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I LEFT England fully tieterniined against writing a book of travels, nay, I would not even keep a Journal during our wanderings, lest I should be tempted to jot down, and ultimately to publish, my impressions of the society and institutions in those countries which it was our good fortune to visit ; but since our return to England, friends, to whose better judgment I am bound to defer, have pressed me so strongly to print the letters which I had written during our excursion, that I have consented to do so after adding somewhat, to give them the usual narrative form, and dividing them into chapters. This will account for the familiar tone of the Work, and for occasional repetitions. For the politician or philosopher these VI PRKFACE. pages will, I fear, have little or no interest ; written familiarly to relatives and friends at home, their staple is the gossip of travel ; and if they amuse that large class to whom gossip is welcome, and tend in any way to strengthen kindly feelings in the breasts of my English readers towards the people from whom their wandering countrywoman received so much and such constant courtesy and hospitality, I shall not regret giving to the world this Work. Jii-.r.vdin Castle. Jpril, IhSl, I m CONTENTS TO VOL. I. I CHAPTKR I. HAUR Arrival at New York. — First view cii' Hroadway. — SuniiutT costunie <>f tlu' iinlics. — Dt'scriptioii of Ntw York. — Its siil)Mrl)s and island.-. — Its fortifications. — Prcpurr to start for Niagara ...... I CHAPTKR II. Detained at Albany. — ^^'rcck of the "Empire " steamer. — American indifference to human life. — The theatrical riot and massacre caused by Mr. Forrest's Jealousy of Macready. — Sympathy of the lady for the captain of the " Fiinpire." — Iligh-soundiiifr names of towns. — The Hudson. — Hotels at Albany. — Description of Albany .... CHAPTER III. Difficulty of convcyinff the impression caused bv a first view of the Falls of Niagara. — An Attempt to do so — The Falls described. — A thunder-storm over the Great Cataracts. — The Rainbow. — Kindnes-ss and cour- tesy of the Americans. — Their spirit of enterprise. — Luxurious appointments of American steamers. — The Vlll CONTENTS. PAflE •limcnpiouH of the Kails. — (Jnut Islmnl. — Qimntity itf water pri'cipitattMl over tlio Fulls. — (Jruinl and Navy Islands ......... l^^ 1 ClIAPTKR IV. Port Tftlbot. — Canadian cariiaj,'es. — Vast extent of American woods. — Tlie luttei at I'ort Siiinley. — Lnkc Krie.— Mr. A and liis family. — Col. Tallmt, llie "Last of tile Mohicans." — Instance of the menmry of North American Indians. — Another story of the .same kill, I. — A recurrence to Niapira. — A second thunder- storm. — American forests. — Lake Erie hy sunset. — The maple, and the sn<;ar mutain Bawbee. Description of Huffalo. — Tradinj,^ facilities of that city. — The United States' Military Academy. — Monument to Kosciusko. — His p:ardcn. — West Point.— The Traitor AriKdd, and Major Andre. — Constitution Island.— -Oppres- sive heat of the weather 40 CHAPTER VI. Boston.— The Park.— The Trcmont Hotel.— Its luxu- rious appointments. — Mr. and Mrs. Abbott Lawrence. — The " Book of the World."— Description of Boston ; the bridges. — Their immense length. — The Western Avenue. — Boston harbour. — Anticipated rejoicings on the Anniversary of American Independence. — Boston CnNTKNTS. ix I- \0B 18 I ai r.kOB niws|mi»cr« ninl rrvirws. — Supply of water tn tin* tity. — Its (locks ami wimrvcs. — Piililic liiiiMin^js. — Tlic State Ffoiiso. — Tlio Ciistotii House. — The AtlietinMim. — The KxeliaiiL'r anil the liowilj Institute. — The cro\vtore.s.— C'oiistaJit alarm of fires . . . . .•')<• CIIATTKU VII. IMftns for the rutiire, — Musical taste of tin* New Kiiglumlors. — Cholera in New Voik. — TranH]>arency of the Aiiifricaii atiiios|»h(re. — American iiewsi»apers. — TiM'ir j)ers()ii:ilitics. — A sifrnal instance. -Mrs. S. M of New York and her family. — Miss (i of Hostoii. — The loud talking,' ascrilx <1 to American hulies. — The town of (iloucester. — Its trade ..... 