148 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



many emigrants to this country, who were totally in- 

 capable of making the necessary improvements to render 

 themselves comfortable, and after a few months of vexa- 

 tion and trouble, after exhausting almost everything they 

 possessed, have returned to the place from whence they 

 came, to curse the country and discourage others from 

 emigrating, who under the same circumstances, would 

 have laid the foundation of a fortune for themselves and 

 children. Had some of these disappointed seekers after 

 the paradise of their distorted vision, first inquired 

 whether they were at all fitted to perform the pioneer 

 duty of a new settlement, they might have saved them- 

 selves much money and vexation. Let the emigrating 

 disposed person, then seriously inquire whether he is 

 going to benefit himself or not ; above all things, let the 

 wife and daughters know what they have to go through 

 in a new country. I have known some that have come to 

 the west with high wrought fancies of romantic felicities, 

 who have removed to weep with bitter disappointment; 

 such do not make happy, contented, good citizens. But 

 had they "known the worst at first," they would have 

 met it with fortitude; and enjoyed life in a log cabin, 

 better, perhaps, than they had formerly done in a large 

 mansion house. 



Let those who are unwilling or unable to bear hard- 

 ship, or who are unwilling to humble themselves to a 

 residence in a log cabin, remain where they are a little 

 longer. The west is no place for pride or laziness ; we 

 want industrious farmers and mechanics; we don't care 

 how poor a man is, if he is industrious, he cannot remain 

 poor. We are also glad to see the wealthy come too, 

 particularly when he brings along a lot of choice stock, 

 as many of late do. 



There is one more class of inhabitants that we need; 

 that is, able and efficient teachers of common schools. 

 It is one of the difficulties that all new countries labor 

 under, the want of good schools. Dollars and cents are 

 of so much more importance to many men, than the edu- 



