Travels in America / by Theodore Dwight

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA

BY THEODORE DWIGHT,

EDITOR OF
"DWIGHT'S AMERICAN MAGAZINE."

GLASGOW:
PUBLISHED BY R. GRIFFIN & Co.

Mf>CCCXLVIII.

£

3

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Washington. Mount Vcrnon. .«•»;; i 15

CHAPTER II.

Washington. Advantages of small Capitals. Salutary Hints to Ambition.
Foreigner disappointed. More Reflections. Vines. Railroad. . 25

CHAPTER III.

Baltimore. Route to Philadelphia. Railroads. J i i 50

CHAPTER IV.
Philadelphia. » , . ; , ; « . . 31

CHAPTER V.
New York. Activity of Citizens. Merchants. Societies. Steamboats. 39

CHAPTER VI.

The Sea-shore. Long Branch. Bathing. Scenery. Shipwrecks. Forms
of Danger and Modes of Escape. • ••••« 46

CHAPTER VII.

New York. Books. The Apparatus of Literature. Conversations
with Booksellers on Public Taste, &c. A Friend returned from a Tour
to Europe. Foreign Feelings and Ignorance respecting America.
Varying aspects of the Streets of the Metropolis. Impressions from
observing them. ..»,.,,. ,55

CHAPTER VIII.

Jfew York continued, Foreign Residents and. Visitors, Foreiga Books, C8

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Fashions and old Fashions in Travelling. New York Harbour. Retreat
of Washington's Army from Long Island. The East River. Low State
of Agriculture caused by our defective Education. Hell Gate. Long
Island Sound 77

CHAPTER X.

New Haven. Literary aspect. Refined Society. Taste in Architecture.
Burying Ground. • Franklin Institute. Paintings of Trumbull. Ame
rican Taste. Learning. 89

CHAPTER XL

A Connecticut Clergyman's Family. Wood-hauling. Middletown. 108

' CfHAPTER XII.

Hartford. Charter Hill, the Seat of the Willis family. Public Institu
tions. Society. Antiquities. . , . . . » .119

CHAPTER XIII.

Narrative of a Visit to the Springs in the last Century. Newspapers. 128

CHAPTER XIV.

Music. New England Villages contrasted with Italy on this subject. A
Traveller in search of Health. Burying-grounds. , Rural Celebration
of Independence at ^Northampton. Amhefst A'&demies of Massachu
setts. Exhibition. 139

CHAPTER XV.

Female character. A Connecticut School. Scenery on Connecticut River.
Deerfield. Turner's Falls. Early State of the Country . . 149

CHAPTER XVI.

Copies of ancient Letters, illustrating something of the State of Things
in this Part of the Country early in the last Century. . . 158

CHAPTER XVII.

Erroneous Opinions of Foreigners of our Society— A great Political

Character— .Sabbath School 165

/ ••»#•»>

CHAPTER XVIII.

Approach to the White Hills. Bath. Reflections on Society. The Wild
Ammonoosuc. Breton Woods. Crawford's, Scenery. .« . 174

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER XIX.

4 I • »

Excursion to Mount Washington. Walk through the Forest. The
Camp. Ascent of the Mountain. View from the Summit. The
Notch. Old Crawford's. Bartlet 184

CHAPTER XX.

Boston. Environs. Literary Institutions. Mouft Auburn. Remarks
on our Intellectual Machinery 195

CHAPTER XXI.

Nahant. Plymouth. Principles of the Pilgrims. Their institutions.
Excuse for not hnowiag m«re. Lyceums, f . 202

CHAPTER XXII.

New York. Hotels. Sculpture. South America. Dr. Sweet. Foreign
Inveations 21*

CHAPTER XXIII.

A new Corner of the World. Recollections of the Cholera . . 226

CHAPTER XXIV.

Fashionable Education. Hudson River. The Power of Fancy. Cat-
skill Mountains. Thunder-storms. Rainbows. Morning Scene. 255

CHAPTER XXY.

Method and Effects of labour-saving in teaching Latin. A Frontiersman.
Early History. Conversations on Health and Dress. . . . 244

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Privileges of American Citizens in Trial by Jury. Battle Ground of
Saratoga. Former State of Ballston Springs. Leisure Time. The
Beauties of the German Language. A Foreign Spirit in America. Value
of our own Tongue . 253

CHAPTER XXVII.

Thoughts on Foreign Travel. Dr. Sweet, the natural Bone-setter, Re
tiring Travellers .267

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Evil Effects of a Pagan Education in a Christian Laud. Improvements in
Temperance, Sources of intemperate Habits in our Country. Proper

Xii CONTENTS.

Estimation of Foreign Travel. Our own Moral and Physical Resources.
Negligence of good Men in making Travels at home Pleasing and Use-
ful. A Card-party in a Steamboat. ,«.«»• 278

CHAPTER XXIX.

Whitehall. Story of Sergeant Tom, a Creature of the Revolution. Lake
George. Charming Scenery and Interesting Historical Associations.
Ticonderago. A Revolutionary Tradition. A Oracle of Philology.
Crown Point. ,.«...••• 289

CHAPTER XXX.

Feelings on entering Canada. State of Society. Emigrants. Scenery,
&c. on the St. Lawrence. Architecture. Wilful Errors on Education
in Convents 297

CHAPTER XXXI.

Different Travellers have different Eyes. The Polish Exiles. Regrets
on tUe Necessity, of closing, « Tom SlowstwterV' Farewell. « 303

NOTES OF A TRAVELLER,

CHAPTER I.

Washington— Mount Vernon.

WHOEVER visits Washington for the first time during the
session of Congress has much to observe. It is his own
fault if he does not find some one who will give him in
formation, or help him to amusement among the variety
of objects and characters around him. There are always

Hers hanging on some petition, who have news to tell.

he representatives and senators from his state will be
glad to see him as their countryman, and feel an obliga
tion to render him some of those attentions which he
might expect from the consul of his nation in a foreign
port. Let him be careful, however, not to look for more
than is reasonable, for business is very pressing upon a
large part of the members, and calls of this kind are fre
quent. Members have their trials like other men ; and if
they grow inattentive, or even show a disposition to get
rid of you, forgive them. Many a speech is made in the
House and Senate to thin, restless, coughing, and whis
pering audiences; and talents which have transported
their possessor five hundred or a thousand miles to a seat

14 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

in the government, now, by a strange reaction, will some
times send fifty or a hundred out of the house. Events
multiply daily in a country like this ; and time goes on in
spite of every thing, though it please only a very small
minority at best ; and although commonly nobody can be
found who is satisfied in every thing. In the main, the
members are about as civil to persons indifferent to them,
as other people are whose interest it is on the whole
rather to please than to displease ; and will meet you in
the rotunda of the capitol by appointment ; introduce you
into the library of Congress : tell what senator is looking
out of the middle window, or what distinguished repre
sentative is turning over Audubon's Ornithology ; point
to the President's house, the departments, the patent-
office, and the top of the dome, as objects worthy of a
visit ; and then entering their chamber, introduce you to
a lew loungers near their own seats, yawning at the
thoughts of another stupid day, or nervous and feverish
with anxiety about the country or themselves. If it be
gloomy weather, late in the session, you feel as if you
were in a prison, for the people seem as dissatisfied as.
convicts. One is lost in thought about something in-
visible, another blushes over some newspaper which has
attacked him, a third hurries to hear whether you have
brought any news, and all are either hoping or despairing
about soon obtaining their release.

The broad staircase on the east side of the capitol, by
which you wearily mount from the level of the yard to the
floor of the houses, the rotunda, &c., is a deformity, in
terfering exceedingly with the architectural beauty of the
front. It is unprecedented in Europe, so far as I have
seen, unless the capitol of Rome should be claimed as an
example, which cannot with propriety be done. The
" stairs which lead to the capitol" of that metropolis are

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ ]5

made merely to mount the hill, and do not cover a large
part of the edifice.

I was much pleased with the morning scene from the
terrace, and still more with that from the top of the ca-
pitol. The view would be splendid indeed if the city
were of the size originally expected, or even if the sur
rounding country were well cultivated. I could not
however, spend much time in the city, without first visit
ing Mount Vernon. The very name of that place had
long been dear to me. The sound always seemed sweet
and solemn to my ears. I have had a peculiar feeling
for it ever since the day when my father came home
with a badge of mourning upon his arm, and, said with
a tear in his eye, that General Washington was dead.
In the sadness of our house that day I participated as a
child, with but few ideas beyond these, that a man, loved
and venerated by my father above all others, had left
the world, and that such excellence as I could never
hope to see was gone for ever. And where did he die ?
At Mount Vernon. So sweet a name, associated with
'ich feelings in the mind of a stripling, I had always
heard with emotion; and it was with a degree of
solemnity that it occurred to me at Washington, that I
was now in the vicinity of the place.

Not falling in company with any persons of congenial
feelings who wished to visit the spot, I determined to
proceed thither alone ; and mounting a horse, set off one
fine morning on that most interesting pilgrimage. A
great part of the low level land which extends south
from Capitol Hill to Greenleaf's Point, where the East
Branch joins the Potomac, is entirely unenclosed and un
cultivated, with the exception of a field here and there.
I passed a spot, however, which makes the strongest
contrast with the general waste appearance of this ex*

16 TRAYBLS IN AMERICA?

tensive tract, and indeed with most of the soil in the
vicinity of Washington. There four acres have been en
closed, manured, and cultivated with care; and now
supply the market of the metropolis with a large share of
its vegetables, yielding to the proprietor a valuable in
come. What a lamentable picture is presented by a
country like this, worn out by exhausting crops, and
abandoned years ago to sterility and solitude ! The road
to Baltimore lies through a similar region ; and my whole
ride to Mount Vernon offered only the sad variety of a
few plantations, where the same debilitating process ap
peared to have been not quite completed. The few crops
I saw seemed to say that they were destined to be the
last on those extensive fields ; and the scattered habita
tions of planters and slaves looked as if ready to be de
serted, and soon to resemble the ruins seen on former
sites, long since abandoned. The people are the first I
ever saw who have not energy enough to pull down their
old houses.

Shrub oaks and other stunted trees have sprung up on
the deserted fields, and show how slow is nature to re
cover the springs of vegetable life when they have once
been cut off. Among these I often paused to contem
plate the grand aspect of the capitol from a distance,
which is visible from a thousand points around. The
enormous tolls paid on the road to Alexandria show the
inconveniences arising to travellers out of the thin popu
lation. Roads and bridges are erected at greater ex
pense, and contributions for their support are divided
among a few instead of multitudes. The reconstruction
of the long bridge over the Potomac, as I ought to have
mentioned, has been undertaken : but it seems to me a
discouraging task, especially since the steamboats carry

IBAVfiLS IN AMERICA,' 17

BO large a part of the travellers on the route to Alex
andria.

Alexandria is a large town, with spacious stores near
the water, and in the upper part several streets of hand
some and even elegant houses. The view of the city and
its environs, from an eminence beyond it, was such as
to show its extent and principal edifices, yet not to ex
hibit any thing of its harbour or the general plan of the
streets. After this I had nothing like an extensive or a
pleasing view during the rest of my ride, as the season
was not far enough advanced to give the woods all their
beauty, the late rains had rendered the road very wet,
and the habitations of men were few and poor.

At length I entered the Mount Vernon estate; and
there was some feeling excited by the thought of the ca
valcades and personages that had passed through the
same gate. I was also reminded of visits I had made to
Boman villas, and the deserted avenues to ancient cities ;
and my impressions were in some respects similar, though
in others very different from any thing I had ever ex
perienced before. The solitude was as profound as that
of any deserted region of Italy ; the habitations of men,
at many parts of the road, seemed as distant ; and nature
appeared almost as much left to herself. But who can
describe the difference between the character of Wash
ington and that of the ancient warriors, whose memory
we associate with the scenes they visited ? Though our
education teaches us far too much to admire them, plain
sense as well as Christianity leads us to despise their
motives and to condemn their actions. When will our
children be trained up to a clear conception and a just
estimate of the character of Washington, in whose heart
alone was more real greatness than in all heathen an
tiquity? His principles and conduct, enforced by the in-

18 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

junctions of the Scriptures, what influence might they not
exert upon the minds and hearts of American youth !

The rear of the family mansion appears two or three
times through the openings in the foliage, before the vi
sitor reaches it ; and although it is venerable, it shows, on
a nearer approach, evident marks of decay. I passed the
dwellings of the negroes, where an old family servant
offered his services as guide, and dismounting, hastened
on to get rid of the groups which assembled around me.
Two ranges of out-buildings, now partly disused, run
back from the ends of the mansion and form a court, — in
which what messengers have hitherto reined up, what
guests have alighted ! The plain piazza in front, with
the fine sloping and partly-shaded lawn, descending to
the brow of the precipice over the Potomac, the clumps
of old trees, the broad and winding river below, all ap
pear much as they have been represented for half a cen
tury on so many sorts of landscape furniture with which
we have been familiar.

The remains of the father of his country have been re
moved within a few months from the old family-vault,
on the brow of the precipice, to a spot near the corner of
the vineyard enclosure, where the river is concealed from
view, but which was selected by him during life. A hasty
sketch may give better ideas of its appearance than any
description. I dismissed my guide, that I might indulge
alone in the feelings which had been rising in my heart as
I approached the spot I had so long regarded with reve
rence; and however difficult it might be to trace their
source or to define their nature, I am sure that I have spent
but few half hours in meditations more sweet, and yet
more bitter. They need not be detailed. Whoever loves
virtue and his country, and has done any thing less than
his duty, or whoever feels like a son of Washington, how-

TBA.VELS IN AMERICA. 19

ever humble he maybe, and apprehends how much reason
there is to mourn over the loss of his spirit and his prin
ciples, may well conceive them if he will imagine himself
placed alone in a solitary spot near the ashes of the dead.
At the same time, to a man of an opposite character, any
description will of course be lost. I regretted here the
want of some truly appropriate national music, when I
found myself breathing a very soft and plaintive Scotch
lament. Of all the poetry I have seen written at Mount
Vernon, none strikes my ear with so much simplicity and
sweetness, mingled with so much elevation, as the lines
of Brainerd.

There is something much more congenial to my mind
in the simple and indeed humble depository of the ashes
oi Washington than in the most splendid monuments of
Italy, or even of Egypt. Where there is no attempt made
to captivate the eye, the mind is left at perfect freedom,
to form her own conceptions ; and it is no disrespect to
the greatest artist to say, that a refined and virtuous
fancy may transcend in its conceptions the work of any
human hands. I have no objection to the erection of mo
numents to Washington ; nay, I hope the day may come
when every city, town, and village in the Union may pos
sess one of some sort, constructed in the purest taste : but
I feel that any fabric of art in this place would be only
an impediment to the mind, which, if left to itself, will
create the noblest conceptions out of nothing.

Surely enough is not made of the memory of Washing
ton in our country, when we reflect what has been and
now is the influence of his name in the world. His great
example of disinterestedness has done more for the hu
man race than we can possibly ascertain ; and is likely to
produce still greater effects. His birth-day should be
observed by our children as a day of becoming joy ; and

20 TRAVELS IN AMERICA*'

our schools should pour out their young inhabitants to
hear his virtues recounted, and to sing songs in his praise.

I returned from Alexandria to Washington in the steam
boat. There were several Virginians on board, of different
classes and characters, who engaged in conversation on
slavery. This subject, which was long regarded as a
prohibited one, and by general consent excluded from
conversation in all societies, has become the most general
topic throughout the state, as is well known, since the
legislature have taken it up as a serious business of deli
beration. Virginia has long suffered under this incubus ;
and from a mere love of that inaction which its oppressive
weight has produced, has allowed it, like a vampire, to
overshadow her eyes, and to suck her blood. Nothing but
a severe shock can ever effectually arouse men from such
a lethargy. " A little more sleep, a little more slumber,"
is a tune marked " Decapo ad libitum," and. is generally sung1
over and over for life. Nothing can interrupt it but a louder
note on some different key. The cracking of the foundation
of one's house, however, a rattling among the clap
boards and shingles, and an insuppressible scream of hun
ger from within, are serious sounds; and it is no wonder
that men begin to look about and talk when things get
to such a pass. The further they examine, the more they
perceive that time and the elements are poor masons,
carpenters, and providers; and that Hercules never works
for a man who keeps his hands in his pockets.

My Virginia fellow-passengers seemed to me like boys
about to sign (heir indentures to a new trade, or seamen
inspecting a ship which they are invited to man for a
voyage. They had many ejections to make against the
plan, principles, and arrangements proposed, but the
reasons of their reluctance all seemed to be compre
hended in one word,— it looked too much like hard work,

'JTBAVEIS IN AMERICA, 21

Things were in a strange state in Virginia two years ago,
when nobody felt able to speak of the most obvious facts,
though they were the causes of general suffering and of
private discontent. Now they have gotupon the opposite
extreme, and there is danger only of talking too much.
They have as yet no distinct, feasable plan proposed ; and
the question appears to turn on a general hinge : a change
or no change? A change v they wish; but then the first
thought is, who shall do the work ? The apprehension
of being obliged to labour seemed to keep my fellow-
passengers at arm's length from the point. It drove them
back to the statu quo, but as this affords no resting-place,
they came jumping back again, as on a recoiling spring,
to the necessity of a change.

My friends, the hardship of work is not so great as
you suppose. Give up this notion; it has almost ruined
you, and will ruin you totally if you hug it a little
longer. How do we do at the North ? How do they do
at the West ? The spade and plough are not instruments
of torture : their rough handles have the same drug se
creted in them which was concealed in the racket of the
Persian physician, and which with exercise exhaled its
essence and restored the health of the monarch. Its
influence also extends to the intellectual and moral
man. Suppose you had made an experiment in one of
your spacious and fertile counties thirty years ago, led
your sons to the field, and trained them to the labours
which consolidate and invigorate the frame. These la
bours, at the same time, foster a taste for harmless, cheap,
and natural enjoyments. How would your fields have
looked ? What would have been their products under
such improved systems as you and your sons might have
introduced ? I fancy I see the little neighbourhoods
2 B

22 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

which would have been formed, many a field now waste
smiling with verdure, books and schools multiplied,
manufactories built on the streams, good roads stretch
ing hither and thither, happiness secured by intelli
gence, virtue and prosperity. Your eyes are restless,
your brows are clouded. There is nothing more likely
to remove such symptoms than the sight of our land well
tilled by our own hands, the sounds of peace and joy in
our habitations ; and what idle man ever knew them?

It has been bitterly complained of in Virginia that
useful labour is despised ; and no doubt the statesmen
who would gain true honour should take Cincinnatus for
their model. A most intelligent and independent step
has taken by one of the literary institutions of the state,
the results of which must be useful. Manual labour has
been connected with study at Hampden Sidney College ;
and although the opposition to it was at first very general
and powerful, a remarkable change in the opinion of the
wise and good has already commenced; and no one who
looks at the state of things can doubt that this is one of
the most wise and promising steps which could have been
taken to repair the wastes of generations, and to remould
the habits and condition of the people.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? 23

CHAPTER II.

Washington. Advantages of small Capitals. Salutary Hints to Ambition,
Foreigner disappointed. More Reflections. Vines. Railroad.

I NEVER visit Washington without being reminded of the
miscalculations which were made by some of our wisest
men, in relation to the growth of the city in population
and importance. The magnificence of the plan is evident
to every eye, and so is the total want of power to com
plete it. Broad avenues, named after the states, stretch
indeed from the centre towards various points ; but some
of them are impassable, and others lead to nothing worth
seeing. Unlike the great roads which met in the Roman
forum in the days of Roman greatness, they are more like
some of them at the present day, which conduct only to
a deserted and sterile region in the vicinity. Still there is
one gratification to be derived from the public disappoint
ment in relation to the growth of the federal city : the
intrigues of a court are more exposed to view than they
could be in a large metropolis ; and the shades of a great
population are not extended over them for their conceal
ment. In European capitals, public men are much less
exposed to public scrutiny ; and great facilities are en
joyed for all sorts of intrigues. Besides, every thing
connected with the grandeur and brilliancy of power
loses much of its importance in Washington, because so
much of the interior of things is exposed to view. In
this city visitors and inhabitants are alike impressed with
what they see. Every year presents many new faces in
the Houses of Congress, where new interests are main-

24 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,'

tained with the same ardour as before. When you call
on a friend, you are perhaps introduced into the same
chamber you were in the last winter, with the same two
beds in the corners, the same display of gilt-edged paper
and sealing-wax upon the table, and the same symptoms
around you of public business and partisan- spirit, while
you reflect that the former occupant of the room and of
one of the beds, restored again to private life, is five hun
dred or a thousand miles off, divested of his feathers, and
a fortunate man if not the worse for his campaign at the
seat of government.

In the streets of Washington no warning seems omit
ted from which a spectator might learn patriotism, and a
statesman honesty. The stage-horses wheel as grace
fully to receive the unsuccessful applicant for office as to
bring the court-favourite to his lodgings ; and the minis
ter's furniture shines as bright at the auctioneer's door
on the day of his taking leave as it did on the evening of
his first drawing-room. Oh the silent lessons I have read
at the auctioneer's on ambition and her reward, the
boasted purity of a popular government, the value and
splendour of real virtue, and the contemptible character
of her counterfeits ! Indeed, so severe are some of the
sarcasms thus practically presented, that I was once
ready to exclaim against the punishment inflicted on a
late favourite of fortune, then newly sunk in disgrace, as
greater than he could bear.

The carpets on which his flatterers had stood, with
smiles and compliments for him, were now cheapened on
account of the dust of courtiers' feet, and the peculiar
obsequiousness with which the surface had been scraped
at audiences and levees. But, ah ! the bowls and dishes,
the cups and glasses out of which so many simpering
mouths had been BO lately fed, and now scarcely dry from

TRAVELS IN AMERICA* 25

the unavailing banquets : what emblems were they of the
hollowness arid brittleness of the station they had re
cently embellished ! The minion had before possessed
my secret contempt and abhorrence ; but I could now
have saved him the pangs of such a show. And yet such
things are salutary. If they are able to affect others as
they affected me, a walk through Pennsylvania Avenue
might cure the most ambitious and corrupt of statesmen
and courtiers.

Some of the inhabitants of Washington have had intel
ligence and observation enough to afford much interesting
information in relation to public men and national affairs.
What we receive through the newspapers, or other chan
nels little more correct, passes under their own eyes. And
indeed, perhaps, no part of the country is left so much
alone to form unbiassed opinions. While speeches are
made in Congress, written out, amended, and published
by thousands to influence some county, state, or number
of states, nobody tries to discover things to the Washing-
tonians, knowing that it would be in vain. Every thing
is therefore left to be seen by them without disguise ; and
the consequence is, they often form correct opinions, and
speak with becoming frankness. It is gratifying also to
reflect, that local interests and influences are not likely
to engross and control the attention of the government in
so great a degree as they have often done in large cities ;
and there is no mob to overawe or even to threaten their
freedom.

To an American who has seen any of the capitals of
Europe, the absence of military display is one of the
most agreeable features in view, wherever he turns. —
There is not a soldier to guard gates or doors in W^ash-
ington, with the single exception of those at the navy-
yard, a mile or more from the capitol. The total want

26 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

of every sign of military preparation is also very ac
cordant with one's feelings. After the last war with
England, a felon imprisoned for some crime confessed, as
I recollect, that during his career of iniquity he had en
tered into a conspiracy to seize President Madison, and
deliver him to the British ships then lying in the Po
tomac, while he was a sentinel to guard the President's
house. As there was not even a wall of sufficient height
to prevent an approach to the doors, and no other ob
stacle, such a plan might have been easily accomplished,
I suppose, under favourable circumstances, by mere sur
prise. Though danger was thus in one instance incurred
by the neglect to take military precautions, how much
better it is than to have the display of paid soldiers at
every turn, and to become familiar with the music and
the weapons of death! From some acquaintance with
the feelings and habits of foreigners, I can say with
great confidence, that probably a large proportion of the
intelligent men of Europe would learn with surprise
that there is not a soldier on guard in the capital of the
United States, even during the sessions of Congress, al
though the familiar fact excites not a thought in our
minds.

I have heard a good deal said about schools of elo
quence, the rhetorical talents of certain portions of the
country, and native genius ; but I found true in Wash
ington what I believed in the French Chambers and the
British Houses of Lords and Commons ; that many men
who suppose themselves great orators are deficient in
some or all of the indispensable qualifications ; and that
not a few real orators are unsuspicious of their talents,
or unconscious of what they consist in. With our early
training at school and college, we are very apt to
suppose that fine language must approach the Latin

1-RAVELS IN AMERICA? 27

stardard, either in words or arrangement ; and after we
have lived long enough to correct this mistake, we are
some time in settling the great fret, that eloquence* can
never consist in useless words. Yet nothing is more
true : and although we often find high encomiums passed
by the newspapers on particular speeches, could we have
witnessed their delivery, we should generally have found
them falling blunt and dead upon the closed ears of a
thin and sleepy audience.

With abundant materials for thought, I took my seat
in a stage-coach for Baltimore, and revived many a re
collection of strolls through European palaces and pri
sons, and events in the history of courts. Washington,
thought I, is a metropolis of nuisances, a capital of
intrigues, and ever must be. But yet how different it is,
in some respects, from the seat of an European court !
The profession of a courtier requires a long apprentice
ship, which it is almost impossible to obtain in this
country, among the frequent changes to which our
system subjects us. Though the growth of bad men
may be rapid, their career must generally be short. But
what results might not be produced, if such characters
as may be conceived, were allowed to prosecute their
operations for ten, twenty, or thirty years, without fear
of interruption, and under the shelter of an unchanging
dynasty ? Who would ever think of studying diplomacy
in the United States, as it is regularly studied in some
European countries ? So preposterous a thing would be
undertaken only by a madman. On the other side of the
Atlantic, a man well trained in the forms of international
business may expect to be gratified with the substantial
rewards awaiting its performance : but here, selections
of ministers, secretaries, &c., may be next year on
grounds which cannot now be conjectured : and as for

IN AMERICA:

five or ten years hence, no one pretends to foresee who
may he in a foreign embassy, or why. The only offices
in Washington which can be looked on as permanent,
are a few clerkships in the departments, and the keepers
of certain hotels ; the very stage-horses must stare at
the new faces they annually behold among the legisla
tors, and wonder why there are so frequent changes in
that line.

Benefit may be derived by some men from spending a
winter at Washington. — They extend their acquaintance
with men and things, return with new impressions con
cerning distant states, more enlarged views of national
interests and principles, and attachments contracted with
estimable friends from different districts. When ques
tions arise which awaken a spirit of division among re
presentatives from different parts of the Union, they see
whence those feelings arise, observe their tendency, re
flect on the danger, and devise measures for their preven
tion or removal. At the same time they raise in the opi
nion of others an estimation of the states which they
worthily represent, and excite in their minds such reflec
tions and feelings as they themselves experience. If they
have any intercourse with men of a less sincere, or of a
really vicious character, their admiration of patriotism
and virtue is increased ; and if they converse with intel
ligent foreigners, they learn how highly our country is
regarded in Europe by one class, and how it is disliked
by others.

There was an elegant young Frenchman in the stage
coach, who had arrived in Washington only the day be
fore, but had become so much ennuye, as he declared, at
the sight of the city, that he had hurried away from it,
intending never to return. Now, why was he disap
pointed ? Washington certainly must be a very different

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 29

city from what he had expected to find it. The seat of
government, as such alone it appears, had not attracted
him; for Congress, the Supreme Court, the President,
and all the machinery and accompaniments of it were
there to be seen, but these he had not visited. He had
missed the crowds and frivolities of Paris, — I will not
say the vices, — and see how much we gain in having our
capital in so great a degree as it is, divested of these. In
Europe, courts corrupt capitals, and capitals courts and
kingdoms.

Mr. Adlum has his vineyard near Baltimore, where he
has had great success in raising grapes, and even in the
making of wine. How unaccountable it seems, that
with all the sagacity of our countrymen, the abundance
of indigenous vines, and the ease with which they, as
well as some foreign species may be cultivated, this
branch of culture should have been so little attended to.
The fruit is highly esteemed by us, vast quantities of
wine are imported, and abundance of miserable and per
nicious drinks is used by persons who might be more
cheaply or healthfully furnished with wholesome weak
wine, were the proper course pursued to make it. The
vine is probably more generally found in our different
states, and more indifferent to the varieties of soil, than
any other plant we have. The treatment and culture of
it are also remarkably cheap. A vineyard of twenty
acres may be tended by two men employed only a part
of the year ; and the value of the harvest will be great
after the second year. At the same time, the soil best
adapted to the vine is sandy and pebbly, such as is to a
great extent now lying waste in the United States, as of
little or no value.

Many vines are seen in different parts of the country,
chiefly trained for ornament and shade, but how few per-

30 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

sons there are who attend to the pruning or clipping of
them at the proper season ; operations which are indis
pensable to the production of a good crop, and the neg
lect of which, for a single season in Europe, would
cause an immense loss.

There are several fine sights presented on that part of
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad which lies along the
Washington road for three or four miles before we reach
the former city. In one place it passes a broad and deep
valley at the top of a great embankment, while a stream
and a country-road cross its route through arched open
ings far beneath. It is travelled to the " Point of Rocks,"
on the Potomac. The scenery to Fredericktown, 60
miles, is constantly varying, and often wild and romantic.
Ellicott's Mills may be compared with Little Falls on the
Erie Canal.

CHAPTER III.

Baltimore. Route to Philadelphia. Railroads.

BALTIMORE has much the appearance of prosperity and
enterprise, in proportion to its size, as perhaps any city
in America. The broad and straight streets are lined
with large stores and dwellings, some of which rival in
taste the best in the country, and are thronged with well-
dressed and busy people. The mountains, rising high in
the air from the open squares, give an imposing effect ;
while the shipping in the river and harbour, and the noble
railroads extending towards Susquehanna and the Ohio,
with which it is designed to open a direct communica
tion, indicate that the inhabitants have the intelligence

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 31

and the ability to accomplish great things, to promote
that commerce which is the main-spring of the city. The
number of stage-coaches which arrive aad depart is truly
astonishing. Scarcely a quarter of an hour passed, when
I was so situated at the Indian Queen as to observe the
street, without the alighting of travellers or the strapping
on of more baggage ; and frequently several stage-coaches
stood at once before the door. The travelling by steam
boats and railroads is also very great ; so that when na
vigation is open and Congress is in session., the place is
one of our greatest thoroughfares. The multitudes coming
from the West impress one with the rapid increase of
population in those flourishing regions.

Baltimore has few monuments to public intelligence
worthy of the name. There are few objects which I have
seen, that convey the idea, so gratifying to a stranger and
so honourable to the citizens, that in this place know
ledge is duly appreciated, and useful learning is shared by
all classes. I speak of monuments as the Europeans use
the word : that is, as public edifices.

The University can scarcely be said to exist in any
branch but the medical department, which has above one
hundred students. The Athenseum has 42,000 volumes in
its library. Public education is improving rapidly. Four
fine schoolhouses have been recently erected. No. 4, in
Hanover-street, is a beautiful specimen of architecture,
being constructed of whitish granite, with a tasteful
fagade. These buildings are much more ornamental than
the public schools of New-York. May the interior" prove
but as useful, and Baltimore will have abundant reason
to value her new acquisitions.

There are persons in every considerable community
among us, whose real pecuniary interest would be con
sulted by the cultivation of knowledge ; and from these

32 TRAVELS IN AMERICA:

some exertions might be expected, at least, on the ground
of sound mercantile speculation. Although I would wish
to see loftier motives than this brought into operation on
such a subject, my chief desire is that the important bene
fits may be at any rate enjoyed. Teachers and book
sellers are directly interested in the case ; and one would
suppose that men of real literary or scientific attainments
would wish to have their merits judged of by an en
lightened public, or seek to cultivate knowledge among
those around them, that they might enjoy the pleasure of
participating. One would think, too, that as public
peace and private security can be enjoyed only amid good
order, intelligence, and morality, every individual would
feel the elevation of public intelligence to be a matter of
personal interest, and lend his voice and countenance, if
not his purse, to its aid. And as our females are gener
ally more dependant than men upon the state of society
around them, and not less capable of appreciating the
value of intellectual refinement, they should be ready on
every occasion to throw their powerful influence into the
scale in its favour. Strange it is, that amid a population
of such extent, with so much prosperity and wealth, with
such noble works for internal communication as are in
progress, in possession of every facility, and so near the
capital of the country, there should be any delay to adopt
measures to render this city as much distinguished for in
telligence as for commercial enterprise. One half the in
genuity and money bestowed upon a single structure,
might lay the foundation of a far more necessary monu
ment than that commemorating a battle.

There is but little to interest the traveller in the steam
boat from Baltimore to Frenchtown. The soil on both
is poor, and large tracts have been impoverished by
exhausting crops in years past, and consequently neglect-

TRAVELS IN AMEKICA? S3

ed and almost deserted. Not a building nor a wall, or
scarcely a tree shows signs of even local or individval
prosperity; and there is nothing which approaches
nearer to what may be called scenery, than rough banks
and some bare hills of moderate size. In some places,
at a distance in the interior, is excellent land ; but all
we see hereabouts justifies the remonstrances made in
the legislature of Maryland against the continuance of
the present state of things with regard to slavery, on
account of its ruinous influence on agriculture. How
desirable it is that the necessary energy should be dis
played on such a waste territory, and that it should be
recovered to fertility and usefulness.

One of those scenes I once witnessed here, to which
we are more exposed in steamboats than we are gener
ally aware. An insane man, who was a passenger, rose
in the dead of night, and waked us from sleep in the
darkness, with some of the most shocking screams I ever
heard. Some half dozen men were roused at the same
time with blows which he gave them at a venture ;
and to judge from such information as was to be
obtained, an angry scuffle ensued between them, each
erroneously supposing his neighbours the aggressors. A
light brought about such an explanation as caused a
cessation of hostilities ; but it was long before the cause
of the confusion was discovered, and still longer before
the wily maniac was confined and silenced. We are
always exposed to a panic whenever the cabin is left at
night without a light ; and why serious accidents do not
often occur, I cannot tell.

One of the happiest effects of travelling on railroads is
the freedom it gives you from the impertinence and imposi
tions of porters, cartmen, et omne id genus, who infest
common steamboat landings, A long and solitary row

34: TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

of carriages was standing on the shore awaiting our ar
rival ; not a shout was heard, scarcely anything was
seen to move except the locomotive, and the arms of the
man who caught the rope thrown from our boat. The
passengers were filed off along a planked walk of car
riages through one gangway, while their luggage, which
had already been stowed safely away, was rolled on
shore by another, in two light waggons; and almost
without speaking a word, the seats were occupied,
the waggons attached behind, the half-locomotive be
gan to snort, and the whole retinue was on the way
with as little ado and as little loss of time as I have
have been guilty of in telling the story. The men and
boys who should, or rather would have been on the spot,
hallooing and bawling, but for the railroad, it is to be
hoped were somewhere in better business. I wish them
nothing worse, while I wish travellers nothing better
than to be thus rid of them — whenever they can as well
do without them.

I had one very pleasant reflection to make upon the
route of this railroad, viz., that it had not injured a
single valuable farm, or crossed a spot of good soil.

What is to come on the back of railroads I do not
know, or how long it will be before they are to be in
their turn superseded by some more economical or rapid
expedient, as they have superseded canals. When the
great canal was cut across this very cape a few years
since, competition was as little apprehended, even in the
transportation of passengers, as it is now on this road.
And in a country where we are as ready to act on a new
suggestion, and to push anew experiment to the utmost,
as we are to embrace a new opinion, who can tell what
new plans, what new enquiries are before us ?

Steamboats, canals, and railroads, in their different

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 35

spheres, have done so much to promote brotherly love
among our countrymen, and promise so much more, that
I look upon them with a kind of affectionate gratitude.
We formerly thought that the vast extent of our territory
would preclude that intimate intercourse^between distant
parts which is necessary to unity of feeling ; and that the
want of a sense of mutual dependence would foster mu
tual estrangement ; but these improvements have eaten
up miles and degrees of space, levelled mountains, con
tracted plains, dried up rivers, and drank up half the
water on our coasts. They have, as it were, made a
present of a good pair of seven-league boots to every son
and daughter of the United States. And what gadding
on a large scale is now performed ! What long jumps do
we annually make from home to our neighbours of Maine,
Michigan, Kentucky, and Louisiana! It has been said
of some of our countrymen that they have no home : but
it might be more truly said of them all, that they have
half a dozen, the stage-coach, the canal-boat, the steam
boat, the packet-ship, the inn, and now the railroad-car.
The vehicles for travelling thus furnish us with a practical
refutation of all the prognostics that have been proclaimed
of evil to our country, from want of intercourse between
its different parts, founded on the experience of other na
tions; for they have made us to differ from them in this
most essential particular.

On reaching Newcastle, the cars stop near the steam
boat, the passengers alight upon a wooden stage, aad are
soon safely embarked, while their luggage is dexterously
rolled in upon the forward deck. Cars laden with mer
chandise may be driven into a large store-house, to be
protected in stormy weather or at night, and fifty of them
may be housed as comfortably and with as little cere
mony as an old milch cow in. a farmer's barn*

:^6 tRAVfits m AMERICA;

Many pleasant little spots of cultivated land are seea
along the Delaware, chiefly on the Pennsylvania side ;
and on either hand are numerous patches rescued from
the river by stone walls and banks of earth, which ex
clude the water when it rises, and preserve the crops
from overflow. Few travellers know the pleasant scenes
which are found a little in the interior, as no great route
passes through them; and many of the inhabitants, being
almost cut off from intercourse with the world, are little
affected by the exciting influences of the day, so irresisti
ble to those who are exposed to them. This is particu
larly true of a portion of New Jersey, not far remote. —
What a bitter enemy to human improvement is a pine
barren ! It is the best emblem we can show of a real
European legitimate. It keeps the people on the borders
of starvation, so that let the thirst of the mind for know
ledge be never so great, it is always exceeded by the fa
mine of the stomach. It separates men as far asunder
as possible, and thus the fire of knowledge, like scattered
brands, can never kindle into a blaze. How these obsta
cles are to be overcome, by what means we can hope to
triumph over poverty and distance in intellectual, as we
can in physical respects, is yet to be determined. Certain
it is that this is a question of great importance ; and the
success we have had in improvements of less consequence
should stimulate our exertions in this.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

CHAPTER IV.

Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA has beauties and excellences of its own*
None of our other cities has so fine a kitchen-garden as
Southwark, or displays so much of the beauty of utility
and uniformity in its streets. In justice, however, I must
allow that no suburbs can be more forbidding, and no in
troduction to a large town less promising, than the ac
cess by some of the great routes. I hope the boasted
literary character of the citizens is not more apparent
than real. Whether it be so or not, I sincerely wish
them ten-fold of this commendable quality, which they
value enough at least to claim the credit of it. We need
not wish to institute exact comparisons between the in
tellectual merits of any of our cities, lest the aggregate
should reflect upon the country. It were much better to
labour zealously by combined exertions to increase the
whole stock.

Why Philadelphia should not be the Athens of America,
I am sure I cannot tell, nor what should prevent Balti
more, Boston, or New York. The people have all the
means within their reach. We are in the habit of attri
buting considerable literary honour to some of the cities
of Europe, the inhabitants of which are bound on every
hand by restrictions which greatly impede them ; while
we, insensible of our advantages, so superior in many
respects, indolently sigh for the time when learning will
take up its abode among us. It probably is in the power
of individuals of intelligence, virtue, and influence,, now
c

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

living, by only coming out as the decided champions of
knowledge, to effect a speedy and total change of things
in the United States. But timidity on one side, old ha
bits on another, and business all around, hem in and
shoot down all the hopes we entertain of any of our citi
zens here and elsewhere. Panning is the perversion of
the use of words ; and the Philadelphians are notorious
punsters. Some of them will manufacture more puns in
a half hour than you may hear elsewhere in a twelve
month. They have some fine institutions which promote
solid learning among different classes, such as the Athe
naeum, Franklin Library, and sundry societies which pro
vide lectures, books, &c. In medical institutions they
are of course first. The general aspect of the city cer
tainly must invite the mind to study and reflection, one
would think, more than that of most other towns in the
Union. How anybody can pursue a straight train of
thought while threading the crooked lanes and alleys of
New York and Boston, especially with the din of the
former in his ears, it is difficult to tell.

There is one reason why I prefer Philadelphia ; I feel
the persuasion always upon me that every thing is clean.
The breadth and uniformity of the streets favour cleanli
ness, and a great deal of washing and scrubbing is visible ;
for whatever house you enter, you see hydrants, and tubs,
and baths, and rills of living water, and have the satis
faction of reflecting that hogsheads and rivers of it are
daily used to good purpose.

The elevated banks of the Schuylkill are ornamented
with several fine public institutions, among which the
Marine Hospital is conspicuous. The marble quarries, a
short distance up that stream, afford most valuable facili
ties for the erection of edifices of a beautiful material.
A tour of visitation to the Water Works, Penitentiary,

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 39

House of Refuge, &c., out of the city, and the various
public buildings, exhibitions, &c. within, will afford any
traveller much interest, and he will see and hear things
important to be known, too numerous to write or to read.
Though the state is sadly deficient in public schools, there
are some good ones ; and the infant schools of this city
have been celebrated. The American Sunday School
Union has its centre here ; and the publishing apparatus
is very extensive. They have for several years issued
about a million of little volumes annually, and have
taken great pains to improve the character of works
for the intellectual, moral, and religious instruction of
the young.

But one who is bound on a long journey must not
allow himself to be too long detained by the agreeable
objects of this orderly and well-arranged city.

CHAPTER V.

New York. Activity of Citizens. Merchants. Societies. Steamboats,

WHOEVER visits New York feels as he does in a watch
maker's shop; everybody goes there for the true time,
and feels on leaving it as if he had been wound up or re
gulated anew, and better than he could have done it him
self. He hears a clicking, as it were, on all sides of him,
and finds every thing he looks at in movement, and not a
nook or corner but what is brim-full of business. Ap
parently there is no inactivity; that is, no person is
quiescent both in body and mind at once. The reason of
this is, that the lazy are excited by the perpetual motion
of the busy, or at least compelled to bestir themselves to
avoid being run over. If a man has any sympathetic

40 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

excitability, he will inevitably step quicker in Broadway
than in an ox-path in the country ; and if he have mone,
a regard for his flesh and bones will make him keep pace
with the crowd with which he moves, avoid collision
with that which he meets, and hurry over the cross
walks to escape the carts and omnibuses.

Another great reason why there is so much excitement
about New York is, that the principal vehicles for tra
velling are seen by so large a portion of the population.
Little impression was produced on the public in former
days, when the stage-coaches took off most of the tra
vellers by night or at irregular hours : but what can be
more animating than to witness the departure or arrival
of the steamboats ? At six and seven in the morning
boats start for all quarters of the compass, like so many
carrier-pigeons, released from one point to take the
courses they choose. When the hour arrives, the hissing
and roaring of the steam-pipe suddenly ceases, the de
parting travellers spring on board, their remaining friends
fly for the shore, the wheels move as if by instinct, and
boats tear friend from friend. No row-boat is left be
hind, as formerly, to accommodate those who lag be
hind : the day of toleration for the lazy has passed ; and
all the comfort they receive, when they beg a moment's
delay, is an assurance that they will be "in time for the
next boat." But in spite of all such warnings, we find
the ancient race of the Loiterers not quite extinct. They
are found at every steamboat-landing in the country
punctually at their time ; that is, half a minute at least
too late : and if the moment for starting should be de
layed until to-morrow or next week, they still would so
contrive it as to keep up their consistency. This spirit
of delay once detained one of my travelling companions a
little too long, and separated us for a part of the route,

TRAVELS IN AMERICA* 41

on the enjoyment of which we had indulged anticipa
tions, loading one of us with a double portion of luggage,
and at the same time depriving the other of a change of
raiment. I once saw an orange-seller hurry on shore at
the signal for starting, without waiting to give change
to a customer, whose money he held under pretence that
he had no time; and in another instance a man, who
meditated a similar trick on his porter, was pulled back
by him for pay, and detained on shore, while his spouse
was taken to another city without him.

One would think, from the activity of the New York
merchant, that he must be wholly absorbed in the pursuit
of wealth : but on becoming acquainted with the facts,
you often find that he only redoubles his activity in busi
ness hours to gain time for some other employment
which he prefers. Not a small proportion of the whole
number are connected with some society for the promo
tion of the good of their fellow-citizens as fellow-men,
in morals, intelligence, religion, or some other important
interests. This is by no means true of all, nor of 80
many as would be desirable, as is proved by the fact,
that numbers are members of two, three, and sometimes
more associations. They take their intelligence and ac
tivity with them wherever they go ; and therefore in
their society or committee-rooms, with the aid of their
commercial punctuality, clear-sightedness, and prompti
tude, generally act with judgment, good effect, and a
saving of time, which could not be expected from men of
different habits. The amount of business performed by
the active merchants of this city in benevolent societies
would astonish any one, if it were possible to present a
clear estimate of it. And on the other hand, an account

of the money annually contributed by them for the pro-
2 c

42 TRAVELS IN AMERICA?

motion of similar objects would form an amount probably
greater than might be easily believed. In all this the
purest motives have a large share of influence. It is only
necessary to know individuals personally to perceive
that many are actuated riot merely by generosity, but by
Christian principle; and the prospects of good to the
city, the country, and the world, from the extension of
the spirit of benevolence among the influential men of
this city, are very encouraging. Examples of the kind
encourage imitation, while they reward those who fur
nish them; and every year sees one individual and ano
ther embarking in the delightful career of disinterested
beneficence, and new exertions made by those who have
become more interested or encouraged by what they have
already effected.

It is highly gratifying also to perceive that the educa
tion and employments of multitudes of the young, who
are to occupy important stations in society hereafter, are
preparing them for more general and extensive labours
for the same great objects. The present societies, cre
ated and directed by the fathers, have afforded their sons,
among other advantages, that most important one of
useful and improving employment for their leisure. In
multitudes of instances they have led to the formation of
characters amiable for their philanthropy, valuable for
their intelligence and purity, and promising by their
practical knowledge, and the excellent influence they al
ready exercise in their youthful sphere. Thousands of
them are at this moment active and responsible members
of societies, whose express objects are the good of others ;
and while it is a most agreeable sight to witness their
labours in literary associations, Sabbath-schools, Bible,
Tract, and Temperance societies, it is no less gratifying
to trace out the influence which systematic beneficence

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 43

produces upon their habits, minds, and affections, and
diffuses among their family and social circles. And how
important are these influences in a population of nearly
250,000! But a view of what has been done, and what
is doing in this great city by the good and the intelligent
leads the mind to consider what ought to be or may yet
be effected.

And surely, with all the advantages offered by New
York for the procuring and the diffusion of knowledge,
more should be undertaken for the benefit of public intel
ligence. This city should be the centre of learning for
the Union. No other place in the country can possibly
enjoy the advantages she has to become such ; yet some
of our cities and villages have turned to so much better
account what means they have possessed, that they have
become literary in a tenfold greater proportion. The
public schools are the best large ones in the country, ex
cepting those of Boston ; and in some departments are
far superior to them. Some of the private schools are
good ; but the vast majority, particularly of the fashion
able ones, are miserably defective. Columbia College
and the University are very respectable institutions for
the higher branches of learning, while the Mercantile Li
brary Association, the Apprentices Library, The City Li
brary, the Athenaeum, &c., afford valuable means of self-
instruction to their various classes of readers. Unfortu
nately, the talents of the learned are kept too much out
of sight, and are of course too much under-rated by the
public, who scarcely know that they exist. Attempts
have been made, from time to time, to establish monthly
magazines of different descriptions, but they have never
nourished well ; for writers of acknowledged talent can
not be procured without a reasonable reward, and the
publishers are not often disposed to hazard a large sum

44 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

on an uncertainty. If such men, however, were employ
ed in writing for publication, how much better it would
be for the country than to leave them in the retirement
of their families or of their professions.

There is, therefore, yet much to be done by the inhabi
tants of New York, for the promotion of knowledge ; an
to the rising generation, T think, we may safely look for
it, as well as for the execution of still more extensive
projects of benevolence. And on this hope we may rely
without the charge of being visionary in any degree ; for
the means are every day increasing, and the hands are
multiplying and strengtheniDg by which it is to be ac
complished.

But I have been wandering from my subject, and can
geek an excuse for indulging in such elevating topics only
in the ennobling view presented by the Bay of New York,
to the traveller who crosses it in one of the great steam
boats which daily skim over its surface. Were the
shores but of an elevation corresponding with the other
features of the scene, there would be nothing to regret by
the friend of the picturesque. Staten Island approaches
nearer than any other part of the surrounding land to
what we might wish to see on every side, and presents
a pleasing swell, with a variety of lines and hues in its
enclosures and crops, the village, and the spacious Quar
antine edifices. There are some pretty spots, with plea
sant shades, enjoying a view of a water scene, animated
by the frequent passage of the finest steamboats.

These vessels have now become improved and refined,
apparently almost to the grade of rational beings.
They seem to a passenger on board half conscious of the
promises held out by the newspapers of their speed and
punctuality, of the hour when their arrival may be ex
pected, and the anxiety of those who await them ; and

Itf AMfi&ICA? 46

quite familiar with the shoals arid landing-places. You
feel their emotions, at least their straining and labour
under your feet. When you observe their movements
from a distance, they appear still more as if endued with
life and thought. A boat, with a beautiful model and
elegant proportions, comes flying over the water almost
without disturbing it, rounds a point, and directs her
rapid course towards a landing-place. You see that her
speed is known, and that her punctuality has been esta
blished by long and regular practice : for the persons who
have come from a distance to embark have yet scarcely
reached the shore, or are just appearing in view; and the
landlord remains at his door until she has reached a cer
tain spot, and then leaves it just in time to meet her by a
leisurely walk. There is no hurry, because there is no
irregularity and uncertainty. She cuts the water, but
with as little spray as a knife makes in dividing a loaf of
bread. There is merely a little rising of the surface under
the bow, the wheels scarcely splash the sides of the boat
as they revolve, and the water joins again under the
stern, leaving only a smooth cicatrice upon the surface.
She approaches the shore like a hound nosing out his own
kennel ; her wheels desist, and she floats on silently as a
feather. For a moment she stops to press against the
wharf, and the post to which she is daily fastened : the
wheels move gently back, and she is in her place. A
little mustering is seen forward, about as much as is wit
nessed at a horse-shoeing at a country blacksmith's, and
she is again on her way. Not a loud word has been
spoken; yet in that busy moment, Mr. Smith's family
have landed, with their fourteen trunks ; Thomas Brown
has saluted his wife, and bidden farewell till to-morrow ;
one has landed to shoot or fish in the neighbourhood,
another has shipped his horse and gig for his own stable

46 TRAVELS IN AMERICA

in the city, or a basket of beans for the market, while
farewell is waved by friends and acquaintances to mer
chants, fishermen, and others, and the correspondence of
the neighbourhood is thrown upon deck into the little
mail-bag. Away flies the boat, followed with a few
nods and gazes, to return again at the fixed hour, and
renew the scene.

CHAPTER VI.

The Sea-shore. Long Branch. Bathing. Scenery. Shipwrecks. Forms
of Danger and Modes of Escape.

LONG BRANCH is a favourite resort to the citizens of New
York, and still more so to those of Philadelphia, although
they have to perform a long monotonous ride, over a
sandy path, across a pine plain to reach it, while the
route from New York is by steam, excepting four of the
last miles. A description of the place may be given in a
few words ; yet nothing short of a visit to it, and a long
familiarity with its aspect in different states of weather,
will give any person an adequate idea of its attractions.

I had visited many points of our more northern sea-
coast before I saw Long Branch, but had found none of
them resembling it in all its striking characteristics.
Here a smooth and handsome plain extends to the very
borders of the sea. You have no indication of your ap
proach to it in the bleak hills, beds of sand, masses of
rock, or clusters of fishing-huts, which in other places
generally prepare you for what you are to behold. On
the contrary, when you look out from the hard-jolting
Jersey waggon in which you are transported across the
state, or from the steam-boat landing at Red Bank, you

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.' 47

see retired farms or small villages, or more frequently a
smooth road overshadowed by forest-trees, such as you
would suppose might extend a hundred miles in any di
rection. You are surprised, therefore, when, as the horses
turn in front of the hotel, you find the grassy plain sud
denly terminating, and at the depth of forty feet beneath,
observe the roar and tumult of the never-ceasing waves
rolling from the very horizon.

