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AMERICAN    NOTES 


FOB 


GENERAL    CIRCULATION. 


By  CHAELES  DICKENS. 


WITH  A  FRONTISPIECE  BY  C.  STANFIELD,  R.A. 


LONDON : 
CHAPMAN   AND    HALL,   186,    STRAND. 


MDCCOL. 


iondom: 

BBASBCKT  AUD  EVANS,   PKIWTEKS,  WBITEFBIARS. 


I  DEDICATE  THIS  BOOK 

TO  THOSE  FRIENDS  OF  MINE  IN  AMERICA, 

WHO, 

GIVING  ME  A   WELCOME   I   MUST   EVER   GRATEFULLY  AND   PROUDLY 
REMEMBER,  , 

LEFT  MY  JUDGMENT 


TEEE; 


AND  WHO,  LOVING  THEIR  COUNTRY, 


CAN   BEAR  THE   TRUTH,   WHEN   IT   IS  TOLD   GOOD    HUMOUREDLY, 
AND    IN   A    KIND   SPIRIT. 


PEEFACE  TO  THE  CHEAP  EDITION. 


It  is  nearly  eight  years  since  this  book  was  first  published.  I 
present  it,  unaltered,  in  the  Cheap  Edition ;  and  such  of  my 
opinions  as  it  expresses,  are  quite  unaltered  too. 

My  readers  have  opportunities  of  judging  for  themselves 
whether  the  influences  and  tendencies  which  I  distrust  in 
America,  have  any  existence  not  in  my  imagination.  They 
can  examine  for  themselves  whether  there  has  been  anything  in 
the  public  career  of  that  country  during  these  past  eight  years, 
or  whether  there  is  anything  in  its  present  position,  at  home  or 
abroad,  which  suggests  that  those  influences  and  tendencies 
really  do  exist.  As  they  find  the  fact,  they  will  judge  me.  If 
they  discern  any  evidences  of  wrong,  going  in  any  direction  that 
I  have  indicated,  they  will  acknowledge  that  I  had  reason  in  what 
I  wrote.  If  they  discern  no  such  thing,  they  will  consider  me 
altogether  mistaken. 

Prejudiced,  I  never  have  been  otherwise  than  in  favour  of  the 
United  States.     No  visitor  can  ever  have  set  foot  on  those  shores. 


X  PREFACE. 

with  a  stronger  faith  in  the  Republic  than  I  had,  "when  I  landed 
in  America. 

I  purposely  abstain  from  extending  these  observations  to  any 
length.  I  have  nothing  to  defend,  or  to  explain  av?ay.  The 
truth  is  the  truth ;  and  neither  childish  absurdities,  nor  unscru- 
pulous contradictions,  can  make  it  otherwise.  The  earth  would 
still  move  round  the  sun,  though  the  whole  Catholic  Church 
said  No. 

I  have  many  friends  in  America,  and  feel  a  grateful  interest  in 
the  country.  To  represent  me  as  viewing  it  with  ill-nature, 
animosity,  or  partisanship,  is  merely  to  do  a  very  foolish  thing, 
which  is  always  a  very  easy  one  ;  and  which  I  have  disregarded 
for  eight  years,  and  could  disregard  for  eight  more. 


London, 

21nd  June,  1850. 


CONTENTS. 

— « — 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGB 


GOING  AWAY 1 


CHAPTER  n. 

THE  PASSAGE  OUT 7 


CHAPTER  in. 

BOSTON 17 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AN  AMERICAN   RAILROAD. — LOWELL  AND  ITS  FACTORY  SYSTEM    '      .  .      |['43 

CHAPTER  V. ' 

WORCESTER. — THE    CONNECTICUT    RIVER. — HARTFORD. — NEW   HAVEN. — 

TO   NEW   YORK         ...» 49 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NEW  YORK       • 55 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PHILADELPHIA,   AND   ITS  SOLITARY   PRISON 67 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PAOB 
WASHINGTON. — THE   LEGISLATURE. — AND  THE   PRESIDENT'S   HOUSE  .         78 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  NIGHT  STEAMER  ON  THE  POTOMAC  RIVER. — VIRGINIA  ROAD,  AND  A 
BLACK  DRIVER, — RICHMOND. — BALTIMORE. — THE  HARRISBURG  MAIL, 
AND   A   GLIMPSE   OF   THE   CITY. — A   CANAL   BOAT        .... 


CHAPTER  X. 

SOME  FURTHER  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CANAL  BOAT,  ITS  DOMESTIC  ECONOMY, 
AND  ITS  PASSENGERS.  —  JOURNEY  TO  PITTSBURG  ACROSS  THE 
ALLEGHANY  MOUNTAINS. — PITTSBURG 101 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FROM      PITTSBURG      TO      CINCINNATI     IN     A     WESTERN      STEAM-BOAT. — 

CINCINNATI  108 


CHAPTER   XII. 

FROM    CINCINNATI   TO   LOUISVILLE   IN   ANOTHER    WESTERN   STEAM-BOAT  ; 

AND  FROM   LOUISVILLE  TO   ST.    LOUIS   IN   ANOTHER. — ST.    LOUIS  .      114 


CHAPTER  Xni. 

A  JAUNT   TO  THE  LOOKING-GLASS  PRAIRIE  AND   BACK     ....      1.22 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

RETURN  TO  CINCINNATI.  —  A  STAGE-COACH  RIDE  FROM  THAT  CITY  TO 
COLUMBUS,  AND  THENCE  TO  SANDUSKY.  —  SO,  BY  LAKE  ERIE,  TO 
THE  FALLS   OF   NIAGARA  .  .  .  ...  .  .      128 


CONTENTS.  -Mil 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TAGK 


IN  CANADA  ;  TORONTO  ;  KINGSTON  ;  MONTREAL  ;  QUEBEC  ;  ST.  JOHN'S. — 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AGAIN  ;  LEBANON  ;  THE  SHAKER  VILLAGE  ; 
AND   WEST  POINT 14 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   PASSAGE   HOME 153 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

SLAVERY 139 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS  .  .  4 170 


GOING  AWAY  AND  THE  PASSAGE'  OUT. 


AMERICAN  NOTES, 


CHAPTER   I. 


GOING   AWAY. 


I  SHALL  never  forget  the  one-fourth 
serious  and  three-fourths  comical 
astonishment,  with  which,  on  the 
morning  of  the  third  of  January 
eighteen  -  hundred  -  and  -  forty  -  two,  I 
opened  the  door  of,  and  put  my  head 
into,  a  "state-room"  on  board  the 
Britannia  steam-packet,  twelve  hun- 
dred tons  burthen  per  register,  bound 
for  Halifax  and  Boston,  and  carrying 
Her  Majesty's  mails. 

That  this  state-room  had  been  spe- 
cially engaged  for  "  Charles  Dickens, 
Esquire,  and  Lady,"  was  rendered 
sufficiently  clear  even  to  my  scared 
intellect  by  a  very  small  manuscript, 
announcing  the  fact,  which  was 
pinned  on  a  very  flat  quilt,  covering  a 
very  thin  mattress,  spread  like  a  sur- 
gical plaster  on  a  most  inaccessible 
shelf.  But  that  this  was  the  state- 
room concerning  which  Charles 
Dickens,  Esquire,  and  Lady,  had 
held  daily  and  nightly  conferences  for 
at  least  four  months  preceding  :  that 
this  could  by  any  possibility  be  that 
small  snug  chamber  of  the  imagina- 
tion, which  Charles  Dickens,  Esquire, 
with  the  spirit  of  prophecy  strong 
upon  him,  had  always  foretold  would 
contain  at  least  one  little  sofa,  and 
which  his  lady,  with  a  modest  yet 
most  magnificent  sense  of  its  limited 

No.  161. 


dimensions,  had  from  the  first  opined 
would  not  hold  more  than  two  enor- 
mous portmanteaus  in  some  odd 
corner  out  of  sight  (portmanteaus 
which  could  now  no  more  be  got  in  at 
the  door,  not  to  say  stowed  away,  than 
a  giraflfe  could  be  persuaded  or  forced 
into  a  flower-pot)  :  that  this  utterly 
impracticable,  thoroughly  hopeless, 
and  profoundly  preposterous  box,  had 
the  remotest  reference  to,  or  connec- 
tion with,  those  chaste  and  pretty,  not 
to  say  gorgeous  little  bowers,  sketched 
by  a  masterly  hand,  in  the  highly 
varnished  lithographic  plan  hanging 
up  in  the  agent's  counting-house  in 
the  city  of  London  :  that  this  room 
of  state,  in  short,  could  be  anything 
but  a  pleasant  fiction  and  cheerful 
jest  of  the  captain's,  invented  and  put 
in  practice  for  the  better  relish  and 
enjoyment  of  the  real  state-room  pre- 
sently to  be  disclosed  : — these  were 
truths  which  I  really  could  not,  for 
the  moment,  bring  my  mind  at  all  to 
bear  upon  or  comprehend.  And  I  sat 
down  upon  a  kind  of  horsehair  slab, 
or  perch,  of  which  there  were  two 
within ;  and  looked,  without  any  ex- 
pression of  countenance  whatever,  at 
some  friends  who  had  come  on  board 
with  us,  and  who  were  crushing  their 
faces  into  all  manner  of  shapes  by 

B  1 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


endeavouring  to  squeeze  themtkrough 
the  small  doorway. 

We  had  experienced  a  pretty  smart 
shock  before  coming  below,  which, 
but  that  we  were  the  most  sanguine 
people  living,  might  have  prepared  us 
for  the  worst.  The  imaginative  artist 
to  whom  I  have  already  made  allu- 
sion, has  depicted  in  the  same  great 
work,  a  chamber  of  almost  intermin- 
able perspective,  furnished,  as  Mr. 
Robins  would  say,  in  a  style  of  more 
than  Eastern  splendour,  and  filled 
(but  not  inconveniently  so)  with 
groups  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the 
very  highest  state  of  enjoyment  and 
vivacity.  Before  descending  into  the 
bowels  of  the  ship,  we  had  passed 
from  the  deck  into  a  long  narrow 
apartment,  not  unlike  a  gigantic 
hearse  with  windows  in  the  sides  ; 
having  at  the  upper  end  a  melancholy 
stove,  at  which  three  or  four  chilly 
stewards  were  warming  their  hands  ; 
while  on  either  side,  extending  down 
its  whole  dreary  length,  was  a  long, 
long,  table,  over  each  of  which  a  rack, 
fixed  to  the  low  roof,  and  stuck  full  of 
drinking-glasses  and  cruet-stands, 
hinted  dismally  at  rolling  seas  and 
heavy  weather.  I  had  not  at  that 
time  seen  the  ideal  presentment  of 
this  chamber  which  has  since  gratified 
me  so  much,  but  I  observed  that  one  of 
our  friends  who  had  made  the  arrange- 
ments for  our  voyage,  turned  pale  on 
entering,  retreated  on  the  friend 
behind  him,  smote  his  forehead 
involuntarily,  and  said  below  his 
breath,  "  Impossible  !  it  cannot  be  ! " 
or  words  to  that  effect.  He  recovered 
himself  however  by  a  great  effort,  and 
after  a  preparatory  cough  or  two,  cried, 
with  a  ghastly  smile  which  is  still 
before  me,  looking  at  the  same  time 
round  the  walla,  *'  Ha !  the  breakfast- 
room,  steward — eh  V  We  all  foresaw 
what  the  answer  must  be :  we  knew 
the  agony  he  suffered.  He  had  often 
spoken   of   the  saloon;     had    taken 


in  and  lived  upon  the  pictorial  idea  ; 
had  usually  given  us  to  understand,  at 
home,  that  to  form  a  just  conception  of 
it,  it  would  be  necessary  to  multiply 
the  size  and  furniture  of  an  ordinary 
drawing-room  by  seven,  and  then  fall 
short  of  the  reality.  When  the  man 
in  reply  avowed  the  truth  ;  the  blunt, 
remorseless,  naked  truth ;  "  This  is 
the  saloon,  sir" — he  actually  reeled 
beneath  the  blow. 

In  persons  who  were  so  soon  to 
part,  and  interpose  between  their  else 
daily  communication  the  formidable 
ban-ier  of  many  thousand  miles  of 
stormy  space,  and  who  were  for  that 
reason  anxious  to  cast  no  other  cloud, 
not  even  the  passing  shadow  of  a 
moment's  disappointment  or  discom- 
fiture, upon  the  short  interval  of 
happy  companionship  that  yet  re- 
mained to  them — in  persons  so  situ- 
ated, the  natural  transition  from  these 
first  surprises  was  obviously  into  peala 
of  hearty  laughter ;  and  I  can  report 
that  I,  for  one,  being  still  seated  upon, 
the  slab  or  perch  before-mentioned, 
roared  outright  until  the  vessel  rang 
again.  Thus,  in  less  than  two 
minutes  after  coming  upon  it  for  the 
first  time,  we  all  by  common  consent 
agreed  that  this  state-room  was  the 
pleasantest  and  most  facetious  and 
capital  contrivance  possible ;  and  that 
to  have  had  it  one  inch  larger,  would 
have  been  quite  a  disagreeable  and 
deplorable  state  of  things.  And  with 
this;  and  with  showing  how, — by 
very  nearly  closing  the  door,  and 
twining  in  and  out  like  serpents,  and 
by  counting  the  little  washing  slab  as 
standing-room, — we  could  manage  to 
insinuate  four  people  into  it,  all  at  one 
time;  and  entreating  each  other  to 
observe  how  very  airy  it  was  (in  dock), 
and  how  there  was  a  beautiful  port-hole 
which  could  be  kept  open  all  day 
(weather  permitting),  and  how  there 
was  quite  a  large  bull's  eye  just  over 
the  looking-glass  which  would  render 


FOR   GENERAL    CIRCULATION. 


3 


shaving  a  perfectly  easy  and  delightful 
process  (when  the  ship  didn't  roll  too 
much) ;  we  arrived,  at  last,  at  the 
unanimous  conclusion  that  it  was 
rather  spacious  than  otherwise : 
though  I  do  verily  believe  that, 
deducting  the  two  berths,  one  above 
the  other,  than  which  nothing  smaller 
for  sleeping  in  was  ever  made  except 
<;ofl5ns,  it  was  no  bigger  than  one  of 
those  hackney  cabriolets  which  have 
the  door  behind,  and  shoot  their 
fares  out,  like  sacks  of  coals,  upon 
the  pavement. 

Having  settled  this  point  to  the 
perfect  satisfaction  of  all  parties,  con- 
-cerned  and  unconcerned,  we  sat  down 
round  the  fire  in  the  ladies'  cabin — 
just  to  try  the  effect.  It  was  rather 
dark,  certainly;  but  somebody  said, 
*'  of  course  it  would  be  light,  at  sea," 
a  proposition  to  which  we  all  assented  ; 
echoing  "  of  course,  of  course;"  though 
it  would  be  exceedingly  difficult  to  say 
why  we  thought  so.  I  remember, 
too,  when  we  had  discovered  and  ex- 
hausted another  topic  of  consolation 
in  the  circumstance  of  this  ladies' 
-cabin  adjoining  our  state-room,  and 
the  consequently  immense  feasibility 
of  sitting  there  at  all  times  and 
seasons,  and  had  fallen  into  a  momen- 
tary silence,  leaning  our  faces  on  our 
hands  and  looking  at  the  fire,  one  of 
our  party  said,  with  the  solemn  air  of 
a  man  who  had  made  a  discovery, 
^'  What  a  relish  mulled  claret  will 
have  down  here  !"  which  appeared  to 
strike  us  all  most  forcibly ;  as  though 
there  were  something  spicy  and  high- 
:flavoured  in  cabins,  which  essentially 
improved  that  composition,  and  ren- 
dered it  quite  incapable  of  perfection 
anywhere  else. 

There  was  a  stewardess,  too,  actively 
engaged  in  producing  clean  sheets 
and  tablecloths  from  the  very  entrails 
of  the  sofas,  and  from  unexpected 
lockers,  of  such  artful  mechanism, 
that  it  made  one's  head  ache  to  see 


them  opened  one  after  another,  and 
rendered  it  quite  a  distracting  cir- 
cumstance to  follow  her  proceedings, 
and  to  find  that  every  nook  and 
comer  and  individual  piece  of  furni- 
ture was  something  else  besides  what 
it  pretended  to  be,  and  was  a  mere 
trap  and  deception  and  place  of  secret 
stowage,  whose  ostensible  purpose  was 
its  least  useful  one. 

God  bless  that  stewardess  for  her 
piously  fraudulent  account  of  January 
voyages  !  God  bless  her  for  her  clear 
recollection  of  the  companion  passage 
of  last  year,  when  nobody  was  ill,  and 
everybody  danced  from  morning  to 
night,  and  it  was  "a  run"  of  twelve 
days,  and  a  piece  of  the  purest  frolic, 
and  delight,  and  jollity !  All  happi- 
ness be  with  her  for  her  bright  face 
and  her  pleasant  Scotch  tongue,  which 
had  sounds  of  old  Home  in  it  for  my 
fellow  traveller;  and  for  her  predic- 
tions of  fair  winds. and  fine  weather 
(all  wrong,  or  I  shouldn't  be  half  so 
fond  of  her) ;  and  for  the  ten  thousand 
small  fragments  of  genuine  womanly 
tact,  by  which,  without  piecing  them 
elaborately  together,  and  patching 
them  up  into  shape  and  form  and  case 
and  pointed  application,  she  never- 
theless did  plainly  show  that  all  young 
mothers  on  one  side  of  the  Atlantic 
were  near  and  close  at  hand  to  their 
little  children  left  upon  the  other; 
and  that  what  seemed  to  the  uninitiated 
a  serious  journey,  was,  to  those  who 
were  in  the  secret,  a  mere  frolic,  to  be 
sung  about  and  whistled  at !  Light 
be  her  heart,  and  gay  her  merry  eyes, 
for  years ! 

The  state-room  had  grown  pretty 
fast ;  but  by  this  time  it  had  expanded 
into  something  quite  bulky,  and 
almost  boasted  a  bay-window  to  view 
the  sea  from.  So  we  went  upon  deck 
again  in  high  spirits;  and  there,  every- 
thing was  in  such  a  state  of  bustle  and 
active  preparation,  that  the  blood 
quickened    its    pace,     and    whirled 

b2 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


through  one's  veins  on  that  clear 
frosty  morning  with  involuntary 
mirthfulness.  For  every  gallant  ship 
was  riding  slowly  up  and  down,  and 
every  little  boat  was  plashing  noisily 
in  the  water;  and  knots  of  people 
stood  upon  the  wharf,  gazing  with  a 
kind  of  "  dread  delight"  on  the  far- 
famed  fast  American  steamer;  and 
one  party  of  men  were  "  taking  in  the 
milk,"  or,  in  other  words,  getting  the 
cow  on  board ;  and  another  were 
filling  the  icehouses  to  the  very  throat 
with  fresh  provisions ;  with  butchers'- 
meat  and  gardenstuff,  pale  sucking- 
pigs,  calves'  heads  in  scores,  beef,  veal, 
and  pork,  and  poultry  out  of  all  pro- 
portion; and  others  were  coiling  ropes, 
and  busy  with  oakum  yarns;  and 
others  were  lowering  heavy  packages 
into  the  hold ;  and  the  purser's  head 
was  barely  visible  as  it  loomed  in  a 
state  of  exquisite  perplexity  from  the 
midst  of  a  vast  pile  of  passengers' 
luggage ;  and  there  seemed  to  be 
nothing  going  on  anywhere,  or  upper- 
most in  the  mind  of  anybody,  but  pre- 
parations for  this  mighty  voyage. 
This,  with  the  bright  cold  sun,  the 
bracing  air,  the  crisply-curling  water, 
the  thin  white  crust  of  morning  ice 
upon  the  decks  which  crackled  with  a 
sharp  and  cheerful  sound  beneath  the 
lightest  tread,  was  irresistible.  And 
when,  again  upon  the  shore,  we  turned 
and  saw  from  the  vessel's  mast  her 
name  signalled  in  flags  of  joyous 
colours,  and  fluttering  by  their  side 
the  beautiful  American  banner  with 
its  stars  and  stripes, — the  long  three 
thousand  miles  and  more,  and,  longer 
Btill,  the  six  whole  months  of  absence, 
80  dwindled  and  faded,  that  the  ship 
had  gone  out  and  come  home  again, 
and  it  was  broad  spring  already  in 
the  Coburg  Dock  at  Liverpool. 

I  have  not  inquired  among  my 
medical  acquaintance,  whether  Turtle, 
and  cold  Punch,  with  Hock,  Cham- 
pagne, and  Claret,  and  all  the  slight 


et  cetera  usually  included  in  an  un- 
limited order  for  a  good  dinner — 
especially  when  it  is  left  to  the  liberal 
construction  of  my  faultless  friend, 
Mr.  Eadley,  of  the  Adelphi  Hotel — 
are  peculiarly  calculated  to  suffer  a 
sea- change ;  or  whether  a  plain 
mutton-chop,  and  a  glass  or  two  of 
sherry,  would  be  less  likely  of  con- 
version into  foreign  and  disconcerting 
material.  My  own  opinion  is,  that 
whether  one  is  discreet  or  indiscreet 
in  these  particulars,  on  the  eve  of  a 
sea-voyage,  is  a  matter  of  little  con- 
sequence ;  and  that,  to  use  a  common 
phrase,  "  it  comes  to  very  much  the 
same  thing  in  the  end."  Be  this  as  it 
may,  I  know  that  the  dinner  of  that 
day  was  undeniably  perfect;  that  it 
comprehended  all  these  items,  and  a 
great  many  more;  and  that  we  all 
did  ample  justice  to  it.  And  I  know 
too,  that,  bating  a  certain  tacit  avoid- 
ance of  any  allusion  to  to-morrow; 
such  as  may  be  supposed  to  prevail 
between  delicate -minded  turnkeys, 
and  a  sensitive  prisoner  who  is  to  be 
hanged  next  morning ;  we  got  on  very 
well,  and,  all  things  considered,  were 
merry  enough. 

When  the  morning — the  morning — 
came,  and  we  met  at  breakfast,  it  was 
curious  to  see  how  eager  we  all  were 
to  prevent  a  moment's  pause  in  the 
conversation,  and  how  astoundingly 
gay  everybody  was  :  the  forced  spirits 
of  each  member  of  the  little  party 
having  as  much  likeness  to  his  natural 
mirth,  as  hot-house  peas  at  five 
guineas  the  quart,  resemble  in  flavour 
the  growth  of  the  dews,  and  air,  and 
rain  of  Heaven.  But  as  one  o'clock, 
the  hour  for  going  aboard,  drew  near, 
this  volubility  dwindled  away  by  little 
and  little,  despite  the  most  persever- 
ing efforts  to  the  contrary,  until  at 
last,  the  matter  being  now  quite  des- 
perate, we  threw  off"  all  disguise ; 
openly  speculated  upon  where  we 
should  be  this  time  to-morrow,  this 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATIOxV. 


time  next  day,  and  so  forth;  and 

entrusted  a  vast  number  of  messages 
to  those  who  intended  returning  to 
town  that  night,  which  were  to  be 
delivered  at  home  and  elsewhere  with- 
out fail,  within  the  very  shortest  pos- 
sible space  of  time  after  the  arrival  of 
the  railway  train  at  Euston  Square. 
And  commissions  and  remembrances 
do  so  crowd  upon  one  at  such  a  time, 
that  we  were  still  busied  with  this 
employment  when  we  found  ourselves 
fused,  as  it  were,  into  a  dense  conglo- 
meration of  passengers  and  passengers' 
friends  and  passengers'  luggage,  all 
jumbled  together  on  the  deck  of  a 
small  steamboat,  and  panting  and 
snorting  off  to  the  packet,  which  had 
worked  out  of  dock  yesterday  after- 
noon and  was  now  lying  at  her  moor- 
ings in  the  river. 

And  there  she  is !  all  eyes  are 
turned  to  where  she  lies,  dimly  dis- 
cernible through  the  gathering  fog  of 
the  early  winter  afternoon;  every 
finger  is  pointed  in  the  same  direc- 
tion ;  and  murmurs  of  interest  and 
admiration — as  "How  beautiful  she 
looks ! "  "  How  trim  she  is  I " — are 
heard  on  every  side.  Even  the  lazy 
gentleman  with  his  hat  on  one  side 
and  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  who  has 
dispensed  so  much  consolation  by  in- 
quiring with  a  yawn  of  another  gen- 
tleman whether  he  is  "  going  across  " 
— as  if  it  were  a  ferry — even  he  con- 
descends to  look  that  way,  and  nod 
his  head,  as  who  should  say,  "No 
mistake  about  that : "  and  not  even 
the  sage  Lord  Burleigh  in  his  nod, 
included  half  so  much  as  this  lazy 
gentleman  of  might  who  has  made 
the  passage  (as  everybody  on  board 
has  found  out  already;  it 's  impossible 
to  say  how)  thirteen  times  without  a 
single  accident !  There  is  another 
passenger  very  much  wrapped-up,  who 
has  been  frowned  down  by  the  rest, 
and  morally  trampled  upon  and 
crushed,  for  presuming   to    inquire 


with  a  timid  interest  how  long  it  is 
since  the  poor  President  went  down. 
He  is  standing  close  to  the  lazy  gen- 
tleman, and  says  with  a  faint  smile 
that  he  believes  She  is  a  very  strong 
Ship;  to  which  the  lazy  gentleman, 
looking  first  in  his  questioner's  eye 
and  then  very  hard  in  the  wind's, 
answers  unexpectedly  and  ominously, 
that  She  need  be.  Upon  this  the 
lazy  gentleman  instantly  falls  very 
low  in  the  popular  estimation,  and 
the  passengers,  with  looks  of  defiance, 
whisper  to  each  other  that  he  is  an 
ass,  and  an  impostor,  and  clearly  don't 
know  anything  at  all  about  it. 

But  we  are  made  fast  alongside  the 
packet,  whose  huge  red  funnel  is 
smoking  bravely,  giving  rich  promise 
of  serious  intentions.  Packing-cases, 
portmanteaus,  carpet-bags,  and  boxes, 
are  already  passed  from  hand  to  hand, 
and  hauled  on  board  with  breathless 
rapidity.  The  officers,  smartly  dressed, 
are  at  the  gangway  handing  the  pas- 
sengers up  the  side,  and  hurrying  the 
men.  In  five  minutes'  time,  the 
little  steamer  is  utterly  deserted,  and 
the  packet  is  beset  and  over-run  by 
its  late  freight,  who  instantly  pervade 
the  whole  ship,  and  are  to  be  met 
with  by  the  dozen  in  every  nook  and 
corner :  swarming  down  below  with 
their  own  baggage,  and  stumbling 
over  other  people's;  disposing  them- 
selves comfortably  in  wrong  cabins, 
and  creating  a  most  horrible  confusion 
by  having  to  turn  out  again ;  madly 
bent  upon  opening  locked  doors,  and 
on  forcing  a  passage  into  all  kinds  of 
out-of-the-way  places  where  there  is  no 
thoroughfare  ;  sending  wild  stewards, 
with  elfin  hair,  to  and  fro  upon  the 
breezy  decks  on  unintelligible  errands, 
impossible  of  execution :  and  in  short, 
creating  the  most  extraordinary  and 
bewildering  tumult.  In  the  midst  of 
all  this,  the  lazy  gentleman,  who 
seems  to  have  no  luggage  of  any  kind 
— not  so  much  as  a  friend,  even — 


AMERICAN    NOTES 


lounges  up  and  down  the  hurrieane- 
deck,  coolly  puflSng  a  cigar ;  and,  as 
this  unconcerned  demeanour  again 
exalts  him  in  the  opinion  of  those 
who  have  leisure  to  observe  his  pro- 
ceedings, every  time  he  looks  up  at 
the  masts,  or  down  at  the  decks,  or 
over  the  side,  they  look  there  too,  as 
wondering  whether  he  sees  anything 
wrong  anywhere,  and  hoping  that,  in 
case  he  should,  he  will  have  the  good- 
ness to  mention  it. 

What  have  we  here  1  The  captain's 
boat!  and  yonder  the  captain  him- 
self. Now,  by  all  our  hopes  and 
wishes,  the  very  man  he  ought  to  be  ! 
A  well-made,  tight-built,  dapper  little 
fellow ;  with  a  ruddy  face,  which  is  a 
letter  of  invitation  to  shake  him  by 
both  hands  at  once ;  and  with  a  clear, 
blue  honest  eye,  that  it  does  one  good 
to  see  one's  sparkling  image  in.  "  Ring 
the  bell !  "  "  Ding,  ding,  ding !  "  the 
very  bell  is  in  a  hurry.  "  Now  for 
the  shore — who's  for  the  shore?" — 
"  These  gentlemen,  I  am  sorry  to  say." 
They  are  away,  and  never  said.  Good 
b'ye.  Ah !  now  they  wave  it  from 
the  little  boat.  "  Good  b'ye  !  Good 
b'ye ! "  Three  cheers  from  them  ; 
three  more  from  us ;  three  more  from 
them :  and  they  are  gone. 


To  and  fro,  to  and  fro,  to  and  fro 
again  a  hundred  times !  This  waiting 
for  the  latest  mail-bags  is  worse  than  all. 
If  we  could  have  gone  oflf  in  the  midst 
of  that  last  burst,  we  should  have 
started  triumphantly :  but  to  lie  here, 
two  hours  and  more,  in  the  damp  fog, 
neither  staying  at  home  nor  going 
abroad,  is  letting  one  gradually  do'WTi 
into  the  very  depths  of  dulness  and 
low  spirits.  A  speck  in  the  mist,  at 
last !  That 's  something.  It  is  the 
boat  we  wait  for!  That's  more  to 
the  purpose.  The  captain  appears  on 
the  paddle-box  with  his  speaking- 
trumpet;  the  officers  take  their  sta- 
tions ;  all  hands  are  on  the  alert ;  the 
flagging  hopes  of  the  passengers 
revive;  the  cooks  pause  in  their 
savoury  work,  and  look  out  with  faces 
full  of  interest.  The  boat  comes 
alongside ;  the  bags  are  dragged  in 
anyhow,  and  flung  down  for  the  mo- 
ment anywhere.  Three  cheers  more : 
and  as  the  first  one  rings  upon  our 
ears,  the  vessel  throbs  like  a  strong 
giant  that  has  just  received  the  breath 
of  life;  the  two  great  wheels  turn 
fiercely  round  for  the  first  time ;  and 
the  noble  ship,  with  wind  and  tide 
astern,  breaks  proudly  through  the 
lashed  and  foaming  water. 


FOR   GENERAL    CIRCULATION. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PASSAGE   OUT. 


We  all  dined  together  that  day ;  and 
a  rather  formidable  party  we  were : 
no  fewer  than  eighty- six  strong.  The 
vessel  being  pretty  deep  in  the  water, 
with  all  her  coals  on  board  and  so 
many  passengers,  and  the  weather 
being  calm  and  quiet,  there  was  but 
little  motion;  so  that  before  the 
dinner  was  half  over,  even  those  pas- 
sengers who  were  most  distrustful  of 
themselves  plucked  up  amazingly; 
and  those  who  in  the  morning  had 
returned  to  the  universal  question, 
"  Are  you  a  good  sailor  1 "  a  very  de- 
cided negative,  now  either  parried  the 
inquiry  with  the  evasive  reply,  "  Oh  ! 
I  suppose  I  'm  no  worse  than  anybody 
else ;  "  or,  reckless  of  all  moral  obliga- 
tions, answered  boldly  "  Yes  :  "  and 
with  some  irritation  too,  as  though 
they  would  add,  "I  should  like  to 
know  what  you  see  in  me,  sir,  parti- 
cularly, to  justify  suspicion  !  " 

Notwithstanding  this  high  tone  of 
courage  and  confidence,  I  could  not 
but  observe  that  very  few  remained 
long  over  their  wine  ;  and  that  every- 
body had  an  unusual  love  of  the  open 
air  ;  and  that  the  favourite  and  most 
coveted  seats  were  invariably  those 
nearest  to  the  door.  The  tea-table, 
too,  was  by  no  means  as  well  attended 
as  the  dinner-table ;  and  there  was 
less  whist-playing  than  might  have 
been  expected.  Still,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  lady,  who  had  retired  with 
some  precipitation  at  dinner-time,  im- 
mediately after  being  assisted  to  the 
finest  cut  of  a  very  yellow  boiled  leg 
of  mutton  with  very  green  capers, 
there  were  no  invalids  as  yet ;  and 
walking,  and  smoking,  and  drinking 
of  brandy-and-water   (but  always  in 


the  open  air),  went  on  with  unabated 
spirit,  until  eleven  o'clock  or  there- 
abouts, when  "  turning  in  " — no  sailor 
of  seven  hours*  experience  talks  of 
going  to  bed — became  the  order  of 
the  night.  The  perpetual  tramp  of 
boot-heels  on  the  decks  gave  place  to 
a  heavy  silence,  and  the  whole  human 
freight  was  stowed  away  below,  except- 
ing a  very  few  stragglers,  like  myself, 
who  were  probably,  like  me,  afraid  to 
go  there. 

To  one  unaccustomed  to  such  scenes, 
this  is  a  very  striking  time  on  ship- 
board. Afterwards,  and  when  its  no- 
velty had  long  worn  off,  it  never  ceased 
to  have  a  peculiar  interest  and  charm 
for  me.  The  gloom  through  which 
the  great  black  mass  holds  its  direct 
and  certain  course;  the  rushing  water, 
plainly  heard,  but  dimly  seen;  the 
broad,  white,  glistening  track,  that 
follows  in  the  vessel's  wake ;  the  men 
on  the  look-out  forward,  who  would 
be  scarcely  visible  against  the  dark 
sky,  but  for  their  blotting  out  some 
score  of  glistening  stars ;  the  helms- 
man at  the  wheel,  with  the  illumi- 
nated card  before  him,  shining,  a 
speck  of  light  amidst  the  darkness, 
like  something  sentient  and  of  Divine 
intelligence  ;  the  melancholy  sighing 
of  the  wind  through  block,  and  rope, 
and  chain;  the  gleaming  forth  of 
light  from  every  crevice,  nook,  and 
tiny  piece  of  glass  about  the  decks,  as 
though  the  ship  were  filled  with  tire 
in  hiding,  ready  to  burst  through  any 
outlet,  wild  with  its  resistless  power 
of  death  and  ruin.  At  first,  too,  and 
even  when  the  hour,  and  all  the 
objects  it  exalts,  have  come  to  be 
familiar,    it    is    difficult,    alone   and 


AMERICAN    NOTES 


thoughtful,  to  hold  them  to  their  1 
proper  shapes  and  forms.  They 
change  with  the  wandering  fancy; 
assume  the  semblance  of  things  left 
far  away;  put  on  the  well-remembered 
aspect  of  favourite  places  dearly  loved; 
and  even  people  them  with  shadows. 
Streets,  houses,  rooms  ;  figures  so  like 
their  usual  occupants,  that  they  have 
startled  me  by  their  reality,  which 
far  exceeded,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  all 
power  of  mine  to  conjure  up  the 
absent ;  have,  many  and  many  a  time, 
at  such  an  hour,  grown  suddenly  out  of 
objects  with  whose  real  look,  and  use, 
and  purpose,  I  was  as  well  acquainted 
as  with  my  own  two  hands. 

My  own  two  hands,  and  feet  like- 
wise, being  very  cold,  however,  on  this 
particular  occasion,  I  crept  below  at 
midnight.  It  was  not  exactly  comfort- 
able below.  It  was  decidedly  close ; 
and  it  was  impossible  to  be  unconscious 
of  the  presence  of  that  extraordinary 
compound  of  strange  smells,  which  is 
to  be  found  nowhere  but  on  board 
ship,  and  which  is  such  a  subtle  per- 
fume that  it  seems  to  enter  at  every 
pore  of  the  skin,  and  whisper  of  the 
hold.  Two  passengers'  wives  (one  of 
them  my  own)  lay  already  in  silent 
agonies  on  the  sofa;  and  one  lady's 
maid  (jny  lady's)  was  a  mere  bundle 
on  the  floor,  execrating  her  destiny, 
and  pounding  her  curl-papers  among 
the  stray  boxes.  Everything  sloped 
the  wrong  way  :  which  in  itself  was  an 
aggravation  scarcely  to  be  borne.  I 
had  left  the  door  open,  a  moment 
before,  in  the  bosom  of  a  gentle  de- 
clivity, and,  when  I  turned  to  shut  it, 
it  was  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty 
eminence.  Now  every  plank  and 
timber  creaked,  as  if  the  ship  were 
made  of  wicker-work  ;  and  now 
crackled,  like  an  enormous  fire  of 
the  driest  possible  twigs.  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  bed;  so  I  went 
to  bed. 

It  was  pretty  much  the  same  for 


the  next  two  days,  with  a  tolerably 
fair  wind  and  dry  weather.  I  read  in 
bed  (but  to  this  hour  I  don't  know 
what)  a  good  deal;  and  reeled  on 
deck  a  little  ;  drank  cold  brandy-and- 
water  with  an  unspeakable  disgust, 
and  ate  hard  biscuit  perseveringly : 
not  ill,  but  going  to  be. 

It  is  the  third  morning.  I  am 
awakened  out  of  my  sleep  by  a  dismal 
shriek  from  my  wife,  who  demands  to 
know  whether  there  's  any  danger.  I 
rouse  myself,  and  look  out  of  bed. 
The  water-jug  is  plunging  and  leaping 
like  a  lively  dolphin  ;  all  the  smaller 
articles  are  afloat,  except  my  shoes, 
which  are  stranded  on  a  carpet-bag, 
high  and  dry,  like  a  couple  of  coal- 
barges.  Suddenly  I  see  them  spring 
into  the  air,  and  behold  the  looking- 
glass,  which  is  nailed  to  the  wall, 
sticking  fast  upon  the  ceiling.  At  the 
same  time  the  door  entirely  disap- 
pears, and  a  new  one  is  opened  in  the 
floor.  Then  I  begin  to  comprehend 
that  the  state-room  is  standing  on  its 
head. 

Before  it  is  possible  to  make  any 
arrangement  at  all  compatible  with 
this  novel  state  of  things,  the  ship 
rights.  Before  one  can  say,  "  Thank 
Heaven ! "  she  wrongs  again.  Before 
one  can  cry  she  is  wrong,  she  seems  to 
have  started  forward,  and  to  be  a 
creature  actively  running  of  its  own 
accord,  with  broken  knees  and  failing 
legs,  through  every  variety  of  hole 
and  pitfall,  and  stumbling  constantly. 
Before  one  can  so  much  as  wonder, 
she  takes  a  high  leap  into  the  air. 
Before  she  has  well  done  that,  she 
takes  a  deep  dive  into  the  water. 
Before  she  has  gained  the  surface,  she 
throws  a  summerset.  The  instant  she 
is  on  her  legs,  she  rushes  backward. 
And  so  she  goes  on  staggering,  heav- 
ing, wrestling,  leaping,  diving,  jump- 
ing, pitching,  throbbing,  rolling,  and 
rocking :  and  going  through  all  these 
movements,  sometimes  by  turns,  and 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


sometimes  all  together :  until  one  feels 
disposed  to  roar  for  mercy. 

A  steward  passes.  "Steward!" 
"Sir?"  "What  is  the  matter]  what 
do  you  call  this  ? "  "Rather  a  heavy  sea 
on,  sir,  and  a  head-wind." 

A  head-wind!  Imagine  a  human 
face  upon  the  vessel's  prow,  with  fifteen 
thousand  Sampsons  in  one  bent  upon 
driving  her  back,  and  hitting  her 
exactly  between  the  eyes  whenever 
she  attempts  to  advance  an  inch. 
Imagine  the  ship  herself,  with  every 
pulse  and  artery  of  her  huge  body 
swoln  and  bursting  under  this  mal- 
treatment, sworn  to  go  on  or  die. 
Imagine  the  wind  howling,  the  sea 
roaring,  the  rain  beating:  all  in  furious 
array  against  her.  Picture  the  sky 
both  dark  and  wild,  and  the  clouds, 
in  fearful  sympathy  with  the  waves, 
making  another  ocean  in  the  air.  Add 
to  all  this,  the  clattering  on  deck  and 
down  below;  the  tread  of  hurried 
feet ;  the  loud  hoarse  shouts  of  sea- 
men; the  gurgling  in  and  out  of 
water  through  the  scuppers;  with, 
every  now  and  then,  the  striking  of  a 
heavy  sea  upon  the  planks  above, 
with  the  deep,  dead,  heavy  sound  of 
thunder  heard  within  a  vault ; — and 
there  is  the  head- wind  of  that  January 
morning. 

I  say  nothing  of  what  may  be  called 
the  domestic  noises  of  the  ship :  such 
as  the  breaking  of  glass  and  crockery, 
*  the  tumbling  down  of  stewards,  the 
gambols,  overhead,  of  loose  casks  and 
truant  dozens  of  bottled  porter,  and 
the  very  remarkable  and  far  from 
exhilarating  sounds  raised  in  their 
various  state-rooms  by  the  seventy 
passengers  who  were  too  ill  to  get  up 
to  breakfast.  I  say  nothing  of  them  : 
for  although  I  lay  listening  to  this 
concert  for  three  or  four  days,  I  don't 
think  I  heard  it  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  minute,  at  the  expiration 
of  which  term,  I  lay  down  again, 
excessively  sea-sick. 


Not  sea-sick,  be  it  understood,  in 
the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term  : 
I  wish  I  had  been :  but  in  a  form 
which  I  have  never  seen  or  heard 
described,  though  I  have  no  doubt  it 
is  very  common.  I  lay  there,  all  the 
daylong,  quite  coolly  and  contentedly; 
with  no  sense  of  weariness,  with  no 
desire  to  get  up,  or  get  better,  or  take 
the  air ;  with  no  curiosity,  or  care,  or 
regret,  of  any  sort  or  degree,  saving 
that  I  think  I  can  remember,  in  this 
universal  indifference,  having  a  kind 
of  lazy  joy — of  fiendish  delight,  if 
anything  so  lethargic  can  be  dignified 
with  the  title — in  the  fact  of  my  wife 
being  too  ill  to  talk  to  me.  If  I  may 
be  allowed  to  illustrate  my  state  of 
mind  by  such  an  example,  I  should 
say  that  I  was  exactly  in  the  condition 
of  the  elder  Mr.  Willet,  after  the  in- 
cursion of  the  rioters  into  his  bar  at 
Chigwell.  Nothing  would  have  sur- 
prised me.  If,  in  the  momentary 
illumination  of  any  ray  of  intelligence 
that  may  have  come  upon  me  in  the 
way  of  thoughts  of  Home,  a  goblin 
postman,  with  a  scarlet  coat  and  bell, 
had  come  into  that  little  kennel  before 
me,  broad  awake  in  broad  day,  and, 
apologising  for  being  damp  through 
walking  in  the  sea,  had  handed  me  a 
letter,  directed  to  myself,  in  familiar 
characters,  I  am  certain  I  should  not 
have  felt  one  atom  of  astonishment : 
I  should  have  been  perfectly  satisfied. 
If  Neptune  himself  had  walked  in, 
with  a  toasted  shark  on  his  trident,  I 
should  have  looked  upon  the  event  as 
one  of  the  very  commonest  everyday 
occurrences. 

Once — once — I  found  myself  on 
deck.  I  don't  know  how  I  got  there, 
or  what  possessed  me  to  go  there,  but 
there  I  was  ;  and  completely  dressed 
too,  with  a  huge  pea-coat  on,  and  a 
pair  of  boots  such  as  no  weak  man  in 
his  senses  could  ever  have  got  into.  I 
found  myself  standing,  when  a  gleam 
of  consciousness  came  upon  me,  hold- 


10 


AMERICAN    NOTES 


ing  on  to  something.  I  don't  know 
what.  I  think  it  was  the  boatswain  : 
or  it  may  have  been  the  pump  :  or 
possibly  the  cow.  I  can't  say  how 
long  I  had  been  there  ;  whether  a  day 
or  a  minute.  I  recollect  trying  to 
think  about  something  (about  any- 
thing in  the  whole  wide  world,  I  was 
not  particular)  without  the  smallest 
effect.  I  could  not  even  make  out 
which  was  the  sea,  and  which  the  sky  ; 
for  the  horizon  seemed  drunk,  and  was 
flying  wildly  about,  in  all  directions. 
Even  in  that  incapable  state,  however, 
I  recognised  the  lazy  gentleman  stand- 
ing before  me  :  nautically  clad  in  a 
suit  of  shaggy  blue,  with  an  oilskin 
hat.  But  I  was  too  imbecile,  although 
I  knew  it  to  be  he,  to  separate  him 
from  his  dress  ;  and  tried  to  call  him, 
I  remember.  Pilot.  After  another  in- 
terval of  total  unconsciousness,  I  found 
he  had  gone,  and  recognised  another 
figure  in  its  place.  It  seemed  to  wave 
and  fluctuate  before  me  as  though  I 
saw  it  reflected  in  an  unsteady  looking- 
glass  ;  but  I  knew  it  for  the  captain ; 
and  such  was  the  cheerful  influence  of 
his  face,  that  I  tried  to  smile :  yes, 
even  then  I  tried  to  smile.  I  saw  by 
his  gestures  that  he  addressed  me  ; 
but  it  was  a  long  time  before  I  could 
make  out  that  he  remonstrated  against 
my  standing  up  to  my  knees  in  water 
— as  I  was ;  of  course  I  don't  know 
why.  I  tried  to  thank  him,  but 
couldn't.  I  could  only  point  to  my 
boots — or  wherever  I  supposed  my 
boots  to  be — ^and  say  in  a  plaintive 
Toice,  "  Cork  soles  :"  at  the  same  time 
endeavouring,  I  am  told,  to  sit  down 
in  the  pool.  Finding  that  I  was  quite 
insensible,  and  for  the  time  a  maniac, 
he  humanely  conducted  me  below. 

There  I  remained  until  I  got  bet- 
ter :  suffering,  whenever  I  was  recom- 
mended to  eat  anything,  an  amount  of 
anguish  only  second  to  that  which  is 
said  to  be  endured  by  the  apparently 
drowned,  in  the  process  of  restoration 


to  life.  One  gentleman  on  board  had 
a  letter  of  introduction  to  me  from  & 
mutual  friend  in  London.  He  sent  it 
below  with  his  card,  on  the  morning 
of  the  head-wind ;  and  I  was  long 
troubled  with  the  idea  that  he  might 
be  up,  and  well,  and  a  hundred  times 
a-day  expecting  me  to  call  upon  him 
in  the  saloon.  I  imagined  him  one  of 
those  cast-iron  images — I  will  not  call 
them  men — who  ask,  with  red  faces 
and  lusty  voices,  what  sea-sickness 
means,  and  whether  it  really  is  as  bad 
as  it  is  represented  to  be.  This  was 
very  torturing  indeed ;  and  I  don't 
think  I  ever  felt  such  perfect  gratifi- 
cation and  gratitude  of  heart,  as  I  did 
when  I  heard  from  the  ship's  doctor 
that  he  had  been  obliged  to  put  a 
large  mustard  poultice  on  this  very 
gentleman's  stomach.  I  date  my  re- 
covery from  the  receipt  of  that 
intelligence. 

It  was  materially  assisted  though,  I 
have  no  doubt,  by  a  heavy  gale  of 
wind,  "which  came  slowly  up  at  sunset, 
when  we  were  about  ten  days  out,  and 
raged  with  gradually  increasing  fury 
until  morning,  saving  that  it  lulled 
for  an  hour  a  little  before  midnight. 
There  was  something  in  the  unnatural 
repose  of  that  hour,  and  in  the  after 
gathering  of  the  storm,  so  inconceiv- 
ably awful  and  tremendous,  that  its 
bursting  into  full  violence  was  almost 
a  relief 

The  labouring  of  the  ship  in  the 
troubled  sea  on  this  night  I  shall  never 
forget.  "  Will  it  ever  be  worse  than 
this  1 "  was  a  question  I  had  oft«n 
heard  asked,  when  everything  was 
sliding  and  bumping  about,  and  when 
it  certainly  did  seem  difficult  to  com- 
prehend the  possibility  of  anything 
afloat  being  more  disturbed,  without 
toppling  over  and  going  down.  But 
what  the  agitation  of  a  steam-vessel  is, 
on  a  bad  winter's  night  in  the  wild 
Atlantic,  it  is  impossible  for  the  most 
vivid  imagination  to  conceive.    To  say 


FOR    GENERAL    CIRCULATION. 


11 


that  she  is  flung  down  on  her  side  in 
the  waves,  with  her  masts  dipping  into 
them,  and  that,  springing  up  again, 
she  rolls  over  on  the  other  side,  until 
a  heavy  sea  strikes  her  with  the  noise 
of  a  hundred  great  guns,  and  hurls 
her  back — that  she  stops,  and  stag- 
gers, and  shivers,  as  though  stunned, 
and  then,  with  a  violent  throbbing  at 
her  heart,  darts  onward  like  a  monster 
goaded  into  madness,  to  be  beaten 
down,  and  battered,  and  crushed,  and 
leaped  on  bj  the  angry  sea— that 
thunder,  lightning,  hail,  and  rain,  and 
wind,  are  all  in  fierce  contention  for 
the  mastery — that  every  plank  has  its 
groan,  every  nail  its  shriek,  and  every 
drop  of  water  in  the  great  ocean  its 
howling  voice — is  nothing.  To  say 
that  all  is  grand,  and  all  appalling 
and  horrible  in  the  last  degree,  is  no- 
thing. Words  cannot  express  it. 
Thoughts  cannot  convey  it.  Only  a 
dream  can  call  it  up  again,  in  all  its 
fury,  rage,  and  passion. 

And  yet,  in  the  very  midst  of  these 
terrors,  I  was  placed  in  a  situation  so 
exquisitely  ridiculous,  that  even  then 
I  had  as  strong  a  sense  of  its  absurdity 
as  I  have  now :  and  could  no  more 
help  laughing  than  I  can  at  any  other 
comical  incident,  happening  under 
circumstances  the  most  favourable  to 
its  enjoyment.  About  midnight  we 
shipped  a  sea,  which  forced  its  way 
through  the  skylights,  burst  open  the 
doors  above,  and  came  raging  and 
roaring  down  into  the  ladies'  cabin,  to 
the  unspeakable  consternation  of  my 
wife  and  a  little  Scotch  lady — who,  by 
the  way,  had  previously  sent  a  mes- 
sage to  the  captain  by  the  stewardess, 
requesting  him,  with  her  compliments, 
to  have  a  steel  conductor  immediately 
attached  to  the  top  of  every  mast,  and 
to  the  chimney,  in  order  that  the  ship 
might  not  be  struck  by  lightning. 
They,  and  the  handmaid  before-men- 
tioned, being  in  such  ecstacies  of  fear 
that  I  scarcely  knew  what  to  do  with 


them,  I  naturally  bethought  myself  of 
some  restorative  or  comfortable  cor- 
dial ;  and  nothing  better  occurring  to 
me,  at  the  moment,  than  hot  brandy- 
and-water,  I  procured  a  tumbler-full 
without  delay.  It  being  impossible  to 
stand  or  sit  without  holding  on,  they 
were  all  heaped  together  in  one  corner 
of  a  long  sofa — a  fixture  extending 
entirely  across  the  cabin — where  they 
clung  to  each  other  in  momentary 
expectation  of  being  drowned.  When 
I  approached  this  place  with  my  spe- 
cific, and  was  about  to  administer  it, 
with  many  consolatory  expressions,  to 
the  nearest  sufferer,  what  was  my  dis- 
may to  see  them  all  roll  slowly  down 
to  the  other  end  !  And  when  I  stag- 
gered to  that  end,  and  held  out  the 
glass  once  more,  how  immensely 
baffled  were  my  good  intentions  by 
the  ship  giving  another  lurch,  and 
their  all  rolling  back  again  !  I  sup- 
pose I  dodged  them  up  and  down  this 
sofa,  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
without  reaching  them  once  ;  and  by 
the  time  I  did  catch  them,  the  brandy- 
and- water  was  diminished,  by  constant 
spilling,  to  a  tea-spoonful.  To  com- 
plete the  group,  it  is  necessary  to  re- 
cognise in  this  disconcerted  dodger,  an 
individual  very  pale  from  sea-sickness, 
who  had  shaved  his  beard  and  brushed 
his  hair,  last,  at  Liverpool :  and  whose 
only  articles  of  dress  (linen  not  in- 
cluded) were  a  pair  of  dreadnought 
trousers ;  a  blue  jacket,  formerly  ad- 
mired upon  the  Thames  at  Richmond ; 
no  stockings;  and  one  slipper. 

Of  the  outrageous  antics  performed 
by  that  ship  next  morning;  which 
made  bed  a  practical  joke,  and  getting 
up,  by  any  process  short  of  falling 
out,  an  impossibility ;  I  say  nothing. 
But  anything  like  the  utter  dreari- 
ness and  desolation  that  met  my  eyes 
when  I,  literally  "  tumbled  up  "  on 
deck  at  noon,  I  never  saw.  Ocean 
and  sky  were  all  of  one  dull,  heavy, 
uniform,  lead  colour.    There  was  no 


J2 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


extent  of  prospect  even  over  the 
dreary  waste  that  lay  around  us,  for 
the  sea  ran  high,  and  the  horizon 
encompassed  us  like  a  large  black 
hoop.  Viewed  from  the  air,  or  some 
tall  bluff  on  shore,  it  would  have  been 
imposing  and  stupendous  no  doubt ; 
but  seen  from  the  wet  and  rolling 
decks,  it  only  impressed  one  giddily 
and  painfully.  In  the  gale  of  last 
night  the  life-boat  had  been  crushed  by 
one  blow  of  the  sea  like  a  walnut-shell ; 
and  there  it  hung  dangling  in  the 
air :  a  mere  faggot  of  crazy  boards. 
The  planking  of  the  paddle-boxes  had 
been  torn  sheer  away.  The  wheels 
were  exposed  and  bare ;  and  they 
whirled  and  dashed  their  spray  about 
the  decks  at  random.  Chimney, 
white  with  crusted  salt;  topmasts 
struck ;  stormsails  set ;  rigging  all 
knotted,  tangled,  wet,  and  drooping: 
a  gloomier  picture  it  would  be  hard  to 
look  upon. 

I  was  now  comfortably  established 
by  courtesy  in  the  ladies'  cabin,  where, 
besides  ourselves,  there  were  only 
four  other  passengers.  First,  ]the 
little  Scotch  lady  before-mentioned, 
on  her  way  to  join  her  husband  at 
New  York,  who  had  settled  there 
three  years  before.  Secondly  and 
thirdly,  an  honest  young  Yorkshire- 
man,  connected  with  some  American 
house ;  domiciled  in  that  same  city, 
and  carrying  thither  his  beautiful 
young  wife  to  whom  he  had  been 
married  but  a  fortnight,  and  who  was 
the  fairest  specimen  of  a  comely 
English  country  girl  I  have  ever  seen. 
Fourthly,  fifthly,  and  lastly,  another 
couple :  newly-married  too,  if  one 
might  judge  from  the  endearments 
they  frequently  interchanged :  of 
whom  I  know  no  more  than  that  they 
were  rather  a  mysterious,  run-away 
kind  of  couple;  that  the  lady  had 
great  personal  attractions  also ;  and 
that  the  gentleman  carried  more  guns 
with  him  than  Robinson  Crusoe,  wore 


a  shooting-coat,  and  had  two  great 
dogs  on  board.  On  further  considera- 
tion, I  remember  that  he  tried  hot 
roast  pig  and  bottled  ale  as  a  cure 
for  sea-sickness ;  and  that  he  took 
these  remedies  (usually  in  bed)  day 
after  day,  with  astonishing  perse- 
verance. I  may  add,  for  the  informa- 
tion of  the  curious,  that  they  decidedly 
failed. 

The  weather  continuing  obstinately 
and  almost  unprecedentedly  bad,  we 
usually  straggled  into  this  cabin,  more 
or  less  faint  and  miserable,  about  an 
hour  before  noon,  and  lay  down  on 
the  sofas  to  recover;  during  which 
interval,  the  captain  would  look  in  to 
communicate  the  state  of  the  wind, 
the  moral  certainty  of  its  changing 
to-morrow  (the  weather  is  always 
going  to  improve  to-morrow,  at  sea), 
the  vessel's  rate  of  sailing,  and  so 
forth.  Observations  there  were  none 
to  tell  us  of,  for  there  was  no  sun  to 
take  them  by.  But  a  description  of 
one  day  will  serve  for  all  the  rest. 
Here  it  is. 

The  captain  being  gone,  we  com- 
pose ourselves  to  read,  if  the  place  be 
light  enough ;  and  if  not,  we  doze 
and  talk  alternately.  At  one,  a  bell 
rings,  and  the  stewardess  comes  down 
with  a  steaming  dish  of  baked  pota- 
toes, and  another  of  roasted  apples ; 
and  plates  of  pig's  face,  cold  ham,  salt 
beef;  or  perhaps  a  smoking  mess  of 
rare  hot  collops.  We  fall  to  upon 
these  dainties;  eat  as  much  as  we 
can  (we  have  great  appetites  now) ; 
and  are  as  long  as  possible  about  it. 
If  the  fire  will  burn  (it  will  sometimes) 
we  are  pretty  cheerful.  If  it  won't, 
we  all  remark  to  each  other  that  it 's 
very  cold,  rub  our  hands,  cover  our- 
selves with  coats  and  cloaks,  and  lie 
down  again  to  doze,  talk,  and  read 
(provided  as  aforesaid),  until  dinner- 
time. At  five,  another  bell  rings, 
and  the  stewardess  re-appears  with 
another  dish  of  potatoes — boiled  this 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION. 


13 


time — and  store  of  hot  meat  ofl 
various  kinds  :  not  forgetting  the 
roast  pig,  to  be  taken  medicinally. 
We  sit  down  at  table  again  (rather 
more  cheerfully  than  before) ;  prolong 
the  meal  with  a  rather  mouldy  des- 
sert of  apples,  grapes,  and  oranges ; 
and  drink  our  wine  and  brandy-and- 
water.  The  bottles  and  glasses  are 
still  upon  the  table,  and  the  oranges 
and  so  forth  are  rolling  about  accord- 
ing to  their  fancy  and  the  ship's  way, 
when  the  doctor  comes  down,  by 
special  nightly  invitation,  to  join  our 
evening  rubber :  immediately  on 
whose  arrival  we  make  a  party  at 
whist,  and  as  it  is  a  rough  night  and 
the  cards  will  not  lie  on  the  cloth,  we 
put  the  tricks  in  our  pockets  as  we 
take  them.  At  Avhist  we  remain  with 
exemplary  gravity  (deducting  a  short 
time  for  tea  and  toast)  until  eleven 
o'clock,  or  thereabouts ;  when  the 
captain  comes  down  again,  in  a  sou'- 
wester hat  tied  under  his  chin,  and  a 
pilot-coat:  making  the  ground  wet 
where  he  stands.  By  this  time  the 
card-playing  is  over,  and  the  bottles 
and  glasses  are  again  upon  the  table  ; 
and  after  an  hour's  pleasant  conversa- 
tion about  the  ship,  the  passengers, 
and  things  in  general,  the  captain 
(who  never  goes  to  bed,  and  is  never 
out  of  humour)  turns  up  his  coat 
collar  for  the  deck  again;  shakes 
hands  all  round ;  and  goes  laughing 
out  into  the  weather  as  merrily  as  to 
a  birth-day  party. 

As  to  daily  news,  there  is  no  dearth 
of  that  commodity.  This  passenger 
is  reported  to  have  lost  fourteen 
pounds  at  Vingt-et-un  in  the  saloon 
yesterday ;  and  that  passenger  drinks 
his  bottle  of  champagne  every  day,  and 
how  he  does  it  (being  only  a  clerk), 
nobody  knows.  The  head  engineer 
has  distinctly  said  that  there  never 
was  such  times — meaning  weather — 
and  four  good  hands  are  ill,  and  have 
given  in,  dead  beat.    Several  berths 


are  full  of  water,  and  all  the  cabins 
are  leaky.  The  ship's  cook,  secretly 
swigging  damaged  whiskey,  has  been 
found  drunk;  and  has  been  played 
upon  by  the  fire-engine  until  quite 
sober.  All  the  stewards  have  fallen 
down  stairs  at  various  dinner-times, 
and  go  about  with  plasters  in  various 
places.  The  baker  is  ill,  and  so  is 
the  pastry-cook.  A  new  man,  horribly 
indisposed,  has  been  required  to  fill 
the  place  of  the  latter  officer ;  and 
has  been  propped  and  jammed  up 
with  empty  casks  in  a  little  house 
upon  deck,  and  commanded  to  roll 
out  pie-crust,  which  he  protests  (being 
highly  bilious)  it  is  death  to  him  to 
look  at.  News !  A  dozen  murders 
on  shore  would  lack  the  interest  of 
these  slight  incidents  at  sea. 

Divided  between  our  rubber  and 
such  topics  as  these,  we  were  running 
(as  we  thought)  into  Halifax  Harbour, 
on  the  fifteenth  night,  with  little 
wind  and  a  bright  moon — indeed,  we 
had  made  the  Light  at  its  outer  en- 
trance, and  put  the  pilot  in  charge — 
when  suddenly  the  ship  struck  upon 
a  bank  of  mud.  An  immediate  rush 
on  deck  took  place  of  course ;  the 
sides  were  crowded  in  an  instant ;  and 
for  a  few  minutes  we  were  in  as  lively 
a  state  of  confusion  as  the  greatest 
lover  of  disorder  would  desire  to  see. 
The  passengers,  and  guns,  and  water- 
casks,  and  other  heavy  matters,  being 
all  huddled  together  aft,  however,  to 
lighten  her  in  the  head,  she  was  soon 
got  off*;  and  after  some  driving  on 
towards  an  uncomfortable  line  of 
objects  (whose  vicinity  had  been 
announced  very  early  in  the  disaster 
by  a  loud  cry  of  "  Breakers  a-head ! ") 
and  much  backing  of  paddles,  and 
heaving  of  the  lead  into  a  constantly 
decreasing  depth  of  water,  we  dropped 
anchor  in  a  strange  outlandish-look- 
ing nook  which  nobody  on  board 
could  recognise,  although  there  was 
land  all  about  us,  and  so  close  that  we 


14 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


could  plainly  see  the  waving  branches 
of  the  trees. 

It  was  strange  enough,  in  the  silence 
of  midnight,  and  the  dead  stillness 
that  seemed  to  be  created  by  the 
sudden  and  unexpected  stoppage  of 
the  engine  which  had  been  clanking 
and  blasting  in  our  ears  incessantly 
for  so  many  days,  to  watch  the  look 
of  blank  astonishment  expressed  in 
every  face :  beginning  with  the  officers, 
tracing  it  through  all  the  passengers, 
and  descending  to  the  very  stokers 
and  furnace-men,  who  emerged  from 
below,  one  by  one,  and  clustered  to- 
gether in  a  smoky  group  about  the 
hatchway  of  the  engine-room,  com- 
paring notes  in  whispers.  After 
throwing  up  a  few  rockets  and  firing 
signal-guns  in  the  hope  of  being  hailed 
from  the  land,  or  at  least  of  seeing  a 
light — but  without  any  other  sight  or 
sound  presenting  itself — it  was  deter- 
mined to  send  a  boat  on  shore.  It 
was  amusing  to  observe  how  very  kind 
some  of  the  passengers  were,  in  volun- 
teering to  go  ashore  in  this  same  boat : 
for  the  general  good,  of  course  :  not 
by  any  means  because  they  thought 
the  ship  in  an  unsafe  position,  or  con- 
templated the  possibility  of  her  heel- 
ing over  in  case  the  tide  were  running 
out.  Nor  was  it  less  amusing  to 
remark  how  desperately  unpopular 
the  poor  pilot  became  in  one  short 
minute.  He  had  had  his  passage  out 
from  Liverpool,  and  during  the  whole 
voyage  had  been  quite  a  notwious 
character,  as  a  teller  of  anecdotes  and 
cracker  of  jokes.  Yet  here  were  the 
very  men  who  had  laughed  the  loudest 
at  his  jests,  now  flourishing  their  fists 
in  his  face,  loading  him  with  impre- 
cations, and  defying  him  to  his  teeth 
as  a  villain ! 

The  boat  soon  shoved  oflF,  with  a 
lantern  and  sundry  blue  lights  on 
board;  and  in  less  than  an  hour 
returned ;  the  officer  in  command 
bringing^  with  him  a  tolerably  tall 


young  tree,  which  he  had  plucked 
up  by  the  roots,  to  satisfy  certain 
distrustful  passengers  whose  minds 
misgave  them  that  they  were  to  be 
imposed  upon  and  shipwrecked,  and 
who  would  on  no  other  terms  believe 
that  he  had  been  ashore,  or  had  done 
anything  but  fraudulently  row  a  little 
way  into  the  mist,  specially  to  deceive 
them  and  compass  their  deaths.  Our 
captain  had  foreseen  from  the  first 
that  we  must  be  in  a  place  called  the 
Eastern  passage  ;  and  so  we  were. 
It  was  about  the  last  place  in  the 
world  in  which  we  had  any  business 
or  reason  to  be,  but  a  sudden  fog,  and 
some  error  on  the  pilot's  part,  were  the 
cause.  We  were  surrounded  by  banks, 
and  rocks,  and  shoals  of  all  kinds, 
but  had  happily  drifted,  it  seemed, 
upon  the  only  safe  speck  that  was 
to  be  found  thereabouts.  Eased 
by  this  report,  and  by  the  assurance 
that  the  tide  was  past  the  ebb,  we 
turned  in  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

I  was  dressing  about  half-past  nine 
next  day,  when  the  noise  above 
hurried  me  on  deck.  When  I  had 
left  it  over-night,  it  was  dark,  foggy, 
and  damp,  and  there  were  bleak  hiUs 
all  round  us.  Ifow,  we  were  gliding 
down  a  smooth,  broad  stream,  at  the 
rate  of  eleven  miles  an  hour :  our 
colours  flying  gaily ;  our  crew  rigged 
out  in  their  smartest  clothes ;  our 
officers  in  uniform  again ;  the  sun 
shining  as  on  a  brilliant  April  day 
in  England ;  the  land  stretched  out 
on  either  side,  streaked  with  light 
patches  of  snow;  white  wooden  houses; 
people  at  their  doors ;  telegraphs 
working ;  flags  hoisted ;  wharfs  ap- 
pearing; ships;  quays  crowded  with 
people ;  distant  noises ;  shouts ;  men 
and  boys  running  down  steep  places 
towards  the  pier :  all  more  bright  and 
gay  and  fresh  to  our  unused  eyes 
than  words  can  paint  them.  We  came 
to  a  wharf,  paved  with  uplifted  faces ; 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


16 


got  alongside,  and  were  made  fast, 
after  some  shouting  and  straining  of 
cables ;  darted,  a  score  of  us  along 
the  gangway,  almost  as  soon  as  it 
was  thrust  out  to  meet  us,  and  be- 
fore it  had  reached  the  ship — and 
leaped  upon  the  firm  glad  earth 
again! 

I  suppose  this  Halifax  would  have 
appeared  an  Elysium,  though  it  had 
been  a  curiosity  of  ugly  dulness.  But 
I  carried  away  with  me  a  most  plea- 
sant impression  of  the  town  and  its 
inhabitants,  and  have  preserved  it  to 
this  hour.  Nor  was  it  without  regret 
that  I  came  home,  without  having 
found  an  opportunity  of  returning 
thither,  and  once  more  shaking  hands 
with  the  friends  I  made  that  day. 

It  happened  to  be  the  opening  of 
the  Legislative  Council  and  General 
Assembly,  at  which  ceremonial  the 
forms  observed  on  the  commencement 
of  a  new  Session  of  Parliament  in 
England  were  so  closely  copied,  and 
so  gravely  presented  on  a  small  scale, 
that  it  was  like  looking  at  West- 
minster through  the  wrong  end  of  a 
telescope.  The  governor,  as  her 
Majesty's  representative,  delivered 
what  may  be  called  the  Speech  from 
the  Throne.  He  said  what  he  had  to 
say  manfully  and  well.  The  military 
band  outside  the  building  struck  up 
"  God  save  the  Queen"  with  great 
vigour  before  his  Excellency  had 
quite  finished ;  the  people  shouted  ; 
the  in's  rubbed  their  hands ;  the  out's 
shook  their  heads;  the  Government 
party  said  there  never  was  such  a 
good  speech ;  the  opposition  declared 
there  never  was  such  a  bad  one ;  the 
Speaker  and  members  of  the  House 
of  Assembly  withdrew  from  the  bar 
to  say  a  great  deal  among  themselves 
and  do  a  little  :  and,  in  short,  every- 
thing went  on,  and  promised  to  go  on, 
just  as  it  does  at  home  upon  the  like 
occasions. 

The  town  is  built  on  the  side  of  a 


hill,  the  highest  point  being  com- 
manded by  a  strong  fortress,  not  yet 
quite  finished.  Several  streets  of 
good  breadth  and  appearance  extend 
from  its  summit  to  the  water-side,  and 
are  intersected  by  cross  streets 
running  parallel  with  the  river.  The 
houses  are  chiefly  of  wood.  The 
market  is  abundantly  supplied :  and 
provisions  are  exceedingly  cheap. 
The  weather  being  unusually  mild  at 
that  time  for  the  season  of  the  year, 
their  was  no  sleighing :  but  there 
were  plenty  of  those  vehicles  in  yards 
and  bye-places,  and  some  of  them, 
from  the  gorgeous  quality  of  their 
decorations,  might  have  "  gone  on" 
without  alteration  as  triumphal  cars  in 
a  melo-drama  at  Astley's.  The  day 
was  uncommonly  fine ;  the  air 
bracing  and  healthful ;  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  town  cheerful,  thriving, 
and  industrious. 

We  lay  there  seven  hours,  to  deliver 
and  exchange  the  mails.  At  length, 
having  collected  all  our  bags  and  all 
our  passengers  (including  two  or  three 
choice  spirits,  who,  having  indulged 
too  freely  in  oysters  and  champagne, 
were  found  lying  insensible  on  their 
backs  in  unfrequented  streets,)  the 
engines  were  again  put  in  motion,  and 
we  stood  off  for  Boston. 

Encountering  squally  weather  again 
in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  we  tumbled  and 
rolled  about  as  usual  all  that  night 
and  all  next  day.  On  the  next  after- 
noon, that  is  to  say,  on  Saturday, 
the  twenty-second  of  January,  an 
American  pilot-boat  came  alongside, 
and  soon  afterwards  the  Britannia 
steam-packet,  from  Liverpool,  eighteen 
days  out,  was  telegraphed  at  Boston. 

The  indescribable  interest  with 
which  I  strained  my  eyes,  as  the  first 
patches  of  American  soil  peeped  like 
molehills  from  the  green  sea,  and  fol- 
lowed them,  as  they  swelled,  by  slow 
and  almost  imperceptible  degrees, 
into  a  continuous  line  of  coast,  can 


16 


AMERICAN    NOTES 


hardly  be  exaggerated.  A  sliarp  keen 
■wind  blew  dead  against  us;  a  hard 
frost  prevailed  on  shore  ;  and  the  cold 
was  most  severe.  Yet  the  air  was  so 
intensely  clear,  and  dry,  and  bright, 
that  the  temperature  was  not  only 
endurable,  but  delicious. 

How  I  remained  on  deck,  staring 
about  me,  until  we  came  alongside 
the  dock,  and  how,  though  I  had  had 
as  many  eyes  as  Argus,  I  should 
have  had  them  all  wide  open,  and  all 
employed  on  new  objects — are  topics 
which  I  will  not  prolong  this  chapter 
to  discuss.  Neither  will  I  more  than 
hint  at  my  foreigner-like  mistake,  in 
supposing  that  a  party  of  most  active 
persons,  who  scrambled  on  board  at 
the  peril  of  their  lives  as  we 
approached  the  wharf,  were  newsmen, 
answering  to  that  industrious  class  at 
home  ;  whereas,  despite  the  leathern 
wallets  of  news  slung  about  the  necks 
of  some,  and  the  broad  sheets  in  the 
hands  of  all,  they  were  Editors,  who 
boarded  ships  in  person  (as  one 
gentleman  in  a  worsted  comforter 
informed  me),  "because  they  liked 
the  excitement  of  it."  Suffice  it  in 
this  place  to  say,  that  one  of  these 
invaders,  with  a  ready  courtesy  for 
which  I  thank  him  here  most  grate- 
fully, went  on  before  to  order  rooms 
at  the  hotel ;  and  that  when  I  fol- 
lowed, as  I  soon  did,  I  found  myself 
rolling  through    the    long   passages 


with  an  involuntary  imitation  of  the 
gait  of  Mr.  T.  P.  Cooke,  in  a  new- 
nautical  melo-drama. 

"  Dinner,  if  you  please,"  said  I  to 
the  waiter. 

"  When  ] "  said  the  waiter. 

"  As  quick  as  possible,"  said  I. 

"  Eight  away  ? "  said  the  waiter. 

After  a  moment's  hesitation,  I 
answered,  "  No,"  at  hazard. 

"Not  right  away?"  cried  the  waiter, 
with  an  amount  of  surprise  that  made 
me  start. 

I  looked  at  him  doubtfully,  and  re- 
turned, "  No  ;  I  would  rather  have  it 
in  this  private  room.  I  like  it  very 
much." 

At  this,  I  really  thought  the  waiter 
must  have  gone  out  of  his  mind  :  as 
I  believe  he  would  have  done,  but 
for  the  interposition  of  another  man, 
who  whispered  in  his  ear,  "Directly." 

"  Well !  and  that's  a  fact !  "  said  the 
waiter,  looking  helplessly  at  me  : 
"  Eight  away." 

I  saw  now  that  "  Eight  away"  and 
"  Directly"  were  one  and  the  same 
thing.  So  I  reversed  my  previous 
answer,  and  sat  down  to  dinner  in  ten 
minutes  afterwards;  and  a  capital 
dinner  it  was. 

The  hotel  (a  very  excellent  one),  is 
called  the  Tremont  House.  It  has 
more  galleries,  colonnades,  piazzas, 
and  passages  than  I  can  remember,  or 
the  reader  would  believe. 


FOR    GENERAL   CIRCULATION. 


17 


CHAPTER  HI. 


In  all  the  public  establishments  of 
America,  the  utmost  courtesy  prevails. 
Most  of  our  Departments  are  suscep- 
tible of  considerable  improvement  in 
this  respect,  but  the  Custom-house 
above  all  others  would  do  well  to  take 
example  from  the  United  States  and 
render  itself  somewhat  less  odious  and 
offensive  to  foreigners.  The  servile 
rapacity  of  the  French  officials  is  suf- 
ficiently contemptible  ;  but  there  is  a 
surly  boorish  incivility  about  our 
men,  alike  disgusting  to  all  persons 
who  fall  into  their  hands,  and  discre- 
ditable to  the  nation  that  keeps  such 
ill-conditioned  curs  snarling  about  its 
gates. 

When  I  landed  in  America,  I  could 
not  help  being  strongly  impressed 
with  the  contrast  their  Custom-house 
presented,  and  the  attention,  polite- 
ness and  good  humour  with  which  its 
officers  discharged  their  duty. 

As  we  did  not  land  at  Boston,  in 
consequence  of  some  detention  at  the 
wharf,  until  after  dark,  I  received  my 
first  impressions  of  the  city  in  walk- 
ing down  to  the  Custom-house  on  the 
morning  after  our  arrival,  which  was 
Sunday.  I  am  afraid  to  say,  by  the 
way,  how  many  offers  of  pews  and 
seats  in  church  for  that  morning  were 
made  to  us,  by  formal  note  of  invita- 
tion, before  we  had  half  finished  our 
first  dinner  in  America,  but  if  I  may 
be  allowed  to  make  a  moderate  guess, 
without  going  into  nicer  calculation, 
I  should  say  that  at  least  as  many 
sittings  were  proffered  us,  as  would 
have  accommodated  a  score  or  two  of 
grown-up  families.  The  nutnber  of 
creeds  and  forms  of  religion  to  which 

No.  162.  c 


the  pleasure  of  our  company  was  re- 
quested, was  in  very  fair  proportion. 

Not  being  able,  in  the  absence  of 
any  change  of  clothes,  to  go  to  church 
that  day,  we  were  compelled  to  decline 
these  kindnesses,  one  and  all ;  and  I 
was  reluctantly  obliged  to  forego  the 
delight  of  hearing  Dr.  Channing,  who 
happened  to  preach  that  morning  for 
the  first  time  in  a  very  long  interval. 
I  mention  the  name  of  this  distin- 
guished and  accomplished  man  (with 
whom  I  soon  afterwards  had  the 
pleasure  of  becoming  personally  ac- 
quainted), that  I  may  have  the  grati- 
fication of  recording  my  humble 
tribute  of  admiration  and  respect  for 
his  high  abilities  and  character  ;  and 
for  the  bold  philanthropy  with  which 
he  has  ever  opposed  himself  to  that 
most  hideous  blot  and  foul  disgrace — 
Slavery. 

To  return  to  Boston.  "When  I  got 
into  the  streets  upon  this  Sunday 
morning,  the  air  was  so  clear,  the 
houses  were  so  bright  and  gay;  the 
signboards  were  painted  in  such 
gaudy  colours ;  the  gilded  letters 
were  so  very  golden ;  the  bricks  were 
so  very  red,  the  stone  was  so  very 
white,  the  blinds  and  area  railings 
were  so  very  green,  the  knobs  and 
plates  upon  the  street  doors  so  mar- 
vellously bright  and  twinkling;  and 
all  so  slight  and  unsubstantial  in 
appearance — that  every  thoroughfare 
in  the  city  looked  exactly  like  a  scene 
in  a  pantomime.  It  rarely  happens 
in  the  business  streets  that  a  trades- 
man, if  I  may  venture  to  call  anybody 
a  tradesman,  where  everybody  is  a 
merchant,  resides  above  his  store ;  so 


18 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


that  many  occupations  are  often  car- 
ried on  in  one  house,  and  the  whole 
front  is  covered  with  boards  and  in- 
scriptions. As  I  walked  along,  I 
kept  glancing  up  at  these  boards, 
confidently  expecting  to  see  a  few  of 
them  change  into  something;  and  I 
never  turned  a  corner  suddenly  with- 
out looking  out  for  the  clown  and 
pantaloon,  who,  I  had  no  doubt,  were 
hiding  in  a  doorway  or  behind  some 
pillar  close  at  hand.  As  to  Harlequin 
and  Columbine,  I  discovered  immedi- 
ately that  they  lodged  (they  are 
always  looking  after  lodgings  in  a 
pantomime)  at  a  very  small  clock- 
maker's,  one  story  high,  near  the 
hotel ;  which,  in  addition  to  various 
symbols  and  devices,  almost  covering 
the  whole  front,  had  a  great  dial 
hanging  out — to  be  jumped  through, 
of  course. 

The  suburbs  are,  if  possible,  even 
more  unsubstantial-looking  than  the 
city.  The  white  wooden  houses  (so 
white  that  it  makes  one  wink  to  look 
at  them),  with  their  green  jalousie 
blinds,  are  so  sprinkled  and  dropped 
about  in  all  directions,  without  seem- 
ing to  have  any  root  at  all  in  the 
ground ;  and  the  small  churches  and 
chapels  are  so  prim,  and  bright,  and 
highly  varnished  ;  that  I  almost  be- 
lieved the  whole  affair  could  be  taken 
up  piecemeal  like  a  child's  toy,  and 
crammed  into  a  little  box. 

The  city  is  a  beautiful  one,  and 
cannot  fail,  I  should  imagine,  to  im- 
press all  strangers  very  favourably. 
The  private  dwelling-houses  are,  for 
the  most  part,  large  and  elegant ;  the 
shops  extremely  good  ;  and  the  public 
buildings  handsome.  The  State  House 
is  built  upon  the  summit  of  a  hill, 
which  rises  gradually  at  first>  and 
afterM'ards  by  a  steep  ascent,  almost 
from  the  water's  edge.  In  front  is  a 
green  inclosure,  called  the  Common. 
The  site  is  beautiful :  and  from  the 
top  there  is  a  charming  panoramic 


view  of  the  whole  town  and  neigh- 
bourhood. In  addition  to  a  variety 
of  commodious  offices,  it  contains 
two  handsome  chambers :  in  one  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  State 
hold  their  meetings :  in  the  other, 
the  Senate.  Such  proceedings  as  I 
saw  here,  were  conducted  with  perfect 
gravity  and  decorum ;  and  were  cer- 
tainly calculated  to  inspire  attention 
and  respect. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  of  the 
intellectual  refinement  and  superiority 
of  Boston,  is  referable  to  the  quiet 
influence  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, which  is  within  three  or  four 
miles  of  the  city.  The  resident  pro- 
fessors at  that  university  are  gentle- 
men of  learning  and  varied  attain- 
ments ;  and  are,  without  one  exception 
that  I  can  call  to  mind,  men  who 
would  shed  a  grace  upon,  and  do 
honour  to,  any  society  in  the  civilised 
world.  Many  of  the  resident  gentry 
in  Boston  and  its  neighbourhood,  and 
I  think  I  am  not  mistaken  in  adding, 
a  large  majority  of  those  who  are  at- 
tached to  the  liberal  professions  there, 
have  been  educated  at  this  same 
school.  Whatever  the  defects  of 
American  universities  may  be,  they 
disseminate  no  prejudices ;  rear  no 
bigots ;  dig  up  the  buried  ashes  of  no 
old  superstitions ;  never  interpose 
between  the  people  and  their  improve- 
ment; exclude  no  man  because  of 
his  religious  opinions ;  above  all,  in 
their  whole  course  of  study  and  in- 
struction, recognise  a  world,  and  a 
broad  one  too,  lying  beyond  the 
college  walls. 

It  was  a  source  of  inexpressible 
pleasure  to  me  to  observe  the  almost 
imperceptible,  but  not  less  certain 
effect,  wrought  by  this  instituthm 
among  the  small  community  of 
Boston;  and  to  note  at  every  turn 
the  humanising  tastes  and  desires  it 
has  engendered  ;  the  affectionate 
friendships  to  which  it  has  given  rise ; 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


19 


the  amount  of  vanity  and  prejudice  it 
has  dispelled.  The  golden  calf  they 
worship  at  Boston  is  a  pigmy  com- 
pared with  the  giant  effigies  set  up  in 
other  parts  of  that  vast  counting- 
house  which  lies  beyond  the  Atlantic  ; 
and  the  almighty  dollar  sinks  into 
something  comparatively  insignifi- 
cant, amidst  a  whole  Pantheon  of 
better  gods. 

Above  all,  I  sincerely  believe  that 
the  public  institutions  and  charities 
of  this  capital  of  Massachusetts  are 
as  nearly  perfect,  as  the  most  con- 
siderate wisdom,  benevolence,  and 
humanity,  can  make  them.  I  never 
in  my  life  was  more  afifected  by  the 
contemplation  of  happiness,  under 
circumstances  of  privation  and  be- 
reavement, than  in  my  visits  to  these 
establishments. 

It  is  a  great  and  pleasant  feature 
of  all  such  institutions  in  America, 
that  they  are  either  supported  by  the 
State  or  assisted  by  the  State  ;  or  (in 
the  event  of  their  not  needing  its 
helping  hand)  that  they  act  in  con- 
cert with  it,  and  are  emphatically  the 
people's.  I  cannot  but  think,  with  a 
view  to  the  principle  and  its  tendency 
to  elevate  or  depress  the  character  of 
the  industrious  classes,  that  a  Public 
Charity  is  immeasurably  better  than 
a  Private  Foundation,  no  matter  how 
munificently  the  latter  may  be  en- 
dowed. In  our  own  country,  where 
it  has  not,  until  within  these  later 
days,  been  a  very  popular  fashion  with 
governments  to  display  any  extraordi- 
nary regard  for  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  or  to  recognise  their  existence 
as  improveable  creatures,  private 
charities,  unexampled  in  the  history 
of  the  earth,  have  arisen,  to  do  an  in- 
calculable amount  of  good  among  the 
destitute  and  afflicted.  But  the 
government  of  the  country,  having 
neither  act  nor  part  in  them,  is  not 
in  the  receipt  of  any  portion  of  the 
gratitude  they  inspire ;  and,  ofiering 


very  little  shelter  or  relief  beyond 
that  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  work- 
house and  the  jail,  has  come,  not  un- 
naturally, to  be  looked  upon  by  the 
poor  rather  as  a  stern' master,  quick 
to  correct  and  punish,  than  a  kind 
protector,  merciful  and  vigilant  in 
their  hour  of  need. 

The  maxim  that  out  of  evil  cometh 
good,  is  strongly  illustrated  by  these 
establishments  at  home ;  as  the  re- 
cords of  the  Prerogative  Office  in 
Doctors'  Commons  can  abundantly 
prove.  Some  immensely  rich  old 
gentleman  or  lady,  surrounded  by 
needy  relatives,  makes,  upon  a  low 
average,  a  will  a-week.  The  old  gentle- 
man or  lady,  never  very  remarkable 
in  the  best  of  times  for  good  temper, 
is  full  of  aches  and  pains  from  head  to 
foot ;  full  of  fancies  and  caprices  ;  full 
of  spleen,  distrust,  suspicion,  and 
dislike.  To  cancel  old  wills,  and  in- 
vent new  ones,  is  at  last  the  sole 
business  of  such  a  testator's  existence; 
and  relations  and  friends  (some  of 
whom  have  been  bred  up  distinctly  to 
inherit  a  large  share  of  the  property, 
and  have  been,  from  their  cradles, 
specially  disqualified  from  devoting 
themselves  to  any  useful  pursuit,  on 
that  account)  are  so  often  and  so  un- 
expectedly and  summarily  cut  off, 
and  re-instated,  and  cut  off  again,  that 
the  whole  family,  down  to  the  remotest 
cousin,  is  kept  in  a  perpetual  fever. 
At  length  it  becomes  plain  that  the 
old  lady  or  gentleman  has  not  long  to 
live;  and  the  plainer  this  becomes, 
the  more  clearly  the  old  lady  or  gentle- 
man perceives  that  everybody  is  in  a 
conspiracy  against  their  poor  old  dying 
relative ;  wherefore  the  old  lady  or 
gentleman  makes  another  last  will — 
positively  the  last  this  time — conceals 
the  same  in  a  china  tea-pot,  and  ex- 
pires next  day.  Then  it  turns  out, 
that  the  whole  of  the  real  and  per- 
sonal estate  is  divided  between  half-a- 
dozen  charities;  and  that  the  dead 


20 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


and  gone  testator  has  in  pure  spite 
helped  to  do  a  great  deal  of  good,  at 
the  cost  of  an  immense  amount  of 
evil  passion  and  misery. 

The  Perkins  Institution  and  Massa- 
chusetts Asylum  for  the  Blind,  at 
Boston,  is  superintended  by  a  body  of 
trustees  who  make  an  annual  report 
to  the  corporation.  The  indigent  blind 
of  that  state  are  admitted  gratuitously. 
Those  from  the  adjoining  state  of 
Connecticut,  or  from  the  states  of 
Maine,  Vermont,  or  New  Hampshire, 
are  admitted  by  a  warrant  from  the 
state  to  which  they  respectively  be- 
long ;  or,  failing  that,  must  find 
security  among  their  friends,  for  the 
payment  of  about  twenty  pounds 
English  for  their  first  year's  board 
and  instruction,  and  ten  for  the  second. 
"  After  the  first  year,"  say  the  trustees, 
"  an  account  current  will  be  opened 
with  each  pupil ;  he  will  be  charged 
with  the  actual  cost  of  his  board, 
which  will  not  exceed  two  dollars  per 
week ; "  a  trifle  more  than  eight  shil- 
lings English ; "  and  he  will  be  credited 
with  the  amount  paid  for  him  by  the 
state,  or  by  his  friends ;  also  with  his 
earnings  over  and  above  the  cost  of 
the  stock  which  he  uses ;  so  that  all 
his  earnings  over  one  dollar  per  week 
will  be  his  own.  By  the  third  year  it 
will  be  known  whether  his  earnings 
will  more  than  pay  the  actual  cost  of 
his  board  ;  if  they  should,  he  will  have 
it  at  his  option  to  remain  and  receive 
his  earnings,  or  not.  Those  who  prove 
unable  to  earn  their  own  livelihood 
will  not  be  retained  ;  as  it  is  not  de- 
sirable to  convert  the  establishment 
into  an  almshouse,  or  to  retain  any 
but  working  bees  in  the  hive.  Those 
who  by  physical  or  mental  imbecility 
are  disqualified  for  work,  are  thereby 
disqualified  from  being  members  of 
an  industrious  community  ;  and  they 
can  be  better  provided  for  in  establish- 
ments fitted  for  the  infirm." 

I  went  to  see  this  place  one  very 


I  fine  winter  morning :  an  Italian  sky 
above,  and  the  air  so  clear  and  bright 
on  every  side,  that  even  my  eyes, 
which  are  none  of  the  best,  could 
follow  the  minute  lines  and  scraps  of 
tracery  in  distant  buildings.  Like  most 
other  public  institutions  in  America, 
of  the  same  class,  it  stands  a  mile  or 
two  without  the  town,  in  a  cheerful 
healthy  spot ;  and  is  an  airy,  spacious, 
handsome  edifice.  It  is  built  upon  a 
height,  commanding  the  harbour. 
When  I  paused  for  a  moment  at  the 
door,  and  marked  how  fresh  and  free 
the  whole  scene  was — ^what  sparkling 
bubbles  glanced  upon  the  waves,  and 
welled  up  every  moment  to  the  sur- 
face, as  though  the  world  below,  like 
that  above,  were  radiant  with  the 
bright  day,  and  gushing  over  in  its 
fulness  of  light :  when  I  gazed  from 
sail  to  sail  away  upon  a  ship  at  sea,  a 
tiny  speck  of  shining  white,  the  only 
cloud  upon  the  still,  deep,  distant 
blue — and,  turning,  saw  a  blind  boy 
with  his  sightless  face  addressed  that 
way,  as  though  he  too  had  some  sense 
within  him  of  the  glorious  distance  : 
I  felt  a  kind  of  sorrow  that  the  place 
should  be  so  very  light,  and  a  strange 
wish  that  for  his  sake  it  were  darker. 
It  was  but  momentary,  of  course,  and 
a  mere  fancy,  but  I  felt  it  keenly  for 
all  that. 

The  children  were  at  their  daily 
tasks  in  dificrent  rooms,  except  a  few 
who  were  already  dismissed,  and  were 
at  play.  Here,  as  in  many  institu- 
tions, no  uniform  is  worn  ;  and  I  was 
very  glad  of  it,  for  two  reasons. 
Firstly,  because  I  am  sure  that 
nothing  but  senseless  custom  and 
want  of  thought  would  reconcile  us  to 
the  liveries  and  badges  we  are  so  fond 
of  at  home.  Secondly,  because  the 
absence  of  these  things  presents  each 
child  to  the  visitor  in  his  or  her  own 
proper  character,  with  its  individuality 
unimpaired ;  not  lost  in  a  dull,  ugly, 
monotonous  repetition  of  the  same 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


21 


unmeaning  garb  :  which  is  really  an 
important  consideration.  The  wis- 
dom of  encouraging  a  little  harmless 
pride  in  personal  appearance  even 
among  the  blind,  or  the  whimsical 
absurdity  of  considering  charity  and 
leather  breeches  inseparable  com- 
panions, as  we  do,  requires  no 
comment. 

Good  order,  cleanliness,  and  com- 
fort, pervaded  every  corner  of  the 
building.  The  various  classes,  who 
were  gathered  round  their  teachers, 
answered  the  questions  put  to  them 
with  readiness  and  intelligence,  and 
in  a  spirit  of  cheerful  contest  for  pre- 
cedence which  pleased  me  very  much. 
Those  who  were  at  play,  were  glee- 
some  and  noisy  as  other  children. 
More  spiritual  and  affectionate  friend- 
ships appeared  to  exist  among  them, 
than  would  be  found  among  other 
young  persons  suffering  under  no 
deprivation ;  but  this  I  expected  and 
was  prepared  to  find.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  great  scheme  of  Heaven's  merciful 
consideration  for  the  afflicted. 

In  a  portion  of  the  building,  set 
apart  for  that  purpose,  are  workshops 
for  blind  persons  whose  education  is 
finished,  and  who  have  acquired  a 
trade,  but  who  cannot  pursue  it  in  an 
ordinary  manufactory  because  of  their 
deprivation.  Several  people  were  at 
work  here ;  making  brushes,  mat- 
tresses, and  so  forth  ;  and  the  cheer- 
fulness, industry,  and  good  order 
discernible  in  every  other  part  of  the 
building,  extended  to  this  department 
also. 

