“I ought long since to have informed you, that you were elected a member of our Philosophical Society—I wish you would favour us with a communication, on any subject you please. Pray let me hear from you, before you leave Baltimore. Have you any account from Virginia? I am, dear sir, yours with respect and sincerity.
“David Rittenhouse.
“Andrew Ellicott, Esq. Baltimore.”
This boundary-line was begun in May, 1785, by Messrs. Rittenhouse, Ellicott, Porter, and Nevill; assisted by the present Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, then a youth about nineteen years of age, whose medical and other scientific acquirements rendered him, even at that early period of life, an useful associate of the commissioners. Mr. Nevill (who was employed on the part of Virginia) left the other commissioners late in August; and Mr. Rittenhouse, about the middle of September.[[220]] Dr. Barton remained until some time in October, when these operations ceased for that season. The line then wanted about 55⅓ miles of being completed: and this part of it, to its intersection of the margin of Lake Erie, was finished in the following year, by Col. Porter and Alexander Maclain, Esq.[[221]]
It will be readily conceived, that a person of Mr. Rittenhouse’s delicate constitution, and regularity in his mode of living when at home, must have experienced much inconvenience and felt many privations of comfort, while climbing rugged mountains, traversing vast uncultivated forests, and sleeping in a tent, for successive months, as he was necessarily obliged to do, when employed on occasions of this kind. For, although the government afforded to the gentlemen engaged in these arduous services, very liberal accommodations, there were, nevertheless, numerous conveniencies which the nature of the duty to be performed rendered unattainable. Yet it is a fact, that Mr. Rittenhouse always returned from these excursions with a better stock of health, than he sat out with; notwithstanding the hardships he sometimes endured, and the many unpleasant circumstances in regard to weather, diet, bedding, &c. which he was compelled to encounter. The two following letters, written by him to his wife, while he was engaged in the service of establishing the boundary-line last mentioned, will enable the reader to form a pretty good judgment of the kind of life he then passed. They will at the same time serve to shew, in some degree, the bent of his mind and the disposition of his heart.
The first of those letters, dated at “Wheeling Creek,” June 30th 1785, is in these words.
“My dearest H,
“I have not heard one word from Philadelphia, since I left you. About a month ago I wrote to you from Union Town, and I promise myself a letter from you by the first messenger from that place, who is now daily expected. To-morrow Mr. Armstrong sets off for Hanna’s Town, where he expects to meet brother Isaac Jacobs, so that I write in confidence of my letter reaching you.
“If I were to view only the dark side of my situation, I should complain that I am here secluded from the society of those I love, deprived of books and every other of my most favourite amusements; confined to homely fare by day, and a hard bed at night; and obliged, by our business, to take rather too much exercise. But these inconveniences are in some measure counterbalanced by several advantages: I am not condemned to hear that eternal din for money, which it pains me to think you are every day perplexed with;[[222]] politics have no existence here; constant and regular exercise causes me to sleep much better at nights, than I did at home;—we have a woman to cook for us, so that our bread is good, and every thing else tolerable. Colonel Porter is attentive, and cousin Benjamin[[223]] has recommended himself as an agreeable companion, to all of us; and I could almost call Mr. Ellicott a congenial soul.
“I ever delighted in a wild uncultivated country; this is truly romantic, and, at this season of the year, beautiful and luxuriant in the highest degree. A few days ago, I walked up a little rivulet, in company with Mr. Ellicott, for a considerable distance, in order to enjoy the romantic scene. It was bounded on each side by steep hills of an immense height: its bottom was finely paved with large flag-stones, rising in steps, with, every now and then, a beautiful cascade. The further we went, the more gloomy and cool we found it. At last, I advised Mr. Ellicott that we should proceed no further; for, if we did, we should in all probability find some of the water-goddesses,—perhaps stark naked and fast asleep. Mr. A—— went with us, for company-sake; but neither the nymphs nor their shady bowers have any charms for him.[[224]]—Nothing but your company was wanting to me, to heighten the enchanting scene.