making their way up against the current ; watching
two girls who had set up their washing establish
ment in pretty style under a tree beside the water;
their wood fire, black cauldron, and stand of tubs ;
while the bushes stood round about to be used
as drying horses. I also actually saw a hog volun
tarily walk three times through the clear water;
and the delay of the dinner afforded time for specu
lation whether the race was not improving. When
the dinner was on the table, no one of us could tell
what it consisted of. The dish from which I ate
was, according to some, mutton; to others, pork:
my own idea is that it was dog. Whatever it was,
it was at last done with, and paid for, and I was in
my saddle, listening to the creek as it rattled under
ECONOMY. 193
the grey rocks. Having crossed one mountain top
on foot, in the morning, I was about to pass another
on my horse this afternoon. There is no describing
what it is to be pacing upwards, on the extreme edge
of the steep road, with one s feet hanging over the
green abyss ; the shadowy mountains retreating,
advancing, interlacing, opening, to disclose a low
far-off bit of meadow, with a diminutive dwelling,
quiet as a lonely star. What blessed work road-
making must be in such places ! It was with no
little pleasure that, after fourteen miles from Barber
Creek, I saw a fine house on an eminence; and
then the town of Fincastle, spread out below us, on
some rising grounds.
The scenes of the day left me little disposed for
sociability in the evening. We were kept waiting
long for supper, by the arrival of a party of New
Yorkers ; to avoid an introduction to whom, some of
us pretended to read, and some to be asleep, while
others did our duty, talk. The night closed in
worthily. From the balcony of my chamber, I saw-
how modestly the young moon eyed with me the
region which will be spread before her for ever, but
which I was looking back upon for the last time.
Here I must break off; and, instead of adding
another description of the Natural Bridge to the
hundred which exist, bring into contrast with life
at the Virginia Springs, life in a New England
farm-house.
Nothing can be quieter or more refreshing, after
a winter s visiting at Boston or New York, than
such an abode in a country village as I made trial
of last May. The weeks slipped away only too
fast. Dr. and Mrs. F., their little boy, six years
old, and myself, were fortunate enough to prevail
with a farmer s widow at Stockbridge, Massa-
VOL. I. K
1 94 ECONOMY.
chusetts, to take us into her house. The house was
conspicuous from almost every part of the sweet
valley into which it looked; the valley of the Hou-
satonic. It was at the top of a steep hill ; a sort of
air palace. From our parlour windows we could
see all that went on in the village ; and I often found
it difficult to take off my attention from this kind
of spying. It was tempting to trace the horseman s
progress along the road, which wound among the
meadows, and over the bridge. It was tempting to
watch the neighbours going in and out, and the
children playing in the courts, or under the tall elms;
all the people looking as small and busy as ants upon
a hillock. On week-days there was the ox-team in
the field ; and on Sundays the gathering at the
church-door. The larger of the two churches stood
in the middle of a green, with stalls behind it for
the horses and vehicles which brought the church
goers from a distance. It was a pretty sight to
see them converging from every point in the valley,
so that the scene was all alive ; and then disappear
for the space of an hour and a half, as if an earth
quake had swallowed up all life ; and then pour out
from the church door, and, after grouping on the
green for a few minutes, betake themselves home
wards. Monument Mountain reared itself oppo
site to us, with its thick woods, and here and there
a grey crag protruding. Other mountains closed
in the valley, one of which treated us for some
nights with the spectacle of a spreading fire in its
woods. From the bases of these hills, up to our
very door-step, there was one bright carpet of
green. Everything, houses, trees, churches, were
planted down into this green, so that there was no
interruption but the one road, and the blue mazy
Housatonic. The softness of the scene, early in a
May morning, or when the sun was withdrawing,
ECONOMY. 1 95
could not be surpassed by anything seen under a
Greek or Italian sky. Sometimes I could scarcely
believe it real: it looked air-painted, cloud-moulded.
It was as a favour that the widow Jones* took
us in. She does not let lodgings. She opened
her house to us, and made us a part of her family.
