I had hardly finish’d this business, and got my fort well stor’d with provisions, when I receiv’d a letter from the governor, acquainting me that he had call’d the Assembly, and wished my attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that my remaining there was no longer necessary.  My friends, too, of the Assembly, pressing me by their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and my three intended forts being now compleated, and the inhabitants contented to remain on their farms under that protection, I resolved to return; the more willingly, as a New England officer, Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our establishment, consented to accept the command.  I gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before them, and introduc’d him to them as an officer who, from his skill in military affairs, was much more fit to command them than myself; and, giving them a little exhortation, took my leave.  I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had undergone.  The first night, being in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different from my hard lodging on the floor of our hut at Gnaden wrapt only in a blanket or two.

While at Bethlehem, I inquir’d a little into the practice of the Moravians:  some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to me.  I found they work’d for a common stock, eat at common tables, and slept in common dormitories, great numbers together.  In the dormitories I observed loopholes, at certain distances all along just under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of air.  I was at their church, where I was entertain’d with good musick, the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets, etc.  I understood that their sermons were not usually preached to mixed congregations of men, women, and children, as is our common practice, but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other times their wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little children, each division by itself.  The sermon I heard was to the latter, who came in and were plac’d in rows on benches; the boys under the conduct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a young woman.  The discourse seem’d well adapted to their capacities, and was deliver’d in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, to be good.  They behav’d very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within doors, or not allow’d sufficient exercise.

I inquir’d concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report was true that they were by lot.  I was told that lots were us’d only in particular cases; that generally, when a young man found himself dispos’d to marry, he inform’d the elders of his class, who consulted the elder ladies that govern’d the young women.  As these elders of the different sexes were well acquainted with the