HISTORY OF VERMONT. 379 



jected to the common danger, fatigue, and suf- 

 ferings, which attend the forming of new settle- 

 ments. Feeling every moment their own wants 

 and dangers, they are led by their situation, to 

 assist each other in their difficulties and danger. 

 The traveller finds among them, all the relief 

 their circumstances will enable them to afford 

 him : And before they are able to erect houses 

 for public entertainment, the stranger is swre to 

 find the best accommodations, the situation of 

 private families will admit. This hospitable 

 disposition seems to be universal, m all the 

 new settlements : And the unfortunate and poor 

 man finds a relief from it, which he never ex- 

 pects to find among a more wealthy people. 

 No custom was ever better adapted to afford re- 

 lief to an individual, or to promote the advantage 

 of the state. A beggar or robber is scarcely 

 ever to be seen in a country, where there is no- 

 thing to be ©btained by the business. The poor 

 find their relief in labor, and not from a multi- 

 plicity of laws, which extract large sums from 

 others, but afford little relief to them : And 

 from the profits of their labor, they will soon 

 ^ease to be in distress. Those that appear ta 

 be objects of distress, are generally such in re- 

 ality : And where the public has not been a- 

 bused by such pretences, few will be exposed 

 to suffer on such accounts. In such a state of 

 society, hospitality naturally performs what it 

 ought to perform : It encourages none in idle- 

 n«ss and dissipation, but relieves^ those whose 

 circumstances require relief. It provides only 

 for those, who cannot find other resources ; and 

 aims only to put such into a situation, in which 

 they may support themselves, and be of use to 

 the public. 



