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REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

county, where

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.

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VOI. XII.-NO. 2.

EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

PHILADELPHIA, JULY 13, 1833.

From the United States Gazette.

LAYING THE CORNER STONE OF THE GIRARD
COLLEGE FOR ORPHANS.

The Committee of City Councils appointed to super
intend the building of the GIRARD College for On-
PHANS, having completed their preliminary arrange.
ments, determined to lay the corner stone of that edi-
fice, dedicated to the public good, on the anniversary
of the nation's independence. Notices were therefore
issued to all the city officers, members of Councils and
many other citizens, to join in the interesting ceremo-

nies.

On Thursday 1st, the 4th instant, in compliance with special or general invitations, between 11 o'clock A. M. and noon, a large concourse of citizens assembled at the site of the College, and in due time the committee of arrangements called the people to order, and the work which constituted the attraction of the occasion commenced. The immense block of marble called the corner stone, was raised by means of sheers, and lowered into its appointed place. The architect, Thomas U. Walters, and the superintendent, Jacob Souders, announced that it was in its proper position. The deposits were then made, and a large slab of marble was placed upon the corner stone, and the two carefully cemented. The architect then announced to the building committee that the cornerstone of the College was duly placed. John Gilder, Esq. chairman of the building committee, announced in an appropriate manner the completion of the work to the city authorities, and to the trustees of the college. Mr. Gilder then made the following annunciation to the citizens.

We have deposited in this corner stone a copy of the will of Stephen Girard, the coins of the United States, one 5 and one 10 dollar note of Stephen Girard's Bank, bearing his signature; the newspapers of the day, and a scroll containing the following

INSCRIPTION:

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Samuel Badger,
Peter Christian,
William Duane,

Joseph Watson,

NO. 289.

Joseph Burden, Jonathan K. Hassinger, and

Michael W. Ash.

Select Council.

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nia.

Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. the 24th day of May, 1750; his first landing in the Stephen Girard was born at Bordeaux, in France, on United States was at the port of New York; the seat of his residence and successful enterprizes was the city of Philadelphia, where he died on the 26th day of December, 1831, devising, for the benefit of society, the most splendid donation that philanthropy had ever devoted.

This College, a portion of the beneficence of Stephen Girard, for the education of poor male orphans, was endowed by him with two millions of dollars.

When the work was completed, and the completion formally announced, the company listened with admiration to the following

ADDRESS,

BY NICHOLAS BIDDLE, Esq. Chairman of the Trustees of the Girard College for Orphans, pronounced by request of the Building Committee, on the occasion of laying the corner stone of the edifice, July 4th, 1833.

FELLOW CITIZENS:-We have now witnessed the laying of the corner stone of the Girard College for Orphans. That stone, simple, massive and enduring, fit

emblem of the structure to be reared from it, and of the man whose name it bears, has been deposited in its final resting place. The earth received it. To-morrow the earth will cover it. Ours are the last eyes which shall look upon it, and hereafter it will lie in its silent repose, unmoved by all the revolutions of the changing world above it. And yet from out that depth is to rise the spirit which may more influence the destiny of ourselves and our children, than all else the world now contains. The seed that has been planted is of the tree of knowledge -that growth which gives to existence all that renders it attractive-flowers for our early youth-fruits in maturer life, and shelter for declining years. It is that knowledge, which trampling down in its progress the dominion of brutal force, and giving to intellect its just ascendency, has at length become the master power of the world. No people can now be distinguished or prosperous, or truly great, but by the diffusion of knowledge-and in the stirring competition of the roused spirits of our time, the first glory and the highest suc cess must be assigned to the best educated nation. If this be true in our relations abroad, it is far more true at home. Our institutions have boldly ventured to place the whole power of our country in the hands of the people at large, freed from all the great restraints which in other countries were deemed necessary. In doing this, their reliance is entirely on the general intelligence and education of the community, without which, such institutions can have neither permanence nor value. Their brilliant success has hitherto justified that confidence, but as our population becomes concentrated into denser masses, with more excited passions and keener wants, the corrective influence of instruction becomes daily more essential. The education then of the people, which elsewhere is desirable or useful, becomes with us essential to the enjoyment, as well as to the safety of our institutions. Our general equality of rights would be unavailing without the intelligence to understand and to defend them-our general equality of power would be dangerous, if it enabled an ignorant mass to triumph by numerical force over the superior intelligence which it envied-our universal right to political distinction, unless the people are qualified for it by education, becomes a mere abstraction, exciting only an abortive ambition. While therefore, to be uneducated and ignorant, is in other countries a private misfortune, in ours it is a public wrong; and the great object to which statesmen should direct their efforts is to elevate the standard of public instruction to the level,the high table land-of our institutions. It is thus that this day has been appropriately chosen for the present solemnity.

