington and "Westville. In the northern
part of Bombay, is a small portion of an Indian
reservation, which extends mostly into Canada.
Here, the St. Regis river is navigable for steamers,
as far as Hogansburgh, a small, unthrifty hamlet, in
the extreme north of the town of Bombay. A por-



AND EECOLLECTIONS. 241

tion of the tribe of St. Regis Indians occupy a vil
lage of that name in sight of here, and a part of
their lands are leased to a slovenly and filthy set of
whites, and all together make a sorry job of trying
farming for a living. The blight of indolence and
intemperance is visible at every turn, here. Either
one will destroy the prosperity of a neighborhood,
and they generally march hand in hand. This being
the direct route from Massena to Fort Covington,
I have often passed through the place, but never to
tarry an hour ; for, of all places that I have ever
been in, it has the least inducements for a bookseller.
Literature, rum, and tobacco, are ingredients which
no chemical process can make a compound of, and a
transformation from habits of sensuality, to those
of storing the mind with useful knowledge, is too
gradual for any benefit to a poor colporteur, whose
creditors are anxiously awaiting a remittance. Fort
Covington, no more than ten miles distant from the
above-named place, is entirely a different field for a
bookseller. There are but two or three places of
the hundreds I have visited for the purpose of sell
ing books, that have patronized me more liberally
than Fort Covington, and no place of the size that I
have become acquainted with, that has more men of
talent, and accomplished literary attainments, and
reading, intelligent women. Some of the most solid
and scientific works I have sold, have been in this

21



242 PERSONAL SKETCHES



place, which, I have good reason to believe, has
resulted in a mutual blessing.

In many sojourns of a few days in this active,
business village, I have found a genial and welcome
home at the house of Allen Lincoln, Esq. Unlike
many men of his wealth, his hospitable board is
not grudginly shared with his numerous friends, but
his " latch-string is always outside." May this aged
gentleman live yet long in the enjoyment of his
abundance, the fruit of his labor of younger days,
and the blessing of God rest upon him.

Salmon river. is a beautiful stream of water on
which this village is situated, and is navigable as
far up as the Fort.

From here, dear F., go with me, in imagination,
to another county, joining Franklin. On my way
there " once upon a time," (as the fables commence),
I entered a house in the town of Bangor, where an
old lady sat by a spinning-wheel, " kairding " wool,
as she called it. When I made known my business,
and asked her to buy a book, she looked at me with
an astonishment that seemed to say that she could
hardly believe the evidence of her own senses, that
a women could engage in such business. At last
she put the question to me, " Can you spin ? " I
told her " yes, I was raised on a farm, and was once
a good spinner," and added, " if I had time, I would
give her a practical demonstration of my knowledge



AND RECOLLECTIONS. 243

of that useful branch of female education. " Then,"
she said, " she did not see why I had to sell books,"
An explanation of the necessity of my unlady-like
calling, would have consumed too much time, so I
left her busy at her " kairding," to find a more
profitable customer.

In this town I found many ready sales, and, at
sonie houses, quite large amounts were disposed of.
As soon as the border of Clinton County appears,
quite another landscape opens to our view. Almost
the entire distance to Lake Champlain, through the
central part of the county, is a wilderness, with here
and there a settlement, and all of it looks like a
newly settled country. The rough and uncultivated
state of the lands, gives the impression to the
traveller, of poverty, and unthrift ; and, perhaps
this is true in that locality, as far as tillage is con
cerned, but, probably, there is no county in the
State, richer in minerals, lumber and furs, than Clin
ton. All the dull and unattractive scenery one
meets, in the ragged, steep, and inaccessible cliffs of