On  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  the  pupils 
all  repaired,  without  any  guide  or 
leader,  to  a  spacious  music-hall,  where 
tbey  took  their  seats  in  an  orchestra 
erected  for  that  purpose,  and  listened 
with  manifest  delight  to  a  voluntary 
on  the  organ,  played  by  one  of  them- 
selves. At  its  conclusion,  the  per- 
former, a  boy  of  nineteen  or  twenty, 
gave  place  to  a  girl ;    and  to  her 


accompaniment  they  all  sang  a  hymn, 
and  afterwards  a  sort  of  chorus.  It 
was  very  sad  to  look  upon  and  hear 
them,  happy  though  their  condition 
unquestionably  was ;  and  I  saw  that 
one  blind  girl,  who  (being  for  the 
time  deprived  of  the  use  of  her  limbs, 
by  illness)  sat  close  beside  me  with 
her  face  towards  them,  wept  silently 
the  while  she  listened. 

It  is  strange  to  watch  the  faces  of 
the  blind,  and  see  how  free  they  are 
from  all  concealment  of  what  is 
passing  in  their  thoughts ;  observing 
which,  a  man  with  eyes  may  blush  to 
contemplate  the  mask  he  wears. 
Allowing  for  one  shade  of  anxious 
expression  which  is  never  absent  from 
their  countenances,  and  the  like  of 
which  we  may  readily  detect  in  our 
own  faces  if  we  try  to  feel  our  way  in 
the  dark,  every  idea,  as  it  rises  within 
them,  is  expressed  with  the  lightning's 
speed,  and  nature's  truth.  If  the 
company  at  a  rout,  or  dramng-room 
at  court,  could  only  for  one  time  be 
as  unconscious  of  the  eyes  upon  them 
as  blind  men  and  women  are,  what 
secrets  would  come  out,  and  what  a 
worker  of  hypocrisy  this  sight,  the 
loss  of  which  we  so  much  pity,  would 
appear  to  be  ! 

The  thought  occurred  to  me  as  I 
sat  down  in  another  room,  before  a 
girl,  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb ;  desti- 
tute of  smell ;  and  nearly  so,  of  taste  : 
before  a  fair  young  creature  with 
every  human  faculty,  and  hope,  and 
power  of  goodness  and  affection, 
inclosed  within  her  delicate  frame, 
and  but  one  outward  sense — the 
sense  of  touch.  There  she  was,  before 
me  ;  built  up,  as  it  were,  in  a  marble 
cell,  impervious  to  any  ray  of  light, 
or  particle  of  sound ;  with  her  poor 
white  hand  peeping  through  a  chink 
in  the  wall,  beckoning  to  some  good 
man  for  help,  that  an  Immortal  soul 
might  be  awakened. 

Long  before  I  looked  upon  her,  the 


22 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


help  had  come.  Her  face  was  radiant 
with  intelligence  and  pleasure.  Her 
hair,  braided  by  her  own  hands,  was 
bound  about  a  head,  whose  intellectual 
capacity  and  development  were  beau- 
tifully expressed  in  its  graceful  out- 
line, and  its  broad  open  brow ;  her 
dress,  arranged  by  herself,  was  a  pat- 
tern of  neatness  and  simplicity ;  the 
work  she  had  knitted,  lay  beside  her ; 
her  writing-book  was  on  the  desk  she 
leaned  upon. — From  the  mournful 
ruin  of  such  bereavement,  there  had 
slowly  risen  up  this  gentle,  tender, 
guileless,  grateful-hearted  being. 

Like  other  inmates  of  that  house, 
she  had  a  green  ribbon  bound  round 
her  eyelids.  A  doll  she  had  dressed 
lay  near  upon  the  ground,  I  took  it 
up,  and  saw  that  she  had  made  a  green 
fillet  such  as  she  wore  herself,  and 
fastened  it  about  its  mimic  eyes. 

She  was  seated  in  a  little  enclosure, 
made  by  school-desks  and  forms,  writ- 
ing her  daily  journal.  But  soon  finish- 
ing this  pursuit,  she  engaged  in  an 
animated  communication  with  a 
teacher  who  sat  beside  her.  This  was 
a  favourite  mistress  with  the  poor 
pupU.  If  she  could  see  the  face  of  her 
fair  instructress,  she  would  not  love 
her  less,  I  am  sure. 

I  have  extracted  a  few  disjointed 
fragments  of  her  history,  from  an  ac- 
count, "WTitten  by  that  one  man  who 
has  made  her  what  she  is.  It  is  a 
very  beautiful  and  touching  narrative; 
and  I  wish  I  could  present  it  entire. 

Her  name  is  Laura  Bridgman.  "  She 
was  born  in  Hanover,  I^ew Hampshire, 
on  the  twenty-first  of  December,  1829. 
She  is  described  as  having  been  a  very 
sprightly  and  pretty  infant,  with  bright 
blue  eyes.  She  was,  however,  so  puny 
and  feel)le  until  she  was  a  year  and  a 
half  old,  that  her  parents  hardly  hoped 
to  rear  her.  She  was  subject  to  severe 
fits,  which  seemed  to  rack  her  frame 
almost  beyond  her  power  of  endur- 
ance :  and  life  was  held  by  the  feeblest 


tenure :  but  when  a  year  and  a  half 
old,  she  seemed  to  rally;  the  dangerous 
symptoms  subsided;  and  at  twenty 
months  old,  she  was  perfectly  well. 

"  Then  her  mental  powers,  hitherto 
stinted  in  their  growth,  rapidly  deve- 
loped themselves  ;  and  during  the 
four  months  of  health  which  she  en- 
joyed, she  appears  (making  due  allow- 
ance for  a  fond  mother's  account)  to 
have  displayed  a  considerable  degree 
of  intelligence. 

"  But  suddenly  she  sickened  again ; 
her  disease  raged  with  great  violence 
during  five  weeks,  when  her  eyes  and 
ears  were  inflamed,  suppurated,  and 
their  contents  were  discharged.  But 
though  sight  and  hearing  were  gone 
for  ever,  the  poor  child's  sufferings 
were  not  ended.  The  fever  raged 
during  seven  weeks  ;  for  five  months 
she  was  kept  in  i  bed  in  a  darkened 
room  ;  it  was  a  year  before  she  could 
walk  unsupported,  and  two  years  be- 
fore she  could  sit  up  all  day.  It  was 
now  observed  that  her  sense  of  smell 
was  almost  entirely  destroyed ;  and, 
consequently,  that  her  taste  was  much 
blunted. 

"  It  was  not  until  four  years  of  age 
that  the  poor  child's  bodily  health 
seemed  restored,  and  she  was  able  to 
enter  upon  her  apprenticeship  of  life 
and  the  world. 

"  But  what  a  situation  was  hers ! 
The  darkness  and  the  silence  of  the 
tomb  were  around  her :  no  mother's 
smile  called  forth  her  answering 
smile,  no  father's  voice  taught  her  to 
imitate  his  sounds  : — they,  brothers 
and  sisters,  were  but  forms  of  matter 
which  resisted  her  touch,  but  which 
differed  not  from  the  furniture  of  the 
house,  save  in  warmth,  and  in  the 
power  of  locomotion  ;  and  not  even 
in  these  respects  from  the  dog  and 
the  cat. 

"But  the  immortal  spirit  which 
had  been  implanted  within  her  could 
not  die,  nor  be  maimed  nor  muti- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


?3 


lated ;  and  though  most  of  its 
avenues  of  communication  with  the 
world  were  cut  off,  it  began  to  mani- 
fest itself  through  the  others.  As 
soon  as  she  could  walk,  she  began  to 
explore  the  room, and  then  the  house; 
she  became  familiar  with  the  form, 
density,  weight,  and  heat,  of  every 
article  she  could  lay  her  hands  upon. 
She  followed  her  mother,  and  felt  her 
hands  and  arms,  as  she  was  occupied 
about  the  house ;  and  her  disposition 
to  imitate,  led  her  to  repeat  every- 
thing herself.  She  even  learned  to 
sew  a  little,  and  to  knit." 

The  reader  will  scarcely  need  to  be 
told,  however,  that  the  opportunities 
of  communicating  with  her,  were 
verj',  very  limited;  and  that  the 
moral  effects  of  her  wretched  state 
soon  began  to  appear.  Those  who 
cannot  be  enlightened  by  reason,  can 
only  be  controlled  by  force ;  and  this, 
coupled  with  her  great  privations, 
must  soon  have  reduced  her  to  a  worse 
condition  than  that  of  the  beasts  that 
perish,  but  for  timely  and  imhoped- 
for  aid. 

"  At  this  time,  I  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  bear  of  the  child,  and  immediately 
hastened  to  Hanover  to  see  her.  I 
found  her  with  a  welUformed  figure ; 
a  strongly-marked,  nervous-sanguine 
temperament ;  a  large  and  beautifully- 
shaped  head ;  and  the  whole  system 
in  healthy  action.  The  paa-ents  were 
easily  induced  to  consent  to  her 
coming  to  Boston,  and  on  the  4th  of 
October,  1837,  they  brought  her  to  the 
Institution. 

"  For  a  while,  she  was  much  bewil- 
dered ;  and  after  waiting  about  two 
weeks,  until  she  became  acquainted 
with  her  new  locality,  and  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  inmates,  the  at- 
tempt was  made  to  give  her  know- 
ledge of  arbitrary  signs,  by  which 
she  could  interchange  thoughts  with 
others. 
,    "  There  was  one  of  two  ways  to  be 


adopted :  either  to  go  on  to  build  up 
a  language  of  signs  on  the  basis  of 
the  natural  language  which  she  had 
already  commenced  herself,  or  to 
teach  her  the  purely  arbitrary 
language  in  common  use  :  that  is,  to 
give  her  a  sign  for  every  individual 
thing,  or  to  give  her  a  knowledge  of 
letters  by  combination  of  which  she 
might  express  her  idea  of  the  exist- 
ence, and  the  mode  and  condition  of 
existence,  of  any  thing.  The  former 
would  have  been  easy,  but  very  inef- 
fectual ;  the  latter  seemed  very  diffi- 
cult, but,  if  accompli^ed,  very 
effectual.  I  determined  therefore  to 
try  the  latter. 

"  The  first  experiments  were  made 
by  taking  articles  in  common  use, 
such  as  knives,  forks,  spoons,  keys, 
&c.,  and  pasting  upon  them  labels 
with  their  names  printed  in  raised 
letters.  These  she  felt  very  carefully, 
and  soon,  of  course,  distinguished  that 
the  crooked  lines  spoo  n,  differed  as 
much  from  the  crooked  lines  hey,  as 
the  spoon  differed  from  the  key  in 
form. 

"  Then  small  detached  labels,  with 
the  same  words  printed  upon  them, 
were  put  into  her  hands;  and  she 
soon  observed  that  they  were  similar 
to  the  ones  pasted  on  the  articles. 
She  showed  her  perception  of  this 
similarity  by  laying  the  label  hey 
upon  the  key, and  the  label  spoon 
upon  the  spoon.  She  was  encouraged 
here  by  the  natural  sign  of  approba- 
tion, patting  on  the  head. 

"  The  same  process  was  then  re- 
peated with  all  the  articles  which  she 
could  handle;  and  she  very  easily 
learned  to  place  the  proper  labels 
upon  them.  It  was  evident,  however, 
that  the  only  intellectual  exercise  was 
that  of  imitation  and  memory.  She 
recollected  that  the  label  ho  oh  was 
placed  upon  a  book,  and  she 
repeated  the  process  first  from  imi- 
tation, next  from  memory,  with  only 


24 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


the  motive  of  love  of  approbation, 
but  apparently  without  the  intellec- 
tual perception  of  any  relation  between 
the  things. 

"  After  a  while,  instead  of  labels, 
the  individual  letters  were  given  to 
her  on  detached  bits  of  paper :  they 
were  arranged  side  by  side  so  as  to 
spell  hook,  hey,  &c. ;  then  they  were 
mixed  up  in  a  heap  and  a  sign  was 
made  for  her  to  arrange  them  herself, 
so  as  to  express  the  words  hook,  key, 
&c. ;  and  she  did  so. 

"Hitherto,  the  process  had  been 
mechanical,  and  the  success  about  as 
great  as  teaching  a  very  knowing  dog 
a  variety  of  tricks.  The  poor  child  had 
sat  in  mute  amazement,  and  patiently 
imitated  everything  her  teacher  did  ; 
but  now  the  truth  began  to  flash  upon 
her :  her  intellect  began  to  work : 
she  perceived  that  here  was  a  way  by 
which  she  could  herself  make  up  a 
sign  of  anything  that  was  in  her  own 
mind,  and  show  it  to  another  mind  ; 
and  at  once  her  countenance  lighted 
up  with  a  human  expression  :  it  was 
no  longer  a  dog,  or  parrot :  it  was  an 
immortal  spirit,  eagerly  seizing  upon 
a  new  link  of  union  with  other  spirits ! 
I  could  almost  fix  upon  the  moment 
when  this  truth  dawned  upon  her 
mind,  and  spread  its  light  to  her 
countenance ;  I  saw  that  the  great 
obstacle  was  overcome;  and  that 
henceforward  nothing  but  patient  and 
persevering,  but  plain  and  straight- 
forward, efforts  were  to  be  used. 

"The  result  thus  far,  is  quickly 
related,  and  easily  conceived  ;  but  not 
so  was  the  process ;  for  many  weeks 
of  apparently  unprofitable  labour  were 
passed  before  it  was  effected. 

"  When  it  was  said  above,  that  a 
sign  was  made,  it  was  intended  to  say, 
that  the  action  was  performed  by  her 
teacher,  she  feeling  his  hands,  and 
then  imitating  the  motion. 

"  The  next  step  was  to  procure  a 
set  of  metal  types,  with  the  different 


letters  of  the  alphabet  cast  upon  their 
ends;  also  a  board,  in  which  were 
square  holes,  into  which  holes  she 
could  set  the  types;  so  that  the 
letters  on  their  ends  could  alone  be 
felt  above  the  surface. 

"  Then,  on  any  article  being  handed 
to  her,  for  instance,  a  pencil,  or  a 
watch,  she  would  select  the  compo- 
nent letters,  and  arrange  them  on  her 
board,  and  read  them  with  apparent 
pleasure. 

"She  was  exercised  for  several  weeks 
in  this  way,  until  her  vocabulary  be- 
came extensive ;  and  then  the  impor- 
tant step  was  taken  of  teaching  her 
how  to  represent  the  different  letters 
by  the  position  of  her  fingers,  instead 
of  the  cumbrous  apparatus  of  the 
board  and  types.  She  accomplished 
this  speedily  and  easily,  for  her  intel- 
lect had  begun  to  work  in  aid  of  her 
teacher,  and  her  progress  was  rapid. 

"  This  was  the  period,  about  three 
months  after  she  had  commenced, 
that  the  first  report  of  her  case  was 
made,  in  which  it  is  stated  that '  she 
has  just  learned  the  manual  alphabet, 
as  used  by  the  deaf  mutes,  and  it  is  a 
subject  of  delight  and  wonder  to  see 
how  rapidly,  correctly,  and  eagerly, 
she  goes  on  with  her  labours.  Her 
teacher  gives  her  a  new  object,  for 
instance,  a  pencil,  first  lets  her  exa- 
mine it, -and  get  an  idea  of  its  use, 
then  teaches  her  how  to  spell  it  by 
making  the  signs  for  the  letters  with 
her  own  fingers  :  the  child  grasps  her 
hand,  and  feels  her  fingers,  as  the 
different  letters  are  formed ;  she  turns 
her  head  a  little  on  one  side,  like  a 
person  listening  closely ;  her  lips  are 
apart ;  she  seems  scarcely  to  breathe ; 
and  her  countenance,  at  first  anxious, 
gradually  changes  to  a  smile,  as  she 
comprehends  the  lesson.  She  then 
holds  up  her  tiny  fingers,  and  spells 
the  word  in  the  manual  alphabet; 
next,  she  takes  her  types  and  arranges 
her  letters;  and  last,  to  make  sure 


FOR  GExNERAL  CIRCULATION. 


25 


that  she  is  right,  she  takes  the  whole 
of  the  types  composing  the  word,  and 
places  them  upon  or  in  contact  with 
the  pencil,  or  whatever  the  object 
may  be.' 

"  The  whole  of  the  succeeding  year 
was  passed  in  gratifying  her  eager 
inquiries  for  the  names  of  every  object 
which  she  could  possibly  handle;  in 
exercising  her  in  the  use  of  the  manual 
alphabet ;  in  extending  in  every  pos- 
sible way  her  knowledge  of  the  phy- 
sical relations  of  things :  and  in  proper 
care  of  her  health. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  year  a  report  of 
her  case  was  made,  from  which  the 
following  is  an  extract. 

"  *It  has  been  ascertained  beyond 
the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  she  can- 
not see  a  ray  of  light,  cannot  hear  the 
least  sound,  and  never  exercises  her 
sense  of  smell,  if  she  have  any.  Thus 
her  mind  dwells  in  darkness  and  still- 
ness, as  profound  as  that  of  a  closed 
tomb  at  midnight.  Of  beautiful  sights, 
and  sweet  sounds,  and  pleasant  odours, 
she  has  no  conception  ;  nevertheless, 
she  seems  as  happy  and  playful  as  a 
bird  or  a  lamb;  and  the  employment  of 
her  intellectual  faculties,  or  the  ac- 
quirement of  a  new  idea,  gives  her  a 
vivid  pleasure,  which  is  plainly  marked 
in  her  expressive  features.  She  never 
seems  to  repine,  but  has  all  the  buoy- 
ancy and  gaiety  of  childhood.  She  is 
fond  of  fun  and  frolic,  and  when  play- 
ing with  the  rest  of  the  children,  her 
shrill  laugh  sounds  loudest  of  the 
group. 

"  '  When  left  alone,  she  seems  very 
happy  if  she  have  her  knitting  or 
sewing,  and  will  busy  herself  for  hours : 
if  she  have  no  occupation,  she  evi- 
dently amuses  herself  by  imaginary 
dialogues,  or  by  recalling  past  impres- 
sions; she  counts  with  her  fingers, 
or  spells  out  names  of  things  which 
she  has  recently  learned,  in  the 
manual  alphabet  of  the  deaf  mutes. 
In    this   lonely  self-communion  she 


seems  to  reason,  reflect,  and  argue : 
if  she  spell  a  word  wrong  with  the 
fingers  of  her  right  hand,  she  instantly 
strikes  it  with  her  left,  as  her  teacher 
does,  in  sign  of  disapprobation;  if 
right,  then  she  pats  herself  upon  the 
head,  and  looks  pleased.  She  some- 
times purposely  spells  a  word  wrong 
with  the  left  hand,  looks  roguish  for 
a  moment  and  laughs,  and  then  with 
the  right  hand  strikes  the  left,  as  if 
to  correct  it. 

"  *  During  the  year  she  has  attained 
great  dexterity  in  the  use  of  the 
manual  alphabet  of  the  deaf  mutes ; 
and  she  spells  out  the  words  and  sen- 
tences which  she  knows,  so  fast  and 
so  deftly,  that  only  those  accustomed 
to  this  language  can  follow  with  the 
eye  the  rapid  motions  of  her  fingers. 

"  '  But  wonderful  as  is  the  rapidity 
with  which  she  writes  her  thoughts 
upon  the  air,  still  more  so  is  the  ease 
and  accuracy  with  which  she  reads  the 
words  thus  written  by  another;  grasp- 
ing their  hands  in  hers,  and  following 
every  movement  of  their  fingers,  as 
letter  after  letter  conveys  their  mean- 
ing to  her  mind.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  she  converses  with  her  blind 
playmates,  and  nothing  can  more 
forcibly  show  the  power  of  mind  in 
forcing  matter  to  its  purpose  than  a 
meeting  between  them.  For  if  great 
talent  and  skill  are  necessary  for  two 
pantomimes  to  paint  their  thoughts 
and  feelings  by  the  movements  of  the 
body,  and  the  expression  of  the  coun- 
tenance, how  much  greater  the  difli- 
culty  when  darkness  shrouds  them 
both,  and  the  one  can  hear  no  sound ! 

"  '  When  Laura  is  walking  through 
a  passage-way,  with  her  hands  spread 
before  her,  she  knows  instantly  every 
one  she  meets,  and  passes  them  with 
a  sign  of  recognition :  but  if  it  be  a 
girl  of  her  own  age,  and  especially  if 
it  be  one  of  her  favourites,  there  is 
instantly  a  bright  smile  of  recogni- 
tion, and  a  twining  of  arms,  a  grasping 


26 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


of  hands,  and  a  swift  telegraphing 
upon  the  tiny  fingers;  whose  rapid 
evolutions  convey  the  tlioughts  and 
feelings  from  the  outposts  of  one  mind 
to  those  of  the  other.  There  are 
questions  and  answers,  exchanges  of 
joy  or  sorrow,  there  are  kissings  and 
partings,  just  as  between  little  children 
with  all  their  senses.' 

"  During  this  year,  and  six  months 
after  she  had  left  home,  her  mother 
came  to  visit  her,  and  the  scene  of 
their  meeting  was  an  interesting 
one. 

"  The  mother  stood  some  time, 
gazing  with  overflowing  eyes  upon 
her  unfortunate  child,  who  all  uncon- 
scious of  her  presence,  was  playing 
about  the  room.  Presently  Laura  ran 
against  her,  and  at  once  began  feeling 
her  hands,  examining  her  dress,  and 
trying  to  find  out  if  she  knew  her ; 
but  not  succeeding  in  this,  she  turned 
away  as  from  a  stranger,  and  the  poor 
woman  could  not  conceal  the  pang 
she  felt,  at  finding  that  her  beloved 
child  did  not  know  her. 

"  She  then  gave  Laura  a  string  of 
beads  which  she  used  to  wear  at 
home,  which  were  recognised  by  the 
child  at  once,  who,  with  much  joy, 
put  them  around  her  neck,  and  sought 
me  eagerly  to  say  she  understood  the 
string  was  from  her  home. 

"  The  mother  now  tried  to  caress 
her,  but  poor  Laura  repelled  her,  pre- 
ferring to  be  with  her  acquaintances. 

"Another  article  from  home  was 
now  given  her,  and  she  began  to  look 
much  interested ;  she  examined  the 
stranger  much  closer,  and  gave  me  to 
understand  that  she  knew  she  came 
from  Hanover ;  she  even  endured  her 
caresses,  but  would  leave  her  with 
indifference  at  the  slightest  signal. 
The  distress  of  the  mother  was  now 
painful  to  behold;  for,  although  she 
had  feared  that  she  should  not  be 
recognised,  the  painful  reality  of  being 
treated   with    cold    indifference    by 


a  darling  child,  was  too  much  for 
woman's  nature  to  bear. 

"  After  a  while,  on  the  mother 
taking  hold  of  her  again,  a  vague 
idea  seemed  to  flit  across  Laura's  mind, 
that  this  could  not  be  a  stranger  ;  she 
therefore  felt  her  hands  very  eagerly, 
while  her  countenance  assumed  an 
expression  of  intense  interest;  she 
became  very  pale,  and  then  suddenly 
red;  hope  seemed  struggling  with 
doul3t  and  anxiety,  and  never  were 
contending  emotions  more  strongly 
painted  upon  the  human  face  :  at  this 
moment  of  painful  uncertainty,  the 
mother  drew  her  close  to  her  side, 
and  kissed  her  fondly,  when  at  once 
the  truth  flashed  upon  the  child,  and 
all  mistrust  and  anxiety  disappeared 
from  her  face,  as  with  an  expression 
of  exceeding  joy  she  eagerly  nestled 
to  the  bosom  of  her  parent,  and 
yielded  herself  to  her  fond  embraces. 

"  After  this,  the  beads  were  all  un- 
heeded; the  playthings  which  were 
offered  to  her  were  utterly  disregarded; 
her  playmates,  for  whom  but  a  mo- 
ment before  she  gladly  left  the 
stranger,  now  vainly  strove  to  pull 
her  from  her  mother;  and  though 
she  yielded  her  usual  instantaneous 
obedience  to  my  signal  to  follow  me, 
it  was  evidently  with  painful  reluc- 
tance. She  clung  close  to  me,  as  if 
bewildered  and  fearful ;  and  when, 
after  a  moment,  I  took  her  to  her 
mother,  she  sprang  to  her  arms,  and 
clung  to  her  with  eager  joy. 

"  The  subsequent  parting  between 
them,  showed  alike  the  affection,  the 
intelligence,  and  the  resolution  of  the 
child. 

"Laura  accompanied  her  mother 
to  the  door,  clinging  close  to  her  all 
the  way,  until  they  arrived  at  the 
threshold,  where  she  paused,  and  felt 
around;  to  ascertain  Avho  was  near 
her.  Perceiving  the  matron,  of  whom 
she  is  very  fond,  she  grasped  her  with 
one   hand,  holding  on  convulsively 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


27 


to  her  mother  with  the  other;  and 
thus  she  stood  for  a  moment :  then 
she  dropped  her  mother's  hand ;  put 
her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes;  and 
turning  round,  clung  sobbing  to  the 
matron ;  while  her  mother  departed, 
with  emotions  as  deep  as  those  of  her 
chUd. 

*        *        *        *        * 

"It  has  been  remarked  in  former 
reports,  that  she  can  distinguish  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  intellect  in  others, 
and  that  she  soon  regarded  almost 
with  contempt,  a  newcomer,  when, 
after  a  few  days,  she  discovered  her 
weakness  of  mind.  This  unamiable 
part  of  her  character  has  been  more 
strongly  developed  during  the  past 
year. 

"She  chooses  for  her  friends  and 
companions,  those  children  who  are 
intelligent,  and  can  talk  best  with 
her ;  and  she  evidently  dislikes  to  be 
with  those  who  are  deficient  in  intel- 
lect, unless,  indeed,  she  can  make 
them  serve  her  purposes,  which  she 
is  evidently  inclined  to  do.  She  takes 
advantage  of  them,  and  makes  them 
wait  upon  her,  in  a  manner  that  she 
knows  she  could  not  exact  of  others; 
and  in  various  ways  she  shows  her 
Saxon  blood. 

"  She  is  fond  of  having  other. child- 
ren noticed  and  caressed  by  the 
teachers,  and  those  whom  she  respects ; 
but  this  must  not  be  carried  too  far, 
or  she  becomes  jealous.  She  wants 
to  have  her  share,  which,  if  not  the 
lion's,  is  the  greater  part ;  and  if  she 
does  not  get  it,  she  says,  *  My  motJier 
toill  love  me.' 

"  Her  tendency  to  imitation  is  so 
strong,  that  it  leads  her  to  actions 
which  must  be  entirely  incomprehen- 
sible to  her,  and  which  can  give 
her  no  other  pleasure  than  the  grati- 
fication of  an  internal  faculty.  She 
has  been  known  to  sit  for  half  an 
hour,  holding  a  book  before  her  sight- 
less eyes,  and  moving  her  lips,  as  she 


has  observed  seeing  people  do  when 
reading. 

"  She  one  day  pretended  that  her 
doll  was  sick  ;  and  went  through  all 
the  motions  of  tending  it,  and  giving 
it  medicine  ;  she  then  put  it  carefully 
to  bed,  and  placed  a  bottle  of  hot 
water  to  its  feet,  laughing  all  the 
time  most  heartily.  When  I  came 
home,  she  insisted  upon  my  going  to 
see  it,  and  feel  its  pulse ;  and  when  I 
told  her  to  put  a  blister  on  its  back, 
she  seemed  to  enjoy  it  amazingly,  and 
almost  screamed  with  delight. 

"  Her  social  feelings,  and  her  affec- 
tions, are  very  strong ;  and  when  she 
is  sitting  at  work,  or  at  her  studies, 
by  the  side  of  one  of  her  little  friends, 
she  will  break  off  from  her  task  every 
few  moments,  to  hug  and  kiss  them 
with  an  earnestness  and  warmth  that 
is  touching  to  behold. 

"  When  left  alone,  she  occupies  and 
apparently  amuses  herself,  and  seems 
quite  contented ;  and  so  strong  seems 
to  be  the  natural  tendency  of  thought 
to  put  on  the  garb  of  language,  that 
she  often  soliloquizes  in  the  finger 
language,  slow  and  tedious  as  it  is. 
But  it  is  only  when  alone,  that  she  is 
quiet :  for  if  she  become  sensible  of 
the  presence  of  any  one  near  her,  she 
is  restless  until  she  can  sit  close  beside 
them,  hold  their  hand,  and  converse 
with  them  by  signs. 

"  In  her  intellectual  character  it  is 
pleasing  to  observe  an  insatiable  thirst 
for  knowledge,  and  a  quick  percep- 
tion of  the  relations  of  things.  In  her 
moral  character,  it  is  beautiful  to  be- 
hold her  continual  gladness,  her  keen 
enjoyment  of  existence,  her  expan- 
sive love,  her  unhesitating  confidence, 
her  sympathy  with  suffering,  her  con- 
scientiousness, truthfulness,  and  hope- 
fulness." 

Such  are  a  few  fragments  from  the 
simple  but  most  interesting  and  in- 
structive history  of  Laura  Bridgman. 
The  name  of  her  great  benefactor  and 


28 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


friend,  who  writes  it,  is  Doctor  Howe. 
There  are  not  many  persons,  I  hope 
and  believe,  who,  after  reading  these 
passages,  can  ever  hear  that  name  with 
indiflFerence. 

A  further  account  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Howe,  since  the  report 
from  which  I  have  just  quoted.  It 
describes  her  rapid  mental  growth 
and  improvement  during  twelve 
months  more,  and  brings  her  little 
history  down  to  the  end  of  last  year. 
It  is  very  remarkable,  that  as  we 
dream  in  words,  and  carry  on  imagi- 
nary conversations,  in  which  we  speak 
both  for  ourselves  and  for  the  shadows 
who  appear  to  us  in  those  visions  of 
the  night,  so  she,  having  no  words, 
uses  her  finger  alphabet  in  her  sleep. 
And  it  has  been  ascertained  that  when 
her  slumber  is  broken,  and  is  much 
disturbed  by  dreams,  she  expresses 
her  thoughts  in  an  irregular  and  con- 
fused manner  on  her  fingers  :  just  as 
we  should  murmur  and  mutter  them 
indistinctly,  in  the  like  circumstances. 

I  turned  over  the  leaves  of  her 
Diary,  and  found  it  written  in  a  fair 
legible  square  hand,  and  expressed  in 
terms  which  were  quite  intelligible 
without  any  explanation.  On  my 
saying  that  I  should  like  to  see  her 
write  again,  the  teacher  who  sat  be- 
side her,  bade  her,  in  their  language, 
sign  her  name  upon  a  slip  of  paper, 
twice  or  thrice.  In  doing  so,  I  ob- 
served that  she  kept  her  left  hand 
always  touching,  and  following  up, 
her  right,  in  which,  of  course,  she  held 
the  pen.  No  line  was  indicated  by 
any  contrivance,  but  she  wrote  straight 
and  freely. 

She  had,  until  now,  been  quite  un- 
conscious of  the  presence  of  visitors ; 
but,  having  her  hand  placed  in  that 
of  the  gentleman  who  accompanied 
me,  she  immediately  expressed  his 
name  upon  her  teacher's  palm.  In- 
deed her  sense  of  touch  is  now  so 
exquisite,  that  having  been  acquainted 


with  a  person  once,  she  can  recognise 
him  or  her  after  almost  "any  interval. 
This  gentleman  had  been  in  her  com- 
pany, I  believe,  but  very  seldom,  and 
certainly  had  not  seen  her  for  many 
months.  My  hand  she  rejected  at 
once,  as  she  does  that  of  any  man  who 
is  a  stranger  to  her.  But  she  retained 
my  wife's  with  evident  pleasure, 
kissed  her,  and  examined  her  dress 
with  a  girl's  curiosity  and  interest. 

She  was  merry  and  cheerful,  and 
showed  much  innocent  playfulness  in 
her  intercourse  with  her  teacher. 
Her  delight  on  recognising  a  favourite 
playfellow  and  companion — herself  a 
blind  girl — who  silently,  and  with  an 
equal  enjoyment  of  the  coming  sur- 
prise, took  a  seat  beside  her,  was 
beautiful  to  witness.  It  elicited  from 
her  at  first,  as  other  slight  circum- 
stances did  twice  or  thrice  during  my 
visit,  an  uncouth  noise  which  was 
rather  painful  to  hear.  But  on  her 
teacher  touching  her  lips,  she  im- 
mediately desisted,  and  embraced  her 
laughingly  and  afi'ectionately. 

I  had  previously  been  into  another 
chamber,  where  a  number  of  blind 
boys  were  swinging,  and  climbing, 
and  engaged  in  various  sports.  They 
all  clamoured,  as  we  entered,  to  the 
assistant-master,  who  accompanied 
us,  "  Look  at  me,  Mr.  Hart !  Please, 
Mr.  Hart,  look  at  me!"  evincing,  I 
thought,  even  in  this,  an  anxiety  pe- 
culiar to  their  condition,  that  their 
little  feats  of  agility  should  be  seen. 
Among  them  was  a  small  laughing 
fellow,  who  stood  aloof,  entertaining 
himself  with  a  gymnastic  exercise  for 
bringing  the  arms  and  chest  into 
play ;  which  he  enjoyed  mightily ; 
especially  when,  in  thrusting  out  his 
right  arm,  he  brought  it  into  contact 
with  another  boy.  Like  Laura 
Bridgman,  this  young  child  was  deaf, 
and  dumb,  and  blind. 

Dr.  Howe's  account  of  this  pupil's 
first  instruction  is  so  very  striking, 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


29 


and  so  intimately  connected  with 
Laura  herself,  that  I  cannot  refrain 
from  a  short  extract.  I  may  premise 
that  the  poor  boy's  name  is  Oliver 
Caswell ;  that  he  is  thirteen  years  of 
age ;  and  that  he  was  in  full  possession 
of  all  his  faculties,  until  three  years 
and  four  months  old.  He  was  then 
attacked  by  scarlet  fever :  in  four 
weeks  became  deaf;  in  a  few  weeks 
more,  blind ;  in  six  months,  dumb. 
He  showed  his  anxious  sense  of  this 
last  deprivation,  by  often  feeling  the 
lips  of  other  persons  when  they  were 
talking,  and  then  putting  his  hand 
upon  his  own,  as  if  to  assure  himself 
that  he  had  them  in  the  right 
position. 

"  His  thirst  for  knowledge,"  says 
Dr.  Howe,  "  proclaimed  itself  as  soon 
as  he  entered  the  house,  by  his  eager 
examination  of  every  thing  he  could 
feel  or  smell  in  his  new  location.  For 
instance,  treading  upon  the  register 
of  a  furnace,  he  instantly  stooped 
down,  and  began  to  feel  it,  and  soon 
discovered  the  way  in  which  the 
upper  plate  moved  upon  the  lower 
one  ;  but  this  was  not  enough  for  him, 
80  lying  down  upon  his  face,  he  ap- 
plied his  tongue  first  to  one  then  to 
the  other,  and  seemed  to  discover 
that  they  were  of  different  kinds  of 
metal. 

"  His  signs  were  expressive :  and 
the  strictly  natural  language,laughing, 
crying,  sighing,  kissing,  embracing, 
&c.,  was  perfect. 

"Some  of  the  analogical  signs  which 
(guided  by  his  faculty  of  imitation)  he 
had  contrived,  were  comprehensible ; 
such  as  the  waving  motion  of  his 
hand  for  the  motion  of  a  boat,  the 
circular  one  for  a  wheel,  &c. 

"  The  first  object  was  to  break  up 
the  use  of  these  signs  and  to  sub- 
stitute for  them  the  use  of  purely  arbi- 
trary ones. 

"  Profiting  by  the  experience  I  had 
gained  in  the  other  cases,  I  omitted 


several  steps  of  the  process  before 
employed,  and  commenced  at  once 
with  the  finger  language.  Taking 
therefore,  several  articles  having  short 
names,  such  as  key,  cup,  mug,  &c., 
and  with  Laura  for  an  auxiliary,  I  sat 
down,  and  taking  his  hand,  placed  it 
upon  one  of  them,  and  then  with  my 
own,  made  the  letters  key.  He  felt 
my  hands  eagerly  with  both  of  his, 
and  on  my  repeating  the  process,  he 
evidently  tried  to  imitate  the  motions 
of  my  fingers.  In  a  few  minutes  he 
contrived  to  feel  the  motions  of  my 
fingers  with  one  hand,  and  holding 
out  the  other  he  tried  to  imitate  them, 
laughing  most  heartily  when  he  suc- 
ceeded. Laura  was  by,  interested 
even  to  agitation ;  and  the  two  pre- 
sented a  singular  sight :  her  face  was 
flushed  and  anxious,  and  her  fingers 
twined  in  among  ours  so  closely  as  to 
follow  every  motion,  but  so  lightly  as 
not  to  embarrass  them  ;  while  Oliver 
stood  attentive,  his  head  a  little  aside, 
his  face  turned  up,  his  left  hand 
grasping  mine,  and  his  right  held  out : 
at  every  motion  of  my  fingers  his 
countenance  betokened  keen  atten- 
tion ;  there  was  an  expression  of 
anxiety  as  he  tried  to  imitate  the 
motions  ;  then  a  smile  came  stealing 
out  as  he  thought  he  could  do  so,  and 
spread  into  a  joyous  laugh  the  mo- 
ment he  succeeded,  and  felt  me  pat 
his  head,  and  Laura  clap  him  heartily 
upon  the  back,  and  jump  up  and 
down  in  her  joy. 

"He  learned  more  than  a  half  dozen 
letters  in  half  an  hour,  and  seemed 
delighted  with  his  success,  at  least  in 
gaining  approbation.  His  attention 
then  began  to  flag,  and  I  commenced 
playing  with  him.  It  was  evident 
that  in  all  this  he  had  merely  been 
imitating  the  motions  of  my  fingers, 
and  placing  his  hand  upon  the  key, 
cup,  &;c.,  as  part  of  the  process,  with- 
out any  perception  of  the  relation  be- 
tween the  sign  and  the  object. 


38 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


"  When  he  was  tired  with  play  I 
took  him  back  to  the  table^  and  he 
was  quite  ready  to  begin  again  his 
process  of  imitation.  He  soon  learned 
to  make  the  letters  for  key,  pen,  pin  ; 
and  by  having  the  object  repeatedly 
placed  in  his  hand,  he  at  last  perceived 
the  relation  I  wished  to  establish  be- 
tween them.  This  was  evident,  be- 
cause, when  I  made  the  letters  p  i  n, 
or  pen,  or  cup,  he  would  select  the 
article. 

''The  perception  of  this  relation 
was  not  accompanied  by  that  radiant 
flash  of  intelligence,  and  that  glow  of 
joy,  which  marked  the  delightful  mo- 
ment when  Laura  first  perceived  it. 
I  then  placed  all  the  articles  on  the 
table,  and  going  away  a  little  distance 
with  the  children,  placed  Oliver's 
fingers  in  the  positions  to  spell  hey,  on 
which  Laura  went  and  brought  the 
article :  the  little  fellow  seemed  to  be 
much  amused  by  this,  and  looked 
very  attentive  and  smiling.  I  then 
caused  him  to  make  the  letters 
bread,  and  in  an  instant  Laura  went 
and  brought  him  a  piece  :  he  smelled 
at  it ;  put  it  to  his  lips ;  cocked  up 
his  head  with  a  most  knowing  look  ; 
seemed  to  reflect  a  moment;  and 
then  laughed  outright,  as  much 
as  to  say,  '  Aha  !  I  understand  now 
how  something  may  be  made  out  of 
this.' 

"  It  was  now  clear  that  he  had  the 
capacity  and  inclination  to  learn,  that 
he  was  a  proper  subject  for  instruc- 
tion, and  needed  only  persevering 
attention.  I  therefore  put  him  in 
the  hands  of  an  intelligent  teacher, 
nothing  doubting  of  his  rapid  pro- 


Well  may  this  gentleman  call  that 
a  delightful  moment,  in  which  some 
distant  promise  of  her  present  state 
first  gleamed  upon  the  darkened  mind 
of  Laura  Bridgman.  Throughout  his 
life,  the  recollection  of  that  moment 
will  be  to  him  a  source  of  pure,  un- 


fading happiness;  nor  will  it  shine 
least  brightly  on  the  evening  of  his 
days  of  Noble  Usefulness. 

The  afiection  that  exists  between 
these  two — the  master  and  the  pupil 
— is  as  far  removed  from  all  ordinary 
care  and  regard,  as  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  has  had  its  growth,  are 
apart  firom  the  common  occurrences 
of  life.  He  is  occupied  now,  in  de- 
vising means  of  imparting  to  her, 
higher  knowledge ;  and  of  conveying 
to  her  some  adequate  idea  of  the 
Great  Creator  of  that  universe  in 
which,  dark  and  silent  and  scentless 
though  it  be  to  her,  she  has  such  deep 
delight  and  glad  enjoyment. 

Ye  who  have  eyes  and  see  not,  and 
have  ears  and  hear  not ;  ye  who  are 
as  the  hypocrites  of  sad  countenances, 
and  disfigure  your  faces  that  ye  may 
seem  unto  men  to  fast ;  learn  healthy 
cheerfulness,  and  mild  contentment, 
from  the  deaf,  and  dumb,  and  blind  ! 
Self-elected  saints  with  gloomy  brows, 
this  sightless,  earless,  voiceless  child 
may  teach  you  lessons  you  will  do  well 
to  follow.  Let  that  poor  hand  of  hers 
lie  gently  on  your  hearts ;  for  there 
may  be  something  in  its  healing  touch 
akin  to  that  of  the  Great  Master 
whose  precepts  you  misconstrue,  whose 
lessons  you  pervert,  of  whose  charity 
and  sympathy  with  all  the  world,  not 
one  among  you  in  his  daily  practice 
knows  as  much  as  many  of  the  worst 
among  those  fallen  sinners,  to  whom 
you  are  liberal  in  nothing  but  the 
preachment  of  perdition ! 

As  I  rose  to  quit  the  room,  a  pretty 
little  child  of  one  of  the  attendants 
came  running  in  to  greet  its  father. 
For  the  moment,  a  child  with  eyes, 
among  the  sightless  crowd,  impressed 
me  almost  as  painfully  as  the  blind 
boy  in  the  porch  had  done,  two  hours 
ago.  Ah !  how  much  brighter  and 
more  deeply  blue,  glowing  and  rich 
though  it  had  been  before,  was  the 
scene  without,  contrasting  with  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


31 


darkness  of  so  many  youthful  lives 
within ! 


At  South  Boston,  as  it  is  called,  in 
a  situation  excellently  adapted  for  the 
purpose,  several  charitable  institu- 
tions are  clustered  together.  One  of 
these,  is  the  State  Hospital  for  the 
insane;  admirably  conducted  on 
those  enlightened  principles  of  concili- 
ation and  kindness,  which  twenty 
years  ago  would  have  been  worse  than 
heretical,  and  which  have  been  acted 
upon  with  so  much  success  in  our 
own  pauper  asylum  at  Hanwell. 
"  Evince  a  desire  to  show  some  confi- 
dence, and  repose  some  trust,  even  in 
mad  people," — said  the  resident  phy- 
sician, as  we  walked  along  the  galle- 
ries, his  patients  flocking  round  us 
unrestrained.  Of  those  who  deny  or 
doubt  the  wisdom  of  this  maxim 
after  witnessing  its  eflfects,  if  there  be 
such  people  still  alive,  I  can  only  say 
that  I  hope  I  may  never  be  summoned 
as  a  Juryman  on  a  Commission  of 
Lunacy  whereof  they  are  the  subjects; 
for  I  should  certainly  find  them 
out  of  their  senses,  on  such  evidence 
alone. 

Each  ward  in  this  institution  is 
shaped  like  a  long  gallery  or  hall, 
with  the  dormitories  of  the  patients 
opening  from  it  on  either  hand. 
Here  they  work,  read,  play  at  skittles, 
and  other  games;  and  when  the 
weather  does  not  admit  of  their 
taking  exercise  out  of  doors,  pass  the 
day  together.  In  one  of  these  rooms, 
seated,  calmly,  and  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course,  among  a  throng  of  mad- 
women, black  and  white,  were  the 
physician's  wife  and  another  lady, 
with  a  couple  of  children.  These 
ladies  were  graceful  and  handsome ; 
and  it  was  not  difficult  to  perceive  at 
a  glance  that  even  their  presence 
there,  had  a  highly  beneficial  influ- 
ence on  the  patients  who  were  grouped 
about  them. 


Leaning  her  head  against  the 
chimney-piece,  with  a  great  assump- 
tion of  dignity  and  refinement  of 
manner,  sat  an  elderly  female,  in  as 
many  scraps  of  finery  as  Madge  Wild- 
fire herself.  Her  head  in  particular 
was  so  strewn  with  scraps  of  gauze 
and  cotton  and  bits  of  paper,  and  had 
so  many  queer  odds  and  ends  stuck 
all  about  it,  that  it  looked  like  a 
bird's-nest.  She  was  radiant  with 
imaginary  jewels ;  wore  a  rich  pair  of 
undoubted  gold  spectacles;  and 
gracefully  dropped  upon  her  lap,  as 
we  approached,  a  very  old  greasy 
newspaper,  in  which  I  dare  say  she 
had  been  reading  an  account  of 
her  own  presentation  at  some  Foreign 
Court. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in 
describing  her,  because  she  will  serve 
to  exemplify  the  physician's  manner 
of  acquiring  and  retaining  the  confi- 
dence of  his  patients. 

"  This,"  he  said  aloud,  taking^  me 
by  the  hand,  and  advancing  to  the 
fantastic  figure  with  great  politeness 
— not  raising  her  suspicions  by  the 
slightest  look  or  whisper,  or  any  kind 
of  aside,  to  me :  "  This  lady  is  the 
hostess  of  this  mansion,  sir.  It 
belongs  to  her.  Nobody  else  has 
anything  whatever  to  do  with  it.  It 
is  a  large  establishment,  as  you  see, 
and  requires  a  great  number  of 
attendants.  She  lives,  you  observe, 
in  the  very  first  style.  She  is  kind 
enough  to  receive  my  visits,  and  to 
permit  my  wife  and  family  to  reside 
here  ;  for  which  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say,  we  are  much  indebted  to 
her.  She  is  exceedingly  courteous, 
you  perceive,"  on  this  hint  she 
bowed  condescendingly,  "and  will 
permit  me  to  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  you  :  a  gentleman  from 
England,  Ma'am  :  newly  arrived  from 
England,  after  a  very  tempestuous 
passage  :  Mr.  Dickens, — the  lady  of 
the  house ! " 


32 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


We  exchanged  the  most  dignified 
salutations  with  profound  gravity  and 
respect,  and  so  went  on.  The  rest  of 
the  madwomen  seemed  to  understand 
the  joke  perfectly  (not  only  in  this 
case,  but  in  all  the  others,  except 
their  own),  and  to  be  highly  amused 
by  it.  The  nature  of  their  several 
kinds  of  insanity  was  made  known  to 
me  in  the  same  way,  and  we  left  each 
of  them  in  high  good  humour.  Not 
only  is  a  thorough  confidence  estab- 
lished, by  these  means,  between 
physician  and  patient,  in  respect  of 
the  nature  and  extent  of  their  hallu- 
cinations, but  it  is  easy  to  understand 
that  opportunities  are  aflforded  for 
seizing  any  moment  of  reason,  to 
startle  them  by  placing  their  own 
delusion  before  them  in  its  most 
incongruous  and  ridiculous  light.| 

Every  patient  in  this  asylum  sits 
down  to  dinner  every  day  with  a 
knife  and  fork ;  and  in  the  midst  of 
them  sits  the  gentleman,  whose  man- 
ner of  dealing  with  his  charges,  I 
have  just  described.  At  every  meal, 
moral  influence  alone  restrains  the 
more  violent  among  them  from 
cutting  the  throats  of  the  rest ;  but 
the  effect  of  that  influence  is  reduced 
to  an  absolute  certainty,  and  is  found, 
even  as  a  means  of  restraint,  to  say 
nothing  of  it  as  a  means  of  cure,  a 
hundred  times  more  efficacious  than 
all  the  strait-waistcoats,  fetters,  and 
Land-cuffs,  that  ignorance,  prejudice, 
and  cruelty  have  manufactured  since 
the  creation  of  the  world. 

In  the  labour  department,  every 
patient  is  as  freely  trusted  with  the 
tools  of  his  trade  as  if  he  were  a  sane 
man.  In  the  garden,  and  on  the  farm, 
they  work  with  spades,  rakes,  and  hoes. 
For  amusement,  they  walk,  run,  fish, 
paint,  read,  and  ride  out  to  take  the 
air  in  carriages  provided  for  the  pur- 
pose. They  have  among  themselves 
a  sewing  society  to  make  clothes  for 
the  poor,  which  holds  meetings,  passes 


resolutions,  never  comes  to  fisty  cuffs 
or  bowie-knives  as  sane  assemblies 
have  been  known  to  do  elsewhere  ; 
and  conducts  all  its  proceedings  with 
the  greatest  decorum.  The  irrita- 
bility, which  would  otherwise  be 
expended  on  their  own  flesh,  clothes, 
and  furniture,  is  dissipated  in  these 
pursuits.  They  are  cheerful,  tranquil, 
and  healthy. 

Once  a  week  they  have  a  ball,  in 
which  the  Doctor  and  his  family,  with 
all  the  nurses  and  attendants,  take  an 
active  part.  Dances  and  marches 
are  performed  alternately,  to  the 
enlivening  strains  of  a  piano;  and 
now  and  then  some  gentleman  or  lady 
(whose  proficiency  has  been  previously 
ascertained)  obliges  the  company 
with  a  song :  nor  does  it  ever  dege- 
nerate, at  a  tender  crisis,  into  a 
screech  or  howl  ;  wherein,  I  must 
confess,  I  should  have  thought  the 
danger  lay.  At  an  early  hour  they 
all  meet  together  for  these  festive 
purposes  ;  at  eight  o'clock  refresh- 
ments are  served ;  and  at  nine  they 
separate. 

Immense  politeness  and  good- 
breeding  are  observed  throughout. 
They  all  take  their  tone  from  the 
Doctor ;  and  he  moves  a  very  Chester- 
field among  the  company.  Like  other 
assemblies,  these  entertainments  afford 
a  fruitful  topic  of  conversation  among 
the  ladies  for  some  days;  and  the 
gentlemen  are  so  anxious  to  shine  on 
these  occasions,  that  they  have  been 
sometimes  found  "practising  their 
steps  "  in  private,  to  cut  a  more  dis- 
tinguished figure  in  the  dance. 

It  is  obvious  that  one  great  feature 
of  this  system,  is  the  inculcation  and 
encouragement,  even  among  such  un- 
happy persons,  of  a  decent  self-respect. 
Something  of  the  same  spirit  pervades 
all  the  Institutions  at  South  Boston. 

There  is  the  House  of  Industry.  In 
that  branch  of  it,  which  is  devoted  to 
the  reception  of  old  or  otherwise  help- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


33 


less  paupers,  these  words  are  painted 
on  the  walls :  "Worthy  op  Jsotice. 
Self-Government,  Quietude,  and 
Peace,  ark  Blessings."  It  is  not 
assumed  and  taken  for  granted  that 
being  there  they  must  be  evil-disposed 
and  wicked  people,  before  whose 
vicious  eyes  it  is  necessary  to  flourish 
threats  and  harsh  restraints.  They 
are  met  at  the  very  threshold  with  this 
mild  appeal.  All  within-doors  is  very 
plain  and  simple,  as  it  ought  to  be, 
but  arranged  with  a  view  to  peace  and 
comfort.  It  costs  no  more  than  any 
other  plan  of  arrangement,  but  it  be- 
speaks an  amount  of  consideration  for 
those  who  are  reduced  to  seek  a  shelter 
there,  which  puts  them  at  once  upon 
their  gratitude  and  good  behaviour. 
Instead  of  being  parcelled  out  in  great, 
long,  rambling  wards,  where  a  certain 
amount  of  weazen  life  may  mope,  and 
pine,  and  shiver,  all  day  long,  the 
building  is  divided  into  separate 
rooms,  each  with  its  share  of  light  and 
air.  In  these,  the  better  kind  of 
paupers  live.  They  have  a  motive  for 
exertion  and  becoming  pride,  in  the 
desire  to  make  these  little  chambers 
comfortable  and  decent.  I  do  not 
remember  one  but  it  was  clean  and 
neat,  and  had  its  plant  or  two  upon 
the  window-sill,  or  row  of  crockery 
upon  the  shelf,  or  small  display  of 
coloured  prints  upon  the  white-washed 
wall,  or,  perhaps,  its  wooden  clock 
behind  the  door. 

The  orphans  and  young  children 
are  in  an  adjoining  building;  sepa- 
rate from  this,  but  a  part  of  the  same 
Institution.  Some  are  such  little 
creatures,  that  the  stairs  are  of  lillipu- 
tian  measurement,  fitted  to  their  tiny 
strides.  The  same  consideration  for 
their  years  and  weakness  is  expressed 
in  their  very  seats,  which  are  perfect 
curiosities,  and  look  like  articles  of 
furniture  for  a  pauper  doll's-house.  I 
can  imagine  the  glee  of  our  Poor  Law 
Commissioners  at  the  notion  of  these 

No.  163.  . 


seats  having  arms  and  backs;  but 
small  spines  being  of  older  date  than 
their  occupation  of  the  Board-room  at 
Somerset  House,  I  thought  even  this 
provision  very  merciful  and  kind. 

Here  again,  I  was  greatly  pleased 
with  the  inscriptions  on  the  wall,  which 
were  scraps  of  plain  morality,  easily 
remembered  and  understood  :  such  as 
"  Love  one  another  " — "  God  remem- 
bers the  smallest  creature  in  his  crea- 
I  tion  : "  and  straightforward  advice  of 
that  nature.  The  books  and  tasks 
of  these  smallest  of  scholars,  were 
adapted,  in  the  same  judicious  man- 
ner, to  their  childish  powers.  When 
we  had  examined  these  lessons,  four 
morsels  of  girls  (of  whom  one  was 
blind)  sang  a  little  song,  about  the 
merry  month  of  May,  which  I  thought 
(being  extremely  dismal)  would  have 
suited  an  English  November  better. 
That  done,  we  went  to  see  their 
sleeping-rooms  on  the  floor  above,  in 
which  the  arrangements  were  no  less 
excellent  and  gentle  than  those  we 
had  seen  below.  And  after  observing 
that  the  teachers  were  of  a  class  and 
character  well  suited  to  the  spirit  of 
the  place,  I  took  leave  of  the  infants 
with  a  lighter  heart  than  ever  I  have 
taken  leave  of  pauper  infants  yet. 

Connected  with  the  House  of  In- 
dustry, there  is  also  an  Hospital, 
which  was  in  the  best  order,  and  had, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  many  beds  unoccu- 
pied. It  had  one  fault,  however,  which 
is  common  to  all  Aiiierican  interiors  : 
the  presence  of  the  eternal,  accursed, 
suffocating,  red-hot  demon  of  a  stove, 
whose  breath  would  blight  the  purest 
air  under  Heaven. 

There  are  two  establishments  for 
boys  in  this  same  neighbourhood.  One 
is  called  the  Boylston  school,  and  is 
an  asylum  for  neglected  and  indigent 
boys  who  have  committed  no  crime, 
but  who  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
things  would  very  soon  be  purged  of 
that  distinction  if  they  were  not  taken 

3 


34 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


from  tlie  hungry  streets  and  sent 
here.  The  other  is  a  House  of  Re- 
formation for  Juvenile  Offenders. 
They  are  both  under  the  same  roof, 
but  the  two  classes  of  boys  never  come 
in  contact. 

The  Boylston  boys,  as  may  be  readily 
supposed,  have  very  much  the  advan- 
tage of  the  others  in  point  of  personal 
appearance.  They  were  in  their  school- 
room when  I  came  upon  them,  and 
answered  correctly,  without  book, 
such  questions  as  where  was  England  ; 
how  far  was  it ;  what  was  its  popula- 
tion; its  capital  city;  its  form  of 
government ;  and  so  forth.  They  sang 
a  song  too,  about  a  farmer  sowing  his 
seed :  with  corresponding  action  at 
such  parts  as  "  'tis  thus  he  sows,"  "he 
turns  him  round,"  "  he  claps  his 
hands ;  "  which  gave  it  greater  interest 
for  them,  and  accustomed  them  to  act 
together,  in  an  orderly  manner.  They 
appeared  exceedingly  well  taught,  and 
not  better  taught  than  fed ;  for  a  more 
chubby-looking  fuU-waistcoated  set  of 
boys,  I  never  saw. 

The  juvenile  oflfenders  had  not  such 
pleasant  faces  by  a  great  deal,  and  in 
this  establishment  there  were  many 
boys  of  colour.  I  saw  them  first  at 
their  work  (basket-making,  and  the 
manufacture  of  palm-leaf  hats),  after- 
wards in  their  school,  where  they  sang 
a  chorus  in  praise  of  Liberty :  an  odd, 
and,  one  would  think,  rather  aggra- 
vating, theme  for  prisoners.  These 
boys  are  divided  into  four  classes,  each 
denoted  by  a  numeral,  worn  on  a 
badge  upon  the  arm.  On  the  arrival 
of  a  newcomer,  he  is  put  into  the 
fourth  or  lowest  class,  and  left,  by 
good  behaviour,  to  work  his  way  up 
into  the  first.  The  design  and  object 
of  this  Institution  is  to  reclaim  the 
youthful  criminal  by  firm  but  kind 
and  judicious  treatment ;  to  make  his 
prison  a  place  of  purification  and  im- 
provement, not  of  demoralisation 
and  corruption ;  to  impress  upon  him 


that  there  is  but  one  path,  and  that 
one  sober  industry,  which  can  ever 
lead  him  to  happiness ;  to  teach  him 
how  it  may  be  trodden,  if  his  foot- 
steps have  never  yet  been  led  that 
way;  and  to  lure  him  back  to  it  if 
they  have  strayed :  in  a  word,  to  snatch 
him  from  destruction,  and  restore  him 
to  society  a  penitent  and  useful  mem- 
ber. The  importance  of  such  an 
establishment,  in  every  point  of  view, 
and  with  reference  to  every  considera- 
tion of  humanity  and  social  policy, 
requires  no  comment. 

One  other  establishment  closes  the 
catalogue.  It  is  the  House  of  Correc- 
tion for  the  State,  in  which  silence  is 
strictly  maintained,  but  where  the 
prisoners  have  the  comfort  and  mental 
relief  of  seeing  each  other,  and  of 
working  together.  This  is  the  im- 
proved system  of  Prison  Discipline 
which  we  have  imported  into  England, 
and  which  has  been  in  successful 
operation  among  us  for  some  years 
past. 

America,  as  a  new  and  not  over- 
populated  country,  has  in  all  her  pri- 
sons, the  one  great  advantage,  of  being 
enabled  to  find  useful  and  profitable 
work  for  the  inmates ;  whereas,  with 
us,  the  prejudice  against  prison  labour 
is  naturally  very  strong,  and  almost 
insurmountable,  when  honest  men, 
who  have  not  offended  against  the 
laws,  are  frequently  doomed  to  seek 
employment  in  vain.  Even  in  the 
United  States,  the  principle  of  bring- 
ing convict  labour  and  free  labour 
into  a  competition  which  must  ob- 
viously be  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
latter,  has  already  found  many  oppo- 
nents, whose  number  is  not  likely  to 
diminish  with  access  of  years. 

For  this  very  reason  though,  our 
best  prisons  would  seem  at  the  first 
glance  to  be  better  conducted  than 
those  of  America.  The  treadmill  is  ac- 
companied with  little  or  no  noise  ;  five 
hundred  men  may  pick  oakum  in  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


»5 


same  room,  without  a  sound ;  and 
both  kinds  of  labour  admit  of  such 
keen  and  vigilant  superintendence, 
as  will  render  even  a  word  of  personal 
communication  among  the  prisoners 
almost  impossible.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  noise  of  the  loom,  the  forge,  the 
carpenter's  hammer,  or  the  stone- 
masan's  saw,  greatly  favour  those  op- 
portunities of  intercourse — hurried 
and  brief  no  doubt,  but  opportunities 
still — which  these  several  kinds  of 
work,  by  rendering  it  necessary  for 
men  to  be  employed  very  near  to  each 
other,  and  often  side  by  side,  without 
any  barrier  or  partition  between  them, 
in  their  very  nature  present.  A  visi- 
tor, too,  requires  to  reason  and  reflect 
a  little,  before  the  sight  of  a  number 
of  men  engaged  in  ordinary  labour, 
such  as  he  is  accustomed  to  out  of 
doors,  will  impress  him  half  as  strongly 
as  the  contemplation  of  the  same 
persons  in  the  same  place  and  garb 
would,  if  they  were  occupied  in  some 
task,  marked  and  degraded  every- 
where as  belonging  only  to  felons  in 
jails.  In  an  American  state  prison 
or  house  of  correction,  I  found  it  dif- 
ficult at  first  to  persuade  myself  that 
I  was  really  in  a  jail :  a  place  of  igno- 
minious punishment  and  endurance. 
An4  tp  this  hour  I  very  much  question 
w;hether  the  humane  boast  that  it  is 
not  like  one,  has  its  root  in  the  true 
"vnsdom  or  philosophy  of  the  matter, 
I  hope  I  may  not  be  misunderstood 
on  this  subject,  for  it  is  one  in  which 
I  take  a  strong  and  deep  interest,  I 
incline  as  little  to  the  sickly  feeling 
which  makes  every  canting  lie  or 
maudlin  speech  of  a  notorious  crimi- 
nal a  subject  of  newspaper  report  and 
general  sympathy,  as  I  do  to  those 
good  old  customs  of  the  good  old 
times  which  made  England,  even  so 
recently  as  in  the  reign  of  the  Third 
King  George,  in  respect  of  her  cri- 
minal code  and  her  prison  regulations, 
one  of  the  most  bloody-minded  and 


barbarous  countries  on  the  earth.  If 
I  thought  it  would  do  any  good  to 
the  rising  generation,  I  would  cheer- 
fully give  my  consent  to  the  disinter- 
ment of  the  bones  of  any  genteel 
highwayman  (the  more  genteel,  the 
more  cheerfully),  and  to  their  expo- 
sure, piece-meal,  on  any  sign-post, 
gate,  or  gibbet,  that  might  be  deemed 
a  good  elevation  for  the  purpose.  My 
reason  is  as  well  convinced  that  these 
gentry  were  utterly  worthless  and 
debauched  villains,  as  it  is  that  the 
laws  and  jails  hardened  them  in  their 
evil  courses,  or  that  their  wonderful 
escapes  were  efiected  by  the  prison- 
turnkeys  who,  in  those  admirable 
days,  had  always  been  felons  them- 
selves, and  were,  to  the  last,  their 
bosom-friends  and  pot-companions. 
At  the  same  time  I  know,  as  all  men 
do  or  should,  that  the  subject  of  Pri- 
son Discipline  is  one  of  the  highest 
importance  to  any  community;  and 
that  in  her  sweeping  reform  and  bright 
example  to  other  countries  on  this 
head,  America  has  shown  great  wis- 
dom, great  benevolence  and  exalted 
policy.  In  contrasting  her  system 
with  that  which  we  have  modelled 
upon  it,  I  merely  seek  to  show  that 
with  all  its  drawbacks,  ours  has  some 
advantages  of  its  own.* 


*  Apart  from  profit  made  by  the  useful 
labour  of  prisoners,  which  we  can  never 
hope  to  realise  to  any  great  extent,  and 
which  it  is  perhaps  not  expedient  for  us 
to  try  to  gain,  there  are  two  prisons  in 
London,  in  all  respects  equal,  and  in  some 
decidedly  superior,  to  any  I  saw  or  have 
ever  heard  or  read  of  in  America.  One  is 
the  Tothill  Fields  Bridewell,  conducted  by 
Lieutenant  A.  F.  Tracey,  R.N. ;  the  other 
the  Middlesex  House  of  Correction,  super- 
intended by  Mr.  Chesterton.  This  gentle- 
man also  holds  an  appointment  in  the 
Public  Service.  Both  are  enlightened  and 
superior  men  :  and  it  would  be  as  diflacult 
to  find  persons  better  qualified  for  the 
functions  they  discharge  with  firmness,  zeal, 
intelligence,  and  humanity,  as  it  would  be 
to  exceed  the  perfect  order  and  arrangement 
of  the  institutions  they  govern. 

d2 


36 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


The  House  of  Correction  which  has 
led  to  these  remarks,  is  not  walled,  like 
other  prisons,  but  is  palisaded  round 
about  with  tall  rough  stakes,  some- 
thing after  the  manner  of  an  enclosure 
for  keeping  elephants  in,  as  we  see  it 
represented  in  Eastern  prints  and 
pictures.  The  prisoners  wear  a  parti- 
coloured dress ;  and  those  who  are 
sentenced  to  hard  labour,  work  at 
nail-making  or  stone-cutting.  When 
I  was  there,  the  latter  class  of  labourers 
were  employed  upon  the  stone  for  a 
new  custom-house  in  course  of  erection 
at  Boston.  They  appeared  to  shape  it 
skilfully  and  with  expedition,  though 
there  were  very  few  among  them 
(if  any)  who  had  not  acquired  the  art 
within  the  prison  gates. 

The  women,  all  in  one  large  room, 
were  employed  in  making  light 
clothing,  for  New  Orleans  and  the 
Southern  States.  They  did  their  work 
in  silence,  like  the  men;  and  like 
them,  were  overlooked  by  the  person 
contracting  for  their  labour,  or  by 
some  agent  of  his  appointment.  In 
addition  to  this,  they  are  every  mo- 
ment liable  to  be  visited  by  the  prison 
officers  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

The  arrangements  for  cooking, 
washing  of  clothes,  and  so  forth,  are 
much  upon  the  plan  of  those  I  have 
seen  at  home.  Their  mode  of  be- 
stowing the  prisoners  at  night  (which 
is  of  general  adoption)  differs  from 
ours,  and  is  both  simple  and  effective. 
In  the  centre  of  a  lofty  area,  lighted 
by  windows  in  the  four  walls,  are  five 
tiers  of  cells,  one  above  the  other ; 
each  tier  having  before  it  a  light  iron 
gallery,  attainable  by  stairs  of  the 
same  construction  and  material :  ex- 
cepting the  lower  one,  which  is  on 
the  ground.  Behind  these,  back  to 
back  with  them  and  facing  the  op- 
posite wall,  are  five  corresponding 
rows  of  cells,  accessible  by  similar 
means  :  so  that  supposing  the  pri- 
soners locked  up  in  their  cells,  an 


officer  stationed  on  the  ground,  with 
his  back  to  the  wall,  has  half  their 
number  under  his  eye  at  once;  the 
remaining  half  being  equally  under 
the  observation  of  another  officer  on 
the  opposite  side ;  and  all  in  one  great 
apartment.  Unless  this  watch  be 
corrupted  or  sleeping  on  his  post,  it 
is  impossible  for  a  man  to  escape  ;  for 
even  in  the  event  of  his  forcing  the 
iron  door  of  his  cell  without  noise 
(which  is  exceedingly  improbable), 
the  moment  he  appears  outside,  and 
steps  into  that  one  of  the  five  galleries 
on  which  it  is  situated,  he  must  be 
plainly  and  fully  visible  to  the  officer 
below.  Each  of  these  cells  holds  a 
small  truckle-bed,  in  which  one  pri- 
soner sleeps ;  never  more.  It  is  small, 
of  course;  and  the  door  being  not 
solid,  but  grated,  and  without  blind 
or  curtain,  the  prisoner  within  is  at 
all  times  exposed  to  the  observation 
and  inspection  of  any  guard  who  may 
pass  along  that  tier  at  any  hour  or 
minute  of  the  night.  Every  day,  the 
prisoners  receive  their  dinner,  singly, 
through  a  trap  in  the  kitchen  wall ; 
and  each  man  carries  his  to  his  sleep- 
ing cell  to  eat  it,  where  he  is  locked 
up,  alone,  for  that  purpose,  one  hour. 
The  whole  of  this  arrangement  struck 
me  as  being  admirable;  and  I  hope 
that  the  next  new  prison  we  erect  in 
England  may  be  built  on  this  plan. 

I  was  given  to  understand  that  in 
this  prison  no  swords  or  fire-arms,  or 
even  cudgels,  are  kept ;  nor  is  it  pro- 
bable that,  so  long  as  its  present  ex- 
cellent management  continues,  any 
weapon,  offensive  or  defensive,  will 
ever  be  required  within  its  bounds. 

Such  are  the  Institutions  at  South ' 
Boston !  In  all  of  them,  the  unfor- 
tunate or  degenerate  citizens  of  the 
State  are  carefully  instructed  in  their 
duties  both  to  God  and  man  ;  are  sur- 
rounded by  all  reasonable  means  of 
comfort  and  happiness  that  their  con- 
dition will  admit  of;  are  appealed  to. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


37 


as  members  of  the  great  human  family, 
however  afflicted,  indigent,  or  fallen ; 
are  ruled  by  the  strong  Heart,  and 
not  by  the  strong  (though  immeasur- 
ably weaker)  Hand.  I  have  described 
them  at  some  length  :  firstly,  because 
their  worth  demanded  it  ;  and 
secondly,  because  I  mean  to  take 
them  for  a  model,  and  to  content  my- 
self with  saying  of  others  we  may 
come  to,  whose  design  and  purpose 
are  the  same,  that  in  this  or  that  re- 
spect they  practically  fail,  or  differ. 

I  wish  by  this  account  of  them,  im- 
perfect in  its  execution,  but  in  its  just 
intention,  honest,  I  could  hope  to 
convey  to  my  readers  one  hundredth 
part  of  the  gratification,  the  sights  I 
have  described,  afforded  me. 


To  an  Englishman,  accustomed  to 
the  paraphernalia  of  Westminster 
Hall,  an  American  Court  of  Law  is  as 
odd  a  sight  as,  I  suppose,  an  English 
Court  of  Law  would  be  to  an  American. 
Except  in  the  Supreme  Court  at 
Washington  (where  the  judges  wear 
a  plain  black  robe),  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  wig  or  gown  connected 
with  the  administration  of  justice. 
The  gentlemen  of  the  bar  being  bar- 
risters and  attorneys  too  (for  there  is 
no  division  of  those  functions  as  in 
England)  are  no  more  removed  from 
their  clients  than  attorneys  in  our 
Court  for  the  Kelief  of  Insolvent 
Debtors  are,  from  theirs.  The  jury 
are  quite  at  home,  and  make  them- 
selves as  comfortable  as  circumstances 
will  permit.  The  witness  is  so  little 
elevated  above,  or  put  aloof  from,  the 
crowd  in  the  court,  that  a  stranger 
entering  during  a  pause  in  the  pro- 
ceedings would  find  it  difficult  to  pick 
him  out  from  the  rest.  And  if  it 
chanced  to  be  a  criminal  trial,  his 
eyes,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  would 
■wander  to  the  dock  in  search  of  the 
prisoner,  in  vain ;  for  that  gentleman 
•would  most  likely  be  lounging  among 


the  most  distinguished  ornaments  of 
the  legal  profession,  whispering  sug- 
gestions in  his  counsel's  ear,  or  making 
a  toothpick  out  of  an  old  quill  with 
his  penknife. 

I  could  not  but  notice  these  differ- 
ences, when  I  visited  the  courts  at 
Boston.  I  was  much  surprised  at 
first,  too,  to  observe  that  the  counsel 
who  interrogated  the  witness  under 
examination  at  the  time,  did  so  sitting. 
But  seeing  that  he  was  also  occupied 
in  writing  down  the  answers,  and  re- 
membering that  he  was  alone  and  had 
no  "junior,"  I  quickly  consoled  myself 
with  the  reflection  that  law  was  not 
quite  so  expensive  an  article  here,  as 
at  home ;  and  that  the  absence  of 
sundry  formalities  which  we  regard 
as  indispensable,  had  doubtless  a  very 
favourable  influence  upon  the  bill  of 
coats. 

In  every  Court,  ample  and  commo- 
dius  provision  is  made  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  citizens.  This  is  the 
case  all  through  America.  In  every 
Public  Institution,  the  right  of  the 
people  to  attend,  and  to  have  an  inte- 
rest in  the  proceedings,  is  most  fully 
and  distinctly  recognised.  There  are 
no  grim  door-keepers  to  dole  out  their 
tardy  civility  by  the  sixpenny- worth  ; 
nor  is  there,  I  sincerely  believe,  any 
insolence  of  oflSce  of  any  kind.  No- 
thing national  is  exhibited  for  money  ; 
and  no  public  officer  is  a  showman. 
We  have  begun  of  late  years  to  imi- 
tate this  good  example.  I  hope  we 
shall  continue  to  do  so  ;  and  that  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  even  deans  and 
chapters  may  be  converted. 

In  the  civil  court  an  action  was 
trying,  for  damages  sustained  in  some 
accident  upon  a  railway.  The  wit- 
nesses had  been  examined,  and 
counsel  was  addressing  the  jury.  The 
learned  gentleman  (like  a  few  of  his 
English  brethren)  was  desperately 
long-winded,  and  had  a  remarkable 
capacity  of  saying  the   same   thing 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


over  and  over  again.  His  great  theme 
was  **  Warren  the  Engine  driver," 
whom  he  pressed  into  the  service  of 
every  sentence  he  uttered.  I  listened 
to  him  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  ; 
and,  coming  out  of  court  at  the  expira- 
tion of  that  time,  without  the  faintest 
ray  of  enlightenment  as  to  the  merits 
of  the  case,  ^elt  as  if  I  were  at  home 
again. 

In  the  prisoners'  cell,  waiting  to 
be  examined  by  the  magistrate  on 
a  charge  of  theft,  was  a  boy.  This 
lad,  instead  of  being  committed  to  a 
common  jail,  would  be  sent  to  the 
asylum  at  South  Boston,  and  there 
taught  a  trade  ;  and  in  the  course  of 
time  he  would  be  bound  apprentice 
to  some  respectable  master.  Thus, 
his  detection  in  this  offence,  instead 
of  being  the  prelude  to  a  life  of  infamy 
and  a  miserable  death,  would  lead, 
there  was  a  reasonable  hope,  to  his 
being  reclaimed  from  vice,  and  be- 
coming a  worthy  member  of  society. 

I  am  by  no  means  a  wholesale  ad- 
mirer of  our  legal  solemnities,  many 
of  which  impress  me  as  being  exceed- 
ingly ludicrous.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem  too,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  de- 
gree of  protection  in  the  wig  and 
gown — a  dismissal  of  individual 
responsibility  in  dressing  for  the  part 
— which  encourages  that  insolent 
bearing  and  language,  and  that  gross 
perversion  of  the  office  of  a  pleader 
for  The  Truth,  so  frequent  in  our 
courts  of  law.  Still,  I  cannot  help 
doubting  whether  America,  in  her 
desire  to  shake  oflf  the  absurdities  and 
abuses  of  the  old  system,  may  not 
have  gone  too  far  into  the  opposite 
extreme ;  and  whether  it  is  not  de- 
sirable, especially  in  the  small  com- 
munity of  a  city  like  this,  where  eaeh 
man  knows  the  other,  to  suiTound  the 
administration  of  justice  with  some 
artificial  barriers  against  the  "Hail 
fellow,  well  met "  deportment  of  every- 
day life.    All  the  aid  it  can  have  in 


the  very  high  character  and  ability  of 
the  Bench,  not  only  here  but  else- 
where, it  has,  and  well  deserves  to 
have ;  but  it  may  need  something 
more  :  not  to  impress  the  thoughtful 
and  the  well-informed,  but  the  igno- 
rant and  heedless;  a  class  which 
includes  some  prisoners  and  many 
witnesses.  These  institutions  were 
established,  no  doubt,  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  those  who  had  so  large  a 
share  in  making  the  laws,  would  cer- 
tainly respect  them.  But  experience 
has  proved  this  hope  to  be  fallacious  ; 
for  no  men  know  better  than  the 
Judges  of  America,  that  on  the 
occasion  of  any  great  popular  excite- 
ment the  law  is  powerless,  and 
cannot,  for  the  time,  assert  its  own 
supremacy. 

The  tone  of  society  in  Boston  is 
one  of  perfect  politeness,  courtesy, 
and  good  breeding.  The  ladies  are 
unquestionably  very  beautiful — in 
face  :  but  there  I  am  compelled  to 
stop.  Their  education  is  much  as 
with  us  ;  neither  better  nor  worse.  I 
had  heard  some  very  marvellous 
stories  in  this  respect;  but  not  be- 
lieving them,  was  not  disappointed. 
Blue  ladies  there  are,  in  Boston ;  but 
like  philosophers  of  that  colour  and 
sex  in  most  other  latitudes,  they 
rather  desire  to  be  thought  superior 
than  to  be  so.  Evangelical  ladies 
there  are,  likewise,  whose  attachment 
to  the  forms  of  religion,  and  horror 
of  theatrical  entertainments,  are  most 
exemplary.  Ladies  who  have  a 
passion  for  attending  lectures  are  to 
be  found  among  all  classes  and  all 
conditions.  In  the  kind  of  provincial 
life  which  prevails  in  cities  such  as 
this,  the  Fulpit  has  great  influence. 
The  peculiar  province  of  the  Pulpit 
in  New  England  (always  excepting 
the  Unitarian  ministry)  would  appear 
to  be  the  denouncement  of  all  inno- 
cent and  rational  amusements.  The 
church,  the  chapel,  and  the  lecture- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


39 


room,  are  the  only  means  of  excite- 
ment excepted ;  and  to  the  church, 
the  chapel,  and  the  lecture-room,  the 
ladies  resort  in  crowds. 

Wherever  religion  is  resorted  to, 
as  a  strong  drink,  and  as  an  escape 
jfrom  the  dull  monotonous  round  of 
home,  those  of  its  ministers  who 
pepper  the  highest  will  be  the  surest 
to  please.  They  who  strew  the 
Eternal  Path  with  the  greatest  amount 
of  brimstone,  and  who  most  ruthlessly 
tread  down  the  flowers  and  leaves 
that  grow  by  the  way-side,  will  be 
voted  the  most  righteous;  and  they 
who  enlarge  with  the  greatest  perti- 
nacity on  the  difficulty  of  getting  into 
heaven,  will  be  considered  by  all  true 
believers  certain  of  going  there : 
though  it  would  be  heard  to  say  by 
what  process  of  reasoning  this  con- 
clusion is  arrived  at.  It  is  so  at  home, 
and  it  is  so  abroad.  With  regard  to 
the  other  means  of  excitement,  the 
Lecture,  it  has  at  least  the  merit  of 
being  always  new.  One  lecture 
treads  so  quickly  on  the  heels  of 
another,  that  none  are  remembered ; 
and  the  course  of  this  month  may  be 
safely  repeated  next,  with  its  charm 
of  novelty  unbroken,  and  its  interest 
unabated. 

The  fruits  of  the  «irth  have  their 
growth  in  corruption.  Out  of  the 
rottenness  of  these  things,  there  has 
sprung  up  in  Boston  a  sect  of  philoso- 
phers known  as  Transcendentalists. 
On  inquiring  what  this  appellation 
mi^t  be  supposed  to  signify,  I  was 
given  to  understand  that  whatever 
was  unintelligible  would  be  cer- 
tainly transcendental.  Not  deriv- 
ing much  comfort  from  this  elucida- 
tion, I  pur&ued  the  inquiry  still 
further,  and  found  that  the  Transcen- 
dentalists are  followers  of  my  friend 
Mr.  Carlyle,  or  I  should  rather  say,  of 
a  follower  of  his,  Mr.  Kalph  Waldo 
Emerson.  This  gentleman  has 
written  a  volume  of  Essays,  in  which. 


among  much  that  is  dreamy  and  fan- 
ciful (if  he  will  pardon  me  for  saying 
so)  there  is  much  more  that  is  true 
and  manly,  honest  and  bold.  Trans- 
cendentalism has  its  occasional  va- 
garies (what  school  has  not'?)  but  it 
has  good  healthful  qualities  in  spite 
of  them  ;  not  least  among  the  num- 
ber a  hearty  disgust  of  Cant,  and  an 
aptitude  to  detect  her  in  all  the  mil- 
lion varieties  of  her  everlasting 
wardrobe.  And  therefore  if  I  were  a 
Bostonian,  I  think  I  would  be  a  Tran- 
scendentalist. 

The  only  preacher  I  heard  in  Bos- 
ton was  Mr.  Taylor,  who  addresses 
himself  peculiarly  to  seamen,  and  who 
was  once  a  mariner  himself.  I  found 
his  chapel  down  among  the  shipping, 
in  one  of  the  narrow,  old,  water-side 
streets,  with  a  gay  blue  flag  waving 
freely  from  its  roof.  In  the  gallery 
opposite  to  the  pulpit  were  a  little 
choir  of  male  and  female  singers,  a 
violoncello,  and  a  violin.  The 
preacher  already  sat  in  the  pulpit, 
which  was  raised  on  pillars,  and  orna- 
mented behind  him  with  painted 
drapery  of  a  lively  and  somewhat 
theatrical  appearance.  He  looked  a 
weather-beaten  hard-featured  man,  of 
about  six  or  eight  and  fifty;  with 
deep  lines  graven  as  it  were  into  his 
face,  dark  hair,  and  a  stern,  keen 
eye.  Yet  the  general  character 
of  his  countenance  was  pleasant  and 
agreeable. 

The  service  commenced  with  a 
hymn,  to  which  succeeded  an  extem- 
porary prayer.  It  had  the  fault  of 
frequent  repetition,  incidental  to  all 
such  prayers ;  but  it  was  plain  and 
comprehensive  in  its  doctrines,  and 
breathed  a  tone  of  general  sympathy 
and  charity,  which  is  not  so  commonly 
a  characteristic  of  this  form  of 
address  to  the  Deity  as  it  might  be. 
That  done  he  opened  his  discourse, 
taking  for  his  text  a  passage  from  the 
Songs  of  Solomon,    laid    upon    the 


40 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


desk  before  the  commencement  of 
the  service  by  some  unknown 
member  of  the  congregation  :  "  Who 
is  this  coming  up  from  the  wilder- 
ness, leaning  on  the  arm  of  her 
beloved ! " 

He  handled  his  text  in  all  kinds  of 
ways^  and  twisted  it  into  all  manner 
of  shapes;  but  always  ingeniously, 
and  with  a  rude  eloquence,  well- 
adapted  to  the  comprehension  of  his 
hearers.  Indeed  if  I  be  not  mistaken, 
he  studied  their  sympathies  and  un- 
derstandings much  more  than  the 
display  of  his  own  powers.  His 
imagery  was  all  drawn  from  the  sea, 
and  from  the  incidents  of  a  seaman's 
life  ;  and  was  often  remarkably  good. 
He  spoke  to  them  of  "  that  glorious 
man,  Lord  Nelson,"  and  of  Colling- 
wood  ;  and  drew  nothing  in,  as  the 
saying  is,  by  the  head  and  shoulders, 
but  brought  it  to  bear  upon  his 'pur- 
pose, naturally,  and  with  a  sharp 
mind  to  its  effect.  Sometimes,  when 
much  excited  with  his  subject,  he  had 
an  odd  way — compounded  of  John 
Bunyan,  and  Balfour  of  Burley — of 
taking  his  great  quarto  bible  under 
his  arm  and  pacing  up  and  down  the 
pulpit  with  it ;  looking  steadily 
down,  meantime,  into  the  midst  of 
the  congregation.  Thus,  when  he 
applied  his  text  to  the  first  assem- 
blage of  his  hearers,  and  pictured  the 
wonder  of  the  church  at  their  pre- 
sumption in  forming  a  congregation 
among  themselves,  he  stopped  short 
with  his  bible  under  his  arm  in 
the  manner  I  have  described,  and  pur- 
sued his  discourse  after  this  manner: 

"Who  are  these — who  are  they — 
who  are  these  fellows  1  where  do  they 
come  from  1  Where  are  they  going  to  ] 
— Come  from  !  What 's  the  answer  ?" 
— leaning  out  of  the  pulpit,  and 
pointing  downward  with  his  right 
hand:  "From  below!" — starting 
back  again,  and  looking  at  the 
sailors  before  him  :  "  From  below,  my 


brethren.  From  under  the  hatches  of 
sin,  battened  down  above  you  by  the 
evil  one.  That's  where  you  came 
from  ! " — a  walk  up  and  down  the 
pulpit :  "  and  where  are  you  going" 
— stopping  abruptly :  "where  are  you 
going  1  Aloft ! " — very  softly,  and 
pointing  upward  :  "  Aloft ! " — louder  : 
"  aloft  !  "—louder  still  :  "  That 's 
where  you  are  going — with  a  fair 
wind, — all  taut  and  trim,  steering 
direct  for  Heaven  in  its  glory,  where 
there  are  no  storms  or  foul  weather, 
and  where  the  wicked  cease  from 
troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest." 
— Another  walk  :  "  That 's  where 
you  're  going  to,  my  friends.  That 's 
it.  That's  the  place.  That's  the 
port.  That's  the  haven.  It's  a 
blessed  harbour — still  water  there,  in; 
all  changes  of  the  winds  and  tides; 
no  driving  ashore  upon  the  rocks,  or 
slipping  your  cables  and  running  out 
to  sea,  there:  Peace — Peace — Peace 
— all  peace  !  " — Another  walk,  and 
patting  the  bible  under  his  left  arm  : 
"  What !  These  fellows  are  coming 
from  the  wilderness,  are  they  ]  Yes. 
From  the  dreary,  blighted  wilderness 
of  Iniquity,  whose  only  crop  is  Death. 
But  do  they  lean  upon  anything — do 
they  lean  upon  nothing,  these  poor 
seamen?" — Three  raps  upon  the 
bible  :  "  Oh  yes. — Yes. — They  lean 
upon  the  arm  of  their  Beloved" — three 
more  raps :  "  upon  the  arm  of  their 
Beloved" — three  more,  and  a  walk  : 
"  Pilot,  guiding-star,  and  compass,  all 
in  one,  to  all  hands — here  it  is" — 
three  more  :  "  Here  it  is.  They  can 
do  their  seaman's  duty  manfully,  and 
be  easy  in  their  minds  in  the  utmost 
peril  and  danger,  with  this" — two 
more  :  "  They  can  come,  even  these 
poor  fellows  can  come,  from  the  wil- 
derness leaning  on  the  arm  of  their 
Beloved,  and  go  up — up — up  !  " — 
raising  his  hand  higher,  and  higher, 
at  every  repetition  of  the  word,  so 
that  he  stood  with  it  at  last  stretched 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


41 


above  his  head,  regarding  them  in  a 
strange,  rapt  manner,  and  pressing 
the  book  triumphantly  to  his  breast, 
until  he  gradually  subsided  into  some 
other  portion  of  his  discourse. 

I  have  cited  this,  rather  as  an  in- 
stance of  the  preacher's  eccentricities 
than  his  merits,  though  taken  in  con- 
nection with  his  look  and  manner,  and 
the  character  of  his  audience,  even  this 
■was  striking.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  my  favourable  impression  of  him 
may  have  been  greatly  influenced  and 
strengthened,  firstly,  by  his  impres- 
sing upon  his  hearers  that  the  true 
observance  of  religion  was  not  incon- 
sistent with  a  cheerful  deportment 
and  an  exact  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  their  station,  which,  indeed,  it 
scrupulously  required  of  them ;  and 
secondly,  by  his  cautioning  them  not 
to  set  up  any  monopoly  in  Paradise 
and  its  mercies.  I  never  heard  these 
two  points  so  wisely  touched  (if  indeed 
I  have  ever  heard  them  touched  at  all), 
by  any  preacher  of  that  kind,  before. 

Having  passed  the  time  I  spent  in 
Boston,  in  making  myself  acquainted 
with  these  things,  in  settling  the 
course  I  should  take  in  my  future 
travels,  and  in  mixing  constantly  with 
its  society,  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have 
any  occasion  to  prolong  this  chapter. 
Such  of  its  social  customs  as  I  have 
not  mentioned,  however,  may  be  told 
in  a  very  few  words. 

The  usual  dinner-hour  is  two 
o'clock.  A  dinner  party  takes  place 
at  five  ;  and  at  an  evening  party,  they 
seldom  sup  later  than  eleven  ;  so  that 
it  goes  hard  but  one  gets  home,  even 
from  a  rout,  by  midnight.  I  never 
could  find  out  any  difference  between 
a  party  at  Boston  and  a  party  in  Lon- 
don, saving  that  at  the  former  place 
all  assemblies  are  held  at  more  rational 
hours ;  that  the  conversation  may  pos- 
sibly be  a  little  louder  and  more 
cheerful ;  that  a  guest  is  usually  ex- 
pected to  ascend  to  the  very  top  of 


the  house  to  take  his  cloak  off ;  that 
he  is  certain  to  see,  at  every  dinner, 
an  unusual  amount  of  poultry  on  the 
table ;  and  at  every  supper,  at  least 
two  mighty  bowls  of  hot  stewed 
oysters,  in  any  one  of  which  a  half- 
grown  Duke  of  Clarence  might  be 
smothered  easily. 

There  are  two  theatres  in  Boston,  of 
good  size  and  construction,  but  sadly 
in  want  of  patronage.  The  few  ladies 
who  resort  to  them,  sit,  as  of  right,  in 
the  front  rows  of  the  boxes. 

The  bar  is  a  large  room  with  a  stone 
floor,  and  there  people  stand  and 
smoke,  and  lounge  about,  all  the 
evening :  dropping  in  and  out  as  the 
humour  takes  them.  There  too  the 
stranger  is  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  Gin-sling,  Cocktail,  Sangaree,  Mint 
Julep,  Sherry-cobbler,  Timber  Doodle, 
and  other  rare  drinks.  The  House  is 
full  of  boarders,  both  married  and 
single,  many  of  whom  sleep  upon  the 
premises,  and  contract  by  the  week 
for  their  board  and  lodging:  the 
charge  for  which  diminishes  as  they 
go  nearer  the  sky  to  roost.  A  public 
table  is  laid  in  a  very  handsome  hall 
for  breakfast,  and  for  dinner,  and  for 
supper.  The  party  sitting  down 
together  to  these  meals  will  vary  in 
number  from  one  to  two  hundred : 
sometimes  more.  The  advent  of  each 
of  these  epochs  in  the  day  is  pro- 
claimed by  an  awful  gong,  which 
shakes  the  very  window  frames  as  it 
reverberates  through  the  house,  and 
horribly  disturbs  nervous  foreigners. 
There  is  an  ordinary  for  ladies,  and  an 
ordinary  for  gentlemen. 

In  our  private  room  the  cloth  could 
not,  for  any  earthly  consideration, 
have  been  laid  for  dinner  without  a 
huge  glass  dish  of  cranberries  in  the 
middle  of  the  table ;  and  breakfa.st 
would  have  been  no  breakfast  unles.s 
the  principal  dish  were  a  deformed 
beef-steak  with  a  great  flat  bone  in 
the  centre,  swimming  in  hot  butter. 


42 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


and  sprinkled  with  the  very  blackest 
of  all  possible  pepper.  Our  bedroom 
was  spacious  and  airy,  but  (like  every 
bedroom  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic) 
verj'-  bare  of  furniture,  having  no  cur- 
tains to  the  French  bedstead  or  to  the 
window.    It  had  one  unusual  luxury, 


of  painted  wood,  something  smaller 
than  an  English  watch-box  :  or  if  this 
comparison  should  be  insufficient  to 
convey  a  just  idea  of  its  dimensions, 
they  may  be  estimated  from  the  fact 
of  my  having  lived  for  fourteen  days 
and  nights  in  the  firm  belief  that  it 


however,  in  the  shape  of  a  wardrobe  was  a  shower-bath. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


43 


CHAPTER  IV. 


AN   AMERICAN    RAILROAD.       LOWELL    AND    ITS   FACTORY    SYSTEM. 


BEPoaE  leaving  Boston,  I  devoted  one 
day  to  an  excursion  to  Lowell.  I  as- 
sign a  separate  chapter  to  this  visit ; 
not  because  I  am  about  to  describe  it 
at  any  great  length,  but  because  I 
remember  it  as  a  thing  by  itself,  and 
am  desirous  that  my  readers  should 
do  the  same. 

I  made  acquaintance  with  an  Ameri- 
can railroad,  on  this  occasion,  for  the 
first  time.  As  these  works  are  pretty 
much  alike  all  through  the  States, 
their  general  characteristics  are  easily 
described. 

