Harrisburg- P- Thursday- Eve-November-1st 1810-
Reading edition
It has been snowing fast all the afternoon & we found it very difficult travelling & were oblig'd to put up just in the edge of the town- It was Mr W's intention to cross the Susquehannah which is the other side the town- we shall not pass thro' it- We cross'd the Sweet Arrow, a little river about 8 miles from the Susquehannah— we cross'd it in our waggon-Mr Jeremiah Rees is our landlord- his wife is sick with a fever arising from the Hives at first- He has a sister who seems to take the direction of the female part of the business- She is a strange creature-
Friday morn- I have been very much diverted at hearing some part of her history which she told last night, after drinking a little too much I suppose-She says she has property if she is not married- she had her fortune told a short time since- & was told to think of a certain gentleman living about 300 miles off- which she did, & thought so hard that a drop of blood fell from her nose- She was telling Mrs Jackson of this & ask'd how far she was going- being told about 300 miles- well she said she really believ'd her oldest son was the young man she was to have, for he looks just like the one she thought of- The young man will be quite flatter'd no doubt—— We are all in tolerably good spirits notwithstanding we are unable to proceed on our journey- It still continues snowing, & we shall stay here till tomorrow morning & how much longer I do not know—— There was a cockfighting in the house last night & a great many of the "finest young men in the town" got so intoxicated as to be unable to get home without assistance—— M. V. D.