5

where I arrived to dinner. Patterson is a beautiful manufacturing town of
5 or 6 thousand inhabitants. It is 10 miles above New York with which it
has constant intercourse by means of daily stops, & a water communication
through the Hudson & the Passaic Rivers. The town is just below the falls of
the Passaic and has almost unrivalled advantages for manufacturing estab-
lishments. There are 14 or 15 of different kinds in operation at present. The
country is very hilly & romantic. There is a precipice just below the
falls of 60 or 70 feet perpendicular. I went to see it & stood on or near
the very spot from which Sam Patch made his first leap. The Morris
canal runs around the foot of a hill of 250 feet high just above the
town. I remained in Patterson till Wednesday morning, when I returned to
New York quite unwell. In the evening I sent for Dr George S. Bett[?]
(the Chapel Hill tutor) who gave me a dose of medicine which
somewhat relieved me. The next evening I felt so much better that in
spite of the Drs. remonstrances, I determined to take the Steam boat the
next morning I did so, & slept that night at Philadelphia & the next
at Baltimore. The next day being Sunday, & having to wait for a passage
to Norfolk till Monday morning, I went with a gentleman with
whom I had found a slight acquaintance in the Steam boat the
day before, to take a ride on the Rail Road. We got on a car
with 20 or 30 other persons & were carried by our house out to
Elllicott[miles?] 13 miles in 1 hour & 18 minutes & returned in 1 hour & 16 minutes [We?} changed the horse
at the halfway house. The ride was a most delightful one. A pleas[ant]
day, beautiful scenery & the most delectable of all motions [?]
jaunt a feast indeed. I got so well pleased with my companion
I resolved to go with him through Washington City & by the way of Fred-
ericksburg & Richmond, & Petersburg to L[?]burg. Accordingly we
left Baltimore after dinner, & went at a pretty rapid rate over an ele-
gant turnpike to Washington City. Next morning I went up to look
at the Capitol of the U.S. Saw the paintings in the rotunda; visited both
chambers, went on the top of the building &, but for a hazy day, might
have had a very grand view of all the surrounding greenery. At eleven
we left Gadsby's hotel, drove down to the Steam boat, in which we
went to the mouth of Potomac Creek, where we took the stage, supped
in Fredericksburg, rode all night, got to Richmond about 12 next day, and
to Petersburg between 2 and 4, got dinner, hopped in the stage again, traveled
all night & got home about 11 oclock the night after. I was very sick
nearly all the way after leaving Fredericksburg. When I arrived home I found
I had that most miserable disease, the Yellow Jaundice. So ends my story.