03 40 CflAPTKU VIII. Return to Hoston. — Fire-engines and their hordes. — The crfidlc of American Lilx-rty. — Fanetiil Hall. — Boston prohihition of street-smoking. — Statue of Washington in the State House. — Anecdote connected with it. — A drum preserved in the State House. — Visit to Camhridge, — Mount Auhurn. — HarvanI l^nivcrsity. — Professors Pierce, Sillmian, Guyon, Spark;?, and Agassiz. — Live coral insects preserved by Professor Agassi/. — Reflec- tions suggested by them. — Museum of Prcd'es.sor Agassi/,. 7<» ai- ?rn on on CHAPTKR IX. Plymouth. — The Pilgrim-Fathers. — Mrs. Warren, a descendant of one of the Pilgrims. — Visit from Mr, Prcscott tlic Historian. — Graves of the Pilgrim-Fathers. — Visits from Daniel Webster aniihlicans tvfu in America. — The (treat Cruton Ation. — 'I'lio I,illii>iitian Liston and his model grandmamma. — The Sonnamhula of u stewardess. — St. Lduis. — Havagi's of the cholera in that city. — Kajiid growtli of St. I.duis. — Vast mnnhcr of (Jerman immi- grants. — Progress of Anurican civili/ation. — Prairie liunting. — Frecinency nf steamhoat accidents on the Missis.sijtjii ......... V \ r, B 15): pro- s. — and ts of »tivc the bug- no CHAPTER XX. The Mis.sissipjii. — Its impression npon tlie Author. — It.s bank.s. — The innnense forests seen from it. — Its varied scenery. — The Mississippi l)y night. — Hosts of floating trees. — Steamer " snagged." — Visit to the late President's cotton plantation. — His slaves. — Interesting Negro children. — Shanty of Mr. Taylor, the President's son. — An aged slave. — His extreme ])olitcness. — The black valet of Mr. Taylor. — The immediate Slave Abo- lition question. — Instances of ill-treatment of slaves. — Persecution of musquitoes 209 n. — ican ;en- en- on it in The ding 182 CHAPTER XXI. Tlie St. Charles Hotel at New Orleans.— The Swedish Waiter and Jenny Lind. — Oppressive heat in December in New Orleans. — Vast quantities of cotton. — The pro- bable future aspect of the banks of the Alississippi. — Commerce of New Orleans. — The city. — Its port. — Its inhabitants. — Its churches. — The city snlyect to inunda- tions.— Places of sepulture above ground. — Wreck of tlie Louisiana steamer. — Wonderful capabilities of the valley VOL. I. a 7 XIV CONTENTS. PA(.B of the Mississippi. — The Americans not extravagant when they describe the resources of their country. — Alli- gators. — The Red River. — The artificial enihanknients of the Mississippi at New Orleans. — Their insecurity . . 229 I CHAPTER XXII. Mobile. — Lake Ponchartrain. — An Indian encamp- ment. — The Indians and their squaws — Chumpa girls. — Some accouDl of Mobile. — Its harbour. — Festival of the new year. — Rival musical processions. — The magnolia grove. — Manner of life of the Indians. — Manifold mi- series attending Avaiting for steamers. — Madame L V , — Mr. Clay. — Preparing to start for Mexico. — Madame L V 's old black slave. — Her remem- brance of Washington. — Verses on Madame L ^1? -'s deceased children 246 CHAPTER XXIII. Boston as a commercial city. — Its wharves Its ship- ping Its trade. — The India wharf. — American boys. — The present and future of America. — The fashionable quarter of Boston. — American ladies and gentlemen. — Young America. — Boston the metropolis of Railroads. — Gallantry and patience of American travellers. — Fresh Pond, Wenham Lake ice. — Mr. Prescott's town house.— Libraries, and literary and philosophical institutions in Boston. — Its periodical literature. — Its charities. — Its patronage of the arts. — Power's sculptures. — Frequency of fires in American Cities. — General appearance of Boston 261 "! PAI.B CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. XV ■■AGE Bustle in the streets of Xeu- York— Trinity Church. —Wall Street.— Tlie Park.— Tlic shops in liroadway.— Traffic in Hroadway. — Irish and German eniiprrants.— Wharves of New York. - Its shippintr. — The Astor House Hotel.— The Kxehaii-c— the Custom House.— Theatres.— The City Hall— The chair of Washington.