330 Letter ii. to [Part III. 



" ' through,* for which there is a ' shutter,' made also of 

 " cleft oak, and hung on wooden hinges. All this has 

 *' been executed by contract, and well executed, for 

 " twenty dollars. I have since added ten dollars to the 

 " cost, for the luxury of a Jloor and ceiling of sawn 

 " boards, and it is now a comfortable habitation." 



624. In plain words, this is a log-hut, such as the 

 free negroes live in about here, and a hole it is, fit only 

 for dogs, or hogs, or cattle. Worse it is than the negro 

 huts ; for they have a bit of glass ; but here is none. 

 This miserable hole, black with smoke as it always must 

 be, and without any window, costs, however, 30 dollars. 

 And yet this English acquaintance of yours is to have 

 " a house extremely comfortable and convenient for Jifty 

 " dollars." Perhaps his 50 dollars might get him a 

 hut, or hole, a few feet longer and divided into two dens. 

 So that here is to be cooking, washing, eating, and 

 sleeping all in the same " extremely convenient and 

 " comfortable" hole ! And yet, my dear Sir, you find 

 fault of the want of cleanliness in the Americans ! You 

 have not seen " the Americans." You have not seen 

 the nice, clean, neat houses of the farmers in this Island, 

 in New England, in the Quaker counties of Pennsyl- 

 vania. You have seen nothing but the smoke-flried 

 Ultra-montanians ; and your project seems to be to 

 make the deluded English who may follow you rivals in 

 the attainment of the tawny colour. What is this family 

 to do in their 50 dollar den ? Suppose one or more of 

 them sick ! How are the rest to sleep by night or to 

 eat by d ay I 



625. However, here they are, in this miserable 

 place, with the ship-bedding, and without even a bed- 

 stead, and with 130 dollars gone in land and house. 

 Two horses and harness and plough are to cost 100 

 dollars ! These, like the hinges of the door, are all to 

 be of wood I suppose ; for as to flesh and blood and 

 bones in the form of two horses far 100 dollars, is 

 impossible, to say nothing about the plough and 

 harness, which would cost 20 dollars of the money. 

 Perhaps, however, you may mean some of those horses, 

 ploughs and sets of harness, which, at the time when yon 

 wrote this letter, you had all ready waiting for the 



