diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:17 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:17 -0700 |
| commit | 705808a0f72df768748959de8123b94252759fcc (patch) | |
| tree | 57d142ff7740d54c34fdf5251fc22e7f30983a7e /10345-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '10345-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 10345-h/10345-h.htm | 13181 |
1 files changed, 13181 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/10345-h/10345-h.htm b/10345-h/10345-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d583f57 --- /dev/null +++ b/10345-h/10345-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13181 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Domestic Manners of the Americans, by Fanny Trollope</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10345 ***</div> + +<h1>Domestic Manners of the Americans</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Fanny Trollope</h2> + +<p class="center"> +First published in 1832 +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">CHAPTER XXIX. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">CHAPTER XXX. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">CHAPTER XXXI. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">CHAPTER XXXII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap33">CHAPTER XXXIII. </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap34">CHAPTER XXXIV. </a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Entrance of the Mississippi—Balize +</p> + +<p> +On the 4th of November, 1827, I sailed from London, accompanied by my son and +two daughters; and after a favourable, though somewhat tedious voyage, arrived +on Christmas-day at the mouth of the Mississippi. +</p> + +<p> +The first indication of our approach to land was the appearance of this mighty +river pouring forth its muddy mass of waters, and mingling with the deep blue +of the Mexican Gulf. The shores of this river are so utterly flat, that no +object upon them is perceptible at sea, and we gazed with pleasure on the muddy +ocean that met us, for it told us we were arrived, and seven weeks of sailing +had wearied us; yet it was not without a feeling like regret that we passed +from the bright blue waves, whose varying aspect had so long furnished our +chief amusement, into the murky stream which now received us. +</p> + +<p> +Large flights of pelicans were seen standing upon the long masses of mud which +rose above the surface of the waters, and a pilot came to guide us over the +bar, long before any other indication of land was visible. +</p> + +<p> +I never beheld a scene so utterly desolate as this entrance of the Mississippi. +Had Dante seen it, he might have drawn images of another Bolgia from its +horrors. One only object rears itself above the eddying waters; this is the +mast of a vessel long since wrecked in attempting to cross the bar, and it +still stands, a dismal witness of the destruction that has been, and a boding +prophet of that which is to come. +</p> + +<p> +By degrees bulrushes of enormous growth become visible, and a few more miles of +mud brought us within sight of a cluster of huts called the Balize, by far the +most miserable station that I ever saw made the dwelling of man, but I was told +that many families of pilots and fishermen lived there. +</p> + +<p> +For several miles above its mouth, the Mississippi presents no objects more +interesting than mud banks, monstrous bulrushes, and now and then a huge +crocodile luxuriating in the slime. Another circumstance that gives to this +dreary scene an aspect of desolation, is the incessant appearance of vast +quantities of drift wood, which is ever finding its way to the different mouths +of the Mississippi. Trees of enormous length, sometimes still bearing their +branches, and still oftener their uptorn roots entire, the victims of the +frequent hurricane, come floating down the stream. Sometimes several of these, +entangled together, collect among their boughs a quantity of floating rubbish, +that gives the mass the appearance of a moving island, bearing a forest, with +its roots mocking the heavens; while the dishonoured branches lash the tide in +idle vengeance: this, as it approaches the vessel, and glides swiftly past, +looks like the fragment of a world in ruins. +</p> + +<p> +As we advanced, however, we were cheered, notwithstanding the season, by the +bright tints of southern vegetation. The banks continue invariably flat, but a +succession of planless villas, sometimes merely a residence, and sometimes +surrounded by their sugar grounds and negro huts, varied the scene. At no one +point was there an inch of what painters call a second distance; and for the +length of one hundred and twenty miles, from the Balize to New Orleans, and one +hundred miles above the town, the land is defended from the encroachments of +the river by a high embankment which is called the Levee; without which the +dwellings would speedily disappear, as the river is evidently higher than the +banks would be without it. When we arrived, there had been constant rains, and +of long continuance, and this appearance was, therefore, unusually striking, +giving to “this great natural feature” the most unnatural +appearance imaginable; and making evident, not only that man had been busy +there, but that even the mightiest works of nature might be made to bear his +impress; it recalled, literally, Swift’s mock heroic, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Nature must give way to art;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +yet, she was looking so mighty, and so unsubdued all the time, that I could not +help fancying she would some day take the matter into her own hands again, and +if so, farewell to New Orleans. +</p> + +<p> +It is easy to imagine the total want of beauty in such a landscape; but yet the +form and hue of the trees and plants, so new to us, added to the long privation +we had endured of all sights and sounds of land, made even these swampy shores +seem beautiful. We were, however, impatient to touch as well as see the land; +but the navigation from the Balize to New Orleans is difficult and tedious, and +the two days that it occupied appeared longer than any we had passed on board. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, to those who have pleasure in contemplating the phenomena of nature, +a sea voyage may endure many weeks without wearying. Perhaps some may think +that the first glance of ocean and of sky shew all they have to offer; nay, +even that that first glance may suggest more of dreariness than sublimity; but +to me, their variety appeared endless, and their beauty unfailing. The attempt +to describe scenery, even where the objects are prominent and tangible, is very +rarely successful; but where the effect is so subtile and so varying, it must +be vain. The impression, nevertheless, is perhaps deeper than any other; I +think it possible I may forget the sensations with which I watched the long +course of the gigantic Mississippi; the Ohio and the Potomac may mingle and be +confounded with other streams in my memory, I may even recall with difficulty +the blue outline of the Alleghany mountains, but never, while I remember any +thing, can I forget the first and last hour of light on the Atlantic. +</p> + +<p> +The ocean, however, and all its indescribable charm, no longer surrounded us; +we began to feel that our walk on the quarter-deck was very like the exercise +of an ass in a mill; that our books had lost half their pages, and that the +other half were known by rote; that our beef was very salt, and our biscuits +very hard; in short, that having studied the good ship, Edward, from stem to +stern till we knew the name of every sail, and the use of every pulley, we had +had enough of her, and as we laid down, head to head, in our tiny beds for the +last time, I exclaimed with no small pleasure, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Tomorrow to fresh fields and pastures new.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +New Orleans—Society—Creoles and Quadroons Voyage up the Mississippi +</p> + +<p> +On first touching the soil of a new land, of a new continent, of a new world, +it is impossible not to feel considerable excitement and deep interest in +almost every object that meets us. New Orleans presents very little that can +gratify the eye of taste, but nevertheless there is much of novelty and +interest for a newly arrived European. The large proportion of blacks seen in +the streets, all labour being performed by them; the grace and beauty of the +elegant Quadroons, the occasional groups of wild and savage looking Indians, +the unwonted aspect of the vegetation, the huge and turbid river, with its low +and slimy shore, all help to afford that species of amusement which proceeds +from looking at what we never saw before. +</p> + +<p> +The town has much the appearance of a French Ville de Province, and is, in +fact, an old French colony taken from Spain by France. The names of the streets +are French, and the language about equally French and English. The market is +handsome and well supplied, all produce being conveyed by the river. We were +much pleased by the chant with which the Negro boatmen regulate and beguile +their labour on the river; it consists but of very few notes, but they are +sweetly harmonious, and the Negro voice is almost always rich and powerful. +</p> + +<p> +By far the most agreeable hours I passed at New Orleans were those in which I +explored with my children the forest near the town. It was our first walk in +“the eternal forests of the western world,” and we felt rather +sublime and poetical. The trees, generally speaking, are much too close to be +either large or well grown; and, moreover, their growth is often stunted by a +parasitical plant, for which I could learn no other name than “Spanish +moss;” it hangs gracefully from the boughs, converting the outline of all +the trees it hangs upon into that of weeping willows. The chief beauty of the +forest in this region is from the luxuriant undergrowth of palmetos, which is +decidedly the loveliest coloured and most graceful plant I know. The pawpaw, +too, is a splendid shrub, and in great abundance. We here, for the first time, +saw the wild vine, which we afterwards found growing so profusely in every part +of America, as naturally to suggest the idea that the natives ought to add wine +to the numerous production of their plenty-teeming soil. The strong pendant +festoons made safe and commodious swings, which some of our party enjoyed, +despite the sublime temperament above-mentioned. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding it was mid-winter when we were at New Orleans, the heat was +much more than agreeable, and the attacks of the mosquitos incessant, and most +tormenting; yet I suspect that, for a short time, we would rather have endured +it, than not have seen oranges, green peas, and red pepper, growing in the open +air at Christmas. In one of our rambles we ventured to enter a garden, whose +bright orange hedge attracted our attention; here we saw green peas fit for the +table, and a fine crop of red pepper ripening in the sun. A young Negress was +employed on the steps of the house; that she was a slave made her an object of +interest to us. She was the first slave we had ever spoken to, and I believe we +all felt that we could hardly address her with sufficient gentleness. She +little dreamed, poor girl, what deep sympathy she excited; she answered us +civilly and gaily, and seemed amused at our fancying there was something +unusual in red pepper pods; she gave us several of them, and I felt fearful +lest a hard mistress might blame her for it. How very childish does ignorance +make us! and how very ignorant we are upon almost every subject, where hearsay +evidence is all we can get! +</p> + +<p> +I left England with feelings so strongly opposed to slavery, that it was not +without pain I witnessed its effects around me. At the sight of every Negro +man, woman, and child that passed, my fancy wove some little romance of misery, +as belonging to each of them; since I have known more on the subject, and +become better acquainted with their real situation in America, I have often +smiled at recalling what I then felt. +</p> + +<p> +The first symptom of American equality that I perceived, was my being +introduced in form to a milliner; it was not at a boarding-house, under the +indistinct outline of “Miss C—,” nor in the street through +the veil of a fashionable toilette, but in the very penetralia of her temple, +standing behind her counter, giving laws to ribbon and to wire, and ushering +caps and bonnets into existence. She was an English woman, and I was told that +she possessed great intellectual endowments, and much information; I really +believe this was true. Her manner was easy and graceful, with a good deal of +French tournure; and the gentleness with which her fine eyes and sweet voice +directed the movements of a young female slave, was really touching: the way, +too, in which she blended her French talk of modes with her customers, and her +English talk of metaphysics with her friends, had a pretty air of indifference +in it, that gave her a superiority with both. +</p> + +<p> +I found with her the daughter of a judge, eminent, it was said, both for legal +and literary ability, and I heard from many quarters, after I had left New +Orleans, that the society of this lady was highly valued by all persons of +talent. Yet were I, traveller-like, to stop here, and set it down as a national +peculiarity, or republican custom, that milliners took the lead in the best +society, I should greatly falsify facts. I do not remember the same thing +happening to me again, and this is one instance among a thousand, of the +impression every circumstance makes on entering a new country, and of the +propensity, so irresistible, to class all things, however accidental, as +national and peculiar. On the other hand, however, it is certain that if +similar anomalies are unfrequent in America, they are nearly impossible +elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +In the shop of Miss C— I was introduced to Mr. M’Clure, a venerable +personage, of gentlemanlike appearance, who in the course of five minutes +propounded as many axioms, as “Ignorance is the only devil;” +“Man makes his own existence;” and the like. He was of the New +Harmony school, or rather the New Harmony school was of him. He was a man of +good fortune, (a Scotchman, I believe), who after living a tolerably gay life, +had “conceived high thoughts, such as Lycurgus loved, who bade flog the +little Spartans,” and determined to benefit the species, and immortalize +himself, by founding a philosophical school at New Harmony. There was something +in the hollow square legislations of Mr. Owen, that struck him as admirable, +and he seems, as far as I can understand, to have intended aiding his views, by +a sort of incipient hollow square drilling; teaching the young ideas of all he +could catch, to shoot into parallelogramic form and order. This venerable +philosopher, like all of his school that I ever heard of, loved better to +originate lofty imaginings of faultless systems, than to watch their +application to practice. With much liberality he purchased and conveyed to the +wilderness a very noble collection of books and scientific instruments; but not +finding among men one whose views were liberal and enlarged as his own, he +selected a woman to put into action the machine he had organized. As his +acquaintance with this lady had been of long standing, and, as it was said, +very intimate, he felt sure that no violation of his rules would have place +under her sway; they would act together as one being: he was to perform the +functions of the soul, and will everything; she, those of the body, and perform +everything. +</p> + +<p> +The principal feature of the scheme was, that (the first liberal outfit of the +institution having been furnished by Mr. M’Clure,) the expense of keeping +it up should be defrayed by the profits arising from the labours of the pupils, +male and female, which was to be performed at stated intervals of each day, in +regular rotation with learned study and scientific research. But unfortunately +the soul of the system found the climate of Indiana uncongenial to its peculiar +formation, and, therefore, took its flight to Mexico, leaving the body to +perform the operations of both, in whatever manner it liked best; and the body, +being a French body, found no difficulty in setting actively to work without +troubling the soul about it; and soon becoming conscious that the more simple +was a machine, the more perfect were its operations, she threw out all that +related to the intellectual part of the business, (which to do poor soul +justice, it had laid great stress upon), and stirred herself as effectually as +ever body did, to draw wealth from the thews and sinews of the youths they had +collected. When last I heard of this philosophical establishment, she, and a +nephew-son were said to be reaping a golden harvest, as many of the lads had +been sent from a distance by indigent parents, for gratuitous education, and +possessed no means of leaving it. +</p> + +<p> +Our stay in New Orleans was not long enough to permit our entering into +society, but I was told that it contained two distinct sets of people, both +celebrated, in their way, for their social meetings and elegant entertainments. +The first of these is composed of Creole families, who are chiefly planters and +merchants, with their wives and daughters; these meet together, eat together, +and are very grand and aristocratic; each of their balls is a little +Almack’s, and every portly dame of the set is as exclusive in her +principles as the excluded but amiable Quandroons, and such of the gentlemen of +the former class as can by any means escape from the high places, where pure +Creole blood swells the veins at the bare mention of any being tainted in the +remotest degree with the Negro stain. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the prejudices I have ever witnessed, this appears to me the most +violent, and the most inveterate. Quadroon girls, the acknowledged daughters of +wealthy American or Creole fathers, educated with all of style and +accomplishments which money can procure at New Orleans, and with all the +decorum that care and affection can give; exquisitely beautiful, graceful, +gentle, and amiable, these are not admitted, nay, are not on any terms +admissable, into the society of the Creole families of Louisiana. They cannot +marry; that is to say, no ceremony can render an union with them legal or +binding; yet such is the powerful effect of their very peculiar grace, beauty, +and sweetness of manner, that unfortunately they perpetually become the objects +of choice and affection. If the Creole ladies have privilege to exercise the +awful power of repulsion, the gentle Quadroon has the sweet but dangerous +vengeance of possessing that of attraction. The unions formed with this +unfortunate race are said to be often lasting and happy, as far as any unions +can be so, to which a certain degree of disgrace is attached. +</p> + +<p> +There is a French and an English theatre in the town; but we were too fresh +from Europe to care much for either; or, indeed, for any other of the town +delights of this city, and we soon became eager to commence our voyage up the +Mississippi. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Wright, then less known (though the author of more than one clever volume) +than she has since become, was the companion of our voyage from Europe; and it +was my purpose to have passed some months with her and her sister at the estate +she had purchased in Tennessee. This lady, since become so celebrated as the +advocate of opinions that make millions shudder, and some half-score admire, +was, at the time of my leaving England with her, dedicated to a pursuit widely +different from her subsequent occupations. Instead of becoming a public orator +in every town throughout America, she was about, as she said, to seclude +herself for life in the deepest forests of the western world, that her fortune, +her time, and her talents might be exclusively devoted to aid the cause of the +suffering Africans. Her first object was to shew that nature had made no +difference between blacks and whites, excepting in complexion; and this she +expected to prove by giving an education perfectly equal to a class of black +and white children. Could this fact be once fully established, she conceived +that the Negro cause would stand on firmer ground than it had yet done, and the +degraded rank which they have ever held amongst civilized nations would be +proved to be a gross injustice. +</p> + +<p> +This question of the mental equality, or inequality between us, and the Negro +race, is one of great interest, and has certainly never yet been fairly tried; +and I expected for my children and myself both pleasure and information from +visiting her establishment, and watching the success of her experiment. +</p> + +<p> +The innumerable steam boats, which are the stage coaches and fly waggons of +this land of lakes and rivers, are totally unlike any I had seen in Europe, and +greatly superior to them. The fabrics which I think they most resemble in +appearance, are the floating baths (les bains Vigier) at Paris. The annexed +drawing will give a correct idea of their form. The room to which the double +line of windows belongs, is a very handsome apartment; before each window a +neat little cot is arranged in such a manner as to give its drapery the air of +a window curtain. This room is called the gentlemen’s cabin, and their +exclusive right to it is somewhat uncourteously insisted upon. The breakfast, +dinner, and supper are laid in this apartment, and the lady passengers are +permitted to take their meals there. +</p> + +<p> +On the first of January, 1828, we embarked on board the Belvidere, a large and +handsome boat; though not the largest or handsomest of the many which displayed +themselves along the wharfs; but she was going to stop at Memphis, the point of +the river nearest to Miss Wright’s residence, and she was the first that +departed after we had got through the customhouse, and finished our +sight-seeing. We found the room destined for the use of the ladies dismal +enough, as its only windows were below the stem gallery; but both this and the +gentlemen’s cabin were handsomely fitted up, and the former well +carpeted; but oh! that carpet! I will not, I may not describe its condition; +indeed it requires the pen of a Swift to do it justice. Let no one who wishes +to receive agreeable impressions of American manners, commence their travels in +a Mississippi steam boat; for myself, it is with all sincerity I declare, that +I would infinitely prefer sharing the apartment of a party of well conditioned +pigs to the being confined to its cabin. +</p> + +<p> +I hardly know any annoyance so deeply repugnant to English feelings, as the +incessant, remorseless spitting of Americans. I feel that I owe my readers an +apology for the repeated use of this, and several other odious words; but I +cannot avoid them, without suffering the fidelity of description to escape me. +It is possible that in this phrase, “Americans,” I may be too +general. The United States form a continent of almost distinct nations, and I +must now, and always, be understood to speak only of that portion of them which +I have seen. In conversing with Americans I have constantly found that if I +alluded to anything which they thought I considered as uncouth, they would +assure me it was local, and not national; the accidental peculiarity of a very +small part, and by no means a specimen of the whole. “That is because you +know so little of America,” is a phrase I have listened to a thousand +times, and in nearly as many different places. <i>It may be so</i>—and +having made this concession, I protest against the charge of injustice in +relating what I have seen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Company on board the Steam Boat—Scenery of the +Mississippi—Crocodiles—Arrival at Memphis—Nashoba +</p> + +<p> +The weather was warm and bright, and we found the guard of the boat, as they +call the gallery that runs round the cabins, a very agreeable station; here we +all sat as long as light lasted, and sometimes wrapped in our shawls, we +enjoyed the clear bright beauty of American moonlight long after every +passenger but ourselves had retired. We had a full complement of passengers on +board. The deck, as is usual, was occupied by the Kentucky flat-boat men, +returning from New Orleans, after having disposed of the boat and cargo which +they had conveyed thither, with no other labour than that of steering her, the +current bringing her down at the rate of four miles an hour. We had about two +hundred of these men on board, but the part of the vessel occupied by them is +so distinct from the cabins, that we never saw them, except when we stopped to +take in wood; and then they ran, or rather sprung and vaulted over each +other’s heads to the shore, whence they all assisted in carrying wood to +supply the steam engine; the performance of this duty being a stipulated part +of the payment of their passage. +</p> + +<p> +From the account given by a man servant we had on board, who shared their +quarters, they are a most disorderly set of persons, constantly gambling and +wrangling, very seldom sober, and never suffering a night to pass without +giving practical proof of the respect in which they hold the doctrines of +equality, and community of property. The clerk of the vessel was kind enough to +take our man under his protection, and assigned him a berth in his own little +nook; but as this was not inaccessible, he told him by no means to detach his +watch or money from his person during the night. Whatever their moral +characteristics may be, these Kentuckians are a very noble-looking race of men; +their average height considerably exceeds that of Europeans, and their +countenances, excepting when disfigured by red hair, which is not unfrequent, +extremely handsome. +</p> + +<p> +The gentlemen in the cabin (we had no ladies) would certainly neither, from +their language, manners, nor appearance, have received that designation in +Europe; but we soon found their claim to it rested on more substantial ground, +for we heard them nearly all addressed by the titles of general, colonel, and +major. On mentioning these military dignities to an English friend some time +afterwards, he told me that he too had made the voyage with the same +description of company, but remarking that there was not a single captain among +them; he made the observation to a fellow-passenger, and asked how he accounted +for it. “Oh, sir, the captains are all on deck,” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +Our honours, however, were not all military, for we had a judge among us. I +know it is equally easy and invidious to ridicule the peculiarities of +appearance and manner in people of a different nation from ourselves; we may, +too, at the same moment, be undergoing the same ordeal in their estimation; +and, moreover, I am by no means disposed to consider whatever is new to me as +therefore objectionable; but, nevertheless, it was impossible not to feel +repugnance to many of the novelties that now surrounded me. +</p> + +<p> +The total want of all the usual courtesies of the table, the voracious rapidity +with which the viands were seized and devoured, the strange uncouth phrases and +pronunciation; the loathsome spitting, from the contamination of which it was +absolutely impossible to protect our dresses; the frightful manner of feeding +with their knives, till the whole blade seemed to enter into the mouth; and the +still more frightful manner of cleaning the teeth afterwards with a pocket +knife, soon forced us to feel that we were not surrounded by the generals, +colonels, and majors of the old world; and that the dinner hour was to be any +thing rather than an hour of enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +The little conversation that went forward while we remained in the room, was +entirely political, and the respective claims of Adams and Jackson to the +presidency were argued with more oaths and more vehemence than it had ever been +my lot to hear. Once a colonel appeared on the verge of assaulting a major, +when a huge seven-foot Kentuckian gentleman horse-dealer, asked of the heavens +to confound them both, and bade them sit still and be d—d. We too thought +we should share this sentence; at least sitting still in the cabin seemed very +nearly to include the rest of it, and we never tarried there a moment longer +than was absolutely necessary to eat. +</p> + +<p> +The unbroken flatness of the banks of the Mississippi continued unvaried for +many miles above New Orleans; but the graceful and luxuriant palmetto, the dark +and noble ilex, and the bright orange, were every where to be seen, and it was +many days before we were weary of looking at them. We occasionally used the +opportunity of the boat’s stopping to take in wood for a ten +minutes’ visit to the shore; we in this manner explored a field of sugar +canes, and loaded ourselves with as much of the sweet spoil as we could carry. +Many of the passengers seemed fond of the luscious juice that is easily +expressed from the canes, but it was too sweet for my palate. We also visited, +in the same rapid manner, a cotton plantation. A handsome spacious building was +pointed out to us as a convent, where a considerable number of young ladies +were educated by the nuns. +</p> + +<p> +At one or two points the wearisome level line of forest is relieved by +<i>bluffs</i>, as they call the short intervals of high ground. The town of +Natches is beautifully situated on one of these high spots; the climate here, +in the warm season, is as fatal as that of New Orleans; were it not for this, +Natches would have great attractions to new settlers. The beautiful contrast +that its bright green hill forms with the dismal line of black forest that +stretches on every side, the abundant growth of pawpaw, palmetto and orange, +the copious variety of sweet-scented flowers that flourish there, all make it +appear like an oasis in the desert. Natches is the furthest point to the north +at which oranges ripen in the open air, or endure the winter without shelter. +With the exception of this sweet spot, I thought all the little towns and +villages we passed, wretched looking, in the extreme. As the distance from New +Orleans increased, the air of wealth and comfort exhibited in its immediate +neighbourhood disappeared, and but for one or two clusters of wooden houses, +calling themselves towns, and borrowing some pompous name, generally from +Greece or Rome, we might have thought ourselves the first of the human race who +had ever penetrated into this territory of bears and alligators. But still from +time to time appeared the hut of the wood-cutter, who supplies the steam-boats +with fuel, at the risk, or rather with the assurance of early death, in +exchange for dollars and whiskey. These sad dwellings are nearly all of them +inundated during the winter, and the best of them are constructed on piles, +which permit the water to reach its highest level without drowning the wretched +inhabitants. These unhappy beings are invariably the victims of ague, which +they meet recklessly, sustained by the incessant use of ardent spirits. The +squalid look of the miserable wives and children of these men was dreadful, and +often as the spectacle was renewed I could never look at it with indifference. +Their complexion is of a blueish white, that suggests the idea of dropsy; this +is invariable, and the poor little ones wear exactly the same ghastly hue. A +miserable cow and a few pigs standing knee-deep in water, distinguish the more +prosperous of these dwellings, and on the whole I should say that I never +witnessed human nature reduced so low, as it appeared in the +wood-cutters’ huts on the unwholesome banks of the Mississippi. +</p> + +<p> +It is said that at some points of this dismal river, crocodiles are so abundant +as to add the terror of their attacks to the other sufferings of a dwelling +there. We were told a story of a squatter, who having “located” +himself close to the river’s edge, proceeded to build his cabin. This +operation is soon performed, for social feeling and the love of whiskey bring +all the scanty neighbourhood round a new corner, to aid him in cutting down +trees, and in rolling up the logs, till the mansion is complete. This was done; +the wife and five young children were put in possession of their new home, and +slept soundly after a long march. Towards daybreak the husband and father was +awakened by a faint cry, and looking up, beheld relics of three of his children +scattered over the floor, and an enormous crocodile, with several young ones +around her, occupied in devouring the remnants of their horrid meal. He looked +round for a weapon, but finding none, and aware that unarmed he could do +nothing, he raised himself gently on his bed, and contrived to crawl from +thence through a window, hoping that his wife, whom he left sleeping, might +with the remaining children rest undiscovered till his return. He flew to his +nearest neighbour and besought his aid; in less than half an hour two men +returned with him, all three well armed; but alas! they were too late! the wife +and her two babes lay mangled on their bloody bed. The gorged reptiles fell an +easy prey to their assailants, who, upon examining the place, found the hut had +been constructed close to the mouth of a large hole, almost a cavern, where the +monster had hatched her hateful brood. +</p> + +<p> +Among other sights of desolation which mark this region, condemned of nature, +the lurid glare of a burning forest was almost constantly visible after sunset, +and when the wind so willed, the smoke arising from it floated in heavy vapour +over our heads. Not all the novelty of the scene, not all its vastness, could +prevent its heavy horror wearying the spirits. Perhaps the dinners and suppers +I have described may help to account for this; but certain it is, that when we +had wondered for a week at the ceaseless continuity of forest; had first +admired, and then wearied of the festooned drapery of Spanish moss; when we had +learned to distinguish the different masses of timber that passed us, or that +we passed, as a “snag,” a “log” or a +“sawyer;” when we had finally made up our minds that the gentlemen +of the Kentucky and Ohio military establishments, were not of the same genus as +those of the Tuilleries and St. James’s, we began to wish that we could +sleep more hours away. As we advanced to the northward we were no longer +cheered by the beautiful border of palmettos; and even the amusement of +occasionally spying out a sleeping crocodile was over. +</p> + +<p> +Just in this state, when we would have fain believed that every mile we went, +carried us two towards Memphis, a sudden and violent shock startled us +frightfully. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a sawyer!” said one. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a snag!” cried another. +</p> + +<p> +“We are aground!” exclaimed the captain. +</p> + +<p> +“Aground? Good heavens! and how long shall we stay here?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord in his providence can only tell, but long enough to tire my +patience, I expect.” +</p> + +<p> +And the poor English ladies, how fared they the while? +</p> + +<p> +Two breakfasts, two dinners, and a supper did they eat, with the Ohio and +Kentucky gentlemen, before they moved an inch. Several steam-boats passed while +we were thus enthralled; but some were not strong enough to attempt drawing us +off, and some attempted it, but were not strong enough to succeed; at length a +vast and mighty “thing of life” approached, threw out grappling +irons; and in three minutes the business was done; again we saw the trees and +mud slide swiftly past us; and a hearty shout from every passenger on deck +declared their joy. +</p> + +<p> +At length we had the pleasure of being told that we had arrived at Memphis; but +this pleasure was considerably abated by the hour of our arrival, which was +midnight, and by the rain, which was falling in torrents. +</p> + +<p> +Memphis stands on a high bluff, and at the time of our arrival was nearly +inaccessible. The heavy rain which had been falling for many hours would have +made any steep ascent difficult, but unfortunately a new road had been recently +marked out, which beguiled us into its almost bottomless mud, from the firmer +footing of the unbroken cliff. Shoes and gloves were lost in the mire, for we +were glad to avail ourselves of all our limbs, and we reached the grand hotel +in a most deplorable state. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Wright was well known there, and as soon as her arrival was announced, +every one seemed on the alert to receive her, and we soon found ourselves in +possession of the best rooms in the hotel. The house was new, and in what +appeared to me a very comfortless condition, but I was then new to Western +America, and unaccustomed to their mode of “getting along,” as they +term it. This phrase is eternally in use among them, and seems to mean existing +with as few of the comforts of life as possible. +</p> + +<p> +We slept soundly however, and rose in the hope of soon changing our +mortar-smelling-quarters for Miss Wright’s Nashoba. +</p> + +<p> +But we presently found that the rain which had fallen during the night would +make it hazardous to venture through the forests of Tennessee in any sort of +carriage; we therefore had to pass the day at our queer comfortless hotel. The +steam-boat had wearied me of social meals, and I should have been thankful to +have eaten our dinner of hard venison and peach-sauce in a private room; but +this, Miss Wright said was impossible; the lady of the house would consider the +proposal as a personal affront, and, moreover, it would be assuredly refused. +This latter argument carried weight with it, and when the great bell was +sounded from an upper window of the house, we proceeded to the dining-room. The +table was laid for fifty persons, and was already nearly full. Our party had +the honour of sitting near “the lady,” but to check the proud +feelings to which such distinction might give birth, my servant, William, sat +very nearly opposite to me. The company consisted of all the shop-keepers +(store-keepers as they are called throughout the United States) of the little +town. The mayor also, who was a friend of Miss Wright’s, was of the +party; he is a pleasing gentlemanlike man, and seems strangely misplaced in a +little town on the Mississippi. We were told that since the erection of this +hotel, it has been the custom for all the male inhabitants of the town to dine +and breakfast there. They ate in perfect silence, and with such astonishing +rapidity that their dinner was over literally before our’s was began; the +instant they ceased to eat, they darted from the table in the same moody +silence which they had preserved since they entered the room, and a second set +took their places, who performed their silent parts in the same manner. The +only sounds heard were those produced by the knives and forks, with the +unceasing chorus of coughing, &c. No women were present except ourselves +and the hostess; the good women of Memphis being well content to let their +lords partake of Mrs. Anderson’s turkeys and venison, (without their +having the trouble of cooking for them), whilst they regale themselves on mash +and milk at home. +</p> + +<p> +The remainder of the day passed pleasantly enough in rambling round the little +town, which is situated at the most beautiful point of the Mississippi; the +river is here so wide as to give it the appearance of a noble lake; an island, +covered with lofty forest trees divides it, and relieves by its broad mass of +shadow the uniformity of its waters. The town stretches in a rambling irregular +manner along the cliff, from the Wolf River, one of the innumerable tributaries +to the Mississippi, to about a mile below it. Half a mile more of the cliff +beyond the town is cleared of trees, and produces good pasture for horses, +cows, and pigs; sheep they had none. At either end of this space the forest +again rears its dark wall, and seems to say to man, “so far shalt thou +come, and no farther!” Courage and industry, however, have braved the +warning. Behind this long street the town straggles back into the forest, and +the rude path that leads to the more distant log dwellings becomes wilder at +every step. The ground is broken by frequent water-courses, and the bridges +that lead across them are formed by trunks of trees thrown over the stream, +which support others of smaller growth, that are laid across them. These +bridges are not very pleasant to pass, for they totter under the tread of a +man, and tremble most frightfully beneath a horse or a waggon; they are, +however, very picturesque. The great height of the trees, the quantity of +pendant vine branches that hang amongst them; and the variety of gay plumaged +birds, particularly the small green parrot, made us feel we were in a new +world; and a repetition of our walk the next morning would have pleased us +well, but Miss Wright was anxious to get home, and we were scarcely less so to +see her Nashoba. A clumsy sort of caravan drawn by two horses was prepared for +us; and we set off in high spirits for an expedition of fifteen miles through +the forest. To avoid passing one of the bridges above described, which was +thought insecure, our negro driver took us through a piece of water, which he +assured us was not deep “to matter” however we soon lost sight of +our pole, and as we were evidently descending, we gently remonstrated with him +on the danger of proceeding, but he only grinned, and flogged in reply; we soon +saw the front wheels disappear, and horses began to plunge and kick most +alarmingly, but still without his looking at all disturbed. At length the +splinter-bar gave way, upon which the black philosopher said very composedly, +“I expect you’ll best be riding out upon the horses, as we’ve +got into an unhandsome fix here.” Miss Wright, who sat composedly smiling +at the scene, said, “Yes, Jacob, that is what we must do;” and with +some difficulty we, in this manner, reached the shore, and soon found ourselves +again assembled round Mrs. Anderson’s fire. +</p> + +<p> +It was soon settled that we must delay our departure till the waters had +subsided, but Miss Wright was too anxious to reach home to endure this delay +and she set off again on horseback, accompanied by our man servant, who told me +afterwards that they rode through places that might have daunted the boldest +hunter, but that “Miss Wright took it quite easy.” +</p> + +<p> +The next day we started again, and the clear air, the bright sun, the novel +wildness of the dark forest, and our keenly awakened curiosity, made the +excursion delightful, and enabled us to bear without shrinking the bumps and +bruises we encountered. We soon lost all trace of a road, at least so it +appeared to us, for the stumps of the trees, which had been cut away to open a +passage, were left standing three feet high. Over these, the high-hung +Deerborn, as our carriage was called, passed safely; but it required some miles +of experience to convince us that every stump would not be our last; it was +amusing to watch the cool and easy skill with which the driver wound his horses +and wheels among these stumps. I thought he might have been imported to Bond +street with great advantage. The forest became thicker and more dreary-looking +every mile we advanced, but our ever-grinning negro declared it was a right +good road, and that we should be sure to get to Nashoba. +</p> + +<p> +And so we did….and one glance sufficed to convince me that every idea I had +formed of the place was as far as possible from the truth. Desolation was the +only feeling—the only word that presented itself; but it was not spoken. +I think, however, that Miss Wright was aware of the painful impression the +sight of her forest home produced on me, and I doubt not that the conviction +reached us both at the same moment, that we had erred in thinking that a few +months passed together at this spot could be productive of pleasure to either. +But to do her justice, I believe her mind was so exclusively occupied by the +object she had then in view, that all things else were worthless, or +indifferent to her. I never heard or read of any enthusiasm approaching +her’s, except in some few instances, in ages past, of religious +fanaticism. +</p> + +<p> +It must have been some feeling equally powerful which enabled Miss Wright, +accustomed to all the comfort and refinement of Europe, to imagine not only +that she herself could exist in this wilderness, but that her European friends +could enter there, and not feel dismayed at the savage aspect of the scene. The +annexed plate gives a faithful view of the cleared space and buildings which +form the settlement. Each building consisted of two large rooms furnished in +the most simple manner; nor had they as yet collected round them any of those +minor comforts which ordinary minds class among the necessaries of life. But in +this our philosophical friend seemed to see no evil; nor was there any mixture +of affectation in this indifference; it was a circumstance really and truly +beneath her notice. Her whole heart and soul were occupied by the hope of +raising the African to the level of European intellect; and even now, that I +have seen this favourite fabric of her imagination fall to pieces beneath her +feet, I cannot recall the self-devotion with which she gave herself to it, +without admiration. +</p> + +<p> +The only white persons we found at Nashoba were my amiable friend, Mrs. +W—, the sister of Miss Wright, and her husband. I think they had between +thirty and forty slaves, including children, but when I was there no school had +been established. Books and other materials for the great experiment had been +collected, and one or two professors engaged, but nothing was yet organized. I +found my friend Mrs. W— in very bad health, which she confessed she +attributed to the climate. This naturally so much alarmed me for my children, +that I decided upon leaving the place with as little delay as possible, and did +so at the end of ten days. +</p> + +<p> +I do not exactly know what was the immediate cause which induced Miss Wright to +abandon a scheme which had taken such possession of her imagination, and on +which she had expended so much money; but many months had not elapsed before I +learnt, with much pleasure, that she and her sister had also left it. I think +it probable that she became aware upon returning to Nashoba, that the climate +was too hostile to their health. All I know farther of Nashoba is, that Miss +Wright having found (from some cause or other) that it was impossible to pursue +her object, herself accompanied her slaves to Hayti, and left them there, free, +and under the protection of the President. +</p> + +<p> +I found no beauty in the scenery round Nashoba, nor can I conceive that it +would possess any even in summer. The trees were so close to each other as not +to permit the growth of underwood, the great ornament of the forest at New +Orleans, and still less of our seeing any openings, where the varying effects +of light and shade might atone for the absence of other objects. The clearing +round the settlement appeared to me inconsiderable and imperfect; but I was +told that they had grown good crops of cotton and Indian corn. The weather was +dry and agreeable, and the aspects of the heavens by night surprisingly +beautiful. I never saw moonlight so clear, so pure, so powerful. +</p> + +<p> +We returned to Memphis on the 26th January, 1828, and found ourselves obliged +to pass five days there, awaiting a steam-boat for Cincinnati, to which +metropolis of the west, I was now determined to proceed with my family to await +the arrival of Mr. Trollope. We were told by everyone we spoke to at Memphis, +that it was in all respects the finest situation west of the Alleghanies. We +found many lovely walks among the broken forest glades around Memphis, which, +together with a morning and evening enjoyment of the effects of a glowing +horizon on the river, enabled us to wait patiently for the boat that was to +bear us away. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Departure from Memphis—Ohio River Louisville—Cincinnati +</p> + +<p> +On the 1st of February, 1828, we embarked on board the Criterion, and once more +began to float on the “father of waters,” as the poor banished +Indians were wont to call the Mississippi. The company on board was wonderfully +like what we had met in coming from New Orleans; I think they must have all +been first cousins; and what was singular, they too had all arrived at high +rank in the army. For many a wearisome mile above the Wolf River the only +scenery was still forest—forest—forest; the only variety was +produced by the receding of the river at some points, and its encroaching on +the opposite shore. These changes are continually going on, but from what cause +none could satisfactorily explain to me. Where the river is encroaching, the +trees are seen growing in the water many feet deep; after some time, the water +undermines their roots, and they become the easy victims of the first hurricane +that blows. This is one source of the immense quantities of drift wood that +float into the gulf of Mexico. Where the river has receded, a young growth of +cane-brake is soon seen starting up with the rapid vegetation of the climate; +these two circumstances in some degree relieve the sameness of the thousand +miles of vegetable wall. But we were now approaching the river which is +emphatically called “the beautiful,” La Belle Riveriere of the New +Orleans French; and a few days took us, I trust for ever, out of that murky +stream which is as emphatically called “the deadly;” and well does +it seem to merit the title; the air of its shores is mephitic, and it is said +that nothing that ever sunk beneath its muddy surface was known to rise again. +As truly does “La Belle Rivière” deserve its name; the Ohio is +bright and clear; its banks are continually varied, as it flows through what is +called a rolling country, which seems to mean a district that cannot .shew a +dozen paces of level ground at a time. The primaeval forest still occupies a +considerable portion of the ground, and hangs in solemn grandeur from the +cliffs; but it is broken by frequent settlements, where we were cheered by the +sight of herds and flocks. I imagine that this river presents almost every +variety of river scenery; sometimes its clear wave waters a meadow of level +turf; sometimes it is bounded by perpendicular rocks; pretty dwellings, with +their gay porticos are seen, alternately with wild intervals of forest, where +the tangled bear-brake plainly enough indicates what inhabitants are native +there. Often a mountain torrent comes pouring its silver tribute to the stream, +and were there occasionally a ruined abbey, or feudal castle, to mix the +romance of real life with that of nature, the Ohio would be perfect. +</p> + +<p> +So powerful was the effect of this sweet scenery, that we ceased to grumble at +our dinners and suppers; nay, we almost learnt to rival our neighbours at table +in their voracious rapidity of swallowing, so eager were we to place ourselves +again on the guard, lest we might lose sight of the beauty that was passing +away from us. +</p> + +<p> +Yet these fair shores are still unhealthy. More than once we landed, and +conversed with the families of the wood-cutters, and scarcely was there one in +which we did not hear of some member who had “lately died of the +fever.”—They are all subject to ague, and though their dwellings +are infinitely better than those on the Mississippi, the inhabitants still look +like a race that are selling their lives for gold. +</p> + +<p> +Louisville is a considerable town, prettily situated on the Kentucky, or south +side of the Ohio; we spent some hours in seeing all it had to shew; and had I +not been told that a bad fever often rages there during the warm season, I +should have liked to pass some months there for the purpose of exploring the +beautiful country in its vicinity. Frankfort and Lexington are both towns worth +visiting, though from their being out of the way places, I never got to either. +The first is the seat of the state government of Kentucky, and the last is, I +was told, the residence of several independent families, who, with more leisure +than is usually enjoyed in America, have its natural accompaniment, more +refinement. +</p> + +<p> +The falls of the Ohio are about a mile below Louisville, and produce a rapid, +too sudden for the boats to pass, except in the rainy season. The passengers +are obliged to get out below them, and travel by land to Louisville, where they +find other vessels ready to receive them for the remainder of the voyage. We +were spared this inconvenience by the water being too high for the rapid to be +much felt, and it will soon be altogether removed by the Louisville canal +coming into operation, which will permit the steam-boats to continue their +progress from below the falls to the town. +</p> + +<p> +The scenery on the Kentucky side is much finer than on that of Indiana, or +Ohio. The State of Kentucky was the darling spot of many tribes of Indians, and +was reserved among them as a common hunting ground; it is said that they cannot +yet name it without emotion, and that they have a sad and wild lament that they +still chaunt to its memory. But their exclusion thence is of no recent date; +Kentucky has been longer settled than the Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, and it +appears not only more highly cultivated, but more fertile and more picturesque +than either. I have rarely seen richer pastures than those of Kentucky. The +forest trees, where not too crowded, are of magnificent growth, and the crops +are gloriously abundant where the thriftless husbandry has not worn out the +soil by an unvarying succession of exhausting crops. We were shewn ground which +had borne abundant crops of wheat for twenty successive years; but a much +shorter period suffices to exhaust the ground, if it were made to produce +tobacco without the intermission of some other crop. +</p> + +<p> +We reached Cincinnati on the 10th of February. It is finely situated on the +south side of a hill that rises gently from the water’s edge; yet it is +by no means a city of striking appearance; it wants domes, towers, and +steeples; but its landing-place is noble, extending for more than a quarter of +a mile; it is well paved, and surrounded by neat, though not handsome +buildings. I have seen fifteen steam-boats lying there at once, and still half +the wharf was unoccupied. +</p> + +<p> +On arriving we repaired to the Washington Hotel, and thought ourselves +fortunate when we were told that we were just in time for dinner at the table +d’hôte; but when the dining-room door was opened, we retreated with a +feeling of dismay at seeing between sixty and seventy men already at table. We +took our dinner with the females of the family, and then went forth to seek a +house for our permanent accommodation. +</p> + +<p> +We went to the office of an advertising agent, who professed to keep a register +of all such information, and described the dwelling we wanted. He made no +difficulty, but told us his boy should be our guide through the city, and shew +us what we sought; we accordingly set out with him, and he led us up one +street, and down another, but evidently without any determinate object; I +therefore stopped, and asked him whereabout the houses were which we were going +to see. “I am looking for bills,” was his reply. +</p> + +<p> +I thought we could have looked for bills as well without him, and I told him +so; upon which he assumed an air of great activity, and began knocking +regularly at every door we passed, enquiring if the house was to be let. It was +impossible to endure this long, and our guide was dismissed, though I was +afterwards obliged to pay him a dollar for his services. +</p> + +<p> +We had the good fortune, however, to find a dwelling before long, and we +returned to our hotel, having determined upon taking possession of it as soon +at it could be got ready. Not wishing to take our evening meal either with the +three score and ten gentlemen of the dining-room, nor yet with the half dozen +ladies of the bar-room, I ordered tea in my own chamber. A good-humoured Irish +woman came forward with a sort of patronising manner, took my hand, and said, +“Och, my honey, ye’ll be from the old country. I’ll see you +will have your tay all to yourselves, honey.” With this assurance we +retired to my room, which was a handsome one as to its size and bed furniture, +but it had no carpet, and was darkened by blinds of paper, such as rooms are +hung with, which required to be rolled up, and then fastened with strings very +awkwardly attached to the window-frames, whenever light or air were wished for. +I afterwards met with these same uncomfortable blinds in every part of America. +</p> + +<p> +Our Irish friend soon reappeared, and brought us tea, together with the never +failing accompaniments of American tea drinking, hung beef, “chipped +up” raw, and sundry sweetmeats of brown sugar hue and flavour. We took +our tea, and were enjoying our family talk, relative to our future +arrangements, when a loud sharp knocking was heard at our door. My “come +in,” was answered by the appearance of a portly personage, who proclaimed +himself our landlord. +</p> + +<p> +“Are any of you ill?” he began. +</p> + +<p> +“No thank you, sir; we are all quite well,” was my reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, madam, I must tell you, that I cannot accommodate you on these +terms; we have no family tea-drinkings here, and you must live either with me +or my wife, or not at all in my house.” +</p> + +<p> +This was said with an air of authority that almost precluded reply, but I +ventured a sort of apologistic hint, that we were strangers and unaccustomed to +the manners of the country. +</p> + +<p> +“Our manners are very good manners, and we don’t wish any changes +from England.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought of mine host of the Washington afterwards, when reading Scott’s +“Anne of Geierstein;” he, in truth, strongly resembled the inn +keeper therein immortalized, who made his guests eat, drink, and sleep, just +where, when, and how he pleased. I made no farther remonstrance, but determined +to hasten my removal. This we achieved the next day to our great satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +We were soon settled in our new dwelling, which looked neat and comfortable +enough, but we speedily found that it was devoid of nearly all the +accommodation that Europeans conceive necessary to decency and comfort. No +pump, no cistern, no drain of any kind, no dustman’s cart, or any other +visible means of getting rid of the rubbish, which vanishes with such celerity +in London, that one has no time to think of its existence; but which +accumulated so rapidly at Cincinnati, that I sent for my landlord to know in +what manner refuse of all kinds was to be disposed of. +</p> + +<p> +“Your Help will just have to fix them all into the middle of the street, +but you must mind, old woman, that it is the middle. I expect you don’t +know as we have got a law what forbids throwing such things at the sides of the +streets; they must just all be cast right into the middle, and the pigs soon +takes them off.” +</p> + +<p> +In truth the pigs are constantly seen doing Herculean service in this way +through every quarter of the city; and though it is not very agreeable to live +surrounded by herds of these unsavoury animals, it is well they are so +numerous, and so active in their capacity of scavengers, for without them the +streets would soon be choked up with all sorts of substances in every stage of +decomposition. +</p> + +<p> +We had heard so much of Cincinnati, its beauty, wealth, and unequalled +prosperity, that when we left Memphis to go thither, we almost felt the delight +of Rousseau’s novice, “un voyage à faire, et Paris au bout!” +—As soon, therefore, as our little domestic arrangements were completed, +we set forth to view this “wonder of the west” this +“prophet’s gourd of magic growth,”—this “infant +Hercules;” and surely no travellers ever paraded a city under +circumstances more favourable to their finding it fair to the sight. Three +dreary months had elapsed since we had left the glories of London behind us; +for nearly the whole of that time we beheld no other architecture than what our +ship and steam-boats had furnished, and excepting at New Orleans, had seen +hardly a trace of human habitations. The sight of bricks and mortar was really +refreshing, and a house of three stories looked splendid. Of this splendour we +saw repeated specimens, and moreover a brick church, which, from its two little +peaked spires, is called the two-horned church. But, alas! the flatness of +reality after the imagination has been busy! I hardly know what I expected to +find in this city, fresh risen from the bosom of the wilderness, but certainly +it was not a little town, about the size of Salisbury, without even an attempt +at beauty in any of its edifices, and with only just enough of the air of a +city to make it noisy and bustling. The population is greater than the +appearance of the town would lead one to expect. This is partly owing to the +number of free Negroes who herd together in an obscure part of the city, called +little Africa; and partly to the density of the population round the +paper-mills and other manufactories. I believe the number of inhabitants +exceeds twenty thousand. +</p> + +<p> +We arrived in Cincinnati in February, 1828, and I speak of the town as it was +then; several small churches have been built since, whose towers agreeably +relieve its uninteresting mass of buildings. At that time I think Main street, +which is the principal avenue, (and runs through the whole town, answering to +the High street of our old cities), was the only one entirely paved. The +<i>troittoir</i> is of brick, tolerably well laid, but it is inundated by every +shower, as Cincinnati has no drains whatever. What makes this omission the more +remarkable is, that the situation of the place is calculated both to facilitate +their construction and render them necessary. Cincinnati is built on the side +of a hill that begins to rise at the river’s edge, and were it furnished +with drains of the simplest arrangement, the heavy showers of the climate would +keep them constantly clean; as it is, these showers wash the higher streets, +only to deposit their filth in the first level spot; and this happens to be in +the street second in importance to Main street, running at right angles to it, +and containing most of the large warehouses of the town. This deposit is a +dreadful nuisance, and must be productive of miasma during the hot weather. +</p> + +<p> +The town is built, as I believe most American towns are, in squares, as they +call them; but these squares are the reverse of our’s, being solid +instead of hollow. Each consists, or is intended to consist, when the plan of +the city is completed, of a block of buildings fronting north, east, west, and +south; each house communicating with an alley, furnishing a back entrance. This +plan would not be a bad one were the town properly drained, but as it is, these +alleys are horrible abominations, and must, I conceive, become worse with every +passing year. +</p> + +<p> +To the north, Cincinnati is bounded by a range of forest-covered hills, +sufficiently steep and rugged to prevent their being built upon, or easily +cultivated, but not sufficiently high to command from their summits a view of +any considerable extent. Deep and narrow water-courses, dry in summer, but +bringing down heavy streams in winter, divide these hills into many separate +heights, and this furnishes the only variety the landscape offers for many +miles round the town. The lovely Ohio is a beautiful feature wherever it is +visible, but the only part of the city that has the advantage of its beauty is +the street nearest to its bank. The hills of Kentucky, which rise at about the +same distance from the river, on the opposite side, form the southern boundary +to the basin in which Cincinnati is built. +</p> + +<p> +On first arriving, I thought the many tree covered hills around, very +beautiful, but long before my departure, I felt so weary of the confined view, +that Salisbury Plain would have been an agreeable variety. I doubt if any +inhabitant of Cincinnati ever mounted these hills so often as myself and my +children; but it was rather for the enjoyment of a freer air than for any +beauty of prospect, that we took our daily climb. These hills afford neither +shrubs nor flowers, but furnish the finest specimens of millepore in the world; +and the water courses are full of fossil productions. +</p> + +<p> +The forest trees are neither large nor well grown, and so close as to be nearly +knotted together at top; even the wild vine here loses its beauty, for its +graceful festoons bear leaves only when they reach the higher branches of the +tree that supports them, both air and light being too scantily found below to +admit of their doing more than climbing with a bare stem till they reach a +better atmosphere. The herb we call pennyroyal was the only one I found in +abundance, and that only on the brows, where the ground had been partially +cleared; vegetation is impossible elsewhere, and it is this circumstance which +makes the “eternal forests” of America so detestable. Near New +Orleans the undergrowth of Palmetto and pawpaw is highly beautiful, but in +Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio, I never found the slightest beauty in the forest +scenery. Fallen trees in every possible stage of decay, and congeries of leaves +that have been rotting since the flood, cover the ground and infect the air. +The beautiful variety of foliage afforded by evergreens never occurs, and in +Tennessee, and that part of Ohio that surrounds Cincinnati, even the sterile +beauty of rocks is wanting. On crossing the water to Kentucky the scene is +greatly improved; beech and chestnut, of magnificent growth, border the +beautiful river; the ground has been well cleared, and the herbage is +excellent; the pawpaw grows abundantly, and is a splendid shrub, though it +bears neither fruit nor flowers so far north. The noble tulip tree flourishes +here, and blooms profusely. +</p> + +<p> +The river Licking flows into the Ohio nearly opposite Cincinnati; it is a +pretty winding stream, and two or three miles from its mouth has a brisk rapid, +dancing among white stones, which, in the absence of better rocks, we found +very picturesque. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Cincinnati—Forest Farm—Mr. Bullock +</p> + +<p> +Though I do not quite sympathise with those who consider Cincinnati as one of +the wonders of the earth, I certainly think it a city of extraordinary size and +importance, when it is remembered that thirty years ago the aboriginal forest +occupied the ground where it stands; and every month appears to extend its +limits and its wealth. +</p> + +<p> +Some of the native political economists assert that this rapid conversion of a +bear-brake into a prosperous city, is the result of free political +institutions; not being very deep in such matters, a more obvious cause +suggested itself to me, in the unceasing goad which necessity applies to +industry in this country, and in the absence of all resource for the idle. +During nearly two years that I resided in Cincinnati, or its neighbourhood, I +neither saw a beggar, nor a man of sufficient fortune to permit his ceasing his +efforts to increase it; thus every bee in the hive is actively employed in +search of that honey of Hybla, vulgarly called money; neither art, science, +learning, nor pleasure can seduce them from its pursuit. This unity of purpose, +backed by the spirit of enterprise, and joined with an acuteness and total +absence of probity, where interest is concerned, which might set canny +Yorkshire at defiance, may well go far towards obtaining its purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The low rate of taxation, too, unquestionably permits a more rapid accumulation +of individual wealth than with us; but till I had travelled through America, I +had no idea how much of the money collected in taxes returns among the people, +not only in the purchase of what their industry furnishes, but in the actual +enjoyment of what is furnished. Were I an English legislator, instead of +sending sedition to the Tower, I would send her to make a tour of the United +States. I had a little leaning towards sedition myself when I set out, but +before I had half completed my tour I was quite cured. +</p> + +<p> +I have read much of the “few and simple wants of rational man,” and +I used to give a sort of dreamy acquiescence to the reasoning that went to +prove each added want an added woe. Those who reason in a comfortable London +drawing-room know little about the matter. Were the aliments which sustain life +all that we wanted, the faculties of the hog might suffice us; but if we +analyze an hour of enjoyment, we shall find that it is made up of agreeable +sensations occasioned by a thousand delicate impressions on almost as many +nerves; where these nerves are sluggish from never having been awakened, +external objects are less important, for they are less perceived; but where the +whole machine of the human frame is in full activity, where every sense brings +home to consciousness its touch of pleasure or of pain, then every object that +meets the senses is important as a vehicle of happiness or misery. But let no +frames so tempered visit the United States, or if they do, let it be with no +longer pausing than will store the memory with images, which, by the force of +contrast, shall sweeten the future. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Guarda e passa (e poi) ragioniam di lor.” +</p> + +<p> +The “simple” manner of living in Western America was more +distasteful to me from its levelling effects on the manners of the people, than +from the personal privations that it rendered necessary; and yet, till I was +without them, I was in no degree aware of the many pleasurable sensations +derived from the little elegancies and refinements enjoyed by the middle +classes in Europe. There were many circumstances, too trifling even for my +gossiping pages, which pressed themselves daily and hourly upon us, and which +forced us to remember painfully that we were not at home. It requires an abler +pen than mine to trace the connection which I am persuaded exists between these +deficiencies and the minds and manners of the people. All animal wants are +supplied profusely at Cincinnati, and at a very easy rate; but, alas! these go +but a little way in the history of a day’s enjoyment. The total and +universal want of manners, both in males and females, is so remarkable, that I +was constantly endeavouring to account for it. It certainly does not proceed +from want of intellect. I have listened to much dull and heavy conversation in +America, but rarely to any that I could strictly call silly, (if I except the +every where privileged class of very young ladies). They appear to me to have +clear heads and active intellects; are more ignorant on subjects that are only +of conventional value, than on such as are of intrinsic importance; but there +is no charm, no grace in their conversation. I very seldom during my whole stay +in the country heard a sentence elegantly turned, and correctly pronounced from +the lips of an American. There is always something either in the expression or +the accent that jars the feelings and shocks the taste. +</p> + +<p> +I will not pretend to decide whether man is better or worse off for requiring +refinement in the manners and customs of the society that surrounds him, and +for being incapable of enjoyment without them; but in America that polish which +removes the coarser and rougher parts of our nature is unknown and undreamed +of. There is much substantial comfort, and some display in the larger cities; +in many of the more obvious features they are as Paris or as London, being all +large assemblies of active and intelligent human beings—but yet they are +wonderfully unlike in nearly all their moral features. Now God forbid that any +reasonable American, (of whom there are so many millions), should ever come to +ask me what I mean; I should find it very difficult, nay, perhaps, utterly +impossible, to explain myself; but, on the other hand, no European who has +visited the Union, will find the least difficulty in understanding me. I am in +no way competent to judge of the political institutions of America; and if I +should occasionally make an observation on their effects, as they meet my +superficial glance, they will be made in the spirit, and with the feeling of a +woman, who is apt to tell what her first impressions may be, but unapt to +reason back from effects to their causes. Such observations, if they be +unworthy of much attention, are also obnoxious to little reproof: but there are +points of national peculiarity of which women may judge as ably as +men,—all that constitutes the external of society may be fairly trusted +to us. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Hall, when asked what appeared to him to constitute the greatest +difference between England and America, replied, like a gallant sailor, +“the want of loyalty.” Were the same question put to me, I should +answer, “the want of refinement.” +</p> + +<p> +Were Americans, indeed, disposed to assume the plain unpretending deportment of +the Switzer in the days of his picturesque simplicity, (when, however, he never +chewed tobacco), it would be in bad taste to censure him; but this is not the +case. Jonathan will be a fine gentleman, but it must be in his own way. Is he +not a free-born American? Jonathan, however, must remember, that if he will +challenge competition with the old world, the old world will now and then look +out to see how he supports his pretensions. +</p> + +<p> +With their hours of business, whether judicial or mercantile, civil or +military, I have nothing to do; I doubt not they are all spent wisely and +profitably; but what are their hours of recreation? Those hours that with us +are passed in the enjoyment of all that art can win from nature; when, if the +elaborate repast be more deeply relished than sages might approve, it is +redeemed from sensuality by the presence of elegance and beauty. What is the +American pendant to this? I will not draw any comparisons between a good dinner +party in the two countries; I have heard American gentlemen say, that they +could perceive no difference between them; but in speaking of general manners, +I may observe, that it is rarely they dine in society, except in taverns and +boarding houses. Then they eat with the greatest possible rapidity, and in +total silence; I have heard it said by American ladies, that the hours of +greatest enjoyment to the gentlemen were those in which a glass of gin +cocktail, or egging, receives its highest relish from the absence of all +restraint whatever; and when there were no ladies to trouble them. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding all this, the country is a very fine country, well worth +visiting for a thousand reasons; nine hundred and ninety-nine of these are +reasons founded on admiration and respect; the thousandth is, that we shall +feel the more contented with our own. The more unlike a country through which +we travel is to all we have left, the more we are likely to be amused; every +thing in Cincinnati had this newness, and I should have thought it a place +delightful to visit, but to tarry there was not to feel at home. +</p> + +<p> +My home, however, for a time it was to be. We heard on every side, that of all +the known places on “the globe called earth,” Cincinnati was the +most favourable for a young man to settle in; and I only awaited the arrival of +Mr. T. to fix our son there, intending to continue with him till he should feel +himself sufficiently established. We accordingly determined upon making +ourselves as comfortable as possible. I took a larger house, which, however, I +did not obtain without considerable difficulty, as, notwithstanding fourteen +hundred new dwellings had been erected the preceding year, the demand for +houses greatly exceeded the supply. We became acquainted with several amiable +people, and we beguiled the anxious interval that preceded Mr. T.’s +joining us by frequent excursions in the neighbourhood, which not only afforded +us amusement, but gave us an opportunity of observing the mode of life of the +country people. +</p> + +<p> +We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from its wild and lonely +situation, and from the entire dependence of the inhabitants upon their own +resources. It was a partial clearing in the very heart of the forest. The house +was built on the side of a hill, so steep that a high ladder was necessary to +enter the front door, while the back one opened against the hill side; at the +foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear stream, whose bed had been deepened +into a little reservoir, just opposite the house. A noble field of Indian-corn +stretched away into the forest on one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with +a shed or two upon them, occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, +horses, pigs, and chickens innumerable. Immediately before the house was a +small potatoe garden, with a few peach and apple trees. The house was built of +logs, and consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was +used as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, +drawers, &c. The farmer’s wife, and a young woman who looked like her +sister, were spinning, and three little children were playing about. The woman +told me that they spun and wove all the cotton and woolen garments of the +family, and knit all the stockings; her husband, though not a shoe-maker by +trade, made all the shoes. She manufactured all the soap and candles they used, +and prepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their farm. All she wanted with +money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and whiskey, and she could “get +enough any day by sending a batch of butter and chicken to market.” They +used no wheat, nor sold any of their corn, which, though it appeared a very +large quantity, was not more than they required to make their bread and cakes +of various kinds, and to feed all their live stock during the winter. She did +not look in health, and said they had all had ague in “the fall;” +but she seemed contented, and proud of her independence; though it was in +somewhat a mournful accent that she said, “Tis strange to us to see +company: I expect the sun may rise and set a hundred times before I shall see +another <i>human</i> that does not belong to the family.” +</p> + +<p> +I have been minute in the description of this forest farm, as I think it the +best specimen I saw of the back-wood’s independence, of which so much is +said in America. These people were indeed independent, Robinson Crusoe was +hardly more so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yet it seemed to me that +there was something awful and almost unnatural in their loneliness. No village +bell ever summoned them to prayer, where they might meet the friendly greeting +of their fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancient reverence will +receive their bones—Religion will not breathe her sweet and solemn +farewell upon their grave; the husband or the father will dig the pit that is +to hold them, beneath the nearest tree; he will himself deposit them within it, +and the wind that whispers through the boughs will be their only requiem. But +then they pay neither taxes nor tythes, are never expected to pull off a hat or +to make a curtsy, and will live and die without hearing or uttering the +dreadful words, “God save the king.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +About two miles below Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side of the river, Mr. +Bullock, the well known proprietor of the Egyptian Hall, has bought a large +estate, with a noble house upon it. He and his amiable wife were devoting +themselves to the embellishment of the house and grounds; and certainly there +is more taste and art lavished on one of their beautiful saloons, than all +Western America can show elsewhere. It is impossible to help feeling that Mr. +Bullock is rather out of his element in this remote spot, and the gems of art +he has brought with him, shew as strangely there, as would a bower of roses in +Siberia, or a Cincinnati fashionable at Almack’s. The exquisite beauty of +the spot, commanding one of the finest reaches of the Ohio, the extensive +gardens, and the large and handsome mansion, have tempted Mr. Bullock to spend +a large sum in the purchase of this place, and if any one who has passed his +life in London could endure such a change, the active mind and sanguine spirit +of Mr. Bullock might enable him to do it; but his frank, and truly English +hospitality, and his enlightened and enquiring mind, seemed sadly wasted there. +I have since heard with pleasure that Mr. Bullock has parted with this +beautiful, but secluded mansion. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Servants—Society—Evening Parties +</p> + +<p> +The greatest difficulty in organising a family establishment in Ohio, is +getting servants, or, as it is there called, “getting help,” for it +is more than petty treason to the Republic, to call a free citizen a +<i>servant</i>. The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their +labour, are taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to +domestic service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in +any other manufactory, for less than half the wages they would receive in +service; but they think their equality is compromised by the latter, and +nothing but the wish to obtain some particular article of finery will ever +induce them to submit to it. A kind friend, however, exerted herself so +effectually for me, that a tall stately lass soon presented herself, saying, +“I be come to help you.” The intelligence was very agreeable, and I +welcomed her in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I should give +her by the year. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh Gimini!” exclaimed the damsel, with a loud laugh, “you be +a downright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to see a young lady engage by +the year in America! I hope I shall get a husband before many months, or I +expect I shall be an outright old maid, for I be most seventeen already; +besides, mayhap I may want to go to school. You must just give me a dollar and +half a week, and mother’s slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I +expect, from t’other side the water, to help me clean.” I agreed to +the bargain, of course, with all dutiful submission; and seeing she was +preparing to set to work in a yellow dress parseme with red roses, I gently +hinted, that I thought it was a pity to spoil so fine a gown, and that she had +better change it. +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis just my best and my worst,” she answered, “for +I’ve got no other.” +</p> + +<p> +And in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternal mansion with no +more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her money to +purchase what was necessary for cleanliness and decency, and set to work with +my daughters to make her a gown. She grinned applause when our labour was +completed, but never uttered the slightest expression of gratitude for that, or +for any thing else we could do for her. She was constantly asking us to lend +her different articles of dress, and when we declined it, she said, +“Well, I never seed such grumpy folks as you be; there is several young +ladies of my acquaintance what goes to live out now and then with the old women +about the town, and they and their gurls always lends them what they asks for; +I guess you Inglish thinks we should poison your things, just as bad as if we +was Negurs.” And here I beg to assure the reader, that whenever I give +conversations they were not made À LOISIR, but were written down immediately +after they occurred, with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted. +</p> + +<p> +This young lady left me at the end of two months, because I refused to lend her +money enough to buy a silk dress to go to a ball, saying, “Then +’tis not worth my while to stay any longer.” +</p> + +<p> +I cannot imagine it possible that such a state of things can be desirable, or +beneficial to any of the parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on +the subject, and yet fail to give an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever +wakeful pride that seemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it +was so excessive, that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was +lost in pity. One of these was a pretty girl, whose natural disposition must +have been gentle and kind; but her good feelings were soured, and her +gentleness turned to morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a +thousand times that she was as good as any other lady, that all men were equal, +and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born American to be +treated like a servant. +</p> + +<p> +When she found she was to dine in the kitchen, she turned up her pretty lip, +and said, “I guess that’s ’cause you don’t think +I’m good enough to eat with you. You’ll find that won’t do +here.” I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, and +generally passed the time in tears. I did every thing in my power to conciliate +and make her happy, but I am sure she hated me. I gave her very high wages, and +she staid till she had obtained several expensive articles of dress, and then, +UN BEAU MATIN, she came to me full dressed, and said, “I must go.” +“When shall you return, Charlotte?” “I expect you’ll +see no more of me.” And so we parted. Her sister was also living with me, +but her wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weeks longer, +till it was. +</p> + +<p> +I fear it may be called bad taste to say so much concerning my domestics, but, +nevertheless, the circumstances are so characteristic of America that I must +recount another history relating to them. A few days after the departure of my +ambitious belle, my cries for “Help” had been so effectual that +another young lady presented herself, with the usual preface “I’m +come to help you.” I had been cautioned never to ask for a reference for +character, as it would not only rob me of that help, but entirely prevent my +ever getting another; so, five minutes after she entered she was installed, +bundle and all, as a member of the family. She was by no means handsome, but +there was an air of simple frankness in her manner that won us all. For my own +part, I thought I had got a second Jeanie Deans; for she recounted to me +histories of her early youth, wherein her plain good sense and strong mind had +enabled her to win her way through a host of cruel step-mothers, faithless +lovers, and cheating brothers. Among other things, she told me, with the +appearance of much emotion, that she had found, since she came to town, a cure +for all her sorrows, “Thanks and praise for it, I have got +religion!” and then she asked if I would spare her to go to Meeting every +Tuesday and Thursday evening; “You shall not have to want me, Mrs. +Trollope, for our minister knows that we have all our duties to perform to man, +as well as to God, and he makes the Meeting late in the evening that they may +not cross one another.” Who could refuse? Not I, and Nancy had leave to +go to Meeting two evenings in the week, besides Sundays. +</p> + +<p> +One night, that the mosquitoes had found their way under my net, and prevented +my sleeping, I heard some one enter the house very late; I got up, went to the +top of the stairs, and, by the help of a bright moon, recognised Nancy’s +best bonnet. I called to her: “You are very late.” said I. +“what is the reason of it?” “Oh, Mrs. Trollope,” she +replied, “I am late, indeed! We have this night had seventeen souls added +to our flock. May they live to bless this night! But it has been a long +sitting, and very warm; I’ll just take a drink of water, and get to bed; +you shan’t find me later in the morning for it.” Nor did I. She was +an excellent servant, and performed more than was expected from her; moreover, +she always found time to read the Bible several times in the day, and I seldom +saw her occupied about any thing without observing that she had placed it near +her. +</p> + +<p> +At last she fell sick with the cholera, and her life was despaired of. I nursed +her with great care, and sat up the greatest part of two nights with her. She +was often delirious, and all her wandering thoughts seemed to ramble to heaven. +“I have been a sinner,” she said, “but I am safe in the Lord +Jesus.” When she recovered, she asked me to let her go into the country +for a few days, to change the air, and begged me to lend her three dollars. +</p> + +<p> +While she was absent a lady called on me, and enquired, with some agitation, if +my servant, Nancy Fletcher, were at home. I replied that she was gone into the +country. “Thank God,” she exclaimed, “never let her enter +your doors again, she is the most abandoned woman in the town: a gentleman who +knows you, has been told that she lives with you, and that she boasts of having +the power of entering your house at any hour of night.” She told me many +other circumstances, unnecessary to repeat, but all tending to prove that she +was a very dangerous inmate. +</p> + +<p> +I expected her home the next evening, and I believe I passed the interval in +meditating how to get rid of her without an <i>eclaircissement</i>. At length +she arrived, and all my study having failed to supply me with any other reason +than the real one for dismissing her, I stated it at once. Not the slightest +change passed over her countenance, but she looked steadily at me, and said, in +a very civil tone, “I should like to know who told you.” I replied +that it could be of no advantage to her to know, and that I wished her to go +immediately. “I am ready to go,” she said, in the same quiet tone, +“but what will you do for your three dollars?” “I must do +without them, Nancy; good morning to you.” “I must just put up my +things,” she said, and left the room. About half an hour afterwards, when +we were all assembled at dinner, she entered with her usual civil composed air, +“Well, I am come to wish you all goodbye,” and with a friendly +good-humoured smile she left us. +</p> + +<p> +This adventure frightened me so heartily, that, notwithstanding I had the dread +of cooking my own dinner before my eyes, I would not take any more young ladies +into my family without receiving some slight sketch of their former history. At +length I met with a very worthy French woman, and soon after with a tidy +English girl to assist her; and I had the good fortune to keep them till a +short time before my departure: so, happily, I have no more misfortunes of this +nature to relate. +</p> + +<p> +Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements, it is obvious, +that the ladies who are brought up amongst them cannot have leisure for any +great development of the mind: it is, in fact, out of the question; and, +remembering this, it is more surprising that some among them should be very +pleasing, than that none should be highly instructed. +</p> + +<p> +Had I passed as many evenings in company in any other town that I ever visited +as I did in Cincinnati, I should have been able to give some little account of +the conversations I had listened to; but, upon reading over my notes, and then +taxing my memory to the utmost to supply the deficiency, I can scarcely find a +trace of any thing that deserves the name. Such as I have, shall be given in +their place. But, whatever may be the talents of the persons who meet together +in society, the very shape, form, and arrangement of the meeting is sufficient +to paralyze conversation. The women invariably herd together at one part of the +room, and the men at the other; but, in justice to Cincinnati, I must +acknowledge that this arrangement is by no means peculiar to that city, or to +the western side of the Alleghanies. Sometimes a small attempt at music +produces a partial reunion; a few of the most daring youths, animated by the +consciousness of curled hair and smart waistcoats, approach the piano forte, +and begin to mutter a little to the half-grown pretty things, who are comparing +with one another “how many quarters’ music they have had.” +Where the mansion is of sufficient dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the +piano, the little ladies, and the slender gentlemen are left to themselves, and +on such occasions the sound of laughter is often heard to issue from among +them. But the fate of the more dignified personages, who are left in the other +room, is extremely dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price +of produce, and spit again. The ladies look at each other’s dresses till +they know every pin by heart; talk of Parson Somebody’s last sermon on +the day of judgment, on Dr. T’otherbody’s new pills for dyspepsia, +till the “tea” is announced, when they all console themselves +together for whatever they may have suffered in keeping awake, by taking more +tea, coffee, hot cake and custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and +dodger cake, pickled peaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, +apple sauce, and pickled oysters than ever were prepared in any other country +of the known world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the +drawing-room, and it always appeared to me that they remained together as long +as they could bear it, and then they rise EN MASSE, cloak, bonnet, shawl, and +exit. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Market—Museum—Picture Gallery—Academy of Fine Arts Drawing +School—Phrenological Society—Miss Wright’s Lecture. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the most advantageous feature in Cincinnati is its market, which, for +excellence, abundance, and cheapness, can hardly, I should think, be surpassed +in any part of the world, if I except the luxury of fruits, which are very +inferior to any I have seen in Europe. There are no butchers, fishmongers, or +indeed any shops for eatables, except bakeries, as they are called, in the +town; every thing must be purchased at market; and to accomplish this, the busy +housewife must be stirring betimes, or, ’spite of the abundant supply, +she will find her hopes of breakfast, dinner, and supper for the day defeated, +the market being pretty well over by eight o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +The beef is excellent, and the highest price when we were there, four cents +(about two-pence) the pound. The mutton was inferior, and so was veal to the +eye, but it ate well, though not very fat; the price was about the same. The +poultry was excellent; fowls or full-sized chickens, ready for table, twelve +cents, but much less if bought alive, and not quite fat; turkeys about fifty +cents, and geese the same. The Ohio furnishes several sorts of fish, some of +them very good, and always to be found cheap and abundant in the market. Eggs, +butter, nearly all kinds of vegetables, excellent, and at moderate prices. From +June till December tomatoes (the great luxury of the American table in the +opinion of most Europeans) may be found in the highest perfection in the market +for about sixpence the peck. They have a great variety of beans unknown in +England, particularly the lima-bean, the seed of which is dressed like the +French harico; it furnishes a very abundant crop, and is a most delicious +vegetable: could it be naturalised with us it would be a valuable acquisition. +The Windsor, or broad-bean, will not do well there; Mr. Bullock had them in his +garden, where they were cultivated with much care; they grew about a foot high +and blossomed, but the pod never ripened. All the fruit I saw exposed for sale +in Cincinnati was most miserable. I passed two summers there, but never tasted +a peach worth eating. Of apricots and nectarines I saw none; strawberries very +small, raspberries much worse; gooseberries very few, and quite uneatable; +currants about half the size of ours, and about double the price; grapes too +sour for tarts; apples abundant, but very indifferent, none that would be +thought good enough for an English table; pears, cherries, and plums most +miserably bad. The flowers of these regions were at least equally inferior: +whether this proceeds from want of cultivation or from peculiarity of soil I +know not, but after leaving Cincinnati, I was told by a gentleman who appeared +to understand the subject, that the state of Ohio had no indigenous flowers or +fruits. The water-melons, which in that warm climate furnish a delightful +refreshment, were abundant and cheap; but all other melons very inferior to +those of France, or even of England, when ripened in a common hot-bed. +</p> + +<p> +From the almost total want of pasturage near the city, it is difficult for a +stranger to divine how milk is furnished for its supply, but we soon learnt +that there are more ways than one of keeping a cow. A large proportion of the +families in the town, particularly of the poorer class, have one, though +apparently without any accommodation whatever for it. These animals are fed +morning and evening at the door of the house, with a good mess of Indian corn, +boiled with water; while they eat, they are milked, and when the operation is +completed the milk-pail and the meal-tub retreat into the dwelling, leaving the +republican cow to walk away, to take her pleasure on the hills, or in the +gutters, as may suit her fancy best. They generally return very regularly to +give and take the morning and evening meal; though it more than once happened +to us, before we were supplied by a regular milk cart, to have our jug sent +home empty, with the sad news that “the cow was not come home, and it was +too late to look for her to breakfast now.” Once, I remember, the good +woman told us that she had overslept herself, and that the cow had come and +gone again, “not liking, I expect, to hanker about by herself for +nothing, poor thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Cincinnati has not many lions to boast, but among them are two museums of +natural history; both of these contain many respectable specimens, particularly +that of Mr. Dorfeuille, who has moreover, some highly interesting Indian +antiquities. He is a man of taste and science, but a collection formed strictly +according to their dictates, would by no means satisfy the western metropolis. +The people have a most extravagant passion for wax figures, and the two museums +vie with each other in displaying specimens of this barbarous branch of art. As +Mr. Dorfeuille cannot trust to his science for attracting the citizens, he has +put his ingenuity into requisition, and this has proved to him the surer aid of +the two. He has constructed a pandaemonium in an upper story of his museum, in +which he has congregated all the images of horror that his fertile fancy could +devise; dwarfs that by machinery grow into giants before the eyes of the +spectator; imps of ebony with eyes of flame; monstrous reptiles devouring youth +and beauty; lakes of fire, and mountains of ice; in short, wax, paint and +springs have done wonders. “To give the scheme some more effect,” +he makes it visible only through a grate of massive iron bars, among which are +arranged wires connected with an electrical machine in a neighbouring chamber; +should any daring hand or foot obtrude itself with the bars, it receives a +smart shock, that often passes through many of the crowd, and the cause being +unknown, the effect is exceedingly comic; terror, astonishment, curiosity, are +all set in action, and all contribute to make “Dorfeuille’s +Hell” one of the most amusing exhibitions imaginable. +</p> + +<p> +There is also a picture gallery at Cincinnati, and this was a circumstance of +much interest to us, as our friend Mr. H., who had accompanied Miss Wright to +America, in the expectation of finding a good opening in the line of historical +painting, intended commencing his experiment at Cincinnati. It would be +invidious to describe the picture gallery; I have no doubt, that some years +hence it will present a very different appearance. Mr. H. was very kindly +received by many of the gentlemen of the city, and though the state of the fine +arts there gave him but little hope that he should meet with much success, he +immediately occupied himself in painting a noble historical picture of the +landing of General Lafayette at Cincinnati. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the clearest proof of the little feeling for art that existed at that +time in Cincinnati, may be drawn from the result of an experiment originated by +a German, who taught drawing there. He conceived the project of forming a +chartered academy of fine arts; and he succeeded in the beginning to his utmost +wish, or rather, “they fooled him to the top of his bent.” Three +thousand dollars were subscribed, that is to say, names were written against +different sums to that amount, a house was chosen, and finally, application was +made to the government, and the charter obtained, rehearsing formally the names +of the subscribing members, the professors, and the officers. So far did the +steam of their zeal impel them, but at this point it was let off; the affair +stood still, and I never heard the academy of fine arts mentioned afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +This same German gentleman, on seeing Mr. H.’s sketches, was so well +pleased with them, that he immediately proposed his joining him in his drawing +school, with an agreement, I believe that his payment from it should be five +hundred dollars a year. Mr. H. accepted the proposal, but the union did not +last long, and the cause of its dissolution was too American to be omitted. Mr. +H. prepared his models, and attended the class, which was numerous, consisting +both of boys and girls. He soon found that the “sage called +Decipline” was not one of the assistants, and he remonstrated against the +constant talking, and running from one part of the room to another, but in +vain; finding, however, that he could do nothing till this was discontinued, he +wrote some rules, enforcing order, for the purpose of placing them at the door +of the academy. When he shewed them to his colleague, he shook his head, and +said, “Very goot, very goot in Europe, but America boys and gals vill not +bear it, dey will do just vat dey please; Suur, dey vould all go avay next +day.” “And you will not enforce these regulations <i>si +necessaires</i>, Monsieur?” “Olar! not for de vorld.” +“<i>Eh bien</i>, Monsieur, I must leave the young republicans to your +management.” +</p> + +<p> +I heard another anecdote that will help to show the state of art at this time +in the west. Mr. Bullock was shewing to some gentlemen of the first standing, +the very <i>elite</i> of Cincinnati, his beautiful collection of engravings, +when one among them exclaimed, “Have you really done all these since you +came here? How hard you must have worked!” +</p> + +<p> +I was also told of a gentleman of High Cincinnati, TON and critical of his +taste for the fine arts, who, having a drawing put into his hands, representing +Hebe and the bird, umquhile sacred to Jupiter, demanded in a satirical tone, +“What is this?” “Hebe,” replied the alarmed collector. +“Hebe,” sneered the man of taste, “What the devil has Hebe to +do with the American eagle?” +</p> + +<p> +We had not been long at Cincinnati when Dr. Caldwell, the Spurzheim of America, +arrived there for the purpose of delivering lectures on phrenology. I attended +his lectures, and was introduced to him. He has studied Spurzheim and Combe +diligently, and seems to understand the science to which he has devoted +himself; but neither his lectures nor his conversation had that delightful +truth of genuine enthusiasm, which makes listening to Dr. Spurzheim so great a +treat. His lectures, however, produced considerable effect. Between twenty and +thirty of the most erudite citizens decided upon forming a phrenological +society. A meeting was called, and fully attended; a respectable number of +subscribers’ names was registered, the payment of subscriptions being +arranged for a future day. President, vice- president, treasurer, and +secretary, were chosen; and the first meeting dissolved with every appearance +of energetic perseverance in scientific research. +</p> + +<p> +The second meeting brought together one-half of this learned body, and they +enacted rules and laws, and passed resolutions, sufficient, it was said, to +have filled three folios. +</p> + +<p> +A third day of meeting arrived, which was an important one, as on this occasion +the subscriptions were to be paid. The treasurer came punctually, but found +himself alone. With patient hope, he waited two hours for the wise men of the +west, but he waited in vain: and so expired the Phrenological Society of +Cincinnati. +</p> + +<p> +I had often occasion to remark that the spirit of enterprise or improvement +seldom glowed with sufficient ardour to resist the smothering effect of a +demand for dollars. The Americans love talking. All great works, however, that +promise a profitable result, are sure to meet support from men who have +enterprise and capital sufficient to await the return; but where there is +nothing but glory, or the gratification of taste to be expected, it is, I +believe, very rarely that they give any thing beyond “their most sweet +voices.” +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps they are right. In Europe we see fortunes crippled by a passion for +statues, or for pictures, or for books, or for gems; for all and every of the +artificial wants that give grace to life, and tend to make man forget that he +is a thing of clay. They are wiser in their generation on the other side the +Atlantic; I rarely saw any thing that led to such oblivion there. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after Dr. Caldwell’s departure, another lecturer appeared upon the +scene, whose purpose of publicly addressing the people was no sooner made +known, than the most violent sensation was excited. +</p> + +<p> +That a lady of fortune, family, and education, whose youth had been passed in +the most refined circles of private life, should present herself to the people +as a public lecturer, would naturally excite surprise any where, and the nil +admirari of the old world itself, would hardly be sustained before such a +spectacle; but in America, where women are guarded by a seven- fold shield of +habitual insignificance, it caused an effect that can hardly be described. +“Miss Wright, of Nashoba, is going to lecture at the court-house,” +sounded from street to street, and from house to house. I shared the surprise, +but not the wonder; I knew her extraordinary gift of eloquence, her almost +unequalled command of words, and the wonderful power of her rich and thrilling +voice; and I doubted not that if it was her will to do it, she had the power of +commanding the attention, and enchanting the ear of any audience before whom it +was her pleasure to appear. I was most anxious to hear her, but was almost +deterred from attempting it, by the reports that reached me of the immense +crowd that was expected. After many consultations, and hearing that many other +ladies intended going, my friend Mrs. P—, and myself, decided upon making +the attempt, accompanied by a party of gentlemen, and found the difficulty less +than we anticipated, though the building was crowded in every part. We +congratulated ourselves that we had had the courage to be among the number, for +all my expectations fell far short of the splendour, the brilliance, the +overwhelming eloquence of this extraordinary orator. +</p> + +<p> +Her lecture was upon the nature of true knowledge, and it contained little that +could be objected to, by any sect or party; it was intended as an introduction +to the strange and startling theories contained in her subsequent lectures, and +could alarm only by the hints it contained that the fabric of human wisdom +could rest securely on no other base than that of human knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +There was, however, one passage from which common-sense revolted; it was one +wherein she quoted that phrase of mischievous sophistry, “all men are +born free and equal.” This false and futile axiom, which has done, is +doing, and will do so much harm to this fine country, came from Jefferson; and +truly his life was a glorious commentary upon it. I pretend not to criticise +his written works, but commonsense enables me to pronounce this, his favourite +maxim, false. +</p> + +<p> +Few names are held in higher estimation in America, than that of Jefferson; it +is the touchstone of the democratic party, and all seem to agree that he was +one of the greatest of men; yet I have heard his name coupled with deeds which +would make the sons of Europe shudder. The facts I allude to are spoken openly +by all, not whispered privately by a few; and in a country where religion is +the tea-table talk, and its strict observance a fashionable distinction, these +facts are recorded, and listened to, without horror, nay, without emotion. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Jefferson is said to have been the father of children by almost all his +numerous gang of female slaves. These wretched offspring were also the lawful +slaves of their father, and worked in his house and plantations as such; in +particular, it is recorded that it was his especial pleasure to be waited upon +by them at table, and the hospitable orgies for which his Montecielo was so +celebrated, were incomplete, unless the goblet he quaffed were tendered by the +trembling hand of his own slavish offspring. +</p> + +<p> +I once heard it stated by a democratical adorer of this great man, that when, +as it sometimes happened, his children by Quadroon slaves were white enough to +escape suspicion of their origin, he did not pursue them if they attempted to +escape, saying laughingly, “Let the rogues get off, if they can; I will +not hinder them.” This was stated in a large party, as a proof of his +kind and noble nature, and was received by all with approving smiles. +</p> + +<p> +If I know anything of right or wrong, if virtue and vice be indeed something +more than words, then was this great American an unprincipled tyrant, and most +heartless libertine. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to Miss Wright,—it is impossible to imaging any thing more +striking than her appearance. Her tall and majestic figure, the deep and almost +solemn expression of her eyes, the simple contour of her finely formed head, +unadorned excepting by its own natural ringlets; her garment of plain white +muslin, which hung around her in folds that recalled the drapery of a Grecian +statue, all contributed to produce an effect, unlike anything I had ever seen +before, or ever expect to see again. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Absence of public and private Amusement—Churches and +Chapels—Influence of the Clergy—A Revival +</p> + +<p> +I never saw any people who appeared to live so much without amusement as the +Cincinnatians. Billiards are forbidden by law, so are cards. To sell a pack of +cards in Ohio subjects the seller to a penalty of fifty dollars. They have no +public balls, excepting, I think, six, during the Christmas holidays. They have +no concerts. They have no dinner parties. +</p> + +<p> +They have a theatre, which is, in fact, the only public amusement of this +triste little town; but they seem to care little about it, and either from +economy or distaste, it is very poorly attended. Ladies are rarely seen there, +and by far the larger proportion of females deem it an offence against religion +to witness the representation of a play. It is in the churches and chapels of +the town that the ladies are to be seen in full costume; and I am tempted to +believe that a stranger from the continent of Europe would be inclined, on +first reconnoitering the city, to suppose that the places of worship were the +theatres and cafes of the place. No evening in the week but brings throngs of +the young and beautiful to the chapels and meeting- houses, all dressed with +care, and sometimes with great pretension; it is there that all display is +made, and all fashionable distinction sought. The proportion of gentlemen +attending these evening meetings is very small, but often, as might be +expected, a sprinkling of smart young clerks make this sedulous display of +ribbons and ringlets intelligible and natural. Were it not for the churches, +indeed, I think there might be a general bonfire of best bonnets, for I never +could discover any other use for them. +</p> + +<p> +The ladies are too actively employed in the interior of their houses to permit +much parading in full dress for morning visits. There are no public gardens or +lounging shops of fashionable resort, and were it not for public worship, and +private tea- drinkings, all the ladies in Cincinnati would be in danger of +becoming perfect recluses. +</p> + +<p> +The influence which the ministers of all the innumerable religious sects +throughout America, have on the females of their respective congregations, +approaches very nearly to what we read of in Spain, or in other strictly Roman +Catholic countries. There are many causes for this peculiar influence. Where +equality of rank is affectedly acknowledged by the rich, and clamourously +claimed by the poor, distinction and preeminence are allowed to the clergy +only. This gives them high importance in the eyes of the ladies. I think, also, +that it is from the clergy only that the women of America receive that sort of +attention which is so dearly valued by every female heart throughout the world. +With the priests of America, the women hold that degree of influential +importance which, in the countries of Europe, is allowed them throughout all +orders and ranks of society, except, perhaps, the very lowest; and in return +for this they seem to give their hearts and souls into their keeping. I never +saw, or read, of any country where religion had so strong a hold upon the +women, or a slighter hold upon the men. +</p> + +<p> +I mean not to assert that I met with no men of sincerely religious feelings, or +with no women of no religious feeling at all; but I feel perfectly secure of +being correct as to the great majority in the statement I have made. +</p> + +<p> +We had not been many months in Cincinnati when our curiosity was excited by +hearing the “revival” talked of by every one we met throughout the +town. “The revival will be very full”—“We shall be +constantly engaged during the revival”—were the phrases we +constantly heard repeated, and for a long time, without in the least +comprehending what was meant; but at length I learnt that the un-national +church of America required to be roused, at regular intervals, to greater +energy and exertion. At these seasons the most enthusiastic of the clergy +travel the country, and enter the cities and towns by scores, or by hundreds, +as the accommodation of the place may admit, and for a week or fortnight, or, +if the population be large, for a month; they preach and pray all day, and +often for a considerable portion of the night, in the various churches and +chapels of the place. This is called a Revival. +</p> + +<p> +I took considerable pains to obtain information on this subject; but in +detailing what I learnt I fear that it is probable I shall be accused of +exaggeration; all I can do is cautiously to avoid deserving it. The subject is +highly interesting, and it would be a fault of no trifling nature to treat it +with levity. +</p> + +<p> +These itinerant clergymen are of all persuasions, I believe, except the +Episcopalian, Catholic, Unitarian, and Quaker. I heard of Presbyterians of all +varieties; of Baptists of I know not how many divisions; and of Methodists of +more denominations than I can remember; whose innumerable shades of varying +belief, it would require much time to explain, and more to comprehend. They +enter all the cities, towns, and villages of the Union, in succession; I could +not learn with sufficient certainty to repeat, what the interval generally is +between their visits. These itinerants are, for the most part, lodged in the +houses of their respective followers, and every evening that is not spent in +the churches and meeting-houses, is devoted to what would be called parties by +others, but which they designate as prayer meetings. Here they eat, drink, +pray, sing, hear confessions, and make converts. To these meetings I never got +invited, and therefore I have nothing but hearsay evidence to offer, but my +information comes from an eye-witness, and one on whom I believe I may depend. +If one half of what I heard may be believed, these social prayer meetings are +by no means the most curious, or the least important part of the business. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible not to smile at the close resemblance to be traced between the +feelings of a first-rate Presbyterian or Methodist lady, fortunate enough to +have secured a favourite Itinerant for her meeting, and those of a first-rate +London Blue, equally blest in the presence of a fashionable poet. There is a +strong family likeness among us all the world over. +</p> + +<p> +The best rooms, the best dresses, the choicest refreshments solemnize the +meeting. While the party is assembling, the load-star of the hour is occupied +in whispering conversations with the guests as they arrive. They are called +brothers and sisters, and the greetings are very affectionate. When the room is +full, the company, of whom a vast majority are always women, are invited, +intreated, and coaxed to confess before their brothers and sisters, all their +thoughts, faults, and follies. +</p> + +<p> +These confessions are strange scenes; the more they confess, the more +invariably are they encouraged and caressed. When this is over, they all kneel, +and the Itinerant prays extempore. They then eat and drink; and then they sing +hymns, pray, exhort, sing, and pray again, till the excitement reaches a very +high pitch indeed. These scenes are going on at some house or other every +evening during the revival, nay, at many at the same time, for the churches and +meeting-houses cannot give occupation to half the Itinerants, though they are +all open throughout the day, and till a late hour in the night, and the +officiating ministers succeed each other in the occupation of them. +</p> + +<p> +It was at the principal of the Presbyterian churches that I was twice witness +to scenes that made me shudder; in describing one, I describe both and every +one; the same thing is constantly repeated. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the middle of summer, but the service we were recommended to attend +did not begin till it was dark. The church was well lighted, and crowded almost +to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests standing side by side, in a +sort of tribune, placed where the altar usually is, handsomely fitted up with +crimson curtains, and elevated about as high as our pulpits. We took our places +in a pew close to the rail which surrounded it. +</p> + +<p> +The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer was extravagantly +vehement, and offensively familiar in expression; when this ended, a hymn was +sung, and then another priest took the centre place, and preached. The sermon +had considerable eloquence, but of a frightful kind. The preacher described, +with ghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting moments of human life, and +then the gradual progress of decay after death, which he followed through every +process up to the last loathsome stage of decomposition. Suddenly changing his +tone, which had been that of sober accurate description, into the shrill voice +of horror, he bent forward his head, as if to gaze on some object beneath the +pulpit. And as Rebecca made known to Ivanhoe what she saw through the window, +so the preacher made known to us what he saw in the pit that seemed to open +before him. The device was certainly a happy one for giving effect to his +description of hell. No image that fire, flame, brimestone, molten lead, or +red-hot pincers could supply; with flesh, nerves, and sinews quivering under +them, was omitted. The perspiration ran in streams from the face of the +preacher; his eyes rolled, his lips were covered with foam, and every feature +had the deep expression of horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been +gazing at the scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length he gave a +languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if to express his feeble +state, and then sat down, and wiped the drops of agony from his brow. +</p> + +<p> +The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It was some seconds +before the congregation could join as usual; every upturned face looked pale +and horror struck. When the singing ended, another took the centre place, and +began in a sort of coaxing affectionate tone, to ask the congregation if what +their dear brother had spoken had reached their hearts? Whether they would +avoid the hell he had made them see? “Come, then!” he continued, +stretching out his arms towards them, “come to us, and tell us so, and we +will make you see Jesus, the dear gentle Jesus, who shall save you from it. But +you must come to him! You must not be ashamed to come to him! This night you +shall tell him that you are not ashamed of him; we will make way for you; we +will clear the bench for anxious sinners to sit upon. Come, then! come to the +anxious bench, and we will shew you Jesus! Come! Come! Come!” Again a +hymn was sung, and while it continued, one of the three was employed in +clearing one or two long benches that went across the rail, sending the people +back to the lower part of the church. The singing ceased, and again the people +were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed of Jesus, but to put themselves +upon “the anxious benches,” and lay their heads on his bosom. +“Once more we will sing,” he concluded, “that we may give you +time.” And again they sung a hymn. +</p> + +<p> +And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at +first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Young girls arose, and sat down, +and rose again; and then the pews opened, and several came tottering out, their +hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every limb trembling, +and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures approached the rail their +sobs and groans became audible. They seated themselves on the “anxious +benches;” the hymn ceased, and two of the three priests walked down from +the tribune, and going, one to the right, and the other to the left, began +whispering to the poor tremblers seated there. These whispers were inaudible to +us, but the sobs and groans increased to a frightful excess. Young creatures, +with features pale and distorted, fell on their knees on the pavement, and soon +sunk forward on their faces; the most violent cries and shrieks followed, while +from time to time a voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, +“Oh Lord!” “Oh Lord Jesus!” “Help me, +Jesus!” and the like. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the two priests continued to walk among them; they repeatedly mounted +on the benches, and trumpet-mouthed proclaimed to the whole congregation, +“the tidings of salvation,” and then from every corner of the +building arose in reply, short sharp cries of “Amen!” +“Glory!” “Amen!” while the prostrate penitents +continued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to time a mystic +caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled by a reverend arm. Violent +hysterics and convulsions seized many of them, and when the tumult was at the +highest, the priest who remained above, again gave out a hymn as if to drown +it. +</p> + +<p> +It was a frightful sight to behold innocent young creatures, in the gay morning +of existence, thus seized upon, horror struck, and rendered feeble and +enervated for ever. One young girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was +supported in the arms of another, some years older; her face was pale as death; +her eyes wide open, and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosom wet +with slaver; she had every appearance of idiotism. I saw a priest approach her, +he took her delicate hand, “Jesus is with her! Bless the Lord!” he +said, and passed on. +</p> + +<p> +Did the men of America value their women as men ought to value their wives and +daughters, would such scenes be permitted among them? +</p> + +<p> +It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call to place themselves +on the “anxious benches” were women, and by far the greater number +very young women. The congregation was, in general, extremely well dressed, and +the smartest and most fashionable ladies of the town were there; during the +whole revival the churches and meeting-houses were every day crowded with well +dressed people. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attend the theatre is +forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but they work hard in their families, and +must have some relaxation. For myself, I confess that I think the coarsest +comedy ever written would be a less detestable exhibition for the eyes of youth +and innocence than such a scene. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Schools—Climate—Water Melons—Fourth of +July—Storms—Pigs—Moving Houses—Mr. +Flint—Literature +</p> + +<p> +Cincinnati contains many schools, but of their rank or merit I had very little +opportunity of judging; the only one which I visited was kept by Dr. Lock, a +gentleman who appears to have liberal and enlarged opinions on the subject of +female education. Should his system produce practical results proportionably +excellent, the ladies of Cincinnati will probably some years hence be much +improved in their powers of companionship. I attended the annual public +exhibition at this school, and perceived, with some surprise, that the higher +branches of science were among the studies of the pretty creatures I saw +assembled there. One lovely girl of sixteen took her degree in mathematics, and +another was examined in moral philosophy. They blushed so sweetly, and looked +so beautifully puzzled and confounded, that it might have been difficult for an +abler judge than I was to decide how far they merited the diploma they +received. +</p> + +<p> +This method of letting young ladies graduate, and granting them diplomas on +quitting the establishment, was quite new to me; at least, I do not remember to +have heard of any thing similar elsewhere. I should fear that the time allowed +to the fair graduates of Cincinnati for the acquirement of these various +branches of education would seldom be sufficient to permit their reaching the +eminence in each which their enlightened instructor anticipates. “A +quarter’s” mathematics, or “two quarters” political +economy, moral philosophy, algebra, and quadratic equations, would seldom, I +should think, enable the teacher and the scholar, by their joint efforts, to +lay in such a stock of these sciences as would stand the wear and tear of half +a score of children, and one help. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Towards the end of May we began to feel that we were in a climate warmer than +any we had been accustomed to, and my son suffered severely from the effects of +it. A bilious complaint, attended by a frightful degree of fever, seized him, +and for some days we feared for his life. The treatment he received was, I have +no doubt, judicious, but the quantity of calomel prescribed was enormous. I +asked one day how many grains I should prepare, and was told to give half a +teaspoonful. The difference of climate must, I imagine, make a difference in +the effect of this drug, or the practice of the old and new world could hardly +differ so widely as it does in the use of it. Anstey, speaking of the Bath +physicians, says, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + “No one e’er viewed<br/> +Any one of the medical gentlemen stewed.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +But I can vouch, upon my own experience, that no similar imputation lies +against the gentlemen who prescribe large quantities of calomel in America. To +give one instance in proof of this, when I was afterwards in Montgomery county, +near Washington, a physician attended one of our neighbours, and complained +that he was himself unwell. “You must take care of yourself, +Doctor,” said the patient; “I do so,” he replied, “I +took forty grains of calomel yesterday, and I feel better than I did.” +Repeated and violent bleeding was also had recourse to in the case of my son, +and in a few days he was able to leave his room, but he was dreadfully +emaciated, and it was many weeks before he recovered his strength. +</p> + +<p> +As the heat of the weather increased we heard of much sickness around us. The +city is full of physicians, and they were all to be seen driving about in their +cabs at a very alarming rate. One of these gentlemen told us, that when a +medical man intended settling in a new situation, he always, if he knew his +business, walked through the streets at nights, before he decided. If he saw +the dismal twinkle of the watch-light from many windows he might be sure that +disease was busy, and the the “location” might suit him well. +Judging, by this criterion, Cincinnati was far from healthy, I began to fear +for our health, and determined to leave the city; but, for a considerable time +I found it impossible to procure a dwelling out of it. There were many +boarding-houses in the vicinity, but they were all overflowing with guests. We +were advised to avoid, as much as possible, walking out in the heat of the day; +but the mornings and evenings were delightful, particularly the former, if +taken sufficiently early. For several weeks I was never in bed after four +o’clock, and at this hour I almost daily accompanied my +“help” to market, where the busy novelty of the scene afforded me +much amusement. +</p> + +<p> +Many waggon-loads of enormous water-melons were brought to market every day, +and I was sure to see groups of men, women, and children seated on the pavement +round the spot where they were sold, sucking in prodigious quantities of this +water-fruit. Their manner of devouring them is extremely unpleasant; the huge +fruit is cut into half a dozen sections, of about a foot long, and then, +dripping as it is with water, applied to the mouth, from either side of which +pour copious streams of the fluid, while, ever and anon, a mouthful of the hard +black seeds are shot out in all directions, to the great annoyance of all +within reach. When I first tasted this fruit I thought it very vile stuff +indeed, but before the end of the season we all learned to like it. When taken +with claret and sugar it makes delicious wine and water. +</p> + +<p> +It is the custom for the gentlemen to go to market at Cincinnati; the smartest +men in the place, and those of the “highest standing” do not +scruple to leave their beds with the sun, six days in the week, and, prepared +with a mighty basket, to sally forth in search of meat, butter, eggs and +vegetables. I have continually seen them returning, with their weighty basket +on one arm and an enormous ham depending from the other. +</p> + +<p> +And now arrived the 4th of July, that greatest of all American festivals. On +the 4th of July, 1776, the declaration of their independence was signed, at the +State-house in Philadelphia. +</p> + +<p> +To me, the dreary coldness and want of enthusiasm in American manners is one of +their greatest defects, and I therefore hailed the demonstrations of general +feeling which this day elicits with real pleasure. On the 4th of July the +hearts of the people seem to awaken from a three hundred and sixty-four +days’ sleep; they appear high-spirited, gay, animated, social, generous, +or at least liberal in expense; and would they but refrain from spitting on +that hallowed day, I should say, that on the 4th of July, at least, they +appeared to be an amiable people. It is true that the women have but little to +do with the pageantry, the splendour, or the gaiety of the day; but, setting +this defect aside, it was indeed a glorious sight to behold a jubilee so +heartfelt as this; and had they not the bad taste and bad feeling to utter an +annual oration, with unvarying abuse of the mother country, to say nothing of +the warlike manifesto called Declaration of Independence, our gracious king +himself might look upon the scene and say that it was good; nay, even rejoice, +that twelve millions of bustling bodies, at four thousand miles distance from +his throne and his altars, should make their own laws, and drink their own tea, +after the fashion that pleased them best. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +One source of deep interest to us, in this new clime, was the frequent +recurrence of thunderstorms. Those who have only listened to thunder in England +have but a faint idea of the language which the gods speak when they are angry. +Thomson’s description, however, will do: it is hardly possible that words +can better paint the spectacle, or more truly echo to the sound, than his do. +The only point he does not reach is the vast blaze of rose-coloured light that +ever and anon sets the landscape on fire. +</p> + +<p> +In reading this celebrated description in America, and observing how admirably +true it was to nature there, I seemed to get a glimpse at a poet’s +machinery, and to perceive, that in order to produce effect he must give his +images more vast than he finds them in nature; but the proportions must be +just, and the colouring true. Every thing seems colossal on this great +continent; if it rains, if it blows, if it thunders, it is all done +<i>fortissimo</i>; but I often felt terror yield to wonder and delight, so +grand, so glorious were the scenes a storm exhibited. Accidents are certainly +more frequent than with us, but not so much so as reasonably to bring terror +home to one’s bosom every time a mass of lurid clouds is seen rolling up +against the wind. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +It seems hardly fair to quarrel with a place because its staple commodity is +not pretty, but I am sure I should have liked Cincinnati much better if the +people had not dealt so very largely in hogs. The immense quantity of business +done in this line would hardly be believed by those who had not witnessed it. I +never saw a newspaper without remarking such advertisements as the following: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Wanted, immediately, 4,000 fat hogs.”<br/> +“For sale, 2,000 barrels of prime pork.” +</p> + +<p> +But the annoyance came nearer than this; if I determined upon a walk up +Main-street, the chances were five hundred to one against my reaching the shady +side without brushing by a snout fresh dripping from the kennel; when we had +screwed our courage to the enterprise of mounting a certain noble looking +sugar-loaf hill, that promised pure air and a fine view, we found the brook we +had to cross, at its foot, red with the stream from a pig slaughter house; +while our noses, instead of meeting “the thyme that loves the green +hill’s breast,” were greeted by odours that I will not describe, +and which I heartily hope my readers cannot imagine; our feet, that on leaving +the city had expected to press the flowery sod, literally got entangled in +pigs’ tails and jaw-bones: and thus the prettiest walk in the +neighbourhood was interdicted for ever. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +One of the sights to stare at in America is that of houses moving from place to +place. We were often amused by watching this exhibition of mechanical skill in +the streets. They make no difficulty of moving dwellings from one part of the +town to another. Those I saw travelling were all of them frame-houses, that is, +built wholly of wood, except the chimneys; but it is said that brick buildings +are sometimes treated in the same manner. The largest dwelling that I saw in +motion was one containing two stories of four rooms each; forty oxen were yoked +to it. The first few yards brought down the two stacks of chimneys, but it +afterwards went on well. The great difficulties were the first getting it in +motion and the stopping exactly in the right place. This locomotive power was +extremely convenient at Cincinnati, as the constant improvements going on there +made it often desirable to change a wooden dwelling for one of brick; and +whenever this happened, we were sure to see the ex No.100 of Main-street or the +ex No.55 of Second street creeping quietly out of town, to take possession of a +humble suburban station on the common above it. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The most agreeable acquaintance I made in Cincinnati, and indeed one of the +most talented men I ever met, was Mr. Flint, the author of several extremely +clever volumes, and the editor of the Western Monthly Review. His +conversational powers are of the highest order: he is the only person I +remember to have known with first rate powers of satire, and even of sarcasm, +whose kindness of nature and of manner remained perfectly uninjured. In some of +his critical notices there is a strength and keenness second to nothing of the +kind I have ever read. He is a warm patriot, and so true-hearted an American, +that we could not always be of the same opinion on all the subjects we +discussed; but whether it were the force and brilliancy of his language, his +genuine and manly sincerity of feeling, or his bland and gentleman-like manner +that beguiled me, I know not, but certainly he is the only American I ever +listened to whose unqualified praise of his country did not appear to me +somewhat overstrained and ridiculous. +</p> + +<p> +On one occasion, but not at the house of Mr. Flint, I passed an evening in +company with a gentleman said to be a scholar and a man of reading; he was also +what is called a <i>serious</i> gentleman, and he appeared to have pleasure in +feeling that his claim to distinction was acknowledged in both capacities. +There was a very amiable <i>serious</i> lady in the company, to whom he seemed +to trust for the development of his celestial pretensions, and to me he did the +honour of addressing most of his terrestrial superiority. The difference +between us was, that when he spoke to her, he spoke as to a being who, if not +his equal, was at least deserving high distinction; and he gave her smiles, +such as Michael might have vouchsafed to Eve. To me he spoke as Paul to the +offending Jews; he did not, indeed, shake his raiment at me, but he used his +pocket-handkerchief so as to answer the purpose; and if every sentence did not +end with “I am clean,” pronounced by his lips, his tone, his look, +his action, fully supplied the deficiency. +</p> + +<p> +Our poor Lord Byron, as may be supposed, was the bull’s-eye against which +every dart in his black little quiver was aimed. I had never heard any serious +gentleman talk of Lord Byron at full length before, and I listened attentively. +It was evident that the noble passages which are graven on the hearts of the +genuine lovers of poetry had altogether escaped the serious gentleman’s +attention; and it was equally evident that he knew by rote all those that they +wish the mighty master had never written. I told him so, and I shall not soon +forget the look he gave me. +</p> + +<p> +Of other authors his knowledge was very imperfect, but his criticisms very +amusing. Of Pope, he said, “He is so entirely gone by, that in <i>our</i> +country it is considered quite fustian to speak of him” +</p> + +<p> +But I persevered, and named “the Rape of the Lock” as evincing some +little talent, and being in a tone that might still hope for admittance in the +drawing-room; but, on the mention of this poem, the serious gentleman became +almost as strongly agitated as when he talked of Don Juan; and I was +unfeignedly at a loss to comprehend the nature of his feelings, till he +muttered, with an indignant shake of the handkerchief, “The very +title!” +</p> + +<p> +At the name of Dryden he smiled, and the smile spoke as plainly as a smile +could speak, “How the old woman twaddles!” +</p> + +<p> +“We only know Dryden by quotations. Madam, and these, indeed, are found +only in books that have long since had their day.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Shakspeare, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Shakspeare, Madam, is obscene, and, thank God, WE are sufficiently +advanced to have found it out! If we must have the abomination of stage plays, +let them at least be marked by the refinement of the age in which we +live.” +</p> + +<p> +This was certainly being <i>au courant du jour</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Of Massenger he knew nothing. Of Ford he had never heard. Gray had had his day. +Prior he had never read, but understood he was a very childish writer. Chaucer +and Spenser he tied in a couple, and dismissed by saying, that he thought it +was neither more nor less than affectation to talk of authors who wrote in a +tongue no longer intelligible. +</p> + +<p> +This was the most literary conversation I was ever present at in Cincinnati.<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1" id="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1" id="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +The pleasant, easy, unpretending talk on all subjects, which I enjoyed in Mr. +Flint’s family, was an exception to every thing else I met at Cincinnati. +</p> + +<p> +In truth, there are many reasons which render a very general diffusion of +literature impossible in America. I can scarcely class the universal reading of +newspapers as an exception to this remark; if I could, my statement would be +exactly the reverse, and I should say that America beat the world in letters. +The fact is, that throughout all ranks of society, from the successful +merchant, which is the highest, to the domestic serving man, which is the +lowest, they are all too actively employed to read, except at such broken +moments as may suffice for a peep at a newspaper. It is for this reason, I +presume, that every <i>American newspaper</i> is more or less a magazine, +wherein the merchant may scan while he holds out his hand for an invoice, +“Stanzas by Mrs. Hemans,” or a garbled extract from Moore’s +Life of Byron; the lawyer may study his brief faithfully, and yet contrive to +pick up the valuable dictum of some American critic, that “Bulwer’s +novels are decidedly superior to Sir Walter Scott’s;” nay, even the +auctioneer may find time, as he bustles to his tub, or his tribune, to support +his pretensions to polite learning, by glancing his quick eye over the columns, +and reading that “Miss Mitford’s descriptions are +indescribable.” If you buy a yard of ribbon, the shopkeeper lays down his +newspaper, perhaps two or three, to measure it. I have seen a brewer’s +drayman perched on the shaft of his dray and reading one newspaper, while +another was tucked under his arm; and I once went into the cottage of a country +shoemaker, of the name of Harris, where I saw a newspaper half full of +“original” poetry, directed to Madison F. Harris. To be sure of the +fact, I asked the man if his name were Madison. “Yes, Madam, Madison +Franklin Harris is my name.” The last and the lyre divided his time, I +fear too equally, for he looked pale and poor. +</p> + +<p> +This, I presume, is what is meant by the general diffusion of knowledge, so +boasted of in the United States; such as it is, the diffusion of it is general +enough, certainly; but I greatly doubt its being advantageous to the +population. +</p> + +<p> +The only reading men I met with were those who made letters their profession; +and of these, there were some who would hold a higher rank in the great +Republic (not of America, but of letters), did they write for persons less +given to the study of magazines and newspapers; and they might hold a higher +rank still, did they write for the few and not for the many. I was always +drawing a parallel, perhaps a childish one, between the external and internal +deficiency of polish and of elegance in the native volumes of the country. +Their compositions have not that condensation of thought, or that elaborate +finish, which the consciousness of writing for the scholar and the man of taste +is calculated to give; nor have their dirty blue paper and slovenly types<a href="#fn2" name="fnref2" id="fnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +the polished elegance that fits a volume for the hand or the eye of the +fastidious epicure in literary enjoyment. The first book I bought in America +was the “Chronicles of the Cannongate.” In asking the price, I was +agreeably surprised to hear a dollar and a half named, being about one sixth of +what I used to pay for its fellows in England; but on opening the grim pages, +it was long before I could again call them cheap. To be sure the pleasure of a +bright well-printed page ought to be quite lost sight of in the glowing, +galloping, bewitching course that the imagination sets out upon with a new +Waverley novel; and so it was with me till I felt the want of it; and then I am +almost ashamed to confess how often, in turning the thin dusky pages, my poor +earth-born spirit paused in its pleasure, to sigh for hot-pressed wire-wove. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn2" id="fn2"></a> <a href="#fnref2">[2]</a> +I must make an exception in favour of the American Quarterly Review. To the eye +of the body it is in all respects exactly the same thing as the English +Quarterly Review. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Removal to the country—Walk in the forest—Equality +</p> + +<p> +At length my wish of obtaining a house in the country was gratified. A very +pretty cottage, the residence of a gentleman who was removing into town, for +the convenience of his business as a lawyer, was to let, and I immediately +secured it. It was situated in a little village about a mile and a half from +the town, close to the foot of the hills formerly mentioned as the northern +boundary of it. We found ourselves much more comfortable here than in the city. +The house was pretty and commodious, our sitting-rooms were cool and airy; we +had got rid of the detestable mosquitoes, and we had an ice-house that never +failed. Beside all this, we had the pleasure of gathering our tomatoes from our +own garden, and receiving our milk from our own cow. Our manner of life was +infinitely more to my taste than before; it gave us all the privileges of +rusticity, which are fully as incompatible with a residence in a little town of +Western America as with a residence in London. We lived on terms of primaeval +intimacy with our cow, for if we lay down on our lawn she did not scruple to +take a sniff at the book we were reading, but then she gave us her own sweet +breath in return. The verge of the cool-looking forest that rose opposite our +windows was so near, that we often used it as an extra drawing- room, and there +was no one to wonder if we went out with no other preparation than our +parasols, carrying books and work enough to while away a long summer day in the +shade; the meadow that divided us from it was covered with a fine short grass, +that continued for a little way under the trees, making a beautiful carpet, +while sundry logs and stumps furnished our sofas and tables. But even this was +not enough to satisfy us when we first escaped from the city, and we determined +upon having a day’s enjoyment of the wildest forest scenery we could +find. So we packed up books, albums, pencils, and sandwiches, and, despite a +burning sun, dragged up a hill so steep that we sometimes fancied we could rest +ourselves against it by only leaning forward a little. In panting and in +groaning we reached the top, hoping to be refreshed by the purest breath of +heaven; but to have tasted the breath of heaven we must have climbed yet +farther, even to the tops of the trees themselves, for we soon found that the +air beneath them stirred not, nor ever had stirred, as it seemed to us, since +first it settled there, so heavily did it weigh upon our lungs. +</p> + +<p> +Still we were determined to enjoy ourselves, and forward we went, crunching +knee deep through aboriginal leaves, hoping to reach some spot less perfectly +airtight than our landing-place. Wearied with the fruitless search, we decided +on reposing awhile on the trunk of a fallen tree; being all considerably +exhausted, the idea of sitting down on this tempting log was conceived and +executed simultaneously by the whole party, and the whole party sunk together +through its treacherous surface into a mass of rotten rubbish that had formed +part of the pith and marrow of the eternal forest a hundred years before. +</p> + +<p> +We were by no means the only sufferers by the accident; frogs, lizards, +locusts, katiedids, beetles, and hornets, had the whole of their various +tenements disturbed, and testified their displeasure very naturally by annoying +us as much as possible in return; we were bit, we were stung, we were +scratched; and when, at last, we succeeded in raising ourselves from the +venerable ruin, we presented as woeful a spectacle as can well be imagined. We +shook our (not ambrosial) garments, and panting with heat, stings, and +vexation, moved a few paces from the scene of our misfortune, and again sat +down; but this time it was upon the solid earth. +</p> + +<p> +We had no sooner began to “chew the cud” of the bitter fancy that +had beguiled us to these mountain solitudes than a new annoyance assailed us. A +cloud of mosquitoes gathered round, and while each sharp proboscis sucked our +blood, they teased us with their humming chorus, till we lost all patience, and +started again on our feet, pretty firmly resolved never to try the <i>al +fresco</i> joys of an American forest again. The sun was now in its meridian +splendour, but our homeward path was short and down hill, so again packing up +our preparations for felicity, we started homeward, or, more properly speaking, +we started, for in looking for an agreeable spot in this dungeon forest we had +advanced so far from the verge of the hill that we had lost all trace of the +precise spot where we had entered it. Nothing was to be seen but multitudes of +tall, slender, melancholy stems, as like as peas, and standing within a foot of +each other. The ground, as far as the eye could reach (which certainly was not +far), was covered with an unvaried bed of dried leaves; no trace, no track, no +trail, as Mr. Cooper would call it, gave us a hint which way to turn; and +having paused for a moment to meditate, we remembered that chance must decide +for us at last, so we set forward, in no very good mood, to encounter new +misfortunes. We walked about a quarter of a mile, and coming to a steep +descent, we thought ourselves extremely fortunate, and began to scramble down, +nothing doubting that it was the same we had scrambled up. In truth, nothing +could be more like, but, alas! things that are like are not the same; when we +had slipped and stumbled down to the edge of the wood, and were able to look +beyond it, we saw no pretty cottage with the shadow of its beautiful acacias +coming forward to meet us: all was different; and, what was worse, all was +distant from the spot where we had hoped to be. We had come down the opposite +side of the ridge, and had now to win our weary way a distance of three miles +round its base, I believe we shall none of us ever forget that walk. The +bright, glowing, furnace- like heat of the atmosphere seems to scorch as I +recall it. It was painful to tread, it was painful to breathe, it was painful +to look round; every object glowed with the reflection of the fierce tyrant +that glared upon us from above. +</p> + +<p> +We got home alive, which agreeably surprised us; and when our parched tongues +again found power of utterance, we promised each other faithfully never to +propose any more parties of pleasure in the grim store-like forests of Ohio. +</p> + +<p> +We were now in daily expectation of the arrival of Mr. T.; but day after day, +and week after week passed by till we began to fear some untoward circumstance +might delay his coming till the Spring; at last, when we had almost ceased to +look out for him. on the road which led from the town, he arrived, late at +night, by that which leads across the country from Pitzburgh. The pleasure we +felt at seeing him was greatly increased by his bringing with him our eldest +son, which was a happiness we had not hoped for. Our walks and our drives now +became doubly interesting. The young men, fresh from a public school, found +America so totally unlike all the nations with which their reading had made +them acquainted, that it was indeed a new world to them. Had they visited +Greece or Rome they would have encountered objects with whose images their +minds had been long acquainted; or had they travelled to France or Italy they +would have seen only what daily conversation had already rendered familiar; but +at our public schools America (except perhaps as to her geographical position) +is hardly better known than Fairy Land; and the American character has not been +much more deeply studied than that of the Anthropophagi: all, therefore, was +new, and every thing amusing. +</p> + +<p> +The extraordinary familiarity of our poor neighbours startled us at first, and +we hardly knew how to receive their uncouth advances, or what was expected of +us in return; however, it sometimes produced very laughable scenes. Upon one +occasion two of my children set off upon an exploring walk up the hills; they +were absent rather longer than we expected, and the rest of our party +determined upon going out to meet them; we knew the direction they had taken, +but thought it would be as well to enquire at a little public-house at the +bottom of the hill, if such a pair had been seen to pass. A woman, whose +appearance more resembled a Covent Garden market-woman than any thing else I +can remember, came out and answered my question with the most jovial good +humour in the affirmative, and prepared to join us in our search. Her look, her +voice, her manner, were so exceedingly coarse and vehement, that she almost +frightened me; she passed her arm within mine, and to the inexpressible +amusement of my young people, she dragged me on, talking and questioning me +without ceasing. She lived but a short distance from us, and I am sure intended +to be a very good neighbour; but her violent intimacy made me dread to pass her +door; my children, including my sons, she always addressed by their Christian +names, excepting when she substituted the word “honey;” this +familiarity of address, however, I afterwards found was universal throughout +all ranks in the United States. +</p> + +<p> +My general appellation amongst my neighbours was “the English old +woman,” but in mentioning each other they constantly employed the term +“lady;” and they evidently had a pleasure in using it, for I +repeatedly observed, that in speaking of a neighbour, instead of saying Mrs. +Such-a-one, they described her as “the lady over the way what takes in +washing,” or as “that there lady, out by the Gulley, what is making +dip-candles.” Mr. Trollope was as constantly called “the old +man,” while draymen, butchers’ boys, and the labourers on the canal +were invariably denominated “them gentlemen;” nay, we once saw one +of the most gentlemanlike men in Cincinnati introduce a fellow in dirty shirt +sleeves, and all sorts of detestable et cetera, to one of his friends, with +this formula, “D— let me introduce this gentleman to you.” +Our respective titles certainly were not very important; but the eternal +shaking hands with these ladies and gentlemen was really an annoyance, and the +more so, as the near approach of the gentlemen was always redolent of whiskey +and tobacco. +</p> + +<p> +But the point where this republican equality was the most distressing was in +the long and frequent visitations that it produced. No one dreams of fastening +a door in Western America; I was told that it would be considered as an affront +by the whole neighbourhood. I was thus exposed to perpetual, and most vexatious +interruptions from people whom I had often never seen, and whose names still +oftener were unknown to me. +</p> + +<p> +Those who are native there, and to the manner born, seem to pass over these +annoyances with more skill than I could ever acquire. More than once I have +seen some of my acquaintance beset in the same way, without appearing at all +distressed by it; they continued their employment or conversation with me, much +as if no such interruption had taken place; when the visitor entered, they +would say, “How do you do?” and shake hands. +</p> + +<p> +“Tolerable, I thank ye, how be you?” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +If it was a female, she took off her hat; if a male, he kept it on, and then +taking possession of the first chair in their way, they would retain it for an +hour together, without uttering another word; at length, rising abruptly, they +would again shake hands, with, “Well, now I must be going, I +guess,” and so take themselves off, apparently well contented with their +reception. +</p> + +<p> +I could never attain this philosophical composure; I could neither write nor +read, and I always fancied I must talk to them. I will give the minutes of a +conversation which I once set down after one of their visits, as a specimen of +their tone and manner of speaking and thinking. My visitor was a milkman. +</p> + +<p> +“Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay—you’ll see +sights here, I guess.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope I shall see many.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a fact. I expect your little place of an island don’t +grow such dreadful fine corn as you sees here?” [Corn always means Indian +corn, or maize.] +</p> + +<p> +“It grows no corn at all, sir.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Possible! no wonder, then, that we reads such awful stories in the +papers of your poor people being starved to death.” +</p> + +<p> +“We have wheat, however.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, for your rich folks, but I calculate the poor seldom gets a belly +full.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have certainly much greater abundance here.” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect so. Why they do say, that if a poor body contrives to be smart +enough to scrape together a few dollars, that your King George always comes +down upon ’em, and takes it all away. Don’t he?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not remember hearing of such a transaction.” +</p> + +<p> +“I guess they be pretty close about it. Your papers ben’t like +ourn, I reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You spend a good deal of time in reading the newspapers.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I’d like you to tell me how we can spend it better. How should +freemen spend their time, but looking after their government, and watching that +them fellers as we gives offices to, doos their duty, and gives themselves no +airs?” +</p> + +<p> +“But I sometimes think, sir, that your fences might be in more thorough +repair, and your roads in better order, if less time was spent in +politics.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord! to see how little you knows of a free country? Why, +what’s the smoothness of a road, put against the freedom of a free-born +American? And what does a broken zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that +the men what we have been pleased to send up to Congress, speaks handsome and +straight, as we chooses they should?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go to the liquor store to +read the papers?” +</p> + +<p> +“To be sure it is, and he’d be no true born American as +didn’t. I don’t say that the father of a family should always be +after liquor, but I do say that I’d rather have my son drunk three times +in a week, than not look after the affairs of his country.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Our autumn walks were delightful; the sun ceased to scorch; the want of flowers +was no longer peculiar to Ohio; and the trees took a colouring, which in +richness, brilliance, and variety, exceeded all description. I think it is the +maple, or sugar- tree, that first sprinkles the forest with rich crimson; the +beech follows, with all its harmony of golden tints, from pale yellow up to +brightest orange. The dog-wood gives almost the purple colour of the mulberry; +the chesnut softens all with its frequent mass of delicate brown, and the +sturdy oak carries its deep green into the very lap of winter. These tints are +too bright for the landscape painter; the attempt to follow nature in an +American autumn scene must be abortive. The colours are in reality extremely +brilliant, but the medium through which they are seen increases the effect +surprisingly. Of all the points in which America has the advantage of England, +the one I felt most sensibly was the clearness and brightness of the +atmosphere. By day and by night this exquisite purity of air gives tenfold +beauty to every object. I could hardly believe the stars were the same; the +Great Bear looked like a constellation of suns; and Jupiter justified all the +fine things said of him in those beautiful lines from I know not what spirited +pen, beginning, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“I looked on thee, Jove! till my gaze<br/> +Shrunk, smote by the pow’r of thy blaze.” +</p> + +<p> +I always remarked that the first silver line of the moon’s crescent +attracted the eye on the first day, in America, as strongly as it does here on +the third. I observed another phenomenon in the crescent moon of that region, +the cause of which I less understood. That appearance which Shakespear +describes as “the new moon, with the old moon in her lap,” and +which I have heard ingeniously explained as the effect of <i>earth light</i>, +was less visible there than here. +</p> + +<p> +Cuyp’s clearest landscapes have an atmosphere that approaches nearer to +that of America than any I remember on canvas; but even Cuyp’s <i>air</i> +cannot reach the lungs, and, therefore, can only give an idea of half the +enjoyment; for it makes itself felt as well as seen, and is indeed a constant +source of pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +Our walks were, however, curtailed in several directions by my old Cincinnati +enemies, the pigs; immense droves of them were continually arriving from the +country by the road that led to most of our favourite walks; they were often +fed and lodged in the prettiest valleys,and worse still, were slaughtered +beside the prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the same quarter, +that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost +universal in the country houses of America), which, shaded by a group of +acacias, made a delightful sitting- room; from this favourite spot we one day +perceived symptoms of building in a field close to it; with much anxiety we +hastened to the spot, and asked what building was to be erected there. +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis to be a slaughter house for hogs,” was the dreadful +reply. As there were several gentlemen’s houses in the neighbourhood, I +asked if such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. +</p> + +<p> +“A what?” +</p> + +<p> +“A nuisance,” I repeated, and explained what I meant. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” was the reply, “that may do very well for your +tyrannical country, where a rich man’s nose is more thought of than a +poor man’s mouth; but hogs be profitable produce here, and we be too free +for such a law as that, I guess.” +</p> + +<p> +During my residence in America, little circumstances like the foregoing often +recalled to my mind a conversation I once held in France with an old gentleman +on the subject of their active police, and its omnipresent gens +d’armerie; “Croyez moi, Madame, il n’y a que ceux, à qui ils +ont à faire, qui les trouvent de trop.” And the old gentleman was right, +not only in speaking of France, but of the whole human family, as philosophers +call us. The well disposed, those whose own feeling of justice would prevent +their annoying others, will never complain of the restraints of the law. All +the freedom enjoyed in America, beyond what is enjoyed in England, is enjoyed +solely by the disorderly at the expense of the orderly; and were I a stout +knight, either of the sword or of the pen, I would fearlessly throw down my +gauntlet, and challenge the whole Republic to prove the contrary; but being, as +I am, a feeble looker on, with a needle for my spear, and “I talk” +for my device, I must be contented with the power of stating the fact, +perfectly certain that I shall be contradicted by one loud shout from Maine to +Georgia. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Religion +</p> + +<p> +I had often heard it observed before I visited America, that one of the great +blessings of its constitution was the absence of a national religion, the +country being thus exonerated from all obligation of supporting the clergy; +those only contributing to do so whose principles led them to it. My residence +in the country has shewn me that a religious tyranny may be exerted very +effectually without the aid of the government, in a way much more oppressive +than the paying of tithe, and without obtaining any of the salutary decorum, +which I presume no one will deny is the result of an established mode of +worship. +</p> + +<p> +As it was impossible to remain many weeks in the country without being struck +with the strange anomalies produced by its religious system, my early notes +contain many observations on the subject; but as nearly the same scenes +recurred in every part of the country, I state them here, not as belonging to +the west alone, but to the whole Union, the same cause producing the same +effect every where. +</p> + +<p> +The whole people appear to be divided into an almost endless variety of +religious factions, and I was told, that to be well received in society, it was +necessary to declare yourself as belonging to some one of these. Let your +acknowledged belief be what it may, you are said to be <i>not a Christian</i>, +unless you attach yourself to a particular congregation. Besides the broad and +well-known distinctions of Episcopalian, Catholic, Presbyterian, Calvinist, +Baptist, Quaker, Sweden-borgian, Universalist, Dunker, &c. &c. &c.; +there are innumerable others springing out of these, each of which assumes a +church government of its own; of this, the most intriguing and factious +individual is invariably the head; and in order, as it should seem, to shew a +reason for this separation, each congregation invests itself with some queer +variety of external observance that has the melancholy effect of exposing +<i>all</i> religious ceremonies to contempt. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible, in witnessing all these unseemly vagaries, not to recognise +the advantages of an established church as a sort of headquarters for quiet +unpresuming Christians, who are contented to serve faithfully, without +insisting upon having each a little separate banner, embroidered with a device +of their own imagining. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholics alone appear exempt from the fury of division and sub-division +that has seized every other persuasion. Having the Pope for their common head, +regulates, I presume, their movements, and prevents the outrageous display of +individual whim which every other sect is permitted. +</p> + +<p> +I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Catholic bishop of Cincinnati, +and have never known in any country a priest of a character and bearing more +truly apostolic. He was an American, but I should never have discovered it from +his pronunciation or manner. He received his education partly in England, and +partly in France. His manners were highly polished; his piety active and +sincere, and infinitely more mild and tolerant than that of the factious +Sectarians who form the great majority of the American priesthood. +</p> + +<p> +I believe I am sufficiently tolerant; but this does not prevent my seeing that +the object of all religious observances is better obtained, when the government +of the church is confided to the wisdom and experience of the most venerated +among the people, than when it is placed in the hands of every tinker and +tailor who chooses to claim a share in it. Nor is this the only evil attending +the want of a national religion, supported by the State. As there is no legal +and fixed provision for the clergy, it is hardly surprising that their services +are confined to those who can pay them. The vehement expressions of insane or +hypocritical zeal, such as were exhibited during “the Revival,” can +but ill atone for the want of village worship, any more than the eternal talk +of the admirable and unequalled government, can atone for the continual +contempt of social order. Church and State hobble along, side by side, +notwithstanding their boasted independence. Almost every man you meet will tell +you, that he is occupied in labours most abundant for the good of his country; +and almost every woman will tell you, that besides those things that are within +(her house) she has coming upon her daily the care of all the churches. Yet +spite of this universal attention to the government, its laws are half asleep; +and spite of the old women and their Dorcas societies, atheism is awake and +thriving. +</p> + +<p> +In the smaller cities and towns prayer-meetings take the place of almost all +other amusements; but as the thinly scattered population of most villages can +give no parties, and pay no priests, they contrive to marry, christen, and bury +without them. A stranger taking up his residence in any city in America must +think the natives the most religious people upon earth; but if chance lead him +among her western villages, he will rarely find either churches or chapels, +prayer or preacher; except, indeed, at that most terrific saturnalia, “a +camp-meeting.” I was much struck with the answer of a poor woman, whom I +saw ironing on a Sunday. “Do you make no difference in your occupations +on a Sunday?” I said. “I beant a Christian, Ma’am; we have +got no opportunity,” was the reply. It occurred to me, that in a country +where “all men are equal,” the government would be guilty of no +great crime, did it so far interfere as to give them all <i>an opportunity</i> +of becoming Christians if they wished it. But should the federal government +dare to propose building a church, and endowing it, in some village that has +never heard “the bringing home of bell and burial,” it is perfectly +certain that not only the sovereign state where such an abomination was +proposed, would rush into the Congress to resent the odious interference, but +that all the other states would join the clamour, and such an intermeddling +administration would run great risk of impeachment and degradation. +</p> + +<p> +Where there is a church-government so constituted as to deserve human respect, +I believe it will always be found to receive it, even from those who may not +assent to the dogma of its creed; and where such respect exists, it produces a +decorum in manners and language often found wanting where it does not. +Sectarians will not venture to rhapsodise, nor infidels to scoff, in the common +intercourse of society. Both are injurious to the cause of rational religion, +and to check both must be advantageous. +</p> + +<p> +It is certainly possible that some of the fanciful variations upon the ancient +creeds of the Christian Church, with which transatlantic religionists amuse +themselves, might inspire morbid imaginations in Europe as well as in America; +but before they can disturb the solemn harmony HERE they must prelude by a +defiance, not only to common sense, but what is infinitely more appalling, to +common usage. They must at once rank themselves with the low and the +illiterate, for only such prefer the eloquence of the tub to that of the +pulpit. The aristocracy must ever, as a body, belong to the established Church, +and it is but a small proportion of the influential classes who would be +willing to allow that they do not belong to the aristocracy. That such feelings +influence the professions of men it were ignorance or hypocrisy to deny; and +that nation is wise who knows how to turn even such feelings into a wholesome +stream of popular influence. +</p> + +<p> +As a specimen of the tone in which religion is mixed in the ordinary +intercourse of society, I will transcribe the notes I took of a conversation, +at which I was present, at Cincinnati; I wrote them immediately after the +conversation took place. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish, Mrs. M., that you would explain to me what a revival is. I hear +it talked of all over the city, and I know it means something about Jesus +Christ and religion; but that is all I know, will you instruct me +farther?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. M. +</p> + +<p> +“I expect, Dr. A., that you want to laugh at me. But that makes no +difference. I am firm in my principles, and I fear no one’s +laughter.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, but what is a revival?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. M. +</p> + +<p> +“It is difficult, very difficult, to make those see who have no light; to +make those understand whose souls are darkened. A revival means just an elegant +kindling of the spirit; it is brought about to the Lord’s people by the +hands of his saints, and it means salvation in the highest.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“But what is it the people mean by talking of feeling the revival? and +waiting in spirit for the revival? and the extacy of the revival?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. M. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh Doctor! I am afraid that you are too far gone astray to understand +all that. It is a glorious assurance, a whispering of the everlasting covenant, +it is the bleating of the lamb, it is the welcome of the shepherd, it is the +essence of love, it is the fullness of glory, it is being in Jesus, it is Jesus +being in us, it is taking the Holy Ghost into our bosoms, it is sitting +ourselves down by God, it is being called to the high places, it is eating, and +drinking, and sleeping in the Lord, it is becoming a lion in the faith, it is +being lowly and meek, and kissing the hand that smites, it is being mighty and +powerful, and scorning reproof, it is—” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, Mrs. M., I feel quite satisfied; and I think I understand a +revival now almost as well as you do yourself.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. A. +</p> + +<p> +“My! Where can you have learnt all that stuff, Mrs. M.?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. M. +</p> + +<p> +“How benighted you are! From the holy book, from the Word of the Lord, +from the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ themselves.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. A. +</p> + +<p> +“It does seem so droll to me, to hear you talk of “the Word of the +Lord.” Why, I have been brought up to look upon the Bible as nothing +better than an old newspaper.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. O. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely you only say this for the sake of hearing what Mrs. M. will say +in return—you do not mean it?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. A. +</p> + +<p> +“La, yes! to be sure I do.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“I profess that I by no means wish my wife to read all she might find +there.—What says the Colonel, Mrs. M.?” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mrs. M. +</p> + +<p> +“As to that, I never stop to ask him. I tell him every day that I believe +in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that it is his duty to believe in them too, +and then my conscience is clear, and I don’t care what he believes. +Really, I have no notion of one’s husband interfering in such +matters.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Dr. A. +</p> + +<p> +“You are quite right. I am sure I give my wife leave to believe just what +she likes; but she is a good woman, and does not abuse the liberty; for she +believes nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +It was not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but many many times, during my +residence in America, that I was present when subjects which custom as well as +principle had taught me to consider as fitter for the closet than the +tea-table, were thus lightly discussed. I hardly know whether I was more +startled at first hearing, in little dainty namby pamby tones, a profession of +Atheism over a teacup, or at having my attention called from a Johnny cake, to +a rhapsody on election and the second birth. +</p> + +<p> +But, notwithstanding this revolting license, persecution exists to a degree +unknown, I believe, in our well-ordered land since the days of Cromwell. I had +the following anecdote from a gentleman perfectly well acquainted with the +circumstances. A tailor sold a suit of clothes to a sailor a few moments before +he sailed, which was on a Sunday morning. The corporation of New York +prosecuted the tailor, and he was convicted, and sentenced to a fine greatly +beyond his means to pay. Mr. F., a lawyer of New York, defended him with much +eloquence, but in vain. His powerful speech, however, was not without effect, +for it raised him such a host of Presbyterian enemies as sufficed to destroy +his practice. Nor was this all: his nephew was at the time preparing for the +bar, and soon after the above circumstance occurred his certificates were +presented, and refused, with this declaration, “that no man of the name +and family of F. should be admitted.” I have met this young man in +society; he is a person of very considerable talent, and being thus cruelly +robbed of his profession, has become the editor of a newspaper. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Peasantry, compared to that of England—Early +marriages—Charity—Independence and equality—Cottage +prayer-meeting +</p> + +<p> +Mohawk, as our little village was called, gave us an excellent opportunity of +comparing the peasants of the United States with those of England, and of +judging the average degree of comfort enjoyed by each. I believe Ohio gives as +fair a specimen as any part of the union; if they have the roughness and +inconveniences of a new state to contend with, they have higher wages and +cheaper provisions; if I err in supposing it a mean state in point of comfort, +it certainly is not in taking too low a standard. +</p> + +<p> +Mechanics, if good workmen, are certain of employment, and good wages, rather +higher than with us; the average wages of a labourer throughout the Union is +ten dollars a month, with lodging, boarding, washing, and mending; if he lives +at his own expense he has a dollar a day. It appears to me that the necessaries +of life, that is to say, meat, bread, butter, tea, and coffee, (not to mention +whiskey), are within the reach of every sober, industrious, and healthy man who +chooses to have them; and yet I think that an English peasant, with the same +qualifications, would, in coming to the United States, change for the worse. He +would find wages somewhat higher, and provisions in Western America +considerably lower: but this statement, true as it is, can lead to nothing but +delusion if taken apart from other facts, fully as certain, and not less +important, but which require more detail in describing, and which perhaps +cannot be fully comprehended, except by an eye-witness. The American poor are +accustomed to eat meat three times a day; I never enquired into the habits of +any cottagers in Western America, where this was not the case. I found +afterwards in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the country, where the +price of meat was higher, that it was used with more economy; yet still a much +larger portion of the weekly income is thus expended than with us. Ardent +spirits, though lamentably cheap,<a href="#fn3" name="fnref3" id="fnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> +still cost something, and the use of them among the men, with more or less of +discretion, according to the character, is universal. Tobacco also grows at +their doors, and is not taxed; yet this too costs something, and the air of +heaven is not in more general use among the men of America, than chewing +tobacco. I am not now pointing out the evils of dram-drinking, but it is +evident, that where this practice prevails universally, and often to the most +frightful excess, the consequence must be, that the money spent to obtain the +dram is less than the money lost by the time consumed in drinking it. Long, +disabling, and expensive fits of sickness are incontestably more frequent in +every part of America, than in England, and the sufferers have no aid to look +to, but what they have saved, or what they may be enabled to sell. I have never +seen misery exceed what I have witnessed in an American cottage where disease +has entered. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn3" id="fn3"></a> <a href="#fnref3">[3]</a> +About a shilling a gallon is the retail price of good whiskey. If bought +wholesale, or of inferior quality, it is much cheaper. +</p> + +<p> +But if the condition of the labourer be not superior to that of the English +peasant, that of his wife and daughters is incomparably worse. It is they who +are indeed the slaves of the soil. One has but to look at the wife of an +American cottager, and ask her age, to be convinced that the life she leads is +one of hardship, privation, and labour. It is rare to see a woman in this +station who has reached the age of thirty, without losing every trace of youth +and beauty. You continually see women with infants on their knee, that you feel +sure are their grand- children, till some convincing proof of the contrary is +displayed. Even the young girls, though often with lovely features, look pale, +thin, and haggard. I do not remember to have seen in any single instance among +the poor, a specimen of the plump, rosy, laughing physiognomy so common among +our cottage girls. The horror of domestic service, which the reality of +slavery, and the fable of equality, have generated, excludes the young women +from that sure and most comfortable resource of decent English girls; and the +consequence is, that with a most irreverend freedom of manner to the parents, +the daughters are, to the full extent of the word, domestic slaves. This +condition, which no periodical merry-making, no village FÊTE, ever occurs to +cheer, is only changed for the still sadder burdens of a teeming wife. They +marry very young; in fact, in no rank of life do you meet with young women in +that delightful period of existence between childhood and marriage, wherein, if +only tolerably well spent, so much useful information is gained, and the +character takes a sufficient degree of firmness to support with dignity the +more important parts of wife and mother. The slender, childish thing, without +vigour of mind or body, is made to stem a sea of troubles that dims her young +eye and makes her cheek grow pale, even before nature has given it the last +beautiful finish of the full-grown woman. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall get along,” is the answer in full, for all that can be +said in way of advice to a boy and girl who take it into their heads to go +before a magistrate and “get married.” And they do get along, till +sickness overtakes them, by means perhaps of borrowing a kettle from one and a +tea-pot from another; but intemperance, idleness, or sickness will, in one +week, plunge those who are even getting along well, into utter destitution; and +where this happens, they are completely without resource. +</p> + +<p> +The absence of poor-laws is, without doubt, a blessing to the country, but they +have not that natural and reasonable dependence on the richer classes which, in +countries differently constituted, may so well supply their place. I suppose +there is less alms-giving in America than in any other Christian country on the +face of the globe. It is not in the temper of the people either to give or to +receive. +</p> + +<p> +I extract the following pompous passage from a Washington paper of Feb. 1829, +(a season of uncommon severity and distress,) which, I think, justifies my +observation. +</p> + +<p> +“Among the liberal evidences of sympathy for the suffering poor of this +city, two have come to our knowledge which deserve to be especially noticed: +the one a donation by the President of the United States to the committee of +the ward in which he resides of fifty dollars; the other the donation by a few +of the officers of the war department to the Howard and Dorcas Societies, of +seventy-two dollars.” When such mention is made of a gift of about nine +pounds sterling from the sovereign magistrate of the United States, and of +thirteen pounds sterling as a contribution from one of the state departments, +the inference is pretty obvious, that the sufferings of the destitute in +America are not liberally relieved by individual charity. +</p> + +<p> +I had not been three days at Mohawk-cottage before a pair of ragged children +came to ask for medicine for a sick mother; and when it was given to them, the +eldest produced a handful of cents, and desired to know what he was to pay. The +superfluous milk of our cow was sought after eagerly, but every new comer +always proposed to pay for it. When they found out that “the English old +woman” did not sell anything, I am persuaded they by no means liked her +the better for it; but they seemed to think, that if she were a fool it was no +reason they should be so too, and accordingly the borrowing, as they called it, +became very constant, but always in a form that shewed their dignity and +freedom. One woman sent to borrow a pound of cheese; another half a pound of +coffee; and more than once an intimation accompanied the milk-jug, that the +milk must be fresh, and unskimmed: on one occasion the messenger refused milk, +and said, “Mother only wanted a little cream for her coffee.” +</p> + +<p> +I could never teach them to believe, during above a year that I lived at this +house, that I would not sell the old clothes of the family; and so pertinacious +were they in bargain-making, that often, when I had given them the articles +which they wanted to purchase, they would say, “Well, I expect I shall +have to do a turn of work for this; you may send for me when you want +me.” But as I never did ask for the turn of work, and as this formula was +constantly repeated, I began to suspect that it was spoken solely to avoid +uttering the most un-American phrase “I thank you.” +</p> + +<p> +There was one man whose progress in wealth I watched with much interest and +pleasure. When I first became his neighbour, himself, his wife, and four +children, were living in one room, with plenty of beef-steaks and onions for +breakfast, dinner and supper, but with very few other comforts. He was one of +the finest men I ever saw, full of natural intelligence and activity of mind +and body, but he could neither read nor write. He drank but little whiskey, and +but rarely chewed tobacco, and was therefore more free from that plague spot of +spitting which rendered male colloquy so difficult to endure. He worked for us +frequently, and often used to walk into the drawing-room and seat himself on +the sofa, and tell me all his plans. He made an engagement with the proprietor +of the wooded hill before mentioned, by which half the wood he could fell was +to be his own. His unwearied industry made this a profitable bargain, and from +the proceeds he purchased the materials for building a comfortable frame (or +wooden) house; he did the work almost entirely himself. He then got a job for +cutting rails, and, as he could cut twice as many in a day as any other man in +the neighbourhood, he made a good thing of it. He then let half his pretty +house, which was admirably constructed, with an ample portico, that kept it +always cool. His next step was contracting for the building a wooden bridge, +and when I left Mohawk he had fitted up his half of the building as an hotel +and grocery store; and I have no doubt that every sun that sets sees him a +richer man than when it rose. He hopes to make his son a lawyer, and I have +little doubt that he will live to see him sit in congress; when this time +arrives, the wood-cutter’s son will rank with any other member of +congress, not of courtesy, but of right, and the idea that his origin is a +disadvantage, will never occur to the imagination of the most exalted of his +fellow-citizens. +</p> + +<p> +This is the only feature in American society that I recognise as indicative of +the equality they profess. Any man’s son may become the equal of any +other man’s son, and the consciousness of this is certainly a spur to +exertion; on the other hand, it is also a spur to that coarse familiarity, +untempered by any shadow of respect, which is assumed by the grossest and the +lowest in their intercourse with the highest and most refined. This is a +positive evil, and, I think, more than balances its advantages. +</p> + +<p> +And here again it may be observed, that the theory of equality may be very +daintily discussed by English gentlemen in a London dining-room, when the +servant, having placed a fresh bottle of cool wine on the table, respectfully +shuts the door, and leaves them to their walnuts and their wisdom; but it will +be found less palatable when it presents itself in the shape of a hard, greasy +paw, and is claimed in accents that breathe less of freedom than of onions and +whiskey. Strong, indeed, must be the love of equality in an English breast if +it can survive a tour through the Union. +</p> + +<p> +There was one house in the village which was remarkable from its wretchedness. +It had an air of indecent poverty about it, which long prevented my attempting +an entrance; but at length, upon being told that I could get chicken and eggs +there whenever I wanted them, I determined upon venturing. The door being +opened to my knock, I very nearly abandoned my almost blunted purpose; I never +beheld such a den of filth and misery: a woman, the very image of dirt and +disease, held a squalid imp of a baby on her hip bone while she kneaded her +dough with her right fist only A great lanky girl, of twelve years old, was +sitting on a barrel, gnawing a corn cob; when I made known my business, the +woman answered, “No not I; I got no chickens to sell, nor eggs neither; +but my son will, plenty I expect. Here Nick,” (bawling at the bottom of a +ladder), “here’s an old woman what wants chickens.” Half a +moment brought Nick to the bottom of the ladder, and I found my merchant was +one of a ragged crew, whom I had been used to observe in my daily walk, playing +marbles in the dust, and swearing lustily; he looked about ten years old. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you chicken to sell, my boy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and eggs too, more nor what you’ll buy.” +</p> + +<p> +Having enquired price, condition, and so on, I recollected that I had been used +to give the same price at market, the feathers plucked, and the chicken +prepared for the table, and I told him that he ought not to charge the same. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh for that, I expect I can fix ’em as well as ever them was, what +you got in market.” +</p> + +<p> +“You fix them?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes to be sure, why not?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought you were too fond of marbles.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave me a keen glance, and said, “You don’t know I.—When +will you be wanting the chickens?” +</p> + +<p> +He brought them at the time directed, extremely well “fixed,” and I +often dealt with him afterwards. When I paid him, he always thrust his hand +into his breaches pocket, which I presume, as being <i>the keep</i>, was +fortified more strongly than the dilapidated outworks, and drew from thence +rather more dollars, half-dollars, levies, and fips, than his dirty little hand +could well hold. My curiosity was excited, and though I felt an involuntary +disgust towards the young Jew, I repeatedly conversed with him. +</p> + +<p> +“You are very rich, Nick,” I said to him one day, on his making an +ostentatious display of change, as he called it; he sneered with a most +unchildish expression of countenance, and replied, “I guess ’twould +be a bad job for I, if that was all I’d got to shew.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him how he managed his business. He told me that he bought eggs by the +hundred, and lean chicken by the score, from the waggons that passed their door +on the way to market; that he fatted the latter in coops he had made himself, +and could easily double their price, and that his eggs answered well too, when +he sold them out by the dozen. +</p> + +<p> +“And do you give the money to your mother?” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect not,” was the answer, with another sharp glance of his +ugly blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you do with it. Nick?” +</p> + +<p> +His look said plainly, what is that to you? but he only answered, quaintly +enough, “I takes care of it.” +</p> + +<p> +How Nick got his first dollar is very doubtful; I was told that when he entered +the village store, the person serving always called in another pair of eyes; +but having obtained it, the spirit, activity, and industry, with which he +caused it to increase and multiply, would have been delightful in one of Miss +Edgeworth’s dear little clean bright-looking boys, who would have carried +all he got to his mother; but in Nick it was detestable. No human feeling +seemed to warm his young heart, not even the love of self-indulgence, for he +was not only ragged and dirty, but looked considerably more than half starved, +and I doubt not his dinners and suppers half fed his fat chickens. +</p> + +<p> +I by no means give this history of Nick, the chicken merchant, as an anecdote +characteristic in all respects of America; the only part of the story which is +so, is the independence of the little man, and is one instance out of a +thousand, of the hard, dry, calculating character that is the result of it. +Probably Nick will be very rich; perhaps he will be President. I once got so +heartily scolded for saying, that I did not think all American citizens were +equally eligible to that office, that I shall never again venture to doubt it. +</p> + +<p> +Another of our cottage acquaintance was a market-gardener, from whom we +frequently bought vegetables; from the wife of this man we one day received a +very civil invitation to “please to come and pass the evening with them +in prayer.” The novelty of the circumstance, and its great dissimilarity +to the ways and manners of our own country, induced me to accept the +invitation, and also to record the visit here. +</p> + +<p> +We were received with great attention, and a place was assigned us on one of +the benches that surrounded the little parlour. Several persons, looking like +mechanics and their wives, were present; every one sat in profound silence, and +with that quiet subdued air, that serious people assume on entering a church. +At length, a long, black, grim-looking man entered; his dress, the cut of his +hair, and his whole appearance, strongly recalled the idea of one of +Cromwell’s fanatics. He stepped solemnly into the middle of the room, and +took a chair that stood there, but not to sit upon it; he turned the back +towards him, on which he placed his hands, and stoutly uttering a sound between +a hem and a cough, he deposited freely on either side of him a considerable +portion of masticated tobacco. He then began to preach. His text was +“Live in hope,” and he continued to expound it for two hours in a +drawling, nasal tone, with no other respite than what he allowed himself for +expectoration. If I say that he repeated the words of this text a hundred +times, I think I shall not exceed the truth, for that allows more than a minute +for each repetition, and in fact the whole discourse was made up of it. The +various tones in which he uttered it might have served as a lesson on emphasis; +as a question—in accents of triumph—in accents of despair—of +pity—of threatening—of authority—of doubt—of +hope—of faith. Having exhausted every imaginable variety of tone, he +abruptly said, “Let us pray,” and twisting his chair round, knelt +before it. Every one knelt before the seat they had occupied, and listened for +another half hour to a rant of miserable, low, familiar jargon, that he +presumed to improvise to his Maker as a prayer. In this, however, the cottage +apostle only followed the example set by every preacher throughout the Union, +excepting those of the Episcopalian and Catholic congregations; THEY only do +not deem themselves privileged to address the Deity in strains of crude and +unweighed importunity. These ranters may sometimes be very much in earnest, but +surely the least we can say of it is, that they +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Praise their God amiss.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +I enquired afterwards of a friend, well acquainted with such matters, how the +grim preacher of “Hope” got paid for his labours, and he told me +that the trade was an excellent one, for that many a gude wife bestowed more +than a tithe of what her gude man trusted to her keeping, in rewarding the zeal +of these self- chosen apostles. These sable ministers walk from house to house, +or if the distance be considerable, ride on a comfortable ambling nag. They are +not only as empty as wind, but resemble it in other particulars; for they blow +where they list, and no man knoweth whence they come, nor whither they go. When +they see a house that promises comfortable lodging and entertainment, they +enter there, and say to the good woman of the house, “Sister, shall I +pray with you?” If the answer be favourable, and it is seldom otherwise, +he instals himself and his horse till after breakfast the next morning. The +best meat, drink, and lodging are his, while he stays, and he seldom departs +without some little contribution in money for the support of the crucified and +suffering church. Is it not strange that “the most intelligent people in +the world” should prefer such a religion as this, to a form established +by the wisdom and piety of the ablest and best among the erring sons of men, +solemnly sanctioned by the nation’s law, and rendered sacred by the use +of their fathers? +</p> + +<p> +It would be well for all reasoners on the social system to observe steadily, +and with an eye obscured by no beam of prejudice, the result of the experiment +that is making on the other side of the Atlantic. If I mistake not, they might +learn there, better than by any abstract speculation, what are the points on +which the magistrates of a great people should dictate to them and on what +points they should be left freely to their own guidance, I sincerely believe, +that if a fire-worshipper, or an Indian Brahmin, were to come to the United +States, prepared to preach and pray in English, he would not be long without a +“very respectable congregation.” +</p> + +<p> +The influence of a religion, sanctioned by the government, could in no country, +in the nineteenth century, interfere with the speculations of a philosopher in +his closet, but it might, and must, steady the weak and wavering opinions of +the multitude. There is something really pitiable in the effect produced by the +want of this rudder oar. I knew a family where one was a Methodist, one a +Presbyterian, and a third a Baptist; and another, where one was a Quaker, one a +declared Atheist, and another an Universalist. These are all females, and all +moving in the best society that America affords; but one and all of them as +incapable of reasoning on things past, present, and to come, as the infants +they nourish, yet one and all of them perfectly fit to move steadily and +usefully in a path marked out for them. But I shall be called an itinerant +preacher myself if I pursue this theme. +</p> + +<p> +As I have not the magic power of my admirable friend, Miss Mitford, to give +grace and interest to the humblest rustic details, I must not venture to linger +among the cottages that surrounded us; but before I quit them I must record the +pleasing recollection of one or two neighbours of more companionable rank, from +whom I received so much friendly attention, and such unfailing kindness, in all +my little domestic embarrassments, that I shall never recall the memory of +Mohawk, without paying an affectionate tribute to these far distant friends. I +wish it were within the range of hope, that I might see them again, in my own +country, and repay, in part, the obligations I owe them. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Theatre—Fine Arts—Delicacy—Shaking Quakers—Big-Bone +Lick—Visit of the President +</p> + +<p> +The theatre at Cincinnati is small, and not very brilliant in decoration, but +in the absence of every other amusement our young men frequently attended it, +and in the bright clear nights of autumn and winter, the mile and a half of +distance was not enough to prevent the less enterprising members of the family +from sometimes accompanying them. The great inducement to this was the +excellent acting of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Drake, the managers.<a href="#fn4" name="fnref4" id="fnref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +Nothing could be more distinct than their line of acting, but the great +versatility of their powers enabled them often to appear together. Her cast was +the highest walk of tragedy, and his the broadest comedy; but yet, as Goldsmith +says of his sister heroines, I have known them change characters for a whole +evening together, and have wept with him and laughed with her, as it was their +will and pleasure to ordain. I think in his comedy he was superior to any actor +I ever saw in the same parts, except Emery. Alexander Drake’s comedy was +like that of the French, who never appear to be acting at all; he was himself +the comic being the author aimed at depicting. Let him speak whose words he +would, from Shakspeare to Colman, it was impossible not to feel that half the +fun was his own; he had, too, in a very high degree, the power that Fawcett +possessed, of drawing tears by a sudden touch of natural feeling. His comic +songs might have set the gravity of the judges and bishops together at +defiance. Liston is great, but Alexander Drake was greater. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn4" id="fn4"></a> <a href="#fnref4">[4]</a> +Mr. Drake was an Englishman. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Drake, formerly Miss Denny, greatly resembles Miss O’Neil; a proof +of this is, that Mr. Kean, who had heard of the resemblance, arrived at New +York late in the evening, and having repaired to the theatre, saw her for the +first time across the stage, and immediately exclaimed, “that’s +Miss Denny.” Her voice, too, has the same rich and touching tones, and is +superior in power. Her talent is decidedly first-rate. Deep and genuine +feeling, correct judgment, and the most perfect good taste, distinguish her +play in every character. Her last act of Belvidera is superior in tragic effect +to any thing I ever saw on the stage, the one great exception to all +comparison, Mrs. Siddons, being set aside. +</p> + +<p> +It was painful to see these excellent performers playing to a miserable house, +not a third full, and the audience probably not including half a dozen persons +who would prefer their playing to that of the vilest strollers. In proof of +this, I saw them, as managers, give place to paltry third-rate actors from +London, who would immediately draw crowded houses, and be overwhelmed with +applause. +</p> + +<p> +Poor Drake died just before we left Ohio, and his wife, who, besides her merit +as an actress, is a most estimable and amiable woman, is left with a large +family. I have little, or rather no doubt, of her being able to obtain an +excellent engagement in London, but her having property in several of the +Western theatres will, I fear, detain her in a neighbourhood, where she is +neither understood nor appreciated. She told me many very excellent +professional anecdotes collected during her residence in the West; one of these +particularly amused me as a specimen of Western idiom. A lady who professed a +great admiration for Mrs. Drake had obtained her permission to be present upon +one occasion at her theatrical toilet. She was dressing for some character in +which she was to stab herself, and her dagger was lying on the table. The +visitor took it up, and examining it with much emotion, exclaimed, “what! +do you really jab this into yourself sevagarous?” +</p> + +<p> +We also saw the great American star, Mr. Forrest. What he may become I will not +pretend to prophesy; but when I saw him play Hamlet at Cincinnati, not even +Mrs. Drake’s sweet Ophelia could keep me beyond the third act. It is true +that I have seen Kemble, Macready, Kean, Young, C. Kemble, Cook, and Talma play +Hamlet, and I might not, perhaps, be a very fair judge of this young +actor’s merits; but I was greatly amused when a gentleman, who asked my +opinion of him, told me upon hearing it, that he would not advise me to state +it freely in America, “for they would not bear it.” The theatre was +really not a bad one, though the very poor receipts rendered it impossible to +keep it in high order; but an annoyance infinitely greater than decorations +indifferently clean, was the style and manner of the audience. Men came into +the lower tier of boxes without their coats; and I have seen shirt sleeves +tucked up to the shoulder; the spitting was incessant, and the mixed smell of +onions and whiskey was enough to make one feel even the Drakes’ acting +dearly bought by the obligation of enduring its accompaniments. The bearing and +attitudes of the men are perfectly indescribable; the heels thrown higher than +the head, the entire rear of the person presented to the audience, the whole +length supported on the benches, are among the varieties that these exquisite +posture-masters exhibit. The noises, too, were perpetual, and of the most +unpleasant kind; the applause is expressed by cries and thumping with the feet, +instead of clapping; and when a patriotic fit seized them, and “Yankee +Doodle” was called for, every man seemed to think his reputation as a +citizen depended on the noise he made. +</p> + +<p> +Two very indifferent figurantes, probably from the Ambigu Comique, or la +Gaiete, made their appearance at Cincinnati while we were there; and had +Mercury stepped down, and danced a <i>pas seul</i> upon earth, his godship +could not have produced a more violent sensation. But wonder and admiration +were by no means the only feelings excited; horror and dismay were produced in +at least an equal degree. No one, I believe, doubted their being admirable +dancers, but every one agreed that the morals of the Western world would never +recover the shock. When I was asked if I had ever seen any thing so dreadful +before, I was embarrassed how to answer; for the young women had been +exceedingly careful, both in their dress and in their dancing, to meet the +taste of the people; but had it been Virginie in her most transparent attire, +or Taglioni in her most remarkable pirouette, they could not have been more +reprobated. The ladies altogether forsook the theatre; the gentlemen muttered +under their breath, and turned their heads aside when the subject was +mentioned; the clergy denounced them from the pulpit; and if they were named at +the meetings of the saints, it was to show how deep the horror such a theme +could produce. I could not but ask myself if virtue were a plant, thriving +under one form in one country, and flourishing under a different one in +another? If these Western Americans are right, then how dreadfully wrong are +we! It is really a very puzzling subject. +</p> + +<p> +But this was not the only point on which I found my notions of right and wrong +utterly confounded; hardly a day passed in which I did not discover that +something or other that I had been taught to consider lawful as eating, was +held in abhorrence by those around me; many words to which I had never heard an +objectionable meaning attached, were totally interdicted, and the strangest +paraphrastic sentences substituted. I confess it struck me, that +notwithstanding a general stiffness of manner, which I think must exceed that +of the Scribes and Pharisees, the Americans have imaginations that kindle with +alarming facility. I could give many anecdotes to prove this, but will content +myself with a few. +</p> + +<p> +A young German gentleman of perfectly good manners, once came to me greatly +chagrined at having offended one of the principal families in the +neighbourhood, by having pronounced the word <i>corset</i> before the ladies of +it. An old female friend had kindly overcome her own feelings so far as to +mention to him the cause of the coolness he had remarked, and strongly advised +his making an apology. He told me that he was perfectly well disposed to do so, +but felt himself greatly at a loss how to word it. +</p> + +<p> +An English lady who had long kept a fashionable boarding-school in one of the +Atlantic cities, told me that one of her earliest cares with every new comer, +was the endeavour to substitute real delicacy for this affected precision of +manner; among many anecdotes, she told me one of a young lady about fourteen, +who on entering the receiving room, where she only expected to see a lady who +had enquired for her, and finding a young man with her, put her hands before +her eyes, and ran out of the room again, screaming “A man! a man! a +man!” +</p> + +<p> +On another occasion, one of the young ladies in going up stairs to the +drawing-room, unfortunately met a boy of fourteen coming down, and her feelings +were so violently agitated, that she stopped panting and sobbing, nor would +pass on till the boy had swung himself up on the upper banisters, to leave the +passage free. +</p> + +<p> +At Cincinnati there is a garden where the people go to eat ices, and to look at +roses. For the preservation of the flowers, there is placed at the end of one +of the walks a sign-post sort of daub, representing a Swiss peasant girl, +holding in her hand a scroll, requesting that the roses might not be gathered. +Unhappily for the artist, or for the proprietor, or for both, the petticoat of +this figure was so short as to shew her ancles. The ladies saw, and shuddered; +and it was formally intimated to the proprietor, that if he wished for the +patronage of the ladies of Cincinnati, he must have the petticoat of this +figure lengthened. The affrighted purveyor of ices sent off an express for the +artist and his paint pot. He came, but unluckily not provided with any colour +that would match the petticoat; the necessity, however, was too urgent for +delay, and a flounce of blue was added to the petticoat of red, giving bright +and shining evidence before all men of the immaculate delicacy of the +Cincinnati ladies. +</p> + +<p> +I confess I was sometimes tempted to suspect that this ultra refinement was not +very deep seated. It often appeared to me like the consciousness of grossness, +that wanted a veil; but the veil was never gracefully adjusted. Occasionally, +indeed, the very same persons who appeared ready to faint at the idea of a +statue, would utter some unaccountable sally that was quite startling, and +which made me feel that the indelicacy of which we were accused had its limits. +The following anecdote is hardly fit to tell, but it explains what I mean too +well to be omitted. +</p> + +<p> +A young married lady, of <i>high standing</i> and most fastidious delicacy, who +had been brought up at one of the Atlantic seminaries of highest reputation, +told me that her house, at the distance of half a mile from a populous city, +was unfortunately opposite a mansion of worse than doubtful reputation. +“It is abominable,” she said, “to see the people that go +there; they ought to be exposed. I and another lady, an intimate friend of +mine, did make one of them look foolish enough last summer: she was passing the +day with me, and, while we were sitting at the window, we saw a young man we +both knew ride up there, we went into the garden and watched at the gate for +him to come back, and when he did, we both stepped out, and I said to him, +“are you not ashamed, Mr. William D., to ride by my house and back again +in that manner?” I never saw a man look so foolish!” +</p> + +<p> +In conversing with ladies on the customs and manners of Europe, I remarked a +strong propensity to consider every thing as wrong to which they were not +accustomed. I once mentioned to a young lady that I thought a picnic party +would be very agreeable, and that I would propose it to some of our friends. +She agreed that it would be delightful, but she added, “I fear you will +not succeed; we are not used to such sort of things here, and I know it is +considered very indelicate for ladies and gentlemen to sit down together on the +grass.” +</p> + +<p> +I could multiply anecdotes of this nature; but I think these sufficient to give +an accurate idea of the tone of manners in this particular, and I trust to +justify the observations I have made. +</p> + +<p> +One of the spectacles which produced the greatest astonishment on us all was +the Republican simplicity of the courts of justice. We had heard that the +judges indulged themselves on the bench in those extraordinary attitudes which, +doubtless, some peculiarity of the American formation leads them to find the +most comfortable. Of this we were determined to judge for ourselves, and +accordingly entered the court when it was in full business, with three judges +on the bench. The annexed sketch will better describe what we saw than any +thing I can write. +</p> + +<p> +Our winter passed rapidly away, and pleasantly enough, by the help of frosty +walks, a little skaiting, a visit to Big-Bone Lick, and a visit to the shaking +Quakers, a good deal of chess, and a good deal of reading, notwithstanding we +were almost in the back woods of Western America. +</p> + +<p> +The excursion to Big-Bone Lick, in Kentucky, and that to the Quaker village, +were too fatiguing for females at such a season, but our gentlemen brought us +home mammoth bones and shaking Quaker stories in abundance. +</p> + +<p> +These singular people, the shaking Quakers of America, give undeniable proof +that communities may exist and prosper, for they have continued for many years +to adhere strictly to this manner of life, and have been constantly increasing +in wealth. They have formed two or three different societies in distant parts +of the Union, all governed by the same general laws, and all uniformly +prosperous and flourishing. +</p> + +<p> +There must be some sound and wholesome principle at work in these +establishments to cause their success in every undertaking, and this principle +must be a powerful one, for it has to combat much that is absurd and much that +is mischievous. +</p> + +<p> +The societies are generally composed of about an equal proportion of males and +females, many of them being men and their wives; but they are all bound by +their laws not to cohabit together. Their religious observances are wholly +confined to singing and dancing of the most grotesque kind, and this repeated +so constantly as to occupy much time; yet these people become rich and powerful +wherever they settle themselves. Whatever they manufacture, whatever their +farms produce, is always in the highest repute, and brings the highest price in +the market. They receive all strangers with great courtesy, and if they bring +an introduction they are lodged and fed for any length of time they choose to +stay; they are not asked to join in their labours, but are permitted to do so +if they wish it. +</p> + +<p> +The Big-Bone Lick was not visited, and even partially examined, without +considerable fatigue. +</p> + +<p> +It appeared from the account of our travellers, that the spot which gives the +region its elegant name is a deep bed of blue clay, tenacious and unsound, so +much so as to render it both difficult and dangerous to traverse. The digging +it has been found so laborious that no one has yet hazarded the expense of a +complete search into its depths for the gigantic relics so certainly hidden +there. The clay has never been moved without finding some of them; and I think +it can hardly be doubted that money and perseverance would procure a more +perfect specimen of an entire mammoth than we have yet seen.<a href="#fn5" name="fnref5" id="fnref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn5" id="fn5"></a> <a href="#fnref5">[5]</a> +Since the above was written an immense skeleton, nearly perfect, has been +extracted. +</p> + +<p> +And now the time arrived that our domestic circle was again to be broken up. +Our eldest son was to be entered at Oxford, and it was necessary that his +father should accompany him; and, after considerable indecision, it was at +length determined that I and my daughters should remain another year, with our +second son. It was early in February, and our travellers prepared themselves to +encounter some sharp gales upon the mountains, though the great severity of the +cold appeared to be past. We got buffalo robes and double shoes prepared for +them, and they were on the eve of departure when we heard that General Jackson, +the newly-elected President, was expected to arrive immediately at Cincinnati, +from his residence in the West, and to proceed by steamboat to Pittsburgh, on +his way to Washington. This determined them not to fix the day of their +departure till they heard of his arrival, and then, if possible, to start in +the same boat with him; the decent dignity of a private conveyance not being +deemed necessary for the President of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +The day of his arrival was however quite uncertain, and we could only determine +to have every thing very perfectly in readiness, let it come when it would. +This resolution was hardly acted upon when the news reached us that the General +had arrived at Louisville, and was expected at Cincinnati in a few hours. All +was bustle and hurry at Mohawk-cottage; we quickly dispatched our packing +business, and this being the first opportunity we had had of witnessing such a +demonstration of popular feeling, we all determined to be present at the +debarkation of the great man. We accordingly walked to Cincinnati, and secured +a favourable station at the landing-place, both for the purpose of seeing the +first magistrate and of observing his reception by the people. We had waited +but a few moments when the heavy panting of the steam engines and then a +discharge of cannon told that we were just in time; another moment brought his +vessel in sight. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing could be better of its kind than his approach to the shore: the noble +steam-boat which conveyed him was flanked on each side by one of nearly equal +size and splendour; the roofs of all three were covered by a crowd of men; +cannon saluted them from the shore as they passed by, to the distance of a +quarter of a mile above the town; there they turned about, and came down the +river with a rapid but stately motion, the three vessels so close together as +to appear one mighty mass upon the water. +</p> + +<p> +When they arrived opposite the principal landing they swept gracefully round, +and the side vessels, separating themselves from the centre, fell a few feet +back, permitting her to approach before them with her honoured freight. All +this manoeuvring was extremely well executed, and really beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd on the shore awaited her arrival in perfect stillness. When she +touched the bank the people on board gave a faint huzza, but it was answered by +no note of welcome from the land: this cold silence was certainly not produced +by any want of friendly feeling towards the new President; during the whole of +the canvassing he had been decidedly the popular candidate at Cincinnati, and, +for months past, we had been accustomed to the cry of “Jackson for +ever” from an overwhelming majority; but enthusiasm is not either the +virtue or the vice of America. +</p> + +<p> +More than one private carriage was stationed at the water’s edge to await +the General’s orders, but they were dismissed with the information that +he would walk to the hotel. Upon receiving this intimation the silent crowd +divided itself in a very orderly manner, leaving a space for him to walk +through them. He did so, uncovered, though the distance was considerable, and +the weather very cold; but he alone (with the exception of a few European +gentlemen who were present) was without a hat. He wore his grey hair, +carelessly, but not ungracefully arranged, and, spite of his harsh gaunt +features, he looks like a gentleman and a soldier. He was in deep mourning, +having very recently lost his wife; they were said to have been very happy +together, and I was pained by hearing a voice near me exclaim, as he approached +the spot where I stood, “There goes Jackson, where is his wife?” +Another sharp voice, at a little distance, cried, “Adams for ever!” +And these sounds were all I heard to break the silence. +</p> + +<p> +“They manage these matters better” in the East, I have no doubt, +but as yet I was still in the West, and still inclined to think, that however +meritorious the American character may be, it is not amiable. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. T. and his sons joined the group of citizens who waited upon him to the +hotel, and were presented to the President in form; that is, they shook hands +with him. Learning that he intended to remain a few hours there, or more +properly, that it would be a few hours before the steam-boat would be ready to +proceed, Mr. T. secured berths on board, and returned, to take a hasty dinner +with us. At the hour appointed by the captain, Mr. T. and his son accompanied +the General on board; and by subsequent letters I learnt that they had +conversed a good deal with him, and were pleased by his conversation and +manners, but deeply disgusted by the brutal familiarity to which they saw him +exposed at every place on their progress at which they stopped; I am tempted to +quote one passage, as sufficiently descriptive of the manner, which so +painfully grated against their European feelings. +</p> + +<p> +‘There was not a hulking boy from a keel-boat who was not introduced to +the President, unless, indeed, as was the case with some, they introduced +themselves: for instance, I was at his elbow when a greasy fellow accosted him +thus:- +</p> + +<p> +“General Jackson, I guess?” +</p> + +<p> +‘The General bowed assent. +</p> + +<p> +“Why they told me you was dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“No! Providence has hitherto preserved my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is your wife alive too?” +</p> + +<p> +‘The General, apparently much hurt, signified the contrary, upon which +the courtier concluded his harangue, by saying, “Aye, I thought it was +the one or the t’other of ye.”’ +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +American Spring—Controversy between Messrs. Owen and Cambell—Public +ball—Separation of the sexes—American freedom—Execution +</p> + +<p> +The American spring is by no means so agreeable as the American autumn; both +move with faultering step, and slow; but this lingering pace, which is +delicious in autumn, is most tormenting in the spring. In the one case you are +about to part with a friend, who is becoming more gentle and agreeable at every +step, and such steps can hardly be made too slowly; but in the other you are +making your escape from a dreary cavern, where you have been shut up with black +frost and biting blasts, and where your best consolation was being smoke-dried. +</p> + +<p> +But, upon second thoughts, I believe it would be more correct, instead of +complaining of the slow pace of the American spring, to declare that they have +no spring at all. The beautiful autumn often lingers on till Christmas, after +which winter can be trifled with no longer, and generally keeps a stubborn hold +through the months which we call spring, when he suddenly turns his back, and +summer takes his place. +</p> + +<p> +The inconceivable uncertainty of the climate is, however, such, that I will not +venture to state about what time this change takes place, for it is certain, +that let me name what time I would, it would be easy for any weather +journaliser to prove me wrong, by quoting that the thermometer was at 100 at a +period which my statement included in the winter; or 50 long after I made the +summer commence. +</p> + +<p> +The climate of England is called uncertain, but it can never, I think, be so +described by any who have experienced that of the United States. A gentleman, +on whose accuracy I could depend, told me he had repeatedly known the +thermometer vary above 40 degrees in the space of twelve hours. This most +unpleasant caprice of the temperature is, I conceive, one cause of the +unhealthiness of the climate. +</p> + +<p> +At length, however, after shivering and shaking till we were tired of it, and +having been half ruined in fire-wood (which, by the way, is nearly as dear as +at Paris, and dearer in many parts of the Union), the summer burst upon us full +blown, and the ice-house, the piazza, and the jalousies were again in full +requisition. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the early summer of this year (1829) that Cincinnati offered a +spectacle unprecedented, I believe, in any age or country. Mr. Owen, of Lanark, +of New Harmony, of Texas, well known to the world by all or either of these +additions, had challenged the whole religious public of the United States to +discuss with him publicly the truth or falsehood of all the religions that had +ever been propagated on the face of the earth; stating, further, that he +undertook to prove that they were all equally false, and nearly equally +mischievous. This most appalling challenge was conveyed to the world through +the medium of New Orleans newspapers, and for some time it remained unanswered; +at length the Reverend Alexander Campbell, from Bethany, (not of Judaea, but of +Kentucky,) proclaimed, through the same medium, that he was ready to take up +the gauntlet. The place fixed for this extraordinary discussion was Cincinnati; +the time, the second Monday in May, 1829, being about a year from the time the +challenge was accepted; thus giving the disputants time to prepare themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Owen’s preparation, however, could only have been such as those who +run may read, for, during the interval, he traversed great part of North +America, crossed the Atlantic twice, visited England, Scotland, Mexico, Texas, +and I know not how many places besides. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Campbell, I was told, passed this period very differently, being engaged in +reading with great research and perseverance all the theological works within +his reach. But whatever confidence the learning and piety of Mr. Campbell might +have inspired in his friends, or in the Cincinnati Christians in general, it +was not, as it appeared, sufficient to induce Mr. Wilson, the Presbyterian +minister of the largest church in the town, to permit the display of them +within its walls. This refusal was greatly reprobated, and much regretted, as +the curiosity to hear the discussion was very general, and no other edifice +offered so much accommodation. +</p> + +<p> +A Methodist meeting-house, large enough to contain a thousand persons, was at +last chosen; a small stage was arranged round the pulpit, large enough to +accommodate the disputants and their stenographers; the pulpit itself was +throughout the whole time occupied by the aged father of Mr. Campbell, whose +flowing white hair, and venerable countenance, constantly expressive of the +deepest attention, and the most profound interest, made him a very striking +figure in the group. Another platform was raised in a conspicuous part of the +building, on which were seated seven gentlemen of the city, selected as +moderators. +</p> + +<p> +The chapel was equally divided, one half being appropriated to ladies, the +other to gentlemen; and the door of entrance reserved for the ladies was +carefully guarded by persons appointed to prevent any crowding or difficulty +from impeding their approach. I suspect that the ladies were indebted to Mr. +Owen for this attention; the arrangements respecting them on this occasion were +by no means American. +</p> + +<p> +When Mr. Owen rose, the building was thronged in every part; the audience, or +congregation, (I hardly know which to call them) were of the highest rank of +citizens, and as large a proportion of best bonnets fluttered there, as the +“two horned church” itself could boast. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the profoundest silence, and apparently with the deepest attention, +that Mr. Owen’s opening address was received; and surely it was the most +singular one that ever Christian men and women sat to listen to. +</p> + +<p> +When I recollect its object, and the uncompromising manner in which the orator +stated his mature conviction that the whole history of the Christian mission +was a fraud, and its sacred origin a fable, I cannot but wonder that it was so +listened to; yet at the time I felt no such wonder. Never did any one practise +the <i>suaviter in modo</i> with more powerful effect than Mr. Owen. The gentle +tone of his voice; his mild, sometimes playful, but never ironical manner; the +absence of every vehement or harsh expression; the affectionate interest +expressed for “the whole human family,” the air of candour with +which he expressed his wish to be convinced he was wrong, if he indeed were +so—his kind smile—the mild expression of his eyes—in short, +his whole manner, disarmed zeal, and produced a degree of tolerance that those +who did not hear him would hardly believe possible. +</p> + +<p> +Half an hour was the time allotted for each haranguer; when this was expired, +the moderators were seen to look at their watches. Mr. Owen, too, looked at his +(without pausing) smiled, shook his head, and said in a parenthesis “a +moment’s patience,” and continued for nearly another half hour. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Campbell then arose; his person, voice, and manner all greatly in his +favour. In his first attack he used the arms, which in general have been +considered as belonging to the other side of the question. He quizzed Mr. Owen +most unmercifully; pinched him here for his parallelograms; hit him there for +his human perfectibility, and kept the whole audience in a roar of laughter. +Mr. Owen joined in it most heartily himself, and listened to him throughout +with the air of a man who is delighted at the good things he is hearing, and +exactly in the cue to enjoy all the other good things that he is sure will +follow. Mr. Campbell’s watch was the only one which reminded us that we +had listened to him for half an hour; and having continued speaking for a few +minutes after he had looked at it, he sat down with, I should think, the +universal admiration of his auditory. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Owen again addressed us; and his first five minutes were occupied in +complimenting Mr. Campbell with all the strength his exceeding hearty laughter +had left him. But then he changed his tone, and said the business was too +serious to permit the next half hour to pass so lightly and so pleasantly as +the last; and then he read us what he called his twelve fundamental laws of +human nature. These twelve laws he has taken so much trouble to circulate to +all the nations of the earth, that it must be quite unnecessary to repeat them +here. To me they appear twelve truisms, that no man in his senses would ever +think of contradicting; but how any one can have conceived that the explanation +and defence of these laws could furnish forth occupation for his pen and his +voice, through whole years of unwearying declamation, or how he can have +dreamed that they could be twisted into a refutation of the Christian religion, +is a mystery which I never expect to understand. +</p> + +<p> +From this time Mr. Owen entrenched himself behind his twelve laws, and Mr. +Campbell, with equal gravity, confined himself to bringing forward the most +elaborate theological authorities in evidence of the truth of revealed +religion. +</p> + +<p> +Neither appeared to me to answer the other; but to confine themselves to the +utterance of what they had uppermost in their own minds when the discussion +began. I lamented this on the side of Mr. Campbell, as I am persuaded he would +have been much more powerful had he trusted more to himself and less to his +books. Mr. Owen is an extraordinary man, and certainly possessed of talent, but +he appears to me so utterly benighted in the mists of his own theories, that he +has quite lost the power of looking through them, so as to get a peep at the +world as it really exists around him. +</p> + +<p> +At the conclusion of the debate (which lasted for fifteen sittings) Mr. +Campbell desired the whole assembly to sit down. They obeyed. He then requested +all who wished well to Christianity to rise, and a very large majority were in +an instant on their legs. He again requested them to be seated, and then +desired those who believed not in its doctrines to rise, and a few gentlemen +and one lady obeyed. Mr. Owen protested against this manoeuvre, as he called +it, and refused to believe that it afforded any proof of the state of +men’s minds, or of women’s either; declaring, that not only was +such a result to be expected, in the present state of things, but that it was +the duty of every man who had children to feed, not to hazard the sale of his +hogs, or his iron, by a declaration of opinions which might offend the majority +of his customers. It was said, that at the end of the fifteen meetings the +numerical amount of the Christians and the Infidels of Cincinnati remained +exactly what it was when they began. +</p> + +<p> +This was a result that might have been perhaps anticipated; but what was much +less to have been expected, neither of the disputants ever appeared to lose +their temper. I was told they were much in each other’s company, +constantly dining together, and on all occasions expressed most cordially their +mutual esteem. +</p> + +<p> +All this I think could only have happened in America. I am not quite sure that +it was very desirable it should have happened any where. +</p> + +<p> +In noting the various brilliant events which diversified our residence in the +western metropolis, I have omitted to mention the Birthday Ball, as it is +called, a festivity which, I believe, has place on the 22nd of February, in +every town and city throughout the Union. It is the anniversary of the birth of +General Washington, and well deserves to be marked by the Americans as a day of +jubilee. +</p> + +<p> +I was really astonished at the <i>coup d’oeil</i> on entering, for I saw +a large room filled with extremely well-dressed company, among whom were many +very beautiful girls. The gentlemen also were exceedingly smart, but I had not +yet been long enough in Western America not to feel startled at recognising in +almost every full-dressed <i>beau</i> that passed me, the master or shopman +that I had been used to see behind the counter, or lolling at the door of every +shop in the city. The fairest and finest belles smiled and smirked on them with +as much zeal and satisfaction as I ever saw bestowed on an eldest son, and I +therefore could feel no doubt of their being considered as of the highest rank. +Yet it must not be supposed that there is no distinction of classes: at this +same ball I was looking among the many very beautiful girls I saw there for one +more beautiful still, with whose lovely face I had been particularly struck at +the school examination I have mentioned. I could not find her, and asked a +gentleman why the beautiful Miss C. was not there. +</p> + +<p> +“You do not yet understand our aristocracy,” he replied, “the +family of Miss C. are mechanics.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the young lady has been educated at the same school as these, whom I +see here, and I know her brother has a shop in the town, quite as large, and +apparently as prosperous, as those belonging to any of these young men. What is +the difference?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is a mechanic; he assists in making the articles he sells; the others +call themselves merchants.” +</p> + +<p> +The dancing was not quite like, yet not very unlike, what we see at an assize +or race-ball in a country town. They call their dances cotillions instead of +quadrilles, and the figures are called from the orchestra in English, which has +very ludicrous effect on European ears. +</p> + +<p> +The arrangements for the supper were very singular, but eminently +characteristic of the country. The gentlemen had a splendid entertainment +spread for them in another large room of the hotel, while the poor ladies had +each a plate put into their hands, as they pensively promenaded the ballroom +during their absence; and shortly afterwards servants appeared, bearing trays +of sweetmeats, cakes, and creams. The fair creatures then sat down on a row of +chairs placed round the walls, and each making a table of her knees, began +eating her sweet, but sad and sulky repast. The effect was extremely comic; +their gala dresses and the decorated room forming a contrast the most +unaccountable with their uncomfortable and forlorn condition. +</p> + +<p> +This arrangement was owing neither to economy nor want of a room large enough +to accommodate the whole party, but purely because the gentlemen liked it +better. This was the answer given me, when my curiosity tempted me to ask why +the ladies and gentlemen did not sup together; and this was the answer repeated +to me afterwards by a variety of people to whom I put the same question. +</p> + +<p> +I am led to mention this feature of American manners very frequently, not only +because it constantly recurs, but because I consider it as being in a great +degree the cause of that universal deficiency in good manners and graceful +demeanour, both in men and women, which is so remarkable. +</p> + +<p> +Where there is no court, which every where else is the glass wherein the higher +orders dress themselves, and which again reflected from them to the classes +below, goes far towards polishing, in some degree, a great majority of the +population, it is not to be expected that manner should be made so much a +study, or should attain an equal degree of elegance; but the deficiency, and +the total difference, is greater than this cause alone could account for. The +hours of enjoyment are important to human beings every where, and we every +where find them preparing to make the most of them. Those who enjoy themselves +only in society, whether intellectual or convivial, prepare themselves for it, +and such make but a poor figure when forced to be content with the sweets of +solitude: while, on the other hand, those to whom retirement affords the +greatest pleasure, seldom give or receive much in society. Wherever the highest +enjoyment is found by both sexes in scenes where they meet each other, both +will prepare themselves to appear with advantage there. The men will not +indulge in the luxury of chewing tobacco, or even of spitting, and the women +will contrive to be capable of holding a higher post than that of unwearied +tea-makers. +</p> + +<p> +In America, with the exception of dancing, which is almost wholly confined to +the unmarried of both sexes, all the enjoyments of the men are found in the +absence of the women. They dine, they play cards, they have musical meetings, +they have suppers, all in large parties but all without women. Were it not that +such is the custom, it is impossible but that they would have ingenuity enough +to find some expedient for sparing the wives and daughters of the opulent the +sordid offices of household drudgery which they almost all perform in their +families. Even in the slave states, though they may not clear-starch and iron, +mix puddings and cakes one half of the day, and watch them baking the other +half, still the very highest occupy themselves in their household concerns, in +a manner that precludes the possibility of their becoming elegant and +enlightened companions. In Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, I met with +some exceptions to this; but speaking of the country generally, it is +unquestionably true. +</p> + +<p> +Had I not become heartily tired of my prolonged residence in a place I +cordially disliked, and which moreover I began to fear would not be attended +with the favourable results we had anticipated, I should have found an almost +inexhaustible source of amusement in the notions and opinions of the people I +conversed with; and as it was, I often did enjoy this in a considerable degree. +</p> + +<p> +We received, as I have mentioned, much personal kindness; but this by no means +interfered with the national feeling of, I believe, unconquerable dislike, +which evidently lives at the bottom of every truly American heart against the +English. This shows itself in a thousand little ways, even in the midst of the +most kind and friendly intercourse, but often in a manner more comic than +offensive. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes it was thus.—“Well, now, I think your government must +just be fit to hang themselves for that last war they cooked up; it has been +the ruin of you I expect, for it has just been the making of us.” +</p> + +<p> +Then.—“Well, I do begin to understand your broken English better +than I did; but no wonder I could not make it out very well at first, as you +come from London; for every body knows that London slang is the most dreadful +in the world. How queer it is now, that all the people that live in London +should put the <i>h</i> where it is not, and never will put it where it +is.” +</p> + +<p> +I was egotistical enough to ask the lady who said this, if she found that I did +so. +</p> + +<p> +“No; you do not,” was the reply; but she added, with a complacent +smile, “it is easy enough to see the pains you take about it: I expect +you have heard how we Americans laugh at you all for it, and so you are trying +to learn our way of pronouncing.” +</p> + +<p> +One lady asked me very gravely, if we had left home in order to get rid of the +vermin with which the English of all ranks were afflicted? “I have heard +from unquestionable authority,” she added, “that it is quite +impossible to walk through the streets of London without having the head +filled.” +</p> + +<p> +I laughed a little, but spoke not a word. She coloured highly, and said, +“There is nothing so easy as to laugh, but truth is truth, laughed at or +not.” +</p> + +<p> +I must preface the following anecdote by observing that in America nearly the +whole of the insect tribe are classed under the general name of bug; the +unfortunate cosmopolite known by that name amongst us is almost the only one +not included in this term. A lady abruptly addressed me with, +“Don’t you hate chintzes, Mrs. Trollope?” +</p> + +<p> +“No indeed,” I replied, “I think them very pretty.” +</p> + +<p> +“There now! if that is not being English! I reckon you call that loving +your country; well, thank God! we Americans have something better to love our +country for than that comes to; we are not obliged to say that we like nasty +filthy chintzes to shew that we are good patriots.” +</p> + +<p> +“Chintzes? what are chintzes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Possible! do you pretend you don’t know what chintzes are? Why the +nasty little stinking blood-suckers that all the beds in London are full +of.” +</p> + +<p> +I have since been informed that <i>chinche</i> is Spanish for bug; but at the +time the word suggested only the material of a curtain. +</p> + +<p> +Among other instances of that species of modesty so often seen in America, and +so unknown to us, I frequently witnessed one, which, while it evinced the +delicacy of the ladies, gave opportunity for many lively sallies from the +gentlemen. I saw the same sort of thing repeated on different occasions at +least a dozen times; e.g. a young lady is employed in making a shirt, (which it +would be a symptom of absolute depravity to name), a gentleman enters, and +presently begins the sprightly dialogue with “What are you making Miss +Clarissa?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only a frock for my sister’s doll, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“A frock? not possible. Don’t I see that it is not a frock? Come, +Miss Clarissa, what is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tis just an apron for one of our Negroes, Mr. Smith.” +</p> + +<p> +“How can you. Miss Clarissa! why is not the two side joined together? I +expect you were better tell me what it is.” +</p> + +<p> +“My! why then Mr. Smith, it is just a pillow-case.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now that passes. Miss Clarissa! ’Tis a pillow-case for a giant +then. Shall I guess, Miss?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quit, Mr. Smith; behave yourself, or I’ll certainly be +affronted.” +</p> + +<p> +Before the conversation arrives at this point, both gentleman and lady are in +convulsions of laughter. I once saw a young lady so hard driven by a wit, that +to prove she was making a bag, and nothing but a bag, she sewed up the ends +before his eyes, shewing it triumphantly, and exclaiming, “there now! +what can you say to that?” +</p> + +<p> +One of my friends startled me one day by saying in an affectionate, but rather +compassionate tone, “How will you bear to go back to England to live, and +to bring up your children in a country where you know you are considered as no +better than the dirt in the streets?” +</p> + +<p> +I begged she would explain. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you know I would not affront you for any thing; but the fact is, we +Americans know rather more than you think for, and certainly if I was in +England I should not think of associating with anything but lords. I have +always been among the first here, and if I travelled I should like to do the +same. I don’t mean, I’m sure, that I would not come to see you, but +you know you are not lords, and therefore I know very well how you are treated +in your own country.” +</p> + +<p> +I very rarely contradicted statements of this kind, as I found it less trouble, +and infinitely more amusing, to let them pass; indeed, had I done otherwise, it +would have been of little avail, as among the many conversations I held in +America respecting my own country, I do not recollect a single instance in +which it was not clear that I knew much less about it than those I conversed +with. +</p> + +<p> +On the subject of national glory, I presume I got more than my share of +buffeting; for being a woman, there was no objection to their speaking out. One +lady, indeed, who was a great patriot, evinced much delicacy towards me, for +upon some one speaking of New Orleans, she interrupted them, saying, “I +wish you would not talk of New Orleans;” and, turning to me, added with +great gentleness, “It must be so painful to your feelings to hear that +place mentioned!” +</p> + +<p> +The immense superiority of the American to the British navy was a constant +theme, and to this I always listened, as nearly as possible, in silence. I +repeatedly heard it stated, (so often, indeed, and from such various quarters, +that I think there must be some truth in it), that the American sailors fire +with a certainty of slaughter, whereas our shots are sent very nearly at +random. “This, “ said a naval officer of high reputation, “is +the blessed effect of your game laws; your sailors never fire at a mark; whilst +our free tars, from their practice in pursuit of game, can any of them split a +hair.” But the favourite, the constant, the universal sneer that met me +every where, was on our old-fashioned attachments to things obsolete. Had they +a little wit among them, I am certain they would have given us the cognomen of +“My Grandmother, the British,” for that is the tone they take, and +it is thus they reconcile themselves to the crude newness of every thing around +them. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder you are not sick of kings, chancellors, and archbishops, and +all your fustian of wigs and gowns,” said a very clever gentleman to me +once, with an affected yawn, “I protest the very sound almost sets me to +sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +It is amusing to observe how soothing the idea seems, that they are more +modern, more advanced than England. Our classic literature, our princely +dignities, our noble institutions, are all gone-by relics of the dark ages. +</p> + +<p> +This, and the vastness of their naked territory, make up the flattering unction +which is laid upon the soul, as an antidote to the little misgiving which from +time to time arises, lest their large country be not of quite so much +importance among the nations, as a certain paltry old-fashioned little place +that they wot of. +</p> + +<p> +I was once sitting with a party of ladies, among whom were one or two young +girls, whose curiosity was greater than their patriotism, and they asked me +many questions respecting the splendour and extent of London. I was +endeavouring to satisfy them by the best description I could give, when we were +interrupted by another lady, who exclaimed, “Do hold your tongues, girls, +about London; if you want to know what a beautiful city is, look at +Philadelphia; when Mrs. Trollope has been there, I think she will allow that it +is better worth talking about than that great overgrown collection of nasty, +filthy, dirty streets, that they call London.” +</p> + +<p> +Once in Ohio, and once in the district of Columbia, I had an atlas displayed +before me, that I might be convinced by the evidence of my own eyes what a very +contemptible little country I came from. I shall never forget the gravity with +which, on the latter occasion, a gentleman drew out his graduated pencil-case, +and shewed me past contradiction, that the whole of the British dominions did +not equal in size one of their least important states; nor the air with which, +after the demonstration, he placed his feet upon the chimney-piece, +considerably higher than his head, and whistled Yankee Doodle. +</p> + +<p> +Their glorious institutions, their unequalled freedom, were, of course, not +left unsung. +</p> + +<p> +I took some pains to ascertain what they meant by their glorious institutions, +and it is with no affectation of ignorance that I profess I never could +comprehend the meaning of the phrase, which is, however, on the lip of every +American, when he talks of his country. I asked if by their institutions they +meant their hospitals and penitentiaries. “Oh no! we mean the glorious +institutions which are coeval with the revolution.” “Is it,” +I asked, “your institution of marriage, which you have made purely a +civil and not a religious rite, to be performed by a justice of peace, instead +of a clergyman?