Two of her daughters were at home, and a married
son lived at hand. We had a parlour, with three
windows, commanding different views of the val
ley: two good- sized chambers, conveniently fur
nished, and a large closet between ; our board
with the family, and every convenience that could
be provided : and all for two dollars per week each,
and half price for the child. She was advised to
ask more, but she refused, as she did not wish to
be " grasping." It was a merry afternoon when
we followed the wagon up the hill to our new
abode, and unpacked, and settled ourselves for our
long-expected month of May. Never was un
packing a pleasanter task.
The blossomy cherry-tree beside my chamber
window was the first object I saw in the morning
when I threw up the sash ; and beneath it was a
broad fallow, over which the blue jay flitted. By
this window there was an easy chair and a light .
table, a most luxurious arrangement for reading.
We breakfasted at half-past seven on excellent
bread, potatoes, hung beef, eggs, and strong tea.
We admitted no visitors during the forenoon, as
our theory was that we were very busy people.
Writing and reading did occupy much of our time,
but it was surprising how much was left for the
exercise of our tongues. Then there were visits
to be made to the post-office, and the crockery
store, and the cobbler ; and Charley found occasion
to burst in, a dozen times a-day, with a bunch of
* I know not why I should suppress a name that I honour.
K2
196 ECONOMY.
violets, or news of the horse or cow, or of the ride
he had had, or of the oxen in the field.
We all dined together at two. One of the
daughters absented herself at breakfast, that she
might arrange our rooms; but both were present
at dinner, dressed, and ready for their afternoon s
occupation of working and reading. One was fond
of flowers, and had learned a great deal about
them. She was skilful in drying them, and could
direct us to the places in the woods and meadows
where they grew. Some members of the family,
more literary than the rest, were gone westward;
but there was a taste for books among them all. I
often saw a volume on the table of the widow s
parlour, with her spectacles in it. She told me,
one day, of her satisfaction in her children, that
they were given to good pursuits, and all received
church members. All young people in these vil
lages are more or less instructed. Schooling is
considered a necessary of life. I happened to be
looking over an old almanack one day, when I
found, among the directions relating to the prepa
rations for winter on a farm, the following : " Secure
your cellars from frost. Fasten loose clap-boards
,and shingles. Secure a good school-master/ 1 It
seemed doubtful, at the first glance, whether some
new farming utensil had not been thus whimsically
named ; as the brass plate which hooks upon the
fender, or upper bar of the grate, is called " the
footman ;" but the context clearly showed that a
man with learning in his head was the article re
quired to be provided before the winter. The only
respect, as far as I know, in which we made our
kind hostess uneasy, was in our neglect of Char
ley s book-studies. Charley s little head was full
of knowledge of other kinds ; but the widow s chil
dren had all known more of the produce of the
press at his age than he ; and she had a few anxious
thoughts about him.
ECONOMY. 197
In the afternoon we rambled abroad, if the wea
ther was fine ; if rainy, we lighted our wood fire,
and pursued our employments of the morning, not
uncheered by a parting gleam from the west ; a bar
of bright yellow sky above the hill tops, or a gush
of golden light burnishing the dewy valley at the
last. Our walks were along the hill road to the
lake, on the way to Lenox, or through the farm
yard and wood to a tumbling brook in a small ra
vine. We tried all manner of experiments with
moss, stones, and twigs, among its sunny and sha
dowy reaches, and tiny falls. We hunted up marsh
flowers, wood anemones, and violets, and unfolded
the delicate ferns, still closely buttoned up, and
waiting for the full power of the summer sun. It
was some trouble to me, in America, that 1 could
not get opportunity to walk so much as I think ne
cessary to health. It is not the custom there :
partly owing to the climate, the extreme heat of
summer, and cold of winter ; and partly to the ab
sence of convenient and pretty walks in and about
the cities ; a want which, I trust, will be supplied in
time. In Stockbridge much pedestrian exercise
may be and is accomplished; and I took the op
portunity of indulging in it, much to the surprise
of some persons, who were not aware how English
ladies can walk. One very warm afternoon, we
were going on a visit to Lenox, five miles off.
My friends went in a wagon ; I preferred walking.
The widow s son watched me along the road, and
then remarked, " You will see no more of her till
you get to Lenox. I would not walk off at that
rate, if they gave me Lenox when I got there."
In the evenings, we made a descent upon the vil-
Tage, or the village came up to us. In the latter
case, our hostess was always ready with a simple
and graceful welcome, and her best endeavours to
provide seats for our many friends. If we staid
198 ECONOMY.
below till after nine, the family had gone to rest
on our return. We had only to lift the latch, light
our candles, and make our way to the milk-pans, if
we were thirsty. For twenty-five years, the widow
has lived on the top of her hill, with only a latch
to her door. She sleeps undefended, for she has
no enemies ; and in her village there are no
thieves.
One night, when we were visiting some friends in
the valley, it was brought home to us what it is to
live in a place where there are no hackney coaches,
or other travelling shelter. When we should have
been going home, it was a tremendous spring-storm;
wind, thunder and lightning, and rain in floods.
We waited long ; but it seemed to have no inten
tion of abating. When at length we did set out,
we were a remarkable looking troop ; a gentle
manly young lawyer in a pea jacket; the other
gentlemen in the roughest coats that could be
found ; the ladies leaving bonnets and caps behind,
with handkerchiefs over their heads, India-rubbers
on their feet, their dresses tucked up, and cloaks
swathed round them. Our party were speeded up
the hill by the fear that Charley would be wakened
and alarmed by the storm ; but it was a breathless
sort of novelty to be working our way through one
continued pond to the foot of the hill, and then up
the slippery ascent, unbonneted, with the strang
ling gust in our faces, and no possibility of our
finding our way in the pitchy darkness but by the
flashes of blue lightning. Well clad as we were,
we felt, I believe, something like being paupers,
or gentry of the highway, or some such houseless
personages exposed to the pelting of the pitiless
storm. Charley was found to be sound asleep, and
we ourselves no worse off than being steeped over
the ankles.
The time came too soon when I must leave the
ECONOMY. 199
beloved village, when I must see no longer the
morning baking and the evening milking; and
the soap cauldron boiling in the open air behind
the house, with Charley mounted on a log, peeping
into it ; and the reading and working, and tying up
of flowers in the afternoon. The time was come
when the motherly and sisterly kiss were ready for
me, and my country life in New England was at an
end. It is well for us that our best pleasures have
an immortality like our own ; that the unseen life
is a glorification of the seen. But for this, no one
with a human heart would travel abroad, and at
tach himself to scenes and persons which he cannot
but love, but which he must leave.
It was not always that the villagers of New
England could place themselves on hill tops, and
leave their doors unfastened. There is a striking
contrast between their present security and the
fears of their forefathers, in the days when the
nursling went to church, because it was unsafe at
home, in the absence of its father. Father, mo
ther, and children, all went on one horse to meet
the total population within the walls of the church ;
the one parent armed, the other prying about for
traces of the fearful red man. Those were the
days when the English regicides had fled to the
colonies, and were there secreTecf. Those were the
days when anything that was to be made known to
all was announced in church, because everybody
was sure to be there ; and a fast-day was ordained
if anything very remarkable was to be done, or con
veyed. Sometimes formal announcements were
made ; sometimes intimations were so interwoven
with the texture of the discourse, as that unfriendly
ears, if such should he present, should not appre
hend the meaning. When any emissary of Charles
the Second was prowling in search of a concealed
regicide, the pastor preached from some such text
200 ECONOMY.
as, " Hide the outcasts. Bewray not him that wan-
dereth ;"* and the flock understood that they were
to be on their guard against spies. Charles the Se
cond could never get hold of one of his enemies who
had taken refuge in these colonies.
On looking abroad over the valley of the Connec
ticut, from the top of Mount Holyoke, I saw the vil
lage of Hadley, seated in the meadows, and extending
across a promontory, formed by the winding of the
river. This promontory afforded a secure grazing
ground for the cattle by day, which were driven by
night into the area of the village, where the church
stood. Goffe, the regicide, was concealed for many
years in the parsonage at Hadley ; all the people
in the village, except two or three, being, in this
instance, unaware of an outcast being among them.