There  are  no  first  and  second  class 
carriages  as  with  us ;  but  there  is  a 
gentleman's  car  and  a  ladies'  car  :  the 
main  distinction  between  which  is 
that  in  the  first,  eveiybody  smokes ; 
and  in  the  second,  nobody  does.  As  a 
black  man  never  travels  with  a  white 
one,  there  is  also  a  negro  car ;  which 
is  a  great  blundering  clumsy  chest, 
such  as  Gulliver  put  to  sea  in,  from 
the  kingdom  of  Brobdingnag,  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  jolting,  a  great  deal 
of  noise,  a  great  deal  of  wall,  not 
much  window,  a  locomotive  engine,  a 
shriek,  and  a  bell. 

The  cars  are  like  shabby  omnibuses, 
but  larger  :  holding  thirty,  forty,  fifty, 
people.  The  seats,  instead  of  stretch- 
ing from  end  to  end,  are  placed  cross- 
wise. Each  seat  holds  two  persons. 
There  is  a  long  row  of  them  on  each 
side  of  the  caravan,  a  narrow  passage 
up  the  middle,  and  a  door  at  both  ends. 
In  the  centre  of  the  carriage  there  is 
usually  a  stove,  fetl  with  charcoal  or 
anthracite  coal ;  which  is  for  the  most 
part  red-hot.  It  is  insufierably  close  ; 
and  you  see  the  hot  air  flattering  be- 


tween yourself  and  any  other  object 
you  may  happen  to  look  at,'  like  the 
ghost  of  smoke. 

In  the  ladies'  car,  there  are  a  great 
many  gentlemen  who  have  ladies  with 
them.  There  are  also  a  great  many 
ladies  who  have  nobody  with  them ; 
for  any  lady  may  travel  alone,  from 
one  end  of  the  United  States  to  the 
other,  and  be  certain  of  the  most 
courteous  and  considerate  treatment 
everywhere.  The  conductor  or  check- 
taker,  or  guard,  or  whatever  he  may 
be,  wears  no  uniform.  He  walks  up 
and  down  the  car,  and  in  and  out  of 
it,  as  his  fancy  dictates ;  leans  against 
the  door  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
and  stares  at  you,  if  you  chance  to  be 
a  stranger;  or  enters  into  conversa- 
tion with  the  passengers  about  him. 
A  great  many  newspapers  are  pulled 
out,  and  a  few  of  them  are  read. 
Everybody  talks  to  you,  or  to  any- 
body else  who  hits  his  fancy.  If  you 
are  an  Englishman,  he  expects  that 
that  railroad  is  pretty  much  like  an 
English  railroad.  If  you  say  "No," 
he  says  "*  Yes  % "  (interrogatively),  and 
asks  in  what  respect  they  differ.  You 
enumerate  the  heads  of  difference, 
one  by  one,  and  he  says  ''Yes  ?"  (still 
interrogatively)  to  each.  Then  he 
guesses  that  you  don't  travel  faster  in 
England ;  and  on  your  replying  that 
you  do,  says  "  Yes  % "  again  (still  inter- 
rogatively), and,  it  is  quite  evident, 
don't  believe  it.  After  a  long  pause 
he  remarks,  partly  to  you,  and  partly 
to  the  knob  on  the  top  of  his  stick, 
that  "Yankees  are  reckoned  to  be 
considerable  of  a  go-ahead  people  too  ;** 
upon  which  ymt,  say  "  Yes,"  and  then 


44 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


lie  says  "Yes"  again  (affirmatively 
this  time) ;  and  upon  your  looking  out 
of  window,  tells  you  that  behind  that 
hill,  and  some  three  miles  from  the 
next  station,  there  is  a  clever  town  in 
a  smart  lo-ca-tion,  where  he  expects 
you  have  con-eluded  to  stop.  Your 
answer  in  the  negative  naturally  leads 
to  more  questions  in  reference  to  your 
intended  route  (always  pronounced 
rout) ;  and  wherever  you  are  going, 
you  invariably  learn  that  you  can't 
get  there  without  immense  difficulty 
and  danger,  and  that  all  the  great 
sights  are  somewhere  else. 

If  a  lady  take  a  fancy  to  any  male 
passenger's  seat,  the  gentleman  who 
accompanies  her  gives  him  notice  of 
the  fact,  and  he  immediately  vacates 
it  with  great  politeness.  Politics  are 
much  discussed,  so  are  banks,  so  is 
cotton.  Quiet  people  avoid  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Presidency,  for  there  will 
be  a  new  election  in  three  years  and 
a  half,  and  party  feeling  runs  very 
high  :  the  great  constitutional  feature 
of  this  institution  being,  that  directly 
the  acrimony  of  the  last  election  is 
over,  the  acrimony  of  the  next  one 
begins ;  which  is  an  unspeakable 
comfort  to  all  strong  politicians  and 
true  lovers  of  their  country :  that  is 
to  say,  to  ninety-nine  men  and  boys 
out  of  every  ninety-nine  and  a 
quarter. 

Except  when  a  branch  road  joins 
the  main  one,  there  is  seldom  more 
than  one  track  of  rails ;  so  that  the 
road  is  very  narrow,  and  the  view, 
where  there  is  a  deep  cutting,  by  no 
means  extensive.  When  there  is 
not,  the  character  of  the  scenery  is 
always  the  same.  Mile  after  mile  of 
stunted  trees :  some  hewn  down  by 
the  axe,  some  blown  down  by  the 
wind,  some  half  fallen  and  resting  on 
their  neighbours,  many  mere  logs 
half  hidden  in  the  swamp,  others 
mouldered  away  to  spongy  chips. 
The  very  soil  of  the  earth  is  made  up 


of  minute  fragments  such  as  these ; 
each  pool  of  stagnant  water  has  its 
crust  of  vegetable  rottenness ;  on 
every  side  there  are  the  boughs,  and 
trunks,  and  stumps  of  trees,  in  every 
possible  stage  of  decay,  decomposition, 
and  neglect.  Now  you  emerge  for  a 
few  brief  minutes  on  an  open  country, 
glittering  with  some  bright  lake  or 
pool,  broad  as  many  an  English  river, 
but  so  small  here  that  it  scarcely  has 
a  name ;  now  catch  hasty  glimpses  of 
a  distant  town,  with  its  clean  white 
houses  and  their  cool  piazzas,  its  prim 
'^ew  England  church  and  schoolhouse ; 
when  whir-r-r-r !  almost  before  you 
have  seen  them,  comes  the  same  dark 
screen  :  the  stunted  trees,  the  stumps, 
the  logs,  the  stagnant  water— all  so 
like  the  last  that  you  seem  to  have 
been  transported  back  again  by 
magic. 

The  train  calls  at  stations  in  the 
woods,  where  the  wild  impossibility 
of  anybody  having  the  smallest  reason 
to  get  out,  is  only  to  be  equalled  by 
the  apparently  desperate  hopelessness 
of  there  being  anybody  to  get  in.  It 
rushes  across  the  turnpike  road,  where 
there  is  no  gate,  no  policeman,  no 
signal :  nothing  but  a  rough  wooden 
arch,  on  which  is  painted  "  When  the 

BELL  EINGS,  LOOK  OUT  FOR  THE  LOCO- 
MOTIVE." On  it  whirls  headlong, 
dives  through  the  woods  again, 
emerges  in  the  light,  clatters  over 
frail  arches,  rumbles  upon  the  heavy 
ground,  shoots  beneath  a  wooden 
bridge  which  intercepts  the  light  for 
a  second  like  a  wink,  suddenly 
awakens  all  the  slumbering  echoes 
in  the  main  street  of  a  large  town, 
and  dashes  on  haphazard,  pell-mell, 
neck-or-nothing,  down  the  middle  of 
the  road.  There — with  mechanics 
working  at  their  trades,  and  people 
leaning  from  their  doors  and  windows, 
and  boys  flying  kites  and  playing 
marbles,  and  men  smoking,  and 
women  talking,  and  children  crawling. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


45 


and  pigs  bnrrowing,  and  unaccus- 
tomed horses  plunging  and  rearing, 
close  to  the  very  rails — there — on,  on, 
on — tears  the  mad  dragon  of  an 
engine  with  its  train  of  cars ;  scatter- 
ing in  all  directions  a  shower  of 
burning  sparks  from  its  wood  fire; 
screeching,  hissing,  yelling,  panting  ; 
until  at  last  the  thirsty  monster  stops 
beneath  a  covered  way  to  drink,  the 
people  cluster  round,  and  you  have 
time  to  breathe  again. 

I  was  met  at  the  station  at  Lowell 
by  a  gentleman  intimately  connected 
with  the  management  of  the  factories 
there ;  and  gladly  putting  myself 
under  his  guidance,  drove  off  at  once 
to  that  quarter  of  the  town  in  which 
the  works,  the  object  of  my  visit,  were 
situated.  Although  only  just  of  age 
— for  if  my  recollection  serve  me,  it 
has  been  a  manufacturing  town  barely 
one-and-twenty  years — Lowell  is  a 
large,  populous,  thriving  place.  Those 
indications  of  its  youth  which  first 
attract  the  eye,  give  it  a  quaintness 
and  oddity  of  character  which,  to  a 
visitor  from  the  old  country,  is 
amusing  enough.  It  was  a  very  dirty 
winter's  day,  and  nothing  in  the  whole 
to>vn  looked  old  to  me,  except  the 
mud,  which  in  some  parts  was  almost 
knee-deep,  and  might  have  been  de- 
posited there,  on  the  subsiding  of  the 
waters  after  the  Deluge.  In  one 
place,  there  was  a  new  wooden  church, 
which,  having  no  steeple,  and  being 
yet  unpainted,  looked  like  an  enor- 
mous packing-case  without  any  di- 
rection upon  it.  In  another  there 
was  a  large  hotel,  whose  walls  and 
colonnades  were  so  crisp,  and  thin, 
and  slight,  that  it  had  exactly  the 
appearance  of  being  built  with  cards. 
I  was  careful  not  to  draw  my  breath 
as  we  passed,  and  trembled  when  I 
saw  a  workman  come  out  upon  the 
roof,  lest  with  one  thoughtless  stamp 
of  his  foot  he  should  crush  the  struc- 
ture beneath  him,  and  bring  it  rattling 


down.  The  very  river  that  moves 
the  machinery  in  the  mills  (for  they 
are  all  worked  by  water  power),  seems 
to  acquire  a  new  character  from  the 
fresh  buildings  of  bright  red  brick 
and  painted  wood  among  which  it 
takes  its  course  ;  and  to  be  as  light- 
headed, thoughtless,  and  brisk  a  young 
river,  in  its  murmurings  and  tum- 
blings, as  one  would  desire  to  see. 
One  would  swear  that  every  "  Bakery," 
"  Grocery,"  and  "  Bookbindery,"  and 
other  kind  of  store,  took  its  shutters 
down  for  the  first  time,  and  started 
in  business  yesterday.  The  golden 
pestles  and  mortars  fixed  as  signs 
upon  the  sun-blind  frames  outside  the 
Druggists',  appear  to  have  been  just 
turned  out  of  the  United  States' 
Mint;  and  when  I  saw  a  baby  of 
some  week  or  ten  days  old  in  a  wo- 
man's arms  at  a  street  corner,  I  found 
myself  unconsciously  wondering  where 
it  came  from  :  never  supposing  for  an 
instant  that  it  could  have  been  born 
in  such  a  young  town  as  that. 

There  are  several  factories  in  Lowell, 
each  of  which  belongs  to  what  we 
should  term  a  Company  of  Proprie- 
tors, but  what  they  call  in  America  a 
Corporation.  I  went  over  several  of 
these ;  such  as  a  woollen  factory,  a 
carpet  factory,  and  a  cotton  factory : 
examined  them  in  every  part;  and 
saw  them  in  their  ordinary  working 
aspect,  with  no  preparation  of  any 
kind,  or  departure  from  their  ordinary 
everj^-day  proceedings.  I  may  add 
that  I  am  -well  acquainted  with  our 
manufacturing  towns  in  England, 
and  have  visited  many  mills  in  Man- 
chester and  elsewhere  in  the  same 
manner. 

I  happened  to  arrive  at  the  first  fac- 
tory just  as  the  dinner  hour  was  over, 
and  the  girls  were  returning  to  their 
work;  indeed  the  stairs  of  the  mill 
were  thronged  with  them  as  I  ascended. 
They  were  all  well-dressed,  but  not  to 
my  thinking  above  their  condition  : 


46 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


for  I  like  to  see  the  humbler  classes 
of  society  careful  of  their  dress  and 
appearance,  and  even,  if  they  please, 
decorated  with  such  little  trinkets  as 
come  within  the  compass  of  their 
means.  Supposing  it  confined  within 
reasonable  limits,  I  would  always 
encourage  this  kind  of  pride,  as  a 
worthy  element  of  self-respect,  in  any 
person  I  employed;  and  should  no 
more  be  deterred  from  doing  so,  be- 
cause some  wretched  female  referred 
her  fall  to  a  love  of  dress,  than  I  would 
allow  my  construction  of  the  real 
intent  and  meaning  of  the  Sabbath  to 
be  influenced  by  any  warning  to  the 
well-disposed,  founded  on  his  backslid- 
ings  on  that  particular  day,  which 
might  emanate  from  the  rather  doubt- 
ful authority  of  a  murderer  in  New- 
gate. 

These  girls,  as  I  have  said,  were  all 
well  dressed :  and  that  phrase  neces- 
sarily includes  extreme  cleanliness. 
They  had  serviceable  bonnets,  good 
warm  cloaks,  and  shawls;  and  were 
not  above  clogs  and  pattens.  More- 
over, there  were  places  in  the  mill  in 
which  they  could  deposit  these  things 
without  injury ;  and  there  were  con- 
veniences for  washing.  They  were 
healthy  in  appearance,  many  of  them 
remarkably  so,  and  had  the  manners 
and  deportment  of  young  women : 
not  of  degraded  brutes  of  burden.  If 
I  had  seen  in  one  of  those  mills  (but  I 
did  not,  though  I  looked  for  some- 
thing of  this  kind  with  a  sharp  eye), 
the  most  lisping,  mincing,  affected, 
and  ridiculous  young  creature  that 
my  imagination  could  suggest,!  should 
have  thought  of  the  careless,  moping, 
slatternly,  degraded,  dull  reverse  (I 
have  seen  that),  and  should  have  been 
still  well  pleased  to  look  upon  her. 

The  rooms  in  which  they  worked, 
were  as  well  ordered  as  themselves. 
In  the  windows  of  some,  there  were 
green  plants,  which  were  trained  to 
shade  the  glass ;  in  all,  there  was  as 


much  fresh  air,  cleanliness,  and  comfort, 
as  the  nature  of  the  occupation  would 
possibly  admit  of.  Out  of  so  large  a 
number  of  females,  many  of  whom 
were  only  then  just  verging  upon 
womanhood,  it  may  be  reasonably  sup- 
posed that  some  were  delicate  and 
fragile  in  appearance  :  no  doubt  there 
were.  But  I  solemnly  declare,  that 
from  all  the  crowd  I  saw  in  the  dif- 
ferent factories  that  day,  I  cannot 
recal  or  separate  one  young  face  that 
gave  me  a  painful  impression ;  not 
one  young  girl  whom,  assuming  it  to 
be  matter  of  necessity  that  she  should 
gain  her  daily  bread  by  the  labour  of 
her  hands,  I  would  have  removed 
from  those  works  if  I  had  had  the 
power. 

They  reside  in  various  boarding- 
houses  near  at  hand.  The  owners  of 
the  mills  are  particularly  careful  to 
allow  no  persons  to  enter  upon  the 
possession  of  these  houses,  whose  cha- 
racters have  not  undergone  the  most 
searching  and  thorough  inquiry.  Any 
complaint  that  is  made  against  them, 
by  the  boarders,  or  by  any  one  else,  is 
fully  investigated ;  and  if  good  ground 
of  complaint  be  shown  to  exist  against 
them,  they  are  removed,  and  their 
occupation  is  handed  over  to  some 
more  deserving  person.  There  are  a 
few  children  employed  in  these  fac- 
tories, but  not  many.  The  laws  of 
the  State  forbid  their  working  more 
than  nine  months  in  the  year,  and 
require  that  they  be  educated  during 
the  other  three.  For  this  purpose 
there  are  schools  in  Lowell ;  and  there 
are  churches  and  chapels  of  various 
persuasions,  in  which  the  young 
women  may  observe  that  form  of 
worship  in  which  they  have  been 
educated. 

At  some  distance  from  the  factories, 
and  on  the  highest  and  pleasantest 
ground  in  the  neighbourhood,  stands 
their  hospital,  or  boarding-house  for 
the  sick  :  it  is  the  best  house  in  those 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


47 


parts,  and  was  built  by  an  eminent 
merchant  for  his  own  residence.  Like 
that  institution  at  Boston,  which  I 
have  before  described,  it  is  not  par- 
celled out  into  wards,  but  is  divided 
into  convenient  chambers,  each  of 
which  has  all  the  comforts  of  a  very 
comfortable  home.  The  principal 
medical  attendant  resides  under  the 
same  roof;  and  were  the  patients 
members  of  his  own  family,  they  could 
not  be  better  cared  for,  or  attended 
with  greater  gentleness  and  consider- 
ation. The  weekly  charge  in  this 
establishment  for  each  female  patient 
is  three  dollars,  or  twelve  shillings 
English  ;  but  no  girl  employed  by  any 
of  the  corporations  is  ever  excluded 
for  want  of  the  means  of  payment. 
That  they  do  not  very  often  want  the 
means,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact,  that  in  July,  1841,  no  fewer  than 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight  of 
these  girls  were  depositors  in  the 
Lowell  Savings  Bank :  the  amount  of 
whose  joint  savings  was  estimated  at 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or 
twenty  thousand  English  pounds. 

I  am  now  going  to  state  three  facts, 
which  will  startle  a  large  class  of 
readers  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
very  much. 

Firstly,  there  is  a  joint-stock  piano 
in  a  great  many  of  the  boarding- 
houses.  Secondly,  nearly  all  these 
young  ladies  subscribe  to  circulating 
libraries.  Thirdly,  they  have  got  up 
among  themselves  a  periodical  called 
The  Lowell  Offering,  "  A  repository 
of  original  articles,  written  exclusively 
by  females  actively  employed  in  the 
mills," — which  is  duly  printed,  pub- 
lished, and  sold ;  and  whereof  I 
brought  away  from  Lowell  four  hun- 
dred good  solid  pages,  which  I  have 
read  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  large  class  of  readers,  startled 
by  these  facts,  will  exclaim,  with  one 
voice,  "  How  very  preposterous ! "  On 
my  deferentially  inquiring  why,  they 


will  answer,  "  These  things  are  above 
their  station."  In  reply  to  that  ob- 
jection, I  would  beg  to  ask  what  their 
station  is. 

It  is  their  station  to  work.  And 
they  do  work.  They  labour  in  these 
mills,  upon  an  average,  twelve  hours 
a  day,  which  is  unquestionably  work, 
and  pretty  tight  work  too.  Perhaps 
it  is  above  their  station  to  indulge  in 
such  amusements,  on  any  terms.  Are 
we  quite  sure  that  we  in  England 
have  not  formed  our  ideas  of  the 
"  station"  of  working  people,  from 
accustoming  ourselves  to  the  contem- 
plation of  that  class  as  they  are,  and 
not  as  they  might  be  %  I  think  that 
if  we  examine  our  own  feelings,  we 
shall  find  that  the  pianos,  and  the 
circulating  libraries,  and  even  the 
Lowell  Oflfering,  startle  us  by  their 
novelty,  and  not  by  their  bearing  upon 
any  abstract  question  of  right  or 
wrong. 

For  myself,  I  know  no  station  in 
which,  the  occupation  of  to-day  cheer- 
fully done  and  the  occupation  of  to- 
morrow cheerfully  looked  to,  any  one 
of  these  pursuits  is  not  most  humanis- 
ing and  laudable.  I  know  no  station 
which  is  rendered  more  endurable  to 
the  person  in  it,  or  more  safe  to  the 
person  out  of  it,  by  having  ignorance 
for  its  associate.  I  know  no  station 
which  has  a  right  to  monopolise  the 
means  of  mutual  instruction,  improve- 
ment, and  rational  entertainment; 
or  which  has  ever  continued  to  be  a 
station  very  long,  after  seeking  to 
do  so. 

Of  the  merits  of  the  Lowell  Offering 
as  a  literary  production,  I  will  only 
observe,  putting  entirely  out  of  sight 
the  fact  of  the  articles  having  been 
written  by  these  girls  after  the  arduous 
lal>ours  of  the  day,  that  it  will  com- 
pare advantageously  with  a  great 
many  English  Annuals.  It  is  plea- 
sant to  find  that  many  of  its  Tales 
are  of  the  Mills  and  of  those  who 


48 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


work  in  them ;  that  they  inculcate 
habits  of  self-denial  and  contentment, 
and  teach  good  doctrines  of  enlarged 
benevolence.  A  strong  feeling  for  the 
beauties  of  nature,  as  displayed  in  the 
solitudes  the  writers  have  left  at 
home,  breathes  through  its  pages  like 
wholesome  village  air ;  and  though  a 
circulating  library  is  a  favourable 
school  for  the  study  of  such  topics,  it 
has  very  scant  allusion  to  fine  clothes, 
fine  marriages,  fine  houses,  or  fine 
life.  Some  persons  might  object  to 
the  papers  being  signed  occasionally 
with  rather  fine  names,  but  this  is  an 
American  fashion.  One  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  state  legislature  of  Mas- 
sachusetts is  to  alter  ugly  names  into 
pretty  ones,  as  the  children  improve 
wpon  the  tastes  of  their  parents. 
These  changes  costing  little  or  no- 
thing, scores  of  Mary  Annes  are 
solemnly  converted  into  Bevclinas 
every  session. 

It  is  said  that  on  the  occasion  of  a 
visit  from  General  Jackson  or  General 
Harrison  to  this  town  (I  forget  which, 
but  it  is  not  to  the  purpose),  he 
walked  through  three  miles  and  a  half 
of  these  young  ladies  all  dressed  out 
with  parasols  and  silk  stockings.  But 
as  I  am  not  aware  that  any  worse 
consequence  ensued,  than  a  sudden 
looking-up  of  all  the  parasols  and 
silk  stockings  in  the  market;  and 
perhaps  the  bankruptcy  of  some  spe- 
culative New  Englander  who  bought 
them  all  up  at  any  price,  in  expec- 
tation of  a  demand  that  never  came ; 
I  set  no  great  store  by  the  circum- 
stance. 

In  this  brief  account  of  Lowell,  and 
inadequate  expression  of  the  gratifica- 
tion it  yielded  me,  and  cannot  fail  to 
afford  to  any  foreigner  to  whom  the 
condition  of  such  people  at  home  is  a 
subject  of  interest  and  anxious  specu- 


lation, I  have  carefully  abstained  from 
drawing  a  comparison  between  these 
factories  and  those  of  our  own  land. 
Many  of  the  circumstances  whose 
strong  influence  has  been  at  work  for 
years  in  our  manufacturing  towns 
have  not  arisen  here ;  and  there  is  no 
manufacturing  population  in  Lowell, 
so  to  speak :  for  these  girls  (often  the 
daughters  of  small  farmers)  come  from 
other  States,  remain  a  few  years  in 
the  mills,  and  then  go  home  for  good. 

The  contrast  would  be  a  strong  one, 
for  it  would  be  between  the  Good  and 
Evil,  the  living  light  and  deepest 
shadow.  I  abstain  from  it,  because  I 
deem  it  just  to  do  so.  But  I  only  the 
more  earnestly  adjure  all  those  whose 
eyes  may  rest  on  these  pages,  to  pause 
and  reflect  upon  the  difference  be- 
tween this  town  and  those  great  haunts 
of  desperate  misery  :  to  call  to  mind, 
if  they  can  in  the  midst  of  party  strife 
and  squabble,  the  efforts  that  must  be 
made  to  purge  them  of  their  suffering 
and  danger  :  and  last,  and  foremost, 
to  remember  how  the  precious  Time 
is  rushing  by. 

I  returned  at  night  by  the  same 
railroad  and  in  the  same  kind  of  car. 
One  of  the  passengers  being  exceed- 
ingly anxious  to  expound  at  great 
length  to  my  companion  (not  to  me, 
of  course)  the  true  principles  on  which 
books  of  travel  in  America  should  be 
written  by  Englishmen,  I  feigned  to 
fall  asleep.  But  glancing  all  the  way 
out  at  window  from  the  corners  of  my 
eyes,  I  found  abundance  of  entertain- 
ment for  the  rest  of  the  ride  in  watch- 
ing the  effects  of  the  wood  fire,  which 
had  been  invisible  in  the  morning  but 
were  now  brought  out  in  full  relief  by 
the  darkness  :  for  we  were  travelling 
in  a  whirlwind  of  bright  sparks,  which 
showered  about  us  like  a  storm  of 
fiery  snow. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


49 


CHAPTER  V. 


WORCESTER. 


THE    CONNECTICUT   RIVER.       HARIFORD. 
TO   NEW   YORK. 


NEW   HAVEN. 


Leaving  Boston  on  the  afternoon  of 
Saturday  the  fifth  of  February,  we 
proceeded  by  another  railroad  to 
Worcester :  a  pretty  ^New  England 
town,  where  we  had  arranged  to  re- 
main under  the  hospitable  roof  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  until  Monday 
morning. 

These  towns  and  cities  of  New 
England  (many  of  which  would  be 
villages  in  Old  England),  are  as 
favourable  specimens  of  rural  America, 
as  their  people  are  of  rural  Americans. 
The  well-trimmed  lawns  and  green 
meadows  of  home  are  not  there  ;  and 
the  grass,  compared  with  our  orna- 
mental plots  and  pastures,  is  rank, 
and  rough,  and  wild:  but  delicate 
slopes  of  land,  gently-swelling  hills, 
wooded  valleys,  and  slender  streams, 
abound.  Every  little  colony  of  houses 
has  its  church  and  school-house  peep- 
ing from  among  the  white  roofs  and 
shady  trees ;  every  house  is  the  whitest 
of  the  white ;  every  Ve.netian  blind  the 
greenest  of  the  green  ;  every  fine  day's 
sky  the  bluest  of  the  blue.  A  sharp 
dry  wind  and  a  slight  frost  had  so 
hardened  the  roads  when  we  alighted 
at  Worcester,  that  their  furrowed 
tracks  were  like  ridges  of  granite. 
There  was  the  usual  aspect  of  newness 
on  every  object,  of  course.  All  the 
buildings  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
built  and  painted  that  morning,  and 
could  be  taken  down  on  Monday  with 
very  little  trouble.  In  the  keen  evening 
air,  every  sharp  outline  looked  a  hun- 
dred times  sharper  than  ever.  The 
clean  cardboard  colonnades  had  no 

.   No.  164. 


more  perspective  than  a  Chinese 
bridge  on  a  tea-cup,  and  appeared 
equally  well  calculated  for  use.  The 
razor-like  edges  of  the  detached  cot- 
tages seemed  to  cut  the  very  wind  as 
it  whistled  against  them,  and  to  send 
it  smarting  on  its  way  with  a  shriller 
cry  than  before.  Those  slightly-built 
wooden  dwellings  behind  which  the 
sun  was  setting  with  a  brilliant  lustre, 
could  be  so  looked  through  and 
through,  that  the  idea  of  any  inhabi- 
tant being  able  to  hide  himself  from 
the  public  gaze,  or  to  have  any  secrets 
from  the  public  eye,  was  not  enter- 
tainable  for  a  moment.  Even  where 
a  blazing  fire  shone  through  the  un- 
curtained windows  of  some  distant 
house,  it  had  the  air  of  being  newly- 
lighted,  and  of  lacking  warmth  ;  and 
instead  of  awakening  thoughts  of  a 
snug  chamber,  bright  with  faces  that 
first  saw  the  light  round  that  same 
hearth,  and  ruddy  with  warm  hang- 
ings, it  came  upon  one  suggestive  of 
the  smell  of  new  mortar  and  damp 
walls. 

So  I  thought,  at  least,  that  evening. 
Next  morning  when  the  sun  was 
shining  brightly,  and  the  clear  church 
bells  were  ringing,  and  sedate  people 
in  their  best  clothes  enlivened  the 
pathway  near  at  hand  and  dotted  the 
distant  thread  of  road,  there  was  a 
pleasant  Sabbath  peaccfulness  on 
everything,  which  it  was  good  to  feel. 
It  would  have  been  the  better  for  an 
old  church ;  better  still  for  some  old 
graves ;  but  as  it  was,  a  wholesome 
repose  and  tranquillity  pervaded  the 
3  4 


B9 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


scene,  which  after  the  restless  ocean 
and  the  hurried  city,  had  a  doubly 
grateful  influence  on  the  spirits. 

We  went  on  next  morning,  still  by 
railroad,  to  Springfield.  From  that 
place  to  Hartford,  whither  we  were 
bound,  is  a  distance  of  only  five-and- 
twenty  miles,  but  at  that  time  of  the 
year  the  roads  were  so  bad  that  the 
journey  would  probably  have  occupied 
ten  or  twelve  hours.  Fortunately, 
however,  the  winter  having  been  un- 
usually mild,  the  Connecticut  Eiver 
was  "  open,"  or,  in  other  words,  not 
frozen.  The  captain  of  a  small  steam- 
boat was  going  to  make  his  first  trip 
for  the  season  that  day  (the  second 
February  trip,  I  believe,  within  the 
memory  of  man),  and  only  waited  for 
us  to  go  on  board.  Accordingly,  we 
went  on  board,  with  as  little  delay  as 
might  be.  He  was  as  good  as  his 
word,  and  started  directly. 

It  certainly  was  not  called  a  small 
steam-boat  without  reason.  I  omitted 
to  ask  the  question,  but  I  should  think 
it  must  have  been  of  about  half  a  pony 
power.  Mr.  Paap,  the  celebrated 
Dwarf,  might  have  lived  and  died 
happily  in  the  cabin,  which  was  fitted 
with  common  sash-windows  like  an 
ordinary  dwelling-house.  These  win- 
dows had  bright-red  curtains,  too, 
hung  on  slack  strings  across  the  lower 
panes ;  so  that  it  looked  like  the  par- 
lour of  a  Lilliputian  public-house, 
which  had  got  afloat  in  a  flood  or  some 
other  water  accident,  and  was  drifting 
Bobody  knew  where.  But  even  in  this 
chamber  there  was  a  rocking-chair.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  get  on  any- 
where, in  America,  without  a  rocking- 
chair. 

I  am  afraid  to  tell  how  many  feet 
.short  this  vessel  was,  or  how  many 
feet  narrow :  to  apply  the  words  length 
and  width  to  such  measurement  would 
be  a  contradiction  in  terms.  But  I 
may  state  that  we  all  kept  the  middle 
of  the  deck,  lest  the  boat  should  un- 


expectedly tip  over;  and  that  the 
machinery,  by  some  surprising  process 
of  condensation,  worked  between  it 
and  the  keel :  the  whole  forming  a 
warm  sandwich,  about  three  feet  thick. 

It  rained  all  day  as  I  once  thought 
it  never  did  rain  anywhere,  but  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland.  The  river  was 
full  of  floating  blocks  of  ice,  which 
were  constantly  crunching  and  crack- 
ing under  us ;  and  the  depth  of  water, 
in  the  course  we  took  to  avoid  the 
larger  masses,  carried  down  the  middle 
of  the  river  by  the  current,  did  not 
exceed  a  few  inches.  Nevertheless,  we 
moved  onward,  dexterously;  and  being 
well  wrapped  up,  bade  defiance  to  the 
weather,  and  enjoyed  the  journey.  The 
Connecticut  River  is  a  fine  stream ; 
and  the  banks  in  summer-time  are,  I 
have  no  doubt,  beautiful :  at  all  events, 
I  was  told  so  by  a  young  lady  in  the 
cabin ;  and  she  should  be  a  judge  of 
beauty,  if  the  possession  of  a  quality 
include  the  appreciation  of  it,  for  a 
more  beautiful  creature  I  never  looked 
upon. 

After  two  hours  and  a  half  of  this 
odd  travelling  (including  a  stoppage 
at  a  small  town,  where  we  were  saluted 
by  a  gun  considerably  bigger  than  our 
own  chimney),  we  reached  Hartford, 
and  straightway  repaired  to  an  ex- 
tremely comfortable  hotel :  except,  as 
usual,  in  the  article  of  bed-rooms, 
which,  in  almost  every  place  we 
visited,  were  very  conducive  to  early 
rising. 

We  tarried  here,  four  days.  The 
town  is  beautifully  situated  in  a 
basin  of  green  hills ;  the  soil  is  rich, 
well- wooded,  and  carefully  improved. 
It  is  the  seat  of  the  local  legislature 
of  Connecticut,  which  sage  body  en- 
acted, in  bygone  times,  the  renowned 
code  of  "Blue  Laws,"  in  virtue  whereof, 
among  other  enlightened  provisions, 
any  citizen  who  could  be  proved  to 
have  kissed  his  wife  on  Sunday,  was 
punishable,  I  believe,  with  the  stocks. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


51 


Too  much  of  the  old  Puritan  spirit 
exists  in  these  parts  to  the  present 
hour;  but  its  influence  has  not  tended, 
that  I  know,  to  make  the  people  less 
hard  in  their  bargains,  or  more  equal 
in  their  dealings.  As  I  never  heard 
of  its  working  that  eflfect  anywhere 
else,  I  infer  that  it  never  will,  here. 
Indeed,  I  am  accustomed,  with  refer- 
ence to  great  professions  and  severe 
faces,  to  judge  of  the  goods  of  the 
other  world  pretty  much  as  I  judge 
of  the  goods  of  this ;  and  whenever 
I  see  a  dealer  in  such  commodities 
with  too  great  a  display  of  them  in 
his  window,  I  doubt  the  quality  of  the 
article  within. 

In  Hartford  stands  the  famous  oak 
in  which  the  charter  of  King  Charles 
was  hidden.  It  is  now  inclosed  in  a 
gentleman's  garden.  In  the  State- 
liouse  is  the  charter  itself.  I  found 
the  courts  of  law  here,  just  the  same 
as  at  Boston ;  the  public  Institutions 
almost  as  good.  The  Insane  Asylum 
is  admirably  conducted,  and  so  is  the 
Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb. 

I  very  much  questioned  within  my- 
self, as  I  walked  through  the  Insane 
Asylum,  whether  I  should  have  known 
the  attendants  from  the  patients,  but 
for  the  few  words  which  passed  be- 
tween the  former,  and  the  Doctor,  in 
reference  to  the  persons  under  their 
charge.  Of  course  I  limit  this  re- 
mark merely  to  their  looks ;  for  the 
conversation  of  the  mad  people  was 
mad  enough. 

There  was  one  little  prim  old  lady, 
of  very  smiling  and  good-humoured 
appearance,  who  came  sidling  up  to 
me  from  the  end  of  a  long  passage, 
and  with  a  curtsey  of  inexpressible 
condescension,  propounded  this  un- 
accountable inquiry  : 

"  Does  Pontefract  still  flourish,  sir, 
upon  the  soil  of  England  1 " 

"  He  does,  ma'am,"  I  rejoined. 

"  When  you  last  saw  him,  sir,  he 
was — " 


"  Well,  ma'am,"  said  I,  "  extremely 
well.  He  begged  me  to  present  his 
compliments.  I  never  saw  him  look- 
ing better." 

At  this,  the  old  lady  was  very  much 
delighted.  After  glancing  at  me 
for  a  moment,  as  if  to  be  quite  sure 
that  I  was  serious  in  my  respectful 
air,  she  sidled  back  some  paces;  sidled 
forward  again;  made  a  sudden  skip 
(at  which  I  precipitately  retreated  a 
step  or  two) ;  and  said : 

"/  am  an  antediluvian,  sir." 

I  thought  the  best  thing  to  say  was, 
that  I  had  suspected  as  much  from 
the  first.    Therefore  I  said  so. 

"It  is  an  extremely  proud  and  plea- 
ant  thing,  sir,  to  be  an  antediluvian," 
said  the  old  lady. 

"  I  should  think  it  was,  ma'am,"  I 
rejoined. 

The  old  lady  kissed  her  hand,  gave 
another  skip,  smirked  and  sidled  down 
the  gallery  in  a  most  extraordinary 
manner,  and  ambled  gracefully  into 
her  own  bed-chamber. 

In  another  part  of  the  building, 
there  was  a  male  patient  in  bed;  very 
much  flushed  and  heated. 

"  Well ! "  said  he,  starting  up,  and 
pulling  oflf  his  night-cap  :  "  It 's  all 
settled,  at  last.  I  have  arranged  it 
with  queen  Victoria." 

"  Arranged  what  ] "  asked  the 
Doctor. 

"  Why,  that  business,"  passing  his 
hand  wearily  across  his  forehead, 
"  about  the  siege  of  New  York." 

"  Oh !"  said  I,  like  a  man  suddenly 
enlightened.  For  he  looked  at  me 
for  an  answer. 

"  Yes.  Every  house  without  a 
signal  will  be  fired  upon  by  the 
British  troops.  No  harm  will  be  done 
to  the  others.  No  harm  at  all.  Those 
that  want  to  be  safe,  must  hoist  flags. 
That 's  all  they  '11  have  to  do.  They 
must  hoist  flags." 

Even  while  he  was  speaking  he 
seemed,  I  thought,  to  have  some  faint 

e2 


52 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


idea  that  his  talk  vas  incoherent. 
Directly  he  had  said  these  words,  he 
lay  down  again ;  gave  a  kind  of  a 
groan  ;  and  covered  his  hot  head  with 
the  blankets. 

There  was  another  :  a  young  man, 
whose  madness  was  love  and  music. 
After  playing  on  the  accordion  a 
march  he  had  composed,  he  was  very 
anxious  that  I  should  walk  into  his 
chamber,  which  I  immediately  did. 

By  way  of  being  very  knowing,  and 
humouring  him  to  the  top  of  his 
bent,  I  went  to  the  window,  which 
commanded  a  beautiful  prospect,  and 
remarked,  with  an  address  upon  which 
I  greatly  plumed  myself : 

"What  a  delicious  country  you 
have  about  these  lodgings  of  yours." 

"Poh  !"  said  he,  moving  his  fingers 
carelessly  over  the  notes  of  his  instru- 
ment :  "  Well  enough  for  such  an  In- 
stitution as  this!" 

I  don't  think  I  was  ever  so  taken 
aback  in  all  my  life. 

"  I  come  here  just  for  a  whim,"  he 
said  coolly.    "  That 's  all." 

"Oh!  That 'sail!"  said  I. 

"  Yes.  That 's  all.  The  Doctor 's 
a  smart  man.  He  quite  enters  into 
it.  It 's  a  joke  of  mine.  I  like  it 
for  a  time.  You  needn't  mention  it, 
but  I  think  I  shall  go  out  next 
Tuesday ! " 

I  assured  him  that  I  would  consider 
our  interview  perfectly  confidential  ; 
and  rejoined  the  Doctor.  As  we 
were  passing  through  a  gallery  on  our 
way  out,  a  well-dressed  lady,  of  quiet 
and  composed  manners,  came  up,  and 
profiering  a  slip  of  paper  and  a  pen, 
begged  that  I  would  oblige  her  with 
an  autograph.  I  complied,  and  Ave 
parted. 

"  I  think  I  remember  having  had  a 
few  interviews  like  that,  with  ladies 
out  of  doors.  I  hope  she  is  not 
mad]" 

"  Yes." 

"  On  what  subject  ?    Autographs  ? " 


"Xo.  She  heara  voices  in  the 
air." 

"Well!"  thought  I,  "it  would  be 
well  if  we  could  shut  up  a  few  false 
prophets  of  these  later  times,  who 
have  professed  to  do  the  same  ;  and  I 
should  like  to  try  the  experiment  on 
a  Mormonist  or  two  to  begin  with." 

In  this  place,  there  is  the  best  Jail 
for  untried  offenders  in  the  world. 
There  is  also  a  very  well-ordered  State 
prison,  arranged  upon  the  same  plan " 
as  that  at  Boston,  except  that  here, 
there  is  always  a  sentry  on  the  wall 
with  a  loaded  gun.  It  contained  at 
that  time  about  two  hundred  pri- 
soners. A  spot  was  shown  me  in  the 
sleeping  ward,  where  a  watchman  was 
murdered  some  years  since  in  the 
dead  of  night,  in  a  desperate  attempt 
to  escape,  made  by  a  prisoner  who  had 
broken  from  his  cell.  A  woman,  too, 
was  pointed  out  to  me,  who,  for  the 
murder  of  her  husband,  had  been  a 
close  prisoner  for  sixteen  years. 

"  Do  you  think,"  I  asked  of  my 
conductor,  "  that  after  so  very  long  an 
imprisonment,  she  has  any  thought 
or  hope  of  ever  regaining  her 
liberty  1 " 

"  Oh  dear  yes,"  he  answered.  "  To 
be  sure  she  has." 

"  She  has  no  chance  of  obtaining  it, 
I  suppose  1 " 

"Well,  I  don't  know :"  which,  by 
the  bye,  is  a  national  answer.  "  Her 
friends  mistrust  her." 

"What  have  they  to  do  with  iti"  I 
naturally  inquired. 

"  Well,  they  won't  petition." 

"  But  if  they  did,  they  couldn't  get 
her  out,  I  suppose  ] " 

"  Well,  not  the  first  time,  perhaps, 
nor  yet  the  second,  but  tiring  and 
wearying  for  a  few  years  might  do  it." 

"  Does  that  ever  do  if?" 

"  Why  yes,  that  '11  do  it  sometimes. 
Political  friends  '11  do  it  sometimes. 
It's  pretty  often  done,  one  way  or 
another." 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


53 


I  shall  always  entertain  a  very  plea- 
sant and  grateful  recollection  of 
Hartford.  It  is  a  lovely  place,  and  I 
had  many  friends  there,  whom  I  can 
never  remember  with  indifference. 
We  left  it  with  no  little  regret  on  the 
evening  of  Friday  the  11th,  and  tra- 
velled that  night  by  railroad  to  New 
Haven.  Upon  the  way,  the  guard 
and  I  were  formally  introduced  to 
each  other  (as  we  usually  were  on  such 
occasions),  and  exchanged  a  variety 
of  small-talk.  We  reached  New  Haven 
at  about  eight  o'clock,  after  a  journey 
of  three  hours,  and  put  up  for  the 
night  at  the  best  inn. 

New  Haven,  known  also  as  the 
City  of  Elms,  is  a  fine  town.  Many 
of  its  streets  (as  its  alias  sufficiently 
imports)  are  planted  with  rows  of 
grand  old  elm-trees;  and  the  same 
natural  ornaments  surround  Yale 
College,  an  establishment  of  consider- 
able eminence  and  reputation.  The 
various  departments  of  this  Institu- 
tion are  erected  in  a  kind  of  park  or 
common  in  the  middle  of  the  town, 
where  they  are  dimly  visible  among 
the  shadowing  trees.  The  effect  is 
very  like  that  of  an  old  cathedral 
yard  in  England;  and  when  their 
branches  are  in  full  leaf,  must  be 
extremely  picturesque.  Even  in  the 
winter  time,  these  groups  of  well- 
grown  trees,  clustering  among  the 
busy  streets  and  houses  of  a  thriving 
city,  have  a  very  quaint  appearance  : 
seeming  to  bring  about  a  kind  of  com- 
promise between  town  and  country; 
as  if  each  had  met  the  other  half-way, 
and  shaken  hands  upon  it ;  which  is 
at  once  novel  and  pleasant. 

After  a  night's  rest,  we  rose  early,  and 
in  good  time  went  down  to  the  wharf, 
and  on  board  the  packet  New  York /or 
New  York.  This  was  the  first  American 
steamboat  of  any  size  that  I  had  seen ; 
and  certainly  to  an  English  eye  it 
was  infinitely  less  like  a  steamboat 
than  a  huge  floating  bath.     I  could 


hardly  persuade  myself,  indeed,  but 
that  the  bathing  establishment  off 
Westminster  Bridge,  which  I  left  a 
baby,  had  suddenly  grown  to  an 
enormous  size  ;  run  away  from  home; 
and  set  up  in  foreign  parts  as.  a  steamer. 
Being  in  America,  too,  which  our 
vagabonds  do  so  particularly  favour, 
it  seemed  the  more  probable. 

The  great  difference  in  appearance 
between  these  packets  and  ours,  is, 
that  there  is  so  much  of  them  out  of 
the  water :  the  main-deck  being  en- 
closed on  all  sides,  and  filled  with 
casks  and  goods,  like  any  second  or 
third  floor  in  a  stack  of  warehouses ; 
and  the  promenade  or  hurricane-deck 
being  a-top  of  that  again.  A  part  of 
the  machinery  is  always  above  this 
deck ;  where  the  connecting-rod,  in  a 
strong  and  lofty  frame,  is  seen  working 
away  like  an  iron  top-sawyer.  There 
is  seldom  any  mast  or  tackle : 
nothing  aloft  but  two  tall  black 
chimneys.  The  man.  at  the  helm  is 
shut  up  in  a  little  house  in  the  fore 
part  of  the  boat  (the  wheel  being  con- 
nected with  the  rudder  by  iron  chains, 
working  the  whole  length  of  the 
deck) ;  and  the  passengers,  unless 
the  weather  be  very  fine  indeed, 
usually  congregate  below.  Directly 
you  have  left  the  wharf,  all  the  life, 
and  stir,  and  bustle  of  a  packet  cease. 
You  wonder  for  a  long  time  how  she 
goes  on,  for  there  seems  to  be  nobody 
in  charge  of  her ;  and  when  another 
of  these  dull  machines  comes  splash- 
ing by,  you  feel  quite  indignant  with 
it,  as  a  sullen,  cumbrous,  ungraceful, 
unshiplike  leviathan :  quite  forgetting 
that  the  vessel  you  are  on  board  of,  is 
its  very  counterpart. 

There  is  always  a  clerk's  office  on 
the  lower  deck,  where  you  pay  your 
fare;  a  ladies'  cabin;  baggage  and 
stowage  rooms  ;  engineer's  room ; 
and  in  short  a  great  variety  of  per- 
plexities which  render  the  discovery 
of  the  gentlemen's  cabin,  a  matter  of 


5i 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


some  diflSculty.  It  often  occupies  the 
whole  length  of  the  boat  (as  it  did 
in  this  case),  and  has  three  or  four 
tiers  of  berths  on  each  side.  When  I 
first  descended  into  the  cabin  of  the 
iNew  York,  it  looked,  in  my  unaccus- 
tomed eyes,  about  as  long  as  the 
Burlington  Arcade. 

The  Sound  which  has  to  be  crossed 
on  this  passage,  is  not  always  a  very 
safe  or  pleasant  navigation,  and  has 
been  the  scene  of  some  unfortunate 
accidents.  It  was  a  wet  morning,  and 
very  misty,  and  we  soon  lost  sight  of 
land.  The  day  was  calm,  however, 
and  brightened  towards  noon.  After 
exhausting  (with  good  help  from  a 
friend)  the  larder,  and  the  stock  of 
bottled  beer,  I  lay  down  to  sleep  : 
being  very  much  tired  with  the 
fatigues  of  yesterday.  But  I  awoke 
from  my  nap  in  time  to  hurry  up,  and 
see  Hell  Gate,  the  Hog's  Back,  the 
Trying  Pan.  and  other  notorious  loca- 
lities, attractive  to  all  readers  of  famous 
Diedrich  Knickerbocker's  History. 
We  were  now  in  a  narrow  channel, 
with  sloping  banks  on  either  side, 
besprinkled  with  pleasant  villas,  and 
made  refreshing  to  the  sight  by  turf 
and  trees.  Soon  we  shot  in  quick 
succession,  past  a  lighthouse ;  a  mad- 
house (how  the  lunatics  flung  up  their 
caps  and  roared  in  sympathy  with  the 
headlong  engine  and  the  driving 
tide  !)  ;  a  jail ;  and  other  buildings  : 
and  so  emerged  into  a  noble  bay, 
whose  waters  sparkled  in  the  now 
cloudless  sunshine  like  Nature's  eyes 
turned  up  to  Heaven. 


Then  there  lay  stretched  out  before 
us,  to  the  right,  confused  heaps  of 
buildings,  with  here  and  there  a  spire 
or  steeple,  looking  down  upon  the 
herd  below;  and  here  and  there,  again, 
a  cloud  of  lazy  smoke ;  and  in  the 
foreground  a  forest  of  ships'  masts, 
cheery  with  flapping  sails  and  waving 
flags.  Crossing  from  among  them  to 
the  opposite  shore,  were  steam  ferry- 
boats laden  with  people,  coaches, 
horses,  waggons,  baskets,  boxes : 
crossed  and  recrossed  by  other  ferry- 
boats: all  travelling  to  and  fro  :  and 
never  idle.  Stately  among  these 
restless  Insects,  were  two-,  or  three 
large  ships,  moving  with  slow  majestic 
pace,  as  creatures  of  a  prouder  kind, 
disdainful  of  their  puny  journeys,  and 
making  for  the  broad  sea.  Beyond, 
were  shining  heights,  and  islands  in 
the  glancing  river,  and  a  distance 
scarcely  less  blue  and  bright  than  the 
sky  it  seemed  to  meet.  The  city's 
hum  and  buzz,  the  clinking  of  cap- 
stans, the  ringing  of  bells,  the  barking 
of  dogs,  the  clattering  of  wheels, 
tingled  in  the  listening  ear.  All  of 
which  life  and  stir,  coming  across  the 
stirring  water,  caught  new  life  and 
animation  from  its  free  companion- 
ship ;  and,  sympathising  with  its 
buoyant  spirits,  glistened  as  it  seemed 
in  sport  upon  its  surface,  and  hemmed 
the  vessel  round,  and  plashed  the 
water  high  about  her  sides,  and, 
floating  her  gallantly  into  the  dock, 
flew  off  again  to  welcome  other 
comers,  and  speed  before  them  to  the 
busy  port. 


FOB  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


55 


CHAPTER  VI. 


NEW   YORK. 


The  beautiful  metropolis  of  America 
is  by  no  means  so  clean  a  city  as 
Boston,  but  many  of  its  streets  have 
the  same  characteristics  ;  except  that 
the  houses  are  not  quite  so  fresh- 
coloured,  the  sign-boards  are  not  quite 
so  gaudy,  the  gilded  letters  not  quite 
so  golden,  the  bricks  not  quite  so  red, 
the  stone  not  quite  so  white,  the  blinds 
and  area  railings  not  quite  so  green, 
the  knobs  and  plates  upon  the  street 
doors,  not  quite  so  bright  and  twink- 
ling. There  are  many  bye-streets, 
almost  as  neutral  in  clean  colours, 
and  positive  in  dirty  ones,  as  bye- 
streets  in  London ;  and  there  is  one 
quarter,  commonly  called  the  Five 
Points,  which,  in  respect  of  filth  and 
wretchedness,  may  be  safely  backed 
against  Seven  Dials,  or  any  other 
part  of  famed  St.  Giles's. 

The  great  promenade  and  thorough- 
fare, as  most  people  know,  is  Broad- 
way; a  wide  and  bustling  street, 
which,  from  the  Battery  Gardens  to 
its  opposite  termination  in  a  country 
road,  may  be  four  miles  long.  Shall 
we  sit  down  in  an  upper  floor  of  the 
Carlton  House  Hotel  (situated  in  the 
best  part  of  this  main  artery  of  New 
York),  and  when  we  are  tired  of  look- 
ing down  upon  the  life  below,  sally 
forth  arm-in-arm,  and  mingle  with 
the  stream  1 

Warm  weather !  The  sun  strikes 
upon  our  heads  at  this  open  window, 
as  though  its  rays  were  concentrated 
through  a  burning-glass ;  but  the  day 
is  in  its  zenith,  and  the  season  an  un- 
usual one.  Was  there  ever  such  a 
Bunny  street  as  this  Broadway  !  The 
pavement  stones  are  polished  with  the 


tread  of  feet  until  they  shine  again  ; 
the  red  bricks  of  the  houses  might  be 
yet  in  the  dry,  hot  kilns;  and  the 
roofs  of  those  omnibuses  look  as 
though,  if  water  were  poured  on  them, 
they  would  hiss  and  smoke,  and  smell 
like  half-quenched  fires.  No  stint  of 
omnibuses  here  !  Half  a  dozen  have 
gone  by  within  as  many  minutes. 
Plenty  of  hackney  cabs  and  coaches 
too ;  gigs,  phaetons,  large-wheeled 
tilburies,  and  private  carriages  — 
rather  of  a  clumsy  make,  and  not  very 
different  from  the  public  vehicles,  but 
built  for  the  heavy  roads  beyond  the 
city  pavement.  Negro  coachmen  and 
white;  in  straw  hats,  black  hats, 
white  hats,  glazed  caps,  fur  caps ;  in 
coats  of  drab,  black,  brown,  green, 
blue,  nankeen,  striped  jean  and  linen; 
and  there,  in  that  one  instance  (look 
while  it  passes,  or  it  will  be  too  late), 
in  suits  of  livery.  Some  southern 
republican  that,  who  puts  his  blacks 
in  uniform,  and  swells  with  Sultan 
pomp  and  power.  Yonder,  where 
that  phaeton  with  the  well-clipped 
pair  of  grays  has  stopped — standing 
at  their  heads  now — is  a  Yorkshire 
groom,  who  has  not  been  very  long  in 
these  parts,  and  looks  sorrowfully 
round  for  a  companion  pair  of  top- 
boots,  which  he  may  traverse  the  city 
half  a  year  without  meeting.  Heaven 
save  the  ladies,  how  they  dress !  We 
have  seen  more  colours  in  these  ten 
minutes,  than  we  should  have  seen 
elsewhere,  in  as  many  days.  What 
various  parasols  !  what  rainbow  silks 
and  satins !  what  pinking  of  thin 
I  stockings,  and  pinching  of  thin  shoes, 
I  and  fluttering  of  ribbons  and    silk 


56 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


tassels,  and  display  of  rich  cloaks  witli 
gaudy  hoods  and  linings !  The  young 
gentlemen  are  fond,  you  see,  of  turn- 
ing down  their  shirt-collars  and  cul- 
tivating their  whiskers,  especially 
under  the  chin ;  but  they  cannot  ap- 
proach the  ladies  in  their  dress  or 
bearing,  being  to  say  the  truth, 
humanity  of  quite  another  sort. 
Byrons  of  the  desk  and  counter,  pass 
on,  and  let  us  see  what  kind  of  men 
those  are  behind  ye :  those  two 
labourers  in  holiday  clothes,  of  whom 
one  carries  in  his  hand  a  crumpled 
scrap  of  paper  from  which  he  tries  to 
spell  out  a  hard  name,  while  the  other 
looks  about  for  it  on  all  the  doors  and 
windows. 

Irishmen  both  !  You  might  know 
them,  if  they  were  masked,  by  their 
long-tailed  blue  coats  and  bright 
buttons,  and  their  drab  trowsers, 
which  they  wear  like  men  well  used 
to  working  dresses,  who  are  easy  in 
no  others.  It  would  be  hard  to  keep 
your  model  republics  going,  without 
the  countrymen  and  countrywomen  of 
those  two  labourers.  For  who  else 
would  dig,  and  delve,  and  drudge,  and 
do  domestic  work,  and  make  canals 
and  roads,  and  execute  great  lines  of 
Internal  Improvement  !  Irishmen 
both,  and  sorely  puzzled  too,  to  find 
out  what  they  seek.  Let  us  go  down, 
and  help  them,  for  the  love  of  home, 
and  that  spirit  of  liberty  which  admits 
of  honest  service  to  honest  men,  and 
honest  work  for  honest  bread,  no 
matter  what  it  be. 

That 's  well !  We  have  got  at  the 
right  address  at  last,  though  it  is  writ- 
ten in  strange  characters  truly,  and 
might  have  been  scrawled  with  the 
blunt  handle  of  the  spade  the  writer  bet- 
ter knows  the  use  of,  than  a  pen.  Their 
way  lies  yonder,  but  what  business 
takes  them  there]  They  carry  sav- 
ings :  to  hoard  up  ?  No.  They  are 
brothers,  those  men.  One  crossed 
the  sea  alone,  and  working  very  hard 


[for  one  half  year,  and  living  harder, 
I  saved  funds  enough  to  bring  the 
other  out.  That  done,  they  worked 
together  side  by  side,  contentedly 
sharing  hard  labour  and  hard  living 
for  another  term,  and  then  their 
sisters  came,  and  then  another 
brother,  and,  lastly,  their  old  mother. 
And  what  now  1  Why,  the  poor  old 
crone  is  restless  in  a  strange  land,  and 
yearns  to  lay  her  bones,  she  says, 
among  her  people  in  the  old  grave- 
yard at  home  :  and  so  they  go  to  pay 
her  passage  back  :  and  God  help  her 
and  them,  and  every  simple  heart, 
and  all  who  turn  to  the  Jerusalem 
of  their  younger  days,  and  have  an 
altar-fire  upon  the  cold  hearth  of  their 
fathers. 

This  narrow  thoroughfare,  baking 
and  blistering  in  the  sun,  is  Wall 
Street :  the  Stock  Exchange  and  Lom- 
bard Street  of  New  York.  Many  a 
rapid  fortune  has  been  made  in  this 
street,  and  many  a  no  less  rapid  ruin. 
Some  of  these  very  merchants  whom 
you  see  hanging  about  here  now,  have 
locked  up  money  in  their  strong- 
boxes, like  the  man  in  the  Arabian 
Nights,  and  opening  them  again,  have 
found  but  withered  leaves.  Below, 
here  by  the  water  side,  where  the 
bowsprits  of  ships  stretch  across  the 
footway,  and  almost  thrust  themselves 
into  the  windows,  lie  the  noble  Ame- 
rican vessels  which  have  made  their 
Packet  Service  the  finest  in  the  world. 
They  have  brought  hither  the  foreign- 
ers who  abound  in  all  the  streets :  not 
perhaps,  that  there  are  more  here, 
than  in  other  commercial  cities ;  but 
elsewhere,  they  have  particular  haunts, 
and  you  must  find  them  out;  here, 
they  pervade  the  town. 

We  must  cross  Broadway  again; 
gaining  some  refreshment  from  the 
heat,  in  the  sight  of  the  great  blocks 
of  clean  ice  which  are  being  carried 
into  shops  and  bar-rooms;  and  the 
pine-apples    and    water-melons    pro- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


57 


fusely  displayed  for  sale.  Fine  streets 
of  spacious  houses  here,  you  see ! — 
Wall  Street  has  furnished  and  dis- 
mantled many  of  them  very  often — and 
here  a  deep  green  leafy  square.  Be 
sure  that  is  a  hospitable  house  with 
inmates  to  be  affectionately  remem- 
bered always,  where  they  have  the 
open  door  and  pretty  show  of  plants 
within,  and  where  the  child  with 
laughing  eyes  is  peeping  out  of  window 
at  the  little  dog  below.  You  wonder 
what  may  be  the  use  of  this  tall  flag- 
staff in  the  bye  street,  with  something 
like  Liberty's  head-dress  on  its  top : 
so  do  I.  But  there  is  a  passion  for 
tall  flagstaffs  hereabout,  and  you  may 
see  its  twin  brother  in  five  minutes,  if 
you  have  a  mind. 

Again  across  Broadway,  and  so — 
passing  from  the  many-coloured  crowd 
and  glittering  shops — into  another 
long  main  street,  the  Bowery.  A 
rail-road  yonder,  see,  where  two  stout 
horses  trot  along,  drawing  a  score  or 
two  of  people  and  a  great  wooden  ark, 
with  ease.  The  stores  are  poorer 
here ;  the  passengers  less  gay.  Clothes 
ready-made,  and  meat  ready-cooked, 
are  to  be  bought  in  these  parts ;  and 
the  lively  whirl  of  carriages  is  ex- 
changed for  the  deep  rumble  of  carts 
and  waggons.  These  signs  which  are 
so  plentiful,  in  shape  like  river  buoys, 
or  small  balloons,  hoisted  by  cords  to 
poles,  and  dangling  there,  announce, 
as  you  may  see  by  looking  up,  "  Oys- 
lEKS  IN  EVERY  Style."  They  tempt 
the  hungry  most  at  night,  for  then 
dull  candles  glimmering  inside,  illu- 
minate these  dainty  words,  and  make 
the  mouths  of  idlers  water,  as  they 
read  and  linger. 

What  is  this  dismal-fronted  pile  of 
bastard  Egyptian,  like  an  enchanter's 
palace  in  a  melodrama ! — a  famous 
prison,  called  The  Tombs.  Shall  we 
go  in? 

So.  A  long  narrow  lofty  building, 
stove-heated  as  usual,  with  four  gal- 


leries, one  above  the  other,  going 
round  it,  and  communicating  by 
stairs.  Between  the  two  sides  of  each 
gallery,  and  in  its  centre,  a  bridge, 
for  the  greater  convenience  of  cross- 
ing. On  each  of  these  bridges  sits  a 
man :  dozing  or  reading,  or  talking  to 
an  idle  companion.  On  each  tier,  are 
two  opposite  rows  of  small  iron  doors. 
They  look  like  furnace  doors,  but  are 
cold  and  black,  as  though  the  fires 
within  had  all  gone  out.  Some  two 
or  three  are  open,  and  women,  with 
drooping  heads  bent  down,  are  talk- 
ing to  the  inmates.  The  whole  is 
lighted  by  a  skylight,  but  it  is  fast 
closed;  and  from  the  roof  there 
dangle,  limp  and  drooping,  two  use- 
less windsails. 

A  man  with  keys  appears,  to  show 
us  round.  A  good-looking  fellow, 
and,  in  his  way,  civil  and  obliging. 

"  Are  those  black  doors  the  cells?" 

"Yes." 

''Are  they  all  full?" 

*'  Well,  they  're  pretty  nigh  full, 
and  that 's  a  fact,  and  no  two  ways 
about  it." 

"  Those  at  the  bottom  are  unwhole- 
some, surely  ? " 

"Why,  we  do  only  put  coloured 
people  in  'em.     That 's  the  truth." 

"  When  do  the  prisoners  take 
exercise  ? " 

"Well,  they  do  without  it  pretty 
much." 

"  Do  they  never  walk  in  the  yard?" 

"  Considerable  seldom." 

"  Sometimes,  I  suppose  ? " 

"Well,  it's  rare  they  do.  They 
keep  pretty  bright  without  it." 

"  But  suppose  a  man  were  here  for 
a  twelvemonth.  I  know  this  is  only 
a  prison  for  criminals  who  are  charged 
with  grave  offences,  while  they  are 
awaiting  their  trial,  or  are  under 
remand,  but  the  law  here,  affords 
criminals  many  means  of  delay.  What 
with  motions  for  new  trial,  and  in 
arrest  of  judgment,  and  what  not,  a 


58 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


prisoner  miglit  be  here  for  twelve 
months,  I  take  it,  might  he  not  ] " 

"  Well,  I  guess  he  might." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  in  all 
that  time  he  would  never  come  out  at 
that  little  iron  door,  for  exercise  ]  " 

"  He  might  walk  some,  perhaps — 
not  much." 

"  Will  you  open  one  of  the  doors]" 

"  All,  if  you  like." 

The  fastenings  jar  and  rattle,  and 
one  of  the  doors  turns  slowly  on  its 
hinges.  Let  us  look  in.  A  small 
bare  cell,  into  which  the  light  enters 
through  a  high  chink  in  the  wall. 
There  is  a  rude  means  of  washing,  a 
table,  and  a  bedstead.  Upon  the 
latter,  sits  a  man  of  sixty ;  reading. 
He  looks  up  for  a  moment ;  gives  an 
impatient  dogged  shake ;  and  fixes 
his  eyes  upon  his  book  again.  As  we 
withdrew  our  heads,  the  door  closes 
on  him,  and  is  fastened  as  before. 
This  man  has  murdered  his  wife,  and 
will  probably  be  hanged. 

"  How  long  has  he  been  here  ? " 

"  A  month." 

«  When  will  he  be  tried  1" 

"  Next  term." 

«  When  is  that  ? " 

*'  Next  month." 

"  In  England,  if  a  man  be  under 
sentence  of  death,  even  he  has  air 
and  exercise  at  certain  periods  of 
the  day." 

"Possible?" 

With  what  stupendous  and  un- 
translatable coolness  he  says  this,  and 
how  loungingly  he  leads  on  to  the 
women's  side  :  making,  as  he  goes,  a 
kind  of  iron  castanet  of  the  key  and 
the  stair-rail ! 

Each  cell  door  on  this  side  has  a 
square  aperture  in  it.  Some  of  the 
women  peep  anxiously  through  it  at 
the  sound  of  footsteps  ;  others  shrink 
away  in  shame. — For  what  oflfence  can 
that  lonely  child,  of  ten  or  twelve 
years  old,  be  shut  up  here?  Oh! 
that  boy  ?    He  is  the  son  of  the  pri- 


soner we  saw  just  now ;  is  a  witness 
against  his  father;  and  is  detained 
here  for  safe-keeping,  until  the  trial  ; 
that 's  all. 

But  it  is  a  dreadful  place  for  the 
child  to  pass  the  long  days  and  nights 
in.  This  is  rather  hard  treatment  for 
a  young  witness,  is  it  not? — What 
says  our  conductor  ? 

"  Well,  it  an't  a  very  rowdy  life,  and 
tliM  's  a  fact ! " 

Again  he  clinks  his  metal  castanet, 
and  leads  us  leisurely  away.  I  have  a 
question  to  ask  him  as  we  go. 

"  Pray,  why  do  they  call  this  place 
The  Tombs?" 

"  Well,  it's  the  cant  name." 

''  I  know  it  is.     Why  ?" 

"  Some  suicides  happened  here, 
when  it  was  first  built.  I  expect  it 
come  about  from  that." 

"  I  saw  just  now,  that  that  man's 
clothes  were  ccattered  about  the  floor 
of  his  cell.  Don't  you  oblige  the  pri- 
soners to  be  orderly,  and  put  such 
things  away?" 

"  Where  should  they  put  'em?" 

"  Not  on  the  ground  surely.  What 
do  you  say  to  hanging  them  up  ?" 

He  stops  and  looks  round  to  em- 
phasise his  answer  : 

"  Why,  I  say  that's  just  it.  When 
they  had  hooks  they  wovld  hang 
themselves,  so  they're  taken  out  of 
every  cell,  and  there 's  only  the  marks 
left  where  they  used  to  be  !" 

The  prison-yard  in  which  he  pauses 
now,  has  been  the  scene  of  terrible 
performances.  Into  this  narrow, 
grave-like  place,  men  are  brought  out 
to  die.  The  wretched  creature  stands 
beneath  the  gibbet  on  the  ground; 
the  rope  about  his  neck ;  and  when 
the  sign  is  given,  a  weight  at  its  other 
end  comes  running  down,  and  swings 
him  up  into  the  air — a  corpse. 

The  law  requires  that  there  be  pre- 
sent at  this  dismal  spectacle,  the 
judge,  the  jury,  and  citizens  to  the 
amount  of   twenty-five.      From  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


^9 


community  it  is  hidden.  To  the  dis- 
solute and  bad,  the  thing  remains 
a  frightful  mystery.  Between  the 
criminal  and  them,  the  prison-wall  is 
interposed  as  a  thick  gloomy  veil.  It 
is  the  curtain  to  his  bed  of  death,  his 
winding-sheet,  and  grave.  From  him 
it  shuts  out  life,  and  all  the  motives 
to  unrepenting  hardihood  in  that  last 
hour,  which  its  mere  sight  and  pre- 
sence is  often  all-sufficient  to  sustain. 
There  are  no  bold  eyes  to  make  him 
bold ;  no  ruffians  to  uphold  a  ruffian's 
name  before.  All  beyond  the  pitiless 
stone  wall,  is  unknown  space. 

Let  us  go  forth  again  into  the 
cheerful  streets. 

Once  more  in  Broadway !  Here 
are  the  same  ladies  in  bright  colours, 
walking  to  and  fro,  in  pairs  and 
singly;  yonder  the  very  same  light 
blue  parasol  which  passed  and  re- 
passed the  hotel-window  twenty  times 
while  we  were  sitting  there.  We  are 
going  to  cross  here.  Take  care  of  the 
pigs.  Two  portly  sows  are  trotting 
up  behind  this  carriage,  and  a  select 
party  of  half-a-dozen  gentlemen  hogs 
have  just  now  turned  the  corner. 

Here  is  a  solitary  swine  lounging 
homeward  by  himself.  He  has  only 
one  ear;  having  parted  with  the 
other  to  vagrant-dogs  in  the  course  of 
his  city  rambles.  But  he  gets  on  very 
well  without  it ;  and  leads  a  roving, 
gentlemanly,  vagabond  kind  of  life, 
somewhat  answering  to  that  of  our 
club-men  at  home.  He  leaves  his 
lodgings  every  morning  at  a  certain 
hour,  throws  himself  upon  th3  town, 
gets  through  his  day  in  some  manner 
quite  satisfactory  to  himself,  and  re- 
gularly appears  at  the  door  of  his  own 
house  again  at  night,  like  the  myste- 
rious master  of  Gil  Bias.  He  is  a 
free-and-easy,  careless,  indifferent  kind 
of  pig,  having  a  very  large  acquain- 
tance among  other  pigs  of  the  same 
character,  whom  he  rather  knows  by 
sight  than  conversation,  as  he  seldom 


troubles  himself  to  stop  and  exchange 
civilities,  but  goes  grunting  down  the 
kennel,  turning  up  the  news  and 
small-talk  of  the  city  in  the  shape  of 
cabbage-stalks  and  offal,  and  bearing 
no  tails  but  his  own :  which  is  a  very 
short  one,  for  his  old  enemies,  the 
dogs,  have  been  at  that  too,  and  have 
left  him  hardly  enough  to  swear  by. 
He  is  in  every  respect  a  republican 
pig,  going  wherever  he  pleases,  and 
mingling  with  the  best  society,  on  an 
equal,  if  not  superior  footing,  for 
every  one  makes  way  when  he 
appears,  and  the  haughtiest  give  him 
the  wall,  if  he  prefer  it.  He  is  a 
great  philosopher,  and  seldom  moved, 
unless  by  the  dogs  before  mentioned. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  you  may  see  his 
small  eye  twinkling  on  a  slaughtered 
friend,  whose  carcase  garnishes  a 
butcher's  door-post,  but  he  grunts  out 
"  Such  is  life  :  all  flesh  is  pork ! " 
buries  his  nose  in  the  mire  again,  and 
waddles  down  the  gutter  :  comforting 
himself  with  the  reflection  that  there 
is  one  snout  the  less  to  anticipate  stray 
cabbage-stalks,  at  any  rate. 

They  are  the  city  scavengers,  these 
pigs.  Ugly  brutes  they  are  ;  having, 
for  the  most  part,  scanty,  brown  backs, 
like  the  lids  of  old  horse-hair  trunks : 
spotted  with  unwholesome  black 
blotches.  They  have  long,  gaunt 
legs,  too,  and  such  peaked  saouts, 
that  if  one  of  them  could  be  persuaded 
to  sit  for  his  profile,  nobody  would 
recognise  it  for  a  pig's  likeness.  They 
are  never  attended  upon,  or  fed,  or 
driven,  or  caught,  but  are  thrown 
upon  their  own  resources  in  early 
life,  and  become  preternaturally 
knowing  in  consequence.  Every  pig 
knows  where  he  lives,  much  better 
than  anybody  could  tell  him.  At 
this  hour,  just  as  evening  is  closing 
in,  you  will  see  them  roaming  towards 
bed  by  scores,  eating  their  way  to  the 
last.  Occasionally,  some  youth  among 
them  who  has  over-eaten  himself,  or 


«0 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


has  been  much  ^vo^ried  by  dogs,  trots 
shrinkingly  homeward,  like  a  prodi- 
gal son  :  but  this  is  a  rare  case  :  per- 
fect self-possession  and  self-reliance, 
and  immovable  composure,  being 
their  foremost  attributes. 

The  streets  and  shops  are  lighted 
now ;  and  as  the  eye  travels  down  the 
long  thoroughfare,  dotted  with  bright 
jets  of  gas,  it  is  reminded  of  Oxford 
Street,  or  Piccadilly.  Here  and  there 
a  flight  of  broad  stone  cellar -steps 
appears,  and  a  painted  lamp  directs 
you  to  the  Bowling  Saloon,  or  Ten- 
Pin  alley  :  Ten-Pins  being  a  game  of 
mingled  chance  and  skill,  invented 
Avhen  the  legislature  passed  an  act 
forbidding  K^ine-Pins.  At  other 
downward  flights  of  steps,  are  other 
lamps,  marking  the  whereabouts  of 
oyster-cellars— pleasant  retreats,  say 
I :  not  only  by  reason  of  their  won- 
derful cookery  of  oysters,  pretty  nigh 
as  large  as  cheese-plates,  (or  for  thy 
dear  sake,  heartiest  of  Greek  Pro- 
fessors !)  but  because  of  all  kinds  of 
eaters  of  fish,  or  flesh,  or  fowl,  in 
these  latitudes,  the  swallowers  of 
oysters  alone  are  not  gregarious ;  but 
subduing  themselves,  as  it  were,  to 
the  nature  of  what  they  work  in,  and 
copying  the  coyness  of  the  thing  they 
eat,  do  sit  apart  in  curtained  boxes, 
and  consort  by  twos,  not  by  two 
hundreds. 

But  how  quiet  the  streets  are ! 
Are  there  no  itinerant  bands;  no 
wind  or  stringed  instruments]  E"o, 
not  one.  By  day,  are  there  no 
Punches,  Fantoccini,  Dancing-dogs, 
Jugglers,  Conjurors,  Orchestrinas,  or 
even  Barrel-organs?  No,  not  one. 
Yes,  I  remember  one.  One  barrel- 
organ  and  a  dancing-monkey — spor- 
tive by  nature,  but  fast  fading  into  a 
dull,  lumpish  monkey,  of  the  Utilita- 
rian school.  Beyond  that,  nothing 
lively ;  no,  not  so  much  as  a  white 
mouse  in  a  twirling  cage. 

Are  there  no  amusements'?    Yes. 


There  is  a  lecture-room  across  the 
way,  from  which  that  glare  of  light 
proceeds,  and  there  may  be  evening 
service  for  the  ladies  thrice  a  week,  or 
oftener.  For  the  young  gentlemen, 
there  is  the  counting-house,  the  store, 
the  bar-room  :  the  latter,  as  you  may 
see  through  these  windows,  pretty 
full.  Hark !  to  the  clinking  sound 
of  hammers  breaking  lumps  of  ice, 
and  to  the  cool  gurgling  of  the  pounded 
bits,  as,  in  the  process  of  mixing,  they 
are  poured  from  glass  to  glass  !  No 
amusements  1  What  are  these  suckers 
of  cigars  and  swallowers  of  strong 
drinks,  whose  hats  and  legs  we  see  in 
every  possible  variety  of  twist,  doing, 
but  amusing  themselves  1  What  are 
the  fifty  newspapers,  which  those  pre- 
cocious urchins  are  bawling  down  the 
street,  and  which  are  kept  filed  within, 
what  are  they  but  amusements  1  Not 
vapid  waterish  amusements,  but  good 
strong  stuff;  dealing  in  round  abuse 
and  blackguard  names;  pulling  off 
the  roofs  of  pi-ivate  houses,  as  the 
Halting  Devil  did  in  Spain ;  pimping 
and  pandering  for  all  degrees  of 
vicious  taste,  and  gorging  with  coined 
lies  the  most  voracious  maw ;  imput- 
ing to  every  man  in  public  life  the 
coarsest  and  the  vilest  motives ; 
scaring  away  from  the  stabbed  and 
prostrate  body-politic,  every  Samari- 
tan of  clear  conscience  and  good  deeds; 
and  setting  on,  with  yell  and  whistle 
and  the  clapping  of  foul  hands,  the 
vilest  vermin  and  worst  birds  of 
prey. — No  amusements ! 

Let  us  go  on  again;  and  passing 
this  wilderness  of  an  hotel  with  stores 
about  its  base,  like  some  Continental 
theatre,  or  the  London  Opera  House 
shorn  of  its  colonnade,  plunge  into 
the  Five  Points.  But  it  is  needful, 
first,  that  we  take  as  our  escort  these 
two  heads  of  the  police,  whom  you 
would  know  for  sharp  and  well-trained 
ofBcers  if  you  met  them  in  the  Great 
Desert.     So  true  it  is,  that  certain 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


61 


pursuits,  wherever  carried  on,  vn\\ 
stamp  men  with  the  same  character. 
These  two  might  have  been  begotten, 
bom,  and  bred,  in  Bow  Street. 

We  have  seen  no  beggars  in  the 
streets  by  night  or  day ;  but  of  other 
kinds  of  strollers,  plenty.  Poverty, 
wretchedness,  and  vice,  are  rife  enough 
where  we  are  going  now. 

This  is  the  place :  these  narrow  ways, 
diverging  to  the  right  and  left,  and 
reeking  everywhere  with  dirt  and  filth. 
Such  lives  as  are  led  here,  bear  the 
same  fruits  here  as  elsewhere.  The 
coarse  and  bloated  faces  at  the  doors, 
have  counterparts  at  home,  and  all 
the  wide  world  over.  Debauchery 
has  made  the  very  houses  prematurely 
old.  See  how  the  rotten  beams  are 
tumbling  down,  and  how  the  patched 
and  broken  windows  seem  to  scowl 
dimly,  like  eyes  that  have  been  hurt 
in  drunken  frays.  Many  of  those 
pigs  live  here.  Do  they  ever  wonder 
why  their  masters  Avalk  upright  in 
lieu  of  going  on  all- fours?  and  why 
they  talk  instead  of  grunting  ? 

So  far,  nearly  eyery  house  is  a  low 
tavern ;  and  on  the  bar-room  walls, 
are  coloured  prints  of  Washington, 
and  Queen  Victoria  of  England,  and 
the  American  Eagle.  Among  the 
pigeon-holes  that  hold  the  bottles, 
are  pieces  of  plate-glass  and  coloured 
paper,  for  there  is,  in  some  sort,  a 
taste  for  decoration,  even  here.  And 
as  seamen  frequent  these  haunts, 
there  are  maritime  pictures  by  the 
dozen  :  of  partings  between  sailors 
and  their  lady-loves,  portraits  of 
William,  of  the  ballad,  and  his  Black- 
Eyed  Susan ;  of  Will  Watch,  the 
Bold  Smuggler;  of  Paul  Jones  the 
Pirate,  and  the  like :  on  which  the 
painted 'eyes  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  of 
Washington  to  boot,  rest  in  as  strange 
companionship,  as  on  most  of  the 
scenes  that  are  enacted  in  their  won- 
dering presence. 

What  place  is  this,  to  which  the 


squalid  street  conducts  us  ]  A  kind 
of  square  of  leprous  houses,  some  of 
which  are  attainable  only  by  crazy 
wooden  stairs  without.  What  lies 
beyond  this  tottering  flight  of  steps, 
that  creak  beneath  our  tread] — a  miser- 
able room,  lighted  by  one  dim  candle, 
and  destitute  of  all  comfort,  save  that 
which  may  be  hidden  in  a  wretched 
bed.  Beside  it,  sits  a  man  :  his  elbows 
on  his  knees  :  his  forehead  hidden  in 
his  hands.  "  What  ails  that  man  ] " 
asks  the  foremost  officer.  "  Fever," 
he  sullenly  replies,  without  looking 
up.  Conceive  the  fancies  of  a  fevered 
brain,  in  such  a  place  as  this  ! 

Ascend  these  pitch-dark  stairs, 
heedful  of  a  false  footing  on  the 
trembling  boards,  and  grope  your 
way  with  me  into  this  wolfish  den, 
where  neither  ray  of  light  nor  breath 
of  air,  appears  to  come.  A  negro  lad, 
startled  from  his  sleep  by  the  officer's 
voice — he  knows  it  well — but  com- 
forted by  his  assurance  that  he  has 
not  come  on  business,  officiously  bestirs 
himself  to  light  a  candle.  The  match 
flickers  for  a  moment,  and  shows  great 
mounds  of  dusky  rags  upon  the 
ground ;  then  dies  away  and  leaves  a 
denser  darkness  than  before,  if  there 
can  be  degrees  in  such  extremes.  He 
stumbles  down  the  stairs  and  pre- 
sently comes  back,  shading  a  flaring 
taper  with  his  hand.  Then  the  mounds 
of  rags  are  seen  to  be  astii-,  and  rise 
slowly  up,  and  the  floor  is  covered  with 
heaps  of  negro  women,  waking  from 
their  sleep  :  their  white  teeth  chatter- 
ing, and  their  bright  eyes  glistening 
and  winking  on  all  sides  with  surprise 
and  fear,  like  the  countless  repetition 
of  one  astonished  African  face  in  some 
strange  mirror. 

Mount  up  these  other  stairs  with  no 
less  caution  (there  are  traps  and  pit- 
falls here,  for  those  who  are  not  so 
well  escorted  as  ourselves)  into  the 
housetop ;  where  the  bare  beams  and 
rafters  meet  over  head,  and  calm  night 


62 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


looks  down  through  the  crevices  in 
the  roof.  Open  the  door  of  one  of 
these  cramped  hutches  full  of  sleeping 
negroes.  Pah  !  They  have  a  charcoal 
fire  within;  there  is  a  smell  of  singeing 
clothes,  or  flesh,  so  close  they  gather 
round  the  brazier ;  and  vapours  issue 
forth  that  blind  and  suffocate.  From 
every  corner,  as  you  glance  about  you 
in  these  dark  retreats,  some  figure 
crawls  half  awakened,  as  if  the  judg- 
ment-hour were  near  at  hand,  and 
every  obscene  grave  were  giving  up  its 
dead.  Where  dogs  would  howl  to  lie, 
women,  and  men,  and  boys  slink  off 
to  sleep,  forcing  the  dislodged  rats  to 
move  away  in  quest  of  better  lodgings. 

Here  too  are  lanes  and  alleys,  paved 
with  mud  knee-deep,  underground 
chambers,  where  they  dance  and  game  ; 
the  walls  bedecked  Avith  rough  designs 
of  ships,  and  forts,  and  flags,  and 
American  Eagles  out  of  number : 
ruined  houses,  open  to  the  street, 
whence,  through  wide  gaps  in  the 
walls,  other  ruins  loom  upon  the  eye, 
as  though  the  world  of  vice  and 
misery  had  nothing  else  to  show : 
hideous  tenements  which  take  their 
name  from  robbery  and  murder  :  all 
that  is  loathsome,  drooping,  and 
decayed  is  here. 

Our  leader  has  his  hand  upon  the 
latch  of  "  Almack's,"  and  calls  to  us 
from  the  bottom  of  the  steps ;  for 
the  assembly-room  of  the  Five-Point 
fashionables  is  approached  by  a  de- 
scent. Shall  we  go  in?  It  is  but  a 
moment. 

Heyday  !  the  landlady  of  Almack's 
thrives  !  A  buxom  fat  mulatto  woman, 
with  sparkling  eyes,  whose  head  is 
daintily  ornamented  with  a  handker- 
chief of  many  colours.  Nor  is  the 
landlord  much  behind  her  in  his 
finery,  being  attired  in  a  smart  blue 
jacket,  like  a  ship's  steward,  with  a 
thick  gold  ring  upon  his  little  finger, 
and  round  his  neck  a  gleaming  golden 
watch-guard.    How  glad  he  is  to  see 


us  !  What  will  we  please  to  call  for  1 
A  dance  1  It  shall  be  done  directly, 
sir  ;  "  a  regular  break-down." 

The  corpulent  black  fiddler,  and  his 
friend  who  plays  the  tambourine, 
stamp  upon  the  boarding  of  the  small 
raised  orchestra  in  which  they  sit,  and 
play  a  lively  measure.  Five  or  six 
couple  come  upon  the  floor,  marshalled 
by  a  lively  young  negro,  who  is  the  wit 
of  the  assembly,  and  the  greatest 
dancer  known.  He  never  leaves  off 
making  queer  faces,  and  is  the  delight 
of  all  the  rest,  who  grin  from  ear  to 
ear  incessantly.  Among  the  dancers 
are  two  young  mulatto  girls,  with  large, 
black,  drooping  eyes,  and  head-gear 
after  the  fashion  of  the  hostess,  who 
are  as  shy  or  feign  to  be,  as  though 
they  never  danced  before,  and  so  look 
down  before  the  visitors,  that  their 
partners  can  see  nothing  but  the  long 
fringed  lashes. 

But  the  dance  commences.  Every 
gentleman  sets  as  long  as  he  likes  to 
the  opposite  lady,  and  the  opposite 
lady  to  him,  and  all  are  so  long  about 
it  that  the  sport  begins  to  languish, 
when  suddenly  the  lively  hero  dashes 
in  to  the  rescue.  Instantly  the  fiddler 
grins,  and  goes  at  it  tooth  and  nail  ; 
there  is  new  energy  in  the  tambourine; 
new  laughter  in  the  dancers ;  new 
smiles  in  the  landlady;  new  confidence 
in  the  landlord  ;  new  brightness  in  the 
very  candles.  Single  shuffle,  double 
shuffle,  cut  and  cross-cut :  snapping 
his  fingers,  rolling  his  eyes,  turning 
in  bis  knees,  presenting  the  backs  of 
his  legs  in  front,  spinning  about  on  his 
toes  and  heels  like  nothing  but  the 
man's  fingers  on  the  tambourine ; 
dancing  with  two  left  legs,  two  right 
legs,  two  wooden  legs,  two  wire  legs, 
two  spring  legs — all  sorts  of  legs  and 
no  legs — what  is  this  to  him  1  And  in 
what  walk  of  life,  or  dance  of  life,  does 
man  ever  get  such  stimulating  ap- 
plause as  thunders  about  him,  when, 
having  danced    his    partner  off  her 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


63 


feet,  and  himself  too,  he  finishes  by- 
leaping  gloriously  on  the  bar-counter, 
and  calling  for  something  to  drink,  with 
the  chuckle  of  a  million  of  counterfeit 
Jim  Crows,  in  one  inimitable  sound ! 

The  air,  even  in  these  distempered 
parts,  is  fresh  after  the  stifling  atmos- 
phere of  the  houses;  and  now,  as  we 
emerge  into  a  broader  street,  it  blows 
upon  us  with  a  purer  breath,  and  the 
stars  look  bright  again.  Here  are  The 
Tombs  once  more.  The  city  watch- 
house  is  a  part  of  the  building.  It 
follows  naturally  on  the  sights  we  have 
just  left.  Let  us  see  that,  and  then 
to  bed. 

What!  do  you  thrust  your  common 
offenders  against  the  police  discipline 
of  the  town,  into  such  holes  as  these? 
Do  men  and  women,  against  whom 
no  crime  is  proved,  lie  here  all  night 
in  perfect  darkness,  surrounded  by 
the  noisome  vapours  which  encircle 
that  flagging  lamp  you  light  us  with, 
and  breathing  this  filthy  and  offensive 
stench  !  Why,  such  indecent  and  dis- 
gusting dungeons  as  these  cells,  would 
bring  disgrace  upon  the  most  despotic 
empire  in  the  world  !  Look  at  them, 
man— you,  who  see  them  every  night, 
and  keep  the  keys.  Do  you  see  what 
they  are  ?  Do  you  know  how  drains 
are  made  below  the  streets,  and 
wherein  these  human  sewers  differ, 
except  in  being  always  stagnant  ] 

Well,  he  don't  know.  He  has  had 
five-and-twenty  young  women  locked 
up  in  this  very  cell  at  one  time,  and 
you  'd  hardly  realise  what  handsome 
faces  there  were  among  'em. 

In  God's  name !  shut  the  door  upon 
the  wretched  creature  who  is  in  it  now, 
and  put  its  screen  before  a  place,  quite 
unsurpassed  in  all  the  vice,  neglect, 
and  devilry,  of  the  worst  old  town  in 
Europe. 

Are  people  really  left  all  night,  un- 
tried, in  those  black  sties  1  —  Every 
night.  The  watch  is  set  at  seven  in 
the  evening.    The  magistrate  opens 


his  court  at  five  in  the  morning. 
That  is  the  earliest  hour  at  which  the 
first  prisoner  can  be  released  ;  and  if 
an  oflScer  appear  against  him,  he  is 
not  taken  out  till  nine  o'clock  or  ten. 
— But  if  any  one  among  them  die  in 
the  interval,  as  one  man  did,  not  long 
ago]  Then  he  is  half-eaten  by  the 
rats  in  an  hour's  time ;  as  that  man 
was ;  and  there  an  end. 

What  is  this  intolerable  tolling  of 
great  bells,  and  crashing  of  wheels, 
and  shouting  in  the  distance  1  A  fire. 
And  what  that  deep  red  light  in  the 
opposite  direction  1  Another  fire. 
And  what  these  charred  and  blackened 
walls  we  stand  before  ]  A  dwelling 
where  a  fire  has  been.  It  was  more 
than  hinted,  in  an  official  report,  not 
long  ago,  that  some  of  these  confla- 
grations were  not  wholly  accidental, 
and  that  speculation  and  enterprise 
found  a  field  of  exert-on,  even  in 
flames  :  but  be  this  as  it  may,  there 
was  a  fire  last  night,  there  are  two 
to-night,  and  you  may  lay  an  even 
wager  there  will  be  at  least  one,  to- 
morrow. So,  carrying  that  with  us 
for  our  comfort,  let  us  say,  Good 
night,  and  climb  up  stairs  to  bed. 


One  day,  during  my  stay  in  ITew 
York,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  different 
public  institutions  on  Long  Island, 
or  Rhode  Island:  I  forget  which. 
One  of  them  is  a  Lunatic  Asylum. 
The  building  is  handsome ;  and  is 
remarkable  for  a  spacious  and  elegant 
staircase.  The  whole  structure  is  not 
yet  finished,  but  it  is  already  one  of 
considerable  size  and  extent,  and  is 
capable  of  accommodating  a  very  large 
number  of  patients. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  derived  much 
comfort  from  the  inspection  of  this 
charity.  The  different  wards  might 
have  been  cleaner  and  better  ordered; 
I  saw  nothing  of  that  salutary  system 
which  had  impressed  me  so  favourably 
elsewhere ;    and    everything   had  a 


64 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


lounging,  listless,  madhouse  air,  which 
was  very  painful.  The  moping  idiot, 
cowering  down  with  long  dishevelled 
hair ;  the  gibbering  maniac,  with  his 
hideous  laugh  and  pointed  finger; 
the  vacant  eye,  the  fierce  wild  face, 
the  gloomy  picking  of  the  hands  and 
lips,  and  munching  of  the  nails :  there 
they  were  all,  without  disguise,  in 
naked  ugliness  and  horror.  In  the 
dining-room,  a  bare,  dull,  dreary 
place,  with  nothing  for  the  eye  to 
rest  on  but  the  empty  walls,  a  woman 
was  locked  up  alone.  She  was  bent, 
they  told  me,  on  committing  suicide. 
If  anything  could  have  strengthened 
her  in  her  resolution,  it  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  the  insupportable 
monotony  of  such  an  existence. 

The  terrible  crowd  with  which  these 
halls  and  galleries  were  filled,  so 
shocked  me,  that  I  abridged  my  stay 
within  the  shortest  limits,  and  de- 
clined to  see  that  portion  of  the 
building  in  which  the  refractory  and 
violent  were  under  closer  restraint. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  the  gentleman 
who  presided  over  this  establishment 
at  the  time  I  write  of,  was  competent 
to  manage  it,  and  had  done  all  in  his 
power  to  promote  its  usefulness :  but 
will  it  be  believed  that  the  miserable 
strife  of  Party  feeling  is  carried  even 
into  this  sad  refuge  of  afllieted  and 
degraded  humanity  1  Will  it  be  be- 
lieved that  the  eyes  which  are  to 
watch  over  and  control  the  wander- 
ings of  minds  on  which  the  most 
dreadful  visitation  to  which  our  na- 
ture is  exposed  has  fallen,  must  wear 
the  glasses  of  some  wretched  side  in 
Politics  ]  Will  it  be  believed  that  the 
governor  of  such  a  house  as  this,  is 
appointed,  and  deposed,  and  changed 
perpetually,  as  Parties  fluctuate  and 
vary,  and  as  their  despicable  weather- 
cocks are  blown  this  way  or  that? 
A  hundred  times  in  every  week,  some 
new  most  paltry  exhibition  of  that 
narrow-minded  and   injurious  Party 


Spirit,  which  is  the  Simoom  of 
America,  sickening  and  blighting 
everything  of  wholesome  life  within 
its  reach,  was  forced  upon  my  notice ; 
but  I  never  turned  my  back  upon  it 
with  feelings  of  such  deep  disgust  and 
measureless  contempt,  as  when  I 
crossed  the  threshold  of  this  mad- 
house. 

