THE 06L0GIST. 



147 



SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER 

 WILSON. 



His Early American Career. 



G. Vrooman Smith. 



II. 



With chill Penury staring him in the 

 face, Wilson seized his meagre personal 

 belongings and stepped ashore at New 

 Castle, Delaware, July 14, 1794. No 

 anxious expectant faces greeted him on 

 his arrival No acquaintance had he in 

 the whole New World to welcome him 

 to the Land of Freedom No one to aid 

 in diminishing the feeling of solitude 

 which attends one's arrival in a foreign 

 land, save his nephew, William Duncan, 

 and even he immediately set out for 

 New York, a distance of four hundred 

 miles, to settle on a farm . 



When he arrived he had only one 

 shilling in his pocket and that borrow- 

 ed from Duncan. He had no letters of 

 introduction and not even a decided 

 object in view. His old sedentary em- 

 ployment of weaver and peddler were 

 the only means whereby he could earn 

 a livelihood. 



But Wilson was not entirely desti- 

 tute. He felt himself transplanted 

 from a land enslaved by tyranny and 

 the aristocracy of wealth to a land of 

 freedom. He hailed with delight his 

 arrival in this country as the fh'st step 

 towards a new and brighter existence. 



With a strong determination to gain 

 an honest subsistence he shouldered his 

 gun and set out on foot for Philadel- 

 peia, a distance of about thirty miles 

 While journeying through the forests 

 of the Delaware he became impressed 

 with the multitude of strange birds he 

 saw. He shot one — a Red-headed 

 Woodpecker — which he pronounced the 

 most beautiful thing of its kind he ever 

 saw. Its peculiar habit of rapping on 

 the dead branches; its beautiful scarlet 

 head contrasted with the rich glossy 



black of its back did not fail to arouse 

 in Wilson an admiration for the feath- 

 ered inhabitadts of our woods and 

 fields. This little incident occuring as 

 it did when he was exulting in his re- 

 lease from an oppressed country and 

 when he was open for a new employ- 

 ment seemed ominous of his future 

 pursuits in the New World. 



Friendless and weary he at last ar- 

 rived in Philadelphia Refreshed by a 

 brief and much needed rest he turned 

 his attention to seek an employment 

 whereby he could honestly earn a living. 

 But for a stranger like Wilson, sepa- 

 rated as he was from all acquaintances 

 aud kinsmen by two thousand miles of 

 water, to find immediate employment 

 without a recommendation was no easy 

 task. Employers were reluctant to hire 

 workmen about whom they knew ab- 

 solutely nothing. Finally the honest 

 face of Wilson served him a good turn. 

 A copper plate printer of Philadelphia 

 was struck by the frank, manly nature 

 of Wilson and gave him employment 

 in his own business. This he soon re- 

 linuqished as not being exactly adapted 

 to his tastes, and again took up his 

 trade of weaving at Pennypack Creek, 

 about ten miles from Philadelphia. His 

 employer, Mr. Sullivan, became closely- 

 attached to Wilson and served him 

 rnany a timely assistance in after life 

 when he was struggling to overcome 

 the difficulties which beset every step 

 of his progress iu the achievement of 

 his great undertaking. Not l»ng after 

 he removed to Virginia as a settler. 

 Ill success attended his sojourn here 

 and he returned to Pennypack Creek 

 in the old capacity of a weaver. 



In the summer of 1795 we again be- 

 hold him shouldering- his old compan- 

 ion, the pack, and trudging along 

 thi'ough New Jersey exhibiting the con- 

 tents with some success. The journal 

 he kept during this tour is profoundly 

 interesting as it contains minute de- 

 scriptions of the manners and customs 



