A coarser

a small window made of oiled paper. building adjoining this cabin affords a shelter to a cow and a pair of poor horses.

"The labour of erecting these buildings is succeeded by killing the trees on a few acres of ground near the cabin, which is done by cutting a circle round the trees, two or three feet from the ground. The earth is then ploughed up and planted with Indian corn, which generally yields from forty to fifty bushels and affords a per acre, great deal of nourishment in its unripe state, in the form of what is called roasting ears.

"For the first year, a settler endures a great deal of distress from hunger, cold, and a variety of accidental causes, but he seldom complains or sinks under them. As he lives in the neighbour. hood of Indians, he soon acquires a strong tincture of their manners. His exertions, while they continue, are violent; but they are suceeeded by long intervals of rest; and his principal pleasures consist in fishing and hunting. He loves spirituous liquors, and he eats, drinks, and sleeps in dirt and rags in his little cabin. And in his intercourse with the world, he manifests all the arts which characterise the Indians of North America.

"In this situation he passes two or three years; but in proportion as population increases around him, he becomes uneasy and dissatisfied. Formerly his cattle ranged at large, feeding upon wild grass, or the succulent twigs of the woods; but now his neighbours call upon him to confine them within fences, to prevent their trespassing upon their fields of grain. Formerly he fed upon the flesh of wild animals, but these, which flee from the face of man, now cease to afford him an easy subsistence, and he is compelled to raise

domestic animals for the support of his family. Above all, he revolts against the operation of laws, and therefore, rather than surrender up a single natural right for the benefit of government, he abandons his little settlement, and seeks a retreat in the woods, where he again sub. mits to all the above-mentioned toils and diffi culties. It has been remarked, that the flight of this class of people is always increased by the preaching of the gospel; and indeed this is not to be wondered at, when we consider how opposite are its precepts to their licentious manner of living. If the first settler be the owner of the land which he first cultivated, he sells it at a considerable profit to his successor; but if, as is oftener the case, he be a tenant to some opulent landholder, he abandons it in debt; yet the small improvements he leaves behind him, generally make it an object of immediate demand to a second species of settler.

"This settler is generally a person of some property, who pays a certain part in cash for his plantation, and the rest in annual instalments, till the whole is paid. The first object of this settler is to build an addition to his cabin. This is done with hewn logs, and, as saw-mills generally follow settlements, his floors are made of boards; his roof, also, is made of clap-boards, which are a sort of coarse shingles, split out of short oaken logs. This house is divided by two floors, on each of which are two rooms; and under the whole is a cellar walled with stone.

"The settler's next object is to clear a little meadow ground, and plant an orchard of two or three hundred apple trees. His stable is likewise enlarged; and in the course of a year or two, he

builds a large log barn, the roof of which is thatched with rye-straw. He also increases the quantity of his arable land; and instead of cultivating Indian corn alone, he raises a quantity of wheat and rye; the latter of which is raised chiefly for the purpose of being distilled into whiskey.

"This species of settler by no means extracts all from the ground which it is able and willing to give. His fields yield but a scanty increase, owing to the earth not being sufficiently ploughed; the hopes of the year are frequently blasted, by his cattle breaking through the half made fences, and destroying his grain; his horses perform but half the labour that might be expected from them, if they were better fed; and his cattle often die in the spring, from the want of provision and the delay of grass.-His house, as well as his farm, bears many marks of a weak tone of mind. His windows are unglazed, or if they have had glass in them, the ruins of it are supplied with old hats, pillows, &c.-It must also be observed, that this settler is seldom a good member of civil or religious society. With a large portion of an hereditary mechanical kind of religion, he neglects to contribute sufficiently towards building a church, or maintaining a regular administration of the ordinances of the gospel: and, with high ideas of liberty, he refuses to bear his proportion of the debt contracted by its establishment in his country-he delights chiefly in company, drinks spirituous liquors to excess, and spends a day or two in every week, in attending political meetings; and thus he contracts debts, which, in the course of a few years, compel him to sell his plantation to the third and last settler.

This species of settler is commonly a man of good character, and sometimes he is the son of an opulent farmer in one of the interior counties. His first object is to convert every spot of ground, over which he is able to draw water, into meadow; and where this cannot be done, he selects the most fertile spots on the farm, and devotes it by manure to that purpose. His next object is to build a large stone barn, which is made very compact, so as to shut out the cold in winter ; for the Pennsylvanian farmers find, that their horses and cattle, when kept warm, do not require near as much food, as when exposed to the cold. He also keeps himself warm in winter, by means of stoves, which save a great deal of labour to himself and his horses, in cutting and drawing wood in cold and wet weather. His fences are every where repaired; he increases the number of the articles of his cultivation; about an acre of ground is laid out for a kitchen garden; and a milk house is erected over the spring which supplies him with water.-His sons work by his side all the year, and his wife and daughters forsake the dairy and the spinning wheel to share with him in the toils of harvest.The last object of his industry is to build a dwelling house; but though this business is sometimes effected in the course of his life, it is oftener bequeathed to his son, or the inheritor of his planta. tion; and hence it is a common saying among the farmers, "that a son should always begin where his father left off;" that is, he should commence his improvements by building a commodious dwelling house, suited to the improvements and value of the plantation. This dwelling house, which is generally built of stone, is large and con

venient, and sometimes adjoins the house of the second settler, but is frequently placed at a little distance from it.-The horses and cattle of this species of settler bear evident marks of being plentifully fed and carefully kept; his table abounds with a variety of the best provisions; beer, cyder, and wine are the usual drinks of his family; and the greatest part of the clothing of his household is manufactured by his wife and daughters. In proportion as he increases in wealth, he values the protection of laws, and punctually pays his taxes towards the support of government. Schools and churches likewise derive a due support from him; for benevolence and public spirit as to the means of promoting order and happiness in society, are the natural offspring of affluence and independence.

"From a review of the three different species of settlers it appears, that there are certain regular stages, which mark the_progress from the savage to the civilized life. The first settler is nearly related to an Indian in his manners. In the se cond, the Indian manners are more diluted. But it is in the third species of settlers only, that we behold civilization completed, and to these alone be properly applied the appellation of

can

farmers.

"While we record the vices of the first and second settlers, it is but just to mention their virtues likewise. Their mutual wants produce mutual dependence; hence they are kind and friendly towards each other-their solitary situation makes visitors agreeable to them; hence they are always hospitable to strangers-their want of money has made it necessary for them to associate for the purposes of building their houses, cutting their grain, &c. and this they do in turns for each other,