At  a  short  distance  from  this  build- 
ing is  another  called  the  Alms  House, 
that  is  to  say,  the  workhouse  of  New 
York.  This  is  a  large  Institution 
also  :  lodging,  I  believe,  when  I  was 
there,  nearly  a  thousand  poor.  It  was 
badly  ventilated,  and  badly  lighted ; 
was  not  too  clean;  and  impressed  me, 
on  the  whole,  very  uncomfortably. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  New 
York,  as  a  great  emporium  of  com- 
merce, and  as  a  place  of  general  re- 
sort, not  only  from  all  parts  of  the 
States,  but  from  most  parts  of  the 
world,  has  always  a  large  pauper 
population  to  provide  for;  and  labours, 
therefore,  under  peculiar  difficulties 
in  this  respect.  Nor  must  it  be  for- 
gotten that  New  York  is  a  large  town, 
and  that  in  all  large  towns  a  vast 
amount  of  good  and  evil  is  intermixed 
and  jumbled  up  together. 

In  the  same  neighbourhood  is  the 
Farm,  where  young  orphans  are  nursed 
and  bred.  I  did  not  see  it,  but  I 
believe  it  is  well  conducted ;  and  I 
can  the  more  easily  credit  it,  from 
knowing  how  mindful  they  usually 
are,  in  America,  of  that  beautiful  pas- 
sage in  the  Litany  which  remembers 
all  sick  persons  and  young  children. 

I  was  taken  to  these  Institutions  by 
water,  in  a  boat  belonging  to  the 
Island  Jail,  and  rowed  by  a  crew 
of  prisoners,  who  were  dressed  in 
a  striped  uniform  of  black  and  buff, 
in  which  they  looked  like  faded 
tigers.  They  took  me,  by  the  same 
conveyance,  to  the  Jail  itself 

It  is  an  old  prison,  and  quite  a 
pioneer  establishment,  on  the  plan  I 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


65 


have  already  described.  I  was  glad 
to  hear  this,  for  it  is  unquestionably  a 
very  indifferent  one.  The  most  is 
made,  however,  of  the  means  it  pos- 
sesses, and  it  is  as  well  regulated  as 
such  a  place  can  be. 

The  women  work  in  covered  sheds, 
erected  for  that  purpose.  If  I  remem- 
ber right,  there  are  no  shops  for  the 
men,  but  be  that  as  it  may,  the 
greater  part  of  them  labour  in  certain 
stone-quarries  near  at  hand.  The 
day  being  very  wet  indeed,  this 
labour  was  suspended,  and  the  pri- 
soners were  in  their  cells.  Imagine 
these  cells,  some  two  or  three  hundred 
in  number,  and  in  every  one  a  man 
locked  up ;  this  one  at  his  door  for 
air,  with  his  hands  thrust  through 
the  grate;  this  one  in  bed  (in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  remember);  and 
this  one  flung  down  in  a  heap  upon 
the  ground,  with  his  head  against  the 
bars,  like  a  wild  beast.  Make  the 
rain  pour  down,  outside,  in  torrents. 
Put  the  everlasting  stove  in  the 
midst;  hot,  and  suffocating,  and 
vaporous,  as  a  witch's  cauldron. 
Add  a  collection  of  gentle  odours, 
such  as  would  arise  from  a  thousand 
mildewed  umbrellas,  wet  through,  and 
a  thousand  buck-baskets,  full  of  half- 
washed  linen — and  there  is  the  prison, 
as  it  was  that  day. 

The  prison  for  the  State  at  Sing 
Sing,  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  model 
jail.  That,  and  Auburn,  are,  I  believe, 
the  largest  and  best  examples  of  the 
silent  system. 

In  another  part  of  the  city,  is  the 
Eefuge  for  the  Destitute :  an  Insti- 
tution whose  object  is  to  reclaim 
youthful  offenders,  male  and  female, 
black  and  white,  without  distinction ; 
to  teach  them  useful  trades,  appren- 
tice them  to  respectable  masters,  and 
make  them  worthy  members  of  so- 
ciety. Its  design,  it  will  be  seen,  is 
similar  to  that  at  Boston ;  and  it  is  a 
no   less  meritorious  and    admirable 

No.  1C5. 


establishment.  A  suspicion  crossed 
my  mind  during  my  inspection  of 
this  noble  charity,  whether  the  super- 
intendent had  quite  sufficient  know- 
ledge of  the  world  and  worldly  cha- 
racters; and  whether  he  did  not 
commit  a  great  mistake  in  treating 
some  young  girls,  who  were  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  by  their  years 
and  their  past  lives,  women,  as  though 
they  were  little  children ;  which  cer- 
tainly had  a  ludicrous  effect  in  my 
eyes,  and,  or  I  am  much  mistaken,  in 
theirs  also.  As  the  Institution,  how- 
ever, is  always  under  the  vigilant  ex- 
amination of  a  body  of  gentlemen  of 
great  intelligence  and  experience,  it 
cannot  fail  to  be  well  conducted  ;  and 
whether  I  am  right  or  wrong  in  this 
slight  particular,  is  unimportant  to 
its  deserts  and  character,  which 
it  would  be  difficult  to  estimate  too 
highly. 

In  addition  to  these  establishments, 
there  are  in  New  York,  excellent 
hospitals  and  schools,  literary  institu- 
tions and  libraries ;  an  admirable  fire 
department  (as  indeed  it  should  be, 
having  constant  practice),  and  chari- 
ties of  every  sort  and  kind.  In  the 
suburbs  there  is  a  spacious  cemetery ; 
unfinished  yet,  but  every  day  improv- 
ing. The  saddest  tomb  I  saw  there 
was  "The  Strangers'  Grave.  Dedi- 
cated to  the  different  hotels  in  this 
city." 

There  are  three  principal  theatres. 
Two  of  them,  the  Park  and  the 
Bowery,  are  large,  elegant,  and 
handsome  buildings,  and  are,  I  grieve  to 
write  it, generally  deserted.  The  third, 
the01ympic,is  a  tiny  show-box  for  vau- 
devilles and  burlesques.  It  is  singu- 
larly well  conducted  by  Mr.  Mitchell, 
a  comic  actor  of  great  quiet  humour 
and  originality,  who  is  well  remem- 
bered and  esteemed  by  London  play- 
goers. I  am  happy  to  report  of  this 
deserving  gentleman,  that  his  benches 
are  usually  well  filled,  and  that  his 


66 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


theatre  rings  with  merriment  every 
night.  I  had  almost  forgotten  a  small 
summer  theatre,  called  Niblo's,  with 
gardens  and  open  air  amusements 
attached ;  but  I  believe  it  is  not 
exempt  from  the  general  depression 
under  which  Theatrical  Property,  or 
what  is  humorously  called  by  that 
name,  unfortunately  labours. 

The  country  round  New  York, 
is  surpassingly  and  exquisitely  pic- 
turesque. The  climate,  as  I  have 
already  intimated,  is  somewhat  of  the 
warmest.  What  it  would  be,  without 
the  sea  breezes  which  come  from  its 
beautiful  Bay  in  the  evening  time,  I 
will  not  throw  myself  or  my  readers 
into  a  fever  by  inquiring. 

The  tone  of  the  best  society  in  this 
city,  is  like  that  of  Boston  ;  here  and 
there,  it  may  be,  with  a  greater  infu- 
sion of  the  mercantile  spirit,  but  gene- 
rally polished  and  refined,  and  always 
most  hospitable.  The  houses  and 
tables  are  elegant;  the  hours  later 
and  more  rakish  ;  and  there  is, 
perhaps,  a  greater  spirit  of  contention 
in  reference  to  appearances,  and  the 
display  of  wealth  and  costly  living. 
The  ladies  are  singularly  beautiful. 

Before  I  left  New  York  I  made 


arrangements  for  securing  a  passage 
home  in  the  George  Washington 
packet  ship,  which  was  advertised  to 
sail  in  June :  that  being  the  month 
in  which  I  had  determined,  if  pre- 
vented by  no  accident  in  the  course 
of  my  ramblings,  to  leave  America. 

I  never  thought  that  going  back  to 
England,  returning  to  all  who  are 
dear  to  me,  and  to  pursuits  that  have 
insensibly  grown  to  be  a  part  of  my 
nature,  I  could  have  felt  so  much 
sorrow  as  I  endured,  when  I  parted  at 
last,  on  board  this  ship,  with  the 
friends  who  had  accompanied  me 
from  this  city.  I  never  thought  the 
name  of  any  place,  so  far  away  and  so 
lately  known,  could  ever  associate 
itself  in  my  mind  with  the  crowd  of 
affectionate  remembrances  that  now 
cluster  about  it.  There  are  those  in 
this  city  who  would  brighten,  to  me, 
the  darkest  winter-day  that  ever 
glimmered  and  went  out  in  Lapland ; 
and  before  whose  presence  even  Home 
grew  dim,  when  they  and  I  exchanged 
that  painful  word  which  mingles  with 
our  every  thought  and  deed ;  which 
haunts  our  cradle-heads  in  infancy, 
and  closes  up  the  vista  of  our  live» 
in  age. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


67 


CHAPTER  VII. 


PHILADELPHIA,   AND    ITS   SOLITARY   PRISON. 


Thb  journey  from  New  York  to 
Philadelphia,  is  made  by  railroad,  and 
two  ferries ;  and  usually  occupies  be- 
tween five  and  six  hours.  It  was  a  fine 
evening  when  we  were  passengers  in 
the  train :  and  watching  the  bright 
sunset  from  a  little  window  near  tlie 
door  by  which  we  sat,  my  attention 
was  attracted  to  a  remarkable  appear- 
ance issuing  from  the  windows  of  the 
gentlemen's  car  immediately  in  front 
of  us,  which  I  supposed  for  some  time 
was  occasioned  by  a  number  of  indus- 
trious persons  inside,  ripping  open 
feather-beds,  and  giving  the  feathers 
to  the  wind.  At  length  it  occurred 
to  me  that  they  were  only  spitting, 
which  was  indeed  the  case;  though 
how  any  number  of  passengers  which 
it  was  possible  for  that  car  to  contain, 
could  have  maintained  such  a  playful 
and  incessant  shower  of  expectoration, 
I  am  still  at  a  loss  to  understand : 
notwithstanding  the  experience  in  all 
salivatory  phenomena  which  I  after- 
wards acquired. 

I  made  acquaintance,  on  this 
journey,  with  a  mild  and  modest 
young  quaker,  who  opened  the  dis- 
course by  informing  me,  in  a  grave 
whisper,  that  his  grandfather  was  the 
inventor  of  cold-drawn  castor  oil.  I 
mention  the  circumstance  here, 
thinking  it  probable  that  this  is  the 
first  occasion  on  which  the  valuable 
medicine  in  question  was  ever  used  as 
a  conversational  aperient. 

We  reached  the  city,  late  that  night. 
Looking  out  of  my  chamber  window, 
before  going  to  bed,  I  saw,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  way,  a  handsome 


building  of  white  marble,  which  had 
a  mournful  ghost-like  aspect,  dreary 
to  behold.  I  attributed  this  to  the 
sombre  influence  of  the  night,  and  on 
rising  in  the  morning  looked  out 
again,  expecting  to  see  its  steps  and 
portico  throBged  with  groups  of 
people  passing  in  and  out.  The  door 
was  still  tight  shut,  however;  the 
same  cold  cheerless  air  prevailed; 
and  the  building  looked  as  if  the 
marble  statue  of  Don  Guzman  could 
alone  have  any  business  to  transact' 
within  its  gloomy  walls.  I  hastened 
to  enquire  its  name  and  purpose, 
and  then  my  surprise  vanished.  It 
was  the  Tomb  of  many  fortunes ;  the 
Great  Catacomb  of  investment;  the 
memorable  United  States  Bank. 

The  stoppage  of  this  bank,  with  all 
its  ruinous  consequences,  had  cast  (as 
I  was  told  on  every  side)  a  gloom  on 
Philadelphia,  under  the  depressing 
efiect  of  which,  it  yet  laboured.  It 
certainly  did  seem  rather  dull  and 
out  of  spirits. 

It  is  a  handsome  city,  but  distract- 
ingly  regular.  After  walking  about 
it  for  an  hour  or  two,  I  felt  that  I 
would  have  given  the  world  for  a 
crooked  street.  The  collar  of  my 
coat  appeared  to  stifien,  and  the  brim 
of  my  hat  to  expand,  beneath  its 
quakerly  influence.  My  hair  shrunk 
into  a  sleek  short  crop,  my  hands 
folded  themselves  upon  my  breast  of 
their  OAvn  calm  accord,  and  thoughts 
of  taking  lodgings  in  Mark  Lane 
over  against  the  Market  Place,  and  of 
making  a  largft  fortune  by  speculations 
in  com,  came  over  me  involuntarily. 

p2 


63 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


Philadelphia  is  most  bountifully 
provided  with  fresh  water,  which  is 
showered  and  jerked  about,  and 
turned  on,  and  poured  off,  every- 
where. The  "Waterworks,  which  are 
on  a  height  near  the  city,  are  no  less 
ornamental  than  useful,  being  taste- 
fully laid  out  as  a  public  garden,  and 
kept  in  the  best  and  neatest  order. 
The  river  is  dammed  at  this  point, 
and  forced  by  its  own  power  into 
certain  high  tanks  or  reservoirs, 
whence  the  whole  city,  to  the  top 
stories  of  the  houses,  is  supplied  at  a 
very  trifling  expense. 

There  are  various  p^jblic  institu- 
tions. Among  them  a  most  excellent 
Hospital  —  a  quaker  establishment, 
but  not  sectarian  in  the  great  benefits 
it  confers ;  a  quiet,  quaint  old  Library, 
named  after  Franklin ;  a  handsome 
Exchange  and  Post  Office ;  and  so 
forth.  In  connection  with  the  quaker 
Hospital,  there  is  a  picture  by  West, 
which  is  exhibited  for  the  benefit  of 
the  funds  of  the  institution.  The 
subject,  is,  our  Saviour  healing  the 
sick,  and  it  is,  perhaps,  as  favourable 
a  specimen  of  the  master  as  can  be 
seen  anywhere.  Whether  this  be 
high  or  low  praise,  depends  upon  the 
reader's  taste. 

In  the  same  room,  there  is  a  very 
characteristic  and  life-like  portrait  by 
Mr.  Sully,  a  distinguished  American 
artist. 

My  stay  in  Philadelphia  was  very 
short,  but  what  I  saw  of  its  society, 
I  greatly  liked.  Treating  of  its  gene- 
ral characteristics,  I  should  be  dis- 
posed to  say  that  it  is  more  provincial 
than  Boston  or  New  York,  and  that 
there  is  afloat  in  the  fair  city,  an 
assumption  of  taste  and  criticism, 
savouring  rather  of  those  genteel  dis- 
cussions upon  the  same  themes,  in 
connection  with  Shakspeare  and  the 
Musical  Glasses,  of  which  we  read  in 
the  Vicar  of  Wakefield.  Near  the 
city,  is  a  most  splendid  unfinished 


marble  structure  for  the  Girard  Col- 
lege, founded  by  a  deceased  gentleman 
of  that  name  and  of  enormous  wealth, 
which,  if  completed  according  to  the 
original  design,  will  be  perhaps  the 
richest  edifice  of  modern  times.  But 
the  bequest  is  involved  in  legal  dis- 
putes, and  pending  them  the  work 
has  stopped ;  so  that  like  many  other 
great  undertakings  in  America,  even 
this  is  rather  going  to  be  done  one  of 
these  days,  than  doing  now. 

In  the  outskirts,  stands  a  great 
prison,  called  the  Eastern  Peniten- 
tiary: conducted  on  a  plan  peculiar 
to  the  state  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
system  here,  is  rigid,  strict,  and  hope- 
less solitary  confinement.  I  believe 
it,  in  its  efiects,  to  be  cruel  and 
wrong. 

In  its  intention,  I  am  well  con- 
vinced that  it  is  kind,  humane,  and 
meant  for  reformation ;  but  I  am  per- 
suaded that  those  who  devised  this 
sytem  of  Prison  Discipline,  and  those 
benevolent  gentlemen  who  carry  it 
into  execution,  do  not  know  what  it  is 
that  they  are  doing.  I  believe  that 
very  few  men  are  capable  of  estimat- 
ing the  immense  amount  of  torture 
and  agony  which  this  dreadful  punish- 
ment, prolonged  for  years,  inflicts 
upon  the  sufferers ;  and  in  guessing  at 
it  myself,  and  in  reasoning  from  what 
I  have  seen  written  upon  their  faces, 
and  what  to  my  certain  knowledge 
they  feel  within,  I  am  only  the  more 
convinced  that  there  is  a  depth  of 
terrible  endurance  in  it  which  none 
but  the  sufferers  themselves  can 
fathom,  and  which  no  man  has  a 
right  to  inflict  upon  his  fellow  crea- 
ture. I  hold  this  slow  and  daily 
tampering  with  the  mysteries  of  the 
brain,  to  be  immeasurably  worse  than 
any  torture  of  the  body :  and  because 
its  ghastly  signs  and  tokens  are  not 
so  palpable  to  the  eye  and  sense  of 
touch  as  scars  upon  the  flesh;  because 
its  wounds  are  not  upon  the  surface. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


69 


and  it  extorts  few  cries  that  human 
ears  can  hear;  therefore  I  the  more 
denounce  it,  as  a  secret  punishment 
which  slumbering  humanity  is  not 
roused  up  to  stay.  I  hesitated  once, 
debating  with  myself,  whether,  if  I 
had  the  power  of  saying  "Yes"  or 
"  No,"  I  would  allow  it  to  be  tried  in 
certain  cases,  where  the  terms  of 
imprisonment  were  short ;  but  now,  I 
solemnly  declare,  that  with  no  rewards 
or  honours  could  I  walk  a  happy  man 
beneath  the  open  sky  by  day,  or  lie 
me  down  upon  my  bed  at  night,  with 
the  consciousness  that  one  human 
creature,  for  any  length  of  time,  no 
matter  what,  lay  suffering  this  un- 
known punishment  in  his  silent  cell, 
and  I  the  cause,  or  I  consenting  to  it 
in  the  least  degree. 

I  was  accompanied  to  this  prison 
by.  two  gentlemen  officially  connected 
•with  its  management,  and  passed  the 
day  in  going  from  cell  to  cell,  and 
talking  -with  the  inmates.  Every 
facility  was  afforded  me,  that  the 
utmost  courtesy  could  suggest.  No- 
thing was  concealed  or  hidden  from 
my  view,  and  every  piece  of  informa- 
tion that  I  sought,  was  openly  and 
frankly  given.  The  perfect  order  of 
the  building  cannot  be  praised  too 
highly,  and  of  the  excellent  motives 
of  all  who  are  immediately  concerned 
in  the  administration  of  the  system, 
there  can  be  no  kind  of  question. 

Between  the  body  of  the  prison 
and  the  outer  wall,  there  is  a  spacious 
garden.  Entering  it,  by  a  wicket  in 
the  massive  gate,  we  pursued  the 
path  before  us  to  its  other  termina- 
tion, and  passed  into  a  large  chamber, 
from  which  seven  long  passages  radi- 
ate. On  either  side  of  each,  is  a  long, 
long  row  of  low  cell  doors,  with  a 
certain  number  over  every  one. 
Above,  a  gallery  of  cells  like  those 
below,  except  that  they  have  no  nar- 
row yard  attached  (as  those  in  the 
ground  tier  have),  and  are  somewhat 


smaller.  The  possession  of  two  of 
these,  is  supposed  to  compensate  for 
the  absence  of  so  much  air  and  exer- 
cise as  can  be  had  in  the  dull  strip 
attached  to  each  of  the  others,  in  an 
hour's  time  every  day ;  and  therefore 
every  prisoner  in  this  upper  story  has 
two  cells,  adjoining  and  communicat- 
ing with,  each  other. 

Standing  at  the  central  point,  and 
looking  down  these  dreary  passages, 
the  dull  repose  and  quiet  that  pre- 
vails, is  awful.  Occasionally,  there  is 
a  drowsy  sound  from  some  lone 
weaver's  shuttle,  or  shoemaker's  last, 
but  it  is  stifled  by  the  thick  walls  and 
heavy  dungeon-door,  and  only  serves 
to  make  the  general  stillness  more 
profound.  Over  the  head  and  face  of 
every  prisoner  who  comes  into  this 
melancholy  house,  a  black  hood  is 
drawn ;  and  in  this  dark  shroud,  an 
emblem  of  the  curtain  dropped  be- 
tween him  and  the  living  world,  he  is 
led  to  the  cell  from  which  he  never 
again  comes  forth,  until  his  whole 
term  of  imprisonment  has  expired. 
He  never  hears  of  wife  or  children ; 
home  or  friends ;  the  life  or  death  of 
any  single  creature.  He  sees  the  pri- 
son-officers, but  with  that  exception 
he  never  looks  upon  a  human  coun- 
tenance, or  hears  a  human  voice.  He 
is  a  man  buried  alive ;  to  be  dug  out 
in  the  slow  round  of  years ;  and  in 
the  mean  time  dead  to  everything 
but  torturing  anxieties  and  horrible 
despair. 

His  name,  and  crime,  and  term  of 
suffering,  are  unknown,  even  to  the 
officer  who  delivers  him  his  daily 
food.  There  is  a  number  over  his 
cell-door,  and  in  a  book  of  which  the 
governor  of  the  prison  has  one  copy, 
and  the  moral  instructor  another : 
this  is  the  index  to  his  history.  Be- 
yond these  pages  the  prison  has  no 
record  of  his  existence :  and  though 
he  live  to  be  in  the  same  cell  ten 
weary  years,  he   has   no    means  of 


70 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


knowing,  down  to  the  very  last  hour, 
in  what  part  of  the  building  it  is 
situated ;  what  kind  of  men  there  are 
about  him ;  whether  in  the  long  win- 
ter nights  there  are  living  people  near, 
or  he  is  in  some  lonely  corner  of  the 
great  jail,  with  walls,  and  passages, 
and  iron  doors  between  him  and  the 
nearest  sharer  in  its  solitary  horrors. 

Every  cell  has  double  doors :  the 
outer  one  of  sturdy  oak,  the  other  of 
grated  iron,  wherein  there  is  a  trap 
through  which  his  food  is  handed. 
He  has  a  Bible,  and  a  slate  and  pen- 
cil, and,  under  certain  restrictions, 
has  sometimes  other  books,  provided 
for  the  purpose,  and  pen  and  ink  and 
paper.  His  razor,  plate,  and  can,  and 
basin,  hang  upon  the  wall,  or  shine 
npon  the  little  shelf.  Fresh  water  is 
laid  on  in  every  cell,  and  he  can  draw 
it  at  his  pleasure.  During  the  day, 
his  bedstead  turns  up  against  the 
wall,  and  leaves  more  space  for  him 
to  work  in.  His  loom,  or  bench,  or 
wheel,  is  there ;  and  there  he  labours, 
sleeps  and  wakes,  and  counts  the  sea- 
sons as  they  change,  and  grows  old. 

The  first  man  I  saw,  was  seated  at 
his  loom,  at  work.  He  had  been 
there,  six  years,  and  was  to  remain,  I 
think,  three  more.  He  had  been  con- 
victed as  a  receiver  of  stolen  goods, 
but  even  after  this  long  imprison- 
ment, denied  his  guilt,  and  said  he 
had  been  hardly  dealt  by.  It  was  his 
second  offence. 

He  stopped  his  work  when  we  went 
in,  took  off  his  spectacles,  and  an- 
swered freely  to  everything  that  was 
said  to  him,  but  always  with  a  strange 
kind  of  pause  first,  and  in  a  low, 
thoughtful  voice.  He  wore  a  paper 
hat  of  his  own  making,  and  was 
pleased  to  have  it  noticed  and  com- 
mended. He  had  very  ingeniousl} 
manufactured  a  sort  of  Dutch  clock 
from  some  disregarded  odds  and  ends; 
and  his  vinegar-bottle  served  for  the 
pendulum.    Seeing  me  interested  in 


this  contrivance,  he  looked  up  at  it 
with  a  great  deal  of  pride,  and  said 
that  he  had  been  thinking  of  improv- 
ing it,  and  that  he  hoped  the  hammer 
and  a  little  piece  of  broken  glass  be- 
side it  "would  play  music  before 
long."  He  had  extracted  some  colours 
from  the  yarn  with  which  he  worked, 
and  painted  a  few  poor  figures  on  the 
wall.  One,  of  a  female,  over  the  door, 
he  called  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake." 

He  smiled  as  I  looked  at  these  con- 
trivances to  wile  away  the  time ;  but 
when  I  looked  from  them  to  him,  I 
saw  that  his  lip  trembled,  and  could 
have  counted  the  beating  of  his  heart. 
I  forget  how  it  came  about,  but  some 
allusion  was  made  to  his  having  a 
wife.  He  shook  his  head  at  the  word, 
turned  aside,  and  covered  his  face  with 
his  hands. 

"  But  you  are  resigned  now ! "  said 
one  of  the  gentlemen  after  a  short 
pause,  during  which  he  had  resumed 
his  former  manner.  He  answered 
with  a  sigh  that  seemed  quite  reck- 
less in  its  hopelessness,  "  Oh  yes,  oh 
yes  !  I  am  resigned  to  it."  "  And  are 
a  better  man,  you  think  ] "  "  Well,  I 
hope  so  :  I  'm  sure  I  hope  I  may  be." 
"And  time  goes  pretty  quickly?" 
"  Time  is  very  long,  gentlemen,  within 
these  four  walls !  " 

He  gazed  about  him — Heaven  only 
knows  how  wearily ! — as  he  said  these 
words;  and  in  the  act  of  doing  so, 
fell  into  a  strange  stare  as  if  he  had 
forgotten  something.  A  moment 
afterwards  he  sighed  heavily,  put  on 
his  spectacles,  and  went  about  his 
work  again. 

In  another  cell,  there  was  a  Ger- 
man, sentenced  to  five  years'  impri- 
sonment for  larceny,  two  of  which 
had  just  expired.  With  colours  pro- 
cured in  the  same  manner,  he  had 
painted  every  inch  of  the  walls  and 
ceiling  quite  beautifully.  He  had 
laid  out  the  few  feet  of  ground,  be- 
hind,   with  exquisite  neatness,  and 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


Tl 


had  made  a  little  bed  in  the  centre, 
that  looked  by  the  bye  like  a  grave. 
The  taste  and  ingenuity  he  had  dis- 
played in  everything  were  most  ex- 
traordinary ;  and  yet  a  more  dejected, 
heart-broken,  wretched  creature,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  I  never 
Baw  such  a  picture  of  forlorn  affliction 
and  distress  of  mind.  My  heart  bled 
for  him  ;  and  when  the  tears  ran  down 
his  cheeks,  and  he  took  one  of  the 
visitors  aside,  to  ask,  with  his  trem- 
bling hands  nervously  clutching  at 
his  coat  to  detain  him,  whether  there 
was  no  hope  of  his  dismal  sentence 
being  commuted,  the  spectacle  was 
really  too  painful  to  witness.  I  never 
saw  or  heard  of  any  kind  of  misery 
that  impressed  me  more  than  the 
wretchedness  of  this  man. 

In  a  third  cell,  was  a  tall  strong 
black,  a  burglar,  working  at  his  proper 
trade  of  making  screws  and  the  like. 
His  time  was  nearly  out.  He  was  not 
only  a  very  dexterous  thief,  but  was 
notorious  for  his  boldness  and  hardi- 
hood, and  for  the  number  of  his  pre- 
vious convictions.  He  entertained  us 
with  a  long  account  of  his  achieve- 
ments, which  he  narrated  with  such 
infinite  relish,  that  he  actually  seemed 
to  lick  his  lips  as  he  told  us  racy  anec- 
dotes of  stolen  plate,  and  of  old  ladies 
whom  he  had  watched  as  they  sat  at 
windows  in  silver  spectacles  (he  had 
plainly  had  an  eye  to  their  metal  even 
from  the  other  side  of  the  street)  and 
had  afterwards  robbed.  This  fellow, 
upon  the  slightest  encouragement, 
would  have  mingled  with  his  profes- 
sional recollections  the  most  detestable 
cant ;  but  I  am  very  much  mistaken 
if  he  could  have  surpassed  the  unmiti- 
gated hypocrisy  with  which  he  de- 
clared that  he  blessed  the  day  on 
which  he  came  into  that  prison,  and 
that  he  never  would  commit  another 
robbery  as  long  as  he  lived. 

There  was  one  man  who  was  allowed, 
an  an  indulgence,  to. keep  rabbits.  His 


room  having  rather  a  close  smell  ia 
consequence,  they  called  to  him  at  the 
door  to  come  out  into  the  passage. 
He  complied  of  course,  and  stood 
shading  his  haggard  face  in  the  un- 
wonted sunlight  of  the  great  window, 
looking  as  wan  and  unearthly  as  if  he 
had  been  summoned  from  the  grave. 
He  had  a  white  rabbit  in  his  breast ; 
and  when  the  little  creature,  getting 
down  upon  the  ground,  stole  back  into 
the  cell,  and  he,  being  dismissed,  crept 
timidly  after  it,  I  thought  it  would 
have  been  very  hard  to  say  in  what 
respect  the  man  was  the  nobler  animal 
of  the  two. 

There  was  an  English  thief,  who  had 
been  there  but  a  few  days  out  of  seven 
years :  a  villanous,  low-browed,  thin- 
lipped  fellow,  with  a  white  face  ;  who 
had  as  yet  no  relish  for  visitors,  and 
who,  but  for  the  additional  penalty, 
would  have  gladly  stabbed  me  with 
his  shoemaker's  knife.  There  was  an- 
other German  who  had  entered  the 
jail  but  yesterday,  and  who  started 
from  his  bed  when  wc  looked  in,  and 
pleaded,  in  his  broken  English,  very 
hard  for  work.  There  was  a  poet,  who 
after  doing  two  days'  work  in  every 
four-and-twenty  hours,  one  for  himself 
and  one  for  the  prison,  wrote  verses 
about  ships  (he  was  by  trade  a  mariner), 
and  "  the  maddening  wine-cup,"  and 
his  friends  at  home.  There  were  very 
many  of  them.  Some  reddened  at  the 
sight  of  visitors,  and  some  turned  very 
pale.  Some  two  or  three  had  prisoner 
nurses  with  them,  for  they  were  very 
sick  ;  and  one,  a  fat  old  negro  whose 
leg  had  been  taken  oflF  within  the  jail^ 
had  for  his  attendant  a  classical  scholar 
and  an  accomplished  surgeon,  himself 
a  prisoner  likewise.  Sitting  upon  the 
stairs,  engaged  in  some  slight  work, 
was  a  pretty  coloured  boy.  "  Is  there 
no  refuge  for  young  criminals  in  Phi- 
ladelphia, then  f '  said  I.  *'  Yes,  but 
only  for  white  children."  Koble  aris- 
tocracy in  crime ! 


72 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


There  was  a  sailor  who  had  been 
there  upwards  of  eleven  years,  and  who 
in  a  few  months'  time  would  be  free. 
Eleven  years  of  solitary  confinement ! 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  your  time 
is  nearly  out."  What  does  he  say? 
Nothing.  Why  does  he  stare  at  his 
hands,  and  pick  the  flesh  upon  his 
fingers,  and  raise  his  eyes  for  an  in- 
stant, every  now  and  then,  to  those 
bare  walls  which  have  seen  his  head 
-turn  grey  ]  It  is  a  way  he  has  some- 
times. 

Does  he  never  look  men  in  the  face, 
and  does  he  always  pluck  at  those 
hands  of  his,  as  though  he  were  bent 
on  parting  skin  and  bone  ?  It  is  his 
humour :  nothing  more. 

It  is  his  humour  too,  to  say  that  he 
does  not  look  forward  to  going  out ; 
that  he  is  not  glad  the  time  is  drawing 
near ;  that  he  did  look  forward  to  it 
once,  but  that  was  very  long  ago ;  that 
he  has  lost  all  care  for  everything.  It 
is  his  humour  to  be  a  helpless,  crushed, 
and  broken  man.  And,  Heaven  be  his 
witness  that  he  has  his  humour  tho- 
roughly gratified ! 

There  were  three  young  women  in 
adjoining  cells,  all  convicted  at  the 
same  time  of  a  conspiracy  to  rob  their 
prosecutor.  In  the  silence  and  soli- 
tude of  their  lives  they  had  grown  to 
be  quite  beautiful.  Their  looks  were 
very  sad,  and  might  have  moved  the 
sternest  visitor  to  tears,  but  not  to 
that  kind  of  sorrow  which  the  con- 
templation of  the  men  awakens.  One 
was  a  young  girl;  not  twenty,  as  I 
recollect ;  whose  snow-white  room  was 
hung  with  the  work  of  some  former 
prisoner,  and  upon  whose  downcast 
face  the  sun  in  all  its  splendour  shone 
down  through  the  high  chink  in  the 
wall,  where  one  narrow  strip  of  bright 
Hue  sky  was  visible.  She  was  very 
penitent  and  quiet;  had  come  to  be 
resigned,  she  said  (and  I  believe  her) ; 
and  had  a  mind  at  peace.  "In  a 
word,  you  are  happy  here  ?"  said  one 


of  my  companions.  She  struggled — 
she  did  struggle  very  hard — to  answer. 
Yes  :  but  raising  her  eyes,  and  meet- 
ing that  glimpse  of  freedom  over-head, 
she  burst  into  tears,  and  said,  "  She 
tried  to  be ;  she  uttered  no  complaint ; 
but  it  was  natural  that  she  should 
sometimes  long  to  go  out  of  that  one 
cell :  she  could  not  help  that"  she 
sobbed,  poor  thing ! 

I  went  from  cell  to  cell  that  day ; 
and  every  face  I  saw,  or  word  I  heard, 
or  incident  I  noted,  is  present  to  my 
mind  in  all  its  painfulness.  But  let 
me  pass  them  by,  for  one,  more  plea- 
sant, glance  of  a  prison  on  the  same 
plan  which  I  afterwards  saw  at  Pitts- 
burgh. 

When  I  had  gone  over  that,  in  the 
same  manner,  I  asked  the  governor  if 
he  had  any  person  in  his  charge  who 
was  shortly  going  out.  He  had  one, 
he  said,  whose  time  was  up  next  day ; 
but  he  had  only  been  a  prisoner  two 
years. 

Two  years  !  I  looked  back  through 
two  years  in  my  own  life — out  of  jail, 
prosperous,  happy,  surrounded  by 
blessings,  comforts,  and  good  fortune 
— and  thought  how  wide  a  gap  it  was, 
and  how  long  those  two  years  passed 
in  solitary  captivity  would  have  been. 
I  have  the  face  of  this  man,  who  was 
going  to  be  released  next  day,  before 
me  now.  It  is  almost  more  memorable 
in  its  happiness  than  the  other  faces 
in  their  misery.  How  easy  and  how 
natural  it  was  for  him  to  say  that  the 
system  was  a  good  one  ;  and  that  the 
time  went  "pretty  quick — consider- 
ing ;"  and  that  when  a  man  once  felt 
he  had  offended  the  law,  and  must 
satisfy  it,  "he  got  along,  somehow  :" 
and  so  forth ! 

"  What  did  he  call  you  back  to  say 
to  you,  in  that  strange  flutter]"  I  asked 
of  my  conductor,  when  he  had  locked 
the  door  and  joined  me  in  the  passage. 

"  Oh !  That  he  was  afraid  the  soles 
of  his  boots  were  not  fit  for  walking. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATlOxV. 


73 


as  they  were  a  good  deal  worn  when 
he  came  in ;  and  that  he  would  thank 
me  very  much  to  have  them  mended, 
ready." 

Those  boots  had  been  taken  oflf  his 
feet,  and  put  away  with  the  rest  of  his 
clothes,  two  years  before ! 

I  took  that  opportunity  of  inquiring 
how  they  conducted  themselves  imme- 
diately before  going  out ;  adding  that 
I  presumed  they  trembled  very  much. 

"  Well,  it 's  not  so  much  a  trem- 
bling," was  the  answer — "  though  they 
do  quiver — as  a  complete  derange- 
ment of  the  nervous  system.  They 
can't  sign  their  names  to  the  book ; 
sometimes  can't  even  hold  the  pen; 
look  about  'em  without  appearing  to 
know  why,  or  where  they  are;  and 
sometimes  get  up  and  sit  down  again, 
twenty  times  in  a  minute.  This  is 
when  they  're  in  the  office,  where  they 
are  taken  with  the  hood  on,  as  they 
were  brought  in.  When  they  get  out- 
side the  gate,  they  stop,  and  look  first 
one  way  and  then  the  other :  not  know- 
ing which  to  take.  Sometimes  they 
stagger  as  if  they  were  drunk,  and 
sometimes  are  forced  to  lean  against 
the  fence,  they  're  so  bad  : — but  they 
clear  off  in  course  of  time." 

As  I  walked  among  these  solitary 
cells,  and  looked  at  the  faces  of  the 
men  within  them,  I  tried  to  picture  to 
myself  the  thoughts  and  feelings  na- 
tural to  their  condition.  I  imagined 
the  hood  just  taken  off,  and  the  scene 
of  their  captivity  disclosed  to  them  in 
all  its  dismal  monotony. 

At  first,  the  man  is  stunned.  HLs 
confinement  is  a  hideous  vision  ;  and 
his  old  life  a  reality.  He  throws  him- 
self upon  his  bed,  and  lies  there  aban- 
doned to  despair.  By  degrees  the 
insupportable  solitude  and  barrenness 
of 'the  place  rouses  him  from  this 
stupor,  and  when  the  trap  in  his 
grated  door  is  opened,  he  humbly  begs 
and  prays  for  work.  "  Give  me  some 
work  to  do,  or  I  shall  go  raving  mad ! " 


He  has  it;  and  by  fits  and  starts 
applies  himself  to  labour ;  but  every, 
now  and  then  there  comes  upon  him 
a  burning  sense  of  the  years  that 
must  be  wasted  in  that  stone  coffin, 
and  an  agony  so  piercing  in  the  recol- 
lection of  those  who  are  hidden  from 
his  view  and  knoAvledge,  that  he  starts 
from  his  seat,  and  striding  up  and 
down  the  narrow  room  with  both 
hands  clasped  on  his  uplifted  head, 
hears  spirits  tempting  him  to  beat 
his  brains  out  on  the  wall. 

Again  he  falls  upon  his  bed,  and  lies 
there,  moaning.  Suddenly  he  starts 
up,  wondering  whether  any  other 
man  is  near ;  whether  there  is  another 
cell  like  that  on  either  side  of  him  : 
and  listens  keenly. 

There  is  no  sound,  but  other  pri- 
soners may  be  near  for  all  that.  He 
remembers  to  have  heard  once,  when 
he  little  thought  of  coming  here  him- 
self, that  the  cells  were  so  constructed 
that  the  prisoners  could  not  hear 
each  other,  though  the  officers  could 
hear  them.  Where  is  the  nearest 
man — upon  the  right,  or  on  the  left  1 
or  is  there  one  in  both  directions? 
Where  is  he  sitting  now — with  his 
face  to  the  light  1  or  is  he  walking  to 
and  fro  ?  How  is  he  dressed  ]  Has 
he  been  here  long  ]  Is  he  much  worn 
away  ?  Is  he  very  white  and  spectre- 
like  ]  Does  he  think  of  his  neighbour 
too? 

Scarcely  venturing  to  breathe,  and 
listening  while  he  thinks,  he  conjures 
up  a  figure  with  his  back  towards 
him,  and  imagines  it  moving  about 
in  this  next  cell.  He  has  no  idea  of 
the  face,  but  he  is  certain  of  the  dark 
form  of  a  stooping  man.  In  the  cell 
upon  the  other  side,  he  puts  another 
figure,  whose  face  is  hidden  from  him 
also.  Day  after  day,  and  often  when 
he  wakes  up  in  the  middle  of  the  . 
night,  he  thinks  of  these  two  men 
until  he  is  almost  distracted.  He 
never  changes  them.    There  they  are  .. 


T4 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


always  as  lie  first  imagined  them — an 
old  man  on  the  right ;  a  younger 
man  upon  the  left — whose  hidden 
features  torture  him  to  death,  and 
have  a  mystery  that  makes  him 
tremble. 

The  weary  days  pass  on  with  so- 
lemn pace,  like  mourners  at  a  funeral ; 
and  slowly  he  begins  to  feel  that  the 
white  walls  of  the  cell  have  something 
dreadful  in  them  :  that  their  colour  is 
horrible :  that  their  smooth  surface 
chills  his  blood :  that  there  is  one 
hateful  corner  which  torments  him. 
Every  morning  when  he  wakes,  he 
hides  his  head  beneath  the  coverlet, 
and  shudders  to  see  the  ghastly  ceil- 
ing looking  down  upon  him.  The 
blessed  light  of  day  itself  peeps  in,  an 
ugly  phantom  face,  through  the  un- 
changeable crevice  which  is  his  prison 
window. 

By  slow  but  sure  degrees,  the  ter- 
rors of  that  hateful  corner  swell  until 
they  beset  him  at  all  times;  invade 
his  rest,  make  his  dreams  hideous, 
and  his  nights  dreadful.  At  first,  he 
took  a  strange  dislike  to  it :  feeling 
as  though  it  gave  birth  in  his  brain  to 
something  of  corresponding  shape, 
which  ought  not  to  be  there,  and 
racked  his  head  with  pains.  Then 
he  began  to  fear  it,  then  to  dream  of 
it,  and  of  men  whispering  its  name 
and  pointing  to  it.  Then  he  could 
not  bear  to  look  at  it,  nor  yet  to  turn 
his  back  upon  it.  Now,  it  is  every 
night  the  lurking-place  of  a  ghost :  a 
shadow : — a  silent  something,  horrible 
to  see,  but  whether  bird,  or  beast,  or 
mufiied  human  shape,  he  cannot  tell. 

When  he  is  in  his  cell  by  day,  he 
fears  the  little  yard  without.  When 
he  is  in  the  yard,  he  dreads  to  re-enter 
the  cell.  When  night  comes,  there 
stands  the  phantom  in  the  corner. 
If  he  have  the  courage  to  stand  in  its 
place,  and  drive  it  out  (he  had  once  : 
being  desperate),  it  broods  upon  his 
bed.    In  the  tAvilight,  and  always  at 


the  same  hour,  a  voice  calls  to  him  by 
name ;  as  the  darkness  thickens,  his 
Loom  begins  to  live  ;  and  even  that, 
his  comfort,  is  a  hideous  figure,  watch- 
ing him  till  daybreak. 

Again,  by  slow  degrees,  these  hor- 
rible fancies  depart  from  him  one  by 
one  :  returning  sometimes,  unexpect- 
edly, but  at  longer  intervals,  and  in 
less  alarming  shapes.  He  has  talked 
upon  religious  matters  with  the  gen- 
tleman who  visits  him,  and  has  read 
his  Bible,  and  has  written  a  prayer 
upon  his  slate,  and  hung  it  up  as  a 
kind  of  protection,  and  an  assurance 
of  Heavenly  companionship.  He 
dreams  now,  sometimes,  of  his  chil- 
dren or  his  wife,  but  is  sure  that 
they  are  dead,  or  have  deserted  him. 
He  is  easily  moved  to  tears;  is  gentle, 
submissive,  and  broken-spirited.  Oc- 
casionally, the  old  agony  comes  back : 
a  very  little  thing  will  revive  it;  even 
a  familiar  sound,  or  the  scent  of  sum- 
mer flowers  in  the  air;  but  it  does 
not  last  long,  now :  for  the  world 
without,  has  come  to  be  the  vision, 
and  this  solitary  life,  the  sad  reality. 

If  his  term  of  imprisonment  be 
short — I  mean  comparatively,  for 
short  it  cannot  be — the  last  half  year 
is  almost  worse  than  all ;  for  then  he 
thinks  the  prison  will  take  fire  and 
he  be  burnt  in  the  ruins,  or  that  he 
is  doomed  to  die  within  the  walls,  or 
that  he  will  be  detained  on  some 
false  charge  and  sentenced  for  another 
term :  or  that  something,  no  matter 
what,  must  happen  to  prevent  his 
going  at  large.  And  this  is  natural, 
and  impossible  to  be  reasoned  against, 
because,  after  his  long  separation  from 
liuman  life,  and  his  great  suffering, 
any  event  will  appear  to  him  more  pro- 
bable in  the  contemplation,  than  the 
being  restored  to  liberty  and  his 
fellow-creatures. 

If  his  period  of  confinement  have 
been  very  long,  the  prospect  of  release, 
bewilders    and  confuses    him.      His 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


75 


broken  heart  may  flutter  for  a  mo- 
ment, when  he  thinks  of  the  world 
outside,  and  what  it  might  have  been 
to  him  in  all  those  lonely  years,  but 
that  is  all.  The  cell-door  has  been 
closed  too  long  on  all  its  hopes  and 
cares.  Better  to  have  hanged  him 
in  the  beginning  than  bring  him  to 
this  pass,  and  send  him  forth  to  mingle 
with  his  kind,  who  are  his  kind  no 
more. 

On  the  haggard  face  of  every  man 
among  these  prisoners,  the  same  ex- 
pression sat.  I  know  not  what  to 
liken  it  to.  It  had  something  of  that 
strained  attention  which  we  see  upon 
the  faces  of  the  blind  and  deaf, 
mingled  with  a  kind  of  horror,  as 
though  they  had  all  been  secretly 
terrified.  In  every  little  chamber 
that  I  entered,  and  at  every  grate 
through  which  I  looked,  I  seemed  to 
see  the  same  appalling  countenance. 
It  lives  in  my  memory,  with  the  fasci- 
nation of  a  remarkable  picture.  Pa- 
rade before  my  eyes,  a  hundred  men, 
with  one  among  them  newly  released 
from  this  solitary  suftering,  and  I 
would  point  him  out. 

The  faces  of  the  women,  as  I  have 
said,  it  humanises  and  refines.  Whe- 
ther this  be  because  of  their  better 
nature,  which  is  elicited  in  solitude, 
or  because  of  their  being  gentler 
creatures,  of  greater  patience  and 
longer  suffering,  I  do  not  know ;  but 
so  it  is.  That  the  punishment  is 
nevertheless,  to  my  thinking,  fully  as 
cruel  and  as  wrong  in  their  case,  as  in 
that  of  the  men,  I  need  scarcely  add. 

My  firm  conviction  is  that,  inde- 
pendent of  the  mental  anguish  it 
occasions — an  anguish  so  acute  and 
so  tremendous,  that  all  imagination 
of  it  must  fall  far  short  of  the  reality 
— it  wears  the  mind  into  a  morbid 
state,  which  renders  it  unfit  for  the 
rough  contact  and  busy  action  of  the 
world.  It  is  my  fixed  opinion  that 
those  who  have  undergone  this  punish- 


ment, MUST  pass  into  society  again 
morally  unhealthy  and  diseased. 
There  are  many  instances  on  record, 
of  men  who  have  chosen,  or  have  been 
condemned,  to  lives  of  perfect  soli- 
tude, but  I  scarcely  remember  one,  even 
among  sages  of  strong  and  vigorous 
intellect,  where  its  effect  has  not 
become  apparent,  in  some  disordered 
train  of  thought,  or  some  gloomy 
hallucination.  What  monstrous  phan- 
toms, bred  of  despondency  and  doubt, 
and  bom  and  reared  in  solitude,  have 
stalked  upon  the  earth,  making 
creation  ugly,  and  darkening  the  face 
of  Heaven ! 

Suicides  are  rare  among  these  pri- 
soners :  are  almost,  indeed,  unkno\\Ti. 
But  no  argument  in  favour  of  the 
system,  can  reasonably  be  deduced 
from  this  circumstance,  although  it 
is  very  often  urged.  All  men  who 
have  made  diseases  of  the  mind  their 
study,  know  perfectly  mxU  that  such 
extreme  depression  and  despair  as 
will  change  the  whole  character,  and 
beat  down  all  its  powers  of  elasticity 
and  self-resistance,  may  be  at  work 
within  a  man,  and  yet  stop  short  of 
self-destruction.  This  is  a  common 
case. 

That  it  makes  the  senses  dull,  and 
by  degrees  impairs  the  bodily  facul- 
ties, I  am  quite  sure.  I  remarked  to 
those  who  were  with  me  in  this  very 
establishment  at  Philadelphia,  that 
the  criminals  who  had  been  there 
long,  Avere  deaf.  They,  who  were  in 
the  habit  of  seeing  these  men  con- 
stantly, were  perfectly  amazed  at  the 
idea,  which  they  regarded  as  ground- 
less and  fanciful.  And  yet  the  very 
first  prisoner  to  whom  they  appealed 
— one  of  their  own  selection — con- 
firmed my  impression  (which  was 
unknown  to  him)  instantly,  and  said, 
with  a  genuine  air  it  was  impossible 
to  doubt,  that  he  couldn't  think  how 
it  happened,  but  he  vjos  growing  very 
dull  of  hearing. 


76 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


That  it  is  a  singularly  unequal 
punishment,  and  aflects  the  worst 
man  least  there  is  no  doubt.  In  its 
superior  efficiency  as  a  means  of  re- 
formation, compared  with  that  other 
code  of  regulations  which  allows  the 
prisoners  to  work  in  company  without 
communicating  together,  I  have  not 
the  smallest  faith.  All  the  instances 
of  reformation  that  were  mentioned 
to  me,  were  of  a  kind  that  might 
have  been  —  and  I  have  no  doubt 
whatever,  in  my  own  mind,  would 
have  been — equally  well  brought 
about  by  the  Silent  System.  With 
regard  to  such  men  as  the  negro 
burglar  and  the  English  thief,  even 
the  most  enthusiastic  have  scarcely 
any  hope  of  their  conversion. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  objection 
that  nothing  wholesome  or  good  has 
ever  had  its  growth  in  such  unnatural 
solitude,  and  that  even  a  dog  or  any 
of  the  more  intelligent  among  beasts, 
would  pine,  and  mope,  and  rust  away, 
beneath  its  influence,  would  be  in 
itself  a  sufficient  argument  against 
this  system.  But  when  we  recollect, 
in  addition,  how  very  cruel  and  severe 
it  is,  and  that  a  solitary  life  is  always 
liable  to  peculiar  and  distinct  objec- 
tions of  a  most  deplorable  nature, 
which  have  arisen  here,  and  call  to 
mind,  moreover,  that  the  choice  is 
not  between  this  system,  and  a  bad 
or  ill-considered  one,  but  between  it 
and  another  which  has  worked  well, 
and  is,  in  its  whole  design  and  prac- 
tice, excellent ;  there  is  surely  more 
than  sufficient  reason  for  abandoning 
a  mode  of  punishment  attended  by  so 
little  hope  or  promise,  and  fraught,  be- 
yond dispute,  with  such  a  host  of  evils. 

As  a  relief  to  its  contemplation,  I 
will  close  this  chapter  with  a  curious 
story,  arising  out  of  the  same  theme, 
which  was  related  to  me,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  this  visit,  by  some  of  the 
gentlemen  concerned. 

At  one  of  the  periodical  meetings  of 


the  inspectors  of  this  prison,  a  working 
man  of  Philadelphia  presented  himself 
before  the  Board,  and  earnestly  re- 
quested to  be  placed  in  solitary  confine- 
ment. On  being  asked  what  motive 
could  possibly  prompt  him  to  make  this 
strange  demand,  he  answered  that  he 
had  an  irresistible  propensity  to  get 
drunk  ;  that  he  was  constantly  in- 
dulging it,  to  his  great  misery  and  ruin ; 
that  he  had  no  power  of  resistance; 
that  he  wished  to  be  put  beyond  the 
reach  of  temptation ;  and  that  he 
could  think  of  no  better  way  than 
this.  It  was  pointed  out  to  him,  in 
reply,  that  the  prison  was  for  criminals 
who  had  been  tried  and  sentenced  by 
the  law,  and  could  not  be  made  avail- 
able for  any  such  fanciful  purposes ; 
he  was  exhorted  to  abstain  from  in- 
toxicating drinks,  as  he  surely  might 
if  he  would ;  and  received  other  very 
good  advice,  with  which  he  retired, 
exceedingly  dissatisfied  with  the  re- 
sult of  his  application. 

He  came  again,  and  again,  and 
again,  and  was  so  very  earnest  and 
importunate,  that  at  last  they  took 
counsel  together,  and  said,  "  He  will 
certainly  qualify  himself  for  admission, 
if  we  reject  him  any  more.  Let  us 
shut  him  up.  He  will  soon  be  glad 
to  go  away,  and  then  we  shall  get  rid 
of  him."  So  they  made  him  sign  a 
statement  which  would  prevent  his 
ever  sustaining  an  action  for  false 
imprisonment,  to  the  efiect  that  his 
incarceration  was  voluntary,  and  of 
his  own  seeking ;  they  requested  him 
to  take  notice  that  the  officer  in 
attendance  had  orders  to  release  him 
at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  when 
he  might  knock  upon  his  door  for 
that  purpose ;  but  desired  him  to 
understand,  that  once  going  out,  he 
would  not  be  admitted  any  more. 
These  conditions  agreed  upon,  and  he 
still  remaining  in  the  same  mind,  he 
was  conducted  to  the  prison,  and  shut 
up  in  one  of  the  cells. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


77 


In  this  cell,  the  man,  who  had  not 
the  firmness  to  leave  a  glass  of  liquor 
standing  untasted  on  a  table  before 
him — in  this  cell,  in  solitary  confine- 
ment, and  working  every  day  at  his 
trade  of  shoemaking,  this  man  re- 
mained nearly  two  years.  His  health 
beginning  to  fail  at  the  expiration 
of  that  time,  the  surgeon  recom- 
mended that  he  should  work  occa- 
sionally in  the  garden;  and  as  he 
liked  the  notion  very  much,  he  went 
about  this  new  occupation  with  great 
cheerfulness. 


He  was  digging  here,  one  summer 
day,  very  industriously,  when  the 
wicket  in  the  outer  gate  chanced  to 
be  left  open :  showing,  beyond,  the 
well-remembered  dusty  road  and  sun- 
burnt fields.  The  way  was  as  free  to 
him  as  to  any  man  living,  but  he  no 
sooner  raised  his  head  and  caught 
sight  of  it,  all  shining  in  the  light, 
than,  with  the  involuntary  instinct  of 
a  prisoner,  he  cast  away  his  spade, 
scampered  oif  as  fast  as  his  legs  would 
carry  him,  and  never  once  looked 
back. 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


WASHINGTON.      THE   LEGISLATUEE.      AND   THE   PRESIDENTS   HOUSE. 


We  left  Philadelphia  by  steamboat, 
at  six  o'clock  one  very  cold  morning, 
and  turned  our  faces  towards  Wash- 
ington. 

In  the  course  of  this  day's  journey, 
as  on  subsequent  occasions,  we  en- 
countered some  Englishmen  (small 
farmers,  perhaps,  or  country  publicans 
at  home)  who  were  settled  in  America, 
and  were  travelling  on  their  own 
affairs.  Of  all  grades  and  kinds  of 
men  that  jostle  one  in  the  public  con- 
veyances of  the  States,  these  are  often 
the  most  intolerable  and  the  most 
insufferable  companions.  United  to 
every  disagreeable  characteristic  that 
the  worst  kind  of  American  travellers 
possess,  these  countrymen  of  ours 
display  an  amount  of  insolent  conceit 
and  cool  assumption  of  superiority, 
quite  monstrous  to  behold.  In  the 
coarse  familiarity  of  their  approach, 
and  the  effrontery  of  their  inquisi- 
tiveness  (which  they  are  in  great 
haste  to  assert  as  if  they  panted  to 
revenge  themselves  upon  the  decent 
old  restraints  of  home)  they  surpass 
any  native  specimens  that  came  within 
my  range  of  observation :  and  I  often 
grew  so  patriotic  when  I  saw  and 
heard  them,  that  I  would  cheerfully 
have  submitted  to  a  reasonable  fine, 
if  I  could  have  given  any  other  country 
in  the  whole  world,  the  honour  of 
claiming  them  for  its  children. 

As  Washington  may  be  called  the 
head -quarters  of  tobacco -tinctured 
saliva,  the  time  is  come  when  I  must 
confess,  without  any  disguise,  that 
the  prevalence  of  those  two  odious 
practices  of  chewing  and  expectorating 


began  about  this  time  to  be  anything 
but  agreeable,  and  soon  became  most 
offensive  and  sickening.  In  all  the 
public  places  of  America,  this  filthy 
custom  is  recognised.  In  the  courts 
of  law,  the  judge  has  his  spittoon,  the 
crier  his,  the  witness  his,  and  the  pri- 
soner his;  while  the  jurymen  and 
spectators  are  provided  for,  as  so 
many  men  who  in  the  course  of  nature 
must  desire  to  spit  incessantly.  In 
the  hospitals,  the  students  of  medi- 
cine are  requested,  by  notices  upon 
the  wall,  to  eject  their  tobacco  juice 
into  the  boxes  provided  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  not  to  discolour  the  stairs. 
In  public  buildings,  visitors  are  im- 
plored, through  the  same  agency,  to 
squirt  the  essence  of  their  quids,  or 
"  plugs,"  as  I  have  heard  them  called 
by  gentlemen  learned  in  this  kind  of 
sweetmeat,  into  the  national  spit- 
toons, and  not  about  the  bases  of  the 
marble  columns.  But  in  some  parts, 
this  custom  is  inseparably  mixed  up 
with  every  meal  and  morning  call, 
and  with  all  the  transactions  of  Tsocial 
life.  The  stranger,  who  follows  in  the 
track  I  took  myself,  will  find  it  in  its 
full  bloom  and  glory,  luxuriant  in  all 
its  alarming  recklessness,  at  Wash- 
ington. And  let  him  not  persuade 
himself  (as  I  once  did,  to  my  shame), 
that  previous  tourists  have  exagge- 
rated its  extent.  The  thing  itself  is 
an  exaggeration  of  nastiness,  which 
cannot  be  outdone. 

On  board  this  steamboat,  there 
were  two  young  gentlemen,  with 
shirt-collars  reversed  as  usual,  and 
armed  with  very  big  walking-sticks ; 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


79 


who  planted  two  seats  in  the  middle 
of  the  deck,  at  a  distance  of  some  four 
paces  apart ;  took  out  their  tobacco- 
boxes;  and  sat  down  opposite  each 
other,  to  chew.  In  less  than  a  quarter 
of  an  hour's  time,  these  hopeful  youths 
had  shed  about  them  on  the  clean 
boards,  a  copious  shower  of  yellow 
rain ;  clearing,  by  that  means,  a  kind 
of  magic  circle,  within  whose  limits 
no  intruders  dared  to  come,  and  which 
they  never  failed  to  refresh  and  re- 
refresh  before  a  spot  was  dry.  This 
being  before  breakfast,  rather  disposed 
me,  I  confess,  to  nausea ;  but  looking 
attentively  at  one  of  the  expectorators, 
I  plainly  saw  that  he  was  young  in 
chewing,  and  felt  inwardly  uneasy, 
himself.  A  glow  of  delight  came 
over  me  at  this  discovery ;  and  as  I 
marked  his  face  turn  paler  and  paler, 
and  saw  the  ball  of  tobacco  in  his 
left  cheek,  quiver  with  his  suppressed 
agony,  while  yet  he  spat,  and  chewed, 
and  spat  again,in  emulation  of  his  older 
friend,  I  could  have  fallen  on  his  neck 
and  implored  him  to  go  on  for  hours. 
We  all  sat  down  to  a  comfortable 
breakfast  in  the  cabin  below,  where 
there  was  no  more  hurry  or  confusion 
than  at  such  a  meal  in  England,  and 
where  there  was  certainly  greater 
politeness  exhibited  than  at  most  of 
our  stage-coach  banquets.  At  about 
nine  o'clock  we  arrived  at  the  railroad 
station,  and  went  on  by  the  cars.  At 
noon  we  turned  out  again,  to  cross  a 
wide  river  in  another  steam-boat; 
landed  at  a  continuation  of  the  rail- 
road on  the  opposite  shore ;  and 
went  on  by  other  cars ;  in  which  in 
the  course  of  the  next  hour  or  so,  we 
crossed  by  wooden  bridges,  each  a 
mile  in  length,  two  creeks,  called 
respectively  Great  and  Little  Gun- 
powder. The  water  in  both  was 
blackened  with  flights  of  canvas- 
backed  ducks,  which  are  most 
delicious  eating,  and  abound  here- 
abouts at  that  season  of  the  year. 


These  bridges  are  of  wood,  have  no 
parapet,  and  are  only  just  wide  enough 
for  the  passage  of  the  trains ;  which, 
in  the  event  of  the  smallest  accident, 
would  inevitably  be  plunged  into  the 
river.  They  are  startling  contrivances, 
and  are  most  agreeable  when  passed. 

We  stopped  to  dine  at  Baltimore, 
and  being  now  in  Maryland,  were 
waited  on,  for  the  first  time,  by  slaves. 
The  sensation  of  exacting  any  service 
from  human  creatures  who  are  bought 
and  sold,  and  being,  for  the  time,  a 
party  as  it  were  to  their  condition,  is 
not  an  enviable  one.  The  institution 
exists,  perhaps,  in  its  least  repulsive 
and  most  mitigated  form  in  such  a  town 
as  this ;  but  it  is  slavery ;  and  though 
I  was  with  respect  to  it,  an  innocent 
man,  its  presence  filled  me  with  a 
sense  of  shame  and  self-reproach. 

After  dinner,  we  went  down  to  the 
railroad  again,  and  took  our  seats  in 
the  cars  for  Washington.  Being 
rather  early,  those  men  and  boys  who 
happened  to  have  nothing  particular 
to  do,  and  were  curious  in  foreigners, 
came  (according  to  custom)  round  the 
carriage  in  which  I  sat ;  let  down  all 
the  windows;  thrust  in  their  heads 
and  shoulders ;  hooked  themselves  on 
conveniently,  by  their  elbows;  and 
fell  to  comparing  notes  on  the  subject 
of  my  personal  appearance,  with  as 
much  indiflference  as  if  I  were  a 
stuffed  figure.  I  never  gained  so 
much  uncompromising  information 
with  reference  to  my  own  nose  and 
eyes,  the  various  impressions  wrought 
by  my  mouth  and  chin  on  different 
minds,  and  how  my  head  looks  when  it 
is  viewed  from  behind,  as  on  these 
occasions.  Some  gentlemen  were 
only  satisfied  by  exercising  their 
sense  of  touch ;  and  the  boys  (who 
are  surprisingly  precocious  in  Ame- 
rica) were  seldom  satisfied,  even  by 
that,  but  would  return  to  the  charge 
over  and  over  again.  Many  a  bud- 
ding president  has  walked  into  my 


80 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


room  -with  Lis  cap  on  liis  head  and 
his  hands  in  his  pockets,  and  stared 
at  me  for  two  whole  hours  :  occasion- 
ally refreshing  himself  with  a  tweak 
at  his  nose,  or  a  draught  from  the 
water-jug ;  or  by  walking  to  the 
windows  and  inviting  other  boys  in 
the  street  below,  to  come  up  and  do 
likewise:  crying,  "Here  he  is!" 
*'  Come  on !"  "  Bring  all  j'our 
brothers !"  with  other  hospitable  en- 
treaties of  that  nature. 

We  reached  Washington  at  about 
half-past  six  that  evening,  and  had 
upon  the  Avay  a  beautiful  view  of  the 
Capitol,  which  is  a  fine  building  of  the 
Corinthian  order,  placed  upon  a  noble 
and  commanding  eminence.  Arrived 
at  the  hotel ;  I  saw  no  more  of  the 
place  that  night ;  being  very  tired, 
and  glad  to  get  to  bed. 

Breakfast  over  next  morning,  I 
walk  about  the  streets  for  an  hour  or 
two,  and,  coming  home,  throw  up  the 
window  in  the  front  and  back,  and 
look  out.  Here  is  Washington, 
fresh  in  my  mind  and  under  my  eye. 

Take  the  worst  parts  of  the  City 
Eoad  and  Pentonville,  or  the  strag- 
gling outskirts  of  Paris,  where  the 
houses  are  smallest,  preserving  all  their 
oddities,  but  especially  the  small  shops 
and  dwellings,  occupied  in  Penton- 
ville (but  not  in  Washington)  by 
furniture-brokers,  keepers  of  poor 
eating-houses,  and  fanciers  of  birds. 
Burn  the  whole  down;  build  it  up 
again  in  wood  and  plaster ;  widen  it 
a  little ;  throw  in  part  of  St.  John's 
Wood;  put  green  blinds  outside  all 
the  private  houses,  with  a  red  curtain 
and  a  white  one  in  every  window ; 
plough  up  all  the  roads ;  plant  a  great 
deal  of  cca,rse  turf  in  every  place 
where  it  ought  not  to  be;  erect  three 
handsome  buildings  in  stone  and 
marble,  anywhere,  but  the  more 
entirely  out  of  everybody's  way  the 
better ;  call  one  the  Post  Office,  one 
the  Patent  Office,  and  one  the  Trea- 


sury; make  it  scorching  hot  in  the 
morning,  and  freezing  cold  in  the 
afternoon,  with  an  occasional  tornado 
of  wind  and  dust  ;  leave  a  brick-field 
without  the  bricks,  in  all  central 
places  where  a  street  may  naturally 
be  expected  :  and  that's  Washington. 

The  hotel  in  which  we  live,  is  a 
long  row  of  small  houses  fronting  on 
the  street,  and  opening  at  the  back 
upon  a  common  yard,  in  which  hangs 
a  great  triangle.  Whenever  a  servant 
is  wanted,  somebody  beats  on  this 
triangle  from  one  stroke  up  to  seven, 
according  to  the  number  of  the  house 
in  which  his  presence  is  required  ; 
and  as  all  the  servants  are  always 
being  wanted,  and  none  of  them  ever 
come,  this  enlivening  engine  is  iiTfull 
performance  the  whole  day  through. 
Clothes  are  drying  in  this  same  yai'd  ; 
female  slaves,  with  cotton  handker- 
chiefs tAvisted  round  their  heads,  are 
running  to  and  fro  on  the  hotel  busi- 
ness ;  black  waiters  cross  and  recross 
with  dishes  in  their  hands ;  two  great 
dogs  are  playing  upon  a  mound  of 
loose  bricks  in  the  centre  of  the  little 
square;  a  pig  is  turning  up  his 
stomach  to  the  sun,  and  grunting 
"  that 's  comfortable ! " ;  and  neither 
the  men,  nor  the  women,  nor  the 
dogs,  nor  the  pig,  nor  any  created 
creature  takes  the  smallest  notice  of 
the  triangle,  which  is  tingling  madly 
all  the  time. 

I  walk  to  the  front  window,  and 
look  across  the  road  upon  a  long, 
straggling  row  of  houses,  one  story 
high,  terminating,  nearly  opposite, 
but  a  little  to  the  left,  in  a  melancholy 
piece  of  waste  ground  with  frowzy 
grass,  which  looks  like  a  small  piece 
of  country  that  has  taken  to  drinking, 
and  has  quite  lost  itself.  Standing 
anyhow  and  all  wrong,  upon  this  open 
space,  like  something  meteoric  that 
has  fallen  down  from  the  moon,  is 
an  odd,  lop-sided,  one-eyed  kind  of 
wooden  building,  that    looks    like  a 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


81 


church,  with  a  flag-staff  as  long  as 
itself  sticking  out  of  a  steeple  some- 
thing larger  than  a  tea-chest.  Under 
the  window,  is  a  small  stand  of 
coaches,  whose  slave-drivers  are 
sunning  themselves  on  the  steps  of 
our  door,  and  talking  idly  together. 
The  three  most  obtrusive  houses  near 
at  hand,  are  the  three  meanest.  On 
one — a  shop,  which  never  has  any- 
thing in  the  window,  and  never  has 
the  door  open — is  painted  in  large 
characters,  "The  Citt  Lunch."  At 
another,  which  looks  like  the  backway 
to  somewhere  else,  but  is  an  indepen- 
dent building  in  itself,  oysters  are 
procurable  in  every  style.  At  the 
third,  which  is  a  very,  very  little 
tailor's  shop,  pants  are  fixed  to  order  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  pantaloons  are 
made  to  measure.  And  that  is  our 
street  in  Washington. 

It  is  sometimes  called  the  City  of 
Magnificent  Distances,  but  it  might 
with  greater  propriety  be  termed  the 
City  of  Magnificent  Intentions ;  for  it 
is  only  on  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
it  from  the  top  of  the  Capitol,  that  one 
<;an  at  all  comprehend  the  vast  designs 
of  its  projector,  an  aspiring  French- 
man. Spacious  avenues,  that  begin  in 
nothing,  and  lead  nowhere;  streets, 
mile-long,  that  only  want  houses,  roads, 
And  inhabitants ;  public  buildings  that 
need  but  a  public  to  be  complete ; 
and  ornaments  of  great  thoroughfares, 
"which  only  lack  great  thoroughfares 
to  ornament — are  its  leading  features. 
One  might  fancy  the  season  over,  and 
most  of  the  houses  gone  out  of  town 
for  ever  with  their  masters.  To  the 
admirers  of  cities  it  is  a  Barmecide 
Feast;  a.  pleasant  field  for  the  ima- 
gination to  rove  in  ;  a  monument 
raised  to  a  deceased  project,  with  not 
even  a  legible  inscription  to  record  its 
departed  greatness. 

Such  as  it  is,  it  is  likely  to  remain. 
It  was  originally  chosen  for  the  seat  of 
Government,  as  a  means  of  averting 

No.  166. 


the  conflicting  jealousies  and  interests 
of  the  different  States ;  and  very  pro- 
bably, too,  as  being  remote  from  mobs : 
a  consideration  not  to  be  slighted, 
even  in  America.  It  has  no  trade  or 
commerceofits  own:  having  littleorno 
population  beyond  the  President  and 
his  establishment;  the  members  of 
the  legislature  who  reside  there  during 
the  session;  the  Government  clerks 
and  officers  employed  in  the  various 
departments;  the  keepers  of  the  hotels 
and  boarding-houses ;  and  the  trades- 
men who  supply  their  tables.  It  is 
very  unhealthy.  Few  people  would 
live  in  Washington,  I  take  it,  who 
were  not  obliged  to  reside  there ;  and 
the  tides  of  emigration  and  specula- 
tion, those  rapid  and  regardless  cur- 
rents, are  little  likely  to  flow  at  any 
time  towards  such  dull  and  sluggish 
water. 

The  principal  features  of  the  Capi- 
tol, are,  of  course,  the  two  Houses  of 
Assembly.  But  there  is,  besides,  in 
the  centre  of  the  building,  a  fine 
rotunda,  ninety  six  feet  in  diameter, 
and  ninety-six  high,  whose  circular 
wall  is  divided  into  compartments, 
ornamented  by  historical  pictures. 
Four  of  these  have  for  their  subjects 
prominent  events  in  the  revolutionary 
struggle.  They  were  pain  ted  by  Colonel 
Trumbull,  himself  a  member  of  Wash- 
ington's staff  at  the  time  of  their 
occurrence ;  from  which  circumstance 
they  derive  a  peculiar  interest  of  their 
own.  In  this  same  hall  Mr.  Greenough's 
large  statue  of  Washington  has  been 
lately  placed.  It  has  great  merits  of 
course,  but  it  struck  me  as  being 
rather  strained  and  violent  for  its  sub- 
ject. I  could  wish,  however,  to  have 
seen  it  in  a  better  light  than  it  can 
ever  be  viewed  in,  where  it  stands. 

There  is  a  very  pleasant  and  com- 
modious library  in  the  Capitol;  and 
from  a  balcony  in  front,  the  bird's-eye 
view,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken,  may 
be  had,  together  with  a  beautiful  pros- 

o  6 


83 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


pect  of  the  adjacent  country.  In  one 
of  the  ornamented  portions  of  the 
building,  there  is  a  figure  of  Justice  ; 
whereunto  the  Guide  Book  says,  "  the 
artist  at  first  contemplated  giving 
more  of  nudity,  but  he  was  warned 
that  the  public  sentiment  in  this 
country  would  not  admit  of  it,  and  in 
his  caution  he  has  gone,  perhaps,  into 
the  opposite  extreme."  Poor  Justice ! 
she  has  been  made  to  wear  much 
stranger  garments  in  America  than 
those  she  pines  in,  in  the  Capitol.  Let 
us  hope  that  she  has  changed  her 
dress-maker  since  they  were  fashioned, 
and  that  the  public  sentiment  of  the 
country  did  not  cut  out  the  clothes 
she  hides  her  lovely  figure  in,  just  now. 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  a 
beautiful  and  spacious  hall,  of  semi- 
circular shape,  supported  by  handsome 
pillars.  One  part  of  the  gallery  is 
appropriated  to  the  ladies,  and  there 
they  sit  in  front  rows,  and  come  in, 
and  go  out,  as  at  a  play  or  concert. 
The  chair  is  canopied,  and  raised  con- 
siderably above  the  floor  of  the  House ; 
and  every  member  has  an  easy  chair 
and  a  writing  desk  to  himself :  which 
is  denounced  by  some  people  out  of 
doors  as  a  most  unfortunate  and  inju- 
dicious arrangement,  tending  to  long 
sittings  and  prosaic  speeches.  It  is  an 
elegant  chamber  to  look  at,  but  a  sin- 
gularly bad  one  for  all  purposes  of 
hearing.  The  Senate,  which  is  smaller, 
is  free  from  this  objection,  and  is  ex- 
ceedingly well  adapted  to  the  uses  for 
which  it  is  designed.  The  sittings,  I 
need  hardly  add,  take  place  in  the 
day ;  and  the  parliamentary  forms  are 
modelled  on  those  of  the  old  country. 

I  was  sometimes  asked,  in  my  pro- 
gress through  other  places,  whether  I 
had  not  been  very  much  impressed  by 
the  heads  of  the  lawmakers  at  "Wash- 
ington ;  meaning  not  their  chiefs  and 
leaders,  but  literally  their  individual 
and  personal  heads,  whereon  their  hair 
grew,  and  whereby  the  phrenological 


character  of  each  legislator  was  ex- 
pressed :  and  I  almost  as  often  struck 
my  questioner  dumb  with  indignant 
consternation  by  answering  "  No, 
that  I  didn't  remember  being  at  all 
overcome."  As  I  must,  at  whatever 
hazard,  repeat  the  avowal  here,  I  will 
follow  it  up  by  relating  my  impres- 
sions on  this  subject  in  as  few  words 
as  possible. 

In  the  first  place — it  may  be  from 
some  imperfect  development  of  my 
organ  of  veneration — I  do  not  remem- 
ber having  ever  fainted  away,  or  having 
even  been  moved  to  tears  of  joyful 
pride,  at  sight  of  any  legislative  body. 
I  have  borne  the  House  of  Commons 
like  a  man,  and  have  yielded  to  no 
weakness,  but  slumber,  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  I  have  seen  elections  for 
borough  and  county,  and  have  never 
been  impelled  (no  matter  which  party 
won)  to  damage  my  hat  by  throwing 
it  up  into  the  air  in  triumph,  or  to 
crack  my  voice  by  shouting  forth  any 
reference  to  our  Glorious  Constitution, 
to  the  noble  purity  of  our  independent 
voters,  or  the  unimpeachable  integrity 
of  our  independent  members.  Having 
withstood  such  strong  attacks  upon 
my  fortitude,  it  is  possible  that  I  may 
be  of  a  cold  and  insensible  tempera- 
ment, amounting  to  icyness,  in  such 
matters;  and  therefore  my  impres- 
sions of  the  live  pillars  of  the  Capitol 
at  Washington  must  be  received  with 
such  grains  of  allowance  as  this  free 
confession  may  seem  to  demand. 

Did  I  see  in  this  public  body  an 
assemblage  of  men,  bound  together  in 
the  sacred  names  of  Liberty  and 
Freedom,  and  so  asserting  the  chaste 
dignity  of  those  twin  goddesses,  in  all 
their  discussions,  as  to  exalt  at  once 
the  Eternal  Principles  to  which  their 
names  are  given,  and  their  own  cha- 
racter, and  the  character  of  their 
countrymen,  in  the  admiring  eyes  of 
the  whole  world  1 

It  was  but  a  week,  since  an  aged. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


93 


grey-haired  man,  a  lasting  honour  to 
the  land  that  gave  him  birth,  who 
has  done  good  service  to  his  country, 
as  his  forefathers  did,  and  who  will 
be  remembered  scores  upon  scores  of 
years  after  the  worms  bred  in  its  cor- 
ruption, are  but  so  many  grains  of 
dust — it  was  but  a  week,  since  this 
old  man  had  stood  for  days  upon  his 
trial  before  this  very  body,  charged 
with  having  dared  to  assert  the  infenay 
of  that  traffic,  which  has  for  its  ac- 
cursed merchandise  men  and  women, 
and  their  unborn  children.  Yes, 
And  publicly  exhibited  in  the  same 
city  all  the  while ;  gilded,  framed  and 
glazed ;  hung  up  for  general  admira- 
tion; shown  to  strangers  not  with 
shame,  but  pride ;  its  face  not  turned 
towards  the  wall,  itself  not  taken 
down  and  burned  ;  is  the  Unanimous 
Declaration  of  The  Thirteen  United 
States  of  America,  which  solemnly  de- 
clares that  All  Men  are  created  Equal ; 
and  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
the  Inalienable  Rights  of  Life,  Liberty, 
and  the  Pursuit  of  Happiness  ! 

It  was  not  a  month,  since  this  same 
body  had  sat  calmly  by,  and  heard  a 
man,  one  of  themselves,  with  oaths 
which  beggars  in  their  drink  reject, 
threaten  to  cut  another's  throat  from 
ear  to  ear.  There  he  sat,  among  them  ; 
not  crushed  by  the  general  feeling  of 
the  assembly,  but  as  good  a  man  as  any. 

There  was  but  a  week  to  come,  and 
another  of  that  body,  for  doing  his 
duty  to  those  who  sent  him  there; 
for  claiming  in  a  Republic  the  Liberty 
and  Freedom  of  expressing  their  sen- 
timents, and  making  known  their 
prayer ;  would  be  tried,  found  guilty, 
and  have  strong  censure  passed  upon 
him  by  the  rest.  His  was  a  grave 
offence  indeed;  for  years  before,  he 
had  risen  up  and  said,  "A  gang  of 
male  and  female  slaves  for  sale,  war- 
ranted to  breed  like  cattle,  linked  to 
each  other  by  iron  fetters,  are  passing 
now  along  the  open  street  beneath 


the  windows  of  your  Temple  of  Equa- 
lity !  Look !  "  But  there  are  many 
kinds  of  hunters  engaged  in  the  Pur- 
suit of  Happiness,  and  they  go  vari- 
ously armed.  It  is  the  Inalienable 
Right  of  some  among  them,  to  take  the 
field  after  their  Happiness,  equipped 
with  cat  and  cartwhip,  stocks,  and 
iron  collar,  and  to  shout  their  view- 
halloa  !  (always  in  praise  of  Liberty), 
to  the  music  of  clanking  chains  and 
bloody  stripes. 

Where  sat  the  many  legislators  of 
coarse  threats ;  of  words  and  blows 
such  as  coalheavers  deal  upon  each 
other,  when  they  forget  their  breed- 
ing ?  On  every  side.  Every  session 
had  its  anecdotes  of  that  kind,  and 
the  actors  were  all  there. 

Did  1  recognise  in  this  assembly,  a 
body  of  men,  who  applying  them- 
selves in  a  new  world  to  correct  some 
of  the  falsehoods  and  vices  of  the  old, 
purified  the  avenues  to  Public  Life, 
paved  the  dirty  ways  to  Place  and 
Power,  debated  and  made  laws  for 
the  Common  Good,  and  had  no  party 
but  their  Country  ] 

I  saw  in  them,  the  wheels  that  move 
the  meanest  perversion  of  virtuous 
Political  Machinery  that  the  worst 
tools  ever  wrought.  Despicable  trick- 
ery at  elections;  under-handed  tam- 
perings  with  public  officers ;  cowardly 
attacks  upon  opponents,  with  scurril- 
ous newspapers  for  shields,  and  hired 
pens  for  daggers ;  shameful  tnicklings 
to  mercenary  knaves,  whose  claim  to 
be  considered,  is,  that  every  day  and 
week  they  sow  new  crops  of  ruin  with 
their  venal  types,  which  are  the  dra- 
gon's teeth  of  yore,  in  everything  but 
sharpness;  aidings  and  abettings  of 
every  bad  inclination  in  the  popular 
mind,  and  artful  suppressions  of  all 
its  good  influences  :  such  things  as 
these,  and  in  a  word,  Dishonest  Fac- 
tion in  its  most  depraved  and  most 
unblushing  form,  stared  out  from 
every  comer  of  the  crowded  hall. 

G  2 


u 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


Did  I  see  among  them,  the  intelli- 
gence and  refinement  :  the  true, 
honest,  patriotic  heart  of  America'? 
Here  and  there,  were  drops  of  its 
blood  and  life,  but  they  scarcely 
coloured  the  stream  of  desperate  ad- 
venturers which  sets  that  way  for 
profit  and  for  pay.  It  is  the  game  of 
these  men,  and  of  their  profligate 
organs,  to  make  the  strife  of  politics 
so  fierce  and  brutal,  and  so  destructive 
of  all  self-respect  in  worthy  men,  that 
sensitive  and  delicate-minded  persons 
shall  be  kept  aloof,  and  they,  and 
such  as  they,  be  left  to  battle  out 
their  selfish  views  unchecked.  And 
thus  this  lowest  of  all  scrambling 
fights  goes  on,  and  they  who  in  other 
countries  would,  from  their  intelli- 
gence and  station,  most  aspire  to 
make  the  laws,  do  here  recoil  the 
farthest  from  that  degradation. 

That  there  are,  among  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  in  both 
Houses,  and  among  all  parties,  some 
men  of  high  character  and  great 
abilities,  I  need  not  say.  The  fore- 
most among  those  politicians  who  are 
known  in  Europe,  have  been  already 
described,  and  I  see  no  reason  to 
depart  from  the  rule  I  have  laid  down 
for  my  guidance,  of  abstaining  from 
all  mention  of  individuals.  It  will  be 
sufficient  to  add,  that  to  the  most 
favourable  accounts  that  have  been 
written  of  them,  I  more  than  fully 
and  most  heartily  subscribe ;  and  that 
personal  intercourse  and  free  commu- 
nication have  bred  within  me,  not  the 
result  predicted  in  the  very  doubtful 
proverb,  but  increased  admiration  and 
respect.  They  are  striking  men  to 
look  at,  hard  to  deceive,  prompt  to 
act,  lions  in  energy,  Crichtons  in 
varied  accomplishment,  Indians  in 
fire  of  eye  and  gesture,  Americans 
in  strong  and  generous  impulse ;  and 
they  as  well  represent  the  honour 
and  wisdom  of  their  country  at  home, 
as  the  distinguished  gentleman  who 


is  now  its  minister  at  the  British 
Court  sustains  its  highest  character 
abroad, 

I  visited  both  houses  nearly  every 
day,  during  my  stay  in  "Washington. 
On  my  initiatory  visit  to  th^  House 
of  Kepresentatives,  they  divided 
against  a  decision  of  the  chair ;  but 
the  chair  won.  The  second  time  I 
went,  the  member  who  was  speak- 
ing, being  interrupted  by  a  laugh, 
mimicked  it,  as  one  child  would  in 
quarrelling  with  another,  and  added, 
"that  he  would  make  honourable 
gentlemen  opposite,  sing  out  a  little 
more  on  the  other  side  of  their  mouths 
presently."  But  interruptions  are 
rare ;  the  speaker  being  usually  heard 
in  silence.  There  are  more  quarrels 
than  with  us,  and  more  threatenings 
than  gentlemen  are  accustomed  to 
exchange  in  any  civilised  society  of 
which  we  have  record  :  but  farm-yard 
imitations  have  not  as  yet  been  im- 
ported from  the  Parliament  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  The  feature  in 
oratory  which  appears  to  be  the  most 
practised,  and  most  relished,  is  the 
constant  repetition  of  the  same  idea 
or  shadow  of  an  idea  in  fresh  words ; 
and  the  inquiry  out  of  doors  is  not, 
"  What  did  he  say  ?"  but,  "  How  long 
did  he  speak?"  These,  however,  are 
but  enlargements  of  a  principle  which 
prevails  elsewhere. 

The  Senate  is  a  dignified  and  deco- 
rous body,  and  its  proceedings  are 
conducted  with  much  gravity  and 
order.  Both  houses  are  handsomely 
carpeted;  but  the  state  to  which 
these  carpets  are  reduced  by  the  uni- 
versal disregard  of  the  spittoon  with 
which  every  honourable  member  is 
accommodated,  and  the  extraordinary 
improvements  on  the  pattern  which 
are  squirted  and  dabbled  upon  it  in 
every  direction,  do  not  admit  of  being 
described,  I  will  merely  observe,  that 
I  strongly  recommend  all  strangers 
not  to  look  at  the  floor ;  and  if  they 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


85 


happen  to  drop  anything,  though  it 
be  their  purse,  not  to  pick  it  up  with 
an  ungloved  hand  on  any  account. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  too,  at 
first,  to  say  the  least,  to  see  so  many 
honourable  members  with  swelled 
faces ;  and  it  is  scarcely  less  remark- 
able to  discover  that  this  appearance 
is  caused  by  the  quantity  of  tobacco 
they  contrive  to  stow  within  the  hol- 
low of  the  cheek.  It  is  strange  enough 
too,  to  see  an  honourable  gentleman 
leaning  back  in  his  tilted  chair  with 
his  legs  on  the  desk  before  him, 
shaping  a  convenient  "plug"  with  his 
penknife,  and  when  it  is  quite  ready 
for  use,  shooting  the  old  one  from  his 
mouth,  as  from  a  pop-gun,  and  clap- 
ping the  new  one  in  its  place. 

I  was  surprised  to  observe  that  even 
steady  old  chewers  of  great  experience, 
are  not  always  good  marksmen,  which 
has  rather  inclined  me  to  doubt  that 
general  proficiency  with  the  rifle,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much  in  Eng- 
land. Several  gentlemen  called  upon 
me  who,  in  the  course  of  conversation, 
frequently  missed  the  spittoon  at  five 
paces ;  and  one  (but  he  was  certainly 
short-sighted)  mistook  the  closed  sash 
for  the  open  window,  at  three.  On 
another  occasion,  when  I  dined  out, 
and  was  sitting  with  two  ladies  and 
some  gentlemen  round  a  fire  before 
dinner,  one  of  the  company  fell  short 
of  the  fire-place,  six  distinct  times. 
I  am  disposed  to  think,  however,  that 
this  was  occasioned  by  his  not  aiming 
at  that  object;  as  there  was  a  white 
marble  hearth  before  the  fender,  which 
was  more  convenient,  and  may  have 
suited  his  purpose  better. 

The  Patent  Office  at  Washington, 
furnishes  an  extraordinary  example  of 
American  enterprise  and  ingenuity: 
for  the  immense  number  of  models  it 
contains,  are  the  accumulated  inven- 
tions of  only  five  years :  the  whole  of 
the  previous  collection  having  been 
destroyed  by  fire.    The  elegant  struc- 


ture in  which  they  are  arranged,  is  one 
of  design  rather  than  execution,  for 
there  is  but  one  side  erected  out  of 
four,  though  the  works  are  stopped. 
The  Post  Office,  is  a  very  compact, 
and  very  beautiful  building.  In  one 
of  the  departments,  among  a  collection 
of  rare  and  curious  articles,  are  depo- 
sited the  presents  which  have  been 
made  from  time  to  time  to  the  Ame- 
rican ambassadors  at  foreign  courts 
by  the  various  potentates  to  whom 
they  were  the  accredited  agents  of  the 
Republic  :  gifts  which  by  the  law  they 
are  not  permitted  to  retain.  I  confess 
that  I  looked  upon  this  as  a  very 
painful  exhibition,  and  one  by  no 
means  flattering  to  the  national  stan- 
dard of  honesty  and  honour.  That 
can  scarcely  be  a  high  state  of  moral 
feelmg  wnicn  imagmes  a  gentleman 
of  repute  and  station,  likely  to  be 
corrupted,  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty,  by  the  present  of  a  snuff-box,  or 
a  richly-mounted  aword,  or  an  Eastern 
shawl;  and  surely  the  Nation  who 
reposes  confidence  in  her  appointed 
servants,  is  likely  to  be  better  served, 
than  she  who  makes  them  the  subject 
of  such  very  mean  and  paltry  sus- 
picions. 

At  George  Town,  in  the  suburbs, 
there  is  a  Jesuit  College  ;  delightfully 
situated,  and,  so  far  as  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing,  well  managed.  Many 
persons  who  are  not  members  of  the 
Romish  Church,  avail  themselves,  I 
believe,  of  these  institutions,  and  of 
the  advantageous  opportunities  they 
afford  for  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren. The  heights  in  this  neighbour- 
hood, above  the  Potomac  River,  are 
very  picturesque;  and  are  free,  I 
should  conceive,  from  some  of  the  in- 
salubrities of  Washington.  The  air, 
at  that  elevation,  was  quite  cool  and 
refreshing,  when  in  the  city  it  was 
burning  hot. 

The  President's  mansion  is  more  like 
an  English  club-house,  both  within 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


and  witliout,  than  any  other  kind  of 
establishment  with  which  I  can  com- 
pare it.  The  ornamental  ground  about 
it  has  been  laid  out  in  garden  walks ; 
thej  are  pretty,  and  agreeable  to  the 
eye ;  though  they  have  that  uncom- 
fortable air  of  having  been  made  yes- 
terday, which  is  far  from  favourable 
to  the  display  of  such  beauties. 

My  first  visit  to  this  house  was  on 
the  morning  after  my  arrival,  when  I 
was  carried  thither  by  an  official  gen- 
tleman, who  was  so  kind  as  to  charge 
himself  with  my  presentation  to  the 
President. 

We  entered  a  large  hall,  and  having 
twice  or  thrice  rung  a  bell  which 
nobody  answered,  walked  without  fur- 
ther ceremony  through  the  rooms  on 
the  ground  floor,  as  divers  other  gen- 
tlemen (mostly  with  their  hats  on, 
find  their  hands  in  their  pockets)  were 
doing  very  leisurely.  Some  of  these 
had  ladies  with  them,  to  whom  they 
were  showing  the  premises;  others 
were  lounging  on  the  chairs  and  sofas; 
others,  in  a  perfect  state  of  exhaustion 
from  listlessness,  were  yawning  drear- 
ily. The  greater  portion  of  this 
assemblage  were  rather  asserting  their 
supremacy  than  doing  anything  else, 
as  they  had  no  particular  business 
there,  that  anybody  knew  of.  A  few 
were  closely  eyeing  the  moveables,  as 
if  to  make  quite  sure  that  the  Presi- 
dent (who  was  far  from  popular)  had 
not  made  away  with  any  of  the  furni- 
ture, or  sold  the  fixtures  for  his  private 
benefit. 

After  glancing  at  these  loungers; 
who  were  scattered  over  a  pretty 
drawing-room,  opening  upon  a  ter- 
race which  commanded  a  beautiful 
prospect  of  the  river  and  the  adjacent 
country ;  and  who  were  sauntering 
too,  about  a  larger  state-room  called 
the  Eastern  Drawing-room  ;  we  went 
up  stairs  into  another  chamber,  where 
were  certain  visitors,  waiting  for 
audiences.    At  sight  of  my  conductor. 


a  black  in  plain  clothes  and  yellow 
slippers  who  was  gliding  noiselessly 
about,  and  whispering  messages  in 
the  ears  of  the  more  impatient,  made 
a  sign  of  recognition,  and  glided  oflf  to 
announce  him. 

We  had  previously  looked  into 
another  chamber  fitted  all  round  with 
a  great  bare  wooden  desk  or  counter, 
whereon  lay  files  of  newspapers,  to 
which  sundry  gentlemen  were  refer- 
ring. But  there  were  no  such  means 
of  beguiling  the  time  in  this  apart- 
ment, which  was  as  unpromising  and 
tiresome  as  any  waiting-room  in  one 
of  our  public  establishments,  or  any 
pl)ysician's  dining-room  during  his 
hours  of  consultation  at  home. 

