Name/Title
Goodwill NotesEntry/Object ID
002008Tags
William Bull and Sarah Wells Stone House AssociationScope and Content
Transcription: Sheet 10
Cannister of Choice tea, and a Due proportion of Refined Sugar, broke in Small Lumps for Use, to which We added, Elizabeth's Small tea Plate crowded full of Ribons, Small Pocket Knives, trinkets and toys, to be Distributed among the indian Women and Children Occasionally, and all was in Readiness for Us, as We met them in the Dusk of the Evening, on the Ferry Stairs, together with, two Blankets for Each Horse, One to be placed Under the Saddle, and the Other to be the Cover of all, and a pillow for Elizabeth to Ride On, to make Her seat, the Easier in travelling --- All of Which appears, noted in A Memorandum given to Us, as Our Bill of fare...
And Now, Our Dear girl, our adopted child --- As You have Done our Business, & have Been faithful to us, by Sacrificing inclination to duty, and after We had Detected Ourselves, in the Errors and folly, of imitating by insidious means, The flattery of High-life; Remorse --- Stimulated and Prompt us, to Act, & to Do Our Duty; And with the Providential aid, of Our Friends, in New York And Who, Also Crossed the Ferry & put up with us, On the Jersey side of the Hudson River, and assisted in fixing us off in the morning --- For as they Said, We "Were Doing the Business for them" --- When we parted With Melting hearts --- And their Sincere prayers, for Our Success --- We foged On --- For I Dare not allow my thoughts, to Reflect Back, on what had lately past; But kept Conversing on what appeared New to us on our path, as We Rode on --- and as Cheering as I could, to prevent Elizabeth's Spirits, from sinking Below par --- And thus We arrived the first Days Riding, to near the Cascade, or falls in the Ramapo Stream in the mountains where We put up, at a Hut, for the Night, --- And Early in the Morning of This Day, We started again -- And Grouping a Winding and Crooked passage ... through the Mountainous -- Hills and Vallies, Untill We Came through into "Wawayanda" Near the Mountain, Since Called, Sugar Loof, to an Indian -
Transcription: Sheet 11
Indian Village --- Where We Could not Learn any Intelligence, Relative to Our Expedition With Sarah from theme We foged on to Rumbouts Residence... yet no intelligence, We Conclude to keep On, to the Little village, and Residence, of these Our friends, and Natives of the Woods & Soil, Who Live about a Mile & half East from here, Where we proposed to put up for the Night and if no Satisfactory information Was to be, had to morrow We Would have Endeavoured to Reach the Tide Waters of the Hudson River --- And if all was still a Blank, We intended, to Hail the first Vessel, that Could take us to New York again, and in going this Circuit, should no information be obtained, relative to Our Concern, No Satisfactory truths transpire... --- Remorse Would have stung us Deeper & Deeper... And We must soon, have Spun Out, A Wretched Existence --- perhaps together --- And to Use Your Own Expressions... "As Life Loses its Sensible Charms... Death, Loses its terrours"!! ---
But to Return, to the Journal, of Our Journey --- As we Left Rumbouts Residence, and Was Approaching near the Fording place, at the Ripple, in the Otter Creek Stream the Opportunity Was favourable, as the Sun Was Yet Above the Horizon, to Ride a Little Out of Our Way, to Show Elizabeth, the Sequestered Spot, Which I had Selected for A Residence... When We Beheld these, Our Indian friends Which we feared on full Speed, As Runners, With some Disastrous News, Relative to our Hazardous Expedition ... But think, O think!! ... What Our Hearts felt, at So Sudden a transition from Fear to joy... By hearing All Was Well, & Sarah preparing for Supper... We Urged On, as these Men, Led the way and flew Before Us, to the Door, of this Spacious Hut ... and Which has terminated, perhaps, With the most Sincere Fidelity and purest Sympathy... commingling the Unaffected Joy & Sorrow Which flows Spontaneously, from the Sensible "Natural Body" Head & Heart ... As Appertaining to the Human Species ----- We Repeat it ... By Saying, Perhaps there Never - was -