Little arbours have been erected on the verge of the
sandy precipice, furnished with seats, and covered with
green boughs, where you may at any hour of a clear day
enjoy an agreeable shade, and the sight of a white beach
extending several miles to the right and left, continually
lashed by the billows of the ocean. At night the scene
is often still finer than by day ; for then, the eyes being
less called into requisition amid the general obscurity,
the ear is more sensible to the sounds which fall upon it,
and the feelings are in a singular manner affected by
the roar, dashing, and concussions of near and distant
waves. Some of these are dimly seen, and others only
heard as they strike upon some more remote part of the
shore.

The sandy precipice appears to be everywhere slowly
crumbling and wearing away. Why it is able to resist
at all the unintermitted violence of the immense power
which is continually directed against it, is at first not
easily explained. At this season of the year there is a
beautiful bank of white sand formed for its protection, a
little in advance, which extends with the greatest uni
formity as far as the eye can reach, and suffers not a drop
of the water to pass beyond it, except when the spray is
driven much higher than usual during a violent easterly
storm. In the warmer seasons, when you descend from
the precipice, therefore, you find yourself for a moment

48 TRAVELS IN AMERICA."

shut out from the view of the ocean, by the intervention
of the summit of this bank, which may be about twenty-
five feet above the level of the water ; and after sur
mounting that, you tread the hard beach, which descends
with a smooth and gentle slope, and is swept every few
seconds by another and another wave that here spends
the force it has exerted, perhaps, over hundreds of miles
of water without intermission. Nature never acts with
out doing something to gratify the taste of man, either
for the beautiful or the sublime, and very often consults
it in both. While the thundering roar of the sea was
every moment striking upon my ears, and the successive
deluges that flooded the lower part of the beach seemed
sufficient to tear rocks in pieces, it was pleasing to see
how effectually its violence was tamed, and its power
harmlessly spent, by the ascent of the beach. By directing
its course up an inclined plane, its impulse was gradually
lost, and the water spontaneously sunk back, like a feeble
child after an effort falling again into the arms of its mo
ther. The highest point gained by the strongest waves
was marked by a waving line of sea-weeds, gracefully
festooned on the smooth sand for miles in length. Chil
dren, who delight to gather shells from the brim of old
ocean's bowl, may safely stray down to this line, and do
often venture far below it; but sometimes our whole
party was seen flying before a giant wave, which hurried
at our heels as if to terrify us for encroaching too far on
the empire of the sea.

One great pleasure in visiting a scene like this, is to
witness the natural influence which the aspects of the
ocean have upon the human mind. The gay and young,
who are brought in crowds by wealthy parents from
the capitals, may stand side by side with the solitary
invalid, or the fisherman's son, and all participate in the

TBAVELS IN AMERICA* [4#

same feelings. We may hear of the good beds, the fine
dinners, or sometimes the choice wine furnished to visi
tors at Long Branch ; but I am happy to believe that
most of those who love the place love it for its natural,
its real beauties, and go home better than they came.
Certain it is, that friendships may be here cultivated
which will be valuable elsewhere, and that impressions
worth possessing may be communicated to the young
and the old. The scenes which present themselves to
the opening eye, and the sounds which strike upon the
ear, tend to prepare the feelings for useful instructions ;
and if the parent seeks opportunities to convey them, a
more favourable place could hardly be found among our
fashionable resorts.

On this subject I may, perhaps, say something in the
way of brief hints hereafter. For myself, unhappily, I
did not come well provided with the means of self-in
struction ; but I cannot here stop to lament my ignorance
or neglect, for I had soon other things to think of. I
had descended to the beach with a company of bathers,
and was deluged by a roaring wave that suddenly rolled
up and engulfed us all. Then it was that I first fully
realized the amount of water-power (as the too technical
term is) which is constantly wasted upon the coast, and
the cause of the sand-banks which mark the margin of
the ocean in all climates and regions. I was suddenly
lifted up, rolled this way and that, and then drawn
downwards by a force I had neither time, energy, nor
skill enough to oppose, and felt for a moment as if I had
owed my life to a neighbour who held me up by my bath
ing robe. As the returning flood rushed by me, bushels
of pebbles rolled rapidly over my naked feet and against
my ancles, as if resolved to deprive me of my only sup-
D

50 IJBAVELS IN AMERICA*

port. Instead of retreating to dry ground, as 1 wished
to do, my companions hurried much farther down, ap
parently drawing me with them, to meet another wave,
which came foaming on more violently than its prede
cessor; and, before I had recovered from the stupifying
effect of the former, I felt myself sealed up tighter and
longer than before : eyes, ears, nose, mouth, breath, and
all. How little like a man does a man feel in such cir
cumstances ! Plunged in an element foreign to his na
ture, the use of all his senses entirely suspended, unless
the growling in the ears is to be called hearing, and the
sensation of cold and wetness is feeling — the legs use
less, because the feet are lifted above terra firma, or
rather the sand and water moving below you ! This is
one of the cases in which a native American citizen may
be suddenly disfranchised. What benefit did I derive at
that time from my birth-right ? Of what use was it to
me that there were written laws, courts, jurors, lawyers,
and judges, that I might have claimed the rights of a
citizen in any state of the Union, when here, not twenty
feet from high-water mark, I might be taken feloniously,
with malice aforethought, and thrown into the jaws of
such a beast of a billow, exposed to death, or at least
put into great consternation? Is there no statute for
such case made and provided? Is there no writ that
will issue against the perpetrators of such an enormity ?
Who is safe ? Who can boast of the privilege of exist
ing in this republic, while the very judge on the bench,
or just off it, if he happens to step into the water at
Long Branch, may be thus suddenly deprived of every
right dear to nature ?

All this, and more, perhaps, passed through my mind
while I remained submerged; but I can give no adequate
idea of the state of desperation in which I remained,

T&AV*ts IN AMERICA.' 5

until I found my head above water, and felt at liberty to
breathe, to look, and to speak. What I was prepared to
say I need not here record, for it was never uttered.
The power which had so unceremoniously drawn me into
the water was not that of a rude companion, as I might
have supposed, bat the irresistible torrent which had also
borne away my old friends. These now re -appeared
with me, and were standing beside me overwhelmed
with a torrent of laughter, and quite unable to answer
my angry interrogatories. My vexation, perhaps, still
more excited their mirth, which soon showed itself in a
manner that I could not resist ; and after forgetting my
late embarrassment, I consented to descend once more
into the brine, and had on the whole a delightful bath.

By a remarkable provision of nature, which seems de
signed for benevolent purposes as well as that which has
thrown up the sandbeach, a partial barricade of the same
material is generally found heaped up by the waves at a
considerable distance from the shore, over which the ap
proaching billows first turn in foam, and begin to lose
their force. Its position is marked by a white line, which
the eye can trace for miles up and down, parallel to the
sinuosities of the shore, and everywhere serving the same
purpose. Such bars have sometimes proved of use, by
receiving vessels when driving on towards a rocky shore
before an irresistible storm ; and many a published ac
count of a shipwreck makes mention of them. In many
cases, however, vessels have only remained upon these
outer bars until so strained as to leak dangerously ; and
then, after being beaten over by the force of repeated
waves, have sunk before reaching the shore.

Every thing relating to shipwrecks is of interest along
this coast, where multitudes of vessels of different sizes
have been lost, and where fragments of old decks, sparsa

52 'JBA-VELS IN AMERICA,

&c. furnish the scattering farm-houses with much of their
fuel, and remind the visitor, during his strolls on the
beach, of the dreadful disasters and sufferings of which it
is almost annually the scene. As being wrecked is too
often inevitable here, how to be wrecked most scientifi
cally becomes a question of importance. Strange as it
may sound, there is such a thing as running a ship on
shore elegantly, and meriting the command of a larger
vessel by losing a smaller one in the right manner. Sup
pose, for instance, that one of the ships frequently to be
seen here on the horizon, instead of shunning this shore
as they are fain to do, should be blown by an irresistible
wind towards it, until it became evident that it must
strike. It is now left to the master to determine whether
she shall lie with her side or her stern to the waves after
she has ceased to float. If that the flat stern should re
ceive their full force, like St. Paul's ship at Melita, the
vessel could not long resist the shocks, which are violent
almost beyond calculation. If she should present her
side in an inclined position, the waves would waste a
part of their force upon it as they do upon the beach ; but
then the condition of the crew would be forlorn, as the
sea must make what is called a fair breach over her. But
there is a possibility, in some cases, by the exercise of
much skill, of laying a ship ashore in a still more favour
able position, viz. — so that the waves shall strike her
bows and cut themselves in two. If the captain and his
men retain their self-possession to the last moment, the
vessel may probably be made to wear just before she
strikes, and touch the ground stern first. If after this
she is not turned too far by the wind or the sea, her situa
tion is tolerably comfortable for a desperate one. Bat
then other dangers are to be apprehended. A ship seldom
is materially injured by the first contact with the ground ^

TRAVELS IN

but terrible leaks are often produced afterward, by her
being repeatedly lifted up by the waves and dropped
again upon the hard bottom by their sudden retiring. If,
after this, as has been already remarked, she is carried
into deep water, unless the pumps can keep her hold from
filling too fast, she must sink, and probably every person
on board, as well as the cargo, will go down with her.

In several instances, which were mentioned to me by
some of the older inhabitants of this dangerous coast, the
tops of masts peeping out of the water between the shoal
and the beach, have given the first intimation of melan
choly midnight-wrecks. It is comparatively more com
mon, I believe, on approaching the shore in the morning,
to see some fine vessel fixed upon the shoal, with her
spars partly gone, and partly loaded with signals of dis
tress, and her decks either crowded with anxious sufferers,
or swept of those who might have told of the events of
the night.

But the danger above mentioned is sometimes passed
in safety. Some vessels are borne over the shoal with
greater or less injury, landed, not gently, perhaps, but
permanently^upon the beach, which now presents to our
eyes so fine a sight, so safe and beautiful a walk. But ah !
how different a spot to them, when the fury of an equi
noctial storm is raging, which every autumn drives back
the beach some sixty or eighty feet, so that the slope
commences at the sandy cliff itself, over which the bil
lows attempt to break, and which is often rendered
almost unapproachable, by the spray.

"When a vessel has once been thrown upon this beach,
the danger of sinking is past, and the ocean immediately
begins to employ itself actively for the security of the
vessel and cargo, as well as for the protection of those on
board against further damage, The force of the wind;,

£4 TBAVEtS IN AMERICA.'

and still more that of successive waves, is employed to
push it further up the acclivity, and nearer to the dry
land ; any after the hull has remained stationary for a
short time, a stronger wave rolls in, which rises higher
than its immediate predecessors, holds it an instant afloat
again, and thrusts it unceremoniously a little further up
the steep ; then retiring, leaves it, perhaps, in the spot
where it is to fall piece-meal, and where its keel is to
decay. Besides the power of the waves rolling in from
the ocean, the shipwrecked vessel and her unfortunate
crew find benefit from their retirement: for as each
wave flows back again down the descending beach, it
bears rapidly over its smooth surface cart-loads of the
loose pebbles and sand which so much incommode the
inexperienced bather. Their quantity, and the size of
the beach-stones, are increased by the violence of the
waves in a gale, and the process of grinding gravel into
sand is vastly facilitated. This mass of moving sub
stances is ready to accumulate rapidly against every ob
stacle that is fixed sufficiently to resist it in its descent ;
and no sooner is a vessel left to rest upon the beach, than
a bank begins to be formed of sand and stones deposited
there by the retiring waves. A causeway thus self-con-
Btructed from the wreck to the shore has in some in
stances offered the crew the earliest means of escape ; and
particular circumstances may have proved their only
safety. If a vessel should thus be thrown upon a beach
when the tide is near its ebb, and the bank be formed in
time to allow the crew opportunity to escape over it to
the land at low water, they would be saved the hazards
attending another flood-tide, the floating of the ship
again, with perhaps a change of wind that might drive
it into deep water and sink it : to say nothing of a pro
longed exposure to wet, cold, fatigue, and hunger.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA! 55

The ship which has been thrown upon such a beach as
this, nearly at the height of the tide, and for which the
sea is rapidly constructing an embankment to the shore,
is perhaps in the most favourable and hopeful condition
in which a wreck can be situated. Yet how replete with
inconveniences, with distresses and dangers, is such a
situation to those on board ! The disaster may have oc
curred within a brief hour of the time when the crew had
indulged sanguine hopes of escape from serious injury by
the storm, or when, after prolonged labours, sufferings
and apprehensions, they have neither physical nor mental
energy to endure their present trials, or to avail them
selves of any favourable circumstances in their situation.
They are probably ignorant of the coast on which they
are thrown, and involved in the obscurity of an atmos
phere troubled with tempests, surcharged with mist, rain,
or flying spray, and perhaps darkened by night. Thus
the mariner is often kept in anxious suspense, and ap
prehends the utmost danger even when his escape is al
most secured. Sometimes, acting under ill-founded ap
prehensions of their prospects, lives have been unneces
sarily exposed and sacrificed ; boats have been prema
turely launched and swamped on spots which in a short
time might have been passed on foot dry-shod. But how
can men be expected always to form and act upon cor
rect opinions, in circumstances so trying and so doubt
ful ? Who can distinguish between a thousand different
parts of our coast, even in the clearest weatner, and
when sailing safely and prosperously by, even with time
to reflect, and to consult books and charts ? The hun
dreds of miles which intervene along the Atlantic border
from near Sandy Hook to the Cape of Florida, present,
with but few exceptions, one uniform appearance : low
lands and swamps faced with beaches, over which a

56 TRAVELS IN AMERICA

forest alone is generally distinguishable, with no promin
ent mountains or conspicuous capes to give bearings, and
few secure harbours to offer a refuge. This singular
part of the coast, at Long Branch and its vicinity, ex
tending for about six miles, is said to be distinguished
by one peculiarity, from every other part of the seaboard
of the United States. Here alone the arable lands ex
tend to the very verge of Neptune's dominions, and
here are seen the only corn-fields whose outer rows are
salted by the spray of the ocean. But this trait, however
agreeable and striking to the land traveller, and valuable
to the farmer who reaps the harvests, affords little ad
vantage to the navigator in enabling him to ascertain
his position.

How important are some of the devices which the
humane and ingenious have invented for the rescue of
their fellow-beings exposed to death by shipwreck. " I
have both talked and written to men of influence," said a
plain farmer of this vicinity to me, " on the importance
of supplying us with the means of saving men from death,
who are every season cast within our view, in the midst
of perils which they might escape with our aid, if we had
a simple apparatus placed at our command, by which a
rope might be thrown from a gun to a ship on shore."
Repeated instances he referred to, in which crews had
been lost within a short distance of the land, in most, if
not all of which, he felt confident, such an apparatus
might have been effectual. The result of his remarks was
to convince me, that the subject is of sufficient importance
to justify the appropriation of a liberal sum of money by
our government, to inquire for facts and opinions, and to
make experiments. If it should be judged practicable,
after this, another appropriation should be made to carry
a good plan into effect. Whatever the apparatus might

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? tfj

Be, whether life-boats of the best construction, or guns, or
mortars for throwing ropes, it should be mounted on car
riages, supplied with harness, and placed in the charge of
some humane and responsible individual, or at the direc
tion of the town-authorities. From the interest felt by
the respectable inhabitants of this part of the coast, in the
safety of men, and sometimes females, thus exposed to
desperate hazards and suffering under their eyes, I am
persuaded that the most laudable exertions would ever
be made for their safety. For my own part, if I were to
be shipwrecked, I would willingly trust myself to the
care of the hardy and humane individuals whom I have
known in this vicinity. Those alone who have had ex
perience in the delicate task of conducting a common boat
through the surf and over the breakers, can now be trusted
to transport men to the land, even when the sea is but in
a moderate state of agitation ; but if life-boats were at
hand, other arms might be employed in an emergency,
beside those of the most skilful fisherman.

^RAVELS IN

CHAPTER VII.

New York. Books. The Apparatus of Literature. Conversations
with Booksellers on Public Taste, &c. A Friend returned from a Tour
to Europe. Foreign Feelings and Ignorance respecting America.
Varying aspects of the Streets of the Metropolis. Impressions from
observing them.

IT is strange to see how much better the public taste is
often understood by booksellers than authors ; and with
what certainty they can sometimes foretel the fate of a
book after hearing only a brief description of it, or after
glancing at the table of contents or the title-page, than
the man who studied and laboured over the pages for
months or years, and lay awake whole nights to cut and
piece it in conformity with the state of society. This
fact, which no one can doubt after proper inquiry, is so
much in opposition to common rules applying to other
subjects, that I sought light on it while in New York.
We always should expect to find a tailor better acquaint
ed with the size of his customers' shoulders than anybody
else, and more likely to discover whether a coat be too
narrow to fit, too long in the sleeves, or too tight under
the arms. But it is not so with your author and his work.
He deliberates for weeks or months upon his subject, then
upon his plan, then on the size of his book, the mode and
time for its appearance ; and after having fixed all these,
and changed his intention over and over again, and at
length completed his work as he finally determines, he is
the most anxious man in the nation till he ascertains
whether he has succeeded or failed. This he now feels
utterly unable to judge of, until he has facts to form an
opinion upon, and actually sees whether or not his book

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 59

has sold. Bat not so with the bookseller. He has rules,
or instinct, or some other guide, by which he often can
judge of the fate of a work, before it has been grasped
after or rejected by a single customer ; and, as if by some
secret electricity, a uniform presentiment concerning a
book sometimes pervades the whole trade from the mo
ment of its appearance, or even from a very early period
after its announcement.

There are cases in which they have experience to refer
to, and then they may prejudge as we might the shoe
maker, who has pinched us in the toes, and was about to
shoe a neighbour with still larger feet than our own.
But, in the great majority of cases, the bulk of the book
sellers do not know the author, or are not well acquaint
ed with the subject on which he writes, or both, and
therefore cannot judge of what is to come from what has
happened.

To show what kind of satisfaction I got from some
conversation on books during my stay in New York, I
will give a brief recapitulation of what I heard in some
of the printing-offices and book-stores. Some of these
are exceedingly large and rich ; and the grand review of
the whole typographic park and batteries of the capital
is worthy of the attention of an intelligent traveller.
The most magnificent presses in the world are racking
and groaning in a hundred differents streets, from Messrs.
Harper's mammoth power-press downwards, like so
many mills for grinding the wheat, bran, and shorts with
which even the almost insatiable literary appetite of the
American public is surfeited. The four or five principal
stereotype-foundries are also very large establishments,
some of which are connected with type-foundries, and
printing-offices of twenty and thirty presses.

"My friend," said a most intelligent and virtuous

ftj TRAVELS IN AMERICA

South American just from Europe, on entering a Spacious
room where two rows of men were casting types in the
old way, one at a time ; " my friend, despotism will
never prevail against us." On being introduced, how
ever, into a place where twenty boys, with machines,
were doing the work of forty men, he was lost in sur
prise and pleasure, and declared that he almost pitied the
poor despots who had to contest against such weapons
so rapidly forged, and so irresistible. The truth is, we
ought to exhibit the press to our children, as a machine
little understood, and consequently much abused. It
would be an improving lesson to every child to be led to
the village printing-office once a year, and hear comments
on the nature, history, and uses of this great implement
of civilization, morality, and religion.

But to return to book-store conversation. " Have you
seen the new number of this magazine ? It is astonish
ingly popular. The publisher had but one course to pur
sue, and he took the right one. He iiad not capital
enough to spend a large sum at once, to pay an editor of
known talents, and therefore could not expect his support
from the learned. So he got it up as handsomely as he
knew how, and has taken measures to have it well puffed
in the newspapers. The consequence is, that he has had
great success." I saw this publisher ; and remarked to
him that his merits, as I had understood, were generally
acknowledged. Yes, he replied, he had taken good care
about that. It would be in vain, he said, if any man
should expect his works to be esteemed, if the news
papers did not commend them over and over again ; and
to secure this end means must be used. ""If I should lie
down under my counter, and expect the public to give
me credit for my merits, they would never know or care
whether I had any or not. They would not know

TRAVELS IN AMERICA 61

whether it tvas a man or a dog there in the dark. So I
have given my numbers as good an appearance and as
great a variety as possible, and now shall be able to do
what I please, with such patronage as I enjoy." I ex
pressed a hope that his periodical would soon aim to ex
ceed the best of its class in other countries. Yes, he
hoped it would be an honour to our own, by having no
superior in the world. He had taken great pains to get
such paper as is used in England, and was to put a cover
on the next number of the same colour and devices as the
London , which was extremely elegant, and univer
sally admired. Literature, thought I, has abundant rea
son to smile at her prospects in America, or rather to
laugh at them ! Lucky that none of the foreign tourists
were present to tell this story abroad !

" You may blame us as much as you please," said
another publisher ; " I have no more public spirit, per
haps, than the rest of my craft, but I have at least no ob
jection to my books having real merit, or to their being
written by Americans. At any rate, I have made some
exertions to secure both, and paid a good deal of money.
But all the blame does not rest with us. We must sell
our books, or we must stop printing : that is very clear.
If then there is nobody to inform the public of the merits
of different works, how will they ever know them ? You
literary gentlemen do not establish reviews in which the
public place much confidence, and what is worse, you do
not read one half the books which appear while they are
fresh, as you say, for want of time. You must settle
that with your consciences — I do not pretend to judge
you. You will not attempt to improve or even to direct
public taste, and have left it to itself and to us. Now
judge whether we have done our duty better than your
selves or not. We had to begin with low taste, and

62 TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

have had to raise it, if it has been raised. Well, we did
it in what we believe to be the only way in our power.
We have always endeavoured to print as good books as
the public could be brought to read, and have more than
once overshot our mark, perhaps, without ever falling
below it. The result thus far has been a perceptible and
general improvement in certain classes of books ; and as
we are encouraged in pursuing our course, we intend to
persist in it, and hope to see still more important results.

" Bat to give you an idea," continued the bookseller,
" of the form and circumstances under which public taste
appears to our craft. A publisher, perhaps, pays a young
man who has a profession and leisure a hundred dollars
to make a volume of newspaper scraps, and put some odd
name to it ; or he'll meet with a manuscript of the adven
tures of Timothy Terrible, or some other well-known
individual, and will bargain with the author for it. By
the time it has been out a fortnight, we have orders for
the whole edition, and half another. A corrrespondent
writes from the south, — The fifty Timothy T. received,
and please send us seventy-five more. From the North
we get,— Please send, on receipt of this, one hundred
copies of Tim. Terrible.-— P. S. By first boat.

"Well, we think we'll try a little more American
literature, as that appears to be rising. Come, we'll give
'em something a little solid. So we come out, we will
suppose, with a learned work on the History, Character,
and Condition of the Crim Tartars, past, present, and to
come; and almost simultaneously with the Life and
and Writings of General Somebody, one of the greatest
men in our Republican history, the property of the nation.
For each of these we'll suppose we pay eight hundred
dollars, — cash, you understand. Well, our customers, in
about ten days, begin to write, — Send us no more Gene?

TRAVELS IN AMERICA: €3

rals or Grim Tartars. They don't go down.— N.B. Too
dry and too true. Gentlemen, we send you back forty-
nine Crim Tartars and all the Generals. They don't suit
our market. Now mind, here's two octavo volumes : in
vestment on each about three thousand, yes, thirty-five
hundred dollars, including copy-right. Well, they are
good books, that is, so people say ; and they sell easy
along, one here and one there. But here comes in old
Squire Jones, or Colonel West, or some such gentleman,
and takes one of those books. ( Well,' he says, ' here's a
work I'm glad to see. I know the author, sir, and he's
a man of sterling merit. Why I knew him when your
father was so high. Yes, sir, that book ought to sell —
it will sell — don't you find it so ?' ' Why, yes, colonel, I
suppose it would, if every body had your penetration.
How many shall I send you?* 'Oh, oh, why I don't
know, I have no time to read just now ; but perhaps I'll
call in some time when I have. I suppose I can get it
any day this month, can't I ?' l Yes, I'm afraid so, or
near either.' Well, Dr. Studious expresses his pleasure
at the appearance of a book so profound on the Crim
Tartars. ' Come here, sir, I'll sit down and tell you what
I know about the author and his faithful investigations
into his subject.' ' Why, doctor,' says I, * I think you
had better read the book, and give me a short pithy
recommendation of it for the information of the public.
My own opinion is already made up.' < Why, sir,' says
the doctor, ' I have a share in a library, where I expect
to find it ; and if I should want it, perhaps you'll have a
cheaper edition by-and-by.'

" Now so it goes; and while I'm talking with one of
the learned gentlemen, two or three men come in, and
want eight or ten Timothy Terribles a piece; and the
amount of it is, that while we must wait two or perhaps

6i TRAVELS IN AMERICA?

three years to get a profit of six or seven hundred dollars
on an investment of thirty-five hundred, in six months
we run off two editions of a work that we've got up for
six hundred dollars each, and have cleared, perhaps, a
thousand, besides the stereotype-plates ready for more.
Encouraging solid literature and American authors is a
good thing to talk about, it sounds very well ; and I
should like much to practise it more and more. It is
easy to say, O, it's all the publisher's fault, — you've no
business to print such trash, and you should not go out
of the country so much for books. But here you see are

the facts. Now what are you going to do in such a
case?

" Go and ask the learned and the good, the intelligent
and the influential, why they can't take the trouble to
examine works as they appear, or before, and let their
countrymen know which are good and which bad. A few
just commendations would seal the success of good
works and good writers, now overlooked and unknown;
and a few good death-blows against bad books would
kill, along with the works, their authors, and perhaps
the taste which sustains them."

te I want ten Timothy Terribles,'1 said a customer, in
terrupting the speaker. " Excuse me, sir," said he, break
ing off, "for talking so long about this matter. I only
want to let you understand that it is not all the fault of
the booksellers. Hadn't you better take twenty copies,
sir?"

An intelligent, pure, and warm-hearted friend, just
landed from Europe, grasped my hand at a corner. Amid
the bustle of Broadway, he had recognised my coun
tenance ; and out of the thousands of names which must
have struck his ears since we had met, he found mine
ready on his tongue, like one still near his heart. What

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? 6£

feelings such a meeting excites. How gratifying to find
such a friend, though changed, yet the same. His obser
vant eyes, how much they must have seen ; his discrimi
nating and original mind, how much it must have accom
plished in dividing the gold from the dross ; his rich
memory, how its stores must have been enlarged ! His
grasp and his eye told how foreign scenes had warmed
his heart for home, and assured me that I had a key to
all its treasures.

" The view I have taken of Europe," said he, " has
put my mind into new trains of thought, in which I have
been indulging during my voyage homeward. And what
a companion is the sea, what associates are the waves
and storms for one who is occupied with subjects of in
terest and importance ! The United States, imperfectly
known as they are, exercise a most powerful sway upon
the most influential minds of Europe. They constantly
contemplate us, and admire and hope, through a crooked
glass and misty air. Their views are very imperfect;
their conceptions crude and often erroneous ; and we
have as much reason, perhaps, to regret the over esti
mates made of us on some points, as the oversight of our
advantages or merits on others. I regret to say that the
best informed men of Britain appear, so far as I can,
speak from knowledge, exceedingly ill acquainted with
the geography as well as the institutions and state of so
ciety in this country. We are, indeed, perhaps, too
much inclined to be surprised at this and to pity it. We
converse of England with every advantage, because our
very school-books, as well as our libraries, were English,
until within our own recollection ; and many of us in our
earliest years were taught more of their history, geogra
phy, biography, and even ecclesiastical and political
affairs, than of our own. But their course of education,

66 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

in all its grades, has little more reference to America
than it had before Columbus sailed from Spain. Their
instructors want teaching before they can be competent
on this branch of knowledge ; and whence then is it pos
sible for the people to be well informed of our condition ?
Our teachers, on the contrary, our fathers and our coun
trymen, until recently, have directed almost all their at'
tention to foreign lands, and read only foreign books.
When therefore intelligent men in England, Scotland, and
Ireland expressed their surprise at my familiarity with
English books and men, the geography and scenery of
the country, I could not but feel that they over-estimated
it, because they contrasted it with their own ignorance
of America.

" We ought to exert ourselves more than we do to in
form our European brethren concerning our country and
ourselves, to remove erroneous impressions, and prevent
their falling into new mistakes. But how shall this be
done ? Shall we send them our periodical publications
or our books ? Which of them would do us justice, and
at the same time be instructive to them ? In far too
many of our writers, an affectation of foreign sentiments
and foreign style removes every American feature from
their productions, while in others the perverted views
and degraded language of the low level from which they
have lately risen, would at once mislead and disgust a
person seeking for information concerning our state and
society. Some publications we have of an elevated tone,
and a just and commanding influence at home and abroad.
But these are either scientific or devoted to literature in
general, or at least so much more designed for the use of
ourselves than of others, that they would not serve their
purpose. Foreigners are ignorant of the very elements
of our society. They need to know the individuals of

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. €7

trhom it is composed, and comprehend the mutual action
and reaction of domestic life and the public institutions.
They can neither conjecture at the application of our laws
to our circumstances, nor understand what were the cir
cumstances which required them ; much less can they
explain the effects which are produced. They wonder at
us, as at a new specimen of mechanism ; and our country
excites as ill-defined admiration as did the ship May
flower among the Indians of Massachusetts Bay, when
the Pilgrims arrived on the coast. They are slow to as
certain the causes of its motion, and never can resolve
the forces by which it is impelled. Still here is the object
constantly before them ; and the more they gaze the
more they are interested. Now I do not see how they are
to be taught, otherwise than as an apprentice learns his
trade. Familiarise them with the ordinary details, as we
are familiarised with our own society in childhood. Do
we not understand Scottish life at different periods of
history, through the familiar scenes presented by Scott,
better than we could learn them from almost any investi
gation we might make into history and legislation ? Let
some of their intelligent men come and spend months in
our families, conforming to the customs of the people,
and observing, without preconceived opinions, how so
ciety goes on. After sufficient attention to the practical
operation of our system, they would be able to enlighten
others in the grammar of our society. Until this, or some
equally simple and sensible measure shall be adopted, we
shall be overrated by some, underrated by many, and an
nually inspected by tourists, who will by turns make us
laughing-stocks and objects of disgust to ourselves and
others.

" But, seriously, this subject has struck me with much
force, AH misrepresentations of us are injurious at home

fi& TRAVELS IN AMERICA*

and abroad. It is of immense consequence to the world,
that all mankind should see what we know of the success
with which political, civil, and religious liberty have been
put to in effectual, harmonious, and most happy operation
among us. They ought to know, — what they most cer
tainly would if they knew us well,— that all men may
live in the enjoyment of a similar state of society, when
ever circumstances shall enable them to try it. They
would see, too, that our system is not necessarily un
friendly to learning in any of its degrees ; that influence
is not necessarily denied to the good and allowed to the
bad ; that the tendency of things in any respect is not to
degradation. On the contrary, they would learn that
knowledge and virtue, being indispensable to the state,
and vice and debasement of every kind dangerous to pri
vate, because to public interests, the strongest motives
exist in such a country to cultivate the purest virtue, and
to diffuse the utmost knowledge, while facilities, before
unknown, are daily offered for the propagation of both.

CHAPTER VIII.

New York continued. Foreign Residents and Visitors. Foreign Books,

NEW YORK is, indeed, multum in parvo, and contains not
only individuals from most of the travelling nations of
the earth, but societies of French, Spaniards, Germans,
Italians, &c., of considerable extent. For these and
others there are particular haunts. It is no longer ne
cessary to go abroad to see the habits of Europeans : by
proper means, a gentleman may procure an introduction
to respectable and friendly foreign residents, whose do
mestic arrangements show much of the peculiarities of

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 69

their respective countries; while at several boarding-
houses, hotels, and eating-houses, by taking a single
meal, you may get a lively sketch of several distant
countries at a time. The latest comers from Europe and
Asia are generally to be seen or heard of at Delmonico's
in the course of '-'ordinary" hours; and a person has
only to keep his eyes and ears open to get some of the
ideas they bring with them of the countenance, dress,
language, manners, and habits of many of his brethren of
the human race whom he will never see. Now and then
an individual may be found among our countrymen who
takes peculiar pleasure in bringing such peculiarities to
light.

Such was an old bachelor I could name, of an appa
rently ascetic character, who always looks grave, and
never smiles. He is very thin, with a sour look, and
goes wrapped up carefully to the ears, so that he seems
to be always cold, let the weather be never so pleasant,
and displeased even if things go on never so well. He
takes pains to draw foreigners into conversation by using
some word in their language in speaking to a waiter;
and, though he cannot speak a sentence in any foreign
tongue, with attentive looks and occasional grunts and
nods, makes them suppose he comprehends all they say,
and will sometimes sit and hear one talk a half hour
without betraying his ignorance of what is spoken.

Others, and more rational men, I have known, who
liked occasionally to resort to such places to familiarize
themselves with the languages and habits of different
countries. This may be made a useful practice ; for as
the mind improves by exercise, so does the heart by ex
panding its feelings, and indulging benevolence towards
many and various subjects. No one can spend a few
rngments io the society of intelligent and virtuous fo-

70 TRAVELS m AMERICA;

reigners, without strongly realizing that the study of
man is to be pursued among our species, and not in a
library. There is often great exposure to the youth in
bringing him into contact unguardedly with all foreigners
he may meet; but if he is to be taught living languages,
I would by all means put him among persons of pure
character who speak them, that he might apply his views
to a legitimate object, viz., the acquisition of valuable
facts.

One is not likely to realize the number of books in
foreign languages annually demanded in our country, un
til he surveys such of the stores as are principally devoted
to the sale of them. Compared with floods of our own
books, it is true they form but a small stream ; but yet
they are more numerous than would be supposed. It is
a pity that there are among them so many of the vicious
French novels; but >t might be expected that the injudi
cious instruction of so many of our youth in a language,
which is improperly regarded by many parents as a merely
ornamental accomplishment, without any care being taken
to make it an introduction to profitable associates or use
ful books, would naturally lead too many to dangerous
sources of amusement. The truth probably is, that many
a French author, unintelligible to the parent, is in the
hands of a child whose fondness for it arises from a less
commendable source than a love of gaining knowledge.
O, this business of learning modern languages is full of
abuses. One abuse, however, sometrmes prevents a
greater one. It is a comfort, in this view, to reflect,
that probably not one in ten of those who pretend to
learn French ever reads it ; and not one in fifty, perhaps,
ever speaks it. ,

A great deal of science comes into the country in
French books, and our physicians are to a good extent, I

TRAVELS IN AMERICA* *J

believe, benefited by it, and of course the people. From
Germany we now import a great many Greek, Latin, and
Hebrew works at very low prices, so that multitudes of
of instructors, students, and private gentlemen are, and
many more may be, furnished with classics, and the
Scriptures, in their originals, for moderate sums, which
would have been most cheerfully paid by some of my
friends in years past, and sufficed to fill libraries which
were unfortunately too empty. Whenever Hebrew,
Greek, and Latin shall be as generally taught, as easily
learnt, and as practically used as they may be, the sup
ply of this branch of literature must be swelled many
times beyond its present bounds.

The French and German novels form a pernicious mass
of books, of vast amount, annually disgorged by the
press, upon a world that is rendered the more truly poor
the richer it is in such productions. The German light
literature (as it is called), thanks to their sublimated and
ghost-making brains, is so strange and uncouth that it
can scarcely be brought to touch this world, and there
fore produces but little direct evil influence upon men's
lives. Their novels tend to draw off the mind to " no
nentities and quiddities ;" and as it is chiefly objects of
sense which, when improperly presented, tend to evil,
there is a negative advantage in those ridiculous phanta
sies which possess no positive excellence. To look at
the machinery Of such works, you might think them wea
pons raised to afflict the world ; but they are so crooked
and wavering in the hand, that it is but seldom they can
be made to hit it to injure. Their writers waste time,
it is true, for their readers ; and by removing the enclo
sures and land-marks of probabiltiy and common sense,
turn minds, like cattle, into estrays ; but still they do not
infuriate and madden them aa the novel-writers of

72 TBAVELS IN AMERICA.

France. Many of these are notoriously vicious and cor
rupting at the present day ; for coming down to society
as it is, packing off ghosts, and releasing virtues, vices,
and epithets from the personifications in which they have
been bound by the Germans, they lead up the most cor
rupt characters, arrayed in attractive garbs, and think
that whoever can sugar over the blackest fiend can make
the best book. Booksellers themselves, who deal out
such works to our public, sometimes shudder, like apo
thecaries, at the deadly nature of their poisonous wares.

I visited a vessel just from Scotland, with about one
hundred and fifty passengers ; and, oh ! the inquiries
concerning friends, and news, and luggage, and children,
— all in a broad dialect ! And then the groups of Swiss
and German emigrants who move about in strange rai
ment, generally taking taking the middle of the streets,
in Indian file, gazing, but, from their frequency, no longer
a gazing-stock — cocked hats, long queues, breeches justi
fied on round their haunches, as if never to come off. I
have heard people complain in this country of what
"poor folks" must do. But in Europe they find, through
necessity, they can do ten times more. I saw one day a
a crowd in the street, caused by a momentary obstruc
tion. I examined it in passing, and found that an Alsa
tian woman, with a monstrous bundle upon her head,
and an infant in her arms, had suddenly stopped to pin
the frock of one of the children who were accompanying
her ; and this she at length effected with all her embar
rassments, and proceeded as if it were no extraordinary
thing.

When we observe the movements of men near at hand,
the motives of their exertions and the results in which
they end often excite our laughter ; while, if we contem
plate them from a, distance, aud especially in large bodies,

TBAVEL8 IN AMERICA ~. 73

there is often something impressive and even exalted in
the emotions which we experience. The very greatness
of the mass, like the mountain or the sea, swells the mind
which embraces it, and keeps its faculties, like so many
arms and hands, in a state of tension, which, if not dis
tressing, is at least so tiresome as to remove all disposition
to ridicule. When we descend to some little subject, the
mind finds its powers in a great measure unoccupied;
and as this is an unnatural state, it seeks employment in
making deeper investigations and new combinations,
which, in the case of a subject abounding in such self-
contradictions and unreasonableness as man, must inevi
tably lead one to pity and another to ridicule. Historians
and warriors understand this matter, and endeavour to
keep the eye of the world or of posterity fixed upon
men in masses, or on individuals at a distance. They
often obscure, conceal, patch up, or pervert the truth, by
representing the individuals in any thing but their every
day dress.

There is much that is ludicrous in the motley crowds
rushing through Broadway at different hours ; but when
the city is seen in one view, the sight is a solemn one.
If you are called to depart, or if you by any chance ar
rive, in the dead of the night, the vacancy and silence of
the streets are exceedingly impressive. Two hundred
and forty thousand people obeying the laws of nature at
least in repose. The dead of night, strictly speaking,
lasts but a very short time in the principal thoroughfares;
for the termination of the play at about twelve, and of
fashionable parties at one, keeps up a rumbling of car
riages for an hour or two, until the most remote routes
have been performed, and the horses are returned to their
stables. After this is over, half hours and even hours of

E

74 TRAVBtS IK AMBRICA*

almost total silence sometimes intervene, while the
watchman, in the dome of the City Hall, proclaims to
the ears of the sick and the watchful that another
day is approaching, whether desired or apprehended by
them.

A cannon is fired at break of day on Governor's Island ;
but before this the lines of milk, bread, and butchers' carts
are in motion, and some come rattling down the island
from above, while others are collecting at the ferries on
the Long Island and Jersey shores, and all are soon din
ning the streets. From the heights of Brooklyn you may
hear their rattling, increasing from feeble beginnings, un
til, joined by the drays proceeding from the north to the
south part of the city to their stands, it swells into an
unintermitted roar, like the sound of Niagara at Queens-
ton, to stop not till midnight. Some time after daylight,
while the lamps at the steamboat docks are still glim
mering, and those in the streets which, by mistake, have
had oil enough, the first smoke begins to rise from the
houses of labourers in the upper wards. Some five or
ten early risers are just putting sparks to wood or coal ;
and their example is so contagious, that fires are speedily
blazing in every house and almost every chimney in the
city. In the cold season this is a singular sight ; and
when the wind is from the south in the morning, the
heavy cloud which generally overhangs the city is blown
northward, leaving the Battery in the light of the sun,
while many of the other parts are deeply obscured. Soon
after sunrise, floods of daily emigrants from the upper
wards, meeting at Broadway and Canal-street, pour down
to the wharves, the mechanics' shops, and the houses in
building, many of them with convenient little tin-kettles,
containing their dinners and preparations for heating
them, all bound to their work. Then come the clerks

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ?5

of all degrees, the youngest generally first : and these,
in an hour or thereabouts, give place to their masters,
who flow down with more dignity, but scarcely less
speed, to the counting-rooms of the commercial-streets,
hundreds of them, especially in unfavourable weather, in
the omnibuses, which render the street so dangerous now
and at three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Ere these
crowds have disappeared, they become crossed and min
gled with some of the fourteen thousand children who
go to the public and primary schools at nine, and an un
known number who frequent the private schools of all
sorts. Then are seen also the students of Columbia Col
lege and the University, the medicals in winter hurrying
to Barclay-street, lawyers, clients, and witnesses gather
ing about the City Hall, the Marine, and Ward Courts,
with a set of spectators generally selected from those
classes who have been ruined by the same process which
is about to be repeated in the name of the State. A burnt
child dreads the fire, but a singed cat loves the chimney-
corner.

The apple-women and orange-men at St. Paul's see a
motley crowd passing from ten to twelve ; and if it be a
showery day, the shopkeepers have a good deal of con
versation with chance visitors stepping in for shelter.
After this, if the sky permits (for bad walking is but a
small objection), the fashionable promenading begins,
and the window-glass has full employment in reflecting
the forms and colours of the dresses which vary with the
moon. The movements of the crowd are now at com
mon time, instead of the double-quick step by which the
business man is distinguished. A stranger would think
that New York was a city of idleness, gaiety and wealth.
But let him turn down almost any street at the right or
left, and enter some of the dwellings of the industrious

% TRAVELS IN AMERICA."

poor, and he would find all were not rich or unoccupied ;
let him glance at the chambers of others, and he would
be convinced that some are wretched and in want of all
things. Yet he need not blame too severely the gay and
young for being so regardless of the sufferers near them ;
they know not of their existence, or realize not their
own ability to aid them. All parents do not estimate
the value of engrafting practical and systematic benevo
lence upon their plan of education, and rather teach their
children by example to despise the poor, than to regard
them as beings offering occasions of moral self-improve
ment to the rich.

But it would be too long to tell all the aspects and
fluctuations of the currents for a single day in the capital,
or even to trace the course of a single drop, like myself,
circulating one tour round the system. It is enough that
the clocks and watches go on with their seconds and
hours as if they marked no appointments for friendly or
formal visits ; no periods of payment, for persons who
would prefer to keep their sixpences or their thousands ;
no departures or arrivals of cargoes, no changes in stocks
— in short, as if prosperity or adversity, wealth or po
verty, joy or disappointment were not decided by every
revolution of the hands for thousands of anxious indivi
duals.

It is a^ solemn reflection, after the bustle has passed,
and the traveller again contemplates empty streets and
noiseless pavements, deserted stores and silent wharves,
while weary bones are resting, the anxious busy at their
dreams, and the sick and dying, or their attendants alone
conscious of the hour, that two hundred and forty thou
sand persons have spent another day. The time has ra
pidly passed, but in it how many millions of property
have changed hands ; what applications of capital have

IN AMERICA^ 77

been determined upon, which will increase the comforts
of whole districts of country ; what plans have been de
vised by consummate commercial skill ; how many a ge
nerous deed has been done with wealth honourably ob
tained ; how many a piece of gold added to the miser's
hoard ! In that short space of time how many a tear has
been shed by parting friends ; how many a smile made by
those who have returned ; how many a foreigner has first
touched the soil of America ; how many a traveller like
me, has closed his visit to this busy city !

CHAPTER IX.

Fashions and old Fashions in Travelling. New York Harbour. Retreat
of Washington's Army from Long Island. The East River. Low State
of Agriculture caused by our defective Education. Hell Gate. Long
Island Sound.

THE rapidity of our steamboats and railroad cars deprive
us of a great many interesting sights and agreeable re
flections, and prevent us from becoming particularly ac
quainted with any part of our country. The improved
vehicles undoubtedly have their advantages ; but while I
ackowledge this evident fact, I am not forgetful of those
belonging to the older and slower modes. I am fond,
indee4, now and then, when time permits, and an inter
esting region invites, of leaving every thing which mo
dern fashion approves in the traveller, and betaking him
self to a country stage-coach or a farmer's waggon, and
feel delight in the rattling wheels and the healthful jolt
ing motion of a stony hill ; and sometimes like to mount
the saddle, and take the road at break of day, or set off
2 E

53 TRAVELS IN

on foot in company with some chance fellow-traveller, to
earn an appetite by a long walk before breakfast. I am
so unfortunate as to have sprung from a race of early
risers, unacquainted with the luxuries of morning naps,
and suffer from an infirmity that makes me love morning
air and athletic exercise. I can congratulate a city friend
upon the certain prospect he has that his children will
never know so lamentable a state of existence as that in
which I find myself, when I hanker after pure breezes,
and dewy fields in one of my paroxysms, and when so
far from finding sympathy for my afflictions, can scarcely
make anybody understand what I mean when I talk
about it. My city friends, I may well say, have no rea
son to apprehend that they or any of their descendants
will ever be exposed to such a malady : it is not in their
blood, and the name of it is unknown in their vocabu
lary, else so rich in asthenic terms. Even those whose
scientific repast it is to converse on all diseases, from the
corn produced by fashionable shoes to the distorted spine,
and the head deformed in infancy by laying on one side,
while the nurse was asleep, and the mother at the thea
tre, even they know not the complaint to which I am
liable.

I have said a greal deal about myself, and the nonde
script disorder with which I am affected ; and yet I have
not told the extent to which it sometimes proceeds : for
there might be danger that instead of being gratified with
my loved country retreats in the spring, I should be
packed off at once, as a confirmed Bedlamite, to a hospi
tal. To strangers, however, I may confess, that one
reason why I sometimes shun fashionable vehicles in my
journeys is, that I wish to avoid fashionable society, and
revive the memory of past days, and of men who have
long since ceased to tread the world. I confess that thia

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.' 79

fact is sufficient to forfeit for me all claim to fashionable
esteem.

What! prefer the history of our grandfathers, that
plain, unornamented, unsophisticated set, who were too
straight forward to allow of any variety in their exis
tence, and so undeviating in habits as to admit of no
thing romantic : that race, so profoundly ignorant of
modern refinements, so stubbornly attached to simple
habits and plain speech, and the least worthy of the ex
alted, the fashionable generation which has succeeded it !

These remarks may prepare my readers for my singular
voyage down Long Island Sound. This I undertook in
a sloop, which having unloaded a cargo of wood, was on
her return to the mouth of Connecticut River. The last
time I had come up the Sound I had travelled in a steam
boat, and at such a rate as to regret our swift speed,
while others around were condemning the machinery,
the boiler, the hull, the mechanics who had done their
best to produce a racer, and the master and men who
navigated her. Feeling in the humour for an old-fashion
ed passage through the East River, I was pleased to
find a vessel so much to my mind, and flattered myself
that, with the wind then blowing, I should be able to
scan the shores at my leisure. I looked at the round
bows of the sloop, and then at the old sails and the light-
handed crew. By beating with a long leg and a short
one, she might tack and tack without making too much
head-way, and perhaps reach Throg's Neck in time to
wait for the morning tide; that is, after a passage of
about six hours. The steamboat which I might have
chosen moved off and out of sight, while our hopeful
crew were waiting to see a Frenchman's monkeys stop
dancing on the dock, after which,~and fifteen minutes

80 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

spent in rolling up sleeves and shoving the sloop out,—
we committed ourselves to the deep.

It would take me long to describe the appearance of
Brooklyn Heights at sunset, as seen from certain points
on the water below, or to convey to a stranger an idea
of its still more delightful aspect to one who at sunrise
walks along its then shady paths. Though, like the
beautiful shades of Hoboken, they are often crowded in
the afternoon ; like them they are unseen and unthought of
in the morning, when only they are truly delightful. The
Bay of New York is often compared with that of Naples ;
and from expressions I have seen in some of the news
papers (which are admitted to be the most authentic re
cords in the world), it must greatly transcend it in some
important particulars. So far as I have been able to
compare the two, I am decidedly of the opinion that the
bay of our commercial metropolis is incomparably before
that of Naples in eels and drum-fish, and that this point
of superiority vastly outweighs the mere circumstance
that the latter is thirty miles wide, has Capri and Ischia,
instead of Governor's and Gibbet Islands, Vesuvius in
the place of Paulus Hook, and a range of mountains for
the Jersey shore. I therefore bade adieu to the city with
less regret when I recollected that her commercial enter
prise and prosperity are so great, and her prospects so
brilliant, as to induce the simple to presume that she is
equally peerless in every thing else, and to have claimed
for her a character which fate has decreed she can never
possess. The truth is, like a village beauty, New York
is believed by her admirers to be the paragon of science,
taste, and all things ; because she excels the known
world in what they think of greater value.

The passage of Hell Gate is very interesting under
certain circumstances. When the sun is low, either at

TRAVELS IN AMERICA." 81

morning or~evening, the sloping light has a pretty effect
among the smooth green lawns, the weeping willows,
the tasteful mansions, and the little white boat and bath
ing-houses on the western shore of the bay. As the sloop,
under the cheering influence of a brisk breeze, stretches
from side to side, in its labours to stem the current, these
objects are presented to the eye under a great variety of
aspects ; and the turbulence of the water rushing over the
rocks at the Gate, so like the agitated crowd of the city
streets, redoubles in the traveller's mind the beauties of the
tranquil sceues on shores. We look, therefore, on the retir
ed retreat of the merchant with some participation of the
pleasure enjoyed by the family groups, now and then seen
rambling at leisure along the rocks, or seated upon the
grass near the margin of the tranquil bay, which often
reflects the features of that attractive scene.

If night begins to close around us, or if a threatening
thunder-shower assails us in this remarkable pass, we
may have some faint idea of those scenes of dread and
danger which have been so often experienced by vessels
under the equinox, or in a violent hurricane. What a
reverse to the tranquil enjoyments of the summer resi
dence must be presented by the signal of distress heard
at night between claps of thunder, or to the gay party on
the rocks by the coroner's jury sitting in the arbour, over
the body of some shipwrecked stranger.

Kip's Bay reminded me so strongly of the retreat of
Washington from Long Island, that my imagination de
picted several of the painful scenes which followed it,
as we sailed along near the spot where they had occur
red. The guardian care of Providence over our feeble
army was plainly shown at several important epochs of
our Revolutionary War, but in no case, I believe, more
conspicuously, than when the British were ready to de-

82 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

etroy or to capture it 011 Long Island. The hasty redoubts
and embankments, now fast disappearing there under the
plough and the street inspector's rod, attest the zeal with
which the patriotic militia of the neighbouring states la
boured for the defence of the capital ; but nothing can
give a lively picture of the trying circumstances of the
time but the few aged survivors of that period.

" I was a mere boy," said a venerable friend, " but
hearing that the city was in danger, sat up late at night
to cast bullets, and in ^the morning hurried off without
leave, to join the army. I spent part of the first night of
my active service standing sentinel on one of the ad
vanced stations near Flatbush, during a tremendous thun
der-storm, the lightning of which shone on the enemy's
tents and arms, then in full view. Of course I had time
to make my own reflections on war, and the desperate
condition of the country." Without the aid of a thick
mist, which covered the movements of our army, our
retreat would have been discovered, and drawn on a
general attack. The out posts had been ordered to be
kept occupied till the last, and then to be given up.
While some of the troops were yet waiting to embark,
however, the commander of one of them, who had mis
understood the order, marched down to the shore. He
was ordered instantly back; and, strange as it may
seem, reoccupied his post without the observation of the
enemy.

At the battle of White Plains some of our old soldiers
were exasperated beyond measure by the conduct of Ge
neral Lee. " I was at the battle of White Plains," said
an old countryman, " and for waut of a better, belonged
to the resarve of colours. I suppose you know what that
is. Well, in the battle, I heard a kind of rumpus behind
me ; and says I, < they're a-going to cut off our retreat,'

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? 83

' I'm afraid they are/ says our sargeant. And says he to
me, ' Will you fall upon them in our rear ?» Says I,
' Yes ; and in fro at too,' says I : for I was young in them
days. Well, just then I looked, and see his excellency,
General Washington, coming with his life-guard. They
were on a brisk trot ; and some on 'em had to canter to
keep up. He rode right up to General Lee, and says he,
' General, why don't you fight ?' Says he, ' My men won't
stand it.' Says his excellency (I won't be sartain he said
'You lie;') but he said, 'You han't tried 'em.' And
there we were all in a hurry to march on ; but he had
been bribed with British gold; there's no doubt on't.—-
There wasn't a man there but what would have been glad
to have his excellency say the word — and they would
have riddled him finer than any sieve you ever see. Every
one would have had a push at him : they would have rid
dled him finer than snuff."