It is fit that the anniversary of that day when our ancestors laid the broad foundation of our public liberties -on that day when our countrymen, throughout this prosperous empire, are enjoying the blessings which these institutions confer, -we, in our sphere of duty, should comm nce this great work, so eminently adapt ed to secure and perpetuate them.

This truth no man felt with a deeper conviction than our distinguished fellow citizen, whose history, and whose design in founding this institution, may aptly occupy, for a few moments, our attention.

in impelling and regulating the multiplied occupations of which he was the centre,--whose very relaxation was only variety of labor, he passed from youth to manhood and finally to extreme old age, the same unchanged, unvarying model of judicious and successful enterprize. At length, men began to gaze with wonder on this mysterious being, who, without any of the ordinary stimu lants to exertion, urged by neither his own wants, nor the wants of others, with riches already beyond the hopes of avarice, yet persevered in this unceasing scheme of accumulation; and possessing so much, strove to possess more as anxiously as if he possessed nothing. They did not know that under this cold exterior, and aloof in that stern solitude of his mind, with all that seeming indifference to the world and the world's opinions, he still felt the deepest sympathy for human affiction, and nursed a stronger, yet a far nobler and wiser ambition to benefit mankind, than ever animated the most devoted follower of that world's applause. His death first revealed, that all this accumulation of his laborious and prolonged existence, was to be the inheritance of us and of our children,-that for our and their comfort, the city of his adoption was to be improved and embellished, and above all, that for their advancement in science, and in morals, were to be dedicated the fruits of his long years of toil.

It required the self-denial of no common mind, to resist the temptation of being himself the witness and the administrator of this bounty, and to have abstained from enjoying the applause of his grateful countrymen, who would have acknowledged with affectionate respect, the benefits which they derived from him. Yet even this secret and prospective munificence must have bad its charm for a mind like his; and we may well imagine that the deep and retired stillness of his spirit was often soothed with the visions of the lasting good, and perhaps, too, of the posthumous glory, which he was preparing Such contemplations he might well indulge, for to few have they been so fully realized. From the moment that foundation stone touched the earth, the name of Girard was beyond the reach of oblivion. From this hour, that name is destined to survive to the latest posterity, and while letters and the arts exist, he will be cited as the man who, with a generous spirit and a sagacious foresight, bequeathed, for the improve. ment of his fellow men, the accumulated earnings of his life. He will be remembered in all future times by the emphatic title with which he chose to be designated and with which he commences his will--a title by which we ourselves may proudly recognize him as "Stephen Girard of the city of Philadelphia, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Merchant and Mariner" the author of a more munificent act of enlightened charity than was ever performed by any other human being.

His, will indeed be the most durable basis of all human distinction-a wise benevolence in the cause of letters. The ordinary charity which feeds or clothes the distressed, estimable as it is, relieves only the phy. sical wants of the sufferer. But the enlightened bene. ficence which looks deeper into the wants of our na-. ture-which not merely prolongs existence, but renders that existence a blessing, by pouring into these recesses of sorrow the radiance of moral and intellectual culti Of these, now that the tomb has dissipated all the il-vation-this it is which forms the world's truest benelusion which once surrounded them, we can speak with the impartiality of history; and here, on this chosen spot, the scene of his future fame, we may freely bestow on his memory the homage which his unassuming nature would have shunned while living.

