The Travellers

Edward and Julia worry that country life will cost them the pleasures they know in town. Their mother answers with plans for dancing and new companions, turning their objections into a lesson about judging unfamiliar experiences. Catharine Maria Sedgwick introduces this family conversation within a tale for young people, framed by the Sackvilles' journals of a tour through Niagara, the lakes, Montreal and Quebec.

Travel gives the family occasions to consider kindness, responsibility and the circumstances of others. When they learn that Mrs. Barton, a soldier's wife searching for her husband, has lost her savings through theft, Julia urges a visit. Edward wonders whether an earlier decision of his own contributed to the loss. The children's exchanges with their parents give the story its teaching purpose. Readers interested in early American children's fiction can follow how everyday amusements and encounters in unfamiliar places become subjects for moral reflection.