There  were  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
persons  in  the  room.  One,  a  tall, 
wiry,  muscular  old  man,  from  the 
west ;  sunburnt  and  swarthy ;  with  a 
brown-white  hat  on  his  knees,  and  a 
giant  umbrella  resting  between  his 
legs;  who  sat  bolt  upright  in  his 
chair,  frowning  steadily  at  the  carpet, 
and  twitching  the  hard  lines  about  his 
mouth,  as  if  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  "  to  fix"  the  President  on  what 
he  had  to  say,  and  wouldn't  bate  him 
a  grain.  Another,  a  Kentucky 
farmer,  six-feet-six  in  height,  with 
his  hat  on,  and  his  hands  under  his 
coat-tails,  who  leaned  against  the  wall 
and  kicked  the  floor  with  his  heel,  as 
though  he  had  Time's  head  under  his 
shoe,  and  were  literally  "  killing"  him. 
A  third,  an  oval-faced,  bilious-looking 
man,  with  sleek  black  hair  cropped 
close,  and  whiskers  and  beard  shaved 
down  to  blue  dots,  who  sucked  the 
head  of  a  thick  stick,  and  from  time 
to  time  took  it  out  of  his  mouth,  to 
see  how  it  was  getting  on.  A  fourth 
did  nothing  but  whistle.  A  fifth  did 
nothing  but  spit.  And  indeed  all 
these  gentlemen  were  so  very  per- 
severing and  energetic  in  this  latter 
particular,  and  bestowed  their  favours 
so  abundantly  upon  the  carpet,  that  I 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


take  it  for  granted  the  Presidential 
housemaids  have  high  wages,  or,  to 
speak  more  genteelly,  an  ample 
amount  of  "  compensation :"  which 
is  the  American  word  for  salary,  in 
the  case  of  all  public  servants. 

We  had  not  waited  in  this  room 
many  minutes,  before  the  black  mes- 
senger returned,  and  conducted  us 
into  another  of  smaller  dimensions, 
where,  at  a  business-like  table  covered 
with  papers,  sat  the  President  him- 
self. He  looked  somewhat  worn  and 
anxious,  and  well  he  might :  being  at 
war  with  everybody — but  the  ex- 
pression of  his  face  was  mild  and 
pleasant,  and  his  manner  was  remark- 
ably unaffected,  gentlemanly,  and 
agreeable.  I  thought  that  in  his 
whole  carriage  and  demeanour,  he 
became  his  station  singularly  well. 

Being  advised  that  the  sensible 
etiquette  of  the  republican  court, 
admitted  of  a  traveller,  like  myself, 
declining,  without  any  impropriety, 
an  invitation  to  dinner,  which  did  not 
reach  me  until  I  had  concluded  my 
arrangements  for  leaving  Washington 
some  days  before  that  to  which  it 
referred,  I  only  returned  to  this  house 
once.  It  was  on  the  occasion  of  one 
of  those  general  assemblies  which 
are  held  on  certain  nights,  between 
the  hours  of  nine  and  twelve 
o'clock,  and  are  called,  rather  oddly. 
Levees. 

I  went,  with  my  wife,  at  about  ten. 
There  was  a  pretty  dense  crowd  of 
carriages  and  people  in  the  court- 
yard, and  so  far  as  I  could  make  out, 
there  were  no  very  clear  regulations 
for  the  taking  up  or  setting  down  of 
company.  There  were  certainly  no 
policemen  to  soothe  startled  horses, 
either  by  sawing  at  their  bridles  or 
flourishing  truncheons  in  their  eyes ; 
and  I  am  ready  to  make  oath  that 
no  inoffensive  persons  were  knocked 
violently  on  the  head,  or  poked 
acutely  in  their  backs  or  stomachs; 


or  brought  to  a  stand-still  by  any 
such  gentle  means,  and  then  taken 
into  custody  for  not  moving  on.  But 
there  was  no  confusion  or  disorder. 
Our  carriage  reached  the  porch  in  its 
turn,  without  any  blustering,  swear- 
ing, shouting,  backing,  or  other  dis- 
turbance :  and  we  dismounted  with  as 
much  ease  and  comfort  as  though  we 
had  been  escorted  by  the  whole 
Metropolitan  Force  from  A  to  Z 
inclusive. 

The  suite  of  rooms  on  the  ground- 
floor,  were  lighted  up ;  and  a  military 
band  was  playing  in  the  hall.  In  the 
smaller  drawing-room,  the  centre  of  a 
circle  of  company,  were  the  President 
and  his  daughter-in-law,  who  acted  as 
the  lady  of  the  mansion :  and  a  very 
interesting,  graceful,  and  accom- 
plished lady  too.  One  gentleman 
who  stood  among  this  group, 
appeared  to  take  upon  himself  the 
functions  of  a  master  of  the  cere- 
monies. I  saw  no  other  officers  or 
attendants,  and  none  were  needed. 

The  great  drawing-room,  which  I 
have  already  mentioned,  and  the 
other  chambers  on  the  ground-floor, 
were  crowded  to  excess.  The  com- 
pany was  not,  in  our  sense  of  the 
term,  select,  for  it  comprehended 
persons  of  very  many  grades  and 
classes;  nor  was  there  any  great 
display  of  costly  attire  :  indeed  some 
of  the  costumes  may  have  been,  for 
aught  I  know,  grotesque  enough. 
But  the  decorum  and  propriety  of 
behaviour  which  prevailed,  were 
unbroken  by  any  rude  or  disagreeable 
incident ;  and  every  man,  even 
among  the  miscellaneous  crowd  in 
the  hall  who  were  admitted  without 
any  orders  or  tickets  to  look  on,  ap- 
peared to  feel  that  he  was  a  part  of 
the  Institution,  and  was  responsible 
for  its  preserving  a  becoming  cha- 
racter, and  appearing  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. 

That  these  visitors,  too,  whatever 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


their  station,  were  not  without  some 
refinement  of  taste  and  appreciation 
of  intellectual  gifts,  and  gratitude  to 
those  men  who,  by  the  peaceful  exer- 
cise of  great  abilities  shed  new  charms 
and  associations  upon  the  homes  of 
their  countrymen,  and  elevate  their 
character  in  other  lands,  was  most 
earnestly  testified  by  their  reception 
of  Washington  Irving,  my  dear  friend, 
who  had  recently  been  appointed  Mi- 
nister at  the  court  of  Spain,  and  who 
was  among  them  that  night,  in  his 
new  character,  for  the  first  and  last 
time  before  going  abroad.  I  sincerely 
believe  that  in  all  the  madness  of 
American  politics,  few  public  men 
would  have  been  so  earnestly,  devo- 
tedly, and  affectionately  caressed,  as 
this  most  charming  writer :  and  I  have 
seldom  respected  a  public  assembly 
more,  than  I  did  this  eager  throng, 
when  I  saw  them  turning  with  one 
mind  from  noisy  orators  and  officers 
of  state,  and  flocking  with  a  generous 
and  honest  impulse  round  the  man  of 
quiet  pursuits  :  proud  in  his  promo- 
tion as  reflecting  back  upon  their 
country:  and  grateful  to  him  with 
their  whole  hearts  for  the  store  of 
graceful  fancies  he  had  poured  out 
among  them.  Long  may  he  dispense 
such  treasures  with  unsparing  hand  ; 
and  long  may  they  remember  him  as 
worthily !       

The  term  we  had  assigned  for  the 
duration  of  our  stay  in  Washington, 
was  now  at  an  end,  and  we  were  to 
begin  to  travel ;  for  the  railroad  dis- 
tances we  had  traversed  yet,  in  jour- 
neying among  these  older  towns,  are 
on  that  great  continent  looked  upon 
as  nothing. 

I  had  at  first  intended  going  South 


— to  Charleston.  But  when  I  came  to 

consider  the  length  of  time  which  this 
journey  would  occupy,  and  the  prema- 
ture heat  of  the  season,  which  even  at 
Washington  had  been  often  very  try- 
ing; and  weighed  moreover,  in  my 
own  mind,  the  pain  of  living  in  the 
constant  contemplation  of  slavery, 
against  the  more  than  doubtful 
chances  of  my  ever  seeing  it,  in  the 
time  I  had  to  spare,  stripped  of  the 
disguises  in  which  it  would  certainly 
be  dressed,  and  so  adding  any  item  to 
the  host  of  facts  already  heaped  toge- 
ther on  the  subject ;  I  began  to  listen 
to  old  whisperings  which  had  often 
been  present  to  me  at  home  in  Eng- 
land, when  I  little  thought  of  ever 
being  here;  and  to  dream  again  of 
cities  growing  up,  like  palaces  in  fairy 
tales,  among  the  wilds  and  forests  of 
the  west. 

The  advice  I  received  in  most  quar- 
ters when  I  began  to  yield  to  my 
desire  of  travelling  towards  that  point 
of  the  compass  was,  according  to  cus- 
tom, sufficiently  cheerless :  my  com- 
panion being  threatened  with  more 
perils,  dangers,  and  discomforts,  than 
I  can  remember  or  would  catalogue  if 
I  could ;  but  of  which  it  will  'be  suffi- 
cient to  remark  that  blowings-up  in 
steam-boats  and  breakings  down  in 
coaches  were  among  the  least.  But, 
having  a  western  route  sketched  out 
for  me  by  the  best  and  kindest  autho- 
rity to  which  I  could  have  resorted, 
and  putting  no  great  faith  in  these 
discouragements,  I  soon  determined 
on  my  plan  of  action. 

This  was  to  travel  south,  only  to 
Richmond  in  Virginia;  and  then  to 
turn,  and  shape  our  course  for  the  Far 
West ;  whither  I  beseech  the  reader's 
company,  in  a  new  chapter. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


89 


CHAPTER  IX. 


▲   NIGHT  STEAMER   ON  THE   POTOMAC    RIVER.        VIRGINIA     ROAD,     AND   A    BLACK 
DRIVER.         RICHMOND.  BALTIMORE.        THE     HARRISBURG     MAIL,     AND     A 

GLIMPSE   OF   THE   CITY.      A   CANAL   BOAT. 


"We  were  to  proceed  in  the  first  in- 
stance by  steamboat :  and  as  it  is  usual 
to  sleep  on  board,  in  consequence  of 
the  starting-hour  being  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  we  went  down  to  where 
she  lay,  at  that  very  uncomfortable 
time  for  such  expeditions  when  slip- 
pers are  most  valuable,  and  a  familiar 
bed,  in  the  perspective  of  an  hour  or 
two,  looks  uncommonl}'  pleasant. 

It  is  ten  o'clock  at  night :  say  half- 
past  ten  :  moonlight,  warm,  and  dull 
enough.  The  steamer  (not  unlike  a 
child's  Noah's  ark  in  form,  with  the 
machinery  on  the  top  of  the  roof),  is 
riding  lazily  up  and  down,  and  bump- 
ing clumsily  against  the  wooden  pier, 
as  the  ripple  of  the  river  trifles  with 
its  unwieldy  carcase.  The  wharf  is 
some  distance  from  the  city.  There 
is  nobody  down  here ;  and  one  or  two 
dull  lamps  upon  the  steamer's  decks 
are  the  only  signs  of  life  remaining, 
when  our  coach  has  driven  away.  As 
soon  as  our  footsteps  are  heard  upon 
the  planks,  a  fat  negress,  particularly 
favoured  by  nature  in  respect  of  bustle, 
emerges  from  some  dark  stairs,  and 
marshals  my  wife  towards  the  ladies' 
cabin,  to  which  retreat  she  goes,  fol- 
lowed by  a  mighty  bale  of  cloaks  and 
great-coats.  I  valiantly  resolve  not  to 
go  to  bed  at  all,  but  to  walk  up  and 
down  the  pier  till  morning. 

I  begin  my  promenade — thinking  of 
all  kinds  of  distant  things  and  persons, 
and  of  nothing  near — and  pace  up  and 
down  for  half-an-hour.  Then  I  go  on 
board  again;  and. getting  into  the 


light  of  one  of  the  lamps,  look  at  my 
watch  and  think  it  must  have  stopped; 
and  wonder  what  has  become  of  the 
faithful  secretary  whom  I  brought 
along  with  me  from  Boston.  He  is 
supping  with  our  late  landlord  (a  Field 
Marshal,  at  least,  no  doubt)  in  honour 
of  our  departure,  and  may  be  two 
hours  longer.  I  walk  again,  but  it 
gets  duller  and  duller  :  the  moon  goes 
down :  next  June  seems  farther  oflf  in 
the  dark,  and  the  echoes  of  my  foot- 
steps make  me  nervous.  It  has  turned 
cold  too ;  and  walking  up  and  down 
without  any  companion  in  such  lonely 
circumstances,  is  but  poor  amusement. 
So  I  break  my  staunch  resolution,  and 
think  it  may  be,  perhaps,  as  well  to  go 
to  bed. 

I  go  on  board  again;  open  the 
door  of  the  gentlemen's  cabin ;  and 
walk  in.  Somehow  or  other — from 
its  being  so  quiet  I  suppose — I  have 
taken  it  into  my  head  that  there  is 
nobody  there.  To  my  horror  and 
amazement  it  is  full  of  sleepers  in 
every  stage,  shape,  attitude,  and 
variety  of  slumber :  in  the  berths,  on 
the  chairs,  on  the  floors,  on  the  tables, 
and  particularly  round  the  stove,  my 
detested  enemy.  I  take  another  step 
forward,  and  slip  upon  the  shining 
face  of  a  black  steward,  who  lies 
rolled  in  a  blanket  on  the  floor.  He 
jumps  up,  grins,  half  in  pain  and 
half  in  hospitality :  whispers  my  own 
name  in  my  ear ;  and  groping  among 
the  sleepers,  leads  me  to  my  berth. 
Standing   beside  it,    I    count  these 


m 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


slumbering  passengers,  and  get  past 
forty.  There  is  no  use  in  going 
further,  so  I  begin  to  undress.  As 
the  chairs  are  all  occupied,  and  there 
is  nothing  else  to  put  my  clothes  on, 
I  deposit  them  upon  the  ground  :  not 
without  soiling  my  hands,  for  it  is  in 
the  same  condition  as  the  carpets  in 
the  Capitol,  and  from  the  same  cause. 
Having  but  partially  undressed,  I 
clamber  on  my  shelf,  and  hold  the 
curtain  open  for  a  few  minutes  while 
I  look  round  on  all  my  fellow  travel- 
lers again.  That  done,  I  let  it  fall  on 
them,  and  on  the  world :  turn  round  : 
and  go  to  sleep. 

I  wake,  of  course,  when  we  get 
under  weigh,  for  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  noise.  The  day  is  then  just  break- 
ing. Everybody  wakes  at  the  same 
time.  Some  are  self  possessed  directly, 
and  some  are  much  perplexed  to 
make  out  where  they  are  until  they 
have  rubbed  their  eyes,  and  leaning 
on  one  elbow,  looked  about  them. 
Some  yawn,  some  groan,  nearly  all 
spit,  and  a  few  get  up.  I  am  among 
the  risers :  for  it  is  easy  to  feel,  with- 
out going  into  the  fresh  air,  that  the 
atmosphere  of  the  cabin,  is  vile  in  the 
last  degree.  I  huddle  on  my  clothes, 
go  down  into  the  fore-cabin,  get 
shaved  by  the  barber,  and  wash 
myself.  The  washing  and  dressing 
apparatus  for  the  passengers  generally, 
consists  of  two  jack-towels,  three 
small  wooden  basins,  a  keg  of  water 
and  a  ladle  to  serve  it  out  with,  six 
square  inches  of  looking-glass,  two 
ditto  ditto  of  yellow  soap,  a  comb  and 
brush  for  the  head,  and  nothing  for 
the  teeth.  Everybody  uses  the  comb 
and  brush,  except  myself.  Everybody 
stares  to  see  me  using  my  own ;  and 
two  or  three  gentlemen  are  strongly 
disposed  to  banter  me  on  my  preju- 
dices, but  don't.  When  I  have  made 
my  toilet,  I  go  upon  the  hurricane- 
deck,  and  set  in  for  two  hours  of  hard 
walking  up  and  down.    The  sun  is 


rising  brilliantly;  we  are  passing 
Mount  Vernon,  where  Washington 
lies  buried;  the  river  is  wide  and 
rapid;  and  its  banks  are  beautiful. 
All  the  glory  and  splendour  of  the 
day  are  coming  on,  and  growing 
brighter  every  minute. 

At  eight  o'clock,  we  breakfast  in 
the  cabin  where  I  passed  the  night, 
but  the  windows  and  doors  are  all 
thrown  open,  and  now  it  is  fresh 
enough.  There  is  no  hurry  or  greedi- 
ness apparent  in  the  despatch  of  the 
meal.  It  is  longer  than  a  travelling 
breakfast  with  us ;  more  orderly;  and. 
more  polite. 

Soon  after  nine  o'clock  we  come  to 
Potomac  Creek,  where  we  are  to  land : 
and  then  comes  the  oddest  part  of 
the  journey.  Seven  stage-coaches  are 
preparing  to  carry  us  on.  Some  of 
them  are  ready,  some  of  them  are  not 
ready.  Some  of  the  drivers  are  blacks, 
some  whites.  There  are  four  horses 
to  each  coach,  and  all  the  horses, 
harnessed  or  unharnessed,  are  there. 
The  passengers  are  getting  out  of  the 
steamboat,  and  into  the  coaches  ;  the 
luggage  is  being  transferred  in  noisy 
wheelbarrows ;  the  horses  are  fright- 
ened, and  impatient  to  start;  the 
black  drivers  are  chattering  to  them 
like  so  many  monkeys;  and  the 
white  ones  whooping  like  so  many 
drovers :  for  the  main  thing  to  be 
done  in  all  kinds  of  hostlering  here, 
is  to  make  as  much  noise  as  possible. 
The  coaches  are  something  like  the 
French  coaches,  but  not  nearly  so 
good.  In  lieu  of  springs,  they  are 
hung  on  bands  of  the  strongest  leather. 
There  is  very  little  choice  or  diflfer- 
ence  between  them;  and  they  may 
be  likened  to  the  car  portion  of  the 
swings  at  an  English  fair,  roofed,  put 
upon  axle-trees  and  wheels,  and  cur- 
tained with  painted  canvas.  They 
are  covered  with  mud  from  the  roof 
to  the  wheel-tire,  and  have  never  been 
cleaned  since  they  were  first  built. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


91 


The  tickets  we  have  received  on 
board  the  steamboat  are  marked 
No.  1,  so  we  belong  to  coach  No.  1. 
I  throw  my  coat  on  the  box,  and 
hoist  my  wife  and  her  maid  into  the 
inside.  It  has  only  one  step,  and 
that  being  about  a  yard  from  the 
ground,  is  usually  approached  by  a 
chair :  when  there  is  no  chair,  ladies 
trust  in  Providence.  The  coach 
holds  nine  inside,  having  a  seat  across 
from  door  to  door,  where  we  in  Eng- 
land put  our  legs :  so  that  there  is 
only  one  feat  more  difficult  in  the 
performance  than  getting  in,  and  that 
is,  getting  out  again.  There  is  only 
one  outside  passenger,  and  he  sits 
upon  the  box.  As  I  am  that  one,  I 
climb  up  ;  and  while  they  are  strap- 
ping the  luggage  on  the  roof,  and 
heaping  it  into  a  kind  of  tray  behind, 
have  a  good  opportunity  of  looking 
at  the  driver. 

He  is  a  negro — very  black  indeed. 
He  is  dressed  in  a  coarse  pepper-and- 
salt  suit  excessively  patched  and 
darned  (particularly  at  the  knees), 
grey  stockings,  enormous  unblacked 
high-low  shoes,  and  very  short  trou- 
sers. He  has  two  odd  gloves  :  one  of 
parti-coloured  worsted,  and  one  of 
leather.  He  has  a  very  short  whip, 
broken  in  the  middle  and  bandaged 
up  with  string.  And  yet  he  wears  a 
low-crowned,  broad-brimmed,  black 
hat :  faintly  shadowing  forth  a  kind 
of  insane  imitation  of  an  English 
coachman !  But  somebody  in  au- 
thority cries  "  Go  ahead ! "  as  I  am 
making  these  observations.  The 
mail  takes  the  lead  in  a  four-horse 
wagon,  and  all  the  coaches  follow  in 
procession :  headed  by  No.  1. 

By  the  way,  whenever  an  English- 
man would  cry  "  All  right ! "  an 
American  cries  "  Go  ahead  !  "  which 
is  somewhat  expressive  of  the  national 
character  of  the  two  countries. 

The  first  half  mile  of  the  road  is 
over  bridges  made  of  loose  planks 


laid  across  two  parallel  poles,  which 
tilt  up  as  the  wheels  roll  over  them  ; 
and  IN  the  river.  The  river  has  a 
clayey  bottom  and  is  full  of  holes,  so 
that  half  a  horse  is  constantly  disap- 
pearing unexpectedly,  and  can't  be 
found  again  for  some  time. 

But  we  get  past  even  this,  and 
come  to  the  road  itself,  which  is  a 
series  of  alternate  swamps  and  gravel- 
pits.  A  tremendous  place  is  close 
before  us,  the  black  driver  rolls  his 
eyes,  screws  his  mouth  up  very  round, 
and  looks  straight  between  the  two 
leaders,  as  if  he  were  saying  to  him- 
self, "  we  have  done  this  often  before, 
but  now  I  think  we  shall  have  a  crash." 
He  takes  a  rein  in  each  hand ;  jerks 
and  pulls  at  both  ;  and  dances  on  the 
splashboard  with  both  feet  (keeping 
his  seat,  of  course)  like  the  late  la- 
mented Ducrow  on  two  of  his  fiery 
coursers.  We  come  to  the  spot,  sink 
down  in  the  mire  nearly  to  the  coach 
windows,  tilt  on  one  side  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees,  and  stick  there. 
The  insides  scream  dismally;  the 
coach  stops ;  the  horses  flounder ;  all 
the  other  six  coaches  stop ;  and  their 
four-and-twenty  horses  flounder  like- 
wise :  but  merely  for  company,  and 
in  sympathy  with  ours.  Then  the 
following  circumstances  occur. 

Black  Driveb  (to  the  horses). 
"Hi!" 

Nothing  happens.  Insides  scream 
again. 

Black  Dkiybb  (to  the  horses). 
"  Ho ! " 

Horsea  plunge,  and  splash  the  black 
driver. 

Gentleman  inside  (looking  out) 
"  Why,  what  on  airth — " 

Gentleman  receives  a  variety  of 
splashes  and  draws  his  head  in  again, 
without  finishing  his  question  or 
waiting  for  an  answer. 

Black  Driver  (still  to  the  horses). 
"  Jiddy  !  Jiddy ! " 

Horses    pull   violently,   drag   the 


S2 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


coach  out  of  the  hole,  and  draw  it 
up  a  bank  ;  so  steep,  that  the  black 
driver's  legs  fly  up  into  the  air,  and 
he  goes  back  among  the  luggage 
on  the  roof.  But  he  immediately 
recovers  himself,  and  cries  (still  to 
the  horses), 

"Pill!" 

No  effect.  On  the  contrary,  the 
coach  begins  to  roll  back  upon  No.  2, 
•which  rolls  back  upon  No.  3,  which 
rolls  back  upon  No.  4,  and  so  on, 
until  No.  7  is  heard  to  curse  and 
swear,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
behind. 

Black  Dkiver  (louder  than  before). 

u  Pill  I  » 

Horses  make  another  struggle  to 
get  up  the  bank,  and  again  the  coach 
rolls  backward. 

Black  Driver  (louder  than  before). 
**Pe-e-e-ill!" 

Horses  make  a  desperate  struggle. 

Black  Driver  (recovering  spirits). 
'    "Hi,  Jiddy,  Jiddy,  Pill!" 

Horses  make  another  effort. 

Black  Driver  (with  great  vigour). 
"Ally  Loo!  Hi.  Jiddy,  Jiddy. 
Pill.    Ally  Loo!" 

Horses  almost  do  it. 

Black  Driver  (with  his  eyes 
starting  out  of  his  head).  "  Lee,  den. 
Lee,  dere.  Hi.  Jiddy,  Jiddy.  Pill. 
Ally  Loo.     Lee-e-e-e-e  !  " 

They  run  up  the  bank,  and  go 
down  again  on  the  other  side  at  a 
fearful  pace.  It  is  impossible  to  stop 
them,  and  at  the  bottom  there  is  a 
deep  hollow,  full  of  water.  The  coach 
rolls  frightfully.  The  insides  scream. 
The  mud  and  water  fly  about  us. 
The  black  driver  dances  like  a  mad- 
man. Suddenly  we  are  all  right  by 
some  extraordinary  means,  and  stop 
to  breathe. 

A  black  friend  of  the  black  driver 
is  sitting  on  a  fence.  The  black 
driver  recognises  him  by  twirling  his 
head  round  and  round  like  a  harle- 
quin^ rolling  his  eyes,  shrugging  his 


shoulders,  and  grinning  from  ear  to 
ear.  He  stops  short,  turns  to  me, 
and  says : 

"  We  shall  get  you  through  sa,  like 
a  fiddle,  and  hope  a  please  you  when 
we  get  you  through  sa.  Old  'ooman 
at  home  sir : "  chuckling  very  much. 
"  Outside  gentleman  sa,  he  often 
remember  old  'ooman  at  home  sa^" 
grinning  again. 

"  Aye  aye,  we  '11  take  care  of  the 
old  woman.     Don't  be  afraid," 

The  black  driver  grins  again,  but 
there  is  another  hole,  and  beyond 
that,  another  bank,  close  before  us. 
So  he  stops  short :  cries  (to  the  horses 
again)  "  Easy.  Easy  den.  Ease. 
Steady.  Hi.  Jiddy.  Pill.  Ally. 
Loo,"  but  never  "  Lee  !  "  until  we  are 
reduced  to  the  very  last  extremity, 
and  are  in  the  midst  of  difficulties, 
extrication  from  which  appears  to  be 
all  but  impossible. 

And  BO  we  do  the  ten  miles  or 
thereabouts  in  two  hours  and  a  half  ; 
breaking  no  bones,  though  bruising  a 
great  many;  and  in  short  getting 
through  the  distance,  "  like  a  fiddle." 

This  singular  kind  of  coaching  ter- 
minates at  Fredericksburgh,  whence 
there  is  a  railway  to  Richmond.  The 
tract  of  country  through  which  it 
takes  its  course  was  once  productive  : 
but  the  soil  has  been  exhausted  by 
the  system  of  employing  a  great 
amount  of  slave  labour  in  forcing 
crops,  without  strengthening  the  land: 
and  it  is  now  little  better  than  a 
sandy  desert  overgrown  with  trees. 
Dreary  and  uninteresting  as  its  aspect 
is,  I  was  glad  to  the  heart  to  find  any- 
thing on  which  one  of  the  curses  of 
this  horrible  institution  has  fallen; 
and  had  greater  pleasure  in  contem- 
plating the  withered  ground,  than  the 
richest  and  most  thriving  cultivation 
in  the  same  place  could  possibly  have 
afforded  me. 

In  this  district,  as  in  all  others 
where  slavery  sits  brooding,  (I  have 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


93 


frequently  heard  this  admitted,  even 
by  those  who  are  its  warmest  advo- 
cates :)  there  is  an  air  of  ruin  and 
decay  abroad,  which  is  inseparable 
from  the  system.  The  barns  and 
outhouses  are  mouldering  away ;  the 
sheds  are  patched  and  half  roofless; 
the  log  cabins  (built  in  Virginia  with 
external  chimneys  made  of  clay  or 
wood),  are  squalid  in  the  last  degree. 
There  is  no  look  of  decent  comfort 
anywhere.  The  miserable  stations  by 
the  railway  side  ;  the  great  wild  wood- 
yards,  whence  the  engine  is  supplied 
with  fuel ;  the  negro  children  rolling 
on  the  ground  before  the  cabin  doors, 
with  dogs  and  pigs ;  the  biped  beasts 
of  burden  slinking  past :  gloom  and 
dejection  are  upon  them  all. 

In  the  negro  car  belonging  to  the 
train  in  which  we  made  this  journey, 
were  a  mother  and  her  children  v;ho 
had  just  been  purchased;  the  hus- 
band and  father  being  left  behind 
with  their  old  owner.  The  children 
cried  the  whole  way,  and  the  mother 
Avas  misery's  picture.  The  champion 
cf  Life,  Liberty,  and  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness,  who  had  bought  them, 
rode  in  the  same  train;  and,  every 
time  we  stopped,  got  down  to  see  that 
they  were  safe.  The  black  in  Sinbad's 
Travels  with  one  eye  in  the  middle  of 
his  forehead  which  shone  like  a  burn- 
ing coal,  was  nature's  aristocrat  com- 
pared with  this  white  gentleman. 

It  was  between  six  and  seven  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  when  we  drove  to  the 
hotel :  in  front  of  which,  and  on  the 
top  of  the  broad  flight  of  steps  lead- 
ing to  the  door,  two  or  three  citizens 
were  balancing  themselves  on  rocking- 
chairs,  and  smoking  cigars.  We  found 
it  a  very  large  and  elegant  establish- 
ment, and  were  as  well  entertained  as 
travellers  need  desire  to  be.  The 
climate  being  a  thirsty  one,  there 
was  never,  at  any  hour  of  the  day,  a 
scarcity  of  loungers  in  the  spacious 
bar,  or  a  cessation  of  the  mixing  of 


cool  liquors :  but  they  were  a  merrier 
people  here,  and  had  musical  instru- 
ments playing  to  them  o'  nights, 
which  it  was  a  treat  to  hear  again. 

The  next  day,  and  the  next,  we 
rode  and  walked  about  the  town, 
which  is  delightfully  situated  on  eight 
hills,  overhanging  James  River;  a 
sparkling  stream,  studded  here  and 
there  with  bright  islands,  or  brawling 
over  broken  rocks.  Although  it  was 
yet  but  the  middle  of  March,  the 
weather  in  this  southern  temperature 
was  extremely  warm ;  the  peach  trees 
and  magnolias  were  in  full  bloom ; 
and  the  trees  were  green.  In  a  low 
ground  among  the  hills,  is  a  valley 
knoAvn  as  "  Bloody  Run,"  from  a  ter- 
rible conflict  with  the  Indians  which 
once  occurred  there.  It  is  a  good 
place  for^uch  a  struggle,  and,  like 
every  other  spot  I  saw  associated  with 
any  legend  of  that  wild  people  now  so 
rapidly  fading  from  the  earth,  inter- 
ested me  very  much. 

The  city  is  the  seat  of  the  local 
parliament  of  Virginia;  and  in  its 
shady  legislative  halls,  some  orators 
were  drowsily  holding  forth  to  the 
hot  noon  day.  By  dint  of  constant 
repetition,  however,  these  constitu- 
tional sights  had  very  little  more 
interest  for  me  than  so  many  paro- 
chial vestries;  and  I  was  glad  to 
exchange  this  one  for  a  lounge  in  a 
well-arranged  public  library  of  some 
ten  thousand  volumes,  and  a  visit  to 
a  tobacco  manufactory,  v/here  the 
workmen  were  all  slaves. 

I  saw  in  this  place  the  whole  pro- 
cess of  picking,  rolling,  pressing,  dry- 
ing, packing  in  casks,  and  branding. 
All  the  tobacco  thus  dealt  with,  was 
in  course  of  manufacture  for  chewing; 
and  one  would  have  supposed  there 
was  enough  in  that  one  storehouse  to 
have  filled  even  the  comprehensive 
jaws  of  America.  In  this  form,  the 
weed  looks  like  the  oilcake  on  which 
we  fatten  cattle;  and  even  without 


84 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


reference  to  its  consequences,  is  suffi- 
ciently uninviting. 

Many  of  the  workmen  appeared  to 
be  strong  men,  and  it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  add  that  they  were  all  labour- 
ing quietly,  then.  After  two  o'clock 
in  the  day,  they  are  allowed  to  sing, 
a  certain  number  at  a  time.  The 
hour  striking  while  I  was  there,  some 
twenty  sang  a  hymn  in  parts,  and 
sang  it  by  no  means  ill;  pursuing 
their  work  meanwhile.  A  bell  rang 
as  I  was  about  to  leave,  and  they  all 
poured  forth  into  a  building  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  street  to  dinner. 
I  said  several  times  that  I  should  like 
to  see  them  at  their  meal ;  but  as  the 
gentleman  to  whom  I  mentioned  this 
desire  appeared  to  be  suddenly  taken 
rather  deaf,  I  did  not  pursue  the 
request.  Of  their  appeaKtnce  I  shall 
have  something  to  say,  presently. 

On  the  following  day,  I  visited  a 
plantation  or  farm,  of  about  twelve 
hundred  acres,  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  river.  Here  again,  although  I 
went  down  with  the  owner  of  the 
estate,  to  "  the  quarter,"  as  that  part 
of  it  in  which  the  slaves  live  is  called, 
I  was  not  invited  to  enter  into  any  of 
their  huts.  All  I  saw  of  them,  was, 
that  they  were  very  crazy,  wretched 
cabins,  near  to  which  groups  of  half- 
naked  children  basked  in  the  sun,  or 
wallowed  on  the  dusty  ground.  But 
I  believe  that  this  gentleman  is  a 
considerate  and  excellent  master,  who 
inherited  his  fifty  slaves,  and  is  neither 
a  buyer  nor  a  seller  of  human  stock ; 
and  I  am  sure,  from  my  own  observa- 
tion and  conviction,  that  he  is  a  kind- 
hearted,  worthy  man. 

The  planter's  house  was  an  airy 
rustic  dwelling,  that  brought  Defoe's 
-description  of  such  places  strongly  to 
my  recollection.  The  day  was  very 
warm,  but  the  blinds  being  all  closed, 
and  the  windows  and  doors  set  wide 
open,  a  shady  coolness  rustled  through 
the   rooms,   which    was    exquisitely 


refreshing  after  the  glare  and  heat 
without.  Before  the  windows  was  an 
open  piazza,  where,  in  what  they  call 
the  hot  weather — whatever  that  may 
be — they  sling  hammocks,  and  drink 
and  dose  luxuriously.  I  do  not  know 
how  their  cool  refections  may  taste 
within  the  hammocks,  but,  having 
experience,  I  can  report  that,  out  of 
them,  the  mounds  of  ices  and  the 
bowls  of  mint-julep  and  sherry-cobbler 
they  make  in  these  latitudes,  are 
refreshments  never  to  be  thought  of 
afterwards,  in  summer,  by  those  who 
would  preserve  contented  minds. 

There  are  two  bridges  across  the 
river :  one  belongs  to  the  railroad, 
and  the  other,  which  is  a  very  crazy 
affair,  is  the  private  property  of  some 
old  lady  in  the  neighbourhood,  who 
levies  tolls  upon  the  town's  people. 
Crossing  this  bridge,  on  my  way  back, 
I  saw  a  notice  painted  on  the  gate, 
cautioning  all  persons  to  drive  slowly  : 
under  a  penalty,  if  the  offender  were 
a  white  man,  of  five  dollars;  if  a 
negro,  fifteen  stripes. 

The  same  decay  and  gloom  that 
overhang  the  way  by  which  it  is  ap- 
proached, hover  above  the  town  of 
Kichmond.  There  are  pretty  villas 
and  cheerful  houses  in  its  streets,  and 
Nature  smUes  upon  the  country  round; 
but  jostling  its  handsome  residences, 
like  slavery  itself  going  hand  in  hand 
with  many  lofty  virtues,  are  deplor- 
able tenements,  fences  unrepaired, 
walls  crumbling  into  ruinous  heaps. 
Hinting  gloomily  at  things  below  the 
surface,  these,  and  many  other  tokens 
of  the  same  description,  force  them- 
selves upon  the  notice,  and  are  remem- 
bered with  depressing  influence,  when 
livelier  features  are  forgotten. 

To  those  who  are  happily  unac- 
customed to  them,  the  countenances 
in  the  streets  and  labouring-places, 
too,  are  shocking.  All  men  who 
know  that  there  are  laws  against 
instructing  slaves,  of  which  the  pains 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


96 


and  penalties  greatly  exceed  in  their 
amount  the  fines  imposed  on  those 
who  maim  and  torture  them,  must  be 
prepared  to  find  their  faces  very  low 
in  the  scale  of  intellectual  expression. 
But  the  darkness — not  of  skin,  but 
mind — which  meets  the  stranger's 
eye  at  every  turn;  the  brutalizing 
and  blotting  out  of  all  fairer  charac- 
ters traced  by  Nature's  hand ;  immea- 
surably outdo  his  worst  belief.  That 
travelled  creation  of  the  great 
satirist's  brain,  who  fresh  from  living 
among  horses,  peered  from  a  high 
casement  down  upon  his  own  kind 
with  trembling  horror,  was  scarcely 
more  repelled  and  daunted  by  the 
sight,  than  those  who  look  upon  some 
of  these  faces  for  the  first  time  must 
surely  be. 

I  left  the  last  of  them  behind  me  in 
the  person  of  a  wretched  drudge,  who, 
after  running  to  and  fro  all  day  till 
midnight,  and  moping  in  his  stealthy 
winks  of  sleep  upon  the  stairs 
betweenwhiles,  was  washing  the  dark 
passages  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  and  went  upon  my  way  with  a 
grateful  heart  that  I  was  not  doomed 
to  live  where  slavery  was,  and  had 
never  had  my  senses  blunted  to  its 
wrongs  and  horrors  in  a  slave-rocked 
cradle. 

It  had  been  my  intention  to  pro- 
ceed by  James  Elver  and  Chesapeake 
Bay  to  Baltimore ;  but  one  of  the 
steam-boats  being  absent  from  her 
station  through  some  accident,  and 
the  means  of  conveyance  being  conse- 
quently rendered  uncertain,  we 
returned  to  Washington  by  the  way 
we  had  come  (there  were  two  con- 
stables on  board  the  steam-boat,  in 
pursuit  of  runaway  slaves),  and  halt- 
ing there  again  for  one  night,  went  on 
to  Baltimore  next  afternoon. 

The  most  comfortable  of  all  the 
hotels  of  which  I  had  any  experience 
in  the  United  States,  and  they  were 
not  a  few^  is  Bamum's  in  that  city  : 


where  the  English  traveller  will  find 
curtains  to  his  bed,  for  the  first  and 
probably  the  last  time  in  America 
(this  is  a  disinterested  remark,  for  I 
never  use  them) ;  and  where  he  will  be 
likely  to  have  enough  water  for  wash- 
ing himself,  which  is  not  at  all  a 
common  case. 

This  capital  of  the  state  of  Mary- 
land is  a  bustling  busy  town,  with  a 
great  deal  of  traflGic  of  various  kinds, 
and  in  particular  of  water  commerce. 
That  portion  of  the  town  which  it 
most  favours  is  none  of  the  cleanest, 
it  is  true ;  but  the  upper  part  is  of  a 
very  different  character,  and  has 
many  agreeable  streets  and  public 
buildings.  The  Washington  Monu- 
ment, which  is  a  handsome  pillar  with 
a  statue  on  its  summit ;  the  Medical 
College  ;  and  the  Battle  Monument  in 
memory  of  an  engagement  with  the 
British  at  North  Point ;  are  the  most 
conspicuous  among  them. 

There  is  a  very  good  prison  in  this 
city,  and  the  state  Penitentiary  is 
also  among  its  institutions.  In  this 
latter  establishment  there  were  two 
curious  cases. 

One,  was  that  of  a  young  man,  who 
had  been  tried  for  the  murder  of  his 
father.  The  evidence  was  entirely 
circumstantial,  and  was  very  conflict- 
ing and  doubtful ;  nor  was  it  possible 
to  assign  any  motive  which  could 
have  tempted  him  to  the  commission 
of  so  tremendous  a  crime.  He  had 
been  tried  twice ;  and  on  the  second 
occasion  the  jury  felt  so  much  hesita- 
tion in  convicting  him,  that  they 
found  a  verdict  of  manslaughter,  or 
murder  in  the  second  degree ;  which 
it  could  not  possibly  be,  as  there  had, 
beyond  all  doubt,  been  no  quarrel  or 
provocation,  and  if  he  were  guilty  at 
all,  he  was  unquestionably  guilty  of 
murder  in  its  broadest  and  worst  sig- 
nification. 

The  remarkable  feature  in  the  case 
was,  that  if  the  unfortunate  deceased 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


were  not  really  murdered  by  this  own 
son  of  liis,  he  must  have  been  mur- 
dered by  his  own  brother.  The  evi- 
dence lay  in  a  most  remarkable  man- 
ner, between  those  two.  On  all  the 
suspicious  points,  the  dead  man's 
brother  was  the  witness:  all  the  ex- 
planations for  the  prisoner,  (some  of 
them  extremely  plausible}  went,  by 
construction  and  inference,  to  incul- 
pate him  as  plotting  to  fix  the  guilt 
upon  his  nephew.  It  must  have  been 
one  of  them :  and  the  jury  had  to 
decide  between  two  sets  of  suspicions, 
almost  equally  unnatural,  unaccount- 
able, and  strange. 

The  other  case,  was  that  of  a  man 
who  once  went  to  a  certain  distiller's 
and  stole  a  copper  measure  containing 
a  quantity  of  liquor.  He  was  pursued 
and  taken  with  the  property  in  his 
possession,  and  was  sentenced  to  two 
years'  imprisonment.  On  coming 
out  of  the  jail,  at  the  expiration  of 
that  term,  he  went  back  to  the  same 
distiller's,  and  stole  the  same  copper 
measure  containing  the  same  quantity 
of  liquor.  There  was  not  the  slightest 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  man 
wished  to  return  to  prison  :  indeed 
everything,  but  the  commission  of  the 
offence,  made  directly  against  that 
assumption.  There  are  only  two  ways 
'of  accounting  for  this  extraordinary 
proceeding.  One  is,  that  after  under- 
going so  much  for  this  copper  mea- 
sure he  conceived  he  had  established 
a  sort  of  claim  and  right  to  it.  The 
other  that,  by  dint  of  long  thinking 
about,  it  had  become  a  monomania 
with  him,  and  had  acquired  a  fascina- 
tion which  he  found  it  impossible 
to  resist :  swelling  from  an  Earthly 
Copper  Gallon  into  an  Ethereal 
Oolden  Vat. 

After  remaining  here  a  couple  of 
days  I  bound  myself  to  a  rigid  ad- 
herence to  the  plan  I  had  laid  down  so 
recently,  and  resolved  to  set  forward 
on  our  western  journey  without  any 


more  delay.  Accordingly,  having 
reduced  the  luggage  within  the 
smallest  possible  compass  (by  sending 
back  to  New  York,  to  be  afterwards 
forwarded  to  us  in  Canada,  so  much  of 
it  as  was  not  absolutely  wanted) ;  and 
having  procured  the  necessary  creden- 
tials to  banking-houses  on  the  way  ; 
and  having  moreover  looked  for  two 
evenings  at  the  setting  sun,  with  as 
well-defined  an  idea  of  the  country 
before  us  as  if  we  had  been  going  to 
travel  into  the  very  centre  of  that 
planet ;  we  left  Baltimore  by  another 
railway  at  halfpast  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  reached  the  town  of  York, 
some  sixty  miles  off,  by  the  early 
dinner-time  of  the  Hotel  which  was 
the  starting-place  of  the  four-horse 
coach,  wherein  we  were  to  proceed  to 
Harrisburg. 

This  conveyance,  the  box  of  which 
I  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure,  had 
come  down  to  meet  us  at  the  railroad 
station,  and  was  as  muddy  and  cum- 
bersome as  usual.  As  more  passen- 
gers were  waiting  for  as  at  the  inn- 
door,  the  coachman  observed  under 
his  breath,  in  the  usual  self  communi- 
cative voice,  looking  the  while  at  his 
mouldy  harness  as  if  it  were  to  that 
he  was  addressing  himself 

"I  expect  we  shall  want  the  big 
coach," 

I  could  not  help  wondering  within 
myself  what  the  size  of  this  big  coach 
might  be,  and  how  many  persons  it 
might  be  designed  to  hold;  for  the 
vehicle  which  was  too  small  for  our 
purpose  was  something  larger  than 
two  English  heavy  night  coaches,  and 
might  have  been  the  twin-brother 
of  a  French  Diligence.  My  specu- 
lations were  speedily  set  at  rest, 
however,  for  as  soon  as  we  had 
dined,  there  came  rumbling  up  the 
street,  shaking  its  sides  like  a  corpu- 
lent giant,  a  kind  of  barge  on  wheels. 
After  much  blundering  and  backing, 
it  stopped  at  the  door:  rolling  heavily 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


97 


from  side  to  side  when  its  other 
motion  had  ceased,  as  if  it  had  taken 
cold  in  its  damp  stable,  and  between 
that,  and  the  having  been  required  in 
its  dropsical  old  age  to  move  at  any 
faster  pace  than  a  walk,  were  distressed 
by  shortness  of  wind. 

"  If  here  ain't  the  Harrisburg  mail 
at  last,  and  dreadful  bright  and  smart 
to  look  at  too,"  cried  an  elderly  gen- 
tleman in  some  excitement,  "darn 
my  mother ! " 

I  don't  know  what  the  sensation  of 
being  darned  may  be,  or  whether  a 
man's  mother  has  a  keener  relish  or 
disrelish  of  the  process  than  anybody 
else;  but  if  the  endurance  of  this 
mysterious  ceremony  by  the  old  lady 
in  question  had  depended  on  the 
accuracy  of  her  son's  vision  in  respect 
to  the  abstract  brightness  and  smart- 
ness of  the  Harrisburg  mail,  she  would 
certainly  have  undergone  its  inflic- 
tion. However,  they  booked  twelve 
people  inside ;  and  the  luggage  (in- 
cluding such  trifles  as  a  large  rocking- 
chair,  and  a  good-sized  dining-table) 
being  at  length  made  fast  upon  the 
roof,  we  started  ofi"  in  great  state. 

At  the  door  of  another  hotel,  there 
was  another  passenger  to  be  taken  up. 

"Any  room,  sirV  cries  the  new 
passenger  to  the  coachman. 

"  Well  there 's  room  enough,"  replies 
the  coachman,  without  getting  down, 
or  even  looking  at  him. 

"There  an't  no  room  at  all,  sir," 
bawls  a  gentleman  inside.  Which 
another  gentleman  (also  inside)  con- 
firms, by  predicting  that  the  attempt 
to  introduce  any  more  passengers 
"  won't  fit  nohow." 

The  new  passenger,  without  any 
expression  of  anxiety,  looks  into  the 
coach,  and  then  looks  up  at  the  coach- 
man :  "  Now,  how  do  you  mean  to 
fix  it  1 "  says  he,  after  a  pause :  "  for  I 
mvjtt  go." 

The  coachman  employs  himself  in 
twisting  the  lash  of  his  whip  into  a 

No.  167. 


knot,  and  takes  no  more  notice  of  the 
question  :  clearly  signifying  that  it  is 
anybody's  business  but  his,  and  that 
the  passengers  would  do  well  to  fix  it, 
among  themselves.  In  this  state  of 
things,  matters  seem  to  be  approxi- 
mating to  a  fix  of  another  kind,  when 
another  inside  passenger  in  a  corner, 
who  is  nearly  suffocated,  cries  faintly, 

"  I  '11  get  out." 

This  is  no  matter  of  relief  or  self- 
congratulation  to  the  driver,  for  his 
immoveable  philosophy  is  perfectly 
undisturbed  by  anything  that  happens 
in  the  coach.  Of  all  things  in  the 
world,  the  coach  would  seem  to  be  the 
very  last  upon  his  mind.  The  ex- 
change is  made,  however,  and  then 
the  passenger  who  has  given  up  his 
seat  makes  a  third  upon  the  box, 
seating  himself  in  what  he  calls  tlie 
middle  :  that  is,  with  half  his  person 
on  my  legs,  and  the  other  half  on  the 
driver's. 

"Go  a-head  cap'en,"  cries  the 
colonel,  who  directs. 

"  GO-lang !  "  cries  the  cap'en  to  his 
company,  the  horses,  and  away  we 

go- 

We  took  up  at  a  rural  bar-room, 
after  we  had  gone  a  few  miles,  an 
intoxicated  gentleman  who  climbed 
upon  the  roof  among  the  luggage, 
and  subsequently  slipping  off"  without 
hurting  himself,  was  seen  in  the  dis- 
tant perspective  reeling  back  to  the 
grog-shop  where  we  had  found  hiro. 
We  also  parted  with  more  of  our 
freight  at  different  times,  so  that 
when  we  came  to  change  horses,  I 
was  again  alone  outside. 

The  coachmen  always  change  with 
the  horses,  and  are  usually  as  dirty  as 
the  coach.  The  first  was  dressed  like 
a  very  shabby  English  baker;  the 
second  like  a  Russian  peasant :  for  he 
wore  a  loose  purple  camlet  robe  with 
a  fur  collar,  tied  round  his  waist  with 
a  parti-coloured  worsted  sash;  grey 
trousers;  light  blue  gloves;   and  a 


98 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


cap  of  bearskin.  It  had  by  this  time 
come  on  to  rain  very  heavily,  and 
there  "was  a  cold  damp  mist  besides, 
which  penetrated  to  the  skin.  I  was 
very  glad  to  take  advantage  of  a 
stoppage  and  get  down  to  stretch  my 
legs,  shake  the  water  off  my  great- 
coat, and  swallow  the  usual  anti-tem- 
perance recipe  for  keeping  out  the 
cold. 

When  I  mounted  to  my  seat  again, 
I  observed  a  new  parcel  lying  on  the 
coach  roof,  which  I  took  to  be  a  rather 
large  fiddle  in  a  brown  bag.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  miles,  however,  I  dis- 
covered that  it  had  a  glazed  cap  at 
one  end  and  a  pair  of  muddy  shoes  at 
the  other;  and  further  observation 
demonstrated  it  to  be  a  small  boy  in 
a  snuff'coloured  coat,  with  his  arms 
quite  pinioned  to  his  sides,  by  deep 
forcing  into  his  pockets.  He  was,  I 
presume,  a  relative  or  friend  of  the 
coachman's  as  he  lay  a-top  of  the 
luggage  with  his  face  towards  the^ 
rain;  and  except  when  a  change  of 
position  brought  his  shoes  in  contact 
with  my  hat,  he  appeared  to  be  asleep. 
At  last,  on  some  occasion  of  our  stop- 
ping, this  thing  slowly  upreared 
itself  to  the  height  of  three  feet  six, 
and  fixing  its  eyes  on  me,  observed  in 
piping  accents,  with  a  complaisant 
yawn,  half  quenched  in  an  obliging 
air  ©f  friendly  patronage,  "  Well  now, 
stranger,  I  guess  you  find  this  a'most 
like  an  English  artemoon,  hey  1 " 

The  scenery  which  had  been  tame 
enough  at  first,  was,  for  the  last  ten 
or  twelve  miles,  beautiful.  Our  road 
wound  through  the  pleasant  valley  of 
the  Susquehanna ;  the  river,  dotted 
with  innumerable  green  islands,  lay 
upon  our  right;  and  on  the  left,  a 
steep  ascent,  craggy  with  broken  rock, 
and  dark  with  pine  trees.  The  mist, 
wreathing  itself  into  a  hundred  fan- 
tastic shapes,  moved  solemnly  upon 
the  water ;  and  the  gloom  of  evening 
gave  to  all  an  air  of  mystery  and 


silence  which  greatly  enhanced  its 
natural  interest. 

We  crossed  this  river  by  a  wooden 
bridge,  roofed  and  covered  in  on  all 
sides,  and'nearly  a  mile  in  length.  It 
was  profoundly  dark ;  perplexed,  with 
great  beams,  crossing  and  recrossing 
it  at  every  possible  angle;  and 
through  the  broad  chinks  and  cre- 
vices in  the  floor,  the  rapid  river 
gleamed,  far  down  below,  like  a  legion 
of  eyes.  We  had  no  lamps;  and  as 
the  horses  stumbled  and  floundered 
through  this  place,  towards  the  dis- 
tant speck  of  dying  light,  it  seemed 
interminable.  I  really  could  not  at 
first  persuade  myself  as  we  rumbled 
heavily  on,  filling  the  bridge  with 
hollow  noises,  and  I  held  down  my 
head  to  save  it  from  the  rafters  above, 
but  that  I  was  in  a  painful  dream ;  for 
I  have  often  dreamed  of  toiling 
through  such  places,  and  as  often 
argued,  even  at  the  time,  "  this  can- 
not be  reality." 

At  length,  however,  we  emerged 
upon  the  streets  of  Harrisburg,  whose 
feeble  lights,  reflected  dismally  from 
the  wet  ground,  did  not  shine  out 
upon  a  very  cheerful  city.  We  were 
soon  established  in  a  snug  hotel, 
which  though  smaller  and  far  less 
splendid  than  many  we  put  up  at,  is 
raised  above  them  all  in  my  remem- 
brance, by  having  for  its  landlord 
the  most  obliging,  considerate,  and 
gentlemanly  person  I  ever  had  to  deal 
with. 

As  we  were  not  to  proceed  upon 
our  journey  until  the  afternoon,  I 
walked  out,  after  breakfast  the  next 
morning,  to  look  about  me;  and 
was  duly  shown  a  model  prison  on 
the  solitary  system,  just  erected,  and 
as  yet  without  an  inmate ;  the  trunk 
of  an  old  tree  to  which  Harris,  the 
first  settler  here  (afterwards  buried 
under  it)  was  tied  by  hostile  Indians, 
with  his  funeral  pile  about  him,  when 
he  was  saved  by  the  timely  appear- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


ance  of  a  friendly  party  on  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  the  river;  the  local 
legislature  (for  there  was  another  of 
those  bodies  here,  again,  in  full 
debate) ;  and  the  other  curiosities  of 
the  town. 

I  was  very  much  interested  in  look- 
ing over  a  number  of  treaties  made 
from  time  to  time  with  the  poor 
Indians,  signed  by  the  different  chiefs 
at  the  period  of  their  ratification,  and 
preserved  in  the  oflSce  of  the  Secre- 
tary to  the  Commonwealth.  These 
Bignatures,  traced  of  course  by  their 
own  hands,  are  rough  drawings  of  the 
creatures  or  weapons  they  were  called 
after.  Thus,  the  Great  Turtle  makes 
a  crooked  pen-and-ink  outline  of  a 
great  turtle;  the  Buffalo  sketches  a 
buffalo ;  the  War  Hatchet  sets  a  rough 
image  of  that  weapon  for  his  mark. 
So  with  the  Arrow,  the  Fish,  the 
Scalp,  the  Big  Canoe,  and  all  of  them. 

I  could  not  but  think — as  I  looked 
at  these  feeble  and  tremulous  pro- 
ductions of  hands  which  could  draw 
the  longest  arrow  to  the  head  in  a 
stout  elk-horn  bow,  or  split  a  bead  or 
feather  with  a  rifle-ball — of  Crabbe's 
musings  over  the  Parish  Kegister, 
and  the  irregular  scratches  made  with 
a  pen,  by  men  who  would  plough  a 
lengthy  furrow  straight  from  end  to 
end.  Nor  could  I  help  bestowing 
many  sorrowful  thoughts  upon  the 
simple  warriors  whose  hands  and 
hearts  were  set  there,  in  all  truth  and 
honesty;  and  who  only  learned  in 
course  of  time  from  white  men  how  to 
break  their  faith,  and  quibble  out  of 
forms  and  bonds.  I  wondered,  too, 
how  many  times  the  credulous  Big 
Turtle,  or  trusting  Little  Hatchet, 
had  put  his  mark  to  treaties  which 
were  falsely  read  to  him;  and  had 
signed  away,  he  knew  not  what,  until 
it  went  and  cast  him  loose  upon  the 
new  possessors  of  the  land,  a  savage 
indeed. 

Our  host  announced,  before   our 


early  dinner,  that  some  members  of 
the  legislative  body  proposed  to  do  tis 
the  honour  of  calling.  He  had  kindly 
yielded  up  to  us  his  wife's  own  little 
parlour,  and  when  I  begged  that  he 
would  show  them  in,  I  saw  him  look 
with  painful  apprehension  at  its  pretty 
carpet ;  though,  being  otherwise  occu- 
pied at  the  time,  the  cause  of  his 
uneasiness  did  not  occur  to  me. 

It  certainly  would  have  been  more 
pleasant  to  all  parties  concerned,  and 
would  not,  I  think,  have  compromised 
their  independence  in  any  material 
degree,  if  some  of  these  gentlemen 
had  not  only  yielded  to  the  prejudice 
in  favour  of  spittoons,  but  had  aban- 
doned themselves,  for  the  moment, 
even  to  the  conventional  absurdity  of 
pocket-handkerchiefs. 

It  still  continued  to  rain  heavily, 
and  when  we  went  down  to  the  Canal 
Boat  (for  that  was  the  mode  of  con- 
veyance by  which  we  were  to  proceed) 
after  dinner,  the  weather  was  as 
unpromising  and  obstinately  wet  as 
one  would  desire  to  see.  Nor  was  the 
sight  of  this  canal  boat,  in  which  we 
were  to  spend  three  or  four  days,  by 
any  means  a  cheerful  one ;  as  it  in- 
volved some  uneasy  speculations  con- 
cerning the  disposal  of  the  passengers 
at  night,  and  opened  a  wide  field  of 
inquiry  touching  the  other  domestic 
arrangements  of  the  establishment, 
which  was  sufficiently  disconcerting. 

However,  there  it  was — a  barge 
with  a  little  house  in  it,  viewed  from 
the  outside  ;  and  a  caravan  at  a  fair, 
viewed  from  within :  the  gentlemen 
being  accommodated,  as  the  specta- 
tors usually  are,  in  one  of  those  loco- 
motive museums  of  penny  wonders; 
and  the  ladies  being  partitioned  off 
by  a  red  curtain,  after  the  manner  of 
the  dwarfs  and  giants  in  the  same 
establishments,  whose  private  lives  are 
passed  in  rather  close  exclusiveness. 

We  sat  here,  looking  silently  at  the 
row  of  little  tables,  which  extended 

h2 


100 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


down  both  sides  of  the  cabin,  and 
listening  to  the  rain  as  it  dripped  and 
pattered  on  the  boat,  and  plashed 
with  a  dismal  merriment  in  the 
water,  until  the  arrival  of  the  railway 
train,  for  whose  final  contribution  to 
our  stock  of  passengers,  our  departure 
was  alone  deferred.  It  brought  a 
great  many  boxes,  which  were  bumped 
and  tossed  upon  the  roof,  almost  as 
painfully  as  if  they  had  been  depo- 
sited on  one's  own  head,  without  the 
intervention  of  a  porter's  knot ;  and 
several  damp  gentlemen,  whose  clothes, 


on  their  drawing  round  the  store, 
began  to  steam  again.  No  doubt  it 
M'ould  have  been  a  thought  more  com- 
fortable if  the  driving  rain,  which 
now  poured  down  more  soakingly 
than  ever,  had  admitted  of  a  window 
being  opened,  or  if  our  number  had 
been  something  less  than  thirty  ;  but 
there  was  scarcely  time  to  think  as 
much,  when  a  train  of  three  horses  was 
attached  to  the  tow-rope,  the  boy  upon 
the  leader  smackedhis  whip,  the  rudder 
creaked  and  groaned  complainingly, 
and  we  had  begun  our  journey. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


101 


CHAPTER  X. 


SOME  FURTHER  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CANAL  BOAT,  ITS  DOMESTIC  ECONOMY^  AND  ITS 
PASSENGERS.  JOURNEY  TO  PITTSBURG  ACROSS  THE  ALLEGHANY  MOUNTAINS. 
PITTSBURG. 


As  it  continued  to  rain  most  perse- 
veringly,  we  all  remained  below  :  the 
damp  gentlemen  round  the  stove, 
gradually  becoming  mildewed  by  the 
action  of  the  fire ;  and  the  dry  gen- 
tlemen lying  at  full  length  upon  the 
seats,  or  slumbering  uneasily  with 
their  faces  on  the  tables,  or  walking 
up  and  dovra  the  cabin,  which  it  was 
barely  possible  for  a  man  of  the 
middle  height  to  do,  without  making 
bald  places  on  his  head  by  scraping 
it  against  the  roof.  At  about  six 
o'clock,  all  the  small  tables  were  put 
together  to  form  one  long  table,  and 
everybody  sat  down  to  tea,  coffee, 
bread,  butter,  salmon,  shad,  liver, 
steak,  potatoes,  pickles,  ham,  chops, 
black  puddings,  and  sausages. 

"Will  you  try,"  said  my  opposite 
neighbour,  handing  me  a  dish  of 
potatoes,  broken  up  in  milk  and 
butter,  "will  you  try  some  of  these 
fixings?" 

There  are  few  words  which  perform 
such  various  duties  as  this  word  "fix." 
It  is  the  Caleb  Quotem  of  the  Ameri- 
can vocabulary.  You  call  upon  a 
gentleman  in  a  country  town,  and  his 
help  informs  you  that  he  is  "  fixing 
himself"  just  now,  but  will  be  down 
directly  :  by  which  you  are  to  under- 
stand that  he  is  dressing.  You  in- 
quire, on  board  a  steamboat,  of  a 
fellow  passenger,  whether  breakfast 
will  be  ready  soon,  and  he  tells  you 
he  should  think  so,  for  when  he  was 
last  below,  they  wCre  "fixing  the 
tables:"  in  other  words,  laying  the 
cloth.  You  beg  a  porter  to  collect 
your  luggage,  and  he  entreats  you 


not  to  be  uneasy,  for  he  '11  "  fix  it  pre- 
sently : "  and  if  you  complain  of  indis- 
position, you  are  advised  to  have 
recourse  to  Doctor  so  and  so,  who  will 
"  fix  you  "  in  no  time. 

One  night,  I  ordered  a  bottle  of 
mulled  wine  at  an  hotel  where  I  was 
staying,  and  waited  a  long  time  for  it; 
at  length  it  was  put  upon  the  table 
with  an  apology  from  the  landlord 
that  he  feared  it  wasn't  "  fixed  pro- 
perly," And  I  recollect  once,  at  a 
stage-coach  dinner,  overhearing  a  very 
stern  gentleman  demand  of  a  waiter 
who  presented  him  with  a  plate  of 
underdone  roast-beef,  "whether  he 
called  that,  fixing  God  A'mighty's 
vittlesl" 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  meal, 
at  which  the  invitation  was  tendered 
to  me  which  has  occasioned  this 
digression,  was  disposed  of  somewhat 
ravenously ;  and  that  the  gentlemen 
thrust  the  broad-bladed  knives  and 
the  two-pronged  forks  further  down 
their  throats  than  I  ever  saw  the  same 
weapons  go  before,  except  in  the 
hands  of  a  skilful  juggler :  but  no 
man  sat  down  until  the  ladies  were 
seated;  or  omitted  any  little  act  of 
politeness  which  could  contribute  to 
their  comfort.  Nor  did  I  ever  once, 
on  any  occasion,  anywhere,  during  my 
rambles  in  America,  see  a  woman 
exposed  to  the  slightest  act  of  rude- 
ness, incivility,  or  even  inattention. 

By  the  time  the  meal  was  over,  the 
rain,  which  seemed  to  have  worn 
itself  out  by  coming  down  so  fast, 
was  nearly  over  too;  and  it  became 
feasible  to  go  on  deck :  which  was  a 


109 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


great  relief,  notwithstanding  its  being 
a  very  small  deck,  and  being  rendered 
still  smaller  by  the  luggage,  which 
was  heaped  together  in  the  middle 
under  a  tarpaulin  covering ;  leaving, 
on  either  side,  a  path  so  narrow,  that 
it  became  a  science  to  walk  to  and 
fto  without  tumbling  overboard  into 
the  canal.  It  was  somewhat  embar- 
rassing at  first,  too,  to  have  to  duck 
nimbly  every  five  minutes  whenever 
the  man  at  the  helm  cried  "  Bridge ! " 
and  sometimes,  when  the  cry  was 
"Low  Bridge,"  to  lie  down  nearly 
flat.  But  custom  familiarises  one  to 
anything,  and  there  were  so  many 
bridges  that  it  took  a  very  short  time 
to  get  used  to  this. 

As  night  came  on,  and  we  drew  in 
sight  of  the  first  range  of  hills,  which 
are  the  outposts  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains,  the  scenery,  which  had 
been  uninteresting  hitherto,  became 
more  bold  and  striking.  The  wet 
ground  reeked  and  smoked,  after  the 
heavy  fall  of  rain ;  and  the  croaking 
of  the  frogs  (whose  noise  in  these 
parts  is  almost  incredible)  sounded 
as  though  a  million  of  fe,iry  teams 
with  bells,  were  travelling  through 
the  air,  and  keeping  pace  with  us. 
The  night  was  cloudy  yet,  but  moon- 
light too  :  and  when  we  crossed  the 
Susquehanna  river — over  which  there 
is  an  extraordinary  wooden  bridge 
with  two  galleries,  one  above  the 
other,  so  that  even  there,  two  boat 
teams  meeting,  may  pass  without 
confusion — it  was  wild  and  grand. 

I  have  mentioned  my  having  been 
in  some  uncertainty  and  doubt,  at 
first,  relative  to  the  sleeping  arrange- 
ments on  board  this  boat.  I  remained 
in  the  same  vague  state  of  mind  until 
ten  o'clock  or  thereabouts,  when  going 
below,  I  found  suspended  on  either 
side  of  the  cabin,  three  long  tiers  of 
hanging  book-shelves,  designed  ap- 
parently for  volumes  of  the  small 
octavo  size.     Looking  with  greater 


attention  at  these  contrivances  (won- 
dering to  find  such  literary  prepara- 
tions in  such  a  place),  I  descried  on 
each  shelf  a  sort  of  microscopic  sheet 
and  blanket ;  then  I  began  dimly  to 
comprehend  that  the  passengers  were 
the  library,  and  that  they  were  to  be 
arranged,  edgs-wise,  on  these  shelves, 
till  morning. 

I  was  assisted  to  this  conclusion  by 
seeing  some  of  thent  gathered  round 
the  master  of  the  boat,  at  one  of  the 
tables,  drawing  lots  with  all  the  anxie- 
ties and  passions  of  gamesters  de- 
picted in  their  countenances ;  while 
others,  with  small  pieces  of  cardboard 
in  their  hands,  were  groping  among 
the  shelves  in  search  of  numbers 
corresponding  with  those  they  had 
drawn.  As  soon  as  any  gentleman 
found  his  number,  he  took  possession 
of  it  by  immediately  undressing  him- 
self and  crawling  into  bed.  The  ra- 
pidity with  which  an  agitated  gam- 
bler subsided  into  a  snoring  slumberer, 
was  one  of  the  most  singular  eflfects  I 
have  ever  witnessed.  As  to  the  ladies, 
they  were  already  abed,  behind  the 
red  curtain,  which  was  carefully  drawn 
and  pinned  up  the  centre  ;  though  as 
every  cough,  or  sneeze,  or  whisper, 
behind  this  curtain,  was  perfectly 
audible  before  it,  we  had  still  a  lively 
consciousness  of  their  society. 

The  politeness  of  the  person  in 
authority  had  secured  to  me  a  shelf  m 
a  nook  near  this  red  curtain,  in  some 
degree  removed  from  the  great  body 
of  sleepers  :  to  which  place  I  retired, 
with  many  acknowledgments  to  him 
for  his  attention.  I  found  it,  on  after- 
measurement,  just  the  width  of  an 
ordinary  sheet  of  Bath  post  letter- 
paper  ;  and  I  was  at  first  in  some  un- 
certainty as  to  the  best  means  of 
getting  into  it.  But  the  shelf  being 
a  bottom  one,  I  finally  determined  on 
lying  upon  the  floor,  rolling  gently 
in,  stopping  immediately  I  touched 
the  mattress,  and  remaining  for  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


102. 


night  with  that  side  uppermost,  what- 
ever it  might  be.  Luckily,  I  came 
upon  my  back  at  exactly  the  right 
moment.  I  was  much  alarmed  on 
looking  upward,  to  see,  by  the  shape 
of  his  half  yard  of  sacking  (which 
his  weight  had  bent  into  an  exceed- 
ingly tight  bag),  that  there  was  a 
very  heavy  gentleman  above  me, 
whom  the  slender  cords  seemed  quite 
incapable  of  holding;  and  I  could 
not  help  reflecting  upon  the  grief  of 
my  wife  and  family  in  the  event  of 
his  coming  down  in  the  night.  But 
as  I  could  not  have  got  up  again  with- 
out a  severe  bodily  struggle,  which 
might  have  alarmed  the  ladies ;  and 
as  I  had  nowhere  to  go  to,  even  if  I 
had ;  I  shut  my  eyes  upon  the  danger, 
and  remained  there.  ' 

One  of  two  remarkable  circum- 
stances is  indisputably  a  fact,  with 
reference  to  that  class  of  society  who 
travel  in  these  boats.  Either  they 
carry  their  restlessness  to  such  a  pitch 
that  they  never  sleep  at  all ;  or  they 
expectorate  in  dreams,  which  would 
be  a  remarkable  mingling  of  the  real 
and  ideal.  AIT  night  long,  and  every 
night,  on  this  canal,  there  was  a  per- 
fect storm  and  tempest  of  spitting ; 
and  once  my  coat,  being  in  the  very 
centre  of  a  hurricane  sustained  by 
five  gentlemen  (which  moved  ver- 
tically, strictly  carrying  out  Keid's 
Theory  of  the  Law  of  Storms,)  I  was 
fain  the  next  morning  to  lay  it  on  the 
deck,  and  rub  it  down  with  fair  water 
before  it  was  in  a  condition  to  be 
worn  again. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  we  got  up,  and  some  of  us 
went  on  deck,  to  give  them  an  oppor- 
tunity of  taking  the  shelves  down ; 
while  others,  the  morning  being  very 
cold,  crowded  round  the  rusty  stove, 
cherishing  the  newly-kindled  fire,  and 
filling  the  grate  with  those  voluntary 
contributions  of  which  they  had  been 
RO  liberal  all  night.    The  washing  ac- 


commodations were  primitive.  There 
was  a  tin  ladle  chained  to  the  deck, 
with  which  every  gentleman  who 
thought  it  necessary  to  cleanse  him- 
self (many  were  superior  to  this  weak- 
ness), fished  the  dirty  water  out  of  the 
canal,  and  poured  it  into  a  tin  basin, 
secured  in  like  manner.  There  waa 
also  a  jack-towel.  And,  hanging  up 
before  a  little  looking-glass  in  the  bar, 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  bread 
and  cheese  and  biscuits,  were  a  public 
comb  and  hair-brush. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  shelves  being 
taken  down  and  put  away  and  the 
tables  joined  together,  everybody  sat 
down  to  the  tea,  coffee,  bread,  butter, 
salmon,  shad,  liver,  steak,  potatoes, 
pickles,  ham,  chops,  black-puddings, 
and  sausages,  all  over  again.  Some 
were  fond  of  compounding  this  variety, 
and  having  it  all  on  their  plates  at 
once.  As  each  gentleman  got  through 
his  own  personal  amount  of  tea,  coffee, 
bread,  butter,  salmon,  shad,  liver, 
steak,  potatoes,  pickles,  ham,  chops, 
black-puddings,  and  sausages,  he  rose 
up  and  walked  oflf.  When  everybody 
had  done  with  everything,  the  frag- 
ments were  cleared  away :  and  one  of 
the  waiters  appearing  anew  in  the  cha- 
racter of  a  barber,  shaved  such  of  the 
company  as  desired  to  be  shaved; 
while  the  remainder  looked  on,  or 
yawned  over  their  newspapers.  Dinner 
was  breakfast  again,  without  the  tea 
and  cofiee ;  and  supper  and  breakfast 
were  identical. 

There  waa  a  man  on  board  this 
boat,  with  a  light  fresh-coloured  fiace,, 
and  a  pepper-and-salt  suit  of  clothes, 
who  was  the  most  inquisitive  fellow 
that  can  possibly  be  imagined.  He 
never  spoke  otherwise  than  interro- 
gatively. He  was  an  embodied  inquiry. 
Sitting  down  or  standing  up,  still  or 
moving,  walking  the  deck  or  taking 
his  meals,  there  he  was,  with  a  great 
note  of  interrogation  in  each  eye,  two 
in  his  cocked  ears,  two  more  in  his 


104 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


tumed-up  nose  and  chin,  at  least  half 
a  dozen  more  about  the  corners  of  his 
mouth,  and  the  largest  one  of  all  in 
his  hair,  which  was  brushed  pertly  off 
his  forehead  in  a  flaxen  clump.  Every 
button  in  his  clothes  said,  "  Eh  ? 
What's  that  1  Did  you  speak  1  Say 
the  t  again,  will  you  ] "  He  was  always 
wide  awake,  like  the  enchanted  bride 
who  drove  her  husband  frantic;  always 
restless  ;  always  thirsting  for  answers  ; 
perpetually  seeking  and  never  find- 
ing. There  never  was  such  a  curious 
man. 

I  wore  a  fur  great-coat  at  that  time, 
and  before  we  were  well  clear  of  the 
wharf,  he  questioned  me  concerning 
it,  and  its  price,  and  where  I  bought 
it,  and  when,  and  what  fur  it  was,  and 
what  it  weighed,  and  what  it  cost. 
Then  he  took  notice  of  my  watch, 
and  asked  what  that  cost,  and  whether 
it  was  a  French  watch,  and  where  I 
got  it,  and  how  I  got  it,  and  whether 
I  bought  it  or  had  it  given  me,  and 
how  it  went,  and  where  the  keyhole 
was,  and  when  I  wound  it,  every  night 
or  every  morning,  and  whether  I  ever 
forgot  to  wind  it  at  all,  and  if  I  did, 
what  then?  Where  had  I  been  to 
last,  and  where  was  I  going  next,  and 
where  was  I  going  after  that,  and  had 
I  seen  the  President,  and  what  did  he 
say,  and  what  did  I  say,  and  what  did 
he  say  when  I  had  said  that  ]  Eh  1 
Lor  now!  do  tell ! 

Finding  that  nothing  would  satisfy 
him,  I  evaded  his  questions  after  the 
first  score  or  two,  and  in  particular 
pleaded  ignorance  respecting  the 
name  of  the  fur  whereof  the  coat  was 
made.  I  am  unable  to  say  whether 
this  was  the  reason,  but  that  coat 
fascinated  him  ever  afterwards;  he 
usually  kept  close  behind  me  as  I 
walked,  and  moved  as  I  moved,  that 
he  might  look  at  it  the  better;  and 
he  frequently  dived  into  narrow  places 
after  me  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  that 
he  might   have  the  satisfaction  of 


passing  his  hand  up  the  back,  and 
rubbing  it  the  wrong  way. 

We  had  another  odd  specimen  on 
board,  of  a  different  kind.  This  was 
a  thin-faced,  spare-figured  man  of 
middle  age  and  stature,  dressed  in  a 
dusty  drabbish-coloured  suit,  such  as  I 
never  saw  before.  He  was  perfectly 
quiet  during  the  first  part  of  the 
journey :  indeed  I  don't  remember 
having  so  much  as  seen  him  until  he 
was  brought  out  by  circumstances,  as 
great  men  often  are.  The  conj  unction 
of  events  which  made  him  famous, 
happened,  briefly,  thus. 

The  canal  extends  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  and  there,  of  course,  it 
stops ;  the  passengers  being  conveyed 
across  it  by  land  carriage,  and  taken 
on  afterwards  by  another  canal-boat, 
the  counterpart  of  the  first,  which 
awaits  them  on  the  other  side.   There 
are  two  canal  lines  of  passage-boats ; 
one  is  called  The  Express,  and  one  (a 
cheaper  one)  The  Pioneer.     The  Pio- 
neer gets  first  to  the  mountain,  and 
waits  for  the  Express  people  to  come 
up;   both  sets  of  passengers  being 
conveyed  across  it  at  the  same  time. 
We  were  the  Express  company ;  but 
when  we  had  crossed  the  mountain, 
and  had  come  to  the  second  boat,  the 
proprietors  took  it  into  their  heads  to 
draft  all  the  Pioneers  into  it  likewise, 
so  that  we  were  five-and-forty  at  least, 
and  the  accession  of  passengers  was 
not  at  all  of  that  kind  which  improved 
the  prospect  of  sleeping  at  night.   Our 
people  grumbled  at  this,  as  people  do 
in  such  cases ;  but  suffered  the  boat 
to  be  towed  off  with  the  whole  freight 
aboard  nevertheless;  and   away  we 
went  down  the  canal.    At  home,  I 
should  have    protested    lustily,  but 
being  a  foreigner  here,  I  held  my 
peace.     Not  so  this  passenger.    He 
cleft  a  path  among  the  people  on  deck 
(we  were  nearly  all  on  deck),  and 
without  addressing  anybody  whomso- 
ever, Boliloquised  as  follows : 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


105 


"  This  may  suit  you,  this  may,  but 
it  dont  suit  me.  This  may  be  all  very 
well  with  Down  Easters,  and  men  of 
Boston  raising,  but  it  won't  suit  my 
figure  no  how;  and  no  two  ways 
about  that ;  and  so  I  tell  you.  Now ! 
I  'm  from  the  brown  forests  of  the 
Mississippi,  /  am,  and  when  the  sun 
shines  on  me,  it  does  shine — a  little. 
It  don't  glimmer  where  /  live,  the  sun 
don't.  No.  I  'm  a  brown  forester,  I 
am.  I  an't  a  Johnny  Cake.  There 
are  no  smooth  skins  where  I  live. 
We  're  rough  men  there.  Kather.  If 
Down  Easters  and  men  of  Boston 
raising  like  this,  I  'm  glad  of  it,  but 
I  'm  none  of  that  raising  nor  of  that 
breed.  No.  This  company  wants  a 
little  fixing,  it  does.  I  'm  the  wrong 
sort  of  man  for  'em,  /  am.  They 
won't  like  me,  they  won't.  This  is 
piling  of  it  up,  a  little  too  motintaln- 
otls,  this  is."  At  the  end  of  every  one 
of  these  short  sentences  he  turned 
upon  his  heel,  and  walked  the  other 
way ;  checking  himself  abruptly  when 
he  had  finished  another  short  sen- 
tence, and  turning  back  again. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  what 
terrific  meaning  was  hidden  in  the 
words  of  this  brown  forester,  but  I 
know  that  the  other  passengers  looked 
on  in  a  sort  of  admiring  horror,  and 
that  presently  the  boat  was  put  back 
to  the  wharf,  and  as  many  of  the 
Pioneers  as  could  be  coaxed  or  bullied 
into  going  away,  were  got  rid  of 

When  we  started  again,  some  of  the 
boldest  spirts  on  board,  made  bold  to 
say  to  the  obvious  occasion  of  this 
improvement  in  our  prospects,  "Much 
obliged  to  you,  sir :"  whereunto  the 
brown  forester  (waving  his  hand,  and 
still  walking  up  and  down  as  before), 
replied,  "No  you  an't.  You  're  none 
o'  my  raising.  You  may  act  for  your- 
selves, you  may.  I  have  pinted  out 
the  way.  Down  Easters  and  Johnny 
Cakes  can  follow  if  they  please.  I 
an't  a  Johnny  Cake,  /  an't.    I  am 


from  the  brown  forests  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, /  am  " — and  so  on,  as  before. 
He  was  unanimously  voted  one  of  the 
tables  for  his  bed  at  night — there  is  a 
great  contest  for  the  tables — in  con- 
sideration of  his  public  services  :  and 
he  had  the  warmest  corner  by  the 
stove  throughout  the  rest  of  the  jour- 
ney. But  I  never  could  find  out  that 
he  did  anything  except  sit  there ;  nor 
did  I  hear  him  speak  again  until,  in 
the  midst  of  the  bustle  and  turmoil 
of  getting  the  luggage  ashore  in  the 
dark  at  Pittsburg,  I  stumbled  over 
him  as  he  sat  smoking  a  cigar  on  the 
cabin  steps,  and  heard  him  muttering 
to  himself,  with  a  short  laugh  of  defi- 
ance, "  I  an't  a  Johnny  Cake,  /  an't. 
I'm  from  the  brown  forests  of  the 
Mississippi,  /  am,  damme  !  "  I  am 
inclined  to  argue  from  this,  that  he 
had  never  left  off  saying  so ;  but  I 
could  not  make  affidavit  of  that  part 
of  the  story,  if  required  to  do  so  by 
my  Queen  and  Country. 

As  we  have  not  reached  Pittsburg 
yet,  however,  in  the  order  of  our  nar- 
rative, I  may  go  on  to  remark  that 
breakfast  was  perhaps  the  least  desir- 
able meal  of  the  day,  as  an  addition 
to  the  many  savoury  odours  arising 
from  the  eatables  already  mentioned, 
there  were  whiffs  of  gin,  whiskey, 
brandy,  and  rum,  from  the  little 
bar  hard  by,  and  a  decided  seasoning 
of  stale  tobacco.  Many  of  the  gentle- 
men passengers  were  far  from  parti- 
cular in  respect  of  their  linen,  which 
was  in  some  cases  as  yellow  as  the 
little  rivulets  that  had  trickled  from 
the  comers  of  their  mouths  in  chew- 
ing, and  dried  there.  Nor  was  the 
atmosphere  quite  free  from  zephyr 
whisperings  of  the  thirty  beds  which 
had  j  ust  been  cleared  away,  and  of  which 
wewerefurtherand  more  pressingly  re- 
minded by  the  occasional  appearance 
on  the  table-cloth  of  a  kind  of  Game, 
not  mentioned  in  the  Bill  of  Fare. 

And  yet  despite  these  oddities — 


106 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


and  even  they  had,  for  me  at  least,  a 
humour  of  their  own — there  was  much 
in  this  mode  of  trayelling  which  I 
heartily  enjoyed  at  the  time,  and  look 
back  upon  with  great^pleasure.  Even 
the  running  up,  bare-necked,  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  from  the 
tainted  cabin  to  the  dirty  deck  ;  scoop- 
ing up -the  icy  water,  plunging  one's 
head  into  it,  and  drawing  it  out,  all 
fresh  and  glowing  with  the. cold ;  was 
a  good  thing.  The  fast,  brisk  walk 
upon  the  towing-path,  between  that 
time  and  breakftwt,  when  every  vein 
and  artery  seemed  to  tingle  with 
health;  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the 
opening  day,  when  light  came  gleam- 
ing off  from  every  thing;  the  lazy 
motion  of  the  boat,  when  one  lay  idly 
on  the  deck,  looking  through,  rather 
than  at,  the  deep  blue  sky ;  the  gliding 
on  at  night,  so  noiselessly,  past  frown- 
ing hills,  sullen  with  dark  trees,  and 
sometimes  angry  in  one  red  burning 
spot  high  up,  where  unseen  men  lay 
crouching  round  a  fire;  the  shining 
out  of  the  bright  stars,  undisturbed  by 
noise  of  wheels  or  steami,  or  any  other 
sound  than  the  liquid  rippling  of  the 
water  as  the  boat  went  on :  all  these 
•were  pure  delights. 

Then,  there  were  new  settlements 
and  detached  log-cabins  and  frame- 
houses,  full  of  interest  for  strangers 
from  an  old  country :  cabins  with 
simple  ovens,  outside,  made  of  clay ; 
and  lodgings  for  the  pigs,  nearly  as 
good  as  many  of  the  human  quarters ; 
broken  windows,  patched  with  worn- 
out  hats,  old  clothes,  old  boards,  frag- 
ments of  blankets  and  paper;  and 
home-made  dressers  standing  in  the 
open  air  without  the  door,  whereon 
was  ranged  the  household  store,  not 
hard  to  count,  of  earthen  jars  and 
pots.  The  eye  was  pained  to  see  the 
stumps  of  great  trees  thickly  strewn 
in  every  field  of  wheat,  and  seldom  to 
lose  the  eternal  swamp  and  dull  mo- 
rass, with  hundreds  of  rotten  trunks 


and  twisted  branches  steeped  in  its 
unwholesome  water.  It  was  quite  sad 
and  oppressive,  to  come  upon  great 
tracts  where  settlers  had  been  burning 
do-vvn  the  trees,  and  where  their 
wounded  bodies  lay  about,  like  those 
of  murdered  creatures,  while  here  and 
there  some  charred  and  blackened 
giant  reared  aloft  two  withered  arms, 
and  seemed  to  call  down  curses  on  his 
foes.  Sometimes,  at  night,  the  way 
wound  through  some  lonely  gorge, 
like  a  mountain  pass  in  Scotland, 
shining  and  coldly  glittering  in  the 
light  of  the  moon,  and  so  closed  in  by 
high  steep  hills  all  round,  that  there 
seemed  to  be  no  egress  save  through 
the  narrower  path  by  which  we  had 
come,  until  one  rugged  hill-side  seemed 
to  open,  and,  shutting  out  the  moon- 
light as  we  passed  into  its  gloomy 
throat,  wrapped  our  new  course  in 
shade  and  darkness. 

We  had  left  Harrisburg  on  Friday. 
On  Sunday  morning  we  arrived  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  which  is  crossed 
by  railroad.  There  are  ten  inclined 
planes ;  five  ascending,  and  five  (de- 
scending; the  carriages  are  dragged 
up  the  former,  and  let  slowly  down 
the  latter,  by  means  of  stationary  en- 
gines ;  the  comparatively  level  spaces 
between,  being  traversed,  sometimes 
by  horse,  and  sometimes  by  engine 
power,  as  the  case  demands.  Occasion- 
ally the  rails  are  laid  upon  the  extreme 
verge  of  a  giddy  precipice;  and  looking 
from  the  carriage  window,  the  traveller 
gazes  sheer  down,  without  a  stone  or 
scrap  of  fence  between,  into  the  moun- 
tain depths  below.  The  journey  is  very 
carefully  made,  however;  only  two  car- 
riages travelling  together ;  and  while 
proper  precautions  are  taken,  is  not 
to  be  dreaded  for  its  dangers. 

It  was  very  pretty  travelling  thus, 
at  a  rapid  pace  along  the  heights  of 
the  mountain  in  a  keen  wind,  to  look 
down  into  a  valley  full  of  light  and 
softness  :  catching  glimpses,  through 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


107 


the  tree- tops,  of  scattered  cabins ;  chil- 
dren running  to  the  doors ;  dogs  burst- 
ing out  to  bark,  whom  we  could  see 
without  hearing ;  terrified  pigs  scam- 
pering homewards;  families  sitting 
out  in  their  rude  gardens;  cows  gazing 
upward  with  a  stupid  indifference ; 
men  in  their  shirt-sleeves  looking  on 
at  their  unfinished  houses,  planning 
out  to-morrow's  work ;  and  we  riding 
onward,  high  above  them,  like  a  whirl- 
wind. It  was  amusing,  too,  when  we 
had  dined,  and  rattled  down  a  steep 
pass,  having  no  other  moving  power 
than  the  weight  of  the  carriages  them- 
selves, to  see  the  engine  released,  long 
after  us,  come  buzzing  down  alone, 
like  a  great  insect,  its  back  of  green 
and  gold  so  shining  in  the  sun,  that  if 
it  had  spread  a  pair  of  wings  and 
soared  away,  no  one  would  have  had 
occasion,  as  I  fancied,  for  the  least 
surprise.  But  it  stopped  short  of  us 
in  a  very  business-like  manner  when 
we  reached  the  canal ;  and,  before  we 
left  the  wharf,  went  panting  up  this 
hill  again,  with  the  passengers  who 
had  waited  our  arrival  for  the  means 
of  traversing  the  road  by  which  we 
had  come. 

On  the  Monday  evening,  furnace 
fires  and  clanking  hammers  on  the 
banks  of  the  canal,  warned  us  that  we 
approached  the  termination  of  this 
part  of  our  journey.  After  going 
through  another  dreamy  place  —  a 
long  aqueduct  across  the  Alleghany 
River,  which  was  stranger  than  the 
bridge  at  Harrisburg,  being  a  vast 
low  wooden  chamber  full  of  water — 
we  emerged  upon  that  ugly  confusion 
of  backs  of  buildings  and  crazy  gal- 
leries and  stairs,  which  always  abuts 
on  water,  whether  it  be  river,  sea, 
canal,  or  ditch  :  and  were  at  Pittsburg. 

Pittsburg  is  like  Birmingham  in 
England ;  at  least  its  townspeople  say 
so.  Setting  aside  the  streets,  the 
shops,  the  houses,  waggons,  factories, 
public  buildings,  and  population,  per- 


haps it  may  be.  It  certainly  has  a 
great  quantity  of  smoke  hanging  about 
it,  and  is  famous  for  its  iron-works. 
Besides  the  prison  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  this  town  contains  a 
pretty  arsenal  and  other  institutions. 
It  is  very  beautifully  situated  on  the 
Alleghany  River,  over  which  there  are 
two  bridges;  and  the  villas  of  the 
wealthier  citizens  sprinkled  about  the 
high  grounds  in  the  neighbourhood, 
are  pretty  enough.  We  lodged  at  a 
most  excellent  hotel,  and  were  admi- 
rably served.  As  usual  it  was  full  of 
boarders,  was  very  large,  and  had  a 
broad  colonnade  to  every  story  of  the 
house. 

We  tarried  here,  three  days.  Our 
next  point  was  Cincinnati :  and  as  this 
was  a  steam-boat  journey,  and  western 
steamboats  usually  blow  up  one  or 
two  a  week  in  the  season,  it  was 
advisable  to  collect  opinions  in  re- 
ference to  the  comparative  safety  of 
the  vessels  bound  that  way,  then  lying 
in  the  river.  One  called  The  Mes- 
senger was  the  best  recommended. 
She  had  been  advertised  to  start  posi- 
tively, every  day  for  a  fortnight  or  so, 
and  had  not  gone .  yet,  nor  did  her 
captain  seem  to  have  any  very  fixed 
intention  on  the  subject.  But  this  is 
the  custom :  for  if  the  law  were  to 
bind  down  a  free  and  independent 
citizen  to  keep  his  word  with  the 
public,  what  would  become  of  the 
liberty  of  the  subject?  Besides,  it  is 
in  the  way  of  trade.  And  if  passen- 
gers be  decoyed  in  the  way  of  trade, 
and  people  be  inconvenienced  in  the 
way  of  trade,  what  man,  who  is  a 
sharp  tradesman  himself,  shall  say 
"  We  must  put  a  stop  to  this  1 " 

Impressed  by  the  deep  solemnity 
of  the  public  announcement,  I  (being 
then  ignorant  of  these  usages)  was  for 
hurrying  on  board  in  a  breathless 
state,  immediately;  but  receiving 
private  and  confidential  information 
that  the  boat  would   certainly   not 


108 


AMERICxVN  NOTES 


start  until  Friday,  April  the  First,  we 
made  ourselves  very  comfortable  in 


tlie  mean  while,  and  went  on  board  at 
noon  that  day. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


FROM   PITTSBURG   TO   CINCINNATI    IN    A    WESTERN   STEAM-BOAT.      CINCINNATI, 


The  Messenger  was  one  among  a 
crowd  of  high-pressure  steamboats, 
clustered  together  by  the  wharf-side, 
which,  looked  down  upon  from  the 
rising  ground  that  forms  the  landing- 
place,  and  backed  by  the  lofty  bank 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river, 
appeared  no  larger  than  so  many 
floating  models.  She  had  some  forty 
passengers  on  board,  exclusive  of  the 
poorer  persons  on  the  lower  deck ;  and 
in  half  an  hour,  or  less,  proceeded  on 
her  way. 

"VVe  had,  for  ourselves,  a  tiny  state- 
room with  two  berths  in  it,  opening 
out  of  the  ladies'  cabin.  There  was, 
undoubtedly,  something  satisfactory 
in  this  "  location,"  inasmuch  as  it  was 
in  the  stern,  and  we  had  been  a  great 
many  times  very  gravely  recom- 
mended to  keep  as  far  aft  as  possible, 
''because  the  steamboats  generally 
blew  up  forward."  Nor  was  this  an 
unnecessary  caution,  as  the  occur- 
rence and  circumstances  of  more  than 
one  such  fatality  during  our  stay 
sufficiently  testified.  Apart  from 
this  source  of  self-congratulation,  it 
was  an  unspeakable  relief  to  have  any 
place,  no  matter  how  confined,  where 
one  could  be  alone :  and  as  the  row 
of  little  chambers  of  which  this  was 
one,  had  each  a  second  glass-door 
besides  that  in  the  ladies'  cabin, 
which  opened  on  a  narrow  gallery 
outside  the  vessel,  where  the  other 
passengers  seldom  came,  and  where 
one  could  sit  in  peace  and  gaze  upon 
the  shifting  prospect,  we  took  pos- 
session of  our  new  quarters  with 
much  pleasure. 


If  the  native  packets  I  have  already 
described  be  unlike  anything  we  are 
in  the  habit  of  seeing, on  water,  these 
western  vessels  are  still  more  foreign 
to  all  the  ideas  we  are  accustomed  to 
entertain  of  boats.  I  hardly  know 
what  to  liken  them  to,  or  how  to  de- 
scribe them. 