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh no! we speak of our divine political institutions.” Yet still I +was in the dark, nor can I guess what they mean, unless they call incessant +electioneering, without pause or interval for a single day, for a single hour, +of their whole existence, “a glorious institution.” +</p> + +<p> +Their unequalled freedom, I think, I understand better. Their code of common +law is built upon ours; and the difference between us is this, in England the +laws are acted upon, in America they are not. +</p> + +<p> +I do not speak of the police of the Atlantic cities; I believe it is well +arranged: in New York it is celebrated for being so; but out of the range of +their influence, the contempt of law is greater than I can venture to state, +with any hope of being believed. Trespass, assault, robbery, nay, even murder, +are often committed without the slightest attempt at legal interference. +</p> + +<p> +During the summer that we passed most delightfully in Maryland, our rambles +were often restrained in various directions by the advice of our kind friends, +who knew the manners and morals of the country. When we asked the cause, we +were told, “There is a public-house on that road, and it will not be safe +to pass it,” +</p> + +<p> +The line of the Chesapeak and Ohio canal passed within a few miles of Mrs. +S—’s residence. It twice happened during our stay with her, that +dead bodies were found partially concealed near it. The circumstance was +related as a sort of half hour’s wonder; and when I asked particulars of +those who, on one occasion, brought the tale, the reply was, “Oh, he was +murdered I expect; or maybe he died of the canal fever; but they say he had +marks of being throttled.” No inquest was summoned; and certainly no more +sensation was produced by the occurrence than if a sheep had been found in the +same predicament. +</p> + +<p> +The abundance of food and the scarcity of hanging were also favourite topics, +as proving their superiority to England. They are both excellent things, but I +do not admit the inference. A wide and most fertile territory, as yet but +thinly inhabited, may easily be made to yield abundant food for its population: +and where a desperate villain knows, that when he has made his town or his +village “too hot to hold him,” he has nothing to do but to travel a +few miles west, and be sure of finding plenty of beef and whiskey, with no +danger that the law shall follow him, it is not extraordinary that executions +should be rare. +</p> + +<p> +Once during our residence at Cincinnati, a murderer of uncommon atrocity was +taken, tried, convicted, and condemned to death. It had been shewn on his +trial, that some years before he had murdered a wife and child at New Orleans, +but little notice had been taken of it at the time. The crime which had now +thrown him into the hands of justice was the recent murder of a second wife, +and the chief evidence against him was his own son. +</p> + +<p> +The day of his execution was fixed, and the sensation produced was so great +from the strangeness of the occurrence, (no white man having ever been executed +at Cincinnati,) that persons from sixty miles’ distance came to be +present at it. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile some unco’ good people began to start doubts as to the +righteousness of hanging a man, and made application to the Governor of the +State<a href="#fn6" name="fnref6" id="fnref6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> of Ohio, to +commute the sentence into imprisonment. The Governor for some time refused to +interfere with the sentence of the tribunal before which he had been tried; but +at length, frightened at the unusual situation in which he found himself, he +yielded to the importunity of the Presbyterian party who had assailed him, and +sent off an order to the sheriff accordingly. But this order was not to +reprieve him, but to ask him if he pleased to be reprieved, and sent to the +penitentiary instead of being hanged. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn6" id="fn6"></a> <a href="#fnref6">[6]</a> +The Governors of states have the same power over life and death as is +vested, with us, in the Crown. +</p> + +<p> +The sheriff waited upon the criminal, and made his proposal, and was answered. +“If any thing could make me agree to it, it would be the hope of living +long enough to kill you and my dog of a son: however, I won’t agree; you +shall have the hanging of me.” +</p> + +<p> +The worthy sheriff, to whom the ghastly office of executioner is assigned, said +all in his power to persuade him to sign the offered document, but in vain; he +obtained nothing but abuse for his efforts. +</p> + +<p> +The day of execution arrived; the place appointed was the side of a hill, the +only one cleared of trees near the town; and many hours before the time fixed, +we saw it entirely covered by an immense multitude of men, women, and children. +At length the hour arrived, the dismal cart was seen slowly mounting the hill, +the noisy throng was hushed into solemn silence; the wretched criminal mounted +the scaffold, when again the sheriff asked him to sign his acceptance of the +commutation proposed; but he spurned the paper from him, and cried aloud, +“Hang me!” +</p> + +<p> +Midday was the moment appointed for cutting the rope; the sheriff stood, his +watch in one hand, and a knife in the other; the hand was lifted to strike, +when the criminal stoutly exclaimed, “I sign;” and he was conveyed +back to prison, amidst the shouts, laughter, and ribaldry of the mob. +</p> + +<p> +I am not fond of hanging, but there was something in all this that did not look +like the decent dignity of wholesome justice. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Camp-Meeting +</p> + +<p> +It was in the course of this summer that I found the opportunity I had long +wished for, of attending a camp-meeting, and I gladly accepted the invitation +of an English lady and gentleman to accompany them in their carriage to the +spot where it is held; this was in a wild district on the confines of Indiana. +</p> + +<p> +The prospect of passing a night in the back woods of Indiana was by no means +agreeable, but I screwed my courage to the proper pitch, and set forth +determined to see with my own eyes, and hear with my own ears, what a +camp-meeting really was. I had heard it said that being at a camp-meeting was +like standing at the gate of heaven, and seeing it opening before you; I had +heard it said, that being at a camp-meeting was like finding yourself within +the gates of hell; in either case there must be something to gratify curiosity, +and compensate one for the fatigue of a long rumbling ride and a sleepless +night. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the ground about an hour before midnight, and the approach to it was +highly picturesque. The spot chosen was the verge of an unbroken forest, where +a space of about twenty acres appeared to have been partially cleared for the +purpose. Tents of different sizes were pitched very near together in a circle +round the cleared space; behind them were ranged an exterior circle of +carriages of every description, and at the back of each were fastened the +horses which had drawn them thither. Through this triple circle of defence we +distinguished numerous fires burning brightly within it; and still more +numerous lights flickering from the trees that were left in the enclosure. The +moon was in meridian splendour above our heads. +</p> + +<p> +We left the carriage to the care of a servant, who was to prepare a bed in it +for Mrs. B. and me, and entered the inner circle. The first glance reminded me +of Vauxhall, from the effect of the lights among the trees, and the moving +crowd below them; but the second shewed a scene totally unlike any thing I had +ever witnessed. Four high frames, constructed in the form of altars, were +placed at the four corners of the enclosure; on these were supported layers of +earth and sod, on which burned immense fires of blazing pinewood. On one side a +rude platform was erected to accommodate the preachers, fifteen of whom +attended this meeting, and with very short intervals for necessary refreshment +and private devotion, preached in rotation, day and night, from Tuesday to +Saturday. +</p> + +<p> +When we arrived, the preachers were silent; but we heard issuing from nearly +every tent mingled sounds of praying, preaching, singing, and lamentation. The +curtains in front of each tent were dropped, and the faint light that gleamed +through the white drapery, backed as it was by the dark forest, had a beautiful +and mysterious effect, that set the imagination at work; and had the sounds +which vibrated around us been less discordant, harsh, and unnatural, I should +have enjoyed it; but listening at the corner of a tent, which poured forth more +than its proportion of clamour, in a few moments chased every feeling derived +from imagination, and furnished realities that could neither be mistaken or +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +Great numbers of persons were walking about the ground, who appeared like +ourselves to be present only as spectators; some of these very unceremoniously +contrived to raise the drapery of this tent, at one comer, so as to afford us a +perfect view of the interior. +</p> + +<p> +The floor was covered with straw, which round the sides was heaped in masses, +that might serve as seats, but which at that moment were used to support the +heads and the arms of the close-packed circle of men and women who kneeled on +the floor. +</p> + +<p> +Out of about thirty persons thus placed, perhaps half a dozen were men. One of +these, a handsome looking youth of eighteen or twenty, kneeled just below the +opening through which I looked. His arm was encircling the neck of a young girl +who knelt beside him, with her hair hanging dishevelled upon her shoulders, and +her features working with the most violent agitation; soon after they both fell +forward on the straw, as if unable to endure in any other attitude the burning +eloquence of a tall grim figure in black, who, standing erect in the centre, +was uttering with incredible vehemence an oration that seemed to hover between +praying and preaching; his arms hung stiff and immoveable by his side, and he +looked like an ill-constructed machine, set in action by a movement so violent, +as to threaten its own destruction, so jerkingly, painfully, yet rapidly, did +his words tumble out; the kneeling circle ceasing not to call in every variety +of tone on the name of Jesus; accompanied with sobs, groans, and a sort of low +howling inexpressibly painful to listen to. But my attention was speedily +withdrawn from the preacher, and the circle round him, by a figure which knelt +alone at some distance; it was a living image of Scott’s Macbriar, as +young, as wild, and as terrible. His thin arms tossed above his head, had +forced themselves so far out of the sleeves, that they were bare to the elbow; +his large eyes glared frightfully, and he continued to scream without an +instant’s intermission the word “Glory!” with a violence that +seemed to swell every vein to bursting. It was too dreadful to look upon long, +and we turned away shuddering. +</p> + +<p> +We made the circuit of the tents, pausing where attention was particularly +excited by sounds more vehement than ordinary. We contrived to look into many; +all were strewed with straw, and the distorted figures that we saw kneeling, +sitting, and lying amongst it, joined to the woeful and convulsive cries, gave +to each, the air of a cell in Bedlam. +</p> + +<p> +One tent was occupied exclusively by Negroes. They were all full-dressed, and +looked exactly as if they were performing a scene on the stage. One woman wore +a dress of pink gauze trimmed with silver lace; another was dressed in pale +yellow silk; one or two had splendid turbans; and all wore a profusion of +ornaments. The men were in snow white pantaloons, with gay coloured linen +jackets. One of these, a youth of coal-black comeliness, was preaching with the +most violent gesticulations, frequently springing high from the ground, and +clapping his hands over his head. Could our missionary societies have heard the +trash he uttered, by way of an address to the Deity, they might perhaps have +doubted whether his conversion had much enlightened his mind. +</p> + +<p> +At midnight a horn sounded through the camp, which, we were told, was to call +the people from private to public worship; and we presently saw them flocking +from all sides to the front of the preachers’ stand. Mrs. B. and I +contrived to place ourselves with our backs supported against the lower part of +this structure, and we were thus enabled to witness the scene which followed +without personal danger. There were about two thousand persons assembled. +</p> + +<p> +One of the preachers began in a low nasal tone, and, like all other Methodist +preachers, assured us of the enormous depravity of man as he comes from the +hands of his Maker, and of his perfect sanctification after he had wrestled +sufficiently with the Lord to get hold of him, <i>et cetera</i>. The admiration +of the crowd was evinced by almost constant cries of “Amen! Amen!” +“Jesus! Jesus!” “Glory! Glory!” and the like. But this +comparative tranquility did not last long: the preacher told them that +“this night was the time fixed upon for anxious sinners to wrestle with +the Lord;” that he and his brethren “were at hand to help +them,” and that such as needed their help were to come forward into +“the pen.” The phrase forcibly recalled Milton’s lines— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold<br/> +A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else, the least<br/> +That to the faithful herdsman’s art belongs!<br/> +—But when they list their lean and flashy songs,<br/> +Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;—<br/> + The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed!<br/> +But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw,<br/> + Rot inwardly—and foul contagion spread.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“The pen” was the space immediately below the preachers’ +stand; we were therefore placed on the edge of it, and were enabled to see and +hear all that took place in the very centre of this extraordinary exhibition. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd fell back at the mention of the <i>pen</i>, and for some minutes +there was a vacant space before us. The preachers came down from their stand +and placed themselves in the midst of it, beginning to sing a hymn, calling +upon the penitents to come forth. As they sung they kept turning themselves +round to every part of the crowd and, by degrees, the voices of the whole +multitude joined in chorus. This was the only moment at which I perceived any +thing like the solemn and beautiful effect, which I had heard ascribed to this +woodland worship. It is certain that the combined voices of such a multitude, +heard at dead of night, from the depths of their eternal forests, the many fair +young faces turned upward, and looking paler and lovelier as they met the +moon-beams, the dark figures of the officials in the middle of the circle, the +lurid glare thrown by the altar-fires on the woods beyond, did altogether +produce a fine and solemn effect, that I shall not easily forget; but ere I had +well enjoyed it, the scene changed, and sublimity gave place to horror and +disgust. +</p> + +<p> +The exhortation nearly resembled that which I had heard at “the +Revival,” but the result was very different; for, instead of the few +hysterical women who had distinguished themselves on that occasion, above a +hundred persons,, nearly all females, came forward, uttering howlings and +groans, so terrible that I shall never cease to shudder when I recall them. +They appeared to drag each other forward, and on the word being given, +“let us pray,” they all fell on their knees; but this posture was +soon changed for others that permitted greater scope for the convulsive +movements of their limbs; and they were soon all lying on the ground in an +indescribable confusion of heads and legs. They threw about their limbs with +such incessant and violent motions, that I was every instant expecting some +serious accident to occur. +</p> + +<p> +But how am I to describe the sounds that proceeded from this strange mass of +human beings? I know no words which can convey an idea of it. Hysterical +sobbings, convulsive groans, shrieks and screams the most appalling, burst +forth on all sides. I felt sick with horror. As if their hoarse and over +strained voices failed to make noise enough, they soon began to clap their +hands violently. The scene described by Dante was before me:- +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Quivi sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai<br/> +Risonavan per l’aere—<br/> +—Orribili favelle<br/> +Parole di dolore, accenti d’ira<br/> +Voci alti e fioche, <i>e suon di man con elle</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Many of these wretched creatures were beautiful young females. The preachers +moved about among them, at once exciting and soothing their agonies. I heard +the muttered “Sister! dear sister!” I saw the insidious lips +approach the cheeks of the unhappy girls; I heard the murmured confessions of +the poor victims, and I watched their tormentors, breathing into their ears +consolations that tinged the pale cheek with red. Had I been a man, I am sure I +should have been guilty of some rash act of interference; nor do I believe that +such a scene could have been acted in the presence of Englishmen without +instant punishment being inflicted; not to mention the salutary discipline of +the treadmill, which, beyond all question, would, in England, have been applied +to check so turbulent and so vicious a scene. +</p> + +<p> +After the first wild burst that followed their prostration, the meanings, in +many instances, became loudly articulate; and I then experienced a strange +vibration between tragic and comic feeling. +</p> + +<p> +A very pretty girl, who was kneeling in the attitude of Canova’s +Magdalene immediately before us, amongst an immense quantity of jargon, broke +out thus: “Woe! woe to the backsliders! hear it, hear it Jesus! when I +was fifteen my mother died, and I backslided, oh Jesus, I backslided! take me +home to my mother, Jesus! take me home to her, for I am weary! Oh John Mitchel! +John Mitchel!” and after sobbing piteously behind her raised hands, she +lifted her sweet face again, which was as pale as death, and said, “Shall +I sit on the sunny bank of salvation with my mother? my own dear mother? oh +Jesus, take me home, take me home!” Who could refuse a tear to this +earnest wish for death in one so young and so lovely? But I saw her, ere I left +the ground, with her hand fast locked, and her head supported by a man who +looked very much as Don Juan might, when sent back to earth as too bad for the +regions below. +</p> + +<p> +One woman near us continued to “call on the Lord,” as it is termed, +in the loudest possible tone, and without a moment’s interval, for the +two hours that we kept our dreadful station. She became frightfully hoarse, and +her face so red as to make me expect she would burst a blood-vessel. Among the +rest of her rant, she said, “I will hold fast to Jesus, I never will let +him go; if they take me to hell, I will still hold him fast, fast, fast!” +</p> + +<p> +The stunning noise was sometimes varied by the preachers beginning to sing; but +the convulsive movements of the poor maniacs only became more violent. At +length the atrocious wickedness of this horrible scene increased to a degree of +grossness, that drove us from our station; we returned to the carriage at about +three o’clock in the morning, and passed the remainder of the night in +listening to the ever increasing tumult at the pen. To sleep was impossible. At +daybreak the horn again sounded, to send them to private devotion; and in about +an hour afterwards I saw the whole camp as joyously and eagerly employed in +preparing and devouring their most substantial breakfasts as if the night had +been passed in dancing; and I marked many a fair but pale face, that I +recognised as a demoniac of the night, simpering beside a swain, to whom she +carefully administered hot coffee and eggs. The preaching saint and the howling +sinner seemed alike to relish this mode of recruiting their strength. +</p> + +<p> +After enjoying abundance of strong tea, which proved a delightful restorative +after a night so strangely spent, I wandered alone into the forest, and I never +remember to have found perfect quiet more delightful. +</p> + +<p> +We soon after left the ground; but before our departure we learnt that a very +<i>satisfactory</i> collection had been made by the preachers, for Bibles, +Tracts, and <i>all other religious purposes</i>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Danger of rural excursions—Sickness +</p> + +<p> +It is by no means easy to enjoy the beauties of American scenery in the west, +even when you are in a neighbourhood that affords much to admire; at least, in +doing so, you run considerable risk of injuring your health. Nothing is +considered more dangerous than exposure to midday heat, except exposure to +evening damp; and the twilight is so short, that if you set out on an +expedition when the fervid heat subsides, you can hardly get half a mile before +“sun down,” as they call it, warns you that you must run or drive +home again, as fast as possible, for fear you should get “a chill.” +</p> + +<p> +I believe we braved all this more than any one else in the whole country, and +if we had not, we should have left Cincinnati without seeing any thing of the +country around it. +</p> + +<p> +Though we kept steadily to our resolution of passing no more sylvan hours in +the forests of Ohio, we often spent entire days in Kentucky, tracing the course +of a “creek,” or climbing the highest points within our reach, in +the hope of catching a glimpse of some distant object. A beautiful reach of the +Ohio, or the dark windings of the pretty Licking, were indeed always the most +remarkable features in the landscape. +</p> + +<p> +There was one spot, however, so beautiful that we visited it again and again; +it was by no means free from mosquitoes; and being on the bank of a stream, +with many enormous trees lying on the half-cleared ground around, it was just +such a place as we had been told a hundred times was particularly +“dangerous;” nevertheless, we dared every thing for the sake of +dining beside our beautiful rippling stream, and watching the bright sunbeams +dancing on the grassy bank, at such a distance from our retreat that they could +not heat us. A little below the basin that cooled our wine was a cascade of +sufficient dimensions to give us all the music of a waterfall, and all the +sparkling brightness of clear water when it is broken again and again by +jutting crags. +</p> + +<p> +To sit beside this miniature cascade, and read, or dream away a day, was one of +our greatest pleasures. +</p> + +<p> +It was indeed a mortifying fact, that whenever we found out a picturesque nook, +where turf, and moss, and deep shade, and a crystal stream, and fallen trees, +majestic in their ruin, tempted us to sit down, and be very cool and very +happy, we invariably found that that spot lay under the imputation of malaria. +</p> + +<p> +A row upon the Ohio was another of our favourite amusements; but in this, I +believe, we were also very singular, for often, when enjoying it, we were +shouted at, by the young free-borns on the banks, as if we had been so many +monsters. +</p> + +<p> +The only rural amusement in which we ever saw any of the natives engaged was +eating strawberries and cream in a pretty garden about three miles from the +town; here we actually met three or four carriages; a degree of dissipation +that I never witnessed on any other occasion. The strawberries were tolerable +strawberries, but the cream was the vilest sky-blue, and the charge half a +dollar to each person; which being about the price of half a fat sheep, I +thought “pretty considerable much,” if I may be permitted to use an +expressive phrase of the country. +</p> + +<p> +We had repeatedly been told, by those who knew the land, that the <i>second +summer</i> was the great trial to the health of Europeans settled in America; +but we had now reached the middle of our second August, and with the exception +of the fever one of my sons had suffered from, the summer after our arrival, we +had all enjoyed perfect health; but I was now doomed to feel the truth of the +above prediction, for before the end of August I fell low before the monster +that is for ever stalking through that land of lakes and rivers, breathing +fever and death around. It was nine weeks before I left my room, and when I +did, I looked more fit to walk into the Potter’s Field, (as they call the +English burying ground) than any where else. +</p> + +<p> +Long after my general health was pretty well restored, I suffered from the +effect of the fever in my limbs, and lay in bed reading several weeks after I +had been pronounced convalescent. Several American novels were brought me. Mr. +Flint’s Francis Berrian is excellent; a little wild and romantic, but +containing scenes of first-rate interest and pathos. Hope Leslie, and Redwood, +by Miss Sedgewick, an American lady, have both great merit; and I now first +read the whole of Mr. Cooper’s novels. By the time these American studies +were completed, I never closed my eyes without seeing myriads of bloody scalps +floating round me; long slender figures of Red Indians crept through my dreams +with noiseless tread; panthers flared; forests blazed; and which ever way I +fled, a light foot, a keen eye, and a long rifle were sure to be on my trail. +An additional ounce of calomel hardly sufficed to neutralize the effect of +these raw-head and bloody-bones adventures. I was advised to plunge immediately +into a course of fashionable novels. It was a great relief to me; but as my +head was by no means very clear, I sometimes jumbled strangely together the +civilized rogues and assassins of Mr. Bulwer, and the wild men, women, and +children slayers of Mr. Cooper; and, truly, between them, I passed my dreams in +very bad company. +</p> + +<p> +Still I could not stand, nor even sit upright. What was I to read next? A happy +thought struck me. I determined upon beginning with Waverley, and reading +through (not for the first time certainly) the whole series. And what a world +did I enter upon! The wholesome vigour of every page seemed to communicate +itself to my nerves; I ceased to be languid and fretful, and though still a +cripple, I certainly enjoyed myself most completely, as long as my treat +lasted; but this was a shorter time than any one would believe, who has not +found how such volumes melt, before the constant reading of a long idle day. +When it was over, however, I had the pleasure of finding that I could walk half +a dozen yards at a time, and take short airings in an open carriage; and better +still, could sleep quietly. +</p> + +<p> +It was no very agreeable conviction which greeted my recovery, that our +Cincinnati speculation for my son would in no way answer our expectation; and +very soon after, he was again seized with the bilious fever of the country, +which terminated in that most distressing of all maladies, an ague. I never +witnessed is effects before, and therefore made my self extremely miserable at +what those around me considered of no consequence. +</p> + +<p> +I believe this frightful complaint is not immediately dangerous; but I never +can believe that the violent and sudden prostration of strength, the dreadfully +convulsive movements which distort the limbs, the livid hue that spreads itself +over the complexion, can take place without shaking the seat of health and +life. Repeatedly we thought the malady cured, and for a few days the poor +sufferer believed himself restored to health and strength; but again and again +it returned upon him, and he began to give himself up as the victim of ill +health. My own health was still very infirm, and it took but little time to +decide that we must leave Cincinnati. The only impediment to this was, the fear +that Mr. Trollope, who was to join us in the Spring, might have set out, and +thus arrive at Cincinnati after we had left it. However, as the time he had +talked of leaving England was later in the season, I decided upon running the +risk; but the winter had set in with great severity, and the river being +frozen, the steam-boats could not run; the frost continued unbroken through the +whole of February, and we were almost weary of waiting for its departure, which +was to be the signal of ours. +</p> + +<p> +The breaking up of the ice, on the Licking and Ohio, formed a most striking +spectacle. At night the river presented a solid surface of ice, but in the +morning it shewed a collection of floating icebergs, of every imaginable size +and form, whirling against each other with frightful violence, and with a noise +unlike any sound I remember. +</p> + +<p> +This sight was a very welcome one, as it gave us hopes of immediate departure, +but my courage failed, when I heard that one or two steam-boats, weary of +waiting, meant to start on the morrow. The idea of running against these +floating islands was really alarming, and I was told by many, that my fears +were not without foundation, for that repeated accidents had happened from this +cause; and then they talked of the little Miami river, whose mouth we were to +pass, sending down masses of ice that might stop our progress; in short, we +waited patiently and prudently, till the learned in such matters told us that +we might start with safety. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Departure from Cincinnati—Society on board the Steam-boat—Arrival +at Wheeling—Bel Esprit +</p> + +<p> +We quitted Cincinnati the beginning of March, 1830, and I believe there was not +one of our party who did not experience a sensation of pleasure in leaving it. +We had seen again and again all the queer varieties of it’s little world; +had amused ourselves with it’s consequence, it’s taste, and +it’s ton, till they had ceased to be amusing. Not a hill was left +unclimbed, nor a forest path unexplored; and, with the exception of two or +three individuals, who bore heads and hearts peculiar to no clime, but which +are found scattered through the world, as if to keep us every where in good +humour with it, we left nought to regret at Cincinnati. The only regret was, +that we had ever entered it; for we had wasted health, time, and money there. +</p> + +<p> +We got on board the steam-boat which was to convey us to Wheeling at three +o’clock. She was a noble boat, by far the finest we had seen. The cabins +were above, and the deck passengers, as they are called, were accommodated +below. In front of the ladies’ cabin was an ample balcony, sheltered by +an awning; chairs and sofas were placed there, and even at that early season, +nearly all the female passengers passed the whole day there. The name of this +splendid vessel was the Lady Franklin. By the way, I was often amused by the +evident fondness which the Americans shew for titles. The wives of their +eminent men constantly receive that of “Lady.” We heard of Lady +Washington, Lady Jackson, and many other “ladies.” The eternal +recurrence of their militia titles is particularly ludicrous, met with, as they +are, among the tavern-keepers, market-gardeners, &c. But I think the most +remarkable instance which we noticed of this sort of aristocratical longing +occurred at Cincinnati. Mr. T— in speaking of a gentleman of the +neighbourhood, called him Mr. M—. “General M—, sir,” +observed his companion. “I beg his pardon,” rejoined Mr. T—, +“but I was not aware of his being in the army.” “No, sir, not +in the army,” was the reply, “but he was surveyor- general of the +district.” +</p> + +<p> +The weather was delightful; all trace of winter had disappeared, and we again +found ourselves moving rapidly up the stream, and enjoying all the beauty of +the Ohio. +</p> + +<p> +Of the male part of the passengers we saw nothing, excepting at the short +silent periods allotted for breakfast, dinner, and supper, at which we were +permitted to enter their cabin, and place ourselves at their table. +</p> + +<p> +In the Lady Franklin we had decidedly the best of it, for we had our beautiful +balcony to sit in. In all respects, indeed, our accommodations were very +superior to what we had found in the boat which brought us from New Orleans to +Memphis, where we were stowed away in a miserable little chamber close aft, +under the cabin, and given to understand by the steward, that it was our duty +there to remain “till such time as the bell should ring for meals.” +</p> + +<p> +The separation of the sexes, so often mentioned, is no where more remarkable +than on board the steam-boats. Among the passengers on this occasion we had a +gentleman and his wife, who really appeared to suffer from the arrangement. She +was an invalid, and he was extremely attentive to her, as far, at least, as the +regulations permitted. When the steward opened the door of communication +between the cabins, to permit our approaching the table, her husband was always +stationed close to it to hand her to her place; and when he accompanied her +again to the door, he always lingered for a moment or two on the forbidden +threshold, nor left his station, till the last female had passed through. Once +or twice he ventured, when all but his wife were on the balcony, to sit down +beside her for a moment in our cabin, but the instant either of us entered, he +started like a guilty thing and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +While mentioning the peculiar arrangements which are thought necessary to the +delicacy of the American ladies, or the comfort of the American gentlemen, I am +tempted to allude to a story which I saw in the papers respecting the visits +which it was stated Captain Basil Hall persisted in making to his wife and +child on board a Mississippi steam-boat, after bring informed that doing so was +contrary to law. Now I happen to know that neither himself or Mrs. Hall ever +entered the ladies’ cabin during the whole voyage, as they occupied a +state-room which Captain Hall had secured for his party. The veracity of +newspaper statements is, perhaps, nowhere quite unimpeachable, but if I am not +greatly mistaken, there are more direct falsehoods circulated by the American +newspapers than by all the others in the world, and the one great and +never-failing source of these voluminous works of imagination is England and +the English. How differently would such a voyage be managed on the other side +of the Atlantic, were such a mode of travelling possible there. Such long calm +river excursions would be perfectly delightful, and parties would be +perpetually formed to enjoy them. Even were all the parties strangers to each +other, the knowledge that they were to eat, drink, and steam away together for +a week or fortnight, would induce something like a social feeling in any other +country. +</p> + +<p> +It is true that the men became sufficiently acquainted to game together, and we +were told that the opportunity was considered as so favourable, that no boat +left New Orleans without having as cabin passengers one or two gentlemen from +that city whose profession it was to drill the fifty-two elements of a pack of +cards to profitable duty. This doubtless is an additional reason for the strict +exclusion of the ladies from their society. The constant drinking of spirits is +another, for though they do not scruple to chew tobacco and to spit incessantly +in the presence of women, they generally prefer drinking and gaming in their +absence. +</p> + +<p> +I often used to amuse myself with fancying the different scene which such a +vessel would display in Europe. The noble length of the gentlemen’s cabin +would be put into requisition for a dance, while that of the ladies, with their +delicious balcony, would be employed for refreshments, instead of sitting down +in two long silent melancholy rows, to swallow as much coffee and beef-steak as +could be achieved in ten minutes. Then song and music would be heard borne +along by the midnight breeze; but on the Ohio, when light failed to shew us the +bluffs, and the trees, with their images inverted in the stream, we crept into +our little cots, listening to the ceaseless churning of the engine, in hope it +would prove a lullaby till morning. +</p> + +<p> +We were three days in reaching Wheeling, where we arrived at last, at two +o’clock in the morning, an uncomfortable hour to disembark with a good +deal of luggage, as the steam-boat was obliged to go on immediately; but we +were instantly supplied with a dray, and in a few moments found ourselves +comfortably seated before a good fire, at an hotel near the landing-place; our +rooms, with fires in them, were immediately ready for us, and refreshments +brought, with all that sedulous attention which in this country distinguishes a +slave state. In making this observation I am very far from intending to +advocate the system of slavery; I conceive it to be essentially wrong; but so +far as my observation has extended, I think its influence is far less injurious +to the manners and morals of the people than the fallacious ideas of equality, +which are so fondly cherished by the working classes of the white population in +America. That these ideas are fallacious, is obvious, for in point of fact the +man possessed of dollars does command the services of the man possessed of no +dollars; but these services are given grudgingly, and of necessity, with no +appearance of cheerful goodwill on the one side, or of kindly interest on the +other. I never failed to mark the difference on entering a slave state. I was +immediately comfortable, and at my ease, and felt that the intercourse between +me and those who served me, was profitable to both parties and painful to +neither. +</p> + +<p> +It was not till I had leisure for more minute observation that I felt aware of +the influence of slavery upon the owners of slaves; when I did, I confess I +could not but think that the citizens of the United States had contrived, by +their political alchymy, to extract all that was most noxious both in democracy +and in slavery, and had poured the strange mixture through every vein of the +moral organization of their country. +</p> + +<p> +Wheeling is the state of Virginia, and appears to be a flourishing town. It is +the point at which most travellers from the West leave the Ohio, to take the +stages which travel the mountain road to the Atlantic cities. +</p> + +<p> +It has many manufactories, among others, one for blowing and cutting glass, +which we visited. We were told by the workmen that the articles finished there +were equal to any in the world; but my eyes refused their assent. The cutting +was very good, though by no means equal to what we see in daily use in London; +but the chief inferiority is in the material, which is never altogether free +from colour. I had observed this also in the glass of the Pittsburgh +manufactory, the labour bestowed on it always appearing greater than the glass +deserved. They told us also, that they were rapidly improving in the art, and I +have no doubt that this was true. +</p> + +<p> +Wheeling has little of beauty to distinguish it, except the ever lovely Ohio, +to which we here bid adieu, and a fine bold hill, which rises immediately +behind the town. This hill, as well as every other in the neighbourhood, is +bored for coal. Their mines are all horizontal. The coal burns well, but with a +very black and dirty cinder. +</p> + +<p> +We found the coach, by which we meant to proceed to Little Washington, full, +and learnt that we must wait two days before it would again leave the town. +Posting was never heard of in the country, and the mail travelled all night, +which I did not approve of; we therefore found ourselves compelled to pass two +days at the Wheeling hotel. +</p> + +<p> +I know not how this weary interval would have worn away, had it not been for +the fortunate circumstance of our meeting with a <i>bel esprit</i> among the +boarders there. We descended to the common sitting room (for private parlours +there are none) before breakfast the morning after our arrival; several +ordinary individuals entered, till the party amounted to eight or nine. Again +the door opened, and in swam a female, who had once certainly been handsome, +and who, it was equally evident, still thought herself so. She was tall, and +well formed, dressed in black, with many gaudy trinkets about her: a scarlet +<i>fichu</i> relieved the sombre colour of her dress, and a very smart little +cap at the back of her head set off an immense quantity of sable hair, which +naturally, or artificially, adorned her forehead. A becoming quantity of rouge +gave the finishing touch to her figure, which had a degree of pretension about +it that immediately attracted our notice. She talked fluently, and without any +American restraint, and I began to be greatly puzzled as to who or what she +could be; a lady, in the English sense of the word, I was sure she was not, and +she was a little like an American female of what they call good standing. A +beautiful girl of seventeen entered soon after, and called her +“Ma,” and both mother and daughter chattered away, about themselves +and their concerns, in a manner that greatly increased my puzzle. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast, being much in want of amusement, I seated myself by her, and +entered into conversation. I found her nothing loth, and in about a minute and +a half she put a card into my hand, setting forth, that she taught the art of +painting upon velvet in all its branches. +</p> + +<p> +She stated to me, with great volubility, that no one but herself and her +daughter knew any thing of this invaluable branch of art; but that for +twenty-five dollars they were willing to communicate all they knew. +</p> + +<p> +In five minutes more she informed me that she was the author of some of the +most cutting satires in the language; and then she presented me a paper, +containing a prospectus, as she called it, of a novel, upon an entirely new +construction. I was strangely tempted to ask her if it went by steam, but she +left me no time to ask any thing, for, continuing the autobiography she had so +obligingly begun, she said, “I used to write against all the Adams +faction. I will go up stairs in a moment and fetch you down my sat-heres +against that side. But oh! my dear madam! it is really frightful to think how +talent is neglected in this country. Ah! I know what you are going to say, my +dear madam, you will tell me that it is not so in yours. I know it! but alas! +the Atlantic! However, I really must tell you how I have been treated: not only +did I publish the most biting sat-heres against the Adams faction, but I wrote +songs and odes in honour of Jackson; and my daughter, Cordelia, sang a splendid +song of my writing, before eight hundred people, entirely and altogether +written in his praise; and would you believe it, my dear madam, he has never +taken the slightest notice of me, or made me the least remuneration. But you +can’t suppose I mean to bear it quietly? No! I promise him that is not my +way. The novel I have just mentioned to you was began as a sentimental romance +(that, perhaps, after all, is my real forte), but after the provocation I +received at Washington, I turned it into a sat-herical novel, and I now call it +<i>Yankee Doodle Court</i>. By the way my dear madam, I think if I could make +up my mind to cross that terrible Atlantic, I should be pretty well received, +after writing Yankee Doodle Court!” +</p> + +<p> +I took the opportunity of a slight pause to ask her to what party she now +belonged, since she had forsworn both Adams and Jackson. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh Clay! Clay for ever! he is a real true-hearted republican; the others +are neither more nor less than tyrants.” +</p> + +<p> +When next I entered the sitting-room she again addressed me, to deplore the +degenerate taste of the age. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you believe it? I have at this moment a comedy ready for +representation; I call it ‘The Mad Philosopher.’ It is really +admirable, and its success certain, if I could get it played. I assure you the +neglect I meet with amounts perfectly to persecution. But I have found out how +to pay them, and to make my own fortune. Sat-here, (as she constantly +pronounced satire) sat-here is the only weapon that can revenge neglect, and I +flatter myself I know how to use it. Do me the favour to look at this,” +</p> + +<p> +She then presented me with a tiny pamphlet, whose price, she informed me, was +twenty-five cents, which I readily paid to become the possessor of this <i>chef +d’oeuvre</i>. The composition was pretty nearly such as I anticipated, +excepting that the English language was done to death by her pen still more +than by her tongue. The epigraph, which was subscribed “original,” +was as follows: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Your popularity’s on the decline:<br/> +You had your triumph! now I’ll have mine.” +</p> + +<p> +These are rather a favourable specimen of the verses that follow. +</p> + +<p> +In a subsequent conversation she made me acquainted with another talent, +informing me that she had played the part of Charlotte, in <i>Love à la +mode</i>, when General Lafayette honoured the theatre at Cincinnati with his +presence. +</p> + +<p> +She now appeared to have run out the catalogue of her accomplishments; and I +came to the conclusion that my new acquaintance was a strolling player: but she +seemed to guess my thoughts, for she presently added. “It was a Thespian +corps that played before the General.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Departure for the mountains in the Stage—Scenery of the +Alleghany—Haggerstown +</p> + +<p> +The weather was bleak and disagreeable during the two days we were obliged to +remain at Wheeling. I had got heartily tired of my gifted friend; we had walked +up every side of the rugged hill, and I set off on my journey towards the +mountains with more pleasure than is generally felt in quitting a pillow before +daylight, for a cold corner in a rumbling stage-coach. +</p> + +<p> +This was the first time we had got into an American stage, though we had +traversed above two thousand miles of the country, and we had all the +satisfaction in it, which could be derived from the conviction that we were +travelling in a foreign land. This vehicle had no step, and we climbed into it +by a ladder; when that was removed I remembered, with some dismay, that the +females at least were much in the predicament of sailors, who, “in danger +have no door to creep out,” but when a misfortune is absolutely +inevitable, we are apt to bear it remarkably well; who would utter that +constant petition of ladies on rough roads, “let me get out,” when +compliance would oblige the pleader to make a step of five feet before she +could touch the ground? +</p> + +<p> +The coach had three rows of seats, each calculated to hold three persons, and +as we were only six, we had, in the phrase of Milton, to “inhabit +lax” this exalted abode, and, accordingly, we were for some miles tossed +about like a few potatoes in a wheelbarrow. Our knees, elbows, and heads +required too much care for their protection to allow us leisure to look out of +the windows; but at length the road became smoother, and we became more skilful +in the art of balancing ourselves, so as to meet the concussion with less +danger of dislocation. +</p> + +<p> +We then found that we were travelling through a very beautiful country, +essentially different in its features from what we had been accustomed to round +Cincinnati: it is true we had left “<i>la belle rivière</i>” behind +us, but the many limpid and rapid little streams that danced through the +landscape to join it, more than atoned for its loss. +</p> + +<p> +The country already wore an air of more careful husbandry, and the very +circumstance of a wide and costly road (though not a very smooth one), which in +theory might be supposed to injure picturesque effect, was beautiful to us, +who, since we had entered the muddy mouth of the Mississippi, had never seen +any thing except a steam-boat and the <i>levee</i> professing to have so noble +an object as public accommodation. Through the whole of the vast region we had +passed, excepting at New Orleans itself, every trace of the art of man appeared +to be confined to the individual effort of “getting along,” which, +in western phrase, means contriving to live with as small a portion of the +incumbrances of civilized society as possible. +</p> + +<p> +This road was made at the expense of the government as far as Cumberland, a +town situated among the Alleghany mountains, and, from the nature of the +ground, must have been a work of great cost. I regretted not having counted the +number of bridges between Wheeling and Little Washington, a distance of +thirty-four miles; over one stream only there are twenty-five, all passed by +the road. They frequently occurred within a hundred yards of each other, so +serpentine is its course; they are built of stone, and sometimes very neatly +finished. +</p> + +<p> +Little Washington is in Pennsylvania, across a corner of which the road runs. +This is a free state, but we were still waited upon by Negroes, hired from the +neighbouring state of Virginia. We arrived at night, and set off again at four +in the morning; all, therefore, that we saw of Little Washington was its hotel, +which was clean and comfortable. The first part of the next day’s journey +was through a country much less interesting: its character was unvaried for +nearly thirty miles, consisting of an uninterrupted succession of +forest-covered hills. As soon as we had wearily dragged to the top of one of +these, we began to rumble down the other side as rapidly as our four horses +could trot; and no sooner arrived at the bottom than we began to crawl up +again; the trees constantly so thick and so high as to preclude the possibility +of seeing fifty yards in any direction. +</p> + +<p> +The latter part of the day, however, amply repaid us. At four o’clock we +began to ascend the Alleghany mountains: the first ridge on the western side is +called Laurel Hill, and takes its name from the profuse quantity of evergreens +with which it is covered; not any among them, however, being the shrub to which +we give the name of laurel. +</p> + +<p> +The whole of this mountain region, through ninety miles of which the road +passes, is a garden. The almost incredible variety of plants, and the lavish +profusion of their growth, produce an effect perfectly enchanting. I really can +hardly conceive a higher enjoyment than a botanical tour among the Alleghany +mountains, to any one who had science enough to profit by it. +</p> + +<p> +The magnificent rhododendron first caught our eyes; it fringes every cliff, +nestles beneath every rock, and blooms around every tree. The azalia, the +shumac, and every variety of that beautiful mischief, the kalmia, are in equal +profusion. Cedars of every size and form were above, around, and underneath us; +firs more beautiful and more various than I had ever seen, were in equal +abundance, but I know not whether they were really such as I had never seen in +Europe, or only in infinitely greater splendour and perfection of growth; the +species called the hemlock is, I think, second to the cedar only, in +magnificence. Oak and beech, with innumerable roses and wild vines, hanging in +beautiful confusion among their branches, were in many places scattered among +the evergreens. The earth was carpeted with various mosses and creeping plants, +and though still in the month of March, not a trace of the nakedness of winter +could be seen. Such was the scenery that shewed us we were indeed among the +far-famed Alleghany mountains. +</p> + +<p> +As our noble terrace-road, the Semplon of America, rose higher and higher, all +that is noblest in nature was joined to all that is sweetest. The blue tops of +the higher ridges formed the outline; huge masses of rock rose above us on the +left, half hid at intervals by the bright green shrubs, while to the right we +looked down upon the tops of the pines and cedars which clothed the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +I had no idea of the endless variety of mountain scenery. My notions had been +of rocks and precipices, of torrents and of forest trees, but I little expected +that the first spot which should recall the garden scenery of our beautiful +England would be found among the moutains: yet so it was. From the time I +entered America I had never seen the slightest approach to what we call +pleasure-grounds; a few very worthless and scentless flowers were all the +specimens of gardening I had seen in Ohio; no attempt at garden scenery was +ever dreamed of, and it was with the sort of delight with which one meets an +old friend, that we looked on the lovely mixture of trees, shrubs, and flowers, +that now continually met our eyes. Often, on descending into the narrow +vallies, we found a little spot of cultivation, a garden or a field, hedged +round with shumacs, rhododendrons, and azalias, and a cottage covered with +roses. These vallies are spots of great beauty; a clear stream is always found +running through them, which is generally converted to the use of the miller, at +some point not far from the road; and here, as on the heights, great beauty of +colouring is given to the landscape, by the bright hue of the vegetation, and +the sober grey of the rocks. +</p> + +<p> +The first night we passed among the mountains recalled us painfully from the +enjoyment of nature to all the petty miseries of personal discomfort. Arrived +at our inn, a forlorn parlour, filled with the blended fumes of tobacco and +whiskey, received us; and chilled, as we began to feel ourselves with the +mountain air, we preferred going to our cold bedrooms rather than sup in such +an atmosphere. We found linen on the beds which they assured us had only been +used <i>a few nights</i>; every kind of refreshment we asked for we were +answered, “We do not happen to have that article.” We were still in +Pennsylvania, and no longer waited upon by slaves; it was, therefore, with +great difficulty that we procured a fire in our bedrooms from the surly-looking +<i>young lady</i> who condescended to officiate as chambermaid, and with much +more, that we extorted clean linen for our beds; that done, we patiently crept +into them supperless, while she made her exit muttering about the difficulty of +“fixing English folks.” +</p> + +<p> +The next morning cheered our spirits again; we now enjoyed a new kind of alpine +witchery; the clouds were floating around, and below us, and the distant peaks +were indistinctly visible as through a white gauze veil, which was gradually +lifted up, till the sun arose, and again let in upon us the full glory of these +interminable heights. +</p> + +<p> +We were told before we began the ascent, that we should find snow four inches +deep on the road; but as yet we had seen none, and indeed it was with +difficulty we persuaded ourselves that we were not travelling in the midst of +summer. As we proceeded, however, we found the northern declivities still +covered with it, and at length, towards the summit, the road itself had the +promised four inches. The extreme mildness of the air, and the brilliant hue of +the evergreens, contrasted strangely with this appearance of winter; it was +difficult to understand how the snow could help melting in such an atmosphere. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again we enjoyed all the exhilarating sensations that such scenes +must necessarily inspire, but in attempting a continued description of our +progress over these beautiful mountains, I could only tell again of rocks, +cedars, laurels, and running streams, of blue heights, and green vallies, yet +the continually varying combinations of these objects afforded us unceasing +pleasure. From one point, pre-eminently above any neighbouring ridge, we looked +back upon the enormous valley of the West. It is a stupendous view; but having +gazed upon it for some moments, we turned to pursue our course, and the +certainty that we should see it no more, raised no sigh of regret. +</p> + +<p> +We dined, on the second day, at a beautiful spot, which we were told was the +highest point on the road, being 2,846 feet above the level of the sea. We were +regaled luxuriously on wild turkey and mountain venison; which latter is +infinitely superior to any furnished by the forests of the Mississippi, or the +Ohio. The vegetables also were extremely fine, and we were told by a pretty +girl, who superintended the slaves that waited on us, (for we were again in +Virginia), that the vegetables of the Alleghany were reckoned the finest in +America. She told us also, that wild strawberries were profusely abundant, and +very fine; that their cows found for themselves, during the summer, plenty of +flowery food, which produced a copious supply of milk; that their spring gave +them the purest water, of icy coldness in the warmest seasons; and that the +climate was the most delicious in the world, for though the thermometer +sometimes stood at ninety, their cool breeze never failed them. What a spot to +turn hermit in for a summer! My eloquent mountaineer gave me some specimens of +ground plants, far unlike any thing I had ever seen. One particularly, which +she called the ground pine, is peculiar as she told me, to the Alleghany, and +in some places runs over whole acres of ground; it is extremely beautiful. The +rooms were very prettily decorated with this elegant plant, hung round it in +festoons. +</p> + +<p> +In many places the clearing has been considerable; the road passes through +several fine farms, situated in the sheltered hollows; we were told that the +wolves continue to annoy them severely, but that panthers, the terror of the +West, are never seen, and bears very rarely. Of snakes, they confessed they had +abundance, but very few that were considered dangerous. +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon we came in sight of the Monongehala river; and its banks gave +us for several miles a beautiful succession of wild and domestic scenery. In +some points, the black rock rises perpendicularly from its margin, like those +at Chepstow; at others, a mill, with its owner’s cottage, its corn-plat, +and its poultry, present a delightful image of industry and comfort. +</p> + +<p> +Brownsville is a busy looking little town built upon the banks of this river; +it would be pretty, were it not stained by the hue of coal. I do not remember +in England to have seen any spot, however near a coal mine, so dyed in black as +Wheeling and Brownsville. At this place we crossed the Monongehala, in a flat +ferry-boat, which very commodiously received our huge coach and four horses. +</p> + +<p> +On leaving the black little town, we were again cheered by abundance of +evergreens, reflected in the stream, with fantastic piles of rock, half visible +through the pines and cedars above, giving often the idea of a vast gothic +castle. It was a folly, I confess, but I often lamented they were not such; the +travelling for thousands of miles, without meeting any nobler trace of the ages +that are passed, than a mass of rotten leaves, or a fragment of fallen rock, +produces a heavy, earthly matter-of-fact effect upon the imagination, which can +hardly be described, and for which the greatest beauty of scenery can furnish +only an occasional and transitory remedy. +</p> + +<p> +Our second night in the mountains was past at a solitary house of rather +forlorn appearance; but we fared much better than the night before, for they +gave us clean sheets, a good fire, and no scolding. We again started at four +o’clock in the morning, and eagerly watched for the first gleam of light +that should show the same lovely spectacle we had seen the day before; nor were +we disappointed, though the show was somewhat different. The vapours caught the +morning ray, as it first darted over the mountain top, and passing it to the +scene below, we seemed enveloped in a rainbow. +</p> + +<p> +We had now but one ridge left to pass over, and as we reached the top, and +looked down on the new world before us, I hardly knew whether most to rejoice +that +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“All the toil of the long-pass’d way” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +was over, or to regret that our mountain journey was drawing to a close. +</p> + +<p> +The novelty of my enjoyment had doubtless added much to its keenness. I have +never been familiar with mountain scenery. Wales has shewn me all I ever saw, +and the region of the Alleghany Alps in no way resembles it. It is a world of +mountains rising around you in every direction, and in every form; savage, +vast, and wild; yet almost at every step, some lovely spot meets your eye, +green, bright and blooming, as the most cherished nook belonging to some noble +Flora in our own beautiful land. It is a ride of ninety miles through kalmies, +rhododendrons, azalias, vines and roses; sheltered from every blast that blows +by vast masses of various coloured rocks, on which +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Tall pines and cedars wave their dark green crests.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +while in every direction you have a background of blue mountain tops, that play +at bo-peep with you in the clouds. +</p> + +<p> +After descending the last ridge we reached Haggerstown, a small neat place, +between a town and a village; and here by the piety of the Presbyterian +coach-masters, we were doomed to pass an entire day, and two nights, “as +the accommodation line must not run on the sabbath.” +</p> + +<p> +I must, however, mention, that this day of enforced rest was <i>not</i> Sunday. +Saturday evening we had taken in at Cumberland a portly passenger, whom we soon +discovered to be one of the proprietors of the coach. He asked us, with great +politeness, if we should wish to travel on the sabbath, or to delay our +journey. We answered that we would rather proceed; “The coach, then, +shall go on tomorrow,” replied the liberal coach-master, with the +greatest courtesy; and accordingly we travelled all Sunday, and arrived at +Haggerstown on Sunday night. At the door of the inn our civil proprietor left +us; but when we enquired of the waiter at what hour we were to start on the +morrow, he told us that we should be obliged to pass the whole of Monday there, +as the coach which was to convey us forward would not arrive from the east, +till Tuesday morning. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we discovered that the waiving the sabbath-keeping by the proprietor, was +for his own convenience, and not for ours, and that we were to be tied by the +leg for four-and-twenty hours notwithstanding. This was quite a Yankee trick. +</p> + +<p> +Luckily for us, the inn at Haggerstown was one of the most comfortable I ever +entered. It was there that we became fully aware that we had left Western +America behind us. Instead of being scolded, as we literally were at +Cincinnati, for asking for a private sitting-room, we here had two, without +asking at all. A waiter, quite <i>comme il faut</i>, summoned us to breakfast, +dinner, and tea, which we found prepared with abundance, and even elegance. The +master of the house met us at the door of the eating-room, and, after asking if +we wished for any thing not on the table, retired. The charges were in no +respect higher than at Cincinnati. +</p> + +<p> +A considerable creek, called Conococheque Creek, runs near the town, and the +valley through which it passes is said to be the most fertile in America. +</p> + +<p> +On leaving Haggerstown we found, to our mortification, that we were not to be +the sole occupants of the bulky accommodation, two ladies and two gentlemen +appearing at the door ready to share it with us. We again started, at four +o’clock, by the light of a bright moon, and rumbled and nodded through +the roads considerably worse than those over the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +As the light began to dawn we discovered our ladies to be an old woman and her +pretty daughter. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after daylight we found that our pace became much slower than usual, and +that from time to time our driver addressed to his companion on the box many +and vehement exclamations. The gentlemen put their heads out, to ask what was +the matter, but could get no intelligence, till the mail overtook us, when both +vehicles stopped, and an animated colloquy of imprecations took place between +the coachmen. At length we learnt that one of our wheels was broken in such a +manner as to render it impossible for us to proceed. Upon this the old lady +immediately became a principal actor in the scene. She sprung to the window, +and addressing the set of gentlemen who completely filled the mail, exclaimed +“Gentlemen! can’t you make room for two? only me and my +daughter?” The naive simplicity of this request set both the coaches into +an uproar of laughter. It was impossible to doubt that she acted upon the same +principle as the pious Catholic, who addressing heaven with a prayer for +himself alone, added “<i>pour ne pas fatiguer ta miséricorde.</i>” +Our laugh, however, never daunted the old woman, or caused her for a moment to +cease the reiteration of her request, “only for two of us, gentlemen! +can’t you find room for two?” +</p> + +<p> +Our situation was really very embarrassing, but not to laugh was impossible. +After it was ascertained that our own vehicle could not convey us, and that the +mail had not even room for two, we decided upon walking to the next village, a +distance, fortunately, of only two miles, and awaiting there the repair of the +wheel. We immediately set off, at the brisk pace that six o’clock and a +frosty morning in March were likely to inspire, leaving our old lady and her +pretty daughter considerably in the rear; our hearts having been rather +hardened by the exclusive nature of her prayer for aid. +</p> + +<p> +When we had again started upon our new wheel, the driver, to recover the time +he had lost, drove rapidly over a very rough road, in consequence of which, our +self-seeking old lady fell into a perfect agony of terror, and her cries of +“we shall be over! oh, Lord! we shall be over! we must over! we shall be +over!” lasted to the end of the stage which with laughing, walking, and +shaking, was a most fatiguing one. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Baltimore—Catholic Cathedral—St. Mary’s—College +Sermons—Infant School +</p> + +<p> +As we advanced towards Baltimore the look of cultivation increased, the fences +wore an air of greater neatness, the houses began to look like the abodes of +competence and comfort, and we were consoled for the loss of the beautiful +mountains by knowing that we were approaching the Atlantic. +</p> + +<p> +From the time of quitting the Ohio river, though, unquestionably, it merits its +title of “the beautiful,” especially when compared with the dreary +Mississippi, I strongly felt the truth of an observation I remembered to have +heard in England, that little rivers were more beautiful than great ones. As +features in a landscape, this is assuredly the case. Where the stream is so +wide that the objects on the opposite shore are indistinct, all the beauty must +be derived from the water itself; whereas, when the stream is narrow, it +becomes only a part of the composition. The Monongahela, which is in size +between the Wye and the Thames, is infinitely more picturesque than the Ohio. +</p> + +<p> +To enjoy the beauty of the vast rivers of this vast country you must be upon +the water; and then the power of changing the scenery by now approaching one +shore, and now the other, is very pleasing; but travelling as we now did, by +land, the wild, rocky, narrow, rapid little rivers we encountered, were a +thousand times more beautiful. The Potapsco, near which the road runs, as you +approach Baltimore, is at many points very picturesque. The large blocks of +grey rock, now close upon its edge, and now retiring to give room for a few +acres of bright green herbage, give great interest and variety to its course. +</p> + +<p> +Baltimore is, I think, one of the handsomest cities to approach in the Union. +The noble column erected to the memory of Washington, and the Catholic +Cathedral, with its beautiful dome, being built on a commanding eminence, are +seen at a great distance. As you draw nearer, many other domes and towers +become visible, and as you enter Baltimore-street, you feel that you are +arrived in a handsome and populous city. +</p> + +<p> +We took up our quarters at an excellent hotel, where the coach stopped, and the +next day were fortunate enough to find accommodation in the house of a lady, +well known to many of my European friends. With her and her amiable daughter, +we spent a fortnight very agreeably, and felt quite aware that if we had not +arrived in London or Paris, we had, at least, left far behind the +“half-horse, half-alligator” tribes of the West, as the Kentuckians +call themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Baltimore is in many respects a beautiful city; it has several handsome +buildings, and even the private dwelling-houses have a look of magnificence, +from the abundance of white marble with which many of them are adorned. The +ample flights of steps, and the lofty door frames, are in most of the best +houses formed of this beautiful material. +</p> + +<p> +This has been called the city of monuments, from its having the stately column +erected to the memory of General Washington, and which bears a colossal statue +of him at the top; and another pillar of less dimensions, recording some +victory; I forget which. Both these are of brilliant white marble. There are +also several pretty marble fountains in different parts of the city, which +greatly add to its beauty. These are not, it is true, quite so splendid as that +of the Innocents, or many others at Paris, but they are fountains of clear +water, and they are built of white marble. There is one which is sheltered from +the sun by a roof supported by light columns; it looks like a temple dedicated +to the genius of the spring. The water flows into a marble cistern, to which +you descend by a flight of steps of delicate whiteness, and return by another. +These steps are never without groups of negro girls, some carrying the water on +their heads, with that graceful steadiness of step, which requires no aid from +the hand; some tripping gaily with their yet unfilled pitchers; many of them +singing in the soft rich voice, peculiar to their race; and all dressed with +that strict attention to taste and smartness, which seems the distinguishing +characteristic of the Baltimore females of all ranks. +</p> + +<p> +The Catholic Cathedral is considered by all Americans as a magnificent church, +but it can hardly be so classed by any one who has seen the churches of Europe; +its interior, however, has an air of neatness that amounts to elegance. The +form is a Greek cross, having a dome in the centre; but the proportions are +ill- preserved; the dome is too low, and the arches which support it are +flattened, and too wide for their height. On each side of the high altar are +chapels to the Saviour and the Virgin. The altars in these, as well as the high +altar, are of native marble of different colours, and some of the specimens are +very beautiful. The decorations of the altar are elegant and costly. The +prelate is a cardinal, and bears, moreover, the title of “Archbishop of +Baltimore.” +</p> + +<p> +There are several paintings in different parts of the church, which we heard +were considered as very fine. There are two presented by Louis XVIII; one of +these is the Descent from the Cross, by Paulin Guirin; the other a copy from +Rubens, (as they told us) of a legend of St. Louis in the Holy Land; but the +composition of the picture is so abominably bad, that I conceive the legend of +its being after Rubens, must be as fabulous as its subject. The admiration in +which these pictures are held, is an incontestable indication of the state of +art in the country. +</p> + +<p> +We attended mass in this church the Sunday after our arrival, and I was +perfectly astonished at the beauty and splendid appearance of the ladies who +filled it. Excepting on a very brilliant Sunday at the Tuilleries, I never saw +so shewy a display of morning costume, and I think I never saw any where so +many beautiful women at one glance. They all appeared to be in full dress, and +were really all beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +The sermon (I am very attentive to sermons) was a most extraordinary one. The +priest began by telling us, that he was about to preach upon a vice that he +would not “mention or name” from the beginning of his sermon to the +end. +</p> + +<p> +Having thus excited the curiosity of his hearers, by proposing a riddle to +them, he began. +</p> + +<p> +Adam, he said, was most assuredly the first who had committed this sin, and +Cain the next; then, following the advice given by the listener, in the +Plaideurs, “Passons au deluge, je vous prie;” he went on to mention +the particular propriety of Noah’s family on this point; and then +continued, “Now observe, what did God shew the greatest dislike to? What +was it that Jesus was never even accused of? What was it Joseph hated the most? +Who was the disciple that Jesus chose for his friend?” and thus he went +on for nearly an hour, in a strain that was often perfectly unintelligible to +me, but which, as far as I could comprehend it, appeared to be a sort of expose +and commentary upon private anecdotes which he had found, or fancied he had +found in the Bible. I never saw the attention of a congregation more strongly +excited, and I really wished, in Christian charity, that something better had +rewarded it. +</p> + +<p> +There are a vast number of churches and chapels in the city, in proportion to +its extent, and several that are large and well- built; the Unitarian church is +the handsomest I have ever seen dedicated to that mode of worship. But the +prettiest among them is a little <i>bijou</i> of a thing belonging to the +Catholic college. The institution is dedicated to St. Mary, but this little +chapel looks, though in the midst of a city, as if it should have been sacred +to St. John of the wilderness. There is a sequestered little garden behind it, +hardly large enough to plant cabbages in, which yet contains a Mount Calvary, +bearing a lofty cross. The tiny path which leads up to this sacred spot, is not +much wider than a sheep-track, and its cedars are but shrubs, but all is in +proportion; and notwithstanding its fairy dimensions, there is something of +holiness, and quiet beauty about it, that excites the imagination strangely. +The little chapel itself has the same touching and impressive character. A +solitary lamp, whose glare is tempered by delicately painted glass, hangs +before the altar. The light of day enters dimly, yet richly, through crimson +curtains, and the silence with which the well-lined doors opened from time to +time, admitting a youth of the establishment, who, with noiseless tread, +approached the altar, and kneeling, offered a whispered prayer, and retired, +had something in it more calculated, perhaps, to generate holy thoughts, than +even the swelling anthem heard beneath the resounding dome of St. +Peter’s. +</p> + +<p> +Baltimore has a handsome museum, superintended by one of the Peale family, well +known for their devotion to natural science, and to works of art. It is not +their fault if the specimens which they are enabled to display in the latter +department are very inferior to their splendid exhibitions in the former. +</p> + +<p> +The theatre was closed when we were in Baltimore, but we were told that it was +very far from being a popular or fashionable amusement. We were, indeed, told +this every where throughout the country, and the information was generally +accompanied by the observation, that the opposition of the clergy was the cause +of it. But I suspect that this is not the principal cause, especially among the +men, who, if they were so implicit in their obedience to the clergy, would +certainly be more constant in their attendance at the churches; nor would they, +moreover, deem the theatre more righteous because an English actor, or a French +dancer, performed there; yet on such occasions the theatres overflow. The +cause, I think, is in the character of the people. I never saw a population so +totally divested of gaiety; there is no trace of this feeling from one end of +the Union to the other. They have no fêtes, no fairs, no merry makings, no +music in the streets, no Punch, no puppet-shows. If they see a comedy or a +farce, they may laugh at it; but they can do very well without it; and the +consciousness of the number of cents that must be paid to enter a theatre, I am +very sure turns more steps from its door than any religious feeling. A +distinguished publisher of Philadelphia told me that no comic publication had +ever yet been found to answer in America. +</p> + +<p> +We arrived at Baltimore at the season of the “Conference.” I must +be excused from giving any very distinct explanation of this term, as I did not +receive any. From what I could learn, it much resembles a Revival. We entered +many churches, and heard much preaching, and not one of the reverend orators +could utter the reproach, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Peut-on si bien precher qu’elle ne dorme au sermon?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +for I never even dosed at any. There was one preacher whose manner and matter +were so peculiar, that I took the liberty of immediately writing down a part of +his discourse as a specimen. I confess I began writing in the middle of a +sentence, for I waited in vain for a beginning. It was as follows:- +</p> + +<p> +“Nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the one important, great, and +only object; for the Lord is mighty, his works are great, likewise wonderful, +likewise wise, likewise merciful; and, moreover, we must ever keep in mind, and +close to our hearts, all his precious blessings, and unspeakable mercies, and +overflowings; and moreover we must never lose sight of, no, never lose sight +of, nor ever cease to remember, nor ever let our souls forget, nor ever cease +to dwell upon, and to reverence, and to welcome, and to bless, and to give +thanks, and to sing hosanna, and give praise,”—and here my fragment +of paper failed, but this strain continued, without a shadow of meaning that I +could trace, and in a voice inconceivably loud, for more than an hour. After he +had finished his sermon, a scene exactly resembling that at the Cincinnati +Revival, took place. Two other priests assisted in calling forward the people, +and in whispering comfort to them. One of these men roared out in the coarsest +accents, “Do you want to go to hell tonight?” The church was almost +entirely filled with women, who vied with each other in howlings and +contortions of the body; many of them tore their clothes nearly off. I was much +amused, spite of the indignation and disgust the scene inspired, by the +vehemence of the negro part of the congregation; they seemed determined to +bellow louder than all the rest, to shew at once their piety and their +equality. +</p> + +<p> +At this same chapel, a few nights before, a woman had fallen in a fit of +ecstasy from the gallery, into the arms of the people below, a height of twelve +feet. A young slave who waited upon us at table, when this was mentioned, said, +that similar accidents had frequently happened, and that once she had seen it +herself. Another slave in the house told us, that she “liked religion +right well, but that she never took fits in it, ’cause she was always +fixed in her best, when she went to chapel, and she did not like to have all +her best clothes broke up.” +</p> + +<p> +We visited the infant school, instituted in this city by Mr. Ibbertson, an +amiable and intelligent Englishman. It was the first infant school, properly so +called, which I had ever seen, and I was greatly pleased with all the +arrangements, and the apparent success of them. The children, of whom we saw +about a hundred, boys and girls, were between eighteen months and six years. +The apartment was filled with all sorts of instructive and amusing objects; a +set of Dutch toys, arranged as a cabinet of natural history, was excellent; a +numerous collection of large wooden bricks filled one corner of the room; the +walls were hung with gay papers of different patterns, each representing some +pretty group of figures; large and excellent coloured engravings of birds and +beasts were exhibited in succession as the theme of a little lesson; and the +sweet flute of Mr. Ibbertson gave tune and time to the prettiest little concert +of chirping birds that I ever listened to. +</p> + +<p> +A geographical model, large enough to give clear ideas of continent, island, +cape, isthmus, et cetera, all set in water, is placed before the children, and +the pretty creatures point their little rosy fingers with a look of intense +interest, as they are called upon to shew where each of them is to be found. +The dress, both of boys and girls, was elegantly neat, and their manner, when +called upon to speak individually, was well-bred, intelligent, and totally free +from the rude indifference, which is so remarkably prevalent in the manners of +American children. Mr. Ibbertson will be benefactor to the Union, if he become +the means of spreading the admirable method by which he had polished the +manner, and awakened the intellect of these beautiful little Republicans. I +have conversed with many American ladies on the total want of discipline and +subjection which I observed universally among children of all ages, and I never +found any who did not both acknowledge and deplore the truth of the remark. In +the state of Ohio they have a law (I know not if it exist elsewhere), that if a +father strike his son, he shall pay a fine of ten dollars for every such +offence. I was told by a gentleman of Cincinnati, that he had seen this fine +inflicted there, at the requisition of a boy of twelve years of age, whose +father, he proved, had struck him for lying. Such a law, they say, generates a +spirit of freedom. What else may it generate? +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ibbertson, who seems perfectly devoted, heart and head to the subject, told +me that he was employed in organizing successive schools that should receive +the pupils as they advanced in age. If he prove himself as capable of +completing education, as he appears to be of beginning it, his institution will +be a very valuable one. It would, indeed, be valuable any where; but in +America, where discipline is not, where, from the shell, they are beings +“that cannot rule, nor ever will be ruled,” it is invaluable. +</p> + +<p> +About two miles from Baltimore is a fort, nobly situated on the Patapsco, and +commanding the approach from the Chesapeak bay. As our visit was on a Sunday we +were not permitted to enter it. The walk to this fort is along a fine terrace +of beautiful verdure, which commands a magnificent view of the city, with its +columns, towers, domes, and shipping; and also of the Patapsco river, which is +here so wide as to present almost a sea view. This terrace is ornamented with +abundance of evergreens, and wild roses innumerable, but, the whole region has +the reputation of being unhealthy, and the fort itself most lamentably so. +Before leaving the city of monuments, I must not omit naming one reared to the +growing wealth of the country; Mr. Barham’s hotel is said to be the most +splendid in the Union, and it is certainly splendid enough for a people more +luxurious than the citizens of the republic appear yet to be. I heard +different, and, indeed, perfectly contradictory accounts of the success of the +experiment; but at least every one seemed to agree that the liberal projector +was fully entitled to exclaim, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“’Tis not in mortals to command success;<br/> +I have done more, Jonathan, I’ve deserved it.” +</p> + +<p> +After enjoying a very pleasant fortnight, the greater part of which was passed +in rambling about this pretty city and its environs, we left it, not without +regret, and all indulging the hope that we should be able to pay it another +visit. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Voyage to Washington—Capitol—City of +Washington—Congress—Indians—Funeral of a Member of Congress +</p> + +<p> +By far the shortest route to Washington, both as to distance and time, is by +land; but I much wished to see the celebrated Chesapeak bay, and it was +therefore decided that we should take our passage in the steam-boat. It is +indeed a beautiful little voyage, and well worth the time it costs; but as to +the beauty of the bay, it must, I think, be felt only by sailors. It is, I +doubt not, a fine shelter for ships, from the storms of the Atlantic, but its +very vastness prevents its striking the eye as beautiful: it is, in fact, only +a fine sea view. But the entrance from it into the Potomac river is very noble, +and is one of the points at which one feels conscious of the gigantic +proportions of the country, without having recourse to a graduated pencil-case. +</p> + +<p> +The passage up this river to Washington is interesting, from many objects that +it passes, but beyond all else, by the view it affords of Mount Vernon, the +seat of General Washington. It is there that this truly great man passed the +last years of his virtuous life, and it is there that he lies buried: it was +easy to distinguish, as we passed, the cypress that waves over his grave. +</p> + +<p> +The latter part of the voyage shews some fine river scenery; but I did not +discover this till some months afterwards, for we now arrived late at night. +</p> + +<p> +Our first object the next morning was to get a sight of the capitol, and our +impatience sent us forth before breakfast. The mists of morning still hung +around this magnificent building when first it broke upon our view, and I am +not sure that the effect produced was not the greater for this circumstance. At +all events, we were struck with admiration and surprise. None of us, I believe, +expected to see so imposing a structure on that side of the Atlantic. I am ill +at describing buildings, but the beauty and majesty of the American capitol +might defy an abler pen than mine to do it justice. It stands so finely too, +high, and alone. +</p> + +<p> +The magnificent western facade is approached from the city by terraces and +steps of bolder proportions than I ever before saw. The elegant eastern front, +to which many persons give the preference, is on a level with a newly-planted +but exceedingly handsome inclosure, which, in a few years, will offer the shade +of all the most splendid trees which flourish in the Union, to cool the brows +and refresh the spirits of the members. The view from the capitol commands the +city and many miles around, and it is itself an object of imposing beauty to +the whole country adjoining. +</p> + +<p> +We were again fortunate enough to find a very agreeable family to board with; +and soon after breakfast left our comfortless hotel near the water, for very +pleasant apartments in F. street.