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game, the fertile soil yields abundant crops; he has, of course, bread, milk, and butter; the rivers furnish fish and the woods honey. For these various articles, there is, at first, no market, and the farmer acquires the generous habit of spreading them profusely on his table, and giving them freely to a hungry traveler and an indigent neighbor.

Hospitality and kindness, are among the virtues of the first settlers. Exposed to common dangers and toils, they become united by the closest ties of social intercourse. Accustomed to arm in each other's defence, to aid in each other's labor, to assist in the affectionate duty of nursing the sick, and the mournful office of burying the dead, the best affections of the heart are kept in constant exercise; and there is, perhaps, no class of men in our country, who obey the calls of friendship, or the claims of benevolence, with such cheerful promptness, or with so liberal a sacrifice of personal convenience.

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We read marvelous stories of the ferocity of western men. The name of Kentuckian is continually associated with the idea of fighting, dirking, and gouging. The people of whom we are now writing, do not deserve this character. They live together in great harmony, with little contention and less litigation. The backwoodsmen are a generous and placable race. They are bold and impetuous; and when differences do arise among them, they are more apt to give vent to their resentment at once, than to brood over their wrongs, or to seek legal redress. But this conduct is productive of harmony; for men are always more guarded in their deportment to

each other, and more cautious of giving offense, when they know that the insult will be quickly felt, and instantly resented, than when the consequences of an offensive action are doubtful, and the retaliation distant. We have no evidence that the pioneers of Kentucky were quarrelsome or cruel; and an intimate acquaintance with the same race, at a later period, has led the writer to the conclusion, that they are a humane people; bold and daring, when opposed to an enemy, but amiable in their intercourse with each other and with strangers, and habitually inclined to peace. Another generation has grown up, the sons of the pioneers, and the offspring of persons of wealth, many of whom have been suffered to reach the years of manhood with defective educations, and without having been trained to any regular employment, and among whom, as might be expected, are found idle, dissipated, and violent men-the gambler, the bully, and the duelist. The want of schools, the ease with which a livelihood was earned, and the rapidity with which fortunes were made, some years ago, induced a degree of improvidence in the rearing of youth; and the number of those who grew up without any regular training, or any settled purpose, was greater than is common in other parts of our continent. The effect upon the manners of the population, is too obvious to need explication. But the character for brutal violence and audacious blasphemy, has been affixed to the people of this region, chiefly through the means of the boatmen and desperadoes, who formerly infested our rivers, and kept the inhabitants of their shores in constant terror.

Before the introduction of steamboats upon this river, its immense commerce was chiefly carried on by means of keel-boats, or of barges-large boats, calculated to descend as well as to ascend the stream, and which required many hands to navigate them. Each barge carried from thirty to forty boatmen, and a number of these boats frequently sailed in company. The arrival of such a squadron at a small town, was the certain forerunner of a riot. The boatmen, proverbially lawless and dissolute, were often more numerous than the citizens, and indulged, without restraint, in every species of debauchery, outrage, and mischief. Wherever vice exists, will be found many to abet and to take advantage of its excesses; and these towns were filled with the wretched ministers of crime. Sometimes, the citizens, roused to indignation, attempted to enforce the laws; but the attempt was regarded as a declaration of war, which arrayed the offenders and their allies in hostility; the inhabitants were obliged to unite in the defence of each other; and the contest usually terminated in the success of that party which had least to lose, and were most prodigal of life and careless of consequences. The rapid emigration to this country, was beginning to afford these towns such an increase of population as would have insured their ascendancy over the despots of the river, when the introduction of steamboats, at once effected a revolution.

The substitution of machinery for manual labor, occasioned a vast diminution in the number of men required for the river navigation. A steamboat with

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the same crew as a barge, will carry ten times the burthen, and perform her voyage in a fifth part of the time required by the latter. The bargemen infested the whole country, by stopping frequently, and often spending their nights on shore; while the steamboats pass rapidly from one large port to another, making no halt, but to receive or discharge merchandise at intermediate places. The commanders of steamboats, are men of character; property to an immense amount is intrusted to their care; their responsibility is great; and they are careful of their own deportment, and of the conduct of those under their control. The number of boatmen is, therefore, not only greatly reduced, in proportion to the amount of trade, but a sort of discipline is maintained among them, while the increase of population, has enabled the towns to enforce the regulations of their police.

CHAPTER XI.

THE CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS.

As the western country became better known, report spoke goldenly of its fertility; and a casual reference to the map, was sufficient to show the great commercial advantages to be derived from the numerous and valuable streams, which intersect it in every direction; but there were many obstacles to its settlement. From a period shortly after the revolution, to the time of the embargo, in 1807, there was no reason to induce any class of citizens in the United States to emigrate; all were fully and profitably employed at home. The sanguinary wars, which spread desolation throughout the European continent, not only opened markets for all our surplus produce, but made us the carriers of other nations. Never did American enterprise shine more conspicuously, than in the improvement of these advantages; the art of ship-building was brought to a perfection unknown in any other country; our flag floated in every part of the world; there was no adventure, however novel or hazardous, which our merchants did not attempt; and our sailors displayed, on every occasion, the skill and boldness which has since made them conspicuous in the annals of naval warfare. Happily, too, those enterprises were generally successful. The consequence was, that every man engaged in commercial pursuits found sufficient employment for his capital, while the laboring classes received high wages, and

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