In  the  first  place,  they  have  no 
mast,  cordage,  tackle,  rigging,  or 
other  such  boat-like  gear;  nor  have 
they  anything  in  their  shape  at  all 
calculated  to  remind  one  of  a  boat's 
head,  stern,  sides,  or  keel.  Except 
that  they  are  in  the  water,  and  dis- 
play a  couple  of  paddle-boxes,  they 
might  be  intended,  for  anything  that 
appears  to  the  contrary,  to  perform 
some  unknown  service,  high  and  dry, 
upon  a  mountain  top.  There  is  no 
visible  deck,  even :  nothing  but  a 
long,  black,  ugly  roof,  covered  with 
burnt-out  feathery  sparks;  above 
which  tower  two  iron  chimneys,  and 
a  hoarse  escape  valve,  and  a  glass 
steerage-house.  Then,  in  order  as 
the  eye  descends  towards  the  water, 
are  the  sides,  and  doors,  and  windows 
of  the  state-rooms,  jumbled  as  oddly 
together  as  though  they  formed  a 
small  street,  built  by  the  varying 
tastes  of  a  dozen  men  :  the  whole  is 
supported  on  beams  and  pillars  rest- 
ing on  a  dirty  barge,  but  a  few  inches 
above  the  water's  edge :  and  in  the 
narrow  space  between  this  upper 
structure  and  this  barge's  deck,  are 
the  furnace  fires  and  machinery,  open 
at  the  sides  to  every  wind  that  blows, 
and  every  storm  of  rain  it  drives  along 
its  path. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


109 


Passing  one  of  these  boats  at  night, 
and  seeing  the  great  body  of  fire,  ex- 
posed as  I  have  just  described,  that 
rages  and  roars  beneath  the  frail  pile 
of  painted  wood :  the  machinery,  not 
warded  off  or  guarded  in  any  way, 
but  doing  its  work  in  the  midst  of 
the  crowd  of  idlers  and  emigrants 
and  children,  who  throng  the  lower 
deck  :  under  the  management,  too,  of 
reckless  men  whose  acquaintance  with 
its  mysteries  may  have  been  of  six 
months'  standing:  one  feels  directly 
that  the  wonder  is,  not  that  there 
should  be  so  many  fatal  accidents, 
but  that  any  journey  should  be  safely 
made. 

Within,  there  is  one  long  narrow 
cabin,  the  whole  length  of  the  boat ; 
from  which  the  state-rooms  open,  on 
both  sides.  A  small  portion  of  it  at 
the  stern  is  partitioned  off  for  the 
ladies ;  and  the  bar  is  at  the  opposite 
extreme.  There  is  a  long  table  down 
the  centre,  and  at  either  end  a  stove. 
The  washing  apparatus  is  forward,  on 
the  deck.  It  is  a  little  better  than  on 
board  the  canal  boat,  but  not  much. 
In  all  modes  of  travelling,  the  Ame- 
rican customs,  with  reference  to  the 
means  of  personal  cleanliness  and 
wholesome  ablution,  are  extremely 
negligent  and  filthy ;  and  I  strongly 
incline  to  the  belief  that  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  illness  is  refer- 
able to  this  cause. 

We  are  to  be  on  board  the  Mes- 
senger three  days :  arriving  at  Cin- 
cinnati (barring  accidents)  on  Monday 
morning.  There  are  three  meals  a 
day.  Breakfast  at  seven,  dinner  at 
halfpast  twelve,  supper  about  six. 
At  each,  there  are  a  great  many  small 
dishes  and  plates  upon  the  table,  with 
very  little  in  them ;  so  that  although 
there  is  every  appearance  of  a  mighty 
"  spread,"  there  is  seldom  really  more 
than  a  joint :  except  for  those  who 
fancy  slices  of  beet-root,  shreds  of 
dried  beef,  complicated  entanglements 


of  yellow  pickle ;  maize,  Indian  com, 
apple-sauce,  and  pumpkin. 

Some  people  fancy  all  these  little 
dainties  together  (and  sweet  preserves 
beside),  by  way  of  relish  to  their  roast 
pig.  They  are  generally  those  dys- 
peptic ladies  and  gentlemen  who  eat 
unheard-of  quantities  of  hot  com 
bread  (almost  as  good  for  the  diges- 
tion as  a  kneaded  pin-cushion),  for 
breakfast,  and  for  supper.  Those  who 
do  not  observe  this  custom,  and  who 
help  themselves  several  times  instead, 
usually  suck  their  knives  and  forks 
meditatively,  until  they  have  decided 
what  to  take  next :  then  pull  them 
out  of  their  mouths  :  put  them  in  the 
dish;  help  themselves;  and  fall  to 
work  again.  At  dinner,  there  is 
nothing  to  drink  upon  the  table,  but 
great  jugs  full  of  cold  water.  Nobody 
says  anything,  at  any  meal,  to  anj'- 
body.  All  the  passengers  are  very 
dismal,  and  seem  to  have  tremendous 
secrets  weighing  on  their  minds. 
There  is  no  conversation,  no  laughter, 
no  cheerfulness,  no  sociality,  except 
in  spitting ;  and  that  is  done  in  silent 
fellowship  round  the  stove,  when  the 
meal  is  over.  Every  man  sits  down, 
dull  and  languid ;  swallows  his  fare  as 
if  breakfasts,  dinners,  and  suppers, 
were  necessities  of  nature  never  to  be 
coupled  with  recreation  or  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  having  bolted  his  food  in 
a  gloomy  silence  bolts  himself,  in  the 
same  state.  But  for  these  animal 
observances,  you  might  suppose  the 
whole  male  portion  of  the  company  to 
be  the  melancholy  ghosts  of  departed 
book-keepers,  who  had  fallen  dead  at 
the  desk  :  such  is  their  weary  air  of 
business  and  calculation.  Under- 
takers on  duty  would  be  sprightly 
beside  them ;  and  a  collation  of 
funeral-baked  meats,  in  comparison 
with  these  meals,  would  be  a  spark- 
ling festivity. 

The  people  are  all  alike,  too.  There 
is  no  diversity  of   character     They 


110 


AMEIUUAN  NOISES 


travel  about  on  the  same  errands,  say 
and  do  the  same  things  in  exactly  the 
same  manner,  and  follow  in  the  same 
dull  cheerless  round.  All  down  the 
long  table,  there  is  scarcely  a  man 
who  is  in  anything  different  from  his 
neighbour.  It  is  quite  a  relief  to  have, 
sitting  opposite,  that  little  girl  of  fif- 
teen with  the  loquacious  chin :  who, 
to  do  her  justice,  acts  up  to  it,«  and 
fully  identifies  nature's  handwriting, 
for  of  all  the  small  chatterboxes  that 
ever  invaded  the  repose  of  drowsy 
ladies'  cabin,  she  is  the  first  and  fore- 
most. The  beautiful  girl,  who  sits  a 
little  beyond  her — farther  down  the 
table  there — married  the  young  man 
with  the  dark  whiskers,  who  sits 
beyond  her,  only  last  month.  They 
are  going  to  settle  in  the  very  Far 
West,  where  he  has  lived  four  years, 
but  where  she  has  never  been.  They 
were  both  overturned  in  a  stage-coach 
the  other  day  (a  bad  omen  anywhere 
else,  where  overturns  are  not  so 
common),  and  his  head,  which  bears 
the  marks  of  a  recent  wound,  is  bound 
up  still.  She  was  hurt  too,  at  the 
same  time,  and  lay  insensible  for  some 
days  ;  bright  as  her  eyes  are,  now. 

Further  down  still,  sits  a  man  who 
is  going  some  miles  beyond  their  place 
of  destination,  to  "  improve"  a  nev/^ly 
discovered  copper  mine.  He  carries 
the  village — that  is  to  be — with  him  : 
a  few  frame  cottages,  and  an  apparatus 
for  smelting  the  copper.  He  carries 
its  people  too.  They  are  partly 
American  and  partly  Irish,  and  herd 
together  on  the  lower  deck;  wh^re 
they  amused  themselves  last  evening 
till  the  night  was  pretty  far  advanced, 
by  alternately  firing  oflf  pistols  and 
singing  hymns. 

They,  and  the  very  few  who  have 
been  left  at  table  twenty  minutes, 
rise,  and  go  away.  We  do  so  too  ;  and 
passing  through  our  little  state-room, 
resume  our  seats  in  the  quiet  gallery 
without. 


A  fine  broad  river  always,  but  in 
some  parts  much  wider  than  in  others ; 
and  then  there  is  usually  a  green 
island,  covered  with  trees,  dividing  it 
into  two  streams.  Occasionally,  we 
stop  for  a  few  minutes,  maybe  to  take 
in  wood,  maybe  for  passengers,  at 
some  small  town  or  village  (I  ought 
to  say  city,  every  place  is  a  city  here)  j 
but  the  banks  are  for  the  most  part 
deep  solitudes,  overgrown  with  trees, 
which,  hereabouts,  are  already  in  leaf 
and  very  green.  For  miles,  and  miles, 
and  miles,  these  solitudes  are  un- 
broken by  any  sign  of  human  life-  or 
trace  of  human  footstep ;  nor  is  any- 
thing seen  to  move  about  them  but 
the  blue  jay,  whose  colour  is  so  bright, 
and  yet  so  delicate,  that  it  looks  like 
a  flying  flower.  At  lengthened  in- 
tervals a  log  cabin,  with  its  little  space 
of  cleared  land  about  it,  nestles  under 
a  rising  ground,  and  sends  its  thread 
of  blue  smoke  curling  up  into  the 
sky.  It  stands  in  the  comer  of  the 
poor  field  of  wheat,  which  is  full  of 
great  unsightly  stumps,  like  earthy 
butchers' -blocks.  Sometimes  the 
ground  is  only  just  now  cleared:  the 
felled  trees  lying  yet  upon  the  soil : 
and  the  log-house  only  this  morning 
begun.  As  we  pass  this  clearing,  the 
settler  leans  upon  his  axe  or  hammer, 
and  looks  wistfully  at  the  people  from 
the  world.  The  children  creep  out 
of  the  temporary  hut,  which  is  like  a 
gipsy  tent  upon  the  ground,  and  clap 
their  hands  and  shout.  The  dog  only 
glances  round  at  us ;  and  then  looks 
up  into  his  master's  face  again,  as  if 
he  were  rendered  uneasy  by  any  sus- 
pension of  the  common  business,  and 
had  nothing  more  to  do  with  plea- 
surers.  And  still  there  is  the  same, 
eternal  foreground.  The  river  has 
washed  away  its  banks,  and  stately 
trees  have  fallen  down  into  the  stream. 
Some  have  been  there  so  long,  that 
they  are  mere  dry  grizzly  skeletons. 
Some  have  just  toppled  over,  and 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


Ill 


having  earth  yet  about  their  roots, 
are  bathing  their  green  heads  in  the 
river,  and  putting  forth  new  shoots 
and  branches.  Some  are  almost 
sliding  down,  as  you  look  at  them. 
And  some  were  drowned  so  long  ago, 
that  their  bleached  arms  start  out 
from  the  middle  of  the  current,  and 
seem  to  try  to  grasp  the  boat,  and 
drag  it  under  water. 

Through  such  a  scene  as  this,  the 
unwieldy  machine  takes  its  hoarse 
sullen  way :  venting,  at  every  revolu- 
tion of  the  paddles,  a  loud  high-pres- 
sure blast ;  enough,  one  would  think, 
to  waken  up  the  host  of  Indians  who 
lie  buried  in  a  great  mound  yonder  : 
so  old,  that  mighty  oaks  and  other 
forest  trees  have  struck  their  roots 
into  its  earth ;  and  so  high,  that  it  is 
a  hill,  even  among  the  hills  that  Na- 
ture planted  round  it.  The  very 
river,  as  though  it  shared  one's  feel- 
ings of  compassion  for  the  extinct 
tribes  who  lived  so  pleasantly  here,  in 
their  blessed  ignorance  of  white  exist- 
tence,  hundreds  of  years  ago,  steals 
out  of  its  way  to  ripple  near  this 
mound :  and  there  are  few  places 
where  the  Ohio  sparkles  more  brightly 
than  in  the  Big  Grave  Creek. 

All  this  I  see  as  I  sit  in  the  little 
stem-gallery  mentioned  just  now. 
Evening  slowly  steals  upon  the 
landscape,  and  changes  it  before  me, 
when  we  stop  to  set  some  emigrants 
ashore. 

Five  men,  as  many  women,  and  a 
little  girl.  All  their  worldly  goods 
are  a  bag,  a  large  chest  and  an  old 
chair:  one,  old,  high-backed,  rush- 
bottomed  chair :  a  solitary  settler  in 
itself.  They  are  rowed  ashore  in  the 
boat,  while  the  vessel  stands  a  little 
off  awaiting  its  return,  the  water 
being  shallow.  They  are  landed  at 
the  foot  of  a  high  bank,  on  the  sum- 
mit of  which  are  a  few  log  cabins, 
attainable  only  by  a  long  winding 
path.    It  is  growing  dusk;  but  the 


sun  is  very  xed,  and  shines  in  the 
water  and  on  some  of  the  tree-tops, 
like  fire. 

The  men  get  out  of  the  boat  first  ; 
help  out  the  women;  take  out  the 
bag,  the  chest,  the  chair;  bid  the 
rowers  "good  bye;"  and  shove  the 
boat  off  for  them.  At  the  first  plash 
of  the  oars  in  the  water,  the  oldest 
woman  of  the  party  sits  down  in  the 
old  chair,  close  to  the  water's  edge, 
without  speaking  a  word.  None  of 
the  others  sit  down,  though  the  chest  is 
large  enough  for  many  seats.  They 
all  stand  where  they  landed,  as  if 
stricken  into  stone;  and  look  after 
the  boat.  So  they  remain,  quite  still 
and  silent :  the  old  woman  and  her 
old  chair,  in  the  centre  ;  the  bag  and 
chest  upon  the  shore,  without  any- 
body heeding  them :  all  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  boat.  It  comes  alongside,  is 
made  fast,  the  men  jump  on  board, 
the  engine  is  put  in  motion,  and  we 
go  hoarsely  on  again.  There  they 
stand  yet,  without  the  motion  of  a 
hand.  I  can  see  them,  through  my 
glass,  when,  in  the  distance  and  in- 
creasing darkness,  they  are  mere 
specks  to  the  eye:  lingering  there 
still :  the  old  woman  in  the  old  chair, 
and  all  the  rest  about  her  :  not  stir- 
ring in  the  least  degree.  And  thus  I 
slowly  lose  them. 

The  night  is  dark,  and  we  proceed 
within  the  shadow  of  the  wooded 
bank,  which  makes  it  darker.  After 
gliding  past  the  sombre  maze  of- 
boughs  for  a  long  time,  we  come 
upon  an  open  space  where  the  tall 
trees  are  burning.  The  shape  of 
every  branch  and  twig  is  expressed  in 
a  deep  red  glow,  and  as  the  light  wind 
stirs  and  ruffles  it,  they  seem  to  vege- 
tate in  fire.  It  is  such  a  sight  as  we 
read  of  in  legends  of  enchanted 
forests:  saving  that  it  is  sad  to  see 
these  noble  works  wasting  away  so 
awfully,  alone ;  and  to  think  how 
many  years  must  come  and  go  before 


112 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


the  magic  that  created  them  will 
rear  their  like  upon  this  ground  again. 
But  the  time  will  come :  and  when, 
in  their  changed  ashes,  the  growth  of 
centuries  unborn  has  struck  its  roots, 
the  restless  men  of  distant  ages  will 
repair  to  these  again  unpeopled  soli- 
tudes ;  and  their  fellows,  in  cities  far 
away,  that  slumber  now,  perhaps, 
beneath  the  rolling  sea,  will  read, 
in  language  strange  to  any  ears  in 
being  now  but  very  old  to  them,  of 
primeval  forests  where  the  axe  was 
never  heard,  and  where  the  jungled 
ground  was  never  trodden  by  a  human 
foot. 

Midnight  and  sleep  blot  out  these 
scenes  and  thoughts :  and  when  the 
morning  shines  again,  it  gilds  the 
house-tops  of  a  lively  city,  before 
whose  broad  paved  wharf  the  boat  is 
moored  ;  with  other  boats,  and  flags, 
and  moving  wheels,  and  hum  of  men 
around  it;  as  though  there  were 
not  a  solitary  or  silent  rood  of 
ground  within  the  compass  of  a  thou- 
sand miles. 

Cincinnati  is  a  beautiful  city ; 
cheerful,  thriving,  and  animated.  I 
have  not  often  seen  a  place  that  com- 
mends itself  so  favourably  and  plea- 
santly to  a  stranger  at  the  first  glance 
as  this  does :  with  its  clean  houses  of 
red  and  white,  its  well-paved  roads, 
and  foot-ways  of  bright  tile.  Nor 
does  it  become  less  prepossessing  on  a 
closer  acquaintance.  The  streets  are 
broad  and  airy,  the  shops  extremely 
good,  the  private  residences  remark- 
able for  their  elegance  and  neatness. 
There  is  something  of  invention  and 
fancy  in  the  varying  styles  of  these 
latter  erections,  which,  after  the  dull 
company  of  the  steamboat,  is  per- 
fectly delightful,  as  conveying  an 
assurance  that  there  are  such  qualities 
still  in  existence.  The  disposition  to 
ornament  these  pretty  villas  and 
render  them  attractive,  leads  to  the 
culture  of  trees  and  flowers,  and  the 


laying  out  of  well-kept  gardens,  the 
sight  of  which,  to  those  who  walk 
along  the  streets,  is  inexpressibly  re- 
freshing and  agreeable.  I  was  quite 
charmed  with  the  appearance  of  the 
town,  and  its  adjoining  suburb  of 
Mount  Auburn ;  from  which  the  city, 
lying  in  an  amphitheatre  of  hills,  forms 
a  picture  of  remarkable  beauty,  and  is 
seen  to  great  advantage. 

There  happened  to  be  a  great  Tem- 
perance Convention  held  here  on  the 
day  after  our  arrival ;  and  as  the  order 
of  march  brought  the  procession 
under  the  windows  of  the  hotel  in 
which  we  lodged,  when  they  started 
in  the  morning,  I  had  a  good  oppor- 
tnnity  of  seeing  it.  It  comprised 
several  thousand  men ;  the  members 
of  various  "Washington  Auxiliary 
Temperance  Societies ;"  and  was  mar- 
shalled by  officers  on  horseback,  who 
cantered  briskly  up  and  down  the 
line,  with  scarves  and  ribbons  of 
bright  colours  fluttering  out  behind 
them  gaily.  There  were  bands  of 
music  too,  and  banners  out  of  number : 
and  it  was  a  fresh,  holiday-looking 
concourse  altogether. 

I  was  particularly  pleased  to  see  the 
Irishmen,  who  formed  a  distinct  so- 
ciety among  themselves,  and  mustered 
very  strong  with  their  green  scarves  ; 
carrying  their  national  Harp  and 
their  Portrait  of  Father  Mathew,  high 
above  the  people's  heads.  They 
looked  as  jolly  and  good-humoured  as 
ever ;  and,  working  (here)  the  hardest 
for  their  living  and  doing  any  kind  of 
sturdy  labour  that  came  in  their  way, 
were  the  most  independent  fellows 
there,  I  thought. 

The  banners  were  very  well  painted, 
and  flaunted  down  the  street  famously. 
There  was  the  smiting  of  the  rock, 
and  the  gushing  forth  of  the  waters ; 
and  there  was  a  temperate  man  with 
"considerable  of  a  hatchet"  (as  the 
standard-bearer  would  probably  have 
said),  aiming  a  deadly  blow  at  a  ser- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


113 


pent  which  was  apparently  about  to 
spring  upon  him  from  the  top  of  a 
barrel  of  spirits.  But  the  chief 
feature  of  this  part  of  the  show  was  a 
huge  allegorical  device,  borne  among 
the  ship-carpenters,  on  one  side 
whereof  the  steamboat  Alcohol  was 
represented  bursting  her  boiler  and 
exploding  with  a  great  crash,  while 
upon  the  other,  the  good  ship  Tem- 
perance sailed  away  with  a  fair  wind, 
to  the  heart's  content  of  the  captain, 
crew,  and  passengers. 

After  going  round  the  town,  the 
procession  repaired  to  a  certain  ap- 
pointed place,  where,  as  the  printed 
programme  set  forth,  it  would  be 
received  by  the  children  of  the  diflfer- 
ent  free  schools,  "  singing  Temper- 
ance Songs."  I  was  prevented  from 
getting  there,  in  time  to  hear  these 
Little  Warblers,  or  to  report  upon 
this  novel  kind  of  vocal  entertain- 
ment :  novel,  at  least,  to  me :  but  I 
found,  in  a  large  open  space,  each 
society  gathered  roimd  its  o^vn  ban- 
ners, and  listening  in  silent  attention 
to  its  own  orator.  The  speeches, 
judging  from  the  little  I  could  hear 
of  them,  were  certainly  adapted  to 
the  occasion,  as  having  that  degree  of 
relationship  to  cold  water  which  wet 
blankets  may  claim ;  but  the  main 
thing  was  the  conduct  and  appear- 
ance of  the  audience  throughout  the 
day ;  and  that  was  admirable  and  full 
of  promise. 

Cincinnati  is  honourably  famous 
for  its  free-schools,  of  which  it  has  so 
many  that  no  person's  child  among 
its  population  can,  by  possibility, 
want  the  means  of  education,  which 
are  extended,  upon  an  average,  to 
four  thousand  pupils,  annually.  I 
was  only  present  in  one  of  these  esta- 
blishments during  the  hours  of  in- 
struction. In  the  boys'  department, 
which  was  full  of  little  urchins  (vary- 
ing in  their  ages,  I  should  say,  from 
six  years  old  to  ten  or  twelve),  the 

No.  168. 


master  offered  to  institute  an  extem- 
porary examination  of  the  pupils  in 
algebra ;  a  proposal,  which,  as  I  was 
by  no  means  confident  of  my  ability 
to  detect  mistakes  in  that  science,  I 
declined  with  some  alarm.  In  the 
girls*  school,  reading  was  proposed; 
and  as  I  felt  tolerably  equal  to  that 
art,  I  expressed  my  willingness  to 
hear  a  class.  Books  were  distributed 
accordingly,  and  some  half  dozen 
girls  relieved  each  other  in  reading 
paragraphs  from  English  History.  But 
it  seemed  to  be  a  dry  compilation,  infi- 
nitely above  their  powers  ;  and  when 
they  had  blundered  through  three  or 
four  dreary  passages  concerning  the^ 
Treaty  of  Amiens,  and  other  thrilling 
topics  of  the  same  nature  (obviously 
without  comprehending  ten  words), 
I  expressed  myself  quite  satisfied.  . 
It  is  very  possible  that  they  only 
mounted  to  this  exalted  stave  in  the 
Ladder  of  Learning  for  the  astonish- 
ment of  a  visitor  ;  and  that  at  other 
times  they  keep  upon  its  lower  rounds; 
but  I  should  have  been  much  better 
pleased  and  satisfied  if  I  had  heard 
them  exercised  in  simpler  lessons, 
which  they  understood. 

As  in  every  other  place  I  visited,  the 
Judges  here  were  gentlemen  of  high 
character  and  attainments.  I  was  in. 
one  of  the  courts  for  a  few  minutes,, 
and  found  it  like  those  to  which  I 
have  already  referred.  A  nuisance- 
cause  was  trying ;  there  were  not 
many  spectators ;  and  the  witnesses, 
counsel,  and  jury,  formed  a  sort  of 
family  circle,  sufficiently  jocose  and 
snug. 

The  society  with  which  I  mingled, 
was  intelligent,  courteous,  and  agree- 
able. The  inhabitants  of  Cincinnati 
are  proud  of  their  city,  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  in  America :  and 
with  good  reason  :  for  beautiful  and 
thriving  as  it  is  now,  and  containing, 
as  it  does,  a  population  of  fifty  thou- 
sand  souls,  but    two-and-fifty  years 


114 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


have  passed  away  since  the  ground  on 
which  it  stands  (bought  at  that  time 
for  a  few  dollars)  was  a  wild  wood, 


and  its  citizens  were  but  a  handful  of 
dwellers  in  scattered  log  huts  upon 
the  river's  shore. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM  CINCINNATI   TO   LOUISVILLE   IN   ANOTHER  WESTERN   STEAMBOAT 
LOUISVILLE   TO  ST.   LOUIS   IN   ANOTHER.      ST.    LOUIS. 


Leaving  Cincinnati  at  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  forenoon,  we  embarked  for 
Louisville  in  the  Pike  steam-boat, 
which,  carrying  the  mails,  was  a 
packet  of  a  much  better  class  than 
that  in  which  we  had  come  from 
Pittsburg.  As  this  passage  does  not 
occupy  more  than  twelve  or  thirteen 
hours,  we  arranged  to  go  ashore  that 
night :  not  coveting  the  distinction 
of  sleeping  in  a  state-room,  when  it 
was  possible  to  sleep  anywhere  else. 

There  chanced  to  be  on  board  this 
boat,  in  addition  to  the  usual  dreary 
crowd  of  passengers,  one  Pitchlynn,  a 
chief  of  the  Choctaw  tribe  of  Indians, 
who  sent  in  his  card  to  me,  and  with 
whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  a  long 
conversation. 

He  spoke  English  perfectly  well, 
though  he  had  not  begun  to  learn 
the  language,  he  told  me,  until  he 
was  a  young  man  grown.  He  had 
read  many  books ;  and  Scott's  poetry 
appeared  to  have  left  a  strong  impres- 
sion on  his  mind :  especially  the 
opening  of  The  Lady  of  the  Lake, 
and  the  great  battle  scene  in  Mar- 
mion,  in  which,  no  doubt  from  the 
congeniality  of  the  subjects  to  his 
own  pursuits  and  tastes,  he  had  great 
interest  and  delight.  He  appeared  to 
understand  correctly  all  he  had  read; 
and  whatever  fiction  had  enlisted  his 
sympathy  in  its  belief,  had  done  so 
keenly  and  earnestly.  I  might  altnost 
say  fiercely.  He  was  dressed  in  our 
ordinary    every-day  costume,  which 


hung  about  his  fine  figure  loosely, 
and  with  indifferent  grace.  On  my 
telling  him  that  I  regretted  not  to 
see  him  in  his  own  attire,  he  threw 
up  his  right  arm,  for  a  moment,  as 
though  he  were  brandishing  some 
heavy  weapon,  and  answered,  as  he 
let  it  fall  again,  that  his  race  were 
losing  many  things  besides  their 
dress,  and  would  soon  be  seen  upon 
the  earth  no  more  :  but  he  wore  it  at 
home,  he  added  proudly. 

He  told  me  that  he  had  been  away 
from  his  home,  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
seventeen  months :  and  was  now  re- 
turning. He  had  been  chiefly  at 
Washington  on  some  negociations 
pending  between  his  Tribe  and  the 
Grovemment :  which  were  not  settled 
yet  (he  said  in  a  melancholy  way), 
and  he  feared  never  would  be  :  for 
what  could  a  few  poor  Indians  do, 
against  such  well-skilled  men  of  busi- 
ness as  the  whites  1  He  had  no  love 
for  Washington ;  tired  of  towns  and 
cities  very  soon  ;  and  longed  for  the 
Forest  and  the  Prairie. 

I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of 
Congress?  He  answered,  with  a 
i  smile,  that  it  wanted  dignity,  in  an 
'  Indian's  eyes. 

He  would  very  much  like,  he  said, 
to  see  England  before  he  died;  and 
spoke  with  much  interest  about  the 
great  things  to  be  seen  there.  When 
I  told  him  of  that  chamber  in  the 
British  Museum  wherein  are  preserved 
household  memorials  of  a  race  that 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


115 


ceased  to  be,  thousands  of  years  ago, 
he  was  very  attentive,  and  it  was  not 
hard  to  see  that  he  had  a  reference  in 
his  mind  to  the  gradual  fading  away 
of  his  own  people. 

This  led  us  to  speak  of  Mr.  Catlin's 
gallery,  which  he  praised  highly: 
observing  that  his  own  portrait  was 
among  the  collection,  and  that  all 
the  likenesses  were  "elegant."  Mr. 
Cooper,  he  said,  had  painted  the  Red 
Man  well ;  and  so  would  I,  he  knew, 
if  I  would  go  home  with  him  and 
hunt  bufialoes,  which  he  was  quite 
anxious  I  should  do.  When  I  told 
him  that  supposing  I  went,  I  should 
not  be  very  likely  to  damage  the  buf- 
faloes much,  he  took  it  as  a  great  joke 
and  laughed  heartily. 

He  was  a  remarkably  handsome 
man ;  some  years  past  forty  I  should 
judge ;  with  long  black  hair,  an  aqui- 
line nose,  broad  cheek  bones,  a  sun- 
burnt complexion,  and  a  very  bright, 
keen,  dark,  and  piercing  eye.  There 
were  but  twenty  thousand  of  the 
Choctaws  left,  he  said,  and  their 
number  was  decreasing  every  day. 
A  few  of  his  brother  chiefs  had  been 
obliged  to  become  civilised,  and  to 
make  themselves  acquainted  with 
what  the  whites  knew,  for  it  was 
their  only  chance  of  existence.  But 
they  were  not  many;  and  the  rest 
were  as  they  always  had  been.  He 
dwelt  on  this  :  and  said  several  times 
that  unless  they  tried  to  assimilate 
themselves  to  their  conquerors,  they 
must  be  swept  away  before  the  strides 
of  civilised  society. 

When  we  shook  hands  at  parting, 
I  told  him  he  must  come  to  England, 
as  he  longed  to  see  the  land  so  much : 
that  I  should  hope  to  see  him  there, 
one  day  :  and  that  I  could  promise 
him  he  would  be  well  received  and 
kindly  treated.  He  was  evidently 
pleased  by  this  assurance,  though  he 
rejoined  with  a  good-humoured  smile 
and  an  arch  shake  of  his  head,  that 


the  English  used  to  be  very  fond  oi 
the  Eed  Men  when  they  wanted  their 
help,  but  had  not  cared  much  for 
them,  since. 

He  took  his  leave;  as  stately  and 
complete  a  gentleman  of  Nature's 
making,  as  ever  I  beheld ;  and  moved 
among  the  people  in  the  boat,  another 
kind  of  being.  He  sent  me  a  litho- 
graphed portrait  of  himself  soon 
afterwards ;  very  like,  though  scarcely 
handsome  enough ;  which  I  have  care- 
fully preserved  in  memory  of  our  bri(rf 
acquaintance. 

There  was  nothing  very  interesting 
in  the  scenery  of  this  day's  journey, 
which  brought  us  at  midnight  to 
Louisville.  We  slept  at  the  Gait 
House;  a  splendid  hotel;  and  were 
as  handsomely  lodged  as  though  we 
had  been  in  Paris,  rather  than  hun- 
dreds of  miles  beyond  the  Alleghanies. 

The  city  presenting  no  objects  of 
suflBicient  interest  to  detain  us  on  our 
way,  we  resolved  to  proceed  next  day 
by  another  steamboat,  the  Fulton, 
and  to  join  it,  about  noon,  at  a  suburb 
called  Portland,  where  it  would  be 
delayed  some  time  in  passing  througk 
a  canal. 

The  interval,  after  breakfast,  we 
devoted  to  riding  through  the  town, 
which  is  regular  and  cheerful :  the 
streets  being  laid  out  at  right  angles, 
and  planted  with  young  trees.  The 
buildings  are  smoky  and  blackened, 
from  the  use  of  bituminous  coal,  but 
an  Englishman  is  well  used  to  that 
appearance,  and  indisposed  to  quarrel 
with  it.  There  did  not  appear  to  be 
much  business  stirring;  and  some 
unfinished  buildings  and  improve- 
ments seemed  to  intimate  that  the 
city  had  been  overbuilt  in  the  ardoi» 
of  "  going  a-head,"  and  was  suffering 
under  the  re-action  consequent  upon 
such  feverish  forcing  of  its  powers. 

On  our  way  to  Portland,  we  passed 
a  "  Magistrate's  office,"  which  amused 
me,  as  looking  far  more  like  a  dame 


116 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


school  than  any  police  establishment : 
for  this  awful  Institution  was  nothing 
but  a  little  lazy,  good-for-nothing 
front  parlour,  open  to  the  street; 
wherein  two  or  three  figures  (I  pre- 
sume the  magistrate  and  his  myrmi- 
dons) were  basking  in  the  sunshine, 
the  very  efl5gies  of  languor  and  re- 
pose. It  was  a  perfect  picture  of 
Justice  retired  from  business  for  want 
of  customers ; ,  her  sword  and  scales 
sold  off;  napping  comfortably  with 
her  legs  upon  the  table. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  in  these  parts, 
the  road  was  perfectly  alive  with  pigs 
of  all  ages;  lying  about  in  every 
direction,  fast  asleep ;  or  grunting 
along  in  quest  of  hidden  dainties.  I 
had  always  a  sneaking  kindness  for 
these  odd  animals,  and  found  a  con- 
stant source  of  amusement,  when  all 
others  failed,  in  watching  their  pro- 
ceedings. As  we  were  riding  along 
this  morning,  I  observed  a  little  inci- 
dent between  two  youthful  pigs,  which 
was  so  very  human  as  to  be  inex- 
pressibly comical  and  grotesque  at 
the  time,  though  I  daresay,  in  telling, 
it  is  tame  enough. 

One  young  gentleman  (a  very  deli- 
cate porker  with  several  straws  stick- 
ing about  his  nose,  betokening  recent 
investigations  in  a  dunghill),  was 
walking  deliberately  on,  profoundly 
thinking,  when  suddenly  his  brother, 
who  was  lying  in  a  miry  hole  unseen 
by  him,  rose  up  immediately  before 
his  startled  eyes,  ghostly  with  damp 
mud.  Never  was  pig's  whole  mass  of 
blood  so  turned.  He  started  back  at 
least  three  feet,  gazed  for  a  moment, 
and  then  shot  off  as  hard  as  he  could 
go :  his  excessively  little  tail  vibrat- 
ing with  speed  and  terror  like  a  dis- 
tracted pendulum.  But  before  he 
had  gone  very  far,  he  began  to  reason 
with  himself  as  to  the  nature  of  this 
frightful  appearance ;  and  as  he  rea- 
soned, he  relaxed  his  speed  by  gradual 
degrees ;  until  at  last  he  stopped,  and 


faced  about.  There  was  his  brother^ 
with  the  mud  upon  him  glazing  in 
the  sun,  yet  staring  out  of  the  very- 
same  hole,  perfectly  amazed  at  his 
proceedings !  He  was  no  sooner  as^ 
sured  of  this ;  and  he  assured  himself 
so  carefully  that  one  may  almost  say 
he  shaded  his  eyes  with  his  hand  to 
see  the  better ;  than  he  came  back  at 
a  round  trot,  pounced  upon  him,  and 
summarily  took  off  a  piece  of  his  tail ; 
as  a  caution  to  him  to  be  careful  what 
he  was  about  for  the  future,  and  never 
to  play  tricks  with  his  family  any 
more. 

We  found  the  steam-boat  in  the 
canal,  waiting  for  the  slow  process  of 
getting  through  the  lock,  and  went 
on  board,  where  we  shortly  afterwards 
had  a  new  kind  of  visitor  in  the  person 
of  a  certain  Kentucky  Giant  whose 
name  is  Porter,  and  who  is  of  the 
moderate  height  of  seven  feet  eight 
inches,  in  his  stockings. 

There  never  was  a  race  of  people 
who  so  completely  gave  the  lie  to 
history  as  these  giants,  or  whom  all 
the  chronialers  have  so  cruelly  libelled. 
Instead  of  roaring  and  ravaging  about 
the  world,  constantly  catering  for 
their  cannibal  larders,  and  perpetu- 
ally going  to  market  in  an  unlawful 
manner,  they  are  the  meekest  people 
in  any  man's  acquaintance  :  rather  in- 
clining to  milk  and  vegetable  diet, 
and  bearing  anything  for  a  quiet  life. 
So  decidedly  are  amiability  and  mild- 
ness their  characteristics,  that  I  con- 
fess I  look  upon  that  youth  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  slaughter 
of  these  inoffensive  persons,  as  a  false- 
hearted brigand,  who,  pretending  to 
philanthropic  motives,  was  secretly 
influenced  only  by  the  wealth  stored 
up  within  their  castles,  and  the  hope 
of  plunder.  And  I  lean  the  more  to 
this  opinion  from  finding  that  even 
the  historian  of  those  exploits,  with 
all  his  partiality  for  his  hero,  is  fain 
to  admit  that  the  slaughtered  mon- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


117 


eters  in  question  were  of  a  very  inno- 
cent and  simple  turn ;  extremely 
guileless  and  ready  of  belief;  lending 
a  credulous  ear  to  the  most  impro- 
bable tales;  suflfering  themselves  to 
be  easily  entrapped  into  pits;  and 
even  (as  in  the  case  of  the  Welsh 
Giant)  with  an  excess  of  the  hospit- 
able politeness  of  a  landlord,  ripping 
themselves  open,  rather  than  hint  at 
the  possibility  of  their  guests  being 
versed  in  the  vagabond  arts  of  sleight- 
of-hand  and  hocus-pocus. 

The  Kentucky  Giant  was  but  ano- 
ther illustration  of  the  truth  of  this 
position.  He  had  a  weakness  in  the 
region  of  the  knees,  and  a  trustful- 
ness in  his  long  face,  which  appealed 
even  to  five-feet-nine  for  encourage- 
ment and  support.  He  was  only 
twenty-five  years  old,  he  said,  and  had 
grown  recently,  for  it  had  been  found 
necessary  to  make  an  addition  to  the 
legs  of  his  inexpressibles.  At  fifteen 
he  was  a  short  boy,  and  in  those  days 
his  English  father  and  his  Irish 
mother  had  rather  snubbed  hhn,  as 
being  too  small  of  stature  to  sustain 
the  credit  of  the  family.  He  added 
that  his  health  had  not  been  good, 
though  it  was  better  now  ;  but  short 
people  are  not  wanting  who  whisper 
that  he  drinks  too  hard. 

I  understand  he  drives  a  hackney- 
coach,  though  how  he  does  it,  unless 
he  stands  on  the  footboard  behind, 
and  lies  along  the  roof  upon  his  chest, 
with  his  chin  in  the  box,  it  would  be 
diflBcult  to  comprehend.  He  brought 
his  gun  with  him,  as  a  curiosity. 
Christened  "The  Little  Rifle,"  and 
displayed  outside  a  shop-window,  it 
would  make  the  fortune  of  any  retail 
business  in  Holborn.  When  he  had 
ghown  himself  and  talked  a  little 
while,  he  withdrew  with  his  pocket- 
instrument,  and  went  bobbing  down 
the  cabin,  among  men  of  six  feet  high 
and  upwards,  like  a  lighthouse  walk- 
ing among  lamp-posts. 


Within  a  few  minutes  afterwards, 
we  were  out  of  the  canal,  and  in  the 
Ohio  river  again. 

The  arrangements  of  the  boat  were 
like  those  of  the  Messenger,  and  the 
passengers  were  of  the  same  order  ©f 
people.  We  fed  at  the  same  times,  on 
the  same  kind  of  viands,  in  the  same 
dull  manner,  and  with  the  same  ob- 
servances. The  company  appeared 
to  be  oppressed  by  the  same  tre- 
mendous concealments,  and  had  as 
little  capacity  of  enjoyment  or  light- 
heartedness.  I  never  in  my  life  did 
see  such  listless,  heavy  dulness  as 
brooded  over  these  meals :  the  very 
recollection  of  it  weighs  me  down,  and 
makes  me,  for  the  moment,  wretched. 
Eeading  and  writing  on  my  knee,  in 
our  little  cabin,  I  really  dreaded  the 
coming  of  the  hour  that  summoned 
us  to  table ;  and  was  as  glad  to  escape 
from  it  again,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
penance  or  a  punishment.  Healthy 
cheerfulness  and  good  spirits  forming 
a  part  of  the  banquet,  I  could  soak 
my  crusts  in  the  fountain  with  Le 
Sage's  strolling  player,  and  revel  in 
their  glad  enjoyment:  but  sitting 
down  with  so  many  fellow-animals  to 
ward  ofi"  thirst  and  hunger  as  a  busi- 
ness; to  empty,  each  creature,  his 
Yahoo's  trough  as  quickly  as  he  can, 
and  then  slink  sullenly  away ;  to 
have  these  social  sacraments  stripped 
of  everything  but  the  mere  greedy 
satisfaction  of  the  natural  cravings ; 
goes  so  against  the  grain  with  me, 
that  I  seriously  believe  the  recollec- 
tion of  these  funeral  feasts  will  be  a 
waking  nightmare  to  me  all  my  life. 

There  was  some  relief  in  this  boat, 
too,  which  there  had  not  been  in  the 
other,  for  the  captain  (a  blunt  good- 
natured  fellow),  had  his  handsome 
wife  with  him,  who  was  disposed  to 
be  lively  and  agreeable,  as  were  a  few 
other  lady-passengers  who  had  their 
seats  about  us  at  the  same  end  of  the 
table.    But  nothing  could  have  made 


in 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


head  against  the  depressing  influence 
of  the  general  body.  There  was  a 
magnetism  of  dulness  in  them  which 
would  have  beaten  down  the  most 
facetious  companion  that  the  earth 
ever  knew.  A  jest  would  have  been  a 
crime,  and  a  smile  would  have  faded 
into  a  grinning  horror.  Such  deadly 
leaden  people ;  such  systematic  plod- 
ding weary  insupportable  heaviness ; 
such  a  mass  of  animated  indigestion 
in  respect  of  all  that  was  genial,  jovial. 
frank,  social,  or  hearty;  never,  sure, 
was  brought  together  elsewhere  since 
the  world  began. 

Nor  was  the  scenery,  as  we  ap- 
proached the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers,  at  all  inspiriting  in. 
its  influence.  The  trees  were  stunted 
in  their  growth ;  the  banks  were  low 
and  flat ;  the  settlements  and  log 
cabins  fewer  in  number :  their  inha- 
bitants more  wan  and  wretched  than 
any  we  had  encountered  yet.  N"o 
songs  of  birds  were  in  the  air,  no 
pleasant  scents,  no  moving  lights  and 
shadows  from  swift  passing  clouds. 
Hour  after  hour,  the  changeless  glare 
of  the  hot,  unwinking  sky,  shone  upon 
the  same  monotonous  objects.  Hour 
after  hour,  the  river  rolled  along,  as 
w«arily  and  slowly  as  the  time  itself. 

At  length,  upon  the  morning  of  the 
third  day,  we  arrived  at  a  spot  so 
much  more  desolate  than  any  we  had 
yet  beheld,  that  the  forlomest  places 
we  had  passed,  were,  in  comparison 
with  it,  full  of  interest.  At  the  junc- 
tion of  the  two  rivers,  on  ground  so 
flat  and  low  and  marshy,  that  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year  it  is  inundated 
to  the  house-tops,  lies  a  breeding-place 
of  fever,  ague,  and  death ;  vaunted  in 
England  as  a  mine  of  Golden  Hope, 
and  speculated  in,  on  the  faith  of 
monstrous  representations,  to  many 
people's  ruin.  A  dismal  swamp,  on 
which  the  half-built  houses  rot  away  : 
cleared  here  and  there  for  the  space 
of  a  few  yards;  and  teeming,  then, 


with  rank  unwholesome  vegetation,  in 
whose  baleful  shade  the  wretched  wan- 
derers who  are  tempted  hither,  droop, 
and  die,  and  lay  their  bones ;  the 
hateful  Mississippi  circling  and  eddy- 
ing before  it,  and  turning  off  upon 
its  southern  course  a  slimy  monster 
hideous  to  behold ;  a  hotbed  of  disease, 
an  ugly  sepulchre,  a  grave  uncheered 
by  any  gleam  of  promise :  a  place  with- 
out one  single  quality,  in  earth  or  air 
or  water,  to  commend  it :  such  is  this 
dismal  Cairo. 

But  what  words  shall  describe  the 
Mississippi,  great  father  of  rivers,  who 
(praise  be  to  Heaven)  has  no  young 
children  like  him !  An  enormous 
ditch,  sometimes  two  or  three  miles 
wide,  running  liquid  mud,  six  miles 
an  hour :  its  strong  and  frothy  current 
choked  and  obstructed  everywhere  by 
huge  logs  and  whole  forest  trees :  now 
twining  themselves  together  in  great 
rafts,  from  the  interstices  of  which  a 
sedgy  lazy  foam  works  up,  to  float 
upon  the  water's  top;  now  rolling  past 
like  monstrous  bodies,  their  tangled 
roots  showing  like  matted  hair ;  now 
glancing  singly  by  like  giant  leeches  ; 
and  now  writhing  round  and  round  in 
the  vortex  of  some  small  whirlpool, 
like  wounded  snakes.  The  banks  low, 
the  trees  dwarfish,  the  marshes  swarm- 
ing with  frogs,  the  wretched  cabins 
few  and  far  apart,  their  inmates  hol- 
low-cheeked and  pale,  the  weather  very 
hot,  mosquitoes  penetrating  into  every 
crack  and  crevice  of  the  boat,  mud 
and  slime  on  everything  :  nothing 
pleasant  in  its  aspect,  but  the  harm- 
less lightning  which  flickers  every 
night  upon  the  dark  horizon. 

For  two  days  we  toiled  up  this  foul 
stream,  striking  constantly  against  the 
floating  timber,  or  stopping  to  avoid 
those  more  dangerous  obstacles,  the 
snags,  or  sawyers,  which  are  the  hidden 
trunks  of  trees  that  have  their  roots 
below  the  tide.  When  the  nights  are 
very  dark,  the  look-out  stationed  in 


FOR   GENERAL   CIRCULATION. 


1I« 


the  head  of  the  ooat,  knows  by  the 
ripple  of  the  water  if  any  great  impe- 
diment be  near  at  hand,  and  rings  a 
bell  beside  him,  which  is  the  signal 
for  the  engine  to  be  stopped :  but 
always  in  the  night  this  bell  has  work 
to  do,  and  after  every  ring,  there 
comes  a  blow  which  renders  it  no  easy 
matter  to  remain  in  bed. 

The  decline  of  day  here  was  very 
gorgeous ;  tinging  the  firmament 
deeply  with  red  and  gold,  up  to  the 
very  keystone  of  the  arch  above  us. 
As  the  sun  went  down  behind  the 
bank,  the  slightest  blades  of  grass 
upon  it  seemed  to  become  as  distinctly 
visible  as  the  arteries  in  the  skeleton 
of  a  leaf ;  and  when,  as  it  slowly  sank, 
the  red  and  golden  bars  upon  the 
water  grew  dimmer,  and  dimmer  yet, 
as  if  they  were  sinking  too ;  and  all 
the  glowing  colours  of  departing  day 
paled,  inch  by  inch,  before  the  sombre 
night ;  the  scene  became  a  thousand 
times  more  lonesome  and  more  dreary 
than  before,  and  all  its  influences 
darkened  with  the  sky. 

We  drank  the  muddy  water  of  this 
river  while  we  were  upon  it.  It  is 
considered  wholesome  by  the  natives, 
and  is  something  more  opaque  than 
gruel.  I  have  seen  water  like  it  at 
the  Filter-shops,  but  nowhere  else. 

On  the  fourth  night  after  leaving 
Louisville,  we  reached  St  Louis,  and 
here  I  witnessed  the  conclusion  of  an 
incident,  trifling  enough  in  itself  but 
very  pleasant  to  see,  which  had  inte- 
rested me  during  the  whole  journey. 

There  was  a  little  woman  on  board, 
with  a  little  baby;  and  both  little 
woman  and  little  child  were  cheerful, 
good-looking,  bright-eyed,  and  fair  to 
see.  The  little  woman  had  been  pass- 
ing a  long  time  with  her  sick  mother 
in  New  York,  and  had  left  her  home 
in  St.  Louis,  in  that  condition  in 
which  ladies  who  truly  love  their  lords 
desire  to  be.  The  baby  was  born  in 
her  mother's  house  ;  and  she  had  not 


seen  her  husband  (to  whom  she  was 
now  returning),  for  twelve  months: 
having  left  him  a  month  or  two  after 
their  marriage. 

Well,  to  be  sure  there  never  was  a 
little  woman  so  full  of  hope,  and  ten- 
derness, and  love,  and  anxiety,  as  this 
little  woman  was :  and  all  day  long 
she  wondered  whether  "  He  "  would 
be  at  the  wharf ;  and  whether  "  He  " 
had  got  her  letter;  and  whether,  if 
she  sent  the  baby  ashore  by  somebody 
else,  "  He  "  would  know  it,  meeting  it 
in  the  street :  which,  seeing  that  he 
had  never  set  eyes  upon  it  in  his  life, 
was  not  very  likely  in  the  abstract, 
but  was  probable  enough,  to  the  young 
mother.  She  was  such  an  artless  little 
creature;  and  was  in  such  a  sunny, 
beaming,  hopeful  state;  and  let  out 
all  this  matter  clinging  close  about 
her  heart,  so  freely ;  that  all  the  other 
lady  passengers  entered  into  the  spirit 
of  it  as  much  as  she ;  and  the  captain 
(who  heard  all  about  it  from  his  wife), 
was  wondrous  sly,  I  promise  you : 
inquiring,  every  time  we  met  at  table, 
as  in  forgetfulness,  whether  she  ex- 
pected anybody  to  meet  her  at  St. 
Louis,  and  whether  she  would  want 
to  go  ashore  the  night  we  reached  it 
(but  he  supposed  she  wouldn't),  and 
cutting  many  other  dry  jokes  of  that 
nature.  There  was  one  little  weazen, 
dried-apple-faced  old  woman,  who 
took  occasion  to  doubt  the  constancy 
of  husbands  in  such  circumstances  of 
bereavement ;  and  there  was  another 
lady  (with  a  lap  dog)  old  enough  to 
moralize  on  the  lightness  of  human 
affections,  and  yet  not  so  old  that  she 
could  help  nursing  the  baby,  now  and 
then,  or  laughing  with  the  rest,  when 
the  little  woman  called  it  by  its 
father's  name,  and  asked  it  all  manner 
of  fantastic  questions  concerning  him 
in  the  joy  of  her  heart. 

It  was  something  of  a  blow  to  the 
little  woman,  that  when  we  were 
within  twenty  miles  of  our  destination. 


120 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


it  became  clearly  necessary  to  put  this 
baby  to  bed.  But  she  got  over  it 
with  the  same  good  humour ;  tied  a 
handkerchief  round  her  head;  and 
came  out  into  the  little  gallery  with 
the  rest.  Then,  such  an  oracle  as  she 
became  in  reference  to  the  localities  ! 
and  such  facetiousness  as  was  dis- 
played by  the  married  ladies !  and 
such  sympathy  as  was  shown  by  the 
single  ones  !  and  such  peals  of  laughter 
as  the  little  woman  herself  (who  would 
just  as  soon  have  cried)  greeted  every 
jest  with ! 

At  last,  there  were  the  lights  of 
St.  Louis,  and  here  was  the  wharf,  and 
those  were  the  steps  :  and  the  little 
woman  covering  her  face  with  her 
hands,  and  laughing  (or  seeming  to 
laugh)  more  than  ever,  ran  into  her 
own  cabin,  and  shut  herself  up.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  in  the  charming  incon- 
sistency of  such  excitement,  she 
stopped  her  ears,  lest  she  should  hear 
"  Him  "  asking^'for  her  :  but  I  did 
not  see  her  do  it. 

Then,  a  great  crowd  of  people 
rushed  on  board,  though  the  boat  was 
not  yet  made  fast,  but  was  wandering 
about,  among  the  other  boats,  to  find 
a  landing  place :  and  everybody 
looked  for  the  husband  :  and  nobody 
saw  him :  when,  in  the  midst  of  us  all — 
Heaven  knows  how  she  ever  got  there 
• — there  was  the  little  woman  clinging 
with  both  arms  tight  round  the  neck 
of  a  fine,  good-looking,  sturdy  young 
fellow !  and  in  a  moment  afterwards, 
there  she  was  again,  actually  clapping 
her  little  hands  for  joy,  as  she  dragged 
him  through  the  small  door  of  her 
small  cabin,  to  look  at  the  baby  as  he 
lay  asleep ! 

We  went  to  a  large  hotel,  called  the 
Planters  House  :  built  like  an  English 
hospital,  with  long  passages  and  bare 
walls,  and  skylights  above  the  room- 
doors  for  the  free  circulation  of  air. 
There  were  a  great  many  boarders  in 
it ;  and  as  many  lights  sparkled  and 


glistened  from  the  windows  down  into 
the  street  below,  when  we  drove  up, 
as  if  it  had  been  illuminated  on  some 
occasion  of  rejoicing.  It  is  an  excel- 
lent house,  and  the  proprietors  have 
most  bountiful  notions  of  providing 
the  creature  comforts.  Dining  alone 
with  my  wife  in  our  o\sti  room,  one 
day,  I  counted  fourteen  dishes  on  the 
table  at  once. 

In  the  old  French  portion  of  the 
town,  the  thoroughfares  are  narrow 
and  crooked,  and  some  of  the  houses 
are  very  quaint  and  picturesque: 
being  built  of  wood,  with  tumble-down 
galleries  before  the  windows,  ap- 
proachable by  stairs  or  rather  ladders 
from  the  street.  There  are  queer 
little  barbers'  shops  and  drinking- 
houses  too,  in  this  quarter;  and 
abundance  of  crazy  old  tenements 
with  blinking  casements,  such  as  may 
be  seen  in  Flanders.  Some  of  these 
ancient  habitations,  with  high  garret 
gable-windows  perking  into  the  roofs, 
have  a  kind  of  French  shrug  about 
them  ;  and  being  lop-sided  with  age, 
appear  to  hold  their  heads  askew, 
besides,  as  if  they  were  grimacing  in 
astonishment  at  the  American  Im- 
provements. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that 
these  consist  of  wharfs  and  warehouses, 
and  new  buildings  in  all  directions; 
and  of  a  great  many  vast  plans  which 
are  still  "progressing."  Already, 
however,  some  very  good  houses, 
broad  streets,  and  marble-fronted 
shops,  have  gone  so  far  a-head  as  to 
be  in  a  state  of  completion  ;  and  the 
town  bids  fair  in  a  few  years  to  im- 
prove considerably  :  though  it  is  not 
likely  ever  to  vie,  in  point  of  elegance 
or  beauty,  with  Cincinnati. 

The  Roman  Catholic  religion,  intro- 
duced here  by  the  early  French  set- 
tlers, prevails  extensively.  Among 
the  public  institutions  are  a  Jesuit 
college  ;  a  convent  for  "  the  Ladies  of 
the  Sacred  Heart ; "  and  a  large  chapel 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


121 


attached  to  the  college,  which  was  in 
course  of  erection  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  and  was  intended  to  be  conse- 
crated on  the  second  of  December  in 
the  next  year.  The  architect  ofj 
this  building,  is  one  of  the  reverend  i 
fathers  of  the  school,  and  the  works 
proceed  under  his  sole  direction.  The 
organ  will  be  sent  from  Belgium. 

In  addition  to  these  establishments, ' 
there  is  a  Roman  Catholic  cathedral, 
dedicated  to  Saint  Francis  Xavier; 
and  a  hospital,  founded  by  the  muni- 
ficence of  a  deceased  resident,  who 
was  a  member  of  that  church .  It  also 
sends  missionaries  from  hence  among 
the  Indian  tribes. 

The  Unitarian  church  is  represented, 
in  this  remote  place,  as  in  most  other 
parts  of  America,  by  .a  gentleman  of 
great  worth  and  excellence.  The  poor 
have  good  reason  to  remember  and  | 
bless  it ;  for  it  befriends  them,  and 
aids  the  cause  of  rational  education, 
without  any  sectarian  or  selfish  views. 
It  is  liberal  in  all  its  actions  ;  of  kind 
construction;  and  of  wide  benevolence. 

There  are  three  free-schools  already 
erected,  and  in  full  operation  in  this 
city.  A  fourth  is  building,  and  will 
soon  be  opened. 


No  man  ever  admits  the  unheal  thi- 
ness  of  the  place  he  dwells  in  (unless 
he  is  going  away  from  it),  and  I  shall 
therefore,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  at  issue 
with  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Louis,  in 
questioning  the  perfect  salubrity  of 
its  climate,  and  in  hinting  that  I 
think  it  must  rather  dispose  to  fever, 
in  the  summer  and  autumnal  seasons. 
Just  adding,  that  it  is  very  hot,  lies 
among  great  rivers,  and  has  vast 
tracts  of  undrained  swampy  land 
around  it,  I  leave  the  reader  to  form 
his  own  opinion. 

As  I  had  a  great  desire  to  see  a 
Prairie  before  turning  back  from  the 
furthest  point  of  my  wanderings ;  and 
as  some  gentlemen  of  the  town  had, 
in  their  hospitable  consideration,  an 
equal  desire  to  gratify  me  ;  a  day  was 
fixed,  before  my  departure,  for  an 
expedition  to  the  Looking-Glass 
Prairie,  which  is  within  thirty  miles 
of  the  town.  Deeming  it  possible 
that  my  readers  may  not  object  to 
know  what  kind  of  thing  such  a  gipsy 
party  may  be  at  that  distance  from 
home,  and  among  what  sort  of  objects 
it  moves,  I  will  describe  the  jaunt  in 
another  chapter. 


122 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


CHAPTER  Xm. 


A  JAUNT  TO  THE  LOOKING-GLASS   PIUIRIE   AND   BACK. 


I  MAY  premise  that  the  -word  Prairie 
is  variously  pronounced  paraaer,  par- 
earer,  and  paroarer.  The  latter  mode 
of  pronunciation  is  perhaps  the  most 
in  favour. 

We  were  fourteen  in  all,  and  all 
young  men  :  indeed  it  is  a  singular 
though  very  natural  feature  in  the 
society  of  these  distant  settlements, 
that  it  is  mainly  composed  of  adven- 
turous persons  in  the  prime  of  life, 
and  has  very  few  grey  heads  among 
it.  There  were  no  ladies :  the  trip 
being  a  feitiguing  one :  and  we  were 
to  start  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
punctually. 

I  was  called  at  four,  that  I  might 
be  certain  of  keeping  nobody  waiting; 
and  having  got  some  bread  and  milk 
for  breakfast,  threw  up  the  window 
and  looked  down  into  the  street,  ex- 
pecting to  see  the  whole  party  busily 
astir,  and  great  preparations  going  on 
below.  But  as  everything  was  very 
quiet,  and  the  street  presented  that 
hopeless  aspect  with  which  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning  is  familiar  elsewhere, 
I  deemed  it  as  well  to  go  to  bed  again, 
and  went  accordingly. 

I  awoke  again  at  seven  o'clock,  and 
by  that  time  the  party  had  assembled, 
and  were  gathered  round,  one  light 
carriage,  with  a  very  stout  axletree ; 
one  something  on  wheels  like  an 
amateur  carrier's  cart;  one  double 
phaeton  of  great  antiquity  and  un- 
earthly construction ;  one  gig  with  a 
great  hole  in  its  back  and  a  broken 
head;  and  one  rider  on  horseback 
who  was  to  go  on  before.  I  got  into 
the  first  coach  with  three  companions; 


the  rest  bestowed  themselves  in  the 
other  vehicles ;  two  large  baskets 
were  made  fast  to  the  lightest ;  two 
large  stone  jars  in  wicker  cases,  tech- 
nically known  as  demijohns,  were 
consigned  to  the  "least  rowdy"  of 
the  party  for  safe  keeping ;  and  the 
procession  moved  off  to  the  ferry-boat, 
in  which  it  was  to  cross  the  river 
bodily,  men,  horses,  carriages,  and  all, 
as  the  manner  in  these  parts  is. 

We  got  over  the  river  in  due  course, 
and  mustered  again  before  a  little 
wooden  box  on  wheels,  hove  down  all 
aslant  in  a  morass,  with  "  merchant 
TAILOR  "  painted  in  very  large  letters- 
over  the  door.  Having  settled  the 
order  of  proceeding,  and  the  road  to 
be  taken,  we  started  off  once  more 
and  began  to  make  our  way  through 
an  ill-favoured  Black  Hollow,  called, 
less  expressively,  the  American 
Bottom. 

The  previous  day  had  been — not  to 
say  hot,  for  the  term  is  weak  and 
lukewarm  in  its  power  of  conveying 
an  idea  of  the  temperature.  The  town 
had  been  on  fire ;  in  a  blaze.  But  at 
night  it  had  come  on  to  rain  in  tor- 
rents, and  all  night  long  it  had  rained 
without  cessation.  We  had  a  pair  of 
very  strong  horses,  but  travelled  at 
the  rate  of  little  more  than  a  couple 
of  miles  an  hour,  through  one  un- 
broken slough  of  black  mud  and 
water.  It  had  no  variety  but  in 
depth.  Now  it  was  only  half  over 
the  wheels,  now  it  hid  the  axletree, 
and  now  the  coach  sank  down  in  it 
almost  to  the  windows.  The  air  re- 
sounded in  all  directions  with  the  loud 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


123 


chirping  of  the  frogs,  who,  -with  the 
pigs  (a  coarse,  ugly  breed,  as  unwhole- 
some-looking as  though  they  were  the 
spontaneous  growth  of  the  country), 
had  the  whole  scene  to  themselves. 
Here  and  there  we  passed  a  log  hut ; 
but  the  wretched  cabins  were  wide 
apart  and  thinly  scattered,  for  though 
the  soil  is  very  rich  in  this  place  few 
people  can  exist  in  such  a  deadly 
atmosphere.  On  either  side  of  the 
track,  if  it  deserve  the  name,  was  the 
thick  "bush;"  and  everywhere  was 
stagnant,  slimy,  rotten,  filthy  water. 

As  it  is  the  custom  in  these  parts  to 
give  a  horse  a  gallon  or  so  of  cold  water 
whenever  he  is  in  a  foam  with  heat, 
we  halted  for  that  purpose,  at  a  log 
inn  in  the  wood,  far  removed  from 
any  other  residence.  It  consisted  of 
one  room,  bare-roofed  and  bare-walled 
of  course,  with  a  loft  above.  The 
ministering  priest  was  a  swarthy 
young  savage,  in  a  shirt  of  cotton 
print  like  bed-furniture,  and  a  pair  of 
ragged  trousers.  There  were  a  couple 
of  young  boys,  too,  nearly  naked, 
lying  idly  by  the  well ;  and  they,  and 
he,  and  the  traveller  at  the  inn,  turned 
out  to  look  at  us. 

";  The  traveller  was  an  old  man  with 
a  grey  gristly  beard  two  inches  long, 
a  shaggy  moustache  of  the  same  hue, 
and  enormous  eyebrows;  which  almost 
obscured  his  lazy,  semi-drunken 
glance,  as  he  stood  regarding  us  with 
folded  arms :  poising  himself  alter- 
nately upon  his  toes  and  heels.  On 
being  addressed  by  one  of  the  party, 
he  drew  nearer,  and  said,  rubbing  his 
chin  (which  scraped  under  his  homy 
hand  like  fresh  gravel  beneath  a 
nailed  shoe),  that  he  was  from  Dela- 
ware, and  had  lately  bought  a  farm 
"down  there"  pointing  into  one  of 
the  marshes  where  the  stunted  trees 
were  thickest.  He  was  "  going,"  he 
added,  to  St.  Louis,  to  fetch  his  family, 
whom  he  had  left  behind;  but  he 
seemed  in  no  great  hurry  to  bring  on 


these  incumbrance!?,  for  when  we 
moved  away,  he  loitered  back  into 
the  cabin,  and  was  plainly  bent  on 
stopping  there  so  long  as  his  money 
lasted.  He  was  a  great  politician  of 
course,  and  explained  his  opinions  at 
some  length  to  one  of  our  company ; 
but  I  only  remember  that  he  con- 
cluded with  two  sentiments,  one  of 
which  was.  Somebody  for  ever ;  and 
the  other.  Blast  everybody  else  ! 
which  is  by  no  means  a  bad  abstract 
of  the  general  creed  in  these  matters. 

When  the  horses  were  swollen  out 
to  about  twice  their  natural  dimen- 
sions (there  seems  to  be  an  idea  here, 
that  this  kind  of  inflation  improves 
their  going),  we  went  forward  again, 
through  mud  and  mire,  and  damp, 
and  festering  heat,  and  brake  and 
bush,  attended  always  by  the  music 
of  the  frogs  and  pigs,  until  nearly 
noon,  when  we  halted  at  a  place  called 
Belleville. 

Belleville  was  a  small  collection  of 
wooden  houses,  huddled  together  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  bush  and  swamp. 
Many  of  them  had  singularly  bright 
doors  of  red  and  yellow;  for  the  place 
had  been  lately  visited  by  a  travelling 
painter,  "  who  got  along,"  as  I  was 
told,  "by  eating  his  way."  The 
criminal  court  was  sitting,  and  was  at 
that  moment  trying  some  criminals 
for  horse-stealing :  with  whom  it 
would  most  likely  go  hard  :  for  live 
stock  of  all  kinds  being  necessarily 
very  much  exposed  in  the  woods,  is 
held  by  the  community  in  rather 
higher  value  than  human  life;  and 
for  this  reason,  juries  generally  make 
a  point  of  finding  all  men  indicted 
for  cattle-stealing,  guilty,  whether 
or  no. 

The  horses  belonging  to  the  bar, 
the  judge,  and  witnesses,  were  tied 
to  temporary  racks  set  up  roughly  in 
the  road ;  by  which  is  to  be  understood, 
a  forest  path,  nearly  knee-deep  in  mud 
and  slime. 


124 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


There  was  an  hotel  in  this  place 
which,  like  all  hotels  in  America,  had 
its  large  dining-room  for  the  public 
table.  It  was  an  odd,  shambling, 
low-roofed  out-house,  half-cowshed 
and  half-kitchen,  with  a  coarse  brown 
canvas  table-cloth,  and  tin  sconces 
Etuck  against  the  walls,  to  hold 
candles  at  supper-time.  The  horse- 
man had  gone  forward  to  have  coffee 
and  some  eatables  prepared,  and  they 
were  by  this  time  nearly  ready.  He 
had  ordered  "  wheat-bread  and 
chicken  fixings,"  in  preference  to 
*'  corn-bread  and  common  doings." 
The  latter  kind  of  refection  includes 
only  pork  and  bacon.  The  former 
comprehends  broiled  ham,  sausages, 
veal  cutlets,  steaks,  and  such  other 
viands  of  that  nature  as  may  be  sup- 
posed, by  a  tolerably  wide  poetical 
construction,  "to  fix"  a  chicken 
comfortably  in  the  digestive  organs 
of  any  lady  or  gentleman. 

On  one  of  the  door-posts  at  this 
inn,  was  a  tin  plate,  whereon  was 
inscribed  in  characters  of  gold  "Doc- 
tor Crocus;"  and  on  a  sheet  of  paper, 
pasted  up  by  the  side  of  this  plate, 
was  a  written  announcement  that 
Dr.  Crocus  would  that  evening  deliver 
a  lecture  on  Phrenology  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Belleville  public ;  at  a  charge, 
for  admission,  of  so  much  a  head. 

Straying  up  stairs,  during  the  pre- 
paration of  the  chicken-fixings,  I 
happened  to  pass  the  Doctor's  cham- 
ber ;  and  as  the  door  stood  wide  open, 
and  the  room  was  empty,  I  made 
bold  to  peep  in. 

It  was  a  bare,  unfurnished,  com- 
fortless room,  with  an  unframed  por- 
trait hanging  up  at  the  head  of  the 
bed ;  a  likeness,  I  take  it,  of  the 
Doctor,  for  the  forehead  was  fully 
displayed,  and  great  stress  was  laid 
by  the  artist  upon  its  phrenological 
developments.  The  bed  itself  was 
covered  with  an  old  patchwork 
counterpane.   The  room  was  destitute 


of  carpet  or  of  curtain.  There  was  a 
damp  fire-place  without  any  stove, 
full  of  wood  ashes ;  a  chair,  and  a 
very  small  table ;  and  on  the  last-^ 
named  piece  of  furniture  was  dis- 
played, in  grand  array,  the  doctor's 
library,  consisting  of  some  half-dozen 
greasy  old  books. 

Now,  it  certainly  looked  about  the 
last  apartment  on  the  whole  earth 
out  of  which  any  man  would  be 
likely  to  get  anything  to  do  him  good. 
But  the  door,  as  I  have  said,  stood 
coaxingly  open,  and  plainly  said  in 
conjunction  with  the  chair,  the  por- 
trait, the  table,  and  the  books,  ''Walk 
in,  gentlemen,  walk  in  !  Don't  be 
ill,  gentlemen,  when  you  may  be  well 
in  no  time.  Doctor  Crocus  is  here, 
gentlemen,  the  celebrated  Doctor 
Crocus  !  Doctor  Crocus  has  come  all 
this  way  to  cure  you,  gentlemen.  If 
you  haven't  heard  of  Doctor  Crocus, 
it 's  your  fault,  gentlemen,  who  live 
a  little  way  out  of  the  world  here  : 
not  Doctor  Crocus's.  Walk  in,  gen- 
tlemen, walk  in ! " 

In  the  passage  below,  when  I  went 
down  stairs  again,  was  Doctor  Crocus 
himself.  A  crowd  had  flocked  in 
from  the  Court  House,  and  a  voice 
from  among  them  called  out  to  the 
landlord,  "Colonel!  introduce  Doctor 
Crocus." 

"Mr.  Dickens,"  says  the  colonel, 
"Doctor  Crocus." 

Upon  which  Doctor  Crocus,  who  is 
a  tall,  fine-looking  Scotchman,  but 
rather  fierce  and  warlike  in  appear- 
ance for  a  professor  of  the  peaceful 
art  of  healing,  bursts  out  of  the  con- 
course with  his  right  arm  extended, 
and  his  chest  thrown  out  as  far  as  it 
will  possibly  come,  and  says : 

"  Your  countryman,  sir !  " 

Whereupon  Doctor  Crocus  and  I 
shake  hands ;  and  Doctor  Crocus 
looks  as  if  I  didn't  by  any  means 
realise  his  expectations,  which,  in  a 
linen  blouse,  and  a  great  straw  hat 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION. 


125 


witli  a  green  ribbon,  and  no  gloves, 
and  my  face  and  nose  profusely  orna- 
mented with  the  stings  of  mosquitoes 
and  the  bites  of  bugs,  it  is  very  likely 
I  did  not. 

"  Long  in  these  parts,  sir  ] "  says  I. 

"  Three  or  four  months,  sir,"  says 
the  Doctor. ' 

"  Do  you  think  of  soon  returning 
to  the  old  country,  sir?"  says  I. 

Doctor  Crocus  makes  no  verbal 
answer,  but  gives  me  an  imploring 
look,  which  says  so  plainly  '  Will  you 
ask  me  that  again,  a  little  louder,  if 
you  please  ] '  that  I  repeat  the 
question. 

"  Think  of  soon  returning  to  the 
old  country,  sir!"  repeats  the  Doctor. 

"  To  the  old  country,  sir,"  I  rejoin. 

Doctor  Crocus  looks  round  upon 
the  crowd  to  observe  the  effect  he 
produces,  rubs  his  hands,  and  says, 
in  a  very  loud  voice  : 

''Not  yet  awhile,  sir, not  yet.  You 
won't  catch  me  at  that  just  yet,  sir. 
I  am  a  little  too  fond  of  freedom  for 
^lat,  sir.  Ha,  ha  !  It 's  not  so  easy 
for  a  man  to  tear  himself  from  a  free 
country  such  as  this  is,  sir.  Ha,  ha  ! 
No,  no  !  Ha,  ha !  None  of  that  till 
one's  obliged  to  do  it,  sir.  No, 
no!" 

As  Doctor  Crocus  says  these  latter 
words,  he  shakes  his  head,  knowingly, 
and  laughs  again.  Many  of  the  by- 
standers shake  their  heads  in  concert 
with  the  doctor,  and  laugh  too,  and 
look  at  each  other  as  much  as  to  say, 
*  A  pretty  bright  and  first-rate  sort  of 
chap  is  Crocus ! '  and  unless  I  am 
very  much  mistaken,  a  good  many 
people  went  to  the  lecture  that  night, 
who  never  thought  about  phrenology, 
or  about  Doctor  Crocus  either,  in  all 
their  lives  before. 

From  Belleville,  we  went  on, 
through  the  same  desolate  kind  of 
waste,  and  constantly  attended,  with- 
out the  interval  of  a  moment,  by  the 
same  music :  until,,  at  three  o'clock 


in  the  afternoon,  we  halted  once  more 
at  a  village  called  Lebanon  to  inflate 
the  horses  again,  and  give  them  some 
com  besides :  of  which  they  stood 
much  in  need.  Pending  this  cere- 
mony, I  walked  into  the  village, 
where  I  met  a  full  sized  dwelling- 
house  coming  down-hill  at  a  round 
trot,  drawn  by  a  score  or  more  of 
oxen. 

The  public-house  was  so  very  clean 
and  good  a  one,  that  the  managers  of 
the  jaunt  resolved  to  return  to  it  and 
put  up  there  for  the  night,  if  possible. 
This  course  decided  on,  and  the  horses 
being  well  refreshed,  we  again  pushed 
forward,  and  came  upon  the  Prairie 
at  sunset. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  why,  or 
how — though  it  was  possibly  from 
having  heard  and  read  so  much  about 
it — but  the  effect  on  me  was  disap- 
pointment. Looking  towards  the 
setting  sun,  there  lay,  stretched  out 
before  my  view,  a  vast  expanse  of 
level  ground ;  unbroken,  save  by  one 
thin  line  of  trees,  which  scarcely 
amounted  to  a  scratch  upon  the  great 
blank  ;  until  it  met  the  glowing  sky, 
wherein  it  seemed  to  dip :  mingling 
with  its  rich  colours,  and  mellowing 
in  its  distant  blue.  There  it  lay,  a 
tranquil  sea  or  lake  without  water,  if 
such  a  simile  be  admissible,  with  the 
day  going  down  upon  it :  a  few  birds 
wheeling  here  and  there:  and  soli- 
tude and  silence  reigning  paramount 
around.  But  the  grass  was  not  yet 
high ;  there  were  bare  black  patches 
on  the  ground ;  and  the  few  wild 
flowers  that  the  eye  could  see,  were 
poor  and  scanty.  Great  as  the  picture 
was,  its  very  flatness  and  extent, 
which  left  nothing  to  the  imagination, 
tamed  it  down  and  cramped  its  inte- 
rest. I  felt  little  of  that  sense  of 
freedom  and  exhilaration  which  a 
Scottish  heath  inspires,  or  even  our 
English  downs  awaken.  It  was  lonely 
and  wild,  but  oppressive  inits  barren 


126 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


monotony.  I  felt  that  in  traversing  j 
the  Prairies,  I  could  never  abandon 
myself  to  the  scene,  forgetful  of  all 
else;  as  I  should  do  instinctively, 
■were  the  heather  underneath  my  feet, 
or  an  iron-bound  coast  beyond ;  but 
should  often  glance  towards  the  dis- 
tant and  frequently-receding  line  of 
the  horizon,  and  wish  it  gained  and 
passed.  It  is  not  a  scene  to  be  for- 
gotten, but  it  is  scarcely  one,  I  think 
(at  all  events,  as  I  saw  it),  to  remem- 
ber with  much  pleasure,  or  to  covet 
the  looking-on  again,  in  after  life. 

We  encamped  near  a  solitary  log- 
house,  for  the  sake  of  its  water,  and 
dined  upon  the  plain.  The  baskets 
contained  roast  fowls,  buffalo's  tongue 
(an  exquisite  dainty,  by  the  way), 
ham,  bread,  cheese,  and  butter ;  bis- 
cuits, champagne,  sherry  ,•  lemons  and 
sugar  for  punch;  and  abundance  of 
rough  ice.  The  meal  was  delicious, 
and  the  entertainers  were  the  soul  of 
kindness  and  good  humour.  I  have 
often  recalled  that  cheerful  party  to 
my  pleasant  recollection  since,  and 
shall  not  easily  forget,  in  junketings 
nearer  home  with  friends  of  older 
date,  my  boon  companions  on  the 
Prairie. 

Eeturning  to  Lebanon  that  night, 
we  lay  at  the  little  inn  at  which  we 
had  halted  in  the  afternoon.  In  point 
of  cleanliness  and  comfort  it  would 
have  sufi'ered  by  no  comparison  with 
any  village  alehouse,  of  a  homely 
kind,  in  England. 

Rising  at  five  o'clock  next  morning, 
I  took  a  walk  about  the  village :  none 
of  the  houses  were  strolling  about  to- 
day, but  it  was  early  for  them  yet, 
perhaps :  and  then  amused  myself  by 
lounging  in  a  kind  of  farm-yard  be- 
hind the  tavern,  of  which  the  leading 
features  were,  a  strange  jumble  of 
rough  sheds  for  stables  ;'arude  colon- 
nade, built  as  a  cool  place  of  summer 
resort ;  a  deep  well ;  a  great  earthen 
mound  for  keeping  vegetables  in,  in 


winter  time;  and  a  pigeon-house, 
whose  little  apertures  looked,  as  th^ 
do  in  all  pigeon-houses,  very  mueh 
too  small  for  the  admission  of  the 
plump  and  swelling-breasted  birds 
who  were  strutting  about  it,  though 
they  tried  to  get  in  never  so  hard. 
That  interest  exhausted,  I  took  a  sur- 
vey of  the  inn's  two  parlours,  which 
were  decorated  with  coloured  prints 
of  Washington,  and  President  Madison, 
and  of  a  white  faced  young  lady  (mudi 
speckled  by  the  flies),  who  held  up 
her  gold  neck- chain  for  the  admirar 
tion  of  the  spectator,  and  informed 
all  admiring  comers  that  she  was 
"  Just  Seventeen  : "  although  I  should 
have  thought  her  older.  In  the  best 
room  were  two  oil  portraits  of  the 
kit-cat  size,  representing  the  landlord 
and  his  infant  son ;  both  looking  as 
bold  as  lions,  and  staring  out  of  the 
canvas  with  an  intensity  that  would 
have  been  cheap  at  any  price.  They 
were  painted,  I  think,  by  the  artist 
who  had  touched  up  the  Belleville 
doors  with  red  and  gold  ;  for  I  seemed 
to  recognise  his  style  immediately. 

After  breakfast,  we  started  to 
return  by  a  different  way  from  that 
which  we  had  taken  yesterday,  and 
coming  up  at  ten  o'clock  with  an  en- 
campment of  German  emigrants  car- 
rying their  goods  in  carte,  who  had 
made  a  rousing  fire  which  they  were 
just  quitting,  stopped  there  to  refresh. 
And  very  pleasant  the  fire  was ;  for, 
hot  though  it  had  been  yesterday,  it 
was  quite  cold  to-day,  and  the  wind 
blew  keenly.  Looming  in  the  dis- 
tance, as  we  rode  along,  was  another 
of  the  ancient  Indian  burial-places, 
called  The  Monks'  Mound ;  in  me- 
mory of  a  body  of  fanatics  of  the 
order  of  La  Trappe,  who  founded  a 
desolate  convent  there,  many  years 
ago,  when  there  were  no  settlers 
within  a  thousand  miles,  and  were  all 
swept  off  by  the  pernicious  climate : 
in   which    lamentable   fatality,   few 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


127 


rational  people  will  suppose,  perhaps, 
that  society  experienced  any  very 
severe  deprivation. 

The  track  of  to-day  had  the  same 
features  as  the  track  of  yesterday. 
There  was  the  swamp,  the  bush,  the 
perpetual  chorus  of  frogs,  the  rank 
unseemly  growth,  the  unwholesome 
steaming  earth.  Here  and  there, 
and  frequently  too,  we  encountered 
a  solitary  broken-down  waggon,  fuU 
of  some  new  settler's  goods.  It  was 
a  pitiful  sight  to  see  one  of  these 
vehicles  deep  in  the  mire ;  the  axle- 
tree  broken  ;  the  wheel  lying  idly 
by  its  side;  the  man  gone  miles 
away,  to  look  for  assistance ;  the 
woman  seated  among  their  wan- 
dering household  gods  with  a  baby 
at  her  breast,  a  picture  of  forlorn, 
dejected  patience ;  the  team  of  oxen 


crouching  down  mournfully  in  the 
mud,  and  breathing  forth  such  clouds 
of  vapour  from  their  mouths  and 
nostrils,  that  all  the  damp  mist  and 
fog  around  seemed  to  have  come 
direct  from  them. 

In  due  time  we  mustered  once 
again  before  the  merchant  tailor's, 
and  having  done  so,  crossed  over  to 
the  city  in  the  ferry-boat :  passing, 
on  the  way,  a  spot  called  Bloody 
Island,  the  duelling-ground  of  St 
Louis,  and  so  designated  in  honour 
of  the  last  fatal  combat  fought  there^ 
which  was  with  pistols,  breast  to 
breast.  Both  combatants  fell  dead 
upon  the  ground ;  and  possibly  some 
rational  people  may  think  of  them, 
as  of  the  gloomy  madmen  on  the 
Monks'  Mound,  that  they  were  no 
great  loss  to  the  community. 


128 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


KETURN  TO   CINCINNATI.      A   STAGE-COACH   RIDE   FROM   THAT   CITY   TO   COLUMBUS, 
AND  THENCE  TO  SANDUSKY.      SO,  BY  LAKE  ERIE,  TO  THE   FALLS   OF  NIAGARA. 


Ab  I  had  a  desire  to  travel  through 
the  interior  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  and 
to  "strike  the  lakes,"  as  the  phrase 
is,  at  a  small  town  called  Sandusky, 
to  which  that  route  would  conduct  us 
on  our  way  to  Niagara,  we  had  to 
return  from  St.  Louis  by  the  way  we 
had  come,  and  to  retrace  our  former 
track  as  far  as  Cincinnati. 

The  day  on  which  we  were  to  take 
leave  of  St.  Louis  being  very  fine; 
and  the  steamboat,  which  was  to  have 
started  I  don't  know^  how  early  in 
the  morning,  postponing,  for  the  third 
or  fourth  time,  her  departure  until 
the  afternoon ;  we  rode  forward  to  an 
old  French  village  on  the  river,  called 
properly  Carondelet,  and  nicknamed 
Vide  Poche,  and  arranged  that  the 
packet  should  call  for  us  there. 

The  place  consisted  of  a  few  poor 
cottages,  and  two  or  three  public- 
houses;  the  state  of  whose  larders 
certainly  seemed  to  justify  the  second 
designation  of  the  village,  for  there 
w^as  nothing  to  eat  in  any  of  them. 
At  length,  however,  by  going  back 
some  half  a  mile  or  so,  we  found  a 
solitary  house  where  ham  and  coffee 
were  procurable  ;  and  there  we  tarried 
to  await  the  advent  of  the  boat, 
which  would  come  in  sight  from  the 
green  before  the  door,  a  long  way  off. 

It  was  a  neat,  unpretending  village 
tavern,  and  we  took  our  repast  in  a 
quaint  little  room  with  a  bed  in  it, 
decorated  with  some  old  oil  paintings, 
which  in  their  time  had  probably 
done  duty  in  a  Catholic  chapel  or 
monastery.    The  fare  was  very  good, 


and  served  with  great  cleanliness. 
The  house  was  kept  by  a  character- 
istic old  couple,  with  whom  we  had  a 
long  talk,  and  who  were  perhaps  a 
very  good  sample  of  that  kind  of 
people  in  the  West. 

The  landlord  was  a  dry,  tough, 
hard-faced  old  fellow  (not  so  very  old 
either,  for  he  was  but  just  turned 
sixty,  I  should  think),  who  had  been 
out  with  the  militia  in  the  last  war 
with  England,  and  had  seen  all  kinds 
of  service, — except  a  battle;  and  he 
had  been  very  near  seeing  that,  he 
added :  very  near.  He  had  all  his 
life  been  restless  and  locomotive,  with 
an  irresistible  desire  for  change ;  and 
was  still  the  son  of  his  old  self :  for  if 
he  had  nothing  to  keep  him  at  home, 
he  said  (slightly  jerking  his  hat  and 
his  thumb  towards  the  window  of  the 
room  in  which  the  old  lady  sat,  as  we 
stood  talking  in  front  of  the  house) 
he  would  clean  up  his  musket,  and  be 
off  to  Texas  to-morrow  morning.  He 
was  one  of  the  very  many  descendants 
of  Cain  proper  to  this  continent,  who 
seem  destined  from  their  birth  to 
serve  as  pioneers  in  the  great  human 
army  :  who  gladly  go  on  from  year 
to  year  extending  its  outposts,  and 
leaving  home  after  home  behind 
them ;  and  die  at  last,  utterly  regard- 
less of  their  graves  being  left 
thousands  of  miles  behind,  by  the 
wandering  generation  who  succeed. 

His  wife  was  a  domesticated  kind- 
hearted  old  soul,  who  had  come  with 
him  ''from  the  queen  city  of  the 
world,"  which,  it  seemed,  was  Phila- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


129 


delphia;  but  had  no  love  for  this 
Western  country,  and  indeed  had 
little  reason  to  bear  it  any;  having 
seen  her  children,  one  by  one,  die 
here  of  fever,  in  the  full  prime  and 
beauty  of  their  youth.  Her  heart 
was  sore,  she  said,  to  think  of  them  ; 
and  to  talk  on  this  theme,  even  to 
strangers,  in  that  blighted  place, 
so  far  from  her  old  home,  eased  it 
somewhat,  and  became  a  melancholy 
pleasure. 

The  boat  appearing  towards  even- 
ing, we  bade  adieu  to  the  poor  old 
lady  and ,  her  vagrant  spouse,  and 
making  for  the  nearest  landing-place, 
were  soon  on  board  The  Messenger 
again,  in  our  old  cabin,  and  steaming 
down  the  Mississippi. 

If  the  coming  up  this  river,  slowly 
making  head  against  the  stream,  be 
an  irksome  journey,  the  shooting 
down  it  with  the  turbid  current  is 
almost  worse ;  for  then  the  boat,  pro- 
ceeding at  the  rate  of  twelve  or 
fifteen  miles  an  hour,  has  to  force  i-ts 
passage  through  a  labyrinth  of  float- 
ing logs,  which,  in  the  dark,  it  is 
often  impossible  to  see  beforehand  or 
avoid.  All  that  night,  the  bell  was 
never  silent  for  five  minutes  at  a  time ; 
and  after  every  ring  the  vessel  reeled 
again,  sometimes  beneath  a  single 
blow,  sometimes  beneath  a  dozen 
dealt  in  quick  succession,  the  lightest 
of  which  seemed  more  than  enough  to 
beat  in  her  frail  keel,  as  though  it  had 
been  pie-crust.  Looking  down  upon 
the  filthy  river  after  dark,  it  seemed 
to  be  alive  with  monsters,  as  these 
black  masses  rolled  upon  the  surface, 
or  came  starting  up  again,  head  first, 
when  the  boat,  in  ploughing  her  way 
among  a  shoal  of  such  obstructions, 
drove  a  few  among  them  for  the 
moment  under   water.      Sometimes, 


favoured  obstacles  that  she  was  fairly 
hemmed  in ;  the  centre  of  a  floating 
island  ;  and  was  constrained  to  pause 
until  they  parted,  somewhere,  as  dark 
clouds  will  do  before  the  wind,  and 
opened  by  degrees  a  channel  out. 

In  good  time  next  morning,  how- 
ever, we  came  again  in  sight  of  the 
detestable  morass  called  Cairo ;  and 
stopping  there  to  take  in  wood,  lay 
alongside  a  barge,  whose  starting 
timbers  scarcely  held  together.  It  was 
moored  to  the  bank,  and  on  its  side 
was  painted  "  Coffee  House ;"  that 
being,  I  suppose,  the  floating  paradise 
to  which  the  people  fly  for  shelter 
when  they  lose  their  houses  for  a 
month  or  two  beneath  the  hideous 
waters  of  the  Mississippi.  But  look- 
ing southward  from  this  point,  we 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that 
intolerable  river  dragging  its  slimy 
length  and  ugly  freight  abruptly  off* 
towards  New  Orleans  ;  and  passing  a 
yellow  line  which  stretched  across  the 
current,  were  again  upon  the  clear 
Ohio,  never,  I  trust,  to  see  the  Mis- 
sissippi more,  saving  in  troubled 
dreams  and  nightmares.  Leaving  it 
for  the  company  of  its  sparkling 
neighbour,  was  like  the  transition 
from  pain  to  ease,  or  the  awakening 
from  a  horrible  vision  to  cheerful 
realities. 

We  arrived  at  Louisville  on  the 
fourth  night,  and  gladly  availed  our- 
selves of  its  excellent  hotel.  Next 
day  we  went  on  in  the  Ben  Franklin, 
a  beautiful  mail  steam-boat,  and 
reached  Cincinnati  shortly  after  mid- 
night. Being  by  this  time  nearly 
tired  of  sleeping  upon  shelves,  we 
had  remained  awake  to  go  ashore 
straightway;  and  groping  a  passage 
across  the  dark  decks  of  other  boats, 
and   among   labyrinths    of    engine- 


the  engine  stopped  during  a  long ;  machinery  and  leaking  casks  of 
interval,  and  then  before  her  and  |  molasses,  we  reached  the  streets, 
behind,  and  gathering  close  about  her  ,  knocked  up  the  porter  at  the  hotel 
on  all  sides,  were  so  many  of  these  ill-   where  we  had  staid  before,  and  were. 

No.  169.  K  9 


130 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


to  our  great  joy,  safely  housed  soon 
afterwards. 

We  rested  but  one  day^at  Cincin- 
nati, and  then  resumed  our  journey 
to  Sandusky.  As  it  comprised  two 
varieties  of  stage-coach  travelling, 
which,  with  those  I  have  already 
glanced  at,  comprehend  the  main 
characteristics  of  this  mode  of  transit 
in  America,  I  will  take  the  reader  as 
our  fellow-passenger,  and  pledge  my- 
self to  perform  the  distance  with  all 
possible  despatch. 

Our  place  of  destination  in  the  first 
instance  is  Columbus.  It  is  distant 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  Cincinnati,  but  there  is  a  mac- 
adamised road  (rare  blessing !)  the 
whole  way,  and  the  rate  of  travelling 
upon  it  is  six  miles  an  hour. 

We  start  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  in  a  great  mail-coach,  whose 
huge  cheeks  are  so  very  ruddy  and 
plethoric,  that  it  appears  to  be  troubled 
with  a  tendency  of  blood  to  the  head. 
Dropsical  it  certainly  is,  for  it  will 
hold  a  dozen  passengers  inside.  But,  j 
wonderful  to  add,  it  is  very  clean  and  \ 
bright,  being  nearly  new ;  and  rattles  ! 
through  the  streets  of  Cincinnati  gaily. 
Our  way  lies  through  a  beautiful 
country,  richly  cultivated,  and  luxu- 
riant in  its  promise  of  an  abundant 
harvest.  Sometimes  we  pass  a  field 
where  the  strong  bristling  stalks  of 
Indian  com  look  like  a  crop  of  walk- 
ing-sticks, and  sometimes  an  enclosure 
where  the  green  wheat  is  springing  up 
among  a  labyrinth  of  stumps;  the 
primitive  worm-fence  is  universal,  and 
an  ugly  thing  it  is ;  but  the  farms  are 
neatly  kept,  and,  save  for  these  diflfer- 
ences,  one  might  be  travelling  just 
now  in  Kent. 

We  often  stop  to  water  at  a  roadside 
inn,  which  is  always  dull  and  silent. 
The  coachman  dismounts  and  fills  his 
bucket,  and  holds  it  to  the  horses' 
heads.  There  is  scarcely  ever  any  one 
to  help  him;  there  are  seldom  any 


loungers  standing  round ;  and  never 
any    stable-company  with  jokes    to 
crack.      Sometimes,   when  we    have 
changed  our  team,  there  is  a  difficulty 
in  starting  again,  arising  out  of  the 
prevalent  mode  of  breaking  a  young 
horse :  which  is  to  catch  him,  harness 
him  against  his  will,  and  put  him  in 
a  stage-coach  without  further  notice : 
but  we  get  on  somehow  or  other,  after 
a  great  many  kicks  and  a  violent 
struggle ;  and  jog  on  as  before  again. 
Occasionally,    when    we    stop    to 
change,    some    two    or    three    half- 
drunken  loafers  will  come  loitering 
out  with  their  hands  in  their  pockets, 
or  will  be  seen  kicking  their  heels  in 
rocking-chairs,  or  lounging  on   the 
window  sill,  or  sitting  on  a  rail  within 
the  colonnade  :  they  have  not  often 
anything  to  say  though,  either  to  us 
or  to  each  other,  but  sit  there  idly 
staring  at  the  coach  and  horses.    The 
landlord  of  the  inn  is  usually  among 
them,  and  seems,  of  all  the  party,  to 
be  the  least  connected  with  the  busi- 
ness of  the  house.    Indeed  he  is  with 
reference  to  the  tavern,  what  the  driver 
is  in  relation  to  the  coach  and  passen- 
gers :  whatever  happens  in  his  sphere 
of  action,  he  is  quite  indifferent,  and 
perfectly  easy  in  his  mind. 