Croton Kiver, near which this battle was fought, will
be in great danger of being carried to New York, when
ever the corporation shall care one half as much about
what their fellow- citizens drink, as they do about getting
their votes.

The shores of the East River show little improvement
in agriculture ; an art in which our countrymen are far in.
the rear of some other nations. There is every reason to
believe, that judicious treatment would soon double the
product of these fields. But what is to be expected in a
land where learning has long been ranged in array
against that most important science, where the colleges
are ashamed to admit even its name on the list of their
studies, where its instruments are despised by the stu
dent, and the aspirant at book-knowledge casts from him
every mark of that most honourable profession as incom
patible with his lofty aims ? How can it be expected

84 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

that our fields should be subjected to such systems as the
wisest and most enlightened men might devise, while the
most frivolous topic has the preference over agriculture in
the company of those whose example is powerful in so
ciety; while our children are kept from a knowledge of
the plainest of its principles, though drilled for months
and years on the Greek particles, or see thousands squan
dered to make them French parrots and peacocks.

Here pardon me for a digression In the Granditone
Academy the pupils were trained to look upon the
farmers' sons of that town and county as beings of an
inferior nature, though the public prejudice against it,
which was thus greatly fostered, was constantly coun
teracting the labours of the principal and teachers ; and
I believe that its "liberal friends" generally would have
been more unwilling to have a boy skilled in the care of
an orchard, or the rearing of fowls, than caught
stealing eggs or apples. The manual labour schools
deserve the thanks of the country for breaking through
such miserable prejudices. But they need the active
and immediate co-operation of good parents, who
should make agricultural, or at least horticultural
labour, a daily employment, for the moral and in
tellectual, as well as the physical benefit of their
children. What youth would not derive real gra
tification from seeing the shrub or the tree springing
from the earth he had softened with that vigorous arm,
which is now more honourably employed in swinging a
fashionable walking-stick ? Whose health might not be
improved or guarded by the most invigorating of all ex
ercise in the open air? Whose intelligence would not be
cultivated by the application of arithmetic to the calcu
lations of wages, labour, and prices, the practical obser
vation of plants, animals, and minerals in the great public

TRAVELS IN AMERICA- 85

cabinet and museum of nature ? Whose habits might not
be hedged in from evil, if the recreations of the day led
to more lofty associations and meditations, tempted him
into the fields at daybreak, gave him a keener relish for
plain food than the fashionahle cook can excite with all
his sauce and spices, and made him long for repose at the
hour which Providence has assigned to it ?

It would be well for other places besides the shores of
this strait, called the East River, if they were the resi
dence of such men as my old friend Peter Practical, of
Studywork, who, without the advantages of a fashion
able friend to influence him, did, as a man of common
sense will sometimes do in his circumstances, train up
his sons to " ride horse," as it was called, — not with a
lackey, but with a plough behind them ; to rise, not with
the headache at eight or nine, to hot rolls and coffee, but
with daybreak, to go to pasture, and milk the milk they
were to drink for breakfast. They were seen accom
panying their father in the spring, planting corn in com
pany, and listening to his remarks and questions, which
were full of originality, cheerfulness, and good sense.
One had the cattle under his particular care the whole
year round ; another was supervisor of the sheep ; a
third, who had shown a mechanical turn, was put in au
thority over the tools and implements ; and little Tom,
the fourth, was often heard asking questions of them all,
assisting- them and his father by turns, studying the
habits of the fowls, the sheep, and the. oxen, and looking
further every day into the various interesting things
around him. Every season brought new employments,
pleasures, and instructions to them all ; and the father
often asked their opinions on such subjects as they could
understand, and encouraged them by acting on their sug-
p

86 TRAVELS IN AMERICA:

gestions, about the planting of water-melons out of sight
from the road, strengthening the fence where the cattle
threatened to get in, or putting scarecrows in a better
position. He kept them at the district-school as long as
it was open, and made them the cleanest and most polite
children there ; and when the school ceased, he devoted
an hour at least in the day to the instruction of his boys,
and those of his neighbourhood in his own house.
Scarcely was this practice entirely infringed upon even
in the midst of planting or of harvest. I never was in a
house in which learning appeared to be more highly re
spected. He had a small library, containing solid works
of his father's day and his own ; and few people ever
treated good books with more regard. Of useless or in
jurious ones, however, his children were taught to speak
in terms of contempt or abhorrence ; and as the rule of
the house on this, as on many other subjects, was to
weigh every thing in the balance of practical usefulness,
it was easily and generally justly applied. When the
Granditone Academy announced that chemistry and
natural philosophy were to be taught there, he sent
Richard to see whether he could get any thing out of the
instructions in those branches which might be turned to
account. It was soon apparent, however, that scarcely
any thing of these branches was taught, so much time
was occupied in the classes of French (though without
any hazard of learning to speak it) ; of music, without
learning to sing ; of rhetoric, without getting any thing
to say ; and of composition, without obtaining an idea
worth writing^ Eichard, therefore, came home, at the
end of one quarter, with little more to communicate than
a list of definitions of learned terms, which his father
told him were worth about as much as the names of a
set of farming instruments to a person ignorant of their

TRAVELS IN AMERICA; 87

forms and uses. Having however been obliged to pur
chase some elementary works on these invaluable
sciences, he brought them home, and from these much
important information was derived, and the names of
books still more valuable to the farmer, who was soon
able to make solid additions to the library, and to put in
practice the principles they inculcated.

If the proprietor of any of these tracts of land along
the East River could see the farm of Peter Practical, or
even the account of its annual products in cattle, vege
tables, fruit, &c., with the simple but judicious and truly
scientific means by which extraordinary results are there
produced, he would wish that some of his family might
take up his residence in the neighbourhood. To this,
however, there might be an objection : for it is stated, on
good authority, that in one place on Long Island, where
an intelligent observer would exclaim, " Why is this not
the garden of the metropolis ?" there has been a secret
association among the people, to effect the exclusion of
every person from that part of the country in which Mr.
Practical lives. But how can this be effected ? inquires
one of my republican readers. In this way : if a piece of
ground is to be sold at auction, one or more of the society
attends, and if it is likely to be purchased by any one
suspected of such an origin, he at once outbids him, and
the loss is divided among the members of the association,
who appear to believe that what remains to them of their
worldly estates has thus been saved from destruction.

The northern shore of Long Island, unfortunately for
the coasting trade, with few exceptions, is of a uniform
appearance, and has few harbours where even a sloop
may find refuge from a northerly storm. A steep sand
bank bounds the Sound on the south, almost in its whole
extent, and long intervals are generally found between

$8 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

the few bays and inlets that break its uniformity. It is
surprising that the cases of wreck and loss of life have
not been more frequent; for the number, and variety, and
value of the cargoes which annually pass through this
great channel of domestic commerce are surprisingly
great, and fast increasing. The light-houses, which,
now shine like diamond pins on almost every important
headland, do what human precaution can to prevent- dis
asters : but what aid can they afford in misty or snowy
weather ?

I was reminded of the anxious night once spent by a
friend in a steamboat at the mouth of yonder harbour,
with a strong gale blowing in, and the vessel, with her
head towards it, revolving her ponderous wheels with all
her might, and yet barely able to hold the station which
no anchor would have enabled her to maintain.

Not far under our lee was the spot where an enter
prising farmer's son, from a retired country town, in a
sloop, loaded with wood for New York, was driven on
shore at a high spring-tide in the night, and remained
ignorant of his situation till morning broke, and showed
them they were safe. The waves which had broken
over them had thrown the vessel up to the verge of a
cultivated field, so that with little difficulty they leaped
upon the stone wall which surrounded it ; and after re
covering from almost freezing by sheltering themselves
awhile from behind it, they found comfortable refresh
ments in a neighbouring farm-house.

With scarcely less suffering, though with better for
tune, another friend of mine, of three times his age, and
ten times his skill, had conducted his little vessel
through these waters in a December night, when a heavy
fall of rain and snow, accompanied with freezing wea
ther, had rendered it impossible to loosen a rope or lower

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.1 89

a sail, and a tremendous gale hoarsely commanded the
furling of the canvass on penalty of vengeance. Every
brace and halliard had become a spar of ice, and the
sails could not be cut out of the yards and buntlines, be
cause the crew had refused to do duty, and gone below.
The old commander, undaunted by all these difficulties,
might have been seen (had there been anybody to observe
him), firmly holding the helm, sometimes looking in vain
through the darkness for any sign of the coast, at other
times straining his eyes to distinguish what light-house
it might be he saw or thought he saw over the icy taff-
rail. The terrors of that night, — though the tale I had
listened to in the Mediterranean, — were strongly im
pressed upon my mind.

CHAPTER X,

Itfew Haven. Literary aspect. Refined Society. Taste in Architecture.
Burying Ground. Franklin Institute. Paintings of Trumbull. Ame
rican Taste. Learning.

NEW HAVKN, so celebrated for the attractive beauty of
its streets, the variety and romantic nature of the neigh
bouring scenery, and still more the literary and refined
character of its society — New Haven it was my lot to
visit at a most interesting period, namely, during the
ceremonies of Commencement Week. The annual cele
bration of Yale College had been changed this year, but
did not fail to collect a large concourse of persons from
different parts of the country, with, as frequently hap
pens, some foreigners of literary taste and intelligence.

There is scarely any thing better calculated to give
pleasure to a friend of learning than to visit this delight-

90 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

ful city on such an occasion. It seems as if New Haven
had been originally planned for the site of a university ;
and almost as if every public as well as every private
house had been erected, every garden laid out, every
court-yard and public square beautified, and every tree
planted and trained, with direct reference to its appear
ance and convenience as a seat of learning. The central
square, which is a noble quadrangle of eight or nine hun
dred feet, surrounded by double rows of large elms, and
divided by a street that is completely arched over with
thick foliage, although it is the site of four of the finest
public buildings, and shows the fronts of handsome man
sions on three of its sides, affords the university its place
of honour, for the six college buildings are ranged in a
long line on the western side where the ground is highest,
and the elevation superior to the chief part of the city.
New Haven is a place of considerable business, with the
inhabitants of surrounding towns ; but the stores are so
remote from this delightful centre, or at least so effec
tually concealed from view, where this fine display of
buildings is visible, that the idea as well as the interrup
tion of business is entirely excluded. It is impossible
for a stranger to catch a glimpse of the Green, as it ia
familiarly called, "especially from some of the most favour
able points of view (as, for example the public or the
private doors of the Tontine Coffee-House), without ex
periencing sensations of a peculiar and most agreeable
nature. He looks from under the shade of a venerable
elm grove upon a smooth level of green grass, about four
hundred feet wide, and eight hundred in length, from
right to left. The eye then first meets an obstacle, and
falls upon a long line of drooping trees of the same
description, standing like a wall of verdure before him,
disclosing only the general proportions of three fine

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 91

churches, in different tastes, but at uniform distances,
with towers rising to a great height into the air, and
giving an interrupted view of the university. As for
tranquillity, it is unbroken, unless, perhaps, by the traf
fickers in water-melons offering their cooling wares to
abate the thirst of a literary race ; or by the voices of
the young treading the paths of science, which stretch
across the smooth turf up the hill to the colleges, " as
plain as road to parish church," and far more easy than
the steep of science, as it was represented to them at
first starting, in the frontispiece of Dr. Webster's Spell
ing Book.

The periodical ringing of the bells, with the signs of
gathering and dispersing classes, the stillness which
reigns through this part of the city during the college
exercises, and the student-like aspects of those who, at
other hours, traverse the Green, have a tendency to direct
the thoughts of the spectator to subjects above the com
mon affairs of life, and by elevating the mind and tran
quillizing the feelings, win from the stranger who visits
the place a tribute of praise, the source of which may
perhaps be more creditable to himself than he imagines.
Many travellers have loved to recur to the beauties of New
Haven, and to praise its neat mansions, extensive and
blooming gardens, level lawns and luxuriant foliage, who
knew not the chief source of their enjoyment, during
their stay, had been derived from another and a higher
cause. I have often listened with pleasure to the enco-
niums thus annually poured, like a spontaneous song,
from the hearts of many refined strangers on the spot,
because, while it recalls to my own mind agreeable
impressions, it informs me that my companions hold
learning in becoming regard, and rejoice to see it duly
honoured.

92 TRAVELS IN AMERICA?

:r But in praising the fine part of New-Haven, I would
not slight the remainder of the city. Many neat and not
a few elegant houses are seen in other streets, especially
in this vicinity, shaded by the rows of elms which extend
far in every direction along those which here cross at
right angles. Withdrawing northwardly along two of
these, to the distance of about a quarter of a mile, you
enter the beautiful "Avenue," where are collected the
houses of several of the oldest and most eminent of the
professors of Yale College, with the chaste and elegant
mansion of the Poet Hillhouse at the opposite extremity,
rising among the trees of a self-planted wood, on a gentle
eminence. Nothing could be more pleasing or appropri
ate than the aspect of this retired spot, when I proceeded
in the twilight to visit one of the professors ; and nothing
more accordant with the scene and the vicinity than the
intelligent conversation, mingled with the refined hospi
tality and friendship shown by such of the neighbours as
had assembled, to several literary strangers who present
ed themselves during the evening.

One cannot but regret, after seeing such a society, that
its influence should not be more extensively exerted to
raise the standard of conversation and manners in other
places. No one can doubt that there is a large depository
of power here which might, by some means, be made to
operate upon our country extensively. Much might be
done by a periodical publication, devoted not so much to
the cultivation of the higher branches of science and
literature, with which so few have any concern, but to
the refinement of social intercourse, the incitement of
parents to give a proper domestic education to their
children, the inculcation of sound principles on this and
many other subjects essential to private and public pros
perity and happiness. The cause of its want is probably

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.' 93

to be attributed to the fact, that the members of this
society underrate their own powers and opportunities for
doing good in such a manner. Those connected with
the university are generally much occupied with business ;
and there is so much refinement around them that they
do not, perhaps, feel how much it is needed elsewhere.
Besides, they would be ready to say that Yale College
with the ten large and respectable boarding-schools in
the city, are constantly labouring to produce such an
effect. But how slight, yet how effectual, a labour it
would be to publish a monthly magazine here, whose in
fluence should be beneficially felt throughout the Union,
and which, while it might chastise the follies and frailties
of certain influential periodicals now existing, might con
descend to instruct a million of our countrymen in the
way to social refinement, the bosom friend of moral and
religious improvement.

A society has been formed in New Haven within a few
months, for the promotion of taste in civic architecture,
the laying out of grounds, &c. A stranger would at first
be disposed to wonder less that such a subject should
have attracted attention here, than that there should have
been supposed to be room for improvement. And yet it
was, in fact, perfectly natural that such a plan should
have been devised in New Haven; because improvements
are much more likely to progress than to begin. And
how important are the objects embraced by this society j
Our best plans of architecture in the United States are
notoriously defective. We have lived till this time with
out ascertaining any principles to be observed in building
our houses, so as to consult the great points that ought
to be regarded. How often do we begin to build with
out a thought even of old Fuller's quaint remark, that
2 F

94 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

light and water, creation's eldest daughters, should first
be sought in choosing a position; and after this, how
innumerable are the violations of common sense, taste,
and experience committed by every person who con
structs a residence for his family ! In fantastical orna
ments and preposterous novelties, as well as in fashions
condemned by every thing but habit, we often see that
obedience to example which ought to be yielded only to
pure taste and sound judgment. The purse-proud des
cendant of a venerable family, to obliterate every trace
of an education which he chooses to despise, and with the
feelings almost of a parricide, levels the noble elms that
defended worthier generations from the storms; before
he lays the foundation of some glaring structure, which
he thinks will captivate every eye. Some of our country
men believe that there is no architectural taste independ
ent of red, green, or blue paint ; while others, especially
in the capitals, sleep content (half a day's journey in the
air,) if they succeed in building more spacious parlours
than their neighbours, and in removing one more con
venience to make room for a few more guests at an oc
casional winters's jam.

Happy would it be, if the society above referred to
could teach us how to consult our own comfort, and the
benefit of our children, in the plan of a house ; if it could
convince some parents that our dwellings should some
times be the scenes of unostentatious, sincere, and Chris
tian hospitality ; but chiefly planned and furnished with
a serious regard to its great object, — the training of their
children. There can be no fireside in a house where every
thing has been sacrificed, in the plan and the furniture, to
the hollow and ruinous ceremonies of fashionable life. —
The fireside is of little importance, I know, in the view
of persons who live only for the present time ; but this is

TRAVELS IN AMERICA; 9£

a subject which might occupy the attention of at least
some reflecting persons, if it were properly brought up to
their notice. How impossible it is to reconcile the de
mands of fashion and of duty on the family of one of our
wealthy citizens ! How much more wise would it be to
contract the walls and depress the ceilings of our houses
to a reasonable size, and tear off from the furniture of our
children's apartments some portion of the silks and gild
ings with which we early implant false ideas of the world
and their own importance, and bring back every thing at
once to the intellectual and moral scale on which some of
our ancestors ordered their household ! What ages, what
centuries of time would be rescued from the cares of
spacious and gaudy apartments, the conversation of
heartless and formal visitors ; what a round of new and
nobler topics and daily pleasures might be substituted;
what a revolution might be effected in the occupations
and feelings of families ; how many a child might be saved
a banishment, who is now annually expelled from the pa
rental roof, to seek afar a guardian and instructor, denied
by fashion at home. How many a fireside might be
daily and nightly gladdened by circles of well-taught and
affectionate brothers and sisters, instead of being devoted
to frivolous morning calls, and trampled by nightly
dancers !

Incontestibly many comforts and advantages of diSerent
kinds might accrue from the improvement of architectu
ral taste and science, in our country at large. A sightly
mansion may be erected at less expense than is often be
stowed on a pile of deformity ; and not only convenience
but health may be secured by a judicious plan in building.
The planting of trees on private grounds often contributes
to the gratification of neighbours and the beauty of a
town; and the laying out and decorating of public

96 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

squares, although so generally neglected among us, might
easily be rendered subservient to the improvement of
public taste, intelligence, and morality. Whoever has
been in Switzerland, or other foreign countries, where
rural seats are provided at the wayside, near fountains,
on hill-tops, or under the most venerable shades, for
the convenience of foot-travellers, must recall with
pleasure the agreeable impressisns they give of the re
finement of the inhabitants. What a total absence of
all such feelings, on the contrary is caused, as we pass
along our own roads, to see no trace of any thing
done for the benefit of a stranger! The road-side is
often studiously deprived of foliage ; aud it is rare that
so much as a rock can be found proper to afford a
convenient seat. On entering our villages also, is
there any little grove, or even a single tree pro
vided with benches, from which one may survey the ob
jects around him ? A trough may have been placed for
the benefit of the cattle, to receive the water of a rill;
but why is man considered so far beneath all notice ? —
The inn and the drinking-shop indeed are open ; but
would not their evil influence be diminished, if every
village were provided with a little shady green, fur
nished with a few seats in the shade, where the youth
and age of the place might meet at sunset in the
summer? With how little expense might the spot
be beautified, and, if necessary protected by a keeper !
Winding paths sre easily made, trees are easily planted,
and will grow if let alone ; flowers afford a cheap
and delightful ornament; and how easily might tasteful
arbours or rotundas be supplied with a vase, a bust,
or even a statue, such as native artists can easily
produce !
But this fertile subject has led me far beyond my in-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 97

tended limits. Let us turn to the decorated ground
which shows, alas ! a profusion of marble monuments, a
little westward of the beautiful Avenue of which I have
spoken. In my view, the burying-ground of New Haven
has been too much praised, as it can lay no claims to an
equality, as a mere object of taste, with that great and
beautiful depository of the dead of Paris with which it
has most frequently been compared. The cemetery of
Pere la Chaise occupies a great extent of irregular
ground, instead of being a mere plain of limited size;
and in place of small monuments, mingled with many
upright slabs, planted in lines parallel with the straight
poplars, which imperfectly shade them, presents a long
succession of more costly and towering obelisks, pyra
mids, and fabrics of different styles, half surrounded by
clusters of various trees and shrubs occupying points
favourable to effect. The paths wind over and around
many a little eminence, sometimes confining the view of
the solitary visitor to objects close beside him, compel
ling him to think of some individual among the multi
tudes of dead, and perhaps to read his epitaph ; some
times affording a distant view of the metropolis, and
filling the mind with a solemn and instructive lesson
concerning the living. This is a brief picture of Pere la
Chaise, as the cemetery is familiarly denominated : that
is of the better portion of it; and how can a comparison
be instituted between its rural scenery and luxurious
monuments and any thing we find here? Perhaps all
the marble in the whole burying-ground of New Haven
would hardly be sufficient to construct some single mo
numents erected to Parisians. But, for all the purposes
for which a place of interment should be planned and
visited, that of New Haven appeared to me as far su
perior to that of Paris as I can possibly describe, One

9£ TRAVELS IN AMERICA?

of the most splendid structures in the latter is that of
Abelard and Heloise ! What man of intellect, not to
say of religion, or even of morality, does not feel insulted
by such a fact ? I will not speak of that large portion
of the ground which is dug over once in a few years.

The soul which "startles at eternity," goes to the
grave-yard to learn something of the import of so dread
a word. Trifles such, as wealth, taste, learning (so
called), honour that cometh not from God, glory that
survives not death, man knows too well to be willing
seriously to investigate their nature. If he endures them
at all, he seeks ever to mingle with the crowd which
proclaims them as worth more than they are. Worldly
men, therefore, you find not going to the grave, to weep,
or even to meditate there. The place then must have a
solemn sermon prepared to preach to every visitor, on
the end of all things, — of all things but one. It must
have thoughts ready to suggest on the imperishable na
ture of the soul, the superior importance of every thing
that may lead it to future happiness, and the danger of
forgetting its inestimable worth among the glare of the
baubles around us. Whatever there be, therefore, in a
cemetery, which does not tend to depreciate this world
in our esteem, and to exalt the future, is out of place;
and whatever the object be, it proclaims that the author
of it was entirely ignorant of the task he had under
taken, and had no mind capable of comprehending the
subject.

While, therefore, I state a plain truth, that there are
finer serpentine walks, more costly and splendid monu
ments in Pere la Chaise, I insist that more judgment, far
higher taste has been shown in the New Haven burying-
ground. In my view also the same might be said of
every village burying-ground in our country, were it not

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 99

for the too common neglect with which they are treated.
I speak from a deep sentiment of my heart when I say,
that a secure enclosure, a few gravelled walks, shaded
by willows, enriched with flowering shrubs, and decently
secluded from noise and dust, would furnish every vil
lage with a depository for the dead more appropriate,
more beautiful, and for the living more instructive, than
the boasted cemetery of the French metropolis.

It is difficult for me to express all the gratification the
traveller experiences on entering the Franklin Institute,
which is connected with one of the principal inns in New
Haven. Whoever heard, in any other city or country, of
such a union ? In a spacious wing of the hotel, over the
dining-room, the lodger may cross a passage and enter a
fine lecture-room, furnished with seats for two or three
hundred people, with a desk for a lecturer, having a
neat laboratory and apparatus in view, a niche for re
ceivers, with a flue to take off offensive gasses, a study ad
joining, and a private passage to a fine mineralogical
cabinet, occupying the third story, to which you are
next introduced. This institution is due entirely to the in
telligence and liberality of Mr. Abel Brewster, a wealthy
mechanic of this city, who planned and founded it at
his own expense, for the benefit of the citizens. A course
of scientific lectures is delivered every winter, principally
by the professors of Yale College, to which tickets are
obtained for two dollars. The professors and other liter
ary gentlemen of the place afford it their countenance
and labours ; and the influence upon the inhabitants has
been very beneficial, especially those who have not many
other sources of instruction. Such an example, from an
intelligent and highly philanthropic indivividual, should
provoke to imitation some of those in other places who

100 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

possess the power of promoting the great interests of the
public in a similar manner.

New Haven has been greatly enriched within a few
months by the acquisition of some of the invaluable
paintings of Colonel John Trumbull, which are now de
posited in a building erected by subscription in the rear
of the College Lyceum. The edifice is itself worthy of
particular attention, on account of its neat and correct
architecture, and its appropriate plan for the objects
designed. It is notorious that in all the picture galleries
of Europe there is not one in which the proper arrange
ments have been made for the favourable disposition of
paintings and admission of light. Numerous windows,
generally large, and opening nearly from the ceiling to
the floor, give a multitude of cross lights ; or else a por
tion of the apartment is thrown into deep obscurity,
You may walk through the whole gallery of the Louvre,
about one-third of a mile in length, and not see a paint
ing in the best light ; while in Italy the pictures in pri
vate collections are often hung upon hinges, and those of
the Vatican, among others, suffer from the evils above
mentioned. Some of the exhibition-rooms in Philadel
phia, New York, and perhaps some of our other cities,
are now more judiciously lighted from above. The ro
tunda of the capitolis a noble specimen of the same kind
reminding one of the Pantheon of Rome ; and although
constructed primarily for a different purpose, affords one
of the finest galleries for paintings in the world. After
visiting the well-known mineralogical cabinet of Yal,
College, I entered the gallery where, under the advantage
of light admitted from above, are seen the pictures of
Colonel Trumbull ; and and it is doubly gratifying to find
so many of them deposited in a permanent situation, in
his native state, he has done so much to honour, know

TRAVELS IN AMERICA: 101

that this arrangement has been made by the liberality of
some of his fellow-citizens.

Of the full value of the national paintings of this artist,
ifc will be impossible to judge until time shall have en
abled the public more justly to appreciate it. But how
happy it is that an officer of Washington's family should
have been able as well as disposed to record the principal
events of our revolution in this most interesting and in
structive manner, and to preserve the portraits of the
most distinguished actors. While on the spot, I could
not but wish that a suggestion I heard made some months
since might ere long be carried into effect, viz. that lec
tures should be delivered, to the students and others,
on these pictures, embracing those instructive historical
and biographical details in which our revolutionary
period so greatly abounded, and in which our youth
ought to be frequently and familiarly schooled.

I was exceedingly mortified, however, to find in the
State House, a copy of Trumbull's Declaration of Inde
pendence, furtively made by a raw young artist, which
has been purchased by the Legislature, and hung up in
the hall. This appeared to me as discreditable a reflec
tion upon the want of taste and the abundance of parsi
mony as that body could have cast upon itself.

The State House is a beautiful edifice, built on the
model of a fine Grecian temple, in pure taste, and is hand
somely stuccoed in imitation of granite. These perisha
ble materials appear ill when betrayed under the thin
disguise of mock stone. The Gothic Church near by
already shows the white pine under the glazing of brown
paint and sand. Apropos, speaking of the Gothic style f
— Why should it be introduced into America ? There is
not a feature in society here which bears the slightest
affinity with it ; and so utterly opposed is it to the

102 TBAVELS IN AMERICA^

ciplea of pure and refined taste, that nothing makes it at
all tolerable in Europe, except its known connexion with
the days of semi-barbarism in which it flourished.

But it is more agreeable to approve than to condemn.
Let us take this favourable opportunity to reflect a mo
ment on a national taste in the fine arts, appropriate to
our country. In architecture it is much easier to say
what does not than what does suit our circumstances.
I will leave that to others for the present, hoping they
may apply to it those principles of common sense which
I wish to suggest in respect to a sister art. In painting,
we ought to fix our principles distinctly. We ought not
in this or any thing else, servilely to follow the example
of any, even the masters of the art. We are to imitate
the style of the best ancient orators, poets, and histo
rians, when we speak and write ; but how ? By using
exactly their words? No; but by saying what they
would have said if they had been like us, and in our
places. So, when we come to painting or to sculpture,
we should not merely copy Jupiters, or Apollos, or Lao-
coons. Apelles and Praxiteles would not have produced
such personages if they had flourished in our days in the
Western Continent. Long were the arts smothered in
Europe under the weight of ancient example ; and when
West roused up from the re very enough to throw off the
drapery of antiquity, they breathed more freely. But
West went not into the proper American domain. He
was indeed unfavourably situated to do so, for he was in
Europe. AVe find him therefore, when out of scripture
and poetical subjects, commemorating the death of Wolfe
at Quebec, and making his hero with his last breath ap
plaud a victory in which no principle was involved, and
from, which flowed no result of interest to mankind.
The tale to be told on his canvass was the old bald tale

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ ]03

of military adventure : directed by a ministry three thou-
aand miles distant, with money which they seem to have
expended chiefly for their own credit. Military glory is
the highest motive you can attribute to any of the per
sonages of whom the groups must be formed ; and the
whole work is but the old song of false praise to war and
bloody victory.

But how different from all this are the paintings of
Trumbull ! How much more appropriate to the princi
ples we profess ! Each of the personages presents an in
structive lesson in his history. Here is no son, whose
name was inscribed on the army list merely to secure him
a profession. The simple insignia of these soldiers were
not purchased with money, and no accident or fatality
brought them together. The war in which they engaged
had not been waged for the exaltation of an ambitious
general, or to slake the thirst of any»tyrant for blood;
and the actors were not the blind servants of one whose
commands might not be questioned. Each man had in
dependently acted in obedience to his own judgment,
and in accordance with his own feelings. His education
had been such as to strengthen his mind, and to cultivate
pure motives; and the great proof of the patriotism of
our army was shown by their quietly disbanding and re
turning to their homes when the war had been ter
minated. Other troops, after obtaining victory, would
have considered their own great object yet unaccom
plished, while their pay was withheld ; and would have
been ready to ravage their country to reward or revenge
themselves. But the men whom our great artist has
preserved on his canvass, maintained the attachment of
children to their country, and voluntarily resigned that
power by which alone they might have compelled the
satisfaction of their claims, although they were just and

»

104 TRAVELS IN AMERICA!

undisputed. Posterity will have the discrimination which
we want, and appreciate such works according to their
merits.

It has been lamented that some of our states, and espe
cially such as have contained the best of our colleges,
should be so parsimonious in rendering them pecuniary
aid. No doubt a few thousands of dollars, if conferred
upon Yale College some years ago, would have proved
of extreme value to the interests of learning in Connecti
cut and the country. She has had to struggle with
poverty, or her usefulness, great as it has been, might
have been doubled. The legislature of the state has ap
peared unaccountably indifferent to learning, while in
possession of means for its cultivation, I suppose, supe
rior to those of any other in the Union. This 1 attribute
to the habit of receiving early instruction in the district
schools at the expanse of a permanent fund ; to the divi
sion which is made between those fully and those par
tially educated ; and, perhaps, above all, to the inade
quacy of common education.

The right of every parent to send his child to a district
school is considered as entire as the claim to air and
water ; and indeed many resist taking more instruction
than they please, as they would object to excessive eat
ing or breathing. The people are not called upon to pro
vide for the support of their schools, nor obliged at any
time to go without them ; and therefore do not often
contemplate, if they ever do, the real value of regular
education. Besides, the most important part of the in
struction is often communicated at home, and this may
be another reason why there is no general disposition
among the people to be liberal to literary institutions.
Practical knowledge is too generally under-rated by men
of regular education, and this fosters jealousy against

TRAVELS IN AMERICA* 105

them, and provokes contempt for theoretical learning.
Study and work are so entirely separated, in short, as to
be kept ignorant of each other ; and there has been popu
lar ignorance and jealousy enough to let this chief literary
institution of the state languish for many years. Yale
College has recently received above one hundred thou
sand dollars in subscriptions from its alumni and friends
in different parts of the country, although about an equal
sum has been contributed at the same time for several
other institutions in New England. While these in
stances of enlightened liberality authorize us to indulge
hopes that learning will be supported in the Union by
the public ; the past warns us of the danger which it in
curs among a people educated on a defective plan, and
claims the immediate improvement of common schools :
even those of Connecticut, which have been greatly over
rated.

Saybrook, on the western side of Connecticut River, at
its mouth, was the first place occupied by the English in
New England, after leaving the coast of Massachusetts
Bay. After repeated solicitations from the Indians, who
originally occupied the banks of this delightful stream,
and had been driven from the western shore by the Mo
hawks, the governor of Plymouth Colony sent Lieutenant
Gardner with a few soldiers to occupy this post, for fear
lest the Dutch should anticipate him. He arrived only a
few hours before a Dutch vessel appeared from New
York, which sailed up and founded a settlement at Hart
ford, under the patronage of the Mohawks.

The steamboats stop at Saybrook Point, which is about
a mile from the village. Here are a few houses, several
of which receive boarders during the summer season. I
may give the results of a morning's observations, during
a walk I took between sunrise and breakfast time. Say-

106 TRAVELS IN

brook Point is nearly in the form of a circle, being a
peninsula, connected with the mainland by a very narrow
neck, over which the tide sometimes flows, and having a
broad and handsome bay of shallow water on each side.
The soil is sandy and poor, and the elevation of the high
est part, which is near the middle, is not above twenty
feet. The remains of the fort are on a small spot of
ground at the extremity of the peninsula ; but the site of
the first fort is believed to have been worn away by the
encroachments of the waves. I found an old man hoeing
corn on the bank which slopes eastward a little in its
rear. " I suspect," said he, " that this is the oldest field
between Plymouth Colony and the Western Ocean ; for
from its situation this would naturally have been the first
spot the settlers would have tilled, as the Indians kept
them at first closely confined." This appeared to me
very probable ; and when I reflected what rich and
abundant harvests are now growing almost to the Rocky
Mountains, it gave me a striking idea of the progress of
the country in two hundred years. On the brow of the
bleak bank stands an ancient monument, of coarse free
stone, erected to Lady Arabella Fenwick, which has now
no inscription, and is entirely neglected, being barely
kept standing to comply with the requisitions of the deed
by which a large tract of land on the opposite shore is
held. The simplicity and loneliness of this relic are very
touching to the feelings, when the pure and exalted cha
racter of the deceased is called to mind.

The land on the Point is laid out in large fields and
squares, as it was originally intended for a commercial
city; and Oliver Cromwell, with other men then more
distinguished than himself, was once, it is said, actually
embarked in the Thames to occupy the ground. The
foundation of the building which was once Yale Col-»

TRAVELS IN AMKRIClI 107

ege, the cellar of the Court House, and the ancient
grave-stones in the burying-yard, offer interesting objects
to the antiquary. Two or three old houses, among the
few specimens of early New England architecture, now
observed by the traveller in this state. Captain Doty's
house and his portrait, as well as his grave and those
of his contemporaries and children, I visited.

I had some conversation with an old matron, whose
unaffected dignity, obliging manners, intelligent remarks,
and refined language, reminded me of many of those I
had viewed with such respect and attachment in my
childhood. She approved of my early rising and natural
curiosity, and believed it would be better if we were more
acquainted with the character of our ancestors and those
difficult times which were formerly experienced here. —
There had been a mushroom race, which had risen after
the revolutionary war, very unlike their fathers, caring
nothing for them, and wanting only to amass money;
but she believed times were better now, and it had be
come quite the fashion to search for antiquities. It
seemed to her like the Book of the Law, which was
lost a long time, but was found in the temple in the
time of Josiah.

10S TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

CHAPTER XL

A Connecticut Clergyman's Family. Wood-hauHng. Middletown.

IN my journey up the river I deviated from my course to
visit one of the favourite scenes of my childhood. It was
one of the river towns, so like the others in its general
traits, that to describe it is in some sense to describe all
which retain their ancient agricultural character. I spent
parts of two years there while a boy, in the family of the
old clergyman of the place, and thus became instructed in
the state of society, as an apprentice learns his master's
trade, viz., by assisting to carry it on. The good old
man, who had lived many years on a glebe of four
acres and four hundred dollars a year, was considered
by his neighbours entitled by his good character to the
liberal pay of one dollar a week for boarding, lodging,
and instructing a boy like me ; and in the plain hospi
tality which I received at their firesides, I read at once
their love for him, and their respect for the learning
which I was supposed to be seeking. Some of these men,
while they worked the farms of their ancestors, occupied
dwellings which had sheltered several generations, or at
least reposed under aged elms where their grandfathers had
pursued their boyish sports. I soon began to share the
feelings of the family, where every wandering stranger
was sure of finding friends ; and through the frequent
calls of connexions and brother-clergymen, as well as by
visits in the neighbourhood and the parish, I became ac
quainted with men, congregations, and things far and
near.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 109

If it be useful to a mind to contemplate the operations
of an important and valuable machine, must it not be an
improving task to observe the operations of such a so
ciety ? I cannot tell exactly how much I was the better
for the knowledge I acquired there of the piety of jEneas
or of the purity of the heathen gods ; but I am sure that
the excellent and exalted characters I there saw display
ed, with the daily exhibition of doing good, have had a
perceptible influence on my life, and ought to have had
much more. The old gentleman, besides his pastoral du
ties, was chief counsellor to old and young in cases of
doubt and difficulty, patron-general of learning, and one
with whom those minds which wandered farthest beyond
the village sphere were fond of comparing themselves.
By his kitchen fire, where so many of the families of New
England draw their circles in the winter evenings, I
have heard principles avowed, and opinions familiarly
expressed, concerning which I have since seen the nations
of Europe at war. The very bare-footed boy who spent
a week in the house, while his poor way-worn mother
was accommodated in the " linter-room" for the love of
him whose heart-broken disciple she was, poor little
George went off engrafted with views of the rights and
duties of man, which certain European sovereigns have
refused to learn either from exile or the sword. He en
couraged me at my evening lesson by reminding me that
there was no impediment between any boy and the very
highest station of usefulness in the country ; and when
we closed with an hour spent in shelling corn, he would
sometimes talk of one of my grandfathers who had loved
his books in his youth, or tell tales of his missionary ad-
^ventures among the Delaware Indians.

The means of obtaining an education for the desk in

110 TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

past days were confined, as is well known, to the private
instructions of clergymen, and none of those seminaries
had yet an existence which have since done so much for
the church, and are doing much more. Our New Eng
land clergymen carefully transmitted their learning from
generation to generation, under the disadvantages to
which they had been subjected, by their private instruc
tions to young men preparing for their profession ; and
although their time was much engrossed with parochial
labours, the students were not as much as now with
drawn from the world, but more trained to the practice
of a science in which theoretical learning alone is of little
direct avail in society. For my own part, I felt that the
Christian religion was of real value, when I, though a
child, accompanied the venerable pastor in some of his
visits to the people of his charge. Two of these occa
sions have often since presented themselves to my me
mory in a powerful contrast. One of these was the fu
neral of a young man, who had suddenly died on the eve
Of marriage. The mother stood among the mournful
throng, with a heavenly calmness upon her face, and
seemed to drink in the consolations of the Scriptures of
fered by my aged companion, like one thirsty for the wa
ter of life. In the other case, I found a half-heathen
family at their miserable meal, on the outskirts of the
parish, with poverty and ignorance written upon every
countenance, no Bible in the house, and apparently unac
quainted with the bearing of its doctrines on that spirit
which had recently inhabited the lifeless body now ready
for the grave in one corner of the room. Never before
nor since have I witnessed equal degradation in a family
in that part of our country ; and the old pastor seemed
as much astonished as myself, for they had kept aloof
from all the blessings of civilization around them, and

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Ill

been as much unknown as unknowing. From what I
heard of the conversation which took place, I received
the impression that they had come some months before
from another state, where few then enjoyed the benefits
of intellectual or religious instruction ; and although I
spoke not a word on the subject, and probably my reflec
tions were not conjectured even by my companion, with
all his fondness for youth, and his penetration, I believe
I left the house a decided, though a young champion for
knowledge and refinement.

Wood-hauling is a word which requires explanation
to such as have not been intimately acquainted with the
country villages in New England. It is the name of an
annual holiday, when the parishoners make their contri
butions of wood to their pastor, and partake of refresh
ment or a regular dinner at his house.

In the visits I paid with my venerable instructor to
many a habitation far and near, to give invitations for
this muster of the parish, I had glimpses of life among
the farmers, and even the lawyers' and physicians' house
holds, and thought I grew rich in friends faster than ever
before. M. Levasseur, while in General Lafayette's train,
had not more reason to be pleased with the Americans
than I had to love the people of the parish during this
tour of visitation. All the overflowings of their affection
towards the good old man they bestowed upon me ; and
many a respectful courtesy I saw made by dignified frames
which I had seen before only moving to the house of God,
and which I had supposed to be thus perpendicular the
year round. The farmers' wives patted my head, and
stooping down, smiled in my face. The girls brought me
nut-cakes, and the boys chesnuts and apples ; while the
old dog or cat was driven out of the warm chimney-
corner, and I was placed on a block to warm my little

112 TRAVEL* IN AMERICA:

toes and fingers. I had not supposed there were as many
dried pumpkins and sausages in the world as I saw hang
ing from the kitchen- walls ; and as for cows and bee
hives, milk and honey, I thought of the land of Canaan.
To hear such cheerful, laborious, intelligent people talk
about the joj4 of religion and the prospects of heaven}
made me love to sit on their settle-benches and walk on
their sanded floors. Families in affliction, and those in
poverty were visited, encouraged, or prayed with, and
left without a hint at any inappr r..ate subject; but
where good manners and good memory were not found
together, an invitation was elsewhere given by the pastor
to the woodhauling next Thursday, and every face bright
ened at the word.

Thursday came at the parsonage, and I helped to twr^
tow-strings to roast the beef and spareribs, while all the
tables were set in rows ; loaves of bread were cut so as
to appear yet whole ; the great gate, like those fickle
people whose similitude it is, after having been for a time
close shut, was swung wide open ; and the farmers and
farmers' boys hurried off to the woods with their horse
sleds. By-and-by they began to come in, rivalling each
other in the size of their loads, the straightness and qua
lity of their wood, their expedition in cutting it, their
dexterity in driving up and unloading it. Sleighs came
in with bags of wheat and rye or Indian meal, which
the miller had to grind and toll for us through the winter;
and butter, eggs, cheese, bacon, heads of fine flax and
hanks of yarn were handed in and deposited in cellars
and cupboards, with admiration at the generosity of
friends far and near. Twenty men, old and respectable
enough for deacons, were soon assembled ; while there
were others in the prime of life, enough to have made
one of Colonel Warner's companies at the battle of Ben-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 313

nington. Ah! how many of those iron-bound frames
have ere this been shattered by death, as the finest trees
of the forest were that day levelled and riven by their
hands !

Long Tom Hewitt came headlong down Hewitt's Hill,
with his horses' tails sweeping the snow, and pulling the
handsomest load of white ash that was hauled that win
ter. There he had lived, driving such horses, and burning
such wood, like h* Bathers before him, with little notice
from the world : one of the shoots from a stump of an
old family which dated far back towards the first settle
ment of the township. He looked as wild as any of the
Indians his ancestors were reported to have out-ambushed
and outrun ; but there was nothing else savage or active
;0ut him. The uplands produced more grass than the
cattle or sheep could eat, and they multiplied and fattened
even faster than the Hewitts who fed and slaughtered
them ; and this was the simple secret of their being all
men " to do in the world." He had more respectability
than his apathy deserved, and more influence than he ever
exercised. His children were born to ignorance and
plenty of bread and milk. They went to pasture in the
summer, and ate hasty-pudding and great sweet apples
all winter. They never ran away and never died. Their
feet were too heavy for the former, and the air was too
pure for the latter. Because Hewitt's ridge was the
highest ground in that region, they seemed to think there
was nothing above them worth grasping after. They
bore the reproach of ignorance from generation to genera- • '
tion, because, as the expression was, their family was of
poor blood enough : want of education being hereditary
among them, which is next to downright vice in public
estimation. I am not using language here in its European
2 c*

114 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

sense ; for reading, writing, and ciphering are not here
called education. The Hewitts went to the district
school every winter, and the teachers were boarded and
respectfully treated in their regular turns at their houses ;
but none of them got that acquaintance with the world,
or what it contains, which so often enlivened their neigh
bours' conversation, had not a map or a library to show,
nor any eminent namesake to boast of, and, to crown all,
were not ashamed of their degradation. When therefore
Tom had unloaded his wood, his next and only thought
was that it must be near dinner-time.

Charley Crawley was announced as being on his way
up the plain. Some pretended to recognise him by his
sorrowful long under-jaw ; but they in fact distinguished
the unpainted dash-board of his pung, which had been
broken the week before by his wild son Josh in a high
gale, and afterward mended by him in a low one. The
old horse, which was as calm as a wooden clock, with
the old man to balance his notions, had been a wild fury on
the night of the sleighride, when she set off in the moon
light like a watch with a broken hair-spring, at a rate
never designed for him, and soon ran out his career.
What Charley had in his pung he was slow in exhibiting,
so that the spectators had begun to tire at their posts,
when old Captain John, a retired sailor, came up, herald
ed by his own stentorian voice. His knotty whip made
many short fashionable calls on his blind horse, which
was proof against such attacks, as much as the sculls of
the Hewitts against the wit of the master.

The out-door ceremonies were almost completed, when
two lines had been formed by the loads of fine wood
thrown dexterously off the sleds to the right and left,
almost the whole length of the yard. The place of
honour, that is the vacant spot at the end of this avenue*

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 115

alone remained to be occupied, having been, with one
consent, left for Bill Peters, the most athletic man in the
town. He soon came from the farthest wood-lot, and
with the largest load, and with a rapidity and skill
which excited general admiration, emptied his sled in
the very spot designed, without any apparent exertion;
and in a moment more, had disposed of his team, stamped
the snow from his boots, and had taken his seat amid the
whole party at the table, where a scene of honest hilarity
occurred which I shall not attempt to describe.

Returning to Middletown — the approach to that city is
beautiful from almost every quarter. The river spreads
out in the form of a lake, and has the aspect, from several
points, of being entirely enclosed by the green and culti
vated hills around it.

In Middletown are several neat and even elegant pri
vate houses. The view commanded by the eminence on
which the Wesleyan College stands, though inferior in
extent to that from a hill in the rear, is varied and rich
in an extreme. The fine bend of the river just below,
with all that art and nature have done for its banks, here
presents itself with great effect. Various manufactures
are carried on with success, as the small tributaries of
the Connecticut furnish much water-power, but no as
sociations exist for the literary improvement of the
people, with the exception of a small social library,
founded before the Revolution. This is owing, in a great
measure, to the emigration of a large proportion of the
young men to commercial cities. The people of this
place have had their full share in forming new settlements
at different periods, some near and some far distant. Mr.
White, the first settler of that part of the State of New-
York long known by the general name of Whitestown,
and now embracing several counties, went from this

116 TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

place in 17—, with his axe only, and began with his own
unassisted strength to clear a forest, which has now
given room to a hundred thousand inhabitants. Human
ingenuity and enterprise will be exerted where and
whenever sufficient encouragement is offered. While
many have felt the impulse which drove them to a new
country far away, some have been attracted by the
facilities for manufacturing afforded by the streams, and
others have been persevering in digging freestone from
the valuable quarries on the opposite bank of the Con
necticut.

Among the spots of local interest may be mentioned
three beautiful little cascades, all within about four miles
of the city, one of them in Chatham, on the opposite side
of the river. Laurel Grove lies on the way to another,
and shades one of the most beautiful winding wood-land
roads in New-England ; in the spring enriched for a mile
or more with the utmost profusion of those shrubs from
which it has its name, in full bloom. The stream which
forms ttie Chatham cascade proceeds from a pond at the
elevated base of a rude bluff called Rattlesnake Hill, in
which is a cobalt mine. It has not proceeded above two
hundred yards when it leaps from a rock, and falls into
a wild little basin : a delightful reteat from the heat of
the sun. The pond is one of the head-waters of Salmon
River, on the Moodus. That stream, after rushing
through many romantic valleys, empties into the Con
necticut, behind a point formed by a sweet little meadow
which I had seen before. The country through which it
passes was the residence of the Moodus Indians, who
had the reputation among other tribes of being sorcer
ers ; and some traditions of them are still found among
the white people, to which Brainerd's poetry refers.

A small cluster of houses on the road near the pond

TRAVELS IN AMERICA." 117

have something a little foreign in their appearance ; and
the names and the dialect of some of their inhabitants
excite surprise in the stranger, who knows how homo
geneous the population of New-England towns always is.
They are the descendants of several German families,
brought here some years ago to work the cobalt mine,
which was soon found too unproductive to pay the ex
penses. There are other minerals in the neighbourhood,
particularly in a lead mine on the river's bank.

I think there can be found no pleasanter route for a
traveller during a summer tour than along the river
towns from Middletown up to Deerfield. The roads on
both sides lie chiefly on the fine levels which generally
border this king of New-England streams, and the
villages are all situated upon them, with the exception
of Suffield and Enfield. The occasional interposition of
a hill or two, and the crossing of a few ravines, afford
only an agreeable variety to the journey. The intelligence
and good habits of the people, the flourishing condition
of the arts, the abundance of the comforts of life, and the
homogeneous society, still almost everywhere preserved,
present at every step objects of interest to the observing
traveller. Here also are seen the birth-places of many
of those who have emigrated to other parts of the Union,
assisted in clearing the Western forests, and in pressing
on civilization far towards the interior of the continent.
Here we see schools where men have received the first
rudiments of the learning they have afterward displayed
on the benches and in the legislatures of states, which,
when they were building, were without a name, or per
haps an inhabitant.

The limits which I have mentioned includes the sites
of the first settlements on the river, excepting only the
military one at Saybrook, The convenience of travelling

118 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

is greatly increased by the fine rows of trees, which,
with some interruptions indeed, line the roads the whole
distance. I have not been able to ascertain whence
arose the ancient practice of thus decorating the streets
and high-roads; but from my earliest recollection, the
fine elms, spreading their noble branches over my head,
excited my admiration. Many of them are of great age ;
indeed, trunks are standing, and others have been re
cently removed, which seem to claim a date coeval with,
or anterior to, the clearing of the forests. In many
places, particularly in some of the villages, the finest
trees, of extraordinary growth, form two, three, or four
lines, and overshadow the broad path, while their trunks
are at the same time so naked as not to shut out the
view around. The sight of a fine tree is impressive ;
but a journey of seventy or eighty miles through such a
grove fosters feelings of a delightful and exalting nature.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? 119

CHAPTER XII.

Hartford. Charter Hill, the Seat of the Willis Family. Public Institu
tions. Society. Antiquities.

HARTFORD may be taken as a specimen of the whole
country ; on every side are seen marks of a former more
quiescent state of things, while a hurrying, populous, and
prosperous current, which has since set in, is rapidly
flowing on. A few of the habitations of old times re
main, with many of the sound sentiments and excellent
habits of former days ; but as the former have been gen
erally improved by modern hands, or at least furnished
with comforts formerly unknown, without losing their
pristine character or their venerable aspect, so where the
good sense, intelligence, and religion of former days are
found, they appear to have been rendered at once more
valuable among their contrasts, and more extensively
useful through the new channels now opened for their
exercise. Every thing indicates the great revolution
which has taken place within a few years in the employ
ments of the active people of New-England, where so
many hands are now engaged in manufactures, and the
agency which has converted the nation into a race of
nomades during a large part of the year. The strokes of
hammers and the rolling of wheels are frequently heard,
and many steamboats and stage-coaches are daily ar
riving and departing.

After visiting the public institutions, in which Hart
ford hds become very rich, and enjoying more of the so
ciety than I have leisure to weigh or estimate, I paid a

120 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

visit to Charter Hill, until lately the seat of the Willises.
It has passed out of the family, after having been occu
pied by them for a century and a half or more ; and I am
the more anxious to describe it because it may soon lose
such of its ancient characteristics as it yet retains. The
estate lies upon the last prominent angle of an elevated
range of beautiful level ground, which rises above the
south meadows of Hartford, and makes a conspicuous
appearance from the river, its banks, and several parts of
the city, while it overlooks a large part of Hartford, and
the fertile course of the Connecticut for some miles. The
garden occupies the level to the verge of the descent,
having the venerable old mansion on the north, and a
remnant of the orchard on the east, where I suppose
stood in former times a block-house, for defence against
the Indians. At the foot of the hill, and shading the
street, still stands the ancient oak in full vigour, though
tradition says that it was left a full-grown tree when the
native forest was levelled around it.