One Sunday, the Indians attacked the village while
the people were all in church. The women and
children were left in the church, while their hus
bands, fathers, and brothers "went out to do battle
-with the cruel foe. It went hard with the whites;
the Indians were fast bearing them down, when an
unknown figure appeared in their ranks, with flow
ing robes, streaming white hair, and a glittering
sword. The cry was raised that the angel Gabriel
had been sent in answer to the prayers of the
women in the church. Every spirit was cheered,
every arm was nerved, and the Indians were beaten
off, with great slaughter. Upon this, Gabriel
vanished ; but tradition long preserved the memory
of his miraculous appearance. The very few who
recognized in him Goffe, with his undressed hair,
and in his morning gown, kept the secret faithfully.
How blessed a change has come over rural life in
Massachusetts since those days ! Never may its
peace and security be invaded by those social
abuses which are more hateful than foreign spies ;
* Isaiah xvi. 3,
ECONOMY. 201
more cruel and treacherous than the injured and
exasperated red man of the wilderness !
The contrast is also striking between the coun
try Mfc ef ^o^.JCii^M" IrKr that of .the.KfisL- I -
staid for_ some weeks in the house of a wealthy
laiK : mvn^ Our days were passed
in jgrcat luxury ; and some of file hottest of tftem
very icily. The~house was in the midst of grounds,
gay with veTdure and flowers, in the opening month
of June ; and our favourite seats were the steps of
the hall, and chairs under the trees. From thence
we could watch the play of the children on the
grass-plat, and some of the drolleries of the little
negroes. The red bird and the blue bird flew close
by ; and the black and white woodpecker with
crimson head, tapped at all the tree-trunks, as if
\ve were no interruption. We relished the table
fare, after that with which we had been obliged to
content ourselves on board the steam-boats. The -
tender meat, fresh vegetables, good claret and
champagne, with the daily pile;; of strawberries and
towers of ice-cream, were welcome luxuries. There
were thirty-three horses in the stables, and we
roved about the neighbouring country accordingly.
There was more literature at hand than time to-
profit by it. Books could be had at home; but
not the woods of Kentucky; clero", sunny woods,
with maple and sycamore springing up to a height
which makes man feel dwarfish. The glades, v ith
their turf so clean, every fallen leaf having been
absorbed, reminded me of Ivanhoe. I almost
looked for Gurth in my rambles. All this was, not
many years ago, one vast canebrake, with a multi
tude of buffalo and deer: the pea-vine spreading
everywhere, and the fertility far greater than even
now.
One morning I took a lesson in rifle-shooting;
K5
202 ECONOMY.
the gentlemen having brought out their weapons
for a few hours 1 sport among the squirrels. A
rifle does not bounce like a musket, and affords,
therefore, an easy beginning. I took aim at twenty-
five paces, and hitting within an inch, thought it
best to leave off with credit, A child of eighteen
months stood in the middle of the gravel- walk, very
composedly, while the rines were popping off ; and
his elder brothers were busy examining the shots.
Children seem born to their future pursuits, in
new countries. Negro children seem all born
riders and drivers. It was an amusement to see
little children that in England could not hold them
selves on a large horse, playing pranks with a
whole equipage that they were leading to water.
In the afternoon of this day we took a long drive
in search of buffalo ; the only herd of those hideous
animals now to be seeu in Kentucky. None of
the family liked to be left behind, so we filled the
barouche and the phaeton, and Master H., eight
years old, in his garden costume, mounted the
mare, whose foal could not be induced to remain
at home, and frolicked beside us all the way. We
rattled on through lanes, over open ground above a
pond, beneath locust groves, and beechen shades,
seeing herds of mules, and the finest of cattle
within the verge of the woods. The mules are
raised for exportation to the fields of Louisiana.
Then we reached the hill-side where eight buffalo
were grazing, four of the pure and four of a
mixed breed. The creatures stood looking at us
as if they had been turned into stone at the sight
of us. Their sidelong gaze, as they stood motion
less beside a stump, or beneath a tree, was horrid.
I never saw an eye and attitude of which I should
be so much afraid. As they appeared to have no
intention of moving a hair of their tails or huge
necks while we halted, a little slave, named Oliver,
ECONOMY. 203
was sent up the hill to put them in motion ; there
being no danger whatever in the operation. Oliver
disappeared, and no result of his exertions was
visible. When the buffalo and we had mutually
stared for another five minutes, Oliver s master
called to him to know what he was about. He
replied that the buffalo looked too hard at him. At
last, however, he went near enough to put thorn in
motion; and then they moved all at once, each
seeming more clumsy than the others in its head
long run. I am glad to have seen buffalo, but
there is nothing to be said for their beauty or
grace.
