179 



yielding from 3 to 4 qts. of whisky — somewhat dependent, as 

 in the case of city milk, upon the proof of the spirit, or the con- 

 venience of water. Whisky and war are generally very good 

 friends to each other in private as well as public life ; and out 

 of whisky the parties interested contrive to manufacture a spu- 

 rious product, which passes for courage and patriotism. It is a 

 melancholy infatuation ; and what were called profits in this 

 case were all stained with human blood. The good people of 

 Rowe have reason to thank God that the curse of this distillery 

 has ceased from among them ; that, as one remarked to me, 

 " their tavern died a natural death ;" and that temperance, and 

 its ordinary consequences, universal comfort and independence, 

 prevail among them. Their mountain air gives vigor to their 

 minds and energy to their muscles ; and the crystal springs 

 from their own hills refresh them under fatigue and toil. "^ 



4. Shelburne produces more than sugar enough for its own 

 consumption ; the greater portion of its bread ; and a large 

 amount of its clothing. Broken and rough as it is, there are 

 few towns where the indications of general comfort and thrift 

 are more emphatical. 



5. Leverett, in its aspect among the most unpromising of 

 any of the towns in the county, rough and mountainous in its 

 surface and rocky and hard in its soil, has, under its rude ex- 

 terior, a respectable population, industrious and frugal in their 

 habits, enjoying a full measure of the means of subsistence, 

 and abounding in the common comforts of life. Leverett pro- 

 duces its own bread and meat ; its own sugar ; and likewise a 

 great portion of its own clothing, and buys but little. It pre- 

 sents many examples of humble but substantial independence. 

 One farmer stated to me, that he sometimes gathers from his or- 

 chard one thousand bushels of winter apples, for which he finds a 

 market in some of the neighboring villages. These are among 

 the many littles, which, according to the Scotch proverb, '•' make 

 a meikle." It is delightful to the reflecting and benevolent mind 

 to»contemplate the compensations, v/hich abound in the arrange- 

 ments of the divine Providence, and serve to equalize the va- 