A smooth and verdant descent, in some places too
steep to be safely passed, leads from the elevation towards
the level of the extensive meadows below, on one of the
upper levels of which the Indians once annually pitched
their wigwams in the summer-season, and where now
are seen countless fields of grass and grain, often divided
by fine rows of trees, and occasionally bordered with
bowers of native grape-vines. The ancient oak, which
has furnished so many generations of sportive children
with acorn cups and a really sublime object for their ad
miration, shows as yet no token of decay, but bids fair to
flourish yet for another century. The charter of Connec
ticut colony, which owes its preservation to this faithful
trunk, seems to have imbued it in return with perpetual
life ; and the tree is regarded with peculiar veneration

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 121

for its connexion with that important event in the history
of the country.

I did not expect, when I began to speak of Charter
Hill, to find leisure to say a word of the people of Hart
ford or their public institutions, several of which do great
honour to their liberality and intelligence. Having a few
minutes, however, I will say, in the first place, that the
American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb is the first in
stitution of the kind ever founded in America, and has not
only encouraged the establishment of all others existing
in the Union, but has caused them to be conducted on
one plan, and that probably the best in the world. The
Retreat for the Insane (which by the way owes its ex
istence chiefly to the enlightened philanthropy of the
original projector of the asylum, the late Dr. Cogswell)
has been conducted ever since its foundation on the most
improved principles, and aided in bringing about an era
in the treatment of insanity at which humanity has great
reason to rejoice. The learned and persevering gentle
man under whom this institution rose to an exalted repu-
tion, the late Dr. Todd, is acknowledged to have effec
tually cured a greater proportion of the cases he has
treated than any person in America or Europe. And how
consoling is the reflection, that the treatment now dis
penses with all the harsh measures, the compulsory
means, both corporeal and mental, to which not many
years ago the insane were subjected in hospitals, under
the most ill-founded theories. How consoling must it
be to those who come hither to intrust their afflicted
friends to the skill of the officers, to see the comfortable
plan and arrangements of their destined abode, the intel
ligent and gentle manners of the superintendent, matron,
physicians, and nurses, and to learn that the female de-

H

122 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

partment is under the frequent inspection of a committee
of the ladies of the city, among whom the sufferers of
their own sex are sure to find the most delicate sym
pathy ! How interesting it is to every visitor of feeling,
to look upon the well-proportioned edifice, the spacious
enclosure, and the agreeable scenery around, to reflect
that they are all rendered subservient to the restoration
of the immortal mind to the exercise of its native powers,
and the cure of those diseases which invade and lay
waste the nobler part of man : the reconstruction of that
edifice whose grandeur is most astonishing when it is
viewed in shattered fragments !

Marks of unusual refinement and delicacy are found
among the society of Hartford, such as we might expect
among persons who have in some sense the oversight of
so many objects of charitable interest. The ladies do not
observe the pupils of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, or hear
of or visit the tenants of the Retreat, without feelings of
compassion and disinterestedness ; and the persons em
ployed in those institutions have opportunities for study
ing the nature of the mind which few others possess. It
is necessary for an intelligent observer to witness but
one less in a class of the deaf and dumb, to see that the
course of instruction must develop the faculties of thee
pupils, and especially of the teacher, in an extraordinary
degree. It was foretold of the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet some
years ago, and very soon after his return from Europe,
at the commencement of the American Asylum, that he
was in a way to become a distinguished benefactor to
his country, by introducing improvements into the prin
ciples of general education. And how fully has expe
rience proved the foresight of this remark ! With a heart
of the warmest philanthropy, and a mind at once judici
ous, penetrating, inventive, and persevering, he has pro-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 123

duced several books for the elementary instruction of
children in morals and religion, which have taught many
a parent to do what has been for ages considered impos
sible, and encouraged them to undertake more, while it
has procured for many a child advantages often denied to
persons of mature age.

There is to be found in Hartford a considerable amount
of literary and scientific knowledge and taste. Beside
those residents of both sexes who have devoted time to
reading, the collection of specimens, the rearing of plants,
&c., Washington College, which was established a few
years since, in a commanding situation in the immediate
environs, has exercised some favourable influence in this
respect. Several schools for young ladies, at different
periods, have also had their share in raising and support
ing the intellectual character of the city. Among them
was one taught a few years since by Miss Huntley, now
Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, ;vho has distinguished herself
as one of the best female writers of our country, in poetry
and prose, and who has done more with her pen than
almost any other of her sex in the United States, to ele
vate public sentiment, and to show the holy union which
exists between religion and pure, exalted literary taste.
During a few years in which she was devoted to the in
struction of young ladies in this city, she employed her
leisure in cultivating her own mind and heart, and in
contributing to the enjoyments of a social circle of which
she was a member. A small literary society of which
she was the founder, like the school which she instructed,
was a source of moral and intellectual benefit to the va
rious spheres in which its members since have moved.
It was more rare then than now to see such exertions
made, and crowned with such success ; and it is not easy

124 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

to describe how unpromising appeared the project of
forming such an association among the youth of such a
town, or how gratifying was the surprise caused by its
prosperity. Several larger and more public associations
now exist in Hartford, the number of inhabitants having
become nearly double, and the general interests in favour
of intellectual improvement throughout the larger and
many of the smaller towns in this part of the country
having increased in an equal ratio ; and to their members
it will be gratifying to learn that such societies early re
ceived the sanction and aid of such an individual as
Mrs. Sigourney.

The Goodrich Association hear literary, scientific, or
moral lectures every week through the winter from some
of their members ; while the debates of the Ciceronean
Lyceum also interest a large number, principally of the
young. A social library, of considerable extent and value?
established many years ago, has had an influence on the
literary character of the people, though lately more than
heretofore, as it is an important characteristic of all the
means of knowledge that they powerfully assist each
other's operation. The Sabbath-schools are in a most
flourishing state ; and wherever this is the case, not reli
gion and morals alone find benefit in them, but useful
knowledge of every kind is powerfully promoted. There
are now no less than ten or twelve churches in the city?
all which, with two or three exceptions, have Sabbath-
schools connected with them. A society, consisting of all
the teachers, has existed for ten years. I had the gratifi
cation of seeing them on the anniversary of American In
dependence proceed from the central church, after a pub
lic service for the occasion, and move by schools and
classes, under their appropriate teachers and superinten-

TBAYELS IN AMERICA. 125

dents, to a beautiful grove of young maples which closed
over-head, and formed a complete canopy for the street,
to join their voices in sacred music and listen to an ap
propriate address. The spot, it happened, was near that
formerly the annual scene of a public dinner on the fourth
of July ; and the reflection that so gratifying a change
had taken place in its celebration gave double interest to
the scene. There were none of the decorations or ensigns
of war now displayed. And indeed why should powder
and steel have all the honour of that conquest which was
effected primarily by the virtue and intelligence of our
fathers ? We were presented with a procession of some
hundreds of children, the boys generally in blue jackets
and white pantaloons, and the girls in white frocks tied
with blue ribands, all with cheerful faces, neat and well-
behaved.

More books are annually published in this place than in
any other in New England, only excepting Boston, as 1
believe. The amount it is difficult to estimate. In addi
tion to other machines employed, three steam-presses are
now in operation.

In the old burying-ground in Hartford, in the rear of
the centre church, are three ancient monuments, in good
preservation, side by side, erected to the memory of three
of the most distinguished men among the founders of the
colony. They were originally placed over the graves, in
some spot, I believe, not far from where they now are.
They are simple slabs, of red sandstone or freestone, about
five inches in thickness, raised on blocks of the same, and
fortunately of a lasting material, for after so long an ex
posure to the elements they are almost entire, and their
inscriptions are easily legible. The following is a copy
of the first epitaph on the northern stone :—

126 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

HERE. LYETH. THE. BODY. OF. YE
HONOVRABLE. JOHN. HAYNES,
ESQR FIRST. GOUERNOUR. OF
YE COLONY OF CONNECTICVTT
IN. NEWINGLAND. WHO. DIED
MARCH. YE. J.ANNO DOM 165|

There are two other similar inscriptions on the same
stone : one to the " Rev. Mr. Joseph Haynes, minister of
the first church in Hartford, who deceased on the twenty-
fourth of May, Anno Dom. 1769, aged thirty-eight years;"
and the last to " Mrs. Sarah Haynes, relict of Mr. Joseph
Haynes, who deceased November the 15th, Anno Dom.
1705, in the sixty-seventh year of her age."

The middle stone bears the following inscription : —

IN MEMORY OF THE RKV. THOMAS HOOKER
WHO IN 1636 WITH HIS ASSISTANT MR. STONE REMOVED
To HARTFORD WITH ABOUT 100 PERSONS, WHERE HE

PLANTED YE FIRST CHURCH IN CONNECTICUT
AN ELOQUENT, ABLE AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF CHRIST

HE DIED lULY 7TH JET LXI

The following is the inscription on the third or sou them
stone :

R

AN EPITAPH ON M SAMUEL STONE, DECEASED YE 61

YEA RE OF HIS AGE IVLY 20 1663.
NEWKNGLANDS'S GLORY & HER RADIANT CROWNE,
WAS HE WHO NOW ON SOFTEST BED OK DOWNE,
TlL GLORIOUS RESURRKCTION MORNE APPEARE,
DOTH SAFELV, SWEETLY SLEEPE IN JESUS HERE.
IN NATURE'S SOLID ART, & REASONING WELL,
TlS KNOWNE, BEYOND COMPARE, HE DID EXCELL :

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 127

ERRORS CORRUPT, BY SINNEWOUS DISPUTE,

HE DID OPPVGNE, & CLEARLY THEM CONFUTE:

ABOVE ALL THINGS HE CHRIST HIS LORD PREFERRD,
HARTFORD, THY RICHEST JEWEL'S HERE INTERD.

These inscriptions are copied as closely as the type of
the present day will allow. The originals are among the
most interesting relics in our country, and may, to all ap
pearance, yet be preserved for centuries, even in the open
air, if properly protected from injury. The liberal-minded
people of Hartford would honour themselves and the
memory of their pious ancestors, by surrounding these in
valuable monuments with some sufficient barrier.

128 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XIII.

Narrative of a Visit to the Springs in the last Century. Newspapers.

A FRIEND of mine, who possesses a most accurate me
mory, has furnished me with the following account of a
visit she made to the Springs in the year 1791, in company
with several of her acquaintances, male and female.
Thinking it may prove in some respects interesting to my
readers, to have an opportunity to compare the present
with the past, I have thought proper to insert it nearly
in the words I received it.

The party originally consisted of five, viz., three gentle
men and two ladies, who travelled with two gigs (then
called chairs) and a saddle-horse. Their first plan was
to proceed only to " Lebanon Pool," now known as Le
banon Springs, and after a short visit there to return :
some of their friends, who had spent a little time there in
preceding years, having made a pleasing report of the
place. The grandmother of one of them, it was recollected,
had returned from " the Pool" one pleasant day before the
Revolution, and dismounted from her side-saddle, in a
dark-coloured josey and petticoat, with the dignity pro
verbial of those old times, yet told of her cooking for din
ner the pease picked by the gentlemen at that ancient
watering-place.

From Hartford the party proceeded westward; and
some idea may be formed of the fashions from the dress of
one of the ladies, who wore a black beaver with a sugar-
loaf crown, eight or nine inches high, called a steeple
crown, wound round with black and red cord and tassels

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 129

being less showy than the gold cord sometimes worn.
Habits having gone out of fashion, the dress was of
"London smoke" broad-cloth, buttoned down in front
and at the side with twenty-four gilt buttons, about the
size of a half-dollar. Long waists and stays were in
fashion, and the shoes were extremely sharp-toed and
high-heeled, ornamented with large paste buckles on the
instep. At a tavern where they spent the first night, the
ladies were obliged to surround themselves with a barrier
of bean-leaves to keep off the bugs which infested the
place ; but this afforded only temporary benefit, as the
vermin soon crept to the ceiling and fell upon them from
above. The Green Woods, through which the road lay
for many miles, were very rough, and in many places
could not be travelled in carriages without danger. They
scarcely met anybody on this part of the way, except an
old man with a long white beard, who looked like a
palmer on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land ; and his wife —
who rode a horse on a saddle with a projecting pummel,
then called a paunel, and a single iron chain for a bridle —
was as ugly as one of Shakspeare's old crones.

The few habitations to be seen were so uninviting, that
the travellers usually took their meals in the open air, in
some pleasant spot under the trees, and often by the side
of a brook, the recollection of which is pleasant even to
this day. After three days they reached Hudson, where
they were introduced to a very pleasant circle by a friend
who resided in the place, and after sufficient repose they
proceeded. A gentleman, who had come to attend a ball,
here joined the party, sending a messenger home for
clothes ; and although he did not receive them, and had
only his dancing dress, persisted in proceeding with them.
He mounted his horse, therefore, in a suit of white broad-
2 H

130 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

cloth, with powdered hair, small-clothes, and white silk
stockings. While at Hudson, it had been determined
that they would go directly to Saratoga, where several of
the inhabitants of Hudson then were ; the efficacy of the
water in restoring health being much celebrated, as well
as the curious round and hollow rock from which it
flowed. Hudson was a flourishing village, although it
had been settled but about seven years, by people from
JVantucket and Rhode Island.

In the afternoon the prospect of a storm made the tra
vellers hasten their gait, and they stopped for the night
at an old Dutch house, which notwithstanding the un
couth aspect of a fireplace without jams, was a welcome
retreat from the weather. The thunder, lightning, and
rain soon came on, and prevailed for some hours, but
left a clear sky in the morning, when the party proceeded,
and reached Albany at breakfast- time. Some of the party
were greatly alarmed ajfc the sight of an old woman at a
door in one of the streets, with her face shockingly dis
figured by the small-pox, in a state of activity, for one of
the ladies had never had that disease, and was near
enough to be exposed to the contagion. By the presence
of mind of her companions, however, she was prevented
from observing the painful object, and from such appre
hension as they felt for her, until the time for the appear
ance of the disease had passed. The old Dutch church,
with its pointed roof and great window of painted glass,
stood at that time at the foot of State-street.

At Troy, where the travellers took tea, there were
only about a dozen houses : the place having been settled
only three years by people from Killingworth, Saybrook,
and other towns in Connecticut. Lansingburgh was an
older and more considerable town ; containing apparently
more than a hundred houses,, and inhabited principally by

TRAVELS IN AMERICA 131

emigrants from the same state. The tavern was a very
good one ; but the inhabitants were so hospitable to the
party, who were known through mutual friends, that the
time was spent almost entirely at private houses. After
a delay of two nights and a day, they proceeded on their
journey. Crossing the Hudson to Waterford by a ferry,
they went back as far as the Mohawk to see the Cohoes
Falls, of which they had a fine view from the northern
bank, riding along the brow of the precipice in going and
returning.

On the road to the Mohawk the travellers met a party
of some of the most respectable citizens of Albany in a
common country waggon, without a cover, with straw
under feet, and with wooden chairs for seats : their
family-coach being too heavy for short excursions. Two
gentlemen on horseback, in their company, finding that
our travellers were going to Saratoga, offered to accom
pany them to the scene of battle at Behmis's Heights, and
thither they proceeded after visiting the Cohoes.

" We dined," said my informant, " in the house which
was General Burgoyne's head-quarters in 1777 ; and one
of the females who attended us was there during the
battle. She informed us of many particulars, showed us
a spot upon the floor which was stained with the blood
of General Frazer, who," she added, " when brought in
mortally wounded from the field, was laid upon the table
at which we were seated. During the funeral, the
American troops, who had got into the British rear on
the opposite side of the river, and had been firing over
the house, on discovering the cause of the procession up
the steep hill, where Frazer had requested to be interred,
not only ceased firing, but played a dead march in com
pliment to his memory."

" On leaving the battle-ground for Saratoga Lake, our

132 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

party were reduced in number to four by the loss of four
gentlemen ; two of whom, however, intended to overtake
us, if possible, before night. The country we had now
to pass over, after leaving the banks of the Hudson, waa
very uninviting, and almost uninhabited. The road lay
through a forest, and was formed of logs. We travelled
till late in the afternoon before we reached a house, to
which we had been directed for our lodging. It stood
in a solitary place, in an opening of the dark forest, and
had so comfortless an appearance, that without approach
ing to take a near view, or alighting, we determined to
proceed farther. It was a wretched log-hut, with only
one door, which had never been on hinges, was to be
lifted by every person coming in and going out, and had
no fastening except a few nails. We halted at the sight
of it ; and one of the gentlemen rode up to take a nearer
view. Standing up in his saddle, he peeped into a square
hole which served as a window, but had no glass nor
shutter, and found the floor the bare earth, with scarcely
any furniture to be seen. Nothing remained for us but
to proceed, and make our way to the Springs as fast as
possible; for we knew of no human habitation nearer;
and when or how we might hope to reach there, we
could not tell. We were fora time extremely disspirited,
until the gentleman who had joined us at Hudson
came forward (still in his ball-dress), and endeavoured to
encourage us, saying, that if we would but trust to his
guidance, he doubted not that he should be able to con
duct us safely and speedily to a more comfortable habita
tion.

" This raised our hopes ; and we followed him cheer
fully, though the day was now at its close, and the forest
seemed thicker and darker than before. When the last
light at length had disappeared, and we found ourselves

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. )33

in the deepest gloom, our guide confessed that he had
encouraged us to keep us from despair ; and that as to
any knowledge of the road, he had never been there be
fore in his life. He however dismounted, tied his horse
behind our chair, and taking the bridle of our own, began
to lead him on, groping his way as well as he was able,
stepping into one mud-hole after another without regard
to his silk stockings, sometimes up to his beauish knee-
buckles. It seemed as if we were going for a long time
down a steep hill into some bottomless pit ; and every
few minutes one wheel would pass over a log or a stump
so high as almost to overset us. At length we insisted
on stopping, and spent a quarter of an hour in anxiety
and doubt, being unable to determine what we had better
do. We heard the voices of animals in the woods, which
some of us feared might attack us. At length one of the
gentlemen declared that a sound which we had heard for
some time at a distance, could not be the howl of a wolf,
for which we had taken it, but must be the barking of a
wolf-dog, and indicated that the habitation of his master
was not very far off, proposing to go in search of it. The
gentlemen were unwilling to leave us alone ; but we in
sisted that they might need each other's assistance, and
made them go together. Bat it was a long time before
we heard from them again. How long they were gone I
do not know, for we soon became impatient and alarm
ed ; but at length we discovered a light among the trees,
which shining upon the trunks and boughs, made a beau
tiful vista, like an endless Gothic arch, and showed a
thousand tall columns on both sides. We discovered
them returning, accompanied by two men, who led us off
the road, and stuck up lighted pine knots to guide our
friends.
" Under their guidance we found our way to a log-house^

134 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

containing but one room, and destitute of every thing
except hospitable inhabitants ; so that, although we were
admitted, we found we should be obliged to make such
arrangements as we could for sleeping. There was no
lamp or candle : light being supplied by pine knots stuck
in the crevices of the walls. The conversation of the
family proved that wild beasts were very numerous and
bold in the surrounding forest, and that they sometimes,
when hungry, approached the house; and there was a
large aperture left at the bottom of the door to admit the
dogs when in danger from wolves. The floor extended
on one side but to within the distance of several feet of
the wall, a space being left to kindle the fire upon the
bare ground ; and when we wanted tea made, the mis
tress of the house could produce only a single kettle, in
which water was boiled for washing and every other
purpose. She had heard of tea-kettles, but had never
seen one ; and was impressed with an idea of the useful
ness of such a utensil. When we had spread the table,
out of our own stores, and divided tea-cups and saucers,
a porringer, &c., among us, we seated ourselves, partly
on the bedstead, and partly on a kind of arm chair, which
was formed by an old round table when raised perpendi
cularly, and thus partook of a meal.

"We were, however, suddenly alarmed by cries or
screams at a little distance in the forest, which some of
us supposed to be those of wolves or bears. Our host,
after listening a while, declared his belief that they were
the cries of some travellers who had lost their way, and
proceeded with the gentlemen to search for them. They
found our two expected friends, who had followed the
path lighted by the torches, but unfortunately wandered
from it a little, and soon found before them a wall too
high to reach from their stirrups, They attempted to

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 135

retreat ; but found it also behind them ; and though they
rode round and round, feeling for a place of exit, could
find none, and then began to call for assistance, hoping
that some dwelling might be within the reach of their
voices. Being happily relieved and restored to us, the
adventures of the evening served as a subject of plea
santry. They had unconsciously entered a pound or pen
for bears, by a very narrow entrance, which in the dark
ness they could not find again, and thus their embarrass
ment was fully explained. We slept that night on our
luggage and saddles ; but our hospitable hosts refused all
reward in the morning.

" On reaching the Springs at Saratoga, we found but
three habitations, and those poor log-houses, on the high
bank of the meadow, where is now the western side of
the street, near the Round Rock. This was the only
spring then visited. The houses were almost full of
strangers, among whom were several ladies and gentle
men from Albany ; and we found it almost impossible to
obtain accommodations, even for two nights. We found
the Round Rock at that time entire ; the large tree which
some years since fell and cracked a fissure in it being
then standing near, and the water, which occasionally
overflowed, and increased the rock by its deposites,
keeping the general level three or four inches below the
top. The neighbourhood of the Spring, like all the coun
try we had seen for many miles, was a perfect forest ;
and there were no habitations to be seen in all the vici
nity, except the three log-houses, which afforded us little
more than a shelter. We arrived on Saturday, and left
there on Monday morning for Ballston, which we reached
after a short ride. But there the accommodations for
visitors were still less inviting. The Springs, of which
there were several, were entirely unprotected, on the

136 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

borders of a woody swamp, and near the brook, in which
we saw bubbles rising in several places, which indicated
other springs. There were two or three miserable habi
tations, but none in which a shelter could be obtained.
There was a small hovel, into which some of the water
was conducted for bathing; but as there was nothing
like comfort to be found, we proceeded homeward after
spending a short time at the place."

Such is a brief account of a journey to the Springs in
the last century ; and how difficult it is to realize that
the changes which have since occurred can have taken
place within the life of man ! And yet, where do we
look without finding evidence of similar, if not equal al
terations, often effected in a shorter period ?

On the road up Connecticut River, over which I
passed at such a rate as to give me little opportunity
to record or even to make any remarks, every one must
be struck with the size and number of the manufactories
which have been multiplied and magnified to such an ex
tent all over the country within a few years.

At * * * * I saw the name of John Tympan, an old
schoolmate, on a tin sign over the door of a printing-
office ; and recollecting that I had heard of his being the
experienced editor of the village journal, I revived the
acquaintance of past days, and lounged several hours in
his room during my stay in the place. The conversations I
there held and overheard, with the little I had known of
the press and its appurtenances (viz., public taste and
such matters), in preceding years, threw my mind into a
train of thought, which, if I were to judge from the well-
known soporific qualities of Mr. Tym pan's sheet which I
had in my hand, was probably indulged in during a short
slumber. First, I fancied I saw all the forms in which
the Chinese wooden stereotype has ever appeared, and

TBAVKLS IN AMERICA. 137

and those throngh which have passed the type of Europe
since they left the hands of Guttenburg, Janssoen, Faust,
and ShofFer, since they left those of Firmin Didot and his
English rivals. And what a mass was there ! Centuries
of black letter, succeeded by the floods of light-faced
type, which may be said to have been the chief means of
"illuminating" the world since the cry for knowledge has
extended beyond the walls of convents. And the sight
may be better imagined than described. Then came a
whole parque of presses, more numerous than the abortive
models of machines in the Patent- office at Washington,
presenting all possible applications of the lever, screw,
wheel, weight, plane. &c., except the most useful. There
was the old Ramage press, the first which I recognised
as an acquaintance, and I looked upon its lumbering up
rights and simple sweeping lever with a degree of reve
rence, because its physiognomy revived the impressions
of childhood, when I had contemplated it as the press,
though its plan is exploded, and the power of muscle and
ages of days' works that are now seen to have been
wasted upon it, might have made fifty canals across Da-
rien. Next came to my view the folios, the quartos, the
octavos, and the rest of their family down to double
twenty-four-mos, with their various bindings, gildings,
clasps, and embossings displayed, and their fluttering
leaves showing hints of their contents. A deluge of ideas
floated through my mind at the sight ; as I turned from
the books which boasted only of reviving the fooleries of
antiquity with its knowledge, to those monuments of
modern invention, in which the giant and the pigmy, the
amaranth and the four- o'clock lie side by side.

How forcibly may the quaint old words of some of the
old books of my vision be applied to the present times !

" Circa hoc etiam tempus" says Caxton (in continua-

138 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

tione Polycronici Ranulphi Higden, Anglice ase translati,
quse cum opere ipso prodiit Londini a. 1482 (as) circa a.
14£5), " Circa hoc etiara tempus : — also abowte this tyme
the crafte of empryntynge was fyrst found in Magounce
in Almayne. Why the crafte is multiplyed thorugh the
worlde in many places, and bokes be hadd grete chepe
and in grete nombre because of the same crafte."

Like as says an "Anonymous auctor" in 1457: —

" Printerys of bokis were this tyme mightely multe-
plied in Maguncie and thorugh out the world ; and thei
began frist, and they held the craftis. And this time
mony men began for to be more sotell in craftis and
suyfter than ever they wer a fore."

After these came such a motley army of mankind as no
masquerade ever presented, composed of the readers
of all ages and climes, of all hues and characters. —
These I cannot undertake to describe ; but if it be as
amusing to others as it was to myself to fancy their ap
pearance, they may agreeably fill up some hour of leisure
by recalling them.

America suddenly came to mind ; and with it the sky
seemed darkened with a cloud of newspapers, which
were flying off night and day from thousands of presses,
whose creaking, clanking, rattling, hissing, and groaning
gave evidence of the gigantic strife going on around us,
between the cylinder machines of latest invention and
the various lever-presses which call old Ramage their
grandfather, with not a few which have steam or mules
for their moving-power, and some with asses for their
guides.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 139

CHAPTER XIV.

Music. New-England Villages contrasted with Italy on this subject. A
Traveller in search of Health. Burying-grounds. Rural Celebration
of Independence at Northampton. Amherst. Academies of Mas
sachusetts. Exhibition.

EVERY Sabbath on my journey I spent at some village,
and was usually much gratified at church with the per
formance of the choirs. There is scarcely any thing in
which we are more apt to indulge false ideas than music.
I do sincerely believe that we are rather discouraged
than instructed or incited by the example of foreign
nations who cultivate this delightful art. Writers tell
us of the musical talent of the common people of Italy,
Switzerland, and Germany; the genius of their com
posers, and the native skill of many Europeans with
musical instruments. Common readers, therefore, are
apt to believe that our countrymen labour under some
natural deficiency, which is not to be overcome. When
they are further complimented with remarks on the want
of ear in America, or the length of time which will be
required to train up a taste for music, like a plant of
slow growth, many of them believe that every effort
would be in vain, and that every hope of seeing an im
provement in their day would be presumptuous. We
must therefore transplant some languishing Italian troupe
from the sties of foreign green-rooms, or tow across the
Atlantic some second-rate puffer, as windy as a porpoise,
to howl and make the grimaces of the rack, and set our
pretenders in ecstasies. Now all this is founded on mere
mistake.

140 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

In the first place, the people of Italy, who have the
credit of being refined in throat and ear beyond all the
rest of the race of men, have no more taste than you or I,
nor half as much. They listen to street musicians whom
we could never tolerate ; and as for the performances of
their masters, they never hear them. The common people
of Italy have no training in music except the chanting in
their churches and funeral processions, and the strumming
of guitars in the streets. The plain matter of fact is,
divesting the subject of poetry— that is, of all falsehood
or ignorance — that our farmers' sons and daughters,
wherever they attend singing-schools, join the church
choir, and practise, as they generally do, at home, enjoy
advantages far superior to those of the common people
of Italy, who are too ignorant, poor, and degraded to
have such advantages in their reach, or to appreciate
them if they had. They are not musicians, they do not
sing in their churches, the music there being conducted
by hired performers, of a character very different from
our choirs of volunteers I assure you, and they are not
familiarized with refined music. Here is enough to kill
one prejudice. As to our natural want of genius or
talent, the presumption is entirely gratuitous, and we
may challenge the proof, rejecting the idea in toto until
it be produced. And so with the doctrine that our pro
gress in this or any other improvement must be slow,
because this or that European nation chose to be five or
ten centuries in emerging from semi-barbarism — this is
as idle as the other, in all applications. Such a doctrine,
although it is swallowed and acted upon every day by
multitudes of our intelligent countrymen, ought to be
rejected, like certain other productions of the Old World
which are unsuited to our stomachs. There is no reason
why we should not introduce any improvement, physical

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 141

or moral, to be found on earth, compatible with our state
of society. Whoever teaches otherwise teaches heresy.
We have superior means, facilities, and resources, if
they were properly appreciated, to the nations of Europe
in general, to effect any improvement we need ; and it
is only to believe it, and set ourselves in earnest about it,
and the thing would be done. We have no arbitrary
government to forbid us, no irreconeileable divisions in
society to impede a general co-operation, no impenetrable
cloud of ignorance over the public, no lack of the ma
chinery of civilization to rouse the mind or to direct it,
no want of intercourse with other quarters of the world,
no scarcity of enterprise in undertaking, or of encourage
ment in success

Music has led me to these general remarks, because in
speaking of this art I was forced to lament in her de
pression the influence of prejudices totally unfounded,
and intolerably discreditable to our intelligence and feel
ings. Where do we go without hearing that divine maid
complaining, in some sick and mournful ditty, of the in
justice of Americans? And the other fine arts, refining as
they might be among us, join in the same plaintive tone.
Let us not so far ill treat these our true friends, as to turn
away any longer from their calls and requests. Landing
upon our shores, we do not meet them with smiles and
welcome. They have reason to look here for an asylum
and a home ; but though among the fairest exiles of the
old world, they come with their loveliness somewhat de
formed or saddened by persecution or restrictions con
trary to their nature, we repulse them from our society,
which they might so greatly enrich and adorn. " This is
not the land for the arts — we have no native talent,
genius, or taste." Our eyes look with pleasure on the
beauties of nature, and our ears are pleased with the

142 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

music of our forests : hut wise Europeans have said that
we are insensible to beauty and grace, and that centuries
must pass before- we can hope to arrive at that state of
refinement of which they boast.

Although the inhabitants of this part of our country
have cultivated sacred music for half a century, more
has been done within these last two or three years to
place this delightful art on its proper footing than ever
before. A society has been formed in Boston, called the
Massachusetts Academy of Music, by which the German
system of juvenile and popular instruction has been in
troduced in several of our cities, and to some extent in
the country, chiefly through Messrs. Mason and Ives ; the
success has been astonishing to those who have embraced
the common erroneous views about national genius, na
tive inferiority, &c., &c. This important step, to which
many of the rising generation will owe great sources of
pleasure for life, has been primarily due to Mr. "Wood-
bridge, the enlightened, philanthropic, and persevering
editor of the American Annals of Education ; who, after
five years spent in Europe among the literary men and
institutions of the Old "World, returned to his native
country three or four years since to devote himself to the
diffusion of knowledge, on some of the most important
subjects, for the intellectual and moral benefit of America.
All that a friend of the country need wish is, that he may
impress us all with the great truths he proclaims as
strongly as he has impressed some parents with the fact
that their children have flutes and organs in their throats
which may be very sweetly and very cheaply played
upon.

A young man, of sallow complexion, and emaciated
appearance, who was travelling for his health, was on
the route with me. He had enjoyed no advantages of

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 143

education superior to those of a district school, until the
clergyman of the village, perceiving in him that insatiable
thirst for knowledge which I have so often observed in
the young when possessed of true piety, proposed that he
should prepare for the desk, and offered him gratuitous
instruction. He was the favourite of the whole town, as
1 learned from other lips than his own, not on account of
any external grace or beauty, for in those he was far
from being rich ; but because his character was of an
elevated kind, and his life one of the most blameless and
honourable. No friendly office in his power was with
hold en from anybody; and how many times in a year
may a truly benevolent man confer kindness, if he but
seeks for opportunities! Every one in such a village of
farmers knew what his neighbours did, without inquiring
from mere idle curiosity. Of course the early humble
life of this youth were known, as well as his dutiful con
duct towards his mother ; and all witnessed and were
surprised at the mental efforts it required in him, without
the aid of conceit or the show of arrogance, to the second
rank in society ; that is, next the clergyman himself. As
his substitute, he often was called to act, particularly in
the Sunday-schools. I understood that he felt a strong
desire to devote himself for life to some distant mission,
but had not yet formed any ultimate determination. His
knowledge of such passing information, however, as
abounds in the reports and publications of religious and
benevolent societies, had at once expanded his mind and
his heart, and rendered him an instructive companion to
those who had a taste on such subjects. He had there
fore been urged by his townsmen to take a journey to a
more healthy part of the country, when he was found to
be in a threatening state, and was furnished by them
with an old horse and a waggon, and such pecuniary

144 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

means as he stood in need of; for he was looked upon as
a kind of public property, and may yet live and recover,
I hope, to prove an honour to his native village.

This case I mention as. a specimen of one of the ways
by which deserving youths sometimes rise among us. As
nothing in the institutions of the country, or in the pre
judices of the people forbids the exaltation of virtue, her
upward tendency is in a thousand cases permitted and
even assisted, when in other countries it would be hope
lessly discouraged or entirely suppressed. The roads to
usefulness and distinction is not opened to persons of all
classes, in our constitution merely ; it is not only laid
down upon paper, but is familiarly known and trodden.
Hence it is a matter of notoriety, that not a few of the
men now eminent in the different learned professions,
have risen from the workshops of the humbler branches
of mechanical trade where they had been apprenticed.
From this fact it might be presumed that the useful arts
would be generally regarded with respect; and this is
true to a considerable extent, although some of our
luxurious citizens, among their multiplied false notions,
really believe that there is something in exercising an
honest handicraft more degrading than idleness in its
genteel er forms.

The burying-grounds of New England are among the
most interesting objects to which the traveller can direct
his attention. Monuments are to be found, in almost all
the older settlements, bearing unequivocal testimony to
the learning as well as the piety of our ancestors, and
the good order which has ever prevailed in their society.
I wish, with all my heart, that I could refer to the con
dition of these venerable memorials as evidence of a be
coming regard for them among the inhabitants, and a
proper care for their preservation. Unfortunately, quite

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 145

the contrary is the case ; for ancient grave-stones are of
ten allowed to become overthrown by the frost, and to
lie covered with moss or herbage from year to year. One
single person in each village, by proper means, might in
cite the people to keep their cemeteries well enclosed, and
kept in order ; and nothing but a little spirit is wanting
through the country at large, to have the most venerable
memorials of the dead preserved from unnecessary injury
and from loss.

So closely connected are many of these monuments
with important events in the history of the country, that
we ought to use them as practical assistants in the in
struction of the young ; and parents and teachers might
communicate many lasting impressions to their children,
by visiting with them the graves of the good and learned
men of preceding generations, inviting their aid in deci
phering the epitaphs, enumerating their praiseworthy
deeds, and repeating some of their virtuous counsels.
Why should such simple and delightful modes and topics
of instruction be neglected, while much complicated and
expensive machinery is employed to fix the minds of the
young exclusively on distant nations and countries ?

With thoughts like these, and with many feelings which
I shall not attempt to express, I have visited many of the
burying-grounds, usually at moring or evening, when the
journey of the day had been performed, or before it had
begun; and thus I have sometimes obtained the know
ledge ot facts which I had not been able to derive from
living sources. I might here insert a few of the epitaphs
which I copied in different places ; but will merely, at
present, remark, that those who have frequent access to
old burying-grounds, may perform a useful task by at
least copying inscriptions, and making drawings of monu-
x

140 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

ments, and depositing them in some society or institution,
to be preserved or published for the benefit of others.
The Rev. Mr. Allan, some years since, undertook the pious
task of rescuing the best epitaphs from loss and oblivion,
and his own memory should be honoured for it. The
book containing his collection will hereafter be prized
by some generation more worthy of its descent than we
show ourselves to be.

I am obliged to pass, without remark, some of the
places most worthy of notice to strangers, and among
them Springfield. I have not leisure to insert all my
memoranda, much less to record all the reflections which
occurred to me on this or any other part of my interest
ing tour. I cannot, however, let Northampton pass
without some allusion to the tasteful manner in which
the Anniversary of our Independence is usually celebrated
in that ancient and beautiful town.

In an orchard which extends to the bank of a little
brook, just out of sight from the streets of the village, a
spacious bower is formed by adding evergreen bushes
and vines to the shade of the trees, and sprinkling the
dark foliage with flowers. A large table is spread upon
the smooth grass beneath ; and as the decorations of the
place employ the hands of the fair the day preceding that
of the celebration, and they preside at the entertainment,
the scene is one of the liveliest and most appropriate
that can be imagined. In so pure, intelligent, and
polished a society, a foreigner would find much to in
struct him in American manners, as well as to excite his
better feelings.

No village that I have seen in this part of the country
has risen so fast to eminence as a literary place as
Amherst. I had admired the bold, swelling, and fertile
graziug-country, with its fine views, while it was only a

TKAVBLS IN AMERICA. 147

common village. How great has been the change ! On
one of the finest eminences stands the college, now one o^
the most flourishing in the Union ; and two academies,
one for the education of females, are found in other parts
of the town. The academies of New-England, and par
ticularly those of Massachusetts, form one of the most
important branches of the great machinery of public
education. Their history shows the importance of mak
ing provision for the instruction of the young, even if
some of the means adopte4 be not immediately found as
useful as might be desired. In Massachusetts there are
sixty-two academies, which derive funds from various
sources ; twenty-one of them from a township of land
each, in the state of Maine. For some years they were
generally in a condition far from nourishing, and some
in decay. Public opinion having since improved in re
lation to instruction, these institutions have been ren
dered extremely efficient in affording it, and will pro
bably become much more so. There were probably about
twenty-five thousand pupils ia the academies and private
schools of Massachusetts in 1832, out of a population,
according to the census of that year, of a little more than
six hundred thousand. Six of the academies are devoted
exclusively to females, and many of them have a female
department. The branches of instruction and discipline
have been much improved, but not a little remains to be
done. One of the greatest evils with many of them is,
that they embrace many brances of secondary import
ance, even when the pupils are to devote but a few
months to their studies. Comparatively intelligent as
the common people of this part of the country are sup
posed to be, they are yet unable to appreciate the real
acquisitions of their children, or at least generally appre
hend that others cannot. They therefore demand visible

148 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

and tangible signs, to indicate to the senses what with
out such aid might not be discovered or valued. A
picture must be painted, a few tunes strummed on the
piano, or a few words of some foreign tongue acquired,
to bear witness to their intellectual progress — to show
that the teacher has returned to the parent a quid pro
quo— the value of his money. I have often seen such
things displayed; and how much is it like Hudibras's
culprit at the bar, —

» " Holding up his hand
By twelve freeholders to be scann'd,
That by their skill in palmistry"

they might determine whether the charge against him
were just or not.

Some of the defects of the system may be seen at an
exhibition, such as I once attended, at an academy on
the banks of the Connecticut. The burthen of the even
ing was formed of several dialogues, or short dramatic
pieces, in no way suited to the people or the state of
society. A little art, I think, might have fabricated good
ones ; but we are still very dependent on foreign ideas
and models, especially in literary matters. The audience
there assembled would have listened with benefit to any
sensible production. There was an old threadbare and
antiquated satire on fashions, aimed, like Sidrophel's
telescope, at a kite instead of a star — at the forms of
dress now long-forgotten, instead of any one of the thou
sand follies we practise daily in defiance of reason — and
applauded by the audience like a palpable hit. The
magnificence of ancient heroes was set forth ; addresses
were made to engage us :— the Roman Senate, sitting
" in cold debate" — (viz. just cracking our cheeks at old
steeple-crowned bonnets and t hooped petticoats) — "to

TBAVELS IN AMERICA. 149

sacrifice our lives to honour." Then came up a fearful
tragedy, the heroine of which had a provincial tone:
"Haow naow! Is that you, Roily?" Daniel and the
lions in a calico den ; and Joseph, with two front-teeth
knocked out, a head taller than all his brethren, and
dressed in a white counterpane, are all I have to men
tion, in addition, except the tune of " Farewell ye Green
Fields," played by heroes, orators, lions, and prophets, at
the close of this miserable medley.

CHAPTER XV.

Female Character. A Connecticut School. Scenery on Connecticut
River. Deerfield. Turner's Falls. Early State of the Country.

How different are our females from most others in the
world! How much is society indebted to their in
fluence ; how large a portion of our intelligence, as well
as our virtue, do we owe to them as individuals! What
would our country be if they were allowed less in
fluence in society? how much like our country might
others soon be if they resembled it in this respect ! In
what does the excellence of our females consist, whence
is it derived, how may it best be extended and perpetu
ated? Such questions as these force themselves upon
the mind of a traveller in our country ; and how import
ant is it that we should be able to answer them !

In what does their excellence consist ? In every thing,
some would have us believe ; and indeed it would be
difficult to find any thing truly good of which they are
not the supporters or the patrons, if not the projectors.

Let an intelligent traveller but observe, and he will find
2 i

150 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

that wherever there is an upward tendency, a refining
process going on, it is promoted by them. They are
more dependent than men for their enjoyments on the
peace and good order, as well as the intelligence of the
society around them ; they are more trained to feelings
of dependence, and therefore more readily or more en
tirely cast their confidence on God. They have more
leisure for reflection, and can judge with more delibera
tion and less passion than men, while they have better
opportunities to use such means of self-improvement as
they possess. As they converse more than men, they
more frequently bring their own minds and hearts into
comparison with others, and find stronger motives for
rendering them worthy of inspection.

The institutions of our country have denied to females
the means of intellectual improvement proportioned to
their desires, as Avell as a proper regard to their sex. In
consequence, we find that fashion has too extensively
occupied the ground, and that attempts have been made
to polish the manners and to ensure external graces.
The exaltation and the influence of females in our coun
try are owing chiefly to their domestic education; for
none other worthy of the name is yet afforded them,
with a very few and limited exceptions. Our best men,
indeed, have been, to a great extent, moulded at home,
into forms in which they have only expanded in after
life. If there ever was a country in which female in
fluence was exercised in proportion to its value, it is our
own. And what is the result ? Ask the man whose
early instructions and examples have implanted and
cherished every good thing which his mind and heart
contain, and whose influence longest remains, even after
death has removed its source from his sight. Inquire of
the father why he labours more cheerfully, values his

TRAVELS IN AMERICA, 151

own character more highly, takes greater pleasure iii
home, than the men of other countries. Look at our
books and newspapers, and see why they are not less
pure than they are. You will find, if you have the
knowledge and the means necessary to come at the facts,
that woman is exercising a control and direction of a
most extensive and salutary kind on society. Look
where you will, if you see aright, wherever good is to
be obtained or to be done, or evil prevented, you will
find her or her influence.

In one of the towns in Connecticut (I will not at present
say which, although I am now out of the state), I step
ped for a few minutes into a school-house one day, and
was saluted by such a confused sound of voices that I
hardly could remember where I was. The teacher was
mending pens for one class, which was sitting idle ; hear
ing another spell ; calling to a covey of small boys to be
quiet, who had nothing to do but make mischief; watch
ing a big rogue who had been placed standing on a bench
in the middle of the room for punishment ; and to many
little ones passionately answering questions of " May I
go out ?" " May I go home ?" " Shan't Johnny be
still?" "May I drink?"

My entrance checked the din, and allowed the teacher
an opportunity to raise an unavailing complaint of
the total indifference of the public towards the school,
the neglect and contempt to which those are condemned,
by universal consent, who undertake the instruction of
the young ; the manner in which the objects of education
are underrated, even by the best members of the com
munity, and the innumerable evils which in this state of
things befall the children, the parents, and the public.

Is it possible, thought I, that in old Connecticut, with
her two millions of school-fund, the devotion of her fa-

152 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

thers and many of her children to literature and general
intelligence, with all her influence thus gained abroad,
and the reputation she enjoys for fostering education,
there can be a school like this ? Much to my surprise,
however, I learnt that there are many more which are
not superior to it. And why is it ? I afterwards con
versed with individuals of the highest character and in
fluence in the place, men of education, and even literary
distinction, who had, I doubt not, made public expres
sions in favour of the universal diffusion of knowledge ;
and yet not one of them could give me any real informa
tion in relation to the public schools. They thought
them indispensable appendages to society, or rather the
ground- work of intelligence ; and believed they required
great and immediate improvement. But what were
their excellencies or deficiencies, or by what means they
might be improved, they seemed neither to know nor
greatly to care. Indeed, they generally had not any cer
tain knowledge of the number of the schools, their loca
tion, number of pupils, or course of studies. Those who
had attended to instruction in any form, had devoted a
little time to the higher schools in the place, at which a
small number of the wealthier parents had their sons and
daughters ; and although they had succeeded in placing
them on a most excellent footing, they had never thought
how easily they might confer equal benefits on a far more
numerous and more needy class. They had never con
sidered how important it is to the moral character of
children, as well as to their progress in knowledge, that
they should be kept constantly and agreeably occupied
in school, or what aid might be afforded to the teacher,
in discipline and instruction, by the introduction of a few
easy improvements. They had never inquired whether a
map, an enumeration frame, or a black board would not

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. loS

be a valuable acquisition, and afford opportunities to
vary agreeably the dry routine of the day, in which the
only changes often are from doing little to doing nothing,
or doing wrong. They had never thought that a few bits
of different kinds of wood or stone, or a few shells or
leaves, might be occasionally exhibited with advantage,
and made the foundation of a useful lecture of ten mi
nutes. They had never reflected how a frequent visit
from a clergyman, lawyer, physician, or merchant might
encourage and gratify teachers and pupils ; or how a
meeting of teachers, patronized by some of the influential
inhabitants, might raise knowledge in public estimation
by raising its ministers, the common school-masters. I
found a few persons who seemed more sensible, and who
had taken active measures in one branch of this subject :
they were ladies.

The scenery of Connecticut River presents a constant
variety, from the intermingling and alternations of its
few general features. These are, the fertile meadows of
different breadths which line its banks in so many parts
of its course, and in some places form two or three suc
cessive levels of different elevations, which are supposed
to have been the beds of lakes successively drained ; the
uplands and the hills or mountains. The lowest levels
are overflown by the high floods of the spring and autumn,
which convert them again into lakes, and leave a rich
deposite, though they sometimes destroy extensive crops.
The second meadows or the uplands then become the
shores, or in some cases islands ; and boats often float
where, during the other seasons, the cattle feed in droves,
or draw the cart among the hay or corn-fields. The
higher levels are sometimes channelled by rills of water,
which have deeply notched their edges in the course of
time, and left projections like the salient angles of gigan*

]54 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

tic fortresses, almost over the head of the traveller on the
meadows below, and presenting a pleasing variety of fo
liage and crops. The light of morning and evening, the
winter's snow, the verdure of summer, and the hues of
autumn, add their innumerable changes, so that some of
the pleasantest of the scenes may be said to be hardly the
same in appearance at any two visits. The trees of the
groves, which are thinly scattered over the lower levels,
are generally of various deciduous species, and afford a
rich intermixture of hues in autumn. Thus the early
frosts often tinge the course of the stream with yellow
and red, while the uplands are still covered with deep
green. The young crops, presenting their countless rows
over the level surface of the meadows in the sloping
light, offered me one of the richest scenes of the kind I
ever witnessed, as I pursued my way alone towards
Deerfield.

To one familiar with the history of this part of the
country, the journey up Connecticut River is doubly inte
resting ; and, during my short stay at Deerfield, I was
more occupied with recollections of the past than else
where. This is one of the old settlements, though but of
the second epoch, and retains more traditions of early
events than any other I am acquainted with. When the
English from Massachusetts Bay occupied Saybrook Fort,
at the mouth of the river, in 1635, and began the settle
ment of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor, in the fol
lowing years, little was known of the stream above, ex
cept that the Indians reported that they used it in their
canoe navigation to Canada, by making a portage be
tween Onion River and the waters of Lake Champlam. —
Northampton, Hadley, and Greenfield were early settled ;
and in 1666 were greatly harassed by the Indians in
Philip's war. In the meadow, which I passed through in

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 155

approaching this pleasant village, ambushes have been
repeatedly laid by the wily enemy in former times, despe
rate contests have occurred, and not a little blood has
been shed. At a visit to the place several years ago, I
examined the old house, the only one which now remains
of those erected at the first settlement, or previously to
1704; the others, except one, having been taken and
burnt. The inhabitants of this house defended it a long
time, until the savages found entrance through the back
door, which was left unfastened by a neighbour's son, a
boy, who, having slept in the house on some account,
took an opportunity to leave it in the midst of the fight,
hoping to find his parents. The hole cut through the
front-door by the Indians with their tomahawks is still to
be seen, as well as some of the holes made by bullets
which they fixed into the rooms on the right and left at
hazard. One of these passed through the neck of a fe
male, and killed her as she was sitting in her bed.

The uplands rise abruptly on the east, from the beauti
ful second level on which the village is built. Three or
four springs, which have trickled forages down the steep
descent, appear to have cut as many deep channels, at
nearly equal distances, in the face of the hill. Several
projections are thus left, which from some points of view
appear like isolated eminences. One of these, called the
Mohawk Fort, I ascended with an esteemed friend from
the village, who pointed out many spots which had in
terest in my eyes from their connexion with early events.
From him I also learned, that the spot on which we
stood is reported to have derived its name from having
been occupied, at an uncertain date, by trie Mohawks,
who are known to have made great encroachments on the
Indians of Connecticut River.

From Deerfield I pursued the road to Turner's Falls,

156 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,"

on the Connecticut, the scene of the final overthrow of
King Philip's power. The river comes sweeping slowly
round a point, with a tranquil surface, and passing at
the base of a round hill of sand, with a narrow swamp
on two sides, seems to one descending its current to flow
on without interruption to a long mountainous range,
which here presents itself runing north and south. At a
quarter of a mile below, however, it makes a perpendicu
lar descent of about forty feet, down which, before the dam
was erected for the supply of a canal of a few miles, any
thing approaching heedlessly went to certain destructions
The sand-hill was the camp or fort of Philip's Indians after
they had been driven from the old settlements on the
coast ; and during a night of feasting, they were surprised
by a small body of volunteers from the towns, princi
pally from Northampton, and many of them destroyed;
Great numbers, jumping into tl eir canoes without pad
dles, went over the falls. Some of the assailants, how
ever, were killed, principally in the retreat, during
which they were hard pressed by the rallying savages.
The bones of a man were found a few years ago, in a se
cluded spot among the rocks below the falls, with the re
mains of a musket, and a number of silver coins of a
period not later than the date of this battle ; were doubt
less the remains of some soldier engaged in it.

Having crossed the ferry to the foot of the hill, I ex
amined the situation of the fort, deserted so long, picked
up a few arrow heads of stone, and bones, took many
fine glimpses and several sketches near the falls, and
mounting my horse, proceeded by an unfrequented route
to Bernardston, where I proposed to spend the night.
The landlord seemed obliging ; and while my horse was
receiving the attentions of his boy, I took my seat by a
fire. I had just begun to feel impatient at not seeing any

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 157

preparations making for my tea-table, when he came to
invite me to an interior room, if I chose to sit by the
family fireside. I cheerfully assented, and spent the re
mainder of the evening (for it was late when I arrived)
in a neat little apartment, in pleasant conversation.

Some of the older inhabitants of this part of the coun
try have a little knowledge of the early condition of the
country ; though the changes have been so great, and so
many generations have dwelt here in undisturbed secu
rity, that it is difficult to imagine what were the trials
and difficulties of early times.

" Our meadows now are cheerful all,

Our rivers flow in light :
But cedars wav'd their branches tall

As round her clos'd the night.

« The path which seeks the lov'd abode

You knew in childhood sweet,
Perchance, was that the captive trod,

Mark'd by the panther's feet."

158 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

CHAPTER XVI.

Copies of ancient Letters, illustrating something of the State of Things
in this part of the Country early in the last Century.

I HAVE in my possession some old papers, from a family
long resident in one of the older settlements on Connecti
cut River, which afford lively evidences of the state of
the country, and circumstances of society, at different
periods during the past hundred years and more. A few
extracts will here be given, for the gratification of such
as may feel any interest in matters of this kind. Our
ancestors early made up their minds on certain important
subjects, and went immediately and seriously to work.
They did not satisfy themselves with talking philosophi
cally, or forming theoretical cobwebs, as so many
European writers have done, merely for the amusement
of a pleasant day. Instead of waiting till the nineteenth
century, to ask whether the times, or the spirit of the
age, or the march of mind, as the fashionable phrases are,
did not demand the instruction of all classes, they began
before the middle of the seventeenth, to require it by law.
And what has been the result ? While, in the south of
Europe, ignorance is teaching at this day that knowledge
is the highway to vice ; the poorest inhabitant of this
part of the Union has the noble blood of knowledge in
his veins, and can trace it through a line of ancestors
uninterrupted for one or two centuries. With this come
the habits of conduct and of thought, which are cherished
and cultivated by the influences of a virtuous and intelli
gent society ; and hence arise those valuable traits of .