The  frequent  change  of  coachmen 
works  no  change  or  variety  in  the 
coachman's  character.  He  is  always 
dirty,  sullen,  and  taciturn.  If  he  be 
capable  of  smartness  of  any  kind, 
moral  or  physical,  he  has  a  faculty  of 
concealing  it  which  is  truly  marvel- 
lous. He  never  speaks  to  you  as  you 
sit  beside  him  on  the  box,  and  if  you 
speak  to  him,  he  answers  (if  at  all)  in 
monosyllables.  He  points  out  nothing 
on  the  road,  and  seldom  looks  at  any- 
thing :  being,  to  all  appearance,  tho- 
roughly weary  of  it,  and  of  existence 
generally.  As  to  doing  the  honours 
of  his  coach,  his  business,  as  I  have 
said,  is  with  the  horses.  The  coach 
follows  because  it  is  attached  to  them 


FOR   GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


131 


and  goes  on  wheels  :  not  because  you 
are  in  it.  Sometimes,  towards  the  end 
of  a  long  stage,  he  suddenly  breaks 
out  into  a  discordant  fragment  of  an 
election  song,  but  his  face  never  sings 
along  with  him  :  it  is  only  his  voice, 
and  not  often  that. 

He  always  chews  and  always  spits, 
and  never  encumbers  himself  with  a 
pocket-handkerchief.  The  conse- 
quences to  the  box  passenger,  espe- 
cially when  the  wind  blows  towards 
him,  are  not  agreeable. 

Whenever  the  coach  stops,  and  you 
can  hear  the  voices  of  the  inside  pas- 
sengers ;  or  whenever  any  bystander 
addresses  them,  or  any  one  among 
them;  or  they  address  each  other; 
you  will  hear  one  phrase  repeated  over 
and  over  and  over  again  to  the  most 
extraordinary  extent.  It  is  an  ordi- 
nary and  unpromising  phrase  enough, 
being  neither  more  nor  less  than  "  Yes, 
sir;"  but  it  is  adapted  to  every  variety 
of  circumstance,  and  fills  up  every 
pause  in  the  conversation.     Thus  : 

The  time  is  one  o'clock  at  noon. 
The  scene,  a  place  where  we  are  to  stay 
to  dine,  on  this  journey.  The  coach 
drives  up  to  the  door  of  an  inn.  The 
day  is  warm,  and  there  are  several 
idlers  lingering  about  the  tavern,  and 
waiting  for  the  public  dinner.  Among 
them,  is  a  stout  gentleman  in  a  brown* 
hat,  swinging  himself  to  and  fro  in  a 
rocking-chair  on  the  pavement. 

As  the  coach  stops,  a  gentleman  in 
a  straw  hat  looks  out  of  the  window  : 

Straw  Hat.  (To  the  stout  gentle- 
man in  the  rocking-chair).  I  reckon 
that 's  Judge  Jefferson,  an't  it  ] 

Beown  Hat.  (Still  swinging;  speak- 
ing very  slowly;  and  without  any  emo- 
tion whatever.)  Yes,  sir. 

Straw  Hat.  Warm  weather.  Judge. 

Brown  Hat.  Yes,  sir. 

Straw  Hat.  There  was  a  snap  of 
cold,  last  week. 

Brown  Hat.    Yes,  sir.^ 

Straw  Hat.   Yes,  sir.' 


A  pause.  They  look  ai  each  other 
very  seriously. 

Straw  Hat.  I  calculate  you  '11  have 
got  through  that  case  of  the  corpora- 
tion judge,  by  this  time,  now? 

Brown  Hat.     Yes,  sir. 

Straw  Hat.  How  did  the  verdict 
go,  sir? 

Brown  Hat.    For  the  defendant,  sir. 

Straw  Hat.  (Interrogatively.)  Yes, 
sir? 

Brown  Hat.  (Affirmatively.)  Yes,  sir. 

Both.  (Musingly,  as  each  gazes  down 
the  street.)     Yes,  sir. 

Another  pause.  They  look  at  each 
other  again,  still  more  seriously  than 
before. 

Brown  Hat.  This  coach  is  rather 
behind  its  time  to-day,  I  guess. 

Straw  Hat.  (Doubtingly.)  Yes,  sir. 

Brown  Hat.  (Looking  at  his  watch.) 
Yes,  sir ;  nigh  upon  two  hours. 

Straw  Hat.  (Raising  his  eyebrows 
in  very  great  surprise.)    Yes,  sir ! 

Brown  Hat.  (Decisively,  as  he  puts 
up  his  watch.)  "Yes,  sir. 

All  the  other  inside  Passengers 
(among  themselves.)     Yes,  sir., 

Coachman  (in  a  very  surly  tone.) 
No  it  a'nt. 

Straw  Hat  (to  the  coachman.) 
Well,  I  don't  know,  sir.  We  were  a 
pretty  tall  time  coming  that  last  fifteen 
mile.    That 's  a  fact. 

The  coachman  making  no  reply, 
and  plainly  declining  to  enter  into  any 
controversy  on  a  subject  so  far  removed 
from  his  sympathies  and  feelings, 
another  passenger  says  "Yes,  sir;" 
and  the  gentleman  in  the  straw  hat  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  courtesy,  says 
"  Yes,  sir  "  to  him,  in  return.  The 
straw  hat  then  inquires  of  the  brown 
hat,  whether  that  coach  in  which  he 
(the  straw  hat)  then  sits,  is  not  a  new 
one  ?  To  which  the  brown  hat  again 
makes  answer,  "  Yes,  sir." 

Straw  Hat.  I  thought  so.  Pretty 
loud  smell  of  varnish,  sir  ? 

Brown  Hat.    Yes,  sir. 

k2 


132 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


All  the  other  inside  PiSSENOERS. 

Yes,  sir. 

Brown  Hat  (to  the  company  in 
general).     Yes,  sir. 

The  conversational  powers  of  the 
company  having  been  by  this  time 
pretty  heavily  taxed,  the  straw  hat 
opens  the  door  and  gets  out ;  and  all 
the  rest  alight  also.  We  dine  soon 
afterwards  with  the  boarders  in  the 
house,  and  have  nothing  to  drink  but 
tea  and  coffee.  As  they  are  both  very 
bad  and  the  water  is  worse,  I  ask  for 
brandy ;  but  it  is  a  Temperance  Hotel, 
and  spirits  are  not  to  be  had  for  love 
or  money.  This  preposterous  forcing 
of  unpleasant  drinks  down  the  reluc- 
tant throats  of  travellers  is  not  at  all 
uncommon  in  America,  but  I  never 
discovered  that  the  scruples  of  such 
wincing  landlords  induced  them  to 
preserve  any  unusually  nice  balance 
l3etween  the  quality  of  their  fare,  and 
their  scale  of  charges :  on  the  con- 
trary, I  rather  suspected  them  of 
diminishing  the  one  and  exalting  the 
other,  by  way  of  recompense  for  the 
loss  of  their  profit  on  the  sale  of 
spirituous  liquors.  After  all,  perhaps, 
the  plainest  course  for  persons  of  such 
tender  consciences,  would  be,  a  total 
abstinence  from  tavern-keeping. 

Dinner  over,  we  get  into  another 
vehicle  which  is  ready  at  the  door  (for 
the  coach  has  been  changed  in  the 
interval),  and  resume  our  journey; 
which  continues  through  the  same 
kind  of  country  until  evening,  when 
we  come  to  the  town  where  we  are  to 
stop  for  tea  and  supper ;  and  having 
delivered  the  mail  bags  at  the  Post- 
office,  ride  through  the  usual  wide 
street,  lined  with  the  usual  stores  and 
houses  (the  drapers  always  having 
hung  up  at  their  door,  by  way  of  sign, 
a  piece  of  bright  red  cloth),  to  the 
hotel  where  this  meal  is  prepared. 
There  being  many  boarders  here,  we 
sit  down,  a  large  party,  and  a  very 
melancholy  one  as  usual.    But  there 


is  a  buxom  hostess  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  and  opposite,  a  simple  Welsh 
schoolmaster  with  his  wife  and  child  ; 
who  came  here,  on  a  speculation  of 
greater  promise  than  performance,  to 
teach  the  classics  :  and  they  are  suflS- 
cient  subjects  of  interest  until  the  meal 
is  over,  and  another  coach  is  ready. 
In  it  we  go  on  once  more,  lighted  by  a 
bright  moon,  until  midnight;  when 
we  stop  to  change  the  coach  again, 
and  remain  for  half  an  hour  or  so  in  a 
miserable  room,  with  a  blurred  litho- 
graph of  Washington  over  the  smoky 
fireplace,  and  a  mighty  jug  of  cold 
water  on  the  table  :  to  which  refresh- 
ment the  moody  passengers  do  so 
apply  themselves  that  they  would 
seem  to  be,  one  and  all,  keen  patients 
of  Doctor  Sangrado,  Among  them  is 
a  very  little  boy,  who  chews  tobacco 
like  a  very  big  one ;  and  a  droning 
gentleman,  who  talks  arithmetically 
and  statistically  on  all  subjects,  from 
poetry  downwards;  and  who  always 
speaks  in  the  same  key,  with  exactly 
the  same  emphasis,  and  with  very 
grave  deliberation.  He  came  outside 
just  now,  and  told  me  how  that  the 
uncle  of  a  certain  young  lady  who  had 
been  spirited  away  and  married  by  a 
certain  captain,  lived  in  these  parts ; 
and  how  this  uncle  was  so  valiant  and 
ferocious  that  he  shouldn't  wonder  if 
he  were  to  follow  the  said  captain  to 
England,  "  and  shoot  him  down  in  the 
street,  wherever  he  found  him ; "  in 
the  feasibility  of  which  strong  mea- 
sure I,  being  for  the  moment  rather 
prone  to  contradiction,  from  feeling 
half  asleep  and  very  tired,  declined  to 
acquiesce :  assuring  him  that  if  the 
uncle  did  resort  to  it,  or  gratified  any 
other  little  whim  of  the  like  nature, 
he  would  find  himself  one  morning 
prematurely  throttled  at  the  Old 
Bailey ;  and  that  he  would  do  well  to 
make  his  will  before  he  went,  as  he 
would  certainly  want  it  before  he  had 
been  in  Britain  very  long. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


133 


On  we  go,  all  night,  and  bye  and 
bye  the  day  begins  to  break,  and 
presently  the  first  cheerful  rays  of 
the  warm  sun  come  slanting  on  us 
brightly.  It  sheds  its  light  upon  a 
miserable  waste  of  sodden  grass,  and 
dull  trees,  and  squalid  huts,  whose 
aspect  is  forlorn  and  grievous  in  the 
last  degree.  A  very  desert  in  the 
wood,  whose  growth  of  green  is  dank 
and  noxious  like  that  upon  the  top 
of  standing  water  :  where  poisonous 
fungus  grows  in  the  rare  footprint  on 
the  oozy  ground,  and  sprouts  like 
witches'  coral,  from  the  crevices  in  the 
cabin  wall  and  floor ;  it  is  a  hideous 
thing  to  lie  upon  the  very  threshold 
of  a  city.  But  it  was  purchased  years 
ago,  and  as  the  owner  cannot  be  dis- 
covered, the  State  has  been  unable  to 
reclaim  it.  So  there  it  remains,  in  the 
midst  of  cultivation  and  improvement, 
like  ground  accursed,  and  made 
obscene  and  rank  by  some  great 
crime. 

We  reached  Columbus  shortly  be- 
fore seven  o'clock,  and  staid  there,  to 
refresh,  that  day  and  night :  having 
excellent  apartments  in  a  very  large 
unfinished  hotel  called  the  Neill 
House,  which  were  richly  fitted  with 
the  polished  wood  of  the  black  walnut, 
and  opened  on  a  handsome  portico 
and  stone  verandah,  like  rooms  in 
some  Italian  mansion  The  town  is 
clean  and  pretty,  and  of  course  is 
"going  to  be  "  much  larger.  It  is  the 
seat  of  the  State  legislature  of  Ohio, 
and  lays  claim,  in  consequence,  to 
some  consideration  and  importance. 

There  being  no  stage-coach  next 
day,  upon  the  road  we  wished  to  take, 
I  hired  "an  extra,"  at  a  reasonable 
charge,  to  carry  us  to  Tiffin ;  a  small 
town  from  whence  there  is  a  railroad 
to  Sandusky.  This  extra  was  an 
ordinary  four-horse  stage-coach,  such 
as  I  have  described,  changing  horses 
and  drivers,  as  the  stage-coach  would, 
but  was  exclusively  our  own  for  the 


journey.  To  ensure  our  having 
horses  at  the  proper  stations,  and 
being  incommoded  by  no  strangers, 
the  proprietors  sent  an  agent  on  the 
box,  who  was  to  accompany  us  the 
whole  way  through;  and  thus  at- 
tended, and  bearing  with  us,  besides, 
a  hamper  full  of  savoury  cold  meats, 
and  fruit,  and  wine ;  we  started  off 
again,  in  high  spirits,  at  half-past  six 
o'clock  next  morning,  very  much  de- 
lighted to  be  by  ourselves,  and  dis- 
posed to  enjoy  even  the  roughest 
journey. 

It  was  well  for  us,  that  we  were  in 
this  humour,  for  the  road  we  went 
over  that  day,  was  certainly  enough 
to  have  shaken  tempers  that  were  not 
resolutely  at  Set  Fair,  down  to  some 
inches  below  Stormy.  At  one  time 
we  were  all  flung  together  in  a  heap 
at  the  bottom  of  the  coach,  and  at 
another  we  were  crushing  our  heads 
against  the  roof.  Now,  one  side  was 
down  deep  in  the  mire,  and  we  were 
holding  on  to  the  other.  Now,  the 
coach  was  lying  on  the  tails  of  the 
two  wheelers ;  and  now  it  was  rearing 
up  in  the  air,  in  a  frantic  state,  with 
all  four  horses  standing  on  the  top  of 
an  insurmountable  eminence,  looking 
coolly  back  at  it,  as  though  they 
would  say  "  Unharness  us.  It  can't 
be  done."  The  drivers  on  these  roads, 
who  certainly  get  over  the  ground  in 
a  manner  which  is  quite  miraculous, 
so  twist  and  turn  the  team  about  in 
forcing  a  passage,  corkscrew,  fashion, 
through  the  bogs  and  swamps,  that  it 
was  quite  a  common  circumstance  on 
looking  out  of  the  window,  to  see  the 
coachman  with  the  ends  of  a  pair  of 
reins  in  his  hands,  apparently  driving 
nothing,  or  playing  at  horses,  and  the 
leaders  staring  at  one  unexpectedly 
from  the  back  of  the  coach,  as  if  they 
had  some  idea  of  getting  up  behind. 
A  great  portion  of  the  way  was  over 
what  is  called  a  corduroy  road,  which 
is  made  by  throwing  trunks  of  trees 


334 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


into  a  marsh,  and  leaving  them  to 
settle  there.  The  very  slightest  of 
the  jolts  with  which  the  ponderous 
carriage  fell  from  log  to  log,  was 
enough,  it  seemed,  to  have  dislocated 
all  the  bones  in  the  human  body.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  experience  a 
similar  set  of  sensations,  in  any  other 
circumstances,  unless  perhaps  in  at- 
tempting to  go  up  to  the  top  of  St. 
Paul's  in  an  omnibus.  Never,  never 
once,  that  day,  was  the  coach  in  any 
position,  attitude,  or  kind  of  motion 
to  which  we  are  accustomed  in 
coaches.  "Never  did  it  make  the 
smallest  approach  to  one's  experience 
of  the  proceedings  of  any  sort  of 
vehicle  that  goes  on  wheels. 

Still,  it  was  a  fine  day,  and  the 
temperature  was  delicious,  and  though 
we  had  left  Summer  behind  us  in  the 
west,  and  were  fast  leaving  Spring, 
we  were  moving  towards  Niagara  and 
home.  We  alighted  in  a  pleasant 
wood  towards  the  middle  of  the  day, 
dined  on  a  fallen  tree,  and  leaving 
our  best  fragments  with  a  cottager, 
and  our  worst  with  the  pigs  (who 
swarm  in  this  part  of  the  country 
like  grains  of  sand  on  the  sea-shore, 
to  the  great  comfort  of  our  commis- 
sariat in  Canada),  we  went  forward 
again,  gaily. 

As  night  came  on,  the  track  grew 
narrower  and  narrower,  until  at  last 
it  so  lost  itself  among  the  trees,  that 
the  driver  seemed  to  find  his  way  by 
instinct.  We  had  the  comfort  of 
knowing,  at  least,  that  there  was  no 
danger  of  his  falling  asleep,  for  every 
noAv  and  then  a  wheel  would  strike 
against  an  unseen  stump  with  such  a 
jerk,  that  he  was  fain  to  hold  on 
pretty  tight  and  pretty  quick,  to  keep 
himself  upon  the  box.  Nor  was  there 
any  reason  to  dread  the  least  danger 
from  furious  driving,  inasmuch  as 
over  that  broken  ground  the  horses 
had  enough  to  do  to  walk ;  as  to 
shying,  there  was  no  room  for  that ; 


and  a  herd  of  wild  elephants  could 
not  have  run  away  in  such  a  wood, 
with  such  a  coach  at  their  heels.  So 
we  stumbled  along,  quite  satisfied. 

These  stumps  of  trees  are  a  curious 
feature  in  American  travelling.  The 
varying  illusions  they  present  to  the 
unaccustomed  eye  as  it  grows  dark, 
are  quite  astonishing  in  their  number 
and  reality.  Now,  there  is  a  Grecian 
urn  erected  in  the  centre  of  a  lonely 
field  ;  now  there  is  a  woman  weeping 
at  a  tomb ;  now  a  very  common-place 
old  gentleman  in  a  white  waistcoat, 
with  a  thumb  thrust  into  each  arm- 
hole  of  his  coat;  now  a  student 
poring  on  a  book ;  now  a  crouching 
negro ;  now,  a  horse,  a  dog,  a  cannon, 
an  armed  man  ;  a  hunch-back  throw- 
ing oflf  his  cloak  and  stepping  forth 
into  the  light.  They  were  often  as 
entertaining  to  me  as  so  many  glasses 
in  a  magic  lantern,  and  never  took 
their  shapes  at  my  bidding,  but 
seemed  to  force  themselves  upon  me, 
whether  I  would  or  no ;  and  strange 
to  say,  I  sometimes  recognised  in 
them  counterparts  of  figures  once 
familiar  to  me  in  pictures  attached  to 
childish  books,  forgotten  long  ago. 

It  soon  became  too  dark,  however, 
even  for  this  amusement,  and  the  trees 
were  so  close  together  that  their  dry 
branches  rattled  against  the  coach  on 
either  side,  and  obliged  us  all  to  keep 
our  heads  within.  It  lightened  too, 
for  three  whole  hours;  each  flash 
being  very  bright,  and  blue,  and 
long ;  and  as  the  vivid  streaks  came 
darting  in  among  the  crowded 
branches,  and  the  thunder  rolled 
gloomily  above  the  tree  tops,  one 
could  scarcely  help  thinking  that 
there  were  better  neighbourhoods 
at  such  a  time  than  thick  woods 
afforded. 

At  length,  between  ten  and  eleven 
o'clock  at  night,  a  few  feeble  lights 
appeared  in  the  distance,  and  Upper 
Sandusky,  an  Indian  village,  where 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


135 


we  were  to  stay  till  morning,  lay 
before  us. 

They  were  gone  to  bed  at  the  log 
Inn,  which  was  the  only  house  of 
entertainment  in  the  place,  but  soon 
answered  to  our  knocking,  and  got 
some  tea  for  us  in  a  sort  of  kitchen 
or  common  room,  tapestried  with  old 
newspapers,  pasted  against  the  wall. 
The  bed-chamber  to  which  my  wife 
and  I  were  shown,  was  a  large,  low, 
ghostly  room ;  with  a  quantity  of 
withered  branches  on  the  hearth,  and 
two  doors  without  any  fastening, 
opposite  to  each  other,  both  opening 
on  the  black  night  and  wild  country, 
and  so  contrived,  that  one  of  them 
always  blew  the  other  open :  a  no- 
velty in  domestic  architecture,  which 
I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen 
before,  and  which  I  was  somewhat 
disconcerted  to  have  forced  on  my 
attention  after  getting  into  bed,  as  I 
had  a  considerable  sum  in  gold  for 
our  travelling  expenses,  in  my  dress- 
ing-case. Some  of  the  luggage,  how- 
ever, piled  against  the  pannels,  soon 
settled  this  difficulty,  and  my  sleep 
would  not  have  been  very  much 
affected  that  night,  I  believe,  though 
it  had  failed  to  do  so. 

My  Boston  friend  climbed  up  to 
bed,  somewhere  in  the  roof,  where 
another  guest  was  already  snoring 
hugely.  But  being  bitten  beyond 
his  power  of  endurance,  he  turned  out 
again,  and  fled  for  shelter  to  the 
coach,  which  was  airing  itself  in  front 
of  the  house.  This  was  not  a  very 
politic  step,  as  it  turned  out ;  for  the 
pigs  scenting  him,  and  looking  upon 
the  coach  as  a  kind  of  pie  with  some 
manner  of  meat  inside,  grunted 
round  it  so  hideously,  that  he  was 
afraid  to  come  out  again,  and  lay 
there  shivering,  till  morning.  Nor 
was  it  possible  to  warm  him,  when  he 
did  come  out,  by  means  of  a  glass  of 
brandy;  for  in  Indian  villages,  the 
legislature,  with  a  very  good  and  wise 


intention,  forbids  the  sale  of  spirits  by 
tavern  keepers.  The  precaution, 
however,  is  quite  inefficacious,  for  the 
Indians  never  fail  to  procure  liquor  of 
a  worse  kind,  at  a  d^rer  price,  from 
travelling  pedlars. 

It  is  a  settlement  of  the  Wyandot 
Indians  who  inhabit  this  place. 
Among  the  company  at  breakfast  was 
a  mild  old  gentleman,  who  had  been 
for  many  years  employed  by  the 
United  States  Government  in  con- 
ducting negotiations  with  the  Indians, 
and  who  had  just  concluded  a  treaty 
with  these  people  by  which  they 
bound  themselves,  in  consideration 
of  a  certain  annual  sum,  to  remove 
next  year  to  some  land  provided  for 
them,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  a 
little  way  beyond  St.  Louis.  He  gave 
me  a  moving  account  of  their  strong 
attachment  to  the  familiar  scenes  of 
their  infancy,  and  in  particular  to  the 
burial-places  of  their  kindred ;  and  of 
their  great  reluctance  to  leave  them. 
He  had  witnessed  many  such  re- 
movals, and  always  with  pain,  though 
he  knew  that  they  departed  for  their 
own  good.  The  question  whether 
this  tribe  should  go  or  stay,  had  been 
discussed  among  them  a  day  or  two 
before,  in  a  hut  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  logs  of  which  still  lay 
upon  the  ground  before  the  inn. 
When  the  speaking  was  done,  the  ayes 
and  noes  were  ranged  on  opposite 
sides,  and  every  male  adult  voted  in 
his  turn.  The  moment  the  result 
was  known,  the  minority  (a  large 
one)  cheerfully  yielded  to  the  rest, 
and  withdrew  all  kind  of  opposition. 

We  met  some  of  these  poor  Indiana 
afterwards,  riding  on  shaggy  ponies. 
They  were  so  like  the  meaner  sort 
of  gipsies,  that  if  I  could  have  seen 
any  of  them  in  England,  I  should 
have  concluded,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  they  belonged  to  that  wandering 
and  restless  people. 

Leaving  this  town    directly  after 


136 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


breakfast,  we  pushed  forVard  again, 
over  a  rather  worse  itx<fe  than  yester- 
day, if  possible,  and  arrived  about 
noon  at  Tiffin,  where  we  parted  with 
the  extra.  At  two  o'clock  we  took 
the  railroad ;  the  travelling  on  which 
was  very  slow,  its  construction  being 
indifferent,  and  the  ground  wet  and 
marshy ;  and  arrived  at  Sandusky 
in  time  to  dine  that  evening.  We 
put  up  at  a  comfortable  little  hotel 
on  the  brink  of  Lake  Erie,  lay  there 
that  night,  and  had  no  choice  but  to 
wait  there  next  day,  until  a  steamboat 
bound  for  Buffalo  appeared.  The 
town,  which  was  sluggish  and  unin- 
teresting enough,  was  something  like 
the  back  of  an  English  watering-place, 
out  of  the  season. 

Our  host,  who  was  very  attentive 
and  anxious  to  make  us  comfortable, 
was  a  handsome  middle-aged  man, 
who  had  come  to  this  town  from  New 
England,  in  which  part  of  the 
country  he  was  "raised."  When  I 
say  that  he  constantly  walked  in  and 
out  of  the  room  with  his  hat  on  ;  and 
stopped  to  converse  in  the  same  free- 
and-easy  state ;  and  lay  down  on  our 
sofa,  and  pulled  his  newspaper  out  of 
his  pocket,  and  read  it  at  his  ease  ;  I 
merely  mention  these  traits  as  cha- 
racteristic of  the  country  :  not  at  all 
as  being  matter  of  complaint,  or  as 
having  been  disagreeable  to  me.  I 
should  undoubtedly  be  oflTended  by 
such  proceedings  at  home,  because 
there  they  are  not  the  custom,  and 
where  they  are  not,  they  would  be 
impertinencies ;  but  in  America,  the 
only  desire  of  a  good-natured  fellow 
of  this  kind,  is  to  treat  his  guests 
hospitably  and  well ;  and  I  had  no 
more  right,  and  I  can  truly  say  no 
more  disposition,  to  measure  his  con- 
duct by  our  English  rule  and  standard, 
than  I  had  to  quarrel  with  him  for 
not  being  of  the  exact  stature  which 
would  qualify  him  for  admission  into 
the  Queen's  grenadier  guards.      As 


little  inclination  had  I  to  find  faulfe 
with  a  funny  old  lady  who  was  an 
upper  domestic  in  this  establishment, 
and  who,  when  she  came  to  wait  upan 
us  at  any  meal,  sat  herself  down  com- 
fortably in  the  most  convenient 
chair,  and  producing  a  large  pin  ta 
pick  her  teeth  with,  remained  per- 
forming that  ceremony,  and  stead- 
fastly regarding  us  meanwhile  with 
much  gravity  and  composure  (now 
and  then  pressing  us  to  eat  a  little 
more),  until  it  was  time  to  clear  away. 
It  was  enough  for  us,  that  whatever 
we  wished  done  was  done  with  great 
civility  and  readiness,  and  a  desire 
to  oblige,  not  only  here,  but  every- 
where  else;  and  that  all  our  wanta 
were,  in  general,  zealously  anticipated. 

We  were  taking  an  early  dinner  at 
this  house,  on  the  day  after  our 
arrival,  which  was  Sunday,  when  a 
steamboat  came  in  sight,  and  pre- 
sently touched  at  the  wharf.  As 
she  proved  to  be  on  her  way  to 
Buffalo,  we  hurried  on  board  with  all 
speed,  and  soon  left  Sandusky  far 
behind  us. 

She  was  a  large  vessel  of  five 
hundred  tons,  and  handsomely  fitted 
up,  though  with  high-pressure 
engines  ;  which  always  conveyed  that 
kind  of  feeling  to  me,  which  I  should 
be  likely  to  experience,  I  think,  if  I 
had  lodgings  on  the  first  floor  of  a 
powder-mill.  She  was  laden  with 
flour,  some  casks  of  which  commodity 
were  stored  upon  the  deck.  The 
captain  coming  up  to  have  a  little 
conversation,  and  to  introduce  a 
friend,  seated  himself  astride  of  one 
of  these  barrels,  like  a  Bacchus  of 
private  life ;  and  pulling  a  great  clasp- 
knife  out  of  his  pocket,  began  to 
"  whittle"  it  as  he  talked,  by  paring- 
thin  slices  off  the  edges.  And  he 
whittled  with  such  industry  and 
hearty  good  will,  that  but  for  his 
being  called  away  very  soon,  it 
must  have  disappeared  bodily,  an<i 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


137 


left  nothing  in  its  place  but  grist  and 
shavings. 

After  calling  at  one  or  two  flat 
places,  with  low  dams  stretching  out 
into  the  lake,  whereon  were  stumpy 
lighthouses,  like  windmills  without 
sails,  the  whole  looking  like  a  Dutch 
vignette,  we  came  at  midnight  to 
Cleveland,  where  we  lay  all  night, 
and  until  nine  o'clock  next  morning. 

I  entertained  quite  a  curiosity  in 
reference  to  this  place,  from  having 
seen  at  Sandusky  a  specimen  of  its 
literature  in  the  shape  of  a  newspaper, 
which  was  very  strong  indeed  upon 
the  subject  of  Lord  Ashbur ton's 
recent  arrival  at  Washington,  to 
adjust  the  points  in  dispute  between 
the  United  States  Government  and 
Great  Britain :  informing  its  readers 
that  as  America  had  "whipped" 
England  in  her  infancy,  and  whipped 
her  again  in  her  youth,  so  it  was 
clearly  necessary  that  she  must  whip 
her  once  again  in  her  maturity ;  and 
pledging  its  credit  to  all  True 
Americans,  that  if  Mr.  Webster  did 
his  duty  in  the  approaching  negotia- 
tions, and  sent  the  English  Lord 
home  again  in  double  quick  time,  they 
should,  within  two  years,  sing  "  Yankee 
Doodle  in  Hyde  Park,  and  Hail 
Columbia  in  the  scarlet  courts  of 
Westminster"  !  I  found  it  a  pretty 
town,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of 
beholding  the  outside  of  the  office  of 
the  journal  from  which  I  have  just 
quoted.  I  did  not  enjoy  the  delight 
of  seeing  the  wit  who  indited  the 
paragraphs  in  question,  but  I  have 
no  doubt  he  is  a  prodigious  man  in 
his  way,  and  held  in  high  repute  by  a 
select  circle. 

There  was  a  gentleman  on  board, 
to  whom,  as  I  unintentionally  learned 
through  the  thin  partition  which 
divided  our  state-room  from  the 
cabin  in  which  he  and  his  wife  con- 
versed together,  I  was  unwittingly 
the  occasion  of  very  great  uneasiness. 


I  don't  know  why  or  wherefore,  but  f 
appeared  to  run  in  his  mind' perpe- 
tually, and  to  dissatisfy  him  very 
much.  First  of  all  I  heard  him  say  r 
and  the  most  ludicrous  part  of  the 
business  was,  that  he  said  it  in  my 
very  ear,  and  could  not  have  commu- 
nicated more  directly  with  me,  if  he- 
had  leaned  upon  my  shoulder,  and 
whispered  me  :  "  Boz  is  on  board  still, 
my  dear."  After  a  considerable 
pause,  he  added,  complainingly, 
"  Boz  keeps  himself  very  close  :" 
which  was  true  enough,  for  I  was  not 
very  well,  and  was  lying  down,  with  a 
book.  1  thought  he  had  done  with 
me  after  this,  but  I  was  deceived ;  for 
a  long  interval  having  elapsed,  during- 
which  I  imagine  him  to  have  been 
turning  restlessly  from  side  to  side, 
and  trying  to  go  to  sleep ;  he  broke 
out  again,  with  "  I  suppose  (hat  Boz 
will  be  writing  a  book  bye  and  bye, 
and  putting  all  our  names  in  it ! "  at 
which  imaginary  consequence  of  being" 
on  board  a  boat  with  Boz,  he  groaned, 
and  became  silent. 

We  called  at  the  town  of  Erie,  at 
eight  o'clock  that  night,  and  lay  there 
an  hour.  Between  five  and  six  next 
morning,  we  arrived  at  Buffalo,  where 
we  breakfasted ;  and  being  too  near 
the  Great  Falls  to  wait  patiently 
anywhere  else,  we  set  off  by  the  train, 
the  same  morning  at  nine  o'clock,  to 
Niagara. 

It  was  a  miserable  day ;  chilly  and 
raw ;  a  damp  mist  falling ;  and  the 
trees  in  that  northern  region  quite 
bare  and  wintry.  Whenever  the 
train  halted,  I  listened  for  the  roar  ; 
and  was  constantly  straining  my  eyes 
in  the  direction  where  I  knew  the 
Falls  must  be,  from  seeing  the  river 
rolling  on  towards  them ;  every 
moment  expecting  to  behold  the 
spray.  Within  a  few  minutes  of  our 
stopping,  not  before,  I  saw  two  great 
white  clouds  rising  up  slowly  and 
majestically  from  the  depths  of  the 


138 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


earth.  That  was  all.  At  length  we 
alighted  :  and  then  for  the  first  time, 
I  heard  the  mighty  rush  of  water, 
and  felt  the  ground  tremble  under- 
neath my  feet. 

The  bank  is  very  steep,  and  was 
slippery  with  rain,  and  half-melted 
ice.  I  hardly  know  how  I  got  down, 
but  I  was  soon  at  the  bottom,  and 
climbing,  with  two  English  officers 
who  were  crossing  and  had  joined  me, 
over  some  broken  rocks,  deafened  by 
the  noise,  half-blinded  by  the  spray, 
and  wet  to  the  skin.  We  were  at  the 
foot  of  the  American  Fall.  I  could 
see  an  immense  torrent  of  water 
tearing  headlong  down  from  some 
great  height,  but  had  no  idea  of  shape, 
or  situation,  or  anything  but  vague 
immensity. 

When  we  were  seated  in  the  little 
ferry-boat,  and  were  crossing  the 
swoln  river  immediately  before  both 
cataracts,  I  began  to  feel  what  it  was : 
but  I  was  in  a  manner  stunned,  and 
imable  to  comprehend  the  vastness  of 
the  scene.  It  was  not  until  I  came 
on  Table  Rock,  and  looked — Great 
Heaven,  on  what  a  fall  of  bright-green 
water ! — that  it  came  upon  me  in  its 
full  might  and  majesty. 

Then,  when  I  felt  how  near  to  my 
Creator  I  was  standing,  the  first  efiect, 
and  the  enduring  one — instant  and 
lasting — of  the  tremendous  spectacle, 
was  Peace.  Peace  of  Mind,  tran- 
quillity, calm  recollections  of  the 
Dead,  great  thoughts  of  Eternal 
Rest  and  Happiness :  nothing  of 
gloom  or  terror.  Niagara  was  at 
once  stamped  upon  my  heart,  an 
Image  of  Beauty;  to  remain  there, 
changeless  and  indelible,  until  its 
pulses  cease  to  beat,  for  ever. 

Oh,  how  the  strife  and  trouble  of 
daily  life  receded  from  my  view, 
and  lessened  in  the  distance,  during 
the  ten  memorable  days  we  passed  on 
that  Enchanted  Ground!  What 
voices  spoke  from  out  the  thundering 


water;  what  faces,  faded  from  the 
earth,  looked  out  upon  me  from  its 
gleaming  depths;  what  Heavenly- 
promise  glistened  in  those  angels' 
tears,  the  drops  of  many  hues, 
that  showered  around,  and  twined 
themselves  about  the  gorgeous 
arches  which  the  changing  rainbows 
made ! 

I  never  stirred  in  all  that  time  from 
the  Canadian  side,  whither  I  had 
gone  at  first.  I  never  crossed  the 
river  again;  for  I  knew  there  were 
people  on  the  other  shore,  and  in  such 
a  place  it  is  natural  to  shun  strange 
company.  To  wander  to  and  fro  all 
day,  and  see  the  cataracts  from  all 
points  of  view ;  to  stand  upon  the 
edge  of  the  Great  Horse  Shoe  Fall, 
marking  the  hurried  water  gathering 
strength  as  it  approached  the  verge, 
yet  seeming,  too,  to  pause  before  it 
shot  into  the  gulf  below;  to  gaze 
from  the  river's  level  up  at  the  tor- 
rent as  it  came  streaming  down; 
to  climb  the  neighbouring  heights 
and  watch  it  through  the  trees,  and 
see  the  wreathing  water  in  the  rapids 
hurrying  on  to  take  its  fearful  plunge; 
to  linger  in  the  shadow  of  the  solemn 
rocks  three  miles  below;  watching 
the  river ;  as,  stirred  by  no  visible 
cause,  it  heaved  and  eddied  and 
awoke  the  echoes,  being  troubled  yet, 
far  down  beneath  the  surface,  by  its 
giant  leap;  to  have  Niagara  before 
me,  lighted  by  the  sun  and  by  the 
moon,  red  in  the  day's  decline,  and 
grey  as  evening  sloAvly  fell  upon  it ;  to 
look  upon  it  every  day,  and  wake  up 
in  the  night  and  hear  its  ceaseless 
voice  :  this  was  enough. 

I  think  in  every  quiet  season  now, 
still  do  those  waters  roll  and  leap,  and 
roar  and  tumble,  all  day  long ;  still 
are  the  rainbows  spanning  them,  a 
hundred  feet  below.  Still,  when  the 
sun  is  on  them,  do  they  shine  and 
glow  like  molten  gold.  Still,  when 
the  day  is  gloomy,  do  they  fall  like 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


139 


snow,  or  seem  to  crumble  avray  like 
the  front  of  a  great  chalk  cliff,  or  roll 
down  the  rock  like  dense  white 
smoke.  But  always  does  the  mighty 
stream  appear  to  die  as  it  comes  down, 
and  always  from  its  unfathomable 
grave  arises  that  tremendous  ghost  of 


spray  and  mist  which  is  never  laid  : 
which  has  haunted  this  place  with  the 
same  dread  solemnity  since  Darkness 
brooded  on  the  deep,  and  that  first 
flood  before  the  Deluge— Light — 
came  rushing  on  Creation  at  the  word 
of  God. 


140 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


CHAPTER  XV. 


IN   CANADA  ;   TORONTO  ;    KINGSTON  J    MONTREAL  ;    QUEBEC  ;   ST.  JOHN's.       IN   THE 
UNITED  STATES  AGAIN  J   LEBANON  J   THE  SHAKER  VILLAGE  ;   AND  WEST  POINT. 


I  WISH  to  abstain  from  instituting 
any  comparison,  or  drawing  any  par- 
allel whatever,  between  the  social 
features  of  the  United  States  and 
those  of  the  British  Possessions  in 
Canada.  For  this  reason,  I  shall 
confine  myself  to  a  very  brief  account 
of  our  journeyings  in  the  latter 
territory. 

But  before  I  leave  Niagara,  I  must 
advert  to  one  disgusting  circumstance 
which  can  hardly  have  escaped  the 
observation  of  any  decent  traveller 
who  has  visited  the  Falls. 

On  Table  Rock,  there  is  a  cottage 
belonging  to  a  Guide,  where  little 
relics  of  the  place  are  sold,  and  where 
visitors  register  their  names  in  a  book 
kept  for  the  purpose.  On  the  wall  of 
the  room  in  which  a  great  many  of 
these  volumes  are  preserved,  the  fol- 
lowing request  is  posted  :  "  Visitors 
will  please  not  copy  nor  extract  the 
remarks  and  poetical  effusions  from 
the  registers  and  albums  kept  here." 

But  for  this  intimation,  I  should 
have  let  them  lie  upon  the  tables  on 
which  they  were  strewn  with  careful 
negligence,  like  books  in  a  drawing- 
room  :  being  quite  satisfied  with  the 
stupendous  silliness  of  certain  stanzas 
with  an  anti-climax  at  the  end  of 
each,  which  were  framed  and  hung  up 
on  the  wall.  Curious,  however,  after 
reading  this  announcement,  to  see 
what  kind  of  morsels  were  so  care- 
fully preserved,  I  turned  a  few  leaves, 
and  found  them  scrawled  all  over 
with  the  vilest  and  the  filthiest 
ribaldry  that  ever  human  hogs  de- 
lighted in. 


It  is  humiliating  enough  to  know 
that  there  are  among  men,  brutes  so 
obscene  and  worthless,  that  they  can 
delight  in  laying  their  miserable  pro- 
fanations upon  the  very  steps  of 
Nature's  greatest  altar.  But  that 
these  should  be  hoarded  up  for  the 
delight  of  their  fellow  swine,  and 
kept  in  a  public  place  where  any  eyes 
may  see  them,  is  a  disgrace  to  the 
English  language  in  which  they  are 
written  (though  I  hope  few  of  these 
entries  have  been  made  by  English- 
men), and  a  reproach  to  the  English 
side,  on  which  they  are  preserved. 

The  quarters  of  our  soldiers  at 
Niagara,  are  finely  and  airily  situated. 
Some  of  them  are  large  detached 
houses  on  the  plain  above  the  Falls, 
which  were  originally  designed  for 
hotels ;  and  in  the  evening  time, 
when  the  women  and  children  were 
leaning  over  the  balconies  watching 
the  men  as  they  played  at  ball  and 
other  games  upon  the  grass  before 
the  door,  they  often  presented  a  little 
picture  of  cheerfulness  and  anima- 
tion which  made  it  quite  a  pleasure 
to  pass  that  way. 

At  any  garrisoned  point  where  the 
line  of  demarcation  between  one 
country  and  another  is  so  very  narrow 
as  at  Niagara,  desertion  from  the 
ranks  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  of  fre- 
quent occurrence  :  and  it  may  be 
reasonably  supposed  that  when  the 
soldiers  entertain  the  wildest  and 
maddest  hopes  of  the  fortune  and 
independence  that  await  them  on  the 
other  side,  the  impulse  to  play  traitor, 
which  such  a  place  suggests  to  dis- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


141 


honest  minda,  is  not  weakened.  But 
it  very  rarely  happens  that  the  men 
who  do  desert,  are  happy  or  contented 
afterwards ;  and  many  instances  have 
been  known  in  which  they  have  con- 
fessed their  grievous  disappointment, 
and  their  earnest  desire  to  return  to 
their  old  service  if  they  could  but  be 
assured  of  pardon,  or  of  lenient  treat- 
ment. Many  of  their  comrades,  not- 
withstandincr,  do  the  like,  from  time 
to  time  ;  and  instances  of  loss  of  life 
in  the  effort  to  cross  the  river  with  this 
object,  are  far  from  being  uncommon. 
Several  men  were  drowned  in  the 
attempt  to  swim  across,  not  long 
ago ;  and  one,  who  had  the  madness 
to  trust  himself  upon  a  table  as  a 
raft,  was  swept  down  to  the  whirl- 
pool, where  his  mangled  body  eddied 
round  and  round  some  days, 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the 
noise  of  the  Falls  is  very  much  ex- 
aggerated ;  and  this  will  appear  the 
more  probable  when  the  depth  of  the 
great  basin  in  which  the  water  is 
received,  is  taken  into  account.  At 
no  time  during  our  stay  there,  was 
the  wind  at  all  high  or  boisterous,  but 
we  never  heard  them,  three  miles  off, 
«ven  at  the  very  quiet  time  of  sunset, 
though  we  often  tried, 

Queenston,  at  which  place  the 
steamboats  start  for  Toronto  (or  I 
should  rather  say  at  which  place  they 
call,  for  their  wharf  is  at  Lewiston 
on  the  opposite  shore),  is  situated  in 
a  delicious  valley,  through  which  the 
Niagara  river,  in  colour  a  very  deep 
green,  pursues  its  course.  It  is  ap- 
proached by  a  road  that  takes  its 
winding  way  among  the  heights 
by  which  the  town  is  sheltered  ;  and 
seen  from  this  point  is  extremely 
beautiful  and  picturesque.  On  the 
most  conspicuous  of  these  heights 
«tood  a  monument  erected  by  the 
Provincial  legislature  in  memory  of 
General  Brock,  who  was  slain  in  a 
fcattle  with  the    American    Forces, 


after  having  won  the  victory.  Some 
vagabond,  supposed  to  be  a  fellow  of 
the  name  of  Lett,  who  is  now,  or 
who  lately  was,  in  prison  as  a  felon, 
blew  up  this  monument  two  years 
ago,  and  it  is  now  a  melancholy  ruin, 
with  a  long  fragment  of  iron  railing 
hanging  dejectedly  from  its  top,  and 
waving  to  and  fro  like  a  wild  ivy 
branch  or  broken  vine  stem.  It  is  of 
much  higher  importance  than  it  may 
seem,  that  this  statue  should  be 
repaired  at  the  public  cost,  as  it  ought 
to  have  been  long  ago.  Firstly,  be- 
cause it  is  beneath  the  dignity  of 
England  to  allow  a  memorial  raised 
in  honour  of  one  of  her  defenders,  to 
remain  in  this  condition,  on  the  very 
spot  where  he  died.  Secondly,  be- 
cause the  sight  of  it  in  its  present 
state,  and  the  recollection  of  the 
unpunished  outrage  which  brought  it 
to  this  pass,  is  not  very  likely  to 
soothe  down  border  feelings  among 
English  subjects  here,  or  compose 
their  border  quarrels  and  dislikes. 

I  was  standing  on  the  wharf  at  this 
place,  watching  the  passengers  em- 
barking in  a  steamboat  which  pre- 
ceded that  whose  coming  we  awaited, 
and  participating  in  the  anxiety  with 
which  a  sergeant's  wife  was  collecting 
her  few  goods  together — keeping  one 
distracted  eye  hard  upon  the  porters, 
who  were  hurrying  them  on  board, 
and  the  other  on  a  hoopless  washing- 
tub  for  which,  as  being  the  most 
utterly  worthless  of  all  her  moveables, 
she  seemed  to  entertain  particular 
affection — when  three  or  four  soldiers 
with  a  recruit  came  up  and  went  on 
board. 

The  recruit  was  a  likely  young 
fellow  enough,  strongly  built  and  well 
made,  but  by  no  means  sober  :  indeed 
he  had  all  the  air  of  a  man  who  had 
been  more  or  less  drunk  for  some 
days.  He  carried  a  small  bundle 
over  his  shoulder,  slung  at  the  end  of  a 
walking-stick,  and  had  a  short  pipe  in 


142 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


his  mouth.  He  "was  as  dusty  and  dirty 
as  recruits  usually  are,  and  his  shoes 
betokened  that  he  had  travelled  on 
foot  some  distance,  but  he  was  in  a 
very  jocose  state,  and  shook  hands 
■with  this  soldier,  and  clapped  that  one 
on  the  back,  and  talked  and  laughed 
continually,  like  a  roaring  idle  dog  as 
he  was. 

The  soldiers  rather  laughed  at  this 
blade  than  with  him  :  seeming  to  say, 
as  they  stood  straightening  their 
eanes  in  their  hands,  and  looking 
coolly  at  him  over  their  glazed  stocks, 
"  Go  on,  my  boy,  while  you  may ! 
you  '11  know  better  bye  and  bye  :" 
when  suddenly  the  novice,  who  had 
been  backing  towards  the  gangway  in 
his  noisy  merriment,  fell  overboard 
before  their  eyes,  and  splashed  heavily 
down  into  the  river  between  the  vessel 
and  the  dock. 

I  never  saw  such  a  good  thing  as 
the  change  that  came  over  these 
soldiers  in  an  instant.  Almost  before 
the  man  was  down,  their  professional 
manner,  their  stiffness  and  constraint, 
were  gone,  and  they  were  filled  with 
the  most  violent  energy.  In  less 
time  than  is  required  to  tell  it,  they 
had  him  out  again,  feet  first,  with  the 
tails  of  his  coat  flapping  over  his  eyes, 
everything  about  him  hanging  the 
wrong  way,  and  the  water  streaming 
off  at  every  thread  in  his  threadbare 
dress.  But  the  moment  they  set  him 
upright  and  found  that  he  was  none 
the  worse,  they  were  soldiers  again, 
looking  over  their  glazed  stocks  more 
composedly  than  ever. 

The  half-sobered  recruit  glanced 
round  for  a  moment,  as  if  his  first 
impulse  were  to  express  some  grati- 
tude for  his  preservation,  but  seeing 
them  with  this  air  of  total  unconcern, 
and  having  his  wet  pipe  presented  to 
him  with  an  oath  by  the  soldier  who 
had  been  by  far  the  most  anxious  of 
the  party,  he  stuck  it  in  his  mouth, 
thrust   his    hands    into   his   moist 


pockets,  and  without  even  shaking 
the  water  off  his .  clothes,  walked 
on  board  whistling ;  not  to  say  as  if 
nothing  had  happened,  but  as  if  he 
had  meant  to  do  it,  and  it  had  been  a 
perfect  success. 

Our  steamboat  came  up  directly 
this  had  left  the  wharf,  and  soon  bore 
us  to  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara; 
where  the  stars  and  stripes  of  America 
flutter  on  one  side,  and  the  Union 
Jack  of  England  on  the  other :  and 
so  narrow  is  the  space  between  them 
that  the  sentinels  in  either  fort  can 
often  hear  the  watchword  of  the  other 
country  given.  Thence  we  emerged 
on  Lake  Ontario,  an  inland  sea ; 
and  by  half-past  six  o'clock  were  at 
Toronto. 

The  country  round  this  town  being 
very  flat,  is  bare  of  scenic  interest ; 
but  the  town  itself  is  full  of  life  and 
motion,  bustle,  business,  and  improve- 
ment. The  streets  are  well  paved, 
and  lighted  with  gas  ;  the  houses  are 
large  and  good;  the  shops  excellent. 
Many  of  them  have  a  display  of  goods 
in  their  windows,  such  as  may  be  seen 
in  thriving  county  towns  in  England ; 
and  there  are  some  which  would  do 
no  discredit  to  the  metropolis  itself. 
There  is  a  good  stone  prison  here; 
and  there  are,  besides,  a  handsome 
church,  a  court-house,  public  offices, 
many  commodious  private  residences, 
and  a  government  observatory  for 
noting  and  recording  the  magnetic 
variations.  In  the  College  of  Upper 
Canada,  which  is  one  of  the  public 
establishments  of  the  city,  a  sound 
education  in  every  department  of 
polite  learning  can  be  had,  at  a  very 
moderate  expense :  the  annual  charge 
for  the  instruction  of  each  pupil,  not 
exceeding  nine  pounds  sterling.  It 
has  pretty  good  endowments  in  the 
way  of  land,  and  is  a  valuable  and 
useful  institution. 

The  first  stone  of  a  new  college  had 
been  laid  but  a  few  days  before,  by  the 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


143 


Governor  General.  It  will  be  a 
handsome,  spacious  edifice,  ap- 
proached by  a  long  avenue,  which  is 
already  planted  and  made  available 
as  a  public  walk.  The  town  is  well- 
adapted  for  wholesome  exercise  at  all 
seasons,  for  the  footways  in  the 
thoroughfares  which  lie  beyond  the 
principal  street,  are  planked  like 
floors,  and  kept  in  very  good  and 
clean  repair. 

It  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret  that 
political  differences  should  have  run 
high  in  this  place,  and  led  to  most 
discreditable  and  disgraceful  results. 
It  is  not  long  since  guns  were  dis- 
charged from  a  window  in  this  town 
at  the  [successful  candidates  in  an 
election,  and  the  coachman  of  one  of 
them  was  actually  shot  in  the  body, 
though  not  dangerously  wounded. 
But  one  man  was  killed  on  the  same 
occasion ;  and  from  the  very  window 
whence  he  received  his  death,  the 
very  flag  which  shielded  his  murderer 
(not  only  in  the  commission  of  his 
crime,  but  from  its  consequences), 
was  displayed  again  on  the  occasion 
of  the  public  ceremony  performed  by 
the  Governor  General,  to  which  I 
have  just  adverted.  Of  all  the 
colours  in  the  rainbow,  there  is  but 
one  which  could  be  so  employed :  I 
need  not  say  that  flag  was  orange. 

The  time  of  leaving  Toronto  for 
Kingston,  is  noon.  By  eight  o'clock 
next  morning,  the  traveller  is  at  the 
end  of  his  journey,  which  is  performed 
by  steamboat  upon  Lake  Ontario, 
calling  at  Port  Hope  and  Coburg,  the 
latter  a  cheerful  thriving  little  town. 
Vast  quantities  of  flour  form  the  chief 
item  in  the  freight  of  these  vessels. 
We  had  no  fewer  than  one  thousand 
and  eighty  barrels  on  board,  between 
Coburg  and  Kingston. 

The  latter  place,  which  is  now  the 
seat  of  government  in  Canada,  is  a  very 
poor  town,  rendered  still  poorer  in 
the  appearance  of  its  market-place  by 


the  ravages  of  a  recent  fire.  Indeed, 
it  may  be  said  of  Kingston,  that  one 
half  of  it  appears  to  be  burnt  down, 
and  the  other  half  not  to  be  built  up. 
The  Government  House  is  neither 
elegant  nor  commodious,  yet  it  is 
almost  the  only  house  of  any  impor- 
tance in  the  neighbourhood. 

There  is  an  admirable  jail  here, 
well  and  wisely  governed,  and  excel- 
lently regulated,  in  every  respect. 
The  men  were  employed  as  shoe- 
makers, ropemakers,  blacksmiths, 
tailors,  carpenters,  and  stonecutters ; 
and  in  building  a  new  prison,  which 
was  pretty  far  advanced  towards  com- 
pletion. The  female  prisoners  were 
occupied  in  needlework.  Among 
them  was  a  beautiful  girl  of  twenty, 
who  had  been  there  nearly  three 
years.  She  acted  as  bearer  of  secret 
despatches  for  the  self-styled  Patriots 
on  Navy  Island,  during  the  Canadian 
Insurrection  :  sometimes  dressing  as 
a  girl,  and  carrying  them  in  her  stays; 
sometimes  attiring  herself  as  a  boy, 
and  secreting  them  in  the  lining  of 
her  hat.  In  the  latter  character  she 
always  rode  as  a  boy  would,  which 
was  nothing  to  her,  for  she  could 
govern  any  horse  that  any  man  could 
ride,  and  could  drive  four-in-hand 
with  the  best  whip  in  those  parts. 
Setting  forth  on  one  of  her  patriotic 
missions,  she  appropriated  to  herself 
the  first  horse  she  could  lay  her  hands 
on ;  and  this  ofience  had  brought  her 
where  I  saw  her.  She  had  quite  a 
lovely  face,  though  as  the  reader  may 
suppose  from  this  sketch  of  her 
history,  there  was  a  lurking  devil  in 
her  bright  eye,  which  looked  out 
pretty  sharply  from  between  her 
prison  bars. 

There  is  a  bomb-proof  fort  here  of 
great  strength,  which  occupies  a  bold 
position,  and  is  capable,  doubtless,  of 
doing  good  service  ;  though  the  town 
is  much  too  close  upon  the  frontier  to 
be  long  held,  I  should  imagine,  for 


144 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


its  present  purpose  in  troubled  times. 
There  is  also  a  small  navy-yard,  where 
,a  couple  of  Government  steamboats 
were  building,  and  getting  on  vigo- 
rously. 

We  left  Kingston  for  Montreal  on 
the  tenth  of  May,  at  half-past  nine 
in  the  morning,  and  proceeded  in  a 
■steamboat  down  the  St.  Lawrence 
river.  The  beauty  of  this  noble  stream 
At  almost  any  point,  but  especially  in 
the  commencement  of  this  journey 
when  it  winds  its  way  among  the 
thousand  Islands,  can  hardly  be  ima- 
gined. The  number  and  constant 
successions  of  these  islands,  all  green 
and  richly  wooded;  their  fluctuating 
sizes,  some  so  large  that  for  half  an 
hour  together  one  among  them  will 
appear  as  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Tiver,  and  some  so  small  that  they  are 
mere  dimples  on  its  broad  bosom ; 
their  infinite  variety  of  shapes;  and 
the  numberless  combinations  of  beau- 
tiful forms  which  the  trees  growing 
on  them,  present :  all  form  a  picture 
fraught  with  uncommon  interest  and 
pleasure. 

In  the  afternoon  we  shot  down  some 
rapids  where  the  river  boiled  and 
bubbled  strangely,  and  where  the 
force  and  headlong  violence  of  the 
■current  were  tremendous.  At  seven 
o'clock  we  reached  Dickenson's  Land- 
ing, whence  travellers  proceed  for  two 
or  three  hours  by  stage-coach  :  the 
navigation  of  the  river  being  rendered 
.so  dangerous  and  difficult  in  the  in- 
terval, by  rapids,  that  steamboats  do 
not  make  the  passage.  The  number 
and  length  of  those  portages,  over 
which  the  roads  are  bad,  and  the 
travelling  slow,  render  the  way  be- 
tween the  towns  of  Montreal  and 
Kingston,  somewhat  tedious. 

Our  course  lay  over  a  wide,  unin- 
•closed  tract  of  country  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  river  side,  whence 
ihe  bright  warning  lights  on  the 
-dangerous  parts  of  the  St.  Lawrence 


shone  vividly.  The  night  was  dark 
and  raw,  and  the  way  dreary  enough. 
It  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  when  we 
reached  the  wharf  where  the  next 
steamboat  lay;  and  went  on  board, 
and  to  bed. 

She  lay  there  all  night,  and  started 
as  soon  as  it  was  day.  The  morning 
was  ushered  in  by  a  violent  thunder- 
storm, and  was  very  wet,  but  gradually 
improved  and  brightened  up.  Going 
on  deck  after  breakfast,  I  was  amazed 
to  see  floating  down  with  the  stream, 
a  most  gigantic  raft,  with  some  thirty 
or  forty  wooden  houses  upon  it,  and 
at  least  as  many  flag  masts,  so  that  it 
looked  like  a  nautical  street.  I  saw 
many  of  these  rafts  afterwards,  but 
never  one  so  large.  All  the  timber, 
or  "  lumber,"  as  it  is  called  in  America, 
which  is  brought  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence, is  floated  down  in  this  manner. 
When  the  raft  reaches  its  place  of 
destination,  it  is  broken  up ;  the  ma- 
terials are  sold;  and  the  boatmen 
return  for  more. 

At  eight  we  landed  again,  and 
travelled  by  a  stage-coach  for  four 
hours  through  a  pleasant  and  well- 
cultivated  country,  perfectly  French 
in  every  respect :  in  the  appearance 
of  the  cottages ;  the  air,  language,  and 
dress  of  the  peasantry;  the  sign-boards 
on  the  shops  and  taverns;  and  the 
Virgin's  shrines,  and  crosses,  by  the 
wayside.  Nearly  every  common  la- 
bourer and  boy,  though  he  had  no 
shoes  to  his  feet,  wore  round  his  waist 
a  sash  of  some  bright  colour :  generally 
red  :  and  the  women,  who  were  work- 
ing in  the  fields  and  gardens,  and 
doing  all  kinds  of  husbandry,  wore, 
one  and  all,  great  flat  straw  hats  with 
most  capacious  brims.  There  were 
Catholic  Priests  and  Sisters  of  Charity 
in  the  village  streets ;  and  images  of 
the  Saviour  at  the  corners  of  cross- 
roads, and  in  other  public  places. 

At  noon  we  went  on  board  another 
steamboat,  and  reached  the  village  of 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


U& 


Lacliine,  nine  miles  from  Montreal, 
by  three  o'clock.  There,  we  left  the 
river,  and  went  on  by  land. 

Montreal  is  pleasantly  situated  on 
the  margin  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
is  backed  by  some  bold  heights,  about 
which  there  are  charming  rides  and 
drives.  The  streets  are  generally 
narrow  and  irregular,  as  in  most 
French  towns  of  any  age ;  but  in  the 
more  modern  parts  of  the  city,  they 
are  wide  and  airy.  They  display  a 
great  variety  of  very  good  shops ;  and 
both  in  the  town  and  suburbs  there 
are  many  excellent  private  dwellings. 
The  granite  quays  are  remarkable  for 
their  beauty,  solidity,  and  extent. 

There  is  a  very  large  Catholic  cathe- 
dral here,  recently  erected ;  with  two 
tall  spires,  of  which  one  is  yet  un- 
finished. In  the  open  space  in  front 
of  this  edifice,  stands  a  solitary,  grim- 
looking,  square  brick  tower,  which  has 
a  quaint  and  remarkable  appearance, 
and  which  the  wiseacres  of  the  place 
have  consequently  determined  to  pull 
down  immediately.  The  Government 
House  is  very  superior  to  that  at 
Kingston,  and  the  town  is  full  of  life 
and  bustle.  In  one  of  the  suburbs  is 
a  plank  road — not  footpath — five  or 
six  miles  long,  and  a  famous  road  it 
is  too.  All  the  rides  in  the  vicinity 
were  made  doubly  interesting  by  the 
bursting  out  of  spring,  which  is  here 
so  rapid,  that  it  is  but  a  day's  leap  from 
barren  winter,  to  the  blooming  youth 
of  summer. 

The  steamboats  to  Quebec,  perform 
the  journey  in  the  night ;  that  is  to 
say,  they  leave  Montreal  at  six  in  the 
evening,  and  arrive  in  Quebec  at  six 
next  moi-ning.  We  made  this 
excursion  during  our  stay  in  Montreal 
(which  exceeded  a  fortnight),  and 
were  charmed  by  its  interest  and 
beauty. 

The  impression  made  upon  the 
visitor  by  this  Gibraltar  of  America : 
its  giddy    heights;  its  citadel  sus- 

No.  170. 


pended,  as  it  were,  in  the  air;  its 
picturesque  steep  streets  and  frowning 
gateways;  and  the  splendid  views 
which  burst  upon  the  eye  at  every 
turn  :  is  at  once  unique  and  lasting. 

It  is  a  place  not  to  be  forgotten  or 
mixed  up  in  the  mind  with  other 
places,  or  altered  for  a  moment  in  the 
crowd  of  scenes  a  traveller  can  recall. 
Apart  from  the  realities  of  this  most 
picturesque  city,  there  are  associations 
clustering  about  it  which  would  make 
a  desert  rich  in  interest.  The  dan- 
gerous precipice  along  whose  rocky 
front,  "Wolfe  and  his  brave  com- 
panions climbed  to  glory ;  the  Plains 
of  Abraham,  where  he  received  his 
mortal  wound;  the  fortress  so  chival- 
rously defended  by  Montcalm ;  and 
his  soldier's  grave,  dug  for  him  while 
yet  alive,  by  the  bursting  of  a  shell ; 
are  not  the  least  among  them,  or 
among  the  gallant  incidents  of  history. 
That  is  a  noble  Monument  too,  and 
worthy  of  two  great  nations,  which 
perpetuates  the  memory  of  both  brave 
generals,  and  on  which  their  names 
are  jointly  written. 

The  city  is  rich  in  public  institu- 
tions and  in  Catholic  churches  and 
charities,  but  it  is  mainly  in  the  pros- 
pect from  the  site  of  the  Old  Govern 
ment  House,  and  from  the  Citadel, 
that  its  surpassing  beauty  lies.  The 
exquisite  expanse  of  country,  rich  in 
field  and  forest,  mountain-height  and 
water,  which  lies  stretched  out  before 
the  view,  with  miles  of  Canadian  vil- 
lages, glancing  in  long  white  streaks, 
like  veins  along  the  landscape ;  the 
motley  crowd  of  gables,  roofs,  and 
chimney  tops  in  the  old  hilly  to^vn 
immediately  at  hand;  the  beautiful 
St.  Lawrence  sparkling  and  flashing 
in  the  sunlight ;  and  the  tiny  ships 
below  the  rock  from  which  you  gaze, 
whose  distant  rigging  looks  like 
spiders'  webs  against  the  light,  while 
casks  and  barrels  on  their  decks 
dwindle  into  toys,  and  busy  mariners 

10 


146 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


become  so  many  puppets :  all  tins,  I 
framed  by  a  sunken  window  in  the 
fortress  and  looked  at  from  the 
shadowed  room  within,  forms  one  of 
the  brightest  and  most  enchanting 
pictures  that  the  eye  can  rest  upon. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year,  vast  num- 
bers of  emigrants  who  have  newly 
arrived  from  England  or  from  Ireland, 
pass  between  Quebec  and  Montreal  on 
their  way  to  the  back  woods  and  new 
settlements  of  Canada.  If  it  be  an  en- 
tertaining lounge,  (as  I  very  often  found 
it)  to  take  a  morning  stroll  upon  the 
quay  at  Montreal,  and  see  them 
grouped  in  hundreds  on  the  public 
wharfs  about  their  chests  and  boxes,  it 
is  matter  of  deep  interest  to  be  their 
fellow-passenger  on  one  of  these 
steamboats,  and,  mingling  with  the 
concourse,  see  and  hear  them  un- 
observed. 

The  vessel  in  which  we  returned  from 
Quebec  to  Montreal  was  crowded  with 
them,  and  at  night  they  spread  their 
beds  between  decks  (those  who  had 
beds,  at  least),  and  slept  so  close  and 
thick  about  our  cabin  door,  that  the 
passage  to  and  fro  was  quite  blocked 
up.  They  were  nearly  all  English; 
from  Gloucestershire  the  greater  part; 
and  had  had  a  long  winter-passage 
out ;  but  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how 
clean  the  children  had  been  kept,  and 
how  untiring  in  their  love  and  self- 
denial  all  the  poor  parents  were. 

Cant  as  we  may,  and  as  we  shall  to 
the  end  of  all  things,  it  is  very  much 
hai'der  for  the  poor  to  be  virtuous  than 
it  is  for  the  rich ;  and  the  good  that 
is  in  them,  shines  the  brighter  for  it. 
In  many  a  noble  mansion  lives  a  man, 
the  best  of  husbands  and  of  fathers, 
whose  private  worth  in  both  capacities 
is  justly  lauded  to  the  skies.  But 
bring  him  here,  upon  this  crowded 
deck.  Strip  from  his  Mr  young  wife 
her  silken  dress  and  jewels,  unbind 
Jher  braided  hair,  stamp  early  wrinkles 
on  her  brow,  pinch  her  pale  cheek 


with  care  and  much  privation,  array 
her  faded  form  in  coarsely  patclied 
attire,  let  there  be  nothing  but  his 
love  to  set  her  forth  or  deck  her  out, 
and  you  shall  put  it  to  the  proof 
indeed.  So  change  his  station  in  the 
world,  that  he  shall  see  in  those 
young  things  who  climb  about  his 
knee :  not  records  of  his  wealth  and 
name :  but  little  wrestlers  with  him 
for  his  daily  bread ;  so  many  poachers 
on  his  scanty  meal ;  so  many  units  to 
divide  his  every  sum  of  comfort,  and 
farther  to  reduce  its  small  amount. 
In  lieu  of  the  endearments  of  child- 
hood in  its  sweetest  aspect,  heap  upon 
him  all  its  pains  and  wants,  its  sick- 
nesses and  ills,  its  fretfulness,  caprice, 
and  querulous  endurance :  let  its 
prattle  be,  not  of  engaging  infant 
fancies,  but  of  cold,  and  thirst,  and 
hunger :  and  if  his  fatherly  affection 
outlive  all  this,  and  he  be  patient, 
watchful,  tender ;  careful  of  his  chil- 
dren's lives,  and  mindful  always  of 
their  joys  and  sorrows ;  then  send 
him  back  to  Parliament,  and  Pulpit, 
and  to  Quarter  Sessions,  and  when  he 
hears  fine  talk  of  the  depravity  of 
those  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth, 
and  labour  hard  to  do  it,  let  him 
speak  up,  as  one  who  knows,  and  tell 
those  holders  forth  that  they,  by 
parallel  with  such  a  class,  should  be 
High  Angels  in  their  daily  lives, 
and  lay  but  humble  siege  to  Heaven 
at  last. 

Which  of  us  shall  say  what  he 
would  be,  if  such  realities,  with  small 
relief  or  change  all  through  his  days, 
were  his  !  Looking  round  upon  these 
people :  far  from  home,  houseless, 
indigent,  wandering,  weary  with 
travel  and  hard  living:  and  seeing 
how  patiently  they  nursed  and  tended 
their  young  children  ;  how  they  con- 
sulted ever  their  wants  first,  then  half 
supplied  their  own  ;  what  gentle 
ministers  of  hope  and  faith  the  women 
were ;  how  the  men  profited  by  their 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


14:^ 


example ;  and  how  very,  veiy  seldom 
even  a  moment's  petulance  or  harsh 
complaint  broke  out  among  them  :  I 
felt  a  stronger  love  and  honour  of  my 
kind  come  glowing  on  my  heart,  and 
wished  to  God  there  had  been 
many  Atheists  in  the  better  part  of 
human  nature  there,  to  read  this 
simple  lesson  in  the  book  of  Life. 


We  left  Montreal  for  New  York 
again,  on  the  thirtieth  of  May ;  cross- 
ing to  La  Prairie,  on  the  opposite 
shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  a  steam- 
boat; we  then  took  the  railroad  to 
St.  John's,  which  is  on  the  brink  of 
Lake  Champlain.  Our  last  greeting 
in  Canada  was  from  the  English 
officers  in  the  pleasant  barracks  at 
that  place  (a  class  of  gentlemen  who 
had  made  every  hour  of  our  visit  me- 
morable by  their  hospitality  and 
friendship)  ;  and  with  "  Rule  Bri- 
tannia" sounding  in  our  ears,  soon  left 
it  far  behind. 

But  Canada  has  held,  and  always 
will  retain,  a  foremost  place  in  my 
remembrance.  Few  Englishmen  are 
prepared  to  find  it  what  it  is.  Ad- 
vancing quietly ;  old  diflferences  set- 
tling down,  and  being  fast  forgotten ; 
public  feeling  and  private  enterprise 
alike  in  a  sound  and  wholesome  state ; 
nothing  of  flush  or  fever  in  its  system, 
but  health  and  vigour  throbbing  in  its 
steady  pulse :  it  is  full  of  hope  and 
promise.  To  me — who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  of  it  as  something  left 
behind  in  the  strides  of  advancing 
society,  as  something  neglected  and 
forgotten,  slumbering  and  wasting  in 
its  sleep — the  demand  for  labour  and 
the  rates  of  wages ;  the  busy  quays  of 
Montreal ;  the  vessels  taking  in  their 
cargoes,  and  discharging  them;  the 
amount  of  shipping  in  the  different 
ports;  the  commerce,  roads,  and  public 
works,  all  made  to  last ;  the  respecta- 
bility and  character  of  the  public 
journals ;  and  the  amount  of  rational 


comfort  and  happiness  which  honest 
industry  may  earn :  were  very  great 
surprises.  The  steamboats  on  the 
lakes,  in  their  conveniences,  cleanli- 
ness, and  safety;  in  the  gentlemanly 
character  and  bearing  of  their  cap- 
tains ;  and  in  the  politeness  and  per- 
fect comfort  of  their  social  regulations; 
are  unsurpassed  even  by  the  famous 
Scotch  vessels,  deservedly  so  much 
esteemed  at  home.  The  inns  are 
usually  bad:  because  the  custom  of 
boarding  at  hotels  is  not  so  general 
here  as  in  the  States,  and  the  British 
officers,  who  form  a  large  portion  of 
the  society  of  every  town,  live  chiefly 
at  the  regimental  messes :  but  in 
every  other  respect,  the  traveller  in 
Canada  will  find  as  good  provision 
for  his  comfort  as  in  any  place  I 
know. 

There  is  one  American  boat — ^the 
vessel  which  carried  us  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  from  St.  John's  to  Whitehall — 
which  I  praise  very  highly,  but  no 
more  than  it  deserves,  when  I  say  that 
it  is  superior  even  to  that  in  which  we 
went  from  Queenston  to  Toronto,  or 
to  that  in  which  we  travelled  from  the 
latter  place  to  Kingston,  or  I  have  no 
doubt  I  may  add,  to  any  other  in  the 
world.  This  steamboat  which  is  called 
the  Burlington,  is  a  perfectly  exquisite 
achievement  of  neatness,  elegance,  and 
order.  The  decks  are  drawing-rooms; 
the  cabins  are  boudoirs,  choicely  fur- 
nished and  adorned  with  prints,  pic- 
tures, and  musical  instruments ;  every 
nook  and  comer  in  the  vessel  is  a 
perfect  curiosity  of  graceful  comfort 
and  beautiful  contrivance.  Captain 
Sherman  her  commander,  to  whose 
ingenuity  and  excellent  taste  these 
results  are  solely  attributable,  has 
bravely  and  worthily  distinguished 
himself  on  more  than  one  trying  occa- 
sion :  not  least  among  them,  in  having 
the  moral  courage  to  carry  British 
troops,  at  a  time  (during  the  Canadian 
rebellion)  when  no  other  conveyance 


148 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


•was  open  to  them.  He  and  his  vessel 
are  held  in  universal  respect,  both  by 
his  own  countrymen  and  ours;  and 
no  man  ever  enjoyed  the  popular 
esteem,  who,  in  his  sphere  of  action, 
won  and  wore  it  better  than  this 
gentleman. 

By  means  of  this  floating  palace  we 
•were  soon  in  the  United  States  again, 
and  called  that  evening  at  Burlington  ; 
a  pretty  town,  where  we  lay  an  hour 
or  so.  We  reached  Whitehall,  where 
•we  were  to  disembark,  at  six  next 
morning ;  and  might  have  done  so 
earlier,  but  that  these  steamboats  lie 
by  for  some  hours  in  the  night,  in 
consequence  of  the  lake  becoming 
very  narrow  at  that  part  of  the  journey, 
and  difficult  of  navigation  in  the  dark. 
Its  width  is  so  contracted  at  one  point, 
indeed,  that  they  are  obliged  to  warp 
round  by  means  of  a  rope. 

After  breakfasting  at  Whitehall,  we 
took  the  stage-coach  for  Albany:  a 
large  and  busy  town,  where  we  arrived 
between  five  and  six  o'clock  that  after- 
noon ;  after  a  very  hot  day's  journey, 
for  we  were  now  in  the  height  of 
summer  again.  At  seven  we  started 
for  JsTew  York  on  board  a  great  North 
Elver  steamboat,  which  was  so  crowded 
■with  passengers  that  the  upper  deck 
was  like  the  box  lobby  of  a  theatre 
between  the  pieces,  and  the  lower  one 
like  Tottenham  Court  Eoad  on  a  Sa- 
turday night.  But  we  slept  soundly, 
notwithstanding,  and  soon  after  five 
o'clock  next  morning,  reached  New 
fork. 

Tarrying  here,  only  that  day  and 
night  to  recruit  after  our  late  fatigues, 
we  started  off  once  more  upon  our  last 
journey  in  America.  We  had  yet  five 
days  to  spare  before  embarking  for 
England,  and  I  had  a  great  desire  to 
see  "the  Shaker  Tillage,"  which  is 
peopled  by  a  religious  sect  from  whom 
it  takes  its  name. 

To  this  end,  we  went  up  the  North 
Eiver  again,  as  far  as  the  town  of 


Hudson,  and  there  hired  an  extra  to 
carry  us  to  Lebanon,  thirty  miles  dis- 
tant :  and  of  course  another  and  a 
different  Lebanon  from  that  village 
where  I  slept  on  the  night  of  the 
Prairie  trip. 

The  country  through  which  the  road 
meandered,  was  rich  and  beautiful; 
the  weather  very  fine  ;  and  for  many 
miles  the  Kaatskill  mountains,  where 
Rip  Van  Winkle  and  the  ghastly 
Dutchmen  played  at  ninepins  one 
memorable  gusty  afternoon,  towered 
in  the  blue  distance,  like  stately  clouds. 
At  one  point,  as  we  ascended  a  steep 
hill,  athwart  whose  base  a  railroad, 
yet  constructing,  took  its  course,  we 
came  upon  an  Irish  colony.  With 
means  at  hand  of  building  decent 
cabins,  it  was  wonderful  to  see  how 
clumsy,  rough,  and  -wretched,  its. 
hovels  were.  The  best  were  poor  pro- 
tection from  the  weather ;  the  worst 
let  in  the  wind  and  rain  through  wide 
breaches  in  the  roofs  of  sodden  grass, 
and  in  the  walls  of  mud ;  some  had 
neither  door  nor  window;  some  had 
nearly  fallen  down,  and  were  imper- 
fectly propped  up  by  stakes  and  poles; 
all  were  ruinous  and  filthy.  Hideously 
ugly  old  women  and  very  buxom 
young  ones,  pigs,  dogs,  men,  children, 
babies,  pots,  kettles,  dunghills,  vile 
refuse,  rank  straw,  and  standing  water, 
all  wallowing  together  in  an  insepa- 
rable heap,  composed  the  furniture  of 
every  dark  and  dirty  hut. 

Between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  we  arrived  at  Lebanon  :  which 
is  renowned  for  its  warm  baths,  and 
for  a  great  hotel,  well  adapted,  I  have 
no  doubt,  to  the  gregarious  taste  of 
those  seekers  after  health  or  pleasure 
who  repair  here,  but  inexpressibly 
comfortless  to  me.  We  were  shown  into 
an  immense  apartment,  lighted  by 
two  dim  candles,  called  the  drawing- 
room  :  from  which  there  was  a 
descent  by  a  flight  of  steps,  to 
another  vast  desert  called  the  dining- 


FOR  GENERAL   CIRCULATION. 


149 


room :  our  bed  chambers  were  among 
certain  long  rows  of  little'  white- 
washed cells,  which  opened  from 
either  side  of  a  dreary  passage ;  and 
were  so  like  rooms  in  a  prison  that  I 
half  expected  to  be  locked  up  when  I 
went  to  bed,  and  listened  involun- 
tarily for  the  turning  of  the  key  on 
the  outside.  There  need  be  baths 
somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood,  for 
the  other  washing  arrangements  were 
on  as  limited  a  scale  as  I  ever  saw, 
even  in  America  :  indeed,  these  bed- 
rooms were  so  very  bare  of  even  such 
common  luxuries  as  chairs,  that  I 
should  say  they  were  not  provided 
with  enough  of  anything,  but  that 
I  bethink  myself  of  our  having  been 
most  bountifully  bitten  all  night. 

The  house  is  very  pleasantly  situ- 
ated, however,  and  we  had  a  good 
breakfast.  That  done,  we  went  to 
visit  our  place  of  destination,  which 
was  some  two  miles  off,  and  the  way 
to  which  was  soon  indicated  by  a 
finger-post,  whereon  was  painted,  "  To 
the  Shaker  Village." 

As  we  rode  along,  we  passed  a  party 
of  Shakers,  who  were  at  work  upon 
the  road ;  who  wore  the  broadest  of 
all  broad-brimmed  hats ;  and  were  in 
all  visible  respects  such  very  wooden 
men,  that  I  felt  about  as  much  sym- 
pathy for  them,  and  as  much  interest 
in  them,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many 
figure-heads  of  ships.  Presently  we 
came  to  the  beginning  of  the  village, 
and  alighting  at  the  door  of  a  house 
where  the  Shaker  manufactures  are 
gold,  and  which  is  the  head-quarters 
of  the  elders,  requested  permission  to 
see  the  Shaker  worship. 

Pending  the  conveyance  of  this 
request  to  some  person  in  authority, 
we  walked  into  a  grim  room,  where 
several  grim  hats  were  hanging  on 
grim  pegs,  and  the  time  was  grimly 
told  by  a  grim  clock,  which  uttered 
every  tick  with  a  kind  of  struggle,  as 
if  it  broke  the   grim  silence   reluc- 


tantly, and  under  protest.  Ranged 
against  the  wall  were  six  or  eight  stiff 
high-backed  chairs,  and  they  partook 
so  strongly  of  the  general  grimness, 
that  one  would  much  rather  have  sat 
on  the  floor  than  incurred  the  smallest 
obligation  to  any  of  them. 

Presently,  there  stalked  into  this 
apartment,  a  grim  old  Shaker,  with 
eyes  as  hard,  and  dull,  and  cold,  as 
the  great  round  metal  buttons  on  his 
coat  and  waistcoat;  a  sort  of  calm 
goblin.  Being  informed  of  our  desire, 
he  produced  a  newspaper  wherein  the 
body  of  elders,  whereof  he  was  a 
member,  had  advertised  but  a  few 
days  before,  that  in  consequence  of 
certain  unseemly  interruptions  which 
their  worship  had  received  from 
strangers,  their  chapel  was  closed  to 
the  public  for  the  space  of  one  year. 

As  nothing  was  to  be  urged  in  op- 
position to  this  reasonable  arrange- 
ment, we  requested  leave  to  make 
some  trifling  purchases  of  Shaker 
goods;  which  was  grimly  conceded. 
We  accordingly  repaired  to  a  store  in 
the  same  house  and  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  passage,  where  the  stock 
was  presided  over  by  something  alive 
in  a  russet  case,  which  the  elder  said 
was  a  woman;  and  which  I  suppose 
was  a  woman,  though  I  should  not 
have  suspected  it. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road 
was  their  place  of  worship :  a  cool 
clean  edifice  of  wood,  with  large  win- 
dows and  green  blinds :  like  a  spa- 
cious summer-house.  As  there  was 
no  getting  into  this  place,  and 
nothing  was  to  be  done  but  walk  up 
and  down,  and  look  at  it  and  the 
other  buildings  in  the  village  (which 
were  chiefly  of  wood,  painted  a  dark 
red  like  English  barns,  and  composed 
of  many  stories  like  English  factories), 
I  have  nothing  to  communicate  to 
the  reader,  beyond  the  scanty  results 
I  gleaned  the  while  our  purchases 
were  making. 


15# 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


These  people  are  called  Shakers 
from  their  peculiar  form  of  adoration, 
which  consists  of  a  dance,  performed 
\>j  the  men  and  women  of  all  ages, 
who  arrange  themselves  for  that  pur- 
pose in  opposite  parties  :  the  men  first 
divesting  themselves  of  their  hats  and 
coats,  which  they  gravely  hang 
against  the  wall  before  they  begin; 
and  tying  a  ribbon  round  their  shirt- 
sleeves, as  though  they  were  going  to 
be  bled.  They  accompany  themselves 
with  a  droning,  humming  noise,  and 
dance  until  they  are  quite  exhausted, 
alternately  advancing  and  retiring  in 
a  preposterous  sort  of  trot.  The 
effect  is  said  to  be  unspeakably  absurd : 
and  if  I  may  judge  from  a  print  of 
this  ceremony  Avhich  I  have  in  my 
possession  ;  and  which  I  am  informed 
by  those  who  have  visited  the  chapel, 
is  perfectly  accurate ;  it  must  be  infi- 
nitely grotesque. 

They  are  governed  by  a  woman,  and 
her  rule  is  understood  to  be  absolute, 
though  she  has  the  assistance  of  a  coun- 
cil of  elders.  She  lives,  it  is  said,  in 
strict  seclusion,  in  certain  rooms 
above  the  chapel,  and  is  never  shown 
to  profane  eyes.  If  she  at  all  resemble 
the  lady  who  presided  over  the  store, 
it  is  a  great  charity  to  keep  her 
as  close  as  possible,  and  I  cannot 
too  strongly  express  my  perfect  con- 
currence in  this  benevolent  pro- 
ceeding. 

All  the  possessions  and  revenues  of 
the  settlement  are  thrown  into  a  com- 
mon stock,  which  is  managed  by  the 
elders.  As  they  have  made  converts 
among  people  who  were  well  to  do  in 
the  world,  and  are  frugal  and  thrifty, 
it  is  understood  that  this  fund  pros- 
pers :  the  more  especially  as  they 
have  made  large  purchases  of  land. 
Nor  is  this  at  Lebanon  the  only  Shaker 
settlement :  there  are,  I  think,  at 
least,  three  others. 

They  are  good  farmers,  and  all  their 
produce    is    eagerly    purchased    and 


highly  esteemed.  "Shaker  seeds,'* 
"  Shaker  herbs,"  and  "  Shaker  dis- 
tilled waters,"  are  commonly  an- 
nounced for  sale  in  the  shops  of 
towns  and  cities.  They  are  good 
breeders  of  cattle,  and  are  kind  and 
merciful  to  the  brute  creation.  Con- 
sequently, Shaker  beasts  seldom  fail 
to  find  a  ready  market. 

They  eat  and  drink  together,  after 
the  Spartan  model,  at  a  great  public 
table.  There  is  no  union  of  the  sexes  : 
and  every  Shaker,  male  and  female, 
is  devoted  to  a  life  of  celibacy.  Eumour 
has  been  busy  upon  this  theme,  but 
here  again  I  must  refer  to  the  lady  of 
the  store,  and  say,  that  if  many  of  the 
sister  Shakers  resemble  her,  I  treat 
all  such  slander  as  bearing  on  its  face 
the  strongest  marks  of  wild  improba- 
bility. But  that  they  take  as  pro- 
selytes, persons  so  young  that  they 
cannot  know  their  own  minds,  and 
cannot  possess  much  strength  of  reso- 
lution .in  this  or  any  other  respect,  I 
can  assert  from  my  own  observation 
of  the  extreme  juvenility  of  certain 
youthful  Shakers  whom  I  saw  at 
work  among  the  party  on  the  road. 

They  are  said  to  be  good  drivers  of 
bargains,  but  to  be  honest  and  just 
in  their  transactions,  and  even  in 
horse-dealing  to  resist  those  thievish 
tendencies  which  would  seem,  for 
some  undiscovered  reason,  to  be 
almost  inseparable  from  that  branch 
of  traffic.  In  all  matters  they  hold 
their  own  course  quietly,  live  in  their 
gloomy  silent  commonwealth,  and 
show  little  desire  to  interfere  with 
other  people. 

This  is  well  enough,  but  neverthe- 
less I  cannot,  I  confess,  incline  to- 
wards the  Shakers  ;  view  them  with 
much  favour,  or  extend  towards  them 
any  very  lenient  construction.  I  so 
abhor,  and  from  my  soul  detest  that 
bad  spirit,  no  matter  by  what  class 
or  sect  it  may  be  entertained,  which 
would  strip  life  of  its  healthful  graces. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


151 


rob  youth  of  its  innocent  pleasures, 
pluck  from  maturity  and  age  their 
pleasant  ornaments,  and  make  exis- 
tence but  a  narrow  path  towards  the 
grave :  that  odious  spirit  which,  if  it 
could  have  had  full  scope  and  sway 
upon  the  earth,  must  have  blasted 
and  made  barren  the  imaginations  of 
the  greatest  men,  and  left  them,  in 
their  power  of  raising  up  enduring 
images  before  their  fellow-creatures 
yet  unborn,  no  better  than  the  beasts  : 
that,  in  these  very  broad-brimmed 
hats  and  very  sombre  coats — in  stiflf- 
necked  solemn-visaged  piety,  in  short, 
no  matter  what  its  garb,  whether  it 
have  cropped  hair  as  in  a  Shaker 
village,  or  long  nails  as  in  a  Hindoo 
temple — I  recognise  the  worst  among 
the  enemies  of  Heaven  and  Earth, 
who  turn  the  water  at  the  marriage 
feasts  of  this  poor  world,  not  into 
wine  but  gall.  And  if  there  must  be 
people  vowed  to  crush  the  harmless 
fancies  and  the  love  of  innocent  de- 
lights and  gaieties,  which  are  a  part  of 
human  nature  :  as  much  a  part  of  it 
as  any  other  love  or  hope  that  is  our 
common  portion :  let  them,  for  me, 
stand  openly  revealed  among  the 
ribald  and  licentious ;  the  very  idiots 
know  that  tliey  are  not  on  the  Im- 
mortal road,  and  will  despise  them, 
and  avoid  them  readily. 

Leaving  the  Shaker  village  with  a 
hearty  dislike  of  the  old  Shakers,  and 
a  hearty  pity  for  the  young  ones: 
tempered  by  the  strong  probability  of 
their  running  away  as  they  grow  older 
and  wiser,  which  they  not  uncom- 
monly do  :  we  returned  to  Lebanon, 
and  so  to  Hudson,  by  the  way  we  had 
come  upon  the  previous  day.  There, 
we  took  steamboat  down  the  North 
River  towards  New  York,  but  stopped, 
some  four  hours'  journey  short  of  it, 
at  West  Point,  where  we  remained 
that  night,  and  all  next  day,  and  next 
night  too. 

In  this  beautiful  place  :  the  fairest 


among  the  fair  and  lovely  Highlands 
of  the  North  Eiver  :  shut  in  by  deep 
green  heights  and  ruined  forts,  and 
looking  down  upon  the  distant  town 
of  Newburgh,  along  a  glittering  path 
of  sunlit  water,  with  here  and  there  a 
skiflf,  whose  white  sail  often  bends  on 
some  new  tack  as  sudden  flaws  of 
wind  come  down  upon  her  from  the 
gullies  in  the  hills :  hemmed  in, 
besides,  all  round  with  memories  of 
Washington,  and  events  of  the  revo- 
lutionary war :  is  the  Military  School 
of  America. 

It  could  not  stand  on  more  appro- 
priate ground,  and  any  ground  more 
beautiful  can  hardly  be.  The  course 
of  education  is  severe,  but  well  de- 
vised, and  manly.  Through  June, 
July,  and  August,  the  young  men 
encamp  upon  the  spacious  plain 
whereon  the  college  stands;  and  all 
the  year  their  military  exercises  are 
performed  there,  daily.  The  term  of 
study  at  this  institution,  which  the 
State  requires  from  all  cadets,  is  four 
years ;  but,  whether  it  be  from  the 
rigid  nature  of  the  discipline,  or  the 
national  impatience  of  restraint,  or 
both  causes  combined,  not  more  than 
half  the  number  who  begin  their 
studies  here,  ever  remain  to  finish 
them. 

The  number  of  cadets  being  about 
equal  to  that  of  the  members  of 
Congress,  one  is  sent  here  from  every 
Congressional  district :  its  member 
influencing  the  selection.  Commis- 
sions in  the  service  are  distributed  on 
the  same  principle.  The  dwellings  of 
the  various  Professors  are  beautifully 
situated ;  and  there  is  a  most  excel- 
lent hotel  for  strangers,  though  it  has 
the  two  drawbacks  of  being  a  total 
abstinence  house  (wines  and  spirits 
being  forbidden  to  the  students),  and 
of  serving  the  public  meals  at  rather 
uncomfortable  hours  :  to  wit,  break- 
fast at  seven,  dinner  at  one,  and 
supper  at  sunset. 


152 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


The  beauty  and  freshness  of  this 
calm  retreat,  in  the  very  dawn  and 
greenness  of  summer — it  was  then  the 
beginning  of  June — were  exquisite 
indeed.  Leaving  it  upon  the  sixth, 
and  returning  to  New  York,  to  em- 
bark for  England  on  the  succeeding 
day,  I  was  glad  to  think  that  among 
the  last  memorable  beauties  which 


had  glided  past  us,  and  softened  in 
the  bright  perspective,  were  those 
whose  pictures,  traced  by  no  common 
hand,  are  fresh  in  most  men's  minds  ; 
not  easily  to  grow  old,  or  fade  beneath 
the  dust  of  Time  :  The  Kaatskill 
Mountains,  Sleepy  Hollow,  and  the 
Tappaan  Zee. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


153 


CHAPTER  XVL 


THE  PASSAGE   HOME. 


I  NETER  had  SO  much  interest  before, 
and  very  likely  I  shall  never  have  so 
much  interest  again,  in  the  state  of 
the  wind,  as  on  the  long  looked-for 
morning  of  Tuesday  the  Seventh  of 
June.  Some  nautical  authority  had 
told  me  a  day  or  two  previous,  "  any- 
thing with  west  in  it,  will  do ; "  so 
when  I  darted  out  of  bed  at  daylight, 
and  throwing  up  the  window,  was 
saluted  by  a  lively  breeze  from  the 
north-west  which  had  sprung  up  in 
the  night,  it  came  upon  me  so  freshly, 
rustling  with  so  many  happy  associa- 
tions, that  I  conceived  upon  the  spot 
a  special  regard  for  all  airs  blowing 
from  that  quarter  of  the  compass, 
which  I  shall  cherish,  I  dare  say, 
until  my  own  wind  has  breathed  its 
last  frail  puff,  and  withdrawn  itself 
for  ever  from  the  mortal  calendar. 

The  pilot  had  not  been  slow  to  take 
advantage  of  this  favourable  weather, 
and  the  ship  which  yesterday  had 
been  in  such  a  crowded  dock  that  she 
might  have  retired  from  trade  for 
good  and  all,  for  any  chance  she 
seemed  to  have  of  going  to  sea,  was 
now  full  sixteen  miles  away.  A 
gallant  sight  she  was,  when  we,  fast 
gaining  on  her  in  a  steamboat,  saw 
her  in  the  distance  riding  at  anchor  : 
her  tall  masts  pointing  up  in  graceful 
lines  against  the  sky,  and  every  rope 
and  spar  expressed  in  delicate  and 
thread-like  outline :  gallant,  too,  when 
we,  being  all  aboard,  the  anchor  came 
up  to  the  sturdy  chorus  "Cheerily 
men,  oh  cheerily ! "  and  she  followed 
proudly  in  the  towing  steamboat's 
wake :  but  bravest  and  most  gallant 
of  all,  when  the  tow-rope  being  cast 


adrift,  the  canvass  fluttered  from  her 
masts,  and  spreading  her  white  wings 
she  soared  away  upon  her  free  and 
solitary  course. 

