No. 7. 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



211 



enougli property to pay his debts, and persons 

 neg"lectino- to do this, are sometimes placed 

 in most smgiilar circumstances ; lor suppos- 

 in.Q' a man becomes unable to pay his debts, 

 and declares his insolvency before the courf, 

 they immediately collect all the debts that are 

 duo to him, and summon his creditors to meet 

 him at court, when the oldest creditor is 

 asked, " Will you take all the property this 

 man has (mentioninij the sum) and pay all 

 his debts!" It" he tinds that the man owes 

 more than he is worth, he, of course, declines, 

 when immediately he is struck from the list 

 of creditors, and can never uiore come against 

 the bankrupt for payment of any part of his 

 debt. Then the next oldest creditor is asked 

 the same question, and if, for the same cause, 

 he also refuses, he is also struck off, and is 

 turever incapacitated from making- any future 

 diMuand for payment. The next oldest cre- 

 ditor may find that the bankrupt has uow 

 more than the amount of his debts, and there- 

 tore, consents, putting money into his own 

 pocket by the transaction ! On expressing 

 my astonishment at the injustice of this law, 

 I was answered, " It is not unjust, for these 

 creditors were bound to examine the man's 

 affairs, and to see if he were able to pay his 

 debts ; by neglecting to do so, they gave the 

 other creditors reason to believe that all was 

 safe, supposing that they, who had so long- 

 known and trusted him, were satisfied of his 

 solvency ; they must, therefore, take the con- 

 sequence, for they knew the law. Many 

 foreigners feel themselves much aggrieved 

 by anothc«r law, which is sometimes enforced. 

 If any one rents a house of a Jerseyman, the 

 rent to be paid quarterly, the landlord has a 

 right immediately to cause an inventory of all 

 his furniture to be made, which he holds as a 

 security for the rent, which is not due until 

 that day three months! and when the amount 

 of rent is paid, he may, that instant, have 

 another made, as security for the next quar- 

 ter's rent, and during that time the tenant 

 must not remove a single article from the 

 premises ; if he does, he is liable to be prose- 

 cuted for theft. 



But the most unjust and unnatural law is, 

 the right of primogeniture, (the right of the 

 first born son) which reigns here in all its 

 horrors ! The owner of landed property can- 

 not " will" that it shall be shared at his 

 death, by all his children alike, even if he 

 have accumulated it by his own individual 

 exertions ; but the law takes possession, and 

 the court accords to the first horn so??, (not 

 daughter) the best house and lands sufficient 

 to enable him to occupy it, if it consist of 

 land ; or any other property they mieht think 

 fit: and when the daughters are called to re- 

 ceive the portions which the court have al- 

 lotted them, the oldest son shares again with 



them, to the, injury, and sometimes the im- 

 poverishment of all the other children, male 

 and temale ! 



Frank. — Now that is scandalously unjust 

 — and I would not live in such a country for 

 the world, free as it is from taxes. Is the 

 Island free from tythcs ? of the evils of which 

 we iiear so much in England. 



Father. — There are tytlies, but as the crops 

 wiiich are tythcable are enumerated by name 

 in their old law books, and as potatoes, tur- 

 neps and some other crops, do not appear 

 amongst them, for they were not known at 

 that time, they are supposed to be free from 

 tythe ; liow far the letter will be able to do 

 away with the spirit of the law of tytlic, I 

 do not know. The Episcopal clergyman of 

 each parish has a right to demand from every 

 inhabitant a yearly sum, whether he come to 

 chiu-ch or not, but as that sum is only two and 

 a half pence, — five cents— ybr which he is 

 hound to furnish him with a seat at the 

 church, there is no great harm in it ; afler 

 this, all sects are tolerated. The women are 

 the greatest knitters in the world, and you 

 will scarcely meet one, without the needles, 

 within doors or without ; even going to m^j- 

 ket with baskets with articles for sale, they 

 contrive to carry it on, either by poising the 

 basket on the head, or tying it round the body 

 with a handkerchief; while those who enjoy 

 the luxury of riding to market in the cart, 

 knit all the way ; and when they go collect- 

 ing weeds from the sea, the knitting goes 

 loo. During the winter evenings, they have 

 what they call knitting schools, at their owii 

 houses ; and at the place appointed the best 

 room is fitted up for the occasion, the floor 

 being strewed with rushes, and lighted with 

 lamps hung from the ceiling; and here the 

 girls come, and knit for life, until ten o'clock, 

 vvlien the young men come to accompany 

 them home, and the girl wiio is most exjjert 

 at the work, is frequently sure to get the first 

 husband ; it is said that upon some occasions, 

 a man's stocking has been begun and fini>hed 

 the same evening. Many of these girls have 

 a singular propensity, which is to spend 

 every cent they can save — and they will 

 work hard for it too — in the purchase of cloth, 

 with which to mnke shirts for their hoped for 

 husbands, years before the time when they 

 expect to meet with them ; and some have 

 been known to have hoarded up against that 

 time, many dozens of those indispensnhles, as 

 a marriage portion to their intended lords, 

 without regard to size or length; so tliat, in- 

 stead of cutting the garments according to 

 their husbands, they must cut their husbands 

 according to their shirts! and I have known 

 a servant girl, who, speaking of one of her 

 youno- friends, about to be married, remarked, 

 '" why she has but three dozen shirts in the 



