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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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miles . People , m fact , do noteare about education ; for if a son can shoot well , and be a kind of general cobbler , he is sufficiently educated , particularly if he can read and write . A daughter is instructed in spinning , reading and writing , and the husband
necessary methods of getting ar at the age of fourteen . American females of this back country are as much beneath English girls of the same rank , as the former ones suppose themselves above their negroes . If , my dear Sir , I was in p— again , I would not embark for this country single ^ until I had met with two
refusals . " These representations pretty clearly shew us what is that state or society into which an Englishman transports himself , when he leaves the comfortable homes and instructive society of his native country for a new settlement ; and if to this is added the
considerations , that for months his whole family must submit to lodge together in a log-cabin- — -his bed on the ground , the dry winds and the sun perforating his dwelling with chinks , through which
the storm wilt drive at pleasure , ( I speak of what I know to have been the fact with respectable families during the last severe winter , ) we may believe , what I have reason to fear is the real
state of the ease—that the moral feeling , which here is cherished as much by the comforts of life as by any thing else , and by the members of society knowing and keeping their placesr , is either greatly bluntea or nearly extineither greatl y blunted or nearly
extinguished ; wnile the only sources of delight which remain open , are the mere animal passions , the narrowest self-interest and personal consideration ; these will become paramount , in spite of a superior education which is fitted only for a more favoured latitude .
You will perceive that my correspondent is a single man , and therefore has less to fear than he who feels himself responsible for the situation in which he places his family ; you will not , therefore , be surprised at the following reflections which he subjoins : € t Travel cures one of many bigotries , and much instruction may be gathered from the world ; but , independent of these
reasons , and the political degradation to which England is sinkihg , I do not regret my emigration ; oft the contrary , I feel that I have done right ; for I see many wnys before me itf which I can rafti&y amimulftte property ; though it
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will require enterprise and perseverance ; after which , my disposition is to enjoy a .- A letter has just been published from a respectable man , lately a trades
man here , setting forth his severe disappointment and excessive privations and sufferings in attempting to establish himself in that country : and a Quaker writes to his relative , €€ that Birkbeck and his book ought to be burnt together , for imposing so grossly on the world /' I . W .
P . S . I have recently received information from , a young friend who has travelled through the United States and seen the settlements to which the above remarks refer . He appears to
have formed , upon the whole , a favour able opinion of them , and to think there is no poverty amongst them , and that they are going on ' well , I am happy to learn from him , that in Flower's and Birkbeck ' s settlement a
brick church is now building . By comparing these with other accounts * , a correct estimate may be formed of the good and " the evil of new settlements ; but I must suggest , that a person who passes through a place ,
and remains only a few days , and probably sees only the best face of its inhabitants , can have but a very incorrect notion of the prosperity of that place , and but very little of the difficulties they often encounter .
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606 Letter * from the Back Settlement * of America .
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II . From the Illinois , Mr . Birhbeek ' s Settlement . From E , P . " TVanborough 9 English Prairie , 10 mo . ( Oct . ) 20 , 1819 .
I have the satisfaction of saying , that now we have somewhat recovered the first shock of my dear father ' s death , we are all in good health , and as the weather ia now become cool , the health of the colony is likewise restored ; most of us have been troubled with boils and
sores , which the doctor says are preservatives to new comers ; but our dear father did all he could to check them on himself , and We fear it had a bad effect , as also at times over- ^ erting himself , and then not taking exercise enough . Xhtt ^ jpfflita' ^ veget&btes ^ g 66 d- Jiotatoes , and , inthe summer months , abundance of # e 7 on « and tttetiM ^? # ^ we
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1820, page 606, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2493/page/42/
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