COMPI^TION O^ Tut ORNlTHOIvOGY I05 



thinks he sees an evil he bitterly denounces it in 

 writing to his friends. His letter reads : 



"Nashville, May i, 1810. 

 'To Miss Sarah Miller : 



''My Dear Friend, Nine hundred miles distant 

 from you sits Wilson, the hunter of birds' nests and 

 sparrows, just preparing to enter on a wilderness of 

 780 miles — most of it in the territory of Indians — 

 alone but in good spirits, and expecting to have 

 every pocket crammed with skins of new and ex- 

 traordinary birds before he reach the City of New 

 Orleans. I dare say you have long ago accused me 

 of cruel forgetfulness in not writing as I promised, 

 but that, I assure you, was not the cause. To have 

 forgot my friends in the midst of strangers, and to 

 have forgot you of all others, would have been im- 

 possible. But I still waited until I should have 

 something very interesting to amuse you with, and 

 am oDliged at last to take up the pen without having 

 anything remarkable to tell you of. Yet I don't 

 know but a description of the fashions of Kentucky 

 or Paris. What would you think of a blanket rid- 

 ing dress, a straw side-saddle, and a large mule 

 with ears so long that they might almost serve for 

 would be almost as entertaining as that of London 

 reins? I have seen many such fashionable figures 

 in Kentucky. Or, what think you of a beau who 

 had neither been washed nor shaved for a month, 

 with three yards of coarse blue cloth wrapped 

 around his legs by way of boots, a ragged great- 

 coat, without coat, jacket or neckcloth, and breath- 

 ing the rich perfume of corn whiskey? Such fig- 



