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For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

MY FIRST VISIT TO PETERBORO.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ: MY DEAR SIR:
—After an hour's ride on the rail road from
this city, I was landed at Canastota, and two
hours more, by sleigh over high snow drifts for
nine miles, I was set down at a rickety looking
place called a tavern. If it had been most any
other place than Peterboro, I should have said
it lived by selling the infernal article which
causes so much trouble and loss of life at the
far west. Such were the indications inside as
well as out. It required positive information
to remove this impression. The "home" con-
tains about eighty houses, generally small, but
neat and comfortable. Very many of these
homes are the gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Smith to
the present occupants. They stand most of them
on the south side of the Park, which extends
the length of the Village.

The place takes its name from Peter Smith,
father of Gerrit, who bought form the Oneidas
sixty thousand acres of land more than a half
century ago, laid out the town, and built the
house now occupied by his son, the world re-
nowned and loved Gerrit. May he live to oc-
cupy it a half century to come!

This house has lately undergone most thor
ough repairs, having been enlarged, macadem-
ized, &c., with all the improvements of warming
and ventilation. Its amplitude partakes of the
heart and mind of its owner. Gerrit Smith,
from home, is seen and heard, to be loved and
admired; Gerrit Smith, at home, settles this
love into a conviction; you instinctively ven-
erate the man, for that noble simplicity which
governs all things within and without. You
see and hear, yourself to become a better man.