!90 



THE OOLOGIST. 



In the lattei- part of January he bade 

 :adieu to Philadelphia and departed in 

 vthe direction of Lancaster at which he 

 •arrived in a few days. On arriving at 

 Lancaster he waited on the Governor 

 who received him civilly. The distin- 

 guisheil gentleman was highly pleased 

 with the work and readily added his 

 name to the list. Wilson was intro- 

 duced to many members of both houses 

 •of the legislature, but abandoned them 

 all in disgust, as in general he found 

 them a "pitiful squabbling political 

 mob" without knowing anything about 

 the forms of legislation. The follow- 

 ing Sunday he crossed the Susquehanna 

 River experiencing great dithculty as 

 he was obliged to cut his way through 

 ice for several hundred yards. Passing 

 -on to York he paid his respects to all the 

 literary talent in the place, without any 

 success, how^ever. While here he learn- 

 ed of a most extraordinary character, 

 between eighty and niuety years of age, 

 who had lived by trapping birds and 

 animals for over thirty years. Through 

 the kindness of an acquaintance he was 

 driven out to see him. taking a half 

 pound of snuff, of which he was insat- 

 iably fond, taking it by handfuls. The 

 strange individual was a store house of 

 information relating to woodcraft and 

 told anecdotes of the greater part of the 

 subjects of the first volume. 



At Hanover a Judge told him "that 

 such a book as mine ought not to be en- 

 couraged, as it was not within reach of 

 the commonalty, and therefore incon- 

 sistent with our republican institu- 

 tions." Wilson cooly took this passing 

 of the sage's opinion and added that in- 

 asmuch as he had built such a large 

 handsome three story brick house, that 

 also was beyond the reach of the com- 

 monalty and therefore he was as great 

 a culprit as himself. Wilson pointed 

 out to the Judge the importance of 

 science to a rising nation with so much 

 earnestness and effect that he began to 

 show signs of shame. 



Departing from Chambersburg, Feb- 

 ruary 11th he began the ascent of the 

 Allegany mountains, whose great de- 

 clivities w^ere extensively covered with 

 timber. On arriving in view of Pitts- 

 burgh he was much impressed with the 

 distant view of the place. Pittsburgh 

 was much the same dirty, smoky city 

 then as it is at the present day. For he 

 remarks that while yet afar off he saw 

 the cloud of black smoke that always 

 overhangs it He thought Pittsburgh 

 had a decided Birmingham aspect. 

 The ice in the Monongahela River was 

 just breaking up so he remained in the 

 vicinity of the city exploring the woods 

 till the ice left the stream. He exhib- 

 ited his book with success beyond ex- 

 pectation, securing fourteen new sub- 

 scribers. He was persuaded to make 

 the journ^\y by water instead of by land 

 as the roads were impassible for a land 

 journey. Thereupon he purchased a 

 small boat wliieh he very appropriatly 

 named the Ornithologist, intending to 

 proceed in it to Cincinnati, a distance 

 of more than five hundred miles He 

 procured his stock of provision, consist- 

 ing of some biscuit and cheese and a 

 bottle of cordial a gentleman in Pitts- 

 burgh presented him with. All these 

 were stored away in one end of the 

 boat with his trunk, gun and extra coat, 

 and a tin vessel to bale his boat with 

 and to take his "beverage from the 

 Ohio." 



Bidding adieu to the smoky city of 

 Pittsburgh, he launched his bark into 

 the stream and was soon winding his 

 way among the hills that everywhere 

 enclosed that magnificent river. The 

 spring weather was warm and serene, 

 the river like a mirror, except where a 

 few widely scattered fragments of ice 

 spotted the surface. His heart ex- 

 panded with delight at the novelties 

 which surrounded him. The sweet 

 whistling of the Red-bird on the border- 

 ing banks; the smoke of the numei'ous 

 maple sugar camps rising lazily among 



