The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-02 00:00:00

THE EMIGRANT'S LIFE.

The following article is extracted from an interesting
letter which appeared in last week's Stamford Mer-
cury :--

" Deerfield Cottage, Rattons Prairie,
March 24, 1846.
"We have had rather a long winter here, and much
more severe than the preceding one: cold weather pre-
vailed from the last week in November to the first of
this month, with a great deal of snow : it is now mo-
derate. _

"I will now endeavour to give you a brief sketch of
the manners and customs of this people, whose social
arrangements are so different to yours. It is very
frequently the case that the settler selects his location
in the midst of the unbioken forest, though there
are thousands of miles of rich prairie altogether
unencumbered with trees : he does so on account of
the facility thus afforded him in timber for building,
fencing, and firewood, by which he is saved a great
deal of labour. The settler (particularlarly if a Yankee)
is generally very expert with the axe, and commences
his clearing by cutting down such trees as are most
proper for building his house, which in most cases cone
sists only of one room for all purposes—, built of square
logs piled one upon another, and often without a win-
dow ; he consoles himself by promising that in a few
years he will build himself a better one, though he fre-
quently spends the whole of his life in this, unless, in-
deed, his family become large ; in which event he con-
structs another room similar to the one already de-
scribed. In such a situatian, you may conceive how
slow his progress must be ; yet he soon contrives to
break .gyp 19.nd sufficient to raise corn for the use of his
family. He has one great advantage in being able to
keep his stock of every description on the lands re-
maining unenclosed around him: his hogs will thrive
well on the acorns, nuts, and roots, to be found
in the woods; and he does not pen them up till he wishes
to fatten them in the fall of the year. He generally
plants an orchard, which soon becomes useful and pro-
duces him plenty of peaches in the course of three or
four years from the time of planting; while these are
coming to maturity, he grows melons of several kinds,
which do extremely well here, and are very nice and
cooling in the het weather. The apples in this country
are in great variety, and, generally speaking, far supe-
rior in size and flavour to those of England. The settler
keeps cows, poultry, one or more horses (for go where
'he may he invariably rides), and a small flock of sheep,
the wool from which his wife spins, dyes, and in many
cases weaves and manufactures into clothing for the
whole family; this article, which is generally dyed blue,
makes up into very neat dresses, and I assure you the
fitting of these garments reflects great credit on the fair
artiste,' whose life is by no means a sinecure.
" In the old country, from the crowded state of many
of the trades and professions, competition makes it diffi-
cult for a new beginner to succeed ; business will, no
doubt, be considerably depressed until the corn-law
question is settled : the farmers will be for a time panic-
struck, and have as little wok done as po:sible ; but
this will right itself in the course of a short time.
" As to the advisibility of persons coming out to this
country, it entirely depends upon circumstances : I
believe this to be a locality in which, in point of money,
few men get rich ; but it is certainly one in which no
industrious sober man need fear to obtain a livelihood :
nevertheless, I speak from experience when I say, let
all those who have a comfortable home, and acquire a

good living, with a reasonable prospect cf continuing to
do so, be content to remain where they are. It is a
very easy thing to break up a home, but often difficult
to establish a better : early associations never fail to
crowd upon us : we often think of our old and far distant
home, and more, much more than all, of those kind
and dear friends from whom we are separated perhaps
for ever. _

The class of persons to whom this country offers the
most decided advantages is the one whose early life has
been devoted to the cultivation of land : the young agri-
cultural labourer in England, though he be ever so in-
dustrious and frugal, if he marries and bas a family,
with all his striving, can scarcely keep himself above
pauperism ; he could manage a little land, but that is
not to be got ; and it is a thousand to one if ever he gets
to occupy an acre. He must work, always work, for a
master, and think himself fortunate that he can be so
employed : he must sometimes submit to the most de-
grading servility, and be studiously careful not to offend
even by accident: in short, he must be the patient drudge
toiling on through life with scarcely a hope of bettering his
condition. Here the cage is widely different; if em-
ployed as a labourer, his employer treats him as an
equal ; he always takes his meals at the same table
with his master, and is treated with respect and cour-
tesy; hfiasmwialy7santod heaossoon a
canspes he wishesndmoreto theto mtn ee
commence
of his
owt accountcan
gethefi here,nds b uatt
alitltoiow
rent,
as ty farmingr on hisespectingland,
as much he wishes; or if be be able to purchase, he has
plenty of choice : he may thus acquire a good living,
with something more in time, besides having the plea-
sure of seeing a good prospect for his children around
him.
" With respect to the expense incurred in coming out
here, it is difficult to say what it amounts to; much de-
pends upon the distance the emigrant may have to travel
in the country after he has crossed the ocean: unex-
pected delays will sometimes occur, which occasion much
trouble, expense, and vexation. I think the cost from
first to last might be set down at about ten pounds per
individual ; for though it cost me considerably more, I
have no doubt there are some who perform the journey

for less.
" The natural productions of this climate in the way
of wild fruit are the vine, which flourishes here in the
greatest luxuriance, bearing grapes of excellent flavour :
wild plums are also found in the woods. lam sorry to
add that currants and gooseberries do not thrive well
here: the summer I think is too hot for them."

