Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/66

 pears, melons, cucumbers, pine apples, sweet potatoes, onions, &c. are plentiful beyond example.

The cleanliness and the civil address of persons who vend provisions in the market, are truly gratifying: if a speck is to be seen on the white apron of the butcher, it may be inferred that it came there on the same morning. Girls arrive on horseback, or driving light waggons, to sell vegetables, or the produce of the dairy. Many of these females, I am told, are the daughters of farmers who are in good circumstances. Here are none of the lazzaroni hucksters of fruit and sweet-meats, that form such a deplorable spectacle in the finest cities of Britain; nor of the miserables who rise earlier than the sun, to pick from amongst the ashes, the charred offal of their neighbour's fire.

September 3. To-day I have seen a man sprawling on the ground in a state of intoxication; he is a native of Ireland. This is the first instance of the kind which I have seen in America. From this incident, I do not mean to represent that the people here do not drink spirituous liquors. The truth is, that many drink of them almost the moment after they get out of bed, and also at frequent intervals during the day; but though this fact has been noticed, the first conclusion is nevertheless true, that excessive drinking is rare.

{37} The saw for cross-cutting timber for fuel, is a tool which, for superior expedition, recommends itself to joiners and others. The following figure is a representation of it.

AB is the blade, about thirty inches long, and about two inches broad. It is very thin, and its teeth are very slightly bent to the right and left, so that it makes a narrow cut, through which the slender blade moves with little