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76  Juvenile Letters.

a place of much greater resort, on account of its being considered more healthy, and having better accommodations. 

There are several springs in this neighborhood, the water of which are similar in taste; but amongst them all, the sugar loaf spring is the greatest curiosity. The name describes the form of the rock; and the water formerly ran out at the top. There is now a crack in the rock, which prevents it from rising to its usual height.

From curiosity, and from hopes of benefiting health, a mixed multitude of almost all nations, assemble here in the summer season; the found, the halt, and the maimed. Around the spring, you may often hear the English, the French, the German, the Dutch, the Irish, the Scotch, and perhaps two or three Indian languages, all spoken at the same time. And, what surprises me, is, that here are several elderly people, born in this country, who cannot speak English at all.

This appears to be a place of dissipation. Gaming is very fashionable; and I am told that


Juvenile Letters.    77

that much money is spent in that way. At the house where we reside, a certain man lately came, with upwards of a hundred dollars, which he had earned in the laborious employment of teaching others; but had not, it seems taught himself better, than to be enticed away to a gaming house, where he was soon swindled out of the whole of it. The best part of this story is, that our landlady forced the simple man to work three days in the garden, to pay for his board.

There are several very large, convenient boarding houses here, with good accommodations. We are agreeably situated, at one of the best of them. The company, except ourselves, are chiefly from New-York; and are such as among whom I am happy to find I can gain instruction. We do not spend our time altogether idly; but work, read, and converse on important subjects.

Last Sunday, as there was no preaching near enough for me to attend, Mrs.S———, an amiable lady, to whom I feel greatly attached, lent me, from her little portable library, a volume of
G2 

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