LETTERVIII.
Singular Mildness of the Winter of 1795-6.—Set out for Lancaster.—Turnpike Road between that Place and Philadelphia.—Summary View of the State of Pennsylvania.—Description of the Farms between Lancaster and Philadelphia.—The Farmers live in a penurious Style.—Greatly inferior to English Farmers.—Bad Taverns on this Road.—Waggons and Waggoners.—Customs of the latter.—Description of Lancaster.—Lately made the Seat of the State Government.—Manufactures carried on there.—Rifle Guns.—Great Dexterity with which the Americans use them.—Anecdote of Two Virginian Soldiers belonging to a Rifle Regiment.
MY DEAR SIR, Lancaster, March.
THIS winter has proved one of the mildest that has ever been experienced in the country. During the last month there were two or three slight falls of snow, but in noone instance did it remain two days on the ground. A smart frost sat in the first week of this month, and snow fell to the depth of six or seven inches; but on the third day a sudden thaw came on, and it quickly disappeared: since then the weather has remained uncommonly mild. The season being so fine, and so favourable for travelling, I was unwilling to stay at Philadelphia; accordingly I set out for this place on horseback, and arrived here last night, at the end of the second day’s journey. From hence I intend to proceed towards the south, to meet the approaching spring.
The road between Philadelphia and Lancaster has lately undergone a thorough repair, and tolls are levied upon it, to keep it in order, under the direction of a company. Whenever these tolls afford a profit of more than fifteen per cent. on the stock originally subscribed for making the road, the company is bound, by an act of assembly, to lessen them. This is the first attempt to have a turnpike road in Pennsylvania, and it is by no means relished by the people at large, particularly by the waggoners, who go in great numbers by this route to Philadelphia from the back parts of the state.
ROADS.
The state of Pennsylvania lies nearly in the form of a parallelogram, whose greatest lengthis from east to west. This parallelogram is crossed diagonally from the north-east to the south-west by several different ridges of mountains, which are about one hundred miles in breadth. The valleys between these ridges contain a rich black soil, and in the south-west and north-east angles also, at the outside of the mountains, the soil is very good. The northern parts of this state are but very thinly inhabited as yet, but towards the south, the whole way from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, it is well settled. The most populous part of it is the south-east corner, which lies between the mountains and the river Delaware; through this part the turnpike road passes which leads to Lancaster. The country on each side of the road is pleasingly diversified with hill and dale. Cultivation is chiefly confined to the low lands, which are the richest; the hills are all left covered with wood, and afford a pleasing variety to the eye. The further you go from Philadelphia the more fertile is the country, and the more picturesque at the same time.
FARMS.
On the whole road from Philadelphia to Lancaster there are not any two dwellings standing together, excepting at a small place called Downing’s Town, which lies about midway; numbers of farm houses, however, are scattered over the country as far as the eyecan reach. These houses are mostly built of stone, and are about as good as those usually met with on an arable farm of fifty acres in a well cultivated part of England. The farms attached to these houses contain about two hundred acres each, and are, with a few exceptions only, the property of the persons who cultivate them. In the cultivated parts of Pennsylvania the farms rarely exceed three hundred acres; towards the north, however, where the settlements are but few, large tracts of land are in the hands of individuals, who are speculators and land jobbers. Adjoining to the houses there is generally a peach or an apple orchard. With the fruit they make cyder and brandy; the people have a method also of drying the peaches and apples, after having sliced them, in the sun, and thus cured they last all the year round. They are used for pies and puddings, but they have a very acrid taste, and scarcely any of the original flavour of the fruit. The peaches in their best state are but indifferent, being small and dry; I never eat any that were good, excepting such as were raised with care in gardens. It is said that the climate is so much altered that they will not grow now as they formerly did. In April and May nightly frosts are very common, which were totally unknown formerly, and frequently the peaches are entirely blighted.Gardens are very rare in the country parts of Pennsylvania, for the farmers think the labour which they require does not afford sufficient profit; in the neighbourhood of towns, however, they are common, and the culinary vegetables raised in them are equal to any of their respective kinds in the world,potatoesexcepted, which generally have an earthy unpleasant taste.
Though the south-east part of the state of Pennsylvania is better cultivated than any other part of America, yet the style of farming is on the whole very slovenly. I venture, indeed, to assert, that the farmers do not raise more on their two hundred acres than a skilful farmer in Norfolk, Suffolk, or Essex, or in any well cultivated part of England, would do on fifty acres of good land there. The farmer also, who rents fifty acres of arable land in England, lives far more comfortably in every respect than the farmer in Pennsylvania, or in any other of the middle states, who owns two hundred acres of land, his house will be found better furnished, and his table more plentifully covered. That the farmers do not live better in America, I hardly know whether to ascribe to their love of making money, or to their real indifference about better fare; perhaps it may be owing, in somemeasure, to both; certain it is however, that their mode of living is most wretched.
WAGGONS.
