LETTER TO 



Dollars. 



Brought over . . . . 13,100 

 Shepherd one year s wages, herdsmen one year, and 



sundry other labourers ..... 1,000 

 One cabinet-maker, one wheel-wright, one year, making 



furniture and implements, 300 dollars each . ... 600 

 Sundry articles of furniture, ironmongery, pottery, 



glass, &c. ........ 500 



Sundries, fruit trees, &c. ..... 100 



First instalment already paid .... 720 



Five horses on hand, worth .... 300 



Expence of freight and carriage of linen, bedding 



books, clothing, &c. . 



Value of articles brought from England . . 4&amp;gt;5oo 



Voyage and journey ....... 2,000 



Doll. 23,820 

 23,820 dollars 5,359 sterling. 

 Allow about 600 dollars more for seed and corn 141 



?r 993. So, here is more than one third of the amount of Mr. 

 Judge Lawrence s farm. To be sure, there are only about 18,000 

 dollars expended on land, buildings, and getting at them : but, 

 what a life is that which you are to lead for a thousand dollars a 

 year, when two good domestic servants will cost four hundred 

 of the money ? Will you live like one of the Yeomen of your rank 

 here ? Then, I assure you, that your domestics and groceries 

 (the latter three times as dear as they are here) and crockery-ware 

 (equally dear) will more than swallow up that pitiful sum. You 

 allow six thousand dollars for buildings^ Twice the sum would 

 not put you, in this respect, upon a footing with Mr. Lawrence. 

 His land is all completely fenced and his grain in the ground. 

 His apple trees have six thousand bushels of apples in their buds, 

 ready to come out in the spring ; and, a large part of these to be 

 sold at a high price to go on ship-board. But, what is to give you 

 his market? What is to make your pork, as soon as killed, sell 

 for 9 or 10 dollars a hundred, and your cows at 45 or 50 dollars 

 each, and your beef at 7 or 8 dollars a hundred, and your corn at a 

 dollar, and wheat at two dollars a bushel ? 



994. However, happiness is in the mind : and, if it be necessary 

 to the gratification of your mind to inhabit a wilderness and be the 

 owner of a large tract of land, you are right to seek and enjoy this 

 gratification. But, for the plain, plodding English Farmer, who 

 simply seeks safety for his little property, with some addition to 

 it for his children ; for such a person to cross the Atlantic states 

 in search of safety, tranquillity and gain in the Illinois, is, to my 

 mind, little short of madness. Yet to this mad enterprise is he 



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