SOLON ROBINSON, 1842 353 



"Does your country abound in fish and game?" 



I am sorry to say it does; because where it is abun- 

 dant there is always a class of inhabitants that are too 

 lazy to work, who perform twice as much labor in tree- 

 ing a coon in a hollow stump, or following a tad pole 

 through a swamp, under the idea of catching a fish, as 

 they would in earning a good living off the land, instead 

 of letting their families suffer for food, while they are 

 eternally "out hunting." 



In all my hunting and fishing, the greatest game I ever 

 caught was the fever and ague, which if I had kept on 

 dry ground, would never made game of me. 



If you ask the question, with an idea of coming here 

 to follow it as a business, I beg you will stay away. 



For occasional recreation, I have no objection, and the 

 opportunity for that is good here. Deer, geese, ducks, 

 prairie hens (grouse) and some other kinds are abun- 

 dant; fish of the best quality, and some very large size, 

 abound in lakes and streams. 



Now, here comes a questioner that I am tempted to 

 introduce in his own language. He writes from Dela- 

 ware : 



«* * * * * * * * * * * j therefore want to know some- 

 thing of your section of country, and the west generally. 

 I wish to move to the west if I could be satisfied that I 

 could make a living for myself and family, easier than I 

 can here, or with a better prospect for the future. Here- 

 abouts, the "skinning system" has been going on so long, 

 that our farms are pretty much in the same situation 

 you say in your traveling memorandum, that the land is 

 near Washington City — to improve it, would cost more 

 than it would come to, and although we manage by skin- 

 ning the land, to keep our own skins full, it is not so with 

 our stock, for in the spring they often bear a close re- 

 semblance to some of Kit Cornhill's wooly breed of 

 horses. Now, can a poor man, in the prime of life, with 

 a healthy wife and children, all inured to labor, make a 