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 159

character which are commonly attributed to this people :
traits which cannot be looked for under other circum
stances, and which cannot be produced by other causes.

First comes a plan of a fort, which was ordered to be
built on the river's bank, with the following directions,
accompanied with a letter dated—

" The figure of the fort to be built in the Long Meadow,
above Northfield, together with the inner building.

" The box a to be placed eastwardly over the river
bank ; the passage into the mounts to be from the lower
rooms, through the floor of the mount, except that at the
norwest angle to be from the chamber through the side of
the mount. The eastwardly box to be elevated so as to
see from thence over the others. The timbers to be bullet
proof. The fort to be twelve or fourteen feet high. The
timber to lay the chamber-floor on to be so high that a
tall man may walk upright under them. The buildings
within twelve or fourteen foot wide.

" The inner wall, as well as the fort and mounts to be
made of hewed timber. The housing to be built linto-
wise ; the roof descending from the top of the fort. The
outward parts of the mounts to be supported by timbers,
laid four or five feet beyond the corneas of the fort, not to
be cut at the laying. The lower timber to be heightened
by a short piece, and the floor of the mounts to be level
with the highest timber. The end of the floor-pieces to
go under the mount pieces. It will be best to fell the
timber in the old of the moon. One of the first services
will be to cut and dry good timber for fire- wood."

"Capt.

""We have sent Henrick and three men and two squas.

" The three men's names are Eraza, Cossaump, and

Joseph, whome you must take into the fort, and release of

160 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

the English soldiery four of your Englishmen, viz. John
King to be one of the three men most ineffective, except
the hired men, as I wrote to you in my former letter—
and them you release must leave their guns for to supply
the Indians, and we shall see them returned, or a reason
able price for them. And King must leave his gun as
others do upon the same terms. This you must be care-
full to take, and keep an exact account of the day of re
lease, and of the entry of the Indians, and so of more
Indians that may come ; and be very carefull that the In
dians be by themselves and the English alsoe : that there
be no talking nor tradeing betwixt the English souldiers
and the Indians to royle one another and make a dis
turbance amongst them in the fort nor out of it, but all
to keep their places, and be still and orderly; the Indians
by persuasion, and the English by command. I wish
you good success, and be verry prudent in all your
management. Yours."

The following letter was written, as it would appear,
in haste, by the commander of the fort, in the winter
succeeding its erection. It is inserted here to show that
the views entertained by many in this country in favour
of the encouragement of manufactures are not all of mo
dern date. No doubt it will amuse some of my readers
to find such suggestions thrown out more than a century
ago, by an officer in garrison, in a small frontier outpost,
while apprehending attacks from Indians, and merely, as
it would seem, to occupy a little leisure in the dead of
winter.

Fort******, Jan. 9, 1724—5.
" Sir,

" You some time since enquired of me whether I had
ever spent any tho'ts upon the circumstances of our

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 161

gov'mt respecting their medium of trade (viz.) how they
might be restored to their original ; and I should esteem
it a risque to show myself to you on that weighty point,
were it not for your undoubted candour to all.

" And my opinion is, that as much as possible to avoid
the emitting such vast quantities of bills would be a very
likely expedient ; and to prevent that I would propose
that the tax on all imported liquors should be double
what it is now, and on all other imported goods (that
we may be suffered to lay a tax upon) in that propor
tion. The advantages I propose are

" 1 . All the money we get this way will help to bear
the charge of the governm't, and that by the persons
most able to bear it ; for it is they that drink and wear
those imported goods that draw all the effects of this
country. And 2. This would tend to suppress the im
port and also the extravagance and use of such commo
dities. And 3. This would tend to promote and encour
age those manufactories which would produce the most
needful commodities among ourselves. Our governm't I
know have done considerable to encourage the raising of
hemp, the makeing of duck, good linnen-cloth, &c. And
if they had at the same time oblig'd such commodities,
and many others to pay custom (when imported) that do
not, it would have done well. This would not only help
to pay our charge, but it would also greatly encourage
the making of such things in this country — for what is
made here as good as that which is imported would com
mand as much as that, when the merch't has paid the
duty and advanced his 350 p. cent, upon it. And most
certainly when any commodity is under such circum
stances that two men and a gove'mt get in their several
capacities a living by it, another man yt. can procure the

162 TBATELS IN AMERICA.

same commodity without the two lattr. encumbrances
must be greatly inclined to do it.

"If your patience lasts, I would entertain you with
one blunder more, which is — I should think it very pro
per, when the charge is so great, that the country tax
should be in proportion ; this has been omitted so long
that I think it high time to begin ; for this also would
greatly tend to prevent the passing of such vast quanti
ties of bills among us, which are now (I suppose purely
by their multiplicity) become but just half so good as our
former mony. It's very strange if the wages of such as
go to warr can't be so proportioned to other mens' ad
vantages as that 20, 30, or possibly the proportion may
be 60 or 1 00 that stay at home can't maintain one to go
to warr and pay him down. I am sensible it would be
dangerous at once to make an act that should be so ex
tensive as to make it appear by what time the whole of
the bills now extant should be brought in, for by that,
rich foreseeing men will monopolize their coffers full, and
thereby extort upon poor people that must pay their
rates. Therefore, let us now begin to pay every year's
tax within the year, and involve ourselves no farther, for
we have as many bills out now as all the country can
find out how to call in and not ruin a considerable part
of the people.

" When bills were first made, it should have been so
ordered that yy should always have been equal to silver,
or it should be enacted yt any public tax whatsoever
might be discharg'd by any of the country produce at
reasonable rates or prices. I know it is objected that
this is to make every salary-man a merchant, which is
very much beside their proper business ; but there is not
one salary-man in this country, but by himself or others
does much more than to dispose of his salary when paid

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 163

in such things, besides the business of his office ; and be
sides, I think, that man is more likely to be a trader who
has none of the necessaries of life, and must take mony
and convert into them all, than he that has all those
things and but little mony.

" Sir, this is the effects of but one half day, and any
man that knows me will say it's impossible it should be
valuable, &c., &c."

Letter from a Lady.

Boston, the 22d of Feb., 1753.
"DearM.

"I received your obliging letter of the 18th instant
this day, and have conformed myself to your words as
well as I am able, though not so well as I shou'd be glad
to, being closely confined to the limits of a chamber,
where I have been almost three weeks confined by a
severe fit of sickness, which brought me near to death.
Through the wonderful forbearance of God, my life is
lengthened yet farther, my strength recovering, and my
opportunity for doing and receiving good yet prolonged.
But, alas ! I remain insensible of privileges, ungrateful
for mercies, unhumbled under afflictions, negligent of my
duty ! I find 'tis not in the power of Providence, 'tis not
in that of the Word, to break and melt the heart : nothing
but a divine energy can accomplish a divine work. It
appears to me that never a person had more means used
with them to bring them home to God than I have had,
but how little do I answer the just expectations of God
and men ! Surely you will be constrained to pour out
your soul before God in my behalf.

" I am sorry you should think it wou'd be a trouble to
procure the few things you sent for — so far from it, I
account it a pleasure ; and think myself more obliged to

164 TBAVELS IN AMERICA.

you for employing me than you are to me for sending
them. The respect you show to the memory of my dear
and never-to-be-forgotten sister, I return my grateful
thanks for. The removal of so great a part of my hap
piness renders this world more troublesome, and the
remaining comforts of life more insipid. I have been
more composed since my dear Mrs. — was here than
before — her company was of singular use to me, as she is
now the most intimate friend I have on earth. I much
question whether I shall ever see her again, as she has so
many friends to visit, and I can see no prospect that I
shall ever go so far from home. I have not heard from
her since December, which seems an age.

" The account you give of the burning of the Orphan
House, I am apt to think, is a false report, as we have
never heard a syllable of it ; and it looks most likely that
we shou'd have heard of it by the post.

" Nothing very remarkable occurs to my mind at pre
sent. It is a time of general health. Pray when you see
Miss , offer my respectful compliments to her.

"Company coming iu obliges me to close, with the
offer of my service whenever you have occasion for it,
with the assurance of my sincere wishes for your pros
perity, and with my humble service to the good Col., his

lady, Mrs. , and yourself, in which my mother joins

(my father being absent).

" I am, Dr. M ,

" Your most humble servant."

Pray favour me with a line \
9* often as you can. (

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 165

CHAPTER XVII.

Erroneous Opinions of Foreigners of our Society— A great Political
Character— Sabbath School.

IT is not very surprising that foreigners have generally
no correct ideas, or at least but very few, in relation to
our country. Private and public concerns, past and
present circumstances, so intermingle their influences,
that a mere comprehension of the political system is quite
insufficient to render the operations of society intelligible.
Every thing seems at once free and dependent. Prices
and opinions in one state affect those in a neighbouring
one, and often, if not always, more or less, those of the
Union. Every man is at liberty to speculate in the staple
of any town or county, the houses and land, on equal
terms with him who was born on the spot ; and may shoe
or shave, feed or clothe the people of any neighbourhood
from the height of land to the Gulf of Mexico, if they will
consent to pay him. This causes a constant commotion
on the routes, and quickens the circulation to fever haste.
The people must stay at home, unless they know where
they are going, and why ; hence intelligence is necessary.
They travel because they know something, and they
know more because they have travelled. And these
causes, like many others constantly in operation, are
continually increasing each other.

But viewed in another light, each man has the pecu
liarities of his own state, county, and perhaps town, of
which a fellow-traveller may sometimes obtain some

knowledge by directing bis conversation that way. If
2 K

166 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

you are acquainted with them already to some extent, he
will amuse or instruct you. Favourable impressions of
public intelligence, which perhaps had been raised in me
by accidentally meeting several sensible men, were
greatly thwarted by the manners and conversation of a
different character on his travels.

There was a talkative young man in the stage-coach,
who soon avowed himself, by word of mouth, as the
editor of a village newspaper, called the Banner of Prin
ciple, or the Disinterested Patriot, or some other great
name. His forward manners and flippant speech had
got the start of this avowal, and already proclaimed him
an uneducated, conceited youth, who had been exceed
ingly flattered somewhere, by somebody, not very long
ago, as an extraordinary wit. He was one of those per
sons whom to see is to pity, if you have any benevolence
left after the sufferings you endure in his company.
He had set out in life wrong, and was travelling
rapidly a road which he must inevitably track back.
He was living and breathing on mistake: neither
he, nor the world, nor their opinion of him, nor his im
portance to them was such as he supposed. His pre
tended friends were attached only to themselves, and
really exercised refined selfishness in enduring his society
in order to gain the slight advantage of using him as a
tool.

He had the misfortune to live in the neighbourhood of
an aspiring politician ; and having abundance of self-con
ceit, some smartness, and an acquaintance with the
lower classes of society, he thought his apparent cur
rency every where was owing to his own talents. When,
therefore, the editorship of a newspaper was offered to
him, he supposed the station* was but the meed of his
merit ; and when I saw him he was already in full busi-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 167

ness on such slender capital. He had not the penetration
to perceive, nor the humility to suspect, any connexion
between the friendly calls of Squire Undertow, his confi
dence in conversing with him on matters of state, the
praise of his first essays, and the whisper that he was
the best man in the country to conduct a paper which
the friends of principle were about to establish ; so he
was soon set up, like a locomotive on a railroad, and ran
rapidly and smoothly along the track which he was not
permitted to leave, fancying that while he out-rumbled
and out-smoked other machines of his class, he did all,
and was reaping all the glory. He felt potent enough
to distance every competitor, and despised the weak
creatures which threw themselves in the way of his in
tolerable wit and deadly satire. He had formerly read
the models of English writers with some pleasure, and
attempted to arrange, with perspicuity, force, and har
mony, words expressive of just and ennobling sentiments.
But now he had learned that the age of improvement had
coine, and every thing old-fashioned was to be done
away. Where would be the use of writing mere truth,
when it would produce no effect ? And as for language,
his readers, and above all his patrons (that is to say, his
payers and admirers), wished him to write with point
and pith ; and he had already become a rival of the most
popular editors in some of his paragraphs, as he had
begun to excel some of the noisiest village politicians in
slang. All the old rules of composition comprehended
nothing that could equal, or that might not be found in
the scope of one word — personality; and his model of
rhetoric and eloquence was the " saucy," but "suc
cessful" editor of the National Fulcrum or Lever — no
matter which.
" Our governor/' said he, " is an honest kind of man—

168 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

one of the old-fashioned sort — too honest, I tell them, for
these times ; and his friends think that they can succeed
in his re-election, merely because he has done well, with
out using the means. The article 1 published last Thurs
day was meant to lull them asleep, and make them sup
pose that we were doing nothing to get him out. But
we shall show them the next election. The oldest sena
tor in the state won't like to see a new man in his place ;
and the lower house will be all one side next session,
like the handle of a jug. The present party, in our coun
try, have got all the old-fashioned people with them, but
we're likely to get the railroad interest, because I say
something every week about improvements ; and as we
have taken Captain Bog-ore for a candidate, we shall be
sure of the iron-founders in the valley. He's rather a
hardware character, however, and the temperance people
say they can't 'swallow' him, consistently, because it
would be drinking brandy ; and he is all but ready to take
the head of the anti-temperance society. That would
kill us as dead as a door nail, if he should do it at present,
for it's hard work to make all sorts of our friends believe
what we tell them. But, however, Squire Sycophant
says he's the only man that can manage the captain ; and
as he'll probably be persuaded to be Speaker of the House
this year, though he's the most modest man in the Union,
I think we shall get along. Now all these difficulties an
editor has to be provided against ; and it requires a good
deal of tact, I can tell you, to know exactly who to touch
up, and who to let alone ; and when to call names, and
how to tell a lie all but, and creep out when you are
charged with it, and turn the laugh on the other side by
giving them a rap over the knuckles. But things will be
so in a free country like ours."
" Ah!" said a sedate old gentleman, in the stage-coach.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 169

"you pay a high compliment to the spirit of popular go
vernment. The press, as I argue from your remarks, is
rapidly rising in dignity and purity."

" Why, yes, that is, it is improving in spirit and life,
and it is waking up the people, at least in our section of
country, where there are men who never used to read
who — now take my paper."

The houses at which I spent the night had been duly
furnished with the tracts for this month by the Tract So
ciety ; there was a Bible in my chamber, bearing an in
scription to show that it had been presented by the Con
necticut Bible Society to the hotel ; and among the news
papers in the reading-room was the last number of a Sab
bath-school and a Temperance Journal. Here was a new
evidence that the spirit of beneficent association was in
full operation around me, and turned my mind to consider
the amount of its influence, annually, monthly, and daily,
in the country at large. How a connection with one of
these societies tends to give a good direction to the heart,
the head, the feet, and the hands! When a movement
has been made for the first time in a village, for the pro
motion of any such object, by measures never attempted
there before, benevolence, activity, independence, and
perseverance are often necessary, in a considerable de
gree, to secure success. It is the nature of every virtue,
as well as of the intellect, to gain strength by its own
exertions, as well as to incite spectators to aim at similar
objects, and to use similar means. Thus it is that every
city, village, and hamlet in our country, where there is a
Bible-society or a Sabbath-school, may in some sense be
said to have had its Owen and its Raikes. But the sup
port of such societies, and the continuance of their opera
tions, sometimes require greater exertion than their foun
dation ; and hence we often find individuals, among the

170 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

most busy manufactures and merchants, on whom
the whole labour of some societies, and not always the
least efficient of them, depends. In such persons we often
find more practical skill and knowledge in relation to the
objects of their philanthropic pursuit, than in the whole
community around them. If they find little support or
encouragement in their own circle, they seek them in
a broader sphere, and regard themselves as connected
with an extensive system of beneficence, by which their
minds and hearts become habitually expanded, and their
characters acquire an elevation and a force which, per
haps, no other course of training could confer.

And how interesting is this subject in another view.
When a youth is connected with an association of this
kind, he feels that he is bound to an upright and virtuous
course of conduct, and that any deviation from it will be
observed and disapproved. He finds his associates also
affected by similar influences, and the whole tone of
society purified and refined. At the same time similar
pursuits, and the disinterested source from which they
spring, establish fraternal feelings as well as mutual re
spect among the youth of both sexes, which often prevail
over all differences in profession, station, family, and
property. Individuals also take rank according to their
characters, zeal, and ability ; and each society presents a
kind of little republic, in which votes are not purchased,
and offices are unpaid.

And in this manner not only is the character of the
young hedged in from many exposures, but means are
afforded for taking with them, wherever they go, the
respectable standing they enjoy at home. A Sabbath-
school teacher carries a recommendation with him to
whatever place he visits, often of greater value than any
letter of introduction. He cannot feign a claim to the

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 171

name, for nothing but habit can familiarize him with the
operations of a Sabbath-school sufficiently to converse
intelligently on the subject ; and many a little Shibboleth
would be detected in anyone who might attempt to pass
for what he was not.

I was once led to reflect on the security which the
Sabbath-school often gives to strangers, in forming
opinions of each other, and exercising mutual confidence,
by having entered one myself, where I was received as a
fellow-labourer, unknown, and yet well known. Seeing
a stranger enter and silently seat himself, one of the
teachers immediately directed the attention of the super
intendent to me, who advanced with a respectful bow,
cordially gave me his hand, and invited me to walk with
him round the school. I felt that this was all in order;
and penetrated his heart, because I had often been placed
in his situation, and acted exactly as he had done and
intended to do. I saw that he took me for a teacher
from some distant town, but received me only in the
more general character of a friend of morals and intelli
gence, which I had professed by the fact of entering his
door. His doubts were to be settled, while his first
duties of courtesy were performing during our circuit
among the classes. Some of his remarks on the course of
studies naturally led me to replies, from which he plainly
inferred my familiarity with Sabbath-schools ; and were
followed by inquiries concerning my own experience on
certain points in which he had found difficulty. Thus
the fact of my being a brother-teacher was satisfactorily
established. He then apologized for the vacancy of
several seats, by stating that he had recently formed the
school, at the wish of the different churches in the
vicinity, and received teachers as well as pupils from
several congregations of different sects, with such re-

172 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

emits as had been drawn from the manufactories on one
side and the farm-houses on the other. Without any
knowledge of his sect, or a single attempt to ascertain
it, he respectfully requested another stranger to make an
address to the school, when it should close, to which he
consented. Seeing a class of children without a teacher,
who had come from some of the poorest dwellings in the
neighbourhood, I volunteered to instruct them, and was
soon seated with the Question Book of the American
Sunday-school Union and the New Testament open in
my hands, at the lesson for the day. When the hour had
elapsed and the speaker rose, I surveyed the assembly
with the reflection that hundreds of thousands of children
were thus assembled in the country for similar objects,
under the instruction of tens of thousands of teachers.

Such reflections are impressed upon the mind more
deeply by solitude and agreeable scenery ; and nowhere
more than on the banks of the Connecticut does nature,
animate and inanimate, under a pure summer sky, appear
in unison with the Christian's Sabbath.

It is easy to perceive something of the extensive and
powerful influence which such associations are exerting
upon the minds and hearts, the manners and habits of my
countrymen, as well as the importance of having such
improvements introduced into the system as might render
it more perfect and effectual. Such gratifying interviews
may be enjoyed every week. We may part, perhaps,
even ignorant of each other's names ; but with such
feelings as those of Bunyan's friends, who " went on
rejoicing, and I saw them no more." Such a morning
exercise gives warmth and elevation to the devotions of
the day.

Much as the scenery of the Connecticut is admired, a
great deal of enjoyment is often lost by not having the

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 173

advantage of the most favourable light to see it in. The
broad and level meadows, with all their fertility, and the
swelling hills and woody bluffs which by turns interrupt
them, often appear tame and uninteresting when the sun
is in the zenith ; but when near the morning or the even
ing horizon, it enhances the richness of one, and shows
all the variety of the latter.

The time has not yet arrived when the beauties of na
ture are to become objects of general attention and study
to all classes ; but we should labour to hasten it, for our
own land abounds in them most richly, and the humblest
scene can furnish real pleasure to the eye which intelli
gently observes it, and may assist in raising the heart to
objects far above itself. " I have inquired of many plain
people of good sense," remarked a highly-intelligent and
ingenious gentleman, " to ascertain whether there exists
among our yeomanry any distinct conceptions of beauty
in the objects of nature ; and I fear they too generally
look with interest on a fine walnut-tree, merely because
they associate with its size its greater value for fuel."
And as for hills and streams, he was apprehensive that
the first are regarded only on account of the wood or
stone they afford, and the other as they contain fish.
Certain it is, that while we all possess feelings which
sublime and beautiful objects must move, and fashion be
gins to incline many to talk of scenery around us, as it
formerly forbade us to praise any thing American, there
is a great, an almost universal inattention to the true
principles of taste among our countrymen, which proper
means might correct.

We have sufficient native talent around us to furnish
pictures whenever they shall be demanded by public taste,
and paid for ; while for scenes, we are abundantly sup
plied with them, both for landscape and historical paint*

174 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

ing. When fashion should once have turned, I expect to
see a strong current setting in favour of the ornamental
arts ; and I think the great and various changes we have
heretofore seen in society, warrant us in the hope that
something important is yet in reserve for us on a matter
connected with so much that is truly refining. Let our
artists, therefore, raise their dejected eyes, and continue
to employ their leisure hours in the creations of their rich
fancies, or the portraiture of richer nature, believing that
the time will come when their productions will be appre
ciated, and exert their influence upon society.

Such reflections as these, and many more, were excited
by a visit I made not long since to a young artist, who
has devoted such moments as he could spare from a va
riety of other employments to the study and practice of
painting. He has refused, wisely perhaps, to trust to an
art so precarious for the supply of his bread, but has
made considerable progress in drawing, colouring, lights
and shades, in his leisure, at least enough to gratify friends
and please himself. And are there no means by which
the attention of many youths may be turned in a similar
channel, and a portion of their leisure rendered useful as
well as gratifying to others ? If one had a friend at his
side interested in the same object, and painting with him
an hour or two daily, he would improve more rapidly
than alone ; and if their number were increased, the
benefit to each individual would become proportionally
greater. Now let it be supposed that drawing from na
ture and painting should occupy the attention of a few
persons in every village, and employ the time now spent
in frivolous reading, idling at corners, listlessness and
vacuity, or even a tenth part of that time : would not a
taste be cultivated, a knowledge gained, which migh^
lead to a more just estimate of the art, and a higher

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 175

appreciation of our leading artists? Would they not
naturally be better rewarded and more highly encouraged,
and the public benefitted by turning a little attention to
the instruction which the canvass can give ?

Again passing over many miles and pleasant villages,
and admiring without praising the fine farms and hardy
people of Vermont and New Hampshire, I approach the
White Hills.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Approach to the White Hills. Bath. Reflections on Society. The Wild
Ammonoosuc. Breton Woods. Crawford's. Scenery.

BATH appeared very pleasant to me, for the same reasons
that places where travellers find welcome repose at
night generally are so: and beside the comfortable ac
commodations which the tavern afforded me, I had the
advantage of seeing the place under the sloping beams of
both the setting and the rising sun, which are so favour
able to the picturesque features even of the tamest land
scape. The village is small, but neat, and had two or three
very pretty houses standing back from the street, in the
midst of grass and trees, beside a due proportion of shade
and open field on every side. Here are two smooth and
fertile levels, as regular as artificial terraces, rising from
the bank of Connecticut River ; and every thing around
me retained an aspect appropriate to that stream, though
its diminished breadth and the wild uplands gave me the
painful recollection that here I was to change my route,
and penetrate into a more savage and inhospitable region.
As I bade a temporary adieu to my native stream in

176 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

the morning, and while my horse was taking due heed to
his feet up a rough and stony hill, my thoughts pursued
its current downwards, through the region I had just
been travelling over. How different were my feelings on
leaving the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, the Arno, and
the Tiber ! I had found nothing there which satisfied the
heart like a social or family circle, and the state of society
which surrounds us in our own land.

Although no gaudy show of wealth had here in any
form been presented to my eyes, I had nothing to regret
in the absence of such palaces or equiqages as are so
much admired by many travelled wits, and occupy so
many of the books of tourists. My mind had been agree
ably occupied with reflections on the nature and tendency
of such a state of society as there exists, the simple
causes which had produced such desirable effects, and
the measures by which they may be rendered productive
of many more. If certain enlightened philanthropists of
Europe whom I might name but possessed the facilities
we enjoy for contributing to the benefit of mankind ; if
they were among men and circumstances like these, the
results of two centuries practical operation of free and
universal education, under a government owing its ex
istence and all its prospects to the propagation of know
ledge and the diffusion of virtue, with what zeal, with
what hope, with what success would they labour ! If I
could see those enthusiastic friends of knowledge in
France, who have just erected that new and splendid
fabric, the national system of public education for the
kingdom, introduced to an intimate acquaintance with
this state of society, and enabled to apprehend the causes
which have produced it, and the objects at which it
tends, I am sure I should witness the expression of'feel-
ings which they had never experienced before. If the

TRAVELS IN AMERICA." 177

philanthropic Douglass were pitched among such people
as these, how much more ready and capable would he
find them to be influenced by him, and to render him
support and assistance, as well as instruction, for the ac
complishment of his designs, which are too pure and
lofty for the greater part of Europe in its present condi
tion. How much is it to be regretted, that while some
of the best men in the Old World are charged with being
too much in advance of things around them, ours should
remain to such an extent behind the — tide !

The traveller does not realize his approach to the
White Mountains until he turns off to follow the course
of the Wild Ammonoosuc. If he is alone, as I was, he
will find his feelings deeply impressed by the gloom of
the overshadowing forest trees, the occasional sight of
rugged and rocky eminences, and the noise of the rushing
stream. I do not know another which so well deserves
the epithet of Wild. The bed is strewn with sharp and
misshapen rocks ; the banks show marks of frequent and
fearful inundations ; and many of the trees have been
stripped of their bark to a great height from the ground.
It seems as if arrangements had been purposely made to
give you a set lecture on geology, in the laboratory of
nature ; and you feel an apprehension that it is to be at
tended with detonating experiments. One of the un
pleasant accomplishments of regular scientific instruction
I had to endure ; and would recommend to my successors
to put, at least, a dry cracker or two into their pockets.
So far from there being any human habitations in this
part of the journey, there are not even berries enough to
attract the bears ; indeed, there is nothing to be found
but the bare sublime. Whoever seeks any thing else had
better choose some other route. I could not but compare
the savage traits of this region with the marks of refine-

178 TBAVELS IN AMERICA.

ment I had noticed at an inn I had lately left. I had
been accosted on my entrance by a genteel young wo
man, who, with a singular mixture of simple language,
plain dress, self-respect, modesty, fluent and appropriate
expression, asked my wishes ; and, after a few questions
and remarks, which betrayed sense and knowledge, pro
ceeded to assist in preparing my dinner. At the table,
which she spread, she presided with unaffected ease and
dignity, and made me almost forget an excellent meal by
her more interesting conversation. She gave me a
sketch of the winter-scenery in this inhospitable region,
and showed that there was sufficient reason for bestow
ing the epithet wild upon the Ammonoosuc, which poured
bye, within hearing of the house. After dinner, a little
library was thrown open to me, and I had a hundred or
or two well-selected and well-read volumes at my dis
posal, with a sofa, and solitude for a nap, all of which I
enjoyed.

In all this I read the effects of a good private and pub
lic American education. The young mistress of the
house had been taught at the academy of a village be
low; and, what was of greater importance, had been
trained up by a mother of no common character. Some
persons would have said that she had been accustomed
to good society ; but, perhaps, that was not true in the
usual sense of that word, though I doubt not that what
ever society was around her was good in a better sense :
that is, intelligent, simple, and virtuous. But what is
generally intended by good society, is that of fashionable
life, which is no more able to form such a character as
we approve than the wild Ammonoosuc is to make a
purling rivulet. To those who know our state of society,
it will be sufficient to add, that the lady of whom I speak
had been a teacher in the Sabbath-school before her mar-

TRAVELS JN AMERICA. J 7(J

riage, and betrayed in her conversation an acquaintance
with some of those other great systems of benevolence
which so much interest, excite, and bind together the
Protestant church, while they enlarge the views of indi
viduals, and give a powerful direction to the public mind.

As I proceeded, savage life seemed more and more to
thicken around me ; and after I had become weary of
looking for another habitation among the lofty hemlocks,
trailing with tufts and streamers of moss, I began to re
flect again on the civilization I had left. If intelligence,
thought I, is found hi the Scotch and Swiss mountains,
where is there any excuse for its not penetrating the re
motest regions of the United States, where population
exists? What is the origin and nature of our refinement,
and how can it be extended and perpetuated? Who
shall answer for us these questions ? Who shall tell us
how we may best act on this important subject ? Where
is the man who has given it all the consideration it de
serves ? Is there a habitation or a university which
contains the individual ? If so, his thoughts should be
known over the whole country; he should preach to us
all ; he should instruct the nation in their duties and their
destiny. Certain it is, that if we would study the sub
ject aright, we must divest our minds of foreign views,
and think independently and for ourselves.

I shall not easily forget the admiration excited among
a party of distinguished travellers, a few summers since,
by the manners of a young woman who attended them at
supper, in a little country inn in Massachusetts. The
friends, who were partly Spaniards and partly South
Americans, were so much struck with her dignity and
grace in discharging the humble duties assigned her by
her parents, that they often made it the subject of con
versation hundreds of miles distant. Yet they never

180 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

seemed able to appreciate the state of things among
which she had been educated, and were quite at a loss
to account for the growth of such polished manners in a
state of entire non-intercourse with courts and even
cities. To me it never was surprising that they admired
the reality of what they had previously admired only in
counterfeits ; and as I had some knowledge of the na
ture of the society to which they had been accustomed,
as well as of that in which she had been bred, I saw
how natural was their error, how unavoidable, in their
circumstances, their ignorance and doubt.

As for good manners, that external sign of internal re
finement, those of genuine nature can never spring from
a graft ; they are the fruit of a good heart and a sound
heed. Counterfeits may be fabricated, but it is an
expense of machinery often incalculable, and after all
their baseness is usually discoverable, at least by those
who have any acquaintance with the pure metal. Master
Eattlebrain, junior' is sent to a dancing-school by his
half-fashionable half-serious mother, not to learn to dance,
not to waste time or money particularly, but to form
his manners. This is considered necessary in Paris ; and
the Parisians are the politest people on the globe. This
is a better reason than a certain sort of people generally
admit in questions of moment ; and the youth is perhaps
found a few years after improving his manners in the
capital of fashion. A whirl of dressing, spurring, tan
dem, and, perhaps, four-in-hand succeeds, and in a few
years you may write his epitaph, if you would tell the
truth, " Here lies a victim of good-breeding— falsely so
called." Ah, these juvenile frivolities lead to dissipa
tions of the mind and heart, which the fond parent sees
about as clearly as he does those of morals and manners
which too often succeed them when more removed from

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 181

parental oversight. Yet this springs not from any inher
ent vice in the pleasing exercises, but more from the
want of that sound domestic education and virtuous and
sensible example, by which good manners should be im
planted and cultivated.

Parents who are easy and refined in their manners,
need not have boorish children ; and if they give a son
or daughter intelligence, and accustom him to talk sense,
and to exercise kindness and to show respect to those
around him, they need not fear that he will anywhere
speak like a fool, or act with impropriety.

My reflections on such subjects, however, were inter
rupted by the imposing wildness of the scenery around
me ; and though I may, perhaps, have penetrated further
into this matter, I will not longer trouble my readers
with such remarks.

After a solitary ride of several hours through Breton
Woods, along an avenue cut through the forest, with in
numerable tall trees rising on both sides, and almost cov-
eiing me from the sky, I reached Rosebrook's house. In
a world of silence and solitude, the human voice, form,
and face, are valued as much above their worth as they
are often depreciated in the crowd of a city. I had got
tired of loneliness, whether" of myself or trees, I cannot
tell— I believe of both, for I hailed a plain wooden-house,
barn-yard, and cattle with pleasure. I had an offer of
dining alone ; but " No, I thank you," said I, " I have
just been alone." — " Well, the men are just sitting down
to dinner," said the hostess, " and several of the neigh
bours are here." — "Neighbours," said I, " where do you
find articles of that description ?"

A door was soon opened, and I found nearly a dozen
men standing by the walls round a table, courteously

182 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

waiting for the stranger to take his seat. They looked
so rough in features, dress, and complexion, and were so
tall and robust, that I felt as if they would hardly own
common nature with a puny mortal like me. Over their
heads were deers' horns with old hats, and heads of flax
hung upon them ; and there was an array of the coarsest
and shaggiest garments, which intimated that we were
hard by the regions of perpetual winter. But greater hi
larity, more good nature, good sense, and ready humour,
I rarely witnessed among any dinner- circle of the size. —
They talked as familiarly of a friendly call on a neigh
bour six or eight miles deep in the forest, as if it were
but a step across the street ; and as for wild turkeys,
bears,

" And such small deer,
They'd been Tom's food for many a year."

After having got halfway to Ethan A. Crawford's, that
is three miles, I was suddenly apprised of a shower,
which had approached without my being aware, on a> •-'
count of the restriction put upon my eyesight by trrn
forest trees, which opened to my view only their courn<*
less and endless vistas. I therefore pressed on, and**118
length emerged into more open ground, where the Mra^y
blew strongly in my face, drove the rain with violei^aPfl
and wet me to the skin. I had now reached, as I af* ™e
wards learned, the mouth of the pass through the mounj1"
tains called the Notch, where the wind generally blow; w
with considerable force, and always either north or south ie
as through a tunnel or a trumpet. As I was going at iic
gallop, with the storm driving hard against me, my hors^ L"
suddenly sprung aside, in a manner which might have fS
cost me a bone or two a week before, when T was leaf/"
accustomed to the saddle ; and I did not at first discove

IN AMERICA. 183

the cause. We were near the Ammonoosuc, here a small
but headlo . d the current was dashing down

a ledge of 'Cks a iitt!'.1 ' n the right. My ride was such
as doubly '. prepare m for the enjoyment of a shelter
and society but Ihe I '-»uty of Crawford's meadow, as
the storm ceased, and the sun shone upon it through the
breaking clouds, made me linger to enjoy the first scene
of beauty in the White Mountains which is presented to
the traveller on this route. A broad and level plain now
spread before me, covered with the rich green which the
herbage here receives in the short but rapid summer ; and
the solitary dwelling of the hardy mountaineer ap
peared, with a few cattle straying here and there. The
whole was apparently shut out from the world by a wall
of immense mountains in front and 011 either side, whose
mantle of foliage extended nearly to their summits, but
left several bald peaks spotted with snow, where the
elevation forbade a leaf to put forth, or a root of the
smallest herb to penetrate. This scene seemed so attrac-
tive, that I was constrained to inquire why there were
a ,not more inhabitants. The reply presented a sad re-
a^verse. For two months only out of the twelve
areare the mountains accessible, so that few travellers
irervisit the place for pleasure. The meadow, with all
its beauty, will scarcely yield any thing in the
short summer, so that grain must be obtained else
where: and, in short, the place would probably have
been abandoned long ago but for the winter travelling,
which makes the house the resort of many country
people, with their loaded sleighs, in going and returning
from Portland and other places on the coast. The val
ley, an object of attraction only duriug a few weeks,
and a great thoroughfare but in the winter, has its
alternations of liveliness and almost entire solitude,

184 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

which are looked upon by the few inhabitants of the
spot with great interest, and supply themes for many an
entertaining tale of woodsmen and t'aveliers, sleigh-
drivers' adventures, and the habits and pranks of wild
beasts.

It was arranged that a party of travellers, assembled
at the house, should set off at an early hour for the ascent
of Mount Washington.

CHAPTER XIX.

Excursion to Mount Washington. Walk through the Forest. The
Camp. Ascent of the Mountain. View from the Summit. The
Notch. Old Crawford's. Bartlet.

WAKING after a short but invigorating slumber, and re
collecting where I was, I found by the splendour of the
moon that the time had arrived for our departure. As
we saw the tranquillity of the meadow and the majesty
of the mountains, which seemed to have marched nearer
to us in the silence and darkness of night, the impressions
produced upon the feelings were of the most elevating
nature. We were soon after buried in the forest, follow
ing our guide, who ascertained his course among the
vines, brush, and fallen logs, by what seemed to us more
like instinct than reason, in the absence as it appeared
of every evidence furnished to the eye by objects around.
The cold dew soon drenched our garments wherever they
were brushed by the foliage ; but the active exercise it
cost us to keep pace with him, repelled the chilling influ
ence with a warm and agreeable glow. We were fol
lowing up the wild valley through which the Ammo-
noosuc pursues its early course, like a favourite child

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 185

among the lovely and secluded scenes of home, far from
which its future life will bear it, to return no more.
During the tremendous flood ,of 1826, this brook was
suddenly swollen to a resistless torrent, and spreading
over the valley, ploughed up its channel, overthrew tall
trees, some of which are still left in heaps upon the
ground, while others were borne by it into the Connec
ticut.

We passed the little spot where our guide once stop
ped to await the rising of the moon to light him onward,
and where he was waked by the steps of a bear, which
had come to eat the whortleberries growing around him.
As we were more rapidly ascending than we supposed
all this time, our rapid gait gave us considerable fatigue ;
and when we approached the little shelters, thatched
with birch-bark, stuffed with green moss, and strewn
with spruce branches, where we were to breakfast, we
were much cheered at the prospect of repose.

A roaring fire was soon kindled between the two wig
wams; and, stretching ourselves upon the green and
sloping couch which had been prepared for the weary, in
the warmth of the blaze, and amid the delightful perfume
of the evergreen leaves beneath us, we fell asleep. —
When we awoke, it was broad daylight, even in that
valley, of such apparently immeasurable depth; and
after a hasty meal of dry bread and flitches of salt meat,
roasted in the flame, on forked sticks, with the best of
all sauces and the highest spirits, we prepared for the
most arduous part of our expedition, which now lay be
fore us. Nature seemed rousing from her slumbers ; and
in such a region motion and repose are alike sublime.
Millions of tree-tops gently undulated in the rising
breeze, and the ceaseless sound of 1he rushing brook was
2 L

196 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

heard in the pause of our conversation. Compared with
the large trunks of the trees around, and especially with
the enormous mountains, whose lofty society we were
seeking, our huts, ourselves, and our worldly interests
shrunk into insects' concerns.

The ascent of Mount Washington is a very laborious
task, although a great part of its elevation above the sea
and of Connecticut River, is of course surmounted before
arriving at its base. I was not prepared to find this
noble eminence rising so abruptly as it does from the
side on which we approached it. After leaving our rest
ing-place a few yards, and entering a thicker shade of
forest trees, we began a steep ascent, over a surface
broken by roots, and occasionally by loose stones, which
soon checked the ardour with which we commenced it.
It was nearly as steep, I believe, as the side of the cone
of Vesuvius, though not so smooth. How little do we
think, in our towns and cities, in the midst of our indo
lent habits, of what the muscles are able to perform, or
of the pleasure we may derive from their exercise. —
Three or four men were now toiling up this ascent.
Over them the physicians had often bent, I dare say,
cogitating what names, to give the forms of debility by
which they had been stretched upon their beds, and
what nauseous drug they should apply to expel once
more the evil spirit of luxury. Now, like a vessel just
from the graving beach, after setting up her shrouds and
backstays, on they went, over stones and roots and every
obstacle, apparently as insensible to fatigue as so many
machines.

No opening through the forest is afforded during the
ascent, by which a glimpse may be caught of the world
beneath; and it was long before we had any relief
from the close and leafy trees around and above ue.—

IBAVELS IN AMERICA. 187

The first change which we noticed was that in the spe
cies of the trees. This was instantaneous. We left, as
it were with a single step, the deciduous forest, and
entered a belt of tall firs, nearly equal in size and thick
ness. After walking among these for a few minutes,
they became suddenly diminished in size one half or
more, and speedily disappeared entirely, leaving us ex
posed to the heat of an unclouded sun. Our guide now
cautioned us to look to our steps ; but we did not fully
appreciate the value of his warning, until we had two or
three times sunk with one foot into deep crevices be
tween the loose rocks on which we were treading,
concealed by thick evergreen bushes, which were now
the only vegetable production remaining. Although
these gradually became reduced in size, it was not until
they had disappeared that we could walk with security.
The surface had ere this become less steep, but the large
size of the rocks, in many places, with their ragged
points and edges, rendered the passage still arduous, and
more slow than we could have desired.

Before us rose a vast nodule of an uniform gray colour
whose summit appeared at but a short distance; but
when we had reached the point, we found another swell
ing convex before us, and another beyond that : so that,
having exclaimed that the highest peak in the Union was,
after all, not so very mighty a thing, we at last had to
qualify the expression, and to say with respect, that
Mount Washington had some claim to its name. Indeed,
when we began to perceive that we were already above
the inferior summits, named after several of the other
Presidents, which had appeared so great from below and
at a distance, we felt that we were in the region of
•/eal exaltation ; and although Washington wae still abore

188 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

us, could look down upon Adams, Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, and what not.

When we find a spot where man cannot exist, we want
to see what can ; and I began to look round for any
thing with legs. Black flies, of course, like volunteer
jurymen, will not stay where the absence of mankind
does not allow them to find employment. Nothing with
life could I catch or see but one miserable black bug.

One of the earliest accounts of the ascent of this noble
eminence which I ever read, represented, I recollect, that
the summit was scattered with fragments of the limbs of
pine or hemlock trees, bleached by long exposure, and
resembling stags' horns. The comparison was a very apt
one. These bits of wood have, no doubt, been carried
up by some of the violent gusts of wind which are com
mon in mountainous regions. A gentleman once described
one which he saw some years ago. A roaring was first
heard. Soon after the tops of the forest trees on the
summit of the opposite mountain were bent violently
down, and then many of their gnarled branches were
seen flying in the air. The wood found on Mount Wash
ington has proved convenient to visitors suffering with
cold, as it will make an excellent fire.

For ourselves, we suffered most from thirst ; and could
hardly allow our eyes their expected feast upon the
boundless landscape, until we had demanded of our
obliging guide to be conducted to the icy springs of
which he had spoken. He soon brought us to a hole in
the rocks, where, only three or four feet down, we saw a
small bed of ice, which was slowly trickling away in
tears, under the indirect heat of the sun. We caught
these pure drops, and found them a most refreshing
draught. This was the highest head of the Aromonoosuc
Kiver which we could discover, and we had saved, at

TBAVELS IN AMERICA. 189

least, a portion of its intended current a rough and head
long descent down a dreary mountain.

We had seen the landscape below several times begin
ning to reveal itself through the mist ; but now, when
we had prepared ourselves to eojoy it, and taken our seats
on the highest blocks of ragged granite between the
Rocky Mountains, the Ocean, and the North Pole, we
found it all concealed from our eyes. Clouds of gray
mist and vapour began to drive by us, which moistened
our garments, scarcely yet dry, and soon chilled us to an
uncomfortable degree. Now and then acres, nay, cubic
miles of clouds seemed suddenly to be rolled away from
beneath us, leaving frightful gulfs thousands of feet down,
yet bottomless ; and these in another moment would be
filled with mist, heaped up higher than Mount Jefferson,
Adams, Washington, and even ourselves, who were last
enveloped again, and often concealed from each other's
view.

It now proved that we had chosen an unfavourable day
for the ascent ; but we had occasional views, which di j
not, however, embrace the whole of the extensive pano
rama. " There's the lake ! There's the lake ! There's
the lake !" exclaimed Crawford — •" Quick, quick, look
here !" — and there we saw a bright gleam towards the
south, appearing beyond a whole chaos of mountain peaks
and mountain sides, gulfs, dens, and chasms. Winni-
piseogee Lake had shone feebly out for a moment, be
tween two clouds of vapour, each large enough to cover
a whole State, and was but dimly and indefinitely re
vealed, with a large extent of the romantic country on
this side of it. But distances were lost, or rather the
eye and the mind seemed to be possessed of tenfold their
usual compass and penetration ; and this, perhaps, was
owing to a vast and bottomless abyss just before u«,

190 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

overflowing with vapours like an immeasurable caldron
sitting on a volcano, over which the sight and the
thoughts had first to spring to survey the sudden scene,
so suddenly withdrawn. While the eye rested upon the
distant objects, it could not forget the fearful leap it had
made, and the poor insect body it had left on the top of
Mount Washington.

" Well, there, there, there it opens at last 1" cried our
guide once more ; and turning towards the north-east we
saw a vast extent of country, comparatively level, yet
with its lines of fields and roads thrown into every va
riety of curve and angle, showing that the surface was
very far from being most favourable either to the cultiva
tion of the soil or the transportation of its fruits. t( There's
the Androscoggin ; don't you see it shine like an eel along
through that valley ?" The bright course of a stream
was seen dividing the dark surface of the earth, like the
white trunk of a silver birch seen on the verge of a green
wood, while its tributaries, less broad and less distinctly
visible, gleamed like the branches. The mountain on
that side descends a thousand feet or more perpendicu
larly, as abruptly as the Rock of Gibraltar where it looks
on Spain ; and nothing could be more dangerous than
to wander without great caution, amid such mists as
frequently surrounded us. Travellers have been occa
sionally exposed to great labours, and have sometimes
suffered much from hunger and thirst as well as appre
hension, by unadvisedly trusting to their own sagacity in
visiting this place, often so difficult to find and to leave.
A man, or even a party, might wander for hours round
the sides of the mountain without discovering any clue
to the proper paths, when the vapours intercept the view
of every distant object ; and even if they should reach

TRAVELS JN AMgfUCA. 191

the bottom, they might wander in various directions in
the forest below

Towards the west and north we had oppor ';..•„. ties to
contemplate the scene at leisure, and began to feel fa
miliar with the optical habits of hawks and eagles, by
looking upon the world beneath from a sublime height in
the air. On the horizon lay the Green Mountains. Dis
tance and the contrast with nearer and more elevated
peaks seemed to have diminished the whole range to a
mere cornfield, or a garden-walk broken by mole-hills.
The value of the Ammonoosuc opened beautifully to view
just below us ; and Crawford pointed out with interest
his secluded dwelling in the midst of the verdant meadow,
invaded by few foreign cares, and solitary but for nature's
society. Gleams of sunshine and shadows of clouds by
turns drew their different pencils over the beautiful pic
ture, revealing more beauties and exciting more emotions
than I could describe, or any one but a spectator could
fully enjoy.

And all this of which I have been speaking, or rather

U that of which I have been thinking while attempting

to speak, all this came through the eye — the narrow win-

i < >w of the eye's pupil ! Creation ! A vast extent of

•e Almighty's handiwork ; tremendous mountains in ex-

aded chains, with the numberless minor hills that

Deemed to tremble in their presence ; valleys, plains,

and rivers, fields, forests, and villages, all comprehended

a glance of the eye ! How diminutive a watch-tower

.t? the human frame ; how minute is that telescope, yet

bow wonderful its power ; and what a sentinel must he

who stands within, the inhabitant of the fabric, the

gazer through this glass, for whose delight and admira-

v i this scene was spread abroad, for whose temporary

these bones and muscles were bound together, this

192 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

curious instrument was so inimitably constructed, and fo;
whom are reserved scenes unknown, far transcending all
that he himself can yet imagine.

A night of sweet sleep, like that of a child, erased th
fatigues of that day.

Having parted from my new friends, who were travel
ling in the opposite direction, and taken leave of th"
frank and hardy Ethan Crawford and his family, '
mounted again my sorrel horse, after a separation fror
him of only one day, it is true, but which had beei
filled with so many feelings, that I had a great deal t
retrace in my mind to get again at the chain of though '
where I left him. He, however, seemed glad to clair
acquaintance \vith me again ; and I rode along the pat
1 had yesterday passed with some fatigue on foot, reflect
ing on the nature of man, which so strongly tends to cor
suit luxury and ease, and the depressing influence the
exercise upon body and mind. The motion which the
animal communicated to my frame was agreeable — lea\
ing the walking muscles in a state of repose, and jarring
the whole system. The chest, braced by recent alee
following real fatigue, and by the breathing of pu
mountain-air, felt prepared for harmony, like a harp
fresh strung with wires of steel. The beauty of t\ie
morning light on the sides of the mountains also ex
alted my feelings, and I could not refrain from a sor-v,
of praise in accordance with the scene.

I travelled four miles along a level road, windii ..;:•
through a dark forest, without meeting a living thini/ .
when I reached the Notch House, which stands solitary
in the little Notch meadow. One would think the level
a very low one, as the land is too flat to be well drained.
The Ammonoosuc had been left a little behind, when I
reached the Saco, a mere brook, which disappeared in

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. !&„

front of me behind a rock. Thither the road led me ;
and a sudden turn to the left brought me into the gate of
these mountains, the famous Notch. The scene changed
its aspect to wildness and sublimity, and the Saco,
breaking its glassy surface into foam, set up a roar which
it continued to make for thirty miles, when it reached the
meadows of Conway.

It would be pleasant to me to while away a week
or two in these mountains, in the fancied society of a
tasteful and indulgent reader — one of those patient and
forbearing beings whom I imagine myself talking to
when I meet with any thing truly sublime and noble in
my travels ; but I know very well, when I coolly reflect,
that it is presumption to suppose that others are of course
pleased with what greatly delights myself; and, how
ever unwillingly, must hasten through this gorge, and
leave numberless objects untouched ; many a thought
and sentiment unexpressed. In going twelve miles be
tween the two Crawford houses, I lost four full hours
of which I can give no account, unless by showing
the drawings I made in my sketch-book, or describing
points of view whose details are impressed on my me
mory. Too thoughtless of time even to look at my
watch, forgetful of food and rest, I rode and walked, I
stopped and stood : the Saco roaring and rushing on one
side, and Sorrel plodding along on the other, and gazing
at me with the bridle on his neck. Poor faithful beast !
He and I did not arrive at the intended place of rest till
late in the afternoon, and had, I presume, the latest din
ners eaten in New Hampshire that day.

Bartlet is a pleasant little village, in a circular mea
dow, eight miles below the elder Crawford's ; and not
until I entered it did I feel as if there was any certainty

+ dt 'IKAVKL& IN AMERICA.

of my ever recovering the exercise of the social feelings,
How little do we realize, in the family-circle, the village,
or the city, that we are dependent on the vicinity of
others for a large part of our daily enjoyments ; how many
gentle vibrations of our hearts are caused and increased
by the movements of sympathetic chords around us;
and how, like the spheres, we are bound to our places by
a thousand mutual, though invisible, influences. If the
savage feels at home in the forest, as much as we do at
the sight of dwellings and cultivated fields ; if his warm
est feelings are as strongly associated with the sounds and
objects familiar in the wilds, as ours are with the lowing of
cattle, the features and the voices of men, which is un
doubtedly the case, who can wonder that only Chris
tianity has been able to induce him to change his habits ?
The days I spent on the borders of that most varied and
beautiful lake, Winnipiseogee, as well as in approaching
and leaving it, with the fish in its waters, the fowl on its
shores, the deer in its groves, and the islands on it bo
som ; these and the scenes of contentment, activity, and
thrift presented along the Merrimack I must pass over in
silence. It is time we were at the great centre of all
this eastern country ; so, without waiting to learn how
the luxuries of the soil find their way to the capital, or
how its many fashions and other influencies are sent back
in return, — let us hasten to Boston.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA 195

CHAPTER XX.

Botton. Environs. Literary Institutions. Mount Auburn. Remarks
on our Intellectual Machinery.

BOSTON is situated on ground favourable to the display
of the city from almost every point in the vicinity. The
surface rises towards the centre, at Beacon Hill, where
the doom of the State House presents a conspicuous
object. The acclivity at the same time exposes to
Tiew not a few of the larger edifices in different streets.
The irregularity of surface, however, has it advantages ;
and some of the streets are inconvenient and even danger
ous in slippery seasons. The heart of the city defies the
straightening hand of improvement ; but the quays and
the adjacent streets are of a size and regularity which
our large capitals might envy. The wharves, while they
attest the natural defect of the harbour, bear honourable
evidence to the taste and enterprise of the merchants ;
and the market is the moat splendid in the country. The
fine white granite, which is used so much for columns in
New York, here forms the material of entire and ele
gant blocks; and, what is of personal interest to tra
vellers, Tremont House is unequalled as a spacious and
genteel hotel in the whole Union.

