2.446 BY THE AUTHOR OF "A NEW HOME." "Where are the advantages, beyond the means, first, of mere subsistence, 0. 8. FRANCIS & CO., 252 BROADWAY. BOSTON: J. H. FRANCIS, 128 WASHINGTON ST. F 567 .K59 v. l Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, By C. S. FRANCIS & Co., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. PRINTED RY MUNROE AND FRANCIS, ROSTON PREFACE. SOME great man of antiquity said that if one were carried up to the skies, and permitted to behold all the wonders of heaven and earth, his pleasure would not be complete until he had returned to the lower world to recount what he had seen. And it must be true, for, even on the most petty scale, the feeling to which he alludes is constantly discoverable. We cannot migrate from one point on this little ball to another, without a disposition to give those we have left behind an idea of what is to most of them an unseen world. The first plunge into print costs indeed a desperate effort; but when the instinctive shivering is once conquered, the chilly element loses half its terrors, especially if we see kind hands outstretched on all sides to encourage our attempt. That such has been my own fortune, I gratefully acknowledge. The following pages constitute rather a continuation than a sequel to the sketches offered to the public more than two years ago, under the title of "A new Homewho'll follow?" I say a continuation, not that I mean to threaten, in this day of the decline and fall of Annuals, a Western Biennial - but simply to reserve my right to prate further in the same strain if I should feel thereunto prompted. I am credibly informed that ingenious malice has been busy in finding substance for the shadows which were called up to give variety to the pages of "A new Home," in short, that I have been accused of substituting personality for impersonation. This I utterly deny; and I am sincerely sorry that any one has been persuaded to regard as unkind what was announced merely as a playful sketch, and not as a serious history. A landscape, however true its outline, however correct its coloring, is only a study for the artist, unless something human appear in the foreground to give an air of life to the scene; and in attempting to paint a mountain or a cathedral, it is considered essential to introduce human figures, as a standard by which the imagination may be aided to a just conception of these objects. For reasons somewhat analogous, it appeared to me at once the easiest mode of relieving the tediousness of mere narrative, and the most effectual means of conveying a general idea of the aspect of society in those regions where what is elsewhere mere abstraction is made the practical rule of life, to bring on the stage a phantasm of men and women who should as naturally as possible act in illustration of my subject. If, in drawing on experience for this purpose, I have inadvertently given offence, I regret it, as I said before. I would fain "avoid all appearance of evil," in this as in every other particular. It has appeared to some few of the more enthusiastic of our Western patriots, that there is something treasonable in exhibiting the settlers of a new country as deficient in some of the amenities of life and language. A recueil de pièces justificatives would be very amusing, but I shall forbear to defend myself. I shall not readily renounce my privilege of remarking freely on all subjects of general interest. In matters of opinion I claim the freedom which is my birthright as an American, and still further, the plainness of speech which is a striking characteristic of this Western country, the land of my adoption. I shall not consider myself in the position of a foreign tourist, whose one stinging truth, though varnished over with a thick layer of compliment, shall rankle in the sensitive heart of my countrymen long after the flattery is forgotten. Who more justly entitled to the privilege of speaking the truth about us than one of our very selves, one whose lot is cast in, for better for worse, with the settlers of the backwoods? - Be it remembered that what I profess to delineate is the scarce reclaimed wilderness, the forest, the pioneers, the settlers, the people who, coming here of their own free will, — each with his own individual views of profit or advancement, - have, as a mass, been the mighty instrument in the hands of Providence of preparing the way for civilization, for intelligence, for refinement, for religion. I eschew and disclaim all notice of the older settlements the towns and villages in which the spirit of emulation and of imitation has nearly annihilated all that was characteristic of new country life. Of these I have nothing to say; for has not their aspect been painted a thousand times? There is still a dash of Western wild ness about them, it is true; a freshness of coloring may still be traced by a close observer; but my theme lies elsewhere, and this should be borne in mind. - It must be confessed that I have found, this time, scarcely even the shadow of a thread on which to string my wandering thoughts. I felt quite unequal to "Michigan, 'historical, statistic, and descriptive,'" and I was as little inclined to a mere fiction. So I throw myself on the indulgence of the reader, hoping he will allow me to say my say in my own fashion, and be content to gather whatever is worth having- as imparting a correct general idea of this new world- from all sorts of incongruous things |