In consequence of my promise at parting, I sit down to give you some
account of _Yankee Land_. You were perfectly right in telling me I
should find the New England states very different from your part of
America.
The first object that would strike you is the population of the country.
In one day's journey through Connecticut, I saw as many towns, villages,
and houses, as I ever remember seeing, when travelling the same distance
in England; a prospect you _Buck-skins_ can have no idea of.
The next is the beauty of the women, (I beg their pardon; that would be
the _first_ object that would strike _you!_) Their great superiority in
that respect may be accounted for, from their being of _engllsh_ descent.
Your women have not all that _advantage_, ('True english prejudice this!'
methinks I hear you mutter): great part are of _dutch_, or _german_
descent. The close iron stoves they have introduced among you are terrible
enemies to beauty. Why you so obstinately persist in a custom so
prejudicial to health, I cannot imagine. Your plea, that the coldness of
the climate makes them indispensable, I can-not admit of; you know, that
we are here three degrees to the north of you, and that the present is the
coldest winter since the year 1780-81; and yet I have not seen a close
stove since I left New York. The tavern bills in these states are
near one hundred per cent under yours. The exorbitant charges of your
tavern-keepers are a disgrace to the country: I could never account for
your submitting so quietly to their impositions.
Whether it be owing to the abolition of negro slavery, and the sale of
irish, and german redemptioners, (which, by the by, is nearly as bad, and
ought not to be tolerated in a free country,) or to the great population,
or to the produce of the land being of less value than in the south: I say
whether it be owing to any, or to all of these causes, I know not; but
certain it is, a greater strain of industry runs through all ranks of
people than with you; and it is equally certain, that the lower order of
citizens receive a better education, and of course are more intelligent,
and better informed. This you will not wonder at, when I tell you there
are seven free schools in Boston, containing about nine hundred scholars,
and that in the country schools are in a still greater proportion. They
are maintained by a tax on every class of citizens, therefore education
may be claimed by _all_ as a _right_.
This climate is much colder, compared with yours, than I can account for
geographically; but it may perhaps be owing to our having a greater
proportion of easterly winds, which, coming immediately from the banks of
Newfoundland, are attended with a cloudy sky, and thick atmosphere. These
may tend to mitigate the heats of summer, but are very disagreeable in the
other seasons. The coldness of the climate is plainly to be perceived in
the birch tree, which is here common in the woods; and the _want_ of
the mocking bird, the red bird, and a great variety of others, that visit
you in the glimmer from South America. The fox squirrel too is scarce, and
the gray squirrel almost white. We cannot cultivate the sweet, or tropical
potatoe, but import it from Carolina. Even the peach is late, small, and
acid. The coldness of the climate, and the fanaticism of the inhabitants,
make the New England states by no means such desirable places of
residence, as those of the south, to
Yours, &c.
* * * * *
_Dover, April 22nd, 1797._