We all remember, and most of us knew him. Plain in appearance, simple in manners, frugal in all his habits, his long life was one unbroken succession of intense and untiring industry. Wealthy, yet without indulging in the ordinary luxuries which wealth may procure-a stranger to the social circle-indifferent to political distinction-with no apparent enjoyment except

factor, and confers the most enduring of all fame. His glory is the more secure, because the very objects of that benevolence are enabled to repay with fame, the kindness which sustains them.

It is not unreasonable to conjecture that in all future times, there will probably be in existence many thousand men who will owe to Girard the greatest of all blessings, a virtuous education; men who will have been rescued from want and perhaps from vice, and armed with power to rise to wealth and distinction. Among them will be found some of the best educated citizens, accomplished scholars, intelligent mechanics,

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distinguished artists, and the most prominent statesmen.
In the midst of their prosperity, such men can never
forget the source of it, nor will they ever cease to min-
gle with their prayers and to commemorate with their
labors, the name of their great benefactor. What hu-
man being can be insensible to the happiness of having
caused such a succession of good through remote ages,
or not feel that such applause is more grateful than all
the shouts which ever rose from the bloodiest field of
battle, and worth all the vulgar fame of a hundred con-
quests!

The general design and the resources of the institu-
tion are proportioned to its purposes, and characteristic
of him who did nothing which he did not do well.
After the building shall have been completed, there
will remain the annual income from two millions of dol-
lars, now yielding $102,000, and if these funds should
be inadequate for all the orphans applying for admission,
the income of nearly all the remainder of the estate is to
be appropriated to the erection of as many new build-
ings as his square in the city would have contained. So
that, in general, it may be stated with reasonable confi-
dence, that when all the buildings are ready for the re-
ception of the pupils, there will be available for the
maintenance of the institution, an income of not less
than one hundred thousand dollars, which may be in-
creased to at least two hundred and twenty thousand

dollars.

incentives were wanting, may serve to stimulate the sense of public duty in those who administer the institution, to render it worthy of their own children.

For this purpose, happily, it is only necessary to fulfil the design of the founder, which provides ample means and expressly enjoins the employment of them, to give every kind of liberal and useful instruction.

