65. Send us More Children[223]
BY J. ALRICHS (1658)
Honorable, Worshipful, Wise, Prudent Gentlemen:
IN regard to the salt, which your Honors suppose s is
quite plenty at the Manhattans, you are mistaken. We have only
a hogshead and a half, and can hardly get any there for money.
Hardly a cup of salt can be had for extraordinary occasions;
this causes great discontent and uproar. In well regulated places
it happens that scarcity and want occur. Much more is this the
case in a colony far distant and newly begun. Such a colony
ought to be provided for one year with whatever is not produced
there or procured easily from others.
Little or no butter is to be had here, and less
cheese.[224] Whenever any one is about to go
on a journey he can get hardly anything more than dry bread, or he must
carry along a pot or kettles to cook some food. Therefore, as a
reminder, I say once more that it would be well if some rye meal,
cheese, and such things were sent in all the ships. As horses are
required here for agriculture, means should be found of sending a good
supply of horses.
In regard to the fort, it is in a great state of
decay.[225] I have resolved on building a
house of planks about fifty feet in length and twenty in breadth; also I
have had one-third of the house, in which I have been lodging very
uncomfortably, repaired, yet the greater part of it is still so leaky
that it is only with great difficulty that anything can be kept dry. We
shall be obliged to pull down and rebuild the soldiers' barracks
immediately.
I had expected, at least, a supply of provisions in the ship
which had just arrived. There is a set of insolent fellows on board of
her who will not turn a hand to work if there be anything to do, and
there never is any one to be hired here for such work. Laborers will not
stir for less than a dollar a day. Carpenters, masons and other
mechanics earn four guilders;[226] this
amounts to much in extensive works.
There is no reason or plea for refusing to supply the settlers,
who have been here some time from our common store, in
exchange for their money. There is no merchant's store here,
and scarcely any one who has provisions for sale, for the daily
supply of the inhabitants; nay, not even bread, although there
are over six hundred souls in this place. Whoever has anything
will not sell it, and who so has none, cannot. Things are here in
their infancy, and demand time. Many who come hither are as
poor as worms and lazy withal, and will not work unless
compelled by necessity.
Send in the spring, or in the ships sailing in December, a large
number of strong and hard working men. Should they not be
forth coming at the right time, their places can be filled with
boys of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years and over. Bear in mind
that the boys be healthy and strong. Whatever is done here must
be done by labor.
The children sent over from the almshouse have arrived safely,
and were in such demand that all are bound out among the inhabitants;
the oldest for two years, most of the others for three years, and the
youngest for four years. They are to earn forty, sixty, and eighty
guilders during the period,[227] and at the
end of the term, will be fitted out in the same
manner as they are at present. Please to continue sending
others from time to time; but, if possible, none ought to
come under fifteen years of age. They ought to be somewhat
strong, as little profit is to be expected here without labor.
'Tis as yet somewhat too soon to send many women
or a multitude of little children; it will be more advisable and
safer when crops are gathered, when abundance prevails,
and everything is cheaper.
I might enlarge upon this account, but time does not permit,
as the sloop by which I send it, is ready to sail.
[[223]]
A letter written to the Dutch Company which had
charge of New Netherland, from the Manhattans, i.e. the present
city of New York.
[[224]]
The Dutch Colonists at first had few cows.
[[225]]
Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, on or near the
spot now called the Battery. The settlement here was begun about the
year 1613.
[[226]]
A guilder = forty cents.
[[227]]
That is, about $ 8.00 a year.