57 
and packed in chests, each containing twenty pieces, was destroy¬ 
ed by fire about a year and a half since, but having been rebuilt, 
it consists at present of a centre building for the offices, two iso¬ 
lated wings for the preservation of the different arms, and of se¬ 
veral other adjacent buildings for the necessary workshops. 
These buildings form an oblong square, of which the proper ar¬ 
moury forms one of the short sides; on the other, oppositely to 
the centre building, is Colonel Lee’s neat and beautiful dwelling. 
The houses belonging to the arsenal are built of brick externally, 
while internally every thing is of wood; and as, during the win¬ 
ter season these buildings are heated with wood, there appeared 
to me to be much danger of fire. I remarked this to Colonel 
Lee, who appeared to participate in my apprehensions. After our 
return to the tavern, Mr. Calhoun, with whom we had become 
acquainted through Mr. Bates, introduced us to several gentle¬ 
men of the town, and took us in the evening to a musical party 
at the house of a Mr. Dwight, where we found the fashionable 
part of society assembled. The ladies sang very well, and played 
on the piano-forte several pieces from “ Der Freischutz,” an 
opera which is at present a favourite in America. 
We had determined to go on the 12th of August to New Le¬ 
banon, to visit the Springs and the Shaker’s village, but the 
Fates had decreed otherwise. We left Springfield at two o’clock 
in the morning in the stage, rode over the bridge, through West- 
field, which, as far as we could judge in the dark, is a handsome 
village, and arrived at day break in a romantic valley, on West- 
field river, whose waters fall over huge rocks. At Russel, which 
is situated in an uncultivated valley, seventeen miles from Spring- 
field, we partook of an excellent breakfast at the stage-office, and 
were much pleased at the clean and comfortable appearance of 
the houses and inhabitants. It was so cold early in the morning, 
that a large fire which we found at this house, was quite comfort¬ 
able. The road through the wild romantic valley, generally as¬ 
cending, and along the river, was rather bad, and often very nar¬ 
row; instead of a railing, there were only trunks of large trees, 
which were permitted to decay in a very unjustifiable manner. 
The bridges also were as badly built as those of which we have 
already complained. The forest trees were very handsome, but 
many of them are destroyed for the cabins of the new settlers. 
These dwellings, like the log-houses, are built of the trunks of 
large trees. Amongst the few settlers whom we observed there, 
were several negro and mulatto families. The villages of Ches¬ 
ter, Bucket, and Lee, through which we passed, consist of but 
few houses; Lee, however, appears to be a flourishing village. At 
this place we left the mountains, and again entered upon a better 
cultivated region, in which we observed stubbles of wheat and rye. 
Vol. I. 8 