They would much err, who, comparing this institution with any ordinary standard, regard it as an almshouse or a poorhouse, in which a certain number of pauper boys, housed together, to be kept from harm, are to receive some hasty rudiments of instruction, and then to be thrust out on the world to make way for a similar swarm of unfortunate children. By no means. The comprehensiue benevolence of Girard looked to higher and better things. It is not a poor school nor a charity school, nor a free school, in their ordinary ac ceptation. It is, as he denominates it, a "College." The peremptory prohibition that "no distinctive dress should ever be worn," reveals his purpose that these youths shall not be designated as objects of remark or contempt by their contemporaries-that they shall be distinguished only by their conduct, and shall not wear the livery even of charity. The instruction too required, is of the highest character, embracing almost every thing worthy of being studied in the circle of human knowledge. "They shall be instructed," says he, "in the various branches of a sound education, compreThese ample funds are to be devoted to the mainte- hending reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, geonance and education of "poor male white orphan chil-graphy, navigation, surveying, practical mathematics, dren." Of all the classes of human indigence there are astronomy, natural, chemical, and experimental philosonone more helpless and none more entitled to our sym-phy, the French and Spanish languages-(I do not for. pathies than these children of misfortune. They have bid, but I do not recommend the Greek and Latin lanlost their natural protectors. The arms which have guages)-and such other learning and science as the hitherto embraced and sustained them, have been fold- capacities of the several scholars may merit or warrant.” ed in death. They began life in comfort, perhaps in This excludes nothing-nay, it embraces every thing affluence; but now they stand alone, abandoned and necessary to form a well educated man. How far this helpless, to struggle against the world's coldness, with instruction is to be carried-whether when the degrees precarious means of subsistence, with no means of in- of talent and disposition come to be analysed, some are struction, and treading on that narrow and slippery to be instructed up to the point of their appropriate caverge which too often separates want from crime. From pacity, while the more intelligent and more diligent are this friendless condition,they are rescued by the benevo- to be carried into the higher regions of science, are lence of Girard, who not merely provides the means of questions of future administrations, to be decided by subsistence, but redressing the wrongs of fortune, raises experience. But it is manifest that all the means of them at once in the scale of being, and qualifies them to education, thorough, perfect education; are to be probe useful members of that society which they would vided; that every facility for the acquisition of know. otherwise disturb or corrupt. ledge should be at hand; nor is there any reason why the Girard College-liberally endowed beyond all example-should not be superior to any existing establishment, in the talents of its professors or the abundance of its means of instruction; and with the blessing of God, so it shall be. There shall be collected within these walls all that the knowledge and research of men have accumulated to enlighten and improve the minds of youth. It will be the civil West Point of this country, where all the sciences which minister to men's happiness, and all the arts of peace, may be thoroughly and practically taught. Its success will naturally render it the model for other institutions-the centre of all improvement in things taught no less than in the art of teaching them-the nursery of instructors as well as pupils; thus, not merely accomplishing the direct benefit of those to whom its instruction extends, but irradiating by its example the whole circumference of human knowledge.

How wide the limits of that benevolence may be, it is impossible to conjecture. If the imperfection of language suggests a doubt as to the degree of destitution which makes an "orphan," the greater weakness of our nature forces upon us the melancholy inquiry,-what child is there who may not be a poor orphan? Who is there indeed among us whose children may not yet need the blessings of this institution? Let none of us in the confidence of prosperity deem his own offspring secure. Alas! all our prosperity is so vain and shadowy, and misfortune is so constantly in ambush to assail us, that it were presumptuous in any of us to suppose himself beyond the reach of vicissitudes, which would render such an institution the happiest refuge for his children. Yes, fellow citizens, this college is our own; the property of us all. It is intended to remedy misfortunes to which we are all equally liable. And it should be a source of great consolation to each of us, that if, in the ever-varying turns of human life, misfortune should overtake, and death surprise us, they who bear our names, and are destined to be the fathers of our descendents, will here find a home where they may be prepared for future usefulness, and become in turn the protectors and support of their more helpless relatives. Hereafter, thanks to the bounty of Girard, every father among us may, on his death-bed, enjoy the reflection, that although unprovided with fortune, there is secured to his sons that which is at once the means of fortune, and far better than the amplest fortune without it,a good education. This consideration, if any such

To this intellectual cultivation will be added that, without which all instruction is valueless, and all learningthe mere ability for evil-that moral discipline which makes men virtuous and happy at their own fire sides. "My desire is," says he, "that all the instructors and teachers in the college shall take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars, the pure principles of morality, so that on their entrance into active life, they may, from inclination and habit, evince benevolence towards their fellow creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry." When this harmony between the heart and the understanding ceases, mere knowledge is a curse,

and men become intellectual statues, with the perfect on the administration of it. For myself and my colforms of manly exterior, but cold, and selfish, and worth-leagues, to whom the high honor has been assigned of less to the community which endures them. Our youth sharing in that administration, I can only say, fellow citoo will not fail to be deeply imbued with that enthusiastic devotion to republican government, and that knowledge of his public rights and duties, which should form the basis of the American character. It is thus that the founder strictly enjoins "that by every proper means, a pure attachment to our republican institutions, and to the sacred rights of conscience as guaranteed by our happy constitution, shall be formed and fostered in the minds of the scholars."

