"Some years ago," he told us, "the desire of contributing to the success of my family, and of assuring its independence after my death, determined me to leave the town of Fairfield, where I kept a school of Greek and Latin. Content with my lot, I was instructing as best I could the youth who were entrusted to my care when I learned of the death of a relative who had just ended his days in Bengal and who had left me 1900 piastres. Fearful of confiding that sum of money to the hazards of trade, I resolved to use it in buying a certain amount of new land, the only speculation in which we are rarely deceived, if we join with it ingenuity and hard work. Having been told that the government of Pennsylvania had just made this part of the state into a county, I came here; and after inspecting it, I bought for 375 piastres - the price of it has more than doubled because of the troubles in Europe - the 426 acres that I own here. I hired a man from my state, who is still with me. Together we built this house from the trunks of the first trees that we cut down. At Wilkes-Barre I bought provisions for a year, a pair of oxen, two mares big with colts, and the tools I needed for my work. Finally after six months of labor, employed in drying up some acres of swamp-land and in clearing seventeen acres that we sowed in wheat, I went for my family. Since that time, hope has not left me for a single instant. I see in the fertility of the soil and in the price of food a certain recompense offered to whoever wants to merit it by intelligence and hard work. I plant much less than my neighbors, and yet I harvest more than they because I spend more time with it. Since coming here I have not felt the least touch of discouragement, although there have been many obstacles to overcome. Quite different from me, my nearest neighbor, who lives five miles away, is dissatisfied, I know not why, with his situation and with the condition of his land, which is, however, as fertile as mine, and intends to get rid of his poor improvements and move elsewhere. He will not be happy anywhere and will spend his life going from one new place to another, a frame of mind that is quite common among the first settlers.

As for me, I have such a great idea of my powers and my courage that often I accomplish much more than I intended to, and that simply because I believed it possible. This feeling is, in fact, a powerful lever when a tree has to be felled or a stump uprooted.

"I have had the foresight to bring with me a great quantity of fruit stones and seeds which I have planted with great care. In a few years all the orchards and fruit trees in the district will come from my nursery. I owe nothing; already I am beginning to sell the surplus of my little harvest to the settlers whose establishments are newer than mine. The only inconvenience that I have is the distance that I find myself from a mill, from a church, and from a blacksmith. Eight shillings per year to encourage the killing of wolves and panthers is the only tax that the government imposes on us, but we pay that much with pleasure and gratitude. Our government is busy opening up some very useful roads. Tomorrow you will travel the one known by the name of Bridle Road, which begins at the sources of Muncy Creek, on the west branch of the Susquehanna, and ends at the sources of Shickshinny Creek, on the east branch. The stumps are still there, it is true, but the bridges have just been finished. As we dry up our swamps, the insects disappear. The laws of Congress are encouraging foreign trade, and a flourishing trade encourages farming. Our country enjoys peace and tranquillity. Up to now heaven has blessed the works of its children, and the seasons have been kind to us. Morning and evening we implore its grace and its instructions, so that we may strive to merit our blessings, not only by our prayers but also by our industry and harmony. I fear only the brevity of time, which, like the water of the stream, flows away and passes with such quickness."

That, gentlemen, is how the schoolmaster of Fairfield has become a citizen of Pennsylvania and a freeholder in the county of Northumberland.

Struck by what he had just heard, Monsieur Herman said to me that evening, "The simple conversation of this good settler from Connecticut has made a most profound impression on my heart. I blush at my own weakness. Just think! This man, transported from the center of a town to the middle of the forest, where there is hardly a path, submits to what is a hard and painful labor when compared with his earlier occupations, and, far from his relatives, his friends, and the help of society, is still cheerful and contented. In the evening, happy for having accomplished the task of the day, he gives thanks to the deity and the next day starts anew with the same courage and cheerfulness. The hope of comfort and independence animates him, encourages him, and takes the place for him of present happiness. He is at the same time a good father, a good husband, and a good farmer; and I, whom fortune has favored, I who have crossed the ocean in order to enjoy the sight that the origin and development of these young societies offer here to the meditation, I have not the strength to overcome a few minutes of disgust and to endure a few inconveniences in travel that just a little experience would cause to disappear! I feel myself suddenly a new man. If ever the obstacles and difficulties along the way or the inconveniences of the lodgings cause a reappearance of that shameful pusillanimity, I shall recall what Mr. W. Doolittle has just told us."

The next day, as our host had said, we traveled along a new road that had just been built and which led from the Muncy on the west branch to the Shickshinny, which falls into the east branch (known as Bridle Road).