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diff --git a/675-0.txt b/675-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ec33d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/675-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10392 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, American Notes for General Circulation, by +Charles Dickens, Illustrated by Marcus Stone + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: American Notes for General Circulation + + +Author: Charles Dickens + + + +Release Date: February 18, 2013 [eBook #675] +[This file was first posted on July 18, 1996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN NOTES FOR GENERAL +CIRCULATION*** + + +Transcribed from the 1913 Chapman & Hall, Ltd. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Emigrants] + + + + + + AMERICAN NOTES + FOR + GENERAL CIRCULATION + AND + PICTURES FROM ITALY {1} + + + BY + CHARLES DICKENS + + * * * * * + + WITH 8 ILLUSTRATIONS BY + MARCUS STONE, R.A. + + * * * * * + + LONDON + CHAPMAN & HALL, LTD. + 1913 + + * * * * * + + I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + TO + THOSE FRIENDS OF MINE + IN AMERICA + WHO, GIVING ME A WELCOME I MUST EVER + GRATEFULLY AND PROUDLY REMEMBER, + LEFT MY JUDGEMENT + FREE; + AND WHO, LOVING THEIR COUNTRY, CAN BEAR + THE TRUTH, WHEN IT IS TOLD GOOD + HUMOUREDLY, AND IN A + KIND SPIRIT. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST CHEAP EDITION OF “AMERICAN NOTES” + + +IT is nearly eight years since this book was first published. I present +it, unaltered, in the Cheap Edition; and such of my opinions as it +expresses, are quite unaltered too. + +My readers have opportunities of judging for themselves whether the +influences and tendencies which I distrust in America, have any existence +not in my imagination. They can examine for themselves whether there has +been anything in the public career of that country during these past +eight years, or whether there is anything in its present position, at +home or abroad, which suggests that those influences and tendencies +really do exist. As they find the fact, they will judge me. If they +discern any evidences of wrong-going in any direction that I have +indicated, they will acknowledge that I had reason in what I wrote. If +they discern no such thing, they will consider me altogether mistaken. + +Prejudiced, I never have been otherwise than in favour of the United +States. No visitor can ever have set foot on those shores, with a +stronger faith in the Republic than I had, when I landed in America. + +I purposely abstain from extending these observations to any length. I +have nothing to defend, or to explain away. The truth is the truth; and +neither childish absurdities, nor unscrupulous contradictions, can make +it otherwise. The earth would still move round the sun, though the whole +Catholic Church said No. + +I have many friends in America, and feel a grateful interest in the +country. To represent me as viewing it with ill-nature, animosity, or +partisanship, is merely to do a very foolish thing, which is always a +very easy one; and which I have disregarded for eight years, and could +disregard for eighty more. + +LONDON, _June_ 22, 1850. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE “CHARLES DICKENS” EDITION OF “AMERICAN NOTES” + + +MY readers have opportunities of judging for themselves whether the +influences and tendencies which I distrusted in America, had, at that +time, any existence but in my imagination. They can examine for +themselves whether there has been anything in the public career of that +country since, at home or abroad, which suggests that those influences +and tendencies really did exist. As they find the fact, they will judge +me. If they discern any evidences of wrong-going, in any direction that +I have indicated, they will acknowledge that I had reason in what I +wrote. If they discern no such indications, they will consider me +altogether mistaken—but not wilfully. + +Prejudiced, I am not, and never have been, otherwise than in favour of +the United States. I have many friends in America, I feel a grateful +interest in the country, I hope and believe it will successfully work out +a problem of the highest importance to the whole human race. To +represent me as viewing AMERICA with ill-nature, coldness, or animosity, +is merely to do a very foolish thing: which is always a very easy one. + + + + +CONTENTS + +DEDICATION OF “AMERICAN NOTES” v +PREFACE TO THE FIRST CHEAP EDITION OF “AMERICAN NOTES” vii +PREFACE TO THE “CHARLES DICKENS” EDITION OF “AMERICAN NOTES” ix + AMERICAN NOTES FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION + CHAPTER I +Going Away 3 + CHAPTER II +The Passage out 10 + CHAPTER III +Boston 22 + CHAPTER IV +An American Railroad. Lowell and its Factory System 52 + CHAPTER V +Worcester. The Connecticut River. Hartford. New Haven. To 60 +New York + CHAPTER VI +New York 67 + CHAPTER VII +Philadelphia, and its Solitary Prison 81 + CHAPTER VIII +Washington. The Legislature. And the President’s House 94 + CHAPTER IX +A Night Steamer on the Potomac River. Virginia Road, and a 107 +Black Driver. Richmond. Baltimore. The Harrisburg Mail, +and a Glimpse of the City. A Canal Boat + CHAPTER X +Some further Account of the Canal Boat, its Domestic Economy, 121 +and its Passengers. Journey to Pittsburg across the +Alleghany Mountains. Pittsburg + CHAPTER XI +From Pittsburg to Cincinnati in a Western Steamboat. 130 +Cincinnati + CHAPTER XII +From Cincinnati to Louisville in another Western Steamboat; 137 +and from Louisville to St. Louis in another. St. Louis + CHAPTER XIII +A Jaunt to the Looking-glass Prairie and back 147 + CHAPTER XIV +Return to Cincinnati. A Stage-coach Ride from that City to 153 +Columbus, and thence to Sandusky. So, by Lake Erie, to the +Falls of Niagara + CHAPTER XV +In Canada; Toronto; Kingston; Montreal; Quebec; St. John’s. 167 +In the United States again; Lebanon; The Shaker Village; West +Point + CHAPTER XVI +The Passage Home 182 + CHAPTER XVII +Slavery 189 + CHAPTER XVIII +Concluding Remarks 202 +Postscript 210 + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE +EMIGRANTS _Marcus Stone_, _R.A._ _Frontispiece_ +THE SOLITARY PRISONER 90 +BLACK AND WHITE 112 +THE LITTLE WIFE 144 + + + + +CHAPTER I +GOING AWAY + + +I SHALL never forget the one-fourth serious and three-fourths comical +astonishment, with which, on the morning of the third of January +eighteen-hundred-and-forty-two, I opened the door of, and put my head +into, a ‘state-room’ on board the Britannia steam-packet, twelve hundred +tons burthen per register, bound for Halifax and Boston, and carrying Her +Majesty’s mails. + +That this state-room had been specially engaged for ‘Charles Dickens, +Esquire, and Lady,’ was rendered sufficiently clear even to my scared +intellect by a very small manuscript, announcing the fact, which was +pinned on a very flat quilt, covering a very thin mattress, spread like a +surgical plaster on a most inaccessible shelf. But that this was the +state-room concerning which Charles Dickens, Esquire, and Lady, had held +daily and nightly conferences for at least four months preceding: that +this could by any possibility be that small snug chamber of the +imagination, which Charles Dickens, Esquire, with the spirit of prophecy +strong upon him, had always foretold would contain at least one little +sofa, and which his lady, with a modest yet most magnificent sense of its +limited dimensions, had from the first opined would not hold more than +two enormous portmanteaus in some odd corner out of sight (portmanteaus +which could now no more be got in at the door, not to say stowed away, +than a giraffe could be persuaded or forced into a flower-pot): that this +utterly impracticable, thoroughly hopeless, and profoundly preposterous +box, had the remotest reference to, or connection with, those chaste and +pretty, not to say gorgeous little bowers, sketched by a masterly hand, +in the highly varnished lithographic plan hanging up in the agent’s +counting-house in the city of London: that this room of state, in short, +could be anything but a pleasant fiction and cheerful jest of the +captain’s, invented and put in practice for the better relish and +enjoyment of the real state-room presently to be disclosed:—these were +truths which I really could not, for the moment, bring my mind at all to +bear upon or comprehend. And I sat down upon a kind of horsehair slab, +or perch, of which there were two within; and looked, without any +expression of countenance whatever, at some friends who had come on board +with us, and who were crushing their faces into all manner of shapes by +endeavouring to squeeze them through the small doorway. + +We had experienced a pretty smart shock before coming below, which, but +that we were the most sanguine people living, might have prepared us for +the worst. The imaginative artist to whom I have already made allusion, +has depicted in the same great work, a chamber of almost interminable +perspective, furnished, as Mr. Robins would say, in a style of more than +Eastern splendour, and filled (but not inconveniently so) with groups of +ladies and gentlemen, in the very highest state of enjoyment and +vivacity. Before descending into the bowels of the ship, we had passed +from the deck into a long narrow apartment, not unlike a gigantic hearse +with windows in the sides; having at the upper end a melancholy stove, at +which three or four chilly stewards were warming their hands; while on +either side, extending down its whole dreary length, was a long, long +table, over each of which a rack, fixed to the low roof, and stuck full +of drinking-glasses and cruet-stands, hinted dismally at rolling seas and +heavy weather. I had not at that time seen the ideal presentment of this +chamber which has since gratified me so much, but I observed that one of +our friends who had made the arrangements for our voyage, turned pale on +entering, retreated on the friend behind him, smote his forehead +involuntarily, and said below his breath, ‘Impossible! it cannot be!’ or +words to that effect. He recovered himself however by a great effort, +and after a preparatory cough or two, cried, with a ghastly smile which +is still before me, looking at the same time round the walls, ‘Ha! the +breakfast-room, steward—eh?’ We all foresaw what the answer must be: we +knew the agony he suffered. He had often spoken of _the saloon_; had +taken in and lived upon the pictorial idea; had usually given us to +understand, at home, that to form a just conception of it, it would be +necessary to multiply the size and furniture of an ordinary drawing-room +by seven, and then fall short of the reality. When the man in reply +avowed the truth; the blunt, remorseless, naked truth; ‘This is the +saloon, sir’—he actually reeled beneath the blow. + +In persons who were so soon to part, and interpose between their else +daily communication the formidable barrier of many thousand miles of +stormy space, and who were for that reason anxious to cast no other +cloud, not even the passing shadow of a moment’s disappointment or +discomfiture, upon the short interval of happy companionship that yet +remained to them—in persons so situated, the natural transition from +these first surprises was obviously into peals of hearty laughter, and I +can report that I, for one, being still seated upon the slab or perch +before mentioned, roared outright until the vessel rang again. Thus, in +less than two minutes after coming upon it for the first time, we all by +common consent agreed that this state-room was the pleasantest and most +facetious and capital contrivance possible; and that to have had it one +inch larger, would have been quite a disagreeable and deplorable state of +things. And with this; and with showing how,—by very nearly closing the +door, and twining in and out like serpents, and by counting the little +washing slab as standing-room,—we could manage to insinuate four people +into it, all at one time; and entreating each other to observe how very +airy it was (in dock), and how there was a beautiful port-hole which +could be kept open all day (weather permitting), and how there was quite +a large bull’s-eye just over the looking-glass which would render shaving +a perfectly easy and delightful process (when the ship didn’t roll too +much); we arrived, at last, at the unanimous conclusion that it was +rather spacious than otherwise: though I do verily believe that, +deducting the two berths, one above the other, than which nothing smaller +for sleeping in was ever made except coffins, it was no bigger than one +of those hackney cabriolets which have the door behind, and shoot their +fares out, like sacks of coals, upon the pavement. + +Having settled this point to the perfect satisfaction of all parties, +concerned and unconcerned, we sat down round the fire in the ladies’ +cabin—just to try the effect. It was rather dark, certainly; but +somebody said, ‘of course it would be light, at sea,’ a proposition to +which we all assented; echoing ‘of course, of course;’ though it would be +exceedingly difficult to say why we thought so. I remember, too, when we +had discovered and exhausted another topic of consolation in the +circumstance of this ladies’ cabin adjoining our state-room, and the +consequently immense feasibility of sitting there at all times and +seasons, and had fallen into a momentary silence, leaning our faces on +our hands and looking at the fire, one of our party said, with the solemn +air of a man who had made a discovery, ‘What a relish mulled claret will +have down here!’ which appeared to strike us all most forcibly; as though +there were something spicy and high-flavoured in cabins, which +essentially improved that composition, and rendered it quite incapable of +perfection anywhere else. + +There was a stewardess, too, actively engaged in producing clean sheets +and table-cloths from the very entrails of the sofas, and from unexpected +lockers, of such artful mechanism, that it made one’s head ache to see +them opened one after another, and rendered it quite a distracting +circumstance to follow her proceedings, and to find that every nook and +corner and individual piece of furniture was something else besides what +it pretended to be, and was a mere trap and deception and place of secret +stowage, whose ostensible purpose was its least useful one. + +God bless that stewardess for her piously fraudulent account of January +voyages! God bless her for her clear recollection of the companion +passage of last year, when nobody was ill, and everybody dancing from +morning to night, and it was ‘a run’ of twelve days, and a piece of the +purest frolic, and delight, and jollity! All happiness be with her for +her bright face and her pleasant Scotch tongue, which had sounds of old +Home in it for my fellow-traveller; and for her predictions of fair winds +and fine weather (all wrong, or I shouldn’t be half so fond of her); and +for the ten thousand small fragments of genuine womanly tact, by which, +without piecing them elaborately together, and patching them up into +shape and form and case and pointed application, she nevertheless did +plainly show that all young mothers on one side of the Atlantic were near +and close at hand to their little children left upon the other; and that +what seemed to the uninitiated a serious journey, was, to those who were +in the secret, a mere frolic, to be sung about and whistled at! Light be +her heart, and gay her merry eyes, for years! + +The state-room had grown pretty fast; but by this time it had expanded +into something quite bulky, and almost boasted a bay-window to view the +sea from. So we went upon deck again in high spirits; and there, +everything was in such a state of bustle and active preparation, that the +blood quickened its pace, and whirled through one’s veins on that clear +frosty morning with involuntary mirthfulness. For every gallant ship was +riding slowly up and down, and every little boat was splashing noisily in +the water; and knots of people stood upon the wharf, gazing with a kind +of ‘dread delight’ on the far-famed fast American steamer; and one party +of men were ‘taking in the milk,’ or, in other words, getting the cow on +board; and another were filling the icehouses to the very throat with +fresh provisions; with butchers’-meat and garden-stuff, pale +sucking-pigs, calves’ heads in scores, beef, veal, and pork, and poultry +out of all proportion; and others were coiling ropes and busy with oakum +yarns; and others were lowering heavy packages into the hold; and the +purser’s head was barely visible as it loomed in a state, of exquisite +perplexity from the midst of a vast pile of passengers’ luggage; and +there seemed to be nothing going on anywhere, or uppermost in the mind of +anybody, but preparations for this mighty voyage. This, with the bright +cold sun, the bracing air, the crisply-curling water, the thin white +crust of morning ice upon the decks which crackled with a sharp and +cheerful sound beneath the lightest tread, was irresistible. And when, +again upon the shore, we turned and saw from the vessel’s mast her name +signalled in flags of joyous colours, and fluttering by their side the +beautiful American banner with its stars and stripes,—the long three +thousand miles and more, and, longer still, the six whole months of +absence, so dwindled and faded, that the ship had gone out and come home +again, and it was broad spring already in the Coburg Dock at Liverpool. + +I have not inquired among my medical acquaintance, whether Turtle, and +cold Punch, with Hock, Champagne, and Claret, and all the slight et +cetera usually included in an unlimited order for a good +dinner—especially when it is left to the liberal construction of my +faultless friend, Mr. Radley, of the Adelphi Hotel—are peculiarly +calculated to suffer a sea-change; or whether a plain mutton-chop, and a +glass or two of sherry, would be less likely of conversion into foreign +and disconcerting material. My own opinion is, that whether one is +discreet or indiscreet in these particulars, on the eve of a sea-voyage, +is a matter of little consequence; and that, to use a common phrase, ‘it +comes to very much the same thing in the end.’ Be this as it may, I +know that the dinner of that day was undeniably perfect; that it +comprehended all these items, and a great many more; and that we all did +ample justice to it. And I know too, that, bating a certain tacit +avoidance of any allusion to to-morrow; such as may be supposed to +prevail between delicate-minded turnkeys, and a sensitive prisoner who is +to be hanged next morning; we got on very well, and, all things +considered, were merry enough. + +When the morning—_the_ morning—came, and we met at breakfast, it was +curious to see how eager we all were to prevent a moment’s pause in the +conversation, and how astoundingly gay everybody was: the forced spirits +of each member of the little party having as much likeness to his natural +mirth, as hot-house peas at five guineas the quart, resemble in flavour +the growth of the dews, and air, and rain of Heaven. But as one o’clock, +the hour for going aboard, drew near, this volubility dwindled away by +little and little, despite the most persevering efforts to the contrary, +until at last, the matter being now quite desperate, we threw off all +disguise; openly speculated upon where we should be this time to-morrow, +this time next day, and so forth; and entrusted a vast number of messages +to those who intended returning to town that night, which were to be +delivered at home and elsewhere without fail, within the very shortest +possible space of time after the arrival of the railway train at Euston +Square. And commissions and remembrances do so crowd upon one at such a +time, that we were still busied with this employment when we found +ourselves fused, as it were, into a dense conglomeration of passengers +and passengers’ friends and passengers’ luggage, all jumbled together on +the deck of a small steamboat, and panting and snorting off to the +packet, which had worked out of dock yesterday afternoon and was now +lying at her moorings in the river. + +And there she is! all eyes are turned to where she lies, dimly +discernible through the gathering fog of the early winter afternoon; +every finger is pointed in the same direction; and murmurs of interest +and admiration—as ‘How beautiful she looks!’ ‘How trim she is!’—are heard +on every side. Even the lazy gentleman with his hat on one side and his +hands in his pockets, who has dispensed so much consolation by inquiring +with a yawn of another gentleman whether he is ‘going across’—as if it +were a ferry—even he condescends to look that way, and nod his head, as +who should say, ‘No mistake about _that_:’ and not even the sage Lord +Burleigh in his nod, included half so much as this lazy gentleman of +might who has made the passage (as everybody on board has found out +already; it’s impossible to say how) thirteen times without a single +accident! There is another passenger very much wrapped-up, who has been +frowned down by the rest, and morally trampled upon and crushed, for +presuming to inquire with a timid interest how long it is since the poor +President went down. He is standing close to the lazy gentleman, and +says with a faint smile that he believes She is a very strong Ship; to +which the lazy gentleman, looking first in his questioner’s eye and then +very hard in the wind’s, answers unexpectedly and ominously, that She +need be. Upon this the lazy gentleman instantly falls very low in the +popular estimation, and the passengers, with looks of defiance, whisper +to each other that he is an ass, and an impostor, and clearly don’t know +anything at all about it. + +But we are made fast alongside the packet, whose huge red funnel is +smoking bravely, giving rich promise of serious intentions. +Packing-cases, portmanteaus, carpet-bags, and boxes, are already passed +from hand to hand, and hauled on board with breathless rapidity. The +officers, smartly dressed, are at the gangway handing the passengers up +the side, and hurrying the men. In five minutes’ time, the little +steamer is utterly deserted, and the packet is beset and over-run by its +late freight, who instantly pervade the whole ship, and are to be met +with by the dozen in every nook and corner: swarming down below with +their own baggage, and stumbling over other people’s; disposing +themselves comfortably in wrong cabins, and creating a most horrible +confusion by having to turn out again; madly bent upon opening locked +doors, and on forcing a passage into all kinds of out-of-the-way places +where there is no thoroughfare; sending wild stewards, with elfin hair, +to and fro upon the breezy decks on unintelligible errands, impossible of +execution: and in short, creating the most extraordinary and bewildering +tumult. In the midst of all this, the lazy gentleman, who seems to have +no luggage of any kind—not so much as a friend, even—lounges up and down +the hurricane deck, coolly puffing a cigar; and, as this unconcerned +demeanour again exalts him in the opinion of those who have leisure to +observe his proceedings, every time he looks up at the masts, or down at +the decks, or over the side, they look there too, as wondering whether he +sees anything wrong anywhere, and hoping that, in case he should, he will +have the goodness to mention it. + +What have we here? The captain’s boat! and yonder the captain himself. +Now, by all our hopes and wishes, the very man he ought to be! A +well-made, tight-built, dapper little fellow; with a ruddy face, which is +a letter of invitation to shake him by both hands at once; and with a +clear, blue honest eye, that it does one good to see one’s sparkling +image in. ‘Ring the bell!’ ‘Ding, ding, ding!’ the very bell is in a +hurry. ‘Now for the shore—who’s for the shore?’—‘These gentlemen, I am +sorry to say.’ They are away, and never said, Good b’ye. Ah now they +wave it from the little boat. ‘Good b’ye! Good b’ye!’ Three cheers from +them; three more from us; three more from them: and they are gone. + +To and fro, to and fro, to and fro again a hundred times! This waiting +for the latest mail-bags is worse than all. If we could have gone off in +the midst of that last burst, we should have started triumphantly: but to +lie here, two hours and more in the damp fog, neither staying at home nor +going abroad, is letting one gradually down into the very depths of +dulness and low spirits. A speck in the mist, at last! That’s +something. It is the boat we wait for! That’s more to the purpose. The +captain appears on the paddle-box with his speaking trumpet; the officers +take their stations; all hands are on the alert; the flagging hopes of +the passengers revive; the cooks pause in their savoury work, and look +out with faces full of interest. The boat comes alongside; the bags are +dragged in anyhow, and flung down for the moment anywhere. Three cheers +more: and as the first one rings upon our ears, the vessel throbs like a +strong giant that has just received the breath of life; the two great +wheels turn fiercely round for the first time; and the noble ship, with +wind and tide astern, breaks proudly through the lashed and roaming +water. + + + + +CHAPTER II +THE PASSAGE OUT + + +WE all dined together that day; and a rather formidable party we were: no +fewer than eighty-six strong. The vessel being pretty deep in the water, +with all her coals on board and so many passengers, and the weather being +calm and quiet, there was but little motion; so that before the dinner +was half over, even those passengers who were most distrustful of +themselves plucked up amazingly; and those who in the morning had +returned to the universal question, ‘Are you a good sailor?’ a very +decided negative, now either parried the inquiry with the evasive reply, +‘Oh! I suppose I’m no worse than anybody else;’ or, reckless of all moral +obligations, answered boldly ‘Yes:’ and with some irritation too, as +though they would add, ‘I should like to know what you see in _me_, sir, +particularly, to justify suspicion!’ + +Notwithstanding this high tone of courage and confidence, I could not but +observe that very few remained long over their wine; and that everybody +had an unusual love of the open air; and that the favourite and most +coveted seats were invariably those nearest to the door. The tea-table, +too, was by no means as well attended as the dinner-table; and there was +less whist-playing than might have been expected. Still, with the +exception of one lady, who had retired with some precipitation at +dinner-time, immediately after being assisted to the finest cut of a very +yellow boiled leg of mutton with very green capers, there were no +invalids as yet; and walking, and smoking, and drinking of +brandy-and-water (but always in the open air), went on with unabated +spirit, until eleven o’clock or thereabouts, when ‘turning in’—no sailor +of seven hours’ experience talks of going to bed—became the order of the +night. The perpetual tramp of boot-heels on the decks gave place to a +heavy silence, and the whole human freight was stowed away below, +excepting a very few stragglers, like myself, who were probably, like me, +afraid to go there. + +To one unaccustomed to such scenes, this is a very striking time on +shipboard. Afterwards, and when its novelty had long worn off, it never +ceased to have a peculiar interest and charm for me. The gloom through +which the great black mass holds its direct and certain course; the +rushing water, plainly heard, but dimly seen; the broad, white, +glistening track, that follows in the vessel’s wake; the men on the +look-out forward, who would be scarcely visible against the dark sky, but +for their blotting out some score of glistening stars; the helmsman at +the wheel, with the illuminated card before him, shining, a speck of +light amidst the darkness, like something sentient and of Divine +intelligence; the melancholy sighing of the wind through block, and rope, +and chain; the gleaming forth of light from every crevice, nook, and tiny +piece of glass about the decks, as though the ship were filled with fire +in hiding, ready to burst through any outlet, wild with its resistless +power of death and ruin. At first, too, and even when the hour, and all +the objects it exalts, have come to be familiar, it is difficult, alone +and thoughtful, to hold them to their proper shapes and forms. They +change with the wandering fancy; assume the semblance of things left far +away; put on the well-remembered aspect of favourite places dearly loved; +and even people them with shadows. Streets, houses, rooms; figures so +like their usual occupants, that they have startled me by their reality, +which far exceeded, as it seemed to me, all power of mine to conjure up +the absent; have, many and many a time, at such an hour, grown suddenly +out of objects with whose real look, and use, and purpose, I was as well +acquainted as with my own two hands. + +My own two hands, and feet likewise, being very cold, however, on this +particular occasion, I crept below at midnight. It was not exactly +comfortable below. It was decidedly close; and it was impossible to be +unconscious of the presence of that extraordinary compound of strange +smells, which is to be found nowhere but on board ship, and which is such +a subtle perfume that it seems to enter at every pore of the skin, and +whisper of the hold. Two passengers’ wives (one of them my own) lay +already in silent agonies on the sofa; and one lady’s maid (_my_ lady’s) +was a mere bundle on the floor, execrating her destiny, and pounding her +curl-papers among the stray boxes. Everything sloped the wrong way: +which in itself was an aggravation scarcely to be borne. I had left the +door open, a moment before, in the bosom of a gentle declivity, and, when +I turned to shut it, it was on the summit of a lofty eminence. Now every +plank and timber creaked, as if the ship were made of wicker-work; and +now crackled, like an enormous fire of the driest possible twigs. There +was nothing for it but bed; so I went to bed. + +It was pretty much the same for the next two days, with a tolerably fair +wind and dry weather. I read in bed (but to this hour I don’t know what) +a good deal; and reeled on deck a little; drank cold brandy-and-water +with an unspeakable disgust, and ate hard biscuit perseveringly: not ill, +but going to be. + +It is the third morning. I am awakened out of my sleep by a dismal +shriek from my wife, who demands to know whether there’s any danger. I +rouse myself, and look out of bed. The water-jug is plunging and leaping +like a lively dolphin; all the smaller articles are afloat, except my +shoes, which are stranded on a carpet-bag, high and dry, like a couple of +coal-barges. Suddenly I see them spring into the air, and behold the +looking-glass, which is nailed to the wall, sticking fast upon the +ceiling. At the same time the door entirely disappears, and a new one is +opened in the floor. Then I begin to comprehend that the state-room is +standing on its head. + +Before it is possible to make any arrangement at all compatible with this +novel state of things, the ship rights. Before one can say ‘Thank +Heaven!’ she wrongs again. Before one can cry she _is_ wrong, she seems +to have started forward, and to be a creature actually running of its own +accord, with broken knees and failing legs, through every variety of hole +and pitfall, and stumbling constantly. Before one can so much as wonder, +she takes a high leap into the air. Before she has well done that, she +takes a deep dive into the water. Before she has gained the surface, she +throws a summerset. The instant she is on her legs, she rushes backward. +And so she goes on staggering, heaving, wrestling, leaping, diving, +jumping, pitching, throbbing, rolling, and rocking: and going through all +these movements, sometimes by turns, and sometimes altogether: until one +feels disposed to roar for mercy. + +A steward passes. ‘Steward!’ ‘Sir?’ ‘What _is_ the matter? what _do_ +you call this?’ ‘Rather a heavy sea on, sir, and a head-wind.’ + +A head-wind! Imagine a human face upon the vessel’s prow, with fifteen +thousand Samsons in one bent upon driving her back, and hitting her +exactly between the eyes whenever she attempts to advance an inch. +Imagine the ship herself, with every pulse and artery of her huge body +swollen and bursting under this maltreatment, sworn to go on or die. +Imagine the wind howling, the sea roaring, the rain beating: all in +furious array against her. Picture the sky both dark and wild, and the +clouds, in fearful sympathy with the waves, making another ocean in the +air. Add to all this, the clattering on deck and down below; the tread +of hurried feet; the loud hoarse shouts of seamen; the gurgling in and +out of water through the scuppers; with, every now and then, the striking +of a heavy sea upon the planks above, with the deep, dead, heavy sound of +thunder heard within a vault;—and there is the head-wind of that January +morning. + +I say nothing of what may be called the domestic noises of the ship: such +as the breaking of glass and crockery, the tumbling down of stewards, the +gambols, overhead, of loose casks and truant dozens of bottled porter, +and the very remarkable and far from exhilarating sounds raised in their +various state-rooms by the seventy passengers who were too ill to get up +to breakfast. I say nothing of them: for although I lay listening to +this concert for three or four days, I don’t think I heard it for more +than a quarter of a minute, at the expiration of which term, I lay down +again, excessively sea-sick. + +Not sea-sick, be it understood, in the ordinary acceptation of the term: +I wish I had been: but in a form which I have never seen or heard +described, though I have no doubt it is very common. I lay there, all +the day long, quite coolly and contentedly; with no sense of weariness, +with no desire to get up, or get better, or take the air; with no +curiosity, or care, or regret, of any sort or degree, saving that I think +I can remember, in this universal indifference, having a kind of lazy +joy—of fiendish delight, if anything so lethargic can be dignified with +the title—in the fact of my wife being too ill to talk to me. If I may +be allowed to illustrate my state of mind by such an example, I should +say that I was exactly in the condition of the elder Mr. Willet, after +the incursion of the rioters into his bar at Chigwell. Nothing would +have surprised me. If, in the momentary illumination of any ray of +intelligence that may have come upon me in the way of thoughts of Home, a +goblin postman, with a scarlet coat and bell, had come into that little +kennel before me, broad awake in broad day, and, apologising for being +damp through walking in the sea, had handed me a letter directed to +myself, in familiar characters, I am certain I should not have felt one +atom of astonishment: I should have been perfectly satisfied. If Neptune +himself had walked in, with a toasted shark on his trident, I should have +looked upon the event as one of the very commonest everyday occurrences. + +Once—once—I found myself on deck. I don’t know how I got there, or what +possessed me to go there, but there I was; and completely dressed too, +with a huge pea-coat on, and a pair of boots such as no weak man in his +senses could ever have got into. I found myself standing, when a gleam +of consciousness came upon me, holding on to something. I don’t know +what. I think it was the boatswain: or it may have been the pump: or +possibly the cow. I can’t say how long I had been there; whether a day +or a minute. I recollect trying to think about something (about anything +in the whole wide world, I was not particular) without the smallest +effect. I could not even make out which was the sea, and which the sky, +for the horizon seemed drunk, and was flying wildly about in all +directions. Even in that incapable state, however, I recognised the lazy +gentleman standing before me: nautically clad in a suit of shaggy blue, +with an oilskin hat. But I was too imbecile, although I knew it to be +he, to separate him from his dress; and tried to call him, I remember, +_Pilot_. After another interval of total unconsciousness, I found he had +gone, and recognised another figure in its place. It seemed to wave and +fluctuate before me as though I saw it reflected in an unsteady +looking-glass; but I knew it for the captain; and such was the cheerful +influence of his face, that I tried to smile: yes, even then I tried to +smile. I saw by his gestures that he addressed me; but it was a long +time before I could make out that he remonstrated against my standing up +to my knees in water—as I was; of course I don’t know why. I tried to +thank him, but couldn’t. I could only point to my boots—or wherever I +supposed my boots to be—and say in a plaintive voice, ‘Cork soles:’ at +the same time endeavouring, I am told, to sit down in the pool. Finding +that I was quite insensible, and for the time a maniac, he humanely +conducted me below. + +There I remained until I got better: suffering, whenever I was +recommended to eat anything, an amount of anguish only second to that +which is said to be endured by the apparently drowned, in the process of +restoration to life. One gentleman on board had a letter of introduction +to me from a mutual friend in London. He sent it below with his card, on +the morning of the head-wind; and I was long troubled with the idea that +he might be up, and well, and a hundred times a day expecting me to call +upon him in the saloon. I imagined him one of those cast-iron images—I +will not call them men—who ask, with red faces, and lusty voices, what +sea-sickness means, and whether it really is as bad as it is represented +to be. This was very torturing indeed; and I don’t think I ever felt +such perfect gratification and gratitude of heart, as I did when I heard +from the ship’s doctor that he had been obliged to put a large mustard +poultice on this very gentleman’s stomach. I date my recovery from the +receipt of that intelligence. + +It was materially assisted though, I have no doubt, by a heavy gale of +wind, which came slowly up at sunset, when we were about ten days out, +and raged with gradually increasing fury until morning, saving that it +lulled for an hour a little before midnight. There was something in the +unnatural repose of that hour, and in the after gathering of the storm, +so inconceivably awful and tremendous, that its bursting into full +violence was almost a relief. + +The labouring of the ship in the troubled sea on this night I shall never +forget. ‘Will it ever be worse than this?’ was a question I had often +heard asked, when everything was sliding and bumping about, and when it +certainly did seem difficult to comprehend the possibility of anything +afloat being more disturbed, without toppling over and going down. But +what the agitation of a steam-vessel is, on a bad winter’s night in the +wild Atlantic, it is impossible for the most vivid imagination to +conceive. To say that she is flung down on her side in the waves, with +her masts dipping into them, and that, springing up again, she rolls over +on the other side, until a heavy sea strikes her with the noise of a +hundred great guns, and hurls her back—that she stops, and staggers, and +shivers, as though stunned, and then, with a violent throbbing at her +heart, darts onward like a monster goaded into madness, to be beaten +down, and battered, and crushed, and leaped on by the angry sea—that +thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, and wind, are all in fierce +contention for the mastery—that every plank has its groan, every nail its +shriek, and every drop of water in the great ocean its howling voice—is +nothing. To say that all is grand, and all appalling and horrible in the +last degree, is nothing. Words cannot express it. Thoughts cannot +convey it. Only a dream can call it up again, in all its fury, rage, and +passion. + +And yet, in the very midst of these terrors, I was placed in a situation +so exquisitely ridiculous, that even then I had as strong a sense of its +absurdity as I have now, and could no more help laughing than I can at +any other comical incident, happening under circumstances the most +favourable to its enjoyment. About midnight we shipped a sea, which +forced its way through the skylights, burst open the doors above, and +came raging and roaring down into the ladies’ cabin, to the unspeakable +consternation of my wife and a little Scotch lady—who, by the way, had +previously sent a message to the captain by the stewardess, requesting +him, with her compliments, to have a steel conductor immediately attached +to the top of every mast, and to the chimney, in order that the ship +might not be struck by lightning. They and the handmaid before +mentioned, being in such ecstasies of fear that I scarcely knew what to +do with them, I naturally bethought myself of some restorative or +comfortable cordial; and nothing better occurring to me, at the moment, +than hot brandy-and-water, I procured a tumbler full without delay. It +being impossible to stand or sit without holding on, they were all heaped +together in one corner of a long sofa—a fixture extending entirely across +the cabin—where they clung to each other in momentary expectation of +being drowned. When I approached this place with my specific, and was +about to administer it with many consolatory expressions to the nearest +sufferer, what was my dismay to see them all roll slowly down to the +other end! And when I staggered to that end, and held out the glass once +more, how immensely baffled were my good intentions by the ship giving +another lurch, and their all rolling back again! I suppose I dodged them +up and down this sofa for at least a quarter of an hour, without reaching +them once; and by the time I did catch them, the brandy-and-water was +diminished, by constant spilling, to a teaspoonful. To complete the +group, it is necessary to recognise in this disconcerted dodger, an +individual very pale from sea-sickness, who had shaved his beard and +brushed his hair, last, at Liverpool: and whose only article of dress +(linen not included) were a pair of dreadnought trousers; a blue jacket, +formerly admired upon the Thames at Richmond; no stockings; and one +slipper. + +Of the outrageous antics performed by that ship next morning; which made +bed a practical joke, and getting up, by any process short of falling +out, an impossibility; I say nothing. But anything like the utter +dreariness and desolation that met my eyes when I literally ‘tumbled up’ +on deck at noon, I never saw. Ocean and sky were all of one dull, heavy, +uniform, lead colour. There was no extent of prospect even over the +dreary waste that lay around us, for the sea ran high, and the horizon +encompassed us like a large black hoop. Viewed from the air, or some +tall bluff on shore, it would have been imposing and stupendous, no +doubt; but seen from the wet and rolling decks, it only impressed one +giddily and painfully. In the gale of last night the life-boat had been +crushed by one blow of the sea like a walnut-shell; and there it hung +dangling in the air: a mere faggot of crazy boards. The planking of the +paddle-boxes had been torn sheer away. The wheels were exposed and bare; +and they whirled and dashed their spray about the decks at random. +Chimney, white with crusted salt; topmasts struck; storm-sails set; +rigging all knotted, tangled, wet, and drooping: a gloomier picture it +would be hard to look upon. + +I was now comfortably established by courtesy in the ladies’ cabin, +where, besides ourselves, there were only four other passengers. First, +the little Scotch lady before mentioned, on her way to join her husband +at New York, who had settled there three years before. Secondly and +thirdly, an honest young Yorkshireman, connected with some American +house; domiciled in that same city, and carrying thither his beautiful +young wife to whom he had been married but a fortnight, and who was the +fairest specimen of a comely English country girl I have ever seen. +Fourthly, fifthly, and lastly, another couple: newly married too, if one +might judge from the endearments they frequently interchanged: of whom I +know no more than that they were rather a mysterious, run-away kind of +couple; that the lady had great personal attractions also; and that the +gentleman carried more guns with him than Robinson Crusoe, wore a +shooting-coat, and had two great dogs on board. On further +consideration, I remember that he tried hot roast pig and bottled ale as +a cure for sea-sickness; and that he took these remedies (usually in bed) +day after day, with astonishing perseverance. I may add, for the +information of the curious, that they decidedly failed. + +The weather continuing obstinately and almost unprecedentedly bad, we +usually straggled into this cabin, more or less faint and miserable, +about an hour before noon, and lay down on the sofas to recover; during +which interval, the captain would look in to communicate the state of the +wind, the moral certainty of its changing to-morrow (the weather is +always going to improve to-morrow, at sea), the vessel’s rate of sailing, +and so forth. Observations there were none to tell us of, for there was +no sun to take them by. But a description of one day will serve for all +the rest. Here it is. + +The captain being gone, we compose ourselves to read, if the place be +light enough; and if not, we doze and talk alternately. At one, a bell +rings, and the stewardess comes down with a steaming dish of baked +potatoes, and another of roasted apples; and plates of pig’s face, cold +ham, salt beef; or perhaps a smoking mess of rare hot collops. We fall +to upon these dainties; eat as much as we can (we have great appetites +now); and are as long as possible about it. If the fire will burn (it +_will_ sometimes) we are pretty cheerful. If it won’t, we all remark to +each other that it’s very cold, rub our hands, cover ourselves with coats +and cloaks, and lie down again to doze, talk, and read (provided as +aforesaid), until dinner-time. At five, another bell rings, and the +stewardess reappears with another dish of potatoes—boiled this time—and +store of hot meat of various kinds: not forgetting the roast pig, to be +taken medicinally. We sit down at table again (rather more cheerfully +than before); prolong the meal with a rather mouldy dessert of apples, +grapes, and oranges; and drink our wine and brandy-and-water. The +bottles and glasses are still upon the table, and the oranges and so +forth are rolling about according to their fancy and the ship’s way, when +the doctor comes down, by special nightly invitation, to join our evening +rubber: immediately on whose arrival we make a party at whist, and as it +is a rough night and the cards will not lie on the cloth, we put the +tricks in our pockets as we take them. At whist we remain with exemplary +gravity (deducting a short time for tea and toast) until eleven o’clock, +or thereabouts; when the captain comes down again, in a sou’-wester hat +tied under his chin, and a pilot-coat: making the ground wet where he +stands. By this time the card-playing is over, and the bottles and +glasses are again upon the table; and after an hour’s pleasant +conversation about the ship, the passengers, and things in general, the +captain (who never goes to bed, and is never out of humour) turns up his +coat collar for the deck again; shakes hands all round; and goes laughing +out into the weather as merrily as to a birthday party. + +As to daily news, there is no dearth of that commodity. This passenger +is reported to have lost fourteen pounds at Vingt-et-un in the saloon +yesterday; and that passenger drinks his bottle of champagne every day, +and how he does it (being only a clerk), nobody knows. The head engineer +has distinctly said that there never was such times—meaning weather—and +four good hands are ill, and have given in, dead beat. Several berths +are full of water, and all the cabins are leaky. The ship’s cook, +secretly swigging damaged whiskey, has been found drunk; and has been +played upon by the fire-engine until quite sober. All the stewards have +fallen down-stairs at various dinner-times, and go about with plasters in +various places. The baker is ill, and so is the pastry-cook. A new man, +horribly indisposed, has been required to fill the place of the latter +officer; and has been propped and jammed up with empty casks in a little +house upon deck, and commanded to roll out pie-crust, which he protests +(being highly bilious) it is death to him to look at. News! A dozen +murders on shore would lack the interest of these slight incidents at +sea. + +Divided between our rubber and such topics as these, we were running (as +we thought) into Halifax Harbour, on the fifteenth night, with little +wind and a bright moon—indeed, we had made the Light at its outer +entrance, and put the pilot in charge—when suddenly the ship struck upon +a bank of mud. An immediate rush on deck took place of course; the sides +were crowded in an instant; and for a few minutes we were in as lively a +state of confusion as the greatest lover of disorder would desire to see. +The passengers, and guns, and water-casks, and other heavy matters, being +all huddled together aft, however, to lighten her in the head, she was +soon got off; and after some driving on towards an uncomfortable line of +objects (whose vicinity had been announced very early in the disaster by +a loud cry of ‘Breakers a-head!’) and much backing of paddles, and +heaving of the lead into a constantly decreasing depth of water, we +dropped anchor in a strange outlandish-looking nook which nobody on board +could recognise, although there was land all about us, and so close that +we could plainly see the waving branches of the trees. + +It was strange enough, in the silence of midnight, and the dead stillness +that seemed to be created by the sudden and unexpected stoppage of the +engine which had been clanking and blasting in our ears incessantly for +so many days, to watch the look of blank astonishment expressed in every +face: beginning with the officers, tracing it through all the passengers, +and descending to the very stokers and furnacemen, who emerged from +below, one by one, and clustered together in a smoky group about the +hatchway of the engine-room, comparing notes in whispers. After throwing +up a few rockets and firing signal guns in the hope of being hailed from +the land, or at least of seeing a light—but without any other sight or +sound presenting itself—it was determined to send a boat on shore. It +was amusing to observe how very kind some of the passengers were, in +volunteering to go ashore in this same boat: for the general good, of +course: not by any means because they thought the ship in an unsafe +position, or contemplated the possibility of her heeling over in case the +tide were running out. Nor was it less amusing to remark how desperately +unpopular the poor pilot became in one short minute. He had had his +passage out from Liverpool, and during the whole voyage had been quite a +notorious character, as a teller of anecdotes and cracker of jokes. Yet +here were the very men who had laughed the loudest at his jests, now +flourishing their fists in his face, loading him with imprecations, and +defying him to his teeth as a villain! + +The boat soon shoved off, with a lantern and sundry blue lights on board; +and in less than an hour returned; the officer in command bringing with +him a tolerably tall young tree, which he had plucked up by the roots, to +satisfy certain distrustful passengers whose minds misgave them that they +were to be imposed upon and shipwrecked, and who would on no other terms +believe that he had been ashore, or had done anything but fraudulently +row a little way into the mist, specially to deceive them and compass +their deaths. Our captain had foreseen from the first that we must be in +a place called the Eastern passage; and so we were. It was about the +last place in the world in which we had any business or reason to be, but +a sudden fog, and some error on the pilot’s part, were the cause. We +were surrounded by banks, and rocks, and shoals of all kinds, but had +happily drifted, it seemed, upon the only safe speck that was to be found +thereabouts. Eased by this report, and by the assurance that the tide +was past the ebb, we turned in at three o’clock in the morning. + +I was dressing about half-past nine next day, when the noise above +hurried me on deck. When I had left it overnight, it was dark, foggy, +and damp, and there were bleak hills all round us. Now, we were gliding +down a smooth, broad stream, at the rate of eleven miles an hour: our +colours flying gaily; our crew rigged out in their smartest clothes; our +officers in uniform again; the sun shining as on a brilliant April day in +England; the land stretched out on either side, streaked with light +patches of snow; white wooden houses; people at their doors; telegraphs +working; flags hoisted; wharfs appearing; ships; quays crowded with +people; distant noises; shouts; men and boys running down steep places +towards the pier: all more bright and gay and fresh to our unused eyes +than words can paint them. We came to a wharf, paved with uplifted +faces; got alongside, and were made fast, after some shouting and +straining of cables; darted, a score of us along the gangway, almost as +soon as it was thrust out to meet us, and before it had reached the +ship—and leaped upon the firm glad earth again! + +I suppose this Halifax would have appeared an Elysium, though it had been +a curiosity of ugly dulness. But I carried away with me a most pleasant +impression of the town and its inhabitants, and have preserved it to this +hour. Nor was it without regret that I came home, without having found +an opportunity of returning thither, and once more shaking hands with the +friends I made that day. + +It happened to be the opening of the Legislative Council and General +Assembly, at which ceremonial the forms observed on the commencement of a +new Session of Parliament in England were so closely copied, and so +gravely presented on a small scale, that it was like looking at +Westminster through the wrong end of a telescope. The governor, as her +Majesty’s representative, delivered what may be called the Speech from +the Throne. He said what he had to say manfully and well. The military +band outside the building struck up “God save the Queen” with great +vigour before his Excellency had quite finished; the people shouted; the +in’s rubbed their hands; the out’s shook their heads; the Government +party said there never was such a good speech; the Opposition declared +there never was such a bad one; the Speaker and members of the House of +Assembly withdrew from the bar to say a great deal among themselves and +do a little: and, in short, everything went on, and promised to go on, +just as it does at home upon the like occasions. + +The town is built on the side of a hill, the highest point being +commanded by a strong fortress, not yet quite finished. Several streets +of good breadth and appearance extend from its summit to the water-side, +and are intersected by cross streets running parallel with the river. +The houses are chiefly of wood. The market is abundantly supplied; and +provisions are exceedingly cheap. The weather being unusually mild at +that time for the season of the year, there was no sleighing: but there +were plenty of those vehicles in yards and by-places, and some of them, +from the gorgeous quality of their decorations, might have ‘gone on’ +without alteration as triumphal cars in a melodrama at Astley’s. The day +was uncommonly fine; the air bracing and healthful; the whole aspect of +the town cheerful, thriving, and industrious. + +We lay there seven hours, to deliver and exchange the mails. At length, +having collected all our bags and all our passengers (including two or +three choice spirits, who, having indulged too freely in oysters and +champagne, were found lying insensible on their backs in unfrequented +streets), the engines were again put in motion, and we stood off for +Boston. + +Encountering squally weather again in the Bay of Fundy, we tumbled and +rolled about as usual all that night and all next day. On the next +afternoon, that is to say, on Saturday, the twenty-second of January, an +American pilot-boat came alongside, and soon afterwards the Britannia +steam-packet, from Liverpool, eighteen days out, was telegraphed at +Boston. + +The indescribable interest with which I strained my eyes, as the first +patches of American soil peeped like molehills from the green sea, and +followed them, as they swelled, by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, +into a continuous line of coast, can hardly be exaggerated. A sharp keen +wind blew dead against us; a hard frost prevailed on shore; and the cold +was most severe. Yet the air was so intensely clear, and dry, and +bright, that the temperature was not only endurable, but delicious. + +How I remained on deck, staring about me, until we came alongside the +dock, and how, though I had had as many eyes as Argus, I should have had +them all wide open, and all employed on new objects—are topics which I +will not prolong this chapter to discuss. Neither will I more than hint +at my foreigner-like mistake in supposing that a party of most active +persons, who scrambled on board at the peril of their lives as we +approached the wharf, were newsmen, answering to that industrious class +at home; whereas, despite the leathern wallets of news slung about the +necks of some, and the broad sheets in the hands of all, they were +Editors, who boarded ships in person (as one gentleman in a worsted +comforter informed me), ‘because they liked the excitement of it.’ +Suffice it in this place to say, that one of these invaders, with a ready +courtesy for which I thank him here most gratefully, went on before to +order rooms at the hotel; and that when I followed, as I soon did, I +found myself rolling through the long passages with an involuntary +imitation of the gait of Mr. T. P. Cooke, in a new nautical melodrama. + +‘Dinner, if you please,’ said I to the waiter. + +‘When?’ said the waiter. + +‘As quick as possible,’ said I. + +‘Right away?’ said the waiter. + +After a moment’s hesitation, I answered ‘No,’ at hazard. + +‘_Not_ right away?’ cried the waiter, with an amount of surprise that +made me start. + +I looked at him doubtfully, and returned, ‘No; I would rather have it in +this private room. I like it very much.’ + +At this, I really thought the waiter must have gone out of his mind: as I +believe he would have done, but for the interposition of another man, who +whispered in his ear, ‘Directly.’ + +‘Well! and that’s a fact!’ said the waiter, looking helplessly at me: +‘Right away.’ + +I saw now that ‘Right away’ and ‘Directly’ were one and the same thing. +So I reversed my previous answer, and sat down to dinner in ten minutes +afterwards; and a capital dinner it was. + +The hotel (a very excellent one) is called the Tremont House. It has +more galleries, colonnades, piazzas, and passages than I can remember, or +the reader would believe. + + + + +CHAPTER III +BOSTON + + +_In_ all the public establishments of America, the utmost courtesy +prevails. Most of our Departments are susceptible of considerable +improvement in this respect, but the Custom-house above all others would +do well to take example from the United States and render itself somewhat +less odious and offensive to foreigners. The servile rapacity of the +French officials is sufficiently contemptible; but there is a surly +boorish incivility about our men, alike disgusting to all persons who +fall into their hands, and discreditable to the nation that keeps such +ill-conditioned curs snarling about its gates. + +When I landed in America, I could not help being strongly impressed with +the contrast their Custom-house presented, and the attention, politeness +and good humour with which its officers discharged their duty. + +As we did not land at Boston, in consequence of some detention at the +wharf, until after dark, I received my first impressions of the city in +walking down to the Custom-house on the morning after our arrival, which +was Sunday. I am afraid to say, by the way, how many offers of pews and +seats in church for that morning were made to us, by formal note of +invitation, before we had half finished our first dinner in America, but +if I may be allowed to make a moderate guess, without going into nicer +calculation, I should say that at least as many sittings were proffered +us, as would have accommodated a score or two of grown-up families. The +number of creeds and forms of religion to which the pleasure of our +company was requested, was in very fair proportion. + +Not being able, in the absence of any change of clothes, to go to church +that day, we were compelled to decline these kindnesses, one and all; and +I was reluctantly obliged to forego the delight of hearing Dr. Channing, +who happened to preach that morning for the first time in a very long +interval. I mention the name of this distinguished and accomplished man +(with whom I soon afterwards had the pleasure of becoming personally +acquainted), that I may have the gratification of recording my humble +tribute of admiration and respect for his high abilities and character; +and for the bold philanthropy with which he has ever opposed himself to +that most hideous blot and foul disgrace—Slavery. + +To return to Boston. When I got into the streets upon this Sunday +morning, the air was so clear, the houses were so bright and gay: the +signboards were painted in such gaudy colours; the gilded letters were so +very golden; the bricks were so very red, the stone was so very white, +the blinds and area railings were so very green, the knobs and plates +upon the street doors so marvellously bright and twinkling; and all so +slight and unsubstantial in appearance—that every thoroughfare in the +city looked exactly like a scene in a pantomime. It rarely happens in +the business streets that a tradesman, if I may venture to call anybody a +tradesman, where everybody is a merchant, resides above his store; so +that many occupations are often carried on in one house, and the whole +front is covered with boards and inscriptions. As I walked along, I kept +glancing up at these boards, confidently expecting to see a few of them +change into something; and I never turned a corner suddenly without +looking out for the clown and pantaloon, who, I had no doubt, were hiding +in a doorway or behind some pillar close at hand. As to Harlequin and +Columbine, I discovered immediately that they lodged (they are always +looking after lodgings in a pantomime) at a very small clockmaker’s one +story high, near the hotel; which, in addition to various symbols and +devices, almost covering the whole front, had a great dial hanging out—to +be jumped through, of course. + +The suburbs are, if possible, even more unsubstantial-looking than the +city. The white wooden houses (so white that it makes one wink to look +at them), with their green jalousie blinds, are so sprinkled and dropped +about in all directions, without seeming to have any root at all in the +ground; and the small churches and chapels are so prim, and bright, and +highly varnished; that I almost believed the whole affair could be taken +up piecemeal like a child’s toy, and crammed into a little box. + +The city is a beautiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to +impress all strangers very favourably. The private dwelling-houses are, +for the most part, large and elegant; the shops extremely good; and the +public buildings handsome. The State House is built upon the summit of a +hill, which rises gradually at first, and afterwards by a steep ascent, +almost from the water’s edge. In front is a green enclosure, called the +Common. The site is beautiful: and from the top there is a charming +panoramic view of the whole town and neighbourhood. In addition to a +variety of commodious offices, it contains two handsome chambers; in one +the House of Representatives of the State hold their meetings: in the +other, the Senate. Such proceedings as I saw here, were conducted with +perfect gravity and decorum; and were certainly calculated to inspire +attention and respect. + +There is no doubt that much of the intellectual refinement and +superiority of Boston, is referable to the quiet influence of the +University of Cambridge, which is within three or four miles of the city. +The resident professors at that university are gentlemen of learning and +varied attainments; and are, without one exception that I can call to +mind, men who would shed a grace upon, and do honour to, any society in +the civilised world. Many of the resident gentry in Boston and its +neighbourhood, and I think I am not mistaken in adding, a large majority +of those who are attached to the liberal professions there, have been +educated at this same school. Whatever the defects of American +universities may be, they disseminate no prejudices; rear no bigots; dig +up the buried ashes of no old superstitions; never interpose between the +people and their improvement; exclude no man because of his religious +opinions; above all, in their whole course of study and instruction, +recognise a world, and a broad one too, lying beyond the college walls. + +It was a source of inexpressible pleasure to me to observe the almost +imperceptible, but not less certain effect, wrought by this institution +among the small community of Boston; and to note at every turn the +humanising tastes and desires it has engendered; the affectionate +friendships to which it has given rise; the amount of vanity and +prejudice it has dispelled. The golden calf they worship at Boston is a +pigmy compared with the giant effigies set up in other parts of that vast +counting-house which lies beyond the Atlantic; and the almighty dollar +sinks into something comparatively insignificant, amidst a whole Pantheon +of better gods. + +Above all, I sincerely believe that the public institutions and charities +of this capital of Massachusetts are as nearly perfect, as the most +considerate wisdom, benevolence, and humanity, can make them. I never in +my life was more affected by the contemplation of happiness, under +circumstances of privation and bereavement, than in my visits to these +establishments. + +It is a great and pleasant feature of all such institutions in America, +that they are either supported by the State or assisted by the State; or +(in the event of their not needing its helping hand) that they act in +concert with it, and are emphatically the people’s. I cannot but think, +with a view to the principle and its tendency to elevate or depress the +character of the industrious classes, that a Public Charity is +immeasurably better than a Private Foundation, no matter how munificently +the latter may be endowed. In our own country, where it has not, until +within these later days, been a very popular fashion with governments to +display any extraordinary regard for the great mass of the people or to +recognise their existence as improvable creatures, private charities, +unexampled in the history of the earth, have arisen, to do an +incalculable amount of good among the destitute and afflicted. But the +government of the country, having neither act nor part in them, is not in +the receipt of any portion of the gratitude they inspire; and, offering +very little shelter or relief beyond that which is to be found in the +workhouse and the jail, has come, not unnaturally, to be looked upon by +the poor rather as a stern master, quick to correct and punish, than a +kind protector, merciful and vigilant in their hour of need. + +The maxim that out of evil cometh good, is strongly illustrated by these +establishments at home; as the records of the Prerogative Office in +Doctors’ Commons can abundantly prove. Some immensely rich old gentleman +or lady, surrounded by needy relatives, makes, upon a low average, a will +a-week. The old gentleman or lady, never very remarkable in the best of +times for good temper, is full of aches and pains from head to foot; full +of fancies and caprices; full of spleen, distrust, suspicion, and +dislike. To cancel old wills, and invent new ones, is at last the sole +business of such a testator’s existence; and relations and friends (some +of whom have been bred up distinctly to inherit a large share of the +property, and have been, from their cradles, specially disqualified from +devoting themselves to any useful pursuit, on that account) are so often +and so unexpectedly and summarily cut off, and reinstated, and cut off +again, that the whole family, down to the remotest cousin, is kept in a +perpetual fever. At length it becomes plain that the old lady or +gentleman has not long to live; and the plainer this becomes, the more +clearly the old lady or gentleman perceives that everybody is in a +conspiracy against their poor old dying relative; wherefore the old lady +or gentleman makes another last will—positively the last this +time—conceals the same in a china teapot, and expires next day. Then it +turns out, that the whole of the real and personal estate is divided +between half-a-dozen charities; and that the dead and gone testator has +in pure spite helped to do a great deal of good, at the cost of an +immense amount of evil passion and misery. + +The Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, at +Boston, is superintended by a body of trustees who make an annual report +to the corporation. The indigent blind of that state are admitted +gratuitously. Those from the adjoining state of Connecticut, or from the +states of Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire, are admitted by a warrant +from the state to which they respectively belong; or, failing that, must +find security among their friends, for the payment of about twenty pounds +English for their first year’s board and instruction, and ten for the +second. ‘After the first year,’ say the trustees, ‘an account current +will be opened with each pupil; he will be charged with the actual cost +of his board, which will not exceed two dollars per week;’ a trifle more +than eight shillings English; ‘and he will be credited with the amount +paid for him by the state, or by his friends; also with his earnings over +and above the cost of the stock which he uses; so that all his earnings +over one dollar per week will be his own. By the third year it will be +known whether his earnings will more than pay the actual cost of his +board; if they should, he will have it at his option to remain and +receive his earnings, or not. Those who prove unable to earn their own +livelihood will not be retained; as it is not desirable to convert the +establishment into an alms-house, or to retain any but working bees in +the hive. Those who by physical or mental imbecility are disqualified +from work, are thereby disqualified from being members of an industrious +community; and they can be better provided for in establishments fitted +for the infirm.’ + +I went to see this place one very fine winter morning: an Italian sky +above, and the air so clear and bright on every side, that even my eyes, +which are none of the best, could follow the minute lines and scraps of +tracery in distant buildings. Like most other public institutions in +America, of the same class, it stands a mile or two without the town, in +a cheerful healthy spot; and is an airy, spacious, handsome edifice. It +is built upon a height, commanding the harbour. When I paused for a +moment at the door, and marked how fresh and free the whole scene +was—what sparkling bubbles glanced upon the waves, and welled up every +moment to the surface, as though the world below, like that above, were +radiant with the bright day, and gushing over in its fulness of light: +when I gazed from sail to sail away upon a ship at sea, a tiny speck of +shining white, the only cloud upon the still, deep, distant blue—and, +turning, saw a blind boy with his sightless face addressed that way, as +though he too had some sense within him of the glorious distance: I felt +a kind of sorrow that the place should be so very light, and a strange +wish that for his sake it were darker. It was but momentary, of course, +and a mere fancy, but I felt it keenly for all that. + +The children were at their daily tasks in different rooms, except a few +who were already dismissed, and were at play. Here, as in many +institutions, no uniform is worn; and I was very glad of it, for two +reasons. Firstly, because I am sure that nothing but senseless custom +and want of thought would reconcile us to the liveries and badges we are +so fond of at home. Secondly, because the absence of these things +presents each child to the visitor in his or her own proper character, +with its individuality unimpaired; not lost in a dull, ugly, monotonous +repetition of the same unmeaning garb: which is really an important +consideration. The wisdom of encouraging a little harmless pride in +personal appearance even among the blind, or the whimsical absurdity of +considering charity and leather breeches inseparable companions, as we +do, requires no comment. + +Good order, cleanliness, and comfort, pervaded every corner of the +building. The various classes, who were gathered round their teachers, +answered the questions put to them with readiness and intelligence, and +in a spirit of cheerful contest for precedence which pleased me very +much. Those who were at play, were gleesome and noisy as other children. +More spiritual and affectionate friendships appeared to exist among them, +than would be found among other young persons suffering under no +deprivation; but this I expected and was prepared to find. It is a part +of the great scheme of Heaven’s merciful consideration for the afflicted. + +In a portion of the building, set apart for that purpose, are work-shops +for blind persons whose education is finished, and who have acquired a +trade, but who cannot pursue it in an ordinary manufactory because of +their deprivation. Several people were at work here; making brushes, +mattresses, and so forth; and the cheerfulness, industry, and good order +discernible in every other part of the building, extended to this +department also. + +On the ringing of a bell, the pupils all repaired, without any guide or +leader, to a spacious music-hall, where they took their seats in an +orchestra erected for that purpose, and listened with manifest delight to +a voluntary on the organ, played by one of themselves. At its +conclusion, the performer, a boy of nineteen or twenty, gave place to a +girl; and to her accompaniment they all sang a hymn, and afterwards a +sort of chorus. It was very sad to look upon and hear them, happy though +their condition unquestionably was; and I saw that one blind girl, who +(being for the time deprived of the use of her limbs, by illness) sat +close beside me with her face towards them, wept silently the while she +listened. + +It is strange to watch the faces of the blind, and see how free they are +from all concealment of what is passing in their thoughts; observing +which, a man with eyes may blush to contemplate the mask he wears. +Allowing for one shade of anxious expression which is never absent from +their countenances, and the like of which we may readily detect in our +own faces if we try to feel our way in the dark, every idea, as it rises +within them, is expressed with the lightning’s speed and nature’s truth. +If the company at a rout, or drawing-room at court, could only for one +time be as unconscious of the eyes upon them as blind men and women are, +what secrets would come out, and what a worker of hypocrisy this sight, +the loss of which we so much pity, would appear to be! + +The thought occurred to me as I sat down in another room, before a girl, +blind, deaf, and dumb; destitute of smell; and nearly so of taste: before +a fair young creature with every human faculty, and hope, and power of +goodness and affection, inclosed within her delicate frame, and but one +outward sense—the sense of touch. There she was, before me; built up, as +it were, in a marble cell, impervious to any ray of light, or particle of +sound; with her poor white hand peeping through a chink in the wall, +beckoning to some good man for help, that an Immortal soul might be +awakened. + +Long before I looked upon her, the help had come. Her face was radiant +with intelligence and pleasure. Her hair, braided by her own hands, was +bound about a head, whose intellectual capacity and development were +beautifully expressed in its graceful outline, and its broad open brow; +her dress, arranged by herself, was a pattern of neatness and simplicity; +the work she had knitted, lay beside her; her writing-book was on the +desk she leaned upon.—From the mournful ruin of such bereavement, there +had slowly risen up this gentle, tender, guileless, grateful-hearted +being. + +Like other inmates of that house, she had a green ribbon bound round her +eyelids. A doll she had dressed lay near upon the ground. I took it up, +and saw that she had made a green fillet such as she wore herself, and +fastened it about its mimic eyes. + +She was seated in a little enclosure, made by school-desks and forms, +writing her daily journal. But soon finishing this pursuit, she engaged +in an animated conversation with a teacher who sat beside her. This was +a favourite mistress with the poor pupil. If she could see the face of +her fair instructress, she would not love her less, I am sure. + +I have extracted a few disjointed fragments of her history, from an +account, written by that one man who has made her what she is. It is a +very beautiful and touching narrative; and I wish I could present it +entire. + +Her name is Laura Bridgman. ‘She was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on +the twenty-first of December, 1829. She is described as having been a +very sprightly and pretty infant, with bright blue eyes. She was, +however, so puny and feeble until she was a year and a half old, that her +parents hardly hoped to rear her. She was subject to severe fits, which +seemed to rack her frame almost beyond her power of endurance: and life +was held by the feeblest tenure: but when a year and a half old, she +seemed to rally; the dangerous symptoms subsided; and at twenty months +old, she was perfectly well. + +‘Then her mental powers, hitherto stinted in their growth, rapidly +developed themselves; and during the four months of health which she +enjoyed, she appears (making due allowance for a fond mother’s account) +to have displayed a considerable degree of intelligence. + +‘But suddenly she sickened again; her disease raged with great violence +during five weeks, when her eyes and ears were inflamed, suppurated, and +their contents were discharged. But though sight and hearing were gone +for ever, the poor child’s sufferings were not ended. The fever raged +during seven weeks; for five months she was kept in bed in a darkened +room; it was a year before she could walk unsupported, and two years +before she could sit up all day. It was now observed that her sense of +smell was almost entirely destroyed; and, consequently, that her taste +was much blunted. + +‘It was not until four years of age that the poor child’s bodily health +seemed restored, and she was able to enter upon her apprenticeship of +life and the world. + +‘But what a situation was hers! The darkness and the silence of the tomb +were around her: no mother’s smile called forth her answering smile, no +father’s voice taught her to imitate his sounds:—they, brothers and +sisters, were but forms of matter which resisted her touch, but which +differed not from the furniture of the house, save in warmth, and in the +power of locomotion; and not even in these respects from the dog and the +cat. + +‘But the immortal spirit which had been implanted within her could not +die, nor be maimed nor mutilated; and though most of its avenues of +communication with the world were cut off, it began to manifest itself +through the others. As soon as she could walk, she began to explore the +room, and then the house; she became familiar with the form, density, +weight, and heat, of every article she could lay her hands upon. She +followed her mother, and felt her hands and arms, as she was occupied +about the house; and her disposition to imitate, led her to repeat +everything herself. She even learned to sew a little, and to knit.’ + +The reader will scarcely need to be told, however, that the opportunities +of communicating with her, were very, very limited; and that the moral +effects of her wretched state soon began to appear. Those who cannot be +enlightened by reason, can only be controlled by force; and this, coupled +with her great privations, must soon have reduced her to a worse +condition than that of the beasts that perish, but for timely and +unhoped-for aid. + +‘At this time, I was so fortunate as to hear of the child, and +immediately hastened to Hanover to see her. I found her with a +well-formed figure; a strongly-marked, nervous-sanguine temperament; a +large and beautifully-shaped head; and the whole system in healthy +action. The parents were easily induced to consent to her coming to +Boston, and on the 4th of October, 1837, they brought her to the +Institution. + +‘For a while, she was much bewildered; and after waiting about two weeks, +until she became acquainted with her new locality, and somewhat familiar +with the inmates, the attempt was made to give her knowledge of arbitrary +signs, by which she could interchange thoughts with others. + +‘There was one of two ways to be adopted: either to go on to build up a +language of signs on the basis of the natural language which she had +already commenced herself, or to teach her the purely arbitrary language +in common use: that is, to give her a sign for every individual thing, or +to give her a knowledge of letters by combination of which she might +express her idea of the existence, and the mode and condition of +existence, of any thing. The former would have been easy, but very +ineffectual; the latter seemed very difficult, but, if accomplished, very +effectual. I determined therefore to try the latter. + +‘The first experiments were made by taking articles in common use, such +as knives, forks, spoons, keys, &c., and pasting upon them labels with +their names printed in raised letters. These she felt very carefully, +and soon, of course, distinguished that the crooked lines _spoon_, +differed as much from the crooked lines _key_, as the spoon differed from +the key in form. + +‘Then small detached labels, with the same words printed upon them, were +put into her hands; and she soon observed that they were similar to the +ones pasted on the articles.’ She showed her perception of this +similarity by laying the label _key_ upon the key, and the label _spoon_ +upon the spoon. She was encouraged here by the natural sign of +approbation, patting on the head. + +‘The same process was then repeated with all the articles which she could +handle; and she very easily learned to place the proper labels upon them. +It was evident, however, that the only intellectual exercise was that of +imitation and memory. She recollected that the label _book_ was placed +upon a book, and she repeated the process first from imitation, next from +memory, with only the motive of love of approbation, but apparently +without the intellectual perception of any relation between the things. + +‘After a while, instead of labels, the individual letters were given to +her on detached bits of paper: they were arranged side by side so as to +spell _book_, _key_, &c.; then they were mixed up in a heap and a sign +was made for her to arrange them herself so as to express the words +_book_, _key_, &c.; and she did so. + +‘Hitherto, the process had been mechanical, and the success about as +great as teaching a very knowing dog a variety of tricks. The poor child +had sat in mute amazement, and patiently imitated everything her teacher +did; but now the truth began to flash upon her: her intellect began to +work: she perceived that here was a way by which she could herself make +up a sign of anything that was in her own mind, and show it to another +mind; and at once her countenance lighted up with a human expression: it +was no longer a dog, or parrot: it was an immortal spirit, eagerly +seizing upon a new link of union with other spirits! I could almost fix +upon the moment when this truth dawned upon her mind, and spread its +light to her countenance; I saw that the great obstacle was overcome; and +that henceforward nothing but patient and persevering, but plain and +straightforward, efforts were to be used. + +‘The result thus far, is quickly related, and easily conceived; but not +so was the process; for many weeks of apparently unprofitable labour were +passed before it was effected. + +‘When it was said above that a sign was made, it was intended to say, +that the action was performed by her teacher, she feeling his hands, and +then imitating the motion. + +‘The next step was to procure a set of metal types, with the different +letters of the alphabet cast upon their ends; also a board, in which were +square holes, into which holes she could set the types; so that the +letters on their ends could alone be felt above the surface. + +‘Then, on any article being handed to her, for instance, a pencil, or a +watch, she would select the component letters, and arrange them on her +board, and read them with apparent pleasure. + +‘She was exercised for several weeks in this way, until her vocabulary +became extensive; and then the important step was taken of teaching her +how to represent the different letters by the position of her fingers, +instead of the cumbrous apparatus of the board and types. She +accomplished this speedily and easily, for her intellect had begun to +work in aid of her teacher, and her progress was rapid. + +‘This was the period, about three months after she had commenced, that +the first report of her case was made, in which it was stated that “she +has just learned the manual alphabet, as used by the deaf mutes, and it +is a subject of delight and wonder to see how rapidly, correctly, and +eagerly, she goes on with her labours. Her teacher gives her a new +object, for instance, a pencil, first lets her examine it, and get an +idea of its use, then teaches her how to spell it by making the signs for +the letters with her own fingers: the child grasps her hand, and feels +her fingers, as the different letters are formed; she turns her head a +little on one side like a person listening closely; her lips are apart; +she seems scarcely to breathe; and her countenance, at first anxious, +gradually changes to a smile, as she comprehends the lesson. She then +holds up her tiny fingers, and spells the word in the manual alphabet; +next, she takes her types and arranges her letters; and last, to make +sure that she is right, she takes the whole of the types composing the +word, and places them upon or in contact with the pencil, or whatever the +object may be.” + +‘The whole of the succeeding year was passed in gratifying her eager +inquiries for the names of every object which she could possibly handle; +in exercising her in the use of the manual alphabet; in extending in +every possible way her knowledge of the physical relations of things; and +in proper care of her health. + +‘At the end of the year a report of her case was made, from which the +following is an extract. + +‘“It has been ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt, that she +cannot see a ray of light, cannot hear the least sound, and never +exercises her sense of smell, if she have any. Thus her mind dwells in +darkness and stillness, as profound as that of a closed tomb at midnight. +Of beautiful sights, and sweet sounds, and pleasant odours, she has no +conception; nevertheless, she seems as happy and playful as a bird or a +lamb; and the employment of her intellectual faculties, or the +acquirement of a new idea, gives her a vivid pleasure, which is plainly +marked in her expressive features. She never seems to repine, but has +all the buoyancy and gaiety of childhood. She is fond of fun and frolic, +and when playing with the rest of the children, her shrill laugh sounds +loudest of the group. + +‘“When left alone, she seems very happy if she have her knitting or +sewing, and will busy herself for hours; if she have no occupation, she +evidently amuses herself by imaginary dialogues, or by recalling past +impressions; she counts with her fingers, or spells out names of things +which she has recently learned, in the manual alphabet of the deaf mutes. +In this lonely self-communion she seems to reason, reflect, and argue; if +she spell a word wrong with the fingers of her right hand, she instantly +strikes it with her left, as her teacher does, in sign of disapprobation; +if right, then she pats herself upon the head, and looks pleased. She +sometimes purposely spells a word wrong with the left hand, looks roguish +for a moment and laughs, and then with the right hand strikes the left, +as if to correct it. + +‘“During the year she has attained great dexterity in the use of the +manual alphabet of the deaf mutes; and she spells out the words and +sentences which she knows, so fast and so deftly, that only those +accustomed to this language can follow with the eye the rapid motions of +her fingers. + +‘“But wonderful as is the rapidity with which she writes her thoughts +upon the air, still more so is the ease and accuracy with which she reads +the words thus written by another; grasping their hands in hers, and +following every movement of their fingers, as letter after letter conveys +their meaning to her mind. It is in this way that she converses with her +blind playmates, and nothing can more forcibly show the power of mind in +forcing matter to its purpose than a meeting between them. For if great +talent and skill are necessary for two pantomimes to paint their thoughts +and feelings by the movements of the body, and the expression of the +countenance, how much greater the difficulty when darkness shrouds them +both, and the one can hear no sound. + +‘“When Laura is walking through a passage-way, with her hands spread +before her, she knows instantly every one she meets, and passes them with +a sign of recognition: but if it be a girl of her own age, and especially +if it be one of her favourites, there is instantly a bright smile of +recognition, a twining of arms, a grasping of hands, and a swift +telegraphing upon the tiny fingers; whose rapid evolutions convey the +thoughts and feelings from the outposts of one mind to those of the +other. There are questions and answers, exchanges of joy or sorrow, +there are kissings and partings, just as between little children with all +their senses.” + +‘During this year, and six months after she had left home, her mother +came to visit her, and the scene of their meeting was an interesting one. + +‘The mother stood some time, gazing with overflowing eyes upon her +unfortunate child, who, all unconscious of her presence, was playing +about the room. Presently Laura ran against her, and at once began +feeling her hands, examining her dress, and trying to find out if she +knew her; but not succeeding in this, she turned away as from a stranger, +and the poor woman could not conceal the pang she felt, at finding that +her beloved child did not know her. + +‘She then gave Laura a string of beads which she used to wear at home, +which were recognised by the child at once, who, with much joy, put them +around her neck, and sought me eagerly to say she understood the string +was from her home. + +‘The mother now sought to caress her, but poor Laura repelled her, +preferring to be with her acquaintances. + +‘Another article from home was now given her, and she began to look much +interested; she examined the stranger much closer, and gave me to +understand that she knew she came from Hanover; she even endured her +caresses, but would leave her with indifference at the slightest signal. +The distress of the mother was now painful to behold; for, although she +had feared that she should not be recognised, the painful reality of +being treated with cold indifference by a darling child, was too much for +woman’s nature to bear. + +‘After a while, on the mother taking hold of her again, a vague idea +seemed to flit across Laura’s mind, that this could not be a stranger; +she therefore felt her hands very eagerly, while her countenance assumed +an expression of intense interest; she became very pale; and then +suddenly red; hope seemed struggling with doubt and anxiety, and never +were contending emotions more strongly painted upon the human face: at +this moment of painful uncertainty, the mother drew her close to her +side, and kissed her fondly, when at once the truth flashed upon the +child, and all mistrust and anxiety disappeared from her face, as with an +expression of exceeding joy she eagerly nestled to the bosom of her +parent, and yielded herself to her fond embraces. + +‘After this, the beads were all unheeded; the playthings which were +offered to her were utterly disregarded; her playmates, for whom but a +moment before she gladly left the stranger, now vainly strove to pull her +from her mother; and though she yielded her usual instantaneous obedience +to my signal to follow me, it was evidently with painful reluctance. She +clung close to me, as if bewildered and fearful; and when, after a +moment, I took her to her mother, she sprang to her arms, and clung to +her with eager joy. + +‘The subsequent parting between them, showed alike the affection, the +intelligence, and the resolution of the child. + +‘Laura accompanied her mother to the door, clinging close to her all the +way, until they arrived at the threshold, where she paused, and felt +around, to ascertain who was near her. Perceiving the matron, of whom +she is very fond, she grasped her with one hand, holding on convulsively +to her mother with the other; and thus she stood for a moment: then she +dropped her mother’s hand; put her handkerchief to her eyes; and turning +round, clung sobbing to the matron; while her mother departed, with +emotions as deep as those of her child. + + * * * * * * + +‘It has been remarked in former reports, that she can distinguish +different degrees of intellect in others, and that she soon regarded, +almost with contempt, a new-comer, when, after a few days, she discovered +her weakness of mind. This unamiable part of her character has been more +strongly developed during the past year. + +‘She chooses for her friends and companions, those children who are +intelligent, and can talk best with her; and she evidently dislikes to be +with those who are deficient in intellect, unless, indeed, she can make +them serve her purposes, which she is evidently inclined to do. She +takes advantage of them, and makes them wait upon her, in a manner that +she knows she could not exact of others; and in various ways shows her +Saxon blood. + +‘She is fond of having other children noticed and caressed by the +teachers, and those whom she respects; but this must not be carried too +far, or she becomes jealous. She wants to have her share, which, if not +the lion’s, is the greater part; and if she does not get it, she says, +“_My mother will love me_.” + +‘Her tendency to imitation is so strong, that it leads her to actions +which must be entirely incomprehensible to her, and which can give her no +other pleasure than the gratification of an internal faculty. She has +been known to sit for half an hour, holding a book before her sightless +eyes, and moving her lips, as she has observed seeing people do when +reading. + +‘She one day pretended that her doll was sick; and went through all the +motions of tending it, and giving it medicine; she then put it carefully +to bed, and placed a bottle of hot water to its feet, laughing all the +time most heartily. When I came home, she insisted upon my going to see +it, and feel its pulse; and when I told her to put a blister on its back, +she seemed to enjoy it amazingly, and almost screamed with delight. + +‘Her social feelings, and her affections, are very strong; and when she +is sitting at work, or at her studies, by the side of one of her little +friends, she will break off from her task every few moments, to hug and +kiss them with an earnestness and warmth that is touching to behold. + +‘When left alone, she occupies and apparently amuses herself, and seems +quite contented; and so strong seems to be the natural tendency of +thought to put on the garb of language, that she often soliloquizes in +the _finger language_, slow and tedious as it is. But it is only when +alone, that she is quiet: for if she becomes sensible of the presence of +any one near her, she is restless until she can sit close beside them, +hold their hand, and converse with them by signs. + +‘In her intellectual character it is pleasing to observe an insatiable +thirst for knowledge, and a quick perception of the relations of things. +In her moral character, it is beautiful to behold her continual gladness, +her keen enjoyment of existence, her expansive love, her unhesitating +confidence, her sympathy with suffering, her conscientiousness, +truthfulness, and hopefulness.’ + +Such are a few fragments from the simple but most interesting and +instructive history of Laura Bridgman. The name of her great benefactor +and friend, who writes it, is Dr. Howe. There are not many persons, I +hope and believe, who, after reading these passages, can ever hear that +name with indifference. + +A further account has been published by Dr. Howe, since the report from +which I have just quoted. It describes her rapid mental growth and +improvement during twelve months more, and brings her little history down +to the end of last year. It is very remarkable, that as we dream in +words, and carry on imaginary conversations, in which we speak both for +ourselves and for the shadows who appear to us in those visions of the +night, so she, having no words, uses her finger alphabet in her sleep. +And it has been ascertained that when her slumber is broken, and is much +disturbed by dreams, she expresses her thoughts in an irregular and +confused manner on her fingers: just as we should murmur and mutter them +indistinctly, in the like circumstances. + +I turned over the leaves of her Diary, and found it written in a fair +legible square hand, and expressed in terms which were quite intelligible +without any explanation. On my saying that I should like to see her +write again, the teacher who sat beside her, bade her, in their language, +sign her name upon a slip of paper, twice or thrice. In doing so, I +observed that she kept her left hand always touching, and following up, +her right, in which, of course, she held the pen. No line was indicated +by any contrivance, but she wrote straight and freely. + +She had, until now, been quite unconscious of the presence of visitors; +but, having her hand placed in that of the gentleman who accompanied me, +she immediately expressed his name upon her teacher’s palm. Indeed her +sense of touch is now so exquisite, that having been acquainted with a +person once, she can recognise him or her after almost any interval. +This gentleman had been in her company, I believe, but very seldom, and +certainly had not seen her for many months. My hand she rejected at +once, as she does that of any man who is a stranger to her. But she +retained my wife’s with evident pleasure, kissed her, and examined her +dress with a girl’s curiosity and interest. + +She was merry and cheerful, and showed much innocent playfulness in her +intercourse with her teacher. Her delight on recognising a favourite +playfellow and companion—herself a blind girl—who silently, and with an +equal enjoyment of the coming surprise, took a seat beside her, was +beautiful to witness. It elicited from her at first, as other slight +circumstances did twice or thrice during my visit, an uncouth noise which +was rather painful to hear. But of her teacher touching her lips, she +immediately desisted, and embraced her laughingly and affectionately. + +I had previously been into another chamber, where a number of blind boys +were swinging, and climbing, and engaged in various sports. They all +clamoured, as we entered, to the assistant-master, who accompanied us, +‘Look at me, Mr. Hart! Please, Mr. Hart, look at me!’ evincing, I +thought, even in this, an anxiety peculiar to their condition, that their +little feats of agility should be _seen_. Among them was a small +laughing fellow, who stood aloof, entertaining himself with a gymnastic +exercise for bringing the arms and chest into play; which he enjoyed +mightily; especially when, in thrusting out his right arm, he brought it +into contact with another boy. Like Laura Bridgman, this young child was +deaf, and dumb, and blind. + +Dr. Howe’s account of this pupil’s first instruction is so very striking, +and so intimately connected with Laura herself, that I cannot refrain +from a short extract. I may premise that the poor boy’s name is Oliver +Caswell; that he is thirteen years of age; and that he was in full +possession of all his faculties, until three years and four months old. +He was then attacked by scarlet fever; in four weeks became deaf; in a +few weeks more, blind; in six months, dumb. He showed his anxious sense +of this last deprivation, by often feeling the lips of other persons when +they were talking, and then putting his hand upon his own, as if to +assure himself that he had them in the right position. + +‘His thirst for knowledge,’ says Dr. Howe, ‘proclaimed itself as soon as +he entered the house, by his eager examination of everything he could +feel or smell in his new location. For instance, treading upon the +register of a furnace, he instantly stooped down, and began to feel it, +and soon discovered the way in which the upper plate moved upon the lower +one; but this was not enough for him, so lying down upon his face, he +applied his tongue first to one, then to the other, and seemed to +discover that they were of different kinds of metal. + +‘His signs were expressive: and the strictly natural language, laughing, +crying, sighing, kissing, embracing, &c., was perfect. + +‘Some of the analogical signs which (guided by his faculty of imitation) +he had contrived, were comprehensible; such as the waving motion of his +hand for the motion of a boat, the circular one for a wheel, &c. + +‘The first object was to break up the use of these signs and to +substitute for them the use of purely arbitrary ones. + +‘Profiting by the experience I had gained in the other cases, I omitted +several steps of the process before employed, and commenced at once with +the finger language. Taking, therefore, several articles having short +names, such as key, cup, mug, &c., and with Laura for an auxiliary, I sat +down, and taking his hand, placed it upon one of them, and then with my +own, made the letters _key_. He felt my hands eagerly with both of his, +and on my repeating the process, he evidently tried to imitate the +motions of my fingers. In a few minutes he contrived to feel the motions +of my fingers with one hand, and holding out the other he tried to +imitate them, laughing most heartily when he succeeded. Laura was by, +interested even to agitation; and the two presented a singular sight: her +face was flushed and anxious, and her fingers twining in among ours so +closely as to follow every motion, but so slightly as not to embarrass +them; while Oliver stood attentive, his head a little aside, his face +turned up, his left hand grasping mine, and his right held out: at every +motion of my fingers his countenance betokened keen attention; there was +an expression of anxiety as he tried to imitate the motions; then a smile +came stealing out as he thought he could do so, and spread into a joyous +laugh the moment he succeeded, and felt me pat his head, and Laura clap +him heartily upon the back, and jump up and down in her joy. + +‘He learned more than a half-dozen letters in half an hour, and seemed +delighted with his success, at least in gaining approbation. His +attention then began to flag, and I commenced playing with him. It was +evident that in all this he had merely been imitating the motions of my +fingers, and placing his hand upon the key, cup, &c., as part of the +process, without any perception of the relation between the sign and the +object. + +‘When he was tired with play I took him back to the table, and he was +quite ready to begin again his process of imitation. He soon learned to +make the letters for _key_, _pen_, _pin_; and by having the object +repeatedly placed in his hand, he at last perceived the relation I wished +to establish between them. This was evident, because, when I made the +letters _pin_, or _pen_, or _cup_, he would select the article. + +‘The perception of this relation was not accompanied by that radiant +flash of intelligence, and that glow of joy, which marked the delightful +moment when Laura first perceived it. I then placed all the articles on +the table, and going away a little distance with the children, placed +Oliver’s fingers in the positions to spell _key_, on which Laura went and +brought the article: the little fellow seemed much amused by this, and +looked very attentive and smiling. I then caused him to make the letters +_bread_, and in an instant Laura went and brought him a piece: he smelled +at it; put it to his lips; cocked up his head with a most knowing look; +seemed to reflect a moment; and then laughed outright, as much as to say, +“Aha! I understand now how something may be made out of this.” + +‘It was now clear that he had the capacity and inclination to learn, that +he was a proper subject for instruction, and needed only persevering +attention. I therefore put him in the hands of an intelligent teacher, +nothing doubting of his rapid progress.’ + +Well may this gentleman call that a delightful moment, in which some +distant promise of her present state first gleamed upon the darkened mind +of Laura Bridgman. Throughout his life, the recollection of that moment +will be to him a source of pure, unfading happiness; nor will it shine +less brightly on the evening of his days of Noble Usefulness. + +The affection which exists between these two—the master and the pupil—is +as far removed from all ordinary care and regard, as the circumstances in +which it has had its growth, are apart from the common occurrences of +life. He is occupied now, in devising means of imparting to her, higher +knowledge; and of conveying to her some adequate idea of the Great +Creator of that universe in which, dark and silent and scentless though +it be to her, she has such deep delight and glad enjoyment. + +Ye who have eyes and see not, and have ears and hear not; ye who are as +the hypocrites of sad countenances, and disfigure your faces that ye may +seem unto men to fast; learn healthy cheerfulness, and mild contentment, +from the deaf, and dumb, and blind! Self-elected saints with gloomy +brows, this sightless, earless, voiceless child may teach you lessons you +will do well to follow. Let that poor hand of hers lie gently on your +hearts; for there may be something in its healing touch akin to that of +the Great Master whose precepts you misconstrue, whose lessons you +pervert, of whose charity and sympathy with all the world, not one among +you in his daily practice knows as much as many of the worst among those +fallen sinners, to whom you are liberal in nothing but the preachment of +perdition! + +As I rose to quit the room, a pretty little child of one of the +attendants came running in to greet its father. For the moment, a child +with eyes, among the sightless crowd, impressed me almost as painfully as +the blind boy in the porch had done, two hours ago. Ah! how much +brighter and more deeply blue, glowing and rich though it had been +before, was the scene without, contrasting with the darkness of so many +youthful lives within! + + * * * * * + +At SOUTH BOSTON, as it is called, in a situation excellently adapted for +the purpose, several charitable institutions are clustered together. One +of these, is the State Hospital for the insane; admirably conducted on +those enlightened principles of conciliation and kindness, which twenty +years ago would have been worse than heretical, and which have been acted +upon with so much success in our own pauper Asylum at Hanwell. ‘Evince a +desire to show some confidence, and repose some trust, even in mad +people,’ said the resident physician, as we walked along the galleries, +his patients flocking round us unrestrained. Of those who deny or doubt +the wisdom of this maxim after witnessing its effects, if there be such +people still alive, I can only say that I hope I may never be summoned as +a Juryman on a Commission of Lunacy whereof they are the subjects; for I +should certainly find them out of their senses, on such evidence alone. + +Each ward in this institution is shaped like a long gallery or hall, with +the dormitories of the patients opening from it on either hand. Here +they work, read, play at skittles, and other games; and when the weather +does not admit of their taking exercise out of doors, pass the day +together. In one of these rooms, seated, calmly, and quite as a matter +of course, among a throng of mad-women, black and white, were the +physician’s wife and another lady, with a couple of children. These +ladies were graceful and handsome; and it was not difficult to perceive +at a glance that even their presence there, had a highly beneficial +influence on the patients who were grouped about them. + +Leaning her head against the chimney-piece, with a great assumption of +dignity and refinement of manner, sat an elderly female, in as many +scraps of finery as Madge Wildfire herself. Her head in particular was +so strewn with scraps of gauze and cotton and bits of paper, and had so +many queer odds and ends stuck all about it, that it looked like a +bird’s-nest. She was radiant with imaginary jewels; wore a rich pair of +undoubted gold spectacles; and gracefully dropped upon her lap, as we +approached, a very old greasy newspaper, in which I dare say she had been +reading an account of her own presentation at some Foreign Court. + +I have been thus particular in describing her, because she will serve to +exemplify the physician’s manner of acquiring and retaining the +confidence of his patients. + +‘This,’ he said aloud, taking me by the hand, and advancing to the +fantastic figure with great politeness—not raising her suspicions by the +slightest look or whisper, or any kind of aside, to me: ‘This lady is the +hostess of this mansion, sir. It belongs to her. Nobody else has +anything whatever to do with it. It is a large establishment, as you +see, and requires a great number of attendants. She lives, you observe, +in the very first style. She is kind enough to receive my visits, and to +permit my wife and family to reside here; for which it is hardly +necessary to say, we are much indebted to her. She is exceedingly +courteous, you perceive,’ on this hint she bowed condescendingly, ‘and +will permit me to have the pleasure of introducing you: a gentleman from +England, Ma’am: newly arrived from England, after a very tempestuous +passage: Mr. Dickens,—the lady of the house!’ + +We exchanged the most dignified salutations with profound gravity and +respect, and so went on. The rest of the madwomen seemed to understand +the joke perfectly (not only in this case, but in all the others, except +their own), and be highly amused by it. The nature of their several +kinds of insanity was made known to me in the same way, and we left each +of them in high good humour. Not only is a thorough confidence +established, by those means, between the physician and patient, in +respect of the nature and extent of their hallucinations, but it is easy +to understand that opportunities are afforded for seizing any moment of +reason, to startle them by placing their own delusion before them in its +most incongruous and ridiculous light. + +Every patient in this asylum sits down to dinner every day with a knife +and fork; and in the midst of them sits the gentleman, whose manner of +dealing with his charges, I have just described. At every meal, moral +influence alone restrains the more violent among them from cutting the +throats of the rest; but the effect of that influence is reduced to an +absolute certainty, and is found, even as a means of restraint, to say +nothing of it as a means of cure, a hundred times more efficacious than +all the strait-waistcoats, fetters, and handcuffs, that ignorance, +prejudice, and cruelty have manufactured since the creation of the world. + +In the labour department, every patient is as freely trusted with the +tools of his trade as if he were a sane man. In the garden, and on the +farm, they work with spades, rakes, and hoes. For amusement, they walk, +run, fish, paint, read, and ride out to take the air in carriages +provided for the purpose. They have among themselves a sewing society to +make clothes for the poor, which holds meetings, passes resolutions, +never comes to fisty-cuffs or bowie-knives as sane assemblies have been +known to do elsewhere; and conducts all its proceedings with the greatest +decorum. The irritability, which would otherwise be expended on their +own flesh, clothes, and furniture, is dissipated in these pursuits. They +are cheerful, tranquil, and healthy. + +Once a week they have a ball, in which the Doctor and his family, with +all the nurses and attendants, take an active part. Dances and marches +are performed alternately, to the enlivening strains of a piano; and now +and then some gentleman or lady (whose proficiency has been previously +ascertained) obliges the company with a song: nor does it ever +degenerate, at a tender crisis, into a screech or howl; wherein, I must +confess, I should have thought the danger lay. At an early hour they all +meet together for these festive purposes; at eight o’clock refreshments +are served; and at nine they separate. + +Immense politeness and good breeding are observed throughout. They all +take their tone from the Doctor; and he moves a very Chesterfield among +the company. Like other assemblies, these entertainments afford a +fruitful topic of conversation among the ladies for some days; and the +gentlemen are so anxious to shine on these occasions, that they have been +sometimes found ‘practising their steps’ in private, to cut a more +distinguished figure in the dance. + +It is obvious that one great feature of this system, is the inculcation +and encouragement, even among such unhappy persons, of a decent +self-respect. Something of the same spirit pervades all the Institutions +at South Boston. + +There is the House of Industry. In that branch of it, which is devoted +to the reception of old or otherwise helpless paupers, these words are +painted on the walls: ‘WORTHY OF NOTICE. SELF-GOVERNMENT, QUIETUDE, AND +PEACE, ARE BLESSINGS.’ It is not assumed and taken for granted that +being there they must be evil-disposed and wicked people, before whose +vicious eyes it is necessary to flourish threats and harsh restraints. +They are met at the very threshold with this mild appeal. All +within-doors is very plain and simple, as it ought to be, but arranged +with a view to peace and comfort. It costs no more than any other plan +of arrangement, but it speaks an amount of consideration for those who +are reduced to seek a shelter there, which puts them at once upon their +gratitude and good behaviour. Instead of being parcelled out in great, +long, rambling wards, where a certain amount of weazen life may mope, and +pine, and shiver, all day long, the building is divided into separate +rooms, each with its share of light and air. In these, the better kind +of paupers live. They have a motive for exertion and becoming pride, in +the desire to make these little chambers comfortable and decent. + +I do not remember one but it was clean and neat, and had its plant or two +upon the window-sill, or row of crockery upon the shelf, or small display +of coloured prints upon the whitewashed wall, or, perhaps, its wooden +clock behind the door. + +The orphans and young children are in an adjoining building separate from +this, but a part of the same Institution. Some are such little +creatures, that the stairs are of Lilliputian measurement, fitted to +their tiny strides. The same consideration for their years and weakness +is expressed in their very seats, which are perfect curiosities, and look +like articles of furniture for a pauper doll’s-house. I can imagine the +glee of our Poor Law Commissioners at the notion of these seats having +arms and backs; but small spines being of older date than their +occupation of the Board-room at Somerset House, I thought even this +provision very merciful and kind. + +Here again, I was greatly pleased with the inscriptions on the wall, +which were scraps of plain morality, easily remembered and understood: +such as ‘Love one another’—‘God remembers the smallest creature in his +creation:’ and straightforward advice of that nature. The books and +tasks of these smallest of scholars, were adapted, in the same judicious +manner, to their childish powers. When we had examined these lessons, +four morsels of girls (of whom one was blind) sang a little song, about +the merry month of May, which I thought (being extremely dismal) would +have suited an English November better. That done, we went to see their +sleeping-rooms on the floor above, in which the arrangements were no less +excellent and gentle than those we had seen below. And after observing +that the teachers were of a class and character well suited to the spirit +of the place, I took leave of the infants with a lighter heart than ever +I have taken leave of pauper infants yet. + +Connected with the House of Industry, there is also an Hospital, which +was in the best order, and had, I am glad to say, many beds unoccupied. +It had one fault, however, which is common to all American interiors: the +presence of the eternal, accursed, suffocating, red-hot demon of a stove, +whose breath would blight the purest air under Heaven. + +There are two establishments for boys in this same neighbourhood. One is +called the Boylston school, and is an asylum for neglected and indigent +boys who have committed no crime, but who in the ordinary course of +things would very soon be purged of that distinction if they were not +taken from the hungry streets and sent here. The other is a House of +Reformation for Juvenile Offenders. They are both under the same roof, +but the two classes of boys never come in contact. + +The Boylston boys, as may be readily supposed, have very much the +advantage of the others in point of personal appearance. They were in +their school-room when I came upon them, and answered correctly, without +book, such questions as where was England; how far was it; what was its +population; its capital city; its form of government; and so forth. They +sang a song too, about a farmer sowing his seed: with corresponding +action at such parts as ‘’tis thus he sows,’ ‘he turns him round,’ ‘he +claps his hands;’ which gave it greater interest for them, and accustomed +them to act together, in an orderly manner. They appeared exceedingly +well-taught, and not better taught than fed; for a more chubby-looking +full-waistcoated set of boys, I never saw. + +The juvenile offenders had not such pleasant faces by a great deal, and +in this establishment there were many boys of colour. I saw them first +at their work (basket-making, and the manufacture of palm-leaf hats), +afterwards in their school, where they sang a chorus in praise of +Liberty: an odd, and, one would think, rather aggravating, theme for +prisoners. These boys are divided into four classes, each denoted by a +numeral, worn on a badge upon the arm. On the arrival of a new-comer, he +is put into the fourth or lowest class, and left, by good behaviour, to +work his way up into the first. The design and object of this +Institution is to reclaim the youthful criminal by firm but kind and +judicious treatment; to make his prison a place of purification and +improvement, not of demoralisation and corruption; to impress upon him +that there is but one path, and that one sober industry, which can ever +lead him to happiness; to teach him how it may be trodden, if his +footsteps have never yet been led that way; and to lure him back to it if +they have strayed: in a word, to snatch him from destruction, and restore +him to society a penitent and useful member. The importance of such an +establishment, in every point of view, and with reference to every +consideration of humanity and social policy, requires no comment. + +One other establishment closes the catalogue. It is the House of +Correction for the State, in which silence is strictly maintained, but +where the prisoners have the comfort and mental relief of seeing each +other, and of working together. This is the improved system of Prison +Discipline which we have imported into England, and which has been in +successful operation among us for some years past. + +America, as a new and not over-populated country, has in all her prisons, +the one great advantage, of being enabled to find useful and profitable +work for the inmates; whereas, with us, the prejudice against prison +labour is naturally very strong, and almost insurmountable, when honest +men who have not offended against the laws are frequently doomed to seek +employment in vain. Even in the United States, the principle of bringing +convict labour and free labour into a competition which must obviously be +to the disadvantage of the latter, has already found many opponents, +whose number is not likely to diminish with access of years. + +For this very reason though, our best prisons would seem at the first +glance to be better conducted than those of America. The treadmill is +conducted with little or no noise; five hundred men may pick oakum in the +same room, without a sound; and both kinds of labour admit of such keen +and vigilant superintendence, as will render even a word of personal +communication amongst the prisoners almost impossible. On the other +hand, the noise of the loom, the forge, the carpenter’s hammer, or the +stonemason’s saw, greatly favour those opportunities of +intercourse—hurried and brief no doubt, but opportunities still—which +these several kinds of work, by rendering it necessary for men to be +employed very near to each other, and often side by side, without any +barrier or partition between them, in their very nature present. A +visitor, too, requires to reason and reflect a little, before the sight +of a number of men engaged in ordinary labour, such as he is accustomed +to out of doors, will impress him half as strongly as the contemplation +of the same persons in the same place and garb would, if they were +occupied in some task, marked and degraded everywhere as belonging only +to felons in jails. In an American state prison or house of correction, +I found it difficult at first to persuade myself that I was really in a +jail: a place of ignominious punishment and endurance. And to this hour +I very much question whether the humane boast that it is not like one, +has its root in the true wisdom or philosophy of the matter. + +I hope I may not be misunderstood on this subject, for it is one in which +I take a strong and deep interest. I incline as little to the sickly +feeling which makes every canting lie or maudlin speech of a notorious +criminal a subject of newspaper report and general sympathy, as I do to +those good old customs of the good old times which made England, even so +recently as in the reign of the Third King George, in respect of her +criminal code and her prison regulations, one of the most bloody-minded +and barbarous countries on the earth. If I thought it would do any good +to the rising generation, I would cheerfully give my consent to the +disinterment of the bones of any genteel highwayman (the more genteel, +the more cheerfully), and to their exposure, piecemeal, on any sign-post, +gate, or gibbet, that might be deemed a good elevation for the purpose. +My reason is as well convinced that these gentry were as utterly +worthless and debauched villains, as it is that the laws and jails +hardened them in their evil courses, or that their wonderful escapes were +effected by the prison-turnkeys who, in those admirable days, had always +been felons themselves, and were, to the last, their bosom-friends and +pot-companions. At the same time I know, as all men do or should, that +the subject of Prison Discipline is one of the highest importance to any +community; and that in her sweeping reform and bright example to other +countries on this head, America has shown great wisdom, great +benevolence, and exalted policy. In contrasting her system with that +which we have modelled upon it, I merely seek to show that with all its +drawbacks, ours has some advantages of its own. + +The House of Correction which has led to these remarks, is not walled, +like other prisons, but is palisaded round about with tall rough stakes, +something after the manner of an enclosure for keeping elephants in, as +we see it represented in Eastern prints and pictures. The prisoners wear +a parti-coloured dress; and those who are sentenced to hard labour, work +at nail-making, or stone-cutting. When I was there, the latter class of +labourers were employed upon the stone for a new custom-house in course +of erection at Boston. They appeared to shape it skilfully and with +expedition, though there were very few among them (if any) who had not +acquired the art within the prison gates. + +The women, all in one large room, were employed in making light clothing, +for New Orleans and the Southern States. They did their work in silence +like the men; and like them were over-looked by the person contracting +for their labour, or by some agent of his appointment. In addition to +this, they are every moment liable to be visited by the prison officers +appointed for that purpose. + +The arrangements for cooking, washing of clothes, and so forth, are much +upon the plan of those I have seen at home. Their mode of bestowing the +prisoners at night (which is of general adoption) differs from ours, and +is both simple and effective. In the centre of a lofty area, lighted by +windows in the four walls, are five tiers of cells, one above the other; +each tier having before it a light iron gallery, attainable by stairs of +the same construction and material: excepting the lower one, which is on +the ground. Behind these, back to back with them and facing the opposite +wall, are five corresponding rows of cells, accessible by similar means: +so that supposing the prisoners locked up in their cells, an officer +stationed on the ground, with his back to the wall, has half their number +under his eye at once; the remaining half being equally under the +observation of another officer on the opposite side; and all in one great +apartment. Unless this watch be corrupted or sleeping on his post, it is +impossible for a man to escape; for even in the event of his forcing the +iron door of his cell without noise (which is exceedingly improbable), +the moment he appears outside, and steps into that one of the five +galleries on which it is situated, he must be plainly and fully visible +to the officer below. Each of these cells holds a small truckle bed, in +which one prisoner sleeps; never more. It is small, of course; and the +door being not solid, but grated, and without blind or curtain, the +prisoner within is at all times exposed to the observation and inspection +of any guard who may pass along that tier at any hour or minute of the +night. Every day, the prisoners receive their dinner, singly, through a +trap in the kitchen wall; and each man carries his to his sleeping cell +to eat it, where he is locked up, alone, for that purpose, one hour. The +whole of this arrangement struck me as being admirable; and I hope that +the next new prison we erect in England may be built on this plan. + +I was given to understand that in this prison no swords or fire-arms, or +even cudgels, are kept; nor is it probable that, so long as its present +excellent management continues, any weapon, offensive or defensive, will +ever be required within its bounds. + +Such are the Institutions at South Boston! In all of them, the +unfortunate or degenerate citizens of the State are carefully instructed +in their duties both to God and man; are surrounded by all reasonable +means of comfort and happiness that their condition will admit of; are +appealed to, as members of the great human family, however afflicted, +indigent, or fallen; are ruled by the strong Heart, and not by the strong +(though immeasurably weaker) Hand. I have described them at some length; +firstly, because their worth demanded it; and secondly, because I mean to +take them for a model, and to content myself with saying of others we may +come to, whose design and purpose are the same, that in this or that +respect they practically fail, or differ. + +I wish by this account of them, imperfect in its execution, but in its +just intention, honest, I could hope to convey to my readers +one-hundredth part of the gratification, the sights I have described, +afforded me. + + * * * * * + +To an Englishman, accustomed to the paraphernalia of Westminster Hall, an +American Court of Law is as odd a sight as, I suppose, an English Court +of Law would be to an American. Except in the Supreme Court at +Washington (where the judges wear a plain black robe), there is no such +thing as a wig or gown connected with the administration of justice. The +gentlemen of the bar being barristers and attorneys too (for there is no +division of those functions as in England) are no more removed from their +clients than attorneys in our Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors +are, from theirs. The jury are quite at home, and make themselves as +comfortable as circumstances will permit. The witness is so little +elevated above, or put aloof from, the crowd in the court, that a +stranger entering during a pause in the proceedings would find it +difficult to pick him out from the rest. And if it chanced to be a +criminal trial, his eyes, in nine cases out of ten, would wander to the +dock in search of the prisoner, in vain; for that gentleman would most +likely be lounging among the most distinguished ornaments of the legal +profession, whispering suggestions in his counsel’s ear, or making a +toothpick out of an old quill with his penknife. + +I could not but notice these differences, when I visited the courts at +Boston. I was much surprised at first, too, to observe that the counsel +who interrogated the witness under examination at the time, did so +_sitting_. But seeing that he was also occupied in writing down the +answers, and remembering that he was alone and had no ‘junior,’ I quickly +consoled myself with the reflection that law was not quite so expensive +an article here, as at home; and that the absence of sundry formalities +which we regard as indispensable, had doubtless a very favourable +influence upon the bill of costs. + +In every Court, ample and commodious provision is made for the +accommodation of the citizens. This is the case all through America. In +every Public Institution, the right of the people to attend, and to have +an interest in the proceedings, is most fully and distinctly recognised. +There are no grim door-keepers to dole out their tardy civility by the +sixpenny-worth; nor is there, I sincerely believe, any insolence of +office of any kind. Nothing national is exhibited for money; and no +public officer is a showman. We have begun of late years to imitate this +good example. I hope we shall continue to do so; and that in the fulness +of time, even deans and chapters may be converted. + +In the civil court an action was trying, for damages sustained in some +accident upon a railway. The witnesses had been examined, and counsel +was addressing the jury. The learned gentleman (like a few of his +English brethren) was desperately long-winded, and had a remarkable +capacity of saying the same thing over and over again. His great theme +was ‘Warren the ěn_gine_ driver,’ whom he pressed into the service of +every sentence he uttered. I listened to him for about a quarter of an +hour; and, coming out of court at the expiration of that time, without +the faintest ray of enlightenment as to the merits of the case, felt as +if I were at home again. + +In the prisoner’s cell, waiting to be examined by the magistrate on a +charge of theft, was a boy. This lad, instead of being committed to a +common jail, would be sent to the asylum at South Boston, and there +taught a trade; and in the course of time he would be bound apprentice to +some respectable master. Thus, his detection in this offence, instead of +being the prelude to a life of infamy and a miserable death, would lead, +there was a reasonable hope, to his being reclaimed from vice, and +becoming a worthy member of society. + +I am by no means a wholesale admirer of our legal solemnities, many of +which impress me as being exceedingly ludicrous. Strange as it may seem +too, there is undoubtedly a degree of protection in the wig and gown—a +dismissal of individual responsibility in dressing for the part—which +encourages that insolent bearing and language, and that gross perversion +of the office of a pleader for The Truth, so frequent in our courts of +law. Still, I cannot help doubting whether America, in her desire to +shake off the absurdities and abuses of the old system, may not have gone +too far into the opposite extreme; and whether it is not desirable, +especially in the small community of a city like this, where each man +knows the other, to surround the administration of justice with some +artificial barriers against the ‘Hail fellow, well met’ deportment of +everyday life. All the aid it can have in the very high character and +ability of the Bench, not only here but elsewhere, it has, and well +deserves to have; but it may need something more: not to impress the +thoughtful and the well-informed, but the ignorant and heedless; a class +which includes some prisoners and many witnesses. These institutions +were established, no doubt, upon the principle that those who had so +large a share in making the laws, would certainly respect them. But +experience has proved this hope to be fallacious; for no men know better +than the judges of America, that on the occasion of any great popular +excitement the law is powerless, and cannot, for the time, assert its own +supremacy. + +The tone of society in Boston is one of perfect politeness, courtesy, and +good breeding. The ladies are unquestionably very beautiful—in face: but +there I am compelled to stop. Their education is much as with us; +neither better nor worse. I had heard some very marvellous stories in +this respect; but not believing them, was not disappointed. Blue ladies +there are, in Boston; but like philosophers of that colour and sex in +most other latitudes, they rather desire to be thought superior than to +be so. Evangelical ladies there are, likewise, whose attachment to the +forms of religion, and horror of theatrical entertainments, are most +exemplary. Ladies who have a passion for attending lectures are to be +found among all classes and all conditions. In the kind of provincial +life which prevails in cities such as this, the Pulpit has great +influence. The peculiar province of the Pulpit in New England (always +excepting the Unitarian Ministry) would appear to be the denouncement of +all innocent and rational amusements. The church, the chapel, and the +lecture-room, are the only means of excitement excepted; and to the +church, the chapel, and the lecture-room, the ladies resort in crowds. + +Wherever religion is resorted to, as a strong drink, and as an escape +from the dull monotonous round of home, those of its ministers who pepper +the highest will be the surest to please. They who strew the Eternal +Path with the greatest amount of brimstone, and who most ruthlessly tread +down the flowers and leaves that grow by the wayside, will be voted the +most righteous; and they who enlarge with the greatest pertinacity on the +difficulty of getting into heaven, will be considered by all true +believers certain of going there: though it would be hard to say by what +process of reasoning this conclusion is arrived at. It is so at home, +and it is so abroad. With regard to the other means of excitement, the +Lecture, it has at least the merit of being always new. One lecture +treads so quickly on the heels of another, that none are remembered; and +the course of this month may be safely repeated next, with its charm of +novelty unbroken, and its interest unabated. + +The fruits of the earth have their growth in corruption. Out of the +rottenness of these things, there has sprung up in Boston a sect of +philosophers known as Transcendentalists. On inquiring what this +appellation might be supposed to signify, I was given to understand that +whatever was unintelligible would be certainly transcendental. Not +deriving much comfort from this elucidation, I pursued the inquiry still +further, and found that the Transcendentalists are followers of my friend +Mr. Carlyle, or I should rather say, of a follower of his, Mr. Ralph +Waldo Emerson. This gentleman has written a volume of Essays, in which, +among much that is dreamy and fanciful (if he will pardon me for saying +so), there is much more that is true and manly, honest and bold. +Transcendentalism has its occasional vagaries (what school has not?), but +it has good healthful qualities in spite of them; not least among the +number a hearty disgust of Cant, and an aptitude to detect her in all the +million varieties of her everlasting wardrobe. And therefore if I were a +Bostonian, I think I would be a Transcendentalist. + +The only preacher I heard in Boston was Mr. Taylor, who addresses himself +peculiarly to seamen, and who was once a mariner himself. I found his +chapel down among the shipping, in one of the narrow, old, water-side +streets, with a gay blue flag waving freely from its roof. In the +gallery opposite to the pulpit were a little choir of male and female +singers, a violoncello, and a violin. The preacher already sat in the +pulpit, which was raised on pillars, and ornamented behind him with +painted drapery of a lively and somewhat theatrical appearance. He +looked a weather-beaten hard-featured man, of about six or eight and +fifty; with deep lines graven as it were into his face, dark hair, and a +stern, keen eye. Yet the general character of his countenance was +pleasant and agreeable. The service commenced with a hymn, to which +succeeded an extemporary prayer. It had the fault of frequent +repetition, incidental to all such prayers; but it was plain and +comprehensive in its doctrines, and breathed a tone of general sympathy +and charity, which is not so commonly a characteristic of this form of +address to the Deity as it might be. That done he opened his discourse, +taking for his text a passage from the Song of Solomon, laid upon the +desk before the commencement of the service by some unknown member of the +congregation: ‘Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on the +arm of her beloved!’ + +He handled his text in all kinds of ways, and twisted it into all manner +of shapes; but always ingeniously, and with a rude eloquence, well +adapted to the comprehension of his hearers. Indeed if I be not +mistaken, he studied their sympathies and understandings much more than +the display of his own powers. His imagery was all drawn from the sea, +and from the incidents of a seaman’s life; and was often remarkably good. +He spoke to them of ‘that glorious man, Lord Nelson,’ and of Collingwood; +and drew nothing in, as the saying is, by the head and shoulders, but +brought it to bear upon his purpose, naturally, and with a sharp mind to +its effect. Sometimes, when much excited with his subject, he had an odd +way—compounded of John Bunyan, and Balfour of Burley—of taking his great +quarto Bible under his arm and pacing up and down the pulpit with it; +looking steadily down, meantime, into the midst of the congregation. +Thus, when he applied his text to the first assemblage of his hearers, +and pictured the wonder of the church at their presumption in forming a +congregation among themselves, he stopped short with his Bible under his +arm in the manner I have described, and pursued his discourse after this +manner: + +‘Who are these—who are they—who are these fellows? where do they come +from? Where are they going to?—Come from! What’s the answer?’—leaning +out of the pulpit, and pointing downward with his right hand: ‘From +below!’—starting back again, and looking at the sailors before him: ‘From +below, my brethren. From under the hatches of sin, battened down above +you by the evil one. That’s where you came from!’—a walk up and down the +pulpit: ‘and where are you going’—stopping abruptly: ‘where are you +going? Aloft!’—very softly, and pointing upward: ‘Aloft!’—louder: +‘aloft!’—louder still: ‘That’s where you are going—with a fair wind,—all +taut and trim, steering direct for Heaven in its glory, where there are +no storms or foul weather, and where the wicked cease from troubling, and +the weary are at rest.’—Another walk: ‘That’s where you’re going to, my +friends. That’s it. That’s the place. That’s the port. That’s the +haven. It’s a blessed harbour—still water there, in all changes of the +winds and tides; no driving ashore upon the rocks, or slipping your +cables and running out to sea, there: Peace—Peace—Peace—all +peace!’—Another walk, and patting the Bible under his left arm: ‘What! +These fellows are coming from the wilderness, are they? Yes. From the +dreary, blighted wilderness of Iniquity, whose only crop is Death. But +do they lean upon anything—do they lean upon nothing, these poor +seamen?’—Three raps upon the Bible: ‘Oh yes.—Yes.—They lean upon the arm +of their Beloved’—three more raps: ‘upon the arm of their Beloved’—three +more, and a walk: ‘Pilot, guiding-star, and compass, all in one, to all +hands—here it is’—three more: ‘Here it is. They can do their seaman’s +duty manfully, and be easy in their minds in the utmost peril and danger, +with this’—two more: ‘They can come, even these poor fellows can come, +from the wilderness leaning on the arm of their Beloved, and go +up—up—up!’—raising his hand higher, and higher, at every repetition of +the word, so that he stood with it at last stretched above his head, +regarding them in a strange, rapt manner, and pressing the book +triumphantly to his breast, until he gradually subsided into some other +portion of his discourse. + +I have cited this, rather as an instance of the preacher’s eccentricities +than his merits, though taken in connection with his look and manner, and +the character of his audience, even this was striking. It is possible, +however, that my favourable impression of him may have been greatly +influenced and strengthened, firstly, by his impressing upon his hearers +that the true observance of religion was not inconsistent with a cheerful +deportment and an exact discharge of the duties of their station, which, +indeed, it scrupulously required of them; and secondly, by his cautioning +them not to set up any monopoly in Paradise and its mercies. I never +heard these two points so wisely touched (if indeed I have ever heard +them touched at all), by any preacher of that kind before. + +Having passed the time I spent in Boston, in making myself acquainted +with these things, in settling the course I should take in my future +travels, and in mixing constantly with its society, I am not aware that I +have any occasion to prolong this chapter. Such of its social customs as +I have not mentioned, however, may be told in a very few words. + +The usual dinner-hour is two o’clock. A dinner party takes place at +five; and at an evening party, they seldom sup later than eleven; so that +it goes hard but one gets home, even from a rout, by midnight. I never +could find out any difference between a party at Boston and a party in +London, saving that at the former place all assemblies are held at more +rational hours; that the conversation may possibly be a little louder and +more cheerful; and a guest is usually expected to ascend to the very top +of the house to take his cloak off; that he is certain to see, at every +dinner, an unusual amount of poultry on the table; and at every supper, +at least two mighty bowls of hot stewed oysters, in any one of which a +half-grown Duke of Clarence might be smothered easily. + +There are two theatres in Boston, of good size and construction, but +sadly in want of patronage. The few ladies who resort to them, sit, as +of right, in the front rows of the boxes. + +The bar is a large room with a stone floor, and there people stand and +smoke, and lounge about, all the evening: dropping in and out as the +humour takes them. There too the stranger is initiated into the +mysteries of Gin-sling, Cock-tail, Sangaree, Mint Julep, Sherry-cobbler, +Timber Doodle, and other rare drinks. The house is full of boarders, +both married and single, many of whom sleep upon the premises, and +contract by the week for their board and lodging: the charge for which +diminishes as they go nearer the sky to roost. A public table is laid in +a very handsome hall for breakfast, and for dinner, and for supper. The +party sitting down together to these meals will vary in number from one +to two hundred: sometimes more. The advent of each of these epochs in +the day is proclaimed by an awful gong, which shakes the very +window-frames as it reverberates through the house, and horribly disturbs +nervous foreigners. There is an ordinary for ladies, and an ordinary for +gentlemen. + +In our private room the cloth could not, for any earthly consideration, +have been laid for dinner without a huge glass dish of cranberries in the +middle of the table; and breakfast would have been no breakfast unless +the principal dish were a deformed beef-steak with a great flat bone in +the centre, swimming in hot butter, and sprinkled with the very blackest +of all possible pepper. Our bedroom was spacious and airy, but (like +every bedroom on this side of the Atlantic) very bare of furniture, +having no curtains to the French bedstead or to the window. It had one +unusual luxury, however, in the shape of a wardrobe of painted wood, +something smaller than an English watch-box; or if this comparison should +be insufficient to convey a just idea of its dimensions, they may be +estimated from the fact of my having lived for fourteen days and nights +in the firm belief that it was a shower-bath. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +AN AMERICAN RAILROAD. LOWELL AND ITS FACTORY SYSTEM + + +BEFORE leaving Boston, I devoted one day to an excursion to Lowell. I +assign a separate chapter to this visit; not because I am about to +describe it at any great length, but because I remember it as a thing by +itself, and am desirous that my readers should do the same. + +I made acquaintance with an American railroad, on this occasion, for the +first time. As these works are pretty much alike all through the States, +their general characteristics are easily described. + +There are no first and second class carriages as with us; but there is a +gentleman’s car and a ladies’ car: the main distinction between which is +that in the first, everybody smokes; and in the second, nobody does. As +a black man never travels with a white one, there is also a negro car; +which is a great, blundering, clumsy chest, such as Gulliver put to sea +in, from the kingdom of Brobdingnag. There is a great deal of jolting, a +great deal of noise, a great deal of wall, not much window, a locomotive +engine, a shriek, and a bell. + +The cars are like shabby omnibuses, but larger: holding thirty, forty, +fifty, people. The seats, instead of stretching from end to end, are +placed crosswise. Each seat holds two persons. There is a long row of +them on each side of the caravan, a narrow passage up the middle, and a +door at both ends. In the centre of the carriage there is usually a +stove, fed with charcoal or anthracite coal; which is for the most part +red-hot. It is insufferably close; and you see the hot air fluttering +between yourself and any other object you may happen to look at, like the +ghost of smoke. + +In the ladies’ car, there are a great many gentlemen who have ladies with +them. There are also a great many ladies who have nobody with them: for +any lady may travel alone, from one end of the United States to the +other, and be certain of the most courteous and considerate treatment +everywhere. The conductor or check-taker, or guard, or whatever he may +be, wears no uniform. He walks up and down the car, and in and out of +it, as his fancy dictates; leans against the door with his hands in his +pockets and stares at you, if you chance to be a stranger; or enters into +conversation with the passengers about him. A great many newspapers are +pulled out, and a few of them are read. Everybody talks to you, or to +anybody else who hits his fancy. If you are an Englishman, he expects +that that railroad is pretty much like an English railroad. If you say +‘No,’ he says ‘Yes?’ (interrogatively), and asks in what respect they +differ. You enumerate the heads of difference, one by one, and he says +‘Yes?’ (still interrogatively) to each. Then he guesses that you don’t +travel faster in England; and on your replying that you do, says ‘Yes?’ +again (still interrogatively), and it is quite evident, don’t believe it. +After a long pause he remarks, partly to you, and partly to the knob on +the top of his stick, that ‘Yankees are reckoned to be considerable of a +go-ahead people too;’ upon which _you_ say ‘Yes,’ and then _he_ says +‘Yes’ again (affirmatively this time); and upon your looking out of +window, tells you that behind that hill, and some three miles from the +next station, there is a clever town in a smart lo-ca-tion, where he +expects you have concluded to stop. Your answer in the negative +naturally leads to more questions in reference to your intended route +(always pronounced rout); and wherever you are going, you invariably +learn that you can’t get there without immense difficulty and danger, and +that all the great sights are somewhere else. + +If a lady take a fancy to any male passenger’s seat, the gentleman who +accompanies her gives him notice of the fact, and he immediately vacates +it with great politeness. Politics are much discussed, so are banks, so +is cotton. Quiet people avoid the question of the Presidency, for there +will be a new election in three years and a half, and party feeling runs +very high: the great constitutional feature of this institution being, +that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of +the next one begins; which is an unspeakable comfort to all strong +politicians and true lovers of their country: that is to say, to +ninety-nine men and boys out of every ninety-nine and a quarter. + +Except when a branch road joins the main one, there is seldom more than +one track of rails; so that the road is very narrow, and the view, where +there is a deep cutting, by no means extensive. When there is not, the +character of the scenery is always the same. Mile after mile of stunted +trees: some hewn down by the axe, some blown down by the wind, some half +fallen and resting on their neighbours, many mere logs half hidden in the +swamp, others mouldered away to spongy chips. The very soil of the earth +is made up of minute fragments such as these; each pool of stagnant water +has its crust of vegetable rottenness; on every side there are the +boughs, and trunks, and stumps of trees, in every possible stage of +decay, decomposition, and neglect. Now you emerge for a few brief +minutes on an open country, glittering with some bright lake or pool, +broad as many an English river, but so small here that it scarcely has a +name; now catch hasty glimpses of a distant town, with its clean white +houses and their cool piazzas, its prim New England church and +school-house; when whir-r-r-r! almost before you have seen them, comes +the same dark screen: the stunted trees, the stumps, the logs, the +stagnant water—all so like the last that you seem to have been +transported back again by magic. + +The train calls at stations in the woods, where the wild impossibility of +anybody having the smallest reason to get out, is only to be equalled by +the apparently desperate hopelessness of there being anybody to get in. +It rushes across the turnpike road, where there is no gate, no policeman, +no signal: nothing but a rough wooden arch, on which is painted ‘WHEN THE +BELL RINGS, LOOK OUT FOR THE LOCOMOTIVE.’ On it whirls headlong, dives +through the woods again, emerges in the light, clatters over frail +arches, rumbles upon the heavy ground, shoots beneath a wooden bridge +which intercepts the light for a second like a wink, suddenly awakens all +the slumbering echoes in the main street of a large town, and dashes on +haphazard, pell-mell, neck-or-nothing, down the middle of the road. +There—with mechanics working at their trades, and people leaning from +their doors and windows, and boys flying kites and playing marbles, and +men smoking, and women talking, and children crawling, and pigs +burrowing, and unaccustomed horses plunging and rearing, close to the +very rails—there—on, on, on—tears the mad dragon of an engine with its +train of cars; scattering in all directions a shower of burning sparks +from its wood fire; screeching, hissing, yelling, panting; until at last +the thirsty monster stops beneath a covered way to drink, the people +cluster round, and you have time to breathe again. + +I was met at the station at Lowell by a gentleman intimately connected +with the management of the factories there; and gladly putting myself +under his guidance, drove off at once to that quarter of the town in +which the works, the object of my visit, were situated. Although only +just of age—for if my recollection serve me, it has been a manufacturing +town barely one-and-twenty years—Lowell is a large, populous, thriving +place. Those indications of its youth which first attract the eye, give +it a quaintness and oddity of character which, to a visitor from the old +country, is amusing enough. It was a very dirty winter’s day, and +nothing in the whole town looked old to me, except the mud, which in some +parts was almost knee-deep, and might have been deposited there, on the +subsiding of the waters after the Deluge. In one place, there was a new +wooden church, which, having no steeple, and being yet unpainted, looked +like an enormous packing-case without any direction upon it. In another +there was a large hotel, whose walls and colonnades were so crisp, and +thin, and slight, that it had exactly the appearance of being built with +cards. I was careful not to draw my breath as we passed, and trembled +when I saw a workman come out upon the roof, lest with one thoughtless +stamp of his foot he should crush the structure beneath him, and bring it +rattling down. The very river that moves the machinery in the mills (for +they are all worked by water power), seems to acquire a new character +from the fresh buildings of bright red brick and painted wood among which +it takes its course; and to be as light-headed, thoughtless, and brisk a +young river, in its murmurings and tumblings, as one would desire to see. +One would swear that every ‘Bakery,’ ‘Grocery,’ and ‘Bookbindery,’ and +other kind of store, took its shutters down for the first time, and +started in business yesterday. The golden pestles and mortars fixed as +signs upon the sun-blind frames outside the Druggists’, appear to have +been just turned out of the United States’ Mint; and when I saw a baby of +some week or ten days old in a woman’s arms at a street corner, I found +myself unconsciously wondering where it came from: never supposing for an +instant that it could have been born in such a young town as that. + +There are several factories in Lowell, each of which belongs to what we +should term a Company of Proprietors, but what they call in America a +Corporation. I went over several of these; such as a woollen factory, a +carpet factory, and a cotton factory: examined them in every part; and +saw them in their ordinary working aspect, with no preparation of any +kind, or departure from their ordinary everyday proceedings. I may add +that I am well acquainted with our manufacturing towns in England, and +have visited many mills in Manchester and elsewhere in the same manner. + +I happened to arrive at the first factory just as the dinner hour was +over, and the girls were returning to their work; indeed the stairs of +the mill were thronged with them as I ascended. They were all well +dressed, but not to my thinking above their condition; for I like to see +the humbler classes of society careful of their dress and appearance, and +even, if they please, decorated with such little trinkets as come within +the compass of their means. Supposing it confined within reasonable +limits, I would always encourage this kind of pride, as a worthy element +of self-respect, in any person I employed; and should no more be deterred +from doing so, because some wretched female referred her fall to a love +of dress, than I would allow my construction of the real intent and +meaning of the Sabbath to be influenced by any warning to the +well-disposed, founded on his backslidings on that particular day, which +might emanate from the rather doubtful authority of a murderer in +Newgate. + +These girls, as I have said, were all well dressed: and that phrase +necessarily includes extreme cleanliness. They had serviceable bonnets, +good warm cloaks, and shawls; and were not above clogs and pattens. +Moreover, there were places in the mill in which they could deposit these +things without injury; and there were conveniences for washing. They +were healthy in appearance, many of them remarkably so, and had the +manners and deportment of young women: not of degraded brutes of burden. +If I had seen in one of those mills (but I did not, though I looked for +something of this kind with a sharp eye), the most lisping, mincing, +affected, and ridiculous young creature that my imagination could +suggest, I should have thought of the careless, moping, slatternly, +degraded, dull reverse (I _have_ seen that), and should have been still +well pleased to look upon her. + +The rooms in which they worked, were as well ordered as themselves. In +the windows of some, there were green plants, which were trained to shade +the glass; in all, there was as much fresh air, cleanliness, and comfort, +as the nature of the occupation would possibly admit of. Out of so large +a number of females, many of whom were only then just verging upon +womanhood, it may be reasonably supposed that some were delicate and +fragile in appearance: no doubt there were. But I solemnly declare, that +from all the crowd I saw in the different factories that day, I cannot +recall or separate one young face that gave me a painful impression; not +one young girl whom, assuming it to be a matter of necessity that she +should gain her daily bread by the labour of her hands, I would have +removed from those works if I had had the power. + +They reside in various boarding-houses near at hand. The owners of the +mills are particularly careful to allow no persons to enter upon the +possession of these houses, whose characters have not undergone the most +searching and thorough inquiry. Any complaint that is made against them, +by the boarders, or by any one else, is fully investigated; and if good +ground of complaint be shown to exist against them, they are removed, and +their occupation is handed over to some more deserving person. There are +a few children employed in these factories, but not many. The laws of +the State forbid their working more than nine months in the year, and +require that they be educated during the other three. For this purpose +there are schools in Lowell; and there are churches and chapels of +various persuasions, in which the young women may observe that form of +worship in which they have been educated. + +At some distance from the factories, and on the highest and pleasantest +ground in the neighbourhood, stands their hospital, or boarding-house for +the sick: it is the best house in those parts, and was built by an +eminent merchant for his own residence. Like that institution at Boston, +which I have before described, it is not parcelled out into wards, but is +divided into convenient chambers, each of which has all the comforts of a +very comfortable home. The principal medical attendant resides under the +same roof; and were the patients members of his own family, they could +not be better cared for, or attended with greater gentleness and +consideration. The weekly charge in this establishment for each female +patient is three dollars, or twelve shillings English; but no girl +employed by any of the corporations is ever excluded for want of the +means of payment. That they do not very often want the means, may be +gathered from the fact, that in July, 1841, no fewer than nine hundred +and seventy-eight of these girls were depositors in the Lowell Savings +Bank: the amount of whose joint savings was estimated at one hundred +thousand dollars, or twenty thousand English pounds. + +I am now going to state three facts, which will startle a large class of +readers on this side of the Atlantic, very much. + +Firstly, there is a joint-stock piano in a great many of the +boarding-houses. Secondly, nearly all these young ladies subscribe to +circulating libraries. Thirdly, they have got up among themselves a +periodical called THE LOWELL OFFERING, ‘A repository of original +articles, written exclusively by females actively employed in the +mills,’—which is duly printed, published, and sold; and whereof I brought +away from Lowell four hundred good solid pages, which I have read from +beginning to end. + +The large class of readers, startled by these facts, will exclaim, with +one voice, ‘How very preposterous!’ On my deferentially inquiring why, +they will answer, ‘These things are above their station.’ In reply to +that objection, I would beg to ask what their station is. + +It is their station to work. And they _do_ work. They labour in these +mills, upon an average, twelve hours a day, which is unquestionably work, +and pretty tight work too. Perhaps it is above their station to indulge +in such amusements, on any terms. Are we quite sure that we in England +have not formed our ideas of the ‘station’ of working people, from +accustoming ourselves to the contemplation of that class as they are, and +not as they might be? I think that if we examine our own feelings, we +shall find that the pianos, and the circulating libraries, and even the +Lowell Offering, startle us by their novelty, and not by their bearing +upon any abstract question of right or wrong. + +For myself, I know no station in which, the occupation of to-day +cheerfully done and the occupation of to-morrow cheerfully looked to, any +one of these pursuits is not most humanising and laudable. I know no +station which is rendered more endurable to the person in it, or more +safe to the person out of it, by having ignorance for its associate. I +know no station which has a right to monopolise the means of mutual +instruction, improvement, and rational entertainment; or which has ever +continued to be a station very long, after seeking to do so. + +Of the merits of the Lowell Offering as a literary production, I will +only observe, putting entirely out of sight the fact of the articles +having been written by these girls after the arduous labours of the day, +that it will compare advantageously with a great many English Annuals. +It is pleasant to find that many of its Tales are of the Mills and of +those who work in them; that they inculcate habits of self-denial and +contentment, and teach good doctrines of enlarged benevolence. A strong +feeling for the beauties of nature, as displayed in the solitudes the +writers have left at home, breathes through its pages like wholesome +village air; and though a circulating library is a favourable school for +the study of such topics, it has very scant allusion to fine clothes, +fine marriages, fine houses, or fine life. Some persons might object to +the papers being signed occasionally with rather fine names, but this is +an American fashion. One of the provinces of the state legislature of +Massachusetts is to alter ugly names into pretty ones, as the children +improve upon the tastes of their parents. These changes costing little +or nothing, scores of Mary Annes are solemnly converted into Bevelinas +every session. + +It is said that on the occasion of a visit from General Jackson or +General Harrison to this town (I forget which, but it is not to the +purpose), he walked through three miles and a half of these young ladies +all dressed out with parasols and silk stockings. But as I am not aware +that any worse consequence ensued, than a sudden looking-up of all the +parasols and silk stockings in the market; and perhaps the bankruptcy of +some speculative New Englander who bought them all up at any price, in +expectation of a demand that never came; I set no great store by the +circumstance. + +In this brief account of Lowell, and inadequate expression of the +gratification it yielded me, and cannot fail to afford to any foreigner +to whom the condition of such people at home is a subject of interest and +anxious speculation, I have carefully abstained from drawing a comparison +between these factories and those of our own land. Many of the +circumstances whose strong influence has been at work for years in our +manufacturing towns have not arisen here; and there is no manufacturing +population in Lowell, so to speak: for these girls (often the daughters +of small farmers) come from other States, remain a few years in the +mills, and then go home for good. + +The contrast would be a strong one, for it would be between the Good and +Evil, the living light and deepest shadow. I abstain from it, because I +deem it just to do so. But I only the more earnestly adjure all those +whose eyes may rest on these pages, to pause and reflect upon the +difference between this town and those great haunts of desperate misery: +to call to mind, if they can in the midst of party strife and squabble, +the efforts that must be made to purge them of their suffering and +danger: and last, and foremost, to remember how the precious Time is +rushing by. + +I returned at night by the same railroad and in the same kind of car. +One of the passengers being exceedingly anxious to expound at great +length to my companion (not to me, of course) the true principles on +which books of travel in America should be written by Englishmen, I +feigned to fall asleep. But glancing all the way out at window from the +corners of my eyes, I found abundance of entertainment for the rest of +the ride in watching the effects of the wood fire, which had been +invisible in the morning but were now brought out in full relief by the +darkness: for we were travelling in a whirlwind of bright sparks, which +showered about us like a storm of fiery snow. + + + + +CHAPTER V +WORCESTER. THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. HARTFORD. NEW HAVEN. TO NEW YORK + + +LEAVING Boston on the afternoon of Saturday the fifth of February, we +proceeded by another railroad to Worcester: a pretty New England town, +where we had arranged to remain under the hospitable roof of the Governor +of the State, until Monday morning. + +These towns and cities of New England (many of which would be villages in +Old England), are as favourable specimens of rural America, as their +people are of rural Americans. The well-trimmed lawns and green meadows +of home are not there; and the grass, compared with our ornamental plots +and pastures, is rank, and rough, and wild: but delicate slopes of land, +gently-swelling hills, wooded valleys, and slender streams, abound. +Every little colony of houses has its church and school-house peeping +from among the white roofs and shady trees; every house is the whitest of +the white; every Venetian blind the greenest of the green; every fine +day’s sky the bluest of the blue. A sharp dry wind and a slight frost +had so hardened the roads when we alighted at Worcester, that their +furrowed tracks were like ridges of granite. There was the usual aspect +of newness on every object, of course. All the buildings looked as if +they had been built and painted that morning, and could be taken down on +Monday with very little trouble. In the keen evening air, every sharp +outline looked a hundred times sharper than ever. The clean cardboard +colonnades had no more perspective than a Chinese bridge on a tea-cup, +and appeared equally well calculated for use. The razor-like edges of +the detached cottages seemed to cut the very wind as it whistled against +them, and to send it smarting on its way with a shriller cry than before. +Those slightly-built wooden dwellings behind which the sun was setting +with a brilliant lustre, could be so looked through and through, that the +idea of any inhabitant being able to hide himself from the public gaze, +or to have any secrets from the public eye, was not entertainable for a +moment. Even where a blazing fire shone through the uncurtained windows +of some distant house, it had the air of being newly lighted, and of +lacking warmth; and instead of awakening thoughts of a snug chamber, +bright with faces that first saw the light round that same hearth, and +ruddy with warm hangings, it came upon one suggestive of the smell of new +mortar and damp walls. + +So I thought, at least, that evening. Next morning when the sun was +shining brightly, and the clear church bells were ringing, and sedate +people in their best clothes enlivened the pathway near at hand and +dotted the distant thread of road, there was a pleasant Sabbath +peacefulness on everything, which it was good to feel. It would have +been the better for an old church; better still for some old graves; but +as it was, a wholesome repose and tranquillity pervaded the scene, which +after the restless ocean and the hurried city, had a doubly grateful +influence on the spirits. + +We went on next morning, still by railroad, to Springfield. From that +place to Hartford, whither we were bound, is a distance of only +five-and-twenty miles, but at that time of the year the roads were so bad +that the journey would probably have occupied ten or twelve hours. +Fortunately, however, the winter having been unusually mild, the +Connecticut River was ‘open,’ or, in other words, not frozen. The +captain of a small steamboat was going to make his first trip for the +season that day (the second February trip, I believe, within the memory +of man), and only waited for us to go on board. Accordingly, we went on +board, with as little delay as might be. He was as good as his word, and +started directly. + +It certainly was not called a small steamboat without reason. I omitted +to ask the question, but I should think it must have been of about half a +pony power. Mr. Paap, the celebrated Dwarf, might have lived and died +happily in the cabin, which was fitted with common sash-windows like an +ordinary dwelling-house. These windows had bright-red curtains, too, +hung on slack strings across the lower panes; so that it looked like the +parlour of a Lilliputian public-house, which had got afloat in a flood or +some other water accident, and was drifting nobody knew where. But even +in this chamber there was a rocking-chair. It would be impossible to get +on anywhere, in America, without a rocking-chair. I am afraid to tell +how many feet short this vessel was, or how many feet narrow: to apply +the words length and width to such measurement would be a contradiction +in terms. But I may state that we all kept the middle of the deck, lest +the boat should unexpectedly tip over; and that the machinery, by some +surprising process of condensation, worked between it and the keel: the +whole forming a warm sandwich, about three feet thick. + +It rained all day as I once thought it never did rain anywhere, but in +the Highlands of Scotland. The river was full of floating blocks of ice, +which were constantly crunching and cracking under us; and the depth of +water, in the course we took to avoid the larger masses, carried down the +middle of the river by the current, did not exceed a few inches. +Nevertheless, we moved onward, dexterously; and being well wrapped up, +bade defiance to the weather, and enjoyed the journey. The Connecticut +River is a fine stream; and the banks in summer-time are, I have no +doubt, beautiful; at all events, I was told so by a young lady in the +cabin; and she should be a judge of beauty, if the possession of a +quality include the appreciation of it, for a more beautiful creature I +never looked upon. + +After two hours and a half of this odd travelling (including a stoppage +at a small town, where we were saluted by a gun considerably bigger than +our own chimney), we reached Hartford, and straightway repaired to an +extremely comfortable hotel: except, as usual, in the article of +bedrooms, which, in almost every place we visited, were very conducive to +early rising. + +We tarried here, four days. The town is beautifully situated in a basin +of green hills; the soil is rich, well-wooded, and carefully improved. +It is the seat of the local legislature of Connecticut, which sage body +enacted, in bygone times, the renowned code of ‘Blue Laws,’ in virtue +whereof, among other enlightened provisions, any citizen who could be +proved to have kissed his wife on Sunday, was punishable, I believe, with +the stocks. Too much of the old Puritan spirit exists in these parts to +the present hour; but its influence has not tended, that I know, to make +the people less hard in their bargains, or more equal in their dealings. +As I never heard of its working that effect anywhere else, I infer that +it never will, here. Indeed, I am accustomed, with reference to great +professions and severe faces, to judge of the goods of the other world +pretty much as I judge of the goods of this; and whenever I see a dealer +in such commodities with too great a display of them in his window, I +doubt the quality of the article within. + +In Hartford stands the famous oak in which the charter of King Charles +was hidden. It is now inclosed in a gentleman’s garden. In the State +House is the charter itself. I found the courts of law here, just the +same as at Boston; the public institutions almost as good. The Insane +Asylum is admirably conducted, and so is the Institution for the Deaf and +Dumb. + +I very much questioned within myself, as I walked through the Insane +Asylum, whether I should have known the attendants from the patients, but +for the few words which passed between the former, and the Doctor, in +reference to the persons under their charge. Of course I limit this +remark merely to their looks; for the conversation of the mad people was +mad enough. + +There was one little, prim old lady, of very smiling and good-humoured +appearance, who came sidling up to me from the end of a long passage, and +with a curtsey of inexpressible condescension, propounded this +unaccountable inquiry: + +‘Does Pontefract still flourish, sir, upon the soil of England?’ + +‘He does, ma’am,’ I rejoined. + +‘When you last saw him, sir, he was—’ + +‘Well, ma’am,’ said I, ‘extremely well. He begged me to present his +compliments. I never saw him looking better.’ + +At this, the old lady was very much delighted. After glancing at me for +a moment, as if to be quite sure that I was serious in my respectful air, +she sidled back some paces; sidled forward again; made a sudden skip (at +which I precipitately retreated a step or two); and said: + +‘_I_ am an antediluvian, sir.’ + +I thought the best thing to say was, that I had suspected as much from +the first. Therefore I said so. + +‘It is an extremely proud and pleasant thing, sir, to be an +antediluvian,’ said the old lady. + +‘I should think it was, ma’am,’ I rejoined. + +The old lady kissed her hand, gave another skip, smirked and sidled down +the gallery in a most extraordinary manner, and ambled gracefully into +her own bed-chamber. + +In another part of the building, there was a male patient in bed; very +much flushed and heated. + +‘Well,’ said he, starting up, and pulling off his night-cap: ‘It’s all +settled at last. I have arranged it with Queen Victoria.’ + +‘Arranged what?’ asked the Doctor. + +‘Why, that business,’ passing his hand wearily across his forehead, +‘about the siege of New York.’ + +‘Oh!’ said I, like a man suddenly enlightened. For he looked at me for +an answer. + +‘Yes. Every house without a signal will be fired upon by the British +troops. No harm will be done to the others. No harm at all. Those that +want to be safe, must hoist flags. That’s all they’ll have to do. They +must hoist flags.’ + +Even while he was speaking he seemed, I thought, to have some faint idea +that his talk was incoherent. Directly he had said these words, he lay +down again; gave a kind of a groan; and covered his hot head with the +blankets. + +There was another: a young man, whose madness was love and music. After +playing on the accordion a march he had composed, he was very anxious +that I should walk into his chamber, which I immediately did. + +By way of being very knowing, and humouring him to the top of his bent, I +went to the window, which commanded a beautiful prospect, and remarked, +with an address upon which I greatly plumed myself: + +‘What a delicious country you have about these lodgings of yours!’ + +‘Poh!’ said he, moving his fingers carelessly over the notes of his +instrument: ‘_Well enough for such an Institution as this_!’ + +I don’t think I was ever so taken aback in all my life. + +‘I come here just for a whim,’ he said coolly. ‘That’s all.’ + +‘Oh! That’s all!’ said I. + +‘Yes. That’s all. The Doctor’s a smart man. He quite enters into it. +It’s a joke of mine. I like it for a time. You needn’t mention it, but +I think I shall go out next Tuesday!’ + +I assured him that I would consider our interview perfectly confidential; +and rejoined the Doctor. As we were passing through a gallery on our way +out, a well-dressed lady, of quiet and composed manners, came up, and +proffering a slip of paper and a pen, begged that I would oblige her with +an autograph, I complied, and we parted. + +‘I think I remember having had a few interviews like that, with ladies +out of doors. I hope _she_ is not mad?’ + +‘Yes.’ + +‘On what subject? Autographs?’ + +‘No. She hears voices in the air.’ + +‘Well!’ thought I, ‘it would be well if we could shut up a few false +prophets of these later times, who have professed to do the same; and I +should like to try the experiment on a Mormonist or two to begin with.’ + +In this place, there is the best jail for untried offenders in the world. +There is also a very well-ordered State prison, arranged upon the same +plan as that at Boston, except that here, there is always a sentry on the +wall with a loaded gun. It contained at that time about two hundred +prisoners. A spot was shown me in the sleeping ward, where a watchman +was murdered some years since in the dead of night, in a desperate +attempt to escape, made by a prisoner who had broken from his cell. A +woman, too, was pointed out to me, who, for the murder of her husband, +had been a close prisoner for sixteen years. + +‘Do you think,’ I asked of my conductor, ‘that after so very long an +imprisonment, she has any thought or hope of ever regaining her liberty?’ + +‘Oh dear yes,’ he answered. ‘To be sure she has.’ + +‘She has no chance of obtaining it, I suppose?’ + +‘Well, I don’t know:’ which, by-the-bye, is a national answer. ‘Her +friends mistrust her.’ + +‘What have _they_ to do with it?’ I naturally inquired. + +‘Well, they won’t petition.’ + +‘But if they did, they couldn’t get her out, I suppose?’ + +‘Well, not the first time, perhaps, nor yet the second, but tiring and +wearying for a few years might do it.’ + +‘Does that ever do it?’ + +‘Why yes, that’ll do it sometimes. Political friends’ll do it sometimes. +It’s pretty often done, one way or another.’ + +I shall always entertain a very pleasant and grateful recollection of +Hartford. It is a lovely place, and I had many friends there, whom I can +never remember with indifference. We left it with no little regret on +the evening of Friday the 11th, and travelled that night by railroad to +New Haven. Upon the way, the guard and I were formally introduced to +each other (as we usually were on such occasions), and exchanged a +variety of small-talk. We reached New Haven at about eight o’clock, +after a journey of three hours, and put up for the night at the best inn. + +New Haven, known also as the City of Elms, is a fine town. Many of its +streets (as its _alias_ sufficiently imports) are planted with rows of +grand old elm-trees; and the same natural ornaments surround Yale +College, an establishment of considerable eminence and reputation. The +various departments of this Institution are erected in a kind of park or +common in the middle of the town, where they are dimly visible among the +shadowing trees. The effect is very like that of an old cathedral yard +in England; and when their branches are in full leaf, must be extremely +picturesque. Even in the winter time, these groups of well-grown trees, +clustering among the busy streets and houses of a thriving city, have a +very quaint appearance: seeming to bring about a kind of compromise +between town and country; as if each had met the other half-way, and +shaken hands upon it; which is at once novel and pleasant. + +After a night’s rest, we rose early, and in good time went down to the +wharf, and on board the packet New York _for_ New York. This was the +first American steamboat of any size that I had seen; and certainly to an +English eye it was infinitely less like a steamboat than a huge floating +bath. I could hardly persuade myself, indeed, but that the bathing +establishment off Westminster Bridge, which I left a baby, had suddenly +grown to an enormous size; run away from home; and set up in foreign +parts as a steamer. Being in America, too, which our vagabonds do so +particularly favour, it seemed the more probable. + +The great difference in appearance between these packets and ours, is, +that there is so much of them out of the water: the main-deck being +enclosed on all sides, and filled with casks and goods, like any second +or third floor in a stack of warehouses; and the promenade or +hurricane-deck being a-top of that again. A part of the machinery is +always above this deck; where the connecting-rod, in a strong and lofty +frame, is seen working away like an iron top-sawyer. There is seldom any +mast or tackle: nothing aloft but two tall black chimneys. The man at +the helm is shut up in a little house in the fore part of the boat (the +wheel being connected with the rudder by iron chains, working the whole +length of the deck); and the passengers, unless the weather be very fine +indeed, usually congregate below. Directly you have left the wharf, all +the life, and stir, and bustle of a packet cease. You wonder for a long +time how she goes on, for there seems to be nobody in charge of her; and +when another of these dull machines comes splashing by, you feel quite +indignant with it, as a sullen cumbrous, ungraceful, unshiplike +leviathan: quite forgetting that the vessel you are on board of, is its +very counterpart. + +There is always a clerk’s office on the lower deck, where you pay your +fare; a ladies’ cabin; baggage and stowage rooms; engineer’s room; and in +short a great variety of perplexities which render the discovery of the +gentlemen’s cabin, a matter of some difficulty. It often occupies the +whole length of the boat (as it did in this case), and has three or four +tiers of berths on each side. When I first descended into the cabin of +the New York, it looked, in my unaccustomed eyes, about as long as the +Burlington Arcade. + +The Sound which has to be crossed on this passage, is not always a very +safe or pleasant navigation, and has been the scene of some unfortunate +accidents. It was a wet morning, and very misty, and we soon lost sight +of land. The day was calm, however, and brightened towards noon. After +exhausting (with good help from a friend) the larder, and the stock of +bottled beer, I lay down to sleep; being very much tired with the +fatigues of yesterday. But I woke from my nap in time to hurry up, and +see Hell Gate, the Hog’s Back, the Frying Pan, and other notorious +localities, attractive to all readers of famous Diedrich Knickerbocker’s +History. We were now in a narrow channel, with sloping banks on either +side, besprinkled with pleasant villas, and made refreshing to the sight +by turf and trees. Soon we shot in quick succession, past a light-house; +a madhouse (how the lunatics flung up their caps and roared in sympathy +with the headlong engine and the driving tide!); a jail; and other +buildings: and so emerged into a noble bay, whose waters sparkled in the +now cloudless sunshine like Nature’s eyes turned up to Heaven. + +Then there lay stretched out before us, to the right, confused heaps of +buildings, with here and there a spire or steeple, looking down upon the +herd below; and here and there, again, a cloud of lazy smoke; and in the +foreground a forest of ships’ masts, cheery with flapping sails and +waving flags. Crossing from among them to the opposite shore, were steam +ferry-boats laden with people, coaches, horses, waggons, baskets, boxes: +crossed and recrossed by other ferry-boats: all travelling to and fro: +and never idle. Stately among these restless Insects, were two or three +large ships, moving with slow majestic pace, as creatures of a prouder +kind, disdainful of their puny journeys, and making for the broad sea. +Beyond, were shining heights, and islands in the glancing river, and a +distance scarcely less blue and bright than the sky it seemed to meet. +The city’s hum and buzz, the clinking of capstans, the ringing of bells, +the barking of dogs, the clattering of wheels, tingled in the listening +ear. All of which life and stir, coming across the stirring water, +caught new life and animation from its free companionship; and, +sympathising with its buoyant spirits, glistened as it seemed in sport +upon its surface, and hemmed the vessel round, and plashed the water high +about her sides, and, floating her gallantly into the dock, flew off +again to welcome other comers, and speed before them to the busy port. + + + + +CHAPTER VI +NEW YORK + + +THE beautiful metropolis of America is by no means so clean a city as +Boston, but many of its streets have the same characteristics; except +that the houses are not quite so fresh-coloured, the sign-boards are not +quite so gaudy, the gilded letters not quite so golden, the bricks not +quite so red, the stone not quite so white, the blinds and area railings +not quite so green, the knobs and plates upon the street doors not quite +so bright and twinkling. There are many by-streets, almost as neutral in +clean colours, and positive in dirty ones, as by-streets in London; and +there is one quarter, commonly called the Five Points, which, in respect +of filth and wretchedness, may be safely backed against Seven Dials, or +any other part of famed St. Giles’s. + +The great promenade and thoroughfare, as most people know, is Broadway; a +wide and bustling street, which, from the Battery Gardens to its opposite +termination in a country road, may be four miles long. Shall we sit down +in an upper floor of the Carlton House Hotel (situated in the best part +of this main artery of New York), and when we are tired of looking down +upon the life below, sally forth arm-in-arm, and mingle with the stream? + +Warm weather! The sun strikes upon our heads at this open window, as +though its rays were concentrated through a burning-glass; but the day is +in its zenith, and the season an unusual one. Was there ever such a +sunny street as this Broadway! The pavement stones are polished with the +tread of feet until they shine again; the red bricks of the houses might +be yet in the dry, hot kilns; and the roofs of those omnibuses look as +though, if water were poured on them, they would hiss and smoke, and +smell like half-quenched fires. No stint of omnibuses here! +Half-a-dozen have gone by within as many minutes. Plenty of hackney cabs +and coaches too; gigs, phaetons, large-wheeled tilburies, and private +carriages—rather of a clumsy make, and not very different from the public +vehicles, but built for the heavy roads beyond the city pavement. Negro +coachmen and white; in straw hats, black hats, white hats, glazed caps, +fur caps; in coats of drab, black, brown, green, blue, nankeen, striped +jean and linen; and there, in that one instance (look while it passes, or +it will be too late), in suits of livery. Some southern republican that, +who puts his blacks in uniform, and swells with Sultan pomp and power. +Yonder, where that phaeton with the well-clipped pair of grays has +stopped—standing at their heads now—is a Yorkshire groom, who has not +been very long in these parts, and looks sorrowfully round for a +companion pair of top-boots, which he may traverse the city half a year +without meeting. Heaven save the ladies, how they dress! We have seen +more colours in these ten minutes, than we should have seen elsewhere, in +as many days. What various parasols! what rainbow silks and satins! what +pinking of thin stockings, and pinching of thin shoes, and fluttering of +ribbons and silk tassels, and display of rich cloaks with gaudy hoods and +linings! The young gentlemen are fond, you see, of turning down their +shirt-collars and cultivating their whiskers, especially under the chin; +but they cannot approach the ladies in their dress or bearing, being, to +say the truth, humanity of quite another sort. Byrons of the desk and +counter, pass on, and let us see what kind of men those are behind ye: +those two labourers in holiday clothes, of whom one carries in his hand a +crumpled scrap of paper from which he tries to spell out a hard name, +while the other looks about for it on all the doors and windows. + +Irishmen both! You might know them, if they were masked, by their +long-tailed blue coats and bright buttons, and their drab trousers, which +they wear like men well used to working dresses, who are easy in no +others. It would be hard to keep your model republics going, without the +countrymen and countrywomen of those two labourers. For who else would +dig, and delve, and drudge, and do domestic work, and make canals and +roads, and execute great lines of Internal Improvement! Irishmen both, +and sorely puzzled too, to find out what they seek. Let us go down, and +help them, for the love of home, and that spirit of liberty which admits +of honest service to honest men, and honest work for honest bread, no +matter what it be. + +That’s well! We have got at the right address at last, though it is +written in strange characters truly, and might have been scrawled with +the blunt handle of the spade the writer better knows the use of, than a +pen. Their way lies yonder, but what business takes them there? They +carry savings: to hoard up? No. They are brothers, those men. One +crossed the sea alone, and working very hard for one half year, and +living harder, saved funds enough to bring the other out. That done, +they worked together side by side, contentedly sharing hard labour and +hard living for another term, and then their sisters came, and then +another brother, and lastly, their old mother. And what now? Why, the +poor old crone is restless in a strange land, and yearns to lay her +bones, she says, among her people in the old graveyard at home: and so +they go to pay her passage back: and God help her and them, and every +simple heart, and all who turn to the Jerusalem of their younger days, +and have an altar-fire upon the cold hearth of their fathers. + +This narrow thoroughfare, baking and blistering in the sun, is Wall +Street: the Stock Exchange and Lombard Street of New York. Many a rapid +fortune has been made in this street, and many a no less rapid ruin. +Some of these very merchants whom you see hanging about here now, have +locked up money in their strong-boxes, like the man in the Arabian +Nights, and opening them again, have found but withered leaves. Below, +here by the water-side, where the bowsprits of ships stretch across the +footway, and almost thrust themselves into the windows, lie the noble +American vessels which have made their Packet Service the finest in the +world. They have brought hither the foreigners who abound in all the +streets: not, perhaps, that there are more here, than in other commercial +cities; but elsewhere, they have particular haunts, and you must find +them out; here, they pervade the town. + +We must cross Broadway again; gaining some refreshment from the heat, in +the sight of the great blocks of clean ice which are being carried into +shops and bar-rooms; and the pine-apples and water-melons profusely +displayed for sale. Fine streets of spacious houses here, you see!—Wall +Street has furnished and dismantled many of them very often—and here a +deep green leafy square. Be sure that is a hospitable house with inmates +to be affectionately remembered always, where they have the open door and +pretty show of plants within, and where the child with laughing eyes is +peeping out of window at the little dog below. You wonder what may be +the use of this tall flagstaff in the by-street, with something like +Liberty’s head-dress on its top: so do I. But there is a passion for +tall flagstaffs hereabout, and you may see its twin brother in five +minutes, if you have a mind. + +Again across Broadway, and so—passing from the many-coloured crowd and +glittering shops—into another long main street, the Bowery. A railroad +yonder, see, where two stout horses trot along, drawing a score or two of +people and a great wooden ark, with ease. The stores are poorer here; +the passengers less gay. Clothes ready-made, and meat ready-cooked, are +to be bought in these parts; and the lively whirl of carriages is +exchanged for the deep rumble of carts and waggons. These signs which +are so plentiful, in shape like river buoys, or small balloons, hoisted +by cords to poles, and dangling there, announce, as you may see by +looking up, ‘OYSTERS IN EVERY STYLE.’ They tempt the hungry most at +night, for then dull candles glimmering inside, illuminate these dainty +words, and make the mouths of idlers water, as they read and linger. + +What is this dismal-fronted pile of bastard Egyptian, like an enchanter’s +palace in a melodrama!—a famous prison, called The Tombs. Shall we go +in? + +So. A long, narrow, lofty building, stove-heated as usual, with four +galleries, one above the other, going round it, and communicating by +stairs. Between the two sides of each gallery, and in its centre, a +bridge, for the greater convenience of crossing. On each of these +bridges sits a man: dozing or reading, or talking to an idle companion. +On each tier, are two opposite rows of small iron doors. They look like +furnace-doors, but are cold and black, as though the fires within had all +gone out. Some two or three are open, and women, with drooping heads +bent down, are talking to the inmates. The whole is lighted by a +skylight, but it is fast closed; and from the roof there dangle, limp and +drooping, two useless windsails. + +A man with keys appears, to show us round. A good-looking fellow, and, +in his way, civil and obliging. + +‘Are those black doors the cells?’ + +‘Yes.’ + +‘Are they all full?’ + +‘Well, they’re pretty nigh full, and that’s a fact, and no two ways about +it.’ + +‘Those at the bottom are unwholesome, surely?’ + +‘Why, we _do_ only put coloured people in ’em. That’s the truth.’ + +‘When do the prisoners take exercise?’ + +‘Well, they do without it pretty much.’ + +‘Do they never walk in the yard?’ + +‘Considerable seldom.’ + +‘Sometimes, I suppose?’ + +‘Well, it’s rare they do. They keep pretty bright without it.’ + +‘But suppose a man were here for a twelvemonth. I know this is only a +prison for criminals who are charged with grave offences, while they are +awaiting their trial, or under remand, but the law here affords criminals +many means of delay. What with motions for new trials, and in arrest of +judgment, and what not, a prisoner might be here for twelve months, I +take it, might he not?’ + +‘Well, I guess he might.’ + +‘Do you mean to say that in all that time he would never come out at that +little iron door, for exercise?’ + +‘He might walk some, perhaps—not much.’ + +‘Will you open one of the doors?’ + +‘All, if you like.’ + +The fastenings jar and rattle, and one of the doors turns slowly on its +hinges. Let us look in. A small bare cell, into which the light enters +through a high chink in the wall. There is a rude means of washing, a +table, and a bedstead. Upon the latter, sits a man of sixty; reading. +He looks up for a moment; gives an impatient dogged shake; and fixes his +eyes upon his book again. As we withdraw our heads, the door closes on +him, and is fastened as before. This man has murdered his wife, and will +probably be hanged. + +‘How long has he been here?’ + +‘A month.’ + +‘When will he be tried?’ + +‘Next term.’ + +‘When is that?’ + +‘Next month.’ + +‘In England, if a man be under sentence of death, even he has air and +exercise at certain periods of the day.’ + +‘Possible?’ + +With what stupendous and untranslatable coolness he says this, and how +loungingly he leads on to the women’s side: making, as he goes, a kind of +iron castanet of the key and the stair-rail! + +Each cell door on this side has a square aperture in it. Some of the +women peep anxiously through it at the sound of footsteps; others shrink +away in shame.—For what offence can that lonely child, of ten or twelve +years old, be shut up here? Oh! that boy? He is the son of the prisoner +we saw just now; is a witness against his father; and is detained here +for safe keeping, until the trial; that’s all. + +But it is a dreadful place for the child to pass the long days and nights +in. This is rather hard treatment for a young witness, is it not?—What +says our conductor? + +‘Well, it an’t a very rowdy life, and _that’s_ a fact!’ + +Again he clinks his metal castanet, and leads us leisurely away. I have +a question to ask him as we go. + +‘Pray, why do they call this place The Tombs?’ + +‘Well, it’s the cant name.’ + +‘I know it is. Why?’ + +‘Some suicides happened here, when it was first built. I expect it come +about from that.’ + +‘I saw just now, that that man’s clothes were scattered about the floor +of his cell. Don’t you oblige the prisoners to be orderly, and put such +things away?’ + +‘Where should they put ’em?’ + +‘Not on the ground surely. What do you say to hanging them up?’ + +He stops and looks round to emphasise his answer: + +‘Why, I say that’s just it. When they had hooks they _would_ hang +themselves, so they’re taken out of every cell, and there’s only the +marks left where they used to be!’ + +The prison-yard in which he pauses now, has been the scene of terrible +performances. Into this narrow, grave-like place, men are brought out to +die. The wretched creature stands beneath the gibbet on the ground; the +rope about his neck; and when the sign is given, a weight at its other +end comes running down, and swings him up into the air—a corpse. + +The law requires that there be present at this dismal spectacle, the +judge, the jury, and citizens to the amount of twenty-five. From the +community it is hidden. To the dissolute and bad, the thing remains a +frightful mystery. Between the criminal and them, the prison-wall is +interposed as a thick gloomy veil. It is the curtain to his bed of +death, his winding-sheet, and grave. From him it shuts out life, and all +the motives to unrepenting hardihood in that last hour, which its mere +sight and presence is often all-sufficient to sustain. There are no bold +eyes to make him bold; no ruffians to uphold a ruffian’s name before. +All beyond the pitiless stone wall, is unknown space. + +Let us go forth again into the cheerful streets. + +Once more in Broadway! Here are the same ladies in bright colours, +walking to and fro, in pairs and singly; yonder the very same light blue +parasol which passed and repassed the hotel-window twenty times while we +were sitting there. We are going to cross here. Take care of the pigs. +Two portly sows are trotting up behind this carriage, and a select party +of half-a-dozen gentlemen hogs have just now turned the corner. + +Here is a solitary swine lounging homeward by himself. He has only one +ear; having parted with the other to vagrant-dogs in the course of his +city rambles. But he gets on very well without it; and leads a roving, +gentlemanly, vagabond kind of life, somewhat answering to that of our +club-men at home. He leaves his lodgings every morning at a certain +hour, throws himself upon the town, gets through his day in some manner +quite satisfactory to himself, and regularly appears at the door of his +own house again at night, like the mysterious master of Gil Blas. He is +a free-and-easy, careless, indifferent kind of pig, having a very large +acquaintance among other pigs of the same character, whom he rather knows +by sight than conversation, as he seldom troubles himself to stop and +exchange civilities, but goes grunting down the kennel, turning up the +news and small-talk of the city in the shape of cabbage-stalks and offal, +and bearing no tails but his own: which is a very short one, for his old +enemies, the dogs, have been at that too, and have left him hardly enough +to swear by. He is in every respect a republican pig, going wherever he +pleases, and mingling with the best society, on an equal, if not superior +footing, for every one makes way when he appears, and the haughtiest give +him the wall, if he prefer it. He is a great philosopher, and seldom +moved, unless by the dogs before mentioned. Sometimes, indeed, you may +see his small eye twinkling on a slaughtered friend, whose carcase +garnishes a butcher’s door-post, but he grunts out ‘Such is life: all +flesh is pork!’ buries his nose in the mire again, and waddles down the +gutter: comforting himself with the reflection that there is one snout +the less to anticipate stray cabbage-stalks, at any rate. + +They are the city scavengers, these pigs. Ugly brutes they are; having, +for the most part, scanty brown backs, like the lids of old horsehair +trunks: spotted with unwholesome black blotches. They have long, gaunt +legs, too, and such peaked snouts, that if one of them could be persuaded +to sit for his profile, nobody would recognise it for a pig’s likeness. +They are never attended upon, or fed, or driven, or caught, but are +thrown upon their own resources in early life, and become preternaturally +knowing in consequence. Every pig knows where he lives, much better than +anybody could tell him. At this hour, just as evening is closing in, you +will see them roaming towards bed by scores, eating their way to the +last. Occasionally, some youth among them who has over-eaten himself, or +has been worried by dogs, trots shrinkingly homeward, like a prodigal +son: but this is a rare case: perfect self-possession and self-reliance, +and immovable composure, being their foremost attributes. + +The streets and shops are lighted now; and as the eye travels down the +long thoroughfare, dotted with bright jets of gas, it is reminded of +Oxford Street, or Piccadilly. Here and there a flight of broad stone +cellar-steps appears, and a painted lamp directs you to the Bowling +Saloon, or Ten-Pin alley; Ten-Pins being a game of mingled chance and +skill, invented when the legislature passed an act forbidding Nine-Pins. +At other downward flights of steps, are other lamps, marking the +whereabouts of oyster-cellars—pleasant retreats, say I: not only by +reason of their wonderful cookery of oysters, pretty nigh as large as +cheese-plates (or for thy dear sake, heartiest of Greek Professors!), but +because of all kinds of caters of fish, or flesh, or fowl, in these +latitudes, the swallowers of oysters alone are not gregarious; but +subduing themselves, as it were, to the nature of what they work in, and +copying the coyness of the thing they eat, do sit apart in curtained +boxes, and consort by twos, not by two hundreds. + +But how quiet the streets are! Are there no itinerant bands; no wind or +stringed instruments? No, not one. By day, are there no Punches, +Fantoccini, Dancing-dogs, Jugglers, Conjurers, Orchestrinas, or even +Barrel-organs? No, not one. Yes, I remember one. One barrel-organ and +a dancing-monkey—sportive by nature, but fast fading into a dull, lumpish +monkey, of the Utilitarian school. Beyond that, nothing lively; no, not +so much as a white mouse in a twirling cage. + +Are there no amusements? Yes. There is a lecture-room across the way, +from which that glare of light proceeds, and there may be evening service +for the ladies thrice a week, or oftener. For the young gentlemen, there +is the counting-house, the store, the bar-room: the latter, as you may +see through these windows, pretty full. Hark! to the clinking sound of +hammers breaking lumps of ice, and to the cool gurgling of the pounded +bits, as, in the process of mixing, they are poured from glass to glass! +No amusements? What are these suckers of cigars and swallowers of strong +drinks, whose hats and legs we see in every possible variety of twist, +doing, but amusing themselves? What are the fifty newspapers, which +those precocious urchins are bawling down the street, and which are kept +filed within, what are they but amusements? Not vapid, waterish +amusements, but good strong stuff; dealing in round abuse and blackguard +names; pulling off the roofs of private houses, as the Halting Devil did +in Spain; pimping and pandering for all degrees of vicious taste, and +gorging with coined lies the most voracious maw; imputing to every man in +public life the coarsest and the vilest motives; scaring away from the +stabbed and prostrate body-politic, every Samaritan of clear conscience +and good deeds; and setting on, with yell and whistle and the clapping of +foul hands, the vilest vermin and worst birds of prey.—No amusements! + +Let us go on again; and passing this wilderness of an hotel with stores +about its base, like some Continental theatre, or the London Opera House +shorn of its colonnade, plunge into the Five Points. But it is needful, +first, that we take as our escort these two heads of the police, whom you +would know for sharp and well-trained officers if you met them in the +Great Desert. So true it is, that certain pursuits, wherever carried on, +will stamp men with the same character. These two might have been +begotten, born, and bred, in Bow Street. + +We have seen no beggars in the streets by night or day; but of other +kinds of strollers, plenty. Poverty, wretchedness, and vice, are rife +enough where we are going now. + +This is the place: these narrow ways, diverging to the right and left, +and reeking everywhere with dirt and filth. Such lives as are led here, +bear the same fruits here as elsewhere. The coarse and bloated faces at +the doors, have counterparts at home, and all the wide world over. +Debauchery has made the very houses prematurely old. See how the rotten +beams are tumbling down, and how the patched and broken windows seem to +scowl dimly, like eyes that have been hurt in drunken frays. Many of +those pigs live here. Do they ever wonder why their masters walk upright +in lieu of going on all-fours? and why they talk instead of grunting? + +So far, nearly every house is a low tavern; and on the bar-room walls, +are coloured prints of Washington, and Queen Victoria of England, and the +American Eagle. Among the pigeon-holes that hold the bottles, are pieces +of plate-glass and coloured paper, for there is, in some sort, a taste +for decoration, even here. And as seamen frequent these haunts, there +are maritime pictures by the dozen: of partings between sailors and their +lady-loves, portraits of William, of the ballad, and his Black-Eyed +Susan; of Will Watch, the Bold Smuggler; of Paul Jones the Pirate, and +the like: on which the painted eyes of Queen Victoria, and of Washington +to boot, rest in as strange companionship, as on most of the scenes that +are enacted in their wondering presence. + +What place is this, to which the squalid street conducts us? A kind of +square of leprous houses, some of which are attainable only by crazy +wooden stairs without. What lies beyond this tottering flight of steps, +that creak beneath our tread?—a miserable room, lighted by one dim +candle, and destitute of all comfort, save that which may be hidden in a +wretched bed. Beside it, sits a man: his elbows on his knees: his +forehead hidden in his hands. ‘What ails that man?’ asks the foremost +officer. ‘Fever,’ he sullenly replies, without looking up. Conceive the +fancies of a feverish brain, in such a place as this! + +Ascend these pitch-dark stairs, heedful of a false footing on the +trembling boards, and grope your way with me into this wolfish den, where +neither ray of light nor breath of air, appears to come. A negro lad, +startled from his sleep by the officer’s voice—he knows it well—but +comforted by his assurance that he has not come on business, officiously +bestirs himself to light a candle. The match flickers for a moment, and +shows great mounds of dusty rags upon the ground; then dies away and +leaves a denser darkness than before, if there can be degrees in such +extremes. He stumbles down the stairs and presently comes back, shading +a flaring taper with his hand. Then the mounds of rags are seen to be +astir, and rise slowly up, and the floor is covered with heaps of negro +women, waking from their sleep: their white teeth chattering, and their +bright eyes glistening and winking on all sides with surprise and fear, +like the countless repetition of one astonished African face in some +strange mirror. + +Mount up these other stairs with no less caution (there are traps and +pitfalls here, for those who are not so well escorted as ourselves) into +the housetop; where the bare beams and rafters meet overhead, and calm +night looks down through the crevices in the roof. Open the door of one +of these cramped hutches full of sleeping negroes. Pah! They have a +charcoal fire within; there is a smell of singeing clothes, or flesh, so +close they gather round the brazier; and vapours issue forth that blind +and suffocate. From every corner, as you glance about you in these dark +retreats, some figure crawls half-awakened, as if the judgment-hour were +near at hand, and every obscene grave were giving up its dead. Where +dogs would howl to lie, women, and men, and boys slink off to sleep, +forcing the dislodged rats to move away in quest of better lodgings. + +Here too are lanes and alleys, paved with mud knee-deep, underground +chambers, where they dance and game; the walls bedecked with rough +designs of ships, and forts, and flags, and American eagles out of +number: ruined houses, open to the street, whence, through wide gaps in +the walls, other ruins loom upon the eye, as though the world of vice and +misery had nothing else to show: hideous tenements which take their name +from robbery and murder: all that is loathsome, drooping, and decayed is +here. + +Our leader has his hand upon the latch of ‘Almack’s,’ and calls to us +from the bottom of the steps; for the assembly-room of the Five Point +fashionables is approached by a descent. Shall we go in? It is but a +moment. + +Heyday! the landlady of Almack’s thrives! A buxom fat mulatto woman, +with sparkling eyes, whose head is daintily ornamented with a +handkerchief of many colours. Nor is the landlord much behind her in his +finery, being attired in a smart blue jacket, like a ship’s steward, with +a thick gold ring upon his little finger, and round his neck a gleaming +golden watch-guard. How glad he is to see us! What will we please to +call for? A dance? It shall be done directly, sir: ‘a regular +break-down.’ + +The corpulent black fiddler, and his friend who plays the tambourine, +stamp upon the boarding of the small raised orchestra in which they sit, +and play a lively measure. Five or six couple come upon the floor, +marshalled by a lively young negro, who is the wit of the assembly, and +the greatest dancer known. He never leaves off making queer faces, and +is the delight of all the rest, who grin from ear to ear incessantly. +Among the dancers are two young mulatto girls, with large, black, +drooping eyes, and head-gear after the fashion of the hostess, who are as +shy, or feign to be, as though they never danced before, and so look down +before the visitors, that their partners can see nothing but the long +fringed lashes. + +But the dance commences. Every gentleman sets as long as he likes to the +opposite lady, and the opposite lady to him, and all are so long about it +that the sport begins to languish, when suddenly the lively hero dashes +in to the rescue. Instantly the fiddler grins, and goes at it tooth and +nail; there is new energy in the tambourine; new laughter in the dancers; +new smiles in the landlady; new confidence in the landlord; new +brightness in the very candles. + +Single shuffle, double shuffle, cut and cross-cut; snapping his fingers, +rolling his eyes, turning in his knees, presenting the backs of his legs +in front, spinning about on his toes and heels like nothing but the man’s +fingers on the tambourine; dancing with two left legs, two right legs, +two wooden legs, two wire legs, two spring legs—all sorts of legs and no +legs—what is this to him? And in what walk of life, or dance of life, +does man ever get such stimulating applause as thunders about him, when, +having danced his partner off her feet, and himself too, he finishes by +leaping gloriously on the bar-counter, and calling for something to +drink, with the chuckle of a million of counterfeit Jim Crows, in one +inimitable sound! + +The air, even in these distempered parts, is fresh after the stifling +atmosphere of the houses; and now, as we emerge into a broader street, it +blows upon us with a purer breath, and the stars look bright again. Here +are The Tombs once more. The city watch-house is a part of the building. +It follows naturally on the sights we have just left. Let us see that, +and then to bed. + +What! do you thrust your common offenders against the police discipline +of the town, into such holes as these? Do men and women, against whom no +crime is proved, lie here all night in perfect darkness, surrounded by +the noisome vapours which encircle that flagging lamp you light us with, +and breathing this filthy and offensive stench! Why, such indecent and +disgusting dungeons as these cells, would bring disgrace upon the most +despotic empire in the world! Look at them, man—you, who see them every +night, and keep the keys. Do you see what they are? Do you know how +drains are made below the streets, and wherein these human sewers differ, +except in being always stagnant? + +Well, he don’t know. He has had five-and-twenty young women locked up in +this very cell at one time, and you’d hardly realise what handsome faces +there were among ’em. + +In God’s name! shut the door upon the wretched creature who is in it now, +and put its screen before a place, quite unsurpassed in all the vice, +neglect, and devilry, of the worst old town in Europe. + +Are people really left all night, untried, in those black sties?—Every +night. The watch is set at seven in the evening. The magistrate opens +his court at five in the morning. That is the earliest hour at which the +first prisoner can be released; and if an officer appear against him, he +is not taken out till nine o’clock or ten.—But if any one among them die +in the interval, as one man did, not long ago? Then he is half-eaten by +the rats in an hour’s time; as that man was; and there an end. + +What is this intolerable tolling of great bells, and crashing of wheels, +and shouting in the distance? A fire. And what that deep red light in +the opposite direction? Another fire. And what these charred and +blackened walls we stand before? A dwelling where a fire has been. It +was more than hinted, in an official report, not long ago, that some of +these conflagrations were not wholly accidental, and that speculation and +enterprise found a field of exertion, even in flames: but be this as it +may, there was a fire last night, there are two to-night, and you may lay +an even wager there will be at least one, to-morrow. So, carrying that +with us for our comfort, let us say, Good night, and climb up-stairs to +bed. + + * * * * * + +One day, during my stay in New York, I paid a visit to the different +public institutions on Long Island, or Rhode Island: I forget which. One +of them is a Lunatic Asylum. The building is handsome; and is remarkable +for a spacious and elegant staircase. The whole structure is not yet +finished, but it is already one of considerable size and extent, and is +capable of accommodating a very large number of patients. + +I cannot say that I derived much comfort from the inspection of this +charity. The different wards might have been cleaner and better ordered; +I saw nothing of that salutary system which had impressed me so +favourably elsewhere; and everything had a lounging, listless, madhouse +air, which was very painful. The moping idiot, cowering down with long +dishevelled hair; the gibbering maniac, with his hideous laugh and +pointed finger; the vacant eye, the fierce wild face, the gloomy picking +of the hands and lips, and munching of the nails: there they were all, +without disguise, in naked ugliness and horror. In the dining-room, a +bare, dull, dreary place, with nothing for the eye to rest on but the +empty walls, a woman was locked up alone. She was bent, they told me, on +committing suicide. If anything could have strengthened her in her +resolution, it would certainly have been the insupportable monotony of +such an existence. + +The terrible crowd with which these halls and galleries were filled, so +shocked me, that I abridged my stay within the shortest limits, and +declined to see that portion of the building in which the refractory and +violent were under closer restraint. I have no doubt that the gentleman +who presided over this establishment at the time I write of, was +competent to manage it, and had done all in his power to promote its +usefulness: but will it be believed that the miserable strife of Party +feeling is carried even into this sad refuge of afflicted and degraded +humanity? Will it be believed that the eyes which are to watch over and +control the wanderings of minds on which the most dreadful visitation to +which our nature is exposed has fallen, must wear the glasses of some +wretched side in Politics? Will it be believed that the governor of such +a house as this, is appointed, and deposed, and changed perpetually, as +Parties fluctuate and vary, and as their despicable weathercocks are +blown this way or that? A hundred times in every week, some new most +paltry exhibition of that narrow-minded and injurious Party Spirit, which +is the Simoom of America, sickening and blighting everything of wholesome +life within its reach, was forced upon my notice; but I never turned my +back upon it with feelings of such deep disgust and measureless contempt, +as when I crossed the threshold of this madhouse. + +At a short distance from this building is another called the Alms House, +that is to say, the workhouse of New York. This is a large Institution +also: lodging, I believe, when I was there, nearly a thousand poor. It +was badly ventilated, and badly lighted; was not too clean;—and impressed +me, on the whole, very uncomfortably. But it must be remembered that New +York, as a great emporium of commerce, and as a place of general resort, +not only from all parts of the States, but from most parts of the world, +has always a large pauper population to provide for; and labours, +therefore, under peculiar difficulties in this respect. Nor must it be +forgotten that New York is a large town, and that in all large towns a +vast amount of good and evil is intermixed and jumbled up together. + +In the same neighbourhood is the Farm, where young orphans are nursed and +bred. I did not see it, but I believe it is well conducted; and I can +the more easily credit it, from knowing how mindful they usually are, in +America, of that beautiful passage in the Litany which remembers all sick +persons and young children. + +I was taken to these Institutions by water, in a boat belonging to the +Island jail, and rowed by a crew of prisoners, who were dressed in a +striped uniform of black and buff, in which they looked like faded +tigers. They took me, by the same conveyance, to the jail itself. + +It is an old prison, and quite a pioneer establishment, on the plan I +have already described. I was glad to hear this, for it is +unquestionably a very indifferent one. The most is made, however, of the +means it possesses, and it is as well regulated as such a place can be. + +The women work in covered sheds, erected for that purpose. If I remember +right, there are no shops for the men, but be that as it may, the greater +part of them labour in certain stone-quarries near at hand. The day +being very wet indeed, this labour was suspended, and the prisoners were +in their cells. Imagine these cells, some two or three hundred in +number, and in every one a man locked up; this one at his door for air, +with his hands thrust through the grate; this one in bed (in the middle +of the day, remember); and this one flung down in a heap upon the ground, +with his head against the bars, like a wild beast. Make the rain pour +down, outside, in torrents. Put the everlasting stove in the midst; hot, +and suffocating, and vaporous, as a witch’s cauldron. Add a collection +of gentle odours, such as would arise from a thousand mildewed umbrellas, +wet through, and a thousand buck-baskets, full of half-washed linen—and +there is the prison, as it was that day. + +The prison for the State at Sing Sing is, on the other hand, a model +jail. That, and Auburn, are, I believe, the largest and best examples of +the silent system. + +In another part of the city, is the Refuge for the Destitute: an +Institution whose object is to reclaim youthful offenders, male and +female, black and white, without distinction; to teach them useful +trades, apprentice them to respectable masters, and make them worthy +members of society. Its design, it will be seen, is similar to that at +Boston; and it is a no less meritorious and admirable establishment. A +suspicion crossed my mind during my inspection of this noble charity, +whether the superintendent had quite sufficient knowledge of the world +and worldly characters; and whether he did not commit a great mistake in +treating some young girls, who were to all intents and purposes, by their +years and their past lives, women, as though they were little children; +which certainly had a ludicrous effect in my eyes, and, or I am much +mistaken, in theirs also. As the Institution, however, is always under a +vigilant examination of a body of gentlemen of great intelligence and +experience, it cannot fail to be well conducted; and whether I am right +or wrong in this slight particular, is unimportant to its deserts and +character, which it would be difficult to estimate too highly. + +In addition to these establishments, there are in New York, excellent +hospitals and schools, literary institutions and libraries; an admirable +fire department (as indeed it should be, having constant practice), and +charities of every sort and kind. In the suburbs there is a spacious +cemetery: unfinished yet, but every day improving. The saddest tomb I +saw there was ‘The Strangers’ Grave. Dedicated to the different hotels +in this city.’ + +There are three principal theatres. Two of them, the Park and the +Bowery, are large, elegant, and handsome buildings, and are, I grieve to +write it, generally deserted. The third, the Olympic, is a tiny show-box +for vaudevilles and burlesques. It is singularly well conducted by Mr. +Mitchell, a comic actor of great quiet humour and originality, who is +well remembered and esteemed by London playgoers. I am happy to report +of this deserving gentleman, that his benches are usually well filled, +and that his theatre rings with merriment every night. I had almost +forgotten a small summer theatre, called Niblo’s, with gardens and open +air amusements attached; but I believe it is not exempt from the general +depression under which Theatrical Property, or what is humorously called +by that name, unfortunately labours. + +The country round New York is surpassingly and exquisitely picturesque. +The climate, as I have already intimated, is somewhat of the warmest. +What it would be, without the sea breezes which come from its beautiful +Bay in the evening time, I will not throw myself or my readers into a +fever by inquiring. + +The tone of the best society in this city, is like that of Boston; here +and there, it may be, with a greater infusion of the mercantile spirit, +but generally polished and refined, and always most hospitable. The +houses and tables are elegant; the hours later and more rakish; and there +is, perhaps, a greater spirit of contention in reference to appearances, +and the display of wealth and costly living. The ladies are singularly +beautiful. + +Before I left New York I made arrangements for securing a passage home in +the George Washington packet ship, which was advertised to sail in June: +that being the month in which I had determined, if prevented by no +accident in the course of my ramblings, to leave America. + +I never thought that going back to England, returning to all who are dear +to me, and to pursuits that have insensibly grown to be a part of my +nature, I could have felt so much sorrow as I endured, when I parted at +last, on board this ship, with the friends who had accompanied me from +this city. I never thought the name of any place, so far away and so +lately known, could ever associate itself in my mind with the crowd of +affectionate remembrances that now cluster about it. There are those in +this city who would brighten, to me, the darkest winter-day that ever +glimmered and went out in Lapland; and before whose presence even Home +grew dim, when they and I exchanged that painful word which mingles with +our every thought and deed; which haunts our cradle-heads in infancy, and +closes up the vista of our lives in age. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +PHILADELPHIA, AND ITS SOLITARY PRISON + + +THE journey from New York to Philadelphia, is made by railroad, and two +ferries; and usually occupies between five and six hours. It was a fine +evening when we were passengers in the train: and watching the bright +sunset from a little window near the door by which we sat, my attention +was attracted to a remarkable appearance issuing from the windows of the +gentleman’s car immediately in front of us, which I supposed for some +time was occasioned by a number of industrious persons inside, ripping +open feather-beds, and giving the feathers to the wind. At length it +occurred to me that they were only spitting, which was indeed the case; +though how any number of passengers which it was possible for that car to +contain, could have maintained such a playful and incessant shower of +expectoration, I am still at a loss to understand: notwithstanding the +experience in all salivatory phenomena which I afterwards acquired. + +I made acquaintance, on this journey, with a mild and modest young +quaker, who opened the discourse by informing me, in a grave whisper, +that his grandfather was the inventor of cold-drawn castor oil. I +mention the circumstance here, thinking it probable that this is the +first occasion on which the valuable medicine in question was ever used +as a conversational aperient. + +We reached the city, late that night. Looking out of my chamber-window, +before going to bed, I saw, on the opposite side of the way, a handsome +building of white marble, which had a mournful ghost-like aspect, dreary +to behold. I attributed this to the sombre influence of the night, and +on rising in the morning looked out again, expecting to see its steps and +portico thronged with groups of people passing in and out. The door was +still tight shut, however; the same cold cheerless air prevailed: and the +building looked as if the marble statue of Don Guzman could alone have +any business to transact within its gloomy walls. I hastened to inquire +its name and purpose, and then my surprise vanished. It was the Tomb of +many fortunes; the Great Catacomb of investment; the memorable United +States Bank. + +The stoppage of this bank, with all its ruinous consequences, had cast +(as I was told on every side) a gloom on Philadelphia, under the +depressing effect of which it yet laboured. It certainly did seem rather +dull and out of spirits. + +It is a handsome city, but distractingly regular. After walking about it +for an hour or two, I felt that I would have given the world for a +crooked street. The collar of my coat appeared to stiffen, and the brim +of my hat to expand, beneath its quakery influence. My hair shrunk into +a sleek short crop, my hands folded themselves upon my breast of their +own calm accord, and thoughts of taking lodgings in Mark Lane over +against the Market Place, and of making a large fortune by speculations +in corn, came over me involuntarily. + +Philadelphia is most bountifully provided with fresh water, which is +showered and jerked about, and turned on, and poured off, everywhere. +The Waterworks, which are on a height near the city, are no less +ornamental than useful, being tastefully laid out as a public garden, and +kept in the best and neatest order. The river is dammed at this point, +and forced by its own power into certain high tanks or reservoirs, whence +the whole city, to the top stories of the houses, is supplied at a very +trifling expense. + +There are various public institutions. Among them a most excellent +Hospital—a quaker establishment, but not sectarian in the great benefits +it confers; a quiet, quaint old Library, named after Franklin; a handsome +Exchange and Post Office; and so forth. In connection with the quaker +Hospital, there is a picture by West, which is exhibited for the benefit +of the funds of the institution. The subject is, our Saviour healing the +sick, and it is, perhaps, as favourable a specimen of the master as can +be seen anywhere. Whether this be high or low praise, depends upon the +reader’s taste. + +In the same room, there is a very characteristic and life-like portrait +by Mr. Sully, a distinguished American artist. + +My stay in Philadelphia was very short, but what I saw of its society, I +greatly liked. Treating of its general characteristics, I should be +disposed to say that it is more provincial than Boston or New York, and +that there is afloat in the fair city, an assumption of taste and +criticism, savouring rather of those genteel discussions upon the same +themes, in connection with Shakspeare and the Musical Glasses, of which +we read in the Vicar of Wakefield. Near the city, is a most splendid +unfinished marble structure for the Girard College, founded by a deceased +gentleman of that name and of enormous wealth, which, if completed +according to the original design, will be perhaps the richest edifice of +modern times. But the bequest is involved in legal disputes, and pending +them the work has stopped; so that like many other great undertakings in +America, even this is rather going to be done one of these days, than +doing now. + +In the outskirts, stands a great prison, called the Eastern Penitentiary: +conducted on a plan peculiar to the state of Pennsylvania. The system +here, is rigid, strict, and hopeless solitary confinement. I believe it, +in its effects, to be cruel and wrong. + +In its intention, I am well convinced that it is kind, humane, and meant +for reformation; but I am persuaded that those who devised this system of +Prison Discipline, and those benevolent gentlemen who carry it into +execution, do not know what it is that they are doing. I believe that +very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and +agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon +the sufferers; and in guessing at it myself, and in reasoning from what I +have seen written upon their faces, and what to my certain knowledge they +feel within, I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of +terrible endurance in it which none but the sufferers themselves can +fathom, and which no man has a right to inflict upon his fellow-creature. +I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain, to +be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body: and because its +ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of +touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the +surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I +the more denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is +not roused up to stay. I hesitated once, debating with myself, whether, +if I had the power of saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ I would allow it to be tried +in certain cases, where the terms of imprisonment were short; but now, I +solemnly declare, that with no rewards or honours could I walk a happy +man beneath the open sky by day, or lie me down upon my bed at night, +with the consciousness that one human creature, for any length of time, +no matter what, lay suffering this unknown punishment in his silent cell, +and I the cause, or I consenting to it in the least degree. + +I was accompanied to this prison by two gentlemen officially connected +with its management, and passed the day in going from cell to cell, and +talking with the inmates. Every facility was afforded me, that the +utmost courtesy could suggest. Nothing was concealed or hidden from my +view, and every piece of information that I sought, was openly and +frankly given. The perfect order of the building cannot be praised too +highly, and of the excellent motives of all who are immediately concerned +in the administration of the system, there can be no kind of question. + +Between the body of the prison and the outer wall, there is a spacious +garden. Entering it, by a wicket in the massive gate, we pursued the +path before us to its other termination, and passed into a large chamber, +from which seven long passages radiate. On either side of each, is a +long, long row of low cell doors, with a certain number over every one. +Above, a gallery of cells like those below, except that they have no +narrow yard attached (as those in the ground tier have), and are somewhat +smaller. The possession of two of these, is supposed to compensate for +the absence of so much air and exercise as can be had in the dull strip +attached to each of the others, in an hour’s time every day; and +therefore every prisoner in this upper story has two cells, adjoining and +communicating with, each other. + +Standing at the central point, and looking down these dreary passages, +the dull repose and quiet that prevails, is awful. Occasionally, there +is a drowsy sound from some lone weaver’s shuttle, or shoemaker’s last, +but it is stifled by the thick walls and heavy dungeon-door, and only +serves to make the general stillness more profound. Over the head and +face of every prisoner who comes into this melancholy house, a black hood +is drawn; and in this dark shroud, an emblem of the curtain dropped +between him and the living world, he is led to the cell from which he +never again comes forth, until his whole term of imprisonment has +expired. He never hears of wife and children; home or friends; the life +or death of any single creature. He sees the prison-officers, but with +that exception he never looks upon a human countenance, or hears a human +voice. He is a man buried alive; to be dug out in the slow round of +years; and in the mean time dead to everything but torturing anxieties +and horrible despair. + +His name, and crime, and term of suffering, are unknown, even to the +officer who delivers him his daily food. There is a number over his +cell-door, and in a book of which the governor of the prison has one +copy, and the moral instructor another: this is the index of his history. +Beyond these pages the prison has no record of his existence: and though +he live to be in the same cell ten weary years, he has no means of +knowing, down to the very last hour, in which part of the building it is +situated; what kind of men there are about him; whether in the long +winter nights there are living people near, or he is in some lonely +corner of the great jail, with walls, and passages, and iron doors +between him and the nearest sharer in its solitary horrors. + +Every cell has double doors: the outer one of sturdy oak, the other of +grated iron, wherein there is a trap through which his food is handed. +He has a Bible, and a slate and pencil, and, under certain restrictions, +has sometimes other books, provided for the purpose, and pen and ink and +paper. His razor, plate, and can, and basin, hang upon the wall, or +shine upon the little shelf. Fresh water is laid on in every cell, and +he can draw it at his pleasure. During the day, his bedstead turns up +against the wall, and leaves more space for him to work in. His loom, or +bench, or wheel, is there; and there he labours, sleeps and wakes, and +counts the seasons as they change, and grows old. + +The first man I saw, was seated at his loom, at work. He had been there +six years, and was to remain, I think, three more. He had been convicted +as a receiver of stolen goods, but even after his long imprisonment, +denied his guilt, and said he had been hardly dealt by. It was his +second offence. + +He stopped his work when we went in, took off his spectacles, and +answered freely to everything that was said to him, but always with a +strange kind of pause first, and in a low, thoughtful voice. He wore a +paper hat of his own making, and was pleased to have it noticed and +commanded. He had very ingeniously manufactured a sort of Dutch clock +from some disregarded odds and ends; and his vinegar-bottle served for +the pendulum. Seeing me interested in this contrivance, he looked up at +it with a great deal of pride, and said that he had been thinking of +improving it, and that he hoped the hammer and a little piece of broken +glass beside it ‘would play music before long.’ He had extracted some +colours from the yarn with which he worked, and painted a few poor +figures on the wall. One, of a female, over the door, he called ‘The +Lady of the Lake.’ + +He smiled as I looked at these contrivances to while away the time; but +when I looked from them to him, I saw that his lip trembled, and could +have counted the beating of his heart. I forget how it came about, but +some allusion was made to his having a wife. He shook his head at the +word, turned aside, and covered his face with his hands. + +‘But you are resigned now!’ said one of the gentlemen after a short +pause, during which he had resumed his former manner. He answered with a +sigh that seemed quite reckless in its hopelessness, ‘Oh yes, oh yes! I +am resigned to it.’ ‘And are a better man, you think?’ ‘Well, I hope +so: I’m sure I hope I may be.’ ‘And time goes pretty quickly?’ ‘Time is +very long gentlemen, within these four walls!’ + +He gazed about him—Heaven only knows how wearily!—as he said these words; +and in the act of doing so, fell into a strange stare as if he had +forgotten something. A moment afterwards he sighed heavily, put on his +spectacles, and went about his work again. + +In another cell, there was a German, sentenced to five years’ +imprisonment for larceny, two of which had just expired. With colours +procured in the same manner, he had painted every inch of the walls and +ceiling quite beautifully. He had laid out the few feet of ground, +behind, with exquisite neatness, and had made a little bed in the centre, +that looked, by-the-bye, like a grave. The taste and ingenuity he had +displayed in everything were most extraordinary; and yet a more dejected, +heart-broken, wretched creature, it would be difficult to imagine. I +never saw such a picture of forlorn affliction and distress of mind. My +heart bled for him; and when the tears ran down his cheeks, and he took +one of the visitors aside, to ask, with his trembling hands nervously +clutching at his coat to detain him, whether there was no hope of his +dismal sentence being commuted, the spectacle was really too painful to +witness. I never saw or heard of any kind of misery that impressed me +more than the wretchedness of this man. + +In a third cell, was a tall, strong black, a burglar, working at his +proper trade of making screws and the like. His time was nearly out. He +was not only a very dexterous thief, but was notorious for his boldness +and hardihood, and for the number of his previous convictions. He +entertained us with a long account of his achievements, which he narrated +with such infinite relish, that he actually seemed to lick his lips as he +told us racy anecdotes of stolen plate, and of old ladies whom he had +watched as they sat at windows in silver spectacles (he had plainly had +an eye to their metal even from the other side of the street) and had +afterwards robbed. This fellow, upon the slightest encouragement, would +have mingled with his professional recollections the most detestable +cant; but I am very much mistaken if he could have surpassed the +unmitigated hypocrisy with which he declared that he blessed the day on +which he came into that prison, and that he never would commit another +robbery as long as he lived. + +There was one man who was allowed, as an indulgence, to keep rabbits. +His room having rather a close smell in consequence, they called to him +at the door to come out into the passage. He complied of course, and +stood shading his haggard face in the unwonted sunlight of the great +window, looking as wan and unearthly as if he had been summoned from the +grave. He had a white rabbit in his breast; and when the little +creature, getting down upon the ground, stole back into the cell, and he, +being dismissed, crept timidly after it, I thought it would have been +very hard to say in what respect the man was the nobler animal of the +two. + +There was an English thief, who had been there but a few days out of +seven years: a villainous, low-browed, thin-lipped fellow, with a white +face; who had as yet no relish for visitors, and who, but for the +additional penalty, would have gladly stabbed me with his shoemaker’s +knife. There was another German who had entered the jail but yesterday, +and who started from his bed when we looked in, and pleaded, in his +broken English, very hard for work. There was a poet, who after doing +two days’ work in every four-and-twenty hours, one for himself and one +for the prison, wrote verses about ships (he was by trade a mariner), and +‘the maddening wine-cup,’ and his friends at home. There were very many +of them. Some reddened at the sight of visitors, and some turned very +pale. Some two or three had prisoner nurses with them, for they were +very sick; and one, a fat old negro whose leg had been taken off within +the jail, had for his attendant a classical scholar and an accomplished +surgeon, himself a prisoner likewise. Sitting upon the stairs, engaged +in some slight work, was a pretty coloured boy. ‘Is there no refuge for +young criminals in Philadelphia, then?’ said I. ‘Yes, but only for white +children.’ Noble aristocracy in crime! + +There was a sailor who had been there upwards of eleven years, and who in +a few months’ time would be free. Eleven years of solitary confinement! + +‘I am very glad to hear your time is nearly out.’ What does he say? +Nothing. Why does he stare at his hands, and pick the flesh upon his +fingers, and raise his eyes for an instant, every now and then, to those +bare walls which have seen his head turn grey? It is a way he has +sometimes. + +Does he never look men in the face, and does he always pluck at those +hands of his, as though he were bent on parting skin and bone? It is his +humour: nothing more. + +It is his humour too, to say that he does not look forward to going out; +that he is not glad the time is drawing near; that he did look forward to +it once, but that was very long ago; that he has lost all care for +everything. It is his humour to be a helpless, crushed, and broken man. +And, Heaven be his witness that he has his humour thoroughly gratified! + +There were three young women in adjoining cells, all convicted at the +same time of a conspiracy to rob their prosecutor. In the silence and +solitude of their lives they had grown to be quite beautiful. Their +looks were very sad, and might have moved the sternest visitor to tears, +but not to that kind of sorrow which the contemplation of the men +awakens. One was a young girl; not twenty, as I recollect; whose +snow-white room was hung with the work of some former prisoner, and upon +whose downcast face the sun in all its splendour shone down through the +high chink in the wall, where one narrow strip of bright blue sky was +visible. She was very penitent and quiet; had come to be resigned, she +said (and I believe her); and had a mind at peace. ‘In a word, you are +happy here?’ said one of my companions. She struggled—she did struggle +very hard—to answer, Yes; but raising her eyes, and meeting that glimpse +of freedom overhead, she burst into tears, and said, ‘She tried to be; +she uttered no complaint; but it was natural that she should sometimes +long to go out of that one cell: she could not help _that_,’ she sobbed, +poor thing! + +I went from cell to cell that day; and every face I saw, or word I heard, +or incident I noted, is present to my mind in all its painfulness. But +let me pass them by, for one, more pleasant, glance of a prison on the +same plan which I afterwards saw at Pittsburg. + +When I had gone over that, in the same manner, I asked the governor if he +had any person in his charge who was shortly going out. He had one, he +said, whose time was up next day; but he had only been a prisoner two +years. + +Two years! I looked back through two years of my own life—out of jail, +prosperous, happy, surrounded by blessings, comforts, good fortune—and +thought how wide a gap it was, and how long those two years passed in +solitary captivity would have been. I have the face of this man, who was +going to be released next day, before me now. It is almost more +memorable in its happiness than the other faces in their misery. How +easy and how natural it was for him to say that the system was a good +one; and that the time went ‘pretty quick—considering;’ and that when a +man once felt that he had offended the law, and must satisfy it, ‘he got +along, somehow:’ and so forth! + +‘What did he call you back to say to you, in that strange flutter?’ I +asked of my conductor, when he had locked the door and joined me in the +passage. + +‘Oh! That he was afraid the soles of his boots were not fit for walking, +as they were a good deal worn when he came in; and that he would thank me +very much to have them mended, ready.’ + +Those boots had been taken off his feet, and put away with the rest of +his clothes, two years before! + +I took that opportunity of inquiring how they conducted themselves +immediately before going out; adding that I presumed they trembled very +much. + +‘Well, it’s not so much a trembling,’ was the answer—‘though they do +quiver—as a complete derangement of the nervous system. They can’t sign +their names to the book; sometimes can’t even hold the pen; look about +’em without appearing to know why, or where they are; and sometimes get +up and sit down again, twenty times in a minute. This is when they’re in +the office, where they are taken with the hood on, as they were brought +in. When they get outside the gate, they stop, and look first one way +and then the other; not knowing which to take. Sometimes they stagger as +if they were drunk, and sometimes are forced to lean against the fence, +they’re so bad:—but they clear off in course of time.’ + +As I walked among these solitary cells, and looked at the faces of the +men within them, I tried to picture to myself the thoughts and feelings +natural to their condition. I imagined the hood just taken off, and the +scene of their captivity disclosed to them in all its dismal monotony. + +At first, the man is stunned. His confinement is a hideous vision; and +his old life a reality. He throws himself upon his bed, and lies there +abandoned to despair. By degrees the insupportable solitude and +barrenness of the place rouses him from this stupor, and when the trap in +his grated door is opened, he humbly begs and prays for work. ‘Give me +some work to do, or I shall go raving mad!’ + +He has it; and by fits and starts applies himself to labour; but every +now and then there comes upon him a burning sense of the years that must +be wasted in that stone coffin, and an agony so piercing in the +recollection of those who are hidden from his view and knowledge, that he +starts from his seat, and striding up and down the narrow room with both +hands clasped on his uplifted head, hears spirits tempting him to beat +his brains out on the wall. + +Again he falls upon his bed, and lies there, moaning. Suddenly he starts +up, wondering whether any other man is near; whether there is another +cell like that on either side of him: and listens keenly. + +There is no sound, but other prisoners may be near for all that. He +remembers to have heard once, when he little thought of coming here +himself, that the cells were so constructed that the prisoners could not +hear each other, though the officers could hear them. Where is the +nearest man—upon the right, or on the left? or is there one in both +directions? Where is he sitting now—with his face to the light? or is he +walking to and fro? How is he dressed? Has he been here long? Is he +much worn away? Is he very white and spectre-like? Does _he_ think of +his neighbour too? + +Scarcely venturing to breathe, and listening while he thinks, he conjures +up a figure with his back towards him, and imagines it moving about in +this next cell. He has no idea of the face, but he is certain of the +dark form of a stooping man. In the cell upon the other side, he puts +another figure, whose face is hidden from him also. Day after day, and +often when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he thinks of these two +men until he is almost distracted. He never changes them. There they +are always as he first imagined them—an old man on the right; a younger +man upon the left—whose hidden features torture him to death, and have a +mystery that makes him tremble. + +The weary days pass on with solemn pace, like mourners at a funeral; and +slowly he begins to feel that the white walls of the cell have something +dreadful in them: that their colour is horrible: that their smooth +surface chills his blood: that there is one hateful corner which torments +him. Every morning when he wakes, he hides his head beneath the +coverlet, and shudders to see the ghastly ceiling looking down upon him. +The blessed light of day itself peeps in, an ugly phantom face, through +the unchangeable crevice which is his prison window. + +By slow but sure degrees, the terrors of that hateful corner swell until +they beset him at all times; invade his rest, make his dreams hideous, +and his nights dreadful. At first, he took a strange dislike to it; +feeling as though it gave birth in his brain to something of +corresponding shape, which ought not to be there, and racked his head +with pains. Then he began to fear it, then to dream of it, and of men +whispering its name and pointing to it. Then he could not bear to look +at it, nor yet to turn his back upon it. Now, it is every night the +lurking-place of a ghost: a shadow:—a silent something, horrible to see, +but whether bird, or beast, or muffled human shape, he cannot tell. + + [Picture: The Solitary Prisoner] + +When he is in his cell by day, he fears the little yard without. When he +is in the yard, he dreads to re-enter the cell. When night comes, there +stands the phantom in the corner. If he have the courage to stand in its +place, and drive it out (he had once: being desperate), it broods upon +his bed. In the twilight, and always at the same hour, a voice calls to +him by name; as the darkness thickens, his Loom begins to live; and even +that, his comfort, is a hideous figure, watching him till daybreak. + +Again, by slow degrees, these horrible fancies depart from him one by +one: returning sometimes, unexpectedly, but at longer intervals, and in +less alarming shapes. He has talked upon religious matters with the +gentleman who visits him, and has read his Bible, and has written a +prayer upon his slate, and hung it up as a kind of protection, and an +assurance of Heavenly companionship. He dreams now, sometimes, of his +children or his wife, but is sure that they are dead, or have deserted +him. He is easily moved to tears; is gentle, submissive, and +broken-spirited. Occasionally, the old agony comes back: a very little +thing will revive it; even a familiar sound, or the scent of summer +flowers in the air; but it does not last long, now: for the world +without, has come to be the vision, and this solitary life, the sad +reality. + +If his term of imprisonment be short—I mean comparatively, for short it +cannot be—the last half year is almost worse than all; for then he thinks +the prison will take fire and he be burnt in the ruins, or that he is +doomed to die within the walls, or that he will be detained on some false +charge and sentenced for another term: or that something, no matter what, +must happen to prevent his going at large. And this is natural, and +impossible to be reasoned against, because, after his long separation +from human life, and his great suffering, any event will appear to him +more probable in the contemplation, than the being restored to liberty +and his fellow-creatures. + +If his period of confinement have been very long, the prospect of release +bewilders and confuses him. His broken heart may flutter for a moment, +when he thinks of the world outside, and what it might have been to him +in all those lonely years, but that is all. The cell-door has been +closed too long on all its hopes and cares. Better to have hanged him in +the beginning than bring him to this pass, and send him forth to mingle +with his kind, who are his kind no more. + +On the haggard face of every man among these prisoners, the same +expression sat. I know not what to liken it to. It had something of +that strained attention which we see upon the faces of the blind and +deaf, mingled with a kind of horror, as though they had all been secretly +terrified. In every little chamber that I entered, and at every grate +through which I looked, I seemed to see the same appalling countenance. +It lives in my memory, with the fascination of a remarkable picture. +Parade before my eyes, a hundred men, with one among them newly released +from this solitary suffering, and I would point him out. + +The faces of the women, as I have said, it humanises and refines. +Whether this be because of their better nature, which is elicited in +solitude, or because of their being gentler creatures, of greater +patience and longer suffering, I do not know; but so it is. That the +punishment is nevertheless, to my thinking, fully as cruel and as wrong +in their case, as in that of the men, I need scarcely add. + +My firm conviction is that, independent of the mental anguish it +occasions—an anguish so acute and so tremendous, that all imagination of +it must fall far short of the reality—it wears the mind into a morbid +state, which renders it unfit for the rough contact and busy action of +the world. It is my fixed opinion that those who have undergone this +punishment, MUST pass into society again morally unhealthy and diseased. +There are many instances on record, of men who have chosen, or have been +condemned, to lives of perfect solitude, but I scarcely remember one, +even among sages of strong and vigorous intellect, where its effect has +not become apparent, in some disordered train of thought, or some gloomy +hallucination. What monstrous phantoms, bred of despondency and doubt, +and born and reared in solitude, have stalked upon the earth, making +creation ugly, and darkening the face of Heaven! + +Suicides are rare among these prisoners: are almost, indeed, unknown. +But no argument in favour of the system, can reasonably be deduced from +this circumstance, although it is very often urged. All men who have +made diseases of the mind their study, know perfectly well that such +extreme depression and despair as will change the whole character, and +beat down all its powers of elasticity and self-resistance, may be at +work within a man, and yet stop short of self-destruction. This is a +common case. + +That it makes the senses dull, and by degrees impairs the bodily +faculties, I am quite sure. I remarked to those who were with me in this +very establishment at Philadelphia, that the criminals who had been there +long, were deaf. They, who were in the habit of seeing these men +constantly, were perfectly amazed at the idea, which they regarded as +groundless and fanciful. And yet the very first prisoner to whom they +appealed—one of their own selection confirmed my impression (which was +unknown to him) instantly, and said, with a genuine air it was impossible +to doubt, that he couldn’t think how it happened, but he _was_ growing +very dull of hearing. + +That it is a singularly unequal punishment, and affects the worst man +least, there is no doubt. In its superior efficiency as a means of +reformation, compared with that other code of regulations which allows +the prisoners to work in company without communicating together, I have +not the smallest faith. All the instances of reformation that were +mentioned to me, were of a kind that might have been—and I have no doubt +whatever, in my own mind, would have been—equally well brought about by +the Silent System. With regard to such men as the negro burglar and the +English thief, even the most enthusiastic have scarcely any hope of their +conversion. + +It seems to me that the objection that nothing wholesome or good has ever +had its growth in such unnatural solitude, and that even a dog or any of +the more intelligent among beasts, would pine, and mope, and rust away, +beneath its influence, would be in itself a sufficient argument against +this system. But when we recollect, in addition, how very cruel and +severe it is, and that a solitary life is always liable to peculiar and +distinct objections of a most deplorable nature, which have arisen here, +and call to mind, moreover, that the choice is not between this system, +and a bad or ill-considered one, but between it and another which has +worked well, and is, in its whole design and practice, excellent; there +is surely more than sufficient reason for abandoning a mode of punishment +attended by so little hope or promise, and fraught, beyond dispute, with +such a host of evils. + +As a relief to its contemplation, I will close this chapter with a +curious story arising out of the same theme, which was related to me, on +the occasion of this visit, by some of the gentlemen concerned. + +At one of the periodical meetings of the inspectors of this prison, a +working man of Philadelphia presented himself before the Board, and +earnestly requested to be placed in solitary confinement. On being asked +what motive could possibly prompt him to make this strange demand, he +answered that he had an irresistible propensity to get drunk; that he was +constantly indulging it, to his great misery and ruin; that he had no +power of resistance; that he wished to be put beyond the reach of +temptation; and that he could think of no better way than this. It was +pointed out to him, in reply, that the prison was for criminals who had +been tried and sentenced by the law, and could not be made available for +any such fanciful purposes; he was exhorted to abstain from intoxicating +drinks, as he surely might if he would; and received other very good +advice, with which he retired, exceedingly dissatisfied with the result +of his application. + +He came again, and again, and again, and was so very earnest and +importunate, that at last they took counsel together, and said, ‘He will +certainly qualify himself for admission, if we reject him any more. Let +us shut him up. He will soon be glad to go away, and then we shall get +rid of him.’ So they made him sign a statement which would prevent his +ever sustaining an action for false imprisonment, to the effect that his +incarceration was voluntary, and of his own seeking; they requested him +to take notice that the officer in attendance had orders to release him +at any hour of the day or night, when he might knock upon his door for +that purpose; but desired him to understand, that once going out, he +would not be admitted any more. These conditions agreed upon, and he +still remaining in the same mind, he was conducted to the prison, and +shut up in one of the cells. + +In this cell, the man, who had not the firmness to leave a glass of +liquor standing untasted on a table before him—in this cell, in solitary +confinement, and working every day at his trade of shoemaking, this man +remained nearly two years. His health beginning to fail at the +expiration of that time, the surgeon recommended that he should work +occasionally in the garden; and as he liked the notion very much, he went +about this new occupation with great cheerfulness. + +He was digging here, one summer day, very industriously, when the wicket +in the outer gate chanced to be left open: showing, beyond, the +well-remembered dusty road and sunburnt fields. The way was as free to +him as to any man living, but he no sooner raised his head and caught +sight of it, all shining in the light, than, with the involuntary +instinct of a prisoner, he cast away his spade, scampered off as fast as +his legs would carry him, and never once looked back. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +WASHINGTON. THE LEGISLATURE. AND THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE + + +WE left Philadelphia by steamboat, at six o’clock one very cold morning, +and turned our faces towards Washington. + +In the course of this day’s journey, as on subsequent occasions, we +encountered some Englishmen (small farmers, perhaps, or country publicans +at home) who were settled in America, and were travelling on their own +affairs. Of all grades and kinds of men that jostle one in the public +conveyances of the States, these are often the most intolerable and the +most insufferable companions. United to every disagreeable +characteristic that the worst kind of American travellers possess, these +countrymen of ours display an amount of insolent conceit and cool +assumption of superiority, quite monstrous to behold. In the coarse +familiarity of their approach, and the effrontery of their +inquisitiveness (which they are in great haste to assert, as if they +panted to revenge themselves upon the decent old restraints of home), +they surpass any native specimens that came within my range of +observation: and I often grew so patriotic when I saw and heard them, +that I would cheerfully have submitted to a reasonable fine, if I could +have given any other country in the whole world, the honour of claiming +them for its children. + +As Washington may be called the head-quarters of tobacco-tinctured +saliva, the time is come when I must confess, without any disguise, that +the prevalence of those two odious practices of chewing and expectorating +began about this time to be anything but agreeable, and soon became most +offensive and sickening. In all the public places of America, this +filthy custom is recognised. In the courts of law, the judge has his +spittoon, the crier his, the witness his, and the prisoner his; while the +jurymen and spectators are provided for, as so many men who in the course +of nature must desire to spit incessantly. In the hospitals, the +students of medicine are requested, by notices upon the wall, to eject +their tobacco juice into the boxes provided for that purpose, and not to +discolour the stairs. In public buildings, visitors are implored, +through the same agency, to squirt the essence of their quids, or +‘plugs,’ as I have heard them called by gentlemen learned in this kind of +sweetmeat, into the national spittoons, and not about the bases of the +marble columns. But in some parts, this custom is inseparably mixed up +with every meal and morning call, and with all the transactions of social +life. The stranger, who follows in the track I took myself, will find it +in its full bloom and glory, luxuriant in all its alarming recklessness, +at Washington. And let him not persuade himself (as I once did, to my +shame) that previous tourists have exaggerated its extent. The thing +itself is an exaggeration of nastiness, which cannot be outdone. + +On board this steamboat, there were two young gentlemen, with +shirt-collars reversed as usual, and armed with very big walking-sticks; +who planted two seats in the middle of the deck, at a distance of some +four paces apart; took out their tobacco-boxes; and sat down opposite +each other, to chew. In less than a quarter of an hour’s time, these +hopeful youths had shed about them on the clean boards, a copious shower +of yellow rain; clearing, by that means, a kind of magic circle, within +whose limits no intruders dared to come, and which they never failed to +refresh and re-refresh before a spot was dry. This being before +breakfast, rather disposed me, I confess, to nausea; but looking +attentively at one of the expectorators, I plainly saw that he was young +in chewing, and felt inwardly uneasy, himself. A glow of delight came +over me at this discovery; and as I marked his face turn paler and paler, +and saw the ball of tobacco in his left cheek, quiver with his suppressed +agony, while yet he spat, and chewed, and spat again, in emulation of his +older friend, I could have fallen on his neck and implored him to go on +for hours. + +We all sat down to a comfortable breakfast in the cabin below, where +there was no more hurry or confusion than at such a meal in England, and +where there was certainly greater politeness exhibited than at most of +our stage-coach banquets. At about nine o’clock we arrived at the +railroad station, and went on by the cars. At noon we turned out again, +to cross a wide river in another steamboat; landed at a continuation of +the railroad on the opposite shore; and went on by other cars; in which, +in the course of the next hour or so, we crossed by wooden bridges, each +a mile in length, two creeks, called respectively Great and Little +Gunpowder. The water in both was blackened with flights of canvas-backed +ducks, which are most delicious eating, and abound hereabouts at that +season of the year. + +These bridges are of wood, have no parapet, and are only just wide enough +for the passage of the trains; which, in the event of the smallest +accident, wound inevitably be plunged into the river. They are startling +contrivances, and are most agreeable when passed. + +We stopped to dine at Baltimore, and being now in Maryland, were waited +on, for the first time, by slaves. The sensation of exacting any service +from human creatures who are bought and sold, and being, for the time, a +party as it were to their condition, is not an enviable one. The +institution exists, perhaps, in its least repulsive and most mitigated +form in such a town as this; but it _is_ slavery; and though I was, with +respect to it, an innocent man, its presence filled me with a sense of +shame and self-reproach. + +After dinner, we went down to the railroad again, and took our seats in +the cars for Washington. Being rather early, those men and boys who +happened to have nothing particular to do, and were curious in +foreigners, came (according to custom) round the carriage in which I sat; +let down all the windows; thrust in their heads and shoulders; hooked +themselves on conveniently, by their elbows; and fell to comparing notes +on the subject of my personal appearance, with as much indifference as if +I were a stuffed figure. I never gained so much uncompromising +information with reference to my own nose and eyes, and various +impressions wrought by my mouth and chin on different minds, and how my +head looks when it is viewed from behind, as on these occasions. Some +gentlemen were only satisfied by exercising their sense of touch; and the +boys (who are surprisingly precocious in America) were seldom satisfied, +even by that, but would return to the charge over and over again. Many a +budding president has walked into my room with his cap on his head and +his hands in his pockets, and stared at me for two whole hours: +occasionally refreshing himself with a tweak of his nose, or a draught +from the water-jug; or by walking to the windows and inviting other boys +in the street below, to come up and do likewise: crying, ‘Here he is!’ +‘Come on!’ ‘Bring all your brothers!’ with other hospitable entreaties +of that nature. + +We reached Washington at about half-past six that evening, and had upon +the way a beautiful view of the Capitol, which is a fine building of the +Corinthian order, placed upon a noble and commanding eminence. Arrived +at the hotel; I saw no more of the place that night; being very tired, +and glad to get to bed. + +Breakfast over next morning, I walk about the streets for an hour or two, +and, coming home, throw up the window in the front and back, and look +out. Here is Washington, fresh in my mind and under my eye. + +Take the worst parts of the City Road and Pentonville, or the straggling +outskirts of Paris, where the houses are smallest, preserving all their +oddities, but especially the small shops and dwellings, occupied in +Pentonville (but not in Washington) by furniture-brokers, keepers of poor +eating-houses, and fanciers of birds. Burn the whole down; build it up +again in wood and plaster; widen it a little; throw in part of St. John’s +Wood; put green blinds outside all the private houses, with a red curtain +and a white one in every window; plough up all the roads; plant a great +deal of coarse turf in every place where it ought _not_ to be; erect +three handsome buildings in stone and marble, anywhere, but the more +entirely out of everybody’s way the better; call one the Post Office; one +the Patent Office, and one the Treasury; make it scorching hot in the +morning, and freezing cold in the afternoon, with an occasional tornado +of wind and dust; leave a brick-field without the bricks, in all central +places where a street may naturally be expected: and that’s Washington. + +The hotel in which we live, is a long row of small houses fronting on the +street, and opening at the back upon a common yard, in which hangs a +great triangle. Whenever a servant is wanted, somebody beats on this +triangle from one stroke up to seven, according to the number of the +house in which his presence is required; and as all the servants are +always being wanted, and none of them ever come, this enlivening engine +is in full performance the whole day through. Clothes are drying in the +same yard; female slaves, with cotton handkerchiefs twisted round their +heads are running to and fro on the hotel business; black waiters cross +and recross with dishes in their hands; two great dogs are playing upon a +mound of loose bricks in the centre of the little square; a pig is +turning up his stomach to the sun, and grunting ‘that’s comfortable!’; +and neither the men, nor the women, nor the dogs, nor the pig, nor any +created creature, takes the smallest notice of the triangle, which is +tingling madly all the time. + +I walk to the front window, and look across the road upon a long, +straggling row of houses, one story high, terminating, nearly opposite, +but a little to the left, in a melancholy piece of waste ground with +frowzy grass, which looks like a small piece of country that has taken to +drinking, and has quite lost itself. Standing anyhow and all wrong, upon +this open space, like something meteoric that has fallen down from the +moon, is an odd, lop-sided, one-eyed kind of wooden building, that looks +like a church, with a flag-staff as long as itself sticking out of a +steeple something larger than a tea-chest. Under the window is a small +stand of coaches, whose slave-drivers are sunning themselves on the steps +of our door, and talking idly together. The three most obtrusive houses +near at hand are the three meanest. On one—a shop, which never has +anything in the window, and never has the door open—is painted in large +characters, ‘THE CITY LUNCH.’ At another, which looks like a backway to +somewhere else, but is an independent building in itself, oysters are +procurable in every style. At the third, which is a very, very little +tailor’s shop, pants are fixed to order; or in other words, pantaloons +are made to measure. And that is our street in Washington. + +It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, but it might +with greater propriety be termed the City of Magnificent Intentions; for +it is only on taking a bird’s-eye view of it from the top of the Capitol, +that one can at all comprehend the vast designs of its projector, an +aspiring Frenchman. Spacious avenues, that begin in nothing, and lead +nowhere; streets, mile-long, that only want houses, roads and +inhabitants; public buildings that need but a public to be complete; and +ornaments of great thoroughfares, which only lack great thoroughfares to +ornament—are its leading features. One might fancy the season over, and +most of the houses gone out of town for ever with their masters. To the +admirers of cities it is a Barmecide Feast: a pleasant field for the +imagination to rove in; a monument raised to a deceased project, with not +even a legible inscription to record its departed greatness. + +Such as it is, it is likely to remain. It was originally chosen for the +seat of Government, as a means of averting the conflicting jealousies and +interests of the different States; and very probably, too, as being +remote from mobs: a consideration not to be slighted, even in America. +It has no trade or commerce of its own: having little or no population +beyond the President and his establishment; the members of the +legislature who reside there during the session; the Government clerks +and officers employed in the various departments; the keepers of the +hotels and boarding-houses; and the tradesmen who supply their tables. +It is very unhealthy. Few people would live in Washington, I take it, +who were not obliged to reside there; and the tides of emigration and +speculation, those rapid and regardless currents, are little likely to +flow at any time towards such dull and sluggish water. + +The principal features of the Capitol, are, of course, the two houses of +Assembly. But there is, besides, in the centre of the building, a fine +rotunda, ninety-six feet in diameter, and ninety-six high, whose circular +wall is divided into compartments, ornamented by historical pictures. +Four of these have for their subjects prominent events in the +revolutionary struggle. They were painted by Colonel Trumbull, himself a +member of Washington’s staff at the time of their occurrence; from which +circumstance they derive a peculiar interest of their own. In this same +hall Mr. Greenough’s large statue of Washington has been lately placed. +It has great merits of course, but it struck me as being rather strained +and violent for its subject. I could wish, however, to have seen it in a +better light than it can ever be viewed in, where it stands. + +There is a very pleasant and commodious library in the Capitol; and from +a balcony in front, the bird’s-eye view, of which I have just spoken, may +be had, together with a beautiful prospect of the adjacent country. In +one of the ornamented portions of the building, there is a figure of +Justice; whereunto the Guide Book says, ‘the artist at first contemplated +giving more of nudity, but he was warned that the public sentiment in +this country would not admit of it, and in his caution he has gone, +perhaps, into the opposite extreme.’ Poor Justice! she has been made to +wear much stranger garments in America than those she pines in, in the +Capitol. Let us hope that she has changed her dress-maker since they +were fashioned, and that the public sentiment of the country did not cut +out the clothes she hides her lovely figure in, just now. + +The House of Representatives is a beautiful and spacious hall, of +semicircular shape, supported by handsome pillars. One part of the +gallery is appropriated to the ladies, and there they sit in front rows, +and come in, and go out, as at a play or concert. The chair is canopied, +and raised considerably above the floor of the House; and every member +has an easy chair and a writing desk to himself: which is denounced by +some people out of doors as a most unfortunate and injudicious +arrangement, tending to long sittings and prosaic speeches. It is an +elegant chamber to look at, but a singularly bad one for all purposes of +hearing. The Senate, which is smaller, is free from this objection, and +is exceedingly well adapted to the uses for which it is designed. The +sittings, I need hardly add, take place in the day; and the parliamentary +forms are modelled on those of the old country. + +I was sometimes asked, in my progress through other places, whether I had +not been very much impressed by the _heads_ of the lawmakers at +Washington; meaning not their chiefs and leaders, but literally their +individual and personal heads, whereon their hair grew, and whereby the +phrenological character of each legislator was expressed: and I almost as +often struck my questioner dumb with indignant consternation by answering +‘No, that I didn’t remember being at all overcome.’ As I must, at +whatever hazard, repeat the avowal here, I will follow it up by relating +my impressions on this subject in as few words as possible. + +In the first place—it may be from some imperfect development of my organ +of veneration—I do not remember having ever fainted away, or having even +been moved to tears of joyful pride, at sight of any legislative body. I +have borne the House of Commons like a man, and have yielded to no +weakness, but slumber, in the House of Lords. I have seen elections for +borough and county, and have never been impelled (no matter which party +won) to damage my hat by throwing it up into the air in triumph, or to +crack my voice by shouting forth any reference to our Glorious +Constitution, to the noble purity of our independent voters, or, the +unimpeachable integrity of our independent members. Having withstood +such strong attacks upon my fortitude, it is possible that I may be of a +cold and insensible temperament, amounting to iciness, in such matters; +and therefore my impressions of the live pillars of the Capitol at +Washington must be received with such grains of allowance as this free +confession may seem to demand. + +Did I see in this public body an assemblage of men, bound together in the +sacred names of Liberty and Freedom, and so asserting the chaste dignity +of those twin goddesses, in all their discussions, as to exalt at once +the Eternal Principles to which their names are given, and their own +character and the character of their countrymen, in the admiring eyes of +the whole world? + +It was but a week, since an aged, grey-haired man, a lasting honour to +the land that gave him birth, who has done good service to his country, +as his forefathers did, and who will be remembered scores upon scores of +years after the worms bred in its corruption, are but so many grains of +dust—it was but a week, since this old man had stood for days upon his +trial before this very body, charged with having dared to assert the +infamy of that traffic, which has for its accursed merchandise men and +women, and their unborn children. Yes. And publicly exhibited in the +same city all the while; gilded, framed and glazed hung up for general +admiration; shown to strangers not with shame, but pride; its face not +turned towards the wall, itself not taken down and burned; is the +Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, which +solemnly declares that All Men are created Equal; and are endowed by +their Creator with the Inalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the +Pursuit of Happiness! + +It was not a month, since this same body had sat calmly by, and heard a +man, one of themselves, with oaths which beggars in their drink reject, +threaten to cut another’s throat from ear to ear. There he sat, among +them; not crushed by the general feeling of the assembly, but as good a +man as any. + +There was but a week to come, and another of that body, for doing his +duty to those who sent him there; for claiming in a Republic the Liberty +and Freedom of expressing their sentiments, and making known their +prayer; would be tried, found guilty, and have strong censure passed upon +him by the rest. His was a grave offence indeed; for years before, he +had risen up and said, ‘A gang of male and female slaves for sale, +warranted to breed like cattle, linked to each other by iron fetters, are +passing now along the open street beneath the windows of your Temple of +Equality! Look!’ But there are many kinds of hunters engaged in the +Pursuit of Happiness, and they go variously armed. It is the Inalienable +Right of some among them, to take the field after _their_ Happiness +equipped with cat and cartwhip, stocks, and iron collar, and to shout +their view halloa! (always in praise of Liberty) to the music of clanking +chains and bloody stripes. + +Where sat the many legislators of coarse threats; of words and blows such +as coalheavers deal upon each other, when they forget their breeding? On +every side. Every session had its anecdotes of that kind, and the actors +were all there. + +Did I recognise in this assembly, a body of men, who, applying themselves +in a new world to correct some of the falsehoods and vices of the old, +purified the avenues to Public Life, paved the dirty ways to Place and +Power, debated and made laws for the Common Good, and had no party but +their Country? + +I saw in them, the wheels that move the meanest perversion of virtuous +Political Machinery that the worst tools ever wrought. Despicable +trickery at elections; under-handed tamperings with public officers; +cowardly attacks upon opponents, with scurrilous newspapers for shields, +and hired pens for daggers; shameful trucklings to mercenary knaves, +whose claim to be considered, is, that every day and week they sow new +crops of ruin with their venal types, which are the dragon’s teeth of +yore, in everything but sharpness; aidings and abettings of every bad +inclination in the popular mind, and artful suppressions of all its good +influences: such things as these, and in a word, Dishonest Faction in its +most depraved and most unblushing form, stared out from every corner of +the crowded hall. + +Did I see among them, the intelligence and refinement: the true, honest, +patriotic heart of America? Here and there, were drops of its blood and +life, but they scarcely coloured the stream of desperate adventurers +which sets that way for profit and for pay. It is the game of these men, +and of their profligate organs, to make the strife of politics so fierce +and brutal, and so destructive of all self-respect in worthy men, that +sensitive and delicate-minded persons shall be kept aloof, and they, and +such as they, be left to battle out their selfish views unchecked. And +thus this lowest of all scrambling fights goes on, and they who in other +countries would, from their intelligence and station, most aspire to make +the laws, do here recoil the farthest from that degradation. + +That there are, among the representatives of the people in both Houses, +and among all parties, some men of high character and great abilities, I +need not say. The foremost among those politicians who are known in +Europe, have been already described, and I see no reason to depart from +the rule I have laid down for my guidance, of abstaining from all mention +of individuals. It will be sufficient to add, that to the most +favourable accounts that have been written of them, I more than fully and +most heartily subscribe; and that personal intercourse and free +communication have bred within me, not the result predicted in the very +doubtful proverb, but increased admiration and respect. They are +striking men to look at, hard to deceive, prompt to act, lions in energy, +Crichtons in varied accomplishments, Indians in fire of eye and gesture, +Americans in strong and generous impulse; and they as well represent the +honour and wisdom of their country at home, as the distinguished +gentleman who is now its Minister at the British Court sustains its +highest character abroad. + +I visited both houses nearly every day, during my stay in Washington. On +my initiatory visit to the House of Representatives, they divided against +a decision of the chair; but the chair won. The second time I went, the +member who was speaking, being interrupted by a laugh, mimicked it, as +one child would in quarrelling with another, and added, ‘that he would +make honourable gentlemen opposite, sing out a little more on the other +side of their mouths presently.’ But interruptions are rare; the speaker +being usually heard in silence. There are more quarrels than with us, +and more threatenings than gentlemen are accustomed to exchange in any +civilised society of which we have record: but farm-yard imitations have +not as yet been imported from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The +feature in oratory which appears to be the most practised, and most +relished, is the constant repetition of the same idea or shadow of an +idea in fresh words; and the inquiry out of doors is not, ‘What did he +say?’ but, ‘How long did he speak?’ These, however, are but enlargements +of a principle which prevails elsewhere. + +The Senate is a dignified and decorous body, and its proceedings are +conducted with much gravity and order. Both houses are handsomely +carpeted; but the state to which these carpets are reduced by the +universal disregard of the spittoon with which every honourable member is +accommodated, and the extraordinary improvements on the pattern which are +squirted and dabbled upon it in every direction, do not admit of being +described. I will merely observe, that I strongly recommend all +strangers not to look at the floor; and if they happen to drop anything, +though it be their purse, not to pick it up with an ungloved hand on any +account. + +It is somewhat remarkable too, at first, to say the least, to see so many +honourable members with swelled faces; and it is scarcely less remarkable +to discover that this appearance is caused by the quantity of tobacco +they contrive to stow within the hollow of the cheek. It is strange +enough too, to see an honourable gentleman leaning back in his tilted +chair with his legs on the desk before him, shaping a convenient ‘plug’ +with his penknife, and when it is quite ready for use, shooting the old +one from his mouth, as from a pop-gun, and clapping the new one in its +place. + +I was surprised to observe that even steady old chewers of great +experience, are not always good marksmen, which has rather inclined me to +doubt that general proficiency with the rifle, of which we have heard so +much in England. Several gentlemen called upon me who, in the course of +conversation, frequently missed the spittoon at five paces; and one (but +he was certainly short-sighted) mistook the closed sash for the open +window, at three. On another occasion, when I dined out, and was sitting +with two ladies and some gentlemen round a fire before dinner, one of the +company fell short of the fireplace, six distinct times. I am disposed +to think, however, that this was occasioned by his not aiming at that +object; as there was a white marble hearth before the fender, which was +more convenient, and may have suited his purpose better. + +The Patent Office at Washington, furnishes an extraordinary example of +American enterprise and ingenuity; for the immense number of models it +contains are the accumulated inventions of only five years; the whole of +the previous collection having been destroyed by fire. The elegant +structure in which they are arranged is one of design rather than +execution, for there is but one side erected out of four, though the +works are stopped. The Post Office is a very compact and very beautiful +building. In one of the departments, among a collection of rare and +curious articles, are deposited the presents which have been made from +time to time to the American ambassadors at foreign courts by the various +potentates to whom they were the accredited agents of the Republic; gifts +which by the law they are not permitted to retain. I confess that I +looked upon this as a very painful exhibition, and one by no means +flattering to the national standard of honesty and honour. That can +scarcely be a high state of moral feeling which imagines a gentleman of +repute and station, likely to be corrupted, in the discharge of his duty, +by the present of a snuff-box, or a richly-mounted sword, or an Eastern +shawl; and surely the Nation who reposes confidence in her appointed +servants, is likely to be better served, than she who makes them the +subject of such very mean and paltry suspicions. + +At George Town, in the suburbs, there is a Jesuit College; delightfully +situated, and, so far as I had an opportunity of seeing, well managed. +Many persons who are not members of the Romish Church, avail themselves, +I believe, of these institutions, and of the advantageous opportunities +they afford for the education of their children. The heights of this +neighbourhood, above the Potomac River, are very picturesque: and are +free, I should conceive, from some of the insalubrities of Washington. +The air, at that elevation, was quite cool and refreshing, when in the +city it was burning hot. + +The President’s mansion is more like an English club-house, both within +and without, than any other kind of establishment with which I can +compare it. The ornamental ground about it has been laid out in garden +walks; they are pretty, and agreeable to the eye; though they have that +uncomfortable air of having been made yesterday, which is far from +favourable to the display of such beauties. + +My first visit to this house was on the morning after my arrival, when I +was carried thither by an official gentleman, who was so kind as to +charge himself with my presentation to the President. + +We entered a large hall, and having twice or thrice rung a bell which +nobody answered, walked without further ceremony through the rooms on the +ground floor, as divers other gentlemen (mostly with their hats on, and +their hands in their pockets) were doing very leisurely. Some of these +had ladies with them, to whom they were showing the premises; others were +lounging on the chairs and sofas; others, in a perfect state of +exhaustion from listlessness, were yawning drearily. The greater portion +of this assemblage were rather asserting their supremacy than doing +anything else, as they had no particular business there, that anybody +knew of. A few were closely eyeing the movables, as if to make quite +sure that the President (who was far from popular) had not made away with +any of the furniture, or sold the fixtures for his private benefit. + +After glancing at these loungers; who were scattered over a pretty +drawing-room, opening upon a terrace which commanded a beautiful prospect +of the river and the adjacent country; and who were sauntering, too, +about a larger state-room called the Eastern Drawing-room; we went +up-stairs into another chamber, where were certain visitors, waiting for +audiences. At sight of my conductor, a black in plain clothes and yellow +slippers who was gliding noiselessly about, and whispering messages in +the ears of the more impatient, made a sign of recognition, and glided +off to announce him. + +We had previously looked into another chamber fitted all round with a +great, bare, wooden desk or counter, whereon lay files of newspapers, to +which sundry gentlemen were referring. But there were no such means of +beguiling the time in this apartment, which was as unpromising and +tiresome as any waiting-room in one of our public establishments, or any +physician’s dining-room during his hours of consultation at home. + +There were some fifteen or twenty persons in the room. One, a tall, +wiry, muscular old man, from the west; sunburnt and swarthy; with a brown +white hat on his knees, and a giant umbrella resting between his legs; +who sat bolt upright in his chair, frowning steadily at the carpet, and +twitching the hard lines about his mouth, as if he had made up his mind +‘to fix’ the President on what he had to say, and wouldn’t bate him a +grain. Another, a Kentucky farmer, six-feet-six in height, with his hat +on, and his hands under his coat-tails, who leaned against the wall and +kicked the floor with his heel, as though he had Time’s head under his +shoe, and were literally ‘killing’ him. A third, an oval-faced, +bilious-looking man, with sleek black hair cropped close, and whiskers +and beard shaved down to blue dots, who sucked the head of a thick stick, +and from time to time took it out of his mouth, to see how it was getting +on. A fourth did nothing but whistle. A fifth did nothing but spit. +And indeed all these gentlemen were so very persevering and energetic in +this latter particular, and bestowed their favours so abundantly upon the +carpet, that I take it for granted the Presidential housemaids have high +wages, or, to speak more genteelly, an ample amount of ‘compensation:’ +which is the American word for salary, in the case of all public +servants. + +We had not waited in this room many minutes, before the black messenger +returned, and conducted us into another of smaller dimensions, where, at +a business-like table covered with papers, sat the President himself. He +looked somewhat worn and anxious, and well he might; being at war with +everybody—but the expression of his face was mild and pleasant, and his +manner was remarkably unaffected, gentlemanly, and agreeable. I thought +that in his whole carriage and demeanour, he became his station +singularly well. + +Being advised that the sensible etiquette of the republican court +admitted of a traveller, like myself, declining, without any impropriety, +an invitation to dinner, which did not reach me until I had concluded my +arrangements for leaving Washington some days before that to which it +referred, I only returned to this house once. It was on the occasion of +one of those general assemblies which are held on certain nights, between +the hours of nine and twelve o’clock, and are called, rather oddly, +Levees. + +I went, with my wife, at about ten. There was a pretty dense crowd of +carriages and people in the court-yard, and so far as I could make out, +there were no very clear regulations for the taking up or setting down of +company. There were certainly no policemen to soothe startled horses, +either by sawing at their bridles or flourishing truncheons in their +eyes; and I am ready to make oath that no inoffensive persons were +knocked violently on the head, or poked acutely in their backs or +stomachs; or brought to a standstill by any such gentle means, and then +taken into custody for not moving on. But there was no confusion or +disorder. Our carriage reached the porch in its turn, without any +blustering, swearing, shouting, backing, or other disturbance: and we +dismounted with as much ease and comfort as though we had been escorted +by the whole Metropolitan Force from A to Z inclusive. + +The suite of rooms on the ground-floor were lighted up, and a military +band was playing in the hall. In the smaller drawing-room, the centre of +a circle of company, were the President and his daughter-in-law, who +acted as the lady of the mansion; and a very interesting, graceful, and +accomplished lady too. One gentleman who stood among this group, +appeared to take upon himself the functions of a master of the +ceremonies. I saw no other officers or attendants, and none were needed. + +The great drawing-room, which I have already mentioned, and the other +chambers on the ground-floor, were crowded to excess. The company was +not, in our sense of the term, select, for it comprehended persons of +very many grades and classes; nor was there any great display of costly +attire: indeed, some of the costumes may have been, for aught I know, +grotesque enough. But the decorum and propriety of behaviour which +prevailed, were unbroken by any rude or disagreeable incident; and every +man, even among the miscellaneous crowd in the hall who were admitted +without any orders or tickets to look on, appeared to feel that he was a +part of the Institution, and was responsible for its preserving a +becoming character, and appearing to the best advantage. + +That these visitors, too, whatever their station, were not without some +refinement of taste and appreciation of intellectual gifts, and gratitude +to those men who, by the peaceful exercise of great abilities, shed new +charms and associations upon the homes of their countrymen, and elevate +their character in other lands, was most earnestly testified by their +reception of Washington Irving, my dear friend, who had recently been +appointed Minister at the court of Spain, and who was among them that +night, in his new character, for the first and last time before going +abroad. I sincerely believe that in all the madness of American +politics, few public men would have been so earnestly, devotedly, and +affectionately caressed, as this most charming writer: and I have seldom +respected a public assembly more, than I did this eager throng, when I +saw them turning with one mind from noisy orators and officers of state, +and flocking with a generous and honest impulse round the man of quiet +pursuits: proud in his promotion as reflecting back upon their country: +and grateful to him with their whole hearts for the store of graceful +fancies he had poured out among them. Long may he dispense such +treasures with unsparing hand; and long may they remember him as +worthily! + + * * * * * + +The term we had assigned for the duration of our stay in Washington was +now at an end, and we were to begin to travel; for the railroad distances +we had traversed yet, in journeying among these older towns, are on that +great continent looked upon as nothing. + +I had at first intended going South—to Charleston. But when I came to +consider the length of time which this journey would occupy, and the +premature heat of the season, which even at Washington had been often +very trying; and weighed moreover, in my own mind, the pain of living in +the constant contemplation of slavery, against the more than doubtful +chances of my ever seeing it, in the time I had to spare, stripped of the +disguises in which it would certainly be dressed, and so adding any item +to the host of facts already heaped together on the subject; I began to +listen to old whisperings which had often been present to me at home in +England, when I little thought of ever being here; and to dream again of +cities growing up, like palaces in fairy tales, among the wilds and +forests of the west. + +The advice I received in most quarters when I began to yield to my desire +of travelling towards that point of the compass was, according to custom, +sufficiently cheerless: my companion being threatened with more perils, +dangers, and discomforts, than I can remember or would catalogue if I +could; but of which it will be sufficient to remark that blowings-up in +steamboats and breakings-down in coaches were among the least. But, +having a western route sketched out for me by the best and kindest +authority to which I could have resorted, and putting no great faith in +these discouragements, I soon determined on my plan of action. + +This was to travel south, only to Richmond in Virginia; and then to turn, +and shape our course for the Far West; whither I beseech the reader’s +company, in a new chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX +A NIGHT STEAMER ON THE POTOMAC RIVER. VIRGINIA ROAD, AND A BLACK DRIVER. +RICHMOND. BALTIMORE. THE HARRISBURG MAIL, AND A GLIMPSE OF THE CITY. A +CANAL BOAT + + +WE were to proceed in the first instance by steamboat; and as it is usual +to sleep on board, in consequence of the starting-hour being four o’clock +in the morning, we went down to where she lay, at that very uncomfortable +time for such expeditions when slippers are most valuable, and a familiar +bed, in the perspective of an hour or two, looks uncommonly pleasant. + +It is ten o’clock at night: say half-past ten: moonlight, warm, and dull +enough. The steamer (not unlike a child’s Noah’s ark in form, with the +machinery on the top of the roof) is riding lazily up and down, and +bumping clumsily against the wooden pier, as the ripple of the river +trifles with its unwieldy carcase. The wharf is some distance from the +city. There is nobody down here; and one or two dull lamps upon the +steamer’s decks are the only signs of life remaining, when our coach has +driven away. As soon as our footsteps are heard upon the planks, a fat +negress, particularly favoured by nature in respect of bustle, emerges +from some dark stairs, and marshals my wife towards the ladies’ cabin, to +which retreat she goes, followed by a mighty bale of cloaks and +great-coats. I valiantly resolve not to go to bed at all, but to walk up +and down the pier till morning. + +I begin my promenade—thinking of all kinds of distant things and persons, +and of nothing near—and pace up and down for half-an-hour. Then I go on +board again; and getting into the light of one of the lamps, look at my +watch and think it must have stopped; and wonder what has become of the +faithful secretary whom I brought along with me from Boston. He is +supping with our late landlord (a Field Marshal, at least, no doubt) in +honour of our departure, and may be two hours longer. I walk again, but +it gets duller and duller: the moon goes down: next June seems farther +off in the dark, and the echoes of my footsteps make me nervous. It has +turned cold too; and walking up and down without my companion in such +lonely circumstances, is but poor amusement. So I break my staunch +resolution, and think it may be, perhaps, as well to go to bed. + +I go on board again; open the door of the gentlemen’s cabin and walk in. +Somehow or other—from its being so quiet, I suppose—I have taken it into +my head that there is nobody there. To my horror and amazement it is +full of sleepers in every stage, shape, attitude, and variety of slumber: +in the berths, on the chairs, on the floors, on the tables, and +particularly round the stove, my detested enemy. I take another step +forward, and slip on the shining face of a black steward, who lies rolled +in a blanket on the floor. He jumps up, grins, half in pain and half in +hospitality; whispers my own name in my ear; and groping among the +sleepers, leads me to my berth. Standing beside it, I count these +slumbering passengers, and get past forty. There is no use in going +further, so I begin to undress. As the chairs are all occupied, and +there is nothing else to put my clothes on, I deposit them upon the +ground: not without soiling my hands, for it is in the same condition as +the carpets in the Capitol, and from the same cause. Having but +partially undressed, I clamber on my shelf, and hold the curtain open for +a few minutes while I look round on all my fellow-travellers again. That +done, I let it fall on them, and on the world: turn round: and go to +sleep. + +I wake, of course, when we get under weigh, for there is a good deal of +noise. The day is then just breaking. Everybody wakes at the same time. +Some are self-possessed directly, and some are much perplexed to make out +where they are until they have rubbed their eyes, and leaning on one +elbow, looked about them. Some yawn, some groan, nearly all spit, and a +few get up. I am among the risers: for it is easy to feel, without going +into the fresh air, that the atmosphere of the cabin is vile in the last +degree. I huddle on my clothes, go down into the fore-cabin, get shaved +by the barber, and wash myself. The washing and dressing apparatus for +the passengers generally, consists of two jack-towels, three small wooden +basins, a keg of water and a ladle to serve it out with, six square +inches of looking-glass, two ditto ditto of yellow soap, a comb and brush +for the head, and nothing for the teeth. Everybody uses the comb and +brush, except myself. Everybody stares to see me using my own; and two +or three gentlemen are strongly disposed to banter me on my prejudices, +but don’t. When I have made my toilet, I go upon the hurricane-deck, and +set in for two hours of hard walking up and down. The sun is rising +brilliantly; we are passing Mount Vernon, where Washington lies buried; +the river is wide and rapid; and its banks are beautiful. All the glory +and splendour of the day are coming on, and growing brighter every +minute. + +At eight o’clock, we breakfast in the cabin where I passed the night, but +the windows and doors are all thrown open, and now it is fresh enough. +There is no hurry or greediness apparent in the despatch of the meal. It +is longer than a travelling breakfast with us; more orderly, and more +polite. + +Soon after nine o’clock we come to Potomac Creek, where we are to land; +and then comes the oddest part of the journey. Seven stage-coaches are +preparing to carry us on. Some of them are ready, some of them are not +ready. Some of the drivers are blacks, some whites. There are four +horses to each coach, and all the horses, harnessed or unharnessed, are +there. The passengers are getting out of the steamboat, and into the +coaches; the luggage is being transferred in noisy wheelbarrows; the +horses are frightened, and impatient to start; the black drivers are +chattering to them like so many monkeys; and the white ones whooping like +so many drovers: for the main thing to be done in all kinds of hostlering +here, is to make as much noise as possible. The coaches are something +like the French coaches, but not nearly so good. In lieu of springs, +they are hung on bands of the strongest leather. There is very little +choice or difference between them; and they may be likened to the car +portion of the swings at an English fair, roofed, put upon axle-trees and +wheels, and curtained with painted canvas. They are covered with mud +from the roof to the wheel-tire, and have never been cleaned since they +were first built. + +The tickets we have received on board the steamboat are marked No. 1, so +we belong to coach No. 1. I throw my coat on the box, and hoist my wife +and her maid into the inside. It has only one step, and that being about +a yard from the ground, is usually approached by a chair: when there is +no chair, ladies trust in Providence. The coach holds nine inside, +having a seat across from door to door, where we in England put our legs: +so that there is only one feat more difficult in the performance than +getting in, and that is, getting out again. There is only one outside +passenger, and he sits upon the box. As I am that one, I climb up; and +while they are strapping the luggage on the roof, and heaping it into a +kind of tray behind, have a good opportunity of looking at the driver. + +He is a negro—very black indeed. He is dressed in a coarse +pepper-and-salt suit excessively patched and darned (particularly at the +knees), grey stockings, enormous unblacked high-low shoes, and very short +trousers. He has two odd gloves: one of parti-coloured worsted, and one +of leather. He has a very short whip, broken in the middle and bandaged +up with string. And yet he wears a low-crowned, broad-brimmed, black +hat: faintly shadowing forth a kind of insane imitation of an English +coachman! But somebody in authority cries ‘Go ahead!’ as I am making +these observations. The mail takes the lead in a four-horse waggon, and +all the coaches follow in procession: headed by No. 1. + +By the way, whenever an Englishman would cry ‘All right!’ an American +cries ‘Go ahead!’ which is somewhat expressive of the national character +of the two countries. + +The first half-mile of the road is over bridges made of loose planks laid +across two parallel poles, which tilt up as the wheels roll over them; +and IN the river. The river has a clayey bottom and is full of holes, so +that half a horse is constantly disappearing unexpectedly, and can’t be +found again for some time. + +But we get past even this, and come to the road itself, which is a series +of alternate swamps and gravel-pits. A tremendous place is close before +us, the black driver rolls his eyes, screws his mouth up very round, and +looks straight between the two leaders, as if he were saying to himself, +‘We have done this often before, but _now_ I think we shall have a +crash.’ He takes a rein in each hand; jerks and pulls at both; and +dances on the splashboard with both feet (keeping his seat, of course) +like the late lamented Ducrow on two of his fiery coursers. We come to +the spot, sink down in the mire nearly to the coach windows, tilt on one +side at an angle of forty-five degrees, and stick there. The insides +scream dismally; the coach stops; the horses flounder; all the other six +coaches stop; and their four-and-twenty horses flounder likewise: but +merely for company, and in sympathy with ours. Then the following +circumstances occur. + +BLACK DRIVER (to the horses). ‘Hi!’ + +Nothing happens. Insides scream again. + +BLACK DRIVER (to the horses). ‘Ho!’ + +Horses plunge, and splash the black driver. + +GENTLEMAN INSIDE (looking out). ‘Why, what on airth—’ + +Gentleman receives a variety of splashes and draws his head in again, +without finishing his question or waiting for an answer. + +BLACK DRIVER (still to the horses). ‘Jiddy! Jiddy!’ + +Horses pull violently, drag the coach out of the hole, and draw it up a +bank; so steep, that the black driver’s legs fly up into the air, and he +goes back among the luggage on the roof. But he immediately recovers +himself, and cries (still to the horses), + +‘Pill!’ + +No effect. On the contrary, the coach begins to roll back upon No. 2, +which rolls back upon No. 3, which rolls back upon No. 4, and so on, +until No. 7 is heard to curse and swear, nearly a quarter of a mile +behind. + +BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). ‘Pill!’ + +Horses make another struggle to get up the bank, and again the coach +rolls backward. + +BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). ‘Pe-e-e-ill!’ + +Horses make a desperate struggle. + +BLACK DRIVER (recovering spirits). ‘Hi, Jiddy, Jiddy, Pill!’ + +Horses make another effort. + +BLACK DRIVER (with great vigour). ‘Ally Loo! Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. Pill. +Ally Loo!’ + +Horses almost do it. + +BLACK DRIVER (with his eyes starting out of his head). ‘Lee, den. Lee, +dere. Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. Pill. Ally Loo. Lee-e-e-e-e!’ + +They run up the bank, and go down again on the other side at a fearful +pace. It is impossible to stop them, and at the bottom there is a deep +hollow, full of water. The coach rolls frightfully. The insides scream. +The mud and water fly about us. The black driver dances like a madman. +Suddenly we are all right by some extraordinary means, and stop to +breathe. + +A black friend of the black driver is sitting on a fence. The black +driver recognises him by twirling his head round and round like a +harlequin, rolling his eyes, shrugging his shoulders, and grinning from +ear to ear. He stops short, turns to me, and says: + +‘We shall get you through sa, like a fiddle, and hope a please you when +we get you through sa. Old ‘ooman at home sa:’ chuckling very much. +‘Outside gentleman sa, he often remember old ‘ooman at home sa,’ grinning +again. + +‘Ay ay, we’ll take care of the old woman. Don’t be afraid.’ + +The black driver grins again, but there is another hole, and beyond that, +another bank, close before us. So he stops short: cries (to the horses +again) ‘Easy. Easy den. Ease. Steady. Hi. Jiddy. Pill. Ally. +Loo,’ but never ‘Lee!’ until we are reduced to the very last extremity, +and are in the midst of difficulties, extrication from which appears to +be all but impossible. + +And so we do the ten miles or thereabouts in two hours and a half; +breaking no bones, though bruising a great many; and in short getting +through the distance, ‘like a fiddle.’ + +This singular kind of coaching terminates at Fredericksburgh, whence +there is a railway to Richmond. The tract of country through which it +takes its course was once productive; but the soil has been exhausted by +the system of employing a great amount of slave labour in forcing crops, +without strengthening the land: and it is now little better than a sandy +desert overgrown with trees. Dreary and uninteresting as its aspect is, +I was glad to the heart to find anything on which one of the curses of +this horrible institution has fallen; and had greater pleasure in +contemplating the withered ground, than the richest and most thriving +cultivation in the same place could possibly have afforded me. + +In this district, as in all others where slavery sits brooding, (I have +frequently heard this admitted, even by those who are its warmest +advocates:) there is an air of ruin and decay abroad, which is +inseparable from the system. The barns and outhouses are mouldering +away; the sheds are patched and half roofless; the log cabins (built in +Virginia with external chimneys made of clay or wood) are squalid in the +last degree. There is no look of decent comfort anywhere. The miserable +stations by the railway side, the great wild wood-yards, whence the +engine is supplied with fuel; the negro children rolling on the ground +before the cabin doors, with dogs and pigs; the biped beasts of burden +slinking past: gloom and dejection are upon them all. + +In the negro car belonging to the train in which we made this journey, +were a mother and her children who had just been purchased; the husband +and father being left behind with their old owner. The children cried +the whole way, and the mother was misery’s picture. The champion of +Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, who had bought them, rode in +the same train; and, every time we stopped, got down to see that they +were safe. The black in Sinbad’s Travels with one eye in the middle of +his forehead which shone like a burning coal, was nature’s aristocrat +compared with this white gentleman. + + [Picture: Black and White] + +It was between six and seven o’clock in the evening, when we drove to the +hotel: in front of which, and on the top of the broad flight of steps +leading to the door, two or three citizens were balancing themselves on +rocking-chairs, and smoking cigars. We found it a very large and elegant +establishment, and were as well entertained as travellers need desire to +be. The climate being a thirsty one, there was never, at any hour of the +day, a scarcity of loungers in the spacious bar, or a cessation of the +mixing of cool liquors: but they were a merrier people here, and had +musical instruments playing to them o’ nights, which it was a treat to +hear again. + +The next day, and the next, we rode and walked about the town, which is +delightfully situated on eight hills, overhanging James River; a +sparkling stream, studded here and there with bright islands, or brawling +over broken rocks. Although it was yet but the middle of March, the +weather in this southern temperature was extremely warm; the peech-trees +and magnolias were in full bloom; and the trees were green. In a low +ground among the hills, is a valley known as ‘Bloody Run,’ from a +terrible conflict with the Indians which once occurred there. It is a +good place for such a struggle, and, like every other spot I saw +associated with any legend of that wild people now so rapidly fading from +the earth, interested me very much. + +The city is the seat of the local parliament of Virginia; and in its +shady legislative halls, some orators were drowsily holding forth to the +hot noon day. By dint of constant repetition, however, these +constitutional sights had very little more interest for me than so many +parochial vestries; and I was glad to exchange this one for a lounge in a +well-arranged public library of some ten thousand volumes, and a visit to +a tobacco manufactory, where the workmen are all slaves. + +I saw in this place the whole process of picking, rolling, pressing, +drying, packing in casks, and branding. All the tobacco thus dealt with, +was in course of manufacture for chewing; and one would have supposed +there was enough in that one storehouse to have filled even the +comprehensive jaws of America. In this form, the weed looks like the +oil-cake on which we fatten cattle; and even without reference to its +consequences, is sufficiently uninviting. + +Many of the workmen appeared to be strong men, and it is hardly necessary +to add that they were all labouring quietly, then. After two o’clock in +the day, they are allowed to sing, a certain number at a time. The hour +striking while I was there, some twenty sang a hymn in parts, and sang it +by no means ill; pursuing their work meanwhile. A bell rang as I was +about to leave, and they all poured forth into a building on the opposite +side of the street to dinner. I said several times that I should like to +see them at their meal; but as the gentleman to whom I mentioned this +desire appeared to be suddenly taken rather deaf, I did not pursue the +request. Of their appearance I shall have something to say, presently. + +On the following day, I visited a plantation or farm, of about twelve +hundred acres, on the opposite bank of the river. Here again, although I +went down with the owner of the estate, to ‘the quarter,’ as that part of +it in which the slaves live is called, I was not invited to enter into +any of their huts. All I saw of them, was, that they were very crazy, +wretched cabins, near to which groups of half-naked children basked in +the sun, or wallowed on the dusty ground. But I believe that this +gentleman is a considerate and excellent master, who inherited his fifty +slaves, and is neither a buyer nor a seller of human stock; and I am +sure, from my own observation and conviction, that he is a kind-hearted, +worthy man. + +The planter’s house was an airy, rustic dwelling, that brought Defoe’s +description of such places strongly to my recollection. The day was very +warm, but the blinds being all closed, and the windows and doors set wide +open, a shady coolness rustled through the rooms, which was exquisitely +refreshing after the glare and heat without. Before the windows was an +open piazza, where, in what they call the hot weather—whatever that may +be—they sling hammocks, and drink and doze luxuriously. I do not know +how their cool rejections may taste within the hammocks, but, having +experience, I can report that, out of them, the mounds of ices and the +bowls of mint-julep and sherry-cobbler they make in these latitudes, are +refreshments never to be thought of afterwards, in summer, by those who +would preserve contented minds. + +There are two bridges across the river: one belongs to the railroad, and +the other, which is a very crazy affair, is the private property of some +old lady in the neighbourhood, who levies tolls upon the townspeople. +Crossing this bridge, on my way back, I saw a notice painted on the gate, +cautioning all persons to drive slowly: under a penalty, if the offender +were a white man, of five dollars; if a negro, fifteen stripes. + +The same decay and gloom that overhang the way by which it is approached, +hover above the town of Richmond. There are pretty villas and cheerful +houses in its streets, and Nature smiles upon the country round; but +jostling its handsome residences, like slavery itself going hand in hand +with many lofty virtues, are deplorable tenements, fences unrepaired, +walls crumbling into ruinous heaps. Hinting gloomily at things below the +surface, these, and many other tokens of the same description, force +themselves upon the notice, and are remembered with depressing influence, +when livelier features are forgotten. + +To those who are happily unaccustomed to them, the countenances in the +streets and labouring-places, too, are shocking. All men who know that +there are laws against instructing slaves, of which the pains and +penalties greatly exceed in their amount the fines imposed on those who +maim and torture them, must be prepared to find their faces very low in +the scale of intellectual expression. But the darkness—not of skin, but +mind—which meets the stranger’s eye at every turn; the brutalizing and +blotting out of all fairer characters traced by Nature’s hand; +immeasurably outdo his worst belief. That travelled creation of the +great satirist’s brain, who fresh from living among horses, peered from a +high casement down upon his own kind with trembling horror, was scarcely +more repelled and daunted by the sight, than those who look upon some of +these faces for the first time must surely be. + +I left the last of them behind me in the person of a wretched drudge, +who, after running to and fro all day till midnight, and moping in his +stealthy winks of sleep upon the stairs betweenwhiles, was washing the +dark passages at four o’clock in the morning; and went upon my way with a +grateful heart that I was not doomed to live where slavery was, and had +never had my senses blunted to its wrongs and horrors in a slave-rocked +cradle. + +It had been my intention to proceed by James River and Chesapeake Bay to +Baltimore; but one of the steamboats being absent from her station +through some accident, and the means of conveyance being consequently +rendered uncertain, we returned to Washington by the way we had come +(there were two constables on board the steamboat, in pursuit of runaway +slaves), and halting there again for one night, went on to Baltimore next +afternoon. + +The most comfortable of all the hotels of which I had any experience in +the United States, and they were not a few, is Barnum’s, in that city: +where the English traveller will find curtains to his bed, for the first +and probably the last time in America (this is a disinterested remark, +for I never use them); and where he will be likely to have enough water +for washing himself, which is not at all a common case. + +This capital of the state of Maryland is a bustling, busy town, with a +great deal of traffic of various kinds, and in particular of water +commerce. That portion of the town which it most favours is none of the +cleanest, it is true; but the upper part is of a very different +character, and has many agreeable streets and public buildings. The +Washington Monument, which is a handsome pillar with a statue on its +summit; the Medical College; and the Battle Monument in memory of an +engagement with the British at North Point; are the most conspicuous +among them. + +There is a very good prison in this city, and the State Penitentiary is +also among its institutions. In this latter establishment there were two +curious cases. + +One was that of a young man, who had been tried for the murder of his +father. The evidence was entirely circumstantial, and was very +conflicting and doubtful; nor was it possible to assign any motive which +could have tempted him to the commission of so tremendous a crime. He +had been tried twice; and on the second occasion the jury felt so much +hesitation in convicting him, that they found a verdict of manslaughter, +or murder in the second degree; which it could not possibly be, as there +had, beyond all doubt, been no quarrel or provocation, and if he were +guilty at all, he was unquestionably guilty of murder in its broadest and +worst signification. + +The remarkable feature in the case was, that if the unfortunate deceased +were not really murdered by this own son of his, he must have been +murdered by his own brother. The evidence lay in a most remarkable +manner, between those two. On all the suspicious points, the dead man’s +brother was the witness: all the explanations for the prisoner (some of +them extremely plausible) went, by construction and inference, to +inculcate him as plotting to fix the guilt upon his nephew. It must have +been one of them: and the jury had to decide between two sets of +suspicions, almost equally unnatural, unaccountable, and strange. + +The other case, was that of a man who once went to a certain distiller’s +and stole a copper measure containing a quantity of liquor. He was +pursued and taken with the property in his possession, and was sentenced +to two years’ imprisonment. On coming out of the jail, at the expiration +of that term, he went back to the same distiller’s, and stole the same +copper measure containing the same quantity of liquor. There was not the +slightest reason to suppose that the man wished to return to prison: +indeed everything, but the commission of the offence, made directly +against that assumption. There are only two ways of accounting for this +extraordinary proceeding. One is, that after undergoing so much for this +copper measure he conceived he had established a sort of claim and right +to it. The other that, by dint of long thinking about, it had become a +monomania with him, and had acquired a fascination which he found it +impossible to resist; swelling from an Earthly Copper Gallon into an +Ethereal Golden Vat. + +After remaining here a couple of days I bound myself to a rigid adherence +to the plan I had laid down so recently, and resolved to set forward on +our western journey without any more delay. Accordingly, having reduced +the luggage within the smallest possible compass (by sending back to New +York, to be afterwards forwarded to us in Canada, so much of it as was +not absolutely wanted); and having procured the necessary credentials to +banking-houses on the way; and having moreover looked for two evenings at +the setting sun, with as well-defined an idea of the country before us as +if we had been going to travel into the very centre of that planet; we +left Baltimore by another railway at half-past eight in the morning, and +reached the town of York, some sixty miles off, by the early dinner-time +of the Hotel which was the starting-place of the four-horse coach, +wherein we were to proceed to Harrisburg. + +This conveyance, the box of which I was fortunate enough to secure, had +come down to meet us at the railroad station, and was as muddy and +cumbersome as usual. As more passengers were waiting for us at the +inn-door, the coachman observed under his breath, in the usual +self-communicative voice, looking the while at his mouldy harness as if +it were to that he was addressing himself, + +‘I expect we shall want _the big_ coach.’ + +I could not help wondering within myself what the size of this big coach +might be, and how many persons it might be designed to hold; for the +vehicle which was too small for our purpose was something larger than two +English heavy night coaches, and might have been the twin-brother of a +French Diligence. My speculations were speedily set at rest, however, +for as soon as we had dined, there came rumbling up the street, shaking +its sides like a corpulent giant, a kind of barge on wheels. After much +blundering and backing, it stopped at the door: rolling heavily from side +to side when its other motion had ceased, as if it had taken cold in its +damp stable, and between that, and the having been required in its +dropsical old age to move at any faster pace than a walk, were distressed +by shortness of wind. + +‘If here ain’t the Harrisburg mail at last, and dreadful bright and smart +to look at too,’ cried an elderly gentleman in some excitement, ‘darn my +mother!’ + +I don’t know what the sensation of being darned may be, or whether a +man’s mother has a keener relish or disrelish of the process than anybody +else; but if the endurance of this mysterious ceremony by the old lady in +question had depended on the accuracy of her son’s vision in respect to +the abstract brightness and smartness of the Harrisburg mail, she would +certainly have undergone its infliction. However, they booked twelve +people inside; and the luggage (including such trifles as a large +rocking-chair, and a good-sized dining-table) being at length made fast +upon the roof, we started off in great state. + +At the door of another hotel, there was another passenger to be taken up. + +‘Any room, sir?’ cries the new passenger to the coachman. + +‘Well, there’s room enough,’ replies the coachman, without getting down, +or even looking at him. + +‘There an’t no room at all, sir,’ bawls a gentleman inside. Which +another gentleman (also inside) confirms, by predicting that the attempt +to introduce any more passengers ‘won’t fit nohow.’ + +The new passenger, without any expression of anxiety, looks into the +coach, and then looks up at the coachman: ‘Now, how do you mean to fix +it?’ says he, after a pause: ‘for I _must_ go.’ + +The coachman employs himself in twisting the lash of his whip into a +knot, and takes no more notice of the question: clearly signifying that +it is anybody’s business but his, and that the passengers would do well +to fix it, among themselves. In this state of things, matters seem to be +approximating to a fix of another kind, when another inside passenger in +a corner, who is nearly suffocated, cries faintly, ‘I’ll get out.’ + +This is no matter of relief or self-congratulation to the driver, for his +immovable philosophy is perfectly undisturbed by anything that happens in +the coach. Of all things in the world, the coach would seem to be the +very last upon his mind. The exchange is made, however, and then the +passenger who has given up his seat makes a third upon the box, seating +himself in what he calls the middle; that is, with half his person on my +legs, and the other half on the driver’s. + +‘Go a-head, cap’en,’ cries the colonel, who directs. + +‘Gŏ-lāng!’ cries the cap’en to his company, the horses, and away we go. + +We took up at a rural bar-room, after we had gone a few miles, an +intoxicated gentleman who climbed upon the roof among the luggage, and +subsequently slipping off without hurting himself, was seen in the +distant perspective reeling back to the grog-shop where we had found him. +We also parted with more of our freight at different times, so that when +we came to change horses, I was again alone outside. + +The coachmen always change with the horses, and are usually as dirty as +the coach. The first was dressed like a very shabby English baker; the +second like a Russian peasant: for he wore a loose purple camlet robe, +with a fur collar, tied round his waist with a parti-coloured worsted +sash; grey trousers; light blue gloves: and a cap of bearskin. It had by +this time come on to rain very heavily, and there was a cold damp mist +besides, which penetrated to the skin. I was glad to take advantage of a +stoppage and get down to stretch my legs, shake the water off my +great-coat, and swallow the usual anti-temperance recipe for keeping out +the cold. + +When I mounted to my seat again, I observed a new parcel lying on the +coach roof, which I took to be a rather large fiddle in a brown bag. In +the course of a few miles, however, I discovered that it had a glazed cap +at one end and a pair of muddy shoes at the other and further observation +demonstrated it to be a small boy in a snuff-coloured coat, with his arms +quite pinioned to his sides, by deep forcing into his pockets. He was, I +presume, a relative or friend of the coachman’s, as he lay a-top of the +luggage with his face towards the rain; and except when a change of +position brought his shoes in contact with my hat, he appeared to be +asleep. At last, on some occasion of our stopping, this thing slowly +upreared itself to the height of three feet six, and fixing its eyes on +me, observed in piping accents, with a complaisant yawn, half quenched in +an obliging air of friendly patronage, ‘Well now, stranger, I guess you +find this a’most like an English arternoon, hey?’ + +The scenery, which had been tame enough at first, was, for the last ten +or twelve miles, beautiful. Our road wound through the pleasant valley +of the Susquehanna; the river, dotted with innumerable green islands, lay +upon our right; and on the left, a steep ascent, craggy with broken rock, +and dark with pine trees. The mist, wreathing itself into a hundred +fantastic shapes, moved solemnly upon the water; and the gloom of evening +gave to all an air of mystery and silence which greatly enhanced its +natural interest. + +We crossed this river by a wooden bridge, roofed and covered in on all +sides, and nearly a mile in length. It was profoundly dark; perplexed, +with great beams, crossing and recrossing it at every possible angle; and +through the broad chinks and crevices in the floor, the rapid river +gleamed, far down below, like a legion of eyes. We had no lamps; and as +the horses stumbled and floundered through this place, towards the +distant speck of dying light, it seemed interminable. I really could not +at first persuade myself as we rumbled heavily on, filling the bridge +with hollow noises, and I held down my head to save it from the rafters +above, but that I was in a painful dream; for I have often dreamed of +toiling through such places, and as often argued, even at the time, ‘this +cannot be reality.’ + +At length, however, we emerged upon the streets of Harrisburg, whose +feeble lights, reflected dismally from the wet ground, did not shine out +upon a very cheerful city. We were soon established in a snug hotel, +which though smaller and far less splendid than many we put up at, it +raised above them all in my remembrance, by having for its landlord the +most obliging, considerate, and gentlemanly person I ever had to deal +with. + +As we were not to proceed upon our journey until the afternoon, I walked +out, after breakfast the next morning, to look about me; and was duly +shown a model prison on the solitary system, just erected, and as yet +without an inmate; the trunk of an old tree to which Harris, the first +settler here (afterwards buried under it), was tied by hostile Indians, +with his funeral pile about him, when he was saved by the timely +appearance of a friendly party on the opposite shore of the river; the +local legislature (for there was another of those bodies here again, in +full debate); and the other curiosities of the town. + +I was very much interested in looking over a number of treaties made from +time to time with the poor Indians, signed by the different chiefs at the +period of their ratification, and preserved in the office of the +Secretary to the Commonwealth. These signatures, traced of course by +their own hands, are rough drawings of the creatures or weapons they were +called after. Thus, the Great Turtle makes a crooked pen-and-ink outline +of a great turtle; the Buffalo sketches a buffalo; the War Hatchet sets a +rough image of that weapon for his mark. So with the Arrow, the Fish, +the Scalp, the Big Canoe, and all of them. + +I could not but think—as I looked at these feeble and tremulous +productions of hands which could draw the longest arrow to the head in a +stout elk-horn bow, or split a bead or feather with a rifle-ball—of +Crabbe’s musings over the Parish Register, and the irregular scratches +made with a pen, by men who would plough a lengthy furrow straight from +end to end. Nor could I help bestowing many sorrowful thoughts upon the +simple warriors whose hands and hearts were set there, in all truth and +honesty; and who only learned in course of time from white men how to +break their faith, and quibble out of forms and bonds. I wonder, too, +how many times the credulous Big Turtle, or trusting Little Hatchet, had +put his mark to treaties which were falsely read to him; and had signed +away, he knew not what, until it went and cast him loose upon the new +possessors of the land, a savage indeed. + +Our host announced, before our early dinner, that some members of the +legislative body proposed to do us the honour of calling. He had kindly +yielded up to us his wife’s own little parlour, and when I begged that he +would show them in, I saw him look with painful apprehension at its +pretty carpet; though, being otherwise occupied at the time, the cause of +his uneasiness did not occur to me. + +It certainly would have been more pleasant to all parties concerned, and +would not, I think, have compromised their independence in any material +degree, if some of these gentlemen had not only yielded to the prejudice +in favour of spittoons, but had abandoned themselves, for the moment, +even to the conventional absurdity of pocket-handkerchiefs. + +It still continued to rain heavily, and when we went down to the Canal +Boat (for that was the mode of conveyance by which we were to proceed) +after dinner, the weather was as unpromising and obstinately wet as one +would desire to see. Nor was the sight of this canal boat, in which we +were to spend three or four days, by any means a cheerful one; as it +involved some uneasy speculations concerning the disposal of the +passengers at night, and opened a wide field of inquiry touching the +other domestic arrangements of the establishment, which was sufficiently +disconcerting. + +However, there it was—a barge with a little house in it, viewed from the +outside; and a caravan at a fair, viewed from within: the gentlemen being +accommodated, as the spectators usually are, in one of those locomotive +museums of penny wonders; and the ladies being partitioned off by a red +curtain, after the manner of the dwarfs and giants in the same +establishments, whose private lives are passed in rather close +exclusiveness. + +We sat here, looking silently at the row of little tables, which extended +down both sides of the cabin, and listening to the rain as it dripped and +pattered on the boat, and plashed with a dismal merriment in the water, +until the arrival of the railway train, for whose final contribution to +our stock of passengers, our departure was alone deferred. It brought a +great many boxes, which were bumped and tossed upon the roof, almost as +painfully as if they had been deposited on one’s own head, without the +intervention of a porter’s knot; and several damp gentlemen, whose +clothes, on their drawing round the stove, began to steam again. No +doubt it would have been a thought more comfortable if the driving rain, +which now poured down more soakingly than ever, had admitted of a window +being opened, or if our number had been something less than thirty; but +there was scarcely time to think as much, when a train of three horses +was attached to the tow-rope, the boy upon the leader smacked his whip, +the rudder creaked and groaned complainingly, and we had begun our +journey. + + + + +CHAPTER X +SOME FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE CANAL BOAT, ITS DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AND ITS +PASSENGERS. JOURNEY TO PITTSBURG ACROSS THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. +PITTSBURG + + +AS it continued to rain most perseveringly, we all remained below: the +damp gentlemen round the stove, gradually becoming mildewed by the action +of the fire; and the dry gentlemen lying at full length upon the seats, +or slumbering uneasily with their faces on the tables, or walking up and +down the cabin, which it was barely possible for a man of the middle +height to do, without making bald places on his head by scraping it +against the roof. At about six o’clock, all the small tables were put +together to form one long table, and everybody sat down to tea, coffee, +bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steaks, potatoes, pickles, ham, +chops, black-puddings, and sausages. + +‘Will you try,’ said my opposite neighbour, handing me a dish of +potatoes, broken up in milk and butter, ‘will you try some of these +fixings?’ + +There are few words which perform such various duties as this word ‘fix.’ +It is the Caleb Quotem of the American vocabulary. You call upon a +gentleman in a country town, and his help informs you that he is ‘fixing +himself’ just now, but will be down directly: by which you are to +understand that he is dressing. You inquire, on board a steamboat, of a +fellow-passenger, whether breakfast will be ready soon, and he tells you +he should think so, for when he was last below, they were ‘fixing the +tables:’ in other words, laying the cloth. You beg a porter to collect +your luggage, and he entreats you not to be uneasy, for he’ll ‘fix it +presently:’ and if you complain of indisposition, you are advised to have +recourse to Doctor So-and-so, who will ‘fix you’ in no time. + +One night, I ordered a bottle of mulled wine at an hotel where I was +staying, and waited a long time for it; at length it was put upon the +table with an apology from the landlord that he feared it wasn’t ‘fixed +properly.’ And I recollect once, at a stage-coach dinner, overhearing a +very stern gentleman demand of a waiter who presented him with a plate of +underdone roast-beef, ‘whether he called _that_, fixing God A’mighty’s +vittles?’ + +There is no doubt that the meal, at which the invitation was tendered to +me which has occasioned this digression, was disposed of somewhat +ravenously; and that the gentlemen thrust the broad-bladed knives and the +two-pronged forks further down their throats than I ever saw the same +weapons go before, except in the hands of a skilful juggler: but no man +sat down until the ladies were seated; or omitted any little act of +politeness which could contribute to their comfort. Nor did I ever once, +on any occasion, anywhere, during my rambles in America, see a woman +exposed to the slightest act of rudeness, incivility, or even +inattention. + +By the time the meal was over, the rain, which seemed to have worn itself +out by coming down so fast, was nearly over too; and it became feasible +to go on deck: which was a great relief, notwithstanding its being a very +small deck, and being rendered still smaller by the luggage, which was +heaped together in the middle under a tarpaulin covering; leaving, on +either side, a path so narrow, that it became a science to walk to and +fro without tumbling overboard into the canal. It was somewhat +embarrassing at first, too, to have to duck nimbly every five minutes +whenever the man at the helm cried ‘Bridge!’ and sometimes, when the cry +was ‘Low Bridge,’ to lie down nearly flat. But custom familiarises one +to anything, and there were so many bridges that it took a very short +time to get used to this. + +As night came on, and we drew in sight of the first range of hills, which +are the outposts of the Alleghany Mountains, the scenery, which had been +uninteresting hitherto, became more bold and striking. The wet ground +reeked and smoked, after the heavy fall of rain, and the croaking of the +frogs (whose noise in these parts is almost incredible) sounded as though +a million of fairy teams with bells were travelling through the air, and +keeping pace with us. The night was cloudy yet, but moonlight too: and +when we crossed the Susquehanna river—over which there is an +extraordinary wooden bridge with two galleries, one above the other, so +that even there, two boat teams meeting, may pass without confusion—it +was wild and grand. + +I have mentioned my having been in some uncertainty and doubt, at first, +relative to the sleeping arrangements on board this boat. I remained in +the same vague state of mind until ten o’clock or thereabouts, when going +below, I found suspended on either side of the cabin, three long tiers of +hanging bookshelves, designed apparently for volumes of the small octavo +size. Looking with greater attention at these contrivances (wondering to +find such literary preparations in such a place), I descried on each +shelf a sort of microscopic sheet and blanket; then I began dimly to +comprehend that the passengers were the library, and that they were to be +arranged, edge-wise, on these shelves, till morning. + +I was assisted to this conclusion by seeing some of them gathered round +the master of the boat, at one of the tables, drawing lots with all the +anxieties and passions of gamesters depicted in their countenances; while +others, with small pieces of cardboard in their hands, were groping among +the shelves in search of numbers corresponding with those they had drawn. +As soon as any gentleman found his number, he took possession of it by +immediately undressing himself and crawling into bed. The rapidity with +which an agitated gambler subsided into a snoring slumberer, was one of +the most singular effects I have ever witnessed. As to the ladies, they +were already abed, behind the red curtain, which was carefully drawn and +pinned up the centre; though as every cough, or sneeze, or whisper, +behind this curtain, was perfectly audible before it, we had still a +lively consciousness of their society. + +The politeness of the person in authority had secured to me a shelf in a +nook near this red curtain, in some degree removed from the great body of +sleepers: to which place I retired, with many acknowledgments to him for +his attention. I found it, on after-measurement, just the width of an +ordinary sheet of Bath post letter-paper; and I was at first in some +uncertainty as to the best means of getting into it. But the shelf being +a bottom one, I finally determined on lying upon the floor, rolling +gently in, stopping immediately I touched the mattress, and remaining for +the night with that side uppermost, whatever it might be. Luckily, I +came upon my back at exactly the right moment. I was much alarmed on +looking upward, to see, by the shape of his half-yard of sacking (which +his weight had bent into an exceedingly tight bag), that there was a very +heavy gentleman above me, whom the slender cords seemed quite incapable +of holding; and I could not help reflecting upon the grief of my wife and +family in the event of his coming down in the night. But as I could not +have got up again without a severe bodily struggle, which might have +alarmed the ladies; and as I had nowhere to go to, even if I had; I shut +my eyes upon the danger, and remained there. + +One of two remarkable circumstances is indisputably a fact, with +reference to that class of society who travel in these boats. Either +they carry their restlessness to such a pitch that they never sleep at +all; or they expectorate in dreams, which would be a remarkable mingling +of the real and ideal. All night long, and every night, on this canal, +there was a perfect storm and tempest of spitting; and once my coat, +being in the very centre of the hurricane sustained by five gentlemen +(which moved vertically, strictly carrying out Reid’s Theory of the Law +of Storms), I was fain the next morning to lay it on the deck, and rub it +down with fair water before it was in a condition to be worn again. + +Between five and six o’clock in the morning we got up, and some of us +went on deck, to give them an opportunity of taking the shelves down; +while others, the morning being very cold, crowded round the rusty stove, +cherishing the newly kindled fire, and filling the grate with those +voluntary contributions of which they had been so liberal all night. The +washing accommodations were primitive. There was a tin ladle chained to +the deck, with which every gentleman who thought it necessary to cleanse +himself (many were superior to this weakness), fished the dirty water out +of the canal, and poured it into a tin basin, secured in like manner. +There was also a jack-towel. And, hanging up before a little +looking-glass in the bar, in the immediate vicinity of the bread and +cheese and biscuits, were a public comb and hair-brush. + +At eight o’clock, the shelves being taken down and put away and the +tables joined together, everybody sat down to the tea, coffee, bread, +butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, pickles, ham, chops, +black-puddings, and sausages, all over again. Some were fond of +compounding this variety, and having it all on their plates at once. As +each gentleman got through his own personal amount of tea, coffee, bread, +butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, pickles, ham, chops, +black-puddings, and sausages, he rose up and walked off. When everybody +had done with everything, the fragments were cleared away: and one of the +waiters appearing anew in the character of a barber, shaved such of the +company as desired to be shaved; while the remainder looked on, or yawned +over their newspapers. Dinner was breakfast again, without the tea and +coffee; and supper and breakfast were identical. + +There was a man on board this boat, with a light fresh-coloured face, and +a pepper-and-salt suit of clothes, who was the most inquisitive fellow +that can possibly be imagined. He never spoke otherwise than +interrogatively. He was an embodied inquiry. Sitting down or standing +up, still or moving, walking the deck or taking his meals, there he was, +with a great note of interrogation in each eye, two in his cocked ears, +two more in his turned-up nose and chin, at least half a dozen more about +the corners of his mouth, and the largest one of all in his hair, which +was brushed pertly off his forehead in a flaxen clump. Every button in +his clothes said, ‘Eh? What’s that? Did you speak? Say that again, +will you?’ He was always wide awake, like the enchanted bride who drove +her husband frantic; always restless; always thirsting for answers; +perpetually seeking and never finding. There never was such a curious +man. + +I wore a fur great-coat at that time, and before we were well clear of +the wharf, he questioned me concerning it, and its price, and where I +bought it, and when, and what fur it was, and what it weighed, and what +it cost. Then he took notice of my watch, and asked me what _that_ cost, +and whether it was a French watch, and where I got it, and how I got it, +and whether I bought it or had it given me, and how it went, and where +the key-hole was, and when I wound it, every night or every morning, and +whether I ever forgot to wind it at all, and if I did, what then? Where +had I been to last, and where was I going next, and where was I going +after that, and had I seen the President, and what did he say, and what +did I say, and what did he say when I had said that? Eh? Lor now! do +tell! + +Finding that nothing would satisfy him, I evaded his questions after the +first score or two, and in particular pleaded ignorance respecting the +name of the fur whereof the coat was made. I am unable to say whether +this was the reason, but that coat fascinated him afterwards; he usually +kept close behind me as I walked, and moved as I moved, that he might +look at it the better; and he frequently dived into narrow places after +me at the risk of his life, that he might have the satisfaction of +passing his hand up the back, and rubbing it the wrong way. + +We had another odd specimen on board, of a different kind. This was a +thin-faced, spare-figured man of middle age and stature, dressed in a +dusty drabbish-coloured suit, such as I never saw before. He was +perfectly quiet during the first part of the journey: indeed I don’t +remember having so much as seen him until he was brought out by +circumstances, as great men often are. The conjunction of events which +made him famous, happened, briefly, thus. + +The canal extends to the foot of the mountain, and there, of course, it +stops; the passengers being conveyed across it by land carriage, and +taken on afterwards by another canal boat, the counterpart of the first, +which awaits them on the other side. There are two canal lines of +passage-boats; one is called The Express, and one (a cheaper one) The +Pioneer. The Pioneer gets first to the mountain, and waits for the +Express people to come up; both sets of passengers being conveyed across +it at the same time. We were the Express company; but when we had +crossed the mountain, and had come to the second boat, the proprietors +took it into their beads to draft all the Pioneers into it likewise, so +that we were five-and-forty at least, and the accession of passengers was +not at all of that kind which improved the prospect of sleeping at night. +Our people grumbled at this, as people do in such cases; but suffered the +boat to be towed off with the whole freight aboard nevertheless; and away +we went down the canal. At home, I should have protested lustily, but +being a foreigner here, I held my peace. Not so this passenger. He +cleft a path among the people on deck (we were nearly all on deck), and +without addressing anybody whomsoever, soliloquised as follows: + +‘This may suit _you_, this may, but it don’t suit _me_. This may be all +very well with Down Easters, and men of Boston raising, but it won’t suit +my figure nohow; and no two ways about _that_; and so I tell you. Now! +I’m from the brown forests of Mississippi, _I_ am, and when the sun +shines on me, it does shine—a little. It don’t glimmer where _I_ live, +the sun don’t. No. I’m a brown forester, I am. I an’t a Johnny Cake. +There are no smooth skins where I live. We’re rough men there. Rather. +If Down Easters and men of Boston raising like this, I’m glad of it, but +I’m none of that raising nor of that breed. No. This company wants a +little fixing, _it_ does. I’m the wrong sort of man for ’em, _I_ am. +They won’t like me, _they_ won’t. This is piling of it up, a little too +mountainous, this is.’ At the end of every one of these short sentences +he turned upon his heel, and walked the other way; checking himself +abruptly when he had finished another short sentence, and turning back +again. + +It is impossible for me to say what terrific meaning was hidden in the +words of this brown forester, but I know that the other passengers looked +on in a sort of admiring horror, and that presently the boat was put back +to the wharf, and as many of the Pioneers as could be coaxed or bullied +into going away, were got rid of. + +When we started again, some of the boldest spirits on board, made bold to +say to the obvious occasion of this improvement in our prospects, ‘Much +obliged to you, sir;’ whereunto the brown forester (waving his hand, and +still walking up and down as before), replied, ‘No you an’t. You’re none +o’ my raising. You may act for yourselves, _you_ may. I have pinted out +the way. Down Easters and Johnny Cakes can follow if they please. I +an’t a Johnny Cake, I an’t. I am from the brown forests of the +Mississippi, I am’—and so on, as before. He was unanimously voted one of +the tables for his bed at night—there is a great contest for the +tables—in consideration for his public services: and he had the warmest +corner by the stove throughout the rest of the journey. But I never +could find out that he did anything except sit there; nor did I hear him +speak again until, in the midst of the bustle and turmoil of getting the +luggage ashore in the dark at Pittsburg, I stumbled over him as he sat +smoking a cigar on the cabin steps, and heard him muttering to himself, +with a short laugh of defiance, ‘I an’t a Johnny Cake,—I an’t. I’m from +the brown forests of the Mississippi, I am, damme!’ I am inclined to +argue from this, that he had never left off saying so; but I could not +make an affidavit of that part of the story, if required to do so by my +Queen and Country. + +As we have not reached Pittsburg yet, however, in the order of our +narrative, I may go on to remark that breakfast was perhaps the least +desirable meal of the day, as in addition to the many savoury odours +arising from the eatables already mentioned, there were whiffs of gin, +whiskey, brandy, and rum, from the little bar hard by, and a decided +seasoning of stale tobacco. Many of the gentlemen passengers were far +from particular in respect of their linen, which was in some cases as +yellow as the little rivulets that had trickled from the corners of their +mouths in chewing, and dried there. Nor was the atmosphere quite free +from zephyr whisperings of the thirty beds which had just been cleared +away, and of which we were further and more pressingly reminded by the +occasional appearance on the table-cloth of a kind of Game, not mentioned +in the Bill of Fare. + +And yet despite these oddities—and even they had, for me at least, a +humour of their own—there was much in this mode of travelling which I +heartily enjoyed at the time, and look back upon with great pleasure. +Even the running up, bare-necked, at five o’clock in the morning, from +the tainted cabin to the dirty deck; scooping up the icy water, plunging +one’s head into it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with the +cold; was a good thing. The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path, +between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to +tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when light +came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when one +lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep blue sky; +the gliding on at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with +dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red, burning spot high up, where +unseen men lay crouching round a fire; the shining out of the bright +stars undisturbed by noise of wheels or steam, or any other sound than +the limpid rippling of the water as the boat went on: all these were pure +delights. + +Then there were new settlements and detached log-cabins and frame-houses, +full of interest for strangers from an old country: cabins with simple +ovens, outside, made of clay; and lodgings for the pigs nearly as good as +many of the human quarters; broken windows, patched with worn-out hats, +old clothes, old boards, fragments of blankets and paper; and home-made +dressers standing in the open air without the door, whereon was ranged +the household store, not hard to count, of earthen jars and pots. The +eye was pained to see the stumps of great trees thickly strewn in every +field of wheat, and seldom to lose the eternal swamp and dull morass, +with hundreds of rotten trunks and twisted branches steeped in its +unwholesome water. It was quite sad and oppressive, to come upon great +tracts where settlers had been burning down the trees, and where their +wounded bodies lay about, like those of murdered creatures, while here +and there some charred and blackened giant reared aloft two withered +arms, and seemed to call down curses on his foes. Sometimes, at night, +the way wound through some lonely gorge, like a mountain pass in +Scotland, shining and coldly glittering in the light of the moon, and so +closed in by high steep hills all round, that there seemed to be no +egress save through the narrower path by which we had come, until one +rugged hill-side seemed to open, and shutting out the moonlight as we +passed into its gloomy throat, wrapped our new course in shade and +darkness. + +We had left Harrisburg on Friday. On Sunday morning we arrived at the +foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten +inclined planes; five ascending, and five descending; the carriages are +dragged up the former, and let slowly down the latter, by means of +stationary engines; the comparatively level spaces between, being +traversed, sometimes by horse, and sometimes by engine power, as the case +demands. Occasionally the rails are laid upon the extreme verge of a +giddy precipice; and looking from the carriage window, the traveller +gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of fence between, into the +mountain depths below. The journey is very carefully made, however; only +two carriages travelling together; and while proper precautions are +taken, is not to be dreaded for its dangers. + +It was very pretty travelling thus, at a rapid pace along the heights of +the mountain in a keen wind, to look down into a valley full of light and +softness; catching glimpses, through the tree-tops, of scattered cabins; +children running to the doors; dogs bursting out to bark, whom we could +see without hearing: terrified pigs scampering homewards; families +sitting out in their rude gardens; cows gazing upward with a stupid +indifference; men in their shirt-sleeves looking on at their unfinished +houses, planning out to-morrow’s work; and we riding onward, high above +them, like a whirlwind. It was amusing, too, when we had dined, and +rattled down a steep pass, having no other moving power than the weight +of the carriages themselves, to see the engine released, long after us, +come buzzing down alone, like a great insect, its back of green and gold +so shining in the sun, that if it had spread a pair of wings and soared +away, no one would have had occasion, as I fancied, for the least +surprise. But it stopped short of us in a very business-like manner when +we reached the canal: and, before we left the wharf, went panting up this +hill again, with the passengers who had waited our arrival for the means +of traversing the road by which we had come. + +On the Monday evening, furnace fires and clanking hammers on the banks of +the canal, warned us that we approached the termination of this part of +our journey. After going through another dreamy place—a long aqueduct +across the Alleghany River, which was stranger than the bridge at +Harrisburg, being a vast, low, wooden chamber full of water—we emerged +upon that ugly confusion of backs of buildings and crazy galleries and +stairs, which always abuts on water, whether it be river, sea, canal, or +ditch: and were at Pittsburg. + +Pittsburg is like Birmingham in England; at least its townspeople say so. +Setting aside the streets, the shops, the houses, waggons, factories, +public buildings, and population, perhaps it may be. It certainly has a +great quantity of smoke hanging about it, and is famous for its +iron-works. Besides the prison to which I have already referred, this +town contains a pretty arsenal and other institutions. It is very +beautifully situated on the Alleghany River, over which there are two +bridges; and the villas of the wealthier citizens sprinkled about the +high grounds in the neighbourhood, are pretty enough. We lodged at a +most excellent hotel, and were admirably served. As usual it was full of +boarders, was very large, and had a broad colonnade to every story of the +house. + +We tarried here three days. Our next point was Cincinnati: and as this +was a steamboat journey, and western steamboats usually blow up one or +two a week in the season, it was advisable to collect opinions in +reference to the comparative safety of the vessels bound that way, then +lying in the river. One called the Messenger was the best recommended. +She had been advertised to start positively, every day for a fortnight or +so, and had not gone yet, nor did her captain seem to have any very fixed +intention on the subject. But this is the custom: for if the law were to +bind down a free and independent citizen to keep his word with the +public, what would become of the liberty of the subject? Besides, it is +in the way of trade. And if passengers be decoyed in the way of trade, +and people be inconvenienced in the way of trade, what man, who is a +sharp tradesman himself, shall say, ‘We must put a stop to this?’ + +Impressed by the deep solemnity of the public announcement, I (being then +ignorant of these usages) was for hurrying on board in a breathless +state, immediately; but receiving private and confidential information +that the boat would certainly not start until Friday, April the First, we +made ourselves very comfortable in the mean while, and went on board at +noon that day. + + + + +CHAPTER XI +FROM PITTSBURG TO CINCINNATI IN A WESTERN STEAMBOAT. CINCINNATI + + +THE Messenger was one among a crowd of high-pressure steamboats, +clustered together by a wharf-side, which, looked down upon from the +rising ground that forms the landing-place, and backed by the lofty bank +on the opposite side of the river, appeared no larger than so many +floating models. She had some forty passengers on board, exclusive of +the poorer persons on the lower deck; and in half an hour, or less, +proceeded on her way. + +We had, for ourselves, a tiny state-room with two berths in it, opening +out of the ladies’ cabin. There was, undoubtedly, something satisfactory +in this ‘location,’ inasmuch as it was in the stern, and we had been a +great many times very gravely recommended to keep as far aft as possible, +‘because the steamboats generally blew up forward.’ Nor was this an +unnecessary caution, as the occurrence and circumstances of more than one +such fatality during our stay sufficiently testified. Apart from this +source of self-congratulation, it was an unspeakable relief to have any +place, no matter how confined, where one could be alone: and as the row +of little chambers of which this was one, had each a second glass-door +besides that in the ladies’ cabin, which opened on a narrow gallery +outside the vessel, where the other passengers seldom came, and where one +could sit in peace and gaze upon the shifting prospect, we took +possession of our new quarters with much pleasure. + +If the native packets I have already described be unlike anything we are +in the habit of seeing on water, these western vessels are still more +foreign to all the ideas we are accustomed to entertain of boats. I +hardly know what to liken them to, or how to describe them. + +In the first place, they have no mast, cordage, tackle, rigging, or other +such boat-like gear; nor have they anything in their shape at all +calculated to remind one of a boat’s head, stem, sides, or keel. Except +that they are in the water, and display a couple of paddle-boxes, they +might be intended, for anything that appears to the contrary, to perform +some unknown service, high and dry, upon a mountain top. There is no +visible deck, even: nothing but a long, black, ugly roof covered with +burnt-out feathery sparks; above which tower two iron chimneys, and a +hoarse escape valve, and a glass steerage-house. Then, in order as the +eye descends towards the water, are the sides, and doors, and windows of +the state-rooms, jumbled as oddly together as though they formed a small +street, built by the varying tastes of a dozen men: the whole is +supported on beams and pillars resting on a dirty barge, but a few inches +above the water’s edge: and in the narrow space between this upper +structure and this barge’s deck, are the furnace fires and machinery, +open at the sides to every wind that blows, and every storm of rain it +drives along its path. + +Passing one of these boats at night, and seeing the great body of fire, +exposed as I have just described, that rages and roars beneath the frail +pile of painted wood: the machinery, not warded off or guarded in any +way, but doing its work in the midst of the crowd of idlers and emigrants +and children, who throng the lower deck: under the management, too, of +reckless men whose acquaintance with its mysteries may have been of six +months’ standing: one feels directly that the wonder is, not that there +should be so many fatal accidents, but that any journey should be safely +made. + +Within, there is one long narrow cabin, the whole length of the boat; +from which the state-rooms open, on both sides. A small portion of it at +the stern is partitioned off for the ladies; and the bar is at the +opposite extreme. There is a long table down the centre, and at either +end a stove. The washing apparatus is forward, on the deck. It is a +little better than on board the canal boat, but not much. In all modes +of travelling, the American customs, with reference to the means of +personal cleanliness and wholesome ablution, are extremely negligent and +filthy; and I strongly incline to the belief that a considerable amount +of illness is referable to this cause. + +We are to be on board the Messenger three days: arriving at Cincinnati +(barring accidents) on Monday morning. There are three meals a day. +Breakfast at seven, dinner at half-past twelve, supper about six. At +each, there are a great many small dishes and plates upon the table, with +very little in them; so that although there is every appearance of a +mighty ‘spread,’ there is seldom really more than a joint: except for +those who fancy slices of beet-root, shreds of dried beef, complicated +entanglements of yellow pickle; maize, Indian corn, apple-sauce, and +pumpkin. + +Some people fancy all these little dainties together (and sweet preserves +beside), by way of relish to their roast pig. They are generally those +dyspeptic ladies and gentlemen who eat unheard-of quantities of hot corn +bread (almost as good for the digestion as a kneaded pin-cushion), for +breakfast, and for supper. Those who do not observe this custom, and who +help themselves several times instead, usually suck their knives and +forks meditatively, until they have decided what to take next: then pull +them out of their mouths: put them in the dish; help themselves; and fall +to work again. At dinner, there is nothing to drink upon the table, but +great jugs full of cold water. Nobody says anything, at any meal, to +anybody. All the passengers are very dismal, and seem to have tremendous +secrets weighing on their minds. There is no conversation, no laughter, +no cheerfulness, no sociality, except in spitting; and that is done in +silent fellowship round the stove, when the meal is over. Every man sits +down, dull and languid; swallows his fare as if breakfasts, dinners, and +suppers, were necessities of nature never to be coupled with recreation +or enjoyment; and having bolted his food in a gloomy silence, bolts +himself, in the same state. But for these animal observances, you might +suppose the whole male portion of the company to be the melancholy ghosts +of departed book-keepers, who had fallen dead at the desk: such is their +weary air of business and calculation. Undertakers on duty would be +sprightly beside them; and a collation of funeral-baked meats, in +comparison with these meals, would be a sparkling festivity. + +The people are all alike, too. There is no diversity of character. They +travel about on the same errands, say and do the same things in exactly +the same manner, and follow in the same dull cheerless round. All down +the long table, there is scarcely a man who is in anything different from +his neighbour. It is quite a relief to have, sitting opposite, that +little girl of fifteen with the loquacious chin: who, to do her justice, +acts up to it, and fully identifies nature’s handwriting, for of all the +small chatterboxes that ever invaded the repose of drowsy ladies’ cabin, +she is the first and foremost. The beautiful girl, who sits a little +beyond her—farther down the table there—married the young man with the +dark whiskers, who sits beyond _her_, only last month. They are going to +settle in the very Far West, where he has lived four years, but where she +has never been. They were both overturned in a stage-coach the other day +(a bad omen anywhere else, where overturns are not so common), and his +head, which bears the marks of a recent wound, is bound up still. She +was hurt too, at the same time, and lay insensible for some days; bright +as her eyes are, now. + +Further down still, sits a man who is going some miles beyond their place +of destination, to ‘improve’ a newly-discovered copper mine. He carries +the village—that is to be—with him: a few frame cottages, and an +apparatus for smelting the copper. He carries its people too. They are +partly American and partly Irish, and herd together on the lower deck; +where they amused themselves last evening till the night was pretty far +advanced, by alternately firing off pistols and singing hymns. + +They, and the very few who have been left at table twenty minutes, rise, +and go away. We do so too; and passing through our little state-room, +resume our seats in the quiet gallery without. + +A fine broad river always, but in some parts much wider than in others: +and then there is usually a green island, covered with trees, dividing it +into two streams. Occasionally, we stop for a few minutes, maybe to take +in wood, maybe for passengers, at some small town or village (I ought to +say city, every place is a city here); but the banks are for the most +part deep solitudes, overgrown with trees, which, hereabouts, are already +in leaf and very green. For miles, and miles, and miles, these solitudes +are unbroken by any sign of human life or trace of human footstep; nor is +anything seen to move about them but the blue jay, whose colour is so +bright, and yet so delicate, that it looks like a flying flower. At +lengthened intervals a log cabin, with its little space of cleared land +about it, nestles under a rising ground, and sends its thread of blue +smoke curling up into the sky. It stands in the corner of the poor field +of wheat, which is full of great unsightly stumps, like earthy +butchers’-blocks. Sometimes the ground is only just now cleared: the +felled trees lying yet upon the soil: and the log-house only this morning +begun. As we pass this clearing, the settler leans upon his axe or +hammer, and looks wistfully at the people from the world. The children +creep out of the temporary hut, which is like a gipsy tent upon the +ground, and clap their hands and shout. The dog only glances round at +us, and then looks up into his master’s face again, as if he were +rendered uneasy by any suspension of the common business, and had nothing +more to do with pleasurers. And still there is the same, eternal +foreground. The river has washed away its banks, and stately trees have +fallen down into the stream. Some have been there so long, that they are +mere dry, grizzly skeletons. Some have just toppled over, and having +earth yet about their roots, are bathing their green heads in the river, +and putting forth new shoots and branches. Some are almost sliding down, +as you look at them. And some were drowned so long ago, that their +bleached arms start out from the middle of the current, and seem to try +to grasp the boat, and drag it under water. + +Through such a scene as this, the unwieldy machine takes its hoarse, +sullen way: venting, at every revolution of the paddles, a loud +high-pressure blast; enough, one would think, to waken up the host of +Indians who lie buried in a great mound yonder: so old, that mighty oaks +and other forest trees have struck their roots into its earth; and so +high, that it is a hill, even among the hills that Nature planted round +it. The very river, as though it shared one’s feelings of compassion for +the extinct tribes who lived so pleasantly here, in their blessed +ignorance of white existence, hundreds of years ago, steals out of its +way to ripple near this mound: and there are few places where the Ohio +sparkles more brightly than in the Big Grave Creek. + +All this I see as I sit in the little stern-gallery mentioned just now. +Evening slowly steals upon the landscape and changes it before me, when +we stop to set some emigrants ashore. + +Five men, as many women, and a little girl. All their worldly goods are +a bag, a large chest and an old chair: one, old, high-backed, +rush-bottomed chair: a solitary settler in itself. They are rowed ashore +in the boat, while the vessel stands a little off awaiting its return, +the water being shallow. They are landed at the foot of a high bank, on +the summit of which are a few log cabins, attainable only by a long +winding path. It is growing dusk; but the sun is very red, and shines in +the water and on some of the tree-tops, like fire. + +The men get out of the boat first; help out the women; take out the bag, +the chest, the chair; bid the rowers ‘good-bye;’ and shove the boat off +for them. At the first plash of the oars in the water, the oldest woman +of the party sits down in the old chair, close to the water’s edge, +without speaking a word. None of the others sit down, though the chest +is large enough for many seats. They all stand where they landed, as if +stricken into stone; and look after the boat. So they remain, quite +still and silent: the old woman and her old chair, in the centre the bag +and chest upon the shore, without anybody heeding them all eyes fixed +upon the boat. It comes alongside, is made fast, the men jump on board, +the engine is put in motion, and we go hoarsely on again. There they +stand yet, without the motion of a hand. I can see them through my +glass, when, in the distance and increasing darkness, they are mere +specks to the eye: lingering there still: the old woman in the old chair, +and all the rest about her: not stirring in the least degree. And thus I +slowly lose them. + +The night is dark, and we proceed within the shadow of the wooded bank, +which makes it darker. After gliding past the sombre maze of boughs for +a long time, we come upon an open space where the tall trees are burning. +The shape of every branch and twig is expressed in a deep red glow, and +as the light wind stirs and ruffles it, they seem to vegetate in fire. +It is such a sight as we read of in legends of enchanted forests: saving +that it is sad to see these noble works wasting away so awfully, alone; +and to think how many years must come and go before the magic that +created them will rear their like upon this ground again. But the time +will come; and when, in their changed ashes, the growth of centuries +unborn has struck its roots, the restless men of distant ages will repair +to these again unpeopled solitudes; and their fellows, in cities far +away, that slumber now, perhaps, beneath the rolling sea, will read in +language strange to any ears in being now, but very old to them, of +primeval forests where the axe was never heard, and where the jungled +ground was never trodden by a human foot. + +Midnight and sleep blot out these scenes and thoughts: and when the +morning shines again, it gilds the house-tops of a lively city, before +whose broad paved wharf the boat is moored; with other boats, and flags, +and moving wheels, and hum of men around it; as though there were not a +solitary or silent rood of ground within the compass of a thousand miles. + +Cincinnati is a beautiful city; cheerful, thriving, and animated. I have +not often seen a place that commends itself so favourably and pleasantly +to a stranger at the first glance as this does: with its clean houses of +red and white, its well-paved roads, and foot-ways of bright tile. Nor +does it become less prepossessing on a closer acquaintance. The streets +are broad and airy, the shops extremely good, the private residences +remarkable for their elegance and neatness. There is something of +invention and fancy in the varying styles of these latter erections, +which, after the dull company of the steamboat, is perfectly delightful, +as conveying an assurance that there are such qualities still in +existence. The disposition to ornament these pretty villas and render +them attractive, leads to the culture of trees and flowers, and the +laying out of well-kept gardens, the sight of which, to those who walk +along the streets, is inexpressibly refreshing and agreeable. I was +quite charmed with the appearance of the town, and its adjoining suburb +of Mount Auburn: from which the city, lying in an amphitheatre of hills, +forms a picture of remarkable beauty, and is seen to great advantage. + +There happened to be a great Temperance Convention held here on the day +after our arrival; and as the order of march brought the procession under +the windows of the hotel in which we lodged, when they started in the +morning, I had a good opportunity of seeing it. It comprised several +thousand men; the members of various ‘Washington Auxiliary Temperance +Societies;’ and was marshalled by officers on horseback, who cantered +briskly up and down the line, with scarves and ribbons of bright colours +fluttering out behind them gaily. There were bands of music too, and +banners out of number: and it was a fresh, holiday-looking concourse +altogether. + +I was particularly pleased to see the Irishmen, who formed a distinct +society among themselves, and mustered very strong with their green +scarves; carrying their national Harp and their Portrait of Father +Mathew, high above the people’s heads. They looked as jolly and +good-humoured as ever; and, working (here) the hardest for their living +and doing any kind of sturdy labour that came in their way, were the most +independent fellows there, I thought. + +The banners were very well painted, and flaunted down the street +famously. There was the smiting of the rock, and the gushing forth of +the waters; and there was a temperate man with ‘considerable of a +hatchet’ (as the standard-bearer would probably have said), aiming a +deadly blow at a serpent which was apparently about to spring upon him +from the top of a barrel of spirits. But the chief feature of this part +of the show was a huge allegorical device, borne among the +ship-carpenters, on one side whereof the steamboat Alcohol was +represented bursting her boiler and exploding with a great crash, while +upon the other, the good ship Temperance sailed away with a fair wind, to +the heart’s content of the captain, crew, and passengers. + +After going round the town, the procession repaired to a certain +appointed place, where, as the printed programme set forth, it would be +received by the children of the different free schools, ‘singing +Temperance Songs.’ I was prevented from getting there, in time to hear +these Little Warblers, or to report upon this novel kind of vocal +entertainment: novel, at least, to me: but I found in a large open space, +each society gathered round its own banners, and listening in silent +attention to its own orator. The speeches, judging from the little I +could hear of them, were certainly adapted to the occasion, as having +that degree of relationship to cold water which wet blankets may claim: +but the main thing was the conduct and appearance of the audience +throughout the day; and that was admirable and full of promise. + +Cincinnati is honourably famous for its free schools, of which it has so +many that no person’s child among its population can, by possibility, +want the means of education, which are extended, upon an average, to four +thousand pupils, annually. I was only present in one of these +establishments during the hours of instruction. In the boys’ department, +which was full of little urchins (varying in their ages, I should say, +from six years old to ten or twelve), the master offered to institute an +extemporary examination of the pupils in algebra; a proposal, which, as I +was by no means confident of my ability to detect mistakes in that +science, I declined with some alarm. In the girls’ school, reading was +proposed; and as I felt tolerably equal to that art, I expressed my +willingness to hear a class. Books were distributed accordingly, and +some half-dozen girls relieved each other in reading paragraphs from +English History. But it seemed to be a dry compilation, infinitely above +their powers; and when they had blundered through three or four dreary +passages concerning the Treaty of Amiens, and other thrilling topics of +the same nature (obviously without comprehending ten words), I expressed +myself quite satisfied. It is very possible that they only mounted to +this exalted stave in the Ladder of Learning for the astonishment of a +visitor; and that at other times they keep upon its lower rounds; but I +should have been much better pleased and satisfied if I had heard them +exercised in simpler lessons, which they understood. + +As in every other place I visited, the judges here were gentlemen of high +character and attainments. I was in one of the courts for a few minutes, +and found it like those to which I have already referred. A nuisance +cause was trying; there were not many spectators; and the witnesses, +counsel, and jury, formed a sort of family circle, sufficiently jocose +and snug. + +The society with which I mingled, was intelligent, courteous, and +agreeable. The inhabitants of Cincinnati are proud of their city as one +of the most interesting in America: and with good reason: for beautiful +and thriving as it is now, and containing, as it does, a population of +fifty thousand souls, but two-and-fifty years have passed away since the +ground on which it stands (bought at that time for a few dollars) was a +wild wood, and its citizens were but a handful of dwellers in scattered +log huts upon the river’s shore. + + + + +CHAPTER XII +FROM CINCINNATI TO LOUISVILLE IN ANOTHER WESTERN STEAMBOAT; AND FROM +LOUISVILLE TO ST. LOUIS IN ANOTHER. ST. LOUIS + + +LEAVING Cincinnati at eleven o’clock in the forenoon, we embarked for +Louisville in the Pike steamboat, which, carrying the mails, was a packet +of a much better class than that in which we had come from Pittsburg. As +this passage does not occupy more than twelve or thirteen hours, we +arranged to go ashore that night: not coveting the distinction of +sleeping in a state-room, when it was possible to sleep anywhere else. + +There chanced to be on board this boat, in addition to the usual dreary +crowd of passengers, one Pitchlynn, a chief of the Choctaw tribe of +Indians, who _sent in his card_ to me, and with whom I had the pleasure +of a long conversation. + +He spoke English perfectly well, though he had not begun to learn the +language, he told me, until he was a young man grown. He had read many +books; and Scott’s poetry appeared to have left a strong impression on +his mind: especially the opening of The Lady of the Lake, and the great +battle scene in Marmion, in which, no doubt from the congeniality of the +subjects to his own pursuits and tastes, he had great interest and +delight. He appeared to understand correctly all he had read; and +whatever fiction had enlisted his sympathy in its belief, had done so +keenly and earnestly. I might almost say fiercely. He was dressed in +our ordinary everyday costume, which hung about his fine figure loosely, +and with indifferent grace. On my telling him that I regretted not to +see him in his own attire, he threw up his right arm, for a moment, as +though he were brandishing some heavy weapon, and answered, as he let it +fall again, that his race were losing many things besides their dress, +and would soon be seen upon the earth no more: but he wore it at home, he +added proudly. + +He told me that he had been away from his home, west of the Mississippi, +seventeen months: and was now returning. He had been chiefly at +Washington on some negotiations pending between his Tribe and the +Government: which were not settled yet (he said in a melancholy way), and +he feared never would be: for what could a few poor Indians do, against +such well-skilled men of business as the whites? He had no love for +Washington; tired of towns and cities very soon; and longed for the +Forest and the Prairie. + +I asked him what he thought of Congress? He answered, with a smile, that +it wanted dignity, in an Indian’s eyes. + +He would very much like, he said, to see England before he died; and +spoke with much interest about the great things to be seen there. When I +told him of that chamber in the British Museum wherein are preserved +household memorials of a race that ceased to be, thousands of years ago, +he was very attentive, and it was not hard to see that he had a reference +in his mind to the gradual fading away of his own people. + +This led us to speak of Mr. Catlin’s gallery, which he praised highly: +observing that his own portrait was among the collection, and that all +the likenesses were ‘elegant.’ Mr. Cooper, he said, had painted the Red +Man well; and so would I, he knew, if I would go home with him and hunt +buffaloes, which he was quite anxious I should do. When I told him that +supposing I went, I should not be very likely to damage the buffaloes +much, he took it as a great joke and laughed heartily. + +He was a remarkably handsome man; some years past forty, I should judge; +with long black hair, an aquiline nose, broad cheek-bones, a sunburnt +complexion, and a very bright, keen, dark, and piercing eye. There were +but twenty thousand of the Choctaws left, he said, and their number was +decreasing every day. A few of his brother chiefs had been obliged to +become civilised, and to make themselves acquainted with what the whites +knew, for it was their only chance of existence. But they were not many; +and the rest were as they always had been. He dwelt on this: and said +several times that unless they tried to assimilate themselves to their +conquerors, they must be swept away before the strides of civilised +society. + +When we shook hands at parting, I told him he must come to England, as he +longed to see the land so much: that I should hope to see him there, one +day: and that I could promise him he would be well received and kindly +treated. He was evidently pleased by this assurance, though he rejoined +with a good-humoured smile and an arch shake of his head, that the +English used to be very fond of the Red Men when they wanted their help, +but had not cared much for them, since. + +He took his leave; as stately and complete a gentleman of Nature’s +making, as ever I beheld; and moved among the people in the boat, another +kind of being. He sent me a lithographed portrait of himself soon +afterwards; very like, though scarcely handsome enough; which I have +carefully preserved in memory of our brief acquaintance. + +There was nothing very interesting in the scenery of this day’s journey, +which brought us at midnight to Louisville. We slept at the Galt House; +a splendid hotel; and were as handsomely lodged as though we had been in +Paris, rather than hundreds of miles beyond the Alleghanies. + +The city presenting no objects of sufficient interest to detain us on our +way, we resolved to proceed next day by another steamboat, the Fulton, +and to join it, about noon, at a suburb called Portland, where it would +be delayed some time in passing through a canal. + +The interval, after breakfast, we devoted to riding through the town, +which is regular and cheerful: the streets being laid out at right +angles, and planted with young trees. The buildings are smoky and +blackened, from the use of bituminous coal, but an Englishman is well +used to that appearance, and indisposed to quarrel with it. There did +not appear to be much business stirring; and some unfinished buildings +and improvements seemed to intimate that the city had been overbuilt in +the ardour of ‘going-a-head,’ and was suffering under the re-action +consequent upon such feverish forcing of its powers. + +On our way to Portland, we passed a ‘Magistrate’s office,’ which amused +me, as looking far more like a dame school than any police establishment: +for this awful Institution was nothing but a little lazy, +good-for-nothing front parlour, open to the street; wherein two or three +figures (I presume the magistrate and his myrmidons) were basking in the +sunshine, the very effigies of languor and repose. It was a perfect +picture of justice retired from business for want of customers; her sword +and scales sold off; napping comfortably with her legs upon the table. + +Here, as elsewhere in these parts, the road was perfectly alive with pigs +of all ages; lying about in every direction, fast asleep.; or grunting +along in quest of hidden dainties. I had always a sneaking kindness for +these odd animals, and found a constant source of amusement, when all +others failed, in watching their proceedings. As we were riding along +this morning, I observed a little incident between two youthful pigs, +which was so very human as to be inexpressibly comical and grotesque at +the time, though I dare say, in telling, it is tame enough. + +One young gentleman (a very delicate porker with several straws sticking +about his nose, betokening recent investigations in a dung-hill) was +walking deliberately on, profoundly thinking, when suddenly his brother, +who was lying in a miry hole unseen by him, rose up immediately before +his startled eyes, ghostly with damp mud. Never was pig’s whole mass of +blood so turned. He started back at least three feet, gazed for a +moment, and then shot off as hard as he could go: his excessively little +tail vibrating with speed and terror like a distracted pendulum. But +before he had gone very far, he began to reason with himself as to the +nature of this frightful appearance; and as he reasoned, he relaxed his +speed by gradual degrees; until at last he stopped, and faced about. +There was his brother, with the mud upon him glazing in the sun, yet +staring out of the very same hole, perfectly amazed at his proceedings! +He was no sooner assured of this; and he assured himself so carefully +that one may almost say he shaded his eyes with his hand to see the +better; than he came back at a round trot, pounced upon him, and +summarily took off a piece of his tail; as a caution to him to be careful +what he was about for the future, and never to play tricks with his +family any more. + +We found the steamboat in the canal, waiting for the slow process of +getting through the lock, and went on board, where we shortly afterwards +had a new kind of visitor in the person of a certain Kentucky Giant whose +name is Porter, and who is of the moderate height of seven feet eight +inches, in his stockings. + +There never was a race of people who so completely gave the lie to +history as these giants, or whom all the chroniclers have so cruelly +libelled. Instead of roaring and ravaging about the world, constantly +catering for their cannibal larders, and perpetually going to market in +an unlawful manner, they are the meekest people in any man’s +acquaintance: rather inclining to milk and vegetable diet, and bearing +anything for a quiet life. So decidedly are amiability and mildness +their characteristics, that I confess I look upon that youth who +distinguished himself by the slaughter of these inoffensive persons, as a +false-hearted brigand, who, pretending to philanthropic motives, was +secretly influenced only by the wealth stored up within their castles, +and the hope of plunder. And I lean the more to this opinion from +finding that even the historian of those exploits, with all his +partiality for his hero, is fain to admit that the slaughtered monsters +in question were of a very innocent and simple turn; extremely guileless +and ready of belief; lending a credulous ear to the most improbable +tales; suffering themselves to be easily entrapped into pits; and even +(as in the case of the Welsh Giant) with an excess of the hospitable +politeness of a landlord, ripping themselves open, rather than hint at +the possibility of their guests being versed in the vagabond arts of +sleight-of-hand and hocus-pocus. + +The Kentucky Giant was but another illustration of the truth of this +position. He had a weakness in the region of the knees, and a +trustfulness in his long face, which appealed even to five-feet nine for +encouragement and support. He was only twenty-five years old, he said, +and had grown recently, for it had been found necessary to make an +addition to the legs of his inexpressibles. At fifteen he was a short +boy, and in those days his English father and his Irish mother had rather +snubbed him, as being too small of stature to sustain the credit of the +family. He added that his health had not been good, though it was better +now; but short people are not wanting who whisper that he drinks too +hard. + +I understand he drives a hackney-coach, though how he does it, unless he +stands on the footboard behind, and lies along the roof upon his chest, +with his chin in the box, it would be difficult to comprehend. He +brought his gun with him, as a curiosity. + +Christened ‘The Little Rifle,’ and displayed outside a shop-window, it +would make the fortune of any retail business in Holborn. When he had +shown himself and talked a little while, he withdrew with his +pocket-instrument, and went bobbing down the cabin, among men of six feet +high and upwards, like a light-house walking among lamp-posts. + +Within a few minutes afterwards, we were out of the canal, and in the +Ohio river again. + +The arrangements of the boat were like those of the Messenger, and the +passengers were of the same order of people. We fed at the same times, +on the same kind of viands, in the same dull manner, and with the same +observances. The company appeared to be oppressed by the same tremendous +concealments, and had as little capacity of enjoyment or +light-heartedness. I never in my life did see such listless, heavy +dulness as brooded over these meals: the very recollection of it weighs +me down, and makes me, for the moment, wretched. Reading and writing on +my knee, in our little cabin, I really dreaded the coming of the hour +that summoned us to table; and was as glad to escape from it again, as if +it had been a penance or a punishment. Healthy cheerfulness and good +spirits forming a part of the banquet, I could soak my crusts in the +fountain with Le Sage’s strolling player, and revel in their glad +enjoyment: but sitting down with so many fellow-animals to ward off +thirst and hunger as a business; to empty, each creature, his Yahoo’s +trough as quickly as he can, and then slink sullenly away; to have these +social sacraments stripped of everything but the mere greedy satisfaction +of the natural cravings; goes so against the grain with me, that I +seriously believe the recollection of these funeral feasts will be a +waking nightmare to me all my life. + +There was some relief in this boat, too, which there had not been in the +other, for the captain (a blunt, good-natured fellow) had his handsome +wife with him, who was disposed to be lively and agreeable, as were a few +other lady-passengers who had their seats about us at the same end of the +table. But nothing could have made head against the depressing influence +of the general body. There was a magnetism of dulness in them which +would have beaten down the most facetious companion that the earth ever +knew. A jest would have been a crime, and a smile would have faded into +a grinning horror. Such deadly, leaden people; such systematic plodding, +weary, insupportable heaviness; such a mass of animated indigestion in +respect of all that was genial, jovial, frank, social, or hearty; never, +sure, was brought together elsewhere since the world began. + +Nor was the scenery, as we approached the junction of the Ohio and +Mississippi rivers, at all inspiriting in its influence. The trees were +stunted in their growth; the banks were low and flat; the settlements and +log cabins fewer in number: their inhabitants more wan and wretched than +any we had encountered yet. No songs of birds were in the air, no +pleasant scents, no moving lights and shadows from swift passing clouds. +Hour after hour, the changeless glare of the hot, unwinking sky, shone +upon the same monotonous objects. Hour after hour, the river rolled +along, as wearily and slowly as the time itself. + +At length, upon the morning of the third day, we arrived at a spot so +much more desolate than any we had yet beheld, that the forlornest places +we had passed, were, in comparison with it, full of interest. At the +junction of the two rivers, on ground so flat and low and marshy, that at +certain seasons of the year it is inundated to the house-tops, lies a +breeding-place of fever, ague, and death; vaunted in England as a mine of +Golden Hope, and speculated in, on the faith of monstrous +representations, to many people’s ruin. A dismal swamp, on which the +half-built houses rot away: cleared here and there for the space of a few +yards; and teeming, then, with rank unwholesome vegetation, in whose +baleful shade the wretched wanderers who are tempted hither, droop, and +die, and lay their bones; the hateful Mississippi circling and eddying +before it, and turning off upon its southern course a slimy monster +hideous to behold; a hotbed of disease, an ugly sepulchre, a grave +uncheered by any gleam of promise: a place without one single quality, in +earth or air or water, to commend it: such is this dismal Cairo. + +But what words shall describe the Mississippi, great father of rivers, +who (praise be to Heaven) has no young children like him! An enormous +ditch, sometimes two or three miles wide, running liquid mud, six miles +an hour: its strong and frothy current choked and obstructed everywhere +by huge logs and whole forest trees: now twining themselves together in +great rafts, from the interstices of which a sedgy, lazy foam works up, +to float upon the water’s top; now rolling past like monstrous bodies, +their tangled roots showing like matted hair; now glancing singly by like +giant leeches; and now writhing round and round in the vortex of some +small whirlpool, like wounded snakes. The banks low, the trees dwarfish, +the marshes swarming with frogs, the wretched cabins few and far apart, +their inmates hollow-cheeked and pale, the weather very hot, mosquitoes +penetrating into every crack and crevice of the boat, mud and slime on +everything: nothing pleasant in its aspect, but the harmless lightning +which flickers every night upon the dark horizon. + +For two days we toiled up this foul stream, striking constantly against +the floating timber, or stopping to avoid those more dangerous obstacles, +the snags, or sawyers, which are the hidden trunks of trees that have +their roots below the tide. When the nights are very dark, the look-out +stationed in the head of the boat, knows by the ripple of the water if +any great impediment be near at hand, and rings a bell beside him, which +is the signal for the engine to be stopped: but always in the night this +bell has work to do, and after every ring, there comes a blow which +renders it no easy matter to remain in bed. + +The decline of day here was very gorgeous; tingeing the firmament deeply +with red and gold, up to the very keystone of the arch above us. As the +sun went down behind the bank, the slightest blades of grass upon it +seemed to become as distinctly visible as the arteries in the skeleton of +a leaf; and when, as it slowly sank, the red and golden bars upon the +water grew dimmer, and dimmer yet, as if they were sinking too; and all +the glowing colours of departing day paled, inch by inch, before the +sombre night; the scene became a thousand times more lonesome and more +dreary than before, and all its influences darkened with the sky. + +We drank the muddy water of this river while we were upon it. It is +considered wholesome by the natives, and is something more opaque than +gruel. I have seen water like it at the Filter-shops, but nowhere else. + +On the fourth night after leaving Louisville, we reached St. Louis, and +here I witnessed the conclusion of an incident, trifling enough in +itself, but very pleasant to see, which had interested me during the +whole journey. + +There was a little woman on board, with a little baby; and both little +woman and little child were cheerful, good-looking, bright-eyed, and fair +to see. The little woman had been passing a long time with her sick +mother in New York, and had left her home in St. Louis, in that condition +in which ladies who truly love their lords desire to be. The baby was +born in her mother’s house; and she had not seen her husband (to whom she +was now returning), for twelve months: having left him a month or two +after their marriage. + + [Picture: The Little Wife] + +Well, to be sure, there never was a little woman so full of hope, and +tenderness, and love, and anxiety, as this little woman was: and all day +long she wondered whether ‘He’ would be at the wharf; and whether ‘He’ +had got her letter; and whether, if she sent the baby ashore by somebody +else, ‘He’ would know it, meeting it in the street: which, seeing that he +had never set eyes upon it in his life, was not very likely in the +abstract, but was probable enough, to the young mother. She was such an +artless little creature; and was in such a sunny, beaming, hopeful state; +and let out all this matter clinging close about her heart, so freely; +that all the other lady passengers entered into the spirit of it as much +as she; and the captain (who heard all about it from his wife) was +wondrous sly, I promise you: inquiring, every time we met at table, as in +forgetfulness, whether she expected anybody to meet her at St. Louis, and +whether she would want to go ashore the night we reached it (but he +supposed she wouldn’t), and cutting many other dry jokes of that nature. +There was one little weazen, dried-apple-faced old woman, who took +occasion to doubt the constancy of husbands in such circumstances of +bereavement; and there was another lady (with a lap-dog) old enough to +moralize on the lightness of human affections, and yet not so old that +she could help nursing the baby, now and then, or laughing with the rest, +when the little woman called it by its father’s name, and asked it all +manner of fantastic questions concerning him in the joy of her heart. + +It was something of a blow to the little woman, that when we were within +twenty miles of our destination, it became clearly necessary to put this +baby to bed. But she got over it with the same good humour; tied a +handkerchief round her head; and came out into the little gallery with +the rest. Then, such an oracle as she became in reference to the +localities! and such facetiousness as was displayed by the married +ladies! and such sympathy as was shown by the single ones! and such peals +of laughter as the little woman herself (who would just as soon have +cried) greeted every jest with! + +At last, there were the lights of St. Louis, and here was the wharf, and +those were the steps: and the little woman covering her face with her +hands, and laughing (or seeming to laugh) more than ever, ran into her +own cabin, and shut herself up. I have no doubt that in the charming +inconsistency of such excitement, she stopped her ears, lest she should +hear ‘Him’ asking for her: but I did not see her do it. + +Then, a great crowd of people rushed on board, though the boat was not +yet made fast, but was wandering about, among the other boats, to find a +landing-place: and everybody looked for the husband: and nobody saw him: +when, in the midst of us all—Heaven knows how she ever got there—there +was the little woman clinging with both arms tight round the neck of a +fine, good-looking, sturdy young fellow! and in a moment afterwards, +there she was again, actually clapping her little hands for joy, as she +dragged him through the small door of her small cabin, to look at the +baby as he lay asleep! + +We went to a large hotel, called the Planter’s House: built like an +English hospital, with long passages and bare walls, and sky-lights above +the room-doors for the free circulation of air. There were a great many +boarders in it; and as many lights sparkled and glistened from the +windows down into the street below, when we drove up, as if it had been +illuminated on some occasion of rejoicing. It is an excellent house, and +the proprietors have most bountiful notions of providing the creature +comforts. Dining alone with my wife in our own room, one day, I counted +fourteen dishes on the table at once. + +In the old French portion of the town, the thoroughfares are narrow and +crooked, and some of the houses are very quaint and picturesque: being +built of wood, with tumble-down galleries before the windows, +approachable by stairs or rather ladders from the street. There are +queer little barbers’ shops and drinking-houses too, in this quarter; and +abundance of crazy old tenements with blinking casements, such as may be +seen in Flanders. Some of these ancient habitations, with high garret +gable-windows perking into the roofs, have a kind of French shrug about +them; and being lop-sided with age, appear to hold their heads askew, +besides, as if they were grimacing in astonishment at the American +Improvements. + +It is hardly necessary to say, that these consist of wharfs and +warehouses, and new buildings in all directions; and of a great many vast +plans which are still ‘progressing.’ Already, however, some very good +houses, broad streets, and marble-fronted shops, have gone so far ahead +as to be in a state of completion; and the town bids fair in a few years +to improve considerably: though it is not likely ever to vie, in point of +elegance or beauty, with Cincinnati. + +The Roman Catholic religion, introduced here by the early French +settlers, prevails extensively. Among the public institutions are a +Jesuit college; a convent for ‘the Ladies of the Sacred Heart;’ and a +large chapel attached to the college, which was in course of erection at +the time of my visit, and was intended to be consecrated on the second of +December in the next year. The architect of this building, is one of the +reverend fathers of the school, and the works proceed under his sole +direction. The organ will be sent from Belgium. + +In addition to these establishments, there is a Roman Catholic cathedral, +dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier; and a hospital, founded by the +munificence of a deceased resident, who was a member of that church. It +also sends missionaries from hence among the Indian tribes. + +The Unitarian church is represented, in this remote place, as in most +other parts of America, by a gentleman of great worth and excellence. +The poor have good reason to remember and bless it; for it befriends +them, and aids the cause of rational education, without any sectarian or +selfish views. It is liberal in all its actions; of kind construction; +and of wide benevolence. + +There are three free-schools already erected, and in full operation in +this city. A fourth is building, and will soon be opened. + +No man ever admits the unhealthiness of the place he dwells in (unless he +is going away from it), and I shall therefore, I have no doubt, be at +issue with the inhabitants of St. Louis, in questioning the perfect +salubrity of its climate, and in hinting that I think it must rather +dispose to fever, in the summer and autumnal seasons. Just adding, that +it is very hot, lies among great rivers, and has vast tracts of undrained +swampy land around it, I leave the reader to form his own opinion. + +As I had a great desire to see a Prairie before turning back from the +furthest point of my wanderings; and as some gentlemen of the town had, +in their hospitable consideration, an equal desire to gratify me; a day +was fixed, before my departure, for an expedition to the Looking-Glass +Prairie, which is within thirty miles of the town. Deeming it possible +that my readers may not object to know what kind of thing such a gipsy +party may be at that distance from home, and among what sort of objects +it moves, I will describe the jaunt in another chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +A JAUNT TO THE LOOKING-GLASS PRAIRIE AND BACK + + +I MAY premise that the word Prairie is variously pronounced _paraaer_, +_parearer_, _paroarer_. The latter mode of pronunciation is perhaps the +most in favour. + +We were fourteen in all, and all young men: indeed it is a singular +though very natural feature in the society of these distant settlements, +that it is mainly composed of adventurous persons in the prime of life, +and has very few grey heads among it. There were no ladies: the trip +being a fatiguing one: and we were to start at five o’clock in the +morning punctually. + +I was called at four, that I might be certain of keeping nobody waiting; +and having got some bread and milk for breakfast, threw up the window and +looked down into the street, expecting to see the whole party busily +astir, and great preparations going on below. But as everything was very +quiet, and the street presented that hopeless aspect with which five +o’clock in the morning is familiar elsewhere, I deemed it as well to go +to bed again, and went accordingly. + +I woke again at seven o’clock, and by that time the party had assembled, +and were gathered round, one light carriage, with a very stout axletree; +one something on wheels like an amateur carrier’s cart; one double +phaeton of great antiquity and unearthly construction; one gig with a +great hole in its back and a broken head; and one rider on horseback who +was to go on before. I got into the first coach with three companions; +the rest bestowed themselves in the other vehicles; two large baskets +were made fast to the lightest; two large stone jars in wicker cases, +technically known as demi-johns, were consigned to the ‘least rowdy’ of +the party for safe-keeping; and the procession moved off to the +ferryboat, in which it was to cross the river bodily, men, horses, +carriages, and all, as the manner in these parts is. + +We got over the river in due course, and mustered again before a little +wooden box on wheels, hove down all aslant in a morass, with ‘MERCHANT +TAILOR’ painted in very large letters over the door. Having settled the +order of proceeding, and the road to be taken, we started off once more +and began to make our way through an ill-favoured Black Hollow, called, +less expressively, the American Bottom. + +The previous day had been—not to say hot, for the term is weak and +lukewarm in its power of conveying an idea of the temperature. The town +had been on fire; in a blaze. But at night it had come on to rain in +torrents, and all night long it had rained without cessation. We had a +pair of very strong horses, but travelled at the rate of little more than +a couple of miles an hour, through one unbroken slough of black mud and +water. It had no variety but in depth. Now it was only half over the +wheels, now it hid the axletree, and now the coach sank down in it almost +to the windows. The air resounded in all directions with the loud +chirping of the frogs, who, with the pigs (a coarse, ugly breed, as +unwholesome-looking as though they were the spontaneous growth of the +country), had the whole scene to themselves. Here and there we passed a +log hut: but the wretched cabins were wide apart and thinly scattered, +for though the soil is very rich in this place, few people can exist in +such a deadly atmosphere. On either side of the track, if it deserve the +name, was the thick ‘bush;’ and everywhere was stagnant, slimy, rotten, +filthy water. + +As it is the custom in these parts to give a horse a gallon or so of cold +water whenever he is in a foam with heat, we halted for that purpose, at +a log inn in the wood, far removed from any other residence. It +consisted of one room, bare-roofed and bare-walled of course, with a loft +above. The ministering priest was a swarthy young savage, in a shirt of +cotton print like bed-furniture, and a pair of ragged trousers. There +were a couple of young boys, too, nearly naked, lying idle by the well; +and they, and he, and _the_ traveller at the inn, turned out to look at +us. + +The traveller was an old man with a grey gristly beard two inches long, a +shaggy moustache of the same hue, and enormous eyebrows; which almost +obscured his lazy, semi-drunken glance, as he stood regarding us with +folded arms: poising himself alternately upon his toes and heels. On +being addressed by one of the party, he drew nearer, and said, rubbing +his chin (which scraped under his horny hand like fresh gravel beneath a +nailed shoe), that he was from Delaware, and had lately bought a farm +‘down there,’ pointing into one of the marshes where the stunted trees +were thickest. He was ‘going,’ he added, to St. Louis, to fetch his +family, whom he had left behind; but he seemed in no great hurry to bring +on these incumbrances, for when we moved away, he loitered back into the +cabin, and was plainly bent on stopping there so long as his money +lasted. He was a great politician of course, and explained his opinions +at some length to one of our company; but I only remember that he +concluded with two sentiments, one of which was, Somebody for ever; and +the other, Blast everybody else! which is by no means a bad abstract of +the general creed in these matters. + +When the horses were swollen out to about twice their natural dimensions +(there seems to be an idea here, that this kind of inflation improves +their going), we went forward again, through mud and mire, and damp, and +festering heat, and brake and bush, attended always by the music of the +frogs and pigs, until nearly noon, when we halted at a place called +Belleville. + +Belleville was a small collection of wooden houses, huddled together in +the very heart of the bush and swamp. Many of them had singularly bright +doors of red and yellow; for the place had been lately visited by a +travelling painter, ‘who got along,’ as I was told, ‘by eating his way.’ +The criminal court was sitting, and was at that moment trying some +criminals for horse-stealing: with whom it would most likely go hard: for +live stock of all kinds being necessarily very much exposed in the woods, +is held by the community in rather higher value than human life; and for +this reason, juries generally make a point of finding all men indicted +for cattle-stealing, guilty, whether or no. + +The horses belonging to the bar, the judge, and witnesses, were tied to +temporary racks set up roughly in the road; by which is to be understood, +a forest path, nearly knee-deep in mud and slime. + +There was an hotel in this place, which, like all hotels in America, had +its large dining-room for the public table. It was an odd, shambling, +low-roofed out-house, half-cowshed and half-kitchen, with a coarse brown +canvas table-cloth, and tin sconces stuck against the walls, to hold +candles at supper-time. The horseman had gone forward to have coffee and +some eatables prepared, and they were by this time nearly ready. He had +ordered ‘wheat-bread and chicken fixings,’ in preference to ‘corn-bread +and common doings.’ The latter kind of rejection includes only pork and +bacon. The former comprehends broiled ham, sausages, veal cutlets, +steaks, and such other viands of that nature as may be supposed, by a +tolerably wide poetical construction, ‘to fix’ a chicken comfortably in +the digestive organs of any lady or gentleman. + +On one of the door-posts at this inn, was a tin plate, whereon was +inscribed in characters of gold, ‘Doctor Crocus;’ and on a sheet of +paper, pasted up by the side of this plate, was a written announcement +that Dr. Crocus would that evening deliver a lecture on Phrenology for +the benefit of the Belleville public; at a charge, for admission, of so +much a head. + +Straying up-stairs, during the preparation of the chicken fixings, I +happened to pass the doctor’s chamber; and as the door stood wide open, +and the room was empty, I made bold to peep in. + +It was a bare, unfurnished, comfortless room, with an unframed portrait +hanging up at the head of the bed; a likeness, I take it, of the Doctor, +for the forehead was fully displayed, and great stress was laid by the +artist upon its phrenological developments. The bed itself was covered +with an old patch-work counterpane. The room was destitute of carpet or +of curtain. There was a damp fireplace without any stove, full of wood +ashes; a chair, and a very small table; and on the last-named piece of +furniture was displayed, in grand array, the doctor’s library, consisting +of some half-dozen greasy old books. + +Now, it certainly looked about the last apartment on the whole earth out +of which any man would be likely to get anything to do him good. But the +door, as I have said, stood coaxingly open, and plainly said in +conjunction with the chair, the portrait, the table, and the books, ‘Walk +in, gentlemen, walk in! Don’t be ill, gentlemen, when you may be well in +no time. Doctor Crocus is here, gentlemen, the celebrated Dr. Crocus! +Dr. Crocus has come all this way to cure you, gentlemen. If you haven’t +heard of Dr. Crocus, it’s your fault, gentlemen, who live a little way +out of the world here: not Dr. Crocus’s. Walk in, gentlemen, walk in!’ + +In the passage below, when I went down-stairs again, was Dr. Crocus +himself. A crowd had flocked in from the Court House, and a voice from +among them called out to the landlord, ‘Colonel! introduce Doctor +Crocus.’ + +‘Mr. Dickens,’ says the colonel, ‘Doctor Crocus.’ + +Upon which Doctor Crocus, who is a tall, fine-looking Scotchman, but +rather fierce and warlike in appearance for a professor of the peaceful +art of healing, bursts out of the concourse with his right arm extended, +and his chest thrown out as far as it will possibly come, and says: + +‘Your countryman, sir!’ + +Whereupon Doctor Crocus and I shake hands; and Doctor Crocus looks as if +I didn’t by any means realise his expectations, which, in a linen blouse, +and a great straw hat, with a green ribbon, and no gloves, and my face +and nose profusely ornamented with the stings of mosquitoes and the bites +of bugs, it is very likely I did not. + +‘Long in these parts, sir?’ says I. + +‘Three or four months, sir,’ says the Doctor. + +‘Do you think of soon returning to the old country?’ says I. + +Doctor Crocus makes no verbal answer, but gives me an imploring look, +which says so plainly ‘Will you ask me that again, a little louder, if +you please?’ that I repeat the question. + +‘Think of soon returning to the old country, sir!’ repeats the Doctor. + +‘To the old country, sir,’ I rejoin. + +Doctor Crocus looks round upon the crowd to observe the effect he +produces, rubs his hands, and says, in a very loud voice: + +‘Not yet awhile, sir, not yet. You won’t catch me at that just yet, sir. +I am a little too fond of freedom for _that_, sir. Ha, ha! It’s not so +easy for a man to tear himself from a free country such as this is, sir. +Ha, ha! No, no! Ha, ha! None of that till one’s obliged to do it, sir. +No, no!’ + +As Doctor Crocus says these latter words, he shakes his head, knowingly, +and laughs again. Many of the bystanders shake their heads in concert +with the doctor, and laugh too, and look at each other as much as to say, +‘A pretty bright and first-rate sort of chap is Crocus!’ and unless I am +very much mistaken, a good many people went to the lecture that night, +who never thought about phrenology, or about Doctor Crocus either, in all +their lives before. + +From Belleville, we went on, through the same desolate kind of waste, and +constantly attended, without the interval of a moment, by the same music; +until, at three o’clock in the afternoon, we halted once more at a +village called Lebanon to inflate the horses again, and give them some +corn besides: of which they stood much in need. Pending this ceremony, I +walked into the village, where I met a full-sized dwelling-house coming +down-hill at a round trot, drawn by a score or more of oxen. + +The public-house was so very clean and good a one, that the managers of +the jaunt resolved to return to it and put up there for the night, if +possible. This course decided on, and the horses being well refreshed, +we again pushed forward, and came upon the Prairie at sunset. + +It would be difficult to say why, or how—though it was possibly from +having heard and read so much about it—but the effect on me was +disappointment. Looking towards the setting sun, there lay, stretched +out before my view, a vast expanse of level ground; unbroken, save by one +thin line of trees, which scarcely amounted to a scratch upon the great +blank; until it met the glowing sky, wherein it seemed to dip: mingling +with its rich colours, and mellowing in its distant blue. There it lay, +a tranquil sea or lake without water, if such a simile be admissible, +with the day going down upon it: a few birds wheeling here and there: and +solitude and silence reigning paramount around. But the grass was not +yet high; there were bare black patches on the ground; and the few wild +flowers that the eye could see, were poor and scanty. Great as the +picture was, its very flatness and extent, which left nothing to the +imagination, tamed it down and cramped its interest. I felt little of +that sense of freedom and exhilaration which a Scottish heath inspires, +or even our English downs awaken. It was lonely and wild, but oppressive +in its barren monotony. I felt that in traversing the Prairies, I could +never abandon myself to the scene, forgetful of all else; as I should do +instinctively, were the heather underneath my feet, or an iron-bound +coast beyond; but should often glance towards the distant and +frequently-receding line of the horizon, and wish it gained and passed. +It is not a scene to be forgotten, but it is scarcely one, I think (at +all events, as I saw it), to remember with much pleasure, or to covet the +looking-on again, in after-life. + +We encamped near a solitary log-house, for the sake of its water, and +dined upon the plain. The baskets contained roast fowls, buffalo’s +tongue (an exquisite dainty, by the way), ham, bread, cheese, and butter; +biscuits, champagne, sherry; lemons and sugar for punch; and abundance of +rough ice. The meal was delicious, and the entertainers were the soul of +kindness and good humour. I have often recalled that cheerful party to +my pleasant recollection since, and shall not easily forget, in +junketings nearer home with friends of older date, my boon companions on +the Prairie. + +Returning to Lebanon that night, we lay at the little inn at which we had +halted in the afternoon. In point of cleanliness and comfort it would +have suffered by no comparison with any English alehouse, of a homely +kind, in England. + +Rising at five o’clock next morning, I took a walk about the village: +none of the houses were strolling about to-day, but it was early for them +yet, perhaps: and then amused myself by lounging in a kind of farm-yard +behind the tavern, of which the leading features were, a strange jumble +of rough sheds for stables; a rude colonnade, built as a cool place of +summer resort; a deep well; a great earthen mound for keeping vegetables +in, in winter time; and a pigeon-house, whose little apertures looked, as +they do in all pigeon-houses, very much too small for the admission of +the plump and swelling-breasted birds who were strutting about it, though +they tried to get in never so hard. That interest exhausted, I took a +survey of the inn’s two parlours, which were decorated with coloured +prints of Washington, and President Madison, and of a white-faced young +lady (much speckled by the flies), who held up her gold neck-chain for +the admiration of the spectator, and informed all admiring comers that +she was ‘Just Seventeen:’ although I should have thought her older. In +the best room were two oil portraits of the kit-cat size, representing +the landlord and his infant son; both looking as bold as lions, and +staring out of the canvas with an intensity that would have been cheap at +any price. They were painted, I think, by the artist who had touched up +the Belleville doors with red and gold; for I seemed to recognise his +style immediately. + +After breakfast, we started to return by a different way from that which +we had taken yesterday, and coming up at ten o’clock with an encampment +of German emigrants carrying their goods in carts, who had made a rousing +fire which they were just quitting, stopped there to refresh. And very +pleasant the fire was; for, hot though it had been yesterday, it was +quite cold to-day, and the wind blew keenly. Looming in the distance, as +we rode along, was another of the ancient Indian burial-places, called +The Monks’ Mound; in memory of a body of fanatics of the order of La +Trappe, who founded a desolate convent there, many years ago, when there +were no settlers within a thousand miles, and were all swept off by the +pernicious climate: in which lamentable fatality, few rational people +will suppose, perhaps, that society experienced any very severe +deprivation. + +The track of to-day had the same features as the track of yesterday. +There was the swamp, the bush, and the perpetual chorus of frogs, the +rank unseemly growth, the unwholesome steaming earth. Here and there, +and frequently too, we encountered a solitary broken-down waggon, full of +some new settler’s goods. It was a pitiful sight to see one of these +vehicles deep in the mire; the axle-tree broken; the wheel lying idly by +its side; the man gone miles away, to look for assistance; the woman +seated among their wandering household gods with a baby at her breast, a +picture of forlorn, dejected patience; the team of oxen crouching down +mournfully in the mud, and breathing forth such clouds of vapour from +their mouths and nostrils, that all the damp mist and fog around seemed +to have come direct from them. + +In due time we mustered once again before the merchant tailor’s, and +having done so, crossed over to the city in the ferry-boat: passing, on +the way, a spot called Bloody Island, the duelling-ground of St. Louis, +and so designated in honour of the last fatal combat fought there, which +was with pistols, breast to breast. Both combatants fell dead upon the +ground; and possibly some rational people may think of them, as of the +gloomy madmen on the Monks’ Mound, that they were no great loss to the +community. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +RETURN TO CINCINNATI. A STAGE-COACH RIDE FROM THAT CITY TO COLUMBUS, AND +THENCE TO SANDUSKY. SO, BY LAKE ERIE, TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA + + +AS I had a desire to travel through the interior of the state of Ohio, +and to ‘strike the lakes,’ as the phrase is, at a small town called +Sandusky, to which that route would conduct us on our way to Niagara, we +had to return from St. Louis by the way we had come, and to retrace our +former track as far as Cincinnati. + +The day on which we were to take leave of St. Louis being very fine; and +the steamboat, which was to have started I don’t know how early in the +morning, postponing, for the third or fourth time, her departure until +the afternoon; we rode forward to an old French village on the river, +called properly Carondelet, and nicknamed Vide Poche, and arranged that +the packet should call for us there. + +The place consisted of a few poor cottages, and two or three +public-houses; the state of whose larders certainly seemed to justify the +second designation of the village, for there was nothing to eat in any of +them. At length, however, by going back some half a mile or so, we found +a solitary house where ham and coffee were procurable; and there we +tarried to wait the advent of the boat, which would come in sight from +the green before the door, a long way off. + +It was a neat, unpretending village tavern, and we took our repast in a +quaint little room with a bed in it, decorated with some old oil +paintings, which in their time had probably done duty in a Catholic +chapel or monastery. The fare was very good, and served with great +cleanliness. The house was kept by a characteristic old couple, with +whom we had a long talk, and who were perhaps a very good sample of that +kind of people in the West. + +The landlord was a dry, tough, hard-faced old fellow (not so very old +either, for he was but just turned sixty, I should think), who had been +out with the militia in the last war with England, and had seen all kinds +of service,—except a battle; and he had been very near seeing that, he +added: very near. He had all his life been restless and locomotive, with +an irresistible desire for change; and was still the son of his old self: +for if he had nothing to keep him at home, he said (slightly jerking his +hat and his thumb towards the window of the room in which the old lady +sat, as we stood talking in front of the house), he would clean up his +musket, and be off to Texas to-morrow morning. He was one of the very +many descendants of Cain proper to this continent, who seem destined from +their birth to serve as pioneers in the great human army: who gladly go +on from year to year extending its outposts, and leaving home after home +behind them; and die at last, utterly regardless of their graves being +left thousands of miles behind, by the wandering generation who succeed. + +His wife was a domesticated, kind-hearted old soul, who had come with +him, ‘from the queen city of the world,’ which, it seemed, was +Philadelphia; but had no love for this Western country, and indeed had +little reason to bear it any; having seen her children, one by one, die +here of fever, in the full prime and beauty of their youth. Her heart +was sore, she said, to think of them; and to talk on this theme, even to +strangers, in that blighted place, so far from her old home, eased it +somewhat, and became a melancholy pleasure. + +The boat appearing towards evening, we bade adieu to the poor old lady +and her vagrant spouse, and making for the nearest landing-place, were +soon on board The Messenger again, in our old cabin, and steaming down +the Mississippi. + +If the coming up this river, slowly making head against the stream, be an +irksome journey, the shooting down it with the turbid current is almost +worse; for then the boat, proceeding at the rate of twelve or fifteen +miles an hour, has to force its passage through a labyrinth of floating +logs, which, in the dark, it is often impossible to see beforehand or +avoid. All that night, the bell was never silent for five minutes at a +time; and after every ring the vessel reeled again, sometimes beneath a +single blow, sometimes beneath a dozen dealt in quick succession, the +lightest of which seemed more than enough to beat in her frail keel, as +though it had been pie-crust. Looking down upon the filthy river after +dark, it seemed to be alive with monsters, as these black masses rolled +upon the surface, or came starting up again, head first, when the boat, +in ploughing her way among a shoal of such obstructions, drove a few +among them for the moment under water. Sometimes the engine stopped +during a long interval, and then before her and behind, and gathering +close about her on all sides, were so many of these ill-favoured +obstacles that she was fairly hemmed in; the centre of a floating island; +and was constrained to pause until they parted, somewhere, as dark clouds +will do before the wind, and opened by degrees a channel out. + +In good time next morning, however, we came again in sight of the +detestable morass called Cairo; and stopping there to take in wood, lay +alongside a barge, whose starting timbers scarcely held together. It was +moored to the bank, and on its side was painted ‘Coffee House;’ that +being, I suppose, the floating paradise to which the people fly for +shelter when they lose their houses for a month or two beneath the +hideous waters of the Mississippi. But looking southward from this +point, we had the satisfaction of seeing that intolerable river dragging +its slimy length and ugly freight abruptly off towards New Orleans; and +passing a yellow line which stretched across the current, were again upon +the clear Ohio, never, I trust, to see the Mississippi more, saving in +troubled dreams and nightmares. Leaving it for the company of its +sparkling neighbour, was like the transition from pain to ease, or the +awakening from a horrible vision to cheerful realities. + +We arrived at Louisville on the fourth night, and gladly availed +ourselves of its excellent hotel. Next day we went on in the Ben +Franklin, a beautiful mail steamboat, and reached Cincinnati shortly +after midnight. Being by this time nearly tired of sleeping upon +shelves, we had remained awake to go ashore straightway; and groping a +passage across the dark decks of other boats, and among labyrinths of +engine-machinery and leaking casks of molasses, we reached the streets, +knocked up the porter at the hotel where we had stayed before, and were, +to our great joy, safely housed soon afterwards. + +We rested but one day at Cincinnati, and then resumed our journey to +Sandusky. As it comprised two varieties of stage-coach travelling, +which, with those I have already glanced at, comprehend the main +characteristics of this mode of transit in America, I will take the +reader as our fellow-passenger, and pledge myself to perform the distance +with all possible despatch. + +Our place of destination in the first instance is Columbus. It is +distant about a hundred and twenty miles from Cincinnati, but there is a +macadamised road (rare blessing!) the whole way, and the rate of +travelling upon it is six miles an hour. + +We start at eight o’clock in the morning, in a great mail-coach, whose +huge cheeks are so very ruddy and plethoric, that it appears to be +troubled with a tendency of blood to the head. Dropsical it certainly +is, for it will hold a dozen passengers inside. But, wonderful to add, +it is very clean and bright, being nearly new; and rattles through the +streets of Cincinnati gaily. + +Our way lies through a beautiful country, richly cultivated, and +luxuriant in its promise of an abundant harvest. Sometimes we pass a +field where the strong bristling stalks of Indian corn look like a crop +of walking-sticks, and sometimes an enclosure where the green wheat is +springing up among a labyrinth of stumps; the primitive worm-fence is +universal, and an ugly thing it is; but the farms are neatly kept, and, +save for these differences, one might be travelling just now in Kent. + +We often stop to water at a roadside inn, which is always dull and +silent. The coachman dismounts and fills his bucket, and holds it to the +horses’ heads. There is scarcely ever any one to help him; there are +seldom any loungers standing round; and never any stable-company with +jokes to crack. Sometimes, when we have changed our team, there is a +difficulty in starting again, arising out of the prevalent mode of +breaking a young horse: which is to catch him, harness him against his +will, and put him in a stage-coach without further notice: but we get on +somehow or other, after a great many kicks and a violent struggle; and +jog on as before again. + +Occasionally, when we stop to change, some two or three half-drunken +loafers will come loitering out with their hands in their pockets, or +will be seen kicking their heels in rocking-chairs, or lounging on the +window-sill, or sitting on a rail within the colonnade: they have not +often anything to say though, either to us or to each other, but sit +there idly staring at the coach and horses. The landlord of the inn is +usually among them, and seems, of all the party, to be the least +connected with the business of the house. Indeed he is with reference to +the tavern, what the driver is in relation to the coach and passengers: +whatever happens in his sphere of action, he is quite indifferent, and +perfectly easy in his mind. + +The frequent change of coachmen works no change or variety in the +coachman’s character. He is always dirty, sullen, and taciturn. If he +be capable of smartness of any kind, moral or physical, he has a faculty +of concealing it which is truly marvellous. He never speaks to you as +you sit beside him on the box, and if you speak to him, he answers (if at +all) in monosyllables. He points out nothing on the road, and seldom +looks at anything: being, to all appearance, thoroughly weary of it and +of existence generally. As to doing the honours of his coach, his +business, as I have said, is with the horses. The coach follows because +it is attached to them and goes on wheels: not because you are in it. +Sometimes, towards the end of a long stage, he suddenly breaks out into a +discordant fragment of an election song, but his face never sings along +with him: it is only his voice, and not often that. + +He always chews and always spits, and never encumbers himself with a +pocket-handkerchief. The consequences to the box passenger, especially +when the wind blows towards him, are not agreeable. + +Whenever the coach stops, and you can hear the voices of the inside +passengers; or whenever any bystander addresses them, or any one among +them; or they address each other; you will hear one phrase repeated over +and over and over again to the most extraordinary extent. It is an +ordinary and unpromising phrase enough, being neither more nor less than +‘Yes, sir;’ but it is adapted to every variety of circumstance, and fills +up every pause in the conversation. Thus:— + +The time is one o’clock at noon. The scene, a place where we are to stay +and dine, on this journey. The coach drives up to the door of an inn. +The day is warm, and there are several idlers lingering about the tavern, +and waiting for the public dinner. Among them, is a stout gentleman in a +brown hat, swinging himself to and fro in a rocking-chair on the +pavement. + +As the coach stops, a gentleman in a straw hat looks out of the window: + +STRAW HAT. (To the stout gentleman in the rocking-chair.) I reckon +that’s Judge Jefferson, an’t it? + +BROWN HAT. (Still swinging; speaking very slowly; and without any +emotion whatever.) Yes, sir. + +STRAW HAT. Warm weather, Judge. + +BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. + +STRAW HAT. There was a snap of cold, last week. + +BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. + +STRAW HAT. Yes, sir. + +A pause. They look at each other, very seriously. + +STRAW HAT. I calculate you’ll have got through that case of the +corporation, Judge, by this time, now? + +BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. + +STRAW HAT. How did the verdict go, sir? + +BROWN HAT. For the defendant, sir. + +STRAW HAT. (Interrogatively.) Yes, sir? + +BROWN HAT. (Affirmatively.) Yes, sir. + +BOTH. (Musingly, as each gazes down the street.) Yes, sir. + +Another pause. They look at each other again, still more seriously than +before. + +BROWN HAT. This coach is rather behind its time to-day, I guess. + +STRAW HAT. (Doubtingly.) Yes, sir. + +BROWN HAT. (Looking at his watch.) Yes, sir; nigh upon two hours. + +STRAW HAT. (Raising his eyebrows in very great surprise.) Yes, sir! + +BROWN HAT. (Decisively, as he puts up his watch.) Yes, sir. + +ALL THE OTHER INSIDE PASSENGERS. (Among themselves.) Yes, sir. + +COACHMAN. (In a very surly tone.) No it an’t. + +STRAW HAT. (To the coachman.) Well, I don’t know, sir. We were a +pretty tall time coming that last fifteen mile. That’s a fact. + +The coachman making no reply, and plainly declining to enter into any +controversy on a subject so far removed from his sympathies and feelings, +another passenger says, ‘Yes, sir;’ and the gentleman in the straw hat in +acknowledgment of his courtesy, says ‘Yes, sir,’ to him, in return. The +straw hat then inquires of the brown hat, whether that coach in which he +(the straw hat) then sits, is not a new one? To which the brown hat +again makes answer, ‘Yes, sir.’ + +STRAW HAT. I thought so. Pretty loud smell of varnish, sir? + +BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. + +ALL THE OTHER INSIDE PASSENGERS. Yes, sir. + +BROWN HAT. (To the company in general.) Yes, sir. + +The conversational powers of the company having been by this time pretty +heavily taxed, the straw hat opens the door and gets out; and all the +rest alight also. We dine soon afterwards with the boarders in the +house, and have nothing to drink but tea and coffee. As they are both +very bad and the water is worse, I ask for brandy; but it is a Temperance +Hotel, and spirits are not to be had for love or money. This +preposterous forcing of unpleasant drinks down the reluctant throats of +travellers is not at all uncommon in America, but I never discovered that +the scruples of such wincing landlords induced them to preserve any +unusually nice balance between the quality of their fare, and their scale +of charges: on the contrary, I rather suspected them of diminishing the +one and exalting the other, by way of recompense for the loss of their +profit on the sale of spirituous liquors. After all, perhaps, the +plainest course for persons of such tender consciences, would be, a total +abstinence from tavern-keeping. + +Dinner over, we get into another vehicle which is ready at the door (for +the coach has been changed in the interval), and resume our journey; +which continues through the same kind of country until evening, when we +come to the town where we are to stop for tea and supper; and having +delivered the mail bags at the Post-office, ride through the usual wide +street, lined with the usual stores and houses (the drapers always having +hung up at their door, by way of sign, a piece of bright red cloth), to +the hotel where this meal is prepared. There being many boarders here, +we sit down, a large party, and a very melancholy one as usual. But +there is a buxom hostess at the head of the table, and opposite, a simple +Welsh schoolmaster with his wife and child; who came here, on a +speculation of greater promise than performance, to teach the classics: +and they are sufficient subjects of interest until the meal is over, and +another coach is ready. In it we go on once more, lighted by a bright +moon, until midnight; when we stop to change the coach again, and remain +for half an hour or so in a miserable room, with a blurred lithograph of +Washington over the smoky fire-place, and a mighty jug of cold water on +the table: to which refreshment the moody passengers do so apply +themselves that they would seem to be, one and all, keen patients of Dr. +Sangrado. Among them is a very little boy, who chews tobacco like a very +big one; and a droning gentleman, who talks arithmetically and +statistically on all subjects, from poetry downwards; and who always +speaks in the same key, with exactly the same emphasis, and with very +grave deliberation. He came outside just now, and told me how that the +uncle of a certain young lady who had been spirited away and married by a +certain captain, lived in these parts; and how this uncle was so valiant +and ferocious that he shouldn’t wonder if he were to follow the said +captain to England, ‘and shoot him down in the street wherever he found +him;’ in the feasibility of which strong measure I, being for the moment +rather prone to contradiction, from feeling half asleep and very tired, +declined to acquiesce: assuring him that if the uncle did resort to it, +or gratified any other little whim of the like nature, he would find +himself one morning prematurely throttled at the Old Bailey: and that he +would do well to make his will before he went, as he would certainly want +it before he had been in Britain very long. + +On we go, all night, and by-and-by the day begins to break, and presently +the first cheerful rays of the warm sun come slanting on us brightly. It +sheds its light upon a miserable waste of sodden grass, and dull trees, +and squalid huts, whose aspect is forlorn and grievous in the last +degree. A very desert in the wood, whose growth of green is dank and +noxious like that upon the top of standing water: where poisonous fungus +grows in the rare footprint on the oozy ground, and sprouts like witches’ +coral, from the crevices in the cabin wall and floor; it is a hideous +thing to lie upon the very threshold of a city. But it was purchased +years ago, and as the owner cannot be discovered, the State has been +unable to reclaim it. So there it remains, in the midst of cultivation +and improvement, like ground accursed, and made obscene and rank by some +great crime. + +We reached Columbus shortly before seven o’clock, and stayed there, to +refresh, that day and night: having excellent apartments in a very large +unfinished hotel called the Neill House, which were richly fitted with +the polished wood of the black walnut, and opened on a handsome portico +and stone verandah, like rooms in some Italian mansion. The town is +clean and pretty, and of course is ‘going to be’ much larger. It is the +seat of the State legislature of Ohio, and lays claim, in consequence, to +some consideration and importance. + +There being no stage-coach next day, upon the road we wished to take, I +hired ‘an extra,’ at a reasonable charge to carry us to Tiffin; a small +town from whence there is a railroad to Sandusky. This extra was an +ordinary four-horse stage-coach, such as I have described, changing +horses and drivers, as the stage-coach would, but was exclusively our own +for the journey. To ensure our having horses at the proper stations, and +being incommoded by no strangers, the proprietors sent an agent on the +box, who was to accompany us the whole way through; and thus attended, +and bearing with us, besides, a hamper full of savoury cold meats, and +fruit, and wine, we started off again in high spirits, at half-past six +o’clock next morning, very much delighted to be by ourselves, and +disposed to enjoy even the roughest journey. + +It was well for us, that we were in this humour, for the road we went +over that day, was certainly enough to have shaken tempers that were not +resolutely at Set Fair, down to some inches below Stormy. At one time we +were all flung together in a heap at the bottom of the coach, and at +another we were crushing our heads against the roof. Now, one side was +down deep in the mire, and we were holding on to the other. Now, the +coach was lying on the tails of the two wheelers; and now it was rearing +up in the air, in a frantic state, with all four horses standing on the +top of an insurmountable eminence, looking coolly back at it, as though +they would say ‘Unharness us. It can’t be done.’ The drivers on these +roads, who certainly get over the ground in a manner which is quite +miraculous, so twist and turn the team about in forcing a passage, +corkscrew fashion, through the bogs and swamps, that it was quite a +common circumstance on looking out of the window, to see the coachman +with the ends of a pair of reins in his hands, apparently driving +nothing, or playing at horses, and the leaders staring at one +unexpectedly from the back of the coach, as if they had some idea of +getting up behind. A great portion of the way was over what is called a +corduroy road, which is made by throwing trunks of trees into a marsh, +and leaving them to settle there. The very slightest of the jolts with +which the ponderous carriage fell from log to log, was enough, it seemed, +to have dislocated all the bones in the human body. It would be +impossible to experience a similar set of sensations, in any other +circumstances, unless perhaps in attempting to go up to the top of St. +Paul’s in an omnibus. Never, never once, that day, was the coach in any +position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in +coaches. Never did it make the smallest approach to one’s experience of +the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on wheels. + +Still, it was a fine day, and the temperature was delicious, and though +we had left Summer behind us in the west, and were fast leaving Spring, +we were moving towards Niagara and home. We alighted in a pleasant wood +towards the middle of the day, dined on a fallen tree, and leaving our +best fragments with a cottager, and our worst with the pigs (who swarm in +this part of the country like grains of sand on the sea-shore, to the +great comfort of our commissariat in Canada), we went forward again, +gaily. + +As night came on, the track grew narrower and narrower, until at last it +so lost itself among the trees, that the driver seemed to find his way by +instinct. We had the comfort of knowing, at least, that there was no +danger of his falling asleep, for every now and then a wheel would strike +against an unseen stump with such a jerk, that he was fain to hold on +pretty tight and pretty quick, to keep himself upon the box. Nor was +there any reason to dread the least danger from furious driving, inasmuch +as over that broken ground the horses had enough to do to walk; as to +shying, there was no room for that; and a herd of wild elephants could +not have run away in such a wood, with such a coach at their heels. So +we stumbled along, quite satisfied. + +These stumps of trees are a curious feature in American travelling. The +varying illusions they present to the unaccustomed eye as it grows dark, +are quite astonishing in their number and reality. Now, there is a +Grecian urn erected in the centre of a lonely field; now there is a woman +weeping at a tomb; now a very commonplace old gentleman in a white +waistcoat, with a thumb thrust into each arm-hole of his coat; now a +student poring on a book; now a crouching negro; now, a horse, a dog, a +cannon, an armed man; a hunch-back throwing off his cloak and stepping +forth into the light. They were often as entertaining to me as so many +glasses in a magic lantern, and never took their shapes at my bidding, +but seemed to force themselves upon me, whether I would or no; and +strange to say, I sometimes recognised in them counterparts of figures +once familiar to me in pictures attached to childish books, forgotten +long ago. + +It soon became too dark, however, even for this amusement, and the trees +were so close together that their dry branches rattled against the coach +on either side, and obliged us all to keep our heads within. It +lightened too, for three whole hours; each flash being very bright, and +blue, and long; and as the vivid streaks came darting in among the +crowded branches, and the thunder rolled gloomily above the tree tops, +one could scarcely help thinking that there were better neighbourhoods at +such a time than thick woods afforded. + +At length, between ten and eleven o’clock at night, a few feeble lights +appeared in the distance, and Upper Sandusky, an Indian village, where we +were to stay till morning, lay before us. + +They were gone to bed at the log Inn, which was the only house of +entertainment in the place, but soon answered to our knocking, and got +some tea for us in a sort of kitchen or common room, tapestried with old +newspapers, pasted against the wall. The bed-chamber to which my wife +and I were shown, was a large, low, ghostly room; with a quantity of +withered branches on the hearth, and two doors without any fastening, +opposite to each other, both opening on the black night and wild country, +and so contrived, that one of them always blew the other open: a novelty +in domestic architecture, which I do not remember to have seen before, +and which I was somewhat disconcerted to have forced on my attention +after getting into bed, as I had a considerable sum in gold for our +travelling expenses, in my dressing-case. Some of the luggage, however, +piled against the panels, soon settled this difficulty, and my sleep +would not have been very much affected that night, I believe, though it +had failed to do so. + +My Boston friend climbed up to bed, somewhere in the roof, where another +guest was already snoring hugely. But being bitten beyond his power of +endurance, he turned out again, and fled for shelter to the coach, which +was airing itself in front of the house. This was not a very politic +step, as it turned out; for the pigs scenting him, and looking upon the +coach as a kind of pie with some manner of meat inside, grunted round it +so hideously, that he was afraid to come out again, and lay there +shivering, till morning. Nor was it possible to warm him, when he did +come out, by means of a glass of brandy: for in Indian villages, the +legislature, with a very good and wise intention, forbids the sale of +spirits by tavern keepers. The precaution, however, is quite +inefficacious, for the Indians never fail to procure liquor of a worse +kind, at a dearer price, from travelling pedlars. + +It is a settlement of the Wyandot Indians who inhabit this place. Among +the company at breakfast was a mild old gentleman, who had been for many +years employed by the United States Government in conducting negotiations +with the Indians, and who had just concluded a treaty with these people +by which they bound themselves, in consideration of a certain annual sum, +to remove next year to some land provided for them, west of the +Mississippi, and a little way beyond St. Louis. He gave me a moving +account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their +infancy, and in particular to the burial-places of their kindred; and of +their great reluctance to leave them. He had witnessed many such +removals, and always with pain, though he knew that they departed for +their own good. The question whether this tribe should go or stay, had +been discussed among them a day or two before, in a hut erected for the +purpose, the logs of which still lay upon the ground before the inn. +When the speaking was done, the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite +sides, and every male adult voted in his turn. The moment the result was +known, the minority (a large one) cheerfully yielded to the rest, and +withdrew all kind of opposition. + +We met some of these poor Indians afterwards, riding on shaggy ponies. +They were so like the meaner sort of gipsies, that if I could have seen +any of them in England, I should have concluded, as a matter of course, +that they belonged to that wandering and restless people. + +Leaving this town directly after breakfast, we pushed forward again, over +a rather worse road than yesterday, if possible, and arrived about noon +at Tiffin, where we parted with the extra. At two o’clock we took the +railroad; the travelling on which was very slow, its construction being +indifferent, and the ground wet and marshy; and arrived at Sandusky in +time to dine that evening. We put up at a comfortable little hotel on +the brink of Lake Erie, lay there that night, and had no choice but to +wait there next day, until a steamboat bound for Buffalo appeared. The +town, which was sluggish and uninteresting enough, was something like the +back of an English watering-place, out of the season. + +Our host, who was very attentive and anxious to make us comfortable, was +a handsome middle-aged man, who had come to this town from New England, +in which part of the country he was ‘raised.’ When I say that he +constantly walked in and out of the room with his hat on; and stopped to +converse in the same free-and-easy state; and lay down on our sofa, and +pulled his newspaper out of his pocket, and read it at his ease; I merely +mention these traits as characteristic of the country: not at all as +being matter of complaint, or as having been disagreeable to me. I +should undoubtedly be offended by such proceedings at home, because there +they are not the custom, and where they are not, they would be +impertinencies; but in America, the only desire of a good-natured fellow +of this kind, is to treat his guests hospitably and well; and I had no +more right, and I can truly say no more disposition, to measure his +conduct by our English rule and standard, than I had to quarrel with him +for not being of the exact stature which would qualify him for admission +into the Queen’s grenadier guards. As little inclination had I to find +fault with a funny old lady who was an upper domestic in this +establishment, and who, when she came to wait upon us at any meal, sat +herself down comfortably in the most convenient chair, and producing a +large pin to pick her teeth with, remained performing that ceremony, and +steadfastly regarding us meanwhile with much gravity and composure (now +and then pressing us to eat a little more), until it was time to clear +away. It was enough for us, that whatever we wished done was done with +great civility and readiness, and a desire to oblige, not only here, but +everywhere else; and that all our wants were, in general, zealously +anticipated. + +We were taking an early dinner at this house, on the day after our +arrival, which was Sunday, when a steamboat came in sight, and presently +touched at the wharf. As she proved to be on her way to Buffalo, we +hurried on board with all speed, and soon left Sandusky far behind us. + +She was a large vessel of five hundred tons, and handsomely fitted up, +though with high-pressure engines; which always conveyed that kind of +feeling to me, which I should be likely to experience, I think, if I had +lodgings on the first-floor of a powder-mill. She was laden with flour, +some casks of which commodity were stored upon the deck. The captain +coming up to have a little conversation, and to introduce a friend, +seated himself astride of one of these barrels, like a Bacchus of private +life; and pulling a great clasp-knife out of his pocket, began to +‘whittle’ it as he talked, by paring thin slices off the edges. And he +whittled with such industry and hearty good will, that but for his being +called away very soon, it must have disappeared bodily, and left nothing +in its place but grist and shavings. + +After calling at one or two flat places, with low dams stretching out +into the lake, whereon were stumpy lighthouses, like windmills without +sails, the whole looking like a Dutch vignette, we came at midnight to +Cleveland, where we lay all night, and until nine o’clock next morning. + +I entertained quite a curiosity in reference to this place, from having +seen at Sandusky a specimen of its literature in the shape of a +newspaper, which was very strong indeed upon the subject of Lord +Ashburton’s recent arrival at Washington, to adjust the points in dispute +between the United States Government and Great Britain: informing its +readers that as America had ‘whipped’ England in her infancy, and whipped +her again in her youth, so it was clearly necessary that she must whip +her once again in her maturity; and pledging its credit to all True +Americans, that if Mr. Webster did his duty in the approaching +negotiations, and sent the English Lord home again in double quick time, +they should, within two years, sing ‘Yankee Doodle in Hyde Park, and Hail +Columbia in the scarlet courts of Westminster!’ I found it a pretty +town, and had the satisfaction of beholding the outside of the office of +the journal from which I have just quoted. I did not enjoy the delight +of seeing the wit who indited the paragraph in question, but I have no +doubt he is a prodigious man in his way, and held in high repute by a +select circle. + +There was a gentleman on board, to whom, as I unintentionally learned +through the thin partition which divided our state-room from the cabin in +which he and his wife conversed together, I was unwittingly the occasion +of very great uneasiness. I don’t know why or wherefore, but I appeared +to run in his mind perpetually, and to dissatisfy him very much. First +of all I heard him say: and the most ludicrous part of the business was, +that he said it in my very ear, and could not have communicated more +directly with me, if he had leaned upon my shoulder, and whispered me: +‘Boz is on board still, my dear.’ After a considerable pause, he added, +complainingly, ‘Boz keeps himself very close;’ which was true enough, for +I was not very well, and was lying down, with a book. I thought he had +done with me after this, but I was deceived; for a long interval having +elapsed, during which I imagine him to have been turning restlessly from +side to side, and trying to go to sleep; he broke out again, with ‘I +suppose _that_ Boz will be writing a book by-and-by, and putting all our +names in it!’ at which imaginary consequence of being on board a boat +with Boz, he groaned, and became silent. + +We called at the town of Erie, at eight o’clock that night, and lay there +an hour. Between five and six next morning, we arrived at Buffalo, where +we breakfasted; and being too near the Great Falls to wait patiently +anywhere else, we set off by the train, the same morning at nine o’clock, +to Niagara. + +It was a miserable day; chilly and raw; a damp mist falling; and the +trees in that northern region quite bare and wintry. Whenever the train +halted, I listened for the roar; and was constantly straining my eyes in +the direction where I knew the Falls must be, from seeing the river +rolling on towards them; every moment expecting to behold the spray. +Within a few minutes of our stopping, not before, I saw two great white +clouds rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth. +That was all. At length we alighted: and then for the first time, I +heard the mighty rush of water, and felt the ground tremble underneath my +feet. + +The bank is very steep, and was slippery with rain, and half-melted ice. +I hardly know how I got down, but I was soon at the bottom, and climbing, +with two English officers who were crossing and had joined me, over some +broken rocks, deafened by the noise, half-blinded by the spray, and wet +to the skin. We were at the foot of the American Fall. I could see an +immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some great height, +but had no idea of shape, or situation, or anything but vague immensity. + +When we were seated in the little ferry-boat, and were crossing the +swollen river immediately before both cataracts, I began to feel what it +was: but I was in a manner stunned, and unable to comprehend the vastness +of the scene. It was not until I came on Table Rock, and looked—Great +Heaven, on what a fall of bright-green water!—that it came upon me in its +full might and majesty. + +Then, when I felt how near to my Creator I was standing, the first +effect, and the enduring one—instant and lasting—of the tremendous +spectacle, was Peace. Peace of Mind, tranquillity, calm recollections of +the Dead, great thoughts of Eternal Rest and Happiness: nothing of gloom +or terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart, an Image of +Beauty; to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease +to beat, for ever. + +Oh, how the strife and trouble of daily life receded from my view, and +lessened in the distance, during the ten memorable days we passed on that +Enchanted Ground! What voices spoke from out the thundering water; what +faces, faded from the earth, looked out upon me from its gleaming depths; +what Heavenly promise glistened in those angels’ tears, the drops of many +hues, that showered around, and twined themselves about the gorgeous +arches which the changing rainbows made! + +I never stirred in all that time from the Canadian side, whither I had +gone at first. I never crossed the river again; for I knew there were +people on the other shore, and in such a place it is natural to shun +strange company. To wander to and fro all day, and see the cataracts +from all points of view; to stand upon the edge of the great Horse-Shoe +Fall, marking the hurried water gathering strength as it approached the +verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the gulf below; to +gaze from the river’s level up at the torrent as it came streaming down; +to climb the neighbouring heights and watch it through the trees, and see +the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge; +to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below; watching +the river as, stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied and awoke +the echoes, being troubled yet, far down beneath the surface, by its +giant leap; to have Niagara before me, lighted by the sun and by the +moon, red in the day’s decline, and grey as evening slowly fell upon it; +to look upon it every day, and wake up in the night and hear its +ceaseless voice: this was enough. + +I think in every quiet season now, still do those waters roll and leap, +and roar and tumble, all day long; still are the rainbows spanning them, +a hundred feet below. Still, when the sun is on them, do they shine and +glow like molten gold. Still, when the day is gloomy, do they fall like +snow, or seem to crumble away like the front of a great chalk cliff, or +roll down the rock like dense white smoke. But always does the mighty +stream appear to die as it comes down, and always from its unfathomable +grave arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist which is never laid: +which has haunted this place with the same dread solemnity since Darkness +brooded on the deep, and that first flood before the Deluge—Light—came +rushing on Creation at the word of God. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +IN CANADA; TORONTO; KINGSTON; MONTREAL; QUEBEC; ST. JOHN’S. IN THE +UNITED STATES AGAIN; LEBANON; THE SHAKER VILLAGE; WEST POINT + + +I WISH to abstain from instituting any comparison, or drawing any +parallel whatever, between the social features of the United States and +those of the British Possessions in Canada. For this reason, I shall +confine myself to a very brief account of our journeyings in the latter +territory. + +But before I leave Niagara, I must advert to one disgusting circumstance +which can hardly have escaped the observation of any decent traveller who +has visited the Falls. + +On Table Rock, there is a cottage belonging to a Guide, where little +relics of the place are sold, and where visitors register their names in +a book kept for the purpose. On the wall of the room in which a great +many of these volumes are preserved, the following request is posted: +‘Visitors will please not copy nor extract the remarks and poetical +effusions from the registers and albums kept here.’ + +But for this intimation, I should have let them lie upon the tables on +which they were strewn with careful negligence, like books in a +drawing-room: being quite satisfied with the stupendous silliness of +certain stanzas with an anti-climax at the end of each, which were framed +and hung up on the wall. Curious, however, after reading this +announcement, to see what kind of morsels were so carefully preserved, I +turned a few leaves, and found them scrawled all over with the vilest and +the filthiest ribaldry that ever human hogs delighted in. + +It is humiliating enough to know that there are among men brutes so +obscene and worthless, that they can delight in laying their miserable +profanations upon the very steps of Nature’s greatest altar. But that +these should be hoarded up for the delight of their fellow-swine, and +kept in a public place where any eyes may see them, is a disgrace to the +English language in which they are written (though I hope few of these +entries have been made by Englishmen), and a reproach to the English +side, on which they are preserved. + +The quarters of our soldiers at Niagara, are finely and airily situated. +Some of them are large detached houses on the plain above the Falls, +which were originally designed for hotels; and in the evening time, when +the women and children were leaning over the balconies watching the men +as they played at ball and other games upon the grass before the door, +they often presented a little picture of cheerfulness and animation which +made it quite a pleasure to pass that way. + +At any garrisoned point where the line of demarcation between one country +and another is so very narrow as at Niagara, desertion from the ranks can +scarcely fail to be of frequent occurrence: and it may be reasonably +supposed that when the soldiers entertain the wildest and maddest hopes +of the fortune and independence that await them on the other side, the +impulse to play traitor, which such a place suggests to dishonest minds, +is not weakened. But it very rarely happens that the men who do desert, +are happy or contented afterwards; and many instances have been known in +which they have confessed their grievous disappointment, and their +earnest desire to return to their old service if they could but be +assured of pardon, or lenient treatment. Many of their comrades, +notwithstanding, do the like, from time to time; and instances of loss of +life in the effort to cross the river with this object, are far from +being uncommon. Several men were drowned in the attempt to swim across, +not long ago; and one, who had the madness to trust himself upon a table +as a raft, was swept down to the whirlpool, where his mangled body eddied +round and round some days. + +I am inclined to think that the noise of the Falls is very much +exaggerated; and this will appear the more probable when the depth of the +great basin in which the water is received, is taken into account. At no +time during our stay there, was the wind at all high or boisterous, but +we never heard them, three miles off, even at the very quiet time of +sunset, though we often tried. + +Queenston, at which place the steamboats start for Toronto (or I should +rather say at which place they call, for their wharf is at Lewiston, on +the opposite shore), is situated in a delicious valley, through which the +Niagara river, in colour a very deep green, pursues its course. It is +approached by a road that takes its winding way among the heights by +which the town is sheltered; and seen from this point is extremely +beautiful and picturesque. On the most conspicuous of these heights +stood a monument erected by the Provincial Legislature in memory of +General Brock, who was slain in a battle with the American forces, after +having won the victory. Some vagabond, supposed to be a fellow of the +name of Lett, who is now, or who lately was, in prison as a felon, blew +up this monument two years ago, and it is now a melancholy ruin, with a +long fragment of iron railing hanging dejectedly from its top, and waving +to and fro like a wild ivy branch or broken vine stem. It is of much +higher importance than it may seem, that this statue should be repaired +at the public cost, as it ought to have been long ago. Firstly, because +it is beneath the dignity of England to allow a memorial raised in honour +of one of her defenders, to remain in this condition, on the very spot +where he died. Secondly, because the sight of it in its present state, +and the recollection of the unpunished outrage which brought it to this +pass, is not very likely to soothe down border feelings among English +subjects here, or compose their border quarrels and dislikes. + +I was standing on the wharf at this place, watching the passengers +embarking in a steamboat which preceded that whose coming we awaited, and +participating in the anxiety with which a sergeant’s wife was collecting +her few goods together—keeping one distracted eye hard upon the porters, +who were hurrying them on board, and the other on a hoopless washing-tub +for which, as being the most utterly worthless of all her movables, she +seemed to entertain particular affection—when three or four soldiers with +a recruit came up and went on board. + +The recruit was a likely young fellow enough, strongly built and well +made, but by no means sober: indeed he had all the air of a man who had +been more or less drunk for some days. He carried a small bundle over +his shoulder, slung at the end of a walking-stick, and had a short pipe +in his mouth. He was as dusty and dirty as recruits usually are, and his +shoes betokened that he had travelled on foot some distance, but he was +in a very jocose state, and shook hands with this soldier, and clapped +that one on the back, and talked and laughed continually, like a roaring +idle dog as he was. + +The soldiers rather laughed at this blade than with him: seeming to say, +as they stood straightening their canes in their hands, and looking +coolly at him over their glazed stocks, ‘Go on, my boy, while you may! +you’ll know better by-and-by:’ when suddenly the novice, who had been +backing towards the gangway in his noisy merriment, fell overboard before +their eyes, and splashed heavily down into the river between the vessel +and the dock. + +I never saw such a good thing as the change that came over these soldiers +in an instant. Almost before the man was down, their professional +manner, their stiffness and constraint, were gone, and they were filled +with the most violent energy. In less time than is required to tell it, +they had him out again, feet first, with the tails of his coat flapping +over his eyes, everything about him hanging the wrong way, and the water +streaming off at every thread in his threadbare dress. But the moment +they set him upright and found that he was none the worse, they were +soldiers again, looking over their glazed stocks more composedly than +ever. + +The half-sobered recruit glanced round for a moment, as if his first +impulse were to express some gratitude for his preservation, but seeing +them with this air of total unconcern, and having his wet pipe presented +to him with an oath by the soldier who had been by far the most anxious +of the party, he stuck it in his mouth, thrust his hands into his moist +pockets, and without even shaking the water off his clothes, walked on +board whistling; not to say as if nothing had happened, but as if he had +meant to do it, and it had been a perfect success. + +Our steamboat came up directly this had left the wharf, and soon bore us +to the mouth of the Niagara; where the stars and stripes of America +flutter on one side and the Union Jack of England on the other: and so +narrow is the space between them that the sentinels in either fort can +often hear the watchword of the other country given. Thence we emerged +on Lake Ontario, an inland sea; and by half-past six o’clock were at +Toronto. + +The country round this town being very flat, is bare of scenic interest; +but the town itself is full of life and motion, bustle, business, and +improvement. The streets are well paved, and lighted with gas; the +houses are large and good; the shops excellent. Many of them have a +display of goods in their windows, such as may be seen in thriving county +towns in England; and there are some which would do no discredit to the +metropolis itself. There is a good stone prison here; and there are, +besides, a handsome church, a court-house, public offices, many +commodious private residences, and a government observatory for noting +and recording the magnetic variations. In the College of Upper Canada, +which is one of the public establishments of the city, a sound education +in every department of polite learning can be had, at a very moderate +expense: the annual charge for the instruction of each pupil, not +exceeding nine pounds sterling. It has pretty good endowments in the way +of land, and is a valuable and useful institution. + +The first stone of a new college had been laid but a few days before, by +the Governor General. It will be a handsome, spacious edifice, +approached by a long avenue, which is already planted and made available +as a public walk. The town is well adapted for wholesome exercise at all +seasons, for the footways in the thoroughfares which lie beyond the +principal street, are planked like floors, and kept in very good and +clean repair. + +It is a matter of deep regret that political differences should have run +high in this place, and led to most discreditable and disgraceful +results. It is not long since guns were discharged from a window in this +town at the successful candidates in an election, and the coachman of one +of them was actually shot in the body, though not dangerously wounded. +But one man was killed on the same occasion; and from the very window +whence he received his death, the very flag which shielded his murderer +(not only in the commission of his crime, but from its consequences), was +displayed again on the occasion of the public ceremony performed by the +Governor General, to which I have just adverted. Of all the colours in +the rainbow, there is but one which could be so employed: I need not say +that flag was orange. + +The time of leaving Toronto for Kingston is noon. By eight o’clock next +morning, the traveller is at the end of his journey, which is performed +by steamboat upon Lake Ontario, calling at Port Hope and Coburg, the +latter a cheerful, thriving little town. Vast quantities of flour form +the chief item in the freight of these vessels. We had no fewer than one +thousand and eighty barrels on board, between Coburg and Kingston. + +The latter place, which is now the seat of government in Canada, is a +very poor town, rendered still poorer in the appearance of its +market-place by the ravages of a recent fire. Indeed, it may be said of +Kingston, that one half of it appears to be burnt down, and the other +half not to be built up. The Government House is neither elegant nor +commodious, yet it is almost the only house of any importance in the +neighbourhood. + +There is an admirable jail here, well and wisely governed, and +excellently regulated, in every respect. The men were employed as +shoemakers, ropemakers, blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, and +stonecutters; and in building a new prison, which was pretty far advanced +towards completion. The female prisoners were occupied in needlework. +Among them was a beautiful girl of twenty, who had been there nearly +three years. She acted as bearer of secret despatches for the +self-styled Patriots on Navy Island, during the Canadian Insurrection: +sometimes dressing as a girl, and carrying them in her stays; sometimes +attiring herself as a boy, and secreting them in the lining of her hat. +In the latter character she always rode as a boy would, which was nothing +to her, for she could govern any horse that any man could ride, and could +drive four-in-hand with the best whip in those parts. Setting forth on +one of her patriotic missions, she appropriated to herself the first +horse she could lay her hands on; and this offence had brought her where +I saw her. She had quite a lovely face, though, as the reader may +suppose from this sketch of her history, there was a lurking devil in her +bright eye, which looked out pretty sharply from between her prison bars. + +There is a bomb-proof fort here of great strength, which occupies a bold +position, and is capable, doubtless, of doing good service; though the +town is much too close upon the frontier to be long held, I should +imagine, for its present purpose in troubled times. There is also a +small navy-yard, where a couple of Government steamboats were building, +and getting on vigorously. + +We left Kingston for Montreal on the tenth of May, at half-past nine in +the morning, and proceeded in a steamboat down the St. Lawrence river. +The beauty of this noble stream at almost any point, but especially in +the commencement of this journey when it winds its way among the thousand +Islands, can hardly be imagined. The number and constant successions of +these islands, all green and richly wooded; their fluctuating sizes, some +so large that for half an hour together one among them will appear as the +opposite bank of the river, and some so small that they are mere dimples +on its broad bosom; their infinite variety of shapes; and the numberless +combinations of beautiful forms which the trees growing on them present: +all form a picture fraught with uncommon interest and pleasure. + +In the afternoon we shot down some rapids where the river boiled and +bubbled strangely, and where the force and headlong violence of the +current were tremendous. At seven o’clock we reached Dickenson’s +Landing, whence travellers proceed for two or three hours by stage-coach: +the navigation of the river being rendered so dangerous and difficult in +the interval, by rapids, that steamboats do not make the passage. The +number and length of those _portages_, over which the roads are bad, and +the travelling slow, render the way between the towns of Montreal and +Kingston, somewhat tedious. + +Our course lay over a wide, uninclosed tract of country at a little +distance from the river-side, whence the bright warning lights on the +dangerous parts of the St. Lawrence shone vividly. The night was dark +and raw, and the way dreary enough. It was nearly ten o’clock when we +reached the wharf where the next steamboat lay; and went on board, and to +bed. + +She lay there all night, and started as soon as it was day. The morning +was ushered in by a violent thunderstorm, and was very wet, but gradually +improved and brightened up. Going on deck after breakfast, I was amazed +to see floating down with the stream, a most gigantic raft, with some +thirty or forty wooden houses upon it, and at least as many flag-masts, +so that it looked like a nautical street. I saw many of these rafts +afterwards, but never one so large. All the timber, or ‘lumber,’ as it +is called in America, which is brought down the St. Lawrence, is floated +down in this manner. When the raft reaches its place of destination, it +is broken up; the materials are sold; and the boatmen return for more. + +At eight we landed again, and travelled by a stage-coach for four hours +through a pleasant and well-cultivated country, perfectly French in every +respect: in the appearance of the cottages; the air, language, and dress +of the peasantry; the sign-boards on the shops and taverns: and the +Virgin’s shrines, and crosses, by the wayside. Nearly every common +labourer and boy, though he had no shoes to his feet, wore round his +waist a sash of some bright colour: generally red: and the women, who +were working in the fields and gardens, and doing all kinds of husbandry, +wore, one and all, great flat straw hats with most capacious brims. +There were Catholic Priests and Sisters of Charity in the village +streets; and images of the Saviour at the corners of cross-roads, and in +other public places. + +At noon we went on board another steamboat, and reached the village of +Lachine, nine miles from Montreal, by three o’clock. There, we left the +river, and went on by land. + +Montreal is pleasantly situated on the margin of the St. Lawrence, and is +backed by some bold heights, about which there are charming rides and +drives. The streets are generally narrow and irregular, as in most +French towns of any age; but in the more modern parts of the city, they +are wide and airy. They display a great variety of very good shops; and +both in the town and suburbs there are many excellent private dwellings. +The granite quays are remarkable for their beauty, solidity, and extent. + +There is a very large Catholic cathedral here, recently erected with two +tall spires, of which one is yet unfinished. In the open space in front +of this edifice, stands a solitary, grim-looking, square brick tower, +which has a quaint and remarkable appearance, and which the wiseacres of +the place have consequently determined to pull down immediately. The +Government House is very superior to that at Kingston, and the town is +full of life and bustle. In one of the suburbs is a plank road—not +footpath—five or six miles long, and a famous road it is too. All the +rides in the vicinity were made doubly interesting by the bursting out of +spring, which is here so rapid, that it is but a day’s leap from barren +winter, to the blooming youth of summer. + +The steamboats to Quebec perform the journey in the night; that is to +say, they leave Montreal at six in the evening, and arrive at Quebec at +six next morning. We made this excursion during our stay in Montreal +(which exceeded a fortnight), and were charmed by its interest and +beauty. + +The impression made upon the visitor by this Gibraltar of America: its +giddy heights; its citadel suspended, as it were, in the air; its +picturesque steep streets and frowning gateways; and the splendid views +which burst upon the eye at every turn: is at once unique and lasting. + +It is a place not to be forgotten or mixed up in the mind with other +places, or altered for a moment in the crowd of scenes a traveller can +recall. Apart from the realities of this most picturesque city, there +are associations clustering about it which would make a desert rich in +interest. The dangerous precipice along whose rocky front, Wolfe and his +brave companions climbed to glory; the Plains of Abraham, where he +received his mortal wound; the fortress so chivalrously defended by +Montcalm; and his soldier’s grave, dug for him while yet alive, by the +bursting of a shell; are not the least among them, or among the gallant +incidents of history. That is a noble Monument too, and worthy of two +great nations, which perpetuates the memory of both brave generals, and +on which their names are jointly written. + +The city is rich in public institutions and in Catholic churches and +charities, but it is mainly in the prospect from the site of the Old +Government House, and from the Citadel, that its surpassing beauty lies. +The exquisite expanse of country, rich in field and forest, +mountain-height and water, which lies stretched out before the view, with +miles of Canadian villages, glancing in long white streaks, like veins +along the landscape; the motley crowd of gables, roofs, and chimney tops +in the old hilly town immediately at hand; the beautiful St. Lawrence +sparkling and flashing in the sunlight; and the tiny ships below the rock +from which you gaze, whose distant rigging looks like spiders’ webs +against the light, while casks and barrels on their decks dwindle into +toys, and busy mariners become so many puppets; all this, framed by a +sunken window in the fortress and looked at from the shadowed room +within, forms one of the brightest and most enchanting pictures that the +eye can rest upon. + +In the spring of the year, vast numbers of emigrants who have newly +arrived from England or from Ireland, pass between Quebec and Montreal on +their way to the backwoods and new settlements of Canada. If it be an +entertaining lounge (as I very often found it) to take a morning stroll +upon the quay at Montreal, and see them grouped in hundreds on the public +wharfs about their chests and boxes, it is matter of deep interest to be +their fellow-passenger on one of these steamboats, and mingling with the +concourse, see and hear them unobserved. + +The vessel in which we returned from Quebec to Montreal was crowded with +them, and at night they spread their beds between decks (those who had +beds, at least), and slept so close and thick about our cabin door, that +the passage to and fro was quite blocked up. They were nearly all +English; from Gloucestershire the greater part; and had had a long +winter-passage out; but it was wonderful to see how clean the children +had been kept, and how untiring in their love and self-denial all the +poor parents were. + +Cant as we may, and as we shall to the end of all things, it is very much +harder for the poor to be virtuous than it is for the rich; and the good +that is in them, shines the brighter for it. In many a noble mansion +lives a man, the best of husbands and of fathers, whose private worth in +both capacities is justly lauded to the skies. But bring him here, upon +this crowded deck. Strip from his fair young wife her silken dress and +jewels, unbind her braided hair, stamp early wrinkles on her brow, pinch +her pale cheek with care and much privation, array her faded form in +coarsely patched attire, let there be nothing but his love to set her +forth or deck her out, and you shall put it to the proof indeed. So +change his station in the world, that he shall see in those young things +who climb about his knee: not records of his wealth and name: but little +wrestlers with him for his daily bread; so many poachers on his scanty +meal; so many units to divide his every sum of comfort, and farther to +reduce its small amount. In lieu of the endearments of childhood in its +sweetest aspect, heap upon him all its pains and wants, its sicknesses +and ills, its fretfulness, caprice, and querulous endurance: let its +prattle be, not of engaging infant fancies, but of cold, and thirst, and +hunger: and if his fatherly affection outlive all this, and he be +patient, watchful, tender; careful of his children’s lives, and mindful +always of their joys and sorrows; then send him back to Parliament, and +Pulpit, and to Quarter Sessions, and when he hears fine talk of the +depravity of those who live from hand to mouth, and labour hard to do it, +let him speak up, as one who knows, and tell those holders forth that +they, by parallel with such a class, should be High Angels in their daily +lives, and lay but humble siege to Heaven at last. + +Which of us shall say what he would be, if such realities, with small +relief or change all through his days, were his! Looking round upon +these people: far from home, houseless, indigent, wandering, weary with +travel and hard living: and seeing how patiently they nursed and tended +their young children: how they consulted ever their wants first, then +half supplied their own; what gentle ministers of hope and faith the +women were; how the men profited by their example; and how very, very +seldom even a moment’s petulance or harsh complaint broke out among them: +I felt a stronger love and honour of my kind come glowing on my heart, +and wished to God there had been many Atheists in the better part of +human nature there, to read this simple lesson in the book of Life. + + * * * * * + +We left Montreal for New York again, on the thirtieth of May, crossing to +La Prairie, on the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence, in a steamboat; we +then took the railroad to St. John’s, which is on the brink of Lake +Champlain. Our last greeting in Canada was from the English officers in +the pleasant barracks at that place (a class of gentlemen who had made +every hour of our visit memorable by their hospitality and friendship); +and with ‘Rule Britannia’ sounding in our ears, soon left it far behind. + +But Canada has held, and always will retain, a foremost place in my +remembrance. Few Englishmen are prepared to find it what it is. +Advancing quietly; old differences settling down, and being fast +forgotten; public feeling and private enterprise alike in a sound and +wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever in its system, but health and +vigour throbbing in its steady pulse: it is full of hope and promise. To +me—who had been accustomed to think of it as something left behind in the +strides of advancing society, as something neglected and forgotten, +slumbering and wasting in its sleep—the demand for labour and the rates +of wages; the busy quays of Montreal; the vessels taking in their +cargoes, and discharging them; the amount of shipping in the different +ports; the commerce, roads, and public works, all made _to last_; the +respectability and character of the public journals; and the amount of +rational comfort and happiness which honest industry may earn: were very +great surprises. The steamboats on the lakes, in their conveniences, +cleanliness, and safety; in the gentlemanly character and bearing of +their captains; and in the politeness and perfect comfort of their social +regulations; are unsurpassed even by the famous Scotch vessels, +deservedly so much esteemed at home. The inns are usually bad; because +the custom of boarding at hotels is not so general here as in the States, +and the British officers, who form a large portion of the society of +every town, live chiefly at the regimental messes: but in every other +respect, the traveller in Canada will find as good provision for his +comfort as in any place I know. + +There is one American boat—the vessel which carried us on Lake Champlain, +from St. John’s to Whitehall—which I praise very highly, but no more than +it deserves, when I say that it is superior even to that in which we went +from Queenston to Toronto, or to that in which we travelled from the +latter place to Kingston, or I have no doubt I may add to any other in +the world. This steamboat, which is called the Burlington, is a +perfectly exquisite achievement of neatness, elegance, and order. The +decks are drawing-rooms; the cabins are boudoirs, choicely furnished and +adorned with prints, pictures, and musical instruments; every nook and +corner in the vessel is a perfect curiosity of graceful comfort and +beautiful contrivance. Captain Sherman, her commander, to whose +ingenuity and excellent taste these results are solely attributable, has +bravely and worthily distinguished himself on more than one trying +occasion: not least among them, in having the moral courage to carry +British troops, at a time (during the Canadian rebellion) when no other +conveyance was open to them. He and his vessel are held in universal +respect, both by his own countrymen and ours; and no man ever enjoyed the +popular esteem, who, in his sphere of action, won and wore it better than +this gentleman. + +By means of this floating palace we were soon in the United States again, +and called that evening at Burlington; a pretty town, where we lay an +hour or so. We reached Whitehall, where we were to disembark, at six +next morning; and might have done so earlier, but that these steamboats +lie by for some hours in the night, in consequence of the lake becoming +very narrow at that part of the journey, and difficult of navigation in +the dark. Its width is so contracted at one point, indeed, that they are +obliged to warp round by means of a rope. + +After breakfasting at Whitehall, we took the stage-coach for Albany: a +large and busy town, where we arrived between five and six o’clock that +afternoon; after a very hot day’s journey, for we were now in the height +of summer again. At seven we started for New York on board a great North +River steamboat, which was so crowded with passengers that the upper deck +was like the box lobby of a theatre between the pieces, and the lower one +like Tottenham Court Road on a Saturday night. But we slept soundly, +notwithstanding, and soon after five o’clock next morning reached New +York. + +Tarrying here, only that day and night, to recruit after our late +fatigues, we started off once more upon our last journey in America. We +had yet five days to spare before embarking for England, and I had a +great desire to see ‘the Shaker Village,’ which is peopled by a religious +sect from whom it takes its name. + +To this end, we went up the North River again, as far as the town of +Hudson, and there hired an extra to carry us to Lebanon, thirty miles +distant: and of course another and a different Lebanon from that village +where I slept on the night of the Prairie trip. + +The country through which the road meandered, was rich and beautiful; the +weather very fine; and for many miles the Kaatskill mountains, where Rip +Van Winkle and the ghostly Dutchmen played at ninepins one memorable +gusty afternoon, towered in the blue distance, like stately clouds. At +one point, as we ascended a steep hill, athwart whose base a railroad, +yet constructing, took its course, we came upon an Irish colony. With +means at hand of building decent cabins, it was wonderful to see how +clumsy, rough, and wretched, its hovels were. The best were poor +protection from the weather the worst let in the wind and rain through +wide breaches in the roofs of sodden grass, and in the walls of mud; some +had neither door nor window; some had nearly fallen down, and were +imperfectly propped up by stakes and poles; all were ruinous and filthy. +Hideously ugly old women and very buxom young ones, pigs, dogs, men, +children, babies, pots, kettles, dung-hills, vile refuse, rank straw, and +standing water, all wallowing together in an inseparable heap, composed +the furniture of every dark and dirty hut. + +Between nine and ten o’clock at night, we arrived at Lebanon which is +renowned for its warm baths, and for a great hotel, well adapted, I have +no doubt, to the gregarious taste of those seekers after health or +pleasure who repair here, but inexpressibly comfortless to me. We were +shown into an immense apartment, lighted by two dim candles, called the +drawing-room: from which there was a descent by a flight of steps, to +another vast desert, called the dining-room: our bed-chambers were among +certain long rows of little white-washed cells, which opened from either +side of a dreary passage; and were so like rooms in a prison that I half +expected to be locked up when I went to bed, and listened involuntarily +for the turning of the key on the outside. There need be baths somewhere +in the neighbourhood, for the other washing arrangements were on as +limited a scale as I ever saw, even in America: indeed, these bedrooms +were so very bare of even such common luxuries as chairs, that I should +say they were not provided with enough of anything, but that I bethink +myself of our having been most bountifully bitten all night. + +The house is very pleasantly situated, however, and we had a good +breakfast. That done, we went to visit our place of destination, which +was some two miles off, and the way to which was soon indicated by a +finger-post, whereon was painted, ‘To the Shaker Village.’ + +As we rode along, we passed a party of Shakers, who were at work upon the +road; who wore the broadest of all broad-brimmed hats; and were in all +visible respects such very wooden men, that I felt about as much sympathy +for them, and as much interest in them, as if they had been so many +figure-heads of ships. Presently we came to the beginning of the +village, and alighting at the door of a house where the Shaker +manufactures are sold, and which is the headquarters of the elders, +requested permission to see the Shaker worship. + +Pending the conveyance of this request to some person in authority, we +walked into a grim room, where several grim hats were hanging on grim +pegs, and the time was grimly told by a grim clock which uttered every +tick with a kind of struggle, as if it broke the grim silence +reluctantly, and under protest. Ranged against the wall were six or +eight stiff, high-backed chairs, and they partook so strongly of the +general grimness that one would much rather have sat on the floor than +incurred the smallest obligation to any of them. + +Presently, there stalked into this apartment, a grim old Shaker, with +eyes as hard, and dull, and cold, as the great round metal buttons on his +coat and waistcoat; a sort of calm goblin. Being informed of our desire, +he produced a newspaper wherein the body of elders, whereof he was a +member, had advertised but a few days before, that in consequence of +certain unseemly interruptions which their worship had received from +strangers, their chapel was closed to the public for the space of one +year. + +As nothing was to be urged in opposition to this reasonable arrangement, +we requested leave to make some trifling purchases of Shaker goods; which +was grimly conceded. We accordingly repaired to a store in the same +house and on the opposite side of the passage, where the stock was +presided over by something alive in a russet case, which the elder said +was a woman; and which I suppose _was_ a woman, though I should not have +suspected it. + +On the opposite side of the road was their place of worship: a cool, +clean edifice of wood, with large windows and green blinds: like a +spacious summer-house. As there was no getting into this place, and +nothing was to be done but walk up and down, and look at it and the other +buildings in the village (which were chiefly of wood, painted a dark red +like English barns, and composed of many stories like English factories), +I have nothing to communicate to the reader, beyond the scanty results I +gleaned the while our purchases were making. + +These people are called Shakers from their peculiar form of adoration, +which consists of a dance, performed by the men and women of all ages, +who arrange themselves for that purpose in opposite parties: the men +first divesting themselves of their hats and coats, which they gravely +hang against the wall before they begin; and tying a ribbon round their +shirt-sleeves, as though they were going to be bled. They accompany +themselves with a droning, humming noise, and dance until they are quite +exhausted, alternately advancing and retiring in a preposterous sort of +trot. The effect is said to be unspeakably absurd: and if I may judge +from a print of this ceremony which I have in my possession; and which I +am informed by those who have visited the chapel, is perfectly accurate; +it must be infinitely grotesque. + +They are governed by a woman, and her rule is understood to be absolute, +though she has the assistance of a council of elders. She lives, it is +said, in strict seclusion, in certain rooms above the chapel, and is +never shown to profane eyes. If she at all resemble the lady who +presided over the store, it is a great charity to keep her as close as +possible, and I cannot too strongly express my perfect concurrence in +this benevolent proceeding. + +All the possessions and revenues of the settlement are thrown into a +common stock, which is managed by the elders. As they have made converts +among people who were well to do in the world, and are frugal and +thrifty, it is understood that this fund prospers: the more especially as +they have made large purchases of land. Nor is this at Lebanon the only +Shaker settlement: there are, I think, at least, three others. + +They are good farmers, and all their produce is eagerly purchased and +highly esteemed. ‘Shaker seeds,’ ‘Shaker herbs,’ and ‘Shaker distilled +waters,’ are commonly announced for sale in the shops of towns and +cities. They are good breeders of cattle, and are kind and merciful to +the brute creation. Consequently, Shaker beasts seldom fail to find a +ready market. + +They eat and drink together, after the Spartan model, at a great public +table. There is no union of the sexes, and every Shaker, male and +female, is devoted to a life of celibacy. Rumour has been busy upon this +theme, but here again I must refer to the lady of the store, and say, +that if many of the sister Shakers resemble her, I treat all such slander +as bearing on its face the strongest marks of wild improbability. But +that they take as proselytes, persons so young that they cannot know +their own minds, and cannot possess much strength of resolution in this +or any other respect, I can assert from my own observation of the extreme +juvenility of certain youthful Shakers whom I saw at work among the party +on the road. + +They are said to be good drivers of bargains, but to be honest and just +in their transactions, and even in horse-dealing to resist those thievish +tendencies which would seem, for some undiscovered reason, to be almost +inseparable from that branch of traffic. In all matters they hold their +own course quietly, live in their gloomy, silent commonwealth, and show +little desire to interfere with other people. + +This is well enough, but nevertheless I cannot, I confess, incline +towards the Shakers; view them with much favour, or extend towards them +any very lenient construction. I so abhor, and from my soul detest that +bad spirit, no matter by what class or sect it may be entertained, which +would strip life of its healthful graces, rob youth of its innocent +pleasures, pluck from maturity and age their pleasant ornaments, and make +existence but a narrow path towards the grave: that odious spirit which, +if it could have had full scope and sway upon the earth, must have +blasted and made barren the imaginations of the greatest men, and left +them, in their power of raising up enduring images before their +fellow-creatures yet unborn, no better than the beasts: that, in these +very broad-brimmed hats and very sombre coats—in stiff-necked, +solemn-visaged piety, in short, no matter what its garb, whether it have +cropped hair as in a Shaker village, or long nails as in a Hindoo +temple—I recognise the worst among the enemies of Heaven and Earth, who +turn the water at the marriage feasts of this poor world, not into wine, +but gall. And if there must be people vowed to crush the harmless +fancies and the love of innocent delights and gaieties, which are a part +of human nature: as much a part of it as any other love or hope that is +our common portion: let them, for me, stand openly revealed among the +ribald and licentious; the very idiots know that _they_ are not on the +Immortal road, and will despise them, and avoid them readily. + +Leaving the Shaker village with a hearty dislike of the old Shakers, and +a hearty pity for the young ones: tempered by the strong probability of +their running away as they grow older and wiser, which they not +uncommonly do: we returned to Lebanon, and so to Hudson, by the way we +had come upon the previous day. There, we took the steamboat down the +North River towards New York, but stopped, some four hours’ journey short +of it, at West Point, where we remained that night, and all next day, and +next night too. + +In this beautiful place: the fairest among the fair and lovely Highlands +of the North River: shut in by deep green heights and ruined forts, and +looking down upon the distant town of Newburgh, along a glittering path +of sunlit water, with here and there a skiff, whose white sail often +bends on some new tack as sudden flaws of wind come down upon her from +the gullies in the hills: hemmed in, besides, all round with memories of +Washington, and events of the revolutionary war: is the Military School +of America. + +It could not stand on more appropriate ground, and any ground more +beautiful can hardly be. The course of education is severe, but well +devised, and manly. Through June, July, and August, the young men encamp +upon the spacious plain whereon the college stands; and all the year +their military exercises are performed there, daily. The term of study +at this institution, which the State requires from all cadets, is four +years; but, whether it be from the rigid nature of the discipline, or the +national impatience of restraint, or both causes combined, not more than +half the number who begin their studies here, ever remain to finish them. + +The number of cadets being about equal to that of the members of +Congress, one is sent here from every Congressional district: its member +influencing the selection. Commissions in the service are distributed on +the same principle. The dwellings of the various Professors are +beautifully situated; and there is a most excellent hotel for strangers, +though it has the two drawbacks of being a total abstinence house (wines +and spirits being forbidden to the students), and of serving the public +meals at rather uncomfortable hours: to wit, breakfast at seven, dinner +at one, and supper at sunset. + +The beauty and freshness of this calm retreat, in the very dawn and +greenness of summer—it was then the beginning of June—were exquisite +indeed. Leaving it upon the sixth, and returning to New York, to embark +for England on the succeeding day, I was glad to think that among the +last memorable beauties which had glided past us, and softened in the +bright perspective, were those whose pictures, traced by no common hand, +are fresh in most men’s minds; not easily to grow old, or fade beneath +the dust of Time: the Kaatskill Mountains, Sleepy Hollow, and the Tappaan +Zee. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +THE PASSAGE HOME + + +I NEVER had so much interest before, and very likely I shall never have +so much interest again, in the state of the wind, as on the +long-looked-for morning of Tuesday the Seventh of June. Some nautical +authority had told me a day or two previous, ‘anything with west in it, +will do;’ so when I darted out of bed at daylight, and throwing up the +window, was saluted by a lively breeze from the north-west which had +sprung up in the night, it came upon me so freshly, rustling with so many +happy associations, that I conceived upon the spot a special regard for +all airs blowing from that quarter of the compass, which I shall cherish, +I dare say, until my own wind has breathed its last frail puff, and +withdrawn itself for ever from the mortal calendar. + +The pilot had not been slow to take advantage of this favourable weather, +and the ship which yesterday had been in such a crowded dock that she +might have retired from trade for good and all, for any chance she seemed +to have of going to sea, was now full sixteen miles away. A gallant +sight she was, when we, fast gaining on her in a steamboat, saw her in +the distance riding at anchor: her tall masts pointing up in graceful +lines against the sky, and every rope and spar expressed in delicate and +thread-like outline: gallant, too, when, we being all aboard, the anchor +came up to the sturdy chorus ‘Cheerily men, oh cheerily!’ and she +followed proudly in the towing steamboat’s wake: but bravest and most +gallant of all, when the tow-rope being cast adrift, the canvas fluttered +from her masts, and spreading her white wings she soared away upon her +free and solitary course. + +In the after cabin we were only fifteen passengers in all, and the +greater part were from Canada, where some of us had known each other. +The night was rough and squally, so were the next two days, but they flew +by quickly, and we were soon as cheerful and snug a party, with an +honest, manly-hearted captain at our head, as ever came to the resolution +of being mutually agreeable, on land or water. + +We breakfasted at eight, lunched at twelve, dined at three, and took our +tea at half-past seven. We had abundance of amusements, and dinner was +not the least among them: firstly, for its own sake; secondly, because of +its extraordinary length: its duration, inclusive of all the long pauses +between the courses, being seldom less than two hours and a half; which +was a subject of never-failing entertainment. By way of beguiling the +tediousness of these banquets, a select association was formed at the +lower end of the table, below the mast, to whose distinguished president +modesty forbids me to make any further allusion, which, being a very +hilarious and jovial institution, was (prejudice apart) in high favour +with the rest of the community, and particularly with a black steward, +who lived for three weeks in a broad grin at the marvellous humour of +these incorporated worthies. + +Then, we had chess for those who played it, whist, cribbage, books, +backgammon, and shovelboard. In all weathers, fair or foul, calm or +windy, we were every one on deck, walking up and down in pairs, lying in +the boats, leaning over the side, or chatting in a lazy group together. +We had no lack of music, for one played the accordion, another the +violin, and another (who usually began at six o’clock A.M.) the +key-bugle: the combined effect of which instruments, when they all played +different tunes in different parts of the ship, at the same time, and +within hearing of each other, as they sometimes did (everybody being +intensely satisfied with his own performance), was sublimely hideous. + +When all these means of entertainment failed, a sail would heave in +sight: looming, perhaps, the very spirit of a ship, in the misty +distance, or passing us so close that through our glasses we could see +the people on her decks, and easily make out her name, and whither she +was bound. For hours together we could watch the dolphins and porpoises +as they rolled and leaped and dived around the vessel; or those small +creatures ever on the wing, the Mother Carey’s chickens, which had borne +us company from New York bay, and for a whole fortnight fluttered about +the vessel’s stern. For some days we had a dead calm, or very light +winds, during which the crew amused themselves with fishing, and hooked +an unlucky dolphin, who expired, in all his rainbow colours, on the deck: +an event of such importance in our barren calendar, that afterwards we +dated from the dolphin, and made the day on which he died, an era. + +Besides all this, when we were five or six days out, there began to be +much talk of icebergs, of which wandering islands an unusual number had +been seen by the vessels that had come into New York a day or two before +we left that port, and of whose dangerous neighbourhood we were warned by +the sudden coldness of the weather, and the sinking of the mercury in the +barometer. While these tokens lasted, a double look-out was kept, and +many dismal tales were whispered after dark, of ships that had struck +upon the ice and gone down in the night; but the wind obliging us to hold +a southward course, we saw none of them, and the weather soon grew bright +and warm again. + +The observation every day at noon, and the subsequent working of the +vessel’s course, was, as may be supposed, a feature in our lives of +paramount importance; nor were there wanting (as there never are) +sagacious doubters of the captain’s calculations, who, so soon as his +back was turned, would, in the absence of compasses, measure the chart +with bits of string, and ends of pocket-handkerchiefs, and points of +snuffers, and clearly prove him to be wrong by an odd thousand miles or +so. It was very edifying to see these unbelievers shake their heads and +frown, and hear them hold forth strongly upon navigation: not that they +knew anything about it, but that they always mistrusted the captain in +calm weather, or when the wind was adverse. Indeed, the mercury itself +is not so variable as this class of passengers, whom you will see, when +the ship is going nobly through the water, quite pale with admiration, +swearing that the captain beats all captains ever known, and even hinting +at subscriptions for a piece of plate; and who, next morning, when the +breeze has lulled, and all the sails hang useless in the idle air, shake +their despondent heads again, and say, with screwed-up lips, they hope +that captain is a sailor—but they shrewdly doubt him. + +It even became an occupation in the calm, to wonder when the wind _would_ +spring up in the favourable quarter, where, it was clearly shown by all +the rules and precedents, it ought to have sprung up long ago. The first +mate, who whistled for it zealously, was much respected for his +perseverance, and was regarded even by the unbelievers as a first-rate +sailor. Many gloomy looks would be cast upward through the cabin +skylights at the flapping sails while dinner was in progress; and some, +growing bold in ruefulness, predicted that we should land about the +middle of July. There are always on board ship, a Sanguine One, and a +Despondent One. The latter character carried it hollow at this period of +the voyage, and triumphed over the Sanguine One at every meal, by +inquiring where he supposed the Great Western (which left New York a week +after us) was _now_: and where he supposed the ‘Cunard’ steam-packet was +_now_: and what he thought of sailing vessels, as compared with +steamships _now_: and so beset his life with pestilent attacks of that +kind, that he too was obliged to affect despondency, for very peace and +quietude. + +These were additions to the list of entertaining incidents, but there was +still another source of interest. We carried in the steerage nearly a +hundred passengers: a little world of poverty: and as we came to know +individuals among them by sight, from looking down upon the deck where +they took the air in the daytime, and cooked their food, and very often +ate it too, we became curious to know their histories, and with what +expectations they had gone out to America, and on what errands they were +going home, and what their circumstances were. The information we got on +these heads from the carpenter, who had charge of these people, was often +of the strangest kind. Some of them had been in America but three days, +some but three months, and some had gone out in the last voyage of that +very ship in which they were now returning home. Others had sold their +clothes to raise the passage-money, and had hardly rags to cover them; +others had no food, and lived upon the charity of the rest: and one man, +it was discovered nearly at the end of the voyage, not before—for he kept +his secret close, and did not court compassion—had had no sustenance +whatever but the bones and scraps of fat he took from the plates used in +the after-cabin dinner, when they were put out to be washed. + +The whole system of shipping and conveying these unfortunate persons, is +one that stands in need of thorough revision. If any class deserve to be +protected and assisted by the Government, it is that class who are +banished from their native land in search of the bare means of +subsistence. All that could be done for these poor people by the great +compassion and humanity of the captain and officers was done, but they +require much more. The law is bound, at least upon the English side, to +see that too many of them are not put on board one ship: and that their +accommodations are decent: not demoralising, and profligate. It is +bound, too, in common humanity, to declare that no man shall be taken on +board without his stock of provisions being previously inspected by some +proper officer, and pronounced moderately sufficient for his support upon +the voyage. It is bound to provide, or to require that there be +provided, a medical attendant; whereas in these ships there are none, +though sickness of adults, and deaths of children, on the passage, are +matters of the very commonest occurrence. Above all it is the duty of +any Government, be it monarchy or republic, to interpose and put an end +to that system by which a firm of traders in emigrants purchase of the +owners the whole ’tween-decks of a ship, and send on board as many +wretched people as they can lay hold of, on any terms they can get, +without the smallest reference to the conveniences of the steerage, the +number of berths, the slightest separation of the sexes, or anything but +their own immediate profit. Nor is even this the worst of the vicious +system: for, certain crimping agents of these houses, who have a +percentage on all the passengers they inveigle, are constantly travelling +about those districts where poverty and discontent are rife, and tempting +the credulous into more misery, by holding out monstrous inducements to +emigration which can never be realised. + +The history of every family we had on board was pretty much the same. +After hoarding up, and borrowing, and begging, and selling everything to +pay the passage, they had gone out to New York, expecting to find its +streets paved with gold; and had found them paved with very hard and very +real stones. Enterprise was dull; labourers were not wanted; jobs of +work were to be got, but the payment was not. They were coming back, +even poorer than they went. One of them was carrying an open letter from +a young English artisan, who had been in New York a fortnight, to a +friend near Manchester, whom he strongly urged to follow him. One of the +officers brought it to me as a curiosity. ‘This is the country, Jem,’ +said the writer. ‘I like America. There is no despotism here; that’s +the great thing. Employment of all sorts is going a-begging, and wages +are capital. You have only to choose a trade, Jem, and be it. I haven’t +made choice of one yet, but I shall soon. _At present I haven’t quite +made up my mind whether to be a carpenter—or a tailor_.’ + +There was yet another kind of passenger, and but one more, who, in the +calm and the light winds, was a constant theme of conversation and +observation among us. This was an English sailor, a smart, +thorough-built, English man-of-war’s-man from his hat to his shoes, who +was serving in the American navy, and having got leave of absence was on +his way home to see his friends. When he presented himself to take and +pay for his passage, it had been suggested to him that being an able +seaman he might as well work it and save the money, but this piece of +advice he very indignantly rejected: saying, ‘He’d be damned but for once +he’d go aboard ship, as a gentleman.’ Accordingly, they took his money, +but he no sooner came aboard, than he stowed his kit in the forecastle, +arranged to mess with the crew, and the very first time the hands were +turned up, went aloft like a cat, before anybody. And all through the +passage there he was, first at the braces, outermost on the yards, +perpetually lending a hand everywhere, but always with a sober dignity in +his manner, and a sober grin on his face, which plainly said, ‘I do it as +a gentleman. For my own pleasure, mind you!’ + +At length and at last, the promised wind came up in right good earnest, +and away we went before it, with every stitch of canvas set, slashing +through the water nobly. There was a grandeur in the motion of the +splendid ship, as overshadowed by her mass of sails, she rode at a +furious pace upon the waves, which filled one with an indescribable sense +of pride and exultation. As she plunged into a foaming valley, how I +loved to see the green waves, bordered deep with white, come rushing on +astern, to buoy her upward at their pleasure, and curl about her as she +stooped again, but always own her for their haughty mistress still! On, +on we flew, with changing lights upon the water, being now in the blessed +region of fleecy skies; a bright sun lighting us by day, and a bright +moon by night; the vane pointing directly homeward, alike the truthful +index to the favouring wind and to our cheerful hearts; until at sunrise, +one fair Monday morning—the twenty-seventh of June, I shall not easily +forget the day—there lay before us, old Cape Clear, God bless it, +showing, in the mist of early morning, like a cloud: the brightest and +most welcome cloud, to us, that ever hid the face of Heaven’s fallen +sister—Home. + +Dim speck as it was in the wide prospect, it made the sunrise a more +cheerful sight, and gave to it that sort of human interest which it seems +to want at sea. There, as elsewhere, the return of day is inseparable +from some sense of renewed hope and gladness; but the light shining on +the dreary waste of water, and showing it in all its vast extent of +loneliness, presents a solemn spectacle, which even night, veiling it in +darkness and uncertainty, does not surpass. The rising of the moon is +more in keeping with the solitary ocean; and has an air of melancholy +grandeur, which in its soft and gentle influence, seems to comfort while +it saddens. I recollect when I was a very young child having a fancy +that the reflection of the moon in water was a path to Heaven, trodden by +the spirits of good people on their way to God; and this old feeling +often came over me again, when I watched it on a tranquil night at sea. + +The wind was very light on this same Monday morning, but it was still in +the right quarter, and so, by slow degrees, we left Cape Clear behind, +and sailed along within sight of the coast of Ireland. And how merry we +all were, and how loyal to the George Washington, and how full of mutual +congratulations, and how venturesome in predicting the exact hour at +which we should arrive at Liverpool, may be easily imagined and readily +understood. Also, how heartily we drank the captain’s health that day at +dinner; and how restless we became about packing up: and how two or three +of the most sanguine spirits rejected the idea of going to bed at all +that night as something it was not worth while to do, so near the shore, +but went nevertheless, and slept soundly; and how to be so near our +journey’s end, was like a pleasant dream, from which one feared to wake. + +The friendly breeze freshened again next day, and on we went once more +before it gallantly: descrying now and then an English ship going +homeward under shortened sail, while we, with every inch of canvas +crowded on, dashed gaily past, and left her far behind. Towards evening, +the weather turned hazy, with a drizzling rain; and soon became so thick, +that we sailed, as it were, in a cloud. Still we swept onward like a +phantom ship, and many an eager eye glanced up to where the Look-out on +the mast kept watch for Holyhead. + +At length his long-expected cry was heard, and at the same moment there +shone out from the haze and mist ahead, a gleaming light, which presently +was gone, and soon returned, and soon was gone again. Whenever it came +back, the eyes of all on board, brightened and sparkled like itself: and +there we all stood, watching this revolving light upon the rock at +Holyhead, and praising it for its brightness and its friendly warning, +and lauding it, in short, above all other signal lights that ever were +displayed, until it once more glimmered faintly in the distance, far +behind us. + +Then, it was time to fire a gun, for a pilot; and almost before its smoke +had cleared away, a little boat with a light at her masthead came bearing +down upon us, through the darkness, swiftly. And presently, our sails +being backed, she ran alongside; and the hoarse pilot, wrapped and +muffled in pea-coats and shawls to the very bridge of his +weather-ploughed-up nose, stood bodily among us on the deck. And I think +if that pilot had wanted to borrow fifty pounds for an indefinite period +on no security, we should have engaged to lend it to him, among us, +before his boat had dropped astern, or (which is the same thing) before +every scrap of news in the paper he brought with him had become the +common property of all on board. + +We turned in pretty late that night, and turned out pretty early next +morning. By six o’clock we clustered on the deck, prepared to go ashore; +and looked upon the spires, and roofs, and smoke, of Liverpool. By eight +we all sat down in one of its Hotels, to eat and drink together for the +last time. And by nine we had shaken hands all round, and broken up our +social company for ever. + +The country, by the railroad, seemed, as we rattled through it, like a +luxuriant garden. The beauty of the fields (so small they looked!), the +hedge-rows, and the trees; the pretty cottages, the beds of flowers, the +old churchyards, the antique houses, and every well-known object; the +exquisite delights of that one journey, crowding in the short compass of +a summer’s day, the joy of many years, with the winding up with Home and +all that makes it dear; no tongue can tell, or pen of mine describe. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +SLAVERY + + +THE upholders of slavery in America—of the atrocities of which system, I +shall not write one word for which I have not had ample proof and +warrant—may be divided into three great classes. + +The first, are those more moderate and rational owners of human cattle, +who have come into the possession of them as so many coins in their +trading capital, but who admit the frightful nature of the Institution in +the abstract, and perceive the dangers to society with which it is +fraught: dangers which however distant they may be, or howsoever tardy in +their coming on, are as certain to fall upon its guilty head, as is the +Day of Judgment. + +The second, consists of all those owners, breeders, users, buyers and +sellers of slaves, who will, until the bloody chapter has a bloody end, +own, breed, use, buy, and sell them at all hazards: who doggedly deny the +horrors of the system in the teeth of such a mass of evidence as never +was brought to bear on any other subject, and to which the experience of +every day contributes its immense amount; who would at this or any other +moment, gladly involve America in a war, civil or foreign, provided that +it had for its sole end and object the assertion of their right to +perpetuate slavery, and to whip and work and torture slaves, unquestioned +by any human authority, and unassailed by any human power; who, when they +speak of Freedom, mean the Freedom to oppress their kind, and to be +savage, merciless, and cruel; and of whom every man on his own ground, in +republican America, is a more exacting, and a sterner, and a less +responsible despot than the Caliph Haroun Alraschid in his angry robe of +scarlet. + +The third, and not the least numerous or influential, is composed of all +that delicate gentility which cannot bear a superior, and cannot brook an +equal; of that class whose Republicanism means, ‘I will not tolerate a +man above me: and of those below, none must approach too near;’ whose +pride, in a land where voluntary servitude is shunned as a disgrace, must +be ministered to by slaves; and whose inalienable rights can only have +their growth in negro wrongs. + +It has been sometimes urged that, in the unavailing efforts which have +been made to advance the cause of Human Freedom in the republic of +America (strange cause for history to treat of!), sufficient regard has +not been had to the existence of the first class of persons; and it has +been contended that they are hardly used, in being confounded with the +second. This is, no doubt, the case; noble instances of pecuniary and +personal sacrifice have already had their growth among them; and it is +much to be regretted that the gulf between them and the advocates of +emancipation should have been widened and deepened by any means: the +rather, as there are, beyond dispute, among these slave-owners, many kind +masters who are tender in the exercise of their unnatural power. Still, +it is to be feared that this injustice is inseparable from the state of +things with which humanity and truth are called upon to deal. Slavery is +not a whit the more endurable because some hearts are to be found which +can partially resist its hardening influences; nor can the indignant tide +of honest wrath stand still, because in its onward course it overwhelms a +few who are comparatively innocent, among a host of guilty. + +The ground most commonly taken by these better men among the advocates of +slavery, is this: ‘It is a bad system; and for myself I would willingly +get rid of it, if I could; most willingly. But it is not so bad, as you +in England take it to be. You are deceived by the representations of the +emancipationists. The greater part of my slaves are much attached to me. +You will say that I do not allow them to be severely treated; but I will +put it to you whether you believe that it can be a general practice to +treat them inhumanly, when it would impair their value, and would be +obviously against the interests of their masters.’ + +Is it the interest of any man to steal, to game, to waste his health and +mental faculties by drunkenness, to lie, forswear himself, indulge +hatred, seek desperate revenge, or do murder? No. All these are roads +to ruin. And why, then, do men tread them? Because such inclinations are +among the vicious qualities of mankind. Blot out, ye friends of slavery, +from the catalogue of human passions, brutal lust, cruelty, and the abuse +of irresponsible power (of all earthly temptations the most difficult to +be resisted), and when ye have done so, and not before, we will inquire +whether it be the interest of a master to lash and maim the slaves, over +whose lives and limbs he has an absolute control! + +But again: this class, together with that last one I have named, the +miserable aristocracy spawned of a false republic, lift up their voices +and exclaim ‘Public opinion is all-sufficient to prevent such cruelty as +you denounce.’ Public opinion! Why, public opinion in the slave States +_is_ slavery, is it not? Public opinion, in the slave States, has +delivered the slaves over, to the gentle mercies of their masters. +Public opinion has made the laws, and denied the slaves legislative +protection. Public opinion has knotted the lash, heated the +branding-iron, loaded the rifle, and shielded the murderer. Public +opinion threatens the abolitionist with death, if he venture to the +South; and drags him with a rope about his middle, in broad unblushing +noon, through the first city in the East. Public opinion has, within a +few years, burned a slave alive at a slow fire in the city of St. Louis; +and public opinion has to this day maintained upon the bench that +estimable judge who charged the jury, impanelled there to try his +murderers, that their most horrid deed was an act of public opinion, and +being so, must not be punished by the laws the public sentiment had made. +Public opinion hailed this doctrine with a howl of wild applause, and set +the prisoners free, to walk the city, men of mark, and influence, and +station, as they had been before. + +Public opinion! what class of men have an immense preponderance over the +rest of the community, in their power of representing public opinion in +the legislature? the slave-owners. They send from their twelve States +one hundred members, while the fourteen free States, with a free +population nearly double, return but a hundred and forty-two. Before +whom do the presidential candidates bow down the most humbly, on whom do +they fawn the most fondly, and for whose tastes do they cater the most +assiduously in their servile protestations? The slave-owners always. + +Public opinion! hear the public opinion of the free South, as expressed +by its own members in the House of Representatives at Washington. ‘I +have a great respect for the chair,’ quoth North Carolina, ‘I have a +great respect for the chair as an officer of the house, and a great +respect for him personally; nothing but that respect prevents me from +rushing to the table and tearing that petition which has just been +presented for the abolition of slavery in the district of Columbia, to +pieces.’—‘I warn the abolitionists,’ says South Carolina, ‘ignorant, +infuriated barbarians as they are, that if chance shall throw any of them +into our hands, he may expect a felon’s death.’—‘Let an abolitionist come +within the borders of South Carolina,’ cries a third; mild Carolina’s +colleague; ‘and if we can catch him, we will try him, and notwithstanding +the interference of all the governments on earth, including the Federal +government, we will HANG him.’ + +Public opinion has made this law.—It has declared that in Washington, in +that city which takes its name from the father of American liberty, any +justice of the peace may bind with fetters any negro passing down the +street and thrust him into jail: no offence on the black man’s part is +necessary. The justice says, ‘I choose to think this man a runaway:’ and +locks him up. Public opinion impowers the man of law when this is done, +to advertise the negro in the newspapers, warning his owner to come and +claim him, or he will be sold to pay the jail fees. But supposing he is +a free black, and has no owner, it may naturally be presumed that he is +set at liberty. No: HE IS SOLD TO RECOMPENSE HIS JAILER. This has been +done again, and again, and again. He has no means of proving his +freedom; has no adviser, messenger, or assistance of any sort or kind; no +investigation into his case is made, or inquiry instituted. He, a free +man, who may have served for years, and bought his liberty, is thrown +into jail on no process, for no crime, and on no pretence of crime: and +is sold to pay the jail fees. This seems incredible, even of America, +but it is the law. + +Public opinion is deferred to, in such cases as the following: which is +headed in the newspapers:— + + ‘_Interesting Law-Case_. + + ‘An interesting case is now on trial in the Supreme Court, arising + out of the following facts. A gentleman residing in Maryland had + allowed an aged pair of his slaves, substantial though not legal + freedom for several years. While thus living, a daughter was born to + them, who grew up in the same liberty, until she married a free + negro, and went with him to reside in Pennsylvania. They had several + children, and lived unmolested until the original owner died, when + his heir attempted to regain them; but the magistrate before whom + they were brought, decided that he had no jurisdiction in the case. + _The owner seized the woman and her children in the night_, _and + carried them to Maryland_.’ + +‘Cash for negroes,’ ‘cash for negroes,’ ‘cash for negroes,’ is the +heading of advertisements in great capitals down the long columns of the +crowded journals. Woodcuts of a runaway negro with manacled hands, +crouching beneath a bluff pursuer in top boots, who, having caught him, +grasps him by the throat, agreeably diversify the pleasant text. The +leading article protests against ‘that abominable and hellish doctrine of +abolition, which is repugnant alike to every law of God and nature.’ The +delicate mamma, who smiles her acquiescence in this sprightly writing as +she reads the paper in her cool piazza, quiets her youngest child who +clings about her skirts, by promising the boy ‘a whip to beat the little +niggers with.’—But the negroes, little and big, are protected by public +opinion. + +Let us try this public opinion by another test, which is important in +three points of view: first, as showing how desperately timid of the +public opinion slave-owners are, in their delicate descriptions of +fugitive slaves in widely circulated newspapers; secondly, as showing how +perfectly contented the slaves are, and how very seldom they run away; +thirdly, as exhibiting their entire freedom from scar, or blemish, or any +mark of cruel infliction, as their pictures are drawn, not by lying +abolitionists, but by their own truthful masters. + +The following are a few specimens of the advertisements in the public +papers. It is only four years since the oldest among them appeared; and +others of the same nature continue to be published every day, in shoals. + + ‘Ran away, Negress Caroline. Had on a collar with one prong turned + down.’ + + ‘Ran away, a black woman, Betsy. Had an iron bar on her right leg.’ + + ‘Ran away, the negro Manuel. Much marked with irons.’ + + ‘Ran away, the negress Fanny. Had on an iron band about her neck.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro boy about twelve years old. Had round his neck a + chain dog-collar with “De Lampert” engraved on it.’ + + ‘Ran away, the negro Hown. Has a ring of iron on his left foot. + Also, Grise, _his wife_, having a ring and chain on the left leg.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro boy named James. Said boy was ironed when he left + me.’ + + ‘Committed to jail, a man who calls his name John. He has a clog of + iron on his right foot which will weigh four or five pounds.’ + + ‘Detained at the police jail, the negro wench, Myra. Has several + marks of LASHING, and has irons on her feet.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro woman and two children. A few days before she + went off, I burnt her with a hot iron, on the left side of her face. + I tried to make the letter M.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro man named Henry; his left eye out, some scars from + a dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred with the whip.’ + + ‘One hundred dollars reward, for a negro fellow, Pompey, 40 years + old. He is branded on the left jaw.’ + + ‘Committed to jail, a negro man. Has no toes on the left foot.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro woman named Rachel. Has lost all her toes except + the large one.’ + + ‘Ran away, Sam. He was shot a short time since through the hand, and + has several shots in his left arm and side.’ + + ‘Ran away, my negro man Dennis. Said negro has been shot in the left + arm between the shoulder and elbow, which has paralysed the left + hand.’ + + ‘Ran away, my negro man named Simon. He has been shot badly, in his + back and right arm.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro named Arthur. Has a considerable scar across his + breast and each arm, made by a knife; loves to talk much of the + goodness of God.’ + + ‘Twenty-five dollars reward for my man Isaac. He has a scar on his + forehead, caused by a blow; and one on his back, made by a shot from + a pistol.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro girl called Mary. Has a small scar over her eye, + a good many teeth missing, the letter A is branded on her cheek and + forehead.’ + + ‘Ran away, negro Ben. Has a scar on his right hand; his thumb and + forefinger being injured by being shot last fall. A part of the bone + came out. He has also one or two large scars on his back and hips.’ + + ‘Detained at the jail, a mulatto, named Tom. Has a scar on the right + cheek, and appears to have been burned with powder on the face.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro man named Ned. Three of his fingers are drawn + into the palm of his hand by a cut. Has a scar on the back of his + neck, nearly half round, done by a knife.’ + + ‘Was committed to jail, a negro man. Says his name is Josiah. His + back very much scarred by the whip; and branded on the thigh and hips + in three or four places, thus (J M). The rim of his right ear has + been bit or cut off.’ + + ‘Fifty dollars reward, for my fellow Edward. He has a scar on the + corner of his mouth, two cuts on and under his arm, and the letter E + on his arm.’ + + ‘Ran away, negro boy Ellie. Has a scar on one of his arms from the + bite of a dog.’ + + ‘Ran away, from the plantation of James Surgette, the following + negroes: Randal, has one ear cropped; Bob, has lost one eye; Kentucky + Tom, has one jaw broken.’ + + ‘Ran away, Anthony. One of his ears cut off, and his left hand cut + with an axe.’ + + ‘Fifty dollars reward for the negro Jim Blake. Has a piece cut out + of each ear, and the middle finger of the left hand cut off to the + second joint.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro woman named Maria. Has a scar on one side of her + cheek, by a cut. Some scars on her back.’ + + ‘Ran away, the Mulatto wench Mary. Has a cut on the left arm, a scar + on the left shoulder, and two upper teeth missing.’ + +I should say, perhaps, in explanation of this latter piece of +description, that among the other blessings which public opinion secures +to the negroes, is the common practice of violently punching out their +teeth. To make them wear iron collars by day and night, and to worry +them with dogs, are practices almost too ordinary to deserve mention. + + ‘Ran away, my man Fountain. Has holes in his ears, a scar on the + right side of his forehead, has been shot in the hind part of his + legs, and is marked on the back with the whip.’ + + ‘Two hundred and fifty dollars reward for my negro man Jim. He is + much marked with shot in his right thigh. The shot entered on the + outside, halfway between the hip and knee joints.’ + + ‘Brought to jail, John. Left ear cropt.’ + + ‘Taken up, a negro man. Is very much scarred about the face and + body, and has the left ear bit off.’ + + ‘Ran away, a black girl, named Mary. Has a scar on her cheek, and + the end of one of her toes cut off.’ + + ‘Ran away, my Mulatto woman, Judy. She has had her right arm broke.’ + + ‘Ran away, my negro man, Levi. His left hand has been burnt, and I + think the end of his forefinger is off.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro man, NAMED WASHINGTON. Has lost a part of his + middle finger, and the end of his little finger.’ + + ‘Twenty-five dollars reward for my man John. The tip of his nose is + bit off.’ + + ‘Twenty-five dollars reward for the negro slave, Sally. Walks _as + though_ crippled in the back.’ + + ‘Ran away, Joe Dennis. Has a small notch in one of his ears.’ + + ‘Ran away, negro boy, Jack. Has a small crop out of his left ear.’ + + ‘Ran away, a negro man, named Ivory. Has a small piece cut out of + the top of each ear.’ + +While upon the subject of ears, I may observe that a distinguished +abolitionist in New York once received a negro’s ear, which had been cut +off close to the head, in a general post letter. It was forwarded by the +free and independent gentleman who had caused it to be amputated, with a +polite request that he would place the specimen in his ‘collection.’ + +I could enlarge this catalogue with broken arms, and broken legs, and +gashed flesh, and missing teeth, and lacerated backs, and bites of dogs, +and brands of red-hot irons innumerable: but as my readers will be +sufficiently sickened and repelled already, I will turn to another branch +of the subject. + +These advertisements, of which a similar collection might be made for +every year, and month, and week, and day; and which are coolly read in +families as things of course, and as a part of the current news and +small-talk; will serve to show how very much the slaves profit by public +opinion, and how tender it is in their behalf. But it may be worth while +to inquire how the slave-owners, and the class of society to which great +numbers of them belong, defer to public opinion in their conduct, not to +their slaves but to each other; how they are accustomed to restrain their +passions; what their bearing is among themselves; whether they are fierce +or gentle; whether their social customs be brutal, sanguinary, and +violent, or bear the impress of civilisation and refinement. + +That we may have no partial evidence from abolitionists in this inquiry, +either, I will once more turn to their own newspapers, and I will confine +myself, this time, to a selection from paragraphs which appeared from day +to day, during my visit to America, and which refer to occurrences +happening while I was there. The italics in these extracts, as in the +foregoing, are my own. + +These cases did not ALL occur, it will be seen, in territory actually +belonging to legalised Slave States, though most, and those the very +worst among them did, as their counterparts constantly do; but the +position of the scenes of action in reference to places immediately at +hand, where slavery is the law; and the strong resemblance between that +class of outrages and the rest; lead to the just presumption that the +character of the parties concerned was formed in slave districts, and +brutalised by slave customs. + + ‘_Horrible Tragedy_. + + ‘By a slip from _The Southport Telegraph_, Wisconsin, we learn that + the Hon. Charles C. P. Arndt, Member of the Council for Brown county, + was shot dead _on the floor of the Council chamber_, by James R. + Vinyard, Member from Grant county. _The affair_ grew out of a + nomination for Sheriff of Grant county. Mr. E. S. Baker was + nominated and supported by Mr. Arndt. This nomination was opposed by + Vinyard, who wanted the appointment to vest in his own brother. In + the course of debate, the deceased made some statements which Vinyard + pronounced false, and made use of violent and insulting language, + dealing largely in personalities, to which Mr. A. made no reply. + After the adjournment, Mr. A. stepped up to Vinyard, and requested + him to retract, which he refused to do, repeating the offensive + words. Mr. Arndt then made a blow at Vinyard, who stepped back a + pace, drew a pistol, and shot him dead. + + ‘The issue appears to have been provoked on the part of Vinyard, who + was determined at all hazards to defeat the appointment of Baker, and + who, himself defeated, turned his ire and revenge upon the + unfortunate Arndt.’ + + ‘_The Wisconsin Tragedy_. + + Public indignation runs high in the territory of Wisconsin, in + relation to the murder of C. C. P. Arndt, in the Legislative Hall of + the Territory. Meetings have been held in different counties of + Wisconsin, denouncing _the practice of secretly bearing arms in the + Legislative chambers of the country_. We have seen the account of + the expulsion of James R. Vinyard, the perpetrator of the bloody + deed, and are amazed to hear, that, after this expulsion by those who + saw Vinyard kill Mr. Arndt in the presence of his aged father, who + was on a visit to see his son, little dreaming that he was to witness + his murder, _Judge Dunn has discharged Vinyard on bail_. The Miners’ + Free Press speaks _in terms of merited rebuke_ at the outrage upon + the feelings of the people of Wisconsin. Vinyard was within arm’s + length of Mr. Arndt, when he took such deadly aim at him, that he + never spoke. Vinyard might at pleasure, being so near, have only + wounded him, but he chose to kill him.’ + + ‘_Murder_. + + By a letter in a St. Louis paper of the ‘4th, we notice a terrible + outrage at Burlington, Iowa. A Mr. Bridgman having had a difficulty + with a citizen of the place, Mr. Ross; a brother-in-law of the latter + provided himself with one of Colt’s revolving pistols, met Mr. B. in + the street, _and discharged the contents of five of the barrels at + him_: _each shot taking effect_. Mr. B., though horribly wounded, + and dying, returned the fire, and killed Ross on the spot.’ + + ‘_Terrible Death of Robert Potter_. + + ‘From the “Caddo Gazette,” of the 12th inst., we learn the frightful + death of Colonel Robert Potter. . . . He was beset in his house by an + enemy, named Rose. He sprang from his couch, seized his gun, and, in + his night-clothes, rushed from the house. For about two hundred + yards his speed seemed to defy his pursuers; but, getting entangled + in a thicket, he was captured. Rose told him _that he intended to + act a generous part_, and give him a chance for his life. He then + told Potter he might run, and he should not be interrupted till he + reached a certain distance. Potter started at the word of command, + and before a gun was fired he had reached the lake. His first + impulse was to jump in the water and dive for it, which he did. Rose + was close behind him, and formed his men on the bank ready to shoot + him as he rose. In a few seconds he came up to breathe; and scarce + had his head reached the surface of the water when it was completely + riddled with the shot of their guns, and he sunk, to rise no more!’ + + ‘_Murder in Arkansas_. + + ‘We understand _that a severe rencontre came off_ a few days since in + the Seneca Nation, between Mr. Loose, the sub-agent of the mixed band + of the Senecas, Quapaw, and Shawnees, and Mr. James Gillespie, of the + mercantile firm of Thomas G. Allison and Co., of Maysville, Benton, + County Ark, in which the latter was slain with a bowie-knife. Some + difficulty had for some time existed between the parties. It is said + that Major Gillespie brought on the attack with a cane. A severe + conflict ensued, during which two pistols were fired by Gillespie and + one by Loose. Loose then stabbed Gillespie with one of those + never-failing weapons, a bowie-knife. The death of Major G. is much + regretted, as he was a liberal-minded and energetic man. Since the + above was in type, we have learned that Major Allison has stated to + some of our citizens in town that Mr. Loose gave the first blow. We + forbear to give any particulars, as _the matter will be the subject + of judicial investigation_.’ + + ‘_Foul Deed_. + + The steamer Thames, just from Missouri river, brought us a handbill, + offering a reward of 500 dollars, for the person who assassinated + Lilburn W. Baggs, late Governor of this State, at Independence, on + the night of the 6th inst. Governor Baggs, it is stated in a written + memorandum, was not dead, but mortally wounded. + + ‘Since the above was written, we received a note from the clerk of + the Thames, giving the following particulars. Gov. Baggs was shot by + some villain on Friday, 6th inst., in the evening, while sitting in a + room in his own house in Independence. His son, a boy, hearing a + report, ran into the room, and found the Governor sitting in his + chair, with his jaw fallen down, and his head leaning back; on + discovering the injury done to his father, he gave the alarm. Foot + tracks were found in the garden below the window, and a pistol picked + up supposed to have been overloaded, and thrown from the hand of the + scoundrel who fired it. Three buck shots of a heavy load, took + effect; one going through his mouth, one into the brain, and another + probably in or near the brain; all going into the back part of the + neck and head. The Governor was still alive on the morning of the + 7th; but no hopes for his recovery by his friends, and but slight + hopes from his physicians. + + ‘A man was suspected, and the Sheriff most probably has possession of + him by this time. + + ‘The pistol was one of a pair stolen some days previous from a baker + in Independence, and the legal authorities have the description of + the other.’ + + ‘_Rencontre_. + + ‘An unfortunate _affair_ took place on Friday evening in Chatres + Street, in which one of our most respectable citizens received a + dangerous wound, from a poignard, in the abdomen. From the Bee (New + Orleans) of yesterday, we learn the following particulars. It + appears that an article was published in the French side of the paper + on Monday last, containing some strictures on the Artillery Battalion + for firing their guns on Sunday morning, in answer to those from the + Ontario and Woodbury, and thereby much alarm was caused to the + families of those persons who were out all night preserving the peace + of the city. Major C. Gally, Commander of the battalion, resenting + this, called at the office and demanded the author’s name; that of + Mr. P. Arpin was given to him, who was absent at the time. Some + angry words then passed with one of the proprietors, and a challenge + followed; the friends of both parties tried to arrange the affair, + but failed to do so. On Friday evening, about seven o’clock, Major + Gally met Mr. P. Arpin in Chatres Street, and accosted him. “Are you + Mr. Arpin?” + + ‘“Yes, sir.” + + ‘“Then I have to tell you that you are a—” (applying an appropriate + epithet). + + ‘“I shall remind you of your words, sir.” + + ‘“But I have said I would break my cane on your shoulders.” + + ‘“I know it, but I have not yet received the blow.” + + ‘At these words, Major Gally, having a cane in his hands, struck Mr. + Arpin across the face, and the latter drew a poignard from his pocket + and stabbed Major Gally in the abdomen. + + ‘Fears are entertained that the wound will be mortal. _We understand + that Mr. Arpin has given security for his appearance at the Criminal + Court to answer the charge_.’ + + ‘_Affray in Mississippi_. + + ‘On the 27th ult., in an affray near Carthage, Leake county, + Mississippi, between James Cottingham and John Wilburn, the latter + was shot by the former, and so horribly wounded, that there was no + hope of his recovery. On the 2nd instant, there was an affray at + Carthage between A. C. Sharkey and George Goff, in which the latter + was shot, and thought mortally wounded. Sharkey delivered himself up + to the authorities, _but changed his mind and escaped_!’ + + ‘_Personal Encounter_. + + ‘An encounter took place in Sparta, a few days since, between the + barkeeper of an hotel, and a man named Bury. It appears that Bury + had become somewhat noisy, _and that the barkeeper_, _determined to + preserve order_, _had threatened to shoot Bury_, whereupon Bury drew + a pistol and shot the barkeeper down. He was not dead at the last + accounts, but slight hopes were entertained of his recovery.’ + + ‘_Duel_. + + ‘The clerk of the steamboat _Tribune_ informs us that another duel + was fought on Tuesday last, by Mr. Robbins, a bank officer in + Vicksburg, and Mr. Fall, the editor of the Vicksburg Sentinel. + According to the arrangement, the parties had six pistols each, + which, after the word “Fire!” _they were to discharge as fast as they + pleased_. Fall fired two pistols without effect. Mr. Robbins’ first + shot took effect in Fall’s thigh, who fell, and was unable to + continue the combat.’ + + ‘_Affray in Clarke County_. + + ‘An _unfortunate affray_ occurred in Clarke county (MO.), near + Waterloo, on Tuesday the 19th ult., which originated in settling the + partnership concerns of Messrs. M‘Kane and M‘Allister, who had been + engaged in the business of distilling, and resulted in the death of + the latter, who was shot down by Mr. M‘Kane, because of his + attempting to take possession of seven barrels of whiskey, the + property of M‘Kane, which had been knocked off to M‘Allister at a + sheriff’s sale at one dollar per barrel. M‘Kane immediately fled + _and at the latest dates had not been taken_. + + ‘_This unfortunate affray_ caused considerable excitement in the + neighbourhood, as both the parties were men with large families + depending upon them and stood well in the community.’ + +I will quote but one more paragraph, which, by reason of its monstrous +absurdity, may be a relief to these atrocious deeds. + + ‘_Affair of Honour_. + + ‘We have just heard the particulars of a meeting which took place on + Six Mile Island, on Tuesday, between two young bloods of our city: + Samuel Thurston, _aged fifteen_, and William Hine, _aged thirteen_ + years. They were attended by young gentlemen of the same age. The + weapons used on the occasion, were a couple of Dickson’s best rifles; + the distance, thirty yards. They took one fire, without any damage + being sustained by either party, except the ball of Thurston’s gun + passing through the crown of Hine’s hat. _Through the intercession + of the Board of Honour_, the challenge was withdrawn, and the + difference amicably adjusted.’ + +If the reader will picture to himself the kind of Board of Honour which +amicably adjusted the difference between these two little boys, who in +any other part of the world would have been amicably adjusted on two +porters’ backs and soundly flogged with birchen rods, he will be +possessed, no doubt, with as strong a sense of its ludicrous character, +as that which sets me laughing whenever its image rises up before me. + +Now, I appeal to every human mind, imbued with the commonest of common +sense, and the commonest of common humanity; to all dispassionate, +reasoning creatures, of any shade of opinion; and ask, with these +revolting evidences of the state of society which exists in and about the +slave districts of America before them, can they have a doubt of the real +condition of the slave, or can they for a moment make a compromise +between the institution or any of its flagrant, fearful features, and +their own just consciences? Will they say of any tale of cruelty and +horror, however aggravated in degree, that it is improbable, when they +can turn to the public prints, and, running, read such signs as these, +laid before them by the men who rule the slaves: in their own acts and +under their own hands? + +Do we not know that the worst deformity and ugliness of slavery are at +once the cause and the effect of the reckless license taken by these +freeborn outlaws? Do we not know that the man who has been born and bred +among its wrongs; who has seen in his childhood husbands obliged at the +word of command to flog their wives; women, indecently compelled to hold +up their own garments that men might lay the heavier stripes upon their +legs, driven and harried by brutal overseers in their time of travail, +and becoming mothers on the field of toil, under the very lash itself; +who has read in youth, and seen his virgin sisters read, descriptions of +runaway men and women, and their disfigured persons, which could not be +published elsewhere, of so much stock upon a farm, or at a show of +beasts:—do we not know that that man, whenever his wrath is kindled up, +will be a brutal savage? Do we not know that as he is a coward in his +domestic life, stalking among his shrinking men and women slaves armed +with his heavy whip, so he will be a coward out of doors, and carrying +cowards’ weapons hidden in his breast, will shoot men down and stab them +when he quarrels? And if our reason did not teach us this and much +beyond; if we were such idiots as to close our eyes to that fine mode of +training which rears up such men; should we not know that they who among +their equals stab and pistol in the legislative halls, and in the +counting-house, and on the marketplace, and in all the elsewhere peaceful +pursuits of life, must be to their dependants, even though they were free +servants, so many merciless and unrelenting tyrants? + +What! shall we declaim against the ignorant peasantry of Ireland, and +mince the matter when these American taskmasters are in question? Shall +we cry shame on the brutality of those who hamstring cattle: and spare +the lights of Freedom upon earth who notch the ears of men and women, cut +pleasant posies in the shrinking flesh, learn to write with pens of +red-hot iron on the human face, rack their poetic fancies for liveries of +mutilation which their slaves shall wear for life and carry to the grave, +breaking living limbs as did the soldiery who mocked and slew the Saviour +of the world, and set defenceless creatures up for targets! Shall we +whimper over legends of the tortures practised on each other by the Pagan +Indians, and smile upon the cruelties of Christian men! Shall we, so +long as these things last, exult above the scattered remnants of that +race, and triumph in the white enjoyment of their possessions? Rather, +for me, restore the forest and the Indian village; in lieu of stars and +stripes, let some poor feather flutter in the breeze; replace the streets +and squares by wigwams; and though the death-song of a hundred haughty +warriors fill the air, it will be music to the shriek of one unhappy +slave. + +On one theme, which is commonly before our eyes, and in respect of which +our national character is changing fast, let the plain Truth be spoken, +and let us not, like dastards, beat about the bush by hinting at the +Spaniard and the fierce Italian. When knives are drawn by Englishmen in +conflict let it be said and known: ‘We owe this change to Republican +Slavery. These are the weapons of Freedom. With sharp points and edges +such as these, Liberty in America hews and hacks her slaves; or, failing +that pursuit, her sons devote them to a better use, and turn them on each +other.’ + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +CONCLUDING REMARKS + + +THERE are many passages in this book, where I have been at some pains to +resist the temptation of troubling my readers with my own deductions and +conclusions: preferring that they should judge for themselves, from such +premises as I have laid before them. My only object in the outset, was, +to carry them with me faithfully wheresoever I went: and that task I have +discharged. + +But I may be pardoned, if on such a theme as the general character of the +American people, and the general character of their social system, as +presented to a stranger’s eyes, I desire to express my own opinions in a +few words, before I bring these volumes to a close. + +They are, by nature, frank, brave, cordial, hospitable, and affectionate. +Cultivation and refinement seem but to enhance their warmth of heart and +ardent enthusiasm; and it is the possession of these latter qualities in +a most remarkable degree, which renders an educated American one of the +most endearing and most generous of friends. I never was so won upon, as +by this class; never yielded up my full confidence and esteem so readily +and pleasurably, as to them; never can make again, in half a year, so +many friends for whom I seem to entertain the regard of half a life. + +These qualities are natural, I implicitly believe, to the whole people. +That they are, however, sadly sapped and blighted in their growth among +the mass; and that there are influences at work which endanger them still +more, and give but little present promise of their healthy restoration; +is a truth that ought to be told. + +It is an essential part of every national character to pique itself +mightily upon its faults, and to deduce tokens of its virtue or its +wisdom from their very exaggeration. One great blemish in the popular +mind of America, and the prolific parent of an innumerable brood of +evils, is Universal Distrust. Yet the American citizen plumes himself +upon this spirit, even when he is sufficiently dispassionate to perceive +the ruin it works; and will often adduce it, in spite of his own reason, +as an instance of the great sagacity and acuteness of the people, and +their superior shrewdness and independence. + +‘You carry,’ says the stranger, ‘this jealousy and distrust into every +transaction of public life. By repelling worthy men from your +legislative assemblies, it has bred up a class of candidates for the +suffrage, who, in their very act, disgrace your Institutions and your +people’s choice. It has rendered you so fickle, and so given to change, +that your inconstancy has passed into a proverb; for you no sooner set up +an idol firmly, than you are sure to pull it down and dash it into +fragments: and this, because directly you reward a benefactor, or a +public servant, you distrust him, merely because he is rewarded; and +immediately apply yourselves to find out, either that you have been too +bountiful in your acknowledgments, or he remiss in his deserts. Any man +who attains a high place among you, from the President downwards, may +date his downfall from that moment; for any printed lie that any +notorious villain pens, although it militate directly against the +character and conduct of a life, appeals at once to your distrust, and is +believed. You will strain at a gnat in the way of trustfulness and +confidence, however fairly won and well deserved; but you will swallow a +whole caravan of camels, if they be laden with unworthy doubts and mean +suspicions. Is this well, think you, or likely to elevate the character +of the governors or the governed, among you?’ + +The answer is invariably the same: ‘There’s freedom of opinion here, you +know. Every man thinks for himself, and we are not to be easily +overreached. That’s how our people come to be suspicious.’ + +Another prominent feature is the love of ‘smart’ dealing: which gilds +over many a swindle and gross breach of trust; many a defalcation, public +and private; and enables many a knave to hold his head up with the best, +who well deserves a halter; though it has not been without its +retributive operation, for this smartness has done more in a few years to +impair the public credit, and to cripple the public resources, than dull +honesty, however rash, could have effected in a century. The merits of a +broken speculation, or a bankruptcy, or of a successful scoundrel, are +not gauged by its or his observance of the golden rule, ‘Do as you would +be done by,’ but are considered with reference to their smartness. I +recollect, on both occasions of our passing that ill-fated Cairo on the +Mississippi, remarking on the bad effects such gross deceits must have +when they exploded, in generating a want of confidence abroad, and +discouraging foreign investment: but I was given to understand that this +was a very smart scheme by which a deal of money had been made: and that +its smartest feature was, that they forgot these things abroad, in a very +short time, and speculated again, as freely as ever. The following +dialogue I have held a hundred times: ‘Is it not a very disgraceful +circumstance that such a man as So-and-so should be acquiring a large +property by the most infamous and odious means, and notwithstanding all +the crimes of which he has been guilty, should be tolerated and abetted +by your Citizens? He is a public nuisance, is he not?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘A +convicted liar?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘He has been kicked, and cuffed, and +caned?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘And he is utterly dishonourable, debased, and +profligate?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘In the name of wonder, then, what is his +merit?’ ‘Well, sir, he is a smart man.’ + +In like manner, all kinds of deficient and impolitic usages are referred +to the national love of trade; though, oddly enough, it would be a +weighty charge against a foreigner that he regarded the Americans as a +trading people. The love of trade is assigned as a reason for that +comfortless custom, so very prevalent in country towns, of married +persons living in hotels, having no fireside of their own, and seldom +meeting from early morning until late at night, but at the hasty public +meals. The love of trade is a reason why the literature of America is to +remain for ever unprotected ‘For we are a trading people, and don’t care +for poetry:’ though we _do_, by the way, profess to be very proud of our +poets: while healthful amusements, cheerful means of recreation, and +wholesome fancies, must fade before the stern utilitarian joys of trade. + +These three characteristics are strongly presented at every turn, full in +the stranger’s view. But, the foul growth of America has a more tangled +root than this; and it strikes its fibres, deep in its licentious Press. + +Schools may be erected, East, West, North, and South; pupils be taught, +and masters reared, by scores upon scores of thousands; colleges may +thrive, churches may be crammed, temperance may be diffused, and +advancing knowledge in all other forms walk through the land with giant +strides: but while the newspaper press of America is in, or near, its +present abject state, high moral improvement in that country is hopeless. +Year by year, it must and will go back; year by year, the tone of public +feeling must sink lower down; year by year, the Congress and the Senate +must become of less account before all decent men; and year by year, the +memory of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged more and +more, in the bad life of their degenerate child. + +Among the herd of journals which are published in the States, there are +some, the reader scarcely need be told, of character and credit. From +personal intercourse with accomplished gentlemen connected with +publications of this class, I have derived both pleasure and profit. But +the name of these is Few, and of the others Legion; and the influence of +the good, is powerless to counteract the moral poison of the bad. + +Among the gentry of America; among the well-informed and moderate: in the +learned professions; at the bar and on the bench: there is, as there can +be, but one opinion, in reference to the vicious character of these +infamous journals. It is sometimes contended—I will not say strangely, +for it is natural to seek excuses for such a disgrace—that their +influence is not so great as a visitor would suppose. I must be pardoned +for saying that there is no warrant for this plea, and that every fact +and circumstance tends directly to the opposite conclusion. + +When any man, of any grade of desert in intellect or character, can climb +to any public distinction, no matter what, in America, without first +grovelling down upon the earth, and bending the knee before this monster +of depravity; when any private excellence is safe from its attacks; when +any social confidence is left unbroken by it, or any tie of social +decency and honour is held in the least regard; when any man in that free +country has freedom of opinion, and presumes to think for himself, and +speak for himself, without humble reference to a censorship which, for +its rampant ignorance and base dishonesty, he utterly loathes and +despises in his heart; when those who most acutely feel its infamy and +the reproach it casts upon the nation, and who most denounce it to each +other, dare to set their heels upon, and crush it openly, in the sight of +all men: then, I will believe that its influence is lessening, and men +are returning to their manly senses. But while that Press has its evil +eye in every house, and its black hand in every appointment in the state, +from a president to a postman; while, with ribald slander for its only +stock in trade, it is the standard literature of an enormous class, who +must find their reading in a newspaper, or they will not read at all; so +long must its odium be upon the country’s head, and so long must the evil +it works, be plainly visible in the Republic. + +To those who are accustomed to the leading English journals, or to the +respectable journals of the Continent of Europe; to those who are +accustomed to anything else in print and paper; it would be impossible, +without an amount of extract for which I have neither space nor +inclination, to convey an adequate idea of this frightful engine in +America. But if any man desire confirmation of my statement on this +head, let him repair to any place in this city of London, where scattered +numbers of these publications are to be found; and there, let him form +his own opinion. {206} + +It would be well, there can be no doubt, for the American people as a +whole, if they loved the Real less, and the Ideal somewhat more. It +would be well, if there were greater encouragement to lightness of heart +and gaiety, and a wider cultivation of what is beautiful, without being +eminently and directly useful. But here, I think the general +remonstrance, ‘we are a new country,’ which is so often advanced as an +excuse for defects which are quite unjustifiable, as being, of right, +only the slow growth of an old one, may be very reasonably urged: and I +yet hope to hear of there being some other national amusement in the +United States, besides newspaper politics. + +They certainly are not a humorous people, and their temperament always +impressed me is being of a dull and gloomy character. In shrewdness of +remark, and a certain cast-iron quaintness, the Yankees, or people of New +England, unquestionably take the lead; as they do in most other evidences +of intelligence. But in travelling about, out of the large cities—as I +have remarked in former parts of these volumes—I was quite oppressed by +the prevailing seriousness and melancholy air of business: which was so +general and unvarying, that at every new town I came to, I seemed to meet +the very same people whom I had left behind me, at the last. Such +defects as are perceptible in the national manners, seem, to me, to be +referable, in a great degree, to this cause: which has generated a dull, +sullen persistence in coarse usages, and rejected the graces of life as +undeserving of attention. There is no doubt that Washington, who was +always most scrupulous and exact on points of ceremony, perceived the +tendency towards this mistake, even in his time, and did his utmost to +correct it. + +I cannot hold with other writers on these subjects that the prevalence of +various forms of dissent in America, is in any way attributable to the +non-existence there of an established church: indeed, I think the temper +of the people, if it admitted of such an Institution being founded +amongst them, would lead them to desert it, as a matter of course, merely +because it _was_ established. But, supposing it to exist, I doubt its +probable efficacy in summoning the wandering sheep to one great fold, +simply because of the immense amount of dissent which prevails at home; +and because I do not find in America any one form of religion with which +we in Europe, or even in England, are unacquainted. Dissenters resort +thither in great numbers, as other people do, simply because it is a land +of resort; and great settlements of them are founded, because ground can +be purchased, and towns and villages reared, where there were none of the +human creation before. But even the Shakers emigrated from England; our +country is not unknown to Mr. Joseph Smith, the apostle of Mormonism, or +to his benighted disciples; I have beheld religious scenes myself in some +of our populous towns which can hardly be surpassed by an American +camp-meeting; and I am not aware that any instance of superstitious +imposture on the one hand, and superstitious credulity on the other, has +had its origin in the United States, which we cannot more than parallel +by the precedents of Mrs. Southcote, Mary Tofts the rabbit-breeder, or +even Mr. Thorn of Canterbury: which latter case arose, some time after +the dark ages had passed away. + +The Republican Institutions of America undoubtedly lead the people to +assert their self-respect and their equality; but a traveller is bound to +bear those Institutions in his mind, and not hastily to resent the near +approach of a class of strangers, who, at home, would keep aloof. This +characteristic, when it was tinctured with no foolish pride, and stopped +short of no honest service, never offended me; and I very seldom, if +ever, experienced its rude or unbecoming display. Once or twice it was +comically developed, as in the following case; but this was an amusing +incident, and not the rule, or near it. + +I wanted a pair of boots at a certain town, for I had none to travel in, +but those with the memorable cork soles, which were much too hot for the +fiery decks of a steamboat. I therefore sent a message to an artist in +boots, importing, with my compliments, that I should be happy to see him, +if he would do me the polite favour to call. He very kindly returned for +answer, that he would ‘look round’ at six o’clock that evening. + +I was lying on the sofa, with a book and a wine-glass, at about that +time, when the door opened, and a gentleman in a stiff cravat, within a +year or two on either side of thirty, entered, in his hat and gloves; +walked up to the looking-glass; arranged his hair; took off his gloves; +slowly produced a measure from the uttermost depths of his coat-pocket; +and requested me, in a languid tone, to ‘unfix’ my straps. I complied, +but looked with some curiosity at his hat, which was still upon his head. +It might have been that, or it might have been the heat—but he took it +off. Then, he sat himself down on a chair opposite to me; rested an arm +on each knee; and, leaning forward very much, took from the ground, by a +great effort, the specimen of metropolitan workmanship which I had just +pulled off: whistling, pleasantly, as he did so. He turned it over and +over; surveyed it with a contempt no language can express; and inquired +if I wished him to fix me a boot like _that_? I courteously replied, +that provided the boots were large enough, I would leave the rest to him; +that if convenient and practicable, I should not object to their bearing +some resemblance to the model then before him; but that I would be +entirely guided by, and would beg to leave the whole subject to, his +judgment and discretion. ‘You an’t partickler, about this scoop in the +heel, I suppose then?’ says he: ‘we don’t foller that, here.’ I repeated +my last observation. He looked at himself in the glass again; went +closer to it to dash a grain or two of dust out of the corner of his eye; +and settled his cravat. All this time, my leg and foot were in the air. +‘Nearly ready, sir?’ I inquired. ‘Well, pretty nigh,’ he said; ‘keep +steady.’ I kept as steady as I could, both in foot and face; and having +by this time got the dust out, and found his pencil-case, he measured me, +and made the necessary notes. When he had finished, he fell into his old +attitude, and taking up the boot again, mused for some time. ‘And this,’ +he said, at last, ‘is an English boot, is it? This is a London boot, +eh?’ ‘That, sir,’ I replied, ‘is a London boot.’ He mused over it +again, after the manner of Hamlet with Yorick’s skull; nodded his head, +as who should say, ‘I pity the Institutions that led to the production of +this boot!’; rose; put up his pencil, notes, and paper—glancing at +himself in the glass, all the time—put on his hat—drew on his gloves very +slowly; and finally walked out. When he had been gone about a minute, +the door reopened, and his hat and his head reappeared. He looked round +the room, and at the boot again, which was still lying on the floor; +appeared thoughtful for a minute; and then said ‘Well, good arternoon.’ +‘Good afternoon, sir,’ said I: and that was the end of the interview. + +There is but one other head on which I wish to offer a remark; and that +has reference to the public health. In so vast a country, where there +are thousands of millions of acres of land yet unsettled and uncleared, +and on every rood of which, vegetable decomposition is annually taking +place; where there are so many great rivers, and such opposite varieties +of climate; there cannot fail to be a great amount of sickness at certain +seasons. But I may venture to say, after conversing with many members of +the medical profession in America, that I am not singular in the opinion +that much of the disease which does prevail, might be avoided, if a few +common precautions were observed. Greater means of personal cleanliness, +are indispensable to this end; the custom of hastily swallowing large +quantities of animal food, three times a-day, and rushing back to +sedentary pursuits after each meal, must be changed; the gentler sex must +go more wisely clad, and take more healthful exercise; and in the latter +clause, the males must be included also. Above all, in public +institutions, and throughout the whole of every town and city, the system +of ventilation, and drainage, and removal of impurities requires to be +thoroughly revised. There is no local Legislature in America which may +not study Mr. Chadwick’s excellent Report upon the Sanitary Condition of +our Labouring Classes, with immense advantage. + + * * * * * + +I HAVE now arrived at the close of this book. I have little reason to +believe, from certain warnings I have had since I returned to England, +that it will be tenderly or favourably received by the American people; +and as I have written the Truth in relation to the mass of those who form +their judgments and express their opinions, it will be seen that I have +no desire to court, by any adventitious means, the popular applause. + +It is enough for me, to know, that what I have set down in these pages, +cannot cost me a single friend on the other side of the Atlantic, who is, +in anything, deserving of the name. For the rest, I put my trust, +implicitly, in the spirit in which they have been conceived and penned; +and I can bide my time. + +I have made no reference to my reception, nor have I suffered it to +influence me in what I have written; for, in either case, I should have +offered but a sorry acknowledgment, compared with that I bear within my +breast, towards those partial readers of my former books, across the +Water, who met me with an open hand, and not with one that closed upon an +iron muzzle. + + * * * * * + + THE END + + * * * * * + + + + +POSTSCRIPT + + +AT a Public Dinner given to me on Saturday the 18th of April, 1868, in +the City of New York, by two hundred representatives of the Press of the +United States of America, I made the following observations among others: + +‘So much of my voice has lately been heard in the land, that I might have +been contented with troubling you no further from my present +standing-point, were it not a duty with which I henceforth charge myself, +not only here but on every suitable occasion, whatsoever and wheresoever, +to express my high and grateful sense of my second reception in America, +and to bear my honest testimony to the national generosity and +magnanimity. Also, to declare how astounded I have been by the amazing +changes I have seen around me on every side,—changes moral, changes +physical, changes in the amount of land subdued and peopled, changes in +the rise of vast new cities, changes in the growth of older cities almost +out of recognition, changes in the graces and amenities of life, changes +in the Press, without whose advancement no advancement can take place +anywhere. Nor am I, believe me, so arrogant as to suppose that in five +and twenty years there have been no changes in me, and that I had nothing +to learn and no extreme impressions to correct when I was here first. +And this brings me to a point on which I have, ever since I landed in the +United States last November, observed a strict silence, though sometimes +tempted to break it, but in reference to which I will, with your good +leave, take you into my confidence now. Even the Press, being human, may +be sometimes mistaken or misinformed, and I rather think that I have in +one or two rare instances observed its information to be not strictly +accurate with reference to myself. Indeed, I have, now and again, been +more surprised by printed news that I have read of myself, than by any +printed news that I have ever read in my present state of existence. +Thus, the vigour and perseverance with which I have for some months past +been collecting materials for, and hammering away at, a new book on +America has much astonished me; seeing that all that time my declaration +has been perfectly well known to my publishers on both sides of the +Atlantic, that no consideration on earth would induce me to write one. +But what I have intended, what I have resolved upon (and this is the +confidence I seek to place in you) is, on my return to England, in my own +person, in my own journal, to bear, for the behoof of my countrymen, such +testimony to the gigantic changes in this country as I have hinted at +to-night. Also, to record that wherever I have been, in the smallest +places equally with the largest, I have been received with unsurpassable +politeness, delicacy, sweet temper, hospitality, consideration, and with +unsurpassable respect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by the +nature of my avocation here and the state of my health. This testimony, +so long as I live, and so long as my descendants have any legal right in +my books, I shall cause to be republished, as an appendix to every copy +of those two books of mine in which I have referred to America. And this +I will do and cause to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, but +because I regard it as an act of plain justice and honour.’ + +I said these words with the greatest earnestness that I could lay upon +them, and I repeat them in print here with equal earnestness. So long as +this book shall last, I hope that they will form a part of it, and will +be fairly read as inseparable from my experiences and impressions of +America. + + CHARLES DICKENS. + +_May_, 1868. + + * * * * * + + PRINTED BY + WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, + LONDON AND BECCLES. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{1} This Project Gutenberg eText contains just _American Notes_. +_Pictures from Italy_ is also available from Project Gutenberg as a +separate eText.—DP. + +{206} NOTE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.—Or let him refer to an able, and +perfectly truthful article, in _The Foreign Quarterly Review_, published +in the present month of October; to which my attention has been +attracted, since these sheets have been passing through the press. He +will find some specimens there, by no means remarkable to any man who has +been in America, but sufficiently striking to one who has not. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN NOTES FOR GENERAL +CIRCULATION*** + + +******* This file should be named 675-0.txt or 675-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/7/675 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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