She Soon Came, And After A Most Friendly
Altercation, I Gave Up The Point; Breakfasted, Departed, And In Four
Days Reached The City.
A week after news came that a vessel was arrived with Scotch
emigrants.
Mr. C. and I went to the dock to see them disembark. It
was a scene which inspired me with a variety of thoughts; here are,
said I to my friend, a number of people, driven by poverty, and
other adverse causes, to a foreign land, in which they know nobody.
The name of a stranger, instead of implying relief, assistance, and
kindness, on the contrary, conveys very different ideas. They are
now distressed; their minds are racked by a variety of
apprehensions, fears, and hopes. It was this last powerful sentiment
which has brought them here. If they are good people, I pray that
heaven may realise them. Whoever were to see them thus gathered
again in five or six years, would behold a more pleasing sight, to
which this would serve as a very powerful contrast. By their
honesty, the vigour of their arms, and the benignity of government,
their condition will be greatly improved; they will be well clad,
fat, possessed of that manly confidence which property confers; they
will become useful citizens. Some of the posterity may act
conspicuous parts in our future American transactions. Most of them
appeared pale and emaciated, from the length of the passage, and the
indifferent provision on which they had lived. The number of
children seemed as great as that of the people; they had all paid
for being conveyed here. The captain told us they were a quiet,
peaceable, and harmless people, who had never dwelt in cities. This
was a valuable cargo; they seemed, a few excepted, to be in the full
vigour of their lives. Several citizens, impelled either by
spontaneous attachments, or motives of humanity, took many of them
to their houses; the city, agreeable to its usual wisdom and
humanity, ordered them all to be lodged in the barracks, and plenty
of provisions to be given them. My friend pitched upon one also and
led him to his house, with his wife, and a son about fourteen years
of age. The majority of them had contracted for land the year
before, by means of an agent; the rest depended entirely upon
chance; and the one who followed us was of this last class. Poor
man, he smiled on receiving the invitation, and gladly accepted it,
bidding his wife and son do the same, in a language which I did not
understand. He gazed with uninterrupted attention on everything he
saw; the houses, the inhabitants, the negroes, and carriages:
everything appeared equally new to him; and we went slow, in order
to give him time to feed on this pleasing variety. Good God! said
he, is this Philadelphia, that blessed city of bread and provisions,
of which we have heard so much? I am told it was founded the same
year in which my father was born; why, it is finer than Greenock and
Glasgow, which are ten times as old. It is so, said my friend to
him, and when thee hast been here a month, thee will soon see that
it is the capital of a fine province, of which thee art going to be
a citizen: Greenock enjoys neither such a climate nor such a soil.
Thus we slowly proceeded along, when we met several large Lancaster
six-horse waggons, just arrived from the country. At this stupendous
sight he stopped short, and with great diffidence asked us what was
the use of these great moving houses, and where those big horses
came from? Have you none such at home, I asked him? Oh, no; these
huge animals would eat all the grass of our island! We at last
reached my friend's house, who in the glow of well-meant
hospitality, made them all three sit down to a good dinner, and gave
them as much cider as they could drink. God bless this country, and
the good people it contains, said he; this is the best meal's
victuals I have made a long time. - I thank you kindly.
What part of Scotland dost thee come from, friend Andrew, said Mr.
C.? Some of us come from the main, some from the island of Barra, he
answered - I myself am a Barra man. I looked on the map, and by its
latitude, easily guessed that it must be an inhospitable climate.
What sort of land have you got there, I asked him? Bad enough, said
he; we have no such trees as I see here, no wheat, no kine, no
apples. Then, I observed, that it must be hard for the poor to live.
We have no poor, he answered, we are all alike, except our laird;
but he cannot help everybody. Pray what is the name of your laird?
Mr. Neiel, said Andrew; the like of him is not to be found in any of
the isles; his forefathers have lived there thirty generations ago,
as we are told. Now, gentlemen, you may judge what an ancient family
estate it must be. But it is cold, the land is thin, and there were
too many of us, which are the reasons that some are come to seek
their fortunes here. Well, Andrew, what step do you intend to take
in order to become rich? I do not know, Sir; I am but an ignorant
man, a stranger besides - I must rely on the advice of good
Christians, they would not deceive me, I am sure. I have brought
with me a character from our Barra minister, can it do me any good
here? Oh, yes; but your future success will depend entirely on your
own conduct; if you are a sober man, as the certificate says,
laborious, and honest, there is no fear but that you will do well.
Have you brought any money with you, Andrew?
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