EMIGRATION OF YOUNG MEN FROM NEW ENGLAND.

49

CHAPTER III.

Emigration of Educated Young Men from New England-Maine Twenty-five Years ago-He determines to go West-His setting out-His Letters Home, describing his Journey to Cincinnati, and thence to Natchez-Notice of his Uncle, Rev James Lewis-Obtains a situation as Teacher.

ET. 18-19. 1827.

A PERSON who had never examined the subject, would be surprised at the number of educated young men of New England, who annually go forth to seek their fortunes in other parts of the land. Sons of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine, fill no small portion of the offices of trust and honor throughout the new sections of the Union; they are also found occupying the highest positions in neighboring States, and in the middle and southern members of the Old Thirteen. It was stated, several years ago, that thirty Representatives, in the Lower House of Congress, were natives of Connecticut, although Connecticut was, at that time, entitled to but two or three members; and this instance is, probably, no unfair specimen of the general fact.

Fronting the old world—the home of modern civilization; trained in habits of free, Christian thought; deeply imbued, too, with the spirit of virtuous intelligence and mental progress, New England must, for ages, continue to be a chief seat of American culture. From this hive of States and Statesmen, young men of superior talent, education, and

to

practical energy, will still swarm to near and distant parts of the Republic-to Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota ; New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and California—there to win the prizes of wealth, honor, and renown.

Maine, a quarter of a century ago, held out small attractions to talent and enterprise in any of the great spheres of intellectual life. The professions were crowded to excess. Large numbers, therefore, of the young men, who had received a liberal education, emigrated to other parts of the country, especially to the West and Southwest; some with a view of returning in a few years; but the most for the purpose of seeking a permanent home. The West and Southwest then seemed a hundred times further off than they do now; indeed, so rapidly have railroads, steamboats, and telegraphs, brought the most distant parts of the Continent into neighborly contact, that California and Oregon now appear nearer to Maine than Ohio and Mississippi did twenty-five years ago.

Before leaving College, young Prentiss had formed a plan of going to the New States; but no specific point of settlement was fixed upon, nor was he decided, on starting, whether he should remain, or return, after a few years, and make his home in his native State.

How well I remember the scene of his bidding us adieu, and going forth in quest of fortune! It was a beautiful afternoon, in the last month of summer; the wagon and Old Gray were at the door; a huge trunk, filled with a two years' outfit, and many a token of maternal and sisterly affection, was in its place; amid numerous tears, the farewell embrace was given; then, climbing quickly to his seat, his manly countenance bright with hope, and followed by devout benedictious, he rode away towards Portland. I was just old enough to feel the romance of the scene, without appreciating its import; and, were I to live a

thousand years, the pleasing, strange emotio as of that hour would not be forgotten. Indeed, if I were now to witness one quietly departing for the moon, it could hardly appear so wonderful as his setting out for the Far West then seemed to me.

He proceeded to Boston the same night, and remained there, visiting a class-mate, and other friends, nearly a week. Unfortunately, his letter from Boston is lost. Of his journey from thence to Cincinnati, the following letters give his own description :—

то HIS

MOTHER.

MY DEAR MOTHER:

NEW YORK CITY, August 9, 1827.

I sit down this evening to write to you, as I promised you I would upon my arrival in New York. You have, probably, before this time, received the letter I wrote you from Boston. I went to Mr. F.'s the same day it was dated-stayed there that night, and also the next day. I was very much pleased with them. Mr. F. appeared like an old acquaintance, though I never saw him before. I shall always remember their kind attention and hospitality. I left Boston yesterday morning at three o'clock, in the stage for Providence; arrived at P at ten in the forenoon; went immediately on board the steamboat for this city, and arrived here at six this morning. The distance from Boston to Providence is forty-two miles, and from Providence to New York something like two hundred and forty,—so that in little more than twenty-six hours I came almost three hundred miles. Yesterday morning I was in Boston,-this morning in New York. From Providence, on board the steamboat, it was very beautiful; Long Island being continually in sight on one side, and the shores of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, upon the other. For about fifteen miles before arriving in the city, the scenery-especially upon the mainland sideis superior to anything I had ever imagined. It seemed like one vast garden; and the eye could hardly be kept at rest upon any

single object—even for a moment- so many others were contin ually courting the view. I could count, and distinctly see, from the boat, more than a hundred beautiful country-seats-large and elegant, and situated in the midst of luxuriant groves. These superb seats pleased me much more than the city itself—though the vastness of that astonished me. The view of it, however, on entering the harbor, is very much injured by its low situation, as you can see but a small portion of it at once. The City Hall is the most elegant building I have ever seen,—far superior to anything in Boston: and the Battery is a delightful place for a walk. I am now at the American Hotel, in Broadway-the most fashionable street in the city. At dinner to-day we had plenty of fruit, peaches, musk-melons, water-melons, &c. I wish I could send some of them to the children.

I have concluded not to go to Paterson, but shall leave the city to-morrow morning for Albany. I shall make no stay, I believe now, except to see the Falls of Niagara, as I am very anxious to get to the end of my journey, and to know whether or not I shall be able to do anything.

I called this forenoon upon Mr. Fessenden,*-the gentleman to whom Mr. Pierce gave me a letter of introduction. I found him very polite and affable. I sat and talked with him about an hour on various subjects, and when I rose to come away, he told me he would give me a letter to a gentleman-a friend of his-in Cincinnati. He, accordingly, wrote me one; and, upon looking at it, I found it was directed to Mr. Wright,† a lawyer— the same one to whom I told you I should be glad to have a letter. He says in it, he was 66 very much pleased with the young gentleman's manners and address;" don't laugh now-for these are his very words.

I called also at Mr. S.'s, where I drank tea, and from whence I have just returned. They were very agreeable, indeed, and made a thousand inquiries about Gorham, and their friends there. Mrs. S. says she was always acquainted with you from a child-asked a great many questions about you-and desired

Thomas Fessenden, Esq.

Nathaniel Wright, Esq.

to be particularly remembered to you, as did also the rest of the family.

I have now written you a long letter, and as I shall not probably stop, perhaps I shall not write again till I get to Cincinnati. You must (one of you) write now, so that I may hear very soon after my arrival. My love to all the children, and to all my friends-and now good night to you all.

Being obliged to stay in this village* a day, waiting for the steamboat to go up the Lake, I thought I would not omit so good an opportunity for writing-though I told you on leaving New York that I should not probably write again till I arrived at the end of my journey.

The next morning after I wrote you from New York, I started for Albany in one of the steamboats up the North River, and reached Albany before dusk the same day. This was far the most interesting part of my route. When about twenty or thirty miles from the city, we passed what are called the Palisades—a vast range of cliffs extending about a dozen miles along the right bank of the river, and varying from 300 to 1,200 feet in perpendicular height. They receive their name from their regular and uniform structure, and are, altogether, very grand and beautiful. But they are far exceeded both in grandeur and beauty by the Highlands, which rise thirty or forty miles further up, and in the very wildest part of which-close upon the bank of the river is situated West Point, an important post, as you well know, in the revolutionary war. It is still strongly fortified, and is, also, the seat of the Military School established by the United States. It is, indeed, a most imposing situation, being many hundred feet above the river (which is here very

The city of Buffalo had, in 1850, a population of 42,000.