534 Observations made during a Tour in the United States. [July 1, 
neatly, served up. The dinner was 
nicely hot, aud the day cold. With eager 
anticipation | placed myself at table ; : 
but a reprimand irom mine host wan set 
me on my legs again. Alas, Sir! with 
all these good “things | before my devouring 
eyes and ¢ empty stomach, I had to under- 
go the tantalization of a grace, more than 
half an hour jong; and, perhaps what 
was as severe a penance, to be mighty 
eareful how I looked, lest a wicked leer 
from my companions should unhinge my 
gravity. Time and patience, however, 
got the grace to an end, but the din herw as 
spoiled ; after, however, eating what we 
could, a second grace, equally long, set 
us free from the bondage of the table. 
Heartily fatigued when night came, we 
went to hed; but were scarce asleep, 
when we. were awakened by psalm-sing- 
ing, which continued for about an hour, 
and which was. repeated before the 
sun was up. Never having been ex- 
posed before to such outrageous devo- 
tion, my sinful spirit little brooked ity 
nor could I avoid a wish, hitherte erati- 
ted, that rel:gion might never again spoil 
my dinner when hungry, or my night’s 
rest when fatigued. 
Five miles nearer the lake than Aus- 
tenburgh lies the Township of Jefferson, 
then without an inhabitant ; though, if I 
judge right, destined for future umpor- 
tance. It.is a very beautiful tract of 
land. In consequence of an error in the 
original survey, it contaimsabout eighteen 
thousand acres. The east branch of the 
Guaga passes through it. It is also weil 
watered by several rivulets, and must be 
the great thoroughfare by which much of 
the Ohio country will be ‘supplied, is even 
now supplied, with lake-fish and salt. 
There are many valuable mill-seats in 
this township, and very beautiful situa- 
tions for houses. The timber, which 1 is 
large m proportion to the richness of the 
soil, is- here enormous, though princi- 
pally maple, poplar, and beech, I am 
satistied many of these trees arise with- 
out a branch one bundred feet from the 
earth; and are, at a man’s height, from 
thirty. to thirty-three feet in cireumfe- 
tence. We measured one, a chesnut, 
rudely enough to be sure, but so as to 
give an idea of its girth, thus:—One of 
eur party had a common one-horse- 
chair whip, to the lash of which | tied 
my pocket (a commen bandanna silk) 
handkerchief, yet the whole would not 
circumscribe the tree. In Jefferson 
there is a beautiful Hemlock grove, of 
from five to eight huadred acres. This 
to wh-lot, 
township is so exactly in the centre of 
Guaga, one of the new counties into 
which Trumbull has been divided, that 
there is no doubt of its being, during the 
next summer, made the seat of justice for 
that county. In consequence of this 
expectation, aad of the other advantages 
which it possesses, the whole of the bay tle 
ship, except three hundred acres, retain= 
ed by the original proprietor, has been 
purchased by z a company, who have laid 
it out in she following manner, viz. one 
hundred aud fifty lots of two acres each, 
in the centre of the township, forms the 
town of Jefferson; the unmediate sur 
rounding property is divided ito three 
hundred lots of eight acres each, and the 
land situate further from the centre into 
one hundred and fifty lots of eighty acres, 
each shate-holder being entitled to one 
two eight-acre lots, and one 
eighty-acre farm. Five acres inthe town 
are set aside for public buildings. There 
are also six open squares in different 
parts of the town, of half that size. Four 
two-acre town-lots are set apart for the 
endowment of a school; one is given toe 
the first Christian consregation estab- 
lished therein, and one to a person whe 
erects a brick tavern of certain dimen- 
sions. The iatter lot has been accepted, 
and the building 1s about to commence; 
nor can any doubt be entertained of the 
advantage of the situation by those who 
consider the importance of the fisheries 
between’ Grand river and Ashtabula, 
which hereafter must supply the Ohio 
country, or the quantity of lake-salt, both 
of which will necessarily pass through 
Jefferson. There are at this moment 
but eleven resident families in this town- 
ship; twenty-four are about to remove 
thence from Maryland this spring, a few 
from this district and Virginia, and seve- 
ral from the states of Cennecticut and 
New Jersey. Jefferson, therefore, bids 
fair soon to be an important town. 
Eighty-acre lots in Jefferson are now 
on sale, at five doilars the acre; town= 
lots, in,good situations, at twenty dollars 
the quarter of an acre, and the field-lots 
are considered as well worth ten dollars 
each. 
It is a beautiful ride of twelve miles 
from Jefferson to Lake Erie, on whose. 
shore we arrived the 16th of May. In 
order to arrive at this immense inland 
sea, we had to cross the Ashtabula river. 
It divides the township of Jefferson from: 
that of Ralfsville, so called after the 
eldest son of Gideon Granger, the present 
post-master-general of the United States. 
Ki 
ee 