The harbour makes a fine appearance from every emi
nence; and the surrounding country, diversified with
bold and swelling hills, populous villages, and elegant
country seats, offers attractions superior to the environs
of any of our cities. Indeed, no pleasanter or more
varied tour of ten or fifteen miles could be easily desired

196 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

that that which may be made, by hard and level roads,
round the circuit of Charles River. On the eminences,
Washington formed the line of troops with which he be
sieged Boston in 1775. That end of the horseshoe which
overlooks the city from the north is surmounted by the
monument of Bunker Hill ; while on that which com
mands the harbour from the south-east, viz. Dorchester
Heights, is seen the wall of a circular fort. Hereabouts
were some of the earliest settlements in New England.

In literary institutions Boston holds an elevated rank.
Without speaking of the Massachusetts Historical So
ciety, the Athenaeum, &c., &c., Harvard College, which
may be regarded almost as in the city itself, is the best
endowed, though not now the most flourishing, institu
tion in the Union. Why will not our wealthy country
men in other States take fire at the noble example which
has been set them by the Bostonians, in fostering learn
ing? The public schools are probably superior on the
whole to those of New York ; and, if so, superior to all
others in the country. Writing, however, is not taught
as easily or as well as in New York ; slates not being
used for that purpose. The girls' and boys' schools, also,
are separated, which must be attended with some incon
veniences. The primary schools are vastly inferior, being
under a distinct supervision, and controlled by a numerous
and unmanageable body of men, most of whom can hardly
be expected to keep pace with the improvements in that
important department of public instruction. Here, there
fore, you find the old-fashioned Ma'am schools — with the
poor little children seated all over the room, without
apparatus, exercises, singing, or any other humane and
intelligent device to render instruction or school-going
tolerable. In Boston, however, is enjoyed the great ad
vantage of a comparatively homogeneous population, and

TBAVELS IN AMERICA. 197

a strong prejudice in favour of education. What would
the trustees of the New York public schools think would
befall their books, if they should permit the children to
take them home, as they do in Boston ? Of the gram
mar-schools I have not leisure to speak in befitting terms
of praise ; nor have I room to give vent to the regret I
felt at some of the evidences I met of the perverted influ
ence of fashion in some of the female schools.

Mount Auburn has had the misfortune to be over-praised
in print; and the consequence is, I believe, that every
visitor to it is disappointed. The spot is very pleasant ;
nature has given it seclusion, with pretty sights of green
Bills and woods, which acquired for it the name of Gold
smith's village, years ago. And nearly in the state of
nature it still remains ; the plan for its improvement hav
ing been as yet completed only on paper. There is no
thing to impress the mind as you approach it with feel
ings appropriate to an extensive cemetery. Walks and
avenues have been planned, and little signs inform you
that here among the bushes is Cypress avenue or Cedar-
walk : but in many places you have nothing else to lead
you to suspect where you are. The visitors who go
there for a ride, and leave their carriages or horses on
the borders of the grounds, often interrupt the reflections
which a sober mind would wish to indulge in on such a
spot. The plan is far superior to that of the New Haven
bury ing-ground, where, as I have remarked, there is a
want of variety in surface and shrubbery, and little se
clusion from observation.

The example set by Boston, in forming such a ceme
tery, it is to be hoped may be imitated by many villages
as well as cities. It is, in several respects, an improve
ment on the ancient New England plan, though much
more accommodated to it than to that of some other

198 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

parts of the country, and large towns in general. In
cities, public and private tombs are used, and small and
crowded burying grounds, often at an expense which
would procure interment at a distance in some retired
scene ; but in the latter, there is often less security, ex
cept strict precautions be taken. Cemeteries should be
planed with reference to the living as well as the dead ;
and should at once be made convenient and pleasant to
visitors ; guarded from injury and every thing like disre
spect. They ought not, I think, to be placed in the cen
tre of a village, as they generally are, nor yet too far re
mote from the habitations of men. If they are constantly
before the eye, they are regarded with too much indiffer
ence, and the ground is often made a thoroughfare and
even a place of sport by children. In some instances
new and more retired situations have been chosen ; for
there is no objection to separating the burying- ground
from the church, with those who do not consecrate the
ground : but in how few instances is taste consulted in
the selection of a spot, in laying it out, or planting it
with evergreens ! —

Newspapers are in some senses great pests. The old-
fashioned literati complain bitterly that they occupy the
places of books such as they used to read and grow wise
with, and ask, What is it but newspapers which makes
our young men different from what they used to be ? If
they would listen to one of this class, so far from perfec
tion as I allow, I would say, it is owing to many other
causes besides this. So far as newspapers have an evil
influence, it is attributable to their quality, not to the
fact that they are newspapers ; and the evil of the bad is
partly owing to their fathers' neglect in not providing
good editors, or taking timely precautions to secure a
good public taste. The neglect under which newspapers

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 199

so long suffered now appears to have been almost crimi
nal ; it was at least short-sighted ; for if their present im
portance had been foreseen, and if proper measures had
been taken, they would have been better, and sources of
much more good and far less evil than now.

But as for getting along without them, under the pre
sent and the probable future state of things, it is out of
the question. Every man, at least in this part of the
country, who has any regard for his character for common
intelligence, or any curiosity or taste, or who has a wife,
son, or daughter possessing these qualities, must have
the affairs of the county, State, Union, and universe laid
before him every week at least. And this is done for
from one and a half to two and a half dollars a year.
Multitudes obtain with this a vast amount of matter re
lating to doctrinal and practical religion, the movements
of the clergy of their denominations, the growth of
churches, the operations of their Bible, tract, missionary,
and temperance societies, &c., &c.

But to go further into particulars — the public affairs of
all nations, the effects of the enterprises of distinguished
individuals, the opinions of new books in both hemi
spheres. The people of this country exercise an habitual
censorship over their fellow-men — many of them daily,
multitudes of them weekly, as they seat themselves to
peruse their newspapers ; and feel at the same time a de
gree of self-respect, as well as regard for good or wise
men, however distant, who seem in some sense to be
labouring in their various spheres partly for their gratifi
cation or improvement. When Humboldt was scouring
plains and ascending mountains, in many a humble habi
tation was his progress watched ; and tow-wicked
candles, lighted as the farmers' families assemble at even
ing, will show the columns which shall speak of Don

200 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

Miguel's fall, and Captain Hall's adventures in his pur
suit of Parry.

It is a great consolation when we see the paltry and
often the vicious stuff with which many of our public
papers abound, that after all so small a portion of the
community read it. What is professedly political has
charms but for few, if we except such things as are per
sonal in their bearing on individuals known to the
readers. Marriages and deaths induce hundreds to take
them up, where tens are attracted by what is called the
original articles, most of which have as much originality
as an echo. The most virulent, tasteless, and sottish
papers are generally those which are supported by some
party, and these are often taken for appearances, and not
to read.

The learned must consent to share in the burthen of the
charge of the public ignorance and want of taste. They
who are familiar with the state of things in Greece and
Rome, and all other countries on the face of the earth,
ought to have had skill to foresee that our circumstances,
so different from those of any nation before us, must re
quire a different treatment to produce any desirable
effect. They are a venerable set of men, I allow — highly
respectable ; some of them know law, some physic, some
history, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and what not. There are
those who have waded deep into the most important
branches of knowledge (I use branches in the southern
sense), and are actually swimming in the surfeit of
science, who, I fear, have not sufficiently thought how
they may convey a few drops to their thirsty fellow-
citizens. Is not the idea still too prevalent, that there
is no way to learning except the royal road ? Is there
not a tiresome long toll-bridge across that stream which
separates the land of ignorance from the domain of know-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA, 201

ledge over which all are required to pass, while none are
permitted to use the humble stepping-stones or to attempt
the ford below. Cannot some means be devised by which
some of the important principles, now wrapped in
volumes and concealed in foreign words, may be put into
the possession of those who most need them for frequent
and practical use ? Have the Medes and Persians any
law requiring every individual who would know how
many bones there are in his foot, or what fiddle-string it
is that vibrates when he knocks his elbow, to go through
a regular course of study at a medical college ? If they
have, by the way, it is violated, and will be set at nought,
I trust, still more, by the Penny Magazine, Penny Gazette
et omne id genus of publications which have begun to ap
pear, I had almost said, since I began to pen this page.
In these things the English have set us a good example :
which, as we are such " legitimates" in literary matters
as to admit no improvements except through the royal
road, there is now hope we shall benefit by it.

2 M

202 TRAVELS IN AMERICI,

CHAPTER XXI.

Nahant. Plymouth. Principles of the Pilgrims. Thei? Institutions.
Excuse for not knowing more. Lyceums.

NAHANT is the first great fashionable retreat our coast
presents, beginning to follow its devious line from the
eastern part of the country. There, many a citizen, many
a young person educated in our fashionable schools, is for
the first time introduced to the ocean, and taught, by a
glance, how great are objects he knows not, how small
many of the acquisitions the giddy world admires. I do
firmly believe that a misguided parent, who has had the
folly to bring up his child in the way he should not go ;
who has taught his son or his daughter to admire the false
glitter of wealth, and to neglect the search after intel
lectual and moral enjoyments, — many such a parent, by
bringing his child here, has exposed him to a scene that
can counteract at once the very principles of his educa
tion, implant new ideas, lead him to think his parent
superficial, and drive him to other sources of instruction.
There is an appeal, a warning, a monitory voice in the
sea, when its waves are dashed against the rocks, which
affects the old and even the accustomed mind with awe ;
but to the young, the inexperienced, it addresses itself
with a tone which enforces attention, and makes an im
pression no human power, perhaps, can ever entirely
efface.

" Unfall'n, religious, holy sea !"

A scene like this is best calculated for the retreat of
one who has forsaken the paths of righteousness, and

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 203

wishes to retrace his steps. Vice never chooses a place
where such reproaches are sounded in her ears. It is also
one of the most favourable situations for implanting
salutary and lasting impressions in the young. Scenes
like this are, perhaps, liable to as few objections, even
when strictly regarded, as any can be, for the establish
ment of houses of general resort : for as the objects of
nature offer a good deal of attraction, even to the less
estimable class of visitors, they substitute reflections
harmless, if not useful, for many of the unbecoming games
and occupations in which hours are usually occupied in
public places. The man of business is not attracted to
the billiard-table to fill up a blank left by his abstraction
from his desk ; but he seats himself on some of the resting-
places arranged on the most advantageous points of view,
and gazes in admiration on a horizon more extended, on
objects more elevating than he finds elsewhere. He in
dulges in reflections ennobling to a mind borne down with
daily cares, while he is refreshed by a pure and kindly
breeze, that comes with health and rational hilarity on its
wings, to repair the wastes that necessary labour has
made upon his frame.

Of the sea serpent I have nothing to say.

Plymouth I visited with becoming reverence, on ac
count of the memory of our forefathers. What a dreary
scene must the coast have presented to them when they
landed on this spot in December, 1620 ! The soil is sandy,
thin, and poor, and a range of low hills gives an uni
formity to the shore, to which nothing but some import
ant historical event could have given interest. Along
the Atlantic coast of the United States, from hereabouts
down to Florida, vast tracts of sands are found, the marks
of some tremendous operation explicable only by refer
ence to Noah's flood. Of this nature is the country here.

204 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.^

The undulating surface of light sand, intermingled with
loose primitive rocks, stretches along the bay, while it
also forms Cape Cod, on which the Pilgrims first effected
a laiidicg ; and Carver's Rock, on which tradition says
they first stepped from their boat, is of granite. They
saw none of the natives at first, because a fatal disease
had destroyed all the inhabitants for some distance round
several years before. Old William Wood mentions, in
his New-England's Prospect, printed in 1634, that Rag
ged Plain, a little in the interior, had become covered
with bushes for the want of Indians to burn it over, as
they had been accustomed to do, for game.

I took my stand on the top of Burying Hill, near the
grave of Carver, those of several of his associates in the
first settlement of New-England, and many of their de
scendants. On this spot they entrenched themselves im
mediately ; at its base, on the south side, they formed
their treaty with Massasoit; between it and the shore on
the east they erected their first dwellings along the pre
sent street of the village; between the lofty bluffs on the
sides of the harbour they used to watch for the expected
arrival of ships from England ; northwardly they soon
saw new colonies established ; and westward — what
talents would be required to show the whole influence of
their early labours and pure and wise institutions ! Where
we can trace the operations of their principles among our
countrymen, we find that we owe to them almost every
thing we are and have and hope for.

It was a simple question with them, after they had es
tablished themselves here, whether they should take this
course or that — shall we observe the strict rules of mor
ality and religion, and instruct our children in useful
knowledge, or not ? They did not dispose of the ques
tion as the representatives of Pennsylvania did a few

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 205

months since, when the bill for common schools in the
state was before them. They did not decide that they
were too poor to do it conveniently, and therefore must
postpone it. The Pilgrims were simple enough to believe
that " learning is better than house and land," and there
fore provided for the establishment of a school, in every
town of fifty families, and a grammar-school in every one
of 100 families. Let those who think them the poorer, cast
up the figures by which it may be shown, and then fol
low the emigrants from New-England wherever they have
gone, and see how they compare with those who repre
sent different doctrines on the intellect.

It is true that the Pilgrims enjoyed great advantages
for laying the foundations of their society along with
general education. They came well provided with know
ledge, and had little expense to incur at the outset. Fa
mily instruction was a powerful aid to schools ; and it is
the want of this which renders necessary the array of
means now required to make up for the deficiencies
where it has been neglected. Knowledge may be trans
mitted from generation to generation, in the same man
ner and almost as cheaply as ignorance ; but what a dif
ference is the consequence ! Suppose that the pilgrims
had chosen to neglect the means necessary to secure
general instruction. Imagine the consequences. This
country, instead of sending out so much of its population
to all seas and regions, because they had superior intel
ligence, and can pursue the beasts of the forests, the birds
of the air, and the fishes of the sea, as well as commerce
and various other kinds of business, with greater success
than other men, would probably have been visited by
those of other nations for the same purpose, and ere this
have been a much more mixed people. The great streams
of teachers, of all classes, which are now poured out an-

206 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

nually to other states of the Union, would never have be
gun to flow — sad evidence of the literary drought which
would have parched the soil, now so fertile in men of
education. If the arts and sciences, public virtue and
intelligence had ever risen high enough to 'send out emi
grants to the West, they would have flowed in one un
distinguished mass with those tides of emigration from
other quarters, which, however strongly contrasted with
them now when they meet, are soon and maturely puri
fied by the mixture. Had the Pilgrims acted like most
other planters of colonies, in respect to public education
merely, Bunker Hill would have had no name, and the
United States no being.

There are many things to be seen in Boston, some of
which I know but little about, and too many more had
not the taste, or knowledge, or sagacity to observe or
take pleasure in. I am no English tourist, and therefore
cannot pretend to know every thing. If I had the won
derful facilities possessed by some of those men and
women who survey the United States through their blue
glasses, and then write things of which none of us na
tives ever heard, I might have had more to say. How
pleasant must travelling be to such gentry! A person
with their talents might sit in his hotel, or sleep in the
steamboat, and make books, whose originality at least
would never be doubted : whereas such people as I can
never say a thing of any place or object, without having
everybody who is acquainted with it exclaim, " That's
a fact;" and can never indulge in a reflection, but the
first plain, merely sensible person who reads it will say,
'' That's true — very good — he thinks as I do."

Now this is no way to make a book, that's very certain.
What gratification can it be to anybody to be told that
things around him are what they know them to be ; and

TRAVELS IN AMERICA, 207

that they and their neighbours have done exactly what
they have, and 'can do so and so, and no more nor less ?
But, ah ! when shall we equal the English ? " Kara avis
in terris" — now and then we find one of these rare fowl
— not so rare, however, now as they once were — some
think there are quite enough of them. One of them, I
recollect, was at a hotel in New York some months ago,
where he gave out that he was collecting remarks, and
every day took out his memorandum book and pencil at
table. Two or three persons, who appreciated the im
portance of his undertaking, were so obliging as to ren
der him assistance; and out of respect to his future
readers, never allowed him to take any thing but the
choicest bits from that great newsmarket ; and, indeed,
generally took the trouble to stall-feed the cattle and
pigeons before they brought them up. Under their hands
our steamboats, race-horses, whale-boats, and spinning-
wheels improved more in speed than they had done in
years before ; and the march of mind in the United
States'were equalled only by the progress of the pumpkin-
vines in the meadows. Had the wonders he heard been
communicated to him in a different manner, he might
have questioned the statements ; but they were intro
duced casually in common conversation ; not narrated to
him as prodigies, but mingled with the concerns of the
day, and heard by others without surprise, and often
without remark. This intelligent foreigner faithfully
noted every thing, and must have taken a vast fund of
available merchandise home to England. His friends
grieved the less at hie departure, because they cherished
the hope of seeing him ere long in a book. As yet, how
ever, they have been disappointed. Among the various
travels in the United States since published in Great
Britain, they have not found his name; and although

208 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

several of them have borne strong- marks of his cha
racter, and were to a great degree composed of materials
like those which he collected, they are at once so like
and unlike the valuable mass with which he was sup
plied, that they were inclined to suspect he had sold his
notes " in lots to suit purchasers."

It is impossible to travel far in this state, and, indeed,
in some of the other states also, without perceiving signs
of the recent impulses given to public instruction. In
some places the old school-houses have been replaced
with convenient and handsome edifices ; evidently plan
ned with some regard to their importance, the public
convenience, and the principles of taste. In others large
buildings have been erected for public lectures, libraries,
and cabinets of natural history. And if we had time
enough to inquire into the state of public intelligence,
we should find considerable improvements made within
the last three or four years. The associations for literary
improvement, which have multiplied so rapidly, though
varying in size, importance, and plan, are known by the
general name of lyceums, which is a word of good,
sound, and classical origin ; and although often applied
to societies of a different and generally a loftier charac
ter, may, perhaps, as well as any other, be used in this
meaning. The career of knowledge, like that of benevo
lence, however humble the agents embarked in it or the
scale of their operation, offers innumerable and often un
expected gratifications. I have attended several meet
ings of such associations, and cannot easily describe all
the ways or the whole extent in which I received grati
fication.

So many meetings have been held, so many societies
formed, and so many measures taken with direct reference
to the diffusion of knowledge, that those who appreciate

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.' 209

its value are sure of receiving support in any judicious
effort they may make in its favour. Suppose a public
meeting is called in the village of Newtown, to form a
village lyceum. The bell is rung in the meeting-house,
and probably the minister, the teachers, male and female,
assemble, with many or few of the people, according to
circumstances. The ladies sit at some distance, near
enough to hear, yet far enough to show that modesty ac
tuates them wherever they go. Some person, familiar
with such societies, gives a statement of their plan and
effects, and comments on the advantages offered by the
village for the formation of a similar association. It is
unamiously resolved, "That it is expedient to form a
Newtown Lyceum." A committee is then appointed to
form a constitution, which is, perhaps, presented to the
same meeting, or if not, to a subsequent one. On the
articles, probably, some discussion takes place ; and I
can answer for it that they sometimes disclose both ta
lent and eloquence, and always some facts concerning
the state of society which may prove instructive to a
stranger. I have wished that some of the well-meaning
travellers who have told such ridiculous tales of us on
the other side of the Atlantic could have listened to a
few such discussions, even in our most obscure villages ;
for they would have heard our plain country-people talk
ing together about themselves, and that affords one of
the best possible opportunities for learning their con
dition and character.

"I had no notice, gentlemen," remarked a middle-aged
man from another town, "that I was to address this
meeting. I was passing through Newtown, and at
tracted here only by learning at the tavern that a lyceum
was to be formed. I will mention briefly that the lyceum
of Oldtown, of which I had the honour to be secretary,

210 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

has been very useful, as it is generally believed, in afford
ing harmless amusement as well as useful instruction to
different classes, particularly the young. The funds are
derived from the subscriptions of members, at half a
dollar each, and a quarter of a dollar for minors, who,
however, are not entitled to a vote. The officers are a
president, vice-president, recording and corresponding
secretary, treasurer, and librarian, who, with five others
called curators, form the board of directors, three of
whom make a quorum for ordinary business. We had
collected a library, by loan and gift, of books which
could be spared by the members of the society; and thus
each volume being made accessible to all, is as it were
multiplied by two hundred, which is about the number
of our members. One or two lectures on different sub
jects are delivered every week in the winter when the
weather permits, by volunteers — professional gentlemen
and farmers; and occasionally we are favoured with some
friend from a neigbouring lyceum, with an essay which
has been well received there. We send a delegate every
quarter to the county lyceum (where your delegates, I
hope, will hereafter attend), and hear interesting reports
from him of their proceedings on his return. Our
schools have been much improved, as the teachers are
interested in introducing every improvement in discipline
and instruction which they can obtain ; and I must do
most teachers the justice to say that they are true friends
of knowledge and republican institutions. And while I
am on this point, allow me to remark, gentlemen, that
we have it in our power) though but humble individuals,
by pursuing a proper course of operations in the society
which exists around us, to effect what the governments
of some countries of Europe are endeavouring to do,
but cannot fully accomplish, with all the means in their

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 211

possession. We can raise the standard of our common
schools to the highest grade, and carry their benefits to
every individual. A monarch can do little for this object
without the general and hearty co-operation of his peo
ple ; and if that can be secured by us, we need not
despair for our want of any other influence. The French
government, during the past year, established a splendid
system of public instruction ; and the semi- weekly paper
and the monthly magazine, published by the minister of
instruction, inform us that it expressly avows, as essen
tial principles, that religious education is inseparable
from intellectual ; that the interests of the state require
that every child be instructed ; and that the profession
of a teacher, in every department, must be rendered
respectable in the eyes of the public. Through the in
vestigations made, the best systems in Europe may now
be obtained from France; and nothing remains to be
done but to educate teachers enough, and to excite pro
per emulation among the people.

" Make the results of education known, and you will
awaken interest in schools: show parents and teachers
better systems than they have, and they will wish to ob
tain them ; raise the salaries of teachers, treat them with
due respect, and you may have good ones. In many
points men of their practical knowledge will easily im
prove by the mere exhibition of apparatus, or by wit
nessing the management of a model-class for a half hour.
Encourage, therefore, the meetings of common school
teachers in the town and the county, for thus, still more
than in the case of the library, the information of each
becomes the property of all. We must remember that
our schools should never be left alone by the good and
the intelligent, until they should have been placed on the
best possible footing. Our teachers ought to be retained

212 TRAVELS IN AMERICA;

permanently in their profession, and respected as highly
as any members of society. They ought also to be put
in possession of every improvement for their aid which is
known in the world. Our commerce with foreign na
tions is never made subservient to its highest objects so
long as we do not by means of it promote the diffusion
of useful knowledge ; and intellectual must go hand in
hand with religious. And mark the tendency of frequent
association ! It is only the extension of that principle
on which true friends receive mutual benefit from con
versing on a topic with which they are partially ac
quainted. They share the whole stock with each other,
and at the same time are stimulated to obtain and com
municate more in future."

By such remarks as these the individuals present feel
encouraged to further the good objects by such means as
are in their power. The stranger departs, but some one
or more he leaves behind are prepared to act on a com
mittee to procure lectures for the winter, or to solicit the
loan of books, to visit the schools, to collect minerals,
to make a map of the town, to correspond with some
other society, to collect historical facts of the region in
which he dwells, or to raise funds to procure a philoso
phical apparatus, or possibly to erect a building for the
society. The meeting has convinced some individual at
least that he could do more than he before believed ; and
more than one are now started on a career in which the
example and support of others, with success in new ex
ertions, will probably display to themselves powers of
mind and means of usefulness, as well as of enjoyment,
of which they have before been quite unsuspicious.

In a country like this, where such a state of society
has been established, great advantages are enjoyed by
parents in rearing their children. And of this many of

I
TRAVELS IN AMEBICA." 2l3

our emigrants appear sensible ; for some of them send
their little ones from the South to be educated among the
scenes and moral influences of their infancy. No higher
expression of attachment and veneration can be paid to
their native land than this, by such men as have done
what they could, to improve the intelligence and morality
of the regions where they dwell. Education is a staple
commodity of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and more
or less so of some of the other northern states. A child
here is as sure of good examples, and good intellectual
and moral instruction, as he would be of having rice
enough in South Carolina, sugar-cane in Louisiua, or In
dian corn in Ohio.

The route from Boston to New York, through Provi
dence, is interesting on several accounts, but is well
known ; and besides, if I should stop to speak of it, I
should not find time to complete the remaining part of
my tour. It is a dreadful thing for a writer to have
more materials than he can use ; an evil, fortunately, not
very common at the present day ; for if we may judge
authors by their books, they generally want nothing more
than something to say. However, it is my chance this
time to suffer under a surfeit.

214 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXII.

New York. Hotels. Sculpture. South America. Dr. Sweet. Foreign
Inventions.

NOTHING is more remarkable than the rapid multiplica
tion and extension of hotels in New York within a few
years. About six or eight years ago there was none ex
cept the City Hotel, which was considered as affording
very extensive, and at the same time genteel accommo
dations ; Bunker's, Washington Hall, and Park Place
House being on a less extensive scale. The American
Hotel was not opened without some anticipations among
idle remarkers that the city would not support it ; and
yet we have now the National, the Adelphi, the United
States, Webb's, the Franklin, and without mentioning
many others in different streets, lastly, the moose, the
mammoth, Holt's. What scenes of bustle are presented
at the doors in the travelling-season, especially at the
hours of steamboats arriving and departing, which now
occur with but short intermissions ! How roll the coaches
to and from ; how the porters jostle you one and another;
how the strangers pour up or down the side- walks, with
their great coats on their arms, or pack their wives and
children hastily into coaches. How you can instantly
distinguish these birds of passage as they stop at the
corner before you, and survey the houses above them
from top to bottom, and gaze at the crowd rushing by
them, as if looking for a needle in a hay-mow. What a
difference it must make with them in respect to the plea
sure of their journey, and the information they may carry

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 2l5

home, whether they find a bed to lodge in or not ; and
whether comfortable things befall them or otherwise. —
As we pass them in the street, it seems but a matter of
little concern whether they are lodged here, or there, or
nowhere; whether they are treated honestly, or have
their pockets picked. Bat it is much to them. O this
familiarity with crowds and bustle— this packing down
of human flesh in cities like jerked beef, makes us in some
respects wonderfully selfish and indifferent to our species.

Speaking of hotels — Holt's is the mammoth of them
all. Seeking a friend one day, a gentleman traced him
to Holt's, inquired for him at the bar, and was told that
although not in his room, he was somewhere in the
house. " That was what I was afraid of," said he — " I
shall never find him. If he had gone out I would have
given him a fair chase through the city, with some small
hope of finding him ; but in such a boundless labyrinth
as this, I will not waste time in searching for him."

This hotel is sometimes called Holt's castle ; but it is
rather the castle of indolence, or more properly that of
gluttony. •" The refectory," " hot coffee," " the ordi
nary," " private dining-room," &c., &c — these are con
spicuous words, blazoned on the doors and along the pas
sages. Labourers, horses and carts, are often seen lining
the curb-stones, toiling and groaning even in removing
the refuse and fragments of those enormous feasts
which are daily consumed in this surfeit factory. —
A steam-engine puffs and perspires all day to raise aloft
tons of food, merely for hundreds of trenchermen to
bring it down again ; and, to judge from the smoke and
hissing, one would think the inroads of hunger were more
difficult to resist than the current of the Hudson or the
Mississippi.

This pile of granite is in one sense a temple of " Taste j"

216 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

—and what species of taste that is, the spectator may
judge from any commanding view within some miles, by
the broad banner that floats on its top, bearing an enor
mous green turtle! The sight of such an ensign is not
a very gratifying one to a man of letters, unless indeed
he be suffering under a paroxysm of hunger, to which
his tribe are said to be rather predisposed. Under
other circumstances he exclaims, " 0 that my countrymen
would content themselves with moderation in their ani
mal enjoyments, and sacrifice more to the mind ! If
this bar were converted into a library — if tomes of
knowledge were put in the place of bottles and de
canters, and the halls were furnished with food for the
intellect, what a splendid university would this be!

I have been visiting some of the artists and exhibition-
rooms ; and having already indulged in a few remarks
on paintings and painters, I might apply some of the
same views to sculpture ; but shall not stop here to be
very particular. I would briefly remark, that taste or
genius, as it is called in sculpture, need not be of so gra
dual growth in our country as many persons think.
Many of our travellers abroad will tell you, that an hour
spent in the museum of Florence, or in the select society
of Apollo and Co., in the palace of the Vatican, would
be sufficient to convert the most rude taste to something
very refined and intelligent ; and as for genius, did not
Canova grow up in a few years ? and was not his life
more than long enough to revolutionize the world of
artists ? Even in the most refined countries, every new
generation must be educated to rcfinment. We have,
therefore, to use the proper means, and in a very short
time might have taste and genius, and the results of both
combined.

It is a slavish doctrine too, that no artist can be wor*

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 217

thy of respect who has not worked in Rome. Let not our
youth be discouraged, Take a chisel, look at a man,
and make the rock look as much like him as you can.
But the rock is hard. Then take plaster, or common red
clay from a brick-yard. It will wash off from the hands
of genius — Canova used it often. Set about gravely to
do what you have attempted when a boy with the snow.
Try to make a man — it is not so puerile a business, neither
is it so very difficult. You are not to be perplexed with
colours, lights and shades, or in any way required to
make a flat surface look what it is not. You may mea
sure every part, turn it this way and that by moving the
block on which it stands, and alter, remould, and begin
again. Nothing is spent but a little leisure time, a little
attention a nd ingenuity, for which you will be more at
tentive and ingenious hereafter, and a better judge of
other people's work. The clay is as good as it was be
fore, and you are not obliged to show your work or to try
again. You are already like an artist in one respect ;
you have failed in your first attempt to do as well as you
wished. Even if you had tried to chisel a stone and
broken it, your tool, or your skin, I dare say Canova and
Thorwaldson themselves have done worse.

There have been fewer good sculptors than good paint
ers ; but sculpture is a much more natural and simple art
than painting. It has its peculiar principles, and in cer
tain details there are more niceties ; but in general this
is not the case. For example — there must be caution
used to guard against any unmeaning, incorrect, or ridcul-
ous effect in every point of view from which a statue or
group is to he seen ; while a picture has but one side.
But how natural is the attempt to mould a material mass
into the form of humanity ; and how much better do even

218 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

children succeed in making images of snow than in draw
ing men with coal or chalk ! And how much more
readily do the misinstructed express their opinions of
statues than of paintings, because they feel better com
petent to judge! I need but remark in addition, how
Mr. Augur has astonished us all with his " Jephtha and
his daughter," because he had independence enough to
act on these principles, and with extraordinary taste and
perseverance. (How strangely I forgot to speak of Au
gur with praise while at New Haven!) And how has
the Scotch stone-cutter, Thorn, with the coarsest stone,
and in spite of his degraded subject, viz. alow ale-house
group, imitated nature almost to perfection, without the
benefit of instruction or a single model.

I have said a good deal about taste, perhaps, to very
little purpose, yej; I must express my displeasure for that
shown by many of my countrymen in several recent in
stances. While works of real merit, recommended by
patriotic, or at least respectable historical associations
are offered for exhibition almost in vain ; while artists of
extraordinary talent, pure character, and commendable
intentions are shut up in humble corners by public neg
lect, we can rush in crowds to see a poor and meagre
composition, whose merits are merely of an inferior order,
and whose tendency is of a decidedly corrupting charac
ter. I speak of the "great immoral painting" of Adam
and Eve in Paradise. This picture has indeed a scrip
ture subject, but that is its only merit, except the mere
mechanical execution of the figures. The composition
has not the essential quality of a just conception of the
scene just portrayed. There is no Eden, unless a few
flowers on a green bank may express it ; and no one
could ever judge of the artist's intention or his subject, if
the serpent and the apple were withdrawn. On the con-

TRAVELS IN AMBRICA. 219

trary, every thing else, except the nudity of the person
ages, would lead to a very opposite idea. And as to the
intellectual character of the piece, how mean, as well as
detestable, appears the character of the mind expressed
in this painting ! Such an artist would make the Eden
of purity a mere Mohammedan paradise. Nature is re
presented as destitute of beauty ; and man, in his state
of perfection, as devoid of every exalted and ennobling
sentiment. From woman, every intellectual trait seems
to be removed ; and how insufferable is this, in such a
scene, where the acquisition of knowledge was the great
instrument of temptation, — the object to which she had
yielded, and which she used as the ground of her argu
ment with Adam !

For my own part, this miserable failure of a foreign
artist will ever be doubly displeasing to me, because it
has been so extensively rendered popular by the notice of
men who, in my opinion, ought to have possessed more
taste and discernment.

Because it was a scripture painting, fathers and
mothers, laymen and clergymen, crowded to see it, in
different or unsuspicious with regard to the impression
which their example would have on virtuous and blushing
youth, and on immoral and debased members of society,
who rejoice when evil sentiments are allowed to walk in
the sunshine.

Encouraged, I suppose, by the golden success of the
proprietor of this painting, Hughes, a man of extraordi
nary talent as a sculptor, has produced a far more decent,
yet a mean subject, which addresses itself to a somewhat
similar taste. His skill ought to be bestowed in a more
worthy manner before it receives general applause. The
arts are infernal demons when allied with immorality or
even with debased sentiments.

220 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

While we are crowding to Europe, or sending our
children thither, to run through the great travelled routes,
to see sights and learn to talk of things because they have
been visited and talked of before, but generally with very
little conception of why or wherefore, our country is aii
object of well-defined interest to many intelligent foreign
ers. I have fallen in with several gentlemen of education,
from South America, who are looking upon our society
with particular curiosity. Our southern brethren, in their
zeal to learn the art of conducting a country upon our
principles, chide our indifference ; and in the preference
many of them show for subjects substantially important,
might make us ashamed of our blind admiration for the
splendid tinsel of Europe. While we are reading of feudal
castles, or recalling with misplaced enthusiasm our visits
to foreign capitals or courts, they are asking admission
into our printing-offices, or observing the apparatus and
exercises of our colleges and schools. They are attracted
by these things, because they are in search of means to
effect a definite object, and one on which the prosperity
and indeed the existence of their country depends. The
apparatus with which, the governments of European
countries are carried on is too expensive for them — it is
entirely out of the question, both because it is too dear
and because it is not at all appropriate to their condition
or designs. In looking over the Old World, therefore,
they see, as we ought, that there is nothing appropriate
to their use except certain scattered institutions, or
methods here and there, and these generally not the gaudy
machinery, sustained with treasures, exhibited with pomp,
and disguised with forms. What is worth knowing in
Europe is generally that which it is not difficult to learn:
what we should look upon, few eyes are likely to dis
cover. The South Americans have contested the point

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 22l

for liberty and independence for twenty years or more
with prejudice, ignorance, and immorality ; and many of
their statesmen, as well as other virtuous citizens, have
been forced to the conviction that they must by some
means instruct their countrymen and render them virtuous,
or their past labours and trials will be unavailing. Let
Europe be at peace, and permit only the concurrence of
such circumstances as may be imagined, and fleets and
armies will cross the Atlantic to recover those immea
surable and splendid regions to the dominion of despotism.
Men who have sacrificed fortune, endured wounds, im
prisonment, and exile, the loss of friends and families for
the benefit of their country, are ready to part with all
that remains rather than be ultimately defeated of their
objects. When therefore they see by that means so simple
and economical as the propagation of knowledge, the
encouragement of virtue and industry, their point may be
gained, they look upon the steps by which this may be
effected with an interest which might excite some of our
talking but inactive friends of education and public in
dustry, and arouse them from that lethargy which so ex
tensively prevails in the United States.

Some of these South Americans having visited several
of our institutions, celebrations, public, and Sunday-
schools: "To think," remarked one of them, "that one-
third of the capital of my country is invested in the con
vents ! How much more truly great are such monuments
as your public school-houses than any of the edifices of
Europe!" While seated in the teacher's desk, after a
silence, he exclaimed ; " If I could learn the art of in
struction here, I should desire no higher honour than to
devote the remainder of my days to teaching the poor."
This gentleman has since been called to the presidency
2 N

222 TRAVELS IN AMERICA."

of Mexico by acclamation, restored peace in the midst of
civil war, held that office for a few months, and retired
to private life.

" What have we here ?" said another, as he entered an
infant-school, while the pupils were marching to drafts —
" a military parade commanded by women ? This is the
way to lay the foundation of a good state. I have no
higher pleasure," he added, " than to visit your schools
and colleges." He is now displaying at home his devo
tion to learning in all its branches, under the most favour
able circumstances, viz. as president of the republic of
New Grenada.

One of the most enlightened countrymen and personal
friends, in his first visit to a Sabbath-school, found the
infant class a well-known juvenile hymn; and as he un
derstood the English language, said, with much feeling,
" Truly the children of the United States are taught to re
peat sentiments before they can understand them, while
other nations might well make any sacrifice if they might
with truth apply them to themselves : —

' My God, I thank thee, thou hast plann'd

A better lot for me ;
And plac'd me in this Christian land,

Where I may hear of Thee.'

" I am fully convinced," said he, " that sincere, active
benevolence alone is true greatness. Serving God, loving
all mankind as brothers, and teaching them to exercise
the same feelings towards each other — these are the only
objects worth living for. The principles of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ are the only principles on which we can de
pend for private or public happiness. Honour, pride, and
power — they are trifles, mere trifles." The sweet har
mony of about an hundred and fifty children at an infant
school one day made his eyes glisten; and he remarked,

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 223

" How affecting it is to reflect, that, ' Except ye repent
and become as little children, ye shall in no case enter the
kingdom of heaven.' " This gentleman, the father of an
interesting little family, six or seven hundred miles in the
interior of Columbia, of which republic he was the last
president, returned thither about a twelvemonth since,
prepared to devote himself to the active promotion of
education in all its branches, among all classes, the In
dians and negroes included; but has been elected to the
vice presidency of New Grenada, and compelled to accept
of that station, in spite of two refusals.

These few cases have been mentioned to show that
our countrymen have been too long inattentive to the
progress of our South American brethren in improvements
of various kinds ; and to call to mind the important fact,
that similarity of institutions and condition are rapidly
identifying the interests, the hopes and fears of these two
vast portions of the New World ; and it is daily be
coming more imperiously our duty to seek to strengthen
rather than to divide our mutual attachments, which, like
the Isthmus of Darien, though narrow, should be as in
destructible as the Andes. Other devoted friends of
knowledge and virtue, our enthusiastic admirers and
willing pupils, might easily be mentioned ; but Pedraza,
Santander, and Mosquera are given as examples in which
noble sentiments expressed among us, and intelligent
observations made in our country, have been made to
produce speedy and abundant fruits in the vast regions
to which they have returned.

It is all in vain for foreign artists or inventors to ex
pect to keep from our countrymen the curious and useful
improvements in any of the arts they practise with suc
cess. There's a prying spirit among us, which will not
rest till it possesses every thing that promises advantage.

224 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

Men will go to the ends of the earth for facts which may
lighten, facilitate, or perfect their labours in whatever
craft they feel interested, since competition in manufac
turing has made knowledge and skill available in the
market.

All the encomiums that can be bestowed, however, on
American curiosity and perseverance, could not give me
the same lively impressions of its nature as a short con
versation I heard between a poor man and a shopkeeper,
with whom he was bartering some neat products of his
skill.

" Did you ever see any of lleeves's Patent Water Co
lours ? If you did, I suppose you don't know exactly
how they are made. Now these are as much Reeves's
Colours as them you've got in your case yonder, though
I made them yesterday myself. You don't believe that,
I 'spose ; but I've worked for Reeves in London : I
couldn't find out in this country how to make such fine
paints ; and went to England a-purpose to larn. I didn't
see why I shouldn't help him to supply this country, the
demand has got to be so great now. Well, they let me
go into the shop — they thought I didn't know nothing,
and perhaps I didn't such a terrible deal. However, I
know'd so much as this — I got BO pretty soon that I
could make vhe patent colours as well as anybody. But
I wasn't quite ready to come off yet, mind you. There
was the camel's hair pencils ; nobody knew how to make
them in the United States— and I thought I might as
well larn that tue while my hand was in. Well, I left
Mr. Reeves's, and got in a pencil -shop ; and the first
thing I found out was, that they were made of nothing
in the world but squirrels' tails."

Here was an exclamation of surprise and doubt.

" If they an' t," continued the narrator, perfectly on*

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 225

abashed, " I hope I may never stir out of my tracks. I
tell you they're squirrels' tails, brought from America ;
and if they can manufacture them cheap, sartingly we
ought to undersell 'em. But then there's the putting the
hairs together all exactly right, and getting them through
the little end of a chicken's quill, and there gluing them
fast. That's the rub — not exactly that either — but there's
the sticking-place. I guess I worked long enough at
that to find out how it was done, and then had to be told
and look too before I could larn; and law, it's easy
enough."

"Well, how is it?"

" Ah !" replied the artisan, with a shrewd, penetrating,
and ironical look— "that's tellin'."

226 TRAVELS IN AMERICA,

CHAPTER XXIII.

A new Corner of the World. Recollections of the Cholera.

AMONG the interesting individuals I saw in New York,
was a tall man, of the negro race, who was brought to
this country more than two years since, by Captain James
Morrell, from a group of islands which he discovered in
the Pacific Ocean, during the voyage he made to those
seas. The public have had before them for a year his
large volume, detailing his voyages, travels, and adven
tures, and briefly touching upon those islands and certain
others, of which he claims to be the discoverer. Two
men were brought home by Captain Morrell; o.ne of
whom died some months since of the consumption, in the
New York Hospital. He was of a different language
from the survivor, and very passionate and disobliging,
never accommodating himself to his exile. Both had
previously been exhibited in some of our principal cities,
and have been often erroneously supposed to be natives
of the Massacre Islands, at which Captain Morrell lost
many of his crew by the violence of the inhabitants.

Having formed a favourable opinion of the captain
from what I had heard from one of his seamen, of his hu
manity towards these poor savages ; and being pleased
with the intelligence, modesty, and philanthropic senti
ments I discovered in him after a slight acquaintance, I
took an opportunity to spend some time with the man
above mentioned, who lives in his family. He is of
coarse features, almost perfectly African, with large,
thick lips, curled hair, small nose (a little flattened), bufc

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 227

is well formed, excepting a slight stoop at the shoulders.
His colour is that of a dark mulatto, and his countenance
has an expression of honesty, mingled on acquaintance
with mildness, benevolence, intelligence, and friendliness,
which render it interesting. He has had but little in
struction ; but from this circumstance I was the better
able to form an opinion of the mind of a heathen and a
barbarian. I have leisure at present to say but very
little in regard to a man of whom, during repeated inter
views, I obtained materials enough to entertain a lover
of novelties for some hours.

Daco (pronounced Dahco) was son of a chief of his
native island, which is one of a small, but populous
group, within six degrees of the -equator, and near longi
tude 115 west. His native island, Uniapa (or Ooneeah-
pah), has three prominent mountains, with some rough
ground near the sea, where was Daco's residence, among
a number of people whom he commanded. His father's
people dwelt on the side of one of the mountains, his
mother's in another place, £c. &c., there being a number
of petty princes on each of the inhabited islands. War,
he represents, is never carried on between different
islands, but only between tribes of the same island ; and
then wounds are much more frequent than deaths. The
land is chiefly covered with forests; and he gave me
names for fifty or sixty of our trees, shrubs, flowers, &c.,
some of which we have no purely English names for.
The men go without any clothes at all : the women wear
a single garment : the climate being extremely hot. They
build houses after a model which I have; bury their
dead in them ; purchase wives with several articles which
pass as money ; practise polygamy ; and some supersti
tious ceremonies to cure diseases, obtain favourable
winds, rain, &c., but have no idolatry. They acknow-

228 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

ledge one Supreme Being, the creator, rewarder of the
good and punisher of the bad, invisible, &c. They have
traces of a revelation, considering a particular Jewish
rite which they practice as commanded by God to make
men better ; and their art of curing diseases and produc
ing rain is also derived from him. Pango is the only
inferior deity he informed me of. He presides over an
inferior world, where every thing is delightful, and
whither the good go after death. They are, however,
invisible to each other, and can communicate only by the
sounds of their voices. There is plenty of plants, flowers,
animals, and objects agreeable to the sight : but they
are all white. The entrance to this world is through a
cavern in the island of Garubi (Garroobee), inhabited
only by two men, who, according to his description, may
be Albinos.

The inhabitants of that world are often spoken of as
tune pnroco, white men ; because white is nearest to what
is invisible. Hence, when Captain Morrell and the crew
of his schooner, the Antarctic, were found to be white,
they were supposed to be spirits. That invisible world
is the land of music : Pango having given the people of
the islands five or six musical instruments, one of which
is the three-holed flute, and another the shepherd's reed.
The resemblance of his name with that of the Classical
Pan, struck me ; as did the similarity of some of his
words with those of the Greek and Hebrew languages,
as well as certain peculiarities in the tongue not to be
expected in one belonging to such a people.

They cultivate a species of potato, beans, and several
other roots and vegetables ; and have apples, cocoanuts,
and other valuable fruits. Their birds are numerous, and
often of brilliant plumage ; they have turtles, and catch
many fish of different sizes, with either spears, or what

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 229

onr fishermen call grains. The largest animal is some
thing like the wild boar, which has not the tail on the
back like the native swine of other Pacific islands, and
is hunted with spears. In one of the islands are os
triches, whose quills are one of their articles of trade :
dogs are common. Their canoes, which are owned only
by certain littoral tribes, are large, and move with rapi
dity. One of the islands at least must be volcanic ; and
from one of the historical tales I heard, I presume that
a tremendous explosion and combustion, which once
destroyed a town and many of its inhabitants (at the
command of Pango, who sometime.-} is a most destructive
demon), were volcanic. The songs of this people are
remarkable, as well as their propensity to rude poetry or
rhythm. They have various airs, generally of a plaintive
cast, but with greater compass and variety, I think, than
are found in most other savage nations. The language
is smooth and melodious, having no sound which we can
not easily make, unless it be an occasional guttural g.
They interchange some of the consonant sounds, but ge
nerally not the same as the Sandwich and other islanders,
whose languages I have examined. The tongue has a
considerable resemblance to thoss of some of the Poly
nesian Islands in structure, and a distant one in words ;
but it is more agreeable, harmonious, and manly. A
" nursery song," beginning Eoa, eao, labi labi viva na potu,
&c., has a very sweet air, and contains several kind epi
thets addressed to the child, promising that its head shall
be ornamented with a feather of the labi or parrot if ifc
will cease crying. A swimming song and a canoe song,
which also I wrote down, are mellifluous and appropriate
to their subjects.

Daco has a disposition of the most frank, simple, and
o

230 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

amiable description. He admires much what he sees,
and says that there are many very good men among us ;
and though he is impatient to revisit his own land, says
he will " come back to 'Merriky Isle" (America island),
and bring one of his brothers with him. He was pleased
with a proposition to teach his people what would be
useful to them ; and if instructed, or accompanied by
some judicious philanthropist on his return, would no
doubt render them material service. I visited a school
with him, and he took a deep interest in some simple re
ligious instruction which the children received in his
presence, as he has a little knowledge of our language.
He promised on his arrival at his island to collect the
children every Sabbath, and teach them in like manner.

It strikes a person strangely to feel such a kind of
friendship towards an ignorant savage as I acquired for
Daco ; but one's attachment for such an individual may
be as sincere, and productive of more real gratification,
than we sometimes find among the children of art, the
sons of luxury and vice around us ; and I have the plea
sure of thinking that my feelings were reciprocated,
which is more gratifying than a whole volume of false
professions of friendship.

Some parts of the city awakened in me recollections of
the season of 1832, and the cholera in New York. I
spent several weeks there at that time, and may be ex
cused for expressing a few of the feelings then excited.

For myself, I had found it difficult to realize, that the
busy and apparently gay crowds in the streets might be
sobered and saddened in an hour by the appearance of the
disease, and scattered towards all points of the compass
by its ravages. Indeed, I had found it hard to persuade
myself that I was soon to know it by dreadful experi
ence or observation. And when it was confidently re-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 231

ported to have appeared, I flattered myself that it would
have been modified by the climate; and anxiously in
quired whether it had that dreadful blue complexion,
those irresistible spasms and racking pains, accompanied
with an undisturbed mind. And when I found that the
same monster was among us, which I had so long re
garded as fabulous in India, and that he had come as it
were with a stride across the Atlantic, I began to look
within : for he had seemed to cry, " To the ready and the
unprepared I come."

There was a peculiar seriousness immediately percep
tible on the face of society. The gay and lively had ge
nerally disappeared, and no longer interrupted such
thoughts as abundant leisure inclined others to entertain.
And what thoughts were these ? We were soon deserted
by most of our friends, or had deserted them for the same
reason : we had momentary expectations for weeks of see
ing our own children, parents, brothers, and sisters seized
with the terrible disease before our eyes; and the morn
ing, evening, noon, and night air being almost equally
dangerous, we could do little out of doors for days in
succession. I cannot easily imagine a case in which the
body could be condemned to more perfect idleness, while
there was every thing to excite and occupy the mind.
Almost ever species of food, commonly considered harm
less or nutritious, was prohibited ; and the very medi
cines which we kept by our bedsides, in our offices, stores,
and pockets, we were peremptorily forbidden to take or
administer a moment before or a moment after the appro
priate time. In circumstances like these it would be im
possible for any mind, observant of its own reflections
and the movements of others, not to receive instruction.
Not only my own feelings, but the expressions dropped
from the lips of others, were of a much more solemn tone,

232 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

and deeper import than usual. I found an involuntary
" farewell" on my tongue whenever I parted from a
friend, even for a few hours, and a kind of surprise at
meeting any one whom I had not seen for a day or two.
Life was so precarious that it was not calculated on as
enduring ; and I now felt something of that astonishment
at death's delay which I had often experienced on his ar
rival. The tone of conversation, with whomsoever I
spoke, was evidently very different from that of ordinary
times ; for there were strong and irrepressible feelings in
every breast, which laid their hands upon the tongue, the
limbs, and the features. The soul seemed to press to the
eyes with such anxiety to watch the exterior world, that
you could see it plainer than before. The risible muscles
seemed palsied ; and those which are usually ready to furl
the curtains of the countenance in smiles, no longer
obeyed, or rather were no longer ordered to act.

A friend, in speaking of the idle questions of certain
thoughtless persons from a distant place, on this awful
subject, said, " When they exclaimed l how can you sub
mit to such privations of food ?' I felt like weeping at
the memory of the solemn lessons which had placed us
above such frivolous considerations as those of taste. Ah,
you know not what you can do till the cholera comes
among you. ' Did you not prohibit the subject from con
versation ?' inquired they.' How would that have been pos
sible?' replied I : l besides, how heathenish, how impious it
would have been, so to close our eyes against the sight of
the Almighty's judgments — so to stifle the voice of Provi
dence ?'"

"I have made one discovery," remarked another friend,
"which I intend to practise the rest of my life. I find I
can not only live on every simple food, entirely undis
guised by spices and gravies, but that two-thirds or one

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ £33

half of the quantity I used to consider necessary for my
sustenance is more favourable to my health and enjoy
ment. How important a practical lesson is this which
the cholera has taught me ! Had I learned and practised
upon it from my youth, I might have been a more happy,
wealthy, and useful man. I wish I could proclaim, on
the house-tops, the doctrine I now embrace ; it would
save thousands from disease, poverty, suffering, and even
death."

It was only because the warnings of physicians against
our eating prohibited articles was repeatedly and terribly
backed by the sudden voice of death, that we were won
over to entire obedience to their commands, at first often
treated as childish. Some slight indulgence of appetite
was often found, like the feeble wire pointed at a thun
der cloud, the cause of an instantaneous and deadly bolt
from heaven. "We then found that we dearly loved life :
and "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink?"
was changed for " What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul ?" The effect of abstinence was soon per
ceptible in the mind as well as the body. The pulse
was cooler, the feelings more manageable though more
powerfully acted upon, the reason more undisturbed, and
the judgment more deliberate, decided, and uniform.
Morning, noon, and midnight this world and the next
stood before the eyes in the same proximity and compa
rative importance. Joy and grief sat, as it were, for
weeks within the reach of "our hands, on the right and
the left : equally prepared to join our company at a mo
ment's warning, whenever death or life should be de
cided on for ourselves or our friends.

