We had a cold, unsociable ride today, each one of us being occupied in
thinking of the friends we had left behind & of the distance, which was
every moment increasing, between them & us. Mrs W has left an aged
father in the last stages of consumption, that was a sufficient excuse
for silence on her part. Mr W. made several attempts to dispel & by kind
words & _phebeish_[A] looks but without success; he appears to be a very
fond husband. We stopt to _eat oats_ at a Tavern in Fairfield, West
Farms, an old Lady came into the room where Miss W. (whose name, by the
way, is Susan, not Hannah, Sally, or Abby) & we were sitting. "Well!
Gals where are you going?" "To New Connecticut" "You bant tho- To New
Connecticut? Why what a long journey! do you ever expect to get there?
How far is it?" "Near 600 miles" "Well Gals, you Gals & your husbands
with you?" "No Ma'am"- "Not got your husbands! Well I don't know- they
say there's wild Indians there!" The poor woman was then call'd out to
her daughter (the mistress of the house) who she told us has been ill
five months with a swelling & she had come that afternoon to see it
_launch'd_ by the Physicians who were then in the house-- She went out
but soon return'd & told us they were "cutting her poor child all to
pieces"- She did not know but she should as lieve see a wild Indian as
to see that scene over again-- I felt very sorry for the poor old Lady-
I could not help smiling at the comparison. The country we pass thro'
till we are beyond N. York, I need not describe to you, nor indeed could
I; for I am attended by a very unpleasant tho' not uncommon, companion-
one to whom I have bow'd in subjection ever since I left you-Pride-- It
has entirely prevented my seeing the country lest I should be known--
You will cry "for shame" & so did I but it did no good- I could neither
shame nor reason it away, & so I suppose it will attend me to the
mountains, then I am sure it will bid me adieu- "for you know the
proverb" 'pride dwelleth not among the mountains'- I don't certainly
know where this proverb is to be found, but Julia can tell you- for if I
mistake not it is on the next page to "There is nothing sweet" &c- I do
not find it so unpleasant riding in a waggon as I expected-nor am I very
much fatigued with it- but four weeks to ride all the time, is
fatigueing to think of- We came on to Nash's tavern where we found no
company excepting one gentleman who looks like a D^r Susannah (M^r
Nash's granddaughter) says he is a "particular bit" one who likes good
eating & a great deal of waiting upon, better than he likes to pay for
it- Here we stay over the Sabbath.