White Sulphur papers; or, Life at the springs of Western Virginia

EMIGRATION. 73
to
the country they were going to, and what they
intended to do, when they got there.
I came upon a party one day, who had been bivouacing,on
the side of the way; it turned out to be a
whole neighbourhood, from one of the eastern counties
of Virginia, on their way to Ilhnois.
with them all
They had
their farming utensils and furniturespinning
wheels, churns, and the like. The boys (a
number of them) who were large enough, were supplied
with guns, and they walked after the wagons
and furnished the game. The old patriarch of the
party, with whom I conversed, said it went very
hard with him to leave old Virginny, but the lands
they had just quitted, were worn out, and would not
produce sufficient support for their families, which
were large. They had collected several hundred
dollars among them, and were going to buy
and cultivate new lands in Illinois. The old man
was quite pleased and surprised, when I mentioned
tliat
the emperor of China ploughed a furrow once
a year, from respect to the farmers and agriculture,
and calling the attention of one of the boys near
him, he said, "Do you hear that, sir—that the king
of China was a farmer? and if you keep straight,
you may be the president of the United States yet"
-nothing more true than the old man's last remark;