Nor need there be any dread that such an education will disqualify them for their pursuits in after life. In this country all pursuits are open to all men, nor need the humblest citizen despair of the highest honors of the republic. They err who suppose that because men are instructed, they may desert the ordinary walks of employment. There never can be such an over education of the mass of the people. Men labor not for a want of knowledge, but for the want of bread. The cultivation of the mind, like the cultivation of the soil, only renders it more productive, and knowledge becomes the best auxiliary to industry by rendering the laborer more intelligent and more ambitious to excel. The youths thus instructed will go forth into the various pursuits of life, many of which are in their nature mechanical; but they will begin with the disposition and the power not merely to excel in them, but to rise beyond them; and they will emerge from their workshops, as their countrymen, Franklin, and Rittenhouse, and Godfrey, and Fulton did before them, reaching all the distinctions of the state which may be honorably won, by talents and character.

That the scene of so many blessings may be appropriate to them, it is intended to make this structure worthy of its great object;-worthy of the name of its founder, and of the city which he was so anxious to em. bellish. Among the sciences most needed in this country, where individual wealth is hastening to indulge its taste, and where every state and city and county requires extensive public buildings, is architecture. Indispensable in the rudest forms of life, it becomes the highest ornament of the most enlightened. In every state of its progress, the style of its public works displays the character of the nation which rears them. Disproportioned and grotesque among a course and unlettered people-in nations more advanced, often over ornamented with the gaudy profusion and the caprices of tasteless wealth-it is only when sustained by the public spirit of a community at once enlightened and generous, that architecture attains its highest glory-a refined simplicity. Of that perfection it is proposed that this structure shall present a model, the equal at least of similar works in any other country, and not unworthy of the best days of antiquity-a structure which will at once gratify the honorable pride of every citizen of the United States, and form the best study for all the branches of industry connected with architecture.

The enjoyment of so many advantages devolves on us, fellow citizens, the duty of great care and vigilance to preserve them.

tizens, that we have assumed the trust with the deepest sense of its responsibility, and a determination to execute it in the spirit of enlightened benevolence which animated the founder; and we shall in our turn retire from it, with the hope that our fair city may always find successors who to equal zeal, add greater ability to serve it.

Under such auspices, we confidently trust that all the expectations of the founder will be realized. With this delightful anticipation, we now invoke the blessing of GoD on this great undertaking.

In the name of Stephen Girard, of the city of Philadel phia, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Merchant, and Mariner, we lay the foundation of this Girard College for Orphans. We dedicate it to the cause of CHARITY, which not only feeds and clothes the destitute, but wisely confers the greatest blessings on the greatest sufferers;

To the cause of Education, which gives to human life its chief value;

To the cause of Morals, without which knowledge were worse than unavailing; and finally,

To the cause of our Country, whose service is the noblest object to which knowledge and morals can be devoted.

Long may this structure stand, in its majestic simplicity, the pride and admiration of our latest posterity; long may it continue to yield its annual harvest of educated and moral citizens to adorn and to defend our country. Long may each successive age enjoy its still increasing benefits, when time shall have filled its halls with the memory of the mighty dead who have been reared within them, and shed over its outward beauty the mellowing hues of a thousand years of renown.

SKETCH OF THE PROPOSED BUILDING.

The College is located on a tract of land containing forty-five acres, formerly known by the name of Peel Hall, situated on the Ridge road, 14 miles from the city. This estate was purchased from Mr. William Parker, by Mr. Girard, a short time before his death, for the purposes of the college.

The building is peripteral, being 160 feet front, by 217 feet on the flank, including the porticoes.

The columns are six feet in diameter at the base, and 54 feet 6 inches high, including capitals and bases. The order is Grecian Corinthian, from the monument of Lysicratus, or Lantern of Demosthenes at Athens.

The superstructure reposes on a casement, in the form of a truncated pyramid, composed of 12 steps surrounding the whole building. The passage between the columns and the walls of the cell is 15 feet.

