“The minister, a Presbyterian, was the grandson of a Frenchman. Coming back from church I observed that the doors of all the houses were closed. They remained so throughout the day. Mrs. B. and her daughters retired after dinner to read chapters of the Old and the New Testament. Throughout the United States this is the manner of observing Sunday. “The Valley of the Shenandoah is a most prosperous and healthful region. Tobacco, corn, flax and wheat are the principal crops. Twelve miles from Winchester I could have bought land for 50 shillings the acre, but nearer the town the price of cleared land is from three to four pounds. Several Europeans who have settled hereabouts have not succeeded well, and for the reason that they failed to discard European customs. It should not be overlooked that the price of labor and that of produce is in reverse proportion to what prevails in Europe. Here labor is high and market values, net, are low. An especial error of foreigners is the attempt to improve too fast. A Frenchman who has bought 300 acres of land thinks he has a ‘property,’ and goes to work on the grand scale. What with building and embellishments he is very apt to go bankrupt. There are men in this region who have made fortunes in land speculations. There is not a tavern at Winchester where land merchants may not be found. They are as enthusiastic in their offers as the women who sell toothpicks at the doors of Paris restaurants and cafés. An especially pleasing feature of their preliminaries is that they assure you their only motive is to make your fortune. I met one of these merchants who desired to enrich me, _nolens volens_, by selling me land at an excessively high price. “Winchester is destined to be a manufacturing town, and to a degree incalculable as soon as communication with the Atlantic coast shall have been established by means of the rivers or by canal. Already there is a famous carriage works at Winchester; and boots, shoes, and saddles are made there, which, for use and for style of workmanship, equal the product of the older cities. “I set out from Winchester for Bath at 4 o’clock in the morning, in order to be on the mountain before the sun was too high. A light fog covered the Valley, resembling transparent gauze, through which appeared the tops of trees, houses and cabins, the cabin chimneys already smoking. I observed that the squirrels were early awake. Coming to Bath, I found the great subject of talk was a duel lately fought and announced in the _Gazette_.” _IX._ _ISAAC WELD._ _1796._ _Hoe’s Ferry--Freshwater Oysters--Vicissitudes of Ferriage--By-Ways and Hospitality--The Northern Neck--Tappahannock--A Forest Fire--From Urbanna to Gloucester--Norfolk--Richmond--The Mocking-Bird--Frogs--Columbia--The Green Springs--The Southwest Mountain--Monticello--Lynchburgh--New London--Botetourt County--The Lower Valley--Lexington, Staunton, Winchester._ 1.