The weather was delightful during the most fearful
ravages of the disease. I walked out early on the Bat
tery, alone — there was no walking or doing any thing

234 TRAVELS IK

else for pleasure. I admired the thick and verdant
foliage ; and turned for home with the reflection that so
splendid a morning and such verdure I had seldom or
never witnessed. The long, silent, and empty streets,
with the grass starting through the pavements, and the
curb-stones white with a washing of lime, presented a
sad picture of solitude ; and a litter, hurrying to the
nearest hospital, showed that amid these signs of deser
tion, the awful cholera was at work. That day's report
was the heaviest of the season.

TRAVELS IN AMERTCA." 235

CHAPTER XXIV.

Fashionable Education. Hudson River. The Power of Fancy. Cat*
sMll Mountains. Thunder-storms. Rainbows. Morning Scene.

I AM a traveller, periodically, like all my countrymen ;
and deserve the name, in common with almost all my
fellow citizens, of belonging to the greatest travelling
nation in the world. Of course, on stepping into one of
our steamboats, I ought reasonably to feel a personal in
terest in the question, so important, though so seldom
answered : " What do we travel for ?" I am ready to
confess that I have changed my own views of this sub
ject several times in the course of my life. I began my
travels with an idea that it was an important object to
become familiar with the great cities and edifices of
Europe ; the scenes of great events, and the peculiarities
as well as characters of distinguished men. Such, I dare
say, is the impression with which one of my fellow-
travellers, on my right, lately set out on a tour to Eu
rope ; but I find that while he familiarly describes vari
ous localities and personages abroad, he despises every
object around him. Hence I presume he regards all on
this side of the Atlantic as I once did, as beneath his at
tention. To attempt his correction or cure I shall not :
for I have once had that foreign disease, and know how
alone it is ever removed. Let him attempt to use his
knowledge ; let him try to apply his facts to things ; and
he will find by degrees that they will not meet. The
mis-direction which he has received from his tutors and

236 TBAVELS IN AMERICA.

from his books, if they are to be corrected at all, can be
corrected only by experience.

Happily, better opinions have come into use within a
few years on subjects of this nature. Our scenery, his
tory, and biography attract much more attention than
they once did. A fashionable mother near me has sup
plied herself with a map of the North River, to trace out
some of the finest country-seats upon the banks ; and
yonder is a youth in humble life, who is deeply absorbed
in reading of the events which occurred here during the
Revolution. Indeed, I have often been forced to confess
that there is more sound taste and judgment displayed,
even on literary matters, by the humble, than by the lofty
in society. But there are certainly some points in which
we might pursue a different course with reason and ad
vantage. Here is a wealthy merchant, who, though he
owed his fortune to the habits of industry and economy
he learned in a little country town, and the intelligence
which he caught by contagion in a society where it pre
vailed, has trained up his sons to habits of extrava
gance and idleness, which have already begun to under
mine it. A disrelish for every rational employment,
and the restraints they have found in decent society,
have now caused their separation from the family — family
circle I cannot call it ; for fashion draws up her votaries
in a half-moon, with all faces gazing on the wonder of
the day, be it what it will. Thd daughters — with heads
garnished without, and empty as the gourd-shells their
father used to drink out of — what will be left of you after
the thunder-storm of death shall have cleared away,
which must in turn strike the main pillar of your house !
Heartless, heedlenn, and helpless by education ! Fashion
has not only trained your feet in Chinese shoes, and blown
through your brains like a bird's egg, but has taught you

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 237

crooked paths, and has poured poison into your hearts.—
O for a cup-full of that good counsel which your grand
mother used to pour out like water ! O the influence of
her example upon you at such an hour ! Would there not
be some litle hope of your breaking through the great sys
tem of imposture which all things seem combining to play
before your eyes ?

A youth from Scotland, on board, is hastening north
ward, the sooner to turn westward, and to feast his taste
at Niagara. Fancies concerning the giant of cataracts he
has indulged in among his native hills ; and the secret of
his curiosity, as I believe is often the case, appears to be
to compare the reality with the creation of his imagina
tion I am prepared to find him at first disappointed, and
afterward more than gratified : for I doubt not he has
heaved Ossa on Pelion to make the cataract rush from be
tween two mountains, as that is the way cascades do in
Scotland ; and it would be natural for a stranger to look
for striking features in the scenery of the tremendous
verge. Thus will he be disappointed, if not disaffected,
by the first view. The imagination is a most wonderful
architect. I remember that the cathedrals of France,
when I visited them in my youth, appeared much too
small : and when I stepped out of St. Peter's, and looked
at the blue sky, I thought — " Paltry little insect ! Poor
man! is this then all you can do?" A heathen writer
says, that the nature of the gods was lamentably de
graded by the sculptors of Greece, because the represen
tations they gave of them in marble were much less ethe
real and pure than the conceptions of the common people,
and declares that the mind of an uneducated man, if left
to form its own views, would have created far superior
characters. This is a fine, and, I doubt not to a degree a
2 o

23$ TRAVELS IN

jtist compliment to the powers of the imagination. "We
might find evidence of its skill within u& daily, if we
took the same pleasure in studying its capacities and con
dition as we do those of our pockets.

Scotland and the Scotch have much to interest Ameri
cans. To say nothing of our obligations to them for
poetry and prose, we owe them for the testimony they
have borne to the worth of knowledge and virtue.—
Wherever we find a Scotchman, we find a man trained
to principles of probity, industry, and economy, which
would enrich any land on earth, and with a respect for
knowledge which would exalt it. I speak here in ge
neral terms, without regard to individual exceptions.

The banks of the Hudson are much more delightful
than is commonly supposed, even by those who feel fa
miliar with the scenery of that beautiful stream. I had
been a frequent passenger in the steamboats between
the city arid Albany, from the early days of steamboat
travelling, before I was induced to explore the banks,
as I have since done at many intermediate points. While
oh my annual tour, I therefore feel desirous of informing
others who may this season purpose to pass along this
route, that, by allowing themselves a little more time,
they may greatly enhance the enjoyment and advantages
of travelling.

Much of the course of the Hudson certainly offers
beautiful or striking scenes to the eye of every passenger.
But it is to be remarked, that the breadth of the stream
necessarily tames many features, and shades or excludes
many glimpses of grandeur and beauty which are fully
disclosed only on a nearer view. The picturesque and
varied features of the eastern shore of Haverstraw Bay,
seen from the large steamboats, which slide along under
the western banks, afford a striking case of this kind*

TRAVELS IN AMERICA: 239

There the travelller may find a delightful retreat for a
few days or even weeks, if he have so much time at his
disposal, and enjoy extensive and varying views upon
the broad expanse of water, from elevations of two or
three hundred feet.

I always count more on a person who has visited such
a place as the Catskill Mountains by design, than on a
common e very-day traveller. Unless his ascent to that
noble eminence has been the effect of an accidental at
tachment to a party bound thither, or to the mere dicta
tion of gome acquaintance, who has been obliging enough
to save the lazy fellow the trouble of determining before
hand where he will go, we have reason to presume that
he has been attracted by the love of what is truly fine.
It is humiliating to the conceited and the proud, to the
worldly-wise and to the eminent — in money, to contem
plate scenes which pronounce a kind of anathema upon
the common objects of devotion. If I were rich and
purse-proud, or the occupant of any office or station ob
tained by chicanery or flattery, certain I am I would as
willingly have my character sifted by a jury of twelve
freeholders, as stand and think of my motives and myself
in the presence of such a scene.

The rigorous climate of the Mountain House has been
often blamed for forbidding the approach of the gay and
affluent, who form such a figure in the annual crowds of
travellers. But if the scene were as flattering to persons
of that description as their mirrors and their dependants,
the Pine Orchard would be as much resorted to as Sara
toga itself.

Soon after my arrival, while I stood on the projecting
shelf of rock, which actually overhangs for some distance
the precipice just in front of the hotel, and commands
the valley of the Hudson for sixty or seventy miles, with

240 TRAVELS IN AMERICA?

the uplands beyond, and several summits in Connecticut
and Massachusetts, admiring the serenity of the sky, I
observed a cloud, shaped like a mushroom, and like it,,
white as snow above and dark below, moving slowly
down from the upper part of the river's course. None
other was in sight, and this was at least a thousand feet
below me. I soon perceived that it was charged with
lightning, and pouring down a plentiful shower. Like a
vast watering pot it drenched the acres, the miles over
which it passed : and with a glass I could imagine some
of the feelings of the inhabitants of the farm-houses and
villages over which it successively moved, as they were
involved in its shadow, awed by its thunder, and in turn
restored to the light of the sun. The habitations of men
appear from that eminence like the shells and coats of
insects ; and it costs an exertion to realize that human
interests can be of importance enough to claim serious
attention to those things on which wealth or subsistence
depends. Man has become a microscopic object ; and
how paltry seems the least diminutive of his race ! And
the importance of a claim to this or that speck of earth
or water called a home-lot or a fishing privilege, appears
consummately ridiculous. Poor creatures ! why not learn
to be content with what is necessary, assist those who
are in want, and turn to subjects worthy of attention and
love ? But it is the vice of the insect that he prefers the
ground, and refuses to spread the wings witli which he
might fly to a loftier and purer region. "De gustibus
non disputandum," said the aeronaut, whose pig squealed
as he arose in the air, and tried to nose his way through
the bottom of his parachute.

The singular cloud pursued its way slowly down over
a space, I presume, of twenty miles, deluging the coun
try, as I afterwards learned, "Where all the water came

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 241

from I could not imagine; neither could I see whence
came all the clouds which afterward overspread the val
ley of the Hudson. During a thunder storm, which
threw its lightning and uttered its thunders over a great
space beneath us, we enjoyed almost uninterrupted sun
shine. At length a commotion began among the clouds
in the south, where a cluster of small and round emi
nences, like the hills of an old corn-field, showed the
Highlands (now robbed of their sublimity) ; and a wind
blowing through that pass, rolled up the vapours in
heaps, like snowballs, increasing as they proceeded, till
they were all flying northward, as if in haste to escape
from view. Their forms and agitation reminded me of
the consternation of a panic-struck army : and a few
small clouds came pouring over the heights above our
heads, and mingling with them, like timid confederates
afraid to await the wrath of some unseen conqueror'
Almost all this time, two rainbows of the brightest co
lours stood just before us, with their feet planted upon
the green foliage, fifty yards or more below the precipice,
forming arches which approached three-quarters of a
circle, with the most splendid colours imaginable, espe
cially about the key-stone. The glittering aspect which
the landscape afterward assumed, with the motions of
the sails on the river, the singing of the birds around us,
and the colours of the sky in a beautiful sunset, left t!ie
heart and mind in a lofty tone to await the solemnities
of night.

After a period of calmness all around, when the air had
been undisturbed for about two hours, lightning began
to flash, and thunder to roll beneath us ; and during se
veral hours, the whole valley seemed overflowing with
the sounds of battle. The evening passed amid the com
forts and light of the great parlour, in a social circle,

242 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

now enlarged by the addition of several friends unex
pectedly found in that aerial retreat.

A few glimpses at the moon and the landscape, after
midnight, from the window of my bedroom, occupied my
frequent waking moments ; and as soon as I could per
ceive the first blush of dawn, I dressed, and hastened to
the roof of the hotel, to watch the approach of day, to a
scene whose whiteness made me suppose it had been
covered with snow. There was more sublimity to be
feasted upon every moment that passed, than some people
witness in their whole lives. What a grovelling soul
that must be which prefers a morning slumber to such a
sight! When the spirit of a man is roused, his senses op
pose no resistance to his will. Let a spark of glory, from
such a scene, once kindle his heart; and sight, hearing —
his whole animal nature — are roused and ready to do their
parts. Let the master but appear, and the slaves will
obey.

The fresh and unbreathed morning air, the glowing
east, the boundless scene, made me feel as if released for
ever from weariness and care. As the light increased in
the sky to a broad glow, it gave something of its hue and
brilliancy to a sheet of whiteness which overspread the
whole valley of the Hudson, for not less than twelve or
fifteen miles in width and thirty or more in length. How
so heavy a snow-storm could have prevailed there in
summer, I could not divine ; but every hill and wood was
covered, and nothing could be discovered below the
higher uplands except the course of the river, like a dark
line traversing the scene from north to south. A bright
red glare at length lay across the whole vale between me
and the sun ; which, when he rose, was increased almost
to the glitter of polished metal. The beams struck upon
the neighbouring heights, and the few remaining trees of

S IN

the ancient pine orchard near me, which once stood in
rows, as if planted by the hand of man. The birds chirped
and the cocks began to crow at the base of the mountain ;
and peak after peak grew bright, till it became broad
day to the whole world around.

I was notv surprised to see something like a white
sheet lifted gradually up from the opposite bank of the
Hudson, showing a few fields, houses, roads, and wood-
lots beneath it; and gradually mile after mile was thus
slowly laid bare by the removal of a thin covering of
dense white mist, which was slowly rolled off clean by
the south wind, and revealed 'to my eye many of the
hills and valleys, the farms and villages, the meadows
and slopes of three counties, the abode of some thousands
of inhabitants.

All these sights, and more, were offered to my view,
and all their indescribable impressions to my mind, in the
short space of twenty hours, which limited my visit. A
ride of two miles took us to the lakes and the cascades,
and gave us a sight down the Clove, — a deep and de
clining mountain-pass through which the stream that
flowed beside us pursues its headlong way, after its two
leaps of 175 and 85 feet.

244 TBAYELS m AMERICA,

CHAPTER XXV.

Method and Effects of labour-saving in teaching Latin. A Frontiersman,
Early History. Conversations on Health and Dress.

WHAT were the real, bona fide effects of my grammar-
school education ? What were the results of my study
of Virgil ? to confine the question to one point. Truly,
truly, it is difficult to aswer. To what extent my mind
was increased in vigour or capacity by it, I cannot tell ;
perhaps as much as might be wished — for a giant is
not sensible of his own growth. I am sure, however,
that I was often filled with disgust at a language which
I ought to have been made to love ; viewed with jealousy
and resentment my teacher and fellow-students ; had
paroxysms of misanthropy and of disgust towards learn
ing ; and formed many erroneous opinions about the ob
jects and enjoyments of life ; and often vacillated Widely
in my views of virtue and vice.

Some very painful retrospects have often occupied my
mind since I spent an hour in a Latin school, some time
ago, and witnessed a number of boys engaged in my
former employments ; and to-day something happened,
or was mentioned in conversation, which has recalled
them. My apparition, in the seat of an examiner, at the
school of which I speak, seemed to strike a chill through
the warm and ingenuous hearts of the pupils ; ah ! how
lamentably abused by undeserved harshness ; how intoxi
cated and debased by turns with that fatal spur, emula
tion ; that alcohol of the intellect, that labour-saving in
strument to which the ignorant and the indolent teacher

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 245

ever resorts, because it easily excites that attention which
he ought to produce by displaying the attractions and the
practical use of learning1.

One interesting youth, at the head of his class, intoxi
cated with praise, and desperately fearing a fall " from
his high estate," showed extreme agitation in his eye>
his cheek, and his voice ; and experienced emotions more
exhausting to his mind, I have no doubt, than the labour
of mastering three such lessons. Another, smiling with
the consciousness of a task well performed, and the an
ticipation of a successful recitation, failed through an
amiable diffidence to retain his presence of mind ; and
from one accidental error fell into a labyrinth from which
he could not recover his way, and sinking into his seat,,
with swelling veins, sobbed and wept till the close of
the exercise. A third, after passing unhurt the ordeal of
construing and parsing, was treated with a contemptuous
expression by the teacher for a paltry fault in not dis
criminating between " the use of the poets" and " posi
tion" in giving the rules for scanning; and I saw his
evil genius, and irritable temper, which ought to have
been systematically pacified by a judicious treatment,
rise and drive his feelings almost to desperation. This
was as much as I could bear, and I was glad to retreat
from such an intellectual and moral inquisition.

A short interview with one of those active beings who
have shared in the excitement and labours of our new
and distant settlements, or beat the bush in advance of
civilization, conveys more lively ideas of what is actually
going on there, than reading all the essays and statistics
in the world. Now and then we meet a stray one in
this part of the country. He looks like a wild bird in
an aviary, or amid a yard of domestic fowls : so regular
and orderly and stupid do we all feel in his presence.

246 TRAVELS IN AMKRTCA.

Two or three such characters I have fallen in with ; but
it is impossible to get a regular narration out of them of
greater length than a few minutes. They have brought
their restless activity along with them, and seem physi
cally unable to be quiet. One of them attracted my at
tention as soon as I saw him in the boat. He had been
everywhere — why, or how, I never knew.

"Was you ever in St. Louis ? New Orleans?"— " Ah,
mon ami!"— "At Detroit?"— « There's a rough set of
fellows. I was one of the first on the Upper Huron.
It's getting settled now fast with people from New
York." — "Have you ever been along to the north of
Lake Superior?" He was a short man, in a blue jacket,
with both hands on a double-barrelled rifle, and a pow
der-horn and shot-bag next his vitals. The outer rim of
his eyelid was perpetually drawn up, lest it should inter
cept any of the view ; for a good woodman's sight, I
believe, sweeps three-quarters of a circle without moving
the head. His feet were restless, as if he had been used
to long grass and snakes ; and although his age was pro
bably fifty, every nerve was full of activity, every limb
of vigour, and every motion and word of independence
and fearlessness.

" Out on the Mississippi they are an active set of fel
lows," said he ; a they can build steamboats and launch
them, and^run them, and blow them up about as quick
as any other people. 'Shoal a-head!' you'll hear 'em
sing out — 'How do you know ?' — 'Why, she ripples.' —
'Well, sit on the safety-valve, and jump her over!'
That's pleasant sailing enough, to be sure, where you
find the watermen enterprising so ; but it's cruel to see
the deer come down to the shore to drink, and not to
stop to go after them with your rifle. I like the ground,
I tell you. First I began along Lake Ontario. There's

TRAVELS IN AMERICA.' 247

some woods there, but not much game ; yet I thought it
was fiae fun to be all alone with my old gun. It was
not very long, though, before I was off: and where do
you think I was next ? Why, after being at Cincinnati
and St. Louis about one thing and another, I got out to
Green Bay, among the Indians. There's a set of honest
fellows for you. You needn't have anybody to go with
you and say this is Mr. such a man. All you've got to
do is, if you come across a bear or a deer, just shoot
them, and leave them on the ground ; and the first wig
wam you come to, say, ' Friend, I've come among you
for a little while t& stay ; I don't want any thing but
just to shoot my rifle once in a while. There's a bear or
deer just back in the woods, which any of yon can have
if you want it.' I tell you what, if they won't treat
you like the biggest man ! And you needn't do any more
than this: the story will go before you; and wherever
you come they know you; and how you can shoot a
bear, or a deer, as the case may be. Well, then I
thought I would go where there wasn't so much civil
ization ; for I wanted to see more of the Indians ; and
I've been through that country all along a good piece
north of Lake Superior."

"Do you know that district?" inquired a listener.
" Ask my gun," replied the speaker. " I was there six
weeks, all alone, among as good game as ever fell under
a muzzle. That's the life : get two or three days' pro
visions of venison or bear's meat on your back, shot-bag
full, powder-horn full ; and then, if you meet an Indian,
or a white man, or any thing, you can befriend them.
But you want to know something of folks before you
can trust them. The Green Bay Indians,— I should feel
safe among them to lie right down on the ground, in the
woods, between two, and sleep all night. Why, a man

248 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

would be a great deal safer so than he would be in
Broadway, in New York, with fifty dollars in his pocket,
at eleven o'clock at night.

" They are good fellows ; but I'm ready to shoot with
any of them: — walking, running, swimming-, diving, fly
ing, any way. I've shot with Egg Harbour fellows on
the wing, and I'll try with an Indian any way he likes,
till they come to a sitting mark and a dead rest ; and
then I've done with him."

After the capture of the forts on the highlands by the
British, in 1777, and breaking the chain stretched across
the Hudson, at West Point, they sailed up ; and, as I
have been informed, burnt a brig in Saugerties Creek.
They had a man on board, of Dutch extraction, who
pointed out the dwellings of persons particularly obnox
ious to the enemy. On passing the house where Wash
ington had been quartered, they fired a shot through the
roof. They burnt a brig, loaded with tea, in Saugerties
Creek, and Mr. Livings ton's house opposite and several
others.

Saugerties, and the banks of the creek behind it, were
settled by French Huguenots, who emigrated, after a
long residence in Holland, bringing many Dutch con
nexions and the Dutch language with them, but a good
deal of intelligence. Another settlement of the same
kind was made below, at the Strand, one of the landings
of Kingston ; after which at the village of Kingston itself,
and Marbletown. They chose the best soil. A German
settlement was made west of the Catskill Mountains.
At Tappan was a real Dutch settlement ; and Newburgh
was a colony of Irish. " Intelligence," regretted a fel
low-passenger, who spoke from personal knowledge, "is
at a low ebb. The intelligence of the original French
faded away amid their scattered settlements and the

TRAVELS IN AMERICA, 249

dangers and trials of their situation, along with the lan
guage. The schools have been few and poor. The aca
demy, founded at Newburgh many years ago, has pro
duced considerable effects. Governor Clinton there re
ceived an important part of his education, as well as a
number of other gentlemen distinguished in the learned
professions. He probably learned here, from observation,
the importance of public education, of which he became
a most efficient advocate."

"See how much better I feel already," said a young
lady to her father, as they sat down at breakfast ; " I
feel quite hungry, and have no doubt that by the time I
have been at the Springs a week or two, if I have exer
cise enough, I shall have strength sufficient to set off for
Niagara."— "Well," replied the father, who seemed to
be absorbed in thoughts of his business, which he had re
luctantly left at the city, as it would appear, to attend
his daughter on a tour for pleasure, under the pretext of
health, — tf Well, if you get cured of your dispepsia, or
whatever it is, it's all I want, I am hungry too : I be
lieve this air is good for us both." Neither of the two
had sagacity enough to perceive, that rising two hours
earlier than usual, with the excitement and exercise they
had experienced, were the chief causes of the improve
ment of their appetites and the cheerfulness of their feel
ings ; and that a more reasonable system of life at home
would have had nearly the same effect on them every
day. And this is the simple truth in respect to a large
majority of those who travel for their health every sea
son. They might avoid the symptoms from which they
suffer, by following a few of these simple rules of nature
from which we never can deviate with impunity ; or if
they have become enfeebled or diseased by conformity to
the examples of fashionable life; might thus soon and ef«

250 TRAVELS IN AMEBJCA.

factually recover a sound state of health. No apology
can be necessary here for my quoting the adage so worn
out by frequent repetitions in my youthful ears, because
now it is entirely obsolete among many circles, and will
sound like a perfect novelty.

" Early to bed and early to rise,
Will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise."

Retire and rise early ; aim low in matters of show ; and
in things of solid worth let none shoot at a higher mark
than you. Plan something useful every day ; do some
thing good every hour, and love something good every
moment. Reject the foolish conceit, that any thing like
useful labour can be dishonourable. Introduce your
hands and feet to such services as they were designed
for ; while you occupy your mind with the contemplation
of subjects worthy of its nature, and your heart with
those pure affections on which alone it can thrive.

How I pitied this poor, puny, spoiled child! Every
one, even the plainest of these doctrines, had been effec
tually shut out from her education. Thousands had been
expended on teachers, books, and instruments ; but it
seemed as if not a pennyworth of good discipline or in
struction had reached her heart or her head.

Amid a lively conversation on various topics, of no
particular interest, I heard one remark which startled
me : — " New York," said a female voice, " is a city of
the greatest taste in America." The speaker was a mil
liner, who was on her return to a country town, with all
the latest fashions, and I know not how many hundreds
of dollars worth of silks, velvets, plumes, laces, plush,
ribands, arid straw. She had been requested, as she de
clared, by several of the ladies of her neighbourhood, to
make inquiries about the materials, form, and texture of

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 251

imets, hats, handkerchiefs, and eveu dresses and shoes.

an accidental want of some of the refinements of

jech might have rendered her importance among her

rn society somewhat doubtful, she took the pains to

^ntion names, characters, and connexions, with the

act nature of the commissions she bore, and a variety

1 interesting matter relating to ways and means by

lich she had been enabled to accomplish them. I

,:ght have wondered, I suppose, why so many sedate,

licious, disinterested, and even literary ladies could

'1 so much anxiety to possess such objects; or to ob-

, .n this or that isolated fact or opinion from New York

n lliners; but I was astonished to learn, that the rapid

rrator had met so many persons like herself in the city,

' .xund on similar errands, and loaded with just such

mmissions, from towns, and villages east, west, north,

a I'd south. '• The improvements in navigation," as a

; tiy remarked, " were of great consequence ; for, instead

1 being, as formerly, two or three months behind-hand

in the fashions, we may now have such hats in June as

ine Parisians have in May ; and so be only about four or

I've weeks behind them all the year." A very interesting

blication, also, had been commenced some time since

New York, in French and English, expressly for the

fusion of intelligence in relation to dress ; each number

which contains several fine-coloured engravings of

costumes. So meritorious a work as this, and one, if

ssible, in advance of the spirit of the age, would, no

'iubt, meet abundant support; and was worthy of the

oken-down French fancier who was to be the editor.

Here, thought I, as I turned away from the hearing of

ch intellectual conversation, here is betrayed one of the

i. •••>&- wheels of society. Here is one of those great coun-

:acting influences which cause so much waste of power

252 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

in our machine. Whoever has turned a crank, or pulled
or pushed, to aid the advance of public intelligence, mo
rals, or happiness, and wondered why his exertions
proved of so little use, let him just look here. Here is
enough to explain some part of his difficulty. Minds
and hearts on which he has wished to make impressions,
he may now see, were otherwise employed ; money, a
little of which was necessary to the accomplishment, was
running out in floods another way ; while principles of
social harmony, disinterestedness, and benevolence, could
not easily be cultivated, or even planted on ground occu
pied by those of an opposite nature. Here you will find
one reason why incomes are not always equal to expen
ditures ; why libraries are so small ; the fireside so much
deserted ; schools so few and so pqor ; frivolity so much
tolerated ; health, in a thousand cases, unnecessarily ex
posed and life sacrificed.

But do not let me drone on so, while this is a note
the bagpipe which the ladies will not endure. The wives
and daughters of fellow-citizens, of all classes, will unite,
if in nothing else, in putting down him who assails their
ears with such unwelcome sounds. I therefore must
cease ; otherwise they would have no peace of conscience
in refusing dollar and half dollar contributions for the
comfort of the poor, the instruction of the ignorant, the
care of the aged, insane, or infirm ; while they continue
yearly to bestow ten or an hundred times the amount on
such wares of their milliners and mantua-makers as they
know to be quite unnecessary for comfort, convenience,
and every thing, except — fashion.

:

^n

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 253

CHAPTER XXVI.

. he Privileges of American Citizens in Trial by Juf y. Battle Ground of
Saratoga. Former State of Ballston Springs. Leisure Time. The
Beauties of the German Language. A Foreign Spirit in America. Value
of our own Tongue.

EEING a court-house, certain old trains of thought were

jvived by the sight of judges on the bench, lawyers,

"itnesses, &c. There is much that is farcical in the de-

dls of our democratic system, when we come to trace

• it its familiar application to the every-day business of

fe. Why should we not sometimes enjoy the pleasure

? laughing at them, at least until it can be proved that

le risibles of man were constructed for no good use?

re must laugh — that is a settled thing ; at any rate most

•f us; and of course the only questions now to be settled

ust be, when, where, and at what shall we and shall we

>t laugh. Notwithstanding the sanctity of a court, I

uive felt more than once that the jury-box was one of the

test places ; and as for the jury-room, that is a place

;r alternate smiles and tears. " All this," as the lan-

lage of counsel is, " I solemnly believe and pledge

yself to prove to the satisfaction of this intelligent

ry.»

I was onee, while a citizen of New York, called from

tive business to sit on a petit-jury of the Court of Ses-

>ns, sometime in the month of December, and made one

twelve men selected alphabetically from the Directory.

% e were of twelve different sizes, dresses, and colours,

•- d in every possible particular, except the accidental

p

254 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

one of having similar initial letters to our surnames, ut
terly impossible to be matched. Hudibras's various cou
plets of doggrel, relating to such scenes, began to course
through my head, and overcame some of the disgust which
would otherwise have overwhelmed me at the thoughts
of what a day was before me. " Gentlemen of the jury !"
The othe.r eleven rose, and I for an instant kept my seat.
If they were gentlemen, I certaiDly was not. An old
beagle of an usurer was brought up, from one of the dark
retreats of misery, to prosecute a pale and ragged man
for the recovery of a debt. The counsel for the defence
pleaded that the note was tainted with usury, and brought
up a witness to prove it. He swrore that the plaintiff's
wife received an unlawful interest for the money in her
husband's presence, and that this was the common man
ner in which they conducted business. We were filled
with indignation ; and to express our reprobation of such
an enormity, found a verdict for defendant without leav
ing our seats. We had not learned a lesson which I was
afterward taught in an inferior tribunal ; but after re
ceiving a shilling a man, sighed and prepared to try a
long case which had been long in court, and had a long
tail to it.

A question of the genuineness of certain signatures
occupied us a time, during which I was struck with two
kinds of sagacity ; that of the bank clerks and others in
judging of handwriting, and that of counsel in leading
them to nullify their own testimony in the eye of a jury
man. Several of the most acute of the former had prt
viously examined about a dozen specimens, and fixed 01
a portion of them as genuine. Several of these had
been withdrawn, and recent imitations put in their place.
The witnesses, incautiously perhaps, by turns, selected
what each supposed to be genuine, while the counsel kept

IN AMERICA. 255

careful notes of their different opinions, distinguishing
the specimens by private marks. The confused result,
when read to us, overthrew the whole force of their tes
timony, and in my mind human infallibility received a
blow from which it has never recovered. This part of
the trial was serious, and that on several accounts ; but
when we withdrew to the jury-room, and were locked
up together to determine on damages, I was compelled
to laugh in the midst of my vexation. Among twelve
men there were immediately proved to be ten of one opi
nion. Of the rest, one had slept through the whole trial,
and the other knew no difference between the counsel's
peroration and the judge's charge. It was even doubtful
whether he had yet found out that we were on " an action
of trover;" though it had been most solemnly repeated so
often expressly for our edification. Both of them found a
fine fire of hard coal burning, and said, in conscience, give
a verdict for plaintiff. A new-light republican, not many
years since from England, took advantage of the occasion
to open a debating-club, professing to have just become
a little bee-headed on the subject ; and in spite of every
thing, began with a regular peroration, and proceeded
through an harangue, which consumed time and patience,
as the steam-boats consume fuel. For my part, I made
reflections, during the five hours we spent there, which
I have never since repeated with equal solemnity. After
all, thought I, what is liberty, if a man is liable to be torn
from business in the day-time, and from family and home
at night, because a stranger in his country, five or six
years ago, did commit forgery ; because two or three
lawyers have chosen to give the question all possible
doubtfulness ; because two out of twelve men have no
understanding, or no honesty, or no warm clothing : for
by this time I began to perceive a disposition in the dis-

|56 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

sentients to yield their point, and observed that the fire
had sunk, and the snow-storm had begun to chill the
room. They soon agreed on a verdict.

I visited the battle-ground on Bemis's Heights in com
pany with several friends more familiar than myself with
the circumstances of the campaign of seventy- seven, and
a guide who professed to have been in the action. The
elevation of the ground is much more considerable than I
had supposed. When we began to ascend from the bank
of Cummingskill, the road was so narrow and steep, and
often so much overhung by trees, as to be at once labori
ous and gloomy. The impressions were increased by the
recollection that Burgoyne's army had marched up the
same path in the anticipation of further success, and a
final victory over the country. The whole field of battle,
then co ered with forests, except two cleared fields, is
now unincumbered except by a few fences and scattered
trees : and we were shown the line of the British, with
the routes by which Morgan, Arnold, and our other officers
asssailed it at different periods of the action, and with
various success. I hate the details [of slaughter, ever
since I have overcome the savage and heathen impres
sions I received with my "liberal education." I learnt
to admire them from the notes of admiration with
which the classics abound for those notorious butchers,
who in former times did so much business under different
firms: — Alexander, Hannibal and Co., Csesar and bro
thers. I therefore did not regret that the battle on this
ground amounted only to a matter of a thousand or so
killed on both sides — a mere skirmish, in the opinion of
an European. General Wilkinson tells facts which show,
that there was excitement enough here to raise in some
individuals the most barbarous and blood-thirsty spirit.

Our guide appeared sometimes at fau It, but never being

TRAVELS IK AMERICA. 257

disposed to acknowledge it, generally found a reply to
every question. Two of the party differed about the spot
on which General Frazer fell, and inquired of him —
"Where was General Frazer wounded?" — "Let me see,"
said he, " I believe in the bowels, pretty much."

I heard the late General Van Cortlandt, a colonel in the
New-York line, and participator in this battle, say, that
he was not brought into action until late in the afternoon
of the 29th of September, when he was ordered by Arnold
to take post beyond the left of our line, and engage in ac
tion or not, as he might judge proper. He engaged a
regiment of Hessians, of whose short guns our soldiers
did not think much, and drove them back. One of his of
ficers was wounded by his side, and he replaced him up
on his horse. While pursuing, he met a regiment of
British light infantry on his flank, and partly in his rear,
advancing and firing, but without seeing them in the
darkness. He halted in a foot-path nearly parallel to
them, about a foot lower than the surface of the ground,
ordered his men to fire till they should see the enemy's
flash, and then aim a little below it it. Directly the flash
was seen all along their line, the fire was immediate
ly returned, and this checked them. He then went round
to his officer, and returned to camp. After an engage
ment of an hour and a half, he had lost one man to every
five and a half in his regiment. Colonel Cilley lost but
one out of seven in five or six hours.

While in the vicinity of Bemis's Heights, I was re
minded of several anecdotes I had heard at different
periods, and from different persons, relating to the bat
tles here and at the Wallomsac, the last of which is
usually called the battle of Bennington. What must
have been the state of the country, when the panic
2 p

258 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

caused by the desertion of Fort Ticonderoga was such,'
that, although a long delay took place before General
Burgoyne began to march from Whitehall, he met
opposition until he reached this spot. Exertions were
made by the patriotic who were yet undiscouraged,
to raise the people in arms; but how was it to be ex
pected that the militia could stop the course of an army,
before which regular troops had fled out of the principal
fortress of the country ? The history of the time has
been written several times, and narrated a thousand. I
will therefore leave my readers to books, and only repeat
two or three tales I have heard from private sources. —
Word of mouth has often a charm, because it conveys
feeling, and that every body can understand.

" My father," said a gentleman I once conversed with,
"lived in Berkshire count}'-, Massachusetts, when the news
came that the Hessians were going to seize the stores on
the Wallamsac Creek, and all the force of the country
was wanted. He was a hardy farmer, and well known
thereabouts; so that he had been chosen captain of a com
pany, exempt from service by age, which had been raised
for any case of extremity. This company, which was
called the f Silver Grays,' in allusion to their hoary hair,
set off for the scene of action immediately, and was on
the ground on the morning of the battle, in time to have
a part assigned in the attack made upon the intrenched
line of the enemy. On account of the respectability of
the company, they were left to choose j;heir place,
and agreed to attack the tory fort, as a redoubt on
an eminence was called, which had been entrusted to
the Americans accompanying the Hessian troops. The
captain informed his men that ifc was his intention to ap
proach their object through a ravine which he observed
led in that direction, to enjoy all the shelter it might af-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA? 259

ford. ' Captain/ said a large and powerful man, in the
prime of life, stepping forward, pale and trembling, ' I
am not going to fight : I came to lead back the horses.' —
* Go, then,' said the captain with indignation ; t we shall
do better without a coward in our number. — ' Deacon

/ said he to a little old man, shrivelled with age,

'you are too feeble to bear the fatigues of the day. It is
my pleasure that you stand sentry over the baggage.'

"'With your leave, captain,' said the old man, step
ping forward, and making the soldier's sign of respect to
a superior, with as much the air of a youth as he could,
— *• With your leave, I will have a pull at 'em first.'

"The company expressed their admiration at his spirit;
and under the feelings it produced, succeeding as it did
the display of arrant cowardice in a younger man, they
marched on at a quick step towards the enemy. When
they reached the end of the ravine, the captain intended
to form and attack, supposing they must yet be at some
distance from the redoubt. Instead of this, on looking
up, he found himself almost at the base of it, and the
tories taking aim at him from above. In an instant he
lay upon the ground, a bullet having passed through his
foot; and a friend near him ran to raise him, supposing
him killed. He sprang upon his feet, however, and just
then seeing a red-coat hurrying across at a distance, a
thought came into his head to encourage his men, and he
cried out — 'Come on, they run, they run.' The old men
jumped up, climbed into the fort, and in a moment the
Silver Grays had complete possession of it, without the
loss of one of their number."

About five years ago I obtained a few facts from the
late Colonel Bail, of Ballston, relating to the early history
of the neighbouring watering-place. The village of
Ballston Spa, lies within the limits of the township of

260 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

Milton, adjoining that of Ballston. This region was
named after the father of my informant, who removed
hither from Westchester County, in 1769, and built the
first house on the banks of Kayderos, or Kayderoseras
Brook, the frame of which was standing near the aca
demy.

At that time, the low grounds near the Springs of Ball
ston were covered with a frost, and the old spring (the
only one then known) was overflown by the brook when
it was much swollen by the rain. The deer used to come
to lick at the spring ; and he has been therein his youth to
ambush and shoot them. It was not uncommon then to
meet deer in looking for stray cattle ; and the Indians
often came from Oneida to hunt, in bodies of two or three
hundred. No Indians, however, had their residence in
this vicinity. His father, at an interview with Sir Wil
liam Johnson, once heard from him the particulars of the
wound which he received in the battle of Lake George,
in 1755, which was in the front part of his thigh, and
remained open till he died. Two physicians afterward re
commended to Sir William to visit the Spring, the water
being celebrated at Albany and Schenectady as good in
some diseases. Sir William, therefore, sent about ten
men to clear a road for his carriage, or litter, from
Schenectady to the Spring, under the direction of Mr.
Ball ; and my informant dined with him in a large mar
quee, pitched on the level border of the Ballston Lake.
Near the same place were the log-houses of two men
named M'Donald, who had settled there about seven
years before his father's arrival. The company afterward
proceeded to the Spring, where Sir William used the wa
ter, but without any material benefit.

While speaking of old times, I may mention, that a
few years ago, a small image of a man, made, I think.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 261

of bone, with garnets for eyes, was found near that little
lake, bearing a strong resemblance in form and appear
ance to such as have been taken from some of the west
ern mounds, according to Mr. At water, and tending to
confuse us still more in our conjectures about the origin
of the former inhabitants of this part of the country.

Leisure time — here is a portion of existence which is
to be carefully regarded and watched over, whether it
belongs to individuals or to communities. What pro
gress in knowledge might the most humble, even the
most busy person make in the course of his life, if he
were to pursue some judicious plan for the occupation
of his leisure ! What misery and ignorance, what suffer
ings and crimes might be prevented if provisions were
made in every village or town for the useful occupation of
the unemployed time of those who most need some ar
rangements for the purpose !

We have often evidence presented of the great amount
of leisure time at the command of different individuals.
Look at the libraries of monkish manuscripts in Europe,
and those innumerable collections of paintings, as^well
as the millions of pictures scattered through the old
world, from the pencils of artists who laboured for the
mere gratification of taste, or by a desperate hope borne
up against every 'discouragement. Listen to, or rather
think of the thousands of tales which are told over and
over again by the populace of every country in their in
tervals of labour; and think of the wear and tear of
tongues, and ears, and feelings required to carry on the
title tattle of four or five continents. And why the
" busy member" is not worn out, or at least tired, is a
great wonder. It is like the ocean, fretting rocks into
pebbles, and grinding them to sand, with an exertion of
force which might be employed to construct temples or

262 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

pyramids. Leisure time should be first guarded against
injurious employments, and then, if possible, against
those which are merely harmless. Let the parent and the
teacher act on this simple principle, and he will lay a
basis which must bear a noble structure. Even in a single
day, a single individual may thus accomplish much;
how much more a parent with a company of children, or
the benevolent man who can give a direction to society !

At these watering-places we meet a great variety of
company.

It sometimes seems to me as if we begin to stray into
some folly as soon as we begin to leave home. I have
been listening to the remarks of a gentleman on the
beauties and perfections of the German language ; and
all I find in my own honest mind, as the result of his
conversation, is such an impression as would have been
left if he had openly belied our country, and concluded
by preferring Iceland or Gulliver's Brobdignag. This is
not because I am disposed to underrate German or any
other language ; but because I have a just esteem for
English. I dare say that in my heart my regard for
German is equal to his, nay, that I should value it, on
the whole, more than he. I do not love Caesar less, but
I love Home more. There is a propensity in us, under
the influence of the schools we have passed through, to
know little of ourselves and of what belongs to us ; and
to seek every pretext for admiring what is foreign. I
take a part of the same condemnation to myself— I found
it first, and have observed it most frequently, in myself.
I am only anxious to see it cured, and do not wish to fix
discredit anywhere, except so far as is necessary, when
I would show the source of the evil.

We now begin with being required to admire beauties
in Greek and Latin, which are of three classes: 1. Keal,

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 263

substantial ones, not found in our own language: 2.
Such as exist in our own, and which we might far more
perfectly, as \vell as easily, have comprehended in Eng
lish, if they had been pointed out to us : 3. Defects and
deformities, or false beauties; as for instance, the fre
quent use of the third person singular for the third
person plural in Greek verbs, in violation of grammatical
decency. This is peculiar to Greek, we are told, and
there is a rule for it. There is an " exception" for it,
but no possible apology. But, whether good, bad, or
indifferent, this is the way in which many of us have
been educated with a contempt for the beauties of the
English ; and if ever we obtain a relish for them, it is
only by the independent use of our own minds breaking
the halter of education.

I was speaking of German. Like every language, it
has its peculiarities when compared with another ; but it
is not necessarily superior in every particular, because it
may be in some. It is unjust and injurious to admire its
excellencies and overlook those of English; but it is
ridiculous to overpraise in it exactly the qualities which
we familiarly resort to in our own tongue, for use or
embellishment in our discourse. But examples are most
to our purpose. The German is susceptible of endless
combinations ; so is the English. They may take a verb,
liken gehen, to go, I was told, and by prefixing their
highly-expressive prepositions, vary its meaning to a
great degree. And so refined, delicate, and cultivated is
this tongue, that " shades of meaning" may be conveyed
from mind to mind, as it were, " which no one can con
ceive who is unacquainted with this most perfect vehicle
of thought !" Now, the very expression of such a pre
posterous sentiment (so insulting, if it were not too ridi
culous to be so), called to my mind good English verbs

264 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

and epithets, simple, compound, and mixed, enough to
break its back and sink it. Indeed, the language seemed
to be aroused to repel such a Gothic invasion ; and many
files of our good old Saxon words mustered out, as the
farmers did at Bennington, to fight the Hessians. There
was especially Colonel Go and his family regiment, and I
recognized Undergo, Overgo, Forego, with all the files
of the Bygones, the Ingoings, and the Outgoings, and I
know not how many more. " Ah, Captain Invade !" said
I, "you area good man, I may want you by-and-by to go
into the enemy's country ; but you are out of place, you
do not belong here." " Pardon, sir," said he ; " but I
belong to the family. Didn't one of my grandfathers
come to England from Rome, and marry her that was — ."
" True," said I, " you are right— Captain, or Centurion
Vado ; and when I said go into, I but translated your
name, sir." " Just so," said he ; " and here is my regi
ment — let me introduce you to Major Evade, and Lieu
tenant-Colonel Pervade. I have not an officer or a rank
and file man who is not of the family." " Let me see,"
said I, " did not your Roman ancestor sometimes spell
his name with a W ?" " That," said he, " I have never
been told, but I have suspected it. I have never heard
much said about him, and have felt almost ashamed of
him : for though he and many of his family had served
under the Caesars, he emigrated to a barbarous country.
So far as I have found, one of his sons married an Out,
and I believe this is the only one who ever kept both the
mother's name and the W. The others, who spelled with
a V, married into Roman families. However, I must look
at the books of heraldry : Johnson's, and Walker's, and
Webster's. Sergeant Wade will be good, and if we have
shoal water to cross; and Corporal Outwade is better
than he."

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 265

• But the German language is said to admit of other
combinations, with peculiar ease and force, (for I cannot
give a longer report of this grand review of the numerous
and effective troops — our great army of Vernaculars).
And cannot we do so too? Indeed, can we get along
without the use of the same grammatical join-hand ? —
Ecce signum ! How in this word join-hand made ? Why,
just as the refined and elegant German makes its own
word for glove — hand-schuh (hand-shoe !) O, the inimi
table splendours of the sublimated foreign tongues. —
Hand-schuh ! It is true we cannot say that in English
for glove, but we may use hand-saw, hand-pump, hand-
blow, hand-cloth, and many other combinations we find
convenient, beside making it a verb, and changing it into
handle (as a noun, an active and passive verb), into
right and left-hand, each of which also may become an
active or passive verb, if we please, or may be used after
a preposition, or as an adjective : as on the right-hand —
near the left-hand corner, &c. £c.

I have, perhaps, said too much on this subject; but I
have undergone so much in hearing our language ill-treated,
that 1 could not forego this opportunity to repel, resist,
and throw back a little upon the aggressors. And who
can utter a sentence in English without admiring the rich
compound structure of the language, or, perhaps, not less
extensive and various than any other civilized tongue
in this sort of combinations, when we include the Latin
branches ? How wonderful is the range afforded us in
conversation and writing ; and how adapted to every
purpose the familiar, brief, forcible, and honest Saxon
words, ever giving readiest passage to a gush of feeling,
whether raised by a witty conceit, swelled by joy or
melted by sorrow. This is a language by itself, and yet
Q

266 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

"but half what we possess. There is the Latin, more
smooth and soft, with words of greater length and sweeter
harmony, possessing also a plan of combinations in some
respects different, and affording opportunities for clear,
though distant allusions, and derivations which point
back to a refined source in a classic and polished age.
Then turning to Greek : how many useful and elegant
words do we account, which stand forward in the pano
ply of Homer's heroes, and with voices that remind us by
turns of winged and the honeyed accents of ancient times,
as well as of the brazen-throated trumpets which sounded
before Ilium. How do these noble languages, like two
fertilizing streams from the same pure and lofty fountain,
enrich our native tongue ! Think of the fine, sonorous
terminations which fix their golden and diamond tips on
the noblest stanzas of our great heroic poets, and engrave
them deeply on our hearts. Remember the abundant sup
ply of prefixes with which we can grasp every verb in
the language ; and, as if the hand on the plough, or a
gentle touch of the courser's rein, or the richer than silken
tie which draws the carrier pigeon home, we can guide
them where we will : —

(t On earth, in air, and under ground."

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 267

CHAPTER XXVII.

Thoughts on Foreign Travel. Dr. Sweet, the natural bone-setter. Re
tiring Travellers.

How rapid is the mind, and how rapid indeed is the
tongue, although it has passed into a common remark,
that the latter can never pretend to race with the former.
Part of a pleasant morning spent in conversation with a
friend who has just landed from an European tour lias
taken me in fancy over so much ground, revived the me
mory of so many past scenes, aud enriched rne with so
many new ideas, that it seems as if time had been qua
drupled in duration. Surely travel is an enriching, an en
nobling, an exalting, as well as a delightful employment,
when properly used ; and my friend, I am convinced, has
been successful above most others in making the best use
of his opportunities. I saw him before he sailed, nay, I
knew him. He had long made up his mind that this
world is a place of passage, a thoroughfare to a better,
abounding with enjoyments which may become sources of
acute and lasting pain, and with trials which may be con
verted into joys of the most exquisite and lasting nature.
He was a Christian, and I had seen the fact established
by severe afflictions. Having viewed and reviewed with
him, in anticipation, the temptations of Europe, and in
dulged, at parting, in reliance on him who can aid and
preserve, it was not strange that I should feel deeply in
terested in every thing he saw and felt during his absence,
on ground which I had passed over.
i, Christianity has a thousand charming smiles, tones, at
titudes, and actions at home : but how it strikes us to see

268 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.'

it developed abroad and among foreign scenes ! Her spi
rit, fit for every climate and society, blesses all which she
visits. It is particularly delightful to trace her course
through a region of the earth like Italy, which has so
long been regarded by us as devoted to the enjoyments of
taste. Taste there appears ranged side by side with her,
n scenes peculiarly appropriate to display her nature and
to exhibit her superiority to advantage. What a pity it
is that religion, in her unostentatious but not unfrequent
visits to that attractive land, should not have become
more an object of attention to our countrymen. ! If we
could be furnished with her views and reflections among
the monuments of antiquity, we should find that mere
antiquarian knowledge has not equal power to render in
teresting the dust of past generations, and to enlighten
the gloom of decay.

Among the numerous visitors to Italy who speak our
language, there are annually to be found some of a most
devoted religious character. Some are driven by short
ened incomes to consult economy abroad ; others go un
der the advice of physicians ; some travel to improve
their minds, that they may become more useful to the
world : and some are borne in the trains of more gay or
ostentatious friends, on whom they are dependent. Bat
amid so many memorials of the past leading to contem
plation, and such a flood of ignorant and trifling minds
devoted to the present, how interesting do such indivi
duals appear. Whatever their age, their costumes, or
the motives of their journey, they are alike in most im
portant respects. They regard things around them as
they really are, not as they pretend to be ; they discrimi
nate between the right and the wrong use of the enjoy
ments which are offered to them, and derive real happi
ness from things neglected by the crowd, while they are

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 269

not disappointed by unreasonable expectations founded
on an erroneous estimate of others. They do not of
course underrate the importance of times that are past,
because they regard the present as of most consequence
to themselves, but draw lessons from former generations
to exalt or to purify their own thoughts and actions to
day. A young Christian in Italy, who thus pursues the
great objects of his life, has to encounter obstacles and
discouragements, and to overcome difficulties which re
quire great decision, resolution, and perseverance, and
rapidly ripen his heart and his mind. Indeed, the older
and more experienced, while surveying the scenes which
Italy presents, feel that there they need peculiar watch-*
fulness and care over their feelings, because peculiar at
tractions are greatly increased ; while the external aids
of Christian society are at the same time removed. —
Whatever alarms the Christian's fear, or awakens his
self-suspicion, tends to exhibit more clearly his Christian
character ; and whatever removes the tarnish from such
metal as that of which it is formed, polishes pure gold.
Superior worth and solidity therefore begin to display
themselves by a surface of superior brightness, and under
such circumstances real religion assumes a peculiar no
bleness both in aspect, language, and demeanour.

" I found, in a small circle of religious travellers at
Naples," said my friend, " a new tone of manners and
conversation. I was received among persons accustomed
to etiquette with the greatest frankness and familiarity ;
and had never realised so strongly the force of a favourite
expression of the New Testament : ' Where the spirit of
God is, there is liberty.' I found access not merely to
their lodgings and their acquaintance, but to their hearts.
And the formalities of fashionable intercourse, with all
the falsehood and selfishness being discarded, it was de-

270 TflAVJSLS IN AMERICA.

lightful to observe how the mind made progress in know
ledge, while the heart found full exercise for its affections.
Less swayed than other travellers in matters of taste, by
current ideas, their opinions of scenes and objects in na
ture and art were generally more just, because more in
dependent; while their impressions were more distinct,
and their descriptions more vivid. In relation to men,
also, they had generally something new and valuable to
communicate : for, having their attention directed after
what has merit, or to discover persons on whom they
might confer benefits, they were often found to have ob
served characters which others pass by without heeding.
False opinions are abundant all around them, and are so
much in vogue, that some will receive and pass them off
as sound, for mere fashion's sake ; but they feel like
Banyan's pilgrims in Vanity Fair ; and when such wares
are offered to them, are ready to reject them and to ex
claim,— ' We buy the truth.' "

What a contrast, what a delightful contrast it seems,
after witnessing the gaudy and pompous, but unmeaning
ceremonies of a Neapolitan carnival, or having the hermit
of the grotto of Posilipo shake his box of coppers at you,
to close the day with a circle of Christian friends, where
the fire of the purest love consumes all memory of differ
ence in sect and country, among those who profess one
faith and one hope.

The different ways in which persons of exalted charac
ter are affected by foreign travel are often various, but
almost always important. One receives an impression,
from the majesty of some ruin, of the transitory nature of
life; while his companion is reproved by it for the little
he has accomplished. Some have made the people, whom
they have seen degraded to the dust, the subjects of their
daily prayers ; while others have been filled with the idea

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 271

that America possesses incalculable advantages, for esta
blishing a name and a praise in the earth. One will ever
after regard in a more important light all the means by
which intelligence is diffused, and fix much of his atten
tion for the remainder of his liie on the minds and hearts
of the young, and the books, the examples, and schools by
which they are to be educated ; while to another will
afterward seem ever present those powerful motives to
action, which are excited by the contemplation of heathen
magnificence among the unmeaning splendour with which
a degenerate taste endeavours to eclipse it.

