University of Virginia Library

LETTER XXIV.

Now I do beg of you, my dear Nabby, never to joke
me, as you did in your last letter, about the Portland
beaux. Why, if I thought any thing about sich matters,
I would a great deal sooner marry Sam Josslyn.
He is educated enough to know the age of his cows
and oxen, to know how to cultivate a field of corn, or a
patch of potatoes; can read his bible, and say the ten
commandments, and what is better, Sam can keep them
all. Besides these accomplishments, you know Sam
has a snug little farm of his own, free from mortgages
or any other embarrassments, is sober, active, and industrious,
and I doubt not, has cast many a sheep's eye
at my good cousin Nabby. These are good substantial
prospects, which it is hardly worth while to overlook, and
which it would be rather difficult to find among the Portland
beaux. I have often heard uncle Joshua, who is now
the most wealthy man in Downingville, tell how he commenced

business with a capital of only one dollar, and
how some young wags of the village came in and made
a good deal of sport by purchasing up all his stock.
But he didn't care for their jokes, he added the profits
of his sale to his capital, and commenced business
again; and by good management, economy in his dress
and frugality in his living, he soon put himself beyond
the reach of want or waggery. I have always admired
the perseverance and economy of my good uncle, and
have contrasted it with the management of our Portland
merchants. They often commence business with even
less capital than uncle Joshua; but then their stock is
worth perhaps five or six thousand dollars. They cut a
great dash for a few months, and then, if they are unmarried,
begin to ogle the girls in order to choose a
wife. And what do you think are the requisites for a
wife here, Cousin Nabby? You say she must be capable,
neat, industrious and amiable. No indeed, my dear,
such things are scarcely ever thought of here. She
must have a smattering of French, must be able to drum
the music out of a piano, to sing and dance, or all in
one word, she must be genteel. Well, such girls are
plenty enough down here, and a wife is soon obtained.
They hire a large house, furnish it elegantly, obtain
servants, go to parties, balls and the theatre, make jams,
and morning calls, and then fail. The wife goes home
again to her mother's, with the addition of an innocent
babe, and the young broken merchant is off to the south
to look after business again. Now do you not think this
a refined and intellectual state of society? You will
not wonder that I am attached to the unsophisticated
manners and simple habits of our own village. Do not
think from what I have said, there are no people of intellect
here, for I assure you there is a choice brotherhood
whom we sometimes meet at social parties and
lectures, but they are so accustomed to the weak and
frivolous of our sex, that their conversation is almost
wholly confined to each other. Have you made any
additions to our little library since I left home? If you
are not too bashful, tell Sam to read these long winter
evenings, instead of spending his time in making axe
handles and goad sticks. Cousin Jack has got his head
so full of politics, that I doubt whether he sells one for
him, this winter. Tell Uncle Joshua if he has any
more apple sauce to sell this winter, to send it down in
the old lumber box by Ned, and if he must needs send
his letters to Jack through the Courier, be sure and not
to say one word about the apple sauce, for you dont
know how queer it looks to see governors and goadsticks,
politics and pan-dowdy, ballot-boxes and bean-poles,
all jumbled up together.