out long at a time. It is something of an exertion to leave the fire-side and face such a sharp frost.
Tuesday, 20th.—Growing milder. Cloudy; thermometer above zero at sunrise; at two o'clock it had risen to twenty.
Amused ourselves this evening by looking a little into the state of things in our own neighborhood, as reported by the last general Census; comparing the condition of our own county with that of others in the same State. The growth of the inland region, to which our valley belongs, will prove, in most respects, a good example of the state of the country generally. The advance of this county has always been steady and healthful; things have never been pushed forward with the unnatural and exhausting impetus of speculation, to be followed by reaction. Neither do we possess a railroad or a canal within our limits. We have not even a navigable river within our bounds; steamboats and ships are as great strangers as the locomotive. It will be seen, therefore, that we claim no striking advantages of our own, and what prosperity we enjoy, must flow from the general condition of the country, and the industry of our population. Improvement, indeed, has here gone on steadily and gradually, from the time when the valley was shaded by the forest, some sixty-five years since, to the present hour. And now let us see what has been done in that time.
The county is one of fifty-nine in this State; its area is 892 square miles, that of the State is 45,658 miles. The population of the county in 1840, the date of the following estimates, was 49,626 souls, that of the State, 2,428,292 souls. This is the nineteenth county in the State for extent, and the thirteenth for population. The people are scattered over the hills and valleys, in farm-houses and cottages, or collected in villages and hamlets;