Nothing is pleasanter than to meet with a person of
true piety, who has returned from a foreign tour, with
such impressions as we must expect thorn to bring home,
when their circumstances have been favourable for re
ceiving them. Ignorance of foreign languages and habits,
too rapid travelling, or infirm health, may prevent them :
but if circumstances have been favourable, you may see
a gratifying change in them, and every thing they can
control around. One such person will spice the conver
sation of a whole neighbourhood, and sometimes turn the
minds of hundreds into better channels. His library is
placed on a new footing, he reviews and improves some
of his old opinions, he looks upon things about him with
new eyes, for even trivial affairs remind him of great
duties heretofore underrated. The traveller, perhaps,
who passes the residence of such a man, even years after
his death, admires some institution for public benefit
which owes its origin to his piety and his foreign tour.

Many persons have probably seen in the newspapers
advertisements of " Dr. Sweet, — Natural Bone-setter."
It is not everybody who has met him, or any of his re
markable family. How many there are of the name, or
how many there have been famed for peculiar skill in

272 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

anatomy, I have not been able to ascertain, because there
is uncertainty and some discrepancy among the family
traditions. One account I have heard, says, that the
ancestors of the American Sweets was a celebrated sur
geon to the king, regularly bred to the profession in Eng
land, but disaffected on some account, and a voluntary
exile to the colonies, who chose one of the islands in Pro
vidence River, in Rhode Island, for his abode. There, de
voting himself to the education of his children, he taught
them the principles of his own science, which they after
wards made a study by means of his library. From this
beginning, the family are said to have had a strong pro
pensity to anatomy : and for several generations, if we
might credit report, individuals of both sexes have often
amused themselves in childhood with dislocating the
joints of kittens and chickens, and setting them again ;
and more humanely, in mature life, while engaged in the
labours of the field or workshop, by reducing displaced
bones to their sockets for miles around, and for prices
so low that the mere mention of them has often excited
the patient's laughter. The production of this latter
symptom is perhaps the most extraordinary fact relating
to their practice, and gives them a double claim to their
surname.

The individual of this family whom I met with this
season, was of a different branch, and had only the fol
lowing account to give of his history. " The Sweets, I
believe, have always been bone-setters from before the
memory of man. It's a natural gift, for wise purposes
bestowed, and should be employed with a proper sense
of dcpendance. My father was a physician, and the first
surgical operation I ever attempted was at fourteen years
of age, when I reduced a dislocated thumb for a patient
who applied for aid during the absence of my father.

TRAVELS IN AMEBICA. 273

After this I felt somewhat bold, and made a number of
successful experiments, studying such scientific books as
I could obtain. I believe the skill I have is in a great
measure a natural gift, and that I am accountable for the
use of it. I have set a good many poor people's bones
for nothing ; but I calculate to make the rich pay for it,
though not very exorbitantly."

" Well, doctor," said a man who recognised him,
"how do you find them at the South ? You've been to
the South lately, haven't you ?"

" Why, yes, I was down into the State of New Jersey,
and in Pennsylvania some ; — why, a good many lame
hips, and so on."

"Well, did you go among the broken bones in New
York ?"

" Yes, I find, wherever I go the second time, that they
get new bones out about as fast as I put 'em in, so as to
keep me tp work. But I like it well enough as long as
the floors don't break down. When I was at Danbury,
in Connecticut, they'd got wind of my coming, and col
lected all the sufferers they could find in the neighbour
hood into one room. It was up stairs, over a hatter's
shop ; about fifty men were assembled there together,
full half of them, as was said, being patients, and the rest
spectators. The doctors had come to see me work ; for
they didn't believe I could do any thing or knew any
thing. Well, as there was a good deal of work to be
done, and no time to spare, I advanced to a man in the
corner that had his shoulder out, and had been pronounced
incurable. I took hold on it and set it, and told him to
put on his hat, which he did ; and this elated him so
much that he began to whirl his arm round for joy, and
to show how well he felt, right before the doctors and
2 Q

274 TRAVELS IN AMERICA^

all, when I began to feel the floor sway away under me,
and down we all went into a heap, maimed ones and all.
I slid and fell, as we reckoned afterward, about twenty-
seven foot, and got up among the rest in the hatter's
*hop. What was wonderful about it was, that though
the floor settled down principally at one corner, while
the opposite one didn't give way, it held together, and so
kept us out of the hatter's kettles, which were full of hot
water ; and though a large square cast-iron stove fell
down among us, it didn't hurt anybody. There were
only three or four bones put out by the accident; and
when I had set these and the old ones, hips, shoulders,
elbows, and all, I had to set off for another town, where
I had an engagement to do more work of the like nature.
They had a proper laugh at the doctors at Danbury, telling
them they had set the trap to kill me ; but I told them
that if they had known the danger, they would not have
put their own heads into it."

There is a class of single gentlemen found among the
great swarms of travellers which every year pass over
our country, who seem to be ever in search of solitude
and tranquillity, as much as others are for crowds and
tumults ; and who, although they are often borne along
by the current, actually enjoy many hours of loneliness.
They are generally individuals who have had more than
common experience in the world, and yet through the in
fluence of good education or good early examples, have a
taste that seeks something superior to its follies. Their
previous life has rendered them thoughtful without sour
ing their tempers, and disposed them to shun rather than
condemn the society they cannot approve. I speak not
here of the solitude which retires to its chamber, and
when it has shut the door, reproaches Providence for em
bittering what discontent refuses to enjoy. Those of

TRAVELS IN AMERICA 275

whom I speak are found on the hill- tops at sunrise, in a
sultry hour among the shady rocks and wilds, or medi
tating in the fields at eventide.

Isaac Walton describes your true angler as very hu
mane and friendly. He and his anglers are drawn from
persons of this class. It is not angling they seek, — it is
the enjoyment of solitude, or rather the society of nature;
and the fishing-rod is only an apology for staying from
home by the day or the week. We are to blame for ren
dering field-sports in some measure necessary to many
persons of intelligence, taste, and leisure. We ought not
to reproach them for being found in solitary scenes, even
though they are unarmed with guns or fishing-tackle. As
it is not lawful to kill the inferior animals for sport, but
as it is perfectly proper aud indeed useful to frequent our
wild scenes, and to enjoy the beauties of nature, we
ought to furnish the fairest and finest with things neces
sary to coiii.ort and convenience, and rather approve than
despise those \vlio select them for reading or meditation.
To no unknown individual in Italy do I feel more obliged,
than to him who constructed a rustic seat on the tall
rocks opposite the falls of Terni, thatched it with boughs
aud cushioned it with leaves; and no example should I
sooner recommend to the friend of that class of travellers
of which I am speaking. Their choice of the retreats of
the forest and shore, as I remarked, is owing to their love
for the spots v/here the fish and the birds resort, and not
to the love of slaughter, although there are persons of a
different character who delight only in the shedding of
blood.

These tasteful travellers may be distinguished from the
common herd by an experienced eye. They keep, as it
were, along the green margin of the road, while they pur
sue its general course; they wander a little np the cool

276 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

valleys and streams that open to the right and left, and
the shade of the trees and the dashing of water are for
them. While others, perhaps, of their own party, are
complaining of coarse food and hard couches, their appe
tites are sharpened by exercise, or they are enjoying re
freshing slumbers in a green shade.

I was a visitor in a house when the family returned
from their annual tour; and from their conversation found,
that while some of the individuals brought back only
records of wasted time, and the observations of the most
common minds, as barren as the beaten roads they had
passed over, others had come home with a store of recol
lections, which might serve, like a hortus siccus, or a
well-filled sketch-book, for the gratification of themselves
and their friends for a year to come, and the value of which
might last for a much longer period.

So many of us are brought up unlit for the world we
live in, that a great part of society, in their pursuit of
happiness, seem to spend life either in seeking for the
knowledge they ought to have imbibed in youth, or amid
the frivolities or the vices which are its only substitutes.
This appears to be a general picture of society among us.
We do not strongly realize the fact unless we travel ; and
then we find our own minds and those of our companions
betraying at every step some strong evidence of defi
ciency. I sat in an elegant railroad-car, with a large
company of travellers, several of whom were unknown to
me. Why were we silent after a few remarks on indiffer
ent topics ? Because we were ignorant. When we had
seated ourselves at the dinner-table, however, there was
no lack of conversation or of cheerfulness ; and I presume
the chief part of the pleasure enjoyed by the party that
day was during the time devoted to eating. There we
were at hprne, Ah ! how much of the enjoyment of home

TRAVELS IN AMERICA ". 277

then, with the mass of people, are we to fear, is connected
with a source not more exalted ? Some of us had been
curious to know some factr, concerning different objects
around, but either presumed on the ignorance of our
companions, or feared to expose our own by making
them subjects of conversation ; and so we jogged on in
silence, as truly travellers as the horses which drew us
along, and doing what only fashion saves from ridicule :
that is, coursing over the country without the least chance
of intellectual improvement. On reaching the place where
vve were to separate, I felt so much ashamed of my com
panions, that I was determined to avoid bidding any of
them farewell : but 1 found they had apparently formed
the same resolution about me, and thought me, as I ap
peared, and as I greatly fear I am, as great a dunce at
travelling as any of them.

Oh, had I been taught, in my childhood, what I so
much desired to know, the names, nature, and uses of
the trees and plants by which we passed that day, or the
composition of the soils which produced them, or a little
of the principles of engineering to understand the con
structions and excavations of the railroad, or been in
formed of the history, products, or inhabitants of that
part of the country in such a manner as to feel an interest
in them ; or had any of my companions come so furnished
with materials for conversation, that day had not been
the source of pain rather than of pleasure, nor have be
come the cause of so much self-condemnation.

278 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Evil effects of Pagan Education in a Christian Land. Improvements in
Temperance. Sources of intemperate Habits in our Country. Proper
Estimation of Foreign Travel. Our own Moral and Physical Re
sources. Negligence of good Men in making Travels at home Pleasing
and Useful. A Card-party in a Steamboat.

I CAN hardly read a prospectus of a new academy, or see
the advertisement of a college, without being reminded
in a painful manner of the perversions practised in my
own education. Truly I was led by a thorny, a crooked
and a dangerous way ! Why I did not turn back, and
run out of that mud road, I can hardly tell. I remember
I was strongly tempted, when I found gome of my fa
vourite companions deserting it one after another, and
saw the grassy walks of agriculture, and the sparkling
paths of business sometimes offering strong attractions.
It is high time that we should realize that certain sorts
of knowledge may pervert the heart while they fill the
head. Look at history, for example, and remember, that
not we, but some of the worst men of heathen times, are
in fact, at this moment, teaching our children their own
views of past events, in our own schools and under our
own eyes. Do we not put the classical writers in the
place of schoolmasters and parents, and make the young
admire what they commend ? And whose views do the
ancient writers maintain? All of them the views of
heathenism ; and not a few of them are mere echoes of
the selfish or profligate rulers who patronised them to
secure their praise, and dictated what they should with-

TRAVELS IN AMERICA." 279

hold, what record, and what pervert. Ought not such
pernicious influences at least to be counteracted ? Ought
not the teacher who enlarges on the beauties of Virgil
and Caesar, Ovid and Horace, to condemn the principles
and motives they so often applaud, and correct the er
roneous ideas which the pupil must otherwise imbibe ?
Some view or other is to be taken of history by every
one who reads. There is a right and there is a wrong
view, and they are totally inconsistent with each other.
The splendours of Greek and Roman heroes long ab
sorbed my mind ; and for years I had no taste for the
view of history given by the Scriptures. The superin
tending power of the Creator was not present to my
mind when I read of Juno and Jupiter, the Fates and
Fortune. It has cost me long and violent struggles to
divest myself of the taste, as well as of some of the
views, which I imbibed from my education at a grammar-
school and college.

But now, how sublime as well as how lovely is the
aspect which history presents ! Miserable, undefined
Fortune has been banished, and pains my heart no longer
with the gloomy reflection that the disposer of my lot is
blindfolded ; while the God of Abraham presides over the
destinies of man, whose interests are as important as
they were in past ages, and none more so than my own.
I am now able to enjoy greater pleasure in contemplating
nations at peace, and observing the progress of refine
ment, than I ever derived from the confused noise of the
warrior and garments rolled in blood. Just and delight
ful pictures of peace and its blessings we find in the
Scriptures, and war we see in its own deformity. Then
let us not present scenes of carnage and barbarity, of
pollution and crime, to our children, at least without re
moving a part of that false veil which heathen poets and

280 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

historians have spread over them. If our parents and
teachers had taught us less of strife and the delights
of victory, certain it is they would have had less diffi
culty in governing us,, and we less in controlling our
selves.

There is one continual source of pleasure to the traveller
in our country, let his course be turned in almost any di
rection : that is, the evident decline of intemperance.
Even when I have been passing through places with
which I was least acquainted, the evidences I have found
of the diminution of this evil have seemed like springs in
the wilderness ; but in regions which 1 had known in less
favourable times, the changes are so evident and so nu
merous as to excite great pleasure, I hope not unmmgled
with gratitude to Him who has said to the flood of de
vastation, " Here shall thy proud waves be stayed."
How many a pang of keen sympathetic misery have I
been spared on my tour, by the partial scotching of that
serpent, that infernal demon, which was so lately ranging
unchecked through our country ! How blessed is the de
liverance from such a monster ! It is with anguish now
that I recall the days when I so often dreaded to inquire,
in a family circle, or in a public festival, for some one I
missed from his place, lest the mention of his name should
wrest from tortured lips a confession that would scorch
the cheeks and scarify the heart.

The late prevalence of intemperance I trace in part to
the broad foundations laid in the times preceding our
own. The close of the war left the country in an im
moral condition. The disbanding of the army converted
our villages almost into camps, so far as the habits of
men were concerned ; and the vicious practices of sol
diers co-operating with the desultory employment of
leisure time, which is naturally produced by a long period

TRAVELS IN AMERICA, 281

of war and public calamities, stamped a low character
upon society through a great part of the country. Public
calamities had proved fatal, in a thousand instances, to
private fortunes ; and many of those persons, who might
otherwise have possessed the means of obtaining an edu
cation, were cut off from it by poverty, or by the pro
longed depreciation of learning in the public estimation.
Gunpowder, bayonets, soldiers, and military skill were
objects of praise and admiration ; and as taste and litera
ture could not purchase these, they were but lightly
esteemed. Of course, peace found the country abounding
in many young and empty heads, and, what was worse,
with morals corrupt beyond their years. It was the ten
dency of such a state of things to honour the tavern and
to break up the family circle ; and in many a town and
village the former was the great resort of fathers and
sons, while the mothers were too often left to solitary
regret and tears among the broken fragments of the lat
ter. \Vho does not remember something of such a state
of society ? Who, at least, has not perceived traces of it
in the Bacchanalian stories, and the tales of village wit,
whose narration to a later generation has often served to
depict the tavern in colours and associations too attrac
tive to the children of a reformed or sobered father ? To
the discredit of a state of society now fast wearing out
of fashion, a large part of our traditionary narratives and
humour, and sketches of local biography, are mingled
with the oaths and intoxication of the inn, or the more
dangerous language and examples of fashionable dinner
parties and drinking bouts in city life.

I know a large town, now distinguished for its orderly
as well as intelligent and refined society, in which, forty
years ago, or even less, social evening parties among pa
rents of both sexes, were unknown ; and where a father

282 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

of a family, who set the example of assisting to entertain
the female visitors of his wife, had to bear the brunt of
all the tavern-haunters of the place, that is, of all the fa
thers of his acquaintance, as a bold and preposterous
innovator. Such a fact will hardly be credited ; but
those who can recollect some years, will be forced to
admit its probability.

In times like these there was planted the habit of in
temperance, I might rather say the fashion of intoxica
tion ; that bitter root which has yielded such deadly fruit,
and has been now, at last, partly plucked up with much
difficulty.

Let us not overrate the importance of a tour in Europe,
so much as to lose our relish for the enjoyments offered
us by a journey at home. "And what are these enjoy
ments ?" asked I of myself, as I seated myself a little
before sunrise on the deck of a common freight-boat, on
the Champlain Canal, and prepared to set off on a visit to
the next village. Certainly, thought I, as I inhaled the
fresh air, and heard the birds begin to chirp at waking,
finer dewy mornings or a purer ether can nowhere be
found than what our own hills and valleys afford. Yet
nothing is less known, scarcely any thing is more seldom
enjoyed, by those of our countrymen who talk most of
the beauties of nature in Scotland or Italy. " Of all the
scenes in the world," exclaims Americanus Frenchificatus,
"nothing can compare wifh sunrise on the Alps!" Of
course, this person, who had returned from a voyage, en
riched with half a dozen mispronounced French words,
and a pair of moustaches, claimed to indulge in a foreign
rapture as he pronounced this exclamation. " But, my
good sir, have you ever seen a sunrise in the White
Mountains of New Hampshire ?" — " No." — " Have you
ever seen one in any part of America ?"— " No :— they are

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 283

not fit to be seen."— -'And you, I suppose, are fit to judge
of them." And who is not like this gentleman, if not in
foreign polish, in his contempt for home, and in foolish,
degenerate, luxurious habits ? The hotel T had left was
full of travellers, yet I alone had opened my eyes to the
finest part of the day, and my lungs to the purest air.

The boat, though rough and offering no accommoda
tions, in the mean time had been sliding smoothly over
the shining surface of the canal, and had brought me
into a beautiful grove of forest trees, whose numberless
stems, like the innumerable columns of some extensive
temple, were faithfully reflected below, while their thick
canopy of foliage also appeared repeated apparently from
an immense depth, so true was the mirror over which
they hung. Why, I asked myself, is travelling on our
canals considered so wearisome and destitute of interest ?
Here are noble productions of nature multiplied around,
silence and solitude undisturbed by the rattling of
wheels, and perfumed air unmingled with carriage dust-
Our canals often introduce us to the hearts of the forests ;
the retreats of wild animals are almost exposed to our
view, and the nests of rare birds even hang over our
heads. How can the public, how can some of my friends
most distinguished for taste, prefer the crowded stage
coach, the dusty and thickly-inhabited road, with the
heat of the sun during a mid-day ride ? Alas, a little re
flection reminded me that our education does not prepare
us for the enjoyment of scenes like those through which I
was passing. Who knows the nature and uses of this
fine tree? who can tell the varieties of this? how few,
indeed, are there among men of education, who can dis
criminate between many plants of marked and even
opposite peculiarities! With the exception of those
practical men whose business introduces them to such

2&4 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

things, few have taken the pains to inquire into the
important study of botany ; and as for zoology, orni
thology, &c., still less are they known, though the forests
and fields are stocked with various birds and quadrupeds.
The frivolities of life devour ten times the amount of
hours which would be sufficient to give the young such
knowledge of these and other subjects as would render
them capable of deriving enjoyment and benefit from tra
velling. What more natural and easy, than to lead chil
dren into the garden or the field every day, teach them to
observe leaves and flowers, fruits and seeds, animals and
birds, and relate or read to them sketches of their nature
and history ? But no ! the father is too fond of his mo
ney-making, his wine, or his politics ; and the mother
of her dresses, parties, or novel-reading. And unfortu
nately such habits are by no means confined to the more
frivolous of society.

How easy would it be for parents to teach their
children, as one of my fellow-travellers taught me.
Seating himself by my side, he remarked on the pecu
liarities of the various species of trees we passed on our
way, touching upon their size, soils, uses, ages, modes
of propagation, and capacity for improvement, the value
which some of them would bear in other countries, the
superiority of some of the species known in different
climates, &c. &c.; until my mind was filled with admi
ration at the vast and interesting variety presented by
the subject, and with respect for one whose memory was
stored with such valuable facts, and who was disposed
to communicate them.

It may be set down as one of the crying sins of this
country, that good and intelligent men refuse to ac
knowledge their duties to the public. Whether at home
or abroad, most of them seem to think there is no virtue

TRAVELS IN AMERICA^ 285

in the world but modesty ; and under her broad mantle,
I fear they sometimes hide their indolence, private taste,
personal vanity, and what not. Now to say nothing of
the modes in which Lawyer Loveall, Dr. Dogood, Judge
Generous, Mr. Good-neighbour, Farmer Friendly, and
other characters of the like nature, some, if not all of
whom we find in every village and town, might contri
bute to the gratification, instruction and improvement
of their own circles at home, why should they be so
insensible of the claims which society has upon them
when they go abroad ? Put them, as strangers, into a
steamboat's cabin, or a railroad car, and they are as si
lent and timid as mice. They do not feel the superior
power and respectability of virtue or knowledge, nor
realize that it is their business to appear as their advo
cates, by exhibiting them in their own proper nature.
They do not seize an early opportunity to use language
and express sentiments which shall betray their own
characters, but generally leave it to others to give it a
tone to conversation which sometimes becomes annoying
to them, while it is useless or worse than useless to the
company. I have often seen the young or the ignorant,
or such as were comparatively so, court the conversation
of those whose respectable appearance promised some
thing superior to themselves in mind or in heart ; and
have observed with pain that the privilege has been too
often denied. I have seen men of distinction, accident
ally discovered by fellow-travellers, and treated with re
spect and deference, yet disposed either to be personally
flattered, or to affect cold indifference—too seldom, at least,
showing a philanthropic desire to make every advantage
subservient to the benefit of others. In short, I am per
suaded that one great reason why there is so much that
is frivolous among travelling parties, and why there is

286 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

any thing offensive, is, that those whose duty it is to
prevent it are too indifferent about their obligations, or
neglect to seek proper opportunities and means.

Many persons meet on their travels who have little
leisure or opportunity elsewhere to devote to the society
of strangers ; and to some of these such interviews have
proved highly gratifying and permanently beneficial. But
many a ride or excursion has been rendered irksome by a
general silence among fellow-travellers, or the want of
that refinement of manners and conversation which
ought to have existed. I know that there are subjects,
very excellent in themselves, which would be inappro
priate for topics in a mixed company ; and that those
most forward are often the most conceited and shallow-
minded of their party. But I am favouring a just
medium. I can, perhaps, show something of my mean
ing by a real case.

Cards were once called for on board of a boat, where
none objecting, a party or two sat down at whist,
who filled the cabin with their voices for a couple of
hours. For want of a timely word of disapprobation
from a few of us present, which would have sufficed,
we were condemned to listen a long time to such things
as the following; and were afterward annoyed by the
effects of the liquor, to which the game conducted some
of the players.

"I've won two hands of Mr. Jones."

" Ah ! so you have."

" That'll answer. That's one over — I've a mind to let
that fellow be. We want four to begin with — six
round."

"Now, look, hold on your hair !"

" Ah ! I think I'll stand that, sir."

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 287

"It's astonishing ! eleven, eight, thirteen ; I never saw
such dealing !"

"After this hand—"

" Bless my stars !"

" Cut 'em."

'YWhat do you say ?"

" Cut 'em !"

" That's over."

" Now I want a ten."

" Mr. Jones, advise 'em."

"Ten, there's twenty, dub, dub, dab ; hold on to that !"

"I, O, U — come, lay your hands there — plaguy luck as
ever anybody had !"

"You a notion of turning in, captain?"

"What say?"

" Notion of turnin' in ?"

" No, not yet."

" Well, I think I shall have to pretty soon."

"Ha, ha, ha! We begin to feel dreadfully here!
Twenty: — four, ten and four is fourteen, and six is
twenty, sir.

"Play up all round!"

" How's that ?"

" O, if I could have got ten then !"

"We're entitled to the deal!"

"Ten! ha, ha!"

" Cut 'em again — go ahead — split 'em — that's right."

" Now, if I can get an ace — fourteen."

" Give us one a-piece."

te Give me a couple a-piece."

"Hold on — there we are — play up — that helps the
bank."

" I hope luck won't go against me all the time."

" Who's got a good hand ? Them that ha'n't, say so."

288 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

" Eighteen, nineteen, play twenty."

" Hold on — hold on — what have you got now ?

"Give me a fish."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

" That's right, sir, a small one."

" Here 'tis again — sixteen I want to find ! hold still — "

" Give us a fish."

" My next deal."

" There's your two fish."

" I commence to deal there."

" Stop !"

" Turn 'em right over."

" We are three, sir."

" Take 'em— that's right.

" Yes."

" What do you want ?

" One."

"Let her lay — O take one of them from the pack."

" That'll be too much."

" I'll bet he don't get it."

" I'll bet h« don't too."

" Well, I'll bet he duz"

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 289

CHAPTER XXIX.

itehall. Story of Sergeant Tom, a Creature of the Revolution
s ake Georgo. Charming Scenery, and interesting Historical Asso-
ations. Ticonderoga. A Revolutionary Tradition. An Oracle of
hilology. Crown Point.

WHITEHALL, formerly Skeenesborough, which is in this
oinity, is associated in my mind with the career of a
wild, hair-brained fellow, who joined the American army
the breaking out of the Revolution, by the persuasion
;f an active officer, from whom I once received a sketch
-!" his military course. A sergeancy was obtained for
r-.m, but he had not been long in the exercise of it, when
hid friend the colonel, arriving at the camp at Skeenes-
!K rough, where lie v " " Virn degraded to a private
: . itry. By his exertions lu- got him reinstated ; and
owing his wild temper, cautioned him against getting-
;o any quarrel with the soldiers, or the major, even if
?y should call h «. broken sergeant, as he apprehend
ed. But this was i in vain. The next afternoon news
vime that Tom wa.s in the guard-house. On inquiry, he
i earned that he had Hogged the soldiers and cleared them
it of the tent, and threatened to kill the major. Tom
; id sent for the colonel to see him; but this he refused,
Plough he felt bound, ouf of regard to his family, to exert
mself in his behalf.

The squadron was then fitting out on the lake, under

mold, to oppose the British ; and with great exertions

the colonel prevailed upon Tom's captain, major, and

general, to let him off without a court-martial, on con-

R

290 TRAVELS !» AMERICA-

dition that he should enlist on board a ship. Tom had
been a sailor, and cheerfully accepted the proposition,
expressing the warmest gratitude to his friend, to whom
he attributed his escape ; and solemnly swore to serve
him whenever he could, even at the risk of his life. Al
though the colonel believed him to be entirely devoid of
principle, he placed implicit reliance in this solemn and
voluntary promise, as he was susceptible of gratitude.

The galley in which Tom served as sergeant of marines,
in the battle off Crown Point, fought the English flag-
vessel, side by side, with great vigour. Tom, at length
finding all the officers above him wounded, fought her
himself, until his galley was found to be in a sinking con
dition. One of our commanders came up, received him
on board, gave him a conspicuous part the rest of the
day, and honoured him with peculiar marks of approba
tion Tom, however, was not long on shore before he
.;ud joined k British army in Canada. An
1 to surprise Ballston, then a
was offered a large reward to
This he reftw , alleging that it was the resi-
t partly, no doubt, because his
3re. Finding, however, that the

tAprumv^ .. L d, he joined it, that he might be
friend him ; and performed important service in secret,
to which my informant considered himself indebted for
liberty, if not for life. The details are interesting ; but I
cannot stay to write them now.

The first glimpse I caught of Lake George satisfied me
that my expectations would be almost equalled ; for I
had heard it described in sucli glowing terms in my boy
hood, that the conception I entertained of its beauties
were undoubtedly romantic and extravagant, as I had
before had occasion to reflect. If the breadth of a lake

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 291

be too great, or its shores too low, there must be a want
of bold features on the margin. A large level surface IB
sublime ; but we soon feel a want of variety. A more
limited plain is often beautiful ; but it is necessarily in
sipid if alone; and a sheet of water particularly requires
contrasts to relieve the satiety which the mind feels in
contemplating it. The Lake of Geneva would be greatly
improved in beauty, if a few of the eminences which
stand at the distance of several miles could be planted
upon its very banks.

Lake George lies in contact with the mountains, whose
bases are washed by its pure waters, while its summits
hasten to their terminations just above. I had inspected
some manuscript military maps of the French war in this
vicinity, so that I soon caught some of the zigzags of
Montcalm's lines of approach to Fort William Henry
(which, alas ! is now an insignificant heap on the shore),
and fixed on the thick grove on my left, which shades the
grave of about one thousand of his men. On the right,
swelling from the head of the lake, was the elevation
crowned by Fort George, long in ruins, and in 1745 the
scene of General Dieskau's defeat, before a breastwork of
logs. Along the waste ground in the little valley this
side, was perpetrated the massacre of the soldiers, wo
men, and children from Fort William Henry, by Indians.
The sky suddenly grew dark as I approached the pretty
village of Caldwell, and a thunder-shower passed just be
fore us, obscuring for a few minutes the fields and dwel
lings ; and then passing slowly down the lake, whither
it bore off a brilliant rainbow on its bosom. The beauty
of the scene, from my window, in the rear of the hotel, I
would fain describe, especially as it appeared near sun
set, when the broad and green slope to the margin of the
clear water was striped with the long shadows of trees

292 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

and mountains, and the surface of the lake was calm, and
the opposite ridge of French Mountain raised its immense
curtain of foliage, as it were, perpendicularly to the
clouds.

In this place a very different excitement seems to af
fect the visitors from that which is felt at the Springs?
where there is no scenery to draw off the thoughts from
ourselves and each other. The conversation at table
seemed improved, and the various parties had a variety
of objects before them for the day; walks, rides, and
boat-parties, to visit the forts or to make an excursion to
Tea Island. One would hardly think that the house
could be much visited in the winter season ; but I found
some of the family speaking familiarly of Montreal and
its inhabitants, who, I learned, often come down in parties
in sleighs.

I had several strolls along the shore on both sides of
the lake near Ticonderoga, traced out the old French
lines on which General Abercrombie's army made so ridi
culous an attack in 1758, and climbed to the redoubts on
Mount Independence. It is melancholy to renew the
impressions which must have been made by the aspect of
these hills and headlands, these woods and waters, at
night, when, after General St. Clair had ordered the eva
cuation of the fortress and the retreat of the troops, the
sudden bursting out of a fire in a building at the foot of
Mount Independence illuminated the scene, betrayed the
motions of the Americans, and awakened the fire of their
enemies.

There is an extensive, wild, and mountainous region
north and west from this spot, where there are hardly
any inhabitants, except the beasts of the forests. I
heard, in a log-house, some exciting tales told about
deer-hunting ; and on a warm afternoon, I heard an old

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 293

man talk in the following strain, as he was sitting in the
sun, surrounded by several bantering farmers' sons :—

" You are a stranger, sir, I presume, arid perhaps don't
know me nor my family. That's the way with the
world : these boys that have grown up don't know but
what their fathers were as respectable as mine. I've not
done right ; that I'm willing to allow. But I an't so
bad as Bill. He got to drinking too much a good many
years ago, and learned to fiddle, and used to leave home
sometimes, and go off round to dances, and so on. But
he had as good a wife as ever was, and he's reformed,
and so am I. I've come across the lake to help at har
vesting, and get some wool and carry back for the chil
dren to card up, and then we'll have it spun and made
into something warm for 'em next winter. These wo
men-folks, they are the master- critturs for such things.
They'll sit and card and talk, and get a wonderful deal
done. But education is a great thing, and we can't get
it over there among the mountains where there an't no
body five miles back from the lake. It's a curious coun
try there, there's so many ponds. There's Long Pond,
and Square Pond, Goose Pond, and Crane Lake, and
Paradox Pond, and Pyramid Lake, and— that's all, I be
lieve. Well, DOW there an't nobody but me that lives
anywhere about here, that knows how these ponds got
their names."

"Well, do you know, Uncle Zeek?" asked one of the
company.

" Why, yes ; there's Long Pond and Square Pond, they
were called so because of their shape ; and the wild
geese go to Goose Pond ; and Crane Lake, the surveyors
found a crane's nest on the bank. And then there's
something very curious about Paradox Pond : the stream
2 R

294 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

that the outlet falls into is sometimes swelled by a
thunder-shower that don't reach the pond, and then the
water sets back through the outlet into it. So you see
I know all about the history of that country."

" But," said I, " you have not informed us concerning
Pyramid Lake."

uOh, as for that," said he, "I don't rightly know
what that took its name from, without it was because
they sometimes catch suckers there very early in the
season."

"However," said he, C'I was talking about my family.
You must know that my grandfather came from England
with Lord Howe. He had just finished his education at
Oxford ; and there's few men that have got as much
learning now-a-days. What an army that was ! Every
man was dressed in superfine broad cloth, with gold
knee buckles. And, besides, though I am almost ashamed
to say it, I am connected by marriage with General Ar
nold's family. He was a good soldier, though, at Sar-
ritaog, and some said he got the victory there, Why
don't you sing the old songs oftener, boys ?

That the great Mount Defiance

They soon would fortify : —
We found that we must quit our lines,

Or ev'ry man must die.

Which soon we did in haste perform,

And went to Sarritoag,
A burning all the buildings

We found along the road.

'Twas then the gen'rous thought inspir'd

The noble Gates's mind,
For to send out Gin'ral Arnold,

To see if he could find

A passage through the inimy,

Wherever he might be
Which soon he did accomplish,

And. set the country free,"

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 295

I made a passage to Crowii Point one pleasant after
noon and evening, in a small lake schooner, built of boards,
laid in several courses, without timber, on Annesley's
plan. Its masts also were made so as to be easily struck ;
and the dimensions and fixtures being those of a canal-
boat, it had taken a cargo through the Erie Canal, I be
lieve to New York, and was now on its return to the
lower part of Lake Champlain. The crew, consisting of
only two men arid a boy, were full of fresh water wit
and anecdotes, and incidents by canal, lake, and river,
and at once skilful and obliging. As they were telling a
long eel story, the neighbouring eminences on the left,
and the distant ridges of the Green Mountains on the
east, especially the Camel's Hump, made a magnificent
appearance in the declining sun, while we passed near
enough to the scattered dwellings to feel some interest
in the inhabitants of several retired but pleasant spots. I
was carefully landed in the jolly boat under a bright
moon, at a pretty beach on Chimney Point ; and after a
few hours' repose at the inn, examined with interest the
striking features of that neighbourhood, not less interest
ing in scenery than in history. On the elevated point,
while a fine breeze was blowing, I traced out an old
breastwork, once extending from cove to cove, and a re
doubt which looked up and down the lake for a great dis
tance, while the ruins of Crown Point lay exposed to the
eye on the opposite side of the lake, here reduced to the
breadth of a river. What a commanding position ! No
thing could pass this way without sailing along in the
range of the artillery of the old fortress, then passing it
in review with broadside exposed to the batteries within
musket-shot, and afterward, if it could survive the risk,
steering for several more in the range of one of the five
great redoubts, which were in advance of the angles of

296 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

the main-work. I crossed the ferry, and rambled about
the solitary ruins, but found them in a pretty good state
of preservation. The original fort, erected by the French
on the shore, is near the landing. The long, broad, and
low point, the end of which is occupied by the fortifica
tions, is overgrown by young trees, which have sprouted
since its evacuation, and there is a grove of the same age
as that at Tinconderoga. The parade within the fortress
was green, almost as smooth as if still in use ; while only
the want of roofs and glass in the brick buildings sur
rounding it, and the growth of sumacs round the parapet,
showed that the place was deserted. The barracks were
occupied partly by sheep and partly by swallows; and
the solitary contemplation of the scene around wakened
many reflections on past events.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 297

CHAPTER XXX.

Feelings on entering Canada. State of Society. Emigrants. Scenery,
&c., on the St. Lawrence. Architecture. Wilful Errors on Education
in Convents.

DISAPPOINTMENT is the first feeling of a traveller on en
tering Canada by this route. There is no scenery, and he
soon feels as if there were no inhabitants, that is, none in
whom he can take interest. The country is flat, and mi
serably cultivated ; and you have positive evidence, on
every side, that the people ought to be sent to school an
age or two, and laughed at or provoked personally in
some manner to induce them to build decent houses, keep
them clean, root out the thistles and plant corn, cut down
militia poles, and erect school-houses — and allow the soil
to produce food for man and beast, for which it seems
perfectly willing ; take courage, indulge hopes of rising,
and set themselves about it. It is bad enough for the
New-Englanders to be for ever " guessing," and " con
triving," and " tinkering," and " fixing," I know ; but
it is a good deal worse to do neither. I ached to put
some of the people I met, old and young, into the hands
of a certain district school-master, the greatest tyrant I
ever knew. It seemed to me that ignorance had in their
case assumed the symptoms of so terrible, so fatal a dis
ease, that I would have volunteered to put on his thumb
screws and borne him out in any of his severest measures,
if there were any hope that so he might get a morsel of
knowledge into any crevice of their whole brains. " Raze
it, raze it to the foundations," I exclaimed, at the sight

298 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

of the great fabric of public ignorance which is reared
among these active and amiable people.

Montreal Mountain is in sight just before you for miles
before you reach the river ; and you have little else to
observe but Belleisle and Boucherville Mountains, on the
right, over the vast plain, after leaving St. John's. The
old and comfortless houses of Laprairie, the gloomy nun
nery, with spacious grounds enclosed with high walls,
and the vociferous, French speaking people on the shore
of the noble St. Lawrence, remind one of Europe.

The steamboats on the St. Lawrence and the Lakes
have been often crowded to excess this season, by the
emigrants newly-arrived from Great Britain, so much
so as to render travelling for pleasure remarkably " un
pleasant." And such a mixed company as has often been
obsen^d in these cargoes ! While some of those obliging
tourists, who occasionally write about us, have such
subjects before their eyes, they might save themselves the
trouble of leaving home. Among the emigrants, it has
been remarked, there has been this year a much larger
proportion of intelligent and wealthy persons than usual,
and the western states have had the benefit of adding
not a few of them to their population. But some appeared
to be entirely unprovided with necesssary information, as
well as pecuniary means, to direct their course to ad
vantage after their arrival. One person might be heard
making inquiries about the country through which he was
passing, that showed he had never been in a geography
class* in his life ; while many were at best but extremely
ill versed in " the use of globes," which the English
school advertisements seem to regard as such an accom
plishment. What will not ignorance do, and at the same
time leave undone ! lam persuaded that many of the emi
grants might save years of time, and all the money they

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 299

bring out, if they would but ask a few such questions as
the boys in the New York Public schools could readily
answer, and act on the Knowledge thus obtained. One
woman you will hear inquiring for her husband or chil
dren, who have come to America ; another resolving to
return to-morrow; one sick, and believing the climate is
unhealthy ; another amazed at the beauty and fertility of
the country, the friendliness of the people, the abundance
of work, the high wages, the cheapness of land, and in
short, the superiority of every thing to his expectations.
The only wonder to me was, that they were not all de
lighted ; for I have seen the ships in which some of them
have crossed the Atlantic, and should think that any
thing would be preferred to life on board of them.

I asked an old Scotchman one day, just arrived, whe
ther he had had a pleasant passage. He pointed' down
the half-closed hatches and said, " In that hole there
were above ninety of us ; and yet this was the only ven
tilator we had during a voyage of six weeks, except three
days, when the after-hatches for a short time were re
moved. On account of the impurity of the air, I used
to come on deck at night, and could scarcely persuade
myself to return." I confess that the sight presented
below sunk my ideas of human nature to a grade that
always makes me feel uncomfortable for a day or two.
The sounds which rose together reminded me of Bunyan's
pit of Tophet, though the old man did not answer my
idea of a shepherd of the Delectable Mountains.
j£ A few days may be agreeably spent at Montreal and
Quebec, and in visiting the environs : for, although there
is little to excite interest in the literary institutions (know
ledge, in all its branches, being at a low ebb), the foreign
air of the people, their habitations and manners, the ap
pearance of activity which pervades every thing duriug

300 TRAVELS IN AMERICA.

the brief summer which the climate allows, and the pe
culiar features of the natural scenery, present considerable
attractions,- Time is not allowed to enter into detail.
Let us see, then, whether any idea of the variety and
nature of the objects, most striking to a traveller, may be
conveyed by a rapid mention of them.

The approach to Montreal, in one of the Laprairie ferry
boats, allows you to contemplate it at leisure. The dis
tance is nine miles : the river, which is three miles broad,
being crossed transversely. You are excited by the ra
pidity of the powerful steamboat, and of the current,
bearing you like a bird over a ragged channel, which
often is visible, covered with crags, apparently ready to
tear the bottom of the vessel. French, of a harsh and un
couth dialect, is dinned in your ears by market-men and
women, watching their baskets of roots, herbs, &c.,
gathered in scanty harvest from some part of the rich but
abused plain, which extends from the river's bank to the
horizon, except where it is bounded by a few distant and
imposing isolated mountains. If you cross in a batteau,
you hear the boat song of your rowers, in which there is
little sweetness or poetry. The city, spreading along the
low shore of the river, shoots up the spires of five or six
churches, with the domes of two convents, and the towers
of the new cathedral, against the Mountain of Montreal,
which alone rescues the scene from utter tameness. Those
who wish to contemplate the largest specimen of barbar
ous architecture in North America (saving Mexico), may
visit the cathedral.

"What apology is there for the introduction of the Gothic
style into the United States ? What is there among us
which is signified by it ? What is there connected with
it in our history or institutions ; and what good influence
can we expect from it upon the future ? We have had

TRAVELS IN AMERICA; 301

'thing like a gradual progress of taste through many

acres, and no successive races of men in different stages of
dlization, or any period of our history at all allied to

*>>oh a style. At the same time our condition is based on

'•s foundation of universal knowledge : there is no mys-

y, no secrecy, no ignorance. Nothing is concealed,

thing is done through systematic imposture. Neither

30 we admit of any principle by which the feelings are to
influenced independently of the judgment. Why then
ould we meddle with other architecture, in which vast-

<• ss and gloom work their effects upon the heart, with-
t offering to the thought any distinct subject to fasten
on ; in which the eyes are shown dark recesses which

i key cannot penetrate, and a multitude of laboured de-

:es and ornaments the mind would in vain understand ?

uplicity and use, two of the great features of nature's

orks, are banished hence ; the light for which our eyes

3re formed is obscured ; and the objects and ends of our

leation mystified, as far as architectural objects can pro-

• ice such an effect.

Why should we wish, in this country, to present vast

ir- les to the eye, in which it can trace none of the great
inciples of natural taste ; in which the mind finds only
rplexity ; and the feelings, instead of being exalted
ith hope and encouragement, are depressed with unde-
ted gloom. How far more appropriate are the pure
id chaste Greek styles to our own history, character,
nd condition ! I would take the Doric and Ionic in pre-
rence to the Corinthian: and, if I may judge from my

"vn feelings, the first-mentioned is to be preferred to all
Aers. Regard the ancient rules and proportions so far
i they are appropriate to the uses of our public edifices,
id consistent with the nature of our climate j and then

3

302 TRAVJELS IN AMERICA.

the more vigorously you cultivate taste, and multiply spe
cimens in cities, towns, villages, and the very forests
where they may be needed, the better. In America there
is no apology for a gradual introduction of any species of
perfection which necessity does not forbid us to know at
once. We must admit only the best of every thing —
Where the forest tree falls, there let taste erect her purest
monument^ while learning adopts the best methods for
instruction, and philanthropy binds heart to heart with
the love of the gospel ; for liberty has established a sys
tem which requires thp most powerful support of us all,
and we are answerable to mankind for an exhibition of
the noblest results of civilization and Christianity.

One of the unaccountable traits of the taste of our
countrymen, is displayed by many of them on entering a
Canadian town. They will take off their children to the
nunneries, obtain, if possible, an interview with the su-
perieures, purchase a few trifles of domestic manufac
ture, infer from what they see that all must be well ar
ranged and systematic in every department, because they
spend a few minutes in the presence of stiff and starched
nuns, and go away with a gratuitous impression that
there is a great deal of solid instruction given to the chil
dren and young persons whom they profess to teach.

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 303

CHAPTER XXXI.

Different Travellers have different Eyes. The Polish Exiles. Regrets
on the necessity of closing. " Tom SlowstarterV' Farewell.

How strongly was I struck, the other day, with the con
trast between two foreigners, whom I met travelling in
the United States — a Frenchman and a South American,
The one recalled to my recollection Monsieur Levasseur,
who, while in the train of General Lafayette, witnessed
the labours of the New York firemen one night at a confla
gration. Having come from a physical people, a nation of
materialists, he wished to handle one of the engines, in
order to form an idea of those machines which he thought
exhibited some of the great capacities of republicans. —
The South American was always admiring the results of
some moral cause in our society ; and the sagacity and
just sentiments he displayed were not only gratifying,
but instructive. And what a comment was here on the
political systems of Europe and America ! The old world
is managed like an engine. Millions of her inhabitants
are standing this day like machines, with their weapons
presented, like the teeth of a bark-mill, or the cogs of a
cider-grinder, ready to do work by the exertion of brute
force. What an immense capital stands from age to age
invested in arsenals and foundries, fortresses, fleets, and
powder-mills ; yet the budget of war annually groans
under new appropriations. Peace may sit balancing her
pinions over them for a time ; but something soon sets her
on the wing ; and what shall induce her again to alight ?
When a crop of humanity is to be gathered, when the

304 TRAVELS iH AMERICA^

flowers of a new season are to be plucked, the machinery
moves again ; its course is against mankind — its track is
a stream of human gore. The Greeks cried for freedom,
but they must pass through Missilonghi to reach it. The
Polanders claimed the rights of men, and they are sent to
weep their loss in Siberia. Wherever the principles, in
which we so thanklessly live, are even whispered in Eu
rope, there comes the wild beast of oppression. His iron
step is heard in the university — his gripe is felt in the
school and at the fireside : while on this side of the At
lantic, education, universal example, and the government
— even self-interest and prejudice itself, iuvite, nay, in a
manner, constrain us to hear the language of liberty and
humanity, and to associate to sustain them ; in Europe,
the warmest hearts are chilled by the sight of the mana
cles and dungeons to which such sentiments are con
demned. Indeed, nobler, more exalted men than wo
men with a far livelier and more active devotion to the
good of mankind than ourselves, are now, while we
speak, shut up in prison, in loneliness and misery, friend
less and oppressed, because the enemies of truth and
righteousness, of light and wisdom, of liberty and right,
are too many and too strong.

Now are there no greater duties incumbent on us than
to eat and drink, and take the good of the things around
us ! Is there no higher object for us to aim at than mere
ly to gain wealth and honour, or to exercise power ?
Whoever devotes himself exclusively to either of these, is
an enemy of our country, a foe to mankind, a blot on our
land, a depreciator of our advantages, an ingrate to our
heavenly benefactor.

The two hundred and thirty-six Polanders who have
been sent to the United States, by the arbitrary and in
human power of Austria, hare among them individuals

TBAVBLS IN AMERICA. 305?

presenting peculiar claims to the interest and kindness
of Americans, Most of them are severe sufferers for the
sake of liberal views and patriotic exertions in favour of
freedom. A few of them, however, were of bad charac
ter, and were sent here to discredit the others. The
government of Austria is a severe despotism ; and one of
its most detestable features was displayed in an attempt
to injure the characters of men whose patriotism they
hated and feared. After these Polanders had been im
prisoned at Brinder for some months, on various pretexts,
without trial or charge, havingr been collected from dif
ferent quarters, ami geiierally unacquainted with each
other, arrangements were made to transport them to
Trieste, where they were to embark for this country.
This step they consented to, because the only alterna
tive offered was, that they should be delivered up to Rus
sia. They were to be transported in detachments ; and
the first that was sent off consisted of those who had been
imprisoned for crimes, that their conduct might make an
impression unfavourable to the patriots. Since their ar
rival in America, a discrimination has been made, and the
Unworthy set aside.

Here they now are on our coast, necessarily unknown,
except so far as we choose to seek an acquaintance with
them, ignorant of our language, manners, and habits, but,
like the blind or the dumb, presenting on that account
double claims to our sympathy and aid. Like those suf
fering under some natural infirmity from which we are
happily free, they also teach us a lesson of gratitude and
of duty, under the superior blessings which we enjoy.

A banished Pole should move among us a living monu-
ment of arbitrary power, and whenever we look upon
him it should be with the recollection — " Here is a vic
tim of despotism ! Here is a man, such as our ancestors
2 3

306 TRAVELS IN AMERICA:

would have chosen to be,— if offered his alternative-
slavery or banishment : here is one who has endured that
arbitrary power to which our ancestors would not sub
mit, but resisted for the sake of their children."

It seemed to me, while conversing with some of these
lonely exiles, as if Providence had sent them among us at
this time not without a kind design. We have been so re
mote from the sight of oppression and silence, so long ac
customed to regard tyranny and lawless rule as mere
creatures of imagination, that when sentiments are de
clared, and measures taken tending strongly that way,
instead of taking the alarm, too many of us look on with
indifference, as if there were a wall of impenetrable brass
erected to secure our liberty. These melancholy and si
lent strangers seem to whisper to us, to beware of our
selves, our freedom, and our country; and if their pre
sence shall render us any more watchful, if it shall lead
us to reflect more intently on the inestimable privileges
we possess, of the delicate and responsible trust committed
to us for the benefit of mankind, in being made the deposi
tories of free institutions and Christian light and liberty,
it will not have been in vain that our sympathy for them
has been painly excited, or that they have been deprived
of property, friends, and home.

Some eminent musicians have said that the most im
portant part of an air is an end ; and that, no matter what
are the merits of a composition, if there be appropriate
harmony in the closing note, the impression must be de
lightful, and the hearers will be content : BO gourmands,
sometimes, take special pains to lay by their choicest
morsels for the last, that the final bit may convey to the
palate the richest flavours and spicery — because its ta«te

TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 307

is to be lasting. How mortifying, then, to an author,
who would not intentionally violate any of the great
rules of taste, to find that no such advantage, as he could
wish to make a happy close, is allowed him. Here I am
suddenly admonished, by the amount of paper I have
blotted, that I must bring my hasty remarks to an end.
It is in vain for me to plead that I have a heap of mate
rials lying yet untouched before me, scenes of nature,
both in ink and crayon, words of the wise, and oracles of
fools, remarks of chance travellers, and thoughts of my
own, with snatches from Greek »nd Latin authors, unac-
uouuinbly ^ursciTcu from the chaos of my early studies,
now applied, well or ill, to modern affairs — it is in vain
to declare that a book, to be appropriate, should be
neither far in advance" of, nor behind society, and that all
these materials will deteriorate and perish in a season.
Indeed, the fact is, I have found things so rapidly moving
around me while I have been making this volume, that I
have been on a constant race to keep up. Now out of
breath, indeed, but not exhausted nor entirely dis
couraged, I am advised to desist ; and, even while I hesi
tate, am chagrined to think that I already begin to be
distanced.

I feel, in short, that I am in much the some condition
in which I last saw my old friend Tom Slowstarter. It
was on the Amboy and Trenton railroad. We had stopped
" to water," as the facetious term is — not our horses, but
the steam-boiler) — and Tom had alighted to look at the
machinery. The bell rang, the wheels began to move,
and the passengers called to him to hurry; but the
working of one of the small cog-wheels perplexed him so
much that he kept pace on foot. " Overtake us, and
jump in Tom, you'll be left !" cried the passengers. " Are

you speaking to a poet, or a prose- writer ?" said Tom ;

308 TBAVELS IN AMERICA^

" I am not behind the world, much less out of sight of it.
I want to look a little further into things."—" If you stop
to understand any thing," said the engineer, " you can't
go with us."—" Here's something wrong," said Tom—
" I want to know a little how it is to go ahead so, and
then I'll ride." — " If you are going to know much, you
can't be in our company. You must make up your mind
to one thing or the other pretty quick ; so jump in." — " I
want to see it go round once or twice more," said Tom :
"now I'm ready; open the door." The door was opened,
but the engine had begun to snort qnirkpr and

,

and the wheels went round like a buzz. Tom laid him
self almost flat with running ; — and " Here, take my hand
—run, Tom, run — a little faster, a little faster!" re
sounded from the cars, while he was straining legs, arms,
and fingers, to get up again with his companions. " You
had better stop," said one, at this crisis; and Tom's
courage failed in an instant. He gave up the chase, and
stood like a post in the middle of the road, while all the
caravan joined in a general shout of " Good-by, Mr. Slow-
starter ! Good-by, good-by," said Tom : " good-by, Mr.
Puffer and family, — there's nothing of you but noise and
motion — but yet I wish I was with you. The next day
I'll try to find less fault, and keep up with society."
Tom has never since been heard of.

FINIS,

H, L, M'Lane, Printer, Glasgow,

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GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY