LIFE OF AVILSON. 
solemnity of the streets, recollected we were in New England, and that it was 
Sunday, which latter circumstance had heen almost forgotten ou board the 
packet-boat. 
" This town is situated upon a sandy plain ; and the streets are shaded with 
elm trees and poplars. In a large park or common, covered with grass, and 
crossed by two streets, and several foot-paths, stand the church, the state-house 
and college buildings, which last are one hundred and eighty yards in front. 
From these structures rise four or five wooden spires, which, in former time, 
as one of the professors informed me, were so infested by woodpeckers, which 
bored them in all directions, that, to preserve their steeples from destruction, 
it became necessary to set people, with guns, to watch and. shoot these invaders 
of the sanctuary. Just about the town the pasture-fields and corn look well, 
but a few miles off, the country is poor and ill cultivated. 
"The literati of New Haven received me with politeness and respect; and 
after making my usual rounds, which occupied a day and a half, I set ofi" 
for IMiddletown, twenty-two miles distant. The country through which I 
passed was flat and sandy — in some places whole fields were entirely covered 
with sand, not a blade of vegetation to be seen, like some parts of New Jersey. 
Round Middletown, however, the country is really beautiful — the soil rich; 
and here I first saw the river Connecticut, stretching along the east side of 
the town, which consists of one very broad street, with rows of elms on each 
side. On entering I found the street filled with troops, it being muster-day; 
and I counted two hundred and fifty horse, and six hundred foot, all in uniform. 
The sides of the street were choked up with wagons, carts and wheel-barrows, 
filled with bread, roast beef, fowls, cheese, liquors, barrels of cider, and rum 
bottles. Some were singing out, ' Here's the best brandy you ever put into 
your head!' others in dozens shouting, ' Here's the round and sound ginger- 
bi'ead ! most capital gingerbread !' In one place I observed a row of twenty 
or thirty country girls, drawn up with their backs to a fence, and two young 
fellows supplying them with rolls of bread from a neighboring stall, which 
they ate with a hearty appetite, keeping nearly as good time with their grind- 
ers as the militia did with their muskets. In another place the crowd had 
formed a ring, within which they danced to the catgut scrapings of an old 
negro. The spectators looked on with as much gravity as if they were listen- 
ing to a sermon ; and the dancers labored with such seriousness, that it seemed 
more like a penance imposed on the poor devils, for past sins, than mere 
amusement. 
"I waited on a IMr. A. of this town; and by him I was introduced to sev- 
eral others. He also furnished me with a good deal of information respecting 
the birds of New England. He is a great sportsman — a man of fortune and 
education — and has a considerable number of stuffed birds, some of which he 
gave me, besides letters to several gentlemen of influence in Boston. I endea- 
vored to recompense him in the best manner I could, and again pursued my 
route to the north-east. The country between this and Hartford is extremely 
beautiful, much resembling that between Philadelphia and Frankford. The 
road is a hard sandy soil; and in one place I had an immense prospect of the 
surrounding country, nearly equal to that which we saw returning from Easton, 