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.

John Connelly, a lad, was charged before Mr. Alderman
Moon with embezzling 101. 2s , the amount of four Post-
office money orders he was intrusted to receive for his em-
ployer, Mr. Cleave, a bookseller, in Shoe-lane, Fleet.street.
Mr. Cleave stated that the prisoner had been in his service
about five weeks, when, on the 2d of June, he sent him to
the Post-office to receive the amount of some money orders.
As the prisoner did not return in reasonable time, the com-
plainant became alarmed, ascertained he had received the
money, and gave notice to the police. As the Whitsun
holyday fairs were then being held, constables were dis-
patched to Greenwich and Stepney, but nothing was heard
of the prisoner till he surrendered to the police voluntarily
on Monday night.
E. J. Andrews, policeman 227, said the prisoner came up
to him and asked him to give him a lodging. Witless
asked him for what reason. The prisoner said he had been
in the service of Mr. Cleave, and had run away because he
had lost 101., the amount of some Post-office orders, out of
his pocket. Witness asked him where he had been? He re-
plied he had been to Uxbridge.
A clerk from the Post-office proved the cashing of the
orders. _ _ _

Wlprisoner, in
The prisoner, in his defence, repeated the story that he had
lost the money through a hole in his pocket on his return
from the Post-office. He missed the money on Ludgate-hill,
and returned to the Post-office by the same route in the hopes
of finding or hearing of it.
Mr. Cleave did not give any credit to this story. He was
a sharp lad, and would have given notice to the police.
Mr. Alderman Moox asked what wages were given to the
lad ? Mr. Cleave said lie had 10s. per week. He supposed
the prisoner was living at home with his father, but this was
not the case.
Mr. Alderman' Mintra asked if he required any character
with him when he engaged him ? Mr. Cleave stated that
he had a very good character with him. The prisoner had
been trusted with money at his former place, but he had
been out of place some time.
Mr. Alderman Moorr questioned the lad closely as to what
he had been doing from the day he started off.
The prisoner said he walked immediately to Uxbridge, and
slept in the hay-fields two nights. He then obtained two
days' work at a Mr. Smith's at Southwell, and received half-
a-crown a day. He 'continued to sleep in the fields, and sold
his boots and other things to obtain victuals.
Mr. Alderman Mom said, if it was true that the prisoner
sought and obtained work two days after he left town, it was
strongly corroborative of the truth of his statement that he
had really lost the money. If he had stolen the money, he
would have had some left two days after he ran away. It
was important for the character of the lad, as well as the
attainment of justice, that the case should be cleared up, and
he therefore directed that the officer should write to the in
spector of the T division, stationed at Uxbridge, begging him
to cause inquiry to be made whether the prisoner had worked
for Mr. Smith, and whether he appeared to bedestitute, or to
have means. He was anxious that the truth of the prisoner's
story should be completely tested, and he remanded him
Saturday.

WORSHIP-STREET.
An elderly woman named Mary Roscoe and her son, Jere-
miah Roscoe, were placed at the bar before Mr. Broughton,
charged with stealing a vast quantity of miscellaneous pro-
perty from the premises of their late employer, Mr. Lancelot
Rowlandson, an extensive carpet and furniture warehouse-
man in the Whitechapel-road.
Mr. Wakeling conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Pelham
attended on behalf of the prisoners.
The prosecutor stated that the prisoners had been upwards
of two years in his service, the woman being employed to
make up bed-ticks and bed-furniture at her own residence,
and the male prisoner as a mattrass-maker on the premises
at Whitechapel. During the time they were so in his service
he missed property at various intervals in a most unaccount-
able manner, to an extent, he was satisfied, of nearly 1,5001.,
and in Easter week, having received information with regard
to its disappearance which deeply affected the character of
one of his shopman, named Hutchinson, he discharged him
from his service. His suspicions had not at that time rested
upon either of the prisoners; but in consequence of some-
thing which transpired he found it necessary to employ the
police, and both the prisoners were in consequence taken into
custody.
Thomas Hutchinson, the discharged shopman of the prose-
cutor, was now called, and stated that at the commence-
ment of the present year overtures were made to him by the
female prisoner to induce him to connive-at the surreptitious
abstraction of goods from his employer's warehouse, to
which he, with some hesitation, ultimately acceded, and the
prisoners were afterwards in the habit of almost daily carry-
ing off pieces of carpeting, bed-furniture, Irish linen, and
other property, wrapped up in bales of cotton the prisoners
had to manufacture at the house of the female prisoner's