The taverns throughout this part of the country are kept by farmers, and they are all very indifferent. If the traveller can procure a few eggs with a little bacon he ought to rest satisfied; it is twenty to one that a bit of fresh meat is to be had, or any salted meat except pork. Vegetables, seem also to be very scarce, and when you do get any, they generally consist of turnips, or turnip tops boiled by way of greens. The bread is heavy and sour, though they have as fine flour as any in the world; this is owing to their method of making of it; they raise it with what they callsots; hops and water boiled together. No dependance is to be placed upon getting a man at these taverns to rub down your horse, or even to give him his food, frequently therefore you will have to do every thing of the kind for yourself if you do not travel with a servant; and indeed, even where men are kept for the purpose of attending to travellers, which at some of the taverns is the case, they are so sullen and disobliging that you feel inclined to do every thing with your own hands rather than be indebted to them for their assistance: they always appear doubtful whether they should do any thing for you or not,and to be reasoning within themselves, whether it is not too great a departure from the rules of equality to take the horse of another man, and whether it would not be a pleasing sight to see a gentleman strip off his coat, and go to work for himself; nor will money make them alter their conduct; civility, as I before said, is not to be purchased at any expence in America; nevertheless the people will pocket your money with the utmost readiness, though without thanking you for it. Of all beings on the earth, Americans are the most interested and covetous.
It is scarcely possible to go one mile on this road without meeting numbers of waggons passing and repassing between the back parts of the state and Philadelphia. These waggons are commonly drawn by four or five horses, four of which are yoked in pairs. The waggons are heavy, the horses small, and the driver unmerciful; the consequence of which is, that in every team, nearly, there is a horse either lame or blind. The Pennsylvanians are notorious for the bad care which they take of their horses. Excepting the night be tempestuous, the waggoners never put their horses under shelter, and then it is only under a shed; each tavern is usually provided with a large one for the purpose. Market or High-street, in Philadelphia, the street by which these peoplecome into the town, is always crowded with waggons and horses, that are left standing there all night. This is to save money; the expence of putting them into a stable would be too great, in the opinion of these people. Food for the horses is always carried in the waggon, and the moment they stop they are unyoked, and fed whilst they are warm. By this treatment half the poor animals are foundered. The horses are fed out of a large trough carried for the purpose, and fixed on the pole of the waggon by means of iron pins.
Lancaster is the largest inland town in North America, and contains about nine hundred houses, built chiefly of brick and stone, together with six churches, a court-house, and gaol. Of the churches, there is one respectively for German Lutherans, German Calvinists, Moravians, English Episcopalians, and Roman Catholics. The streets are laid out regularly, and cross each other at right angles.
RIFLE GUNS.
An act of assembly has been passed, for making this town the seat of the state government instead of Philadelphia, and the assembly was to meet in the year 1797. This circumstance is much in favour of the improvement of the town. The Philadelphians, inimical to the measure, talked of it much in the samestyle that they do now of the removal of the seat of the federal government, saying, that it must be again changed to Philadelphia; but the necessity of having the seat of the legislature as central as possible in each state is obvious, and if a change does take place again, it is most likely that it will only be to remove the seat still farther from Philadelphia. On the same principle, the assembly of Virginia meets now at Richmond instead of Williamsburgh, and that of New York state at Albany instead of the city of New York.
Several different kinds of articles are manufactured at Lancaster by German mechanics, individually, principally for the people of the town and the neighbourhood. Rifled barrel guns however are to be excepted, which, although not as handsome as those imported from England, are more esteemed by the hunters, and are sent to every part of the country.
RIFLE GUNS.
The rifled barrel guns, commonly used in America, are nearly of the length of a musket, and carry leaden balls from the size of thirty to sixty in the pound. Some hunters prefer those of a small bore, because they require but little ammunition; others prefer such as have a wide bore, because the wound which they inflict is more certainly attended with death; the wound, however, made by a ball dischargedfrom one of these guns is always very dangerous. The inside of the barrel is fluted, and the grooves run in a spiral direction from one end of the barrel to the other, consequently when the ball comes out it has a whirling motion round its own axis, at the same time that it moves forward, and when it enters into the body of an animal, it tears up the flesh in a dreadful manner. The best of powder is chosen for a rifled barrel gun, and after a proper portion of it is put down the barrel, the ball is inclosed in a small bit of linen rag, well greased at the outside, and then forced down with a thick ramrod. The grease and the bits of rag, which are called patches, are carried in a little box at the but-end of the gun. The best rifles are furnished with two triggers, one of which being first pulled sets the other, that is, alters the spring, so that it will yield even to the slight touch of a feather. They are also furnished with double sights along the barrel, as fine as those of a surveying instrument. An experienced marksman, with one of these guns, will hit an object not larger than a crown piece, to a certainty, at the distance of one hundred yards. Two men belonging to the Virginia rifle regiment, a large division of which was quartered in this town during the war, had such adependance on each other’s dexterity, that the one would hold a piece of board, not more than nine inches square, between his knees, whilst the other shot at it with a ball at the distance of one hundred paces. This they used to do alternately, for the amusement of the town’s people, as often as they were called upon. Numbers of people in Lancaster can vouch for the truth of this fact. Were I, however, to tell you all the stories I have heard of the performances of riflemen, you would think the people were most abominably addicted to lying. A rifle gun will not carry shot, nor will it carry a ball much farther than one hundred yards with certainty.