Chap. I] Journal. — February. 27 



rather, upon a little nook of land, close to the river, 

 where the river has found a way through a break in the 

 chain of mountains. Great enjoyment here. Sit and 

 read and write. My mind is again in England. Mrs. 

 M'Allister just suits me. Does not pester me with 

 questions. Does not cram me with meat. Lets me eat 

 and drink what I like, and when I like, and gives mugs 

 of nice milk. I find, here, a very agreeable and in- 

 structive occasional companion, in Mr. M'Allister the 

 elder. But, of the various useful information, that 1 

 received from him, I must speak in the Second Part 

 of this work. 



29. Very hard frost this morning. Change very 

 sudden. All about the house a glare of ice. 



30. Not so hard. Icicles on the trees on the neigh- 

 bouring mountains like %o many millions of sparkling 

 atones, when the sun shines, which is all the day. 



31. Same weather. Two farmers of Lycoming county 

 had heard that William Cobbett was here. They mo- 

 destly introduced themselves. What a contrast with 

 the " yeomanry cavalry!" 



February. 



1 & 2, Same weather. About the same as a *' hard 

 frost " in England. 



3. Snow. 



4. Little snow. Not much frost. This day, thirty- 

 three years ago, I enlisted as a soldier. 1 always keep 

 the day in recollection. 



5. Having been to Harrisburgh on the second, re- 

 turned to M'AUister's to-day in a sleigh. The River 

 begins to be frozen over. It is about a mile wide. 



6. Little snow again, and hardish frost. 



7. Now and then a little snow. — Talk with some hop- 

 growers. Prodigious crops in this neighbourhood ; but, 

 of them in the Skcond Part. What would a Farnham 

 man think of thirty hundred weight of hops upon fo^ir 

 hundred hills, ploughed between, and the ground vines 



fed off by sheep ! This is a very curious and interest- 

 ing matter. 



8. A real Frost. 



C2 



