men, the quota of each county to be commanded by a lieutenant, and two sergeants of its own; the bare suspicion that some of the officers of the regiment were to act over them as captains, had almost the same effect on the men as a spark of fire on a train of gunpowder. It raised such a fermentation, as Col. Washington's positive declaration that they should not be commanded by any officers but these lieutenants, could scarce allay.
Although I have already been so prolix in these two letters, yet, lest you should have reason to charge me with harping only on the elegiac string, I must further inform you, which I do with great pleasure, that the bountiful Giver of all good things, has been pleased to cheer our spirits, under our misfortunes, with a prospect of almost unparalleled plenty and abundance for the current year. The last year's scarcity has made us much more provident than usual. Much larger fields of wheat, barley and rye last fall, and of oats this spring, have been sown, and much larger quantities of ground planted with Indian corn, than has ever, heretofore, been known. And, although it be too early in the season to form any judgment of the latter, yet, as the former will, in a few days, call for the sickle and scythe some weeks sooner than usual, which is an eminent instance of divine goodness, we can form a very good judgment of them; and unless some disaster befalls them between this and harvest, I may venture to say that more wheat, barley, rye and oats will be made here this year, than perhaps has ever been made in any two or three preceding years together; for, besides the quantities sown, the winter and spring have been so unprecedentedly seasonable, that the earth produces by handfuls. And as we have known the evil of a scarcity, though not want of bread, it is to be hoped the approaching
