PREFACE. 



V. 



munications to be inserted in our little village paper. 

 But, on second thought, on considering the size of the 

 sheet, I found it would require four or five years to print 

 in it all I was likely to write, at the rate of two columns 

 a week. So I concluded that the easiest and quickest 

 way would be to make a book of my Notes by the Way, 

 and to send back to my old friends and neighbors in 

 that form all the observations and incidents I might 

 make and meet on my walk. The next thought that 

 suggested itself was this, that a good many persons in 

 Great Britain might feel some interest in seeing what 

 an American who had resided so long in this country 

 might have to say of its sceneries, industries, social life, 

 &c. Still, in writing out these Notes, although two dis- 

 tinct circles of readers the English and American 

 have been present to my mind, I felt constrained to face 

 and address the latter, just as if speaking to them alone. 

 I have, moreover, adopted the free and easy style 

 of epistolary composition, endeavoring to make each 

 chapter as much like one of the letters I promised my 

 friends and neighbors at home as practicable. In 

 doing this, the "/" has, perhaps, talked far too much to 



