56 
return to the tavern, I received a visit from a physician, Dr. 
Seeger, who was educated with Schiller in the military school 
at Wirtemberg. He wished to become acquainted with me on 
account of my father, for whom he expressed the highest venera¬ 
tion. I must acknowledge, that, in a country so far from my 
native land, this afforded me the most sincere gratification, and 
my acquaintance with the worthy Dr. Seeger, who has been an 
inhabitant of the United States during the last forty years, and 
who is universally esteemed as an honest man and a good physi¬ 
cian, I shall always remember with pleasure and satisfaction. 
At Springfield, twenty miles from Northampton down the 
Connecticut river, is the government armoury. We left North¬ 
ampton, to visit this establishment, under the most oppressive 
heat, with five ladies and two gentlemen in the stage-coach, into 
w r hich we were crowded, somewhat like those that were shut up 
in the Trojan horse. We arrived about 3 o’clock in the after¬ 
noon, and again found an excellent tavern, which was provided 
with a piazza. Our ride passed through a well-cultivated region 
of country, along the right bank of the Connecticut river; In¬ 
dian corn, millet, and potatoes were observed in considerable 
abundance, in some places we also observed hemp, and sometimes, 
though seldom, hops. 
Springfield is situated on the left bank of the Connecticut 
river, over which, close by the town, is a wooden bridge, five 
hundred yards long, and built in a very awkward style. Spring- 
field has much more the appearance of a city than Worcester and 
Northampton, for there are at least some stone houses situated 
so closely together that they form a street. Colonel Lee had the 
goodness to take us in his carriage to the manufactory of arms, of 
which he is the director. It is situated about a mile from Spring- 
field, in a very beautiful valley, on a rivulet. It employs daily 
two hundred and seventy-four workmen. These are settled in 
the vicinity of the manufactory, form a kind of colony, and have 
a school for their children. They are also obliged to distinguish 
themselves by their good moral deportment. The muskets for 
the American army are made on the improved French model of 
1777, with the exception that they are somewhat shorter, while 
the bayonets are rather longer. The barrels and bayonets are 
browned, as Dupin has described at full length in Travels through 
Great Britain. We examined the works throughout. There are se¬ 
veral houses, and the machines are propelled by water. They 
finish annually fifteen thousand muskets, each of which costs the 
government on an average eleven dollars. How much might be 
saved, if, as in other countries, muskets were made by private 
workmen! The arsenal in which these muskets are preserved 