— Churches, — Iknevolent, literary, and scientific institu- tions. — Sijuares, mansions.— Foreigners in New York. Sympathy hetween America atxl Russia.— Those two nations.— Anecdote of an American in Russia.— Pearl Street.— Military eomi-anies in New York.— The militia. —The firemen.— The ehrtric teleo;rai)h in America The Battery.— The Hull of Justice.-The Bowery . . 279 . 246 NAERATIVE OF I TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES, &C. IN 1849-50. CHAPTER I. ARRIVAL AT NE-; YOKK._ fihST VIEW OF BROADWAY. - SUM- MER COSTUME OF THE LADIES—nESCRIPTION OF NEW VORK. -ITS SITBURnS AND ISLANDS. - ITS FORTIFICATIONS. - PRE- PARE TO START FOR NIAGARA. The Bay of JS^ew York looked beautiful on the morning of our arrival (May 16th, 1849). It was a bright, warm, splendid morning ; the sun shone gloriously, and the sky reminded me of Italy. We took leave of Captain Judkins, the obliging and excellent captain of " The Canada ;" but before we went on shore, we witnessed the disembarkation of the mails'~it IS quite an interesting spectacle. There were about thirty thousand letters- white- winged VOL. I. B 2 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. messengers of peace ! — one could not but re- joice at the sight. Those numerous letters of business, of friendship, of mutual interest, seemed so many links uniting the two coun- tries in a concord not to be easily, if ever, broken. One of the first things that struck us on arriving in the city of New York — the Em- press City of the West — was, of course, Broad- way. It is a noble street, and has a tho- roughly bustling, lively, and somewhat de- mocratic air. New York is certainly handsome, and yet there is something about it that gives one the idea of a half-finished city, and this even in Broadway itself ; for the street was literally littered with all imaginable rubbish which, we should imagine from appearances, is usually shot in that celebrated thoroughfare ; indeed it seems a sort of preserve for this species of game. Piles of timber, mounds of bricks, moun- tains of packing-cases, pyramids of stones, and stacks of goods, were observable on all sides. The New Yorkers themselves grumble much at the inconvenience, and their newspapers often contain pathetic remonstrances with the authorities, for allowing such obstructions to crowd the thoroughfare. Besides this, it appears from their published ASTOR HOUSE. it re- crs of ,crest, coun- ever, us on i Era- 3road- i tho- it de- isome, : gives is even terally tch, we isually indeed cies of moun- ts, and sides, much ipapers th the ons to )lished complaints, that their streets are very much too often torn up for sewage purposes, &c., and, in short, that this tiresome performance is frequently iinnecessarilt/ encored, without their consent, and certainly to their manifest inconvenience. They ask if their time is to be taken \\\^ (as their streets are) continually, by having to stop every two or three steps, and sit down on the next door-step to take the paving-stones out of their boots ? Cart- loads of these same paving-stones, adding to the confusion, were to be seen on all sides, and sometimes felt, as our handsome, heavy, crimson-velvet-lined, hired vehicle (rather a warm-looking lining for N^ew York, near the beginning of June), swayed from side to side, and rolled and rattled ponderously along. We went to the Astor House, or rather Astor Town, for its size is prodigious : there we had comfortable bed-rooms, and a nice sitting- room ; and we dined in private ; — and I was glad to find no objection was made to this arrangement. There is a perfect colony of Irish at the Astor House ; but till the accent betrayed them, I took the waiters, at first, for French or German, so carefully had they followed the example of their American fellow- citizens (of whom, be it remembered, I had Q 2 -1^ 'II 'ill' * TRAVELS IN AMKRICA. as 3'ct IjclielJ next to notliing), and were so ])C-l)ear(le(J, imperiallcd, and^ I ])ern've, in many instances, mustachioed too, that