<a href="#fn7" name="fnref7" id="fnref7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn7" id="fn7"></a> <a href="#fnref7">[7]</a> +The streets that intersect the great avenues in Washington are distinguished by +the letters of the alphabet. +</p> + +<p> +I was delighted with the whole aspect of Washington; light, cheerful, and airy, +it reminded me of our fashionable watering places. It has been laughed at by +foreigners, and even by natives, because the original plan of the city was upon +an enormous scale, and but a very small part of it has been as yet executed. +But I confess I see nothing in the least degree ridiculous about it; the +original design, which was as beautiful as it was extensive, has been in no way +departed from, and all that has been done has been done well. From the base of +the hill on which the capitol stands extends a street of most magnificent +width, planted on each side with trees, and ornamented by many splendid shops. +This street, which is called Pennsylvania Avenue, is above a mile in length, +and at the end of it is the handsome mansion of the President; conveniently +near to his residence are the various public offices, all handsome, simple, and +commodious; ample areas are left round each, where grass and shrubs refresh the +eye. In another of the principal streets is the general post-office, and not +far from it a very noble town- hall. Towards the quarter of the +President’s house are several handsome dwellings, which are chiefly +occupied by the foreign ministers. The houses in the other parts of the city +are scattered, but without ever losing sight of the regularity of the original +plan; and to a person who has been travelling much through the country, and +marked the immense quantity of new manufactories, new canals, new railroads, +new towns, and new cities, which are springing, as it were, from the earth in +every part of it, the appearance of the metropolis rising gradually into life +and splendour, is a spectacle of high historic interest. +</p> + +<p> +Commerce had already produced large and handsome cities in America before she +had attained to an individual political existence, and Washington may be +scorned as a metropolis, where such cities as Philadelphia and New York exist; +but I considered it as the growing metropolis of the growing population of the +Union, and it already possesses features noble enough to sustain its dignity as +such. +</p> + +<p> +The residence of the foreign legations and their families gives a tone to the +society of this city which distinguishes it greatly from all others. It is +also, for a great part of the year, the residence of the senators and +representatives, who must be presumed to be the <i>elite</i> of the entire body +of citizens, both in respect to talent and education. This cannot fail to make +Washington a more agreeable abode than any other city in the Union. +</p> + +<p> +The total absence of all sights, sounds, or smells of commerce, adds greatly to +the charm. Instead of drays you see handsome carriages; and instead of the busy +bustling hustle of men, shuffling on to a sale of “dry goods” or +“prime broad stuffs,” you see very well-dressed personages lounging +leisurely up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Pishey Thompson, the English bookseller, with his pretty collection of all +sorts of pretty literature, fresh from London, and Mr. Somebody, the jeweller, +with his brilliant shop full of trinkets, are the principal points of +attraction and business. What a contrast to all other American cities! The +members, who pass several months every year in this lounging easy way, with no +labour but a little talking, and with the <i>douceur</i> of eight dollars a day +to pay them for it, must feel the change sadly when their term of public +service is over. +</p> + +<p> +There is another circumstance which renders the evening parties at Washington +extremely unlike those of other places in the Union; this is the great majority +of gentlemen. The expense, the trouble, or the necessity of a ruling eye at +home, one or all of these reasons, prevents the members’ ladies from +accompanying them to Washington; at least, I heard of very few who had their +wives with them. The female society is chiefly to be found among the families +of the foreign ministers, those of the officers of state, and of the few +members, the wealthiest and most aristocratic of the land, who bring their +families with them. Some few independent persons reside in or near the city, +but this is a class so thinly scattered that they can hardly be accounted a +part of the population. +</p> + +<p> +But, strange to say, even here a theatre cannot be supported for more than a +few weeks at a time. I was told that gambling is the favourite recreation of +the gentlemen, and that it is carried to a very considerable extent; but here, +as elsewhere within the country, it is kept extremely well out of sight. I do +not think I was present with a pack of cards a dozen times during more than +three years that I remained in the country. Billiards are much played, though +in most places the amusement is illegal. It often appeared to me that the old +women of a state made the laws, and the young men broke them. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the diminutive size of the city, we found much to see, and to +amuse us. +</p> + +<p> +The patent office is a curious record of the fertility of the mind of man when +left to its own resources; but it gives ample proof also that it is not under +such circumstances it is most usefully employed. This patent office contains +models of all the mechanical inventions that have been produced in the Union, +and the number is enormous. I asked the man who shewed these, what proportion +of them had been brought into use, he said about one in a thousand; he told me +also, that they chiefly proceeded from mechanics and agriculturists settled in +remote parts of the country, who had began by endeavouring to hit upon some +contrivance to enable them to <i>get along</i> without sending some thousand +and odd miles for the thing they wanted. If the contrivance succeeded, they +generally became so fond of this offspring of their ingenuity, that they +brought it to Washington for a patent. +</p> + +<p> +At the secretary of state’s office we were shewn autographs of all the +potentates with whom the Union were in alliance; which, I believe, pretty well +includes all. To the parchments bearing these royal signs manual were appended, +of course, the official seals of each, enclosed in gold or silver boxes of +handsome workmanship: I was amused by the manner in which one of their own, +just prepared for the court of Russia, was displayed to us, and the superiority +of their decorations pointed out. They were superior, and in much better taste +than the rest; and I only wish that the feeling that induced this display would +spread to every corner of the Union, and mix itself with every act and with +every sentiment. Let America give a fair portion other attention to the arts +and the graces that embellish life, and I will make her another visit, and +write another book as unlike this as possible. +</p> + +<p> +Among the royal signatures, the only ones which much interested me were two +from the hand of Napoleon. The earliest of these, when he was first consul, was +a most illegible scrawl, and, as the tradition went, was written on horseback; +but his writing improved greatly after he became an emperor, the subsequent +signature being firmly and clearly written.—I longed to steal both. +</p> + +<p> +The purity of the American character, formed and founded on the purity of the +American government, was made evident to our senses by the display of all the +offerings of esteem and regard which had been presented by various sovereigns +to the different American ministers who had been sent to their courts. The +object of the law which exacted this deposit from every individual so honoured, +was, they told us, to prevent the possibility of bribery being used to corrupt +any envoy of the Republic. I should think it would be a better way to select +for the office such men as they felt could not be seduced by a sword or a +snuff-box. But they, doubtless, know their own business best. +</p> + +<p> +The bureau for Indian affairs contains a room of great interest: the walls are +entirely covered with original portraits of all the chiefs who, from time to +time, have come to negotiate with their great father, as they call the +President. +</p> + +<p> +These portraits are by Mr. King, and, it cannot be doubted, are excellent +likenesses, as are all the portraits I have ever seen from the hands of that +gentleman. The countenances are full of expression, but the expression in most +of them is extremely similar; or rather, I should say that they have but two +sorts of expression; the one is that of very noble and warlike daring, the +other of a gentle and naive simplicity, that has no mixture of folly in it, but +which is inexpressibly engaging, and the more touching, perhaps, because at the +moment we were looking at them, those very hearts which lent the eyes such meek +and friendly softness, were wrung by a base, cruel, and most oppressive act of +their <i>great father</i>. +</p> + +<p> +We were at Washington at the time that the measure for chasing the last of +several tribes of Indians from their forest homes, was canvassed in congress, +and finally decided upon by the FIAT of the President. If the American +character may be judged by their conduct in this matter, they are most +lamentably deficient in every feeling of honour and integrity. It is among +themselves, and from themselves, that I have heard the statements which +represent them as treacherous and false almost beyond belief in their +intercourse with the unhappy Indians. Had I, during my residence in the United +States, observed any single feature in their national character that could +justify their eternal boast of liberality and the love of freedom, I might have +respected them, however much my taste might have been offended by what was +peculiar in their manners and customs. But it is impossible for any mind of +common honesty not to be revolted by the contradictions in their principles and +practice. They inveigh against the governments of Europe, because, as they say, +they favour the powerful and oppress the weak. You may hear this declaimed upon +in Congress, roared out in taverns, discussed in every drawing-room, satirized +upon the stage, nay, even anathematized from the pulpit: listen to it, and then +look at them at home; you will see them with one hand hoisting the cap of +liberty, and with the other flogging their slaves. You will see them one hour +lecturing their mob on the indefeasible rights of man, and the next driving +from their homes the children of the soil, whom they have bound themselves to +protect by the most solemn treaties. +</p> + +<p> +In justice to those who approve not this treacherous policy, I will quote a +paragraph from a New York paper, which shews that there are some among them who +look with detestation on the bold bad measure decided upon at Washington in the +year 1830. +</p> + +<p> +“We know of no subject, at the present moment, of more importance to the +character of our country for justice and integrity than that which relates to +the Indian tribes in Georgia and Alabama, and particularly the Cherokees in the +former state. The Act passed by Congress, just at the end of the session, +co-operating with the tyrannical and iniquitous statute of Georgia, strikes a +formidable blow at the reputation of the United States, in respect to their +faith, pledged in almost innumerable instances, in the most solemn treaties and +compacts.” +</p> + +<p> +There were many objects of much interest shewn us at this Indian bureau; but, +from the peculiar circumstances of this most unhappy and ill-used people, it +was a very painful interest. +</p> + +<p> +The dresses worn by the chiefs when their portraits were taken, are many of +them splendid, from the embroidery of beads and other ornaments: and the room +contains many specimens of their ingenuity, and even of their taste. There is a +glass case in the room, wherein are arranged specimens of worked muslin, and +other needlework, some very excellent handwriting, and many other little +productions of male and female Indians, all proving clearly that they are +perfectly capable of civilization. Indeed, the circumstance which renders their +expulsion from their own, their native lands, so peculiarly lamentable, is, +that they were yielding rapidly to the force of example; their lives were no +longer those of wandering hunters, but they were becoming agriculturists, and +the tyrannical arm of brutal power has not now driven them, as formerly, only +from their hunting grounds, their favourite springs, and the sacred bones of +their fathers, but it has chased them from the dwellings their advancing +knowledge had taught them to make comfortable; from the newly-ploughed fields +of their pride; and from the crops their sweat had watered. And for what? to +add some thousand acres of territory to the half-peopled wilderness which +borders them. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The Potomac, on arriving at Washington, makes a beautiful sweep, which forms a +sort of bay, round which the city is built. Just where it makes the turn, a +wooden bridge is thrown across, connecting the shores of Maryland and Virginia. +This bridge is a mile and a quarter in length, and is ugly enough.<a href="#fn8" name="fnref8" id="fnref8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> +The navy-yard, and arsenal, are just above it, on the Maryland side, and make a +handsome appearance on the edge of the river, following the sweep above +mentioned. Near the arsenal (much too near) is the penitentiary, which, as it +was just finished, and not inhabited, we examined in every part. It is built +for the purpose of solitary confinement for life. A gallows is a much less +nerve-shaking spectacle than one of these awful cells, and assuredly, when +imprisonment therein for life is substituted for death, it is no mercy to the +criminal; but if it be a greater terror to the citizen, it may answer the +purpose better. I do not conceive, that out of a hundred human beings who had +been thus confined for a year, one would be found at the end of it who would +continue to linger on there, <i>certain it was for ever</i>, if the alternative +of being hanged were offered to them. I had written a description of these +horrible cells, but Captain Hall’s picture of a similar building is so +accurate, and so clear, that it is needless to insert it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn8" id="fn8"></a> <a href="#fnref8">[8]</a> +It has since been washed away by the breaking up of the frost of February, +1831. +</p> + +<p> +Still following the sweep of the river, at the distance of two miles from +Washington, is George Town, formerly a place of considerable commercial +importance, and likely, I think, to become so again, when the Ohio and +Chesapeake canals, which there mouths into the Potomac, shall be in full +action. It is a very pretty town, commanding a lovely view, of which the noble +Potomac and the almost nobler capitol, are the great features. The country +rises into a beautiful line of hills behind Washington, which form a sort of +undulating terrace on to George Town; this terrace is almost entirely occupied +by a succession of gentlemen’s seats. At George Town the Potomac suddenly +contracts itself, and begins to assume that rapid, rocky and irregular +character which marks it afterwards, and renders its course, till it meets the +Shenandoah at Harper’s Ferry, a series of the most wild and romantic +views that are to be found in America. +</p> + +<p> +Attending the debates in Congress was, of course, one of our great objects; +and, as an English woman, I was perhaps the more eager to avail myself of the +privilege allowed. It was repeatedly observed to me that, at least in this +instance, I must acknowledge the superior gallantry of the Americans, and that +they herein give a decided proof of surpassing the English in a wish to honour +the ladies, as they have a gallery in the House of Representatives erected +expressly for them, while in England they are rigorously excluded from every +part of the House of Commons. +</p> + +<p> +But the inference I draw from this is precisely the reverse of the suggested. +It is well known that the reason why the House of Commons was closed against +ladies was, that their presence was found too attractive, and that so many +members were tempted to neglect the business before the House, that they might +enjoy the pleasure of conversing with the fair critics in the galleries, that +it became a matter of national importance to banish them—and they were +banished. It will be long ere the American legislature will find it necessary +to pass the same law for the same reason. A lady of Washington, however, told +me an anecdote which went far to shew that a more intellectual turn in the +women, would produce a change in the manners of the men. She told me, that when +the Miss Wrights were in Washington, with General Lafayette, they very +frequently attended the debates, and that the most distinguished members were +always crowding round them. For this unwonted gallantry they apologized to +their beautiful countrywomen by saying, that if they took equal interest in the +debates, the galleries would be always thronged by the members. +</p> + +<p> +The privilege of attending these debates would be more valuable could the +speakers be better heard from the gallery; but, with the most earnest +attention, I could only follow one or two of the orators, whose voices were +peculiarly loud and clear. This made it really a labour to listen; but the +extreme beauty of the chamber was of itself a reason for going again and again. +It was, however, really mortifying to see this splendid hall, fitted up in so +stately and sumptuous a manner, filled with men, sitting in the most unseemly +attitudes, a large majority with their hats on, and nearly all, spitting to an +excess that decency forbids me to describe. +</p> + +<p> +Among the crowd, who must be included in this description, a few were +distinguished by not wearing their hats, and by sitting on their chairs like +other human beings, without throwing their legs above their heads. Whenever I +enquired the name of one of these exceptions, I was told that it was Mr. This, +or Mr. That, <i>of Virginia</i>. +</p> + +<p> +One day we were fortunate enough to get placed on the sofas between the +pillars, on the floor of the House; the galleries being shut up, for the +purpose of making some alterations, which it was hoped might improve the +hearing in that part of the House occupied by the members, and which is +universally complained of, as being very defective.<a href="#fn9" name="fnref9" id="fnref9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> +But in our places on the sofas we found we heard very much better than up +stairs, and well enough to be extremely amused by the rude eloquence of a +thorough horse and alligator orator from Kentucky, who entreated the house +repeatedly to “go the whole hog.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn9" id="fn9"></a> <a href="#fnref9">[9]</a> +As a proof of this defective hearing in the Hall of Congress, I may quote a +passage from a newspaper report of a debate on improvements. It was proposed to +suspend a ceiling of glass fifteen feet above the heads of the members. A +member, speaking in favour of this proposal, said, “Members would then, +at least, be able to understand what was the question before the House, an +advantage which most of them did not now possess, respecting more than half the +propositions upon which they voted.” +</p> + +<p> +If I mistake not, every debate I listened to in the American Congress was upon +one and the same subject, namely, the entire independence of each individual +state, with regard to the federal government. The jealousy on this point +appeared to me to be the very strangest political feeling that ever got +possession of the mind of man. I do not pretend to judge the merits of this +question. I speak solely of the very singular effect of seeing man after man +start eagerly to his feet, to declare that the greatest injury, the basest +injustice, the most obnoxious tyranny that could be practised against the state +of which he was a member, would be a vote of a few million dollars for the +purpose of making their roads or canals; or for drainage; or, in short, for any +purpose of improvement whatsoever. +</p> + +<p> +During the month we were at Washington, I heard a great deal of conversation +respecting a recent exclusion from Congress of a gentleman, who, by every +account, was one of the most esteemed men in the house, and, I think, the +father of it. The crime for which this gentleman was out-voted by his own +particular friends and admirers was, that he had given his vote for a grant of +public money for the purpose of draining a most lamentable and unhealthy +district, called “<i>the dismal swamp!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +One great boast of the country is, that they have no national debt, or that +they shall have none in two years. This seems not very wonderful, considering +their productive tariff, and that the income paid to their president is +6,000_L. per annum_; other government salaries being in proportion, and all +internal improvements, at the expense of the government treasury, being voted +unconstitutional. +</p> + +<p> +The Senate-chamber is, like the Hall of Congress, a semicircle, but of very +much smaller dimensions. It is most elegantly fitted up, and what is better +still, the senators, generally speaking, look like gentlemen. They do not wear +their hats, and the activity of youth being happily past, they do not toss +their heels above their heads. I would I could add they do not spit; but, alas! +“I have an oath in heaven,” and may not write an untruth. +</p> + +<p> +A very handsome room, opening on a noble stone balcony is fitted up as a +library for the members. The collection, as far as a very cursory view could +enable me to judge, was very like that of a private English gentleman, but with +less Latin, Greek, and Italian. This room also is elegantly furnished; rich +Brussels carpet; library tables, with portfolios of engravings; abundance of +sofas, and so on. The view from it is glorious, and it looks like the abode of +luxury and taste. +</p> + +<p> +I can by no means attempt to describe all the apartments of this immense +building, but the magnificent rotunda in the centre must not be left unnoticed. +It is, indeed, a noble hall, a hundred feet in diameter, and of an imposing +loftiness, lighted by an ample dome. +</p> + +<p> +Almost any pictures (excepting the cartoons) would look paltry in this room, +from the immense height of the walls; but the subjects of the four pictures +which are placed there, are of such high historic interest that they should +certainly have a place somewhere, as national records. One represents the +signing of the declaration of independence; another the resignation of the +presidency by the great Washington; another the celebrated victory of General +Gates at Saratoga; and the fourth….I do not well remember, but I think it is +some other martial scene, commemorating a victory; I rather think that of York +Town. +</p> + +<p> +One other object in the capitol must be mentioned, though it occurs in so +obscure a part of the building, that one or two members to whom I mentioned it, +were not aware of its existence. The lower part of the edifice, a story below +the rotunda, &c., has a variety of committee rooms, courts, and other +places of business. In a hall leading to some of these rooms, the ceiling is +supported by pillars, the capitals of which struck me as peculiarly beautiful. +They are composed of the ears and leaves of the Indian corn, beautifully +arranged, and forming as graceful an outline as the acanthus itself. This was +the only instance I saw, in which America has ventured to attempt national +originality; the success is perfect. A sense of fitness always enhances the +effect of beauty. I will not attempt a long essay on the subject, but if +America, in her vastness, her immense natural resources, and her remote +grandeur, would be less imitative, she would be infinitely more picturesque and +interesting. +</p> + +<p> +The President has regular evening parties, every other Wednesday, which are +called his <i>levées</i>; the last syllable is pronounced by every one as long +as possible, being exactly the reverse of the French and English manner of +pronouncing the same word. The effect of this, from the very frequent +repetition of the word in all companies is very droll, and for a long time I +thought people were quizzing these public days. The reception rooms are +handsome, particularly the grand saloon, which is elegantly, nay, splendidly +furnished; this has been done since the visit of Captain Hall, whose remarks +upon the former state of this room may have hastened its decoration; but there +are a few anomalies in some parts of the entertainment, which are not very +courtly. The company are about as select as that of an Easter-day ball at the +Mansion-house. +</p> + +<p> +The churches at Washington are not superb; but the Episcopalian and Catholic +were filled with elegantly dressed women. I observed a greater proportion of +gentlemen at church at Washington than any where else. +</p> + +<p> +The Presbyterian ladies go to church three times in the day, but the general +appearance of Washington on a Sunday is much less puritanical than that of most +other American towns; the people walk about, and there are no chains in the +streets, as at Philadelphia, to prevent their riding or driving, if they like +it. +</p> + +<p> +The ladies dress well, but not so splendidly as at Baltimore. I remarked that +it was not very unusual at Washington for a lady to take the arm of a +gentleman, who was neither her husband, her father, nor her brother. This +remarkable relaxation of American decorum has been probably introduced by the +foreign legations. +</p> + +<p> +At about a mile from the town, on the high terrace ground above described, is a +very pretty place, to which the proprietor has given the name Kaleirama. It is +not large, or in any way magnificent, but the view from it is charming; and it +has a little wood behind, covering about two hundred acres of broken ground, +that slopes down to a dark cold little river, so closely shut in by rocks and +evergreens, that it might serve as a noon-day bath for Diana and her nymphs. +The whole of this wood is filled with wild flowers, but such as we cherish +fondly in our gardens. +</p> + +<p> +A ferry at George Town crosses the Potomac, and about two miles from it, on the +Virginian side, is Arlington, the seat of Mr. Custis, who is the grandson of +General Washington’s wife. It is a noble looking place, having a portico +of stately white columns, which, as the mansion stands high, with a background +of dark woods, forms a beautiful object in the landscape. At George Town is a +nunnery, where many young ladies are educated, and at a little distance from +it, a college of Jesuits for the education of young men, where, as their +advertisements state, “the humanities are taught.” We attended mass +at the chapel of the nunnery, where the female voices that performed the chant +were very pleasing. The shadowy form of the veiled abbess in her little sacred +parlour, seen through a grating and a black curtain, but rendered clearly +visible by the light of a Gothic window behind her, drew a good deal of our +attention; every act of genuflection, even the telling her beads, was +discernible, but so mistily that it gave her, indeed, the appearance of a being +who had already quitted this life, and was hovering on the confines of the +world of shadows. +</p> + +<p> +The convent has a considerable inclosure attached to it, where I frequently saw +from the heights above it, dark figures in awfully thick black veils, walking +solemnly up and down. +</p> + +<p> +The American lady, who was the subject of one of Prince Hohenlohe’s +celebrated miracles, was pointed out to us at Washington. All the world declare +that her recovery was marvellous. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +There appeared to be a great many foreigners at Washington, particularly +French. In Paris I have often observed that it was a sort of fashion to speak +of America as a new Utopia, especially among the young liberals, who, before +the happy accession of Philip, fancied that a country without a king, was the +land of promise; but I sometimes thought that, like many other fine things, it +lost part of its brilliance when examined too nearly; I overheard the following +question and answer pass between two young Frenchmen, who appeared to have met +for the first time. +</p> + +<p> +“Eh bien. Monsieur, comment trouvez-vous la liberté et l’égalité +mises en action?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mais, Monsieur, je vous avoue que le beau idéal que nous autres, nous +avons conçu de tout cela à Paris, avait quelque chose de plus poétique que ce +que nous trouvons ici!” +</p> + +<p> +On another occasion I was excessively amused by the tone in which one of these +young men replied to a question put to him by another Frenchman. A pretty +looking woman, but exceedingly deficient in <i>tournure</i>, was standing alone +at a little distance from them and close at their elbows stood a very awkward +looking gentleman. “Qui est cette dame?” said the enquirer. +“Monsieur,” said my young <i>fat</i>, with an indescribable +grimace, “c’est la femelle de ce male, “ indicating his +neighbour by an expressive curl of his upper lip. +</p> + +<p> +The theatre was not open while we were in Washington, but we afterwards took +advantage of our vicinity to the city, to visit it. The house is very small, +and most astonishingly dirty and void of decoration, considering that it is the +only place of public amusement that the city affords. I have before mentioned +the want of decorum at the Cincinnati theatre, but certainly that of the +capital at least rivalled it in the freedom of action and attitude; a freedom +which seems to disdain the restraints of civilized manners. One man in the pit +was seized with a violent fit of vomiting, which appeared not in the least to +annoy or surprise his neighbours; and the happy coincidence of a physician +being at that moment personated on the stage, was hailed by many of the +audience as an excellent joke, of which the actor took advantage, and elicited +shouts of applause by saying, “I expect my services are wanted +elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +The spitting was incessant; and not one in ten of the male part of the +illustrious legislative audiences sat according to the usual custom of human +beings; the legs were thrown sometimes over the front of the box, sometimes +over the side of it; here and there a senator stretched his entire length along +a bench, and in many instances the front rail was preferred as a seat. +</p> + +<p> +I remarked one young man, whose handsome person, and most elaborate toilet, led +me to conclude he was a first-rate personage, and so I doubt not he was; +nevertheless, I saw him take from the pocket of his silk waistcoat a lump of +tobacco, and daintily deposit it within his cheek. +</p> + +<p> +I am inclined to think this most vile and universal habit of chewing tobacco is +the cause of a remarkable peculiarity in the male physiognomy of Americans; +their lips are almost uniformly thin and compressed. At first I accounted for +this upon Lavater’s theory, and attributed it to the arid temperament of +the people; but it is too universal to be explained; whereas the habit above +mentioned, which pervades all classes (excepting the literary) well accounts +for it, as the act of expressing the juices of this loathsome herb, enforces +exactly that position of the lips, which gives this remarkable peculiarity to +the American countenance. +</p> + +<p> +A member of Congress died while we were at Washington, and I was surprised by +the ceremony and dignity of his funeral. It seems that whenever a senator or +member of Congress dies during the session, he is buried at the expense of the +government, (the ceremony not coming under the head of internal improvement), +and the arrangements for the funeral are not interfered with by his friends, +but become matters of State. I transcribed the order of the procession as being +rather grand and stately. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Chaplains of both Houses.<br/> +Physicians who attend the deceased.<br/> +Committee of arrangement.<br/> +THE BODY,<br/> +(Pall borne by six members.)<br/> +The Relations of the deceased, with the<br/> +Senators and Representatives of the State<br/> +to which he belonged, as Mourners.<br/> +Sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives.<br/> +The House of Representatives,<br/> +Their Speaker and Clerk preceding.<br/> +The Senate of the United States.<br/> +The Vice-president and Secretary preceding,<br/> +THE PRESIDENT +</p> + +<p> +The procession was of considerable extent, but not on foot, and the majority of +the carriages were hired for the occasion. The body was interred in an open +“grave yard” near the city. I did not see the monument erected on +this occasion, but I presume it was in the same style as several others I had +remarked in the same burying-ground, inscribed to the memory of members who had +died at Washington. These were square blocks of masonry without any pretension +to splendour. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Stonington—Great Falls of the Potomac +</p> + +<p> +The greatest pleasure I had promised myself in visiting Washington was the +seeing a very old friend, who had left England many years ago, and married in +America; she was now a widow, and, as I believed, settled in Washington. I soon +had the mortification of finding that she was not in the city; but ere long I +learnt that her residence was not more than ten miles from it. We speedily met, +and it was settled that we should pass the summer with her in Maryland, and +after a month devoted to Washington, we left it for Stonington. +</p> + +<p> +We arrived there the beginning of May, and the kindness of our reception, the +interest we felt in becoming acquainted with the family of my friend, the +extreme beauty of the surrounding country, and the lovely season, altogether, +made our stay there a period of great enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +I wonder not that the first settlers in Virginia, with the bold Captain Smith +of chivalrous memory at their head, should have fought so stoutly to dispossess +the valiant father of Pocohantas of his fair domain, for I certainly never saw +a more tempting territory. Stonington is about two miles from the most romantic +point of the Potomac River, and Virginia spreads her wild, but beautiful, and +most fertile Paradise, on the opposite shore. The Maryland side partakes of the +same character, and perfectly astonished us by the profusion of her wild fruits +and flowers. +</p> + +<p> +We had not been long within reach of the great falls of the Potomac before a +party was made for us to visit them; the walk from Stonington to these falls is +through scenery that can hardly be called forest, park, or garden; but which +partakes of all three. A little English girl accompanied us, who had but lately +left her home; she exclaimed, “Oh! how many English ladies would glory in +such a garden as this!” and in truth they might; cedars, tulip-trees, +planes, shumacs, junipers, and oaks of various kinds, most of them new to us, +shaded our path. Wild vines, with their rich expansive leaves, and their sweet +blossom, rivalling the mignionette in fragrance, clustered round their +branches. Strawberries in full bloom, violets, anemonies, heart’s-ease, +and wild pinks, with many other, and still lovelier flowers, which my ignorance +forbids me to name, literally covered the ground. The arbor judae, the +dog-wood, in its fullest glory of star-like flowers, azalias, and wild roses, +dazzled our eyes whichever way we turned them. It was the most flowery two +miles I ever walked. +</p> + +<p> +The sound of the falls is heard at Stonington, and the gradual increase of this +sound is one of the agreeable features of this delicious walk. I know not why +the rush of waters is so delightful to the ear; all other monotonous sounds are +wearying, and harass the spirits, but I never met any one who did not love to +listen to a waterfall. A rapid stream, called the “Branch Creek,” +was to be crossed ere we reached the spot where the falls are first visible. +This rumbling, turbid, angry little rivulet, flows through evergreens and +flowering underwood, and is crossed <i>a plusieures reprises</i>, by logs +thrown from rock to rock. The thundering noise of the still unseen falls +suggests an idea of danger while crossing these rude bridges, which hardly +belongs to them; having reached the other side of the creek, we continued under +the shelter of the evergreens for another quarter of a mile, and then emerged +upon a sight that drew a shout of wonder and delight from us all. The rocky +depths of an enormous river were opened before our eyes and so huge are the +black crags that inclose it, that the thundering torrents of water rushing +through, over, and among the rocks of this awful chasm, appear lost and +swallowed up in it. +</p> + +<p> +The river, or rather the bed of it, is here of great width, and most frightful +depth, lined on all sides with huge masses of black rock of every imaginable +form. The flood that roars through them is seen only at intervals; here in a +full heavy sheet of green transparent water, falling straight and unbroken; +there dashing along a narrow channel, with a violence that makes one dizzy to +see and hear. In one place an unfathomed pool shows a mirror of inky blackness, +and as still as night; in another the tortured twisted cataract tumbles +headlong in a dozen different torrents, half hid by the cloud of spray they +send high into the air. Despite this uproar, the slenderest, loveliest shrubs, +peep forth from among these hideous rocks, like children smiling in the midst +of danger. As we stood looking at this tremendous scene, one of our friends +made us remark, that the poison alder, and the poison vine, threw their +graceful, but perfidious branches, over every rock, and assured us also that +innumerable tribes of snakes found their dark dwellings among them. +</p> + +<p> +To call this scene beautiful would be a strange abuse of terms, for it is +altogether composed of sights and sounds of terror. The falls of the Potomac +are awfully sublime: the dark deep gulf which yawns before you, the foaming, +roaring cataract, the eddying whirlpool, and the giddy precipice, all seem to +threaten life, and to appal the senses. Yet it was a great delight to sit upon +a high and jutting crag, and look and listen. +</p> + +<p> +I heard with pleasure that it was to the Virginian side of the Potomac that the +“felicity hunters” of Washington resorted to see this fearful +wonder, for I never saw a spot where I should less have liked the annoying +“how d’ye,” of a casual rencontre. One could not even give or +receive the exciting “is it not charming,” which Rousseau talks of, +for if it were uttered, it could not be heard, or, if heard, would fall most +earthly dull on the spirit, when rapt by the magic of such a scene. A look, or +the silent pressure of the arm, is all the interchange of feeling that such a +scene allows, and in the midst of my terror and my pleasure, I wished for the +arm and the eye of some few from the other side of the Atlantic. +</p> + +<p> +The return from such a scene is more soberly silent than the approach to it; +but the cool and quiet hour, the mellowed tints of some gay blossoms, and the +closed bells of others, the drowsy hum of the insects that survive the day, and +the moist freshness that forbids the foot to weary in its homeward path, have +all enjoyment in them, and seem to harmonize with the half wearied, half +excited state of spirits, that such an excursion is sure to produce: and then +the entering the cool and moonlit portico, the well-iced sangaree, or still +more refreshing coffee, that waits you, is all delightful; and if to this be +added the happiness of an easy sofa, and a friend like my charming Mrs. +S—, to soothe you with an hour of Mozart the most fastidious European +might allow that such a day was worth waking for. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Small Landed Proprietors—Slavery +</p> + +<p> +I now, for the first time since I crossed the mountains, found myself +sufficiently at leisure to look deliberately round, and mark the different +aspects of men and things in a region which, though bearing the same name, and +calling itself the same land, was, in many respects, as different from the one +I had left, as Amsterdam from St. Petersburg. There every man was straining, +and struggling, and striving for himself (heaven knows!) Here every white man +was waited upon, more or less, by a slave. There, the newly-cleared lands, rich +with the vegetable manure accumulated for ages, demanded the slightest labour +to return the richest produce; where the plough entered, crops the most +abundant followed; but where it came not, no spot of native verdure, no native +fruits, no native flowers cheered the eye; all was close, dark, stifling +forest. Here the soil had long ago yielded its first fruits; much that had been +cleared and cultivated for tobacco (the most exhausting of crops) by the +English, required careful and laborious husbandry to produce any return; and +much was left as sheep-walks. It was in these spots that the natural bounty of +the soil and climate was displayed by the innumerable wild fruits and flowers +which made every dingle and bushy dell seem a garden. +</p> + +<p> +On entering the cottages I found also a great difference in the manner of +living. Here, indeed, there were few cottages without a slave, but there were +fewer still that had their beefsteak and onions for breakfast, dinner, and +supper. The herrings of the bountiful Potomac supply their place. These are +excellent “relish,” as they call it, when salted, and, if I mistake +not, are sold at a dollar and a half per thousand. Whiskey, however, flows +every where at the same fatally cheap rate of twenty cents (about one shilling) +the gallon, and its hideous effects are visible on the countenance of every man +you meet. +</p> + +<p> +The class of people the most completely unlike any existing in England, are +those who, farming their own freehold estates, and often possessing several +slaves, yet live with as few of the refinements, and I think I may say, with as +few of the comforts of life, as the very poorest English peasant. When in +Maryland, I went into the houses of several of these small proprietors, and +remained long enough, and looked and listened sufficiently, to obtain a +tolerably correct idea of their manner of living. +</p> + +<p> +One of these families consisted of a young man, his wife, two children, a +female slave, and two young lads, slaves also. The farm belonged to the wife, +and, I was told, consisted of about three hundred acres of indifferent land, +but all cleared. The house was built of wood, and looked as if the three slaves +might have overturned it, had they pushed hard against the gable end. It +contained one room, of about twelve feet square, and another adjoining it, +hardly larger than a closet; this second chamber was the lodging-room of the +white part of the family. Above these rooms was a loft, without windows, where +I was told the “staying company” who visited them, were lodged. +Near this mansion was a “shanty,” a black hole, without any window, +which served as kitchen and all other offices, and also as the lodging of the +blacks. +</p> + +<p> +We were invited to take tea with this family, and readily consented to do so. +The furniture of the room was one heavy huge table, and about six wooden +chairs. When we arrived the lady was in rather a dusky dishabille, but she +vehemently urged us to be seated, and then retired into the closet-chamber +above mentioned, whence she continued to address to us from behind the door, +all kinds of “genteel country visiting talk,” and at length emerged +upon us in a smart new dress. +</p> + +<p> +Her female slave set out the great table, and placed upon it cups of the very +coarsest blue ware, a little brown sugar in one, and a tiny drop of milk in +another, no butter, though the lady assured us she had a +“<i>deary</i>” and two cows. Instead of butter, she “hoped we +would fix a little relish with our crackers,” in ancient English, eat +salt meat and dry biscuits. Such was the fare, and for guests that certainly +were intended to be honoured. I could not help recalling the delicious repasts +which I remembered to have enjoyed at little dairy farms in England, not +<i>possessed</i>, but rented, and at high rents too; where the clean, +fresh-coloured, bustling mistress herself skimmed the delicious cream, herself +spread the yellow butter on the delightful brown loaf, and placed her curds, +and her junket, and all the delicate treasures of her dairy before us, and +then, with hospitable pride, placed herself at her board, and added the more +delicate “relish” of good tea and good cream. I remembered all +this, and did not think the difference atoned for, by the dignity of having my +cup handed to me by a slave. The lady I now visited, however, greatly surpassed +my quondam friends in the refinement of her conversation. She ambled through +the whole time the visit lasted, in a sort of elegantly mincing familiar style +of gossip, which, I think, she was imitating from some novel, for I was told +she was a great novel reader, and left all household occupations to be +performed by her slaves. To say she addressed us in a tone of equality, will +give no adequate idea of her manner; I am persuaded that no misgiving on the +subject ever entered her head. She told us that their estate was her +divi-<i>dend</i> of her father’s property. She had married a first +cousin, who was as fine a gentleman as she was a lady, and as idle, preferring +hunting (as they called shooting) to any other occupation. The consequence was, +that but a very small portion of the dividend was cultivated, and their poverty +was extreme. The slaves, particularly the lads, were considerably more than +half naked, but the air of dignity with which, in the midst of all this misery, +the lanky lady said to one of the young negroes, “Attend to your young +master, Lycurgus,” must have been heard to be conceived in the full +extent of its mock heroic. +</p> + +<p> +Another dwelling of one of these landed proprietors was a hovel as wretched as +the one above described, but there was more industry within it. The gentleman, +indeed, was himself one of the numerous tribe of regular whiskey drinkers, and +was rarely capable of any work; but he had a family of twelve children, who, +with their skeleton mother, worked much harder than I ever saw negroes do. They +were, accordingly, much less elegant and much less poor than the heiress; yet +they lived with no appearance of comfort, and with, I believe, nothing beyond +the necessaries of life. One proof of this was, that the worthless father would +not suffer them to raise, even by their own labour, any garden vegetables, and +they lived upon their fat pork, salt fish, and corn bread, summer and winter, +without variation. This, I found, was frequently the case among the farmers. +The luxury of whiskey is more appreciated by the men than all the green +delicacies from the garden, and if all the ready money goes for that and their +darling chewing tobacco, none can be spent by the wife for garden seeds; and as +far as my observation extended, I never saw any American <i>menage</i> where +the toast and no toast question, would have been decided in favour of the lady. +</p> + +<p> +There are some small farmers who hold their lands as tenants, but these are by +no means numerous: they do not pay their rent in money, but by making over a +third of the produce to the owner; a mode of paying rent, considerably more +advantageous to the tenant than the landlord; but the difficulty of obtaining +<i>money</i> in payment, excepting for mere retail articles, is very great in +all American transactions. “I can pay in pro-<i>duce</i>,” is the +offer which I was assured is constantly made on all occasions, and if rejected, +“Then I guess we can’t deal,” is the usual rejoinder. This +statement does not, of course, include the great merchants of great cities, but +refers to the mass of the people scattered over the country; it has, indeed, +been my object, in speaking of the customs of the people, to give an idea of +what they are <i>generally</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The effect produced upon English people by the sight of slavery in every +direction is very new, and not very agreeable, and it is not the less painfully +felt from hearing upon every breeze the mocking words, “All men are born +free and equal.” One must be in the heart of American slavery, fully to +appreciate that wonderfully fine passage in Moore’s Epistle to Lord +Viscount Forbes, which describes perhaps more faithfully, as well as more +powerfully, the political state of America, than any thing that has ever been +written upon it. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Oh! Freedom, Freedom, how I hate thy cant!<br/> +Not eastern bombast, nor the savage rant<br/> +Of purpled madmen, were they numbered all<br/> +From Roman Nero, down to Russian Paul,<br/> +Could grate upon my ear so mean, so base,<br/> +As the rank jargon of that factious race,<br/> +Who, poor of heart, and prodigal of words,<br/> +Born to be slaves, and struggling to be lords,<br/> +But pant for licence, while they spurn controul,<br/> +And shout for rights, with rapine in their soul!<br/> +Who can, with patience, for a moment see<br/> +The medley mass of pride and misery,<br/> +Of whips and charters, manacles and rights,<br/> +Of slaving blacks, and democratic whites,<br/> +Of all the pyebald polity that reigns<br/> +In free confusion o’er Columbia’s plains?<br/> +To think that man, thou just and gentle God!<br/> +Should stand before thee with a tyrant’s rod,<br/> +O’er creatures like himself, with soul from thee,<br/> +Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty:<br/> +Away, away, I’d rather hold my neck<br/> +By doubtful tenure from a Sultan’s beck,<br/> +In climes where liberty has scarce been named,<br/> +Nor any right, but that of ruling, claimed,<br/> +Than thus to live, where bastard freedom waves<br/> +Her fustian flag in mockery o’er slaves;<br/> +Where (motley laws admitting no degree<br/> +Betwixt the vilely slaved, and madly free)<br/> +Alike the bondage and the licence suit,<br/> +The brute made ruler, and the man made brute! +</p> + +<p> +The condition of domestic slaves, however, does not generally appear to be bad; +but the ugly feature is, that should it be so, they have no power to change it. +I have seen much kind attention bestowed upon the health of slaves; but it is +on these occasions impossible to forget, that did this attention fail, a +valuable piece of property would be endangered. Unhappily the slaves, too, know +this, and the consequence is, that real kindly feeling very rarely can exist +between the parties. It is said that slaves born in a family are attached to +the children of it, who have grown up with them. This may be the case where the +petty acts of infant tyranny have not been sufficient to conquer the kindly +feeling naturally produced by long and early association; and this sort of +attachment may last as long as the slave can be kept in that state of profound +ignorance which precludes reflection. The law of Virginia has taken care of +this. The State legislators may truly be said to be “wiser in their +generation than the children of light,” and they ensure their safety by +forbidding light to enter among them. By the law of Virginia it is penal to +teach any slave to read, and it is penal to be aiding and abetting in the act +of instructing them. This law speaks volumes. Domestic slaves are, generally +speaking, tolerably well fed, and decently clothed; and the mode in which they +are lodged seems a matter of great indifference to them. They are rarely +exposed to the lash, and they are carefully nursed in sickness. These are the +favourable features of their situation. The sad one is, that they may be sent +to the south and sold. This is the dread of all the slaves north of Louisiana. +The sugar plantations, and more than all, the rice grounds of Georgia and the +Carolinas, are the terror of American negroes; and well they may be, for they +open an early grave to thousands; and to <i>avoid loss</i> it is needful to +make their previous labour pay their value. +</p> + +<p> +There is something in the system of breeding and rearing negroes in the +Northern States, for the express purpose of sending them to be sold in the +South, that strikes painfully against every feeling of justice, mercy, or +common humanity. During my residence in America I became perfectly persuaded +that the state of a domestic slave in a gentleman’s family was preferable +to that of a hired American “help,” both because they are more +cared for and valued, and because their condition being born with them, their +spirits do not struggle against it with that pining discontent which seems the +lot of all free servants in America. But the case is widely different with such +as, in their own persons, or those of their children, “loved in +vain,” are exposed to the dreadful traffic above mentioned. In what is +their condition better than that of the kidnapped negroes on the coast of +Africa? Of the horror in which this enforced migration is held I had a strong +proof during our stay in Virginia. The father of a young slave, who belonged to +the lady with whom we boarded, was destined to this fate, and within an hour +after it was made known to him, he sharpened the hatchet with which he had been +felling timber, and with his right hand severed his left from the wrist. +</p> + +<p> +But this is a subject on which I do not mean to dilate; it has been lately +treated most judiciously by a far abler hand.<a href="#fn10" name="fnref10" id="fnref10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> +Its effects on the moral feelings and external manners of the people are all I +wish to observe upon, and these are unquestionably most injurious. The same man +who beards his wealthier and more educated neighbour with the bullying boast, +“I’m as good as you,” turns to his slave, and knocks him +down, if the furrow he has ploughed, or the log he has felled, please not this +stickler for equality. There is a glaring falsehood on the very surface of such +a man’s principles that is revolting. It is not among the higher classes +that the possession of slaves produces the worst effects. Among the poorer +class of landholders, who are often as profoundly ignorant as the negroes they +own, the effect of this plenary power over males and females is most +demoralising; and the kind of coarse, not to say brutal, authority which is +exercised, furnishes the most disgusting moral spectacle I ever witnessed. In +all ranks, however, it appeared to me that the greatest and best feelings of +the human heart were paralyzed by the relative positions of slave and owner. +The characters, the hearts of children, are irretrievably injured by it. In +Virginia we boarded for some time in a family consisting of a widow and her +four daughters, and I there witnessed a scene strongly indicative of the effect +I have mentioned. A young female slave, about eight years of age, had found on +the shelf of a cupboard a biscuit, temptingly buttered, of which she had eaten +a considerable portion before she was observed. The butter had been copiously +sprinkled with arsenic for the destruction of rats, and had been thus most +incautiously placed by one of the young ladies of the family. As soon as the +circumstance was known, the lady of the house came to consult me as to what had +best be done for the poor child; I immediately mixed a large cup of mustard and +water (the most rapid of all emetics) and got the little girl to swallow it. +The desired effect was instantly produced, but the poor child, partly from +nausea, and partly from the terror of hearing her death proclaimed by half a +dozen voices round her, trembled so violently that I thought she would fall. I +sat down in the court where we were standing, and, as a matter of course, took +the little sufferer in my lap. I observed a general titter among the white +members of the family, while the black stood aloof, and looked stupified. The +youngest of the family, a little girl about the age of the young slave, after +gazing at me for a few moments in utter astonishment, exclaimed “My! If +Mrs. Trollope has not taken her in her lap, and wiped her nasty mouth! Why I +would not have touched her mouth for two hundred dollars!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn10" id="fn10"></a> <a href="#fnref10">[10]</a> +See Captain Hall’s Travels in America. +</p> + +<p> +The little slave was laid on a bed, and I returned to my own apartments; some +time afterwards I sent to enquire for her, and learnt that she was in great +pain. I immediately went myself to enquire farther, when another young lady of +the family, the one by whose imprudence the accident had occurred, met my +anxious enquiries with ill-suppressed mirth—told me they had sent for the +doctor—and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. The idea of really +sympathising in the sufferings of a slave appeared to them as absurd as weeping +over a calf that had been slaughtered by the butcher. The daughters of my +hostess were as lovely as features and complexion could make them; but the +neutralizing effect of this total want of feeling upon youth and beauty, must +be witnessed, to be conceived. +</p> + +<p> +There seems in general a strong feeling throughout America, that none of the +negro race can be trusted, and as fear, according to their notions, is the only +principle by which a slave can be actuated, it is not wonderful if the +imputation be just. But I am persuaded that were a different mode of moral +treatment pursued, most important and beneficial consequences would result from +it. Negroes are very sensible to kindness, and might, I think, be rendered more +profitably obedient by the practice of it towards them, than by any other mode +of discipline whatever. To emancipate them entirely throughout the Union +cannot, I conceive, be thought of, consistently with the safety of the country; +but were the possibility of amelioration taken into the consideration of the +legislature, with all the wisdom, justice, and mercy, that could be brought to +bear upon it, the negro population of the Union might cease to be a terror, and +their situation no longer be a subject either of indignation or of pity. +</p> + +<p> +I observed every where throughout the slave States that all articles which can +be taken and consumed are constantly locked up, and in large families, where +the extent of the establishment multiplies the number of keys, these are +deposited in a basket, and consigned to the care of a little negress, who is +constantly seen following her mistress’s steps with this basket on her +arm, and this, not only that the keys may be always at hand, but because, +should they be out of sight one moment, that moment would infallibly be +employed for purposes of plunder. It seemed to me in this instance, as in many +others, that the close personal attendance of these sable shadows, must be very +annoying; but whenever I mentioned it, I was assured that no such feeling +existed, and that use rendered them almost unconscious of their presence. +</p> + +<p> +I had, indeed, frequent opportunities of observing this habitual indifference +to the presence of their slaves. They talk of them, of their condition, of +their faculties, of their conduct, exactly as if they were incapable of +hearing. I once saw a young lady, who, when seated at table between a male and +a female, was induced by her modesty to intrude on the chair of her female +neighbour to avoid the indelicacy of touching the elbow of a man. I once saw +this very young lady lacing her stays with the most perfect composure before a +negro footman. A Virginian gentleman told me that ever since he had married, he +had been accustomed to have a negro girl sleep in the same chamber with himself +and his wife. I asked for what purpose this nocturnal attendance was necessary? +“Good heaven!” was the reply, “if I wanted a glass of water +during the night, what would become of me?” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Fruits and Flowers of Maryland and Virginia—Copper-head +Snake—Insects—Elections +</p> + +<p> +Our summer in Maryland, (1830), was delightful. The thermometer stood at 94, +but the heat was by no means so oppressive as what we had felt in the West. In +no part of North America are the natural productions of the soil more various, +or more beautiful. Strawberries of the richest flavour sprung beneath our feet; +and when these past away, every grove, every lane, every field looked like a +cherry orchard, offering an inexhaustible profusion of fruit to all who would +take the trouble to gather it. Then followed the peaches; every hedgerow was +planted with them, and though the fruit did not equal in size or flavour those +ripened on our garden walls, we often found them good enough to afford a +delicious refreshment on our long rambles. But it was the flowers, and the +flowering shrubs that, beyond all else, rendered this region the most beautiful +I had ever seen, (the Alleghany always excepted.) No description can give an +idea of the variety, the profusion, the luxuriance of them. If I talk of wild +roses, the English reader will fancy I mean the pale ephemeral blossoms of our +bramble hedges; but the wild roses of Maryland and Virginia might be the +choicest favourites of the flower garden. They are rarely very double, but the +brilliant eye atones for this. They are of all shades, from the deepest crimson +to the tenderest pink. The scent is rich and delicate; in size they exceed any +single roses I ever saw, often measuring above four inches in diameter. The +leaf greatly resembles that of the china rose; it is large, dark, firm, and +brilliant. The sweetbrier grows wild, and blossoms abundantly; both leaves and +flowers are considerably larger than with us. The acacia, or as it is there +called, the locust, blooms with great richness and profusion; I have gathered a +branch less than a foot long, and counted twelve full bunches of flowers on it. +The scent is equal to the orange flower. The dogwood is another of the splendid +white blossoms that adorn the woods. Its lateral branches are flat, like a fan, +and dotted all over, with star-like blossoms, as large as those of the +gum-cistus. Another pretty shrub, of smaller size, is the poison alder. It is +well that its noxious qualities are very generally known, for it is most +tempting to the eye by its delicate fringe-like bunches of white flowers. Even +the touch of this shrub is poisonous, and produces violent swelling. The arbor +judae is abundant in every wood, and its bright and delicate pink is the +earliest harbinger of the American spring. Azalias, white, yellow, and pink; +kalmias of every variety, the too sweet magnolia, and the stately rhododendron, +all grow in wild abundance there. The plant known in England as the Virginian +creeper, is often seen climbing to the top of the highest forest trees, and +bearing a large trumpet- shaped blossom of a rich scarlet. The sassafras is a +beautiful shrub, and I cannot imagine why it has not been naturalized in +England, for it has every appearance of being extremely hardy. The leaves grow +in tufts, and every tuft contains leaves of five or six different forms. The +fruit is singularly beautiful; it resembles in form a small acorn, and is jet +black; the cup and stem looking as if they were made of red coral. The graceful +and fantastic grapevine is a feature of great beauty, and its wandering +festoons bear no more resemblance to our well-trained vines, than our stunted +azalias, and tiny magnolias, to their thriving American kindred. +</p> + +<p> +There is another charm that haunts the summer wanderer in America, and it is +perhaps the only one found in greatest perfection in the West: but it is +beautiful every where. In a bright day, during any of the summer months, your +walk is through an atmosphere of butterflies, so gaudy in hue, and so varied in +form, that I often thought they looked like flowers on the wing. Some of them +are very large, measuring three or four inches across the wings; but many, and +I think the most beautiful, are smaller than ours. Some have wings of the most +dainty lavender colour; and bodies of black; others are fawn and rose colour; +and others again are orange and bright blue. But pretty as they are, it is +their number, even more than their beauty, that delights the eye. Their gay and +noiseless movement as they glance through the air, crossing each other in +chequered maze, is very beautiful. The humming-bird is another pretty summer +toy; but they are not sufficiently numerous, nor do they live enough on the +wing to render them so important a feature in the transatlantic show, as the +rainbow-tinted butterflies. The fire-fly was a far more brilliant novelty. In +moist situations, or before a storm, they are very numerous, and in the dark +sultry evening of a burning day, when all employment was impossible, I have +often found it a pastime to watch their glancing light, now here, now there; +now seen, now gone; shooting past with the rapidity of lightning, and looking +like a shower of falling stars, blown about in the breeze of evening. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +In one of our excursions we encountered and slew a copperhead snake. I escaped +treading on it by about three inches. While we were contemplating our conquered +foe, and doubting in our ignorance if he were indeed the deadly copper-head we +had so often heard described, a farmer joined us, who, as soon as he cast his +eyes on our victim, exclaimed, “My! if you have not got a copper. +That’s right down well done, they be darnation beasts.” He told us +that he had once seen a copper-head bite himself to death, from being teazed by +a stick, while confined in a cage where he could find no other victim. We often +heard terrible accounts of the number of these desperate reptiles to be found +on the rocks near the great falls of the Potomac; but not even the terror these +stories inspired could prevent our repeated visits to that sublime scene; +Luckily our temerity was never punished by seeing any there. Lizards, long, +large, and most hideously like a miniature crocodile, I frequently saw, gliding +from the fissures of the rocks, and darting again under shelter, perhaps +beneath the very stone I was seated upon; but every one assured us they were +harmless. Animal life is so infinitely abundant, and in forms so various, and +so novel to European eyes, that it is absolutely necessary to divest oneself of +all the petty terrors which the crawling, creeping, hopping, and buzzing tribes +can inspire, before taking an American summer ramble. It is, I conceive, quite +impossible for any description to convey an idea of the sounds which assail the +ears from the time the short twilight begins, until the rising sun scatters the +rear of darkness, and sends the winking choristers to rest. +</p> + +<p> +Be where you will (excepting in the large cities) the appalling note of the +bull-frog will reach you, loud, deep, and hoarse, issuing from a thousand +throats in ceaseless continuity of croak. The tree-frog adds her chirping and +almost human voice; the kattiedid repeats her own name through the livelong +night; the whole tribe of locusts chirp, chirrup, squeak, whiz, and whistle, +without allowing one instant of interval to the weary ear; and when to this the +mosquito adds her threatening hum, it is wonderful that any degree of fatigue +can obtain for the listener the relief of sleep. In fact, it is only in ceasing +to listen that this blessing can be found. I passed many feverish nights during +my first summer, literally in listening to this most astounding mixture of +noises, and it was only when they became too familiar to excite attention, that +I recovered my rest. +</p> + +<p> +I know not by what whimsical link of association the recapitulation of this +insect din suggests the recollection of other discords, at least as harsh and +much more troublesome. +</p> + +<p> +Even in the retirement in which we passed this summer, we were not beyond reach +of the election fever which is constantly raging through the land. Had America +every attraction under heaven that nature and social enjoyment can offer, this +electioneering madness would make me fly it in disgust. It engrosses every +conversation, it irritates every temper, it substitutes party spirit for +personal esteem; and, in fact, vitiates the whole system of society. +</p> + +<p> +When a candidate for any office starts, his party endow him with every virtue, +and with all the talents. They are all ready to peck out the eyes of those who +oppose him, and in the warm and mettlesome south-western states, do literally +often perform this operation: but as soon as he succeeds, his virtues and his +talents vanish, and, excepting those holding office under his appointment, +every man Jonathan of them set off again full gallop to elect his successor. +When I first arrived in America Mr. John Quincy Adams was President, and it was +impossible to doubt, even from the statement of his enemies, that he was every +way calculated to do honour to the office. All I ever heard against him was, +that “he was too much of a gentleman;” but a new candidate must be +set up, and Mr. Adams was out-voted for no other reason, that I could learn, +but because it was “best to change.” “Jackson for +ever!” was, therefore, screamed from the majority of mouths, both drunk +and sober, till he was elected; but no sooner in his place, than the same +ceaseless operation went on again, with “Clay for ever” for its +war-whoop. +</p> + +<p> +I was one morning paying a visit, when a party of gentlemen arrived at the same +house on horseback. The one whose air proclaimed him the chief of his party, +left us not long in doubt as to his business, for he said, almost in entering, +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. P—, I come to ask for your vote.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you for, sir?” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Clay for ever!” the rejoinder; and the vote was promised. +</p> + +<p> +This gentleman was candidate for a place in the state representation, whose +members have a vote in the presidential election. +</p> + +<p> +I was introduced to him as an English woman: he addressed me with, “Well +madam, you see we do these things openly and above-board here; you mince such +matters more, I expect.” +</p> + +<p> +After his departure, his history and standing were discussed. “Mr. M. is +highly respectable, and of very good standing; there can be no doubt of his +election if he is a thorough-going Clay-man,” said my host. +</p> + +<p> +I asked what his station was. +</p> + +<p> +The lady of the house told me that his father had been a merchant, and when +this future legislator was a young man, he had been sent by him to some port in +the Mediterranean as his super-cargo. The youth, being a free-born +high-spirited youth, appropriated the proceeds to his own uses, traded with +great success upon the fund thus obtained, and returned, after an absence of +twelve years, a gentleman of fortune and excellent standing. I expressed some +little disapprobation of this proceeding, but was assured that Mr. M. was +considered by every one as a very “honourable man.” +</p> + +<p> +Were I to relate one-tenth part of the dishonest transactions recounted to me +by Americans, of their fellow-citizens and friends, I am confident that no +English reader would give me credit for veracity it would, therefore, be very +unwise to repeat them, but I cannot refrain from expressing the opinion that +nearly four years of attentive observation impressed on me, namely, that the +moral sense is on every point blunter than with us. Make an American believe +that his next-door neighbour is a very worthless fellow, and I dare say (if he +were quite sure he could make nothing by him) he would drop the acquaintance; +but as to what constitutes a worthless fellow, people differ on the opposite +sides of the Atlantic, almost by the whole decalogue. There is, as it appeared +to me, an obtusity on all points of honourable feeling. +</p> + +<p> +“Cervantes laughed Spain’s chivalry away,” but he did not +laugh away that better part of chivalry, so beautifully described by Burke as +“the unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, that chastity +of honour, which feels a stain as a wound, which ennobles whatever it touches, +and by which vice itself loses half its evil, by losing all its +grossness.” The better part of chivalry still mixes with gentle blood in +every part of Europe, nor is it less fondly guarded than when sword and buckler +aided its defence. Perhaps this unbought grace of life is not to be looked for +where chivalry has never been. I certainly do not lament the decadence of +knight errantry, nor wish to exchange the protection of the laws for that of +the doughtiest champion who ever set lance in rest; but I do, in truth, believe +that this knightly sensitiveness of honourable feeling is the best antidote to +the petty soul-degrading transactions of every day life, and that the total +want of it, is one reason why this free-born race care so very little for the +vulgar virtue called probity. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Journey to Philadelphia—Chesapeak and Delaware Canal—City of +Philadelphia—Miss Wright’s Lecture +</p> + +<p> +In the latter part of August, 1830, we paid a visit to Philadelphia, and, +notwithstanding the season, we were so fortunate as to have both bright and +temperate weather for the expedition. The road from Washington to Baltimore, +which was our first day’s journey, is interesting in summer from the +variety of luxuriance of the foliage which borders great parts of it. +</p> + +<p> +We passed the night at Baltimore, and embarked next morning on board a +steam-boat for Philadelphia. The scenery of the Elk river, upon which you enter +soon after leaving the port of Baltimore, is not beautiful. We embarked at six +in the morning, and at twelve reached the Chesapeak and Delaware canal; we then +quitted the steam-boat, and walked two or three hundred yards to the canal, +where we got on board a pretty little decked boat, sheltered by a neat awning, +and drawn by four horses. This canal cuts across the state of Delaware, and +connects the Chesapeak and Delaware rivers: it has been a work of great +expense, though the distance is not more than thirteen miles; for a +considerable part of this distance the cutting has been very deep, and the +banks are in many parts thatched, to prevent their crumbling. At the point +where the cutting is deepest, a light bridge is thrown across, which, from its +great height, forms a striking object to the travellers passing below it. Every +boat that passes this canal pays a toll of twenty dollars. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing can be less interesting than that part of the state of Delaware through +which this cut passes, the Mississippi hardly excepted. At one, we reached the +Delaware river, at a point nearly opposite Delaware Fort, which looks recently +built, and is very handsome. [This fort was destroyed by fire a few months +afterwards.] Here we again changed our vessel, and got on board another of +their noble steam-boats; both these changes were made with the greatest +regularity and dispatch. +</p> + +<p> +There is nothing remarkable in the scenery of the Delaware. The stream is wide +and the banks are flat; a short distance before you reach Philadelphia two +large buildings of singular appearance strike the eye. On enquiry I learnt that +they were erected for the purpose of sheltering two ships of war. They are +handsomely finished, with very neat roofs, and are ventilated by many windows. +The expense of these buildings must have been considerable, but, as the +construction of the vast machines they shelter was more so, it may be good +economy. +</p> + +<p> +We reached Philadelphia at four o’clock in the afternoon. The approach to +this city is not so striking as that to Baltimore; though much larger, it does +not now show itself so well; it wants domes and columns: it is, nevertheless, a +beautiful city. Nothing can exceed its neatness; the streets are well paved, +the foot-way, as in all the old American cities, is of brick, like the old +pantile walk at Tunbridge Wells. This is almost entirely sheltered from the sun +by the awnings, which, in all the principal streets, are spread from the shop +windows to the edge of the pavement. +</p> + +<p> +The city is built with extreme and almost wearisome regularity; the streets, +which run north and south, are distinguished by numbers, from one to—I +know not how many, but I paid a visit in Twelth Street; these are intersected +at right angles by others, which are known by the names of various trees; +Mulberry (more commonly called Arch-street), Chesnut, and Walnut, appear the +most fashionable: in each of these there is a theatre. This mode of +distinguishing the streets is commodious to strangers, from the facility it +gives of finding out whereabouts you are; if you ask for the United States +Bank, you are told it is in Chesnut, between Third and Fourth, and as the +streets are all divided from each other by equal distances, of about three +hundred feet, you are sure of not missing your mark. There are many handsome +houses, but none that are very splendid; they are generally of brick, and those +of the better order have white marble steps, and some few, door frames of the +same beautiful material; but, on the whole, there is less display of it in the +private dwellings than at Baltimore. +</p> + +<p> +The Americans all seem greatly to admire this city, and to give it the +preference in point of beauty to all others in the Union, but I do not agree +with them. There are some very handsome buildings, but none of them so placed +as to produce a striking effect, as is the case both with the Capitol and the +President’s house, at Washington. Notwithstanding these fine buildings, +one or more of which are to be found in all the principal streets, the <i>coup +d’oeil</i> is every where the same. There is no Place de Louis Quinze or +Carrousel, no Regent Street, or Green Park, to make one exclaim “how +beautiful!” all is even, straight, uniform, and uninteresting. +</p> + +<p> +There is one spot, however, about a mile from the town, which presents a lovely +scene. The water-works of Philadelphia have not yet perhaps as wide extended +fame as those of Marley, but they are not less deserving it. At a most +beautiful point of the Schuylkill River the water has been forced up into a +magnificent reservoir, ample and elevated enough to send it through the whole +city. The vast yet simple machinery by which this is achieved is open to the +public, who resort in such numbers to see it, that several evening stages run +from Philadelphia to Fair Mount for their accommodation. But interesting and +curious as this machinery is, Fair Mount would not be so attractive had it not +something else to offer. It is, in truth, one of the very prettiest spots the +eye can look upon. A broad weir is thrown across the Schuylkill, which produces +the sound and look of a cascade. On the farther side of the river is a +gentleman’s seat, the beautiful lawns of which slope to the water’s +edge, and groups of weeping-willows and other trees throw their shadows on the +stream. The works themselves are enclosed in a simple but very handsome +building of freestone, which has an extended front opening upon a terrace, +which overhangs the river: behind the building, and divided from it only by a +lawn, rises a lofty wall of solid limestone rock, which has, at one or two +points, been cut into, for the passage of the water into the noble reservoir +above. From the crevices of this rock the catalpa was every where pushing +forth, covered with its beautiful blossom. Beneath one of these trees an +artificial opening in the rock gives passage to a stream of water, clear and +bright as crystal, which is received in a stone basin of simple workmanship, +having a cup for the service of the thirsty traveller. At another point, a +portion of the water in its upward way to the reservoir, is permitted to spring +forth in a perpetual <i>jet d’eau</i>, that returns in a silver shower +upon the head of a marble <i>naiad</i> of snowy whiteness. The statue is not +the work of Phidias, but its dark, rocky background, the flowery catalpas which +shadow it, and the bright shower through which it shows itself, altogether make +the scene one of singular beauty; add to which, the evening on which I saw it +was very sultry, and the contrast of this cool spot to all besides certainly +enhanced its attraction; it was impossible not to envy the nymph her eternal +shower-bath. +</p> + +<p> +On returning from this excursion we saw handbills in all parts of the city +announcing that Miss Wright was on that evening to deliver her parting address +to the citizens of Philadelphia, at the Arch Street theatre, previous to her +departure for Europe. I immediately determined to hear her, and did so, though +not without some difficulty, from the crowds who went thither with the same +intention. The house, which is a very pretty one, was filled in every part, +including the stage, with a well dressed and most attentive audience. There was +a larger proportion of ladies present than I ever saw on any other occasion in +an American theatre. One reason for this might be, perhaps, that they were +admitted gratis. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Wright came on the stage surrounded by a body guard of Quaker ladies, in +the full costume of their sect. She was, as she always is, startling in her +theories, but powerfully eloquent, and, on the whole, was much applauded, +though one passage produced great emotion, and some hissing. She stated +broadly, on the authority of Jefferson, furnished by his posthumous works, that +“Washington was not a Christian.” One voice from the crowded pit +exclaimed, in an accent of indignation, “Washington was a +Christian.” but it was evident that the majority of the audience +considered Mr. Jefferson’s assertion as a compliment to the +country’s idol, for the hissing was soon triumphantly clapped down. +General Washington himself, however, gives a somewhat different account of his +own principles, for in his admirable farewell address on declining a +re-election to the Presidency, I find the following passage. +</p> + +<p> +“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, +religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim +the tribute of patriotism who would labour to subvert these great pillars of +human happiness, these firmest props of the destinies of men and citizens. A +volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. +And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained +without religion, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national +morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” +</p> + +<p> +Whether Mr. Jefferson or himself knew best what his principles were, I will not +decide, but, at least, it appears fair, when repeating one statement, to add +the other also. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Washington Square—American Beauty—Gallery of Fine +Arts—Antiques—Theatres—Museum +</p> + +<p> +Our mornings were spent, as all travellers’ mornings must be, in asking +questions, and in seeing all that the answers told us it was necessary to see. +Perhaps this can be done in no city with more facility than in Philadelphia; +you have nothing to do but to walk up one straight street, and down another, +till all the parallelograms have been threaded. In doing this you will see many +things worth looking at. The United States, and Pennsylvania banks, are the +most striking buildings, and are both extremely handsome, being of white +marble, and built after Grecian models. The State House has nothing externally +to recommend it, but the room shown as that in which the declaration of +independence was signed, and in which the estimable Lafayette was received half +a century after he had shed his noble blood in aiding to obtain it, is an +interesting spot. At one end of this room is a statue in wood of General +Washington; on its base is the following inscription:- +</p> + +<p class="center"> +First in Peace,<br/> +First in War,<br/> +and<br/> +First in the hearts of his Countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +There is a very pretty enclosure before the Walnut Street entrance to the State +House, with good well-kept gravel walks, and many of their beautiful flowering +trees. It is laid down in grass, not in turf; that, indeed, is a luxury I never +saw in America. Near this enclosure is another of much the same description, +called Washington Square. Here there was an excellent crop of clover; but as +the trees are numerous, and highly beautiful, and several commodious seats are +placed beneath their shade, it is, in spite of the long grass, a very agreeable +retreat from heat and dust. It was rarely, however, that I saw any of these +seats occupied; the Americans have either no leisure, or no inclination for +those moments of <i>delassement</i> that all other people, I believe, indulge +in. Even their drams, so universally taken by rich and poor, are swallowed +standing, and, excepting at church, they never have the air of leisure or +repose. This pretty Washington Square is surrounded by houses on three sides, +but (lasso!) has a prison on the fourth; it is nevertheless the nearest +approach to a London square that is to be found in Philadelphia. +</p> + +<p> +One evening, while the rest of my party went to visit some objects which I had +before seen, I agreed to await their return in this square, and sat down under +a magnificent catalpa, which threw its fragrant blossoms in all directions; the +other end of the bench was occupied by a young lady, who was employed in +watching the gambols of a little boy. There was something in her manner of +looking at me, and exchanging a smile when her young charge performed some +extraordinary feat of activity on the grass, that persuaded me she was not an +American. I do not remember who spoke first, but we were presently in a full +flow of conversation. She spoke English with elegant correctness, but she was a +German, and with an ardour of feeling which gave her a decidedly foreign air in +Philadelphia, she talked to me of her country, of all she had left, and of all +she had found, or rather of all she had not found, for thus ran her lament:- +</p> + +<p> +“They do not love music. Oh no! and they never amuse themselves—no; +and their hearts are not warm, at least they seem not so to strangers; and they +have no ease, no forgetfulness of business and of care—no, not for a +moment. But I will not stay long, I think, for I should not live.” She +told me that she had a brother settled there as a merchant, and that she had +passed a year with him; but she was hoping soon to return to her father land. +</p> + +<p> +I never so strongly felt the truth of the remark, that expression is the soul +of beauty, as in looking at, and listening to this young German. She was any +thing but handsome; it is true she had large eyes, full of gentle expression, +but every feature was irregular; but, oh! the charm of that smile, of that look +of deep feeling which animated every feature when she spoke of her own Germany! +The tone of her voice, the slight and graceful action which accompanied her +words, all struck me as so attractive, that the half hour I passed with her was +continually recurring to my memory. I had often taxed myself with feeling +something like prejudice against the beautiful American women; but this half +hour set my conscience at rest; it is not prejudice which causes one to feel +that regularity of features is insufficient to interest, or even to please, +beyond the first glance. I certainly believe the women of America to be the +handsomest in the world, but as surely do I believe that they are the least +attractive. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +We visited the nineteenth annual exhibition of the Pennsylvanian academy of the +fine arts; 431 was the number of objects exhibited, which were so arranged as +to fill three tolerably large rooms, and one smaller called the +director’s room. There were among the number about thirty engravings, and +a much larger proportion of water-colour drawings; about seventy had the P.A. +(Pensylvanian Academician) annexed to the name of the artist. +</p> + +<p> +The principal historical composition was a large scripture piece by Mr. +Washington Alston. This gentleman is spoken of as an artist of great merit, and +I was told that his manner was much improved since this picture was painted, +(it bears date, 1813). I believe it was for this picture Mr. Alston received a +prize at the British Gallery. +</p> + +<p> +There was a portrait of a lady, which, in the catalogue, is designated as +“the White Plume,” which had the reputation of being the most +admired in the collection, and the artist, Mr. Ingham, is said to rank highest +among the portrait-painters of America. This picture is of very high finish, +particularly the drapery, which is most elaborately worked, even to the pile of +the velvet; the management of the light is much in the manner of Good; but the +drawing is very defective, and the contour, though the face is a lovely one, +hard and unfleshy. From all the conversations on painting, which I listened to +in America, I found that the finish of drapery was considered as the highest +excellence, and next to this, the resemblance in a portrait; I do not remember +ever to have heard the words <i>drawing</i> or <i>composition</i> used in any +conversation on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +One of the rooms of this academy has inscribed over its door, +</p> + +<p class="center"> +ANTIQUE STATUE GALLERY +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The door was open, but just within it was a screen, which prevented any objects +in the room being seen from without. Upon my pausing to read this inscription, +an old woman who appeared to officiate as guardian of the gallery, hustled up, +and addressing me with an air of much mystery, said, “Now, ma’am, +now; this is just the time for you—nobody can see you—make +haste.” +</p> + +<p> +I stared at her with unfeigned surprise, and disengaging my arm, which she had +taken apparently to hasten my movements, I very gravely asked her meaning. +</p> + +<p> +“Only, ma’am, that ladies like to go into that room by themselves, +when there be no gentlemen watching them.” +</p> + +<p> +On entering this mysterious apartment, the first thing I remarked, was written +paper, deprecating the disgusting depravity which had led some of the visitors +to mark and deface the casts in a most indecent and shameless manner. This +abomination has unquestionably been occasioned by the coarse-minded custom +which sends alternate groups of males and females into the room. Were the +antique gallery thrown open to mixed parties of ladies and gentlemen, it would +soon cease. Till America has reached the degree of refinement which permits of +this, the antique casts should not be exhibited to ladies at all. I never felt +my delicacy shocked at the Louvre, but I was strangely tempted to resent as an +affront the hint I received, that I might steal a glance at what was deemed +indecent. Perhaps the arrangements for the exhibition of this room, the +feelings which have led to them, and the result they have produced, furnish as +good a specimen of the kind of delicacy on which the Americans pride +themselves, and of the peculiarities arising from it, as can be found. The room +contains about fifty casts, chiefly from the antique. +</p> + +<p> +In the director’s room I was amused at the means which a poet had hit +upon for advertising his works, or rather HIS WORK, and not less at the +elaborate notice of it. His portrait was suspended there, and attached to the +frame was a paper inscribed thus:- +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR<br/> +of<br/> +The Fredoniad, or Independence Preserved, a political,<br/> +naval, and military poem, on the late war of 1812,<br/> +in forty cantos; the whole compressed in<br/> +four volumes; each volume averaging<br/> +more than 305 pages,<br/> +By RICHARD EMMONS,<br/> +M.D.” +</p> + +<p> +I went to the Chesnut Street Theatre to see Mr. Booth, formerly of Drury Lane, +in the character of Lear, and a Mrs. Duff in Cordelia; but I have seen too many +Lears and Cordelias to be easily pleased; I thought the whole performance very +bad. The theatre is of excellently moderate dimensions, and prettily decorated. +It was not the fashionable season for the theatres, which I presume must +account for the appearance of the company in the boxes, which was any thing but +elegant; nor was there more decorum of demeanour than I had observed elsewhere; +I saw one man in the lower tier of boxes deliberately take off his coat that he +might enjoy the refreshing coolness of shirt sleeves; all the gentlemen wore +their hats, and the spitting was unceasing. +</p> + +<p> +On another evening we went to the Walnut Street Theatre; the chief attraction +of the night was furnished by the performance of a young man who had been +previously exhibited as “a living skeleton.” He played the part of +Jeremiah Thin, and certainly looked the part well; and here I think must end my +praise of the evening’s performances. +</p> + +<p> +The great and most striking contrast between this city and those of Europe, is +perceived after sunset; scarcely a sound is heard; hardly a voice or a wheel +breaks the stillness. The Streets are entirely dark, except where a stray lamp +marks an hotel or the like; no shops are open, but those of the apothecary, and +here and there a cook’s shop; scarcely a step is heard, and for a note of +music, or the sound of mirth, I listened in vain. In leaving the theatre, which +I always did before the afterpiece, I saw not a single carriage; the night of +Miss Wright’s lecture, when I stayed to the end, I saw one. This +darkness, this stillness, is so great, that I almost felt it awful. As we +walked home one fine moonlight evening from the Chestnut Street house, we +stopped a moment before the United States Bank, to look at its white marble +columns by the subdued lights said to be so advantageous to them; the building +did, indeed, look beautiful; the incongruous objects around were hardly +visible, while the brilliant white of the building, which by daylight is +dazzling, was mellowed into fainter light and softer shadow. +</p> + +<p> +While pausing before this modern temple of Theseus, we remarked that we alone +seemed alive in this great city; it was ten o’clock, and a most lovely +cool evening, after a burning day, yet all was silence. Regent Street, Bond +Street, with their blaze of gas-light <i>bijouterie</i>, and still more the +Italian Boulevard of Paris, rose in strong contrast on the memory; the light, +which outshines that of day—the gay, graceful, laughing throng—the +elegant saloons of Tortoni, with all their varieties of cooling +nectar—were all remembered. Is it an European prejudice to deem that the +solitary dram swallowed by the gentlemen on quitting an American theatre +indicates a lower and more vicious state of manners, than do the ices so +sedulously offered to the ladies on leaving a French one? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The museum contains a good collection of objects illustrative of natural +history, and some very interesting specimens of Indian antiquities; both here +and at Cincinnati I saw so many things resembling Egyptian relics, that I +should like to see the origin of the Indian nations enquired into, more +accurately than has yet been done. +</p> + +<p> +The shops, of which there appeared to me to be an unusually large proportion, +are very handsome; many of them in a style of European elegance. Lottery +offices abound, and that species of gambling is carried to a great extent. I +saw fewer carriages in Philadelphia than either at Baltimore or Washington, but +in the winter I was told they were more numerous. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the best families had left the city for different watering-places, and +others were daily following. Long Branch is a fashionable bathing place on the +Jersey shore, to which many resort, both from this place and from New York; the +description given of the manner of bathing appeared to me rather extraordinary, +but the account was confirmed by so many different people, that I could not +doubt its correctness. The shore, it seems, is too bold to admit of bathing +machines, and the ladies have, therefore, recourse to another mode of ensuring +the enjoyment of a sea-bath with safety. The accommodation at Long Branch is +almost entirely at large boarding-houses, where all the company live at a +<i>table d’hôte</i>. It is customary for ladies on arriving to look round +among the married gentlemen, the first time they meet at table, and to select +the one her fancy leads her to prefer as a protector in her purposed visits to +the realms of Neptune; she makes her request, which is always graciously +received, that he would lead her to taste the briny wave; but another fair one +must select the same protector, else the arrangement cannot be complete, as +custom does not authorise <i>tete a tete</i> immersion. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Quakers—Presbyterians—Itinerant Methodist +Preacher—Market—Influence of females in society +</p> + +<p> +I had never chanced, among all my wanderings, to enter a Quaker Meeting-house; +and as I thought I could no where make my first visit better than at +Philadelphia, I went under the protection of a Quaker lady to the principal +<i>orthodox</i> meeting of the city. The building is large, but perfectly +without ornament; the men and women are separated by a rail which divides it +into two equal parts; the meeting was very full on both sides, and the +atmosphere almost intolerably hot. As they glided in at their different doors, +I spied many pretty faces peeping from the prim head gear of the females, and +as the broad-brimmed males sat down, the welcome Parney supposes prepared for +them in heaven, recurred to me, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Entre done, et garde ton chapeau.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The little bonnets and the large hats were ranged in long rows, and their +stillness was for a long time so unbroken, that I could hardly persuade myself +the figures they surmounted were alive. At length a grave square man arose, +laid aside his ample beaver, and after another solemn interval of silence, he +gave a deep groan, and as it were by the same effort uttered, “Keep thy +foot.” Again he was silent for many minutes, and then he continued for +more that an hour to put forth one word at a time, but at such an interval from +each other that I found it quite impossible to follow his meaning, if, indeed, +he had any. My Quaker friend told me she knew not who he was, and that she much +regretted I had heard so poor a preacher. After he had concluded, a +gentleman-like old man (a physician by profession) arose, and delivered a few +moral sentences in an agreeable manner; soon after he had sat down, the whole +congregation rose, I know not at what signal, and made their exit. It is a +singular kind of worship, if worship it may be called, where all prayer is +forbidden; yet it appeared to me, in its decent quietness, infinitely +preferable to what I had witnessed at the Presbyterian and Methodist +Meeting-houses. A great schism had lately taken place among the Quakers of +Philadelphia; many objecting to the over-strict discipline of the orthodox. +Among the seceders there are again various shades of difference; I met many who +called themselves Unitarian Quakers, others were Hicksites, and others again, +though still wearing the Quaker habit, were said to be Deists. +</p> + +<p> +We visited many churches and chapels in the city, but none that would elsewhere +be called handsome, either internally or externally. +</p> + +<p> +I went one evening, not a Sunday, with a party of ladies to see a Presbyterian +minister inducted. The ceremony was woefully long, and the charge to the young +man awfully impossible to obey, at least if he were a man, like unto other men. +It was matter of astonishment to me to observe the deep attention, and the +unwearied patience with which some hundreds of beautiful young girls who were +assembled there, (not to mention the old ladies,) listened to the whole of this +tedious ceremony; surely there is no country in the world where religion makes +so large a part of the amusement and occupation of the ladies. Spain, in its +most catholic days, could not exceed it: besides, in spite of the gloomy +horrors of the Inquisition, gaiety and amusement were not there offered as a +sacrifice by the young and lovely. +</p> + +<p> +The religious severity of Philadelphian manners is in nothing more conspicuous +than in the number of chains thrown across the streets on a Sunday to prevent +horses and carriages from passing. Surely the Jews could not exceed this +country in their external observances. What the gentlemen of Philadelphia do +with themselves on a Sunday, I will not pretend to guess, but the prodigious +majority of females in the churches is very remarkable. Although a large +proportion of the population of this city are Quakers, the same extraordinary +variety of faith exists here, as every where else in the Union, and the priests +have, in some circles, the same unbounded influence which has been mentioned +elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +One history reached me, which gave a terrible picture of the effect this power +may produce; it was related to me by my mantua-maker; a young woman highly +estimable as a wife and mother, and on whose veracity I perfectly rely. She +told me that her father was a widower, and lived with his family of three +daughters, at Philadelphia. A short time before she married, an itinerant +preacher came to the city, who contrived to obtain an intimate footing in many +respectable families. Her father’s was one of these, and his influence +and authority were great with all the sisters, but particularly with the +youngest. The young girl’s feelings for him seem to have been a curious +mixture of spiritual awe and earthly affection. When she received a hint from +her sisters that she ought not to give him too much encouragement till he spoke +out, she showed as much holy resentment as if they had told her not to say her +prayers too devoutly. At length the father remarked the sort of covert passion +that gleamed through the eyes of his godly visitor, and he saw too, the pallid +anxious look which had settled on the young brow of his daughter; either this, +or some rumours he had heard abroad, or both together, led him to forbid this +man his house. The three girls were present when he did so, and all uttered a +deprecating “Oh father!” but the old man added stoutly. If you show +yourself here again, reverend sir, I will not only teach you the way out of my +house, but out of the city also. The preacher withdrew, and was never heard of +in Philadelphia afterwards; but when a few months had passed, strange whispers +began to creep through the circle which had received and honoured him, and, in +due course of time, no less than seven unfortunate girls produced living proofs +of the wisdom of my informant’s worthy father. In defence of this +dreadful story I can only make the often repeated quotation, “I tell the +tale as ’twas told to me;” but, in all sincerity I must add, that I +have no doubt of its truth. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I was particularly requested to visit the market of Philadelphia, at the hour +when it presented the busiest scene; I did so, and thought few cities had any +thing to show better worth looking at; it is, indeed, the very perfection of a +market, the <i>beau ideal</i> of a notable housewife, who would confide to no +deputy the important office of caterer. The neatness, freshness, and entire +absence of every thing disagreeable to sight or smell, must be witnessed to be +believed. The stalls were spread with snow-white napkins; flowers and fruit, if +not quite of Paris or London perfection, yet bright, fresh, and fragrant; with +excellent vegetables in the greatest variety and abundance, were all so +delightfully exhibited, that objects less pleasing were overlooked and +forgotten. The dairy, the poultry-yard, the forest, the river, and the ocean, +all contributed their spoil; in short, for the first time in my life, I thought +a market a beautiful object. The prices of most articles were, as nearly as I +could calculate between dollars and francs, about the same as at Paris; +certainly much cheaper than in London, but much dearer than at Exeter. +</p> + +<p> +My letters of introduction brought me acquainted with several amiable and +interesting people. There is something in the tone of manners at Philadelphia +that I liked; it appeared to me that there was less affectation of ton there +than elsewhere. There is a quietness, a composure in a Philadelphia +drawing-room, that is quite characteristic of a city founded by William Penn. +The dress of the ladies, even those who are not Quakers, partakes of this; they +are most elegantly neat, and there was a delicacy and good taste in the dress +of the young ladies that might serve as a model to the whole Union. There can +hardly be a stronger contrast in the style of dress between any two cities than +may be remarked between Baltimore and Philadelphia; both are costly, but the +former is distinguished by gaudy splendour, the latter by elegant simplicity. +</p> + +<p> +It is said that this city has many gentlemen distinguished by their scientific +pursuits; I conversed with several well informed and intelligent men, but there +is a cold dryness of manner and an apparent want of interest in the subjects +they discuss, that, to my mind, robs conversation of all its charm. On one +occasion I heard the character and situation of an illustrious officer +discussed, who had served with renown under Napoleon, and whose high character +might have obtained him favour under the Bourbons, could he have abandoned the +principles which led him to dislike their government. This distinguished man +had retreated to America after the death of his master, and was endeavouring to +establish a sort of Polytechnic academy at New York: in speaking of him, I +observed, that his devotion to the cause of freedom must prove a strong +recommendation in the United States. “Not the least in the world, +madam,” answered a gentleman who ranked deservedly high among the +<i>literati</i> of the city, “it might avail him much in England, +perhaps, but here we are perfectly indifferent as to what people’s +principles may be.” +</p> + +<p> +This I believe to be exactly true, though I never before heard it avowed as a +national feature. +</p> + +<p> +The want of warmth, of interest, of feeling, upon all subjects which do not +immediately touch their own concerns, is universal, and has a most paralysing +effect upon conversation. All the enthusiasm of America is concentrated to the +one point of her own emancipation and independence; on this point nothing can +exceed the warmth of her feelings. She may, I think, be compared to a young +bride, a sort of Mrs. Major Waddle; her independence is to her as a newly-won +bridegroom; for him alone she has eyes, ears, or heart;—the honeymoon is +not over yet;—when it is, America will, perhaps, learn more coquetry, and +know better how to <i>faire l’aimable</i> to other nations. +</p> + +<p> +I conceive that no place in the known world can furnish so striking a proof of +the immense value of literary habits as the United States, not only in +enlarging the mind, but what is of infinitely more importance, in purifying the +manners. During my abode in the country I not only never met a literary man who +was a tobacco chewer or a whiskey drinker, but I never met any who were not, +that had escaped these degrading habits. On the women, the influence is, if +possible, still more important; unfortunately, the instances are rare, but they +are to be found. One admirable example occurs in the person of a young lady of +Cincinnati: surrounded by a society totally incapable of appreciating, or even +of comprehending her, she holds a place among it, as simply and unaffectedly as +if of the same species; young, beautiful, and gifted by nature with a mind +singularly acute and discriminating, she has happily found such opportunities +of cultivation as might distinguish her in any country; it is, indeed, that +best of all cultivation which is only to be found in domestic habits of +literature, and in that hourly education which the daughter of a man of letters +receives when she is made the companion and friend of her father. This young +lady is the more admirable as she contrives to unite all the multifarious +duties which usually devolve upon American ladies, with her intellectual +pursuits. The companion and efficient assistant of her father’s literary +labours, the active aid in all the household cares of her mother, the tender +nurse of a delicate infant sister, the skilful artificer of her own always +elegant wardrobe, ever at leisure, and ever prepared to receive with the +sweetest cheerfulness her numerous acquaintance, the most animated in +conversation, the most indefatigable in occupation, it was impossible to know +her, and study her character without feeling that such women were “the +glory of all lands,” and, could the race be multiplied, would speedily +become the reformers of all the grossness and ignorance that now degrade her +own. Is it to be imagined, that if fifty modifications of this charming young +woman were to be met at a party, the men would dare to enter it reeking with +whiskey, their lips blackened with tobacco, and convinced, to the very centre +of their hearts and souls, that women were made for no other purpose than to +fabricate sweetmeats and gingerbread, construct shirts, darn stockings, and +become mothers of possible presidents? Assuredly not. Should the women of +America ever discover what their power might be, and compare it with what it +is, much improvement might be hoped for. While, at Philadelphia, among the +handsomest, the wealthiest, and the most distinguished of the land, their +comparative influence in society, with that possessed in Europe by females +holding the same station, occurred forcibly to my mind. +</p> + +<p> +Let me be permitted to describe the day of a Philadelphian lady of the first +class, and the inference I would draw from it will be better understood. +</p> + +<p> +It may be said that the most important feature in a woman’s history is +her maternity. It is so; but the object of the present observation is the +social, and not the domestic influence of woman. +</p> + +<p> +This lady shall be the wife of a senator and a lawyer in the highest repute and +practice. She has a very handsome house, with white marble steps and +door-posts, and a delicate silver knocker and door-handle; she has very +handsome drawing-rooms, very handsomely furnished, (there is a sideboard in one +of them, but it is very handsome, and has very handsome decanters and cut glass +water-jugs upon it); she has a very handsome carriage, and a very handsome free +black coachman; she is always very handsomely dressed; and, moreover, she is +very handsome herself. +</p> + +<p> +She rises, and her first hour is spent in the scrupulously nice arrangement of +her dress; she descends to her parlour neat, stiff, and silent; her breakfast +is brought in by her free black footman; she eats her fried ham and her salt +fish, and drinks her coffee in silence, while her husband reads one newspaper, +and puts another under his elbow; and then, perhaps, she washes the cups and +saucers. Her carriage is ordered at eleven; till that hour she is employed in +the pastry-room, her snow-white apron protecting her mouse-coloured silk. +Twenty minutes before her carriage should appear, she retires to her chamber, +as she calls it, shakes, and folds up her still snow-white apron, smooths her +rich dress, and with nice care, sets on her elegant bonnet, and all the +handsome <i>et cetera</i>; then walks down stairs, just at the moment that her +free black coachman announces to her free black footman that the carriage +waits. She steps into it, and gives the word, “Drive to the Dorcas +society.” her footman stays at home to clean the knives, but her coachman +can trust his horses while he opens the carriage door, and his lady not being +accustomed to a hand or an arm, gets out very safely without, though one of her +own is occupied by a work-basket, and the other by a large roll of all those +indescribable matters which ladies take as offerings to Dorcas societies. She +enters the parlour appropriated for the meeting, and finds seven other ladies, +very like herself, and takes her place among them; she presents her +contribution, which is accepted with a gentle circular smile, and her parings +of broad cloth, her ends of ribbon, her gilt paper, and her minikin pins, are +added to the parings of broad cloth, the ends of ribbon, the gilt papers, and +the minikin pins with which the table is already covered; she also produces +from her basket three ready-made pincushions, four ink-wipers, seven paper +matches, and a paste-board watch-case; these are welcomed with acclamations, +and the youngest lady present deposits them carefully on shelves, amid a +prodigious quantity of similar articles. She then produces her thimble, and +asks for work; it is presented to her, and the eight ladies all stitch together +for some hours. Their talk is of priests and of missions; of the profits of +their last sale, of their hopes from the next; of the doubt whether your Mr. +This, or young Mr. That should receive the fruits of it to fit him out for +Liberia; of the very ugly bonnet seen at church on Sabbath morning, of the very +handsome preacher who performed on Sabbath afternoon, and of the very large +collection made on Sabbath evening. This lasts till three, when the carriage +again appears, and the lady and her basket return home; she mounts to her +chamber, carefully sets aside her bonnet and its appurtenances, puts on her +scolloped black silk apron, walks into the kitchen to see that all is right, +then into the parlour, where, having cast a careful glance over the table +prepared for dinner, she sits down, work in hand, to await her spouse. He +comes, shakes hands with her, spits, and dines. The conversation is not much, +and ten minutes suffices for the dinner; fruit and toddy, the newspaper and the +work-bag succeed. In the evening the gentleman, being a savant, goes to the +Wister society, and afterwards plays a snug rubber at a neighbour’s. The +lady receives at tea a young missionary and three members of the Dorcas +society.—And so ends her day. +</p> + +<p> +For some reason or other, which English people are not very likely to +understand, a great number of young married persons board by the year, instead +of “going to housekeeping,” as they call having an establishment of +their own. Of course this statement does not include persons of large fortune, +but it does include very many whose rank in society would make such a mode of +life quite impossible with us. I can hardly imagine a contrivance more +effectual for ensuring the insignificance of a woman, than marrying her at +seventeen, and placing her in a boarding-house. Nor can I easily imagine a life +of more uniform dulness for the lady herself; but this certainly is a matter of +taste. I have heard many ladies declare that it is “just quite the +perfection of comfort to have nothing to fix for oneself.” Yet despite +these assurances I always experienced a feeling which hovered between pity and +contempt, when I contemplated their mode of existence. +</p> + +<p> +How would a newly-married Englishwoman endure it, her head and her heart full +of the one dear scheme— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Well-ordered home, <i>his</i> dear delight to make?” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +She must rise exactly in time to reach the boarding table at the hour appointed +for breakfast, or she will get a stiff bow from the lady president, cold +coffee, and no egg. I have been sometimes greatly amused upon these occasions +by watching a little scene in which the bye-play had much more meaning than the +words uttered. The fasting, but tardy lady, looks round the table, and having +ascertained that there was no egg left, says distinctly, “I will take an +egg if you please.” But as this is addressed to no one in particular, no +one in particular answers it, unless it happen that her husband is at table +before her, and then he says, “There are no eggs, my dear.” +Whereupon the lady president evidently cannot hear, and the greedy culprit who +has swallowed two eggs (for there are always as many eggs as noses) looks +pretty considerably afraid of being found out. The breakfast proceeds in sombre +silence, save that sometimes a parrot, and sometimes a canary bird, ventures to +utter a timid note. When it is finished, the gentlemen hurry to their +occupation, and the quiet ladies mount the stairs, some to the first, some to +the second, and some to the third stories, in an inverse proportion to the +number of dollars paid, and ensconce themselves in their respective chambers. +As to what they do there it is not very easy to say, but I believe they +clear-starch a little, and iron a little, and sit in a rocking-chair, and sew a +great deal. I always observed that the ladies who boarded, wore more +elaborately worked collars and petticoats than any one else. The plough is +hardly a more blessed instrument in America than the needle. How could they +live without it? But time and the needle wear through the longest morning, and +happily the American morning is not very long, even though they breakfast at +eight. +</p> + +<p> +It is generally about two o’clock that the boarding gentlemen meet the +boarding ladies at dinner. Little is spoken, except a whisper between the +married pairs. Sometimes a sulky bottle of wine flanks the plate of one or two +individuals, but it adds nothing to the mirth of the meeting, and seldom more +than one glass to the good cheer of the owners, it is not then, and it is not +there, that the gentlemen of the Union drink. Soon, very soon, the silent meal +is done, and then, if you mount the stairs after them, you will find from the +doors of the more affectionate and indulgent wives, a smell of cigars steam +forth, which plainly indicates the felicity of the couple within. If the +gentleman be a very polite husband, he will, as soon as he has done smoking and +drinking his toddy, offer his arm to his wife, as far as the corner of the +street, where his store, or his office is situated, and there he will leave her +to turn which way she likes. As this is the hour for being full dressed, of +course she turns the way she can be most seen. Perhaps she pays a few visits; +perhaps she goes to chapel; or, perhaps, she enters some store where her +husband deals, and ventures to order a few notions; and then she goes home +again—no, not home—I will not give that name to a +boarding-house—but she re-enters the cold heartless atmosphere in which +she dwells, where hospitality can never enter, and where interest takes the +management instead of affection. At tea they all meet again, and a little +trickery is perceptible to a nice observer in the manner of partaking the +pound-cake, &c. After this, those who are happy enough to have engagements +hasten to keep them; those who have not, either mount again to the solitude of +their chamber, or, what appeared to me much worse, remain in the common +sitting-room, in a society cemented by no tie, endeared by no connexion, which +choice did not bring together, and which the slightest motive would break +asunder. I remarked that the gentlemen were generally obliged to go out every +evening on business, and, I confess, the arrangement did not surprise me. +</p> + +<p> +It is not thus that the women can obtain that influence in society which is +allowed to them in Europe, and to which, both sages and men of the world have +agreed in ascribing such salutary effects. It is in vain that “collegiate +institutes” are formed for young ladies, or that “academic +degrees” are conferred upon them. It is after marriage, and when these +young attempts upon all the sciences are forgotten, that the lamentable +insignificance of the American woman appears, and till this be remedied, I +venture to prophesy that the tone of their drawing-rooms will not improve. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst I was at Philadelphia a great deal of attention was excited by the +situation of two criminals, who had been convicted of robbing the Baltimore +mail, and were lying under sentence of death. The rare occurrence of capital +punishment in America makes it always an event of great interest; and the +approaching execution was repeatedly the subject of conversation at the +boarding table. One day a gentleman told us he had that morning been assured +that one of the criminals had declared to the visiting clergyman that he was +certain of being reprieved, and that nothing the clergyman could say to the +contrary made any impression upon him. Day after day this same story was +repeated, and commented upon at table, and it appeared that the report had been +heard in so many quarters, that not only was the statement received as true, +but it began to be conjectured that the criminal had some ground for his hope. +I learnt from these daily conversations that one of the prisoners was an +American, and the other an Irishman, and it was the former who was so strongly +persuaded he should not be hanged. Several of the gentlemen at table, in +canvassing the subject, declared, that if the one were hanged and the other +spared, this hanging would be a murder, and not a legal execution. In +discussing this point, it was stated that very nearly all the white men who had +suffered death since the declaration of Independence had been Irishmen. What +truth there may be in this general statement, I have no means of ascertaining; +all I know is, that I heard it made. On this occasion, however, the Irishman +was hanged, and the American was not. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Return to +Stonington—Thunderstorm—Emigrants—Illness—Alexandria +</p> + +<p> +A fortnight passed rapidly away in this great city, and, doubtless, there was +still much left unseen when we quitted it, according to previous arrangement, +to return to our friends in Maryland. We came back by a different route, going +by land from Newcastle to French Town, instead of passing by the canal. We +reached Baltimore in the middle of the night, but finished our repose on board +the steam-boat, and started for Washington at five o’clock the next +morning. +</p> + +<p> +Our short abode amid the heat and closeness of a city made us enjoy more than +ever the beautiful scenery around Stonington. The autumn, which soon advanced +upon us, again clothed the woods in colours too varied and gaudy to be +conceived by those who have never quitted Europe; and the stately maize, waving +its flowing tassels, as the long drooping blossoms are called, made every field +look like a little forest. A rainy spring had been followed by a summer of +unusual heat; and towards the autumn frequent thunderstorms of terrific +violence cleared the air, but at the same time frightened us almost out of our +wits. On one occasion I was exposed, with my children, to the full fury of one +of these awful visitations. We suffered considerable terror during this storm, +but when we were all again safe, and comfortably sheltered, we rejoiced that +the accident had occurred, as it gave us the best possible opportunity of +witnessing, in all its glory, a transatlantic thunderstorm. It was, however, +great imprudence that exposed us to it, for we quitted the house, and mounted a +hill at a considerable distance from it, for the express purpose of watching to +advantage the extraordinary aspect of the clouds. When we reached the top of +the hill half the heavens appeared hung with a heavy curtain; a sort of deep +blue black seemed to colour the very air; the blizzards screamed, as with heavy +wing they sought the earth. We ought, in common prudence, to have immediately +retreated to the house, but the scene was too beautiful to be left. For several +minutes after we reached our station, the air appeared perfectly without +movement, no flash broke through the seven-fold cloud, but a flickering light +was visible, darting to and fro behind it. By degrees the thunder rolled +onward, nearer and nearer, till the inky cloud burst asunder, and cataracts of +light came pouring from behind it. From that moment there was no interval, no +pause, the lightning did not flash, there were no claps of thunder, but the +heavens blazed and bellowed above and around us, till stupor took the place of +terror, and we stood utterly confounded. But we were speedily aroused, for +suddenly, as if from beneath our feet, a gust arose which threatened to mix all +the elements in one. Torrents of water seemed to bruise the earth by their +violence; eddies of thick dust rose up to meet them; the fierce fires of heaven +only blazed the brighter for the falling flood; while the blast almost +out-roared the thunder. But the wind was left at last the lord of all, for +after striking with wild force, now here, now there, and bringing worlds of +clouds together in most hostile contact, it finished by clearing the wide +heavens of all but a few soft straggling masses, whence sprung a glorious +rainbow, and then retired, leaving the earth to raise her half crushed forests; +and we, poor pigmies, to call back our frighted senses, and recover breath as +we might. +</p> + +<p> +During this gust, it would have been impossible for us to have kept our feet; +we crouched down under the shelter of a heap of stones, and, as we informed +each other, looked most dismally pale. +</p> + +<p> +Many trees were brought to the earth before our eyes; some torn up by the +roots, and some mighty stems snapt off several feet from the ground. If the +West Indian hurricanes exceed this, they must be terrible indeed. +</p> + +<p> +The situation of Mrs. S—’s house was considered as remarkably +healthy, and I believe justly so, for on more than one occasion, persons who +were suffering from fever and ague at the distance of a mile or two, were +perfectly restored by passing a week or fortnight at Stonington; but the +neighbourhood of it, particularly on the side bordering the Potomac, was much +otherwise, and the mortality among the labourers on the canal was frightful. +</p> + +<p> +I have elsewhere stated my doubts if the labouring poor of our country mend +their condition by emigrating to the United States, but it was not till the +opportunity which a vicinity to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal gave me, of +knowing what their situation was after making the change, that I became fully +aware how little it was to be desired for them. +</p> + +<p> +Of the white labourers on this canal, the great majority are Irishmen; their +wages are from ten to fifteen dollars a month, with a miserable lodging, and a +large allowance of whiskey. It is by means of this hateful poison that they are +tempted, and indeed enabled for a time, to stand the broiling heat of the sun +in a most noxious climate: for through such, close to the romantic but +unwholesome Potomac, the line of the canal has hitherto run. The situation of +these poor strangers, when they sink at last in “<i>the fever,</i>” +which sooner or later is sure to overtake them, is dreadful. There is a strong +feeling against the Irish in every part of the Union, but they will do twice as +much work as a negro, and therefore they are employed. When they fall sick, +they may, and must, look with envy on the slaves around them; for they are +cared for; they are watched and physicked, as a valuable horse is watched and +physicked: not so the Irishman, he is literally thrown on one side, and a new +comer takes his place. Details of their sufferings, and unheeded death, too +painful to dwell upon, often reached us; on one occasion a farmer calling at +the house, told the family that a poor man, apparently in a dying condition, +was lying beside a little brook at the distance of a quarter of a mile. The +spot was immediately visited by some of the family, and there in truth lay a +poor creature, who was already past the power of speaking; he was conveyed to +the house and expired during the night. By enquiring at the canal, it was found +that he was an Irish labourer, who having fallen sick, and spent his last cent, +had left the stifling shanty where he lay, in the desperate attempt of finding +his way to Washington, with what hope I know not. He did not appear above +twenty, and as I looked on his pale young face, which even in death expressed +suffering, I thought that perhaps he had left a mother and a home to seek +wealth in America. I saw him buried under a group of locust trees, his very +name unknown to those who laid him there, but the attendance of the whole +family at the grave, gave a sort of decency to his funeral which rarely, in +that country, honors the poor relics of British dust: but no clergyman +attended, no prayer was said, no bell was tolled; these, indeed, are ceremonies +unthought of, and in fact unattainable without much expense, at such a distance +from a town; had the poor youth been an American, he would have been laid in +the earth in the same unceremonious manner. But had this poor Irish lad fallen +sick in equal poverty and destitution among his own people, he would have found +a blanket to wrap his shivering limbs, and a kindred hand to close his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The poor of great Britain, whom distress, or a spirit of enterprise tempt to +try another land, ought, for many reasons, to repair to Canada; there they +would meet co-operation and sympathy, instead of malice, hatred, and all +uncharitableness. +</p> + +<p> +I frequently heard vehement complaints, and constantly met the same in the +newspapers, of a practice stated to be very generally adopted in Britain of +sending out cargoes of parish paupers to the United States. A Baltimore paper +heads some such remarks with the words +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“INFAMOUS CONDUCT!” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +and then tells us of a cargo of aged paupers just arrived from England, adding, +“John Bull has squeezed the orange, and now insolently casts the skin in +our faces.” Such being the feeling, it will be readily believed that +these unfortunates are not likely to meet much kindness or sympathy in +sickness, or in suffering of any kind. If these American statements be correct, +and that different parishes are induced, from an excessive population, to pay +the voyage and outfit of some of their paupers across the Atlantic, why not +send them to Canada? +</p> + +<p> +It is certain, however, that all the enquiries I could make failed to +substantiate these American statements. All I could ascertain was, that many +English and Irish poor arrived yearly in the United States, with no other +resources than what their labour furnished. This, though very different from +the newspaper stories, is quite enough to direct attention to the subject. It +is generally acknowledged that the suffering among our labouring classes arises +from the excess of our population; and it is impossible to see such a country +as Canada, its extent, its fertility, its fine climate, and know that it is +British ground, without feeling equal sorrow and astonishment that it is not +made the means of relief. How earnestly it is to be wished that some part of +that excellent feeling which is for ever at work in England to help the +distressed, could be directed systematically to the object of emigration to the +Canadas. Large sums are annually raised for charitable purposes, by weekly +subscriptions of one penny; were only a part of the money so obtained to be +devoted to this object, hundreds of families might yearly be sent to people our +own land. The religious feeling, which so naturally mixes with every charitable +purpose, would there find the best field for its exertions. Where could a +missionary, whether Protestant or Catholic, find a holier mission than that +which sent him to comfort and instruct his countrymen in the wilderness? or +where could he reap a higher reward in this world, than seeing that wilderness +growing into fertile fields under the hands of his flock? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I never saw so many autumn flowers as grow in the woods and sheep-walks of +Maryland; a second spring seemed to clothe the fields, but with grief and shame +I confess, that of these precious blossoms I scarcely knew a single name. I +think the Michaelmas daisy, in wonderful variety of form and colour, and the +prickly pear, were almost my only acquaintance: let no one visit America +without having first studied botany; it is an amusement, as a clever friend of +mine once told me, that helps one wonderfully up and down hill, and must be +superlatively valuable in America, both from the plentiful lack of other +amusements, and the plentiful material for enjoyment in this; besides, if one +is dying to know the name of any of these lovely strangers, it is a thousand to +one against his finding any one who can tell it. +</p> + +<p> +The prettiest eclipse of the moon I ever saw was that of September, of this +year, (1830). We had been passing some hours amid the solemn scenery of the +Potomac falls, and just as we were preparing to quit it, the full moon arose +above the black pines, with half our shadow thrown across her. The effect of +her rising thus eclipsed was more strange, more striking by far, than watching +the gradual obscuration; and as I turned to look at the black chasm behind me, +and saw the deadly alder, and the poison-vine waving darkly on the rocks +around, I thought the scene wanted nothing but the figure of a palsied crone, +plucking the fatal branches to concoct some charm of mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Whether some such maga dogged my steps, I know not, but many hours had not +elapsed ere I again felt the noxious influence of an American autumn. This +fever, “built in th’ eclipse,” speedily brought me very low, +and though it lasted not so long as that of the preceding year, I felt +persuaded I should never recover from it. Though my forebodings were not +verified by the event, it was declared that change of air was necessary, and it +was arranged for me, (for I was perfectly incapable of settling any thing for +myself,) that I should go to Alexandria, a pretty town at the distance of about +fifteen miles, which had the reputation of possessing a skilful physician. +</p> + +<p> +It was not without regret that we quitted our friends at Stonington; but the +prescription proved in a great degree efficacious; a few weeks’ residence +in Alexandria restored my strength sufficiently to enable me to walk to a +beautiful little grassy terrace, perfectly out of the town, but very near it, +from whence we could watch the various craft that peopled the Potomac between +Alexandria and Washington. But though gradually regaining strength, I was still +far from well; all plans for winter gaiety were abandoned, and finding +ourselves very well accommodated, we decided upon passing the winter where we +were. It proved unusually severe; the Potomac was so completely frozen as to +permit considerable traffic to be carried on by carts, crossing on the ice, +from Maryland. This had not occurred before for thirty years. The distance was +a mile and a quarter, and we ventured to brave the cold, and walk across this +bright and slippery mirror, to make a visit on the opposite shore; the fatigue +of keeping our feet was by no means inconsiderable, but we were rewarded by +seeing as noble a winter landscape around us as the eye could look upon. +</p> + +<p> +When at length the frost gave way, the melting snow produced freshes so violent +as to carry away the long bridge at Washington; large fragments of it, with the +railing still erect, came floating down amidst vast blocks of ice, during many +successive days, and it was curious to see the intrepidity with which the young +sailors of Alexandria periled their lives to make spoil of the timber. +</p> + +<p> +The solar eclipse of the 12th of February, 1831, was nearer total than any I +ever saw, or ever shall see. It was completely annular at Alexandria, and the +bright ring which surrounded the moon’s shadow, though only 81° in +breadth, gave light sufficient to read the smallest print; the darkness was +considerably lessened by the snow, which, as the day was perfectly unclouded, +reflected brightly all the light that was left us. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the extreme cold, we passed the whole time in the open air, on +a rising ground near the river; in this position many beautiful effects were +perceptible; the rapid approach and change of shadows, the dusky hue of the +broad Potomac, that seemed to drink in the feeble light, which its snow-covered +banks gave back to the air, the gradual change of every object from the +colouring of bright sunshine to one sad universal tint of dingy purple, the +melancholy lowing of the cattle, and the short, but remarkable suspension of +all labour, gave something of mystery and awe to the scene that we shall long +remember. +</p> + +<p> +During the following months I occupied myself partly in revising my notes, and +arranging these pages; and partly in making myself acquainted, as much as +possible, with the literature of the country. +</p> + +<p> +While reading and transcribing my notes, I underwent a strict self-examination. +I passed in review all I had seen, all I had felt, and scrupulously challenged +every expression of disapprobation; the result was, that I omitted in +transcription much that I had written, as containing unnecessary details of +things which had displeased me; yet, as I did so, I felt strongly that there +was no exaggeration in them; but such details, though true, might be +ill-natured, and I retained no more than were necessary to convey the general +impressions received. While thus reviewing my notes, I discovered that many +points, which all scribbling travellers are expected to notice, had been +omitted; but a few pages of miscellaneous observations will, I think, supply +all that can be expected from so idle a pen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +American Cooking—Evening +Parties—Dress—Sleighing—Money-getting +Habits—Tax-Gatherer’s Notice—Indian Summer—Anecdote of +the Duke of Saxe-Weimar +</p> + +<p> +In relating all I know of America, I surely must not omit so important a +feature as the cooking. There are sundry anomalies in the mode of serving even +a first-rate table; but as these are altogether matters of custom, they by no +means indicate either indifference or neglect in this important business; and +whether castors are placed on the table or on the sideboard; whether soup, +fish, patties, and salad be eaten in orthodox order or not, signifies but +little. I am hardly capable, I fear, of giving a very erudite critique on the +subject; general observations therefore must suffice. The ordinary mode of +living is abundant, but not delicate. They consume an extraordinary quantity of +bacon. Ham and beaf-steaks appear morning, noon, and night. In eating, they mix +things together with the strangest incongruity imaginable. I have seen eggs and +oysters eaten together: the sempiternal ham with apple-sauce; beefsteak with +stewed peaches; and salt fish with onions. The bread is everywhere excellent, +but they rarely enjoy it themselves, as they insist upon eating horrible +half-baked hot rolls both morning and evening. The butter is tolerable; but +they have seldom such cream as every little dairy produces in England; in fact, +the cows are very roughly kept, compared with our’s. Common vegetables +are abundant and very fine. I never saw sea-cale or cauliflowers, and either +from the want of summer rain, or the want of care, the harvest of green +vegetables is much sooner over than with us. They eat the Indian corn in a +great variety of forms; sometimes it is dressed green, and eaten like peas; +sometimes it is broken to pieces when dry, boiled plain, and brought to table +like rice; this dish is called hominy. The flour of it is made into at least a +dozen different sorts of cakes; but in my opinion all bad. This flour, mixed in +the proportion of one-third with fine wheat, makes by far the best bread I ever +tasted. +</p> + +<p> +I never saw turbot, salmon, or fresh cod; but the rock and shad are excellent. +There is a great want of skill in the composition of sauces; not only with +fish, but with every thing. They use very few made dishes, and I never saw any +that would be approved by our savants. They have an excellent wild duck, called +the Canvass Back, which, if delicately served, would surpass the black cock; +but the game is very inferior to our’s; they have no hares, and I never +saw a pheasant. They seldom indulge in second courses, with all their ingenious +temptations to the eating a second dinner; but almost every table has its +dessert, (invariably pronounced desart) which is placed on the table before the +cloth is removed, and consists of pastry, preserved fruits, and creams. They +are “extravagantly fond,” to use their own phrase, of puddings, +pies, and all kinds of “sweets,” particularly the ladies; but are +by no means such connoisseurs in soups and ragouts as the gastronomes of +Europe. Almost every one drinks water at table, and by a strange contradiction, +in the country where hard drinking is more prevalent than in any other, there +is less wine taken at dinner; ladies rarely exceed one glass, and the great +majority of females never take any. In fact, the hard drinking, so universally +acknowledged, does not take place at jovial dinners, but, to speak plain +English, in solitary dram-drinking. Coffee is not served immediately after +dinner, but makes part of the serious matter of tea-drinking, which comes some +hours later. Mixed dinner parties of ladies and gentlemen are very rare, and +unless several foreigners are present, but little conversation passes at table. +It certainly does not, in my opinion, add to the well ordering a dinner table, +to set the gentlemen at one end of it, and the ladies at the other; but it is +very rarely that you find it otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +Their large evening parties are supremely dull; the men sometimes play cards by +themselves, but if a lady plays, it must not be for money; no ecarte, no chess; +very little music, and that little lamentably bad. Among the blacks, I heard +some good voices, singing in tune; but I scarcely ever heard a white American, +male or female, go through an air without being out of tune before the end of +it; nor did I ever meet any trace of science in the singing I heard in society. +To eat inconceivable quantities of cake, ice, and pickled oysters—and to +show half their revenue in silks and satins, seem to be the chief object they +have in these parties. +</p> + +<p> +The most agreeable meetings, I was assured by all the young people, were those +to which no married women are admitted; of the truth of this statement I have +not the least doubt. These exclusive meetings occur frequently, and often last +to a late hour; on these occasions, I believe, they generally dance. At regular +balls, married ladies are admitted, but seldom take much part in the amusement. +The refreshments are always profuse and costly, but taken in a most +uncomfortable manner. I have known many private balls, where every thing was on +the most liberal scale of expense, where the gentlemen sat down to supper in +one room, while the ladies took theirs, standing, in another. +</p> + +<p> +What we call picnics are very rare, and when attempted, do not often succeed +well. The two sexes can hardly mix for the greater part of a day without great +restraint and ennui; it is quite contrary to their general habits; the +favourite indulgences of the gentlemen (smoking cigars and drinking spirits), +can neither be indulged in with decency, nor resigned with complacency. +</p> + +<p> +The ladies have strange ways of adding to their charms. They powder themselves +immoderately, face, neck, and arms, with pulverised starch; the effect is +indescribably disagreeable by daylight, and not very favourable at any time. +They are also most unhappily partial to false hair, which they wear in +surprising quantities; this is the more to be lamented, as they generally have +very fine hair of their own. I suspect this fashion to arise from an indolent +mode of making their toilet, and from accomplished ladies’ maids not +being very abundant; it is less trouble to append a bunch of waving curls here, +there, and every where, than to keep their native tresses in perfect order. +</p> + +<p> +Though the expense of the ladies’ dress greatly exceeds, in proportion to +their general style of living, that of the ladies of Europe, it is very far +(excepting in Philadelphia) from being in good taste. They do not consult the +seasons in the colours or in the style of their costume; I have often shivered +at seeing a young beauty picking her way through the snow with a pale +rose-coloured bonnet, set on the very top of her head: I knew one young lady +whose pretty little ear was actually frostbitten from being thus exposed. They +never wear muffs or boots, and appear extremely shocked at the sight of +comfortable walking shoes and cotton stockings, even when they have to step to +their sleighs over ice and snow. They walk in the middle of winter with their +poor little toes pinched into a miniature slipper, incapable of excluding as +much moisture as might bedew a primrose. I must say in their excuse, however, +that they have, almost universally, extremely pretty feet. They do not walk +well, nor, in fact, do they ever appear to advantage when in movement. I know +not why this should be, for they have abundance of French dancing-masters among +them, but somehow or other it is the fact. I fancied I could often trace a +mixture of affectation and of shyness in their little mincing unsteady step, +and the ever changing position of the hands. They do not dance well; perhaps I +should rather say they do not look well when dancing; lovely as their faces +are, they cannot, in a position that exhibits the whole person, atone for the +want of <i>tournure</i>, and for the universal defect in the formation of the +bust, which is rarely full, or gracefully formed. +</p> + +<p> +I never saw an American man walk or stand well; notwithstanding their frequent +militia drillings, they are nearly all hollow chested and round shouldered: +perhaps this is occasioned by no officer daring to say to a brother free-born +“hold up your head;” whatever the cause, the effect is very +remarkable to a stranger. In stature, and in physiognomy, a great majority of +the population, both male and female, are strikingly handsome, but they know +not how to do their own honours; half as much comeliness elsewhere would +produce ten times as much effect. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing can exceed their activity and perseverance in all kinds of speculation, +handicraft, and enterprise, which promises a profitable pecuniary result. I +heard an Englishman, who had been long resident in America, declare that in +following, in meeting, or in overtaking, in the street, on the road, or in the +field, at the theatre, the coffee-house, or at home, he had never overheard +Americans conversing without the word DOLLAR being pronounced between them. +Such unity of purpose, such sympathy of feeling, can, I believe, be found +nowhere else, except, perhaps, in an ants’ nest. The result is exactly +what might be anticipated. This sordid object, for ever before their eyes, must +inevitably produce a sordid tone of mind, and, worse still, it produces a +seared and blunted conscience on all questions of probity. I know not a more +striking evidence of the low tone of morality which is generated by this +universal pursuit of money, than the manner in which the New England States are +described by Americans. All agree in saying that they present a spectacle of +industry and prosperity delightful to behold, and this is the district and the +population most constantly quoted as the finest specimen of their admirable +country; yet I never met a single individual in any part of the Union who did +not paint these New Englanders as sly, grinding, selfish, and tricking. The +yankees (as the New Englanders are called) will avow these qualities themselves +with a complacent smile, and boast that no people on the earth can match them +at over reaching in a bargain. I have heard them unblushingly relate stories of +their cronies and friends, which, if believed among us, would banish the heroes +from the fellowship of honest men for ever; and all this is uttered with a +simplicity which sometimes led me to doubt if the speakers knew what honour and +honesty meant. Yet the Americans declare that “they are the most moral +people upon earth.” Again and again I have heard this asserted, not only +in conversation, and by their writings, but even from the pulpit. Such broad +assumption of superior virtue demands examination, and after four years of +attentive and earnest observation and enquiry, my honest conviction is, that +the standard of moral character in the United States is very greatly lower than +in Europe. Of their religion, as it appears outwardly, I have had occasion to +speak frequently; I pretend not to judge the heart, but, without any +uncharitable presumption, I must take permission to say, that both Protestant +England and Catholic France show an infinitely superior religious and moral +aspect to mortal observation, both as to reverend decency of external +observance, and as to the inward fruit of honest dealing between man and man. +</p> + +<p> +In other respects I think no one will be disappointed who visits the country, +expecting to find no more than common sense might teach him to look for, +namely, a vast continent, by far the greater part of which is still in the +state in which nature left it, and a busy, bustling, industrious population, +hacking and hewing their way through it. What greatly increases the interest of +this spectacle, is the wonderful facility for internal commerce, furnished by +the rivers, lakes, and canals, which thread the country in every direction, +producing a rapidity of progress in all commercial and agricultural speculation +altogether unequalled. This remarkable feature is perceptible in every part of +the union into which the fast spreading population has hitherto found its way, +and forms, I think, the most remarkable and interesting peculiarity of the +country. I hardly remember a single town where vessels of some description or +other may not constantly be seen in full activity. +</p> + +<p> +Their carriages of every kind are very unlike ours; those belonging to private +individuals seem all constructed with a view to summer use, for which they are +extremely well calculated, but they are by no means comfortable in winter. The +waggons and cars are built with great strength, which is indeed necessary, from +the roads they often have to encounter. The stagecoaches are heavier and much +less comfortable than those of France; to those of England they can bear no +comparison. I never saw any harness that I could call handsome, nor any +equipage which, as to horses, carriage, harness, and servants, could be +considered as complete. The sleighs are delightful, and constructed at so +little expense that I wonder we have not all got them in England, lying by, in +waiting for the snow, which often remains with us long enough to permit their +use. Sleighing is much more generally enjoyed by night than by day, for what +reason I could never discover, unless it be, that no gentlemen are to be found +disengaged from business in the mornings. Nothing, certainly, can be more +agreeable than the gliding smoothly and rapidly along, deep sunk in soft furs, +the moon shining with almost midday splendour, the air of crystal brightness, +and the snow sparkling on every side, as if it were sprinkled with diamonds. +And then the noiseless movement of the horses, so mysterious and unwonted, and +the gentle tinkling of the bells you meet and carry, all help at once to soothe +and excite the spirits: in short, I had not the least objection to sleighing by +night, I only wished to sleigh by day also. +</p> + +<p> +Almost every resident in the country has a carriage they call a carryall, which +name I suspect to be a corruption of the cariole so often mentioned in the +pretty Canadian story of Emily Montagu. It is clumsy enough, certainly, but +extremely convenient, and admirably calculated, with its thick roof and +moveable draperies, for every kind of summer excursion. +</p> + +<p> +Their steam-boats, were the social arrangements somewhat improved, would be +delightful, as a mode of travelling; but they are very seldom employed for +excursions of mere amusement: nor do I remember seeing pleasure-boats, properly +so called, at any of the numerous places where they might be used with so much +safety and enjoyment. +</p> + +<p> +How often did our homely adage recur to me, “All work and no play would +make Jack a dull boy;” Jonathan is a very dull boy. We are by no means so +gay as our lively neighbours on the other side the Channel, but, compared with +Americans, we are whirligigs and tetotums; every day is a holyday, and every +night a festival. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps if the ladies had quite their own way, a little more relaxation would +be permitted; but there is one remarkable peculiarity in their manners which +precludes the possibility of any dangerous outbreaking of the kind: few ladies +have any command of ready money entrusted to them. I have been a hundred times +present when bills for a few dollars, perhaps for one, have been brought for +payment to ladies living in perfectly easy circumstances, who have declared +themselves without money, and referred the claimant to their husbands for +payment. On every occasion where immediate disbursement is required it is the +same; even in shopping for ready cash they say, “send a bill home with +the things, and my husband will give you a draft.” +</p> + +<p> +I think that it was during my stay at Washington, that I was informed of a +government regulation, which appeared to me curious; I therefore record it +here. +</p> + +<p> +Every Deputy Post-Master is required to insert in his return the title of every +newspaper received at his office for distribution. This return is laid before +the Secretary of State, who, perfectly knowing the political character of each +newspaper, is thus enabled to feel the pulse of every limb of the monster mob. +This is a well imagined device for getting a peep at the politics of a country +where newspapers make part of the daily food, but is it quite consistent with +their entire freedom? I do not believe we have any such tricks to regulate the +disposal of offices and appointments. +</p> + +<p> +I believe it was in Indiana that Mr. T. met with a printed notice relative to +the payment of taxes, which I preserved as a curious sample of the manner in +which the free citizens are coaxed and reasoned into obeying the laws. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“LOOK OUT DELINQUENTS” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +“Those indebted to me for taxes, fees, notes, and accounts, are specially +requested to call and pay the same on or before the 1st day of December, 1828, +as no longer indulgence will be given. I have called time and again, by +advertisement and otherwise, to little effect; but now the time has come when +my situation requires immediate payment from all indebted to me. It is +impossible for me to pay off the amount of the duplicates of taxes and my other +debts without recovering the same of those from whom it is due. I am at a loss +to know the reason why those charged with taxes neglect to pay; from the +negligence of many it would seem that they think the money is mine, or I have +funds to discharge the taxes due to the State, and that I can wait with them +until it suits their convenience to pay. The money is not mine; neither have I +the funds to settle amount of the duplicate. My only resort is to collect; in +doing so I should be sorry to have to resort to the authority given me by law +for the recovery of the same. It should be the first object of every good +citizen to pay his taxes, for it is in that way government is supported. Why +are taxes assessed unless they are collected? Depend upon it, I shall proceed +to collect agreeably to law, so govern yourselves accordingly. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +JOHN SPENCER,<br/> +Sh’ff and Collector, D.C. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<i>Nov.</i> 20, 1828.”<br/> + “N.B. On Thursday, the 27th inst. A. St. Clair and Geo. H. Dunn, +Esqrs. depart for Indianopolis; I wish as many as can pay to do so, to enable +me to forward as much as possible, to save the twenty-one per cent, that will +be charged against me after the 8th of December next. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +JS.” +</p> + +<p> +The first autumn I passed in America, I was surprised to find a great and very +oppressive return of heat, accompanied with a heavy mistiness in the air, long +after the summer heats were over; when this state of the atmosphere comes on, +they say, “we have got to the Indian summer.” On desiring to have +this phrase explained, I was told that the phenomenon described as the +<i>Indian Summer</i> was occasioned by the Indians setting fire to the woods, +which spread heat and smoke to a great distance; but I afterwards met with the +following explanation, which appears to me much more reasonable. “The +Indian summer is so called because, at the particular period of the year in +which it obtains, the Indians break up their village communities, and go to the +interior to prepare for their winter hunting. This season seems to mark a +dividing line, between the heat of summer, and the cold of winter, and is, from +its mildness, suited to these migrations. The cause of this heat is the slow +combustion of the leaves and other vegetable matter of the boundless and +interminable forests. Those who at this season of the year have penetrated +these forests, know all about it. To the feet the heat is quite sensible, +whilst the ascending vapour warms every thing it embraces, and spreading out +into the wide atmosphere, fills the circuit of the heavens with its peculiar +heat and smokiness.” +</p> + +<p> +This unnatural heat sufficiently accounts for the sickliness of the American +autumn. The effect of it is extremely distressing to the nerves, even when the +general health continues good; to me, it was infinitely more disagreeable than +the glowing heat of the dog-days. +</p> + +<p> +A short time before we arrived in America, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar made a tour +of the United States. I heard many persons speak of his unaffected and amiable +manners, yet he could not escape the dislike which every trace of gentlemanly +feeling is sure to create among the ordinary class of Americans. As an amusing +instance of this, I made the following extract from a newspaper. +</p> + +<p> +“A correspondent of the Charlestown Gazette tells an anecdote connected +with the Duke of Saxe-Weimar’s recent journey through our country, which +we do not recollect to have heard before, although some such story is told of +the veritable Capt. Basil Hall. The scene occurred on the route between Augusta +and Milledgeville; it seems that the sagacious Duke engaged three or four, or +more seats, in the regular stage, for the accommodation of himself and suite, +and thought by this that he had secured the monopoly of the vehicle. Not so, +however; a traveller came along, and entered his name upon the book, and +secured his seat by payment of the customary charges. To the Duke’s great +surprise on entering the stage, he found our traveller comfortably housed in +one of the most eligible seats, wrapt up in his fear-nought, and snoring like a +buffalo. The Duke, greatly irritated, called for the question of consideration. +He demanded, in broken English, the cause of the gross intrusion, and insisted +in a very princely manner, though not, it seems in very princely language, upon +the incumbent vacating the seat in which he had made himself so impudently at +home. But the Duke had yet to learn his first lesson of republicanism. The +driver was one of those sturdy southrons, who can always, and at a +moment’s warning, whip his weight in wild cats: and he as resolutely told +the Duke, that the traveller was as good, if not a better man, than himself; +and that no alteration of the existing arrangement could be permitted. +Saxe-Weimar became violent at this opposition, so unlike any to which his +education hitherto had ever subjected him, and threatened John with the +application of the bamboo. This was one of those threats which in Georgia +dialect would subject a man to “a rowing up salt river;” and, +accordingly, down leaped our driver from his box, and peeling himself for the +combat, he leaped about the vehicle in the most wild-boar style, calling upon +the prince of a five acre patch to put his threat in execution. But he of the +star refused to make up issue in the way suggested, contenting himself with +assuring the enraged southron of a complaint to his excellency the Governor, on +arriving at the seat of government. This threat was almost as unlucky as the +former, for it wrought the individual for whom it was intended into that +species of fury, which, through discriminating in its madness, is nevertheless +without much limit in its violence, and he swore that the Governor might go to +—, and for his part he would just as leave lick the Governor as the Duke; +he’d like no better fun than to give both Duke and Governor a dressing in +the same breath; could do it, he had little doubt, &c. &c.; and +instigating one fist to diverge into the face of the marvelling and +panic-stricken nobleman, with the other he thrust him down into a seat +alongside the traveller, whose presence had been originally of such sore +discomfort to his excellency, and bidding the attendants jump in with their +discomfited master, he mounted his box in triumph, and went on his +journey.” I fully believe that this brutal history would be as +distasteful to the travelled and polished few who are to be found scattered +through the Union, as it is to me: but if they do not deem the +<i>possibility</i> of such a scene to be a national degradation, I differ from +them. The American people (speaking of the great mass) have no more idea of +what constitutes the difference between this “Prince of a five acre +patch,” and themselves, than a dray-horse has of estimating the points of +the elegant victor of the race-course. Could the dray-horse speak, when +expected to yield the daintiest stall to his graceful rival, he would say, +“a horse is a horse;” and is it not with the same logic that the +transatlantic Houynnhnm puts down all superiority with “a man is a +man?” +</p> + +<p> +This story justifies the reply of Talleyrand, when asked by Napoleon what he +thought of the Americans, “Sire, ce sont des fiers cochons, et des +cochons fiers.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Literature—Extracts—Fine Arts—Education +</p> + +<p> +The character of the American literature is, generally speaking, pretty justly +appreciated in Europe. The immense exhalation of periodical trash, which +penetrates into every cot and corner of the country, and which is greedily +sucked in by all ranks, is unquestionably one great cause of its inferiority. +Where newspapers are the principal vehicles of the wit and wisdom of a people, +the higher graces of composition can hardly be looked for. +</p> + +<p> +That there are many among them who can write well, is most certain; but it is +at least equally so, that they have little encouragement to exercise the power +in any manner more dignified than becoming the editor of a newspaper or a +magazine. As far as I could judge, their best writers are far from being the +most popular. The general taste is decidedly bad; this is obvious, not only +from the mass of slip-slop poured forth by the daily and weekly press, but from +the inflated tone of eulogy in which their insect authors are lauded. +</p> + +<p> +To an American writer, I should think it must be a flattering distinction to +escape the admiration of the newspapers. Few persons of taste, I imagine, would +like such notice as the following, which I copied from a New York paper, where +it followed the advertisement of a partnership volume of poems by a Mr, and +Mrs. Brooks; but of such, are their literary notices chiefly composed. +</p> + +<p> +“The lovers of impassioned and classical numbers may promise themselves +much gratification from the muse of Brooks, while the many-stringed harp of his +lady, the Norna of the Courier Harp, which none but she can touch, has a chord +for every heart.” +</p> + +<p> +Another obvious cause of inferiority in the national literature, is the very +slight acquaintance with the best models of composition, which is thought +necessary for persons called well educated. There may be reason for deprecating +the lavish expense of time bestowed in England on the acquirement of Latin and +Greek, and it may be doubtful whether the power of composing in these languages +with correctness and facility, be worth all the labour it costs; but as long as +letters shall be left on the earth, the utility of a perfect familiarity with +the exquisite models of antiquity, cannot be doubted. I think I run no risk of +contradiction, when I say that an extremely small proportion of the higher +classes in America possess this familiar acquaintance with the classics. It is +vain to suppose that translations may suffice. Noble as are the thoughts the +ancients have left us, their power of expression is infinitely more important +as a study to modern writers; and this no translation can furnish. Nor did it +appear to me that their intimacy with modern literature was such as to assist +them much in the formation of style. What they class as modern literature seems +to include little beyond the English publications of the day. +</p> + +<p> +To speak of Chaucer, or even Spenser, as a modern, appears to them +inexpressibly ridiculous; and all the rich and varied eloquence of Italy, from +Dante to Monti, is about as much known to them, as the Welsh effusions of Urien +and Modred, to us. +</p> + +<p> +Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, &c., were read by the old federalists, but now +they seem known more as naughty words, than as great names. I am much mistaken +if a hundred untravelled Americans could be found, who have read Boileau or Le +Fontaine. Still fewer are acquainted with that delightful host of French female +writers, whose memoirs and letters sparkle in every page with unequalled +felicity of style. The literature of Spain and Portugal is no better known, and +as for “the wits of Queen Anne’s day,” they are laid <i>en +masse</i> upon a shelf, in some score of very old-fashioned houses, together +with Sherlock and Taylor, as much too antiquated to suit the immensely rapid +progress of mind which distinguishes America. +</p> + +<p> +The most perfect examples of English writing, either of our own, or of any +former day, have assuredly not been produced by the imitation of any particular +style; but the Fairy Queen would hardly have been written, if the Orlando had +not; nor would Milton have been the perfect poet he was, had Virgil and Tasso +been unknown to him. It is not that the scholar mimics in writing the phrases +he has read, but that he can neither think, feel, nor express himself as he +might have done, had his mental companionship been of a lower order. +</p> + +<p> +They are great novel readers, but the market is chiefly furnished by England. +They have, however, a few very good native novels. Mr. Flint’s Francis +Berrian is delightful. There is a vigor and freshness in his writing that is +exactly in accordance with what one looks for, in the literature of a new +country; and yet, strange to say, it is exactly what is most wanting in that of +America. It appeared to me that the style of their imaginative compositions was +almost always affected, and inflated. Even in treating their great national +subject of romance, the Indians, they are seldom either powerful or original. A +few well known general features, moral and physical, are presented over and +over again in all their Indian stories, till in reading them you lose all sense +of individual character. Mr. Flint’s History of the Mississippi Valley is +a work of great interest, and information, and will, I hope, in time find its +way to England, where I think it is much more likely to be appreciated than in +America. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Channing is a writer too well known in England to require my testimony to +his great ability. As a preacher he has, perhaps, hardly a rival any where. +This gentleman is an Unitarian, and I was informed by several persons well +acquainted with the literary character of the country, that nearly all their +distinguished men were of this persuasion. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Pierpoint is a very eloquent preacher, and a sweet poet. His works are not +so well known among us as .they ought to be. Mr. Everett has written some +beautiful lines, and if I may judge from the specimens of his speeches, as +preserved in the volumes intitled “Eloquence of the United States,” +I should say that he shone more as a poet than an orator. But American fame has +decided otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. M. Flint, of Louisiana, has published a volume of poems which ought to be +naturalised here. Mr. Hallock, of New York, has much facility of versification, +and is greatly in fashion as a drawing-room poet, but I think he has somewhat +too much respect for himself, and too little for his readers. +</p> + +<p> +It is, I think, Mr. Bryant who ranks highest as the poet of the Union. This is +too lofty an eminence for me to attack; besides, “I am of another +parish,” and therefore, perhaps, no very fair judge. +</p> + +<p> +From miscellaneous poetry I made a great many extracts, but upon returning to +them for transcription I thought that ill-nature and dulness, (‘oh +ill-matched pair!’) would be more served by their insertion, than +wholesome criticism. +</p> + +<p> +The massive Fredoniad of Dr. Emmons, in forty cantos, I never read; but as I +did not meet a single native who had, I hope this want of poetical enterprise +will be excused. +</p> + +<p> +They have very few native tragedies; not more than half a dozen I believe, and +those of very recent date. It would be ungenerous to fall heavily upon these; +the attempt alone, nearly the most arduous a poet can make, is of itself +honourable: and the success at least equal to that in any other department of +literature. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Paulding is a popular writer of novels; some of his productions have been +recently republished in England. Miss Sedgwick is also well known among us; her +“Hope Leslie” is a beautiful story. Mr. Washington Irving and Mr. +Cooper have so decidedly chosen another field, whereon to reap their laurels, +that it is hardly necessary to name them here. +</p> + +<p> +I am not, of course, competent to form any opinion of their scientific works; +but some papers which I read almost accidentally, appeared to me to be written +with great clearness, and neatness of definition. +</p> + +<p> +It appears extraordinary that a people who loudly declare their respect for +science, should be entirely without observatories. Neither at their seats of +learning, nor in their cities, does any thing of the kind exist; nor did I in +any direction hear of individuals, given to the study of astronomy. +</p> + +<p> +I had not the pleasure of making any acquaintance with Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, +but I know that this gentleman ranks very high as a mathematician in the +estimation of the scientific world of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +Jefferson’s posthumous works were very generally circulated whilst I was +in America. They are a mighty mass of mischief. He wrote with more perspicuity +than he thought, and his hot-headed democracy has done a fearful injury to his +country. Hollow and unsound as his doctrines are, they are but too palatable to +a people, each individual of whom would rather derive his importance from +believing that none are above him, than from the consciousness that in his +station he makes part of a noble whole. The social system of Mr. Jefferson, if +carried into effect, would make of mankind an unamalgamated mass of grating +atoms, where the darling “I’m as good as you,” would soon +take place of the law and the Gospel. As it is, his principles, though happily +not fully put in action, have yet produced most lamentable results. The +assumption of equality, however empty, is sufficient to tincture the manners of +the poor with brutal insolence, and subjects the rich to the paltry expediency +of sanctioning the falsehood, however deep their conviction that it is such. It +cannot, I think, be denied that the great men of America attain to power and to +fame, by eternally uttering what they know to be untrue. American citizens are +not equal. Did Washington feel them to be so, when his word outweighed (so +happily for them) the votes of thousands? Did Franklin think that all were +equal when he shouldered his way from the printing press to the cabinet? True, +he looked back in high good humour, and with his kindest smile told the poor +devils whom he left behind, that they were all his equals; but Franklin did not +speak the truth, and he knew it. The great, the immortal Jefferson himself, he +who when past the three score years and ten, still taught young females to obey +his nod, and so became the father of unnumbered generations of groaning slaves, +what was his matin and his vesper hymn? “All men are born free and +equal.” Did the venerable father of the gang believe it? Or did he too +purchase his immortality by a lie? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +From the five heavy volumes of the “Eloquence of the United +States,” I made a few extracts, which I give more for the sake of their +political interest, than for any purpose of literary criticism. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hancock (one of those venerated men who signed the act of independence), in +speaking of England, thus expresses himself: “But if I was possessed of +the gift of prophecy, I dare not (except by Divine command) unfold the leaves +on which the destiny of that once powerful kingdom is inscribed.” It is +impossible not to regret that Mr. Hancock should thus have let “I dare +not, wait upon I would.” It would have been exceedingly edifying to have +known beforehand all the terrible things the republic was about to do for us. +</p> + +<p> +This prophetic orator spoke the modest, yet awful words, above quoted, nearly +sixty years ago; in these latter days men are become bolder, for in a modern +4th of July oration, Mr. Rush, without waiting, I think, for Divine command, +gives the following amiable portrait of the British character. +</p> + +<p> +“In looking at Britain, we see a harshness of individual character in the +general view of it, which is perceived and acknowledged by all Europe; a spirit +of unbecoming censure as regards all customs and institutions not their own; a +ferocity in some of their characteristics of national manners, pervading their +very pastimes, which no other modern people are endued with the blunted +sensibility to bear; an universal self-assumed superiority, not innocently +manifesting itself in speculative sentiments among themselves, but unamiably +indulged when with foreigners, of whatever description, in their own country, +or when they themselves are the temporary sojourners in a foreign country; a +code of criminal law that forgets to feel for human frailty, that sports with +human misfortune, that has shed more blood in deliberate judicial severity for +two centuries past, constantly increasing, too, in its sanguinary hue, than has +ever been sanctioned by the jurisprudence of any ancient or modern nation, +civilized and refined like herself; the merciless whippings in her army, +peculiar to herself alone, the conspicuous commission and freest acknowledgment +of vice in the upper classes; the overweening distinctions shown to opulence +and birth, so destructive of a sound moral sentiment in the nation, so baffling +to virtue. These are some of the traits that rise up to a contemplation of the +inhabitants of this isle.” +</p> + +<p> +Where is the alchymy that can extract from Captain Hall’s work one +thousandth part of the ill-will contained in this one passage? Yet America has +resounded from shore to shore with execrations against his barbarous calumnies. +</p> + +<p> +But now we will listen to another tone. Let us see how Americans can praise. +Mr. Everett, in a recent 4th of July oration, speaks thus:— +</p> + +<p> +“We are authorised to assert, that the era of our independence dates the +establishment of the only perfect organization of government.” Again, +“Our government is in its theory perfect, and in its operation it is +perfect also. Thus we have solved the great problem in human affairs.” +And again, “A frame of government perfect in its principles has been +brought down from the airy regions of Utopia, and has found a local habitation +and a name in our country.” +</p> + +<p> +Among my miscellaneous reading, I got hold of an American publication giving a +detailed, and, indeed, an official account of the capture of Washington by the +British, in 1814. An event so long past, and of so little ultimate importance, +is, perhaps, hardly worth alluding to; but there are some passages in the +official documents which I thought very amusing. +</p> + +<p> +At the very moment of receiving the attack of the British on the heights of +Bladensburgh, there seems to have been a most curious puzzle among the American +generals, as to where they were to be stationed, and what they were to do. It +is stated that the British threw themselves forward in open order, advancing +singly. The American general (Winden) goes on in his narrative to describe what +followed, thus: +</p> + +<p> +“Our advanced riflemen now began to fire, and continued it for half a +dozen rounds, when I observed them to run back to an orchard. They halted +there, and seemed for a moment about returning to their original position, but +in a few moments entirely broke and retired to the left of Stansburg’s +line. The advanced artillery immediately followed the riflemen. +</p> + +<p> +“The first three or four rockets fired by the enemy were much above the +heads of Stansburg’s line; but the rockets having taken a more horizontal +direction, an universal flight of the centre and left of this brigade was the +consequence. The 5th regiment and the artillery still remained, and I hoped +would prevent the enemy’s approach, but they advancing singly, their fire +annoyed the 5th considerably, when I ordered it to retire, to put it out of the +reach of the enemy. This order was, however, immediately countermanded, from an +aversion to retire before the necessity became stronger, and from a hope that +the enemy would issue in a body, and enable us to act upon him on terms of +equality. But the enemy’s fire beginning to annoy the 5th still more, by +wounding several of them, and a strong column passing up the road, and +deploying on its left, I ordered them to retire; their retreat became a flight +of absolute and total disorder.” +</p> + +<p> +Of Beall’s regiment, the general gives the following succinct +account—“It gave one or two ineffectual fires and fled.” +</p> + +<p> +In another place he says, piteously,—“The cavalry would do any +thing but charge.” +</p> + +<p> +General Armstrong’s gentle and metaphysical account of the business was, +that—“Without all doubt the determining cause of our disasters is +to be found in the love of life.” +</p> + +<p> +This affair at Washington, which in its result was certainly advantageous to +America, inasmuch as it caused the present beautiful capitol to be built in the +place of the one we burnt, was, nevertheless, considered as a national calamity +at the time. In a volume of miscellaneous poems I met with one, written with +the patriotic purpose of cheering the country under it; one triplet struck me +as rather alarming for us, however soothing to America. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Supposing George’s house at Kew<br/> +Were burnt, as we intend to do,<br/> +Would that be burning England too?” +</p> + +<p> +I think I have before mentioned that no work of mere pleasantry has hitherto +been found to answer; but a recent attempt of the kind as been made, with what +success cannot as yet be decided. The editors are comedians belonging to the +Boston company, and it is entitled “The American Comic Annual.” It +is accompanied by etchings, somewhat in the manner, but by no means with the +spirit of Cruikshank’s. Among the pleasantries of this lively volume are +some biting attacks upon us, particularly upon our utter incapacity of speaking +English. We really must engage a few American professors, or we shall lose all +trace of classic purity in our language. As a specimen, and rather a favourable +one, of the work, I transcribed an extract from a little piece, entitled, +“Sayings and Doings, a Fragment of a Farce.” One of the personages +of this farce is an English gentleman, a Captain Mandaville, and among many +speeches of the same kind, I selected the following. Collins’s Ode is the +subject of conversation. +</p> + +<p> +“A—r, A—a—a it stroiks me that that you manetion his +the hode about hangger and ope and orror and revenge you know. I’ve eard +Mrs. Sitdowns hencored in it at Common Garden and Doory Lane in the ight of her +poplarity you know. By the boye, hall the hactin in Amareka is werry orrid. +You’re honely in the hinfancy of the istoryonic hart you know; your +performers never haspirate the haitch in sich vords for instance as hink and +hoats, and leave out the <i>w</i> in wice wanity you know; and make nothink of +homittin the <i>k</i> in somethink.” +</p> + +<p> +There is much more in the same style, but, perhaps, this may suffice. I have +given this passage chiefly because it affords an example of the manner in which +the generality of Americans are accustomed to speak of English pronunciation +and phraseology. +</p> + +<p> +It must be remembered, however, here and every where, that this phrase, +“the Americans,” does not include the instructed and travelled +portion of the community. +</p> + +<p> +It would be absurd to swell my little volumes with extracts in proof of the +veracity of their contents, but having spoken of the taste of their lighter +works, and also of the general tone of manners, I cannot forbear inserting a +page from an American annual (The Token), which purports to give a scene from +fashionable life. It is part of a dialogue between a young lady of the +“highest standing” and her “tutor,” who is moreover her +lover, though not yet acknowledged. +</p> + +<p> +“And so you wo’nt tell me,” said she, “what has come +over you, and why you look as grave and sensible as a Dictionary, when, by +general consent, even mine, ‘motley’s the only wear?’” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Am I so grave, Miss Blair?” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Are you so grave, Miss Blair? One would think I had not got my +lesson today. Pray, sir, has the black ox trod upon your toe since we +parted?” +</p> + +<p> +‘Philip tried to laugh, but he did not succeed; he bit his lip and was +silent. +</p> + +<p> +‘“I am under orders to entertain you, Mr. Blondel, and if my poor +brain can be made to gird this fairy isle, I shall certainly be obedient. So I +begin with playing the leech. What ails you, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Miss Blair!” he was going to remonstrate. +</p> + +<p> +‘“Miss Blair! Now, pity. I’m a quack! for whip me, if I know +whether Miss Blair is a fever or an ague. How did you catch it, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Really, Miss Blair—” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Nay, I see you don’t like doctoring; I give over, and now +I’ll be sensible. It’s a fine day, Mr. Blondel.” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Very.” +</p> + +<p> +‘“A pleasant lane, this, to walk in, if one’s company were +agreeable.” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Does Mr. Skefton stay long?” asked Philip, abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +‘“No one knows,” +</p> + +<p> +‘“Indeed! are you so ignorant?” +</p> + +<p> +‘“And why does your wisdom ask that question?”’ +</p> + +<p> +In no society in the world can the advantage of travel be so conspicuous as in +America, in other countries a tone of unpretending simplicity can more than +compensate for the absence of enlarged views or accurate observation; but this +tone is not to be found in America, or if it be, it is only among those who, +having looked at that insignificant portion of the world not included in the +Union, have learnt to know how much is still unknown within the mighty part +which is. For the rest, they all declare, and do in truth believe, that they +only, among the sons of men, have wit and wisdom, and that one of their +exclusive privileges is that of speaking English <i>elegantly</i>. There are +two reasons for this latter persuasion; the one is, that the great majority +have never heard any English but their own, except from the very lowest of the +Irish; and the other, that those who have chanced to find themselves in the +society of the few educated English who have visited America, have discovered +that there is a marked difference between their phrases and accents and those +to which they have been accustomed, whereupon they have, of course, decided +that no Englishman can speak English. +</p> + +<p> +The reviews of America contain some good clear-headed articles; but I sought in +vain for the playful vivacity and the keenly-cutting satire, whose sharp edge, +however painful to the patient, is of such high utility in lopping off the +excrescences of bad taste, and levelling to its native clay the heavy growth of +dulness. Still less could I find any trace of that graceful familiarity of +learned allusion and general knowledge which mark the best European reviews, +and which make one feel in such perfectly good company while perusing them. But +this is a tone not to be found either in the writings or conversation of +Americans; as distant from pedantry as from ignorance, it is not learning +itself, but the effect of it; and so pervading and subtle is its influence that +it may be traced in the festive halls and gay drawing-rooms of Europe as +certainly as in the cloistered library or student’s closet; it is, +perhaps, the last finish of highly-finished society. +</p> + +<p> +A late American Quarterly has an article on a work of Dr. Von Schmidt +Phiseldek, from which I made an extract, as a curious sample of the dreams they +love to batten on. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Von Phiseldek (not Fiddlestick), who is not only a doctor of philosophy, +but a knight of Dannebrog to boot, has never been in America, but he has +written a prophecy, showing that the United States must and will govern the +whole world, because they are so very big, and have so much uncultivated +territory; he prophesies that an union will take place between North and South +America, which will give a death-blow to Europe, at no distant period; though +he modestly adds that he does not pretend to designate the precise period at +which this will take place. This Danish prophecy, as may be imagined, enchants +the reviewer. He exhorts all people to read Dr. Phiseldek’s book, because +“nothing but good can come of such contemplations of the future, and +because it is eminently calculated to awaken the most lofty anticipations of +the destiny which awaits them, and will serve to impress upon the nation the +necessity of being prepared for such high destiny.” In another place the +reviewer bursts out, “America, young as she is, has become already the +beacon, the patriarch of the struggling nations of the world;” and +afterwards adds, It would be departing from the natural order of things, and +the ordinary operations of the great scheme of Providence, it would be shutting +our ears to the voice of experience, and our eyes to the inevitable connexion +of causes and their effects, were we to reject the extreme probability, not to +say <i>moral certainty</i>, that the old world is destined to receive its +influences in future from the new.” There are twenty pages of this +article, but I will only give one passage more; it is an instance of the sort +of reasoning by which American citizens persuade themselves that the glory of +Europe is, in reality, her reproach. “Wrapped up in a sense of his +superiority, the European reclines at home, shining in his borrowed plumes, +derived from the product of every corner of the earth, and the industry of +every portion of its inhabitants, with which his own natural resources would +never have invested him, he continues revelling in enjoyments which nature has +denied him.” +</p> + +<p> +The American Quarterly deservedly holds the highest place in their periodical +literature, and, therefore, may be fairly quoted as striking the keynote for +the chorus of public opinion. Surely it is nationality rather than patriotism +which leads it thus to speak in scorn of the successful efforts of enlightened +nations to win from every corner of the earth the riches which nature has +scattered over it. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The incorrectness of the press is very great; they make strange work in the +reprints of French and Italian; and the Latin, I suspect, does not fare much +better: I believe they do not often meddle with Greek. +</p> + +<p> +With regard to the fine arts, their paintings, I think, are quite as good, or +rather better, than might be expected from the patronage they receive; the +wonder is that any man can be found with courage enough to devote himself to a +profession in which he has so little chance of finding a maintenance. The trade +of a carpenter opens an infinitely better prospect; and this is so well known, +that nothing but a genuine passion for the art could beguile any one to pursue +it. The entire absence of every means of improvement, and effectual study, is +unquestionably the cause why those who manifest this devotion cannot advance +farther. I heard of one young artist, whose circumstances did not permit his +going to Europe, but who being nevertheless determined that his studies should, +as nearly as possible, resemble those of the European academies, was about to +commence drawing the human figure, for which purpose he had provided himself +with a thin silk dress, in which to clothe his models, as no one of any +station, he said, could be found who would submit to sit as a model without +clothing. +</p> + +<p> +It was at Alexandria that I saw what I consider as the best picture by an +American artist that I met with. The subject was Hagar and Ishmael. It had +recently arrived from Rome, where the painter, a young man of the name of +Chapman, had been studying for three years. His mother told me that he was +twenty-two years of age, and passionately devoted to the art; should he, on +returning to his country, receive sufficient encouragement to keep his ardour +and his industry alive, I think I shall hear of him again. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Much is said about the universal diffusion of education in America, and a vast +deal of genuine admiration is felt and expressed at the progress of mind +throughout the Union. They believe themselves in all sincerity to have +surpassed, to be surpassing, and to be about to surpass, the whole earth in the +intellectual race. I am aware that not a single word can be said, hinting a +different opinion, which will not bring down a transatlantic anathema on my +head; yet the subject is too interesting to be omitted. Before I left England I +remember listening, with much admiration, to an eloquent friend, who deprecated +our system of public education, as confining the various and excursive +faculties of our children to one beaten path, paying little or no attention to +the peculiar powers of the individual. +</p> + +<p> +This objection is extremely plausible, but doubts of its intrinsic value must, +I think, occur to every one who has marked the result of a different system +throughout the United States. +</p> + +<p> +From every enquiry I could make, and I took much pains to obtain accurate +information, it appeared that much is attempted, but very little beyond +reading, writing, and bookkeeping, is thoroughly acquired. Were we to read a +prospectus of the system pursued in any of our public schools and that of a +first-rate seminary in America, we should be struck by the confined scholastic +routine of the former, when compared to the varied and expansive scope of the +latter; but let the examination go a little farther, and I believe it will be +found that the old fashioned school discipline of England has produced +something higher, and deeper too, than that which roars so loud, and thunders +in the index. +</p> + +<p> +They will not afford to let their young men study till two or three and twenty, +and it is therefore declared, <i>ex cathedra Americana</i>, to be unnecessary. +At sixteen, often much earlier, education ends, and money-making begins; the +idea that more learning is necessary than can be acquired by that time, is +generally ridiculed as obsolete monkish bigotry; added to which, if the seniors +willed a more prolonged discipline, the juniors would refuse submission. When +the money-getting begins, leisure ceases, and all of lore which can be acquired +afterwards, is picked up from novels, magazines, and newspapers. +</p> + +<p> +At what time can the taste be formed? How can a correct and polished style, +even of speaking, be acquired? or when can the fruit of the two thousand years +of past thinking be added to the native growth of American intellect? These are +the tools, if I may so express myself, which our elaborate system of school +discipline puts into the hands of our scholars; possessed of these, they may +use them in whatever direction they please afterwards, they can never be an +incumbrance. +</p> + +<p> +No people appear more anxious to excite admiration and receive applause than +the Americans, yet none take so little trouble, or make so few sacrifices to +obtain it. This may answer among themselves, but it will not with the rest of +the world; individual sacrifices must be made, and national economy enlarged, +before America can compete with the old world in taste, learning, and +liberality. +</p> + +<p> +The reception of General Lafayette is the one single instance in which the +national pride has overcome the national thrift; and this was clearly +referrible to the one single feeling of enthusiasm of which they appear +capable, namely, the triumph of their successful struggle for national +independence. But though this feeling will be universally acknowledged as a +worthy and lawful source of triumph and of pride, it will not serve to trade +upon for ever, as a fund of glory and high station among the nations. Their +fathers were colonists; they fought stoutly, and became an independent people. +Success and admiration, even the admiration of those whose yoke they had +broken, cheered them while living, still sheds a glory round their remote and +untitled sepulchres, and will illumine the page of their history for ever. +</p> + +<p> +Their children inherit the independence; they inherit too the honour of being +the sons of brave fathers; but this will not give them the reputation at which +they aim, of being scholars and gentlemen, nor will it enable them to sit down +for evermore to talk of their glory, while they drink mint julap and chew +tobacco, swearing by the beard of Jupiter (or some other oath) that they are +very graceful, and agreeable, and, moreover abusing every body who does not cry +out Amen! +</p> + +<p> +To doubt that talent and mental power of every kind exist in America would be +absurd; why should it not? But in taste and learning they are woefully +deficient; and it is this which renders them incapable of graduating a scale by +which to measure themselves. Hence arises that over weening complacency and +self-esteem, both national and individual, which at once renders them so +extremely obnoxious to ridicule, and so peculiarly restive under it. +</p> + +<p> +If they will scorn the process by which other nations have become what they +avowedly intend to be, they must rest satisfied with the praise and admiration +they receive from each other; and turning a deaf ear to the criticism of the +old world, consent to be their own prodigious great reward.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Alexandria has its churches, chapels, and conventicles as abundantly, in +proportion to its size, as any city in the Union. I visited most of them, and +in the Episcopal and Catholic heard the services performed quietly and +reverently. +</p> + +<p> +The best sermon, however, that I listened to, was in a Methodist church, from +the mouth of a Piquot Indian. It was impossible not be touched by the simple +sincerity of this poor man. He gave a picture frightfully eloquent of the decay +of his people under the united influence of the avarice and intemperance of the +white men. He described the effect of the religious feeling which had recently +found its way among them as most salutary. The purity of his moral feeling, and +the sincerity of his sympathy with his forest brethren, made it unquestionable +that he must be the most valuable priest who could officiate for them. His +English was very correct, and his pronunciation but slightly tinctured by +native accent. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +While we were still in the neighbourhood of Washington, a most violent and +unprecedented schism occurred in the cabinet. The four secretaries of State all +resigned, leaving General Jackson to manage the queer little state barge alone. +</p> + +<p> +Innumerable contradictory statements appeared upon this occasion in the papers, +and many a cigar was thrown aside, ere half consumed, that the disinterested +politician might give breath to his cogitations on this extraordinary event; +but not all the eloquence of all the smokers, nor even the ultradiplomatic +expositions which appeared from the seceding secretaries themselves, could +throw any light on the mysterious business. It produced, however, the only +tolerable caricature I ever saw in the country. It represents the President +seated alone in his cabinet, wearing a look of much discomfiture, and making +great exertions to detain one of four rats, who are running off, by placing his +foot on the tail. The rats’ heads bear a very sufficient resemblance to +the four ex-ministers. General Jackson, it seems, had requested Mr. Van Buren, +the Secretary of State, to remain in office till his place was supplied; this +gave occasion to a <i>bon mot</i> from his son, who, being asked when his +father would be in New York, replied, “When the President takes off his +foot.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Journey to New York—Delaware River—Stagecoach—City of New +York—Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies—Theatres—Public +Garden—Churches—Morris Canal—Fashions—Carriages +</p> + +<p> +At length, in spite of the lingering pace necessarily attending consultations, +and arrangements across the Atlantic, our plans were finally settled; the +coming spring was to show us New York, and Niagara, and the early summer was to +convey us home. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner did the letter arrive which decided this, than we began our +preparations for departure. We took our last voyage on the Potomac, we bade a +last farewell to Virginia, and gave a last day to some of our kind friends near +Washington. +</p> + +<p> +The spring, though slow and backward, was sufficiently advanced to render the +journey pleasant; and though the road from Washington to Baltimore was less +brilliant in foliage than when I had seen it before, it still had much of +beauty. The azalias were in full bloom, and the delicate yellow blossom of the +sassafras almost rivalled its fruit in beauty. +</p> + +<p> +At Baltimore we again embarked on a gigantic steam-boat, and reached +Philadelphia in the middle of the night. Here we changed our boat and found +time, before starting in the morning, to take a last look at the Doric and +Corinthian porticos of the two celebrated temples dedicated to Mammon. +</p> + +<p> +The Delaware river, above Philadelphia, still flows through a landscape too +level for beauty, but it is rendered interesting by a succession of +gentlemen’s seats, which, if less elaborately finished in architecture, +and garden grounds, than the lovely villas on the Thames, are still beautiful +objects to gaze upon as you float rapidly past on the broad silvery stream that +washes their lawns They present a picture of wealth and enjoyment that accords +well with the noble city to which they are an appendage. One mansion arrested +our attention, not only from its being more than usually large and splendid, +but from its having the monument which marked the family resting-place, rearing +itself in all the gloomy grandeur of black and white marble, exactly opposite +the door of entrance. +</p> + +<p> +In Virginia and Maryland we had remarked that almost every family mansion had +its little grave yard, sheltered by locust and cypress trees; but this +decorated dwelling of the dead seemed rather a melancholy ornament in the +grounds. +</p> + +<p> +We had, for a considerable distance, a view of the dwelling of Joseph +Bonaparte, which is situated on the New Jersey shore, in the midst of an +extensive tract of land, of which he is the proprietor. +</p> + +<p> +Here the ex-monarch has built several houses, which are occupied by French +tenants. The country is very flat, but a terrace of two sides has been raised, +commanding a fine reach of the Delaware River; at the point where this terrace +forms a right angle, a lofty chapel has been erected, which looks very much +like an observatory; I admired the ingenuity with which the Catholic prince has +united his religion and his love of a fine terrestrial prospect. The highest +part of the building presents, in every direction, the appearance of an immense +cross; the transept, if I may so express it, being formed by the projection of +an ample balcony, which surrounds a tower. A Quaker gentleman, from +Philadelphia, exclaimed, as he gazed on the mansion, “There we see a +monument of fallen royalty! Strange! that dethroned kings should seek and find +their best strong-hold in a Republic.” +</p> + +<p> +There was more of philosophy than of scorn in his accent, and his countenance +was the symbol of gentleness and benevolence; but I overheard many unquakerlike +jokes from others, as to the comfortable assurance a would-be king must feel of +a faithful alliance between his head and shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +At Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, we left our smoothly-gliding comfortable +boat for the most detestable stage-coach that ever Christian built to dislocate +the joints of his fellow men. Ten of these torturing machines were crammed full +of the passengers who left the boat with us. The change in our movement was not +more remarkable than that which took place in the tempers and countenances of +our fellow-travellers. Gentlemen who had lounged on sofas, and balanced +themselves in chairs, all the way from Philadelphia, with all the conscious +fascinations of stiff stays and neck-cloths, which, while doing to death the +rash beauties who ventured to gaze, seemed but a whalebone panoply to guard the +wearer, these pretty youths so guarded from without, so sweetly at peace +within, now crushed beneath their armour, looked more like victims on the +wheel, than dandies armed for conquest; their whalebones seemed to enter into +their souls, and every face grew grim and scowling. The pretty ladies too, with +their expansive bonnets, any one of which might handsomely have filled the +space allotted to three,—how sad the change! I almost fancied they must +have been of the race of Undine, and that it was only when they heard the +splashing of water that they could smile. As I looked into the altered eyes of +my companions, I was tempted to ask, “Look I as cross as you?” +Indeed, I believe that, if possible, I looked crosser still, for the roads and +the vehicle together were quite too much for my philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +At length, however, we found ourselves alive on board the boat which was to +convey us down the Raraton River to New York. +</p> + +<p> +We fully intended to have gone to bed, to heal our bones, on entering the +steam-boat, but the sight of a table neatly spread determined us to go to +dinner instead. Sin and shame would it have been, indeed, to have closed our +eyes upon the scene which soon opened before us. I have never seen the bay of +Naples, I can therefore make no comparison, but my imagination is incapable of +conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful than the harbour of New York. +Various and lovely are the objects which meet the eye on every side, but the +naming them would only be to give a list of words, without conveying the +faintest idea of the scene. I doubt if ever the pencil of Turner could do it +justice, bright and glorious as it rose upon us. We seemed to enter the harbour +of New York upon waves of liquid gold, and as we darted past the green isles +which rise from its bosom, like guardian centinels of the fair city, the +setting sun stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, +as if to point out to us some new glory in the landscape. +</p> + +<p> +New York, indeed, appeared to us, even when we saw it by a soberer light, a +lovely and a noble city. To us who had been so long travelling through +half-cleared forests, and sojourning among an +“I’m-as-good-as-you” population, it seemed, perhaps, more +beautiful, more splendid, and more refined than it might have done, had we +arrived there directly from London; but making every allowance for this, I must +still declare that I think New York one of the finest cities I ever saw, and as +much superior to every other in the Union (Philadelphia not excepted), as +London to Liverpool, or Paris to Rouen. Its advantages of position are, +perhaps, unequalled any where. Situated on an island, which I think it will one +day cover, it rises, like Venice, from the sea, and like that fairest of cities +in the days of her glory, receives into its lap tribute of all the riches of +the earth. +</p> + +<p> +The southern point of Manhatten Island divides the waters of the harbour into +the north and east rivers; on this point stands the city of New York, extending +from river to river, and running northward to the extent of three or four +miles. I think it covers nearly as much ground as Paris, but is much less +thickly peopled. The extreme point is fortified towards the sea by a battery, +and forms an admirable point of defence; I should suppose, no city could boast. +From hence commences the splendid Broadway, as the fine avenue is called, which +runs through the whole city. This noble street may vie with any I ever saw, for +its length and breadth, its handsome shops, neat awnings, excellent +<i>trottoir</i>, and well-dressed pedestrians. It has not the crowded glitter +of Bond Street equipages, nor the gorgeous fronted palaces of Regent Street; +but it is magnificent in its extent, and ornamented by several handsome +buildings, some of them surrounded by grass and trees. The Park, in which +stands the noble city-hall, is a very fine area, I never found that the most +graphic description of a city could give me any feeling of being there; and +even if others have the power, I am very sure I have not, of setting churches +and squares, and long drawn streets, before the mind’s eye. I will not, +therefore, attempt a detailed description of this great metropolis of the new +world, but will only say that during the seven weeks we stayed there, we always +found something new to see and to admire; and were it not so very far from all +the old-world things which cling about the heart of an European, I should say +that I never saw a city more desirable as a residence. +</p> + +<p> +The dwelling houses of the higher classes are extremely handsome, and very +richly furnished. Silk or satin furniture is as often, or oftener, seen than +chintz; the mirrors are as handsome as in London; the cheffoniers, slabs, and +marble tables as elegant; and in addition, they have all the pretty tasteful +decoration of French porcelaine, and or-molu in much greater abundance, because +at a much cheaper rate. Every part of their houses is well carpeted, and the +exterior finishing, such as steps, railings, and door-frames, are very +superior. Almost every house has handsome green blinds on the outside; +balconies are not very general, nor do the houses display, externally, so many +flowers as those of Paris and London; but I saw many rooms decorated within, +exactly like those of an European <i>petite maitresse</i>. Little tables, +looking and smelling like flower beds, portfolios, nick-nacks, bronzes, busts, +cameos, and alabaster vases, illustrated copies of ladylike rhymes bound in +silk, and, in short, all the pretty coxcomalities of the drawing-room scattered +about with the same profuse and studied negligence as with us. +</p> + +<p> +Hudson Square and its neighbourhood is, I believe, the most fashionable part of +the town; the square is beautiful, excellently well planted with a great +variety of trees, and only wanting our frequent and careful mowing to make it +equal to any square in London. The iron railing which surrounds this enclosure +is as high and as handsome as that of the Tuilleries, and it will give some +idea of the care bestowed on its decoration, to know that the gravel for the +walks was conveyed by barges from Boston, not as ballast, but as freight. +</p> + +<p> +The great defect in the houses is their extreme uniformity when you have seen +one, you have seen all. Neither do I quite like the arrangement of the rooms. +In nearly all the houses the dining and drawing rooms are on the same floor, +with ample folding doors between them; when thrown together they certainly make +a very noble apartment; but no doors can be barrier sufficient between dining +and drawing-rooms. Mixed dinner parties of ladies and gentlemen, however, are +very rare, which is a great defect in the society; not only as depriving them +of the most social and hospitable manner of meeting, but as leading to frequent +dinner parties of gentlemen without ladies, which certainly does not conduce to +refinement. +</p> + +<p> +The evening parties, excepting such as are expressly for young people, are +chiefly conversational; we were too late in the season for large parties, but +we saw enough to convince us that there is society to be met with in New York, +which would be deemed delightful any where. Cards are very seldom used; and +music, from their having very little professional aid at their parties is +seldom, I believe, as good as what is heard at private concerts in London. +</p> + +<p> +The Americans have certainly not the same <i>besoin</i> of being amused, as +other people; they may be the wiser for this, perhaps, but it makes them less +agreeable to a looker-on. +</p> + +<p> +There are three theatres at New York, all of which we visited. The Park Theatre +is the only one licensed by fashion, but the Bowery is infinitely superior in +beauty; it is indeed as pretty a theatre as I ever entered, perfect as to size +and proportion, elegantly decorated, and the scenery and machinery equal to any +in London, but it is not the fashion. The Chatham is so utterly condemned by +<i>bon ton</i>, that it requires some courage to decide upon going there; nor +do I think my curiosity would have penetrated so far, had I not seen Miss +Mitford’s Rienzi advertised there. It was the first opportunity I had had +of seeing it played, and spite of very indifferent acting, I was delighted. The +interest must have been great, for till the curtain fell, I saw not one quarter +of the queer things around me: then I observed in the front row of a dress-box +a lady performing the most maternal office possible; several gentlemen without +their coats, and a general air of contempt for the decencies of life, certainly +more than usually revolting. +</p> + +<p> +At the Park Theatre I again saw the American Roscius, Mr. Forrest. He played +the part of Damon, and roared, I thought, very unlike a nightingale. I cannot +admire this celebrated performer. +</p> + +<p> +Another night we saw Cinderella there; Mrs. Austin was the prima donna, and +much admired. The piece was extremely well got up, and on this occasion we saw +the Park Theatre to advantage, for it was filled with well-dressed company; but +still we saw many “yet unrazored lips” polluted with the grim tinge +of the hateful tobacco, and heard, without ceasing, the spitting, which of +course is its consequence. If their theatres had the orchestra of the Feydeau, +and a choir of angels to boot, I could find but little pleasure, so long as +they were followed by this running accompaniment of <i>thorough base</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst at New York, the prospectus of a fashionable boarding-school was +presented to me. I made some extracts from it, as a specimen of the enlarged +scale of instruction proposed for young females. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Brooklyn Collegiate Institute<br/> +for Young Ladies,<br/> +Brooklyn Heights, opposite the City of<br/> +New York. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +JUNIOR DEPARTMENT +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Sixth Class +</p> + +<p> +Latin Grammar, Liber Primus; Jacob’s Latin Reader, (first part); Modern +Geography; Intellectual and Practical Arithmetic finished; Dr. Barber’s +Grammar of Elocution; Writing, Spelling, Composition, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Fifth Class +</p> + +<p> +Jacob’s Latin Reader, (second part); Roman Antiquities, Sallust; +Clark’s Introduction to the Making of Latin; Ancient and Sacred +Geography; Studies of Poetry; Short Treatise on Rhetoric; Map Drawing, +Composition, Spelling, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Fourth Class +</p> + +<p> +Caesar’s Commentaries; first five books of Virgil’s Aeneid; +Mythology; Watts on the Mind; Political Geography, (Woodbridge’s large +work); Natural History; Treatise on the Globes; Ancient History; Studies of +Poetry concluded; English Grammar, Composition, Spelling, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SENIOR DEPARTMENT +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Third Class +</p> + +<p> +Virgil, (finished); Cicero’s Select Orations; Modern History; Plane +Geometry; Moral Philosophy; Critical Reading of Young’s Poems; +Perspective Drawing; Rhetoric; Logic, Composition, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Second Class +</p> + +<p> +Livy; Horace, (Odes); Natural Theology; small Compend of Ecclesiastical +History; Female Biography; Algebra; Natural Philosophy, (Mechanics, +Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, and Acoustics); Intellectual Philosophy; Evidences of +Christianity; Composition, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +First Class +</p> + +<p> +Horace, (finished); Tacitus; Natural Philosophy, (Electricity, Optics, +Magnetism, Galvanism); Astronomy, Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology; Compend +of Political Economy; Composition, and Vocal Music. +</p> + +<p> +The French, Spanish, Italian, or Greek languages may be attended to, if +required, at any time. +</p> + +<p> +The Exchange is very handsome, and ranks about midway between the heavy gloom +that hangs over our London merchants, and the light and lofty elegance which +decorates the Bourse at Paris. The churches are plain, but very neat, and kept +in perfect repair within and without; but I saw none which had the least +pretension to splendour; the Catholic Cathedral at Baltimore is the only church +in America which has. +</p> + +<p> +At New York, as every where else, they show within, during the time of service, +like beds of tulips, so gay, so bright, so beautiful, are the long rows of +French bonnets and pretty faces; rows but rarely broken by the unribboned heads +of the male population; the proportion is about the same as I have remarked +elsewhere. Excepting at New York, I never saw the other side of the picture, +but there I did. On the opposite side of the North River, about three miles +higher up, is a place called Hoboken. A gentleman who possessed a handsome +mansion and grounds there, also possessed the right of ferry, and to render +this productive, he has restricted his pleasure grounds to a few beautiful +acres, laying out the remainder simply and tastefully as a public walk. It is +hardly possible to imagine one of greater attraction; a broad belt of light +underwood and flowering shrubs, studded at intervals with lofty forest trees, +runs for two miles along a cliff which overhangs the matchless Hudson; +sometimes it feathers the rocks down to its very margin, and at others leaves a +pebbly shore, just rude enough to break the gentle waves, and make a music +which mimics softly the loud chorus of the ocean. Through this beautiful little +wood, a broad well gravelled terrace is led by every point which can exhibit +the scenery to advantage; narrower and wilder paths diverge at intervals, some +into the deeper shadow of the wood, and some shelving gradually to the pretty +coves below. +</p> + +<p> +The price of entrance to this little Eden, is the six cents you pay at the +ferry. We went there on a bright Sunday afternoon, expressly to see the humours +of the place. Many thousand persons were scattered through the grounds; of +these we ascertained, by repeatedly counting, that nineteen-twentieths were +men. The ladies were at church. Often as the subject has pressed upon my mind, +I think I never so strongly felt the conviction that the Sabbath-day, the holy +day, the day on which alone the great majority of the Christian world can spend +their hours as they please, is ill passed (if passed entirely) within brick +walls, listening to an earth-born preacher, charm he never so wisely. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Oh! how can they renounce the boundless store<br/> +Of charms, which Nature to her vot’ries yields!<br/> +The warbling woodland, the resounding shore,<br/> +The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields,<br/> +All that the genial ray of morning gilds,<br/> +And all that echoes to the song of even,<br/> +All that the mountain’s sheltering bosom yields,<br/> +And all the dread magnificence of heaven;<br/> +Oh! how can they renounce, and hope to be forgiven!” +</p> + +<p> +How is it that the men of America, who are reckoned good husbands and good +fathers, while they themselves enjoy sufficient freedom of spirit to permit +their walking forth into the temple of the living God, can leave those they +love best on earth, bound in the iron chains of a most tyrannical fanaticism? +How can they breathe the balmy air, and not think of the tainted atmosphere so +heavily weighing upon breasts still dearer than their own? How can they gaze +upon the blossoms of the spring, and not remember the fairer cheeks of their +young daughters, waxing pale, as they sit for long sultry hours, immured with +hundreds of fellow victims, listening to the roaring vanities of a preacher +canonized by a college of old women? They cannot think it needful to +salvation,or they would not withdraw themselves. Wherefore is it? Do they fear +these self-elected, self-ordained priests, and offer up their wives and +daughters to propitiate them? Or do they deem their hebdomadal freedom more +complete, because their wives and daughters are shut up four or five times in +the day at church or chapel? It is true, that at Hoboken, as every where else, +there are <i>reposoires</i>, which, as you pass them, blast the sense for a +moment, by reeking forth the fumes of whiskey and tobacco, and it may be that +these cannot be entered with a wife or daughter. The proprietor of the grounds, +however, has contrived with great taste to render these abominations not +unpleasing to the eye; there is one in particular, which has quite the air of a +Grecian temple, and did they drink wine instead of whiskey, it might be +inscribed to Bacchus; but in this particular, as in many others, the ancient +and modern Republics differ. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible not to feel, after passing one Sunday in the churches and +chapels of New York, and the next in the gardens of Hoboken, that the thousands +of well-dressed men you see enjoying themselves at the latter, have made over +the thousands of well-dressed women you saw exhibited at the former, into the +hands of the priests, at least, for the day. The American people arrogate to +themselves a character of superior morality and religion, but this division of +their hours of leisure does not give me a favourable idea of either. +</p> + +<p> +I visited all the exhibitions in New York. The Medici of the Republic must +exert themselves a little more before these can become even respectable. The +worst of the business is, that with the exception of about half a dozen +individuals, the good citizens are more than contented, they are delighted. +</p> + +<p> +The newspaper lungs of the Republic breathe forth praise and triumph, may, +almost pant with extacy in speaking of their native <i>chef +d’oeuvres</i>. I should be hardly believed were I to relate the instances +which fell in my way, of the utter ignorance respecting pictures to be found +among persons of the <i>first standing</i> in society. Often where a liberal +spirit exists, and a wish to patronise the fine arts is expressed, it is joined +to a profundity of ignorance on the subject almost inconceivable. A doubt as to +the excellence of their artists is very nervously received, and one gentleman, +with much civility, told me, that at the present era, all the world were aware +that competition was pretty well at an end between our two nations, and that a +little envy might naturally be expected to mix with the surprise with which the +mother country beheld the distance at which her colonies were leaving her +behind them. +</p> + +<p> +I must, however, do the few artists with whom I became acquainted, the justice +to say, that their own pretensions are much more modest than those of their +patrons for them. I have heard several confess and deplore their ignorance of +drawing, and have repeatedly remarked a sensibility to the merit of European +artists, though perhaps only known by engravings, and a deference to their +authority, which showed a genuine feeling for the art. In fact, I think that +there is a very considerable degree of natural talent for painting in America, +but it has to make its way through darkness and thick night. When an academy is +founded, their first care is to hang the walls of its exhibition room with all +the unutterable trash that is offered to them. No living models are sought for; +no discipline as to the manner of study is enforced. Boys who know no more of +human form, than they do of the eyes, nose, and mouth in the moon, begin +painting portraits. If some of them would only throw away their palettes for a +year, and learn to draw; if they would attend anatomical lectures, and take +notes, not in words, but in forms, of joints and muscles, their exhibitions +would soon cease to be so utterly below criticism. +</p> + +<p> +The most interesting exhibition open when I was there was, decidedly, Colonel +Trumbold’s; and how the patriots of America can permit this truly +national collection to remain a profitless burden on the hands of the artist, +it is difficult to understand. Many of the sketches are masterly; but like his +illustrious countryman, West, his sketches are his <i>chef d’oeuvres</i>. +</p> + +<p> +I can imagine nothing more perfect than the interior of the public institutions +of New York. There is a practical good sense in all their arrangements that +must strike foreigners very forcibly. The Asylum for the Destitute offers a +hint worth taking. It is dedicated to the reformation of youthful offenders of +both sexes, and it is as admirable in the details of its management, as in its +object. Every part of the institution is deeply interesting; but there is a +difference very remarkable between the boys and the girls. The boys are, I +think, the finest set of lads I ever saw brought together; bright looking, gay, +active, and full of intelligence. The girls are exactly in reverse; heavy, +listless, indifferent, and melancholy. In conversing with the gentleman who is +the general superintendant of the establishment, I made the remark to him, and +he told me, that the reality corresponded with the appearance. All of them had +been detected in some act of dishonesty; but the boys, when removed from the +evil influence which had led them so to use their ingenuity, rose like a spring +when a pressure is withdrawn; and feeling themselves once more safe from danger +and from shame, hope and cheerfulness animated every countenance. But the pour +girls, on the contrary, can hardly look up again. They are as different as an +oak and a lily after a storm. The one, when the fresh breeze blows over it, +shakes the raindrops from its crest, and only looks the brighter; the other, +its silken leaves once soiled, shrinks from the eye, and is levelled to the +earth for ever. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +We spent a delightful day in New Jersey, in visiting, with a most agreeable +party, the inclined planes, which are used instead of locks on the Morris +canal. +</p> + +<p> +This is a very interesting work; it is one among a thousand which prove the +people of America to be the most enterprising in the world. I was informed that +this important canal, which connects the waters of the Hudson and the Delaware, +is a hundred miles long, and in this distance overcomes a variation of level +amounting to sixteen hundred feet. Of this, fourteen hundred are achieved by +inclined planes. The planes average about sixty feet of perpendicular lift +each, and are to support about forty tons. The time consumed in passing them is +twelve minutes for one hundred feet of perpendicular rise. The expense is less +than a third of what locks would be for surmounting the same rise. If we set +about any more canals, this may be worth attending to. +</p> + +<p> +This Morris canal is certainly an extraordinary work; it not only varies its +level sixteen hundred feet, but at one point runs along the side of a mountain +at thirty feet above the tops of the highest buildings in the town of Paterson, +below; at another it crosses the falls of the Passaic in a stone aqueduct sixty +feet above the water in the river. This noble work, in a great degree, owes its +existence to the patriotic and scientific energy of Mr. Cadwallader Colden. +</p> + +<p> +There is no point in the national character of the Americans which commands so +much respect as the boldness and energy with which public works are undertaken +and carried through. Nothing stops them if a profitable result can be fairly +hoped for. It is this which has made cities spring up amidst the forests with +such inconceivable rapidity; and could they once be thoroughly persuaded that +any point of the ocean had a hoard of dollars beneath it, I have not the +slightest doubt that in about eighteen months we should see a snug covered +rail-road leading direct to the spot. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I was told at New York, that in many parts of the state it was usual to pay the +service of the Presbyterian ministers in the following manner. Once a year a +day is fixed, on which some member of every family in a congregation meet at +their minister’s house in the afternoon. They each bring an offering +(according to their means) of articles necessary for housekeeping. The poorer +members leave their contributions in a large basket, placed for the purpose, +close to the door of entrance. Those of more importance, and more calculated to +do honour to the piety of the donors, are carried into the room where the +company is assembled. Sugar, coffee, tea, cheese, barrels of flour, pieces of +Irish linen, sets of china and of glass, were among the articles mentioned to +me as usually making parts of these offerings. After the party is assembled, +and the business of giving and receiving is dispatched, tea, coffee, and cakes +are handed round; but these are not furnished at any expense either of trouble +or money to the minster, for selected ladies of the congregation take the whole +arrangement upon themselves. These meetings are called spinning visits. +</p> + +<p> +Another New York custom, which does not seem to have so reasonable a cause, is +the changing house once a year. On the 1st of May the city of New York has the +appearance of sending off a population flying from the plague, or of a town +which had surrendered on condition of carrying away all their goods and +chattels. Rich furniture and ragged furniture, carts, waggons, and drays, +ropes, canvas, and straw, packers, porters, and draymen, white, yellow, and +black, occupy the streets from east to west, from north to south, on this day. +Every one I spoke to on the subject complained of this custom as most annoying, +but all assured me it was unavoidable, if you inhabit a rented house. More than +one of my New York friends have built or bought houses solely to avoid this +annual inconvenience. +</p> + +<p> +There are a great number of negroes in New York, all free; their emancipation +having been completed in 1827. Not even in Philadelphia, where the anti-slavery +opinions have been the most active and violent, do the blacks appear to wear an +air of so much consequence as they do at New York. They have several chapels, +in which negro ministers officiate; and a theatre in which none but negroes +perform. At this theatre a gallery is appropriated to such whites as choose to +visit it; and here only are they permitted to sit; following in this, with nice +etiquette, and equal justice, the arrangement of the white theatres, in all of +which is a gallery appropriated solely to the use of the blacks. I have often, +particularly on a Sunday, met groups of negroes, elegantly dressed; and have +been sometimes amused by observing the very superior air of gallantry assumed +by the men, when in attendance on their <i>belles</i>, to that of the whites in +similar circumstances. On one occasion we met in Broadway a young negress in +the extreme of the fashion, and accompanied by a black beau, whose toilet was +equally studied; eye-glass, guard-chain, nothing was omitted; he walked beside +his sable goddess uncovered, and with an air of the most tender devotion. At +the window of a handsome house which they were passing, stood a very pretty +white girl, with two gentlemen beside her; but alas! both of them had their +hats on, and one was smoking! +</p> + +<p> +If it were not for the peculiar manner of walking, which distinguishes all +American women, Broadway might be taken for a French street, where it was the +fashion for very smart ladies to promenade. The dress is entirely French; not +an article (except perhaps the cotton stockings) must be English, on pain of +being stigmatized as out of the fashion. Every thing English is decidedly +<i>mauvais ton</i>; English materials, English fashions, English accent, +English manner, are all terms of reproach; and to say that an unfortunate looks +like an English woman, is the cruellest satire which can be uttered. +</p> + +<p> +I remember visiting France almost immediately after we had made the most +offensive invasion of her territory that can well be imagined, yet, despite the +feelings which lengthened years of war must have engendered, it was the fashion +to admire every thing English. I suppose family quarrels are most difficult to +adjust; for fifteen years of peace have not been enough to calm the angry +feelings of brother Jonathan towards the land of his fathers, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“The which he hateth passing well.” +</p> + +<p> +It is hardly needful to say the most courteous amenity of manner distinguishes +the reception given to foreigners by the patrician class of Americans. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Gentlemen</i>, in the old world sense of the term, are the same every where; +and an American gentleman and his family know how to do the honours of their +country to strangers of every nation, as well as any people on earth. But this +class, though it decidedly exists, is a very small one, and cannot, in justice, +be represented as affording a specimen of the whole. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Most of the houses in New York are painted on the outside, but in a manner +carefully to avoid disfiguring the material which it preserves: on the +contrary, nothing can be neater. They are now using a great deal of a beautiful +stone called Jersey freestone; it is of a warm rich brown, and extremely +ornamental to the city wherever it has been employed. They have also a grey +granite of great beauty. The trottoir paving, in most of the streets, is +extremely good, being of large flag stones, very superior to the bricks of +Philadelphia. +</p> + +<p> +At night the shops, which are open till very late, are brilliantly illuminated +with gas, and all the population seem as much alive as in London or Paris. This +makes the solemn stillness of the evening hours in Philadelphia still more +remarkable. +</p> + +<p> +There are a few trees in different parts of the city, and I observed young ones +planted, and guarded with much care; were they more abundant it would be +extremely agreeable, for the reflected light of their fierce summer sheds +intolerable day. +</p> + +<p> +Ice is in profuse abundance; I do not imagine that there is a house in the city +without the luxury of a piece of ice to cool the water, and harden the butter. +</p> + +<p> +The hackney coaches are the best in the world, but abominably dear, and it is +necessary to be on the <i>qui vive</i> in making your bargain with the driver; +if you do not, he has the power of charging immoderately. On my first +experiment I neglected this, and was asked two dollars and a half for an +excursion of twenty minutes. When I referred to the waiter of the hotel, he +asked if I had made a bargain. “No.” “Then I expect” +(with the usual look of triumph) “that the Yankee has been too smart for +you.” +</p> + +<p> +The private carriages of New York are infinitely handsomer and better appointed +than any I saw elsewhere; the want of smart liveries destroys much of the gay +effect, but, on the whole, a New York summer equipage, with the pretty women +and beautiful children it contains, look extremely well in Broadway, and would +not be much amiss anywhere. +</p> + +<p> +The luxury of the New York aristocracy is not confined to the city; hardly an +acre of Manhatten Island but shows some pretty villa or stately mansion. The +most chosen of these are on the north and east rivers, to whose margins their +lawns descend. Among these, perhaps, the loveliest is one situated in the +beautiful village of Bloomingdale; here, within the space of sixteen acres, +almost every variety of garden scenery may be found. To describe all its +diversity of hill and dale, of wood and lawn, of rock and river, would be in +vain; nor can I convey an idea of it by comparison, for I never saw anything +like it. How far the elegant hospitality which reigns there may influence my +impression, I know not; but, assuredly, no spot I have ever seen dwells more +freshly on my memory, nor did I ever find myself in a circle more calculated to +give delight in meeting, and regret at parting, than that of Woodlawn. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Reception of Captain Basil Hall’s Book in the United States +</p> + +<p> +Having now arrived nearly at the end of our travels, I am induced, ere I +conclude, again to mention what I consider as one of the most remarkable traits +in the national character of the Americans; namely, their exquisite +sensitiveness and soreness respecting everything said or written concerning +them. Of this, perhaps, the most remarkable example I can give, is the effect +produced on nearly every class of readers by the appearance of Captain Basil +Hall’s “Travels in North America.” In fact, it was a sort of +moral earthquake, and the vibration it occasioned through the nerves of the +Republic, from one corner of the Union to the other, was by no means over when +I left the country in July, 1831, a couple of years after the shock. +</p> + +<p> +I was in Cincinnati when these volumes came out, but it was not till July, +1830, that I procured a copy of them. One bookseller to whom I applied, told me +that he had had a few copies before he understood the nature of the work, but +that after becoming acquainted with it, nothing should induce him to sell +another. Other persons of his profession must, however, have been less +scrupulous, for the book was read in city, town, village, and hamlet, +steam-boat, and stage-coach, and a sort of war-whoop was sent forth perfectly +unprecedented in my recollection upon any occasion whatever. +</p> + +<p> +It was fortunate for me that I did not procure these volumes till I had heard +them very generally spoken of, for the curiosity I felt to know the contents of +a work so violently anathematised, led me to make enquiries which elicited a +great deal of curious feeling. +</p> + +<p> +An ardent desire for approbation, and delicate sensitiveness under censure, +have always, I believe, been considered as amiable traits of character; but the +condition into which the appearance of Capt. Hall’s work threw the +Republic, shows plainly that these feelings, if carried to excess, produce a +weakness which amounts to imbecility. +</p> + +<p> +It was perfectly astonishing to hear men, who, on other subjects, were sane of +judgment, utter their opinions upon this. I never heard of any instance in +which the common sense generally found in national criticism was so overthrown +by passion. I do not speak of the want of justice, and of fair and liberal +interpretation: these, perhaps, were hardly to be expected. Other nations have +been called thin-skinned, but the citizens of the Union have, apparently, no +skins at all; they wince if a breeze blows over them, unless it be tempered +with adulation. It was not, therefore, very surprising that the acute and +forcible observations of a traveller they knew would be listened to, should be +received testily. The extraordinary features of the business were, first, the +excess of the rage into which they lashed themselves; and secondly, the +puerility of the inventions by which they attempted to account for the severity +with which they fancied they had been treated. +</p> + +<p> +Not content with declaring that the volumes contained no word of truth from +beginning to end (which is an assertion I heard made very nearly as often as +they were mentioned), the whole country set to work to discover the causes why +Capt. Hall had visited the United States, and why he had published his book. +</p> + +<p> +I have heard it said with as much precision and gravity as if the statement had +been conveyed by an official report, that Capt. Hall had been sent out by the +British government expressly for the purpose of checking the growing admiration +of England for the government of the United States, that it was by a commission +from the Treasury he had come, and that it was only in obedience to orders that +he had found anything to object to. +</p> + +<p> +I do not give this as the gossip of a coterie; I am persuaded that it is the +belief of a very considerable portion of the country. So deep is the conviction +of this singular people that they cannot be seen without being admired, that +they will not admit the possibility that anyone should honestly and sincerely +find aught to disapprove in them, or their country. +</p> + +<p> +At Philadelphia I met with a little anonymous book, written to show that Capt. +Basil Hall was in no way to be depended on, for that he not only slandered the +Americans, but was himself, in other respects, a person of very equivocal +morals. One proof of this is given by a quotation of the following playful +account of the distress occasioned by the want of a bell. The commentator calls +it an instance of “shocking coarseness.” +</p> + +<p> +“One day I was rather late for breakfast, and as there was no water in my +jug, I set off, post haste, half shaved, half dressed, and more than half +vexed, in quest of water, like a seaman on short allowance, hunting for +rivulets on some unknown coast. I went up stairs, and down stairs, and in the +course of my researches into half a dozen different apartments, might have +stumbled on some lady’s chamber, as the song says, which considering the +plight I was in, would have been awkward enough.” +</p> + +<p> +Another indication of this moral coarseness is pointed out in the passage where +Capt. Hall says, he never saw a flirtation all the time he was in the Union. +</p> + +<p> +The charge of ingratitude also was echoed from mouth to mouth. That he should +himself bear testimony to the unvarying kindness of the reception he met with, +and yet find fault with the country, was declared on all hands to be a proof of +the most abominable ingratitude that it ever entered into the heart of man to +conceive. I once ventured before about a dozen people to ask whether more blame +would not attach to an author, if he suffered himself to be bribed by +individual kindness to falsify facts, than if, despite all personal +considerations, he stated them truly? +</p> + +<p> +“Facts!” cried the whole circle at once, “facts! I tell you +there is not a word of fact in it from beginning to end.” +</p> + +<p> +The American Reviews are, many of them, I believe, well known in England; I +need not, therefore, quote them here, but I sometimes wondered that they, none +of them, ever thought of translating Obadiah’s curse into classic +American; if they had done so, only placing (he, Basil Hall,) between brackets +instead of (he, Obadiah,) it would have saved them a world of trouble. +</p> + +<p> +I can hardly describe the curiosity with which I sat down at length to pursue +these tremendous volumes; still less can I do justice to my surprise at their +contents. To say that I found not one exaggerated statement throughout the +work, is by no means saying enough. It is impossible for any one who knows the +country not to see that Captain Hall earnestly sought out things to admire and +commend. When he praises, it is with evident pleasure, and when he finds fault, +it is with evident reluctance and restraint, excepting where motives purely +patriotic urge him to state roundly what it is for the benefit of his country +should be known. +</p> + +<p> +In fact, Captain Hall saw the country to the greatest possible advantage. +Furnished, of course, with letters of introduction to the most distinguished +individuals, and with the still more influential recommendation of his own +reputation, he was received in full drawing-room style and state from one end +of the Union to the other. He saw the country in full dress, and had little or +no opportunity of judging of it unhouselled, disappointed, unannealed, with all +its imperfections on its head, as I and my family too often had. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Hall had certainly excellent opportunities of making himself acquainted +with the form of the government and the laws; and of receiving, moreover, the +best oral commentary upon them, in conversation with the most distinguished +citizens. Of these opportunities he made excellent use; nothing important met +his eye which did not receive that sort of analytical attention which an +experienced and philosophical traveller alone can give. This has made his +volumes highly interesting and valuable; but I am deeply persuaded, that were a +man of equal penetration to visit the United States with no other means of +becoming acquainted with the national character than the ordinary working-day +intercourse of life, he would conceive an infinitely lower idea of the moral +atmosphere of the country than Captain Hall appears to have done; and the +internal conviction on my mind is strong, that if Captain Hall had not placed a +firm restraint on himself, he must have given expression to far deeper +indignation than any he has uttered against many points in the American +character, with which he shows, from other circumstances, that he was well +acquainted. His rule appears to have been to state just so much of the truth as +would leave on the minds of his readers a correct impression, at the least cost +of pain to the sensitive folks he was writing about. He states his own opinions +and feelings, and leaves it to be inferred that he has good grounds for +adopting them; but he spares the Americans the bitterness which a detail of the +circumstances would have produced. +</p> + +<p> +If any one chooses to say that some wicked antipathy to twelve millions of +strangers is the origin of my opinion, I must bear it; and were the question +one of mere idle speculation, I certainly would not court the abuse I must meet +for stating it. But it is not so. I know that among the best, the most pious, +the most benevolent of my countrymen, there are hundreds, nay, I fear +thousands, who conscientiously believe that a greater degree of political and +religious liberty (such as is possessed in America) would be beneficial for us. +How often have I wished, during my abode in the United States, that one of +these conscientious, but mistaken reasoners, fully possessed of his +country’s confidence, could pass a few years in the United States, +sufficiently among the mass of the citizens to know them, and sufficiently at +leisure to trace effects to their causes. Then might we look for a statement +which would teach these mistaken philanthropists to tremble at every symptom of +democratic power among us; a statement which would make even our sectarians +shudder at the thought of hewing down the Established Church, for they would be +taught, by fearful example, to know that it was the bulwark which protects us +from the gloomy horrors of fanatic superstition on one side, and the still more +dreadful inroads of infidelity on the other. And more than all, such a man +would see as clear as light, that where every class is occupied in getting +money, and no class in spending it, there will neither be leisure for +worshipping the theory of honesty, nor motive strong enough to put its +restrictive doctrine in practice. Where every man is engaged in driving hard +bargains with his fellows, where is the honoured class to be found into which +gentleman-like feelings, principles, and practice, are necessary as an +introduction? +</p> + +<p> +That there are men of powerful intellect, benevolent hearts, and high moral +feeling in America, I know: and I could, if challenged to do so, name +individuals surpassed by none of any country in these qualities; but they are +excellent, despite their institutions, not in consequence of them. It is not by +such that Captain Hall’s statements are called slanders, nor is it from +such that I shall meet the abuse which I well know these pages will inevitably +draw upon me; and I only trust I may be able to muster as much self-denial as +my predecessor, who asserts in his recently published “Fragments,” +that he has read none of the American criticisms on his book. He did wisely, if +he wished to retain an atom of his kindly feeling toward America, and he has, +assuredly, lost but little on the score of information, for these criticisms, +generally speaking, consist of mere downright personal abuse, or querulous +complaints of his ingratitude and ill usage of them; complaints which it is +quite astonishing that any persons of spirit could indulge in. +</p> + +<p> +The following good-humoured paragraphs from the Fragments, must, I think, +rather puzzle the Americans. Possibly they may think that Captain Hall is +quizzing them, when he says he has read none of their criticisms; but I think +there is in these passages internal evidence that he has not seen them. For if +he had read one-fiftieth part of the vituperation of his Travels, which it has +been my misfortune to peruse, he could hardly have brought himself to write +what follows. +</p> + +<p> +If the Americans still refuse to shake the hand proffered to them in the true +old John Bull spirit, they are worse folks than even I take them for. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Hall, after describing the hospitable reception he formerly met with, +at a boarding-house in New York, goes on thus:—“If our hostess be +still alive, I hope she will not repent of having bestowed her obliging +attentions on one, who so many years afterwards made himself, he fears, less +popular in her land, than he could wish to be amongst a people to whom he owes +so much, and for whom he really feels so much kindness. He still anxiously +hopes, however, they will believe him, when he declares, that, having said in +his recent publication no more than what he conceived was due to strict truth, +and to the integrity of history, as far as his observations and opinions went, +he still feels, as he always has, and ever must continue to feel towards +America, the heartiest good-will. +</p> + +<p> +“The Americans are perpetually repeating that the foundation-stone of +their liberty is fixed on the doctrine, that every man is free to form his own +opinions, and to promulgate them in candour and in moderation. Is it meant that +a foreigner is excluded from these privileges? If not, may I ask, in what +respect have I passed these limitations? The Americans have surely no fair +right to be offended because my views differ from their’s; and yet I am +told I have been rudely handled by the press of that country. If my motives are +distrusted, I can only say, I am sorely belied. If I am mistaken, regret at my +political blindness were surely more dignified than anger on the part of those +with whom I differ; and if it shall chance that I am in the right, the best +confirmation of the correctness of my views, in the opinion of indifferent +persons, will perhaps be found in the soreness of those, who wince when the +truth is spoken. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet, after all, few things would give me more real pleasure, than to +know that my friends across the water would consent to take me at my word; and, +considering what I have said about them as so much public matter, which it +truly is, agree to reckon me, in my absence, and they always did, when I was +amongst them, and, I am sure, they would count me, if I went back again, as a +private friend. I differed with them in politics, and I differ with them now as +much as ever; but I sincerely wish them happiness individually; and, as a +nation, I shall rejoice if they prosper. As the Persians write, “What can +I say more?” And I only hope these few words may help to make my peace +with people who justly pride themselves on bearing no malice. As for myself, I +have no peace to make; for I have studiously avoided reading any of the +American criticisms on my book, in order that the kindly feelings I have ever +entertained towards that country should not be ruffled. By this abstinence I +may have lost some information, and perhaps missed many opportunities of +correcting erroneous impressions. But I set so much store by the pleasing +recollection of the journey itself, and of the hospitality with which my family +were every where received, that whether it be right, or whether it be wrong, I +cannot bring myself to read anything which might disturb these agreeable +associations. So let us part in peace; or, rather, let us meet again in cordial +communication; and if this little work shall find its way across the Atlantic, +I hope it will be read there without reference to anything that has passed +between us; or, at all events, with reference only to those parts of our former +intercourse, which are satisfactory to all +parties.”—<i>Hall’s Fragments</i>, Vol.1.p.200. +</p> + +<p> +I really think it is impossible to read, not only this passage, but many others +in these delightful little volumes, without feeling that their author is as +little likely to deserve the imputation of harshness and ill-will, as any man +that ever lived. +</p> + +<p> +In reading Capt. Hall’s volumes on America, the observation which, I +think, struck me the most forcibly, and which certainly came the most +completely home to my own feelings, was the following. +</p> + +<p> +“In all my travels both amongst Heathens, and amongst Christians, I have +never encountered any people by whom I found it nearly so difficult to make +myself understood as by the Americans.” +</p> + +<p> +I have conversed in London and in Paris with foreigners of many nations, and +often through the misty medium of an idiom imperfectly understood, but I +remember no instance in which I found the same difficulty in conveying my +sentiments, my impressions, and my opinions to those around me, as I did in +America. Whatever faith may be given to my assertion, no one who has not +visited the country can possibly conceive to what extent it is true. It is less +necessary, I imagine, for the mutual understanding of persons conversing +together, that the language should be the same, than that their ordinary mode +of thinking, and habits of life should, in some degree, assimilate; whereas, in +point of fact, there is hardly a single point of sympathy between the Americans +and us; but whatever the cause, the fact is certainly as I have stated it, and +herein, I think, rests the only apology for the preposterous and undignified +anger felt and expressed against Capt. Hall’s work. They really cannot, +even if they wished it, enter into any of his views, or comprehend his most +ordinary feelings; and, therefore, they cannot believe in the sincerity of the +impressions he describes. The candour which he expresses, and evidently feels, +they mistake for irony, or totally distrust; his unwillingness to give pain to +persons from whom he has received kindness, they scornfully reject as +affectation; and, although they must know right well, in their own secret +hearts, how infinitely more they lay at his mercy than he has chosen to betray, +they pretend, even to themselves, that he has exaggerated the bad points of +their character and institutions; whereas, the truth is, that he has let them +off with a degree of tenderness which may be quite suitable for him to +exercise, however little merited; while, at the same time, he has most +industriously magnified their merits, whenever he could possibly find anything +favourable. One can perfectly well understand why Capt. Hall’s avowed +Tory principles should be disapproved of in the United States, especially as +(with a questionable policy in a bookselling point of view, in these reforming +times,) he volunteers a profession of political faith, in which, to use the +Kentucky phrase, “he goes the whole hog,” and bluntly avows, in his +concluding chapter, that he not only holds stoutly to Church and State, but +that he conceives the English House of Commons to be, if not quite perfect, at +least as much so for all the required purposes of representation as it can by +possibility be made in practice. Such a downright thorough-going Tory and +Anti-reformer, pretending to judge of the workings of the American democratical +system, was naturally held to be a monstrous abomination, and it has been +visited accordingly, both in America, and as I understand, with us also. The +experience which Capt. Hall has acquired in visits to every part of the world, +during twenty or thirty years, goes for nothing with the Radicals on either +side the Atlantic: on the contrary, precisely in proportion to the value of +that authority which is the result of actual observation, are they irritated to +find its weight cast into the opposite scale. Had not Capt. Hall been converted +by what he saw in North America, from the Whig faith he exhibited in his +description of South America, his book would have been far more popular in +England during the last two years of public excitement; it may, perhaps, be +long before any justice is done to Capt. Hall’s book in the United +States, but a less time will probably suffice to establish its claim to +attention at home. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Journey to Niagara—Hudson—West Point—Hyde +Park—Albany—Yankees—Trenton +Falls—Rochester—Genesee Falls—Lockport +</p> + +<p> +How quickly weeks glide away in such a city as New York, especially when you +reckon among your friends some of the most agreeable people in either +hemisphere. But we had still a long journey before us, and one of the wonders +of the world was to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +On the 30th of May we set off for Niagara. I had heard so much of the +surpassing beauty of the North River, that I expected to be disappointed, and +to find reality flat after description. But it is not in the power of man to +paint with a strength exceeding that of nature, in such scenes as the Hudson +presents. Every mile shows some new and startling effect of the combination of +rocks, trees, and water; there is no interval of flat or insipid scenery, from +the moment you enter upon the river at New York, to that of quitting it at +Albany, a distance of 180 miles. +</p> + +<p> +For the first twenty miles the shore of New Jersey, on the left, offers almost +a continued wall of trap rock, which from its perpendicular form, and lineal +fissures, is called the Palisados. This wall sometimes rises to the height of a +hundred and fifty feet, and sometimes sinks down to twenty. Here and there, a +watercourse breaks its uniformity; and every where the brightest foliage, in +all the splendour of the climate and the season, fringed and chequered the dark +barrier. On the opposite shore, Manhatten Island, with its leafy coronet gemmed +with villas, forms a lovely contrast to these rocky heights. +</p> + +<p> +After passing Manhatten Island, the eastern shore gradually assumes a wild and +rocky character, but ever varying; woods, lawns, pastures, and towering cliffs +all meet the eye in quick succession, as the giant steam-boat cleaves its swift +passage up the stream. +</p> + +<p> +For several miles the voyage is one of great interest independent of its +beauty, for it passes many points where important events of the revolutionary +war took place. +</p> + +<p> +It was not without a pang that I looked on the spot where poor Andre was taken, +and another where he was executed. +</p> + +<p> +Several forts, generally placed in most commanding situations, still show by +their battered ruins, where the struggle was strongest, and I felt no lack of +that moral interest so entirely wanting in the new States, and without which no +journey can, I think, continue long without wearying the spirits. +</p> + +<p> +About forty miles from New York you enter upon the Highlands, as a series of +mountains which then flank the river on both sides, are called. The beauty of +this scenery can only be conceived when it is seen. One might fancy that these +capricious masses, with all their countless varieties of light and shade, were +thrown together to show how passing lovely rocks and woods, and water could be. +Sometimes a lofty peak shoots suddenly up into the heavens, showing in bold +relief against the sky; and then a deep ravine sinks in solemn shadow, and +draws the imagination into its leafy recesses. For several miles the river +appears to form a succession of lakes; you are often enclosed on all sides by +rocks rising directly from the very edge of the stream, and then you turn a +point, the river widens, and again woods, lawns, and villages are reflected on +its bosom. +</p> + +<p> +The state prison of Sing Sing is upon the edge of the water, and has no +picturesque effect to atone for the painful images it suggests; the +“Sleepy Hollow” of Washington Irving, just above it, restores the +imagination to a better tone. +</p> + +<p> +West Point, the military academy of the United States, is fifty miles from New +York. The scenery around it is magnificent, and though the buildings of the +establishment are constructed with the handsome and unpicturesque regularity +which marks the work of governments, they are so nobly placed, and so embosomed +in woods, that they look beautiful. The lengthened notes of a French horn, +which I presume was attending some of their military manoeuvres, sounded with +deep and solemn sweetness as we passed. +</p> + +<p> +About thirty miles further is Hyde Park, the magnificent seat of Dr. Hosack; +here the misty summit of the distant Kaatskill begins to form the outline of +the landscape; it is hardly possible to imagine anything more beautiful than +this place. We passed a day there with great enjoyment; and the following +morning set forward again in one of those grand floating hotels called +steamboats. Either on this day, or the one before, we had two hundred cabin +passengers on board, and they all sat down together to a table spread +abundantly, and with considerable elegance. A continual succession of +gentlemen’s seats, many of them extremely handsome, borders the river to +Albany. We arrived there late in the evening, but had no difficulty in finding +excellent accommodation. +</p> + +<p> +Albany is the state capital of New York, and has some very handsome public +buildings; there are also some curious relics of the old Dutch inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +The first sixteen miles from Albany we travelled in a stage, to avoid a +multitude of locks at the entrance of the Erie canal; but at Scenectedy we got +on board one of the canal packet-boats for Utica. +</p> + +<p> +With a very delightful party, of one’s own choosing, fine temperate +weather, and a strong breeze to chase the mosquitos, this mode of travelling +might be very agreeable, but I can hardly imagine any motive of convenience +powerful enough to induce me again to imprison myself in a canal boat under +ordinary circumstances. The accommodations being greatly restricted, every +body, from the moment of entering the boat, acts upon a system of unshrinking +egotism. The library of a dozen books, the backgammon board, the tiny berths, +the shady side of the cabin, are all jostled for in a manner to make one +greatly envy the power of the snail; at the moment I would willingly have given +up some of my human dignity for the privilege of creeping into a shell of my +own. To any one who has been accustomed in travelling, to be addressed with, +“Do sit here, you will find it more comfortable,” the “You +must go there, I made for this place first,” sounds very unmusical. +</p> + +<p> +There is a great quietness about the women of America (I speak of the exterior +manner of persons casually met), but somehow or other, I should never call it +gentleness. In such trying moments as that of <i>fixing</i> themselves on board +a packet-boat, the men are prompt, determined, and will compromise any +body’s convenience, except their own. The women are doggedly stedfast in +their will, and till matters are settled, look like hedgehogs, with every quill +raised, and firmly set, as if to forbid the approach of any one who might wish +to rub them down. In circumstances where an English woman would look proud, and +a French woman <i>nonchalante</i>, an American lady looks grim; even the +youngest and the prettiest can set their lips, and knit their brows, and look +as hard and unsocial as their grandmothers. +</p> + +<p> +Though not in the Yankee or New England country, we were bordering upon it +sufficiently to meet in the stages and boats many delightful specimens of this +most peculiar race. I like them extremely well, but I would not wish to have +any business transactions with them, if I could avoid it, lest, to use their +own phrase, “they should be too smart for me.” +</p> + +<p> +It is by no means rare to meet elsewhere, in this working-day world of +our’s, people who push acuteness to the verge of honesty, and sometimes, +perhaps, a little bit beyond; but, I believe, the Yankee is the only one who +will be found to boast of doing so. It is by no means easy to give a clear and +just idea of a Yankee; if you hear his character from a Virginian, you will +believe him a devil: if you listen to it from himself, you might fancy him a +god—though a tricky one; Mercury turned righteous and notable. Matthews +did very well, as far as “I expect,” “I calculate,” and +“I guess;” but this is only the shell; there is an immense deal +within, both of sweet and bitter. In acuteness, cautiousness, industry, and +perseverance, he resembles the Scotch; in habits of frugal neatness, he +resembles the Dutch; in love of lucre he doth greatly resemble the sons of +Abraham; but in frank admission, and superlative admiration of all his own +peculiarities, he is like nothing on earth but himself. +</p> + +<p> +The Quakers have been celebrated for the pertinacity with which they avoid +giving a direct answer, but what Quaker could ever vie with a Yankee in this +sort of fencing? Nothing, in fact, can equal their skill in evading a question, +excepting that with which they set about asking one. I am afraid that in +repeating a conversation which I overheard on board the Erie canal boat, I +shall spoil it, by forgetting some of the little delicate doublings which +delighted me—yet I wrote it down immediately. Both parties were Yankees, +but strangers to each other; one of them having, by gentle degrees, made +himself pretty well acquaninted with the point from which every one on board +had started, and that for which he was bound, at last attacked his brother +Reynard thus:- +</p> + +<p> +“Well, now, which way may you be travelling?” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect this canal runs pretty nearly west.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you going far with it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, now, I don’t rightly know how many miles it may be.” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect you’ll be from New York?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure enough I have been at New York, often and often.” +</p> + +<p> +“I calculate, then, ’tis not there as you stop?” +</p> + +<p> +“Business must be minded, in stopping and in stirring.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may say that. Well, I look then you’ll be making for the +Springs?” +</p> + +<p> +“Folks say as all the world is making for the Springs, and I except a +good sight of them is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you calculate upon stopping long when you get to your journey’s +end?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis my business must settle that, I expect?” +</p> + +<p> +“I guess that’s true, too; but you’ll be for making pleasure +a business for once, I calculate?” +</p> + +<p> +“My business don’t often lie in that line.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, may be, it is not the Springs as takes you this line?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Springs is a right elegant place, I reckon.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is your health, I calculate, as makes you break your good +rules?” +</p> + +<p> +“My health don’t trouble me much, I guess.” +</p> + +<p> +“No? Why that’s well. How is the markets, sir? Are bread stuffs +up?” +</p> + +<p> +“I a’nt just capable to say.” +</p> + +<p> +“A deal of money’s made by just looking after the article at the +fountain’s head.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may say that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you look to be making great dealings in produce up the +country?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why that, I expect, is difficult to know.” +</p> + +<p> +“I calculate you’ll find the markets changeable these times?” +</p> + +<p> +“No markets ben’t very often without changing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, that’s right down true. What may be your biggest article of +produce?” +</p> + +<p> +“I calculate, generally, that’s the biggest, as I makes most +by.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may say that. But what do you chiefly call your most particular +branch?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, that’s what I can’t justly say.” +</p> + +<p> +And so they went on, without advancing or giving an inch, ’till I was +weary of listening; but I left them still at it, when I stepped out to resume +my station on a trunk at the bow of the boat, where I scribbled in my note-book +this specimen of Yankee conversation. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The Erie canal has cut through much solid rock, and we often passed between +magnificent cliffs. The little falls of the Mohawk form a lovely scene; the +rocks over which the river runs are most fantastic in form. The fall continues +nearly a mile, and a beautiful village, called the Little Falls, overhangs it. +As many locks occur at this point, we quitted the boat, that we might the +better enjoy the scenery, which is of the widest description. Several other +passengers did so likewise, and I was much amused by one of our Yankees, who +very civilly accompanied our party, pointing out to me the wild state of the +country, and apologizing for it, by saying, that the property all round +thereabouts had been owned by an Englishman; “and you’ll excuse me, +ma’am, but when the English gets a spot of wild ground like this here, +they have no notions about it like us; but the Englishman have sold it, and if +you was to see it five years hence, you would not know it again; I’ll +engage there will be by that, half a score elegant factories—’tis a +true shame to let such a privilege of water lie idle.” +</p> + +<p> +We reached Utica at twelve o’clock the following day, pretty well fagged +by the sun by day, and a crowded cabin by night; lemon-juice and iced-water +(without sugar) kept us alive. But for this delightful recipe, feather fans, +and eau de Cologne, I think we should have failed altogether; the thermometer +stood at 90 degrees. +</p> + +<p> +At two, we set off in a very pleasant airy carriage for Trenton Falls, a +delightful drive of fourteen miles. These falls have become within the last few +years only second in fame to Niagara. The West Canada Creek, which in the map +shows but as a paltry stream, has found its way through three miles of rock, +which, at many points, is 150 feet high. A forest of enormous cedars is on +their summit; and many of that beautiful species of white cedar which droops +its branches like the weeping-willow grow in the clefts of the rock, and in +some places almost dip their dark foliage in the torrent. The rock is of a dark +grey limestone, and often presents a wall of unbroken surface. Near the hotel a +flight of very alarming steps leads down to the bed of the stream, and on +reaching it you find yourself enclosed in a deep abyss of solid rock, with no +visible opening but that above your head. The torrent dashes by with +inconceivable rapidity; its colour is black as night, and the dark ledge of +rock on which you stand, is so treacherously level with it, that nothing warns +you of danger. Within the last three years two young people, though surrounded +by their friends, have stepped an inch too far, and disappeared from among +them, as if by magic, never to revisit earth again. This broad flat ledge +reached but a short distance, and then the perpendicular wall appears to stop +your farther progress; but there is a spirit of defiance in the mind of man; he +will not be stayed either by rocks or waves. By the aid of gunpowder a +sufficient quantity of the rock has been removed to afford a fearful footing +round a point, which, when doubled, discloses a world of cataracts, all leaping +forward together in most magnificent confusion. I suffered considerably before +I reached the spot where this grand scene is visible; a chain firmly fastened +to the rock serves to hang by, as you creep along the giddy verge, and this +enabled me to proceed so far; but here the chain failed, and my courage with +it, though the rest of the party continued for some way farther, and reported +largely of still increasing sublimity. But my knees tottered, and my head swam, +so while the rest crept onward, I sat down to wait their return on the floor of +rock which had received us on quitting the steps. +</p> + +<p> +A hundred and fifty feet of bare black rock on one side, an equal height +covered with solemn cedars on the other, an unfathomed torrent roaring between +them, the fresh remembrance of the ghastly legend belonging to the spot, and +the idea of my children clinging to the dizzy path I had left, was altogether +sombre enough; but I had not sat long before a tremendous burst of thunder +shook the air; the deep chasm answered from either side, again, again, and +again; I thought the rock I sat upon trembled: but the whole effect was so +exceedingly grand, that I had no longer leisure to think of fear; my children +immediately returned, and we enjoyed together the darkening shadows cast over +the abyss, the rival clamour of the torrent and the storm, and that delightful +exaltation of the spirits which sets danger at defiance. A few heavy rain drops +alarmed us more than all the terrors of the spot, or rather, they recalled our +senses, and we retreated by the fearful steps, reaching our hotel unwetted and +unharmed. The next morning we were again early a foot; the last night’s +storm had refreshed the air, and renewed our strength. We now took a different +route, and instead of descending, as before, walked through the dark forest +along the cliff, sufficiently near its edge to catch fearful glimpses of the +scene below. After some time the patch began to descend, and at length brought +us to the Shantee, commemorated in Miss Sedgwick’s Clarence. This is by +far the finest point of the falls. There is a little balcony in front of the +Shantee, literally hanging over the tremendous whirlpool; though frail, it +makes one fancy oneself in safety, and reminded me of the feeling with which I +have stood on one side a high gate, watching a roaring bull on the other. The +walls of this Shantee are literally covered with autographs, and I was inclined +to join the laugh against the egotistical trifling, when one of the party +discovered “Trollope, England,” amidst the innumerable scrawls. The +well known characters were hailed with such delight, that I think I shall never +again laugh at any one for leaving their name where it is possible a friend may +find it. +</p> + +<p> +We returned to Utica to dinner, and found that we must either wait till the +next day for the Rochester coach, or again submit to the packet-boat. Our +impatience induced us to prefer the latter, not very wisely, I think, for every +annoyance seemed to increase upon us. The Oneida and the Genesee country are +both extremely beautiful, but had we not returned by another route we should +have known little about it. From the canal nothing is seen to advantage, and +very little is seen at all. My chief amusement, I think, was derived from +names. One town, consisting of a whiskey store and a warehouse, is called Port +Byron. At Rome, the first name I saw over a store was Remus, doing infinite +honour, I thought, to the classic lore of his godfathers and godmothers; but it +would be endless to record all the drolleries of this kind which we met with. +We arrived at Rochester, a distance of a hundred and forty miles, on the second +morning after leaving Utica, fully determined never to enter a canal boat +again, at least, not in America. +</p> + +<p> +Rochester is one of the most famous of the cities built on the Jack and +Bean-stalk principle. There are many splendid edifices in wood; and certainly +more houses, warehouses, factories, and steam-engines than ever were collected +together in the same space of time; but I was told by a fellow-traveller that +the stumps of the forest are still to be found firmly rooted in the cellars. +</p> + +<p> +The fall of the Genesee is close to the town, and in the course of a few months +will, perhaps, be in the middle of it. It is a noble sheet of water, of a +hundred and sixty feet perpendicular fall; but I looked at it through the +window of a factory, and as I did not like that, I was obligingly handed to the +door-way of a sawing-mill; in short, “the great water privilege” +has been so ingeniously taken advantage of, that no point can be found where +its voice and its movement are not mixed and confounded with those of the +“admirable machinery of this flourishing city.” +</p> + +<p> +The Genesee fall is renowned as being the last and fatal leap of the +adventurous madman, Sam Patch; he had leaped it once before, and rose to the +surface of the river in perfect safety, but the last time he was seen to falter +as he took the leap, and was never heard of more. It seems that he had some +misgivings of his fate, for a pet bear, which he had always taken with him on +his former break-neck adventures, and which had constantly leaped after him +without injury, he on this occasion left behind, in the care of a friend, to +whom he bequeathed him “in case of his not returning.” We saw the +bear, which is kept at the principal hotel; he is a noble creature, and more +completely tame than I ever saw any animal of the species. +</p> + +<p> +Our journey now became wilder every step, the unbroken forest often skirted the +road for miles, and the sight of a log-hut was an event. Yet the road was, for +the greater part of the day, good, running along a natural ridge, just wide +enough for it. This ridge is a very singular elevation, and, by all the enquiry +I could make, the favourite theory concerning it is, that it was formerly the +boundary of Lake Ontario, near which it passes. When this ridge ceased, the +road ceased too, and for the rest of the way to Lockport, we were most +painfully jumbled and jolted over logs and through bogs, till every joint was +nearly dislocated. +</p> + +<p> +Lockport is beyond all comparison, the strangest looking place I ever beheld. +As fast as half a dozen trees were cut down, a <i>factory</i> was raised up; +stumps still contest the ground with pillars, and porticos are seen to struggle +with rocks. It looks as if the demon of machinery, having invaded the peaceful +realms of nature, had fixed on Lockport as the battle-ground on which they +should strive for mastery. The fiend insists that the streams should go one +way, though the gentle mother had ever led their dancing steps another; nay, +the very rocks must fall before him, and take what form he wills. The battle is +lost and won. Nature is fairly routed and driven from the field, and the +rattling, crackling, hissing, spitting demon has taken possession of Lockport +for ever. +</p> + +<p> +We slept there, dismally enough. I never felt more out of humour at what the +Americans call improvement; it is, in truth, as it now stands, a most hideous +place, and gladly did I leave it behind me. +</p> + +<p> +Our next stage was to Lewiston; for some miles before we reached it we were +within sight of the British frontier; and we made our salaams. +</p> + +<p> +The monument of the brave General Brock stands on an elevated point near +Queenstown, and is visible at a great distance. +</p> + +<p> +We breakfasted at Lewiston, but felt every cup of coffee as a sin, so impatient +were we, as we approached the end of our long pilgrimage, to reach the shrine, +which nature seems to have placed at such a distance from her worshippers on +purpose to try the strength of their devotion. +</p> + +<p> +A few miles more would bring us to the high altar, but first we had to cross +the ferry, for we were determined upon taking our first view from British +ground. The Niagara river is very lovely here; the banks are bold, rugged, and +richly coloured, both by rocks and woods; and the stream itself is bright, +clear, and unspeakably green. +</p> + +<p> +In crossing the ferry a fellow-passenger made many enquiries of the young +boatman respecting the battle of Queenstown; he was but a lad, and could +remember little about it, but he was a British lad, and his answers smacked +strongly of his loyal British feeling. Among other things, the questioner asked +if many American citizens had not been thrown from the heights into the river. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, yes, there was a good many of them; but it was right to show them +there was water between us, and you know it might help to keep the rest of them +from coming to trouble us on our own ground.” +</p> + +<p> +This phrase, “our own ground,” gave interest to every mile, or I +believe I should have shut my eyes, and tried to sleep, that I might annihilate +what remained of time and space between me and Niagara. +</p> + +<p> +But I was delighted to see British oaks, and British roofs, and British boys +and girls. These latter, as if to impress upon us that they were not citizens, +made bows and courtseys as we passed, and this little touch of long unknown +civility produced great effect. “See these dear children, mamma! do they +not look English? how I love them!” was the exclamation it produced. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap33"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Niagara—Arrival at Forsythes—First sight of the Falls—Goat +Island—The Rapids—Buffalo—Lake +Erie—Canandaigna—Stage-coach adventures +</p> + +<p> +At length we reached Niagara. It was the brightest day that June could give; +and almost any day would have seemed bright that brought me to the object, +which for years, I had languished to look upon. +</p> + +<p> +We did not hear the sound of the Falls till very near the hotel, which +overhangs them; as you enter the door you see behind the hall an open space +surrounded by galleries, one above another, and in an instant you feel that +from thence the wonder is visible. +</p> + +<p> +I trembled like a fool, and my girls clung to me, trembling too, I believe, but +with faces beaming with delight. We encountered a waiter who had a sympathy of +some sort with us, for he would not let us run through the hall to the first +gallery, but ushered us up stairs, and another instant placed us where, at one +glance, I saw all I had wished for, hoped for, dreamed of. +</p> + +<p> +It is not for me to attempt a description of Niagara; I feel I have no powers +for it. +</p> + +<p> +After one long, stedfast gaze, we quitted the gallery that we might approach +still nearer, and in leaving the house had the good fortune to meet an English +gentleman,<a href="#fn11" name="fnref11" id="fnref11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> who +had been introduced to us at New York; he had preceded us by a few days, and +knew exactly how and where to lead us. If any man living can describe the scene +we looked upon it is himself, and I trust he will do it. As for myself, I can +only say, that wonder, terror, and delight completely overwhelmed me. I wept +with a strange mixture of pleasure and of pain, and certainly was, for some +time, too violently affected in the <i>physique</i> to be capable of much +pleasure; but when this emotion of the senses subsided, and I had recovered +some degree of composure, my enjoyment was very great indeed. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn11" id="fn11"></a> <a href="#fnref11">[11]</a> +The accomplished author of “Cyril Thornton.” +</p> + +<p> +To say that I was not disappointed is but a weak expression to convey the +surprise and astonishment which this long dreamed of scene produced. It has to +me something beyond its vastness; there is a shadowy mystery hangs about it +which neither the eye nor even the imagination can penetrate; but I dare not +dwell on this, it is a dangerous subject, and any attempt to describe the +sensations produced must lead direct to nonsense. +</p> + +<p> +Exactly at the Fall, it is the Fall and nothing else you have to look upon; +there are not, as at Trenton, mighty rocks and towering forests, there is only +the waterfall; but it is the fall of an ocean, and were Pelion piled on Ossa on +either side of it, we could not look at them. +</p> + +<p> +The noise is greatly less than I expected; one can hear with perfect +distinctness everything said in an ordinary tone, when quite close to the +cataract. The cause of this, I imagine to be, that it does not fall immediately +among rocks, like the far noisier Potomac, but direct and unbroken, save by its +own rebound. The colour of the water, before this rebound hides it in foam and +mist, is of the brightest and most delicate green; the violence of the impulse +sends it far over the precipice before it falls, and the effect of the ever +varying light through its transparency is, I think, the loveliest thing I ever +looked upon. +</p> + +<p> +We descended to the edge of the gulf which received the torrent, and thence +looked at the horse-shoe fall in profile; it seems like awful daring to stand +close beside it, and raise one’s eyes to its immensity. I think the point +the most utterly inconceivable to those who have not seen it, is the centre of +the horse-shoe. The force of the torrent converges there, and as the heavy mass +pours in, twisted, wreathed, and curled together, it gives an idea of +irresistible power, such as no other object ever conveyed to me. +</p> + +<p> +The following anecdote, which I had from good authority, may give some notion +of this mighty power. +</p> + +<p> +After the last American war, three of our ships stationed on Lake Erie were +declared unfit for service, and condemned. Some of their officers obtained +permission to send them over Niagara Falls. The first was torn to shivers by +the rapids, and went over in fragments; the second filled with water before she +reached the fall; but the third, which was in better condition, took the leap +gallantly, and retained her form till it was hid in the cloud of mist below. A +reward of ten dollars was offered for the largest fragment of wood that should +be found from either wreck, five for the second, and so on. One morsel only was +ever seen, and that about a foot in length, was mashed as by a vice, and its +edges notched like the teeth of a saw. What had become of the immense quantity +of wood which had been precipitated? What unknown whirlpool had engulphed it, +so that, contrary to the very laws of nature, no vestige of the floating +material could find its way to the surface? +</p> + +<p> +Beyond the horse-shoe is Goat Island, and beyond Goat Island the American fall, +bold, straight, and chafed to snowy whiteness by the rocks which meet it; but +it does not approach, in sublimity or awful beauty, to the wondrous crescent on +the other shore. There, the form of the mighty cauldron, into which the deluge +poors, the hundred silvery torrents congregating round its verge, the smooth +and solemn movement with which it rolls its massive volume over the rock, the +liquid emerald of its long unbroken waters, the fantastic wreaths which spring +to meet it, and then, the shadowy mist that veils the horrors of its crash +below, constitute a scene almost too enormous in its features for man to look +upon. “Angels might tremble as they gazed;” and I should deem the +nerves obtuse, rather than strong, which did not quail at the first sight of +this stupendous cataract. +</p> + +<p> +Minute local particulars can be of no interest to those who have not felt their +influence for pleasure or for pain. I will not tell of giddy stairs which scale +the very edge of the torrent, nor of beetling slabs of table rock, broken and +breaking, on which, shudder as you may, you must take your stand or lose your +reputation as a tourist. All these feats were performed again and again even on +the first day of our arrival, and most earthly weary was I when the day was +done, though I would not lose the remembrance of it to purchase the addition of +many soft and silken ones to my existence. +</p> + +<p> +By four o’clock the next morning I was again at the little shantee, close +to the horse-shoe fall, which seems reared in water rather than in air, and +took an early shower-bath of spray. Much is concealed at this early hour by the +heavy vapour, but there was a charm in the very obscurity; and every moment, as +the light increased, cloud after cloud rolled off, till the vast wonder was +again before me. +</p> + +<p> +It is in the afternoon that the rainbow is visible from the British side; and +it is a lovely feature in the mighty landscape. The gay arch springs from fall +to fall, a fairy bridge. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast we crossed to the American side, and explored Goat Island. The +passage across the Niagara, directly in face of the falls, is one of the most +delightful little voyages imaginable; the boat crosses marvellously near them, +and within reach of a light shower of spray. Real safety and apparent danger +have each their share in the pleasure felt. The river is here two hundred feet +deep. The passage up the rock brings you close upon the American cataract; it +is a vast sheet, and has all the sublimity that height and width, and uproar +can give; but it has none of the magic of its rival about it. Goat Island has, +at all points, a fine view of the rapids; the furious velocity with which they +rush onward to the abyss is terrific; and the throwing a bridge across them was +a work of noble daring. +</p> + +<p> +Below the falls, the river runs between lofty rocks, crowned with unbroken +forests; this scene forms a striking contrast to the level shores above the +cataract. It appears as if the level of the river had been broken up by some +volcanic force. The Niagara flows out of Lake Erie, a broad, deep river; but +for several miles its course is tranquil, and its shores perfectly level. By +degrees its bed begins to sink, and the glassy smoothness is disturbed by a +slight ripple. The inverted trees, that before lay so softly still upon its +bosom, become twisted and tortured till they lose their form, and seem madly to +mix in the tumult that destroys them. The current becomes more rapid at every +step, till rock after rock has chafed the stream to fury, making the green one +white. This lasts for a mile, and then down sink the rocks at once, one hundred +and fifty feet, and the enormous flood falls after them. God said, let there be +a cataract, and it was so. When the river has reached its new level, the +precipice on either side shows a terrific chasm of solid rock; some beautiful +plants are clinging to its sides, and oak, ash, and cedar, in many places, +clothe their terrors with rich foliage. +</p> + +<p> +This violent transition from level shores to a deep ravine, seems to indicate +some great convulsion as its cause, and when I heard of a burning spring close +by, I fancied the volcanic power still at work, and that the wonders of the +region might yet increase. +</p> + +<p> +We passed four delightful days of excitement and fatigue; we drenched ourselves +in spray; we cut our feet on the rocks; we blistered our faces in the sun; we +looked up the cataract, and down the cataract; we perched ourselves on every +pinnacle we could find; we dipped our fingers in the flood at a few +yards’ distance from its thundering fall; in short, we strove to fill as +many niches of memory with Niagara as possible; and I think the images will be +within the power of recall for ever. +</p> + +<p> +We met many groups of tourists in our walks, chiefly American, but they were, +or we fancied they were, but little observant of the wonders around them. +</p> + +<p> +One day we were seated on a point of the cliff, near the ferry, which commands +a view of both the Falls. This, by the way, is considered as the finest general +view of the scene. One of our party was employed in attempting to sketch, what, +however, I believe it is impossible for any pencil to convey an idea of to +those who have not seen it. We had borrowed two or three chairs from a +neighbouring cottage, and amongst us had gathered a quantity of boughs which, +with the aid of shawls and parasols, we had contrived to weave into a shelter +from the midday sun, so that altogether I have no doubt we looked very cool and +comfortable. +</p> + +<p> +A large party who had crossed from the American side, wound up the steep ascent +from the place where the boat had left them; in doing so their backs were +turned to the cataracts, and as they approached the summit, our party was the +principal object before them. They all stood perfectly still to look at us. +This first examination was performed at the distance of about a dozen yard from +the spot we occupied, and lasted about five minutes, by which time they had +recovered breath, and acquired courage. They then advanced in a body, and one +or two of them began to examine (wrong side upwards) the work of the sketcher, +in doing which they stood precisely between him and his object; but of this I +think it is very probable they were not aware. Some among them next began to +question us as to how long we had been at the Falls; whether there were much +company; if we were not from the old country, and the like. In return we learnt +that they were just arrived; yet not one of them (there were eight) ever turned +the head, even for a moment, to look at the most stupendous spectacle that +nature has to show. +</p> + +<p> +The company at the hotel changed almost every day. Many parties arrived in the +morning, walked to the falls; returned to the hotel to dinner, and departed by +the coach immediately after it. Many groups were indescribably whimsical, both +in appearance and manner. Now and then a first-rate dandy shot in among us, +like a falling star. +</p> + +<p> +On one occasion, when we were in the beautiful gallery, at the back of the +hotel, which overlooks the horse-shoe fall, we saw the booted leg of one of +this graceful race protruded from the window which commands the view, while his +person was thrown back in his chair, and his head enveloped in a cloud of +tobacco smoke. +</p> + +<p> +I have repeatedly remarked, when it has happened to me to meet any ultra fine +men among the wilder and more imposing scenes of our own land, that they throw +off, in a great degree, their airs, and their “townliness,” as some +one cleverly calls these <i>simagrées</i>, as if ashamed to “play their +fantastic tricks” before the god of nature, when so forcibly reminded of +his presence; and more than once on these occasions I have been surprised to +find how much intellect lurked behind the inane mask of fashion. But in America +the effect of fine scenery upon this class of persons is different, for it is +exactly when amongst it, that the most strenuous efforts at elegant +<i>nonchalance</i> are perceptible among the young exquisites of the western +world. It is true that they have little leisure for the display of grace in the +daily routine of commercial activity in which their lives are passed, and this +certainly offers a satisfactory explanation of the fact above stated. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately for our enjoyment, the solemn character of the scene was but little +broken in upon by these gentry. Every one who comes to Forsythe’s Hotel +(except Mrs. Bogle Corbet), walks to the shantee, writes their name in a book +which is kept there, and, for the most part, descends by the spiral staircase +which leads from the little platform before it, to the rocks below. Here they +find another shantee, but a few yards from the entrance of that wondrous cavern +which is formed by the falling flood on one side, and by the mighty rock over +which it pours, on the other. To this frail shelter from the wild uproar, and +the blinding spray, nearly all the touring gentlemen, and even many of the +pretty ladies, find their way. But here I often saw their noble daring fail, +and have watched them dripping and draggled turn again to the sheltering +stairs, leaving us in full possession of the awful scene we so dearly loved to +gaze upon. How utterly futile must every attempt be to describe the spot! How +vain every effort to convey an idea of the sensations it produces! Why is it so +exquisite a pleasure to stand for hours drenched in spray, stunned by the +ceaseless roar, trembling from the concussion that shakes the very rock you +cling to, and breathing painfully in the moist atmosphere that seems to have +less of air than water in it? Yet pleasure it is, and I almost think the +greatest I ever enjoyed. We more than once approached the entrance to this +appalling cavern, but I never fairly entered it, though two or three of my +party did. I lost my breath entirely; and the pain at my chest was so severe, +that not all my curiosity could enable me to endure it. +</p> + +<p> +What was that cavern of the winds, of which we heard of old, compared to this? +A mightier spirit than Aeolus reigns here. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this spot of dread and danger the only one in which we found ourselves +alone. The path taken by “the company” to the shantee, which +contained the “book of names” was always the same; this wound down +the steep bank from the gate of the hotel garden, and was rendered tolerably +easy by its repeated doublings; but it was by no means the best calculated to +manage to advantage the pleasure of the stranger in his approach to the spot. +All others, however, seemed left for us alone. +</p> + +<p> +During our stay we saw the commencement of another staircase, intended to rival +in attraction that at present in use; it is but a few yards from it, and can in +no way, I think, contribute to the convenience of the descent. The erection of +the central shaft of this spiral stair was a most tremendous operation, and +made me sick and giddy as I watched it. After it had been made fast at the +bottom, the carpenters swung themselves off the rocks, by the means of ropes, +to the beams which traversed it; and as they sat across them, in the midst of +the spray and the uproar, I thought I had never seen life periled so wantonly. +But the work proceeded without accident, and was nearly finished before we left +the hotel. +</p> + +<p> +It was a sort of pang to take what we knew must be our last look at Niagara; +but “we had to do it,” as the Americans say, and left it on the +10th June, for Buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +The drive along the river, above the Falls, is as beautiful as a clear stream +of a mile in width can make it; and the road continues close to it till you +reach the ferry at Black Rock. +</p> + +<p> +We welcomed, almost with a shout, the British colours which we saw, for the +first time, on Commodore Barrie’s pretty sloop, the <i>Bull Dog</i>, +which we passed as it was towing up the river to Lake Erie, the commodore being +about to make a tour of the lakes. +</p> + +<p> +At Black Rock we crossed again into the United States, and a few miles of +horrible jolting brought us to Buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the thousand and one towns I saw in America, I think Buffalo is the +queerest looking; it is not quite so wild as Lockport, but all the buildings +have the appearance of having been run up in a hurry, though every thing has an +air of great pretension; there are porticos, columns, domes, and colonnades, +but all in wood. Every body tells you there, as in all their other new-born +towns, and every body believes, that their improvement, and their progression, +are more rapid, more wonderful, than the earth ever before witnessed; while to +me, the only wonder is, how so many thousands, nay millions of persons, can be +found, in the nineteenth century, who can be content so to live. Surely this +country may be said to spread rather than to rise. +</p> + +<p> +The Eagle Hotel, an immense wooden fabric, has all the pretension of a splendid +establishment, but its monstrous corridors, low ceilings, and intricate +chambers, gave me the feeling of a catacomb rather than a house. We arrived +after the <i>table d’hôte</i> tea-drinking was over, and supped +comfortably enough with a gentleman, who accompanied us from the Falls: but the +next morning we breakfasted in a long, low, narrow room, with a hundred +persons, and any thing less like comfort can hardly be imagined. +</p> + +<p> +What can induce so many intellectual citizens to prefer these long, silent +tables, scantily covered with morsels of fried ham, salt fish and liver, to a +comfortable loaf of bread with their wives and children at home? How greatly +should I prefer eating my daily meals with my family, in an Indian wig-wam, to +boarding at a <i>table d’hôte</i> in these capacious hotels; the custom, +however, seems universal through the country, at least we have met it, without +a shadow of variation as to its general features, from New Orleans to Buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +Lake Erie has no beauty to my eyes; it is not the sea, and it is not the river, +nor has it the beautiful scenery generally found round smaller lakes. The only +interest its unmeaning expanse gave me, arose from remembering that its waters, +there so tame and tranquil, were destined to leap the gulf of Niagara. A +dreadful road, through forests only beginning to be felled, brought us to Avon; +it is a straggling, ugly little place, and not any of their “Romes, +Carthages, Ithacas, or Athens,” ever provoked me by their name so much. +This Avon flows sweetly with nothing but whiskey and tobacco juice. +</p> + +<p> +The next day’s journey was much more interesting, for it showed us the +lake of Canandaigua. It is about eighteen miles long, but narrow enough to +bring the opposite shore, clothed with rich foliage, near to the eye; the +back-ground is a ridge of mountains. Perhaps the state of the atmosphere lent +an unusual charm to the scene; one of those sudden thunderstorms, so rapid in +approach, and so sombre in colouring, that they change the whole aspect of +things in a moment, rose over the mountains and passed across the lake while we +looked upon it. Another feature in the scene gave a living, but most sad +interest to it. A glaring wooden hotel, as fine as paint and porticos can make +it, overhangs the lake; beside it stands a shed for cattle. To this shed, and +close by the white man’s mushroom palace, two Indians had crept to seek a +shelter from the storm. The one was an aged man, whose venerable head in +attitude and expression indicated the profoundest melancholy: the other was a +youth, and in his deep-set eye there was a quiet sadness more touching still. +There they stood, the native rightful lords of the fair land, looking out upon +the lovely lake which yet bore the name their fathers had given it, watching +the threatening storm that brooded there; a more fearful one had already burst +over them. +</p> + +<p> +Though I have mentioned the lake first, the little town of Canandaigua precedes +it, in returning from the West. It is as pretty a village as ever man contrived +to build. Every house is surrounded by an ample garden, and at that flowery +season they were half buried in roses. +</p> + +<p> +It is true these houses are of wood, but they are so neatly painted, in such +perfect repair, and show so well within their leafy setting, that it is +impossible not to admire them. +</p> + +<p> +Forty-six miles farther is Geneva, beautifully situated on Seneca Lake. This, +too, is a lovely sheet of water, and I think the town may rival its European +namesake in beauty. +</p> + +<p> +We slept at Auburn, celebrated for its prison, where the highly-approved system +of American discipline originated. In this part of the country there is no want +of churches; every little village has its wooden temple, and many of them too; +that the Methodists and Presbyterians may not clash. +</p> + +<p> +We passed through an Indian reserve, and the untouched forests again hung close +upon the road. Repeated groups of Indians passed us, and we remarked that they +were much cleaner and better dressed than those we had met wandering far from +their homes. The blankets which they use so gracefully as mantles were as white +as snow. +</p> + +<p> +We took advantage of the loss of a horse’s shoe, to leave the coach, and +approach a large party of them, consisting of men, women, and children, who +were regaling themselves with I know not what, but milk made a part of the +repast. They could not talk to us, but they received us with smiles, and seemed +to understand when we asked if they had mocassins to sell, for they shook their +sable locks, and answered “no.” A beautiful grove of butternut +trees was pointed out to us, as the spot where the chiefs of the six nations +used to hold their senate; our informer told me that he had been present at +several of their meetings, and though he knew but little of their language, the +power of their eloquence was evident from the great effect it produced among +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Towards the end of this day, we encountered an adventure which revived our +doubts whether the invading white men, in chasing the poor Indians from their +forests, have done much towards civilizing the land. For myself, I almost +prefer the indigenous manner to the exotic. +</p> + +<p> +The coach stopped to take in “a lady” at Vernon; she entered, and +completely filled the last vacant inch of our vehicle; for “we were +eight” before. +</p> + +<p> +But no sooner was she seated, than her <i>beau</i> came forward with a most +enormous wooden best-bonnet box. He paused for a while to meditate the +possibilities—raised it, as if to place it on our laps—sunk it, as +if to put it beneath our feet. Both alike appeared impossible; when, in true +Yankee style he addressed one of our party with. If you’ll just step out +a minute, I guess I’ll find room for it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps so. But how shall I find room for myself afterwards?” +</p> + +<p> +This was uttered in European accents, and in an instant half a dozen whiskey +drinkers stepped from before the whiskey store, and took the part of the +<i>beau</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s because you’ll be English travellers I expect, but we +have travelled in better countries than Europe—we have travelled in +America—and the box will go, I calculate.” +</p> + +<p> +We remonstrated on the evident injustice of the proceeding, and I ventured to +say, that as we had none of us any luggage in the carriage, because the space +was so very small, I thought a chance passenger could have no right so greatly +to incommode us. +</p> + +<p> +“Right!—there they go—that’s just their way—that +will do in Europe, may be; it sounds just like English tyranny, now don’t +it? but it won’t do here.” And thereupon he began thrusting in the +wooden box against our legs, with all his strength. +</p> + +<p> +“No law, sir, can permit such conduct as this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Law!” exclaimed a gentleman very particularly drunk, “we +makes our own laws, and governs our own selves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Law!” echoed another gentleman of Vernon, “this is a free +country, <i>we have no laws here</i>, and we don’t want no foreign power +to tyrannize over us.” +</p> + +<p> +295 +</p> + +<p> +I give the words exactly. It is, however, but fair to state, that the party had +evidently been drinking more than an usual portion of whiskey, but, perhaps, in +whiskey, as in wine, truth may come to light. At any rate the people of the +Western Paradise follow the Gentiles in this, that they are a law unto +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +During the contest, the coachman sat upon the box without saying a word, but +seemed greatly to enjoy the joke; the question of the box, however, was finally +decided in our favour by the nature of the human material, which cannot be +compressed beyond a certain degree. +</p> + +<p> +For the great part of this day we had the good fortune to have a gentleman and +his daughter for our fellow-travellers, who were extremely intelligent and +agreeable; but I nearly got myself into a scrape by venturing to remark upon a +phrase used by the gentleman, and which had met me at every corner from the +time I first entered the country. We had been talking of pictures, and I had +endeavoured to adhere to the rule I had laid down for myself, of saying very +little, where I could say nothing agreeable. At length he named an American +artist, with whose works I was very familiar, and after having declared him +equal to Lawrence (judging by his portrait of West, now at New York), he added, +“and what is more, madam, he is perfectly <i>self-taught</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +I prudently took a few moments before I answered; for the equalling our +immortal Lawrence to a most vile dauber stuck in my throat; I could not say +Amen; so for some time I said nothing; but, at last, I remarked on the +frequency with which I had heard this phrase of <i>self-taught</i> used, not as +an apology, but as positive praise. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, madam, can there be a higher praise?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not, if spoken of the individual merits of a person, without +the means of instruction, but I do not understand it when applied as praise to +his works.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not understand it, madam? Is it not attributing genius to the author, +and what is teaching compared to that?” +</p> + +<p> +296 +</p> + +<p> +I do not wish to repeat all my own <i>bons mots</i> in praise of study, and on +the disadvantages of profound ignorance, but I would, willingly, if I could, +give an idea of the mixed indignation and contempt expressed by our companion +at the idea that study was necessary to the formation of taste, and to the +development of genius. At last, however, he closed the discussion +thus,—“There is no use in disputing a point that is already +settled, madam; the best judges declare that Mr. H—g’s portraits +are equal to that of Lawrence.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it who has passed this judgement, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“The men of taste of America, madam.” +</p> + +<p> +I then asked him, if he thought it was going to rain? +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The stages do not appear to have any regular stations at which to stop for +breakfast, dinner, and supper. These necessary interludes, therefore, being +generally <i>impromptu</i>, were abominably bad. We were amused by the patient +manner in which our American fellow-travellers ate whatever was set before +them, without uttering a word of complaint, or making any effort to improve it, +but no sooner reseated in the stage, than they began their +complaints—“twas a shame”—“twas a +robbery”—“twas poisoning folks”—and the like. I, +at last, asked the reason of this, and why they did not remonstrate? +“Because, madam, no American gentleman or lady that keeps an inn +won’t bear to be found fault with.” +</p> + +<p> +We reached Utica very late and very weary; but the delights of a good hotel and +perfect civility sent us in good humour to bed, and we arose sufficiently +refreshed to enjoy a day’s journey through some of the loveliest scenery +in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Who is it that says America is not picturesque? I forget; but surely he never +travelled from Utica to Albany. I really cannot conceive that any country can +furnish a drive of ninety-six miles more beautiful, or more varied in its +beauty. The road follows the Mohawk River, which flows through scenes changing +from fields, waving with plenty, to rocks and woods; gentle slopes, covered +with cattle, are divided from each other by precipices 500 feet high. Around +the little falls there is a character of beauty as singular as it is striking. +Here, as I observed of many other American rivers, the stream appears to run in +a much narrower channel than it once occupied, and the space which it seems +formerly to have filled, is now covered with bright green herbage, save that, +at intervals, large masses of rock rise abruptly from the level turf; these are +crowned with all such trees as love the scanty diet which a rock affords. Dwarf +oak, cedars, and the mountain ash, are grouped in a hundred different ways +among them; each clump you look upon is lovelier than its neighbour; I never +saw so sweetly wild a spot. +</p> + +<p> +I was surprised to hear a fellow-traveller say, as we passed a point of +peculiar beauty, “all this neighbourhood belongs, or did belong, to Mr. +Edward Ellice, an English Member of Parliament, but he has sold a deal of it, +and now, madam, you may see as it begins to improve;” and he pointed to a +great wooden edifice, where, on the white paint, “Cash for Rags,” +in letters three feet high, might be seen. +</p> + +<p> +I then remembered that it was near this spot that my Yankee friend had made his +complaint against English indifference to “water privilege.” He did +not name Mr. Edward Ellice, but doubtless he was the “English, as never +thought of improvement.” +</p> + +<p> +I have often confessed my conscious incapacity for description, but I must +repeat it here to apologize for my passing so dully through this matchless +valley of the Mohawk. I would that some British artist, strong in youthful +daring, would take my word for it, and pass over, for a summer pilgrimage +through the State of New York. In very earnest, he would wisely, for I question +if the world could furnish within the same space, and with equal facility of +access, so many subjects for his pencil. Mountains, forests, rocks, lakes, +rivers, cataracts, all in perfection. But he must be bold as a lion in +colouring, or he will make nothing of it. There is a clearness of atmosphere, a +strength of <i>chiaro oscuro</i>, a massiveness in the foliage, and a +brilliance of contrast, that must make a colourist of any one who has an eye. +He must have courage to dip his pencil in shadows black as night, and light +that might blind an eagle. As I presume my young artist to be an enthusiast, he +must first go direct to Niagara, or even in the Mohawk valley his pinioned wing +may droop. If his fever run very high, he may slake his thirst at Trenton, and +while there, he will not dream of any thing beyond it. Should my advice be +taken, I will ask the young adventurer on his return (when he shall have made a +prodigious quantity of money by my hint), to reward me by two sketches. One +shall be the lake of Canandaigua; the other the Indians’ Senate Grove of +Butternuts. +</p> + +<p> +During our journey, I forget on which day of it, a particular spot in the +forest, at some distance from the road, was pointed out to us as the scene of a +true, but very romantic story. During the great and the terrible French +revolution (1792), a young nobleman escaped from the scene of horror, having +with difficulty saved his head, and without the possibility of saving any thing +else. He arrived at New York nearly destitute; and after passing his life, not +only in splendour, but in the splendour of the court of France, he found +himself jostled by the busy population of the New World, without a dollar +between him and starvation. In such a situation one might almost sigh for the +guillotine. The young noble strove to labour; but who would purchase the +trembling efforts of his white hands, while the sturdy strength of many a black +Hercules was in the market? He abandoned the vain attempt to sustain himself by +the aid of his fellow-men, and determined to seek a refuge in the forest. A few +shillings only remained to him; he purchased an axe, and reached the Oneida +territory. He felled a few of the slenderest trees, and made himself a shelter +that Robinson Crusoe would have laughed at, for it did not keep out the rain. +Want of food, exposure to the weather, and unwonted toil, produced the natural +result; the unfortunate young man fell sick, and stretched upon the reeking +earth, stifled, rather than sheltered, by the withering boughs which hung over +him; he lay parched with thirst, and shivering in ague, with the one last +earthly hope, that each heavy moment would prove the last. +</p> + +<p> +Near to the spot which he had chosen for his miserable rest, but totally +concealed from it by the thick forest, was the last straggling wigwam of an +Indian village. It is not known how many days the unhappy man had lain without +food, but he was quite insensible when a young squaw, whom chance had brought +from this wigwam to his hut, entered, and found him alive, but totally +insensible. The heart of woman is, I believe, pretty much the same every where; +the young girl paused not to think whether he were white or red, but her fleet +feet rested not till she had brought milk, rum, and blankets, and when the +sufferer recovered his senses, his head was supported on her lap, while, with +the gentle tenderness of a mother, she found means to make him swallow the +restoratives she had brought. +</p> + +<p> +No black eyes in the world, be they of France, Italy, or even of Spain, can +speak more plainly of kindness, than the large deep-set orbs of a squaw; this +is a language that all nations can understand, and the poor Frenchman read most +clearly, in the anxious glance of his gentle nurse, that he should not die +forsaken. +</p> + +<p> +So far the story is romantic enough, and what follows is hardly less so. The +squaw found means to introduce her white friend to her tribe; he was adopted as +their brother, speedily acquired their language, and assumed their dress and +manner of life. His gratitude to his preserver soon ripened into love, and if +the chronicle spoke true, the French noble and the American savage were more +than passing happy as man and wife, and it was not till he saw himself the +father of many thriving children that the exile began to feel a wish of rising +again from savage to civilized existence. +</p> + +<p> +My historian did not explain what his project was in visiting New York, but he +did so in the habit of an Indian, and learnt enough of the restored +tranquillity of his country to give him hope that some of the broad lands he +had left there might be restored to him. +</p> + +<p> +I have made my story already too long, and must not linger upon it farther than +to say that his hopes were fulfilled, and that, of a large and flourishing +family, some are settled in France, and some remain in America, (one of these, +I understood, was a lawyer at New York), while the hero and the heroine of the +tale continue to inhabit the Oneida country, not in a wigwam, however, but in a +good house, in a beautiful situation, with all the comforts of civilized life +around them. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the narrative we listened to, from a stage coach companion; and it +appears to me sufficiently interesting to repeat, though I have no better +authority to quote for its truth, than the assertion of this unknown traveller. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap34"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Return to New York—Conclusion +</p> + +<p> +The comfortable Adelphi Hotel again received us at Albany, on the 14th of June, +and we decided upon passing the following day there, both to see the place, and +to recruit our strength, which we began to feel we had taxed severely by a very +fatiguing journey, in most oppressively hot weather. It would have been +difficult to find a better station for repose; the rooms were large and airy, +and ice was furnished in most profuse abundance. +</p> + +<p> +But notwithstanding the manifold advantages of this excellent hotel, I was +surprised at the un-English arrangement communicated to me by two ladies with +whom we made a speaking acquaintance, by which it appeared that they made it +their permanent home. These ladies were a mother and daughter; the daughter was +an extremely pretty young married woman, with two little children. Where the +husbands were, or whether they were dead or alive, I know not; but they told me +they had been <i>boarding</i> there above a year. They breakfasted, dined, and +supped at the <i>table d’hôte</i>, with from twenty to a hundred people, +as accident might decide; dressed very smart, played on the piano, in the +public sitting-room, and assured me they were particularly comfortable and well +accommodated. What a life! +</p> + +<p> +Some parts of the town are very handsome; the Town Hall, the Chamber of +Representatives, and some other public buildings, stand well on a hill that +overlooks the Hudson, with ample enclosures of grass and trees around them. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the shops are large, and showily set out. I was amused by a national +trait which met me at one of them. I entered it to purchase some <i>eau de +Cologne</i>, but finding what was offered to me extremely bad, and very cheap, +I asked if they had none at a higher price, and better. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a stranger, I guess,” was the answer. “The Yankees +want low price, that’s all; they don’t stand so much for goodness +as the English.” +</p> + +<p> +Nothing could be more beautiful than our passage down the Hudson on the +following day, as I thought of some of my friends in England, dear lovers of +the picturesque, I could not but exclaim, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Que je vous plains! que je vous plains!<br/> +Vous ne la verrez pas.” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Not even a moving panoramic view, gliding before their eyes for an hour +together, in all the scenic splendour of Drury Lane, or Covent Garden, could +give them an idea of it. They could only see one side at a time. The change, +the contrast, the ceaseless variety of beauty, as you skim from side to side, +the liquid smoothness of the broad mirror that reflects the scene, and most of +all, the clear bright air through which you look at it; all this can only be +seen and believed by crossing the Atlantic. +</p> + +<p> +As we approached New York the burning heat of the day relaxed, and the long +shadows of evening fell coolly on the beautiful villas we passed. I really can +conceive nothing more exquisitely lovely than this approach to the city. The +magnificent boldness of the Jersey shore on the one side, and the luxurious +softness of the shady lawns on the other, with the vast silvery stream that +flows between them, altogether form a picture which may well excuse a traveller +for saying, once and again, that the Hudson river can be surpassed in beauty by +none on the outside of Paradise. +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly dark when we reached the city, and it was with great satisfaction +that we found our comfortable apartments in Hudson Street unoccupied; and our +pretty, kind (Irish) hostess willing to receive us again. We passed another +fortnight there; and again we enjoyed the elegant hospitality of New York, +though now it was offered from beneath the shade of their beautiful villas. In +truth, were all America like this fair city, and all, no, only a small +proportion of its population like the friends we left there, I should say, that +the land was the fairest in the world. +</p> + +<p> +But the time was come to bid it adieu! The important business of securing our +homeward passage was to be performed. One must know what it is to cross the +ocean before the immense importance of all the little details of accommodation +can be understood. The anxious first look: into the face of the captain, to +ascertain if he be gentle or rough; another, scarcely less important, in that +of the steward, generally a sable one, but not the less expressive; the +accurate, but rapid glance of measurement thrown round the little state-rooms; +another at the good or bad arrangement of the stair-case, by which you are to +stumble up and stumble down, from cabin to deck, and from deck to cabin; all +this, they only can understand who have felt it. At length, however, this +interesting affair was settled, and most happily. The appearance promised well, +and the performance bettered it. We hastened to pack up our +“trumpery,” as Captain Mirven unkindly calls the paraphernalia of +the ladies, and among the rest, my six hundred pages of griffonage. There is +enough of it, yet I must add a few more lines. +</p> + +<p> +I suspect that what I have written will make it evident that I do not like +America. Now, as it happens that I met with individuals there whom I love and +admire, far beyond the love and admiration of ordinary acquaintance, and as I +declare the country to be fair to the eye, and most richly teeming with the +gifts of plenty, I am led to ask myself why it is that I do not like it. I +would willingly know myself, and confess to others, why it is that neither its +beauty nor its abundance can suffice to neutralize, or greatly soften, the +distaste which the aggregate of my recollections has left upon my mind. +</p> + +<p> +I remember hearing it said, many years ago, when the advantages and +disadvantages of a particular residence were being discussed, that it was the +“who?” and not the “where?” that made the difference +between the pleasant or unpleasant residence. The truth of the observation +struck me forcibly when I heard it; and it has been recalled to my mind since, +by the constantly recurring evidence of its justness. In applying this to +America, I speak not of my friends, nor of my friends’ friends. The small +patrician band is a race apart; they live with each other, and for each other; +mix wondrously little with the high matters of state, which they seem to leave +rather supinely to their tailors and tinkers, and are no more to be taken as a +sample of the American people, than the head of Lord Byron as a sample of the +heads of the British peerage. I speak not of these, but of the population +generally, as seen in town and country, among the rich and the poor, in the +slave states, and the free states. I do not like them. I do not like their +principles, I do not like their manners, I do not like their opinions. +</p> + +<p> +Both as a woman, and as a stranger, it might be unseemly for me to say that I +do not like their government, and therefore I will not say so. That it is one +which pleases themselves is most certain, and this is considerably more +important than pleasing all the travelling old ladies in the world. I entered +the country at New Orleans, remained for more than two years west of the +Alleghanies, and passed another year among the Atlantic cities, and the country +around them. I conversed during this time with citizens of all orders and +degrees, and I never heard from any one a single disparaging word against their +government. It is not, therefore, surprising, that when the people of that +country hear strangers questioning the wisdom of their institutions, and +expressing disapprobation at some of their effects, they should set it down +either to an incapacity of judging, or a malicious feeling of envy and +ill-will. +</p> + +<p> +“How can any one in their senses doubt the excellence of a government +which we have tried for half a century, and loved the better the longer we have +known it.” Such is the natural enquiry of every American when the +excellence of their government is doubted; and I am inclined to answer, that no +one in their senses, who has visited the country, and known the people, can +doubt its fitness for them, such as they now are, or its utter unfitness for +any other people.. +</p> + +<p> +Whether the government has made the people what they are, or whether the people +have made the government what it is, to suit themselves, I know not; but if the +latter, they have shown a consummation of wisdom which the assembled world may +look upon and admire. +</p> + +<p> +It is a matter of historical notoriety that the original stock of the white +population now inhabiting the United States, were persons who had banished +themselves, or were banished from the mother country. The land they found was +favourable to their increase and prosperity; the colony grew and flourished. +Years rolled on, and the children, the grand-children, and the great +grand-children of the first settlers, replenished the land, and found it +flowing with milk and honey. That they should wish to keep this milk and honey +to themselves, is not very surprising. What did the mother country do for them? +She sent them out gay and gallant officers to guard their frontier; the which +they thought they could guard as well themselves; and then she taxed their tea. +Now, this was disagreeable; and to atone for it, the distant colony had no +great share in her mother’s grace and glory. It was not from among them +that her high and mighty were chosen; the rays which emanated from that bright +sun of honour, the British throne, reached them but feebly. They knew not, they +cared not, for her kings nor her heroes; their thriftiest trader was their +noblest man; the holy seats of learning were but the cradles of superstition; +the splendour of the aristocracy, but a leech that drew their “golden +blood.” The wealth, the learning, the glory of Britain, was to them +nothing; the having their own way every thing. +</p> + +<p> +Can any blame their wish to obtain it? Can any lament that they succeeded? +</p> + +<p> +And now the day was their own, what should they do next? Their elders drew +together, and said, “Let us make a government that shall suit us all; let +it be rude, and rough, and noisy; let it not affect either dignity, glory, or +splendour; let it interfere with no man’s will, nor meddle with any +man’s business; let us have neither tithes nor taxes, game laws, nor poor +laws; let every man have a hand in making the laws, and no man be troubled +about keeping them; let not our magistrates wear purple, nor our judges ermine; +if a man grow rich, let us take care that his grandson be poor, and then we +shall all keep equal; let every man take care of himself, and if England should +come to bother us again, why then we will fight altogether.” +</p> + +<p> +Could any thing be better imagined than such a government for a people so +circumstanced? Or is it strange that they are contented with it? Still less is +it strange that those who have lived in the repose of order, and felt secure +that their country could go on very well, and its business proceed without +their bawling and squalling, scratching and scrambling to help it, should bless +the gods that they are not republicans. +</p> + +<p> +So far all is well. That they should prefer a constitution which suits them so +admirably, to one which would not suit them at all, is surely no cause of +quarrel on our part; nor should it be such on theirs, if we feel no inclination +to exchange the institutions which have made us what we are, for any other on +the face of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +But when a native of Europe visits America, a most extraordinary species of +tyranny is set in action against him; and as far as my reading and experience +have enabled me to judge, it is such as no other country has ever exercised +against strangers. +</p> + +<p> +The Frenchman visits England; he is <i>abimé d’ennui</i> at our stately +dinners; shrugs his shoulders at our <i>corps de ballet</i>, and laughs <i>à +gorge déployée</i> at our passion for driving, and our partial affection for +roast beef and plum pudding. The Englishman returns the visit, and the first +thing he does on arriving at Paris, is to hasten to <i>le Théatre des +Variétés</i>, that he may see “<i>Les Anglaises pour rire</i>,” and +if among the crowd of laughters, you hear a note of more cordial mirth than the +rest, seek out the person from whom it proceeds, and you will find the +Englishman. +</p> + +<p> +The Italian comes to our green island, and groans at our climate; he vows that +the air which destroys a statue cannot be wholesome for man; he sighs for +orange trees, and maccaroni, and smiles at the pretensions of a nation to +poetry, while no epics are chaunted through her streets. Yet we welcome the +sensitive southern with all kindness, listen to his complaints with interest, +cultivate our little orange trees, and teach our children to lisp Tasso, in the +hope of becoming more agreeable. +</p> + +<p> +Yet we are not at all superior to the rest of Europe in our endurance of +censure, nor is this wish to profit by it all peculiar to the English; we laugh +at, and find fault with, our neighbours quite as freely as they do with us, and +they join the laugh, and adopt our fashions and our customs. These mutual +pleasantries produce no shadow of unkindly feeling; and as long as the +governments are at peace with each other, the individuals of every nation in +Europe make it a matter of pride, as well as of pleasure, to meet each other +frequently, to discuss, compare, and reason upon their national varieties, and +to vote it a mark of fashion and good taste to imitate each other in all the +external embellishments of life. +</p> + +<p> +The consequence of this is most pleasantly perceptible at the present time, in +every capital of Europe. The long peace has given time for each to catch from +each what was best in customs and manners, and the rapid advance of refinement +and general information has been the result. +</p> + +<p> +To those who have been accustomed to this state of things, the contrast upon +crossing to the new world is inconceivably annoying; and it cannot be doubted +that this is one great cause of the general feeling of irksomeness, and fatigue +of spirits, which hangs upon the memory while recalling the hours passed in +American society. +</p> + +<p> +A single word indicative of doubt, that any thing, or every thing, in that +country is not the very best in the world, produces an effect which must be +seen and felt to be understood. If the citizens of the United States were +indeed the devoted patriots they call themselves, they would surely not thus +encrust themselves in the hard, dry, stubborn persuasion, that they are the +first and best of the human race, that nothing is to be learnt, but what they +are able to teach, and that nothing is worth having, which they do not possess. +</p> + +<p> +The art of man could hardly discover a more effectual antidote to improvement, +than this persuasion; and yet I never listened to any public oration, or read +any work, professedly addressed to the country, in which they did not labour to +impress it on the minds of the people. +</p> + +<p> +To hint to the generality of Americans that the silent current of events may +change their beloved government, is not the way to please them; but in truth +they need be tormented with no such fear. As long as by common consent they can +keep down the pre-eminence which nature has assigned to great powers, as long +as they can prevent human respect and human honour from resting upon high +talent, gracious manners, and exalted station, so long may they be sure of +going on as they are. +</p> + +<p> +I have been told, however, that there are some among them who would gladly see +a change; some, who with the wisdom of philosophers, and the fair candour of +gentlemen, shrink from a profession of equality which they feel to be untrue, +and believe to be impossible. +</p> + +<p> +I can well believe that such there are, though to me no such opinions were +communicated, and most truly should I rejoice to see power pass into such +hands. +</p> + +<p> +If this ever happens, if refinement once creeps in among them, if they once +learn to cling to the graces, the honours, the chivalry of life, then we shall +say farewell to American equality, and welcome to European fellowship one of +the finest countries on the earth. +</p> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10345 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + |