This volume (23 pages) contains a narrative of Jared Willard's travels from Madison, Connecticut, to Buffalo, New York, via railroad and the Erie Canal, as well as a later shopping list and genealogical information about the Field and Wilcox families. In the first 13 pages, Willard recounts the first part of his 1833 trip with Leander Foster to the "western country," where they distributed religious tracts entitled "The Life of Christ," published by Deacon N. Whiting of New Haven, Connecticut. The pair began their journey at Madison on the Tryon, and a day later reached New York City, where they stayed long enough for Willard to make a brief record of his impressions of the "respectable" metropolis of just over 200,000 people. From there, the men took the Sandusky up the Hudson River to Albany, and embarked on a railroad journey to Schenectady; during this stage of the trip, the author noted several aspects of the railroad's construction, designed to accommodate both steam- and horse-driven carriages. After begin accosted by canal boat representatives at Schenectady, Willard and Foster made their way along the Erie Canal via several different boats to Buffalo. The remainder of the volume is occupied by a one-page account of household goods, complete with prices (March 26, 1841); genealogical information regarding the Field, Kelsey, and Wilcox families; and an inventory of fruit trees in a Connecticut orchard. Among the volume's several enclosures is a playful recipe for "Composition Cake," which lists parts of speech among its primary ingredients; this was composed by M. E. Redfield and E. W. Tucker for a publication called "School Echoes."