All the columns, entablature, and pediment, are to be composed of white, and the cell of light blue marble. The floors, and stairways, are also to be composed of marble.

The vestibules are each 26 by 48 feet: they are orAfter bestowing upon our city this rich inheritance, Gi-namented with 16 rich Ionic columns, antæ, and entarard adds this emphatic declaration. "In relation to the blature, supporting a ceiling embellished with lacunari. organization of the College and its appendages, I leave Each story contains four rooms 50 feet square in the necessarily many details to the Mayor, Aldermen, and citizens of Philadelphia, and I do so with the more confidence, as, from the nature of my bequests and the benefit to result from them, I trust that my fellow citizens of Philadelphia will observe and evince special care and anxiety in selecting members for their City Councils and other Agents.'

That the generous confidence with which he has thus committed to us the execution of his great designs, should never be betrayed, we owe equally to the name of the founder and to the interests of our posterity; as the whole value of this institution will depend entirely

clear. The two rooms across the south end of the first story, are divided from each other by marble columns, and entablature of the Corinthian order, so that they may be used as one room, for the purpose of exhibitions, &c.

The whole building is to be heated by means of furnaces placed in the cellar.

The college is located parallel with the city streets, fronting the south. The land at the base of the building is 26 feet above the reservoir on Fair Mount. The whole height of the edifice is 97 feet, making the elevation of the roof 123 feet above the said reservoir.

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Among the interesting objects exhibited at Peel Hall, on Thursday, on the occasion of laying the corner stone of the Girard College, was a piece of sculpture worthy of notice in itself, but especially to be admired when considered in reference to the age of the artist.

It was a small basso relievo of Mr. Girard, from Otis's likeness, done on marble, by a lad about 16 years of age, named WILSON, an apprentice, as we learn, in the marble cutting establishment of Mr. Sailor, in the north western part of the city. The likeness of Mr. Girard was, so far as we could judge, fully equal to Otis's portrait, and the work was finished with taste. We have seen nothing of late that reflected more credit on an artist than does this juvenile attempt of Master Wilson. We are sure from the commendation bestowed on the work, and the admiration excited by the faithfulness of the likeness, that the matter will be in good hands, and that the capacities of the boy will be more fully inquir-¦ ed into, with a view towards an improvement of his extraordinary talents.-U. S. Gazette.

From the Columbia Spy.

YORK BARRENS.

Such is the title given to a considerable section of
land situated in the south-eastern part of York county.
As the unfortunate title has given the place a worse
character than it really merits, perhaps some of the rea-
ders of the Spy may be gratified with a brief sketch of
the country, the people, their customs and manners.
The townships of Chanceford, Lower Chance ford,
Town, Peachbottom, Hopewell, and part of Windsor,
comprise what is usually denominated the "Barrens of
York," containing in 1830 a population of more than
8000 souls. The soil generally is gravelly and poor, in-
terspersed here and there with farms of undulating sur-
face, and soil loam of good quality. The title is not de-
rived-as most persons suppose-from the sterility of
the soil; but from the circumstance that some 100 years
since, the Indians, for the purpose of improving it as a
"hunting ground," subjected the whole face of the
country to fire as often as they deem it necessary to do
so; and when it became in possession of the whites,
nothing but barrens on every side were presented to the
view-hence the name. As an evidence that it has un-
dergone this fiery ordeal, it is only necessary to say,
that large quantities of land which twenty years since
were clothed with barrens, are now thickly covered
with thriving young timber.

It is a district of country well watered with durable
streams, many of them large enough for water power of
every description. Grist and saw mills, oil and fulling-
mills, are numerous, still many eligible sites remain un-
improved. The principal mineral discovered is iron
ore, for the manufacturing of which, there are two Fur-
naces in Chanceford, and a Forge (Castle-Fin) in Lower
Chanceford.