Paddy seemed quite transmogrified into a " wliiskered Pandoor or a fierce hussar," wliich seemed unnecessary for the ]»eaceful occupation of laying knives, — not without forks,— and hand- ing cream-ices. AVhat a glorious sunny day it was! We had a glimpse of busy ]5roadway from our windows. We soon saw some evidence of the warmth of a Xew York summer, in the pro- fusion of light cool bonnets furnished with broad and deeply-hanging curtains, shading and covering the throat and part of the shoulders, — a very sensil)le costume for hot weather. The fashion, or the custom, just now seems to be for all the ladies to wear large white shawls. I never beheld such a number of white shawls mustered before, I think : the female part of the population seem all voiiee an hlanc. It had rather too table-clothy an appearance, and from its frequency, the snowy shawl became quite tiresome ; besides, they made one think of "weird white women," sheeted spectres, and Abdel-Kader's scouring Arabs, in their " bernooses." This is, I dare say, however, only a temporary fancy ; and '' "S ■/ ? SITUATION OF NKW VORK. 'G SO , in addy Lcred 3mcd n of land- We I our f the i pro- wl th ig and ilders, ather. seems white )er of the vouee liy an snowy they men," mring dare and prohahly, when 1 return to New York, tliey (tlic sliawls, not the wearers thereof) will all have heen swept awav, like so manv liirht fleecy clouds, to the four winds of heaven. [ will say but little of New York itself now, ^ as this is only a Hying visit, and I shall return, ere lonir — merely ol)serving, en inx.^xaiit, that V everything around me betokens energy, in- dustry, and i)rosj)erity, and also the impetuous go-aheadiness, which will hardly allow time for completing all that is begun, or for con- triving that order and comfort which should keep pace with improvement and innovation. New York is situated on Manhattan Island, at the confluence of the bright and beautiful Hudson, with the east river (or strait of Long Island). It is the centre of an imposing pano- rama, and is screened from the tumultuous ocean by an assemblage of intervening, i)rotect- ing islands. Its harbour is safe, easy of access, very spacious, and is said to be capable of accommodating the combined navies of the world. This noble harbour occupies a sweep- ing circuit of twenty-five miles : on every side it is gracefully bounded by ever-varying scenery, country seats, and scattered hamlets, while the above-mentioned lovely islands shine like precious jewels on its radiant bosom. 6 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ii;! .\< ■\ i :l I I I The busy metropolis of the United States has almost constant communication, by steam and sailing-packets, with all the sea-ports of America, Asia, Africa, Europe, the East and West Indies, and the islands of the Pacific. Its progress in conmierce, population, and wealth is indeed astonishing. The population in 1800 was 60,489; in 1820, 123,706; in 1840, 312,710 ; and in 1849, 400,000. Manhattan Island is thirteen and a-half miles long from north to south, ranging from half a mile to somewhat more than two miles in width —the greatest width being at Eighty-eighth Street, and it contains about twenty-two square miles. Incessant communication is kept up between the city and its picturesque, pros- perous, and rapidly increasing suburbs, by means of steam ferry-boats, the Harlem rail- road, and omnibuses ; the fares being exceed- ingly reasonable, and the accommodations ex- tremely good. In approaching New York from " The Nar- rows," one can hardly fail to be struck by the beauty of the bay : the scenery on its shore, as I have already mentioned, is very striking. The outer harbour, or bay, extends from the " Narrows " to Sandy Hook, where is a light- house at the distance of eighteen miles from i i ■ ' "jvm.g't ' — WW nnrr.NX'Es of nkw york. States steam irts of t and 'acitic. , and lation 6 ; in f miles half a width eighth square !pt up pros- )s, by 1 rail- xceed- ins ex- 3 Nar- )y the shore, iking, m the light- from the city. In the harbour, uiljoining the city, arc Hcdlow's, rioveriior's, and Hllis's i^hinds, all ul' them strongly fortified. The lirst, und most important, inchides seventy acres of ground, and is situated tiiree thousiind two hundred feet from the battery. Tort Co- lumbus occupies its centre, and on the north- east point is Castle William, a round tower six hundred feet in circumference and sixty feet high, with three tiers of guns. There is a battery likewise, on the north-west side, com- manding the entrance through Buttermilk Channel, a strait which separates it i'rom Brooklyn, Lom:r Island. In addition to these fortifications, New York harbour is well defended l)y similar works on Bcdlow's and Ellis's islands ; at the Narrows, on the Long Island shore, by Fort Hamilton and Fort Lafayette (formerly Fort Diamond), which is built on a reef of rocks about two hundred yards from the shore ; and on Staten Island, opposite, by Fort Tompkin and Fort Richmond. Here the " Narrows " is about two- thirds of a mile wide. The entrance from the Sound, on the East River, is defended by Fort Schuyler, on Throg's Neck. So much for the defences of the great em- porium and metropolis of the United States, !'! Ml 8 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. and so much for itself for the present — for I urn off to the great Niagara. Every facility for our journey has been afforded us by the kindness of the English Consul and Mrs. Bar- clay, who have amiably given me all the neces- sary instructions, directions, &c. It may easily be guessed how eagerly I long to hear and see the waters of Erie, Superior, Huron, and Mi- chigan, all thundering down one mighty steep in their awful greatness and power ! i I DETENTION AT ALBANY. 9 CHAPTER II. I)f:t.\!M::i) at ai.iianv. — wukck of riii: " KMi'iur. >!'!' ^i m I the American Hotel, the City, the Clinton, Columbian Congress Hall, Delawar House, Tem- perance Hotel, Eastern R. R. Hotel, Franklin House, ^lansion House (where we are staying), United States Hotel, and Washington Hall. The proprietor and people here are extremely civil and obliging, and we are very comfort- able. The street in which our hotel is situated is particularly handsome ; it is exceedingly wide, with excellent and very broad trottolrs (which they call here side-walks). This town was founded by the Dutch in 1623, and called Fort Orange, and in 1G8G it was chartered as a city. Next to Jamestown in Virginia, it was the earliest European set- tlement within the thirteen original States ; it has not, however, at all an ancient air, at least as far as I have seen of it ; but, in fact, it was almost entirely rebuilt not long ago ; I believe after one of the dreadful fires so fre- quent in the United States. When the English captured New York this town was named Albany, a compliment to the Duke of York and Albany, afterwards James the Second. Its position makes it necessarily a great thoroughfare : it is placed near the head of tide navigation, and on the direct line of communication from the east and the DESCUirTION OF ALBANY. 17 /it south with the Ivivcr 8t. Lawrence, with the Sanitoga Springs, "\u\ with the country of the great Lakes. The city has acquired great additional com- mercial importance since the completion of the Erie and Champlain canals : this has made it the entrepot f(jr a large [)roportion of the products of the state destined to the Xew York markets. A line basin is constructed upon the river to accommodate this large trade : in this all the Ijoats employed on the northern and western canals are received. This consists of part of the river included between the shore and a noble pier, whose proportions are magnificent. It is, indeed, a stuj)cndous work, containing several acres, on which large stores have been built, where enormous quantities of "lumber," and other articles of trade are collected. Drawbridges connect it with the city. The public buildings here are said to be handsome : the population is forty -five thou- sand, or thereