LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
Class
Price Six Shillings.
THE ASCENT OF MONT BLANC.
With four Views printed in Oil Colours, illustrating the
Ascent of the Mountain.
III.
Price Two Shillings and Sixpence.
EASTERN MUSIC.
About twenty Airs, from Greece, Turkey, Palestine, and
Egypt, with Accompaniments, Description and Anastatic
Sketches.
IV.
Price One Shilling.
RAGGED SCHOOLS,
THEIR RISE, PROGRESS, AND RESULTS.
,
OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS:
Summer Eour
CANADA AND THE STATES.
JOHN MACGKEGOR, M.A,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE.
SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HAILIDAY, 54 FLEET STKEET.
LONDON. MDCCCLIX
? ** X 7
LONDON:
FEINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO.
CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBUliT CIKCUS.
CONTENTS.
Page
INTRODUCTION yiii
CHAPTER I.
ICEBERGS AND WHALES. HALIFAX. THE STIKES
STEAMER. YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS. GREENLAND GAME-
COLONIAL HEROES 1
CHAPTER II.
COLONIAL VOTERS. GROCERS AND TELEGRAPHS.
POLITICAL BALLOON. CAPTAIN VICARS. TALKATIVE
WAITER. FORKS AND RAKES PRAYER MEETING.
SWEARING 9
CHAPTER III.
NEW BRUNSWICK. IN A CANOE. THE TAMARASKA.
A STORM A SKUNK. THE MIRAGE. QUEBEC . 21
CHAPTER IV.
EMIGRANTS. RAILWAYS. RAGGED SCHOOL GIRLS.
BOYS LETTERS. LONGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD.
SOLDIERS READING ROOM. OTTAWA. ADVEN
TURE . . 28
0| /? O i*;
4 J. o J /
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Page
AMERICAN FASHIONABLES. SILENT YANKEES TORONTO.
A RACE AT EATING. AN ELECTION. THE TELE
GRAPH CABLE GAOL BIRDS. HOW TO SEE NIA
GARA. SLAVERY 43
CHAPTEK VI.
BROADWAY. TELEGRAPH SERMON. A DAY IN THE
SLUMS TATTOED SHOEBLACK. BOY POLICE.
SUNDAY BAND. LEE AVENUE SCHOOL. A PIC-NIC . 54
CHAPTER VII.
THE CABLE FEVER. FIREMEN. ODD MOTTOES. A
BARRISTER S WIG. LUNATICS. CALLIOPE. " ISMS "
HOUSE OF REFUGE. BOY FACTORY. REVIVAL
PRAYER-MEETING 64
CHAPTER VIII.
PHILADELPHIA REVIVAL. EUCHRE CLUB. PREACH
ING-TENT. BLACK PRAYER-MEETING. GIRARD
COLLEGE FLOWERING ALOE. WASHINGTON.
KILLING MEN AND PIGS 80
CHAPTER IX.
SLAVE SUNDAY SCHOOL A REAL LADY." JIM HAMLY."
CINCINNATI PREACHING TENT. FELLOW-DINERS.
CAPTAIN VICARS. FAR WEST RAILWAYS . . 89
CHAPTER X.
KANSAS. SNAGS ON THE MISSOURI. SLAVE-HOLDING
MINISTER. MUSIC. THE CALIFORNIAN ROAD.
" DOLLAR." " THE BABY TOWN." HOME THOUGHTS 100
CONTENTS. Vll
CHAPTER XL
Page
MISSISSIPPI. NAUVOO AND MORMONS. FAIRIES. SNOW.
MINNESOTA. MINNE- HA-HA. CHICAGO.
COLOURED CHURCH. INDIAN SCALPING . . .111
CHAPTER XII.
CONVENTION AT LA CROSSE. FREE NEGRO SETTLE
MENT. TRENTON FALLS. SLEEPING TRAINS.
LADIES. THEODORE PARKER S CHURCH . . 121
AMERICAN VOTING 138
YANKEE NOTIONS . 150
INTRODUCTION.
TF a huge volume taken at random from a new
Encyclopaedia were to be thrust before you,
and, just as you get interested in one article,
the pages were suddenly turned over to the
middle of another, and then a second volume
given to you next day, and a third the day
after, and so on every day, with the same sud
den compulsory changes, for weeks together
if you were tossed on the wide Atlantic
for a fortnight in a steamer to settle this
confusion, and then asked, on your landing,
to give a rational account of the best articles
in the book, you would be very like a traveller
who has been three months in America, and
straightway sits down to indite his views at
home.
INTRODUCTION.
And, to make the matter worse, the most
pressing inquiries are precisely about the very
subjects that are most difficult to understand,
most easy to blunder in, and most mystified by
contradictory statements.
Every Christian Englishman is eager to ask
in a breath, " What about slavery? Is the
American constitution to be admired? What is
the true account of the Kevival?" Perhaps it is
better, then, to keep the following pages as they
were written on the spot ;* and it is more com
plimentary to the reader to give him the daily
photographs unexplained, and thus invite him
to draw his own conclusions. ; Tis like to a
ramble amid new rocks and rivers. A finished
oil-painting might be attempted on your easel at
home; but, after all, the rough sketch made in
the wood gives the best impression of what was
seen at the time.
Still there are some subjects on which a
summer tour gives quite time enough to form
reliable opinions.
For instance, an Englishman who reads several
American papers every day for a quarter of a
* For the Record Newspaper.
INTRODUCTION. XI
year may easily gauge the American press; and
he must be struck with the palpable inferiority
of the American press to the American people.
He is a bold man, indeed, who runs a tilt against
the press of any country ; but he is a coward who
dares not tell a nation that their daily papers are
beneath their standard and their destiny.
It is surely a wholesome restraint upon every
paper and political party in England, to know
that its friends may be in or out of office the day
after to-morrow. On the other hand, in Ame
rica, once in the " Opposition," you are fixed
there at least for four years a time long enough
to make your best friends tired of you, and short
enough to keep your worst enemies certain of a
change.
On another point, the rapid traveller may
remark, without being rash, hearing, as he does
every day, bitter and constant complaints of mis-
government urged by the best and the richest,
and the most intelligent Americans; while, in
England, we are used to hear such grumbling
chiefly from the ignorant or the disappointed.
If there is any revolution to be attempted in
England, it is to put the masses uppermost;
Xll INTRODUCTION.
and if there can be a revolution in America, it
will be to turn the pyramid upright, which now
stands upon its half-crushed apex.
Let us suppose that these are the misjudged
conclusions of rapid travelling through America,
and what must be the amount of gross misap
prehension of England which the usual fleet
run of an American traveller entails ?
You see America while you move, by rail, by
river, on the lake steamer, or in the populous
hotel. England is only seen by stopping. There
is scarce a township in her little bounds that
has not more to study, than whole States of
prairie or forest, which have no antiquities to ar
rest, no lore of history to make the traveller muse.
Utterly vain is the endeavour to make the an
cient Indian stories a fund for American poetry.
It is to try to stereotype a race that is blotted
out by every move of civilization. The best-
American instinctively reverts to Old England
for his thoughts on the past. He turns from
the Indian relics, which are near but alien, and
dwells on the English past, which is remote but
homely, and which we too dwell upon as linked
with our glorious present.
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
Neither of us, in mere touring, can see the
real genius of the other by the homely hearth, in
the country house, or the city mansion ; but the
absence of this internal view of Englishmen
must be a far greater blank to the American
traveller, than what we feel when we pass their
homes, and can only try to imagine the inside.
It is easy to write of the American constitu
tion if you have never seen it in actual opera
tion, just as you may speedily describe a skeleton
from a model on a diagram, while you can
scarcely explain a body when you have lived in
its flesh and blood.
A few months of locomotive existence no
doubt gives small experience of the political life
of a great continent. Still, facts under the daily
notice of a traveller, scanning with intense
interest this great subject, may be truthfully
recorded; and a timid effort to embody their
impressions will be found at the end of this
volume.
This is no place, nor is there any place, for
comparing America and England. To compare
would be unjust to America as the child, and
unfair to England as the parent.
XIV INTRODUCTION.
Can any one acquainted with both countries
calmly sit down to compare a new continent,
scarce a century under its own ruling, with an
ancient islet gifted above all in natural advan
tages,, and laboured, for a thousand years, by the
noblest race that ever trod the earth?
But, though America may be devoid of his
toric associations, though her social state may be
inaccessible for rapid inspection, and her consti
tution yet too young to be justly brought to
trial, there is still a point of view from which
we may fairly regard her; and, looking from
thence, even a passing glance will not fail to see
truthful pictures.
Standing there, then, it is with hearty con
fidence I affirm, that the effects of the religious
movement in America are genuine, deep, and
lasting.
Men and women who leave cold apathy, or
hot infidelity, in thousands; who acknowledge
God, and live a changed life in thousands; and
who wane not, nor waver, but grow fervent and
more humble every day ; these, I say, must have
something solid at the bottom, whatever fringe of
circumstance may float around the substantial.
INTRODUCTION. XV
It would be thoroughly unfair to judge of any
great movement by its frailties; by those oddi
ties and absurdities of even a real excitement,
which are hoisted into prominence by its very
reality, and are sure to be noticed most.
But no keen eye is required to see the positive
and less obtrusive change which has widely
passed over this great people s national heart.
The heart of the American people has been
opened towards religion; the hearts of individ
ual Americans have been thoroughly changed
by the Kevival.
The American citizen is our cousin by nation
ality; but the American Christian is our bro
ther at once and for ever. The American is at
least like us in language and locomotion; but
the Christian there is a brother of us here, and
will be a brother with us hereafter. All jealou
sies of earthly differences, ill-disguised under a
trite enumeration of earthly similarities "the
same Shakspeare " "the same liberties " and
so forth all these doubtful likenesses in profile
are as nothing to the vital identity that exists in
the very souls of American and English, when
both are joined to Christ.
XVI INTRODUCTION.
Clasp our hands, dear brothers, in this forever
relationship ; your hearts are warmed with more
than kindred blood; with the sap of " the true
vine " ; if you and we are grafted in together,,
and He can say to us " Ye are the branches."
And what of slavery ? can it consist with this
revived religion? Well, as yet there is no
Christian standard raised against it for the thou
sands of good men to rally round.
A Christian cannot be pro-slavery. This, at
least, needs no proof at all. But, alas ! he must
either join the abolitionists, and bear their badge
as a political party, or be content to live on idly,
in a sad individual protest.
Let Christian men provide some plan how
ever tedious, some means however partial, for
the abolition of slavery, and they will have
millions of earnest helpers, who now but wish,
in lonely knots, for what they well could will
and carry, if they only knew their strength and
numbers. Every plan that is proposed must, of
course, have many objections; but none of these
can be so great as the blame of sitting still.
Grant it is a horrible subject; a cancer that you
do not like to probe ; a family misfortune you do
INTRODUCTION. XVll
not like to discuss; yet it is with you, good
Americans, as Popery is with us, not only a
blight to make you humble, but a problem to
evoke your most earnest efforts to solve. Nor is
it any excuse for you that " the abolitionists
are too noisy." " That if people would only be
quiet, the slave party would give it up." The
slavers are quite as active and aggressive as
their opponents. No question since the world
began was ever carried by silence; and the
more harm is done by the irritating abolitionists,
you are all the more bound to propose some
feasible plan, which may soon become acceptable
or necessary even to the slavers themselves.
And, now, as to their Constitution; let the
Americans try a Republican government. Only
they and we could possibly succeed in this the
most difficult of all forms. They may tolerate
it till men get thick together, and elbow one
another. But all America is not American.
The possessions of the Queen of England upon
that continent are much larger in mere area than
the whole United States. There is ample scope
for two gigantic experiments.
And so young Canada looks smilingly upon
b
XVlll INTRODUCTION.
them. She is free, perfectly free ; free enough
to acknowledge herself a part of the grandest
Empire that was ever ruled, and far too free to
join with those whose every man is bound by
law to follow the fugitive slave.*
It is a mother s highest wish on earth to
settle her sons and daughters worthily. When
Canada is matured, it will be England s pride
and policy to let her rule her house in friendly
neighbourhood.
Meantime, Canadian brothers, your wisdom is
to grow in England s nursery of freemen; to be
sheltered by her powerful arm ; guided by her
ancient wisdom; and to look with her to the
Almighty for His blessing. Stretch your young
limbs widely and embrace the two great oceans;
let your heart throb as now with loyalty, the
real attribute of ripened independence; cover
your land with railways and your lakes with
steamers ; hew down your woods and plant men ;
* The fugitive slave law has only one merit, and that is,
it is broken every day Avith impunity. The President s mes
sage [Times, Dec. 20, 1858) distinctly asserts, that every new
piece of ground peopled by the States is, primd facie, slave
ground so that freedom is the exception, not the rule; and
every citizen is now declared an abettor of slavery.
INTRODUCTION. XIX
root out that Popery which is your worst weed,
and has been our saddest blight; train up your
brawny settlers; your polished statesmen; your
brave soldiers; and your faithful preachers of
the everlasting truth.
Doubt not the love of England, or its power
or will to help you. Fear not your cousins in
America, or their power or will to hurt you.
Your federated provinces will yet become a glo
rious country, allied to Britain by long years of
sympathy, where the slave is free and the free
man serves his God.
OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
CHAPTER I
ICEBERGS AND WHALES HALIFAX THE STIKES STEAMER
- YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION - NEWFOUND
LAND DOGS GREENLAND GAME - COLONIAL HEROES.
E ten days voyage from England to
America is an unceasing development of
pictures of character. To those who are " good
sailors/ it is a rare intellectual treat, such in
cessant discussions, and clashing of opinions,
regulated in intensity by the gentlemanly con
duct of the ship s officers, and softened by the
presence of pale, passive-looking ladies.
It is a time, too, for many a word in season,
much tact and wisdom, boldness, sincerity, and
patience.
We found a large iceberg drifted past Cape
Race at a more westerly point than any ice which
2 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
the captain recollected in past summers. Por
poises rolled about on the waves, and some
whales spouted with manifest delight ; but the
shining ebony face of the negro I see opposite
my window, warns me that it is better to write
notes of what is seen and done on land,, than to
attempt a description of the pleasant voyage.
It is a novel and pleasant sensation to land on
a new country where they talk our own old
tongue, and to find new houses under our dear old
flag. Halifax is different enough from England
to make you feel abroad, and it is also like
enough to make you feel at home. Britain
never seems so wide as when some thousand
miles of sea bring you to yet another England.
This place reminds me immediately of Bergen,
in Norway. The wooden houses cased with
shingle, broad streets, harbour and islands full
of timber, and kerb-stones made of wood.
But many features are of quite another kind.
Here are some blacks, there some Germans,
then again Frenchmen, and even Indians squat
ting in the market-place.
The carts, with high wheels and two boxes
like do^-kennels, are filled with bakers loaves.
HALIFAX. 3
The negro waiter looks as if he had come from
the States by the " underground railway," which
issues no " return tickets;" and, as he gives me
for a chamber candle the little glass lamp, it is
plain we are near Newfoundland.
A red-coated piquet marches past in the dusty
street, with Crimean medals on their breasts;
and the well-known bugle-call in the fort upon
the hill proclaims it is the mess-hour for English
officers to attack the roast beef of Old Eng
land.
On the black palings there is a hand-bill,
" Three hundred labourers wanted immediately.
Good wages and work guaranteed for the sum
mer." And near to it another "One night
more of Jessie Brown, the Heroine of Lucknow"
whose romantic hearkening to the Highland
bagpipes has been acted over and over in
Canada and the States, as well as in France.
Five sedate judges are sitting out a five days
cause in that court-house, and the eloquence of
the Attorney-General and five other counsel is
listened to with profound attention by the
audience, consisting of one man. The good
people of Halifax are too sensible to waste time
4 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
in hearing arguments; and no doubt they will
be content when the Chief Justice pronounces
the decision next November.
In the fine dock-yard lies the celebrated war-
steamer Styx the " Stikes," as the Yankees
call it, when they come to buy ribbons from the
sailors hats which bear the name of the vessel
that has so provoked them by acting like a naval
policeman, searching the bundles carried by sus
picious craft, when it is likely they have a cargo
of slaves.
On the whole, it may be a clever as well as a
just move on England s part to leave this traffic
to be dealt with by the Americans ; for they are
thus distinctly called upon themselves to put
down a fearful scandal, too long winked at by
their executive, although utterly illegal even by
their own laws.
Between the Canadians and Yankees there is
" no love lost."
The state of the colonial politics is healthy;
that is to say, each party seems to think it is
entirely and alone right, and says what it thinks
in the newspaper. The papers are well printed,
and can be bought from boys who blow long
YOUNG MEN S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 5
tin-pot horns, such as our grandfathers used to
hear.
There are twelve policemen for the town; but
a strong military force gives it a garrison air.
The names on the best shops seem chiefly
Scotch, yet the language one hears in the streets
is far more usually Irish. And no doubt this
indicates the respective positions assumed by
the Scotch and Irish inhabitants when they have
been shaken together by a little jostling.
The Church of England has but few members,
and the Presbyterians the largest number
about one-fifth of the population of 240,000 in
the Province.
There is a vigorous branch of the Young
Men s Christian Association, with fifty members
a nice, cheerful reading-room, well supplied
with books and papers, and with lectures well
attended, besides a weekly Bible-class, where
there were thirty-six present last week.
The Newfoundland fishery causes many busi
ness men to pass through the hotel; and there is
a peculiar air and conversation about these active
people, who combine civility and frankness with
a little Yankee smartness.
6 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Nothing appears more strange to the tra
veller than to hear his fellow-subjects speak
ing in capital English of an utterly unknown
subject, with new names for people and places.
" We have got the ships at Kichibuctoo and
Miramici." " Did the Attorney-General stop at
Quicki Mash or Shediac ?" " Where is the
Chief Justice? can he talk Mic-mac?" To
morrow is the election-day at Windsor, and
travellers come from Truro. The very men
tion of the last two names makes the others
appear more odd.
A number of fine black Newfoundland dogs
are in the streets. The best breed of this noble
species has webbed feet, and a tail curling round
upon its back, with body and limbs unspotted
by any single hair of white.
As we passed the Greenland coast in the
steamer, a tin box, with an extract of telegraph
news from England, was cast into the sea, and
bobbed about over the waves, carrying a little
red flag, which enabled a fast-sailing schooner
to pick it up, and thus transmit the intelligence
by the electric telegraph all through America.
The internal bays are full of game; and one of
GREENLAND GAME. 7
our passengers is to start with canoes and In
dians to-morrow for a sporting tour on a river
thickly wooded, and the favourite resort of rein
deer and moose. He will live in his boat, or in
a rude hut of bark, and half his time will be
employed in wading, as he pushes the canoe
over shallows, while the other half will be spent
in cutting a way through the tangled jungle of
tree-branches that block up the stream. This
preserve is free only on the condition that no
book may be written about it in England, which
might attract less knowing cockneys to such
pleasant sport. It is for this reason, that I may
not give the precise latitude and longitude of
the spot !
All this gossip, and a great deal more, one
hears on board the noble Cunard steamer, in the
place of nightly assembly called " the Fiddler,"
a covered space on deck.
I had a long conversation with some little
black children to-day. Only one could read,
but they seemed to comprehend very readily
the simplest truths of the Bible. The Roman
Catholic Archbishop, with numerous priests,
works hard to keep the Bible from all children.
8 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Romish influence is powerful here; and though
the numbers of Romanists are small, they are
swayed to and fro at a word, and easily turn the
scales so evenly balanced between Whigs and
Tories.
The Protestant Alliance of Nova Scotia will,
I hope, take some vigorous and decided step to
enlighten, and then direct, public opinion in
relation to Popish proceedings. A nunnery
forms a prominent object in the environs of
the town; and the Romish Cathedral, with the
Archbishop s house, asserts a position that can
not be ignored.
Another wooden house in the outskirts is
remarkable from a better cause, as the birth
place of Sir J. Inglis, the hero of Lucknow.
Sir W. Williams, of Kars, the witty judge, " Sam
Slick," and Mr. Cunard, of steamboat fame, are
all from this part of the world. The fresh sea- air
playing on the fir-clad hills, fragrant with pine-
rosin, makes the neighbouring creeks most
charming for a country walk; and one cannot
but expect the time when these quiet bays will
be studded with the villas of Halifax, then a city
ten times its present size.
COLONIAL VOTERS.
CHAPTER II.
COLONIAL VOTERS GROCERS AND TELEGRAPHS POLITICAL
BALLOON CAPTAIN VICARS TALKATIVE WAITER
FORKS AND RAKES PRAYER MEETING SWEARING.
O HOUTS and cheers assail the train as it rum
bles along the new-made line, opened in
June, the first railway here ; and the moose-deer
are scared in the thick forests as we pass, rousing
the bears, and starting up the screaming water
fowl from a hundred lakes, tangled together by
fresh streams, like silver network over the dark,
rocky land.
There is a pretty village, with white wooden
houses, so neat and clean, and its church with
pointed spire. The woods are consumed with
fire in patches for miles together, and only a few
wet trunks stand after resisting the burning.
Here come a throng of honest voters, tramp
ing their thick boots on the strong, rough plat
form of the station. " All aboard!" shouts the
10 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
conductor, and the stalwart politicians rush into
the long carriage, where the tallest can walk
upright down the long gangway through the
middle of it. They have first-class tickets, and
you cannot see a finer set of manly fellows,
young, handsome, browned, and bearded, with
intelligence, civility, and earnest freedom of
manner, as well as of opinion. Then begins
the clattering of tongues and the munching of
onions. Three babies tune up another kind of
music, and assert their independence before they
know their names. In vain the mothers try to
pacify them, by saying, " Here s the nigger
coming!" but that fine, ruddy, frieze-coated
Presbyterian, though a perfect stranger, instantly
catches up a squalling infant, and soon puts it
asleep in his great, thick arms. These long open
carnages are certainly not the place for quiet
travelling. They would never do for business
men in England.
The electric telegraph joins a whole series of
little villages, and you see the thing at work at
the grocer s shop, where the lad who weighs you
a pound of sugar speaks your messages along
the wires. Then at Windsor a crowd buzzes
POLITICAL BALLOON. 11
around the rum-shop, heartily discussing politics,
and ready to hear an oration from the English
stranger. This is a good opportunity for a word
in season, and for the Scripture text-cards of
the Open-air Mission and the British Workman,
papers of which I brought a large supply from
London, though a hundred more might be given
every day with a good result, as the people here
are delighted with them.
The youth of the town, including a sprinkling
of " rowdies," next crowd around a great fire-
balloon, eighteen feet high, that is to carry into
the clouds the name of the successful candidate
for the office of M.P.P., Member of the Pro
vincial Parliament. Each member is paid 1
a-day during the session. This is what they do
also in the Greek Parliament ; and I recollect a
modern Solon at Athens, who told me the result
was, that the session began on January 1st and
ended on the 31st of December.
It is very perplexing and amusing, to be cast
suddenly into a mass of political imbroglio, with
out knowing anything of local interest; but
there is one comfort, that this ignorance is not
solitary, for I never found any of these valiant
12 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
voters who could tell the difference between
Liberal and Tory, except that the side he
supported was all right, and the other quite
in the wrong. The elegant name of " smashers"
is applied to the Government; but though the
Popish organ in New Brunswick applies the
word " smasherism " to anything done by the
Government there, the Romanists seem to be
on different sides in the two provinces. How
ever, every person I speak to allows that the
issue now is " Papist or Protestant," and the
large Irish immigration of late years makes this
a serious matter.
Here and there, through the trees, the blue
smoke curls from the trim little wooden cottages.
The slips of shingle on their roofs soon get grey
like slates, and the whole appearance of these
thrifty-looking dwellings is very artistic and
exceedingly attractive.
About one-third of the population is of Scotch
extraction, and not a few recollected with much
pleasure the 93rd Highland Eegiment, quartered
in Halifax just twenty years ago, when every
one of them used to march to Church with his
Bible and Presbyterian Psalm-book, and where
WINDSOR. 13
nearly seven hundred once partook of the Sacra
ment together. Captain Vicars of the 97th, and
Captain Hammond of the Rifles, are also well
remembered names, signalizing men who ran a
short but bright career of sanctified soldier-life.
The Rev. Dr. Twining, who has laboured so long
and usefully among the military committed to
his care in spiritual things, must be much en
couraged by the testimony such men have borne
before the whole world to the truth of that
Gospel which they were taught in his ministra
tion.
The Union Jack floats from the Victoria
Hotel at Windsor, and there is a panorama of
India in the dining-room, where all travellers
must take their meals at the same hours, or they
have a poor chance of getting any. The gong,
or a bell, is rung loudly among the bed-rooms
to waken us at seven, and again at eight for
breakfast, one o clock to dinner, and six for tea.
This sort of music is an advance on that at
another place, where the waiter " called us" by
slapping every door with a slipper, saying, " Get
up ! Get up !" Oatmeal porridge, or " hominy,"
as some call itffi\o5I^e ^4e, with various meats
14 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
and large dishes of mountain strawberries with
cream. The waiter is very talkative, and gives
his idea of anything you please. " Now, young
gentleman," says he, " what may I get for you?
Mr. Johnson, it is quite clear you do not get on
with that chop ; let me fetch you another better
done." "Ale, Sir? Yes, Sir, that comes from
England, the mistress of the world, but all allow
that our brew here is better; not that I judge it
so, though I really don t care for malt liquor."
" Sundays, Sir ? Yes, I always get at least an
hour for Divine service could n t think of an
engagement, Sir, where I can t go to church
no church may be good to live by, but it is
bad to die by." "Mr. Peters, here s a clean
plate. There is no lack, Sir, of clean plates at
this establishment, Sir; nor of clean knives,
Sir."
Very often the guests say " Sir " to the
waiter.
If any observant traveller who has scanned
the usual routes through Europe, Syria, and
Egypt, and got used to table d hote life, wants an
entirely new sensation, a new field for notice,
and new ideas of locomotion and hotel in-
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. 15
tercourse, let him by all means hie to the
setting sun and visit Acadia, Westward ho !
But far more valuable and interesting is the
continuous and effective means for good which
he finds when journeying through a people con
stantly ready to converse, and whom he can al
ways address in his own language. The traveller
is at once bound to become a missionary; and
a hundred times a day he may easily find men
glad to hear the best of all news, and often
willing to converse at length on the highest
of all topics.
A great many implements much used here are
imported from the United States ; but they
ought to be made in the Province. The large
fields are often mowed by a machine drawn
by two horses, which cuts and spreads the grass,
that is afterwards turned over by very light
rakes, far more easily handled than our heavy
English hay-rakes. The forks, too, are strong,,
thin, cast-steel; and these improved implements
seem much more generally used than in Britain.
Light, strong carts, sometimes drawn by bul
locks, take the hay, in a very green state, to
covered sheds. Some of the land near Windsor
16 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
is sold for 75 an acre. In far-off Kansas, an
acre was offered to me for 2%d. !
At this town, I went to a prayer-meeting on
Friday evening, being attracted by the bell in
the graceful wooden spire of a Methodist church.
About forty women and twenty men attended,
and the minister opened and closed the service ;
but seven others of his flock prayed at intervals
between the hymns. Except one, these prayers
were all excellent, and offered by plain working-
men in rough coats. They informed me that a
revival has begun here.
I could not help calling their most serious
attention to the dreadful sin of blasphemy, which
is remarkably prevalent. I have heard more pro
fanity and swearing during a few days, than dur
ing years in London, even in the very ungodly
company which one must encounter who fre
quents the infidel gatherings of the great
metropolis.
The vice here proceeds chiefly, I think, from
thoughtlessness, and not from avowed unbelief;
for a mild remonstrance, and even downright
rebuke, is listened to respectfully, and its justice
acknowledged. One of the worst swearers, in-
SWEARING. 1 7
deed, assured me that he was a good Presby
terian, and attended church every week. I
fear that proximity to "the States" may bs
the cause of much of this fearful blasphemy.
A number of fine young men, and scores of
boys, hang about the roads in the evenings;
and both are of a class that we seldom see thus
congregated in England. Here the hours of
work are short, and leisure long; and very few
men, indeed, have not good coats on their backs.
A Young Men s Society could easily be formed
with such materials. Every time I have pro
posed this in addressing these groups, the sug
gestion has been well received. A missionary
from any society, that could statedly set to work
in this matter, would soon see abundant reason
for an extended and profitable tour. Finding
five boys in one day who are not even learning
to read, I told some good young men about
the Ragged-schools. It is hoped that some of
the Sunday-school teachers will open a class for
ten poor lads, twice a week. A revival that
leaves such opportunities untouched, may be
come a mere spiritual luxury. Every Scripture
precept and example seems to point to active
c
18 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
missionary work as the unfailing attendant
upon religious impressions, if they are genuine
and Christian.
The loquacious waiter (already mentioned)
tells me that everybody in the Province is loyal ;
and then he runs along the table, saying to a
meek-looking, silent traveller:
" Come, Mr. Peters, you are not speaking at
all there ; I fear you cannot be well."
Outside, there is a black woman, with dress
of the gayest hues, and most profound in gra
vity, as she lights her clay pipe. Behind her
is a shop, with a ham hanging at the window,
whitewashed and printed with these words, "I
am very spicy." while -around, there is a noisy
group of strong men neatly dressed, smiling wo
men, laughing rosy children, and huge black
dogs, under the tree where the beautiful fire
flies are dancing in fairy maze. The whole is
a mixture of peaceful strength, with a charm of
poetry that is quite new to one who has never
heard the Saxon tongue in such romantic scenes.
But just as I write these very words, a man
calls, "Hurrah for Benjamin Smith !" Another
strikes him. Ten drunken " rowdies" rush to
" WHITE EYE." 19
the fray. A loud dispute begins. Heads of
women pop out of the windows, and blows and
scuffling ensue, with fearful oaths. A man is
down, with a bloody face; and all is begun,
continued, and ended, without anybody pre
suming to keep order. There is not one single
policeman or soldier for all these 2,000 people.
Verily the Saxon race alone could keep within
any bound whatever, with such licence allowed.
And what has caused all this noise, quarrelling,
blasphemy, and blood? Drink.
In New Brunswick, within the last seven
years, the quantity of spirits consumed has
multiplied ten times. A description called
" White Eye" is sent from the States, and the
soldiers, who get intoxicated with it, have to
go to the hospital for two or three days.
In eight hours, the steamer carried us 140
miles to St. John, which is a bustling, town
with a noble river and a suspension bridge, just
. open, spanning a greater width than that of
Hunger ford. A small congregation in the
morning heard an excellent sermon from the
Rev. Mr. Ferry (Free Church), and a large con-
20 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
gregation attended the Church of England ser
vice, where the Rev. Dr. Gray preached in the
evening.
Every kind of business seemed entirely at rest
on Sunday.
CHAPTER III.
NEW BRUNSWICK IN A CANOE THE TAMARASKA A STORM
A SKUNK A WISE DOG THE MIRAGE QUEBEC.
Church of England Young Men s Chris-
tian Society of St. John, New Brunswick,
seems to be very flourishing and useful. The
members I met comprised exactly those classes
which may give and derive profit by frequent
association; and by a closer affiliation to the
London Society, we may hope for many benefits
between the bustling town of "lumber" and
and the "old country," as they always call it.
With two Canadian friends, I journeyed up the
St. John River and crossed the province for
three or four hundred miles, chiefly through
thick woods in country waggons, jolting hor
ribly over the rough roads. This is the route
to be taken by the railway lately so much ap
proved by the English papers. Once, when I was
22 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
driving alone,, a negro hailed me, " Give me a
drive, Sir, please;" so we had a long ride to
gether; and he told me as much in a short time
as showed that a woolly skull can hold good
sense and accurate information. Still the people
do not speak well of poor Sambo.
As the Americans are often styled Yankees in
England, the Nova Scotians are called " Blue-
noses " here, while the Canadians are all
" Beavers/ and "Buckeyes" come from Ohio.
Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick,
has a neat little cathedral, filled with sweet
music, as the evening sun warmed the windows
of painted glass, and gave an hour of resting
from the hard day s work in the heat.
Here we visited Judge Wilmot, who seems
scarcely to forget his political days in the beau
tiful country-seat he has planted and carpentered
with his own hands. His colony of bees buzzing
about their delicious honey as we feed on the
comb, his roses and pinks, and cedar summer-
house, his daughter s music, and his keen but
benevolent eye, give to us a pleasant picture of
colonial judicial domestic life.
All reasonable men here seem thoroughly
CANOE IN A STORM. 23
alive to tlie necessity of the Reformatory action,
so lately but so widely in operation at home.
A large Eeformatory has been commenced at
Montreal, and it seems there are plenty of bad
boys to fill it.
We had to paddle over Lake Tameasquota in
a canoe, which is a very bad sort of boat when
there is the least wind. The true Indian canoe
is made of bark; and I soon found it easy to
manage when alone. But the Frenchmen cut
their boat out of a solid log; and in this four of
us paddled up a beautiful stream, the Tama-
raska, at a rapid pace. The wind on the lake
soon rose and nearly filled the canoe, so that all
our efforts to bale it out were useless; and we
landed three times to right our little craft.
Swarms of fish leap about in the streamlets near
the lake, and I caught four trout in one pool
with a twig for a rod, extemporised on the
moment. Our sleeping-places were at settlers
houses, French our language, and eggs our
food.
But the brave little horses hurry along even
a springless cart on a moonless night. In all
the finer sagacity of the horse, that universal
24 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
animal seems to degenerate as it is kept with
civilised man. The Arab steed, the Norwegian
pony, the Spanish barb, and the Syrian horse
are worth, in times of difficulty, far more than
any well-housed hunter, or the best racer of
the stud.
As I had come away without preparation for
this forest journey, and with only a knapsack as
my luggage, it was necessary to refit at a little
village; and it was very amusing to find that
the principal " store" could furnish only a shirt-
collar made of paper, but so neatly stamped as
with a hem, that it is little wonder if the Ame
rican dandies keep up a brisk demand for this
curious article, which costs less than the price of
washing a linen one " bond fide." An Indian set
tlement on the river had a great red cross planted
before it, with the emblems of the Crucifixion,
so often seen in Romish countries. Most of the
Indians are Romanists, and so, indeed, are the
white people in that forest district, where we
found the priests ever diligent, and did not meet
with or hear of any Protestant missionaries.
The woods are silent; very few birds, but the
kingfisher and bat, seemed to tenant them.
A WISE DOG. 25
The polecat, or skunk, left its strange scent to
taint the fresh breeze here and there. A farmer
told me that one killed half a mile from his hut
had been so offensive for a month, that he
could scarcely eat his breakfast. Bears also
abound; and the priest of one village asserts he
has the power to turn the recusant sheep of his
flock into bears. One man had a dog, which
would take written messages to any house he
named, and return with the article required; or
if you gave him a penny, he would trot off and
buy his dinner. Timber or "lumber," as I
must learn to call it is the centre-point of all
the interest, and hopes, and fears of these
brawny settlers. It is too much their depend
ence, for a little slackening of the demand
throws hundreds on half-work; and the steadier
duties of farming are thus neglected for the
more fitful gains of wood-chopping.
Judge Wilmot has done much to enlighten
these people on many subjects, and gives lec
tures to crowded audiences, who are delighted
with the diagrams, painted on calico, and pub
lished in London. A lecture by somebody else,
of .the Bible Society, seemed to have made a
26 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
decided impression on some with whom I con
versed ; and there certainly is a large field open
in this direction for one who desires to improve
the evenings of a pleasant holiday tour.
The telegraph wires are carried even through
these remote forests; and it was in one of these
places we heard first of the successful laying of
the Atlantic cable. The telegraphist could
scarcely believe it; but in less than one minute
he had asked and got an answer to his question
through 500 miles of wire, which gave the as
surance that it was even so, "all right;" and
everyone appeared to have unmixed joy at the
pleasant annihilation of the distance between
their adopted land and their English " home."
A little beerhouse in such places elevates itself
to an hotel, and paints " Gents Parlour " over
one door, while two doors off there is "The
Commercial Bank," a hut with only one window,
and the whole of which would go into a bed
room. We came out on the St. Lawrence at
Eiver de Loup, where on Sunday a priest
played polkas and waltzes on the seraphine in a
huge Komish church. For the last four days I
have not seen one negro; but the last we met,
THE MIRAGE. 27
was a splendid specimen of a handsome man,
and his wages were one dollar a day.
The Pilgrim Islands on the St. Lawrence are
famed for the frequent mirage which glows around
them, and causes an inverted image to be seen
faithfully depicted in the sky above. So accurate
is this image, that ships may be observed upon
an upturned sea long before they are visible
upon the natural horizon. We speed over this in
a fast steamer, with deck piled over deck; and
new faces and new subjects for talk amply fill
up the time, until Quebec s narrow streets and
lofty citadel seem to assure us, that now at length
we have reached old Europe again; but the
British flag and red-coated soldiers with French-
speaking shopkeepers again confound our ideas,
and, finally, the mind is made up that it is
neither England nor the "Continent," but
Canada that can produce such an anomaly.
Yes; we are in Canada, not England. The
streets with plank pavement and always up-hill ;
houses with bright tin roofs; reading-room with
Kentucky papers and the Record] policemen
with caps and blue batons; caleches with driver
on the footboard, whom you call " Captain ; "
28 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
steamers with engines on the upper deck;
Indians with Christian hats even on their
"squaws"; horses with numbers on their fore
heads; shops with French and English sign
boards; all these are features that tell of a
mixed race, a new people, and a foreign clime.
Let us read the characters a little nearer. But
lo ! the American visitors rush out of the hotel
at the first bugle blast, to see " regular soldiers "
mount guard. The others go off to the races,
and nobody is left but me to look over the
beautiful river.
CHAPTER IV.
EMIGRANTS RAILWAYS RAGGED SCHOOL GIRLS BOYS*
LETTERS LONGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD SOLDIERS*
READING-ROOM OTTAWA ADVENTURE.
captain of the water police, at Quebec,
became communicative in the dark as I
waited for the steamer. His trusty boats patrol
night and day to keep boy-beating sailors in
order. Each of the crew has 7s. per diem,
and the coxswain of each boat 9s. pay. Last
year, common labourers had 10s. a-day, and
even boys received 7s. This season, everything
is depressed, and the pay of labourers is 3s. 6d.,
and that only for the summer. The winter of
six months is nearly idle.
Men who emigrate to Canada, and expect
good pay without hard work, get disheartened,
and often go back to Britain. Many of these
disappointed emigrants are Irish, who do better
30 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
in their own country. Bone and sinew, com
mon sense, and ability to weather the first
year, are the requisites for the emigrants most
needful and most likely to succeed. Skilled
labourers, mechanics, clerks, and young men
" ready to do anything," are by no means bet
tered by rushing out to the Colonies. Soldiers
often enlist in Britain with the intention of
deserting her. The worthy captain had been a
private in the Guards, then took land at Quebec,
and finally ruled the police there, while he
brought up three sons as medical men, sending
each of them to Edinburgh for education.
The disturbances in the population are usually
among the Irish; but the high penalty of 5L
terrifies the brawler from street drunkenness.
When an emigrant settles on the " concession,"
of land, and sets to work to clear it, his neigh
bours generally help him freely. They come
together when a "bee" is called. Some bring
horses, or oxen, or carts, most of them tools,
and all bring willing hands, whose work for
their new friend is always hearty and unani
mous, so that his log-house may be raised even
in a day.
STEAMBOATS. 31
Passing through tribes of black-looking priests,
carrying books and dressed in long robes, we
descend the " break-neck stairs," very like those
in Malta, and a fast little sailing-boat skims
along, the tide bearing us to the Isle of
Orleans.
Here are fleets of stately vessels, sometimes
sixty new ones in a day, sailing hundreds of
miles inland, and there floats by a raft of deals,
with huts like large dog-kennels upon it, to
house the men who navigate the mass of tim
ber for weeks; and it is worth 10,000/.
The steamboats are after the Yankee build,
with the huge engine on deck, and two decks
built high up in the air, with long eaved bal
conies, all painted white, and very sure to
labour tremendously if not driven to port by a
strong breeze. Then the deep tone of the
railway whistle is not like our English engine
shriek, with the drivers and firemen enclosed
in a little room by the furnace, and a great
bell booming as the train passes a road-crossing,
the railway scarcely fenced at all. Behind it
come half-a-dozen very long "cars," resting on
wheeled framework at each end, and with the
32 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
first-class full of second-class folks, " and even
blacks," while the second-class is filled with
tobacco- smoke, curling out as the door slams
at the end, to let in the guard dressed without
GREAT-WESTERN RAILWAY GUARD.
uniform. A washing-room is in the first-class
carriage, and a tub of drinking-water in the
second-class.
Kound the first-class are some pegs, but few
places for hats, umbrellas, parcels, and the
etceteras that make an English railway seem
your furnished home for the time being. Great
MONTMORENCY. 33
noise, bottles applied to thirsty mouths, gusts
of dusty wind, and scorching darts of sunshine,
with a rumbling, a shaking, and clamour of
voices, make these conveyances far better for
observing character, or getting headaches and
colds, than for chatting with fellow-travellers, or
reading the paper. But you may travel first-class
for 12s. 6d.,, over 170 miles, and enter the
Hotel with full purse, calling out "Colonel"
to the landlord, as he passes the other door,
labelled " Ladies Entrance" to the " House" or
" Hall," as the veriest inn is called.
The falls of Montmorency are nearly oppo
site the pretty cottage where we find Mr.
Buchanan, who, for many years, has done ex
cellent service as the Government Emigration
Agent, and has very kindly helped and advised
many a poor lad sent from the English Reform
atories, and Ragged-schools. The report of
these emigrants success is very encouraging.
Boys well-taught, respectful, healthy, and fur
nished with a little money to " go west/ may
still come out in thousands with the certainty
of good wages. As for girls, they are in such
high request for domestic service, that even
D
34 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
untaught workhouse women come in hundreds
at a time, and find places. The girls lately sent
from St. Giles Kefuge, London, could scarcely
get to their intended destination, they were so
readily hired.
Yet a little more method may be used with
advantage in this matter, on both sides of the
Atlantic. Hardly an instance occurs in which
a boy follows out here the trade he has been
taught, or half taught, at home. His indus
trial education, therefore, should be ordered
as a discipline for promoting labour-notions,
and strengthening mind, body, and morals,, and
not designed to perfect artizanship. His shoe-
making, tailoring, and carpentering may be
brought constantly into frequent use; but his
trade is to be a farmer s lad, and work at any
thing and everything that a rough, steady
boy can be trusted to do.
The boy should not be directed irrevocably
in England to go definitively to any one place
in Canada, unless an actual vacancy, worth his
acceptance, is settled for him; but the Emigra
tion agents in Quebec, Toronto, Hamilton, and
else where, may be safely trusted to direct the
EMIGRANT BOYS. 35
lad where to seek for employment, with the
best chance of success. Many situations seem
tempting from their high wages, when, in fact,
the boy who engages himself to them, will be
infallibly turned adrift in the winter. It seems
quite clear, that nothing is wanted here in the
nature of an institution or association to secure
good places for these young emigrants, who
appear already to receive all the help and
advice which could be offered with advantage.
The clergy, in the further country settlements,
may, however, be more systematically interested
in these boys, so as to secure friends to whom
they may apply in times of doubt or difficulty,
as well as guides, always more or less useful to
the young. A girl can readily get 12s. 6d.
a month, besides her board; and, as she can
be brought to her place from England at the
expense of 6/., it is really incumbent on all
our British philanthropists, to urge and help
Emigration far more extensively, seeing, that
for less than a year s expense at an institution,
in England, many of its inmates may be
permanently located in comfortable situations
in Canada.
D*
36 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Many of these emigrants appear to have writ
ten often to England without any reply from
the kind teachers who were anxious to correspond
with them. The miscarriage of letters both to
and from the old country is an important matter;
but from all that I can learn it is always the
fault of the emigrants, who address their letters
incorrectly and change their situations without
proper notification here or in England of their
new quarters. The large number of ill-defined
and harassing applications made on this subject
to Mr. Buchanan do not seem to have abated his
benevolent readiness to render every help; and
he has kindly offered to forward letters as well
as possible, if addressed to his care. Some of
the addresses must be rather puzzling to the
"blind man" at the post-office, such, for exam
ple, as u My son James Canada with one eye,"
which is nearly as bad as one that was written
on a letter addressed to " Jim Sykes in England
him as was at Field-lane." Letters need not be
pre-paid either here or in England. I hope to
learn from the boys and girls themselves some
more particulars as to their difficulties with re
spect to letters; but meantime it is well to know
LONGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD. 37
that the authorities are not in fault, and that
help, rather than obstacles, may always be ex
pected from them.
Let us continue to send out boys and girls in
small batches, but far more frequently despatch
ing them so as to arrive here in the months of
May and June, and giving a little money and
much power to the kind discretion of the agent,
who will certainly do far better in appointing
the emigrant s route than anybody at home.
The great tubular bridge at Montreal will be
nearly two miles long, and by far the largest in
the world. Good lithographic drawings of it
are seen in many London shops; and it will be a
work of science and art of which Canada may be
proud. Among the energetic and able men
who urge such useful undertakings with perse
verance is the Hon. J. Young, who is as
hospitable as he is clever. Hundreds of country
gentlemen in England might envy Rosemount,
the beautiful mansion of Mr. Young; and many
a father would be glad to have such children as
sport themselves in his sunny garden on a sum
mer s eve. I dined at the mess of the 17th
Regiment, where Colonel Cole mentioned that
38 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
since he had established a reading-room for his
men, the crime of the regiment had steadily
decreased to one-half of its former amount.
Surely such a means of good, which costs less
than 20, might be tried with similar success
in other regiments. Every good example may
be noted for encouragement; and we find nearly
100 soldiers attending the Soldiers Institute in
London for the Guards.
1 called on several leading members of the
Church of England Young Men s Society of
Montreal, which has about 300 in its ranks, and
provides them an excellent room, far better
than most of those of similar Societies in Lon
don. I promised also to address a Meeting of
the Young Men s Christian Association in a day
or two, and on Sunday I had the pleasure of
addressing the schools of the Free Church of
Scotland and Zion Chapel Congregationalists.
The papers brought from England are eagerly
received on such occasions, especially those of
the Shoeblack Society, the Protestant Alliance,
the Open-air Mission, and the Pure Literature
Society, which last I have given to book-shops
in country villages.
OTTAWA. 39
Ottawa is the little town fixed upon for the
future seat of united Government, though it is
not yet accepted as such in Canada. The rail
way runs to it, through 160 miles of forest, and
the grass grows luxuriantly between the rails.
The place has 10,000 inhabitants, whose neat
houses dot the tree-clad rocks around the mag
nificent falls, and gushing water pours along the
mill-races, where I found it rather a delicate
matter to urge my little bark canoe alone.
1 know not in any country a prettier site for a
capital city. Even in this place there are six
newspapers published, and no policemen. Some
time since, the Society of Arts in London
offered a prize of 20, for the best writing-
case for soldiers and emigrants. Well, in
this tiny capital I find a Scotch woman keep
ing a book shop, and selling " The York
Shilling (7|-d.) Papeterie, containing 12 sheets
of writing paper, 12 adhesive envelopes, 3
steel pens, a pen-holder, blotting-paper, and
a bottle of ink." You could not get these
articles for twice the money in Rome, Naples,
Florence, or Madrid. I set off in the early fog
of morning by steamer, with a picnic given by
D*2
40 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
three Volunteer Corps, British Rifles and French
Canadian Rifles in green uniform, and Artillery
clothed like our own. With these a host of
mothers, sisters, wives, and cousins, and more
than a proportion of sweethearts, who soon began
to dance on the upper deck before breakfast.
The crowd was too much for the boat, and as it
swayed her to and fro, the captain got alarmed
and lost his head, while the officers of the Vo
lunteers forgot all discipline and gave all sorts
of contradictory orders. "Keep steady in the
middle," said one; "This side, come to this
bide," cried another; " Hallo there, come to the
main galleries," shouted a third bearded colonist,
with his steel scabbard rattling on the chain
cable. All this made matters so much worse
that the boat heeled over very deeply, and the
water gushed in by the cabin windows till it
iilled the hold and reached the engine fires.
Although we had not gone twenty miles, and
the pic-nic was arranged for a place several
miles distant, there was nothing for it but to run
the great vessel ashore on a sandy beach beside
a little hut, whose occupants ran out in amaze
ment at the sight of 300 visitors. A canoe and
PIC-NIC IN DANGER. 41
some boats began to land the ladies. The
gallant militaires jumped into the water and
extemporized a pier out of logs, casks, and a
waggon seized in a field. I never saw so great
confusion, though the danger being now over
the excitement rebounded to a sort of frenzied
hilarity. Scores of tall Volunteers waded, carry
ing crates of provisions and hampers of pies; one
man bore the big drum on his head, while others
thumped it. Guns firing, women shrieking.
men tumbling about with laughter in the shallow
water, trumpets clanging, and children squalling,
while a long line of rescued passengers filed
through the wood to some shady rendezvous,
where no doubt the party were as happy as if
they had all gone safely to their proper landing.
All this was a strange preparation for the address
I gave in the evening to a large meeting in Zion
Church, the scene of the Gavazzi riots, a very
commodious building, as indeed most of the well
built public edifices seem to be. The churches
have exquisitely formed spires all gleaming with
bright tin covering which preserves its brilliancy
for twenty years. The clanging of shop-shutters
resounds as the sun goes down, and the reddened
42 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
west is reflected coolly on the noble river stud
ded with fishing-beats or Indian canoes slowly
paddling to their bark huts yonder, where the
blue smoke curls by the water s brink, and the
fish leap freely in the glassy pools. Adieu, good
brothers in Canada, you are near our English
hearts.
CHAPTER V.
AMERICAN FASHIONAULE3 SILENT YANKEES AN EATING
RACE HOW TO SEE NIAGARA SAMBO AND A CRISIS
TORONTO AN ELECTION THE TELEGRAPH CABLE GAOL
BIRDS.
A XD so tins is Saratoga, United States, the
**" well-known fashionable watering-place with
American society in its most startling form.
Huge hotels stretch piazzas along the trees
in the streets, and a buzz of smoking, wide-
awaked men and ladies, with alarming circum
ferences, but without any bonnets, move about
as if the whole town were the grounds of a
private house. Even in Spain (not to say
France) , I defy you to find such an upturning
of all our conventional notions of woman s out
door life.
And yet all is managed with propriety, how
ever little good taste there may be in parading
the streets with bare arms, thin gauze-like ball
dresses, and nothing on your head.
44 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
A great deal of money, time, and energy,
must be expended here; and while a merry
party may joyously recruit themselves at this, as
at other spas, it is a very melancholy affair for a
poor lonely bachelor to go on drinking the
odorous water, and observing all around without
one word.
I do not find the Americans, by any means,
so communicative as they are represented. In
the " cars," the din of the railway stops all con
versation that is not very emphatic. At their
meals, there is an impressive silence until the
clatter of plates is finished by one guest or
another drawing away his chair, to get up, with
a hoarse, unsocial, grating sound on the boards
of the great hall, that contrasts most painfully
with the genial pose of John Bull when he turns
half round after dinner, and unlocks his taciturn
soul to all comers. In the steamboat, again, the
various groups are so dissevered, that a stranger
has very little opportunity of entering into down
right conversation, as in England, on the Rhine,
or throughout the Mediterranean.
A quiet half-hour after every meal, would be
a specific for much of that restlessness which
A MIGHTY QUICK DINNER. 45
every American seems born to ; and hence, per
haps, the thin-limbed men and pale women of
the great republic. One of those voracious citi
zens said, "I tell you what it is, Sir, 1 guess I
have a good appetite, and can finish my dinner
any day in seven minutes." " Oh, that } s no
thing V 3 answered a sarcastic Briton; " I have a
hound that can bolt his dinner in three ! " In
another place two Yankees tried a race at din
ner; but one pushed the pepper-castor under the
other s nose he gave one cough, and lost the
race.
The new building for the University at
Toronto, when finished, will be a remarkable
edifice, unique in appearance. There is a col
lege for almost every religious denomination;
but that for the Church of England Trinity
College is separate from the rest, for reasons
which are far too intricate for me to begin
a discussion about, without very soon commit
ting numerous mistakes. I have met only four
Episcopal clergy of the States, and they all
seemed to be decidedly High Church; and, no
doubt, were startled by the Open-air Mission
Reports that I ventured to give them. But, in
46 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Toronto, clergy and ministers of all the Evan
gelical bodies, readily gave a hearing to an
account of London work; and a meeting in
their largest church, listened with interest to
" Christian news from England."
i saw Niagara to very great advantage in
magnificent weather, with a full moon at night
and the water higher than it has been for forty
years. This is one of the few sights that can
not disappoint the most elevated anticipations.
The beauty of the scene is not sufficiently in
sisted upon, when it is continually described,
in relation to its sublimity. From the first view
of it, you discard the idea of a waterfall, and
look upon the great thing before you as a totally
new event, sight and sound giving new impres
sions, and assuming to itself at once an air of
personality, by which every part becomes a liv
ing member of an overpowering whole- You
cannot help feeling a sympathy for the waters of
the river before they fall. Hurried down the
rapids, they seem to cling with desperate tenacity
to the islets, and eddy round the rocks to escape
their doom. But all these efforts are vain; and
there is a resigned calm of despair just before the
HOW TO SEE NIAGARA. 47
awful leap, and after it, again, tlie writhing of
foam in agony, leaping from the pool below, and
moving once more sullenly onwards, with an
humbled, heartbroken look.
The best part of the falls, and the best views,
are all on the Canadian side; but everybody
who wishes to see it all thoroughly gets into a
little steamboat, to go right into the foam of the
falls. For this everybody puts on an oilskin
cloak, and everybody looks like a hooded monk,
and everybody become s aware that you can t see
the waterfall for the water. Still it is the only
view of Niagara not seen in every album, and
so you will find it over leaf.* Below the falls,
the banks approach so near that one may see
the " darkies " on the American rocks, who
would be free for ever, if they could cross
this river. And they do cross it constantly.
Only a few days ago, two runaway slaves made
good their liberty ; and, as they left the other
side, no doubt they hummed the tune of" the
land of the brave and the free," as it is foolishly
called by our good friends, whose flag has
* The tower above is reached by a craggy bridge. Termi
nation Rock has since been curried away (December, 1858).
48 OUU BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
"stars" for the white,, and "stripes" for the
black.
The most reliable information I can obtain
fiom all sources, agrees in the statement, that
SAMBO AND A CRISIS. 49
free blacks appear far less frequently in police
cases, or other indications of bad behaviour, than
the proportion of their numbers might warrant.
This is more than ought to be expected of a race
downtrodden for generations ; for how low should
we white folk sink, if we had been treated like
the negroes ! These men have two churches in
Hamilton, and their interest is sufficiently im
portant in Toronto, to cause electioneering cal
culations always to estimate the " coloured vote."
Indeed, they had the walls of the town covered
with placards, summoning a political meeting of
their tribe ; and thus, while they are peaceable,
they are also not forgetful of their political privi
leges as British subjects. " Sambo " is usually
a very staunch Tory. He votes for the Tory,
even if the candidate is not a friend of the negro.
He excels in light handiwork, and is very clever
at the important business of whitewashing the
interior of houses, a feat he can perform without
requiring any of the drawing-room furniture to
be removed. There is a " crisis " here just now.
By-the-bye were you ever at any place where
there was not a " crisis" just at that moment?
The great political crisis in Canada may best be
E
50 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
understood at a distance. It is utterly beyond
me to make anything of it, looking at all sides
from within. If the Romanists all took one
side, as they usually do, I should know, of
course, that the other side was the right one to
wish well for. But even the Romanists are
divided in this case.
I got a sketch of the hustings on nomination
day, when the two candidates spoke in dumb
show to 3,000 very remarkable-looking mobs-
men, whose various types of dress, feature,
speech, colour, and manner, it would be difficult
to describe.
The cable -joy, or telegraph-ecstasy, of our
American cousins, seems boundless, though it is
only beginning. It has all the absurdities that
fringe many solid sentiments here. A Chicago
paper says, " The world is finished, its spinal
cord is laid, and now it begins to think!" Another :
" A cable it is, indeed ! To it is attached the
best bower anchor let down deep in the hearts of
two great nations, and its flukes are embedded
among their living fibres." The Buffalo Republic
writes: " How shall the heart of Buffalo contain
its immeasurable felicity? How shall the Queen
FAT MEN AND THE CABLE. 51
city find vent for her surcharged feelings? " A
Philadelphia paper says : " Obviously the sun
and moon are now effete; and leaving the small
system called solar, we must mark our time and
take our guides among eternal suns." Another
announces: " Unless we have a national jubilee,
the pressure will burst the boiler of the American
Eepublic, and lay out the American Eagle dead
as a wedge. " Among the various great public
bodies who have already celebrated the cable,
there was a procession in Massachusets of " fat
men," who marched to the top of the Hog s
Backhill, " no person under 210 pounds being
allowed to join." The following was the pro
gramme :
The Deacon.
Fat men weighing 280 pounds.
Fat men weighing 250 pounds.
Common fat men weighing but 220 pounds.
Mortified fat men weighing but 210 pounds.
But our fat friends, and lean ones, too, seem
prone to forget, that the cable was not laid by
them alone; that five out of six of the vessels
employed were British; that the cable was made
in England, and carried from British soil to
British soil, chiefly by British capital.
52 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Among the tombstones in the Saratoga ceme
tery, I noticed one which had a photograph of
the deceased person conspicuously set in the top
of the marble slab. " The young Lords " from
England, now visiting America, are said to be
" the rage of the season ;" and a story is in print,
of the amazement with which a democratic belle
heard that the father of one of these noble youths
actually sometimes calls him " Freddy."
I had much satisfaction in renewing acquain
tance with several professed thieves and " gaol
birds," who had emigrated to Canada from one
or other of our English reformatories. Out of
about fourteen thus visited, I think only one is
not doing well.
Some of these interesting young people were,
of course, not criminals, but merely destitute in
England. One is in a post of trust in a public
office. Of another, once a shoe-black, we had
lost intelligence for some years; but I acci
dentally recognised him driving a carriage, and
this fine, tall young artilleryman jumped down
from his box, with all the feelings revived of his
daily stand, in a red jacket, at the Royal Ex
change. Another politely offered to drive me
HAPPY GIRLS. 53
round the country in his master s gig; and two
were actually married to partners of their pros
perity.
Seven girls, sent out some months ago from
St. Giles s Refuge, were well placed in Hamilton
by the worthy Matron, who came over from
London twice with her pupils. These young
servants I met in a body, and the difference be
tween their blue frocks in St. Giles s, and their
somewhat showy dresses in Canada, was fully
borne out by their happy faces full of gratitude.
One of them sends back a present to her London
pastor, in the shape of a butterfly long preserved;
another sends an Indian peacock s feather. All
the girls are kindly supervised by a good lady,
who allows them to visit her on Sunday even
ings.
Emigration, when thus properly conducted,
is an enormous benefit. The Government agent
at Hamilton strongly recommends, that fifty
boys should be sent from England to a far-off
backwood settlement, where they could be
trained to hardy farm labour, which is precisely
the training they get least of at home, and are
most desired to have here.
54 OUR BROTHERS AXD COUSINS.
CHAPTER VI.
BROADWAY TELEGRAPH SERMON A DAY IN THE SLUMS
TATTOOED SHOEBLACKS BOY POLICE SUNDAY BAND LEE
AVENUE SCHOOL A PIC-NIC.
TIT ANY parts styled fine scenery in the States,
"* seem to comprise much that is worth no
tice, without any decidedly overpowering points
except those like Niagara that are world- wide
in notability. The voyage down the Hudson is
thus full of interest, and like the Norwegian
scenery pleases continuously without ever carry
ing you away in rapture. The entire omission
of old castles and ivy-coloured battlements is as
much felt by the European traveller here, as the
constant addition of these features must be an
extraordinary luxury to the American tourist in
Europe.
And now, having left Canada behind, I shall
resist the temptation to moralise about it at
length. It is a land deeply impressive, because
BROADWAY. 55
even more in the future than these States, which
have almost caught up the present age.
When they have quite overtaken the jog-trot
of Europe, the Yankees will cease to think
themselves always a-head. The best informed
of them are ever the most moderate and reason
able in judging themselves. An American, be
fore and after he has visited Europe, is like two
different persons.
New York resembles, in form, a turbot, with
its head to the south, a river on each side in
which lie its fins, the wooden wharves ser
rated with shipping. The backbone of the fish
represents Broadway, and the ribs are the nu
merous streets across, while the eye is a green
spot of trees and badly kept grass, the mouth
is a fort, and in the tail are the northern
suburbs.
Broadway is as long and broad as Oxford-
street, but far more imposing. The houses are
like those on the Boulevards of Paris, but with
out so many balconies. At each end is the spire
of a fine church, and the street is slightly curved,
both in level and direction, so as very much
to increase its beauty. Few things appear to
56 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
more disadvantage than a long, level, straight
street, unless it has very great width.
The white marble, brick, brown stone, painted
iron, and various coloured houses are brilliant
in tints, lofty in proportions, very much set off
by a bright atmosphere, streamers flying, painted
signboards, white omnibuses, and well-dressed
people. Almost the whole length of the street
has shops on the ground- floor, and many are
good, while about twenty seem of the highest
class. At this season of the year one expects to
find few private carriages or ladies in this street,
and the expectation is fulfilled. There are also
very few heavy waggons, and no great-teamed
vehicles to denote commercial traffic, for all this
is carried on in other parallel streets. But the
foot-pavement of Broadway is very inferior to
its shops and stores, much more so than in any
street I can recollect in any town. As far as
shops go and general promenades, Broadway is
New York, once leave it and you are in a
totally different style. The Fifth Avenue and
other fine streets are a little further off. The
roadway in most of the other streets adjoining
is very disgraceful, with huge blocks in some,
TELEGRAPH PREACHER. 57
great puddles in others, while deep holes in the
ample foot pavement keep you always looking
downwards picking your steps. It seems as if
the cost of one of these fine " stores " with fifty
windows and walls of carved marble would pay
for a proper pavement for the whole street.
Probably this incongruity is a symbol of the
difference between private enterprise and public
official negligence. The public buildings of
New York are inferior to the character of the
town, while the private buildings and their fur
niture seem beyond the other features of the
people. Equipages and dress in general assume
the French style ; and, perhaps, what is required
by the English eye, is not a fair standard to
judge by. Take it as a whole, Broadway seems
to comprise as much of beauty in colour, bustle,
luxe, business, and cheerful variety combined,
as any single street in the Old World.
I heard a " Telegraph Sermon" at Trinity
Church, where good music and a large and very
attentive congregation constituted the circum
stances of a very useless discourse. But it was
indeed refreshing to dive into the Five Points
district, and visit the Mission-schools, and see
58 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
there the same lively zeal in teaching the mise
rable that brightens even the darkest spots in
English towns. The filth and disorder of the
New York " slums " look worse than anything
in London or Dublin, chiefly because they are
within a few yards, nay, even inches, of the
marble palaces, and because the people are not
ragged, nor their lanes narrow, nor their houses
of that hopeless, dull colour, that begets utter
despair when you reach such localities in South-
wark or the Liberties. In London, the vastness
and the consistency of the whole panorama of
poverty give an air of settled firmness which
makes you wonder how it can ever be improved.
Here the poor localities are so small in area,
so out of keeping with houses still quite new,
and apparently so manageable, by their prox
imity to opulence, that the wonder is how these
wretched scenes can stand for a day unbettered.
The bad smells and abundant dirt are certainly
worse than in any part of London. The schools
are better ventilated, furnished, and cleaned
than any in London designed for the poorest
class. There is, in the Five Points, answering
to our Seven Dials, the Wesleyan School for the
TATTOOED SHOEBLACKS. 59
ragged children, and another, within a few yards,
crowded with well-dressed visitors, a sight that
is not to be seen in Britain. The children are
nearly all American. I could sit for hours
examining the indescribable but very evident
difference between their looks, manners, dress,
and whole bearing, and the corresponding fea
tures in any English ragged-school.
I don t think that the real Irish ragged boy
here has as yet been detached from the priest ;
and, though many may be in certain schools,
I found every little Paddy I spoke to went to a
Popish one. The first three of this genus I
came upon were all shoeblacks. One showed
the badge of his order, in the shape of some
cabalistic marks tattooed in his skin, which he
said cost one shilling, and was executed by some
master of the art. He said nobody was allowed
in their society who could not open his shirt
sleeve and show this mark ; but I found plenty
other freebooters who plied their craft without
the trade-mark. In one excellent school there
fire twenty-five Monitor boys elected by the
others. These have four captains and lieuten
ants, and form a little body of juvenile police,
60 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
who are bound to keep order outside and in the
school. Each has a bright metal star on his
breast, with a chain to his jacket-collar, exactly
resembling the New York police introduced (by
considerable disturbance) last year. These boy-
police have fixed hours, and posts of duty in
school; and, if the admirable order preserved is
due to this regulation, then I must say it is a
desirable institution, and ought to be imitated.
The whole school is devoid of that restlessness
which I had expected to see, judging of what
American boys would be by seeing the men.
And I am once more forced to remark, that
the true type of London ragged boyism is
ne\?er to be seen but in London.
A banging of drums and clanging of trum
pets announced the German Turner Society as
they marched in military order down Broadway
at noon on Sunday. This is a shameful dese
cration of the day; and the more so, as New
York, in external observance of it, is not
behind any town in Europe. But it seems
the Germans are fast pushing the Sunday question
to an issue here; and to-day it is expected
that 6,000 of them will march in the Telegraph
61
procession. They wear black wide-awake liats
and white linen coats many carried carbines.
We heard three gunshots in a disturbed district
on Sunday afternoon; but this seemed to cause
no astonishment, or to be at all out of the way,
" Perhaps it was a little difficulty they were
settling."
In Brooklyn there is a Children s Institution
that surpasses in neatness, practicability, and
general excellence, so far as could be judged,
any one appliance for the purpose I have visited.
A large chapel is in the first story, and above
is a school, all so well built and furnished, so
neatly painted and appropriately ornamented,
that if the results are commensurate with the
machinery, this Lee Avenue school must do
\vonders. Mr. Johnstone has the credit of be
ginning and carrying on this work. His purse
and personal attention have raised and sustained
it ; and a large corps of devoted teachers readily
attribute to him the honour of directing their
labours. Boys and girls come great distances to
attend the place; and they have every form of
association for different benevolent purposes that
children can engage in, and many that few
62 OUR BROTHERS AXD COUSINS.
English boys could be brought to trouble tlieir
heads about. In most of these schools the
singing is very good, and is led by a seraphine.
It is not uncommon to have an arm-chair and
desk for every child. The American mode of
speaking to children appears to be a good deal
different from any of the styles adopted in
England. When we mingle grave and gay, we
seem to make each more prominent than they
do, and the manner of religious talking here
strikes me as at once less solemn and less hu
mourous than ours.
I had the privilege of speaking to about 1,000
persons in this Lee Avenue School, and addressed
a few words to the other schools. It was indeed
a " Sunday treat," for which I am much in
debted to my good friend Mr. M Cormick, a
prominent member of the Young Men s Chris
tian Association here, and also the editor of that
new and interesting periodical, the Young Men s
Magazine. His visit to Europe a few years ago,
and his stay at Sebastopol during the Russian
war, have doubtless added much to his usefulness
in the various fields of labour spread before him
in America.
THE CABLE FEVER. 63
Last night I met some of the representative
men of various Societies and Churches, who lis
tened to the tale of London work with the
usual interest displayed by all Western Chris
tians, when facts from Europe are laid before
them. I went also to a Sunday-school rural
treat, or a pic-nic, as it is called here. There is
a pretty grove, shaded delightfully, and devoted
by its proprietor to a succession of such festivi
ties. In one of the County (e almshouses " I
found 200 children nicely cared for; and I sup
pose that, so far as buildings and systems can be
perfected for educational purposes, there is no
town better furnished than this. They have
yet, however, to fight and win the battle about
Scriptural education.
The whole town is in such a ferment of tele
graph ecstasy, that it is hard even to write
coherently in the bustle. I saw the end of the
cable still on board the Niagara, while miles of
it are sold in the streets by boys, who produce
as a verification as many MS. certificates (all
signed by Mr. Field), as would fill a volume.
64 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
CHAPTER VII.
THE CABLE FEVER FIREMEN ODD MOTTOES A BARRIS
TER S WIG LUNATICS CALLIOPE "ISMS" HOUSE OF
REFUGE REVIVAL PRAYER-MEETING.
T HOPE that John Bull will hear in a proper
spirit a full account, and from some better
pen than mine, of the violent ecstasies of Cousin
Jonathan when he found the thin quick wire
had joined their hearts again. Even Americans
aver that this cable-celebration exceeds any of
their former exhibitions of feeling. It was a
difficult thing to do well, but it was right well
done in New York. They say, everybody but
the babies was in Broadway; but I saw many
babies there, and heard them too. No one street
anywhere was better suited for this show; and
the performances lasted full twelve hours of
unwearied rejoicing.
The people were on their good behaviour,
so there were no rows nor rowdies (except, by
MOB LAW. 65
the way, a hundred respectable men, who went
and burned down all the Quarantine houses, led
on by an ex-judge, who fired the first torch).
The poor dying patients were left on the grass
to bear Thursday s fierce sun ; and, if they sur
vived, to be blasted by a hurricane on Friday, or
drowned next day in a terrible storm of rain."*
The street was densely packed all day by a
well-dressed host, beside some thousand women
and servant-girls, who sat for hours in long
rows upon the kerbstone. The people were too
glad to cheer or to " chaff," except when a
policeman got wrathful, or somebody struck up
" God save the Queen," which was always ap
plauded. Not many banners were hung out,
and very few carpets or hangings graced the
beautiful windows; but rows of smiling (and
some) pretty faces peered from the sixth story of
every house.
Cyrus Field was the popular favourite, and a
* The conduct of the authorities in this matter was scan
dalous; every American protests against it, but sanctions it
by inaction. The rioters were acquitted in November, be
cause they had destroyed only what was proclaimed to be a
nuisance. Here, then, is the law: " A. s house is a nuisance;
therefore, B. may burn it."
F
66 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
nice-looking modest young man -he is. Next to
him, Captain Hudson that Christian sailor
and the British tars. The soldiers were in
force ; such new multifarious uniforms red,
blue, green, yellow, grey, indeed every colour
that even London shoeblacks can put on
horse, foot, and artillery Germans, and kilted
Highlanders, with clanging bands and ranks
well .kept, shoulder to shoulder, by stalwart
broad-backed citizens. The United States army
is not to be despised, and the people seem in
tensely fond of soldiering. Then came the
trades, and innumerable societies of " Odd Fel
lows," u Masons," " Bummers," and other queer
sets, marshalled behind huge cars, like moving
houses, full of gay-dressed mimers of every sort.
The Crystal Palace received its ten thousand;
but the affair there was poorly managed. The
building is about twice the size of the Surrey
Gardens Music Hall, and exquisitely adapted
for not hearing. It was a sad mistake for Jona
than to call this edifice a Crystal Palace I* As
evening fails, the firemen begin their long-
drawn march, with a hundred engines, brilliant
* Never mind he has burned it down since this was written.
FIRE! FIRE! 67
with brass, and hauled along by sturdy firemen,
all clad in red Jerseys. They need those fine
fellows, too; for there has been a fire every
night since I came. Each engine had its de
vices illuminated; and many bore as a badge a
stuffed bear, a living eagle, or an elephant of
oil- silk inflated like a balloon, that tumbled about
in most amusing gambols. Each fireman car
ried a Koman candle, pouring forth a lurid
glare, and ever and anon shooting aloft a shower
of sparkling shells; while guns fired, crackers
fizzed, squibs burst, and the people screamed
with delight. The houses were not generally
illuminated, but several were lit up in every
pane ; and this wall of fire was higher than in
any of our London illuminations, though the
excitement and bright glare were not like that
which the Strand and Kegent-street display on
such occasions. Good temper and unwonted
quiet prevailed everywhere. The devices and
mottoes were all puzzled out by the wondering
citizens, and by many thousands from other
States, who poured in by the steamers, the rail
roads, and those nice roomy, cheap and cool
omnibuses, that run on rail way- tracks along the
68 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
wide approaches to the city. There was less of
humour as well as of roughness than I had
looked for. Both these are no doubt plentiful
when a President has to be elected, or an un
popular bill thrown out.
As the firemen march along some of the
characteristic devices on the houses may be
noted :
1. " Severed July 4, 1776. Connected Aug.
12, 1858;" alluding to England and America.
2. Under the British and American flags were
these words:
" These are the banners from whose folds unfurl d,
Fair Freedom flings her blessings through the world."
(of course the poor negro is not in the world.)
3. " British neighbourhood. Human brother
hood. Divine fatherhood."
4. " John, there s 3,000 miles between us,
but distance is not of the slightest consequence."
5. A design represented the cable as a slack-
rope, on which were the Queen of England,
attired as an opera-dancer in short dress, and
the President capering in boots. " The Queen
and old Buck perform a new feat on the slack-
rope."
TEXT IN A THEATRE. 69
6. A row of muskets holding a candle in each
muzzle had these lines below :
" The cable with its peaceful tricks,
Makes of muskets candlesticks."
7. Some of the wonderful sewing machines so
much used here had these lines below :
" Honour to those whose genius led
The lightning track through ocean s bed,
A path for thought;
And kindred honours may they share,
Who sweet relief from toilsome care
For woman wrought."
8. The Spengler Institution for Girls had some
hundred merry faces and hands waving hand
kerchiefs over their motto: " The daughters of
America to the daughters of England send
greeting."
9. That noted place, Niblo s Theatre, had
a single text of Scripture: " When the mul
titudes saw it they marvelled, and gave glory
to God which had given so great power unto
men."
10. " Europe and America, married by light
ning, and by thunder they shall never be
divorced."
70 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
11. The best design represented " The Past,"
with a demon of discord shadowing a British
ship and an American ship engaged in deadly
combat, while the crews fall down to the depths
of the sea. " The Present," with the ships lay
ing the cable, directed by a godlike hand grace
fully supporting both vessels, and guiding the
wire to its sea-bottom bed.
A group of noisy men paraded as they sang
in chorus <{ God save the Queen." They were
most warmly cheered, indeed, better than any
other part of the pageant. The Yankee by
standers eagerly joined whenever our national
anthem was raised, and they sang as if they
were Englishmen:
" Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen."
The ode composed specially for the Crystal
Palace Meeting concluded each stanza thus :
" God, bless our President,
God save the Queen."
Lord Napier s admirable speech at the great
dinner was much appreciated, as is, indeed,
IRISH ABROAD. 71
everything he does, for he seems to be a great
favourite here. So your show was very success
ful, Jonathan, and you call out louder than we
do, for the cable will tell you the news of three
continents, while we shall hear only the price of
bread and slaves in one.
It was a striking contrast to see the next day
a great hospital for fallen women, an almshouse,
a prison, and a lunatic asylum, all most beauti
fully situated on an island near the city. Every
part of these establishments is apparently well-
managed; but it is sad to notice that at least
two-thirds of the inmates are Irish. Indeed, if
the Irish did not fill them, the managers said
they might be almost closed. With the worthy
chaplain and Mr. Pardee, the Sunday-school
agent, I went from ward to ward, and the words
of comfort dropped were received with tearful
gratitude.
In the lunatic asylum there was an indignant
lady, who denounced the affair as a butcher s
shop, and told me confidentially that the man
gled limbs were cast into the water every night.
Her consolation was, that she is the President s
wife, and that all the buildings were raised by
72 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
herself. Then we found another old dame, who
had brought her vigorous Scotch tongue from
" the village of Glasgow" thirty-seven years
ago, and her room was full of a tribe of cats. A
German inmate played us some beautiful music,
and then went back to study his Arabic, which
is one of the seven languages he knows. Among
other employments in this asylum there are
periodical " moot courts," where a mock trial
lasts sometimes two days, and it is darkly hinted
that the sense and eloquence of these lunatics
will not compare so very badly with the oratory
of some folks at large.
But the very mention of law makes me blush
at the shameful degradation of the profession
here : every practitioner, lawyer, counsellor,
attorney, and barrister, all rolled into one, with
the worst features of each department sticking
out painfully at the edges. On the gable of
a house you see a great poster, like that of
" Hyam s trousers," and it flares out before the
public :
" Smart and Cute
Counsellors and Atorneys-
AT-LAW."
THE BARRISTER S WIG. 73
In that low police-court, you may see Mr.
Smart lounging against the rail, with his hands
in his shooting-jacket* pockets, defending a pri
soner for two shillings; or willing to take a
woman s ring as his fee, if she cannot sell her
bedding for his brief. These judges pass their
tobacco quid about as they listen for a moment
to a witness, whose back is turned to the hap
less prisoner, and, hi, presto ! " Six months."
" Next case." Why, there are sixty cases
knocked off in one hour and a half! That
judge, too, has been put there by popular voice
he is a rum-seller, perhaps and he must
give popular decisions, or he will lose his
thousand pounds a-year. I never knew before
how much there is of good in a barrister s
wig.f
There is a worthy Englishman, who is em
ployed by a Christian Society to look after the
prisoners, both before and after sentence; and I
* Though this easy costume is very seldom worn by tra
vellers, that is, just when it is useful and allowable, according
to our notions.
f In a friend s house in Boston I was shown, preserved as
a curiosity in a case, the barrister s wig of Barori B ,
one of Her Majesty s present judges in England.
74 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
was glad to observe the kind attention paid to
this amicus curies, by the Bench.
Meanwhile, the sun shines bright outside.
Ladies sit at the coffee-room; dine in their
diamonds, and grasp two peaches, two apples,
a slice of each of two melons, and a biscuit to
" lay in stock" for dessert, not forgetting to
apply the cure dent.
These are excrescences; these are not fair
types. They are real, but they are not com
mon; they are tolerated, but not uncriticised.
By massing the black spots of any nation s
picture, you might easily draw a hideous por
trait. The worst of it is, however, that here
all things are public, and the worst specimens
of manners are noticed, where in England they
would be hid in some low pothouse. American
men and women are generally quiet, well-
behaved, and courteous; far more so than
might be augured, if you were to judge the
whole by the parts one sees at Chamounix or
Naples. The rage for travelling to Europe is
not so prevalent in the best society as among
some upstarts, whose purses are heavy and whose
brains are light.
STEAM ORGAN. 75
On the Hudson the steamboat whistle is
turned into a very tolerable organ on some
packets. It is called a Calliope, though the
muse hears her name Yankeeized generally into
" Callyoap." There is a pianoforte arrangement
of keys, by which this steam organ is made to
discourse music. The boat carries, too, a cargo
of iron coffins, with glass in front of the face, and
horses work an endless band to turn the paddles
of that ferry-float or the circular saws of the
timber shop. Machinery to save labour is very
much used, even in the farm-yard, where it is
said, that a " hen-persuader" takes every egg
away, and beguiles the outwitted fowl by
placing a piece of chalk in the nest !
That man is reading The Spiritual Newspaper,
all crammed with table-turning and revelations.
This odd vagary and Mormonism, and other
" isms," I am assured, are almost effete theories.
These ephemeral notions have time to rise, and
walk, and get decrepit before honest John Bull
has fairly opened his eyes to begin a downright
inspection of them. The pronunciation of that
lad it is very difficult to understand. He wishes
to say, "Who would think one should have
76 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
broken so deep?" But it sounds to me thus,
" Ho wod thenk wawn sliod have brokken so
dayp?"
Yet this tongue is purer than the jargon
you may hear in a Birmingham train or a
Clyde steamer. But how comes it to pass, that
we find so many squalid little girls and ragged
boys in New York? They are nearly all Irish;
and this class of children is more numerous than
in London (for the population). Most noble,
vigorous, and successful efforts are made to
diminish this evil. Private philanthropy and
legislation are not at fault; but the police are
much to blame. See that magnificent structure
on that lovely island, garnished with flowers
and circled by the pure river stream. That is
the House of Refuge, where 500 boys and 100
girls are admirably disciplined, educated, and
taught to work. They are sent here by magis
trates, and the cost is 10,000 per annum. No
part is defrayed by private means, or by pay
ment from parents. Another equally large
Juvenile Asylum for boys, not criminals, has
many cases paid for by the friends of its in
mates. The State pays it 15 per annum for
BOY FACTORY. 77
every boy. But one-fourth of the expense of
the House of Eefuge is defrayed by the labour
of the boys; and their industrial work is con
ducted on a plan that, I believe, is never used
in England, though I think I found it applied
in the Reformatory at Mettray, in France.
This system consists in farming the work of
the boys to contractors, who pay for each lad
Qd. or 8c?. per diem, as he works six or eight
hours; and these men manage all the com
mercial part of the industrial operations. Thus
you find 200 little shoemakers in a perfect din
of hammers and lasts; and the Director of this
Institution has only to supervise generally the
labour of the hand, while he devotes all his
best energies to the moral and mental training
of his pupils. This plan should certainly have a
fair trial in England* The boys are all appren
ticed out to farmers and masters, who are bound
to report frequently, and to give a boy at twenty-
one, and a girl at eighteen, a new dress, a good
round sum of money, and their liberty. From
this place we return to the heart of the city,
and visit the great lodging-house for coloured
78 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
people. This seems to be quite successful,
always full, and producing a good dividend.
And now let us sit down in the quiet upper
chamber of the Fulton-street Daily Prayer-
meeting, from which has sprung that wonderful
religious movement, that must be carefully in
spected before any correct opinion can be given
about it. There are 200 men present, and a few
ladies admitted as strangers. At twelve o clock
the chairman reads the Bible, a prayer is offered,
and a hymn sung. Then a letter is read, asking
prayer for an officer, and for the whole army;
and another, with a request that " "Washington
may be remembered in prayer." Short ad
dresses, prayers, and hymns follow from different
parts of the room. The regulations are sus
pended on a board, " Prayers and exhortations
not to exceed five minutes, in order to give all
an opportunity. Not more than two consecutive
prayers or exhortations. No controversial points
discussed."
A young man tells of Philadelphia, that the
work progresses in twenty-seven fire-engine com
panies; and that from 1,500 to 2,000 people
THE REVIVAL. 79
attend the daily prayer in the Jaynes Hall. He
says there are 1,800 youths in the Young Men s
Christian Association of that town ; and in
three or four large tents, there is preaching
every day. Then a letter is read from a little
girl in Georgia who desires to be a Christian ;
and the chairman says, " I hope that brother
R will pray." Everybody may come in,
and anybody may speak or pray, while letters
are sent to this centre of supplication from all
parts of the Union. Finally, before closing
at one o clock, it is announced that a gentleman
from London will address the people in the
largest Presbyterian Church, on " Practical
Christian work in England."
I found a very interesting audience in the
splendid room of the American Bible Society,
where a band of sixty young men hold very
formal committee meetings every month to re
cord the doings of the Young Men s Bible Society,
which appears to comprise some very able and
zealous workers, and to prosecute with vigour
the privileged employment of distributing the
Bible in all parts of New York.
80 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PHILADELPHIA REVIVAL EUCHRE CLUB PREACHING TENT
BLACK PRAYER-MEETING GIRARD COLLEGE FLOWER
ING ALOE WASHINGTON KILLING MEN, COWS AND PIGS.
TT was a very novel position to find myself in
a church in New York, addressing a large
crowd of listening people, but one gets used
to strange things in strange lands, so I was
scarcely surprised, a few days after, to get
a letter addressed to the Eev. Mr. , with
a deputation from the negroes, asking me to
address their congregation.
I have now to tell more particularly of the
wonderful work carried on by the Prayer-unions
in Philadelphia. The conviction deepens as I
inspect this movement, that it is divine, that it
is richly blessed, and that the manner of it
would not do in England. I found at the
Monthly Meeting for business of the Philadel-
BUSINESS AND RELIGION. 81
pliia Young Men s Christian Association, an
attendance of three or four hundred members,
and that 1,800 youths have joined this branch
alone. On one evening, as many as thirty were
elected at once. The intense interest with which
they listened to what was said of England,
prepared me for the cordiality of a more formal
reception next day in the large room, called
Jaynes Hall,, where about 200 ministers and
other representative men occupied the platform.
The Hall is used also for the daily prayer-meet
ings, and will contain 2,000 persons.
It required two hours to set forth the salient
points of the four societies especially advocated ;
and I was glad to find, that the absence of Pro
testant organization in America seemed generally
acknowledged, and gave additional importance
to a description of the Protestant Alliance. A
large notice outside announces that there is <; A
daily prayer-meeting for business men from
twelve to one o clock/ About 600 persons
were present when I visited it, and more than
half were females. But, recollecting that this
is the most dead season of vacation time, I
think that such a number of daily attendants is
G
82 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
unprecedented. From 1,500 to 2,000 are often
found at this meeting in the season, and the
general interest in it by no means lags.
Requests were handed in for prayers for par
ticular persons, and hymns were sung at intervals,
with short addresses from any one who chose to
speak. Neither the prayers nor the exhortations
presented any remarkable excellence, nor any
striking defect. Indeed, the absence of excel
lence is a feature that pervades all I have seen
here, which is fairly balanced by the unusual
amount of what is "good" in every line of
work, thought, and manners.
The desire for prayer has spread largely among
the fire-engine companies in Philadelphia. These
constitute a numerous body of men, said to be
ten thousand, around which there is a certain
degree of romantic interest thrown, like that
encircling the military profession of a State
more used to war. About eighty such com
panies exist in Philadelphia, and though the
character of the men attached to them seems by
no means good in a religious sense, there are
actually twenty- seven of these companies that
hold regular prayer- meetings in the halls at-
CARD PLAYERS AT PRAYERS. 83
tached to their quarters. In one of these meet
ings I found 100 persons, male and female; and
several fine young men avowed their adherence
to Christianity, and prayed at intervals with the
excellent leaders who regularly attend from the
Young Men s Christian Association.
One of the most remarkable results of the re
vival in Philadelphia, ought to be mentioned.
There was a card-players club, called the Euchre
Club, from the name of a particular game. The
members comprised wealthy young men, who
met at their houses in rotation, and a great deal
of evil was promoted in this manner. One of
these youths was converted to the faith of Christ;
and, when his turn came to issue the invitation,
he sent out the note to all the members, inviting
them to come to his house on the usual card-
playing day "For Prayer." Notwithstanding
this sudden change in the summons, a number
of members arrived at the appointed hour; and
the meetings for prayer in this club have since
become stated and largely attended, while the
card-playing functions of the little body have
been given up.
A very great deal of credit in these matters
84 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
is due to Mr. George Stuart, an Irishman, who
came to America without money, and has risen
to wealth and honour, occupying the distin
guished post of President of the Association at
Philadelphia. Another very active Christian,
Mr. Frederick Starr, an Englishman, has com
menced an institution for the newspaper-boys,
and these gentlemen, with their numerous and
enthusiastic friends, displayed such hospitality
to me as will never be forgotten.
In the suburbs, we visited the great preaching-
tent, provided by the same Association. It holds
2,000 people, and is usually rilled every evening.
There are two other tents of a similar kind
which are made equally useful.* Preaching and
prayer, then, are largely and continuously ap
plied. They are God s means, and no doubt
they will be abundantly blessed. I could not
help asking myself frequently the question which
was asked at once all over England, " What
will this Revival do with slavery?" Christians
come from the prayer-meeting at New York
and then read on the railway-car in their streets,
" Coloured people may ride in this car," as one
* Sec post p. 94.
SLAVERY AND THE REVIVAL. 85
might see " Dogs allowed here." Men return
from the preaching-tent in Philadelphia, turn to
a paper for the day s news, and read (as in that
before me now), "For sale, a likely female
negro." " To be hired, a strong negro, slave for
life, sober and honest." Can this be done long?
I fear it can go on as long as we in England can
quietly pray, " Thy kingdom come," and then
stand by while Popery nestles among us. So
long as Protestants support Popery, we need
not wonder to find freemen apathetic about
slavery.
It is a chilly feel that darts through the soul
when you suddenly pass the frontier into a Slave
State. There is no such sensation to be felt in
any other way. I always travel in the railway
coloured cars to see as much and to hear and talk
as much as one may on this horrible subject.
But, oh, to feel that your mouth is gagged
about it, and that millions of good Christians
leave it all alone as " Politics \" This is sicken
ing. Imagine some county in England, where
you must acquiesce in stealing, where the law
protects it, where no paper may attack it, where
no meeting may discuss it, where Christians only
86 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
sigh about it or scarce protest with bated breath.
Every one tells me I shall be cooled down like
most travellers, and nearly all residents, who
begin so eagerly in this matter. Again I say,
this, too, maybe probable; for do we not see
the best of Christians in England get marvel
lously phlegmatic about the foul slavery of
Romanism, which is doing quite as much harm
as the slavery of America. But may God grant
that this hardening of the heart to the sight of
oft-repeated wrong, may not be allowed to me !
I visited a " black prayer-meeting," where it
was most touching to see the poor fellows on their
knees in the presence of that blessed Father,
whose dear children many of them are.
The grammar-schools of New York are free
to all people, and all classes mingle in receiving
gratuitously an admirable education; but I do
not pretend to speak more particularly of so vast
a subject as this from the observation of only a
few short visits. At Philadelphia there is an
orphan-school, founded by a rich infidel, called
Girard, who laid down the most precise instruc
tions, that not one minister or missionary of any
kind should ever enter the door, even as a visitor !
AN INFIDEL CHEATED. 87
The building is magnificent by far the finest I
have seen in this country; and its noble marble
pillars hold a lofty roof over hundreds of little
heads. But, thank God, the restrictions of the
eccentric founder are virtually without effect, and
the best instruction is given to the children by
volunteer Christian laymen.
The heat in this country is like that in Italy
in July. I saw an aloe in flower; it is called
the Century Plant, as it shoots up once in a
hundred years, growing twenty feet in a few
weeks, then blooms, and dies at once.
Washington is a straggling town, half-paved,
and the buildings, except the Patent Office, are
not in good taste, and are being further spoiled.
The monument to Washington is a huge obelisk,
"ornamented" by scrolls and pillars. It has
long been half-finished; and, if ever it is com
pleted, it will be like a great milestone, to show
how far the designers are from taste.
The railway-engine whistled loudly as we
passed through a village, and heads popped out
to see the cause. We had run over a poor man,
and killed him in a moment. The conductor
gave the body in charge to some one, and shout-
88 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
ing to us, "All aboard!" we were off again in
an instant ! In another case, we saw an engine
that had tumbled over an embankment; in
another, we smashed a carriage ; in another we
killed a pig; in another we killed a cow; in an
other we took to a raft, as the bridge was burned ;
in another case the train before us " killed 113
men," of which we read in a paper sold in our
carriage, as we were approaching the spot;
but soon the mistake was found out: it was
" only 13" ! I have had some very interest
ing conversations in the "cars" with young
men about their swearing, and in every case
there has been the kindest response to a gentle
remonstrance; this proves to me, that if Chris
tians here were to set to work upon this pro
fanity, they would find the people very ready to
listen to rebuke. One of these to-day was a
Eomanist; and he allowed that not one word
was ever written by Paul about the Virgin
Mary, which is almost always the first great
point that I find it useful to speak of to a Papist.
He parted, shaking hands very warmly.
CHAPTEK IX.
SLAVE SUNDAY-SCHOOL A REAL LADY " JIM HAMLY "
CINCINNATI PREACHING TENT FELLOW DINERS CAPTAIN
VICARS FAR WEST RAILWAYS.
T HAVE been in five slave States; and in
spected the " peculiar institution " in coaches,
cars, boats, and walking tours. In the negro
Sunday-school at Cumberland, I asked a little
fellow, " Have you any brother at this school ?"
"No_, Massa, he didn t suit, and Mr. Johnson
gave him to Mr. ." Kagged-school teachers
of London, here is an excuse for a boy s ab
sence that you never heard, and, thank God you
never will.
In Kentucky, I had a long talk with a real
lady, a slave-holding lady a Sunday-school
teacher, nevertheless.
" I cannot help looking at you, Madam/ said
I, " with great interest, as a wonderful anomaly."
" But," said she, " would you have us give up
90 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
our property? Why, I have a slave worth at
least twenty-five hundred dollars."
" Then he must be worth something to him
self; he must be trusty, active, and clever."
" Yes, that s why I could not part with him;
he s worth so much."
" And pray may I ask you, have you seen
one white man to-day who is worth as much
money to any one under the sun ?"
The useless slaves are mentioned when it is
wished to show blacks are beasts ; and the clever
slaves are introduced as instances of the valuable
property we ask them to sacrifice.
After addressing the school, the negroes
asked me to address them at night, and the
appointment being announced, we had a very
crowded congregation. " Brother Page," a very
eccentric black slave, exhorted in a most in
teresting and truly Christian manner, and their
regular preacher, i( Jim Hamly," gave a sermon
that was far better than any of the three " white
sermons" I heard next Sunday. After my
evening address, the negro hymns and prayers
went on for two hours. They sing and pray
with a hearty vigour, that rouses in a sober
BLACK PREACHING. 91
mind the question, "Does not our propriety
often suppress our earnestness ?" There was
very little in Jim s sermon that was absurd; but
the veritable Gospel was forcibly spoken. Ima
gine the little blackie in light-coloured shooting
coat, ending thus, " I may not have been jist as
eloquent as Volteer, or learning like Cicero or
Cato or the other scientific theologians ! "
"Jim Hamly" commenced his sermon by
reading the verse " Comfort ye," and, shutting
the book, he said, " Perhaps you will wonder
why I don t tell where the text is to be found;
but I m not yet arrived at the proper standing
in the ministry for that." One of the choruses
that was most popular sounded thus:
" John saw the number a-sitting on the altar,
John saw the holy number sitting on the golden altar."
On a sort of bed before the pulpit was laid
a poor blind negro.
Jim began by asking me, " Sir, are you a
divine? Are you reverend? What is your So
ciety?
" The Church of England," I replied.
" Oh that s all right," said he, as he pleasantly
92 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
ignored the possibility of heterodox teachers in
that Church.
He often alluded to " Calvary s ruggy rock,"
BLACK CHURCH.
and said, fl God will blow out the king of day
that gilds the eastery horizings with his mag
nificence meridion ray;" but these were small
and few grammatical blemishes, compared with
THE PAPIST. 93
the insufferable ignorance and stilted preten
tiousness that some of the illiterate white preach
ers begin their sermons by, and painfully con
tinue till they warm up to naturalness, forget
their learning, and speak from the heart, when
they do speak well enough. Some of the hymns
had choruses, which all joined in, clapping their
hands, and stamping loudly with their feet, with
an occasional shout to give emphasis. The
whole evening was one of prolonged amazement
to me; but the worshippers appeared so sincere
that there seemed really very little to offend.
In the same town there is a German Popish
monastery with eighty monks who march about
in long robes. America is being quietly leavened
with Komanism, which is much stronger and
less heeded here than I had expected. Now and
then its power is indicated, however, as in
Washington, where I addressed a meeting about
. open-air preaching ; and the chief obstacle to
their desire to begin the practice was the fact,
that a Romanist is Mayor of Washington the
capital city !
I am sorry to say I found one of our London
Eagged-school boys in prison for a robbery of
94 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
300. He sent home by me a penitential letter ;
but it is right I should record the only case of
failure I have discovered among so many emi
grants from the schools.
At Cincinnati I joined the daily morning
prayer-meeting, attended by 100 persons. The
prayers and exhortations were by no means
good. It was a strange sight to witness the
O O O
preaching-tent service in the evening.* This tent
holds 1,500 people, and is used every night.
Twice it is filled by the Germans, who are very
numerous in Cincinnati, and a printed bill in the
streets announces, " Boys and Girls Meeting on
Saturday Evening. Plenty of good singing and
speaking. Come,, children, come."
I was introduced as " a friend of Captain
Vicars," and no more was needed to ensure a
most cordial Christian welcome; for the lives
and deaths of Vicars, Hammond, and Green,
have been read as much here as in England.
How little did these brave heroes know, that
their names would illuminate both hemispheres
of the earth when their souls were shining in
Heaven ! Their spirits may be present rejoicing,
* See Frontispiece.
FELLOW DINERS. 95
even as this is written, ministering to the heirs
of salvation. After the meeting, about seven
persons came and sat upon the bench for " In
quirers/ and this hard ordeal seemed to be well
understood as a customary thing.
As you go further west, the people are of
course more rough. On several occasions I have
had the pleasure of dining at the same table
with the servants and day labourers, both men
and women. Sometimes men sat next one with
out any coats; and, more than once, my next
neighbour at the hotel dinner was a lad with bare
feet. This futile attempt at " equality," where
both sides are uneasy, deepens that painful si
lence at meals, which I find almost intolerable.
Americans, as strangers, talk less to each other
in America, than the inhabitants of any country
I know not excepting Turkey.
The poor white people in Kentucky look far
worse off than the slaves, for they are despised
by both parties ; and their wretched dwellings,
pale ragged children, and miserable plots of farm
are very striking to observe, when you come
directly from a flourishing free State.
I saw many little slave girls with "hoops,"
96 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS-
and bare black feet, the height of fashion and
the depth: perhaps this will put these crinoline
absurdities out of vogue with the white people.
After a long talk with a negro in my bedroom,
he suddenly said, Sir, how far is your Station
from Ayshy?" meaning, How far is England
from Asia? and he was sure we went always by
railway. He added, " Is England anywheres
near Liberia ? for there s a very pertickler friend
of mine there."
A herd of cows being in the way of the rail
road for half a mile, the engineers had to dis
mount and drive them away by throwing stones.
Numerous and fatal accidents are occurring on
all the railways in this neighbourhood; and it is
no wonder, for they are, in some cases, more
like tramways used in England in slate-quarries
or coal-mines, and by no means fit for heavy
locomotives running twenty miles an hour.
On more than one occasion our only railway
carriage was a truck, on which I placed my
portmanteau, and sat on it without any cover,
a sack of flour on one hand, and a side of
beef on the other. Once we were stopped by
finding a bridge burned down, and had to cross
BEDFELLOWS. 97
the wide river on a raft; again, as we slowly
crawled in the train over a crazy bridge 130 feet
high, formed of intensely light trellice- work, the
conductor apologised for the solemn pace by
saying, " This bridge is condemned at last, and
nobody is to go over it after this week."
It may a little indicate the state of things in
Western society to mention, that while I write
this, the hotel-keeper has coolly sent up three
additional travellers to my room, in which there
are only two small beds !
In one of the " cars/ I sat next to a poor
Irish emigrant, who had landed here in George
the Fourth s time, and, after many misfortunes,
had become blind. Of course, his description of
the country was but a gloomy one, and it would
be very unfair even to repeat his general ideas,
compounded of distress, ague, failure, and blind
ness. He was heartily pleased to get a word of
comfort from a fellow- passenger for talking
in the railway is seldom attempted by strangers;
and his first question was, " Are you a preacher ?"
Perhaps it would be better if we would act more
frequently so as to be taken for preachers. What
else can a Christian properly be but a preacher,
H
98 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
every day, and all day, and in every possible
way?
I went to the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.
It is said to be the largest in the world, but its
wonders are very much exaggerated. A river
runs across part of it, and this is a novelty to
meet some four miles underground ; but the
Kentucky cave will not for a moment compare,
in extent or interest with the Cave of Adullam,
in Palestine, nor in beauty with the Cave of
Arta, in Majorca, which I saw last summer.
In the woods near it, we had service in a
curious chapel, built of logs, where the Sacra
ment was administered by some very unattract
ive deacons, while crowds of men, horses, and
waggons, from distant spots, rested in the cool
shade under magnificent trees.
Racoons, opossums, deer, and snakes abound
in these woods. A rattle-snake, with ten rattles,
was killed the day before; and I saw a large
snake glide over the path in the sunshine. I
found that the blacks in this place were not
allowed to have a service, although several good
preachers had offered to preach. The poor
negro may slink in behind the door of the white
THE CHURCH AND SLAVERY. 99
church it is true; but if there is no room he
must do without it. All attempts to get per
mission to talk to them were useless. The
masters fear abolitionists. The Christian Church
here is lamentably dull on this matter. Oh!
America! America!
100 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
CHAPTER X.
KANSAS SNAGS ON THE MISSOURI SLAVE-HOLDING MINIS
TER MUSIC THE CALIFORNIA ROAD "DOLLAR" "THE
BABY TOWN" HOME THOUGHTS.
river-boat journey to Kansas, is a route
to take once, but not again. I have not
had a comfortable rest at night for a week ; but
the desire of seeing, hearing, and talking as
much as possible, sometimes constrains one to
make a pleasure tour very laborious. Here I am
" at " the far West, with trains going and coming
from Utah, the Mormons, and California.
The steamer for ascending the Missouri was
horribly crowded by 150 passengers. You
might think that a crowd on a river-boat, and
in fine weather, would never be any great
hardship; but it is otherwise. First, then, the
steamer, though very large in appearance, and
built up four stories high, like an enormous
house afloat, is so made that you have no peace
A MISSOURI STEAMER.
101
or rest in any one spot. The huge saloon is
occupied at one end by the ladies and the men
who are with them. The remarkable exclu-
siveness of American Society (a feature I was
quite unprepared for) makes it impossible for
a bachelor to speak to these fair passengers, so
he is driven to the other end. There he find?
MISSOURI STEAMBOAT.
a dim, close atmosphere, reeking with tobacco
and rum all day and all night, crowded with
dirty, vulgar, swearing men, who are all civil
when the ice is broken, but then the ice is so
very thick. With these companions I slept
on the floor, which quivers under the tremen-
102 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
dous power of a high-pressure engine, liable
at any moment to blow you into the clouds. The
heat from the sun permeates the thin planking
of the flimsy vessel; and, what with the ring
ing of engine bells, jingling of chains, slamming
of doors, and exit of passengers at all times of
the night, I think there is scarcely any means
of travelling made so abominable, or that might
be made so pleasant.
The Missouri is a noble-looking river, plung
ing along at a furious pace, and cutting away
miles of forest bank one year, or diving into
a prairie the next, , with sudden and im
petuous waywardness. The banks for hun
dreds of miles are covered with thick forests;
and, as the earth is swept away, the trees fall
in, turn round, get fastened by the roots at the
bottom, then each becomes a " snag."
Sometimes a hundred of these snags may
be seen at one time, all pointing their sharp
ends down the stream, and able, and looking
willing, too, any of them, to smite the strongest
vessel, not to say a frail thin steamer like the
Hesperia. We passed a steamer that had sunk ;
and another went down the day I arrived here.
SNAGS AND SANDBANKS. 103
Besides being dangerous, the navigation of
the river is very uncertain, from the shift
ing of sandbanks. We got aground about
fifty times, and were delayed at one bank
eighteen hours, struggling to push the boat
over it by huge spars, worked by powerful
tackle. This delay caused us to continue the
journey during part of Sunday, which is always
a very unpleasant thing, however necessary it
may be on an occasion like this, where no
town intervened for stopping at. The pilots
manage most artistically. I never saw more
nautical skill displayed in handling a craft,
where stream, banks, snags, and wind have
all to be considered at every moment. This
mighty river is navigable for about 3,000 miles,
that is, 1,500 miles beyond this spot. The deck
hands of nearly all the steamers are Irishmen,
and their work is very severe day and night,
week-day and holiday, eating and sleeping
while they may, and drinking always. For
this, they get thirty shillings a-week ; but the
price of articles seems to make these wages
go no further than half the sum would do in
England. I am told, that hardly one English-
104 OUR BEOTHERS AND COUSINS.
man or American will work in this capacity,
and I do not wonder at it.
After two days I got a cabin, with four
people crammed, in this hot weather, into a
very little place, and for the whole 150 persons,
there were only three basins for washing. But
I do not think that the Americans are a dirty
people. They provide these for the usual run
of travellers, who, on this river, are just what
would come to London-bridge in a third-class
train. At dinner, the gong sounds. Every
man stands behind a chair. The ladies march
on, and drive as many men back, who will have
to come to another dinner. When all the ladies
are provided, bang goes the gong again, and,
in an instant, every man has sat down,, and
finished the soup that has been toned down to
a genial coolness, during the long preliminaries.
On my right, I find a backwoodsman, with a
hungry look, that soon tells on the desperately
tough meat; and on my left, a man without
stockings, and covered with rags and dirt, in
deed, exactly, and without any exaggera
tion, in the costume of a man that passes along
the Strand with a cinder-cart, calling out
Dust-ho !
SALTSPOONS AND BUTTEEKNIVES. 105
Now I do not object to " roughing it." Few
people like more than I do to consort with all
classes; but I do object to forcing those people
to an apparent equality, whose habits and tastes
are different, and who clearly indicate they are
not at ease, by preserving a dead silence, and
then rushing away as soon as possible from one
another. It must never be forgotten that there
are some people who do use saltspoons, and
butterknives, nailbrushes and pocket-handker
chiefs.
I had many long talks with these hardy
settlers. In one case an infidel went so far as
to propose a discussion; and the calibre of the
controversy may be discerned from the way in
which the questions were spelled when written,
" God made all things from desine, God forenew
all things."
The weary idle passengers who do not read
or even pace the deck, but consume the whole
day in spitting, gathered in a mass round the
argument, and a great deal of good was done
by this regular and temperate discussion.
I found the British Workman, and the Shoe
black Reports just as popular on the Missouri
106 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
as on the Thames. The passengers seemed all
to be on business. I have met no American
travelling for pleasure. One of the men in my
cabin was a Pole, from California; another, an
Irishman, from the French army in Algeria;
another, an Irishman who went to the Rev. J.
Gregg s church, in Dublin. The first man I
met in Kansas was a Macdonald, of Glengarry;
and the grocers shop is kept by a Campbell,
from Argyleshire. One of the mates was a
Dane; and a Manchester lad came to me this
morning, saying, " I think you are an English
man, you are very like one of our shop clerks
in Macclesfield." An old lady who heard that
a Mr. Macgregor has died in Glasgow, leaving
her some thousands of pounds, is to give
me half the money, if I get her the remain
der; at least, that was the proposal on her
side!
On Sunday, I found a minister from the south,
who was going to the Conference of his Church
at Kansas, and he soon entered into conver
sation as a full, strong, determined slaveholder.
Imagine our being taught the freedom of the
Gospel by one who buys and sells men and
COOL ROBBERY. 107
women ! Another passenger I found reading
Bogatzky, and he joined in the proposal that we
should try to have a short service on Sunday,
in the ladies cabin, which was managed very
agreeably, and much to our edification. How
perfect and immediate is the mutuality of Chris
tians the moment they meet. Everybody
knows that Kansas is still a subject of dispute
between the Slavery party and Free-soil party
of America. A short time ago, no man who
opposed slavery was safe if he seemed to be
coming here.
Free-soil passengers were turned out of the
boat, and cannon were used to effect this, The
reaction is powerful; and now it is scarcely safe
for a slavery man to settle in Kansas. They
appear to be determined, that when admitted
as a State they shall have no slaves. But law
will be a long time before it rules here properly.
We had two robbers on the boat, who stole
money and clothes from seven or eight people,
and I saw them decamp by jumping ashore and
stealing a boat, in which they rowed quietly
down the river.
At Jefferson City I heard an amateur band
108 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
serenade a young lady, who was going to leave
the place, and their negro melody music sounded
most sweetly by the bright moonlight at one
o clock in a fine night. This is the only music
I have heard in America, where I had expected
to hear so much. I have never heard any Ame
rican sing or whistle at his work; not even a
woman whispers a lullaby to her child. All this
is, of course, because I have not gone to the
music; but certainly if there is any it has not
come to me.
Dollar, dollar, dollar ! This is the ringing
music of the West. Oh, how tired I am of the
very word ! To-day, I went over the river to a
quiet grove and sat down, thinking there might
be peace; but, no, I heard an auctioneer on the
other bank selling horses, and every gust of the
breeze brought over the words, " Going for ten
dollars!"
On the Kansas side, I inspected, with great
interest, the regular old route to California, the
way-worn track through the forest, along which
so many hopeful feet have marched, and so many
limped back wearily or laden with gold. Large
trains of waggons continually pass through this
CALIFORNIA ROAD. 109
place upon that long journey. It is a work of
months, and the toil, danger, sickness, Indians,
famine, thirst, cold, heat, expense, and anxiety
that must be encountered, show how much will
be endured for money. I saw whole families
slowly dragged along in long, light waggons, by
four oxen. The affair looks exceedingly unro-
mantic, and altogether different from the ex
ploration of some ancient land, where the grand
works of ages may be disclosed to the aspiring
explorer. I think the journey would be the
very last I should have any desire to attempt
even in an adventurous mood.
But the chief excitement about gold in this
part of the world, is that of the new diggings at
Pike s Peak, about 700 miles west from this, and
many people have gone there without enough
provisions, so as to be almost starving while their
hands are full of gold. I found the little town
of Elwood, Kansas, built in the forest. It is
only just one year since the first house was put
up, and here there is a newspaper the Kansas
Weekly Press, many shops, 1,000 inhabitants,
a saw-mill, a church, and an hotel. The timber
is left standing in the streets, and the scene
110 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
altogether was the most interesting specimen of
rapid colonization that could be seen. It is called
the " yearling town," and is said to be a very
" big baby." * The whole town will be washed
away by the Missouri in one of its stormy freaks ;
and the place I am writing from is also falling
into the river as I write. I saw part of a house
this morning of which half had just tumbled
into the yellow torrent. Here I read an English
book about a pretty village in Somersetshire, and
the violent sudden desire that seized me to get
back to our neat, pleasant homes, has come just
in time to speed me over the prairies to the East
to the East!
* A grand coloured prospectus was gravely supplied to
me, with a map delineating Ellwood and three railways to it
(none of which exist); the description, however, begins:
** This is the most flourishing city in Northern Kansas."
Englishmen, caught by a similar falsehood some time ago,
founded the town of Cairo on the Mississippi; and when
heaps of gold had been blindly buried, they discovered that
the site of their intended town was actually below the level of
the river !
CHAPTER XL
MISSISSIPPI NAUVOO AND MORMONS MINNESOTA SNOW
MINNEIIAHA CHICAGO COLOURED CHURCH INDIAN
SCALPING.
TTERE we are 2,000 miles up the Mississippi,
and the mighty " father of waters " is still
navigable 200 miles more above the rapids.
What a changed climate one sees on this
river ! A few weeks ago, too hot to stir out in
the sun ; and now wrapped in a buffalo skin be
side a stove, with ice around, and snow falling.
Nevertheless, I took a long drive by the falls of
St. Anthony, where the Mississsppi tumbles over
some pretty rocks, and then to the Minnesota
River, with its sparkling cascade " Minne-ha-ha."
There never was a more beautiful name for a
waterfall. It is Indian, and means " laughing
water/ as Minnesota means " sky-blue water/
A book was written lately upon this new
State of the Union, by my friend Mr. L. Oli-
phant, who is now with Lord Elgin in China,
112 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
and will doubtless tell the public of tlie falls on
the Yang-tse-kiang.
I found that by the wonderful accommodation
of railroads and fast steamers, it was possible to
NAUVOO OF THE MORMONS.
add another thousand miles to my tour before
going eastward towards Europe; and, certainly,
the scenery on the Upper Mississippi is well
worth visiting, though it is strongly marked
ROLLING PKAIKIES. 113
with the characteristic of pleasant mediocrity,
which is so universal here, except at Niagara.
The little sketch of Nauvoo was made from
between the two great " smoke pipes " of our
Mississippi steamer. Here the notorious " Joe
Smith " founded his Mormon settlement. His
temple is seen on the hill; his half- finished hotel
is by the river; and his widow (wife No. 1) still
resides in that little house at the end of the road.
The Americans always speak of Mormonism
as a thing gone by. It is only in London and
Wales that it continues to deceive.
The flourishing state of Illinois has its rolling
prairies* pierced by the never weary rail, straight
as an arrow, for miles and miles. There is won
derful similarity between all the American rail
roads, as far as regards system. You rumble
along in the great airy " cars," with a stove in
the centre, and a pail of iced water at the end.
The whistle sounds a peculiar groan (for it speaks
deep-toned here, not shrilly), and every head
pops up to see the cows run along, until the
* A prairie is a field of rank grass, 200 miles between the
fences. When the surface undulates, it is called a " rolling
prairie." It has not the sublimity of a desert of sand.
I
114 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
engineer dismounts to pelt them with stones.
By the card of stations given to each person,
you see that "this train stops for refreshment at
Paris/ or London, or Cairo (the old towns are
all reduplicated) ; and Paris comes in sight
about fifty wooden houses painted white, with
large signboards in black letters, labelled " Dry
Goods" (the term for hosiery) , " Iron Store/
"Everything Store," " World s Pair/ and the
inns named " Washington House/ " Madison
House." As the great bell tolls on the engine,
you pass right through the principal street
without any fence whatever, and the ragged
boys cling to the " cars " for a " ride/ selling-
apples, newspapers, and " candy/ At the three
doors of the three eating-houses of Paris, are
three women, ringing three bells, to invite you
to three dinners at twelve o clock; but the regu
lar dinner is on the other side, and it is more
officially announced by a black man beating a
gong.
Here we find beef, mutton, chicken, and pork,
all very tough ; and as many kinds of bread and
vegetables, all very nice, with sweet things and
puddings truly delectable. Nothing but water
CLANK, CLANK. 115
is drunk at dinner. You pay your two shillings,
and the prairie, and rumbling, and whistling, go
on again till supper-time at six o clock, when
you find you have gone one hundred miles
whizzing over those shaking bridges, swinging
round those sharp corners, and clank, clank, on
the rough " track/ where each wheel thumps
the unfastened end of every rail. Before you
reach the terminus, a porter inquires what hotel
you will stop at, and takes your baggage cheques,
that he may fetch up your valise, which is thence
forth absolutely committed to his charge. With
twenty others, you get out of the omnibus, and
appear at the bar of the " Tremont House,"
Chicago, a sort of office, large and bustling,
covered with advertisements, maps, and bills, and
embedded in tobacco smoke. You enter your
name and residence, and wait patiently (or other
wise) until your baggage arrives, and a room is
assigned, which you greatly rejoice to find has
only one bed. For second-class travellers, the
locomotion and hotels of America are superior
to those of England ; while, in both third-class
and first-class accommodation, . their inferiority
is evident and universal.
