Examples of credulity are not rare. Yesterday a woman was deriving liberal emolument in town from fortune-telling, and from her supposed sagacity in knowing every thing respecting stolen goods. She also pretended to have the faculty of discovering springs of water and metallic ores, by means of the divining rod. Her speaking in the German language led me to suppose that she is descended from that part of Europe, where _Rhabdomancy_[73] {128} is prevalent. Almanack predictions of the weather are works of reference. I have seen several family registers of marriages, and the births of children, in which the sign of the zodiac in which the sun was, at the time of the particular events, is recorded. The positions are believed to have propitious or baneful influence on the fate of the individual. In some parts of the Union, what are called snake-stones are relied on as certain cures for the bite of the reptile, and of mad dogs, in opposition to the remonstrances of medical men. Such articles of belief having gained ground, a suspicion arises that the culture of the mind is much neglected, but unfortunately the position is established by more direct evidence. During my very short stay in this place, I have seen persons applying to others to read the addresses on packages of goods, or letters, and the sign-boards of merchants. A newspaper, in bewailing the want of schools, feelingly observed, that “the Ohian is in many cases growing up to manhood, with scarcely any other intelligence than that derived from the feeble light of nature.”[74] Books are scarce. I have seen a biography of General Washington; some notices of the military and naval characters of America; a history of the war; the Pittsburg Navigator; and some small almanacks more frequently than any others. The advertisements of booksellers indicate that they deal in romance. Many of the people are not in possession of a copy of the _Apocrypha_; of course such Jewish stories as the Idol Bel, or Susanna and the elders, are not often made the topics of conversation.[75] {129} _January 14._ To-day I met with one of the passengers who came over with me in the ship Glenthorn. He has settled with his family about twenty-five miles from this place, having bought an hundred and seventy acres of land, fifty acres of which are cleared and fenced. There is a house, two barns, and a young orchard on the property. For the whole he paid seventeen hundred and twenty-five dollars, and can rent it out at twelve and a half per cent. on the price. He said that he meditates making another purchase, and that he does not regret having left his native country.