1829 February 16, Woodbourne, to Brother, Philadelphia

              Woodbourne 2 mo 16 1829



Dear Brother:



I tho't it ye less necessary to take a formal leave of thee before my departure from ye City, as I had a prospect of revisiting you, before ye lapse of a very long period of time. I therefore was not satisfied with bidding thee farewell, thro’ ye medium of thy "better half". No material incident occurred during my journey hither. We were amused by ye remarks and minute observations of one of our fellow passengers, a young man of respectable appearance, probably 25 years of age, who, as I understood him to say, had never before been 14 miles from Philadelphia and had never seen a mountain. As we approached the Blue Ridge, his curiosity seemed on tip toe. The most novel circumstance that I have heard of having taken place during my absence from Woodbourne, in a hunt after wild boars. G. Walker shot one during ye day which was occupied in the chase. I will give thee an idea of other enjoyment that we may have in ye country, in Winter, by transcribing an extract of a letter from an accomplished young lady of the City of N. York to her friend at Woodbourne, who has permitted me to enter it, in my diary: "I have just returned from a visit to ye country, and have been indulging my taste for Winter scenery, checked vegetation and leafless tress to perfection. I had not indeed ye warmth of a good Schuylkill coal fire, to counterbalance ye want of which, I adopted ye beautiful sentiment of ye late Dr. Drake, "to make our climate in ye heart, & I feel 'tis Summer there."  what delightful privileges we have in ye country.  in ye gay Metropolis, we cannot as there, throw round our shoulders, ye old cloak, pitch on ye slouched hat, & slip on ye leather shoes-, then, race off, with ye freedom of untamed savages.  no, my dear, ye glass must be consulted with percision, ye dress arranged for observation,- ye hop, skip & jump, exchanged for ye measured step, or mincing gait, & a certain air of nonchalance, thrown over ye whole exterior."-  a few days after my return hither, E. Walker reached home.  ye joy of ye family was extreme, on again seeing him, after an absense of 7 mos.-  his seemed equally keen.  whatever may be his deficiencies, he is certainly a most affectionate father, & ye attachment between ye different members of his family, seems to be mutual.  this feeling extends even to the servants.-  a pleasing instance occurred on my arrival.  a nice little Germantown girl, was ye first to see me.  she ran eagerly to inform the family, but so excited were her feelings, that she cd. only say, Mr. Cope, Mrs. Cope, unaccompanied with any explanation of ye cause of her agitation.  they inform me that she shed tears on my leaving them for Philada.-  in my intercourse with ye head of the family, here