In the evening we repaired to the cool grass-plat,
to amuse ourselves with the pretty sport of trying
which should find out the first star. It was then
ascertained that two gentlemen present were well
qualified to entertain us with stories of horrible
western murders, more fearful than any other
murders. So we sat till late at night, amidst sum
mer lightning and the glancing of fire -flies, listen
ing to the most harrowing and chilling set of tales
of human misdeeds and their retributions, that it
ever was my fortune to listen to. The Christmas
firesides of England yield no impressions of horror
like the plain facts of a life in the wilderness, told
under the trees, in a sultry night, while the pale
lightning is exploding on the horizon.
We had tidings of a camp-meeting to be held at -
some distance, the next day. I had never seen a
camp-meeting ; but the notice was too short, and
the distance too great, and I missed the chance.
One of the slaves of a neighbouring gentleman
came and asked his master what he would give him
for two bee-holes. " You are a pretty fellow,"
said his master, " to ask me to pay for my own
trees." The negro urged that his master would
never have found out the bee-holes for himself;
204 ECONOMY.
which was very true. He was referred to his mis
tress ; and it was finally arranged that three of us
English strangers should see the felling of a bee-
tree ; a spectacle we had all heard of, but not seen.
A larg-e party dined at this gentleman s house ; and,
presently after dinner, all set out in carriages, or on
horseback, for the spot in the woods where the
bee-tree stood. It was a shabby black walnut,
which seemed scarcely fit company for the noble
array of trees around it. It was of so respectable
a circumference near the ground, however, and the
negroes were making such slow progress into its
interior, that it was plain we should have time for
a drive in the woods before the catastrophe ; so my
host mounted the box of our barouche, and we
wound hither and thither under the trees, over the
rich grass ; and, seldom having to stoop to avoid the
branches, catching bright glimpses of a hundred
glades. It was a full hour before the tree fell. We
arrived just when it was chopped into the middle,
and some minutes before the event. It is a pretty
sight to see the top branches of the falling glory
quiver, its canopy shake, and its huge bulk come
crashing down, while everybody runs away at the
shout which tells that it is coming, This tree fell
on the wrong side, and destroyed several yards of
fence, snapping the stakes, and setting them flying
in all directions.
Straw and sulphur were burned in the hollow of
the trunk. A few little startled bees flew out, and
wreaked their vengeance on our host and myself ;
but most of them perished very quietly. I was
asked whether 1 should like to look into the cleft ;
and when I was stepping over the bristling branches
for the purpose, a bough was put into my hand,
with directions to wave it before me. I returned,
stung, but having seen what I wanted ; and then I
was told that if I had not waved a bough, I should
ECONOMY. 205
have escaped the bees. Mine was the common fate
of persons who follow unasked advice. Our host
capered among the trees, with a bee or two under
his cravat and hair. It was impossible to help
laughing. A stout gentleman of the party did the
same, under the mere idea of bees being upon him ;
and, while tossing his head and arms about, he ran
up, with a great shock, against his own horse ; on
which sat a little negro, grinning from ear to ear.
The result of the whole was, half a tumbler glass
full of blackened honey, and the high gratification
of the spectators, native and foreign, unharmed and
stung.
Such is a fair specimen of our life in the West
Contrasts rise up before my mind s eye, as the
scenes of my journeying present themselves ; con
trasts in the face of the country, as striking as in
the modes of living,
When I was at Salem, in Massachusetts, the
friends whose hospitality I was enjoying proposed
an excursion to Cape Ann, (the northern point of
Massachusetts bay,) and round the peninsula which
constitutes the township of Gloucester. This ex
cursion impressed me strongly, from the peculiar
character of the scenery : but I know not whether
it is an impression which can be conveyed by de
scription. Whether it be or not, I would recom
mend all strangers to go and visit this peninsula ;
and, if convenient, in fine autumn weather, when
the atmosphere lev.ds its best aid to the character
istic charms of the landscape.
It was the 19th of October, a foggy morning,
when we mounted the carry-all, a carriage which
holds four, and drove merrily out of Salern, upon