116 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Chicago has sprung into existence with more
rapidity than any other town in America. In a
few years, it has attained a population of 150,000.
Most of the houses are of wood ; and many of
the broad streets are actually planked with tim
ber throughout their entire length. The prepa
ration of a good roadway, except on the railroad,
seems aways the last thing thought of here.
I was not able to examine the Christian efforts
of Chicago; but I see that the Union prayer-
meeting is thinly attended there.
" These are the Rules for the Firemen s Union
Prayer Meetings, at Philadelphia.
" 1. Hymn. (Not over four stanzas.)
"2. Prayer, by request.
"3. Reading Scriptures. (Not over eight or
ten verses.)
" These three exercises not to occupy more
than 15 minutes, then the meeting to be left
open for prayer or exhortation.
"No person to pray or exhort over five
minutes, or to do both at the same meeting.
" Not more than two prayers or exhortations
consecutively.
Those who take part in the exercises
117
should face the larger portion of the audience,
and speak in clear, distinct tones.
" Young Men are expected to participate.
" No controverted points or denominational
differences to be discussed.
" The leader will strike the bells whenever the
rules are disregarded, or when he wishes to gain
the floor in order to direct the exercises."
The Rev. Dr. Howard, a Baptist minister in
Chicago, preached a most excellent sermon on
the deadly touch of Uzzah, and the healing
touch of the hem of Christ s garment. The ser
mon was read from manuscript, and admirably
delivered.
I regret to find that the " Universalists " num
ber in their cold, dead body, many well-taught
men, and most able preachers.
In the afternoon, I listened, with very great
delight, to a black preacher, in a " coloured
man s church," where almost all the congrega
tion were fugitive slaves. The whole service
was well-conducted, and without a particle of
that over-wrought excitement which may be
noticed as a blemish in several negro churches.
The choir numbered several singers, of so white
118 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
a skin that no one but a slave-driver would dare
to call them black. The rough blasts of travel
ling have made me far more "weather-browned"
than many of those whose skin is thought dark
enough to warrant its being sold with a human
being in it. One man played the flute very
tastefully as the choir sung, and the sable con
gregation joined, all standing up, and turning
round with their bach to the pulpit.
Ifc was with the heartiest goodwill that I par
took of the Lord s Supper with these poor fugi
tives, and gave a liberal contribution from a
kind lady in London, where this black minister
might occupy many pulpits without disparage
ment. In the evening, the church was crowded
to hear an account of open-air preaching in
England, illustrated by some simple anecdotes.
Afterwards I went home with one of the
Church elders, and had a long and useful con
versation in his family circle, where a neat,
comfortable home showed how a black man
escaped from slavery can live. He gave me a
copy of Fred. Douglas Paper, a journal edited
by a runaway slave; and I would boldly ask the
whole American nation to point to any news
paper in the States that has better writing or
MISSISSIPPI PILOTS. 119
more tact. I think that the negro is much
nearer to the white man than many white men
allow. In the matter of gentle bearing and
true politeness, I would deliberately place him
on an equality with any class I have seen here.
From Chicago I went back again to the great
highway of waters the noble Mississippi. The
class of travellers was a great improvement on
those steaming up the Missouri; indeed, many
of them washed their hands before dinner, and
the beautiful steamers paddled along with dig
nity and comfort. The water of the river is
lower just now than for many years. On two oc
casions we were stuck fast for twelve hours in the
shoals, while a fearful thunder-storm raged over
head, and the loud screams of myriads of wild
geese sounded through the blasts of rain. The pilots
of these boats are each paid more than a thousand
pounds a-year; and well they earn their pay,
steering the vast floating edifice, with two hun
dred sleepers on board, through the most in
tricate shoals on the darkest nights. These
river pilots are certainly "first-rate"; they are
exceptions to the uniform mediocrity. As we
steamed day and night steadily northward, the
120 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
cold grew more intense, the comet showed more
brilliantly, and the aurora gleamed at eventide.
The Indians in Minnesota have been fighting a
good deal lately; and a fellow-traveller told me,
that at one of the dances of the Chippewas,
there were six scalps suspended over the fire.
The American army have a hard struggle with
these brave wild men, at this moment, in a more
western State. One of the officers affirmed, that
the force of ten thousand men was scarcely
enough to keep them in check. Sir G. Simpson,
Dr. Kae, the Arctic traveller, and Mr. Ellis,
M.P., passed through this town last week, to
make arrangements for the trade of the Hudson
bay Company. Lord F. Cavendish, Lord R.
Grosvenor, Hon. Mr. Ashley, and Mr. Seymour,
M.P., have gone still further northward; but
this stormy weather, which, however, usually
precedes the second, or " Indian summer," will
probably drive them back. Murders, robberies,
and Vigilance Committees are quite common in
this western country; but a stranger seems to
be quite safe, if he keeps from the "Bar" for
drink.
CHAPTER XII.
CONVENTION AT LA CROSSE FREE NEGRO SETTLEMENT
TRENTON FALLS SLEEPING TRAINS LADIES THEODORE
PARKER S CHURCH.
OPEEDIXG down the Mississippi, I had to
stop during Sunday at La Crosse; and the
passengers said, " You will have to walk ten
miles to church"; but I found a very different
sort of Sunday in store. From nine in the
morning until ten o clock at night, it was one
continued pleasure.
There was a convention of *bur hundred
Independent ministers meeting at this place;
and I happened to find among them one who
had been connected with the Boys Refuge in
London. The Wisconsin ministers were much
pleased to hear at some length an account of
the open-air preaching in England; and the
children of the schools assembled to listen to a
Shoeblack lecture, for this topic seems to have
122 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
extraordinary interest, when illustrated by pho
tographs of the boys, and anecdotes of their
lives. Professor Emerson preached before the
Convention. His sermon was a learned expo
sition. The doctrine of doctrines, the sacrificial
atonement by blood, was most fully set forth
afterwards in a powerful address, by the Mo
derator of the Convention, preparatory to the
celebration of the Lord s Supper. It was surely
a pleasant and suggestive occasion, to find the
grand truths of the Gospel so purely preached
on the banks of the Mississippi. At a Home
Mission Meeting in the evening, the subject of
lay agency in England excited very deep in
terest; and the worthy ministers and elders
were so hospitable, that it was hard to leave
them after so short a visit.
At Cincinnati I attended a great political
Convention, w r here 2,000 people kept a noisy
order in their entanglement of politics. The
presiding genius was a long Yankee, who took
off his coat, and appeared in his shirt sleeves,
without any apology. The v/hole affair would
be an utter impossibility away from America.
Every gentleman and well-educated man (and,
POLITICS IN SHIRT SLEEVES.
123
by the way, they are marvellously few) abjures
politics; and, in proportion to his sense, appears
SECRETARY OP THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION, CINCINNATI.
anxious to assure you he is not a politician.
The land is ruled by a verv indifferent set of
men, raised to a brief power by hired under
lings, who make it their daily calling. No one
thing forbodes worse for these great people than
124 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
the absence of men of probity and talent from
their politics.*
Crossing by a rough railway, just opened
through Wisconsin, and by a dangerous boat
over Lake Michigan, and then by another new
rail through Michigan State, you compass the
five hundred miles comfortably in two days.
Lake Michigan is generally very stormy, the
most irritable of the northern lakes. Three
wrecks occurred on it last weekjf but it was
beautifully calm during our passage. From
Detroit, the meeting-place of so many routes
of travel, I crossed the water once more to the
Canadian shore; and it really felt as if one was
half at home again, to get a portmanteau ex
amined by "Her Majesty s Custom-house officer."
Here, on the " Thames," I stopped to see Chat
ham, where half the population of four thousand
are escaped negroes. The slavery folks call it
" miserable," but a personal inspection convinced
me that the blacks are far better off in Chatham,
than many of the white people in Kentucky.
The town was in great commotion about an
* Se e chapter on American voting, post.
j- The steamer on the preceding night had foundered.
A QUACK DOCTOR. 125
event of which it is difficult to speak with ac
curacy, though the matter is of some importance,
and will undergo judicial investigation within a
few days.
An itinerant quack medicine vendor appeared
on the railway platform, a few days ago, with a
coloured boy as his servant. A great crowd of
black men from the town at once seized the boy
and forcibly took him aw ay. The boy cried, and
desired to stop with his master; but the negroes
say that the master was about to sell the boy in
the Southern States, although he was born free.
Thus this horrid slavery leers at you with its
grim black face of shame wherever you go in
America. The beautiful autumnal foliage of
Canada skirted the " track " until I reached
Niagara once more. The second visit to this
D
wonder of wonders, only raises your admiration
higher, when before you thought it was at the
highest point.
Trenton Falls may be reached easily in a day
from Niagara. The remarkable beauty of these
far-famed cataracts amply justifies a detour; but
the description of scenery is scarcely profitable,
unless it is written by a poet s pen. A drive of
126 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
some hours through the country near these falls
revealed to me, as in other places,, the wretched
roads and poor tumble-down houses of many of
the lands in the older parts of the States.
Public works are far behind private efforts
in this country; but it is amazing to observe
what enormous tracts have been cultivated, what
houses built, what towns, what railroads, what
bridges, tunnels, canals, and docks have been
constructed in two hundred years by Anglo-
Saxon energy.
In one of the coloured churches, a black
preacher told us the danger of relying on public
bodies to do individual work, and instanced his
own experience. When first he joined his re
ligious body, he was full of zeal and void of
prudence. Relying on the vote of the " Asso
ciation," " that a saddle be bought for the
missionary s horse," he bought one, and then
bought a new horse with the like authority,
giving his own promissory note to pay for them.
"Well, the note became due, brethren, but when
I looked for the Association I couldn t find
it, nor see it, nor hear on it, my brethren; so I
was a near ruined, look ye thar."
KISSING A DOG. 127
The yearning feeling towards " home," as
England is often endearingly called, seems to
abide with the distant settler for many a long-
day. One of them said he had been thirty
years away, but he would embrace a dog if
he only knew it was from old England.
The Scotch plaid is very commonly worn by
all nations in the West, by Germans, and Ameri
cans and Norwegians, even more than by
Scotchmen.
The boots of many are outside their trousers,
or " pants," as they always call them, and this
is a very neat and sensible mode of dress, as it
seems to me, and is even qrnamental when the
boots have bright red tops with gilded patterns.
But the American business traveller invaria
bly wears a good long cloth dark coat, and very
often a new hat. The idea of a " gent " wear
ing a light-coloured easy shooting-jacket, is
evidently preposterous to their notions; as for
the ladies, the finest silk (and the largest ex
pansion of it) that a woman can wear is fre
quently put on to sail into breakfast by early
candle-light, in a cold, wet morning, before a
rough journey of two hundred miles. I recol-
128 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
lect an American who travelled with me through
Syria in a dress-coat and a black hat. These
are oddities that will correct themselves when
many trunks, brilliant satins, and glossy hats
are less required to mark good breeding, than a
quiet common-sense simplicity, which selects for
wear the raiment really suited for the occasion.
On a few railways, you meet a very excellent
addition to comfort in travelling by night. The
" sleeping cars" are made to hold as many per
sons as the usual long car, which contains
seventy travellers, and each one is stretched on
a nicely-padded shelf, in three tiers, one over
another. I u guess" (how many thousand times
have I heard that word!) that this will only
add to the intensity of locomotion which wears
out this people, often needlessly, and will in
crease the frequency of accidents by promoting
night journeys.
The trains are generally quite full ; and when
ever a lady enters on such an occasion, the con
ductor causes a " gent" to give her his seat. I
had great pleasure lately in resigning my place
to a black woman, and, with more than a dozen
ARTESIAN WELL. 129
others, finished a long journey in the baggage -
waggon.
Often as I have seen this supplanting of the
lords of the creation, and other numerous acts
of courtesy readily done or allowed by men in
favour of women, I never on any one occasion
observed any thanks given in return. It is
very bold, nay, it may be ungallant, to tell this;
but it is true, and it is often spoken of by the
gentlemen, and even publicly noticed in the
newspapers. Ladies, we yield to you; but pray
do pay us by a smile.
I stopped at Louisville to see the great Arte
sian Well, which is two thousand feet deep. A
rushing stream pours hot water forth in a cease
less current; but the very strong sulphureous
ingredients of the water have made it unfit for
the purpose the well was sunk to attain; so, in
stead of supplying a paper-mill, the spring will
be used as a mineral water, from which, per
haps, a fortune may be made, if it is well
puffed !
The administration of justice is here invested
with much to make it suspected. The magis
trate finds his electors before him as counsel,
K
130
OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
witnesses, or criminals. His election depends
on that accused man ; or his hopes for the future
rest on that accuser. How is it possible that
the judge thus situated can escape from improper
LOUISVILLE COUKT-HOLSt;.
motives? I saw a murder case tried in Louis
ville, where the barrister had his quid of tobacco,
and the judge had a quaff from a great white
jug not from tumbler, glass, or any such thing,
BOSTON KINDNESS. 131
but from the jug itself, held aloft with two
hands before the Court.
At Springfield, I visited the United States
Arsenal, where some neat workshops are used
by the clever gunsmiths, hammering away at
the rifles that are to be used I hope, never
against England. The town is very English in
appearance, except the signboards such as this :
1 ( Clam Chowder to-night, at Howe s lunch" ;
which invites you to Mr. Howe s nocturnal shell
fish dainties; for the term "lunch" is not con
fined to an afternoon " snack. "
As you approach Boston, the country becomes
more English still; and, shall I say it? more
comfortable, and habitable, and pleasant.
But in no part of England, nay, nor in
Europe, are there those splendid autumn foliage
tints, that paint the most common-place hill
side here until it glows before you as a radiant
picture, which the artist would scarcely dare to
put on canvass, lest you might mistake it for his
palette.
I have not now time to describe Boston, with
its numerous attractions, its historical associa
tions, its public institutions, and its intense
132 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
hospitality to an unworthy English stranger;
and yet this letter must be the last of ray present
fleeting records of a delightful tour, improving
to body, mind, and soul.
I tried to hear the "Rev. Theodore Parker, so
as at least to make one effort more to ascertain
his views (if, indeed, he knows them himself),
and thus be prepared the better to combat his
followers in England.
A Mr. Higginson, of AYorcester, preached in
his place in the Music Hall, to a congregation
of about 1,500, which half filled it. Many came
in or went out during the service; and many
read the newspapers all the time, even during
singing and prayer. The preacher prayed in a
strange mysterious manner, as if he approached
the Almighty with his hand over his face, and
complained he could not see Him even dimly.
He read from the Book of Wisdom. The choir
sung two hymns, standing by a statue of Beet
hoven; while the people sat entirely mute, only
three or four using hymn-books, and no one
singing. Oh! it was a freezing service, that
made one wrap the mind in a moral great-coat,
to keep from the infection of a heart-chill.
A PARKERITE PREACHER. 133
The preacher, dressed in a civilian s usual
costume, read the text from Actsxxviii. 10:
" They laded us with such things as were neces
sary;" and putting the Bible carefully aside,
forthwith left it and the text as a starting-post
to run away from. The whole address was an
investigation into the question, " What are the
necessaries of life?" and the following are some
of the Yankee notions that were served up as
spiritual food :
" An Irishman would say, a feather-bed is a
necessary. If a fire takes place, you see one
man saving a bag of money, another his books;
some throwing the mirrors out of the windows,
while they carry the mattresses carefully down
stairs. A little boy saves his pipe to blow bub
bles, a great boy his pipe to blow tobacco, and a
politician his bubbles without any pipe. The
four necessaries are subsistence, employment,
love, and faith. In every assembly of divines,
dyspepsia sits enthroned, more despotic than any
Pope. Mr. Astor (a great millionaire) said, A
man with 50,000 was as well off as if he were
rich/ The miser is a man who spends his life
in buying tickets, and never goes to the enter-
134 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
tainment after all. Emigrants could live at
home as well as in new countries, if they put up
with half the evils they submit to abroad. Em
ployment would cure many evils; and it would
be a real kindness to force many an idle rich
man to work on the treadmill, or the govern
ment of his town. Benevolence is like cold
water, which all like to dabble in a little, but
most shun to bathe in; and yet, like a daily
bath, the habit of benevolence becomes soon a
necessary, if properly used, for moral health.
As ships sail best with the wind not entirely
favourable, so moderate prosperity is better than
complete good fortune. Some souls are like
clipper-ships, that sail as fast on a wind close-
hauled as when the favouring gale is directly
aft."
The sermon was full of quotations from poets
and sages and heathen philosophy, without one
particle of Christianity, or a glimpse of the
Gospel. At a special meeting of the " Friends,"
I heard two Quakers announce much truth in an
exceedingly ungrateful form, with the most
soporific effect.
The Warren Chapel Schools have been in
THE SHAKERS. 135
operation here nearly thirty years; a philan
thropic effort, including Sunday-schools and
dancing-classes, greenhouse-plants and knitting,,
statues and savings -banks. Popish pictures and
pic-nics all which you are assured is anti-sec
tarian. The first glance of an understanding eye
is not mistaken in observing that the tendency
of all this is most intensely sectarian, and is a
struggle to get proselytes to that large and dan
gerous sect, that cuts off fervid Christianity, on
the one hand, and mere ignorance, on the other.
If I have wronged this large Institution, I am
not convinced by hearing that the Popish priest
readily allows its managers to have his children.
Timeo Danaos et donaferentes.
Near this, at Lebanon, is the colony of the
Shakers Mrs. Hutchinson founded seventy years
ago. They are very industrious, and wear long,
ugly, grey dresses. They worship by dancing
to a dirge like la-la-ly-la, and never marry, but
adopt poor children.
The environs of Boston are not surpassed
in beauty by those of any large town I know.
In this particular, it is far superior to New York
and Philadelphia. I heard the half-yearly re-
136 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
citations of students at the Harvard University
of Cambridge, which, I am sorry to say, is under
Unitarian influence. In one of the Boston
Museums there are some books of George Wash
ington, scribbled over by his hand when a boy.
Several of them are on Christian subjects, and
particularly upon slavery.
Perhaps it is unfair to sketch the general cha
racter of the American people on so slight an
acquaintance as a three months residence; espe
cially as salient bad features, more readily than
prominent good ones, are likely to be caught by
the hasty glance; and many a fault would be
forgotten or softened down by more mature ac
quaintance, just as the long nose of one s friend
looks shorter every day you meet him. But,
talking of noses, I never met a real American
with a real pug nose. Their features are usually
very regular, neatly marked in one or other
type of two classes of profile that are also noticed
among the Indians one with high cheek
bones, black eyes, and square forehead; the
other (the older Indian face) with very sharp
aquiline nose and long eyebrow. Men s voices
are gentle; every woman s is somewhat harsh.
PARTING REGRETS. 137
The men look mild, with a pleasing expression
when at ease, and very little working of linea
ments or change of features when excited. But
I have seen no quarrels here; not one blow in
a rage ; no gruffness, such as John Bull emi
nently possesses; and I have not met one single
" dolt." How is it one hears every day of
thefts, murders, and all kinds of crime (to-day, a
Senator killed in a duel occupies four lines of the
paper), yet you travel thousands of miles safely
among a meek and courteous people?
Christianity improves every tribe of the hu
man race, but no one more than the genuine
American. American Christians often acquire
the energy and repose, the heartiness and so
lidity, which it is easy to imagine, but so diffi
cult to find. I take leave of this country w r ith
my estimate of it much elevated, and my interest
in it quickened intensely, with deep affection for
hundreds of its citizens ; gratitude, admiration,
and surprise, mingling as I review our inter
course. Verily, this is a great nation, and a
great country, and I leave it with great regret.
138 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
AMERICAN VOTING.
nPHE true relation of political parties, even in
the village of Stoke Pogis, could not be
understood except by long residence. How pre
sumptuous, then, would it be for a mere traveller
to dogmatize upon the intricate and interesting
politics of thirty millions of people !
But there are certain points in the American
political system which are peculiarly important
to Englishmen just now; for many of us urge
this country to imitate America in these, and
some will even insist that the American plan
of elections is successful in the States, while a
few jump at once to the conclusion that there
fore it would answer here.
No Conservative amongst us, be he ever so
high a Tory, would refuse to adopt " useful
reforms;" and no Whig, be he ever so strong a
Radical, proposes to destroy "just rights."
AMERICAN VOTING. 139
We all desire to diminish poverty and igno
rance,, to encourage industry and virtue, to
restrain corruption and favouritism, and to give
due weight to every element in the common
wealth. The only question in this connection
that I shall touch upon, is this, How far these
desirable objects are attained in America by
giving every man a vote and permitting him to
use the ballot. To ascertain the real estimate
formed of the American system by the men
who live under it, I discussed the subject in
constant conversation nearly every day for three
months, and always with the most intelligent
Americans I could select. Anxiously seeking
for evidence on both sides of the question, I
found, with regret, that it was impossible to
hear the advantages of the American plan pro
perly advocated. Every body seemed to com
plain of it except two persons, of whom one was
an Irish Komanist, who had never been in
England, and who advocated slavery.
Almost in proportion to each man s intelli
gence, was his earnest protest, that " he was far
too wise to meddle with politics," that he was
" thankful to say that he had never cast a vote";
140 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
that being an Englishman I might be excused ;
but that from any other " it would be almost an
insult to suppose that he, a respectable Yankee,
had anything to do with elections."
Now this particular result of the American
system is undoubted, the distaste for political
work expressed by a very large body of the best
men you meet. Indeed, there are, perhaps, as
many Americans who are deterred from the use
of their own system by its defects, as there are
Englishmen (worth anything in judgment) who
are debarred from the use of ours by its limita
tions."*
Let us hearken to a discussion about " The
Ballot," between an American, who lives under
its operations, and a British Reformer, who ad
vocates it without any practical experience.
The American we shall call A., and B. shall
be the Briton.
* The Duke of Argyle said lately at Dundee, " Turning
to the United States, it was the testimony of the best and
most intelligent American citizens he had met with in this
country that .... there was less and less possibility of get
ting the highest characters to take an interest in public
affairs." The Press Newspaper, Nov 20, 1858.
AMERICAN VOTING. 141
B. The Ballot would at least ensure security
in voting, for you could vote as you pleased.
A. We cannot. A man s vote may be divined
by seeing the newspaper he reads, or the politi
cal party he consorts with, or the meetings he
frequents.
Your only " secure voter" must have no distinct
politics and read no particular paper.
Can you tell me of any case where there ever
was any difficulty in knowing the vote of any
man of decided politics in America ?
B. The Ballot would prevent bribery.
A. No; it enables us to buy men in bundles,
and cheaply too, for we don t pay them unless
the side we purchase is victorious.*
B. At any rate there could be intimidation.
A. We have quite as much intimidation of
voters as you have in England. It is constantly
the practice for a master to require his workmen
to vote as he pleases; if they do not affirm
* In the Times, of December 18th, 1858, mention is made
of a letter from the President of the United States, alluding
to bribery, in which he says: " Should this practice increase,
until the voters in the state and national legislatures shall
become infected, the fountain of free government will then be
poisoned at its source; and we must end, as history proves,
in a military despotism."
142 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
they have done so, and prove it, he turns them off
by hundreds. The only safety from intimidation
consists in telling and proving a falsehood. .
B. The Ballot would certainly do well in Ire
land , where the priests are now the real electors.
A. That s because of the confessional but
the ballot won t change it. Nearly all our Irish
votes are held by the priests, and the priests wield
them for Archbishop Hughes, who is by far the
most powerful man for patronage in the States.
If I wanted an appointment and could not buy it,
I should go to the Archbishop rather than to the
President; for the last goes out in four years, but
Dr. Hughes is always in power.
B. Still, the Gqvernment officials could not
openly compel our voters.
A. Nor can they do so with you at present.
But then we number 16,000 postmasters and offi
cials who can be turned off at a moment s notice
without reason assigned; and they are pretty
clearly made to know that a vote against their
masters would be a very good reason for dis
missal.
B. Surely, the system of Ballot properly
worked, would enable a man to vote as he liked,
without letting his master know how he voted.
AMERICAN VOTING. 143
A. "Properly worked!" Why any system
properly worked would leave the voter free ; but
the abuse of it has to be provided for, and this
abuse is as hard to prevent in our system as in
yours take Jonathan s saw -mills,, for instance.
He had 180 hands; of these,, sixty were for his
party, and they went to his meetings, cheered
their party colours, and voted a double-dyed blue
ticket.
Every man who did not do this was primd
facie on the other side; and unless he could
prove he voted blue, he was held to have cast
a yellow vote. A simple process you see when
you come to work it!
A. The Ballot would give us the people s
candidate.
B. The " election-agent s man," you mean.
What has any single voter to do with the can
didate ultimately proposed.
Recollect, you will have to arrange the matter
thus : Each parish will meet to vote a parish
delegate. Your parish chooses the man who pro
mises to vote for John Smith for the county.
The parish delegates meet to elect a district
delegate; but John Smith of your parish is
144 OUR BROTHERS AXD COUSINS.
nothing to them. A majority of them prefer
Tom Jones, who promises the most to the most
parishes; and so they elect a district delegate who
will vote for him.
"When all the district delegates meet to select
the Member for the county, the other districts
ignore poor Jones; for they must have Jack
Robinson, who will propose a canal from Linsey-
Ga to Wolsey-Pa, that runs through twelve dis
tricts, and a few "easily-looking" winks at your
delegate will pacify him, and where are you ?
B. That is not the Ballot ; that is a compli
cated abuse of the simple plan.
A. Have you got any law ready to prevent
this manner of working it? Tis by no means
complicated; but the most natural mode of se
lecting a candidate when they who choose him
are all supposed to vote secretly, and none can
exclaim against the nominee without at once
disclosing how he has voted !
B. But, my dear cousin, we make constant
use of the Ballot in our best clubs.
A. Yes, where you have to vote for or against
individuals for continual personal contact, where
it would not do to explain your reasons, where
AMERICAN VOTING. 145
personal animosity would be the result of open
opposition, where you often allow it works badly
and where, all the time whatever you say
you feel you are voting in a manner you are
half ashamed of.
B. I think the Ballot and universal suffrage
would give us upright legislators, who would
not waste our money.
A. Just the reverse. Our men try to please
the most voters ; most voters pay the least taxes
individually, so the more the members spend,
the more money flows to the poorest and from
the more industrious !
What does each of 1000 voters care about
1000 mis-spent, when every pound will pay
him and each of his nine friends 2s. a piece for
(useless) labour, although not one of the ten
men has given one shilling in taxes to the
squandered sum ?
B. But we must get really good men into
Parliament, and they will not do thus badly.
They will represent the wishes of the com
munity.
A. I hope ours don t. If they do, the wishes
of the community must be mighty bad ! Why,
L
146 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
our general run of members are the laughing
stock of all sober-minded people. You know
the old story, I dare say. T is far too true to
be forgotten because it is old :
" Poor Johnson ! You know what became
of Johnson. Ah ! poor fellow, he went down
hill sadly, till, from bad to worse, he got at last
so low he was elected a member of Congress."
Our elections are abjured by the good men;
and they are managed by a set of regular paid
partisans, who make it their daily business. The
proved corruption and bribery in every depar-
ment of the state exceeds what you can even
imagine. Legislative, municipal, and judicial
functionaries openly promise bribes, or are elected
by violence. One candidate fora "judgeship"
said lately, " If you elect me I will open all the
liquor-shops on Sunday" (by perverting the
law, be it remembered). Another said, "I will
be strict in punishing every shop thus open."
The candidates were called, during the canvass,
the "liquor judge" and "non-liquor judge."
I saw myself a rum-seller sit as a judge, and try
sixty cases in an hour and a half, nodding to
prisoners who may have been his customers or
AMERICAN VOTING. 147
his electors. The system of elections here is
the most ridiculous caricature of proper represen
tation ever tolerated by any civilised nation ; and
Americans, in proportion to their good sense,
denounce this system. I saw an advertisement
asking 300 labourers to come to a new railway.
The steam vessel took 150 labourers 300 miles
to " the new railway/ which was not even con
tracted for. These men were to land, and vote
at some election ; but the people repelled their
invasion, and caused them to re-embark. I
heard that half of them arrived in another town
in time to be hired to vote there.
B. All these objections are American frailties
incident to a new people, which we in England
might overcome ?
A. Yes; but the ballot tolerates them all: nay,
it produces them; and it steadily sanctions every
one. Did you ever hear of a man being elected
by ballot and universal suffrage, to protest against
these flagrant wrongs?
jB. We could soon get them elected, if we
paid our members as you do.
A. Men who can t make money enough to
live on by their own business, ought not to be
148 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
paid, as members, to manage the business of the
public,
B. But that rule would prevent many good
men from getting seats.
A. Have you ever met anybody who said that
his representative would not be elected unless
he had a salary? Seems odd we have 10,000
volunteer firemen in one city alone, and yet we
can t get 600 volunteer statesmen in all the
Union !
B. Anything more, cousin, in the grumbling
line?
A. Yes, we ve made another blunder in com
mitting power to mere numbers, forgetting that,
whilst all have equal rights to protection of life,
property, and reputation, the amount of om pri
vileges in every department of trade, of politics,
and of social life, never can be equal.
Is there one single occupation or business, in
which you give the lowest and the highest an
equal share of direction? Why should you give
the same share to everybody, then, in the greatest
of all works the direction of the destinies of a
state? If you build a house, do you listen
equally to the hodman and the architect for a
AMERICAN VOTING. 149
plan? If you steer a ship, is the cabin-boy
consulted with the mate? If you treat a
disease, has the doctor only the same voice as
the druggist s lad?
And yet here we give the very same weight
to the vote of the Irish emigrant, who knows
neither his alphabet nor the number of our
States, as we do to that of the American citizen,
who has lived all his life in our midst, and has
proved his capacity for understanding the affairs
of his country by successfully managing his own.
The value of a vote is always that of the lowest
that can be given. By making some shillings
half of brass you may multiply your pieces, but
you will not add to your wealth, for you will
soon make the best shilling pass only for the
value of the basest you have coined.
You may easily see, therefore, why good men
won t vote if they count only with the most
worthless.
All the grumbling for the ballot in England,
is a mere whisper compared with our earnest
abuse of what it produces in America.
150 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
YANKEE NOTIONS.
T7VERYBODY who travels with any interest,
and has a desire to prolong it when he comes
home, is sure to collect a parcel of odds and
ends, of waifs and strays, from the tide of busy
life floating by him daily.
Jt would be as easy to classify the lf things" in
a school boy s pocket, as to index these contents
of the tourist s bag; and yet they are far more
suggestive notes than those penned in his diary,
or pencilled in his sketch-book.
Here is a handful of such things. The first
is a gentleman s card given to me. Below a
noble stag s head (the crest duly assigned by the
Herald s College for 6s. 6d. !), you read :
"Col. Octavius Morris, No. 1979, Spruce Street,
Philadelphia." Another, not left with me, and thus
inscribed : " Mrs. Ex-Commissioner of Sewers."
Next, there is a long bill headed: "Philanthro-
YANKEE NOTIONS. 151
pic Convention to overcome evil with good
the cause and cure of evil Utica Oneida
Co., N. Y." And the committee of arrange
ment includes, "Calvin Hall Emily Eogers
Caroline Brown, M.D."
Look at this newspaper called " Daily Capital
City Fact, Columbus, Ohio." " Spiritualism lec
tures may be expected at the City Hall to
morrow Mrs. H. F. M. Brown, editress of the
Investigator, Cleveland, 0., will speak in the
morning at 11, and afternoon at 3." Then fol
low six advertisements of astrologers.
Here is a long strip of paper put into my hand,
with the following telegraphic message beauti
fully printed on it by the instrument itself,
"N. Y. Pa. cccxlviii. B.w.y. (i.e. From Philadel
phia to No. 348, Broadway, New York). Send
Macgregor by two o clock, boat four at furthest
adjourned meeting hold newspaper in his
hand, coming off boat, so we may know him,
G. S."
Next comes a paper with a woodcut of ele
phants in terrific excitement " A work for the
library, farmer, clergy, and masses, 180,000
copies ordered in advance ; order early if you
152 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
want a copy, as there is a great rush to get this
valuable work. Now ready, Dr Livingstone s
17 years, Explorations and Adventures in the
Wilds of Africa; the most thrillingly interesting
book issued since Robinson Crusoe. Lost 17
years in the jungles of Africa. 100 splendid en
gravings; price 50 cents" (2s. sterling) . Various
newspapers turn up next "The Grumbler/
from Toronto "The Spiritual Telegraph,"
printed in New York, but edited in the nether
world "The Daily Hawk-Eye" "The Ca
tholic Herald and Visitor/ which visits me
dire fully with its wrath, out-poured upon a Pro
testant speech by "a Cockney maw-worm." Lots
of scraps from the "New York Herald," includ
ing a whole column of close print, containing
nothing, but these words (over and over again)
" Take it home ( Harper s Weekly, price five
cents." And this ( Harper s Weekly," when you
do take it home, you find has plenty of old pic
tures from the British Punch, not one acknow
ledged. A yellow envelope, enclosing a letter
from a black Church, addressed to me as a Re
verend Divine. A programme of the annual
public proceedings at Cambridge, Massachusetts;
YANKEE NOTIONS. 153
entitled " Harvard College Order of Perform
ances for Exhibition University Chapel be
ginning at eleven o clock The performers will
speak in the order of their names The music
will be performed by the Pierian Sodality;"
and, in the list of twenty-four " performers/
there are only three that have not each three
names.
Here is a pleasant scene in a court of justice :
" During the recent term of the District Court
in Lake Charles, a tragedy of some description
was confidently expected. Le Bleu had threatened
the Judge and several other persons; and, in con
sequence, they and their friends prepared them
selves for a desperate encounter. The court
room and the hotel, it is said, presented some
thing the appearance of badly arranged arsenals.
One morning, bright and early, Le Bleu rode
his mule into town, dismounted and proceeded
to the hotel, with a long dragoon pistol in each
hand, and a belt about his waist containing a
revolver and a knife. He was evidently bent on
mischief, but his enemies were on the watch, and
before he could set his foot on the porch, he was
saluted by a charge of buckshot from a gun in
the hands of Mr. Fox, whose wife he had stolen.
154 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
Three or four more shots were fired by other
persons, and Le Bleu fell dead with more than
fifty buckshot in different parts of his body.
Fox and two others were arrested as the persons
who did the shooting."
Next there is an account, in November 3, of
the anniversary of the Young Men s Christian
Association. u The fourth year of the active life
of the Young Men s Christian Association, was
celebrated last night, in Jayne s commodious
Hall, which was crowded to the superlative
jammed-up degree of density. The people came
as the waves come, when, etc., amiably elbowed
each other up stairs, and seethed sociably to
gether in the saloon. If Concert Hall had not
been packed from end to end, and the Musical
Fund Hall well populated, and the theatres and
minor shows in a state of cheerful repletion,
and if there had not been several individuals out
in the streets, and a few more in the houses at
home, it is probable that every body would have
been there. The assemblage probably numbered
five thousand souls, and from the stage had a
majestic mien. A gentle majesty, be it observed,
because of much millinery, and the roses and
sunshine of pretty-girls faces/
YANKEE NOTIONS. 155
Programme of the very latest Retigious Sect.
(It is a testimony to the acknowledged value of
real religion, that so many counterfeits all try
to ape the sterling coin.) " Locality, Monona
County, near the Missouri. Head, Charles
Thompson. Journal, the newspaper? Mystery,
1 the voice of Baneemy. Object, to sell land.
Progress, fifty to eight hundred members first
year" (December, 1858).
Notes of a Political Meeting, in Faneuil Hall,
Boston. " Everybody present but the educated
classes. Speakers eloquent in the abuse of the
government, and logical in proving bribery and
corruption, intimidation and peculation."
Sketch of a Hansom Cab, imported to Boston by
Capt. , of the Cunard Steamer C . It was
on the stand for months, but the worthy Briton
was the only man Avho dare get into it; for
everybody else was afraid till "the majority"
should ride therein. The cab was brought back
to England, and Boston still revels in its two-
horsed " expensives."
" Water-colour Drawings of Equality. Two
travellers at dinner; one without coat, other
without shoes; while a dapper darkie, with
156 OUR BROTHERS AND COUSINS.
both shoes and coat, fans the flies off with a
flapper.
Children of a banker and of a baker in a
common school, each in a nice little arm-chair,
and with a desk before him.
Such are some of the little, but not unim
portant, touches of the great picture that un
rolls, as a panorama, before the traveller every
day. And it is well to seize everything as it
passes, for the scene shifts swiftly. Even since
this volume was begun, the New York Crystal
Palace has been burned down, the City Hall
has been burned up, and the Quarantine has
been burned out. The walls of the State-
Arsenal at New York have burst open, and
the rocks of the nook under Niagara have closed
up. Is this progress, or only movement ? Is it
going ahead, or only spinning round?
THE END.
WERXa^IMEK AND CO., PRINTERS, FINSBCEY CIRCUS
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
2-month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books
to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days
prior to due date
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
JAN 251993
VB 36680
&^f^ffe^&^xff^^
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
In 8i o, boards, price Five Shillings.
THE LAW OF REFORMATORIES.
A Hand-book of the Reformatories in Great Britain
and Ireland. t v*
II.
In 8vo, boards, price Five Sk
LANGUAGE OF THE SPECI1 N OF
LETTERS PATENT FOR INVENTIONS.
A Treatise on that Department of Patent Law, which relates
to the framing of Specifications, and to the Decisions
concerning their Language, with
important Cases.
III. ; >
Price One Penny.
)PERY IN A.D. 1900.
IV.
The 20th Thousand, price One Penny.
GO OUT QUICKLY
INTO THE STREETS AND LANES OF THE CITY.
A Tract on Open-Air Preaching.
5^i*^^f^^s^H^^
ssssssv;
