In "Some Glimpses of the Past," Miss Taber says: "But the chief business of most farmers was the fatting of cattle. The cattle were generally bought when from two to three years old, usually in the fall, kept through the winter and the following summer fattened and sold. They were the only things that did not have to go to the river to reach the market. From all over the country they were driven to New York on foot, and the road through the valley was the main thoroughfare for them. Monday was the market day in New York and all started in time to reach the city by Saturday. From Pawling the cattle were started on Thursday, and those from greater distances planned to reach this part of their journey on that day. It used to be said that the dealers could tell what the market would be in New York on the following Monday by watching the cattle that passed through Pawling on Thursday. The cattle were collected and taken to the city by drovers; theirs was a great business in those days. Hotels or taverns were provided for their accommodation at frequent intervals along the road. Ira Griffin was a drover and Mr. Archibald Dodge remembers when a boy going to New York with him and his cattle, walking all the way. There were also droves of cattle other than fat ones, on the road, some called store cattle, and the books of Mr. Benjamin V. Haviland, who kept one of the taverns, show that in the year 1847 there had been kept on his place 27,784 cattle, 30,000 sheep and 700 mules, and it is said that occasionally there would be 2,000 head between his tavern and that of John Preston's in Dover. When Mr. Albert J. Akin was a young man he was considered an expert judge and buyer of steers for fattening, and generally had the finest herd of fat cattle." This reference is to the business at its height and applies to the years 1800-1850. In the books of John Toffey's store are frequent references to the business. Interesting material is furnished for the study of the period of transition, in the records of the store kept by John Toffey at Site No. 53. These old day-books and ledgers are incomplete, but they cover spaces of time in the years 1814, 1824, 1833; and their account of the purchases made by John Toffey's customers furnishes a record, we may suppose, of the goods brought into the households on the Hill at that time, from other communities; as well as the actual exchange of commodities on the Hill, where at that time diversified industries were carried on. The growth of trade in these respects, from the period 1814-1816 to the period 1824-1833 will be considered in four lines, as it is exhibited in the commodities: first of Costume, second of Food and Medicine, and third of Tools and Material for Industry, fourth, of House-furnishings. It is assumed that John Toffey kept a representative store, and that the growth in his trade corresponded to the growth in the commercial interchange in the community.