University of Virginia Library

The 20th October.

I do purpose to start to-morrow for the Massachusetts,
going by boat to the Piscataqua River, and thence
by horse to Newbury.

Young Mr. Jordan spent yesterday and last Night
with us. He is a goodlie Youth, of a very sweet and
gentle disposition; nor doth he seem to me to lack
spirit, although his Father (who liketh not his quiet
ways and easy temper, so contrarie to his own, and
who is sorely disappointed in that he hath chosen the
life of a Farmer to that of a Minister, for which he did
intend him) often accuseth him of that Infirmitie. Last
night we had much pleasant Discourse touching the
choice he hath made; and when I told him that perhaps
he might have become a great Prelate in the

Church, and dwelt in a Palace, and made a great Lady
of our Cousin, whereas now I did see no better prospect
for him than to raise Corne for his Wife to make
Pudding of, and chop Wood to boil her Kettle, he
laughed right merrilie, and said he should never have
gotten higher than a Curate in a poor Parish; and as
for Polly, he was sure she was more at home in making
Puddings than in playing the fine Lady.

“For my part,” he continued, in a serious manner,
“I have no notion that the Pulpit is my place; I like
the open Fields and Skie better than the grandest
Churches of man's building; and when the Wind
sounds in the great grove of Pines on the Hill near
our house, I doubt if there be a quire in all England
so melodious and solemn. These painted autumn
Woods, and this sunset Light, and yonder Clouds of
gold and purple, doe seem to me better fitted to provoke
devotional thoughts, and to awaken a becoming
Reverence and Love for the Creator, than the stained
Windows and loftie arched Roofs of old Minsters. I
doe know, indeed, that there be manie of our poor
busie Planters, who, by reason of ignorance, ill-breeding,
and lack of quiet for Contemplation, doe see
nothing in these things, save as they do affect their
Crops of Grain or Grasses, or their bodilie Comforts,
in one way or another. But to them whose Minds

have been enlightened and made large and free by
Study and much Reflection, and whose eyes have been
taught to behold the beautie and fitness of things, and
whose ears have been so opened that they can hear the
ravishing Harmonies of the Creation, the life of a
Planter is verie desirable even in this Wilderness, and
notwithstanding the toil and privation thereunto appertaining.
There be Fountains gushing up in the hearts
of such, sweeter than the springs of water which flow
from the hill-sides, where they sojourn; and therein,
also, Flowers of the Summer doe blossom all the year
long. The brutish Man knoweth not this, neither doth
the Fool comprehend it.”

“See now,” said Polly to me, “how hard he is upon
us poor unlearned folk.”

“Nay, to tell the truth,” said he, turning towards
me, “your Cousin here is to be held not a little accountable
for my present inclinations; for she it was
who did confirm and strengthen them. While I had
been busie over Books, she had been questioning the
Fields and the Woods; and, as if the old Fables of the
Poets were indeed true, she did get Answers from
them, as the Priestesses and Sybils did formerlie from
the rustling Leaves of Trees and Sounds of running
Waters; so that she could teach me much concerning
the uses and virtues of Plants and Shrubs, and of

their time of flowering and decay, of the nature and
habitudes of wild Animals and Birds, the changes of
the Aire, and of the Clouds and Winds. My Science,
so called, had given me little more than the names of
things which to her were familiar and common. It
was in her companie that I learned to read Nature as
a Book always open, and full of delectable teachings,
until my poor school-lore did seem undesirable and
tedious, and the verie Chatter of the noisie Blackbirds
in the Spring Meadows more profitable and more
pleasing than the angrie disputes and the cavils and
subtilties of schoolmen and divines.”

My Cousin blushed, and, smiling through her moist
Eyes at this language of her beloved friend, said that
I must not believe all he said; for, indeed, it was along
of his studies of the heathen Poets that he had first
thought of becoming a Farmer. And she asked him
to repeat some of the Verses which he had at his
tongue's end. He laughed, and said he did suppose
she meant some lines of Horace, which had been thus
Englished, —

I am exceedingly pleased, I must say, with the prospect
of my Cousin Polly. Her suitor is altogether a worthie
young Man, and, making allowances for the uncertaintie
of all human things, she may well look forward
to a happie Life with him. I shall leave behind me on
the Morrow, dear friends, who were Strangers unto me
a few short weeks ago, but in whose joys and sorrows
I shall henceforth always partake, so far as I do come
to the knowledge of them, whether or no I behold their
Faces anie more in this life.