In  the  after  cabin  we  were  only 
fifteen  passengers  in  all,  and  the 
greater  part  were  from  Canada,  where 
some  of  us  had  known  each  other. 
The  night  was  rough  and  squally,  so 
were  the  next  two  days,  but  they  flew 
by  quickly,  and  we  were  soon  as 
cheerful  and  as  snug  a  party,  with  an 
honest,  manly-hearted  captain  at  our 
head,  as  ever  came  to  the  resolution 
of  being  mutually  agreeable,  on  land 
or  water. 

We  breakfasted  at  eight,  lunched 
at  twelve,  dined  at  three,  and  took 
our  tea  at  half-past  seven.  We  had 
abundance  of  amusements,  and  dinner 
was  not  the  least  among  them :  firstly, 
for  its  own  sake ;  secondly,  because  of 
its  extraordinary  length  :  its  duration, 
inclusive  of  all  the  long  pauses  be- 
tween the  courses,  being  seldom  less 
than  two  hours  and  a  half;  Avhich 
was  a  subject  of  never-failing  enter- 
tainment. By  way  of  beguiling  the 
tediousness  of  these  banquets,  a  select 
association  was  formed  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  table,  below  the  mast,  to 
whose  distinguished  president  mo- 
desty forbids  me  to  make  any  further 
allusion,  which,  being  a  very  hilari- 
ous and  jovial  institution,  was  (preju- 
dice apart)  in  high  favour  with  the 
rest  of  the  community,  and  particu- 
larly with  a  black  steward,  who  lived 
for  three  weeks  in  a  broad  grin  at  the 
marvellous  humour  of  these  incorpo- 
rated worthies. 

Then,  we  had  chess  for  those  who 


)54 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


played  it,  whist,  cribbage,  books,  back- 
gammon, and  shovelboard.  In  all 
weathers,  fair  or  foul,  calm  or  windy,  we 
were  every  one  on  deck,  walking  up 
and  down  in  pairs,  lying  in  the  boats, 
leaning  over  the  side,  or  chatting  in 
a  lazy  group  together.  We  had  no 
lack  of  music,  for  one  played  the 
accordion,  another  the  violin,  and 
another  (who  usually  began  at  six 
o'clock  A.M.)  the  key-bugle  :  the  com- 
bined effect  of  which  instruments, 
when  they  all  played  different  tunes, 
in  different  parts  of  the  ship,  at  the 
same  time,  and  within  hearing  of  each 
other,  as  they  sometimes  did  (every- 
body being  intensely  satisfied  with 
his  own  performance),  was  sublimely 
hideous. 

When  all  these  means  of  entertain- 
ment failed,  a  sail  would  heave  in 
sight;  looming,  perhaps,  the  very 
spirit  of  a  ship,  in  the  misty  distance, 
or  passing  us  so  close  that  through 
our  glasses  we  could  see  the  people  on 
her  decks,  and  easily  make  out  her 
name,  and  whither  she  was  bound. 
For  hours  together  we  could  watch 
the  dolphins  and  porpoises  as  they 
rolled  and  leaped  and  dived  around 
the  vessel ;  or  those  small  creatures 
ever  on  the  wing,  the  Mother  Carey's 
chickens,  which  had  borne  us  com- 
pany from  New  York  bay,  and  for  a 
whole  fortnight  fluttered  about  the 
vessel's  stern.  For  some  days  we 
had  a  dead  calm,  or  very  light  winds, 
during  which  the  crew  amused  them- 
selves with  fishing,  and  hooked  an 
unlucky  dolphin,  who  expired,  in  all 
his  rainbow  colours,  on  the  deck  :  an 
event  of  such  importance  in  our  bar- 
ren calendar,  that  afterwards  we  dated 
from  the  dolphin,  and  made  the  day 
on  which  he  died,  an  era. 

Besides  all  this,  when  we  were  five 
or  six  days  out,  there  began  to  be 
much  talk  of  icebergs,  of  which  wan- 
dering islands  an  unusual  number  had 
been  seen  by  the  vessels  that  had 


come  into  New  York  a  day  or  two 
before  we  left  that  port,  and  of  whose 
dangerous  neighbourhood  we  were 
warned  by  the  sudden  coldness  of  the 
weather,  and  the  sinking  of  the  mer- 
cury in  the  barometer.  While  these 
tokens  lasted,  a  double  look-out  was 
kept,  and  many  dismal  tales  were 
whispered,  after  dark,  of  ships  that 
had  struck  upon  the  ice  and  gone 
down  in  the  night;  but  the  wind 
obliging  us  to  hold  a  southward 
course,  we  saw  none  of  them,  and  the 
weather  soon  grew  br%ht  and  warm 
agam. 

The  observation  every  day  at  noon, 
and  the  subsequent  working  of  the 
vessel's  course,  was,  as  may  be  sup- 
posed, a  feature  in  our  lives  of  para- 
mount importance ;  nor  were  there 
wanting  (as  there  never  are)  sagacious 
doubters  of  the  captain's  calculations, 
who,  so  soon  as  his  back  was  turned, 
would,  in  the  absence  of  compasses, 
measure  the  chart  with  bits  of  string, 
and  ends  of  pocket-handkerchiefs,  and 
points  of  snuffers,  and  clearly  prove 
him  to  be  wrong  by  an  odd  thousand 
miles  or  so.  It  was  very  edifying  to 
see  these  unbelievers  shake  their 
heads  and  frown,  and  hear  them  hold 
forth  strongly  upon  navigation :  not 
that  they  knew  anything  about  it, 
but  that  they  always  mistrusted  the 
captain  in  calm  weather,  or  when  the 
wind  was  adverse.  Indeed,  the  mer- 
cury itself  is  not  so  variable  as  this 
class  of  passengers,  whom  you  will 
see,  when  the  ship  is  going  nobly 
through  the  water,  quite  pale  with 
admiration,  swearing  that  the  captain 
beats  all  captains  ever  known,  and 
even  hinting  at  subscriptions  for  a 
piece  of  plate ;  and  who,  next  morn- 
ing, when  the  breeze  has  lulled,  and 
all  the  sails  hang  useless  in  the  idle 
air,  shake  their  despondent  heads 
again,  and  say,  with  screwed-up  lips, 
they  hope  that  captain  is  a  sailor — but 
they  shrewdly  doubt  him. 


FOR    GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


155 


It  even  became  an  occupation  in 
the  calm,  to  wonder  when  the  wind 
wovld  spring  up  in  the  favourable 
quarter,  where,  it  was  clearly  shown 
by  all  the  rules  and  precedents,  it 
ought  to  have  sprung  up  long  ago. 
The  first  mate,  who  whistled  for  it 
zealously,  was  much  respected  for  his 
perseverance,  and  was  regarded  even 
by  the  unbelievers  as  a  first-rate  sailor. 
Many  gloomy  looks  would  be  cast 
upward  through  the  cabin  skylights 
at  the  flapping  sails  while  dinner  was 
in  progress  ;  and  some,  growing  bold 
in  ruefulness,  predicted  that  we  should 
land  about  the  middle  of  July.  There 
are  always  on  board  ship,  a  Sanguine 
One,  and  a  Despondent  One.  The 
latter  character  carried  it  hollow  at 
this  period  of  the  voyage,  and  tri- 
umphed over  the  Sanguine  One  at 
every  meal,  by  inquiring  where  he 
supposed  the  Great  Western  (which 
left  New  York  a  week  after  us)  was 
Tiow :  and  where  he  supposed  the 
*  Cunard '  steam-packet  was  now  : 
and  what  he  thought  of  sailing  ves- 
sels as  compared  with  steam-ships 
now :  and  so  beset  his  life  with  pes- 
tilent attacks  of  that  kind,  that  he  too 
was  obliged  to  afiect  despondency,  for 
Tery  peace  and  quietude. 

These  were  additions  to  the  list  of 
entertaining  incidents,  but  there  was 
still  another  source  of  interest.  We 
carried  in  the  steerage  nearly  a 
hundred  passengers  :  a  little  world  of 
poverty :  and  as  we  came  to  know 
individuals  among  them  by  sight, 
from  looking  down  upon  the  deck 
where  they  took  the  air  in  the  day- 
time, and  cooked  their  food,  and  very 
often  ate  it  too,  we  became  curious  to 
know  their  histories,  and  with  what 
expectations  they  had  gone  out  to 
America,  and  on  what  errands  they 
were  going  home,  and  what  their  cir- 
cumstances were.  The  information 
we  got'  on  these  heads  from  the  car- 
penter,   who  had  charge   of  these 


people,  was  often  of  the  strangest 
kind.  Some  of  them  had  been  iu 
America  but  three  days,  some  but 
three  months,  and  some  had  gone  out 
in  the  last  voyage  of  that  very  ship 
in  which  they  were  now  returning 
home.  Othei-s  had  sold  their  clothes 
to  raise  the  passage-money,  and  had 
hardly  rags  to  cover  them ;  others 
had  no  food,  and  lived  upon  the 
charity  of  the  rest :  and  one  man, 
it  was  discovered  nearly  at  the  end  of 
the  voyage,  not  before — for  he  kept 
his  secret  close,  and  did  not  court 
compassion — had  had  no  sustenance 
whatever  but  the  bones  and  scraps  of 
fat  he  took  from  the  plates  used  iu 
the  after-cabin  dinner,  when  they  were 
put  out  to  be  washed. 

The  whole  system  of  shipping  and 
conveying  these  unfortunate  persons, 
is  one  that  stands  in  need  of  thorough 
revision.  If  any  class  deserve  to  be 
protected  and  assisted  by  the  Govern- 
ment, it  is  that  class  who  are  banished 
from  their  native  land  in  search  of 
the  bare  means  of  subsistence.  All 
that  could  be  done  for  these  poor 
people  by  the  great  compassion  and 
humanity  of  the  captain  and  officers 
was  done,  but  they  require  much 
more.  The  law  is  bound,  at  least 
upon  the  English  side,  to  see  that  too 
many  of  them  are  not  put  on  board 
one  ship  :  and  that  their  accommoda- 
tions are  decent:  not  demoralising 
and  profligate.  It  is  bound,  too,  in 
common  humanity,  to  declare  that  no 
man  shall  be  taken  on  board  without 
his  stock  of  provisions  being  pre- 
viously inspected  by  some  proper 
officer,  and  pronounced  moderately 
sufficient  for  his  support  upon  the 
voyage.  It  is  bound  to  provide,  or  to 
require  that  there  be  provided,  a 
medical  attendant;  whereas  in  these 
ships  there  are  none,  though  sickness 
of  adults,  and  deaths  of  children,  on 
the  passage,  are  matters  of  the  very 
commonest  occuryeace.    Above  all  it 


156 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


is  the  duty  of  any  Government,  be  it 
monarchy  or  republic,  to  interpose 
and  put  an  end  to  that  system  by 
wliich  a  firm  of  traders  in  emigrants 
purchase  of  the  owners  the  whole 
'tween-decks  of  a  ship,  and  send  on 
board  as  many  wretched  people 
as  they  can  lay  hold  of,  on  any 
terms  they  can  get,  without  the 
smallest  reference  to  the  conveniences 
of  the  steerage,  the  number  of  berths, 
the  slightest  separation'  of  the  sexes, 
or  anything  but  their  own  immediate 
profit.  Nor  is  even  this  the  worst  of 
the  vicious  system :  for,  certain  crimp- 
ing agents  of  these  houses,  who  have 
a  per  centage  on  all  the  passengers 
they  inveigle,  are  constantly  travelling 
about  those  districts  where  poverty 
and  discontent  are  rife,  and  tempting 
the  credulous  into  more  misery, 
by  holding  out  monstrous  induce- 
ments to  emigration  which  can  never 
be  realised. 

The  history  of  every  family  we  had 
on  board  was  pretty  much  the  same. 
After  hoarding  up,  and  borrowing, 
and  begging,  and  selling  everything 
to  pay  the  passage,  they  had  gone  out 
to  New  York,  expecting  to  find  its 
streets  paved  with  gold;  and  had 
found  them  paved  with  very  hard  and 
very  real  stones.  Enterprise  was  dull ; 
labourers  were  not  wanted ;  jobs  of 
work  were  to  be  got,  but  the  payment 
was  not.  They  were  coming  back,  even 
poorer  than  they  went.  One  of  them 
was  carrying  an  open  letter  from  a 
young  English  artisan,  who  had  been 
in  New  York  a  fortnight,  to  a  friend 
near  Manchester,  whom  he  strongly 
urged  to  follow  him.  One  of  the 
ofiicers  brought  it  to  me  as  a  curiosity. 
"  This  is  the  country,  Jem,"  said  the 
writer.  "I  like  America.  There  is 
no  despotism  here ;  that 's  the  great 
thing.  Employment  of  all  sorts  is 
going  a-begging,  and  wages  are 
capital.  You  have  only  to  choose  a 
trade,  Jem,  and  be  it.  I  haven't  made 


choice  of  one  yet,  but  I  shall  soon. 
At  present  I  haven't  quite  made  up 
my  mind  whether  to  be  a  carpenter — 
or  a  tailor" 

There  was  yet  another  kind  of  pas- 
senger, and  but  one  more,  who,  in 
the  calm  and  the  light  winds,  was  a 
constant  theme  of  conversation  and 
observation  among  us.  This  was  an 
English  sailor,  a  smart,  thorough- 
built,  English  man-of-war's-man  from 
his  hat  to  his  shoes,  who  was  serving 
in  the  American  navy,  and  having  got 
leave  of  absence  was  on  his  way  home  to 
see  his  friends.  When  he  presented 
himself  to  take  and  pay  for  hia  passage, 
it  had  been  suggested  to  him  that 
being  an  able  seaman  he  might  as 
well  work  it  and  save  the  money,  but 
this  piece  of  advice  he  very  indig- 
nantly rejected :  saying,  "  He'd  be 
damned  but  for  once  he'd  go  aboard 
ship,  as  a  gentleman."  Accordingly, 
they  took  his  money,  but  he  no 
sooner  came  aboard,  than  he  stowed 
his  kit  in  the  forecastle,  arranged  to 
mess  with  the  crew,  and  the  very 
first  time  the  hands  were  turned  up, 
went  aloft  like  a  cat,  before  anybody. 
And  all  through  the  passage  there  he 
was,  first  at  the  braces,  outermost  on 
the  yards,  perpetually  lending  a  hand 
everywhere,  but  always  with  a  sober 
dignity  in  his  manner,  and  a  sober 
grin  on  his  face,  which  plainly  said, 
"  I  do  it  as  a  gentleman.  For  my  own 
pleasure,  mind  you  ! " 

At  length  and  at  last,  the  promised 
wind  came  up  in  right  good  earnest, 
and  away  we  went  before  it,  with 
every  stitch  of  canvas  set,  slashing 
through  the  water  nobly.  There  was 
a  grandeur  in  the  motion  of  the 
splendid  ship,  as  overshadowed  by  her 
mass  of  sails,  she  rode  at  a  furious 
pace  upon  the  waves,  which  filled 
one  with  an  indescribable  sense  of 
pride  and  exultation.  As  she  plunged 
into  a  foaming  valley,  how  I  loved 
to   see  the   green   waves,    bordered 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


157 


deep  with  white,  come  rushing  on 
astern,  to  buoy  her  upward  at  their 
pleasure,  and  curl  about  her  as  she 
Btooped  again,  but  always  own  her 
for  their  haughty  mistress  still !  On, 
on  we  flew,  with  changing  lights  upon 
the  water,  being  now  in  the  blessed 
region  of  fleecy  skies ;  a  bright  sun 
lighting  us  by  day,  and  a  bright  moon 
by  night ;  the  vane  pointing  directly 
homeward,  alike  the  truthful  index  to 
the  favouring  wind  and  to  our  cheerful 
hearts;  until  at  sunrise,  one  fair 
Monday  morning — ^the  twenty-seventh 
of  June,  I  shall  not  easily  forget  the 
day, — there  lay  before  us,  old  Cape 
Clear,  God  bless  it,  showing,  in  the 
mist  of  early  morning,  like  a  cloud  : 
the  brightest  and  most  welcome  cloud, 
to  us,  that  ever  hid  the  face  of  Hea- 
ven's fallen  sister — Home. 

Dim  speck  as  it  was  in  the  wide 
prospect,  it  made  the  sunrise  a  more 
cheerful  sight,  and  gave  to  it  that 
sort  of  human  interest  which  it  seems 
to  want  at  sea.  There,  as  elsewhere, 
the  return  of  day  is  inseparable  from 
some  sense  of  renewed  hope  and  glad- 
ness; but  the  light  shining  on  the 
dreary  waste  of  water,  and  showing  it 
in  all  its  vast  extent  of  loneliness, 
presents  a  solemn  spectacle,  which 
even  night,  veiling  it  in  darkness  and 
uncertainty,  does  not  surpass.  The 
rising  of  the  moon  is  more  in  keeping 
with  the  solitary  ocean ;  and  has  an 
air  of  melancholy  grandeur,  which  in 
its  soft  and  gentle  influence,  seems  to 
comfort  while  it  saddens.  I  recollect 
when  I  was  a  very  young  child  having 
a  fancy  that  the  reflection  of  the  moon 
in  water  was  a  path  to  Heaven,  trod- 
den by  the  spirits  of  good  people  on 
their  way  to  God ;  and  this  old  feeling 
often  came  over  me  again,  when 
I  watched  it  on  a  tranquil  night 
at  sea. 

The  wind  was  very  light  on  this  same 
Monday  morning,  but  it  was  still  in  the 
right  quarter,  and  so,  by  slow  degrees, 


we  left  Cape  Clear  behind,  and  sailed 
along  within  sight  of  the  coast  of 
Ireland.  And  how  merry  we  all 
were,  and  how  loyal  to  the  George 
Washington,  and  how  full  of  mutual 
congratulations,  and  how  venture- 
some in  predicting  the;  exact  hour 
at  which  we  should  arrive  at  Liverpool, 
may  be  easily  imagined  and  readily 
understood.  Also,  how  heartily  we 
drank  the  captain's  health  that  day 
at  dinner ;  and  how  restless  we  be- 
came about  packing  up  :  and  how 
two  or  three  of  the  most  sanguine 
spirits  rejected  the  idea  of  going  to 
bed  at  all  that  night  as  something 
it  was  not  worth  while  to  do,  so  near 
the  shore,  but  went  nevertheless,  and 
slept  soundly;  and  how  to  be  so 
near  our  journey's  end,  was  like  a 
pleasant  dream,  from  which  one  feared 
to  wake. 

The  friendly  breeze  freshened  again 
next  day,  and  on  we  went  once  more 
before  it  gallantly :  descrying  now 
and  then  an  English  ship  going 
homeward  under  shortened  sail,  while 
we  with  every  inch  of  canvas  crowded 
on,  dashed  gaily  past,  and  left  her  far 
behind.  Towards  evening,  the  wea- 
ther turned  hazy,  with  a  drizzling 
rain ;  and  soon  became  so  thick,  that 
we  sailed,  as  it  were,  in  a  cloud. 
Still  we  swept  onward  like  a  phan- 
tom ship,  and  many  an  eager  eye 
glanced  up  to  where  the  Look-out 
on  the  mast  kept  watch  for  Holyhead. 

At  length  his  long-expected  cry 
was  heard,  and  at  the  same  moment 
there  shone  out  from  the  haze  and 
mist  ahead,  a  gleaming  light,  which 
presently  was  gone,  and  soon  re- 
turned, and  soon  was  gone  again. 
Whenever  it  came  back,  the  eyes  of 
all  on  board,  brightened  and  sparkled 
like  itself:  and  there  we  all  stood, 
watching  this  revolving  light  upon 
the  rock  at  Holyhead,  and  prais- 
ing it  for  its  brightness  and  its 
friendly  warning,  and  lauding  it,  in 


158 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


short,  above  all  other  signal  lights  that 
ever  were  displayed,  until  it  once  more 
glimmered  faintly  in  the  distance,  far 
behind  us. 

Then,  it  was  time  to  fire  a  gun,  for 
a  pilot ;  and  almost  before  its  smoke 
had  cleared  away,  a  little  boat  with 
a  light  at  her  mast-head  came  bear- 
ing down  upon  us,  through  the 
darkness,  swiftly.  And  presently, 
our  sails  being  backed,  she  ran 
alongside ;  and  the  hoarse  pilot, 
wrapped  and  muffled  in  pea-coats  and 
shawls  to  the  very  bridge  of  his  wea- 
ther-ploughed-up  nose,  stood  bodily 
among  us  oA  the  deck.  And  I  think 
if  that  pilot  had  wanted  to  borrow  fifty 
pounds  for  an  indefinite  period  on  no 
security,  we  should  have  engaged  to 
lend  it  him,  among  us,  before  his  boat 
had  dropped  astern,  or  (which  is  the 
same  thing)  before  every  scrap  of  news 
in  the  paper  he  brought  with  him  had 
become  the  common  property  of  all 
on  board. 

We   turned   in   pretty   late  that 


night,  and  turned  out  pretty  early  next 
morning.  By  six  o'clock  we  clustered 
on  the  deck,  prepared  to  go  ashore; 
and  looked  upon  the  spires,  and 
roofs,  and  smoke,  of  Liverpool.  By 
eight  we  all  sat  down  in  one  of  its 
Hotels,  to  eat  and  drink  together  for 
the  last  time.  And  by  nine  we  had 
shaken  hands  all  round,  and  broken 
up  our  social  company  for  ever. 

The  country,  by  the  railroad, 
seemed,  as  we  rattled  through  it,  like 
a  luxuriant  garden.  The  beauty  of 
the  fields  (so  small  they  looked !),  the 
hedge-rows,  and  the  trees ;  the  pretty 
cottages,  the  beds  of  flowers,  the  old 
churchyards,  the  antique  houses,  and 
every  well-known  object;  the  ex- 
quisite delights  of  that  one  journey, 
crowding  in  the  short  compass  of 
a  summer's  day,  the  joy  of  many 
years,  and  winding  up  with  Home 
and  all  that  makes  it  dear;  no 
tongue  can  tell,  or  pen  of  mine 
describe. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


159 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


SLAVERY. 


The  upholders  of  slavery  in  America 
— of  the  atrocities  of  which  system,  I 
shall  not  write  one  word  for  which 
I  have  not  ample  proof  and  warrant 
— may  be  divided  into  three  great 
classes. 

The  first,  are  those  more  moderate 
and  rational  owners  of  human  cattle, 
who  have  come  into  the  possession  of 
them  as  so  many  coins  in  their  trading 
capital,  but  who  admit  the  frightful 
nature  of  the  Institution  in  the  ab- 
stract, and  perceive  the  dangers  to 
society  with  which  it  is  fraught : 
dangers  which  however  distant  they 
may  be,  or  howsoever  tardy  in  their 
coming  on,  are  as  certain  to  fall  upon 
its  guilty  head,  as  is  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. 

The  second,  consists  of  all  those 
owners,  breeders,  users,  buyers  and 
sellers  of  slaves,  who  will,  until  the 
bloody  chapter  has  a  bloody  end,  own, 
breed,  use,  buy,  and  sell  them  at  all 
hazards ;  who  doggedly  deny  the 
horrors  of  the  system,  in  the  teeth  of 
such  a  mass  of  evidence  as  never  was 
brought  to  bear  on  any  other  subject, 
and  to  which  the  experience  of  every 
day  contributes  its  immense  amount ; 
who  would  at  this  or  any  other  mo- 
ment, gladly  involve  America  in  a  war, 
civil  or  foreign,  provided  that  it  had 
for  its  sole  end  and  object  the  asser- 
tion of  their  right  to  perpetuate 
slavery,  and  to  whip  and  work  and 
torture  slaves,  unquestioned  by  any 
human  authority,  and  unassailed  by 
any  human  power;  who,  when  they 
speak  of  Freedom,  mean  the  Freedom 
to  oppress  their  kind,  and  to  be 
savage,  merciless,  and  cruel ;  and  of 


whom  every  man  on  his  own  ground, 
in  republican  America,  is  a  more  ex- 
acting, and  a  sterner,  and  a  less  re- 
sponsible despot  than  the  Caliph 
Haroun  Alraschid  in  his  angry  robe 
of  scarlet. 

The  third,  and  not  the  least  nu- 
merous or  influential,  is  composed  of 
all  that  delicate  gentility  which  can- 
not bear  a  superior,  and  cannot  brook 
an  equal ;  of  that  class  whose  Repub- 
licanism means,  "  I  will  not  tolerate  a 
man  above  me:  and  of  those  below, 
none  must  approach  too  near ;"  whose 
pride,  in  a  land  where  voluntaiy  ser- 
vitude is  shunned  as  a  disgrace,  must 
be  ministered  to  by  slaves ;  and  whose 
inalienable  rights  can  only  have  their 
growth  in  negro  wrongs. 

It  has  been  sometimes  urged  that, 
iirthe  unavailing  efforts  which  have 
been  made  to  advance  the  cause  of 
Human  Freedom  in  the  republic  of 
America  (strange  cause  for  history  to 
j  treat  of!),  sufficient  regard  has  not 
j  been  had  to  the  existence  of  the  first 
class  of  persons ;  and  it  has  been  con- 
tended that  they  are  hardly  used,  in 
being  confounded  with  the    second. 
This  is,  no  doubt,  the  case ;  noble 
I  instances  of  pecuniary  and  personal 
I  sacrifice  have  already  had  their  growth 
\  among  them ;  and  it  is  much  to  be 
•  regretted  that  the  gulf  between  them 
and  the  advocates  of  emancipation 
should  have  been  widened  and  deep- 
ened by  any  means :  the  rather,    as 
there    are,    beyond    dispute,  among 
these  slave-owners,  many  kind  masters 
who  are  tender  in  the  exercise  of  their 
unnatural  power.    Still  it   is    to  be 
feared  that  this  injustice  is  inseparable 


160 


AMERICAN   NOTES 


from  the  state  of  things  with  which 
humanity  and  truth  are  called  upon 
to  deal.  Slavery  is  not  a  whit  the 
more  endurable  because  some  hearts 
are  to  be  found  which  can  partially 
resist  its  hardening  influenees;  nor 
can  the  indignant  tide  of  honest  wrath 
stand  still,  because  in  its  onward 
course  it  overwhelms  a  few  who  are 
comparatively  innocent,  among  a  host 
of  guilty. 

The  ground  most  commonly  taken 
by  these  better  men  among  the  advo- 
cates of  slavery,  is  this  :  "  It  is  a  bad 
system ;  and  for  myself  I  would  wil- 
lingly get  rid  of  it,  if  I  could;  most 
willingly.  But  it  is  not  so  bad,  as  you 
in  England  take  it  to  be.  You  are 
deceived  by  the  representations  of 
the  emancipationists.  The  greater 
part  of  my  slaves  are  much  attached 
to  me.  You  will  say  that  I  do  not 
allow  them  to  be  severely  treated; 
but  I  will  put  it  to  you  whether  you 
believe  that  it  can  be  a  general  prac- 
tice to  treat  them  inhumanly,  when  it 
would  impair  their  value,  and  would 
be  obviously  against  the  interests  of 
their  masters." 

Is  it  the  interest  of  any  man  to 
steal,  to  game,  to  waste  his  health 
and  mental  faculties  by  drunkenness, 
to  lie,  forswear  himself,  indulge 
hatred,  seek  desperate  revenge,  or  do 
murder?  Ko.  All  these  are  roads 
to  ruin.  And  why,  then,  do  men 
tread  them?  Because  such  inclina- 
tions are  among  the  ^iciou8  qualities 
of  mankind.  Blot  out,  ye  friends  of 
slavery,  from  the  catalogue  of  human 
passions,  brutal  lust,  cruelty,  and  the 
abuse  of  irresponsible  power  (of  all 
earthly  temptations  the  most  difficult 
to  be  resisted),  and  when  ye  have 
done  so,  and  not  before,  we  will  in- 
quire whether  it  be  the  interest  of  a 
master  to  lash  and  maim  the  slaves, 
over  whose  lives  and  limbs  he  has  an 
absolute  controul  ! 
.    But  again:    this    class,   together 


with  that  last  one  I  have  named,  the 
miserable  aristocracy  spawned  of  a 
false  republic,  lift  up  their  voices  and 
exclaim  "Public  opinion  is  all  suffi- 
cient to  prevent  such  cruelty  as  you 
denounce."  Public  opinion !  Why, 
public  opinion  in  the  slave  States  is 
slavery,  is  it  not  1  Public  opinion,  in 
the  slave  States,  has  delivered  the 
slaves  over,  to  the  gentle  mercies  of 
their  masters.  Public  opinion  has 
made  the  laws,  and  denied  the  slaves 
legislative  protection.  Public  opinion 
has  knotted  the  lash,  heated  the 
branding-iron,  loaded  the  rifle,  and 
shielded  the  murderer.  Public  opinion 
threatens  the  abolitionist  with  death, 
if  he  venture  to  the  South  ;  and  drags 
him  with  a  rope  about  his  middle,  in 
broad  unblushing  noon,  through  the 
first  city  in  the  East.  Public  opinion 
has,  within  a  few  years,  burned  a 
slave  alive  at  a  slow  fire  in  the  city  of 
St,  Louis ;  and  public  opinion  has  to 
this  day  maintained  upon  the  bench 
that  estimable  Judge  who  charged 
the  Jury,  impanelled  there  to  try  his 
murderers,  that  their  most  horrid 
deed  was  an  act  of  public  opinion,  and 
being  so,  must  not  be  punished  by 
the  laws  the  public  sentiment  had 
made.  Public  opinion  hailed  this 
doctrine  with  a  howl  of  wild  applause, 
and  set  the  prisoners  free,  to  walk  the 
city,  men  of  mark,  and  influence,  and 
station,  as  they  had  been  before. 

Public  opinion !  what  class  of  men 
have  an  immense  preponderance  over 
the  rest  of  the  community,  in  their 
power  of  representing  public  opinion 
in  the  legislature  1  the  slave  owners. 
They  send  from  their  twelve  States 
one  hundred  members,  while  the 
fourteen  free  States,  with  a  free  popu- 
lation nearly  double,  return  but  a 
hundred  and  forty-two.  Before  whom 
do  the  presidential  candidates  bow 
down  the  most  humbly,  on  whom  do 
they  fawn  the  most  fondly,  and  for 
whose  tastes  do  they  cater  the  most 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


161 


assiduously  in  their  servile  protesta- 
tions ]    The  slave  owners  always. 

Public  opinion !  hear  the  public 
opinion  of  the  free  South,  as  expressed 
by  its  own  members  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives  at  Washington.  "  I 
have  a  great  respect  for  the  chair," 
quoth  North  Carolina,  "I  have  a 
great  respect  for  the  chair  as  an 
officer  of  the  house,  and  a  great  re- 
spect for  him  personally ;  nothing  but 
that  respect  prevents  me  from  rushing 
to  the  table  and  tearing  that  petition 
"which  has  just  been  presented  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  district  of 
Columbia,  to  pieces." — "  I  warn  the 
abolitionists,"  says  South  Carolina, 
"ignorant,  infuriated  barbarians  as 
they  are,  that  if  chance  shall  throw 
any  of  them  into  our  hands,  he  may 
expect  a  felon's  death." — "Let  an 
abolitionist  come  within  the  borders 
of  South  Carolina,"  cries  a  third ; 
mild  Carolina's  colleague ;  "  and  if 
we  can  catch  him,  we  will  try  him, 
and  notwithstanding  the  interference 
of  all  the  governments  on  earth,  in- 
cluding the  Federal  government,  we 
will  HANG  him." 

Public  opinion  has  made  this  law. 
— It  has  declared  that  in  Washington, 
in  that  city  which  takes  its  name 
from  the  father  of  American  liberty, 
any  justice  of  the  peace  may  bind 
with  fetters  any  negro  passing  down 
the  street  and  thrust  him  into  jail : 
no  offence  on  the  black  man's  part  is 
necessary.  The  justice  says,  "I  choose 
to  think  this  man  a  runaway :"  and 
locks  him  up.  Public  opinion  im- 
powers  the  man  of  law  when  this  is 
done,  to  advertise  the  negro  in  the 
newspapers,  warning  his  owner  to 
come  and  claim  him,  or  he  will  be 
sold  to  pay  the  jail  fees.  But  sup- 
posing he  is  a  free  black,  and  has  no 
owner,  it  may  naturally  be  presumed 
that  he  is  set  at  liberty.     No  :  he  is 

SOLD  TO  RECOMPENSE  HIS  JAILER.     This 

has  been  done  again,  and  again,  and 
No.  171.      -  1 


again.  He  has  no  means  of  proving 
his  freedom ;  has  no  adviser,  mes- 
senger, or  assistance  of  any  sort  or 
kind ;  no  investigation  into  his  case 
is  made,  or  inquiry  instituted.  He, 
a  free  man,  who  may  have  served  for 
years,  and  bought  his  liberty,  is 
thrown  into  jail  on  no  process,  for  no 
crime,  and  on  no  pretence  of  crime  : 
and  is  sold  to  pay  the  jail  fees.  This 
seems  incredible,  even  of  America, 
but  it  is  the  law. 

Public  opinion  is  deferred  to,  in 
such  cases  as  the  following ;  which  is 
headed  in  the  newspapers  : — 

"  Interesting  Law-Case. 
"  An  interesting  case  is  noAV  on  trial 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  arising  out  of 
the  following  facts.  A  gentleman 
residing  in  Maryland  had  allowed  an 
aged  pair  of  his  slaves,  substantial 
though  not  legal  freedom  for  several 
years.  While  thus  living,  a  daughter 
was  born  to  them,  who  grew  up  in 
the  same  liberty,  until  she  married  a 
free  negro,  and  went  with  him  to 
reside  in  Pennsylvania.  They  had 
several  children,  and  lived  unmolested 
until  the  original  owner  died,  when 
his  heir  attempted  to  regain  them  ; 
but  the  magistrate  before  whom  they 
were  brought,  decided  that  he  had  no 
jurisdiction  in  the  case.  The  owner 
seized  the  woman  and  her  children  in 
the  night,  and  carried  them  to  Mary- 
land." 

"  Cash  for  negroes,"  "cash  for 
negroes,"  "  cash  for  negroes,"  is  the 
heading  of  advertisements  in  great 
capitals  down  the  long  columns  of  the 
crowded  journals.  Woodcuts  of  a 
runaway  negro  with  manacled  hands, 
crouching  beneath  a  bluff  pursuer  in 
top  boots,  who  having  caught  him, 
grasps  him  by  the  throat,  agreeably 
diversify  the  pleasant  text.  The 
leading  article  protests  against  "  that 
abominable  and  hellish  doctrine  of 

11 


m 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


abolition,  which  is  repugnant  alike  to 
every  law  of  God  and  nature."  The 
delicate  mama,  who  smiles  her  acqui- 
escence in  this  sprightly  writing  as 
she  reads  the  paper  in  her  cool  piazza, 
quiets  her  youngest  child  who  clings 
about  her  skirts,  by  promising  the  boy 
"a  whip  to  beat  the  little  niggers 
with." — But  the  negroes,  little  and 
big,  are  protected  by  public  opinion. 

Let  us  try  this  public  opinion  by 
another  test,  which  is  important  in 
three  points  of  view  :  first,  as  showing 
how  desperately  timid  of  the  public 
opinion  slave  owners  are,  in  their 
delicate  descriptions  of  fugitive  slaves 
in  widely  circulated  newspapers ; 
secondly,  as  showing  how  perfectly 
contented  the  slaves  are,  and  how  very 
seldom  they  run  away;  thirdly,  as 
exhibiting  their  entire  freedom  from 
scar,  or  blemish,  or  any  mark  of  cruel 
infliction,  as  their  pictures  are  drawn, 
not  by  lying  abolitionists,  but  by 
their  own  truthful  masters. 

The  following  are  a  few  specimens 
of  the  advertisements  in  the  public 
papers.  It  is  only  four  years  since 
the  oldest  among  them  appeared ; 
and  others  of  the  same  nature  con- 
tinue to  be  published  every  day,  in 
shoals. 

"  Ran  away,  N'egress  Caroline.  Had 
on  a  collar  with  one  prong  turned 
down." 

"  Ran  away,  a  black  woman,  Betsy. 
Had  an  iron  bar  on  her  right  leg." 

"  Ran  away,  the  negro  Manuel. 
Much  marked  with  irons." 

"  Ran  away,  the  negress  Fanny. 
Had  on  an  iron  band  about  her  neck." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  boy  about 
twelve  years  old.  Had  round  his  neck 
a  chain  dog-collar  with  '  De  Lamport' 
engraved  on  it." 

•  "  Ran  away,  the  negro  Hown.  Has 
a  ring  of  iron  on  his  left  foot.  Also, 
Grise,  Ms  toife,  having  a  ring  and 
chain  on  the  left  leg." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  boy  named 


James.  Said  boy  was  ironed  when 
he  left  me." 

"  Committed  to  jail,  a  man  who 
cdlls  his  name  John.  He  has  a  clog 
of  iron  on  his  right  foot  which  will 
weigh  four  or  five  pounds." 

"  Detained  at  the  police  jail,  the 
negro  wench,  Myra.  Has  several 
marks  of  lashing,  and  has  irons  on 
her  feet" 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  woman  and 
two  children.  A  few  days  before  she 
went  olF,  I  burnt  her  with  a  hot  iron, 
on  the  left  side  of  her  face.  I  tried 
to  make  the  letter  M." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  man  named 
Henry ;  his  left  eye  out,  some  scars 
from  a  dirk  on  and  under  his  left 
arm,  and  much  scarred  with  the 
whip." 

"  One  hundred  dollars  reward,  for 
a  negro  fellow,  Pompey,  40  years  old. 
He  is  branded  on  the  left  jaw." 

"  Committed  to  jail,  a  negro  man. 
Has  no  toes  on  the  left  foot," 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  woman  named 
Rachel.  Has  lost  all  her  toes  except 
the  large  one." 

"  Ran  away,  Sam.  He  was  shot  a 
short  time  since  through  the  hand, 
and  has  several  shots  in  his  left  arm 
and  side." 

"  Ran  away,  my  negro  man  Dennis. 
Said  negro  has  been  shot  in  the  left 
arm  between  the  shoulders  and  elbow, 
which  has  paralysed  the  left  hand." 

"  Ran  away,  my  negro  man  named 
Simon.  He  has  been  shot  badly,  in 
his  back  and  right  arm." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  named  Ailhur. 
Has  a  considerable  scar  across  his 
breast  and  each  arm,  made  by  a 
knife ;  loves  to  talk  much  of  the 
goodness  of  God." 

"  Twenty-five  dollars  rcM'ard  for 
my  man  Isaac.  He  has  a  scar  on  his 
forehead,  caused  by  a  blow ;  and  one 
on  his  back,  made  by  a  shot  from  a 
pistol." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  girl  called 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


163 


Mary.  Has  a  small  scar  orer  her 
eye,  a  good  many  teeth  missing,  the 
letter  A  is  branded  on  her  cheek  and 
forehead." 

"  Ran  away,  negro  Ben.  Has  a 
scar  on  his  right  hand ;  his  thumb 
and  forefinger  being  injured  by  being 
shot  last  fall.  A  part  of  the  bone 
came  out.  He  has  also  one  or  two 
large  scars  on  his  back  and  hips." 

"  Detained  at  the  jail,  a  mulatto, 
named  Tom.  Has  a  scar  on  the  right 
cheek,  and  appears  to  have  been 
burned  with  powder  on  the  face." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  man  named 
Ned.  Three  of  his  fingers  are  drawn 
into  the  palm  of  his  hand  by  a  cut. 
Has  a  scar  on  the  back  of  his  neck, 
nearly  half  round,  done  by  a  knife." 

"  Was  committed  to  jail,  a  negro 
man.  Says  his  name  is  Josiah.  His 
back  very  much  scarred  by  the  whip; 
and  branded  on  the  thigh  and  hips 
in  three  or  four  places,  thus  (J  M). 
The  rim  of  his  right  ear  has  been  bit 
or  cut  oflf." 

"  Fifty  dollars  reward,  for  my  fellow 
Edward.  He  has  a  scar  on  the  corner 
of  his  mouth,  two  cuts  on  and  under 
his  arm,  and  the  letter  E  on  his  arm." 

"  Ran  away,  negro  boy  Ellie.  Has 
a  scar  on  one  of  his  arms  from  the 
bite  of  a  dog." 

"  Ran  away,  from  the  plantation  of 
James  Surgette,  the  following  negroes : 
Randal,  has  one  ear  cropped;  Bob, 
has  lost  one  eye  ;  Kentucky  Tom,  has 
one  jaw  broken," 

"  Ran  away,  Anthony.  One  of  his 
ears  cut  off,  and  his  left  hand  cut  with 
an  axe." 

"  Fifty  dollars  reward  for  the  negro 
Jim  Blake.  Has  a  piece  cut  out  of 
each  ear,  and  the  middle  finger  of 
the  left  hand  cut  off  to  the  second 
joint." 

**  Ran  away,  a  negro  woman  named 
Maria.  Has  a  scar  on  one  side  of  her 
cheek,  by  a  cut.  Some  scars  on  her 
back." 


"Ran  away,  the  Mulatto  wench 
Mary.  Has  a  cut  on  the  left  arm,  a 
scar  on  the  left  shoulder,  and  two 
upper  teeth  missing." 

I  should  say,  perhaps,  in  explana- 
tion of  this  latter  piece  of  description, 
that  among  the  other  blessings  which 
public  opinion  secures  to  the  negroes, 
is  the  common  practice  of  violently 
punching  out  their  teeth.  To  make 
them  wear  iron  collars  by  day  and 
night,  and  to  worry  them  with  dogs, 
are  practices  almost  too  ordinary  to 
deserve  mention. 

"  Ran  away,  my  man  Fountain. 
Has  holes  in  his  ears,  a  scar  on  the 
right  side  of  his  forehead,  has  been 
shot  in  the  hind  parts  of  his  legs, 
and  is  marked  on  the  back  with  the 
whip."  , 

"  Two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
reward  for  my  negro  man  Jim.  He 
is  much  marked  with  shot  in  his 
right  thigh.  The  shot  entered  on 
the  outside,  halfway  between  the  hip 
and  knee  joints." 

"  Brought  to  jail,  John.  Left  ear 
crept." 

"  Taken  up,  a  negro  man.  Is  very 
much  scarred  about  the  face  and  body, 
and  has  the  left  ear  bit  off." 

"Ran  away,  a  black  girl,  named 
Mary.  Has  a  scar  on  her  cheek,  and 
the  end  of  one  of  her  toes  cut  off." 

"Ran  away,  my  Mulatto  woman, 
Judy.  She  has  had  her  right  arm 
broke." 

"  Ran  away,  my  negro  man,  Levi. 
His  left  hand  has  been  burnt,  and  I 
think  the  end  of  his  forefinger  is  off." 

"  Ran  away,  a  negro  man,  named 
Washington.  Has  lost  a  part  of  his 
middle  finger,  and  the  end  of  his  little 
finger." 

"  Twenty-five  dollars  reward  for  my 
man  John.  The  tip  of  his  nose  is 
bit  off." 

"  Twenty-five  dollars  reward  for  the 
negro  slave,  Sally.  Walks  as  tliough 
crippled  in  the  back." 

H  2 


164 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


"  Ran  away,  Joe  Dennis.  Has  a 
small  notch  in  one  of  his  ears." 

"  Ran  away,  negro  boy,  Jack.  Has 
a  small  crop  out  of  his  left  ear." 

"Ran  away,  a  negro  man,  named 
Ivory.  Has  a  small  piece  cut  out  of 
the  top  of  each  ear." 

While  upon  the  subject  of  ears,  I 
may  observe  that  a  distinguished  abo- 
litionist in  New  York  once  received  a 
negro's  ear,  which  had  been  cut  off 
close  to  the  head,  in  a  general  post 
letter.  It  was  forwarded  by  the  free 
and  independent  gentleman  who  had 
caused  it  to  be  amputated,  with  a 
polite  request  that  he  would  place  the 
specimen  in  his  "  collection." 

I  could  enlarge  this  catalogue  with 
broken  arms,  and  broken  legs,  and 
gashed  flesh,  and  missing  teeth,  and 
lacerated  backs,  and  bites  of  dogs, 
and  brands  of  red-hot  irons  innumer- 
able :  but  as  my  readers  will  be  suffi- 
ciently sickened  and  repelled  already, 
I  will  turn  to  another  branch  of  the 
subject. 

These  advertisements,  of  which  a 
similar  collection  might  be  made  for 
every  year,  and  month,  and  week,  and 
day ;  and  which  are  coolly  read  in 
families  as  things  of  course,  and  as  a 
part  of  the  current  news  and  small- 
talk  ;  will  serve  to  show  how  very 
much  the  slaves  profit  by  public 
opinion,  and  how  tender  it  is  in  their 
behalf.  But  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
inquire  how  the  slave  owners,  and  the 
class  of  society  to  which  great  numbers 
of  them  belong,  defer  to  public  opinion 
in  their  conduct,  not  to  their  slaves  but 
to  each  other ;  how  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  restrain  their  passions  ;  what 
their  bearing  is  among  themselves; 
whether  they  are  fierce  or  gentle ; 
whether  their  social  customs  be  brutal, 
sanguinary,  and  violent,  or  bear  the 
impress  of  civilisation  and  refinement. 
That  we  may  have  no  partial  evi- 
dence from  abolitionists  in  this  in- 
quiry, either,  I  will  once  more  turn 


to  their  own  newspapers,  and  I  will 
confine  myself,  this  time,  to  a  selec- 
tion from  paragraphs  which  appeared 
from  day  to  day,  during  my  visit  to 
America,  and  which  refer  to  occur- 
rences happening  Avhile  I  was  there. 
The  italics  in  these  extracts,  as  in  the 
foregoing,  are  my  own. 

These  cases  did  not  all  occur,  it 
will  be  seen,  in  territory  actually 
belonging  to  legalised  Slave  States, 
though  most  and  those  the  very  worst 
among  them  did,  as  their  counterparts 
constantly  do;  but  the  position  of  the 
scenes  of  action  in  reference  to  places 
immediately  at  hand,  where  slavery  is 
the  law ;  and  the  strong  resemblance 
between  that  class  of  outrages  and  the 
rest;  lead  to  the  just  presumption 
that  the  character  of  the  parties  con- 
cerned was  formed  in  slave  districts, 
and  brutalised  by  slave  customs. 

"Horrible  Tragedy. 

"  By  a  slip  from  The  Southport 
Telegraph,  Wisconsin,  we  learn  that 
the  Hon.  Charles  C.  P.  Arndt,  Member 
of  the  Council  for  Brown  county,  was 
shot  dead  on  the  floor  of  Hie  Council 
chamber,  by  James  R.  Yinyard,  Mem- 
ber from  Grant  county.  The  affair 
grew  out  of  a  nomination  for  Sheriff 
of  Grant  county.  Mr.  E.  S.  Baker 
was  nominated  and  supported  by  Mr. 
Arndt.  This  nomination  was  opposed 
by  Vinyard,  who  waAted  the  appoint- 
ment to  vest  in  his  own  brother.  In 
the  course  of  debate,  the  deceased 
made  some  statements  which  Vinyard 
pronounced  false,  and  made  use  of 
violent  and  insulting  language,  deal- 
ing largely  in  personalities,  to  which 
Mr.  A.  made  no  reply.  After  the 
adjournment,  Mr.  A.  stepped  up  to 
Vinyard,  and  requested  him  to  retract, 
which  he  refused  to  do,  repeating  the 
offensive  words.  Mr.  Arndt  then 
made  a  blow  at  Vinyard,  who  stepped 
back  a  pace,  drew  a  pistol,  and  shot 
him  dead. 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


165 


''The  issue  appears  to  have  been 
provoked  on  the  part  of  Vinyard, 
who  was  determined  at  all  hazards  to 
defeat  the  appointment  of  Baker,  and 
who,  himself  defeated,  turned  his  ire 
and  revenge  upon  the  unfortunate 
Arndt." 

"  The  Wisconsin  Tragedy. 

"  Public  indignation  runs  high  in 
the  territory  of  Wisconsin,  in  relation 
to  the  murder  of  C.  C.  P.  Arndt,  in 
the  Legislative  Hall  of  the  Territory. 
Meetings  have  been  held  in  differ- 
ent counties  of  Wisconsin,  denouncing 
the  practice  of  secretly  bearing  arms 
in  the  Legislative  chambers  of  the 
country.  We  have  seen  the  account 
of  the  expulsion  of  James  K.  Vinyard, 
the  perpetrator  of  the  bloody  deed, 
and  are  amazed  to  hear,  that,  after 
this  expulsion  by  those  who  saw  Yin- 
yard  kill  Mr,  Arndt  in  the  presence 
of  his  aged  father,  who  was  on  a  visit 
to  see  his  son,  little  dreaming  that  he 
was  to  witness  his  murder.  Judge 
Dunn  has  discharged  Vinyard  on 
bail.  The  Miners'  Free  Press  speaks 
in  term^  of  merited  rebuke  at  the  out- 
rage upon  the  feelings  of  the  people 
of  Wisconsin.  Vinyard  was  within 
arm's  length  of  Mr.  Arndt,  when  he 
took  such  deadly  aim  at  him,  that  he 
never  spoke.  Vinyard  might  at  plea- 
sure, being  so  near,  have  only  wounded 
him,  but  he  chose  to  kill  him." 

"  Murder. 

"  By  a  letter  in  a  St.  Louis  paper  of 
the  14th,  we  notice  a  terrible  outrage 
at  Burlington,  Iowa.  A  Mr.  Bridg- 
man  having  had  a  diflSculty  with  a 
citizen  of  the  place,  Mr.  Ross ;  a 
brother-in-law  of  the  latter  provided 
himself  with  one  of  Colt's  revolving 
pistols,  met  Mr.  B.  in  the  street,  and 
discJiarged  the  contents  of  five  of  the 
barrels  at  him :  each  shot  taking  effect. 
Mr.  B.,  though  horribly  wounded^  and 


dying,  returned  the  fire,  and  killed 
Ross  on  the  spot." 

Terrible  death  of  Robert  Potter. 

"From  the  '  Caddo  Gazette,'  of  the 
12th  inst.,  we  learn  the  frightful 
death  of  Colonel  Robert  Potter.  .... 
He  was  beset  in  his  house  by  an 
enemy,  named  Rose.  He  sprang  from 
his  couch,  seized  his  gun,  and,  in  his 
night  clothes,  rushed  from  the  house. 
For  about  two  hundred  yards  his 
speed  seemed  to  defy  his  pursuers ; 
but,  getting  entangled  in  a  thicket, 
he  was  captured.  Rose  told  him  that 
he  intended  to  act  a  generous  part, 
and  give  him  a  chance  for  his  life. 
He  then  told  Potter  he  might  run, 
and  he  should  not  be  interrupted  till 
he  reached  a  certain  distance.  Potter 
started  at  the  word  of  command,  and 
before  a  gun  was  fired  he  had  reached 
the  lake.  His  first  impulse  was  to 
jump  in  the  water  and  dive  for  it, 
which  he  did.  Rose  was  close  behind 
him,  and  formed  his  men  on  the  bank 
ready  to  shoot  him  as  he  rose.  In  a 
few  seconds  he  came  up  to  breathe ; 
and  scarce  had  his  head  reached  the 
surface  of  the  water  when  it  was  com- 
pletely riddled  with  the  shot  of  their 
guns,  and  he  sunk,  to  rise  no  more  ! " 

"Murder  in  Arkansas. 

"  We  understand  that  a  severe  ren- 
contre came  off  a  few  days  since  in  the 
Seneca  Nation,  between  Mr.  Loose, 
the  sub-agent  of  the  mixed  band  of 
the  Senecas,  Quapaw,  and  Shawnees, 
and  Mr.  James  Gillespie,  of  the  mer- 
cantile firm  of  Thomas  G.  Allison  and 
Co.,  of  Maysville,  Benton,  County 
Ark,  in  which  the  latter  was  slain 
with  a  bowie-knife.  Some  difficulty 
had  for  some  time  existed  between 
the  parties.  It  is  said  that  Major 
Gillespie  brought  on  the  attack  with 
a  cane.  A  severe  conflict  ensued, 
during  which  two  pistols  were  fired 


w 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


by  GUlespie  and  one  by  Loose.  Loose 
then  stabbed  Gillespie  with  one  of 
those  never  failing  weapons,  a  bowie- 
knife.  The  death  of  Major  G.  is 
much  regretted,  as  he  was  a  liberal- 
minded  and  energetic  man.  Since 
the  above  was  in  type,  we  have 
learned  that  Major  Allison  has  stated 
to  some  of  our  citizens  in  town  that 
Mr.  Loose  gave  the  first  blow.  We 
forbear  to  give  any  particulars,  as  the 
matter  will  be  the  subject  of  judicial 


"Fend  Deed.    " 

"  The  steamer  Thames,  just  from 
Missouri  river,  brought  us  a  handbill, 
offering  a  reward  of  500  dollars,  for 
the  person  who  assassinated  Lilburn 
W.  Baggs,  late  Governor  of  this  State, 
at  Independence,  on  the  night  of  the 
6th  inst.  Governor  Baggs,  it  is  stated 
in  a  written  memorandum,  was  not 
dead,  but  mortally  wounded. 

"  Since  the  above  was  written,  we 
received  a  note  from  the  clerk  of 
the  Thames,  giving  the  following  par- 
ticulars. Gov.  Baggs  was  shot  by 
some  villain  on  Friday,  6th  inst.,  in 
the  evening,  while  sitting  in  a  room 
in  his  own  house  in  Independence. 
His  son,  a  boy,  hearing  a  report,  ran 
into  the  room,  and  found  the  Gover- 
nor sitting  in  his  chair,  with  his  jaw 
fallen  down,  and  his  head  leaning 
back  ;  on  discovering  the  injury  done 
his  father,  he  gave  the  alarm.  Foot 
tracks  were  found  in  the  garden  below 
the  window,  and  a  pistol  picked  up 
supposed  to  have  been  overloaded, 
and  thrown  from  the  hand  of  the 
scoundrel  who  fired  it.  Three  buck 
shots  of  a  heavy  load,  took  effect ;  one 
going  through  his  mouth,  one  into 
the  brain,  and  another  probably  in  or 
near  the  brain ;  all  going  into  the 
back  part  of  the  neck  and  head.  The 
Governor  was  still  alive  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th ;  but  no  hopes  for  his  reco- 


very by  his  friends,  and  but  slight 
hopes  from  his  physicians. 

"A  man  was  suspected,  and  the 
Sheriff  most  probably  has  possession 
of  him  by  this  time. 

"  The  pistol  was  one  of  a  pair  stolen 
some  days  previous  from  a  baker  in 
Independence,  and  the  legal  autho- 
rities have  the  description  of  the 
other." 

"  Rencontre. 

"  An  unfortunate  affair  took  place 
on  Friday  evening  in  Chatres  Street, 
in  which  one  of  our  most  respectable 
citizens  received  a  dangerous  wound, 
from  a  poignard  in  the  abdomen. 
From  the  Bee  (New  Orleans)  of  yester- 
day, we  learn  the  following  particulars. 
It  appears  that  an  article  was  pub- 
lished in  the  French  side  of  the  paper 
on  Monday  last,  containing  some 
strictures  on  the  Artillery  Battalion 
for  firing  their  guns  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, in  answer  to  those  from  the 
Ontario  and  Woodbury,  and  thereby 
much  alarm  was  caused  to  the  families 
of  those  persons  who  were  out  all 
night  preserving  the  peace  of  the  city. 
Major  C.  Gaily,  Commander  of  the 
battalion  resenting  this,  called  at  the 
office  and  demanded  the  author's 
name ;  that  of  M.  P.  Arpin  was 
given  to  him,  who  was  absent  at  the 
time.  Some  angry  words  then  passed 
with  one  of  the  proprietors,  and  a 
challenge  followed;  the  friends  of 
both  parties  tried  to  arrange  the 
affair,  but  failed  to  do  so.  On  Friday 
evening,  about  seven  o'clock.  Major 
Gaily  met  Mr.  P.  Arpin  in  Chatres 
Street,  and  accosted  him.  *  Are  you 
Mr.  Arpin  ? ' 

" '  Yes,  Sir.' 

" '  Then  I  have  to  tell  you  that  you 
are  a ' "  (applying  an  appropri- 
ate epithet.) 

"  *  I  shall  remind  you  of  your  words, 
sir.' 

" '  But  I  have  said  I  would  break 
my  cane  on  your  shoulders.' 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


167 


" '  I  know  it,  but  I  have  not  yet 
received  the  blow.' 

"  At  these  words,  Major  Gaily, 
having  a  cane  in  his  hands,  struck  Mr. 
Arpin  across  the  face,  and  the  latter 
drew  a  poignard  from  his  pocket  and 
stabbed  Major  Gaily  in  the  abdomen. 

"Fears  are  entertained  that  the 
wound  will  be  mortal.  We  under- 
stand that  Mr.  Aiyin  has  given  secu- 
rity for  his  appearance  at  the  Crimi- 
nal Court  to  answer  tfte  charge.". 

"  Affray  in  Mississippi. 

"On  the  27th  ult.,  in  an  affray 
near  Carthage,  Leake  county,  Missis- 
sippi, between  James  Cottingham  and 
John  Wilburn,  the  latter  was  shot  by 
the  former,  and  so  horribly  wounded, 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  his  recovery. 
On  the  2nd  instant,  there  was  an  affray 
at  Carthage  between  A.  C.  Sharkey 
and  George  Goff,  in  which  the  latter 
was  shot,  and  thought  mortally 
wounded.  Sharkey  delivered  him- 
self up  to  the  authorities,  but  changed 
his  mind  and  escaped  !  " 

"  Personal  Encounier, 

*  An  encounter  took  place  in  Sparta, 
a  few  days  since,  between  the  bar- 
keeper of  an  hotel,  and  a  man  named 
Bury.  It  appears  that  Bury  had 
become  somewhat  noisy,  and  that  the 
barkeeper,  determined  to  preserve 
order,  had  threatened  to  shoot  Bury, 
whereupon  Bury  drew  a  pistol  and 
shot  the  barkeeper  down.  He  was 
not  dead  at  the  last  accounts,  but 
slight  hopes  were  entertained  of  his 
recovery." 

"Dud. 

"The  clerk  of  the  steamboat  Tri- 
bune informs  us  that  another  duel 
was  fought  on  Tuesday  last,  by  Mr, 
Eobbins,  a  bank  officer  in  Vicksburg, 
and  Mr.  Fall,  the  editor  of  the  Vicks- 
burg Sentinel.  According  to  the 
arrangement,    the    parties    had    six 


pistols  each,  which,  after  the  word 
'  Fire ! '  they  were  to  discharge  as  fast 
as  tliey  pleased.  Fall  fired  two  pistols 
without  effect.  Mr.  Robbins'  first 
shot  took  effect  in  Fall's  thigh,  who 
fell,  and  was  unable  to  continue  the 
combat." 

"  Affray  in  Clarice  County. 

"  An  unfortunate  affray  occurred  in 
Clarke  county  (Mo.)  near  Waterloo, 
on  Tuesday  the  19th  ult.,  which  origi- 
nated in  settling  the  partnership  con- 
cerns of  Messrs,  M'Kane  and  McAllis- 
ter, who  had  been  engaged  in  the 
business  of  distilling,  and  resulted  in 
the  death  of  the  latter,  who  was  shot 
down  by  Mr.  M'Kane,  because  of  hifi 
attempting  to  take  possession  of  seven 
barrels  of  whiskey,  the  property  of 
M'Kane,  which  had  been  knocked  off 
to  McAllister  at  a  sheriff's  sale  at  one 
dollar  per  barrel.  M'Kane  immedi- 
ately fled  and  at  the  latest  dates  Jiad 
not  been  taken. 

"  This  unfortunoJte  affray  caused 
considerable  excitement  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, as  both  the  parties  were 
men  with  large  families  depending 
upon  them  and  stood  well  in  the 
community," 

I  will  quote  but  one  more  para- 
graph, which,  by  reason  of  its  mon- 
strous absurdity,  may  be  a  relief  to 
these  atrocious  deeds. 

"  Affair  of  Horwr. 

"  We  have  just  heard  the  particu- 
lars of  a  meeting  which  took  place  on 
Six  Mile  Island,  on  Tuesday,  between 
two  young  bloods  of  our  city  :  Samuel 
Thurston,  aged  fifteen,  and  William 
Hine,  aged  thirteen  years.  They  were 
attended  by  young  gentlemen  of  the 
same  age.  The  weapons  used  on  the 
occasion,  were  a  couple  of  Dickson's 
best  rifles ;  the  distance,  thirty  yards. 
They  took  one  fire,  without  any 
damage    being   sustained    by  either 


168 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


partj,  except  the  ball  of  Thurston's 
gun  passing  through  the  crown  of 
Hine's  hat.  Through  the  intercession 
of  the  Board  of  Honour,  the  challenge 
was  withdrawn,  and  the  difference 
amicably  adjusted." 

If  the  reader  will  picture  to  him- 
self the  kind  of  Board  of  Honour 
which  amicably  adjusted  the  difference 
between  these  two  little  boys,  who  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world  would  have 
been  amicably  adjusted  on  two  por- 
ters' backs  and  soundly  flogged  with 
birchen  rods,  he  will  be  possessed,  no 
doubt,  with  as  strong  a  sense  of  its 
ludicrous  character,  as  that  which  sets 
me  laughing  Avhenever  its  image  rises 
up  before  me. 

Now,  I  appeal  to  every  human 
mind,  imbued  with  the  commonest  of 
common  sense,  and  the  commonest  of 
common  humanity;  to  all  dispas- 
sionate, reasoning  creatures,  of  any 
shade  of  opinion ;  and  ask,  with  these 
revolting  evidences  of  the  state  of 
society  which  exists  in  and  about  the 
slave  districts  of  America  before  them, 
can  they  have  a  doubt  of  the  real  con- 
dition of  the  slave,  or  can  they  for  a 
moment  make  a  compromise  between 
the  institution  or  any  of  its  flagrant 
fearful  features,  and  their  own  just 
consciences]  Will  they  say  of  any 
tale  of  cruelty  and  horror,  however 
aggravated  in  degree,  that  it  is  im- 
probable, when  they  can  turn  to  the 
public  prints,  and,  running,  read 
such  signs  as  these,  laid  before  them 
by  the  men  who  rule  the  slaves  :  in 
their  own  acts  and  under  their  own 
hands  1 

Do  we  not  know  that  the  worst 
deformity  and  ugliness  of  slavery  are 
at  once  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  the 
reckless  license  taken  by  these  free- 
born  outlaws  ]  Do  we  not  know  that 
the  man  who  has  been  born  and  bred 
among  its  wrongs ;  who  has  seen  in 
his  childhood  husbands  obliged  at  the 


word  of  command  to  flog  their  wives ; 
women,  indecently  compelled  to  hold 
up  their  own  garments  that  men 
might  lay  the  heavier  stripes  upon 
their  legs,  driven  and  harried  by 
brutal  overseers  in  their  time  of 
travail,  and  becoming  mothers  on  the 
field  of  toil,  under  the  very  lash  itself; 
who  has  read  in  youth,  and  seen  his 
virgin  sisters  read,  descriptions  of 
runaway  men  and  women,  and  their 
disfigured  persons,  which  could  not 
be  published  elsewhere,  of  so  much 
stock  upon  a  farm,  or  at  a  show  of 
beasts : — do  we  not  know  that  that 
man,  whenever  his  wrath  is  kindled 
up,  will  be  a  brutal  savage  ?  Do  we 
not  know  that  as  he  is  a  coward  in  his 
domestic  life,  stalking  among  his 
shrinking  men  and  women  slaves 
armed  with  his  heavy  whip,  so  he  will 
be  a  coward  out  of  doors,  and  carrying 
cowards'  weapons  hidden  in  his  breast 
will  shoot  men  down  and  stab  them 
when  he  quarrels  1  And  if  our  reason 
did  not  teach  us  this  and  much  be- 
yond ;  if  we  were  such  idiots  as  to 
close  our  eyes  to  that  fine  mode  of 
training  which  rears  up  such  men; 
should  we  not  know  that  they  who 
among  their  equals  stab  and  pistol  in 
the  legislative  halls,  and  in  the 
counting-house,  and  on  the  market- 
place, and  in  all  the  elsewhere  peaceful 
pursuits  of  life,  must  be  to  their  de- 
pendants, even  though  they  were  free 
servants,  so  many  merciless  and  un- 
relenting tyrants  1 

What !  shall  we  declaim  against  the 
ignorant  peasantry  of  Ireland,  and 
mince  the  matter  when  these  American 
taskmasters  are  in  question?  Shall 
we  cry  shame  on  the  brutality  of  those 
who  ham-string  cattle  :  and  spare  the 
lights  of  Freedom  upon  earth  who 
notch  the  ears  of  men  and  women, 
cut  pleasant  posies  in  the  shrinking 
flesh,  learn  to  write  with  pens  of  red- 
hot  iron  on  the  human  face,  rack 
their  poetic  fancies    for    liveries  of 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


160 


mutilation  which  their  slaves  shall 
wear  for  life  and  carry  to  the  grave, 
break  living  limbs  as  did  the  soldiery 
who  mocked  and  slew  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  and  set  defenceless  crea- 
tures up  for  targets !  Shall  we 
whimper  over  legends  of  the  tortures 
practised  on  each  other  by  the  Pagan 
Indians,  and  smile  upon  the  cruelties 
of  Christian  men  !  Shall  we,  so  long 
as  these  things  last,  exult  above  the 
scattered  remnants  of  that  stately 
race,  and  triumph  in  the  white  enjoy- 
ment of  their  broad  possessions  1 
Bather,  for  me,  restore  the  forest  and 
the  Indian  village;  in  lieu  of  stars 
and  stripes,  let  some  poor  feather 
flutter  in  the  breeze;  replace  the 
streets  and  squares  by  wigwams ;  and 
though  the  death-song  of  a  hundred 


haughty  warriors  fill  the  air,  it  will 
be  music  to  the  shriek  of  one  un- 
happy slave. 

On  one  theme,  which  is  commonly 
before  our  eyes,  and  in  respect  of 
which  our  national  character  is  chang- 
ing fast,  let  the  plain  Truth  be  spoken, 
and  let  us  not,  like  dastards,  beat 
about  the  bush  by  hinting  at  the 
Spaniard  and  the  fierce  Italian.  "When 
knives  are  drawn  by  Englishmen  in 
conflict  let  it  be  said  and  known : 
"  We  owe  this  change  to  Republican 
Slavery.  These  are  the  weapons  of 
Freedom.  With  sharp  points  and 
edges  such  as  these.  Liberty  in 
America  hews  and  hacks  her  slaves  ; 
or,  failing  that  pursuit,  her  sons 
devote  them  to  a  better  use,  and  turn 
them  on  each  other." 


170 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


CONCLUDING   BEMA&KS. 


Thbre  are  many  passages  in  this  book, 
where  I  have  been  at  some  pains  to 
resist  the  temptation  of  troubling 
my  readers  with  my  own  deductions 
and  conclusions  :  preferring  that  they 
should  judge  for  themselves,  from 
such  premises  as  I  have  laid  before 
them.  My  only  object  in  the  outset, 
was,  to  carry  them  with  me  faithfully 
wheresoever  I  went :  and  that  task  I 
have  discharged. 

But  I  may  be  pardoned,  if  on  such 
a  theme  as  the  general  character  of 
the  American  people,  and  the  general 
character  of  their  social  system,  as 
presented  to  a  stranger's  eyes,  I  desire 
to  express  my  own  opinions  in  a  few 
words,  before  I  bring  these  volumes 
to  a  close. 

They  are,  by  nature,  frank,  brave, 
cordial,  hospitable,  and  affectionate. 
Cultivation  and  refinement  seem  but 
to  enhance  their  warmth  of  heart  and 
ardent  enthusiasm ;  and  it  is  the  pos- 
session of  these  latter  qualities  in  a 
most  remarkable  degree,  which  ren- 
ders an  educated  American  one  of  the 
most  endearing  and  most  generous  of 
friends.  I  never  was  so  won  upon,  as 
by  this  class ;  never  yielded  up  my 
full  confidence  and  esteem  so  readily 
and  pleasurably,  as  to  them ;  never  can 
make  again,  in  half-a-year,  so  many 
friends  for  whom  I  seem  to  entertain 
the  regard  of  half  a  life. 

These  qualities  are  natural,  I  impli 
citly  believe,  to  the  whole  people. 
That  they  are,  however,  sadly  sapped 
and  blighted  in  their  growth  among 
the  mass;  and  that  there  are  influ- 
ences at  work  which  endanger  them 


still  more,  and  give  but  little  present 
promise  of  their  healthy  restoration  ; 
is  a  truth  that  ought  to  be  told. 

It  is  an  essential  part  of  every 
national  character  to  pique  itself 
mightily  upon  its  faults,  and  to  deduce 
tokens  of  its  virtue  or  its  wisdom  from 
their  very  exaggeration.  One  great 
blemish  in  the  popular  mind  of  Ame- 
rica, and  the  prolific  parent  of  an 
innumerable  brood  of  evils,  is  Univer- 
sal Distrust.  Yet  the  American  citi- 
zen plumes  himself  upon  this  spirit, 
even  when  he  is  sufficiently  dispas- 
sionate to  perceive  the  ruin  it  works  ; 
and  will  often  adduce  it,  in  spite  of 
his  own  reason,  as  an  instance  of  the 
great  sagacity  and  acuteness  of  the 
people,  and  their  superior  shrewdness 
and  independence. 

"You  carry,"  says  the  stranger, 
"  this  jealousy  and  distrust  into  every 
transaction  of  public  life.  By  repel- 
ling worthy  men  from  your  legislative 
assemblies,  it  has  bred  up  a  class  of 
candidates  for  the  suffrage,  who,  in 
their  every  act,  disgrace  your  Institu- 
tions and  your  people's  choice.  It 
has  rendered  you  so  fickle,  and  so 
given  to  change,  that  ^''our  inconstancy 
has  passed  into  a  proverb ;  for  you  no 
sooner  set  up  an  idol  firmly,  than  you 
are  sure  to  pull  it  down  and  dash  it 
into  fragments  :  and  this,  because 
directly  you  reward  a  benefactor,  or  a 
public  servant,  you  distrust  him, 
merely  because  he  is  rewarded;  and 
immediately  apply  yourselves  to  find 
out,  either  that  you  have  been  too 
bountiful  in  your  acknowledgments, 
or  he  remiss  in  his  deserts.    Any  man 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


171 


who  attains  a  high  place  among  you, 
from  the  President  dovniwards,  may 
date  his  downfall  from  that  moment ; 
for  any  printed  lie  that  any  notorious 
villain  pens,  although  it  militate  di- 
rectly against  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  a  life,  appeals  at  once  to  your 
distrust,  and  is  believed.  You  will 
strain  at  a  gnat  in  the  May  of  trust- 
fulness and  confidence,  however  fairly 
won  and  well  deserved  ;  but  you  will 
swallow  a  whole  caravan  of  camels,  if 
they  be  laden  with  unworthy  doubts 
and  mean  suspicions.  Is  this  well, 
think  you,  or  likely  to  elevate  the 
character  of  the  governors  or  the 
governed,  among  you  ? " 

The  answer  is  invariably  the  same  : 
"  There 's  freedom  of  opinion  here, 
you  know.  Every  man  thinks  for 
himself,  and  we  are  not  to  be  easily 
overreached.  That 's  how  our  people 
come  to  be  suspicious." 

Another  prominent  feature  is  the 
love  of  "  smart "  dealing :  which  gilds 
over  many  a  swindle  and  gross  breach 
of  trust ;  many  a  defalcation,  public 
and  private;  and  enables  many  a 
knave  to  hold  his  head  up  with  the 
best,  who  well  deserves  a  halter : 
though  it  has  not  been  without  its 
retributive  operation,  for  this  smart- 
ness has  done  more  in  a  few  years  to 
impair  the  public  credit,  and  to  cripple 
the  public  resources,  than  dull  honesty, 
however  rash,  could  have  eflfected  in 
a  century.  The  merits  of  a  broken 
speculation,  or  a  bankruptcy,  or  of  a 
successful  scoundrel,  are  not  guaged 
by  its  or  his  obsenrance  of  the  golden 
rule,  "  Do  as  you  would  be  done  by," 
but  are  considered  with  reference  to 
their  smartness.  I  recollect,  on  both 
occasions  of  our  passing  that  ill-fated 
Cairo  on  the  Mississippi,  remarking 
on  the  bad  effects  such  gross  deceits 
must  have  when  they  exploded,  in 
generating  a  want  of  confidence 
abroad,  and  discouraging  foreign  in- 
vestment :  but  I  was  ariven  to  under- 


stand that  this  was  a  very  smart 
scheme  by  which  a  deal  of  money  had 
been  made :  and  that  its  smartest 
feature  was,  that  they  forgot  these 
things  abroad,  in  a  very  short  time, 
and  speculated  again,  as  freely  as 
ever.  The  following  dialogue  I  have 
held  a  hundred  times :  "  Is  it  not  a 
very  disgraceful  circumstance  that 
such  a  man  as  So  and  So  should  be 
acquiring  a  large  property  by  the 
most  infamous  and  odious  means,  and 
notwithstanding  all  the  crimes  of 
which  he  has  been  guilty,  should  be 
tolerated  and  abetted  by  your  Citi- 
zens ]  He  is  a  public  nuisance,  is  he 
not  ? "  "  Yes,  sir."  "  A  convicted 
liar  ] "  "  Yes,  sir."  "  He  has  been 
kicked,  and  cuffed,  and  caned  V* 
"  Yes,  sir."  "  And  he  is  utterly  dis- 
honourable, debased,  and  profligate  %" 
"  Yes,  sir."  "  In  the  name  of  wonder, 
then,  what  is  his  merit  ? "  "  Well, 
sir,  he  is  a  smart  man." 

In  like  manner,  all  kinds  of  defi- 
cient and  impolitic  usages  are  referred 
to  the  national  love  of  trade  ;  though, 
oddly  enough,  it  would  be  a  weighty 
charge  against  a  foreigner  that  he 
regarded  the  Americans  as  a  trading 
people.  The  love  of  trade  is  assigned 
as  a  reason  for  that  comfortless  custom, 
so  very  prevalent  in  country  towns, 
of  married  persons  living  in  hotels, 
having  no  fireside  of  their  own,  and 
seldom  meeting  from  early  morning 
until  late  at  night,  but  at  the  hasty 
public  meals.  The  love  of  trade  is  a 
reason  why  the  literature  of  America 
is  to  remain  for  ever  unprotected : 
"  For  we  are  a  trading  people,  and 
don't  care  for  poetry :"  though  we  do, 
by  the  way,  profess  to  be  very  proud 
of  our  poets :  while  healthful  amuse- 
ments, cheerful  means  of  recreation, 
and  wholesome  fancies,  must  fade  be- 
fore the  stern  utilitarian  joys  of  trade. 

These  three  characteristics  are 
strongly  presented  at  every  turn,  full 
in  the  stranger's  view.     But,  the  foul 


172 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


growth  of  America  has  a  more  tangled 
root  than  this;  and  it  strikes  its 
fibres,  deep  in  its  licentious  Press. 

Schools  may  be  erected,  East,  West, 
North,  and  South ;  pupils  be  taught, 
and  masters  reared,  by  scores  upon 
scores  of  thousands ;  colleges  may 
thrive,  churches  may  be  crammed, 
temperance  may  be  diflfiised,  and  ad- 
vancing knowledge  in  all  other  forms 
walk  through  the  land  with  giant 
strides :  but  while  the  newspaper 
press  of  America  is  in,  or  near,  its 
present  abject  state,  high  moral  im- 
provement in  that  country  is  hope- 
less. Year  by  year,  it  must  and  will 
go  back ;  year  by  year,  the  tone  of 
public  feeling  must  sink  lower  down  ; 
year  by  year,  the  Congress  and  the 
Senate  must  become  of  less  account 
before  all  decent  men;  and  year  by 
year,  the  memory  of  the  Great  Fathers 
of  the  Kevolution  must  be  outraged 
more  and  more,  in  the  bad  life  of  their 
degenerate  child. 

Among  the  herd  of  journals  which 
are  published  in  the  States,  there  are 
some,  the  reader  scarcely  need  be 
told,  of  character  and  credit.  From 
personal  intercourse  with  accom- 
plished gentlemen  connected  with 
publications  of  this  class,  I  have  de- 
rived both  pleasure  and  profit.  But 
the  name  of  these  is  Few,  and  of  the 
others  Legion;  and  the  influence  of 
the  good,  is  powerless  to  counteract 
the  mortal  poison  of  the  bad. 

Among  the  gentry  of  America ; 
among  the  well-informed  and  mode- 
rate :  in  the  learned  professions ;  at 
the  bar  and  on  the  bench :  there  is, 
as  there  can  be,  but  one  opinion,  in 
reference  to  the  vicious  character  of 
these  infamous  journals.  It  is  some- 
times contended  —  I  will  not  say 
strangely,  for  it  is  natural  to  seek 
excuses  for  such  a  disgrace — that  their 
influence  is  not  so  great  as  a  visitor 
would  suppose.  I  must  be  pardoned 
for  saying  that  there  is  no  warrant 


for  this  plea,  and  that  every  fact  and 
circumstance  tends  directly  to  the 
opposite  conclusion. 

When  any  man,  of  any  grade  of 
desert  in  intellect  or  character,  can 
climb  to  any  public  distinction,  no 
matter  what,  in  America,  without  first 
grovelling  down  upon  the  earth,  and 
bending  the  knee  before  this  monster 
of  depravity;  when  any  private  ex- 
cellence is  safe  from  its  attacks ;  when 
any  social  confidence  is  left  unbroken 
by  it,  or  any  tie  of  social  decency  and 
honour  is  held  in  the  least  regard ; 
when  any  man  in  that  Free  Country 
has  freedom  of  opinion,  and  presumes 
to  think  for  himself,  and  speak  for 
himself,  without  humble  reference  to 
a  censorship  which,  for  its  rampant 
ignorance  and  base  dishonesty,  he 
utterly  loathes  and  despises  in  his 
heart ;  when  those  who  most  acutely 
feel  its  infamy  and  the  reproach  it 
casts  upon  the  nation,  and  who  most 
denounce  it  to  each  other,  dare  to  set 
their  heels  upon,  and  crush  it  openly, 
in  the  sight  of  all  men  :  then,  I  will 
believe  that  its  influence  is  lessening, 
and  men  are  returning  to  their  manly 
senses.  But  while  that  Press  has  its 
evil  eye  in  every  house,  and  its  black 
hand  in  every  appointment  in  the 
state,  from  a  president  to  a  postman ; 
while,  with  ribald  slander  for  its  only 
stock  in  trade,  it  is  the  standard 
literature  of  an  enormous  class,  who 
must  find  their  reading  in  a  news- 
paper, or  they  will  not  read  at  all ;  so 
long  must  its  odium  be  upon  the 
country's  head,  and  so  long  must  the 
evil  it  works,  be  plainly  visible  in 
the  Republic. 

To  those  who  are  accustomed  to 
the  leading  English  journals,  or  to 
the  respectable  journals  of  the  Con- 
tinent of  Europe;  to  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  anything  else  in  print 
and  paper ;  it  would  be  impossible, 
without  an  amount  of  extract  for 
which  I  have  neither  space  nor  in- 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


17a 


clination,  to  convey  an  adequate  idea 
of  this  frightful  engine  in  America. 
But  if  any  man  desire  confirmation  of 
my  statement  on  this  head,  let  him 
repair  to  any  place  in  this  city  of 
London,  where  scattered  numbers  of 
these  publications  are  to  be  found ; 
and  there,  let  him  form  his  own 
opinion.* 

It  would  be  well,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  for  the  American  people  as  a 
whole,  if  they  loved  the  Real  less,  and 
the  Ideal  somewhat  more.  It  would 
be  well,  if  there  were  greater  encou- 
ragement to  lightness  of  heart  and 
gaiety,  and  a  wider  cultivation  of 
what  is  beautiful,  without  being 
eminently  and  directly  useful.  But 
here,  I  think  the  general  remon- 
strance, "we  are  a  new  country," 
which  is  so  often  advanced  as  an 
excuse  for  defects  which  are  quite 
unjustifiable,  as  being,  of  right,  only 
the  slow  growth  of  an  old  one,  may  be 
very  reasonably  urged:  and  I  yet 
hope  to  hear  of  there  being  some 
other  national  amusement  in  the 
United  States,  besides  newspaper 
politics. 

They  certainly  are  not  a  humorous 
people,  and  their  temperament 
always  impressed  me  as  being  of  a 
dull  and  gloomy  character.  In 
shrewdness  of  remark,  and  a  certain 
cast-iron  quaintness,  the  Yankees,  or 
people  of  New  England,  unquestion- 
ably take  the  lead ;  as  they  do  in  most 
other  evidences  of  intelligence.  But 
in  travelling  about,  out  of  the  large 
cities — as  I  have  remarked  in  former 
parts  of  these  volumes — I  was  quite 


*  Note  to  thk  Original  Edition. — Or  let 
him  refer  to  an  able,  and  perfectly  truth- 
ful article,  in  The  Foreign  Quarterly  Re- 
view, published  in  the  present  month  of 
October;  to  which  my  attention  has  been  at- 
tracted, since  these  sheets  have  been  passing 
through  the  press.  He  will  find  some  spe- 
cimens th^re,  by  no  means  remarkable  to 
any  man  who  has  been  in  America,  but 
sufficiently  striking  to  one  who  hag  not. 


oppressed  by  the  prevailing  serious- 
ness and  melancholy  air  of  business  : 
which  was  so  general  and  unvarying, 
that  at  every  new  town  I  came  to,  I 
seemed  to  meet  the  very  same  people 
whom  I  had  left  behind  me,  at  the 
last.  Such  defects  as  are  perceptible 
in  the  national  manners,  seem,  to  me, 
to  be  referable,  in  a  great  degree,  to 
this  cause  :  which  has  generated  a 
dull,  sullen  persistance  in  coarse 
usages,  and  rejected  the  graces  of  life 
as  undeserving  of  attention.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  Washington,  who 
was  always  most  scrupulous  and  exact 
on  points  of  ceremony,  perceived  the 
tendency  towards  this  mistake,  even 
in  his  time,  and  did  his  utmost  to 
correct  it. 

I  cannot  hold  with  other  WTiters  on 
these  subjects  that  the  prevalence  of 
various  forms  of  dissent  in  America, 
is  in  any  way  attributable  to  the 
non-existence  there  of  an  established 
church :  indeed,  I  think  the  temper 
of  the  people,  if  it  admitted  of  such 
an  Institution  being  founded  amongst 
them,  would  lead  them  to  desert  it, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  merely  because 
it  was  established.  But,  supposing  it 
to  exist,  I  doubt  its  probable  efficacy 
in  summoning  the  wandering  sheep  to 
one  great  fold,  simply  becau.se  of  the 
immense  amount  of  dissent  which  pre- 
vails at  home ;  and  because  I  do  not 
find  in  America  any  one  form  of 
religion  with  which  we  in  Europe,  or 
even  in  England,  are  unacquainted. 
Dissenters  resort  thither  in  great 
numbers,  as  other  people  do,  simply 
because  it  is  a  land  of  resort ;  and 
great  settlements  of  them  are  founded, 
because  ground  can  be  purchased,  and 
towns  and  villages  reared,  where  there 
were  none  of  the  human  creation 
before.  But  even  the  Shakers  emi- 
grated from  England ;  our  country  is 
not  unknown  to  Mr.  Joseph  Smith, 
the  apostle  of  Mormonism,  or  to  his 
benighted  disciples;  I  have  beheld 


174 


AMERICAN  NOTES 


religious  scenes  myself  in  some  of  our 
populous  towns  which  can  hardly  be 
surpassed  by  an  American  camp- 
meeting;  and  I  am  not  aware  that 
any  instance  of  superstitious  impos- 
ture on  the  one  hand,  and  supersti- 
tious credulity  on  the  other,  has  had 
its  origin  in  the  United  States,  which 
we  cannot  more  than  parallel  by  the 
precedents  of  Mrs.  Southcote,  Mary 
Tofts  the  rabbit-breeder,  or  even 
Mr.  Thorn  of  Canterbury :  which  latter 
case  arose,  sometime  after  the  dark 
ages  had  passed  away. 

The  Republican  Institutions  of 
America  undoubtedly  lead  the  people 
to  assert  their  self-respect  and  their 
equality ;  but  a  traveller  is  bound  to 
bear  those  Institutions  in  his  mind, 
and  not  hastily  to  resent  the  near  ap- 
proach of  a  class  of  strangers,  who,  at 
home,  would  keep  aloof.  This  cha- 
racteristic, when  it  was  tinctured  with 
no  foolish  pride,  and  stopped  short  of 
no  honest  service,  never  offended  me  ; 
and  I  very  seldom,  if  ever,  experienced 
its  rude  or  unbecoming  display.  Once 
or  twice  it  was  comically  developed, 
as  in  the  following  case  ;  but  this  was 
an  amusing  incident,  and  not  the  rule 
or  near  it. 

I  wanted  a  pair  of  boots  at  a  certain 
town,  for  I  had  none  to  travel  in,  but 
those  with  the  memorable  cork  soles, 
which  were  much  too  hot  for  the 
fiery  decks  of  a  steam  boat.  I  there- 
fore sent  a  message  to  an  artist  in 
boots,  importing,  with  my  compli- 
ments, that  I  should  be  happy  to  see 
him,  if  he  would  do  me  the  polite 
favour  to  call.  He  very  kindly  re- 
turned for  answer,  that  he  would  "  look 
round  "  at  six  o'clock  that  evening. 

I  was  lying  on  the  sofa,  with  a  book 
and  a  wine-glass,  at  about  that  time, 
when  the  door  opened,  and  a  gentle- 
man in  a  stiff  cravat,  within  a  year  or 
two  on  either  side  of  thirty,  entered,  in 
his  hat  and  gloves ;  walked  up  to  the 
looking-glasfl;  arranged  his  hair;  took 


I  off  his  gloves  ;  slowly  produced  a 
j  measure  from  the  uttermost  depths  of 
!  his  coat  pocket ;  and  requested  me, 
I  in  a  languid  tone,  to  "  unfix "  my 
i  straps.  I  complied,  but  looked  with 
I  some  curiosity  at  his  hat,  which  was 
still  upon  his  head.  It  might  have 
}  been  that,  or  it  might  have  been  the 
heat — but  he  took  it  off.  Then,  he 
sat  himself  down  on  a  chair  opposite 
to  me  ;  rested  an  arm  on  each  knee  ; 
and,  leaning  forward  very  much,  took 
from  the  ground,  by  a  great  effort,  the 
specimen  of  metropolitan  workman- 
ship which  I  had  just  pulled  off: 
whistling,  pleasantly,  as  he  did  so. 
He  turned  it  over  and  over;  surveyed 
it  with  a  contempt  no  language  can 
express ;  and  inquired  if  I  wished 
him  to  fix  me  a  boot  like  thai  ?  I 
courteously  replied,  that  provided  the 
boots  were  large  enough,  I  would 
leave  the  rest  to  him;  that  if  con- 
venient and  practicable,  I  should  not 
object  to  their  bearing  some  resem- 
blance to  the  model  then  before  him ; 
but  that  I  would  be  entirely  guided 
by,  and  would  beg  to  leave  the  whole 
subject  to,  his  judgment  and  discre- 
tion. "  You  an't  partickler,  about 
this  scoop  in  the  heel  I  suppose  then?" 
says  he  :  "  We  don't  foller  that,  here." 
I  repeated  my  last  observation.  He 
looked  at  himself  in  the  glass  again ; 
went  closer  to  it  to  dash  a  grain  or 
two  of  dust  out  of  the  corner  of  his 
eye ;  and  settled  his  cravat.  All  this 
time,  my  leg  and  foot  were  in  the  air. 
"Nearly  ready,  sir?"  I  inquired. 
"  Well,  pretty  nigh,"  he  said  ;  "  keep 
steady."  I  kept  as  steady  as  I  could, 
both  in  foot  and  face  ;  and  having  by 
this  time  got  the  dust  out,  and  found 
his  pencil-case,  he  measured  me,  and 
made  the  necessary  notes.  When  he 
had  finished,  he  fell  into  his  old 
attitude,  and  taking  up  the  boot  again, 
mused  for  some  time.  "And  this,"  he 
said,  at  last,  "is  an  English  boot,  is  it  f 
This  is  a  London  boot,  eh?"  "Thatsur/* 


FOR  GENERAL  CIRCULATION. 


175 


I  replied,  "is  a  London  boot."  He 
mused  over  it  again,  after  the  manner 
of  Hamlet  with  Yorick's  skull ; 
nodded  his  head,  as  who  should  say 
"  I  pity  the  Institutions  that  led  to 
the  production  of  this  boot ! "  ;  rose  ; 
put  up  his  pencil,  notes,  and  paper 
— ^glancing  at  himself  in  the  glass, 
all  the  time— put  on  his  hat;  drew  on 
his  gloves  very  slowly ;  and  finally 
walked  out.  When  he  had  been  gone 
about  a  minute,  the  door  reopened, 
and  his  hat  and  his  head  reappeared. 
He  looked  round  the  room,  and  at  the 
boot  again,  which  was  still  lying  on 
the  floor;  appeared  thoughtful  foru 
minute ;  and  then  said  "  Well,  good 
arternoon."  "  Good  afternoon  sir," 
said  I :  and  that  was  the  end  of  the 
interview. 

There  is  but  one  other  head  on 
which  I  wish  to  offer  a  remark ;  and 
that  has  reference  to  the  public  health. 
In  so  vast  a  country,  where  there  are 
thousands  of  millions  of  acres  of  land 
yet  unsettled  and  uncleared,  and  on 
every  rood  of  which,  vegetable  de- 
composition is  annually  taking  place; 
where  there  are  so  many  great  rivers, 
and  such  opposite  varieties  of  climate ; 
there  cannot  fail  to  be  a  great  amount 
of  sickness  at  certain  seasons.  But  I 
may  venture  to  say,  after  conversing 
with  many  members  of  the  medical 
profession  in  America,  that  I  am  not 
singular  in  the  opinion  that  much  of 
the  disease  which  does  prevail,  might 
be  avoided,  if  a  few  common  precau- 
tions were  observed.  Greater  means 
of  personal  cleanliness,  are  indis- 
pensable to  this  end ;  the  custom  of 
hastily  swallowing  large  quantities  of 
animal  food,  three  times  a-day,  and 
rushing  back  to  sedentary  pursuits 
after  each  meal,  must  be  changed ; 
the  gentler  sex  must  go  more  wisely 


clad,  and  take  more  healthful  exercise"; 
and  in  the  latter  clause,  the  males 
must  be  included  also.  Above  all, 
in  public  institutiqns,  and  throughout 
the  whole  of  every  town  and  city,  the 
system  of  ventilation,  and  drainage, 
and  removal  of  impurities  requires  to 
be  thoroughly  revised.  There  is  no 
local  Legislature  in  America  which 
may  not  study  Mr.  Chad  wick's  excel- 
lent Report  upon  the  Sanitary  Con- 
dition of  our  Labouring  Classes,  with 
immense  advantage. 


I  HAVE  now  arrived  at  the  close  of 
this  book.  I  have  little  reason  to  be- 
lieve, from  certain  warnings  I  have 
had  since  I  returned  to  England,  that 
it  will  be  tenderly  or  favourably  re- 
ceived by  the  American  people  ;  and 
as  I  have  written  the  Truth  in  relation 
to  the  mass  of  those  who  form  their 
judgments  and  express  their  opinions, 
it  will  be  seen  that  I  have  no  desire 
to  court,  by  any  adventitious  means, 
the  popular  applause. 

It  is  enough  for  me,  to  know,  that 
what  I  have  set  down  in  these  pages, 
cannot  cost  me  a  single  friend  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  who  is,  in 
anything,  deserving  of  the  name.  For 
the  rest,  I  put  my  trust,  implicitly,  in 
the  spirit  in  which  they  have  been 
conceived  and  penned ;  and  I  can  bide 
my  time. 

I  have  made  no  reference  to  my 
reception,  nor  have  I  suffered  it  to 
influence  me  in  what  I  have  written ; 
for,  in  either  case,  I  should  have  of- 
fered but  a  sorry  acknowledgment, 
compared  with  that  I  bear  within  my 
breast,  towards  those  partial  readers 
of  my  former  books,  across  the 
Water,  who  met  me  with  an  open 
hand,  and  not  with  one  that  closed 
upon  an  iron  muzzle. 


lokdojt: 
bbadbuitt  and  evans,  i'eimteks,  whitefbiaas. 


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