The greatest natural curiosity is the "Narrows" of Muddy creek, situated on the Baltimore road, about a mile south of the confluence of the two streams, (Big and Little Muddy creeks.) The road crosses the streams near their junction, and with a steep ascent for more than a mile winds its way through scenery that is in a peculiar manner, wild, bold, picturesque, and ro. mantic. On the top of the hill for about two hundred yards is the narrow pass; which is not more than ten or fifteen feet in breadth. On the right hand about three hundred feet almost perpendicularly below, flows Litthe Muddy creek due north. On the left flow their united streams directly south to the farthest extremity of the pass; where they abruptly turn to the east and smoothly glide toward the Susquehanna. On the left the descent is still more precipitous, so much so as to produce giddiness in most persons who venture too near

the brink.

In Peachbottom township slate is found in great abundance and of an excellent quality fer roofing. A chain

of mountains-though omitted in most maps-enters this township, (having passed through North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland,) and passes on to the Susquehanna-traverses Lancaster county between Pequea and Octorara creeks-forms the boundary between Montgomery and Berks, and reaches the Delaware between Northampton and Berks. Pursuing a northeast course through New Jersey, it enters New York between the sources of the Wallkill and Passaic rivers-forms the Highlands near West Point-and enters Canada un. der the name of the Green Mountains.

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The inhabitants are principally of Scotch and Irish descent, and for sobriety, industry, and purity of morals, are not surpassed by any body of people in the Union. Every landholder lives by the sweat of his brow. Slavery is almost unknown among them. They appear to have adopted the admonition given by Trapbois to Glenvarlock—“The wise man is his own best assistant,' and are aware that no man is truly independent, who depends on the labour, or fidelity, of others, for his comfort. Their system of farming heretofore adopted is a bad one, and one that has tended much to impoverish the soil. Having an abundance of woodland, the practice was to clear a field every season. Wheat is universally the first crop sown on the new land. average crop is from 18 to 20 bushels per acre. The second crop is rye. Corn follows, and then oats. This is the usual course. It is then left out for a year or two, and the course begins again, until it will produce nothing. More recently, as they have improved their system of farming, the face of the country begins to wear a more favorable aspect, and from their persevering industry and habits of economy, all of them live comfortably, and many of them have become quite wealthy.

The

Huskings, choppings, and quiltings are frequent among them. At the former the neighbors meet at dark; the corn having been previously pulled, and hauled in a pile near the crib. The hands join it, the comic story and the loud laugh are heard. The whiskey bottle goes round often, but seldom are any seen intoxicated. Four or five hundred bushels are husked by nine or ten o'clock. A plentiful supper is provided, and the frolic ends with some kind of play-mostly one called "The Brogue," at which those that are not expert are soon heartily beaten. At the latter the ladies spend the afternoon in quilting the gentlemen assemble early in the evening-a fiddle is generally provided, and they are soon seen

"Tripping on the light fantastic toe." This is the only amusement of which they seem to be immoderately fond, and many of them have acquired an ease, and grace in their movements, that are not often surpassed.

Education, there, as in most country places, is too much neglected. All however endeavor to give their children the rudiments of an English education, and many of them are taught the classics. They have ge. nerally a good classical school, at which several young men are annually fitted for college. Students from there have generally been distinguished at college, and some of them have taken the first honors. Many of them are now located in different sections of the Union, honorably and profitably pursuing their various professions. The most distinguished of whom are Senator Rowan of Kentucky, and James Ross of Pittsburg.

In a word, the inhabitants, in the aggregate, are kind, hospitable, and rather intelligent. I know of no place where the valetudinarian, or the man wearied with the toils, and vexations incident to a bustling world, could retire for a time, with more prospect of advantage. The pure fresh mountain breezes, and the icy coldness of their limpid bubbling springs, impart a salutary and invigorating effect to the former; while the turbulent passions of the latter are delightfully calmed, as he traverses their interminable forests, admiring the works of nature, or pursuing the different varieties of game that sport upon their boughs, and gambol in their shades:

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