On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
hither extremely ill adapted to the country ; men who , having lived high in England until their fortunes have been greatly impaired or quite ruined , unused to labour and accustomed to command
many servants , are dissatisfied and disappointed because they cannot live in America without property , as well as they used to live in England with it ; this 13 the wrong class . Men who come here should be industrious , or possess capital , which works wonders in this back
country where there is little money in circulation , almost all business being done by ba " rter I am fixed in an extremely rich body of wood land , which is settling very fast ; it is well watered and remarkably healthy .
No . landlords , no stewards , no titheparsons , poor-rate or excise laws . Every man malts or distils his corn or grain as he may see most advantageous : we have fine venison for going into the woods , and plenty of turkeys , &c . ; make sugar from the maple , furniture from the cherry and walnut timber growing on our own land ; manufacture soap and candles , and , in short , manage things very comfortably .
Well , I expect you will say , you have shewn us the fair side of the picture , now turn the reverse . There are no good markets for produce ; no society , * the feast of reason and the flow of soul ;' many articles of manufacturing skill and mechanical invention difficult of
attainment , and many of what Englishmen consider the conveniences of life are not coine-at-tible ; the luxuries are at present out of the question . One thing we enjoy to perfection , the cold weather , ( 32 <> below freezing , ) but a most admirable fire is kept up day and night for the double purpose of obtaining warmth and
getting rid of the wood ; and had we but fcuch friends as you and Mrs . R . to spend a few days with us occasionally , anil talk over country affairs , this would greatly contribute to our felicity . The Americans are not a social people , they do not sit and talk as we Isle of Wight people do ; they are , however , very friendly and well disposed .
€ C I am in the line of emigration ; numbers are daily passing my cabin for the seat of government of the Indiana , White River , ( a most favourite spot , which will be offered for sale next October , together with an immense tract of fine land
adjouuiigO for the Wabash , Terre Haut district , Sangaoimony , Blue River , &c . I have purposely avoided settling near a jrjver , as such spots are found to be invariably sickly in the autumnal season , and subject to fevers . The banks of-the
Untitled Article
Wabash * Illinois and Missisippi have been more than usually sickly the last autumn " ( Signed ) JOHN ARNOLD . " To Mr R n " Newport , Isle of Wight . "
< c Ben Davis * Creek , Indiana , " August 9 , 1821 . Xi My dear Sir , " I at length redeem my promise of
writing to you , agreeable to your obliging request that I would do so , before jny departure to this country , confident that to hear of my being settled to my satisfaction will give you pleasure .
" I have now been long enough in this country to form a just estimate , and it is well worthy the good name which the friends of freedom and republicanism have given it ; I say this from my own observation , devoid of any speculative views . I have no wish to encourage
emigration , nor will 1 hold oat delusive hopes ; but it is , beyond dispute , a fine and most flourishing country . I have been , and am still , busy , making preparation for the comfortable abode of my wife and family , whose safe passage across the Atlantic I am most anxious to hear .
< I am raising another story upon my present cabin , and have contracted for the building another of the dimensions 20 feet by 25 , for 40 dollars : when they are both completed they wiil cost me 200 dollars , and will contain four rooms below and four above , with a roomy
passage between them , containing staircase , &c , being joined together by a frame building . My backs for chimneys will cost 2 dollars 60 cents per thousand , I finding the brick-burner and layer , an assistant during their work , and boarding them ; this includes making , burning and
putting up in the chimneys . My poplar inch plank for flooring , partitions , &c \ cost 80 cents the 100 feet , at the mills : fine cherry plank for furniture from 1 dollar and 50 cents per 100 . Shingles for covering the roof , ( no bad substitute for slate , ) 2 dollars 50 cents per 1000 : 9000 of these cover both roofe . My house
carpenter I pay 50 cents per day , and I have a cabinet-maker for finishing the work , to whom I pay the same , in consideration of my having secured him a piece of land in my neighbourhood ; his usual wages are 1 dollar a-day . " Every thing which f have committed to this fertile soil grows most luxuriantly .
I have planted five acres of com ^ ( Indian corn , ) the stalks are 15 feet high , and my neighbours say 1 shall have 300 bushels . I have seventeen acres in preparation for grass , eight of which 1 shall sow this autumn , the remainder i& the
Untitled Article
710 Extracts of Recent Letters from Indium .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1821, page 710, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2507/page/14/
-