These Two Sentiments Are Inseparable, At
Least In My Breast.
I conceived your genius to be present at the
head of my study:
Under its invisible but powerful guidance, I
prosecuted my small labours: and now, permit me to sanctify them
under the auspices of your name. Let the sincerity of the motives
which urge me, prevent you from thinking that this well meant
address contains aught but the purest tribute of reverence and
affection. There is, no doubt, a secret communion among good men
throughout the world; a mental affinity connecting them by a
similitude of sentiments: then, why, though an American, should not
I be permitted to share in that extensive intellectual
consanguinity? Yes, I do: and though the name of a man who possesses
neither titles nor places, who never rose above the humble rank of a
farmer, may appear insignificant; yet, as the sentiments I have
expressed are also the echo of those of my countrymen; on their
behalf, as well as on my own, give me leave to subscribe myself,
Sir,
Your very sincere admirer,
J. HECTOR ST. JOHN. CARLISLE IN PENNSYLVANIA.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER
LETTER I
INTRODUCTION
Who would have thought that because I received you with hospitality
and kindness, you should imagine me capable of writing with
propriety and perspicuity? Your gratitude misleads your judgment.
The knowledge which I acquired from your conversation has amply
repaid me for your five weeks' entertainment. I gave you nothing
more than what common hospitality dictated; but could any other
guest have instructed me as you did? You conducted me, on the map,
from one European country to another; told me many extraordinary
things of our famed mother-country, of which I knew very little; of
its internal navigation, agriculture, arts, manufactures, and trade:
you guided me through an extensive maze, and I abundantly profited
by the journey; the contrast therefore proves the debt of gratitude
to be on my side. The treatment you received at my house proceeded
from the warmth of my heart, and from the corresponding sensibility
of my wife; what you now desire must flow from a very limited power
of mind: the task requires recollection, and a variety of talents
which I do not possess. It is true I can describe our American modes
of farming, our manners, and peculiar customs, with some degree of
propriety, because I have ever attentively studied them; but my
knowledge extends no farther. And is this local and unadorned
information sufficient to answer all your expectations, and to
satisfy your curiosity? I am surprised that in the course of your
American travels you should not have found out persons more
enlightened and better educated than I am; your predilection excites
my wonder much more than my vanity; my share of the latter being
confined merely to the neatness of my rural operations.
My father left me a few musty books, which his father brought from
England with him; but what help can I draw from a library consisting
mostly of Scotch Divinity, the Navigation of Sir Francis Drake, the
History of Queen Elizabeth, and a few miscellaneous volumes? Our
minister often comes to see me, though he lives upwards of twenty
miles distant. I have shown him your letter, asked his advice, and
solicited his assistance; he tells me, that he hath no time to
spare, for that like the rest of us must till his farm, and is
moreover to study what he is to say on the sabbath. My wife (and I
never do anything without consulting her) laughs, and tells me that
you cannot be in earnest. What! says she, James, wouldst thee
pretend to send epistles to a great European man, who hath lived
abundance of time in that big house called Cambridge; where, they
say, that worldly learning is so abundant, that people gets it only
by breathing the air of the place? Wouldst not thee be ashamed to
write unto a man who has never in his life done a single day's work,
no, not even felled a tree; who hath expended the Lord knows how
many years in studying stars, geometry, stones, and flies, and in
reading folio books? Who hath travelled, as he told us, to the city
of Rome itself! Only think of a London man going to Rome! Where is
it that these English folks won't go? One who hath seen the factory
of brimstone at Suvius, and town of Pompey under ground! wouldst
thou pretend to letter it with a person who hath been to Paris, to
the Alps, to Petersburg, and who hath seen so many fine things up
and down the old countries; who hath come over the great sea unto
us, and hath journeyed from our New Hampshire in the East to our
Charles Town in the South; who hath visited all our great cities,
knows most of our famous lawyers and cunning folks; who hath
conversed with very many king's men, governors, and counsellors, and
yet pitches upon thee for his correspondent, as thee calls it?
surely he means to jeer thee! I am sure he does, he cannot be in a
real fair earnest. James, thee must read this letter over again,
paragraph by paragraph, and warily observe whether thee can'st
perceive some words of jesting; something that hath more than one
meaning: and now I think on it, husband, I wish thee wouldst let me
see his letter; though I am but a woman, as thee mayest say, yet I
understand the purport of words in good measure, for when I was a
girl, father sent us to the very best master in the precinct. - She
then read it herself very attentively: our minister was present, we
listened to, and weighed every syllable: we all unanimously
concluded that you must have been in a sober earnest intention, as
my wife calls it; and your request appeared to be candid and
sincere. Then again, on recollecting the difference between your
sphere of life and mine, a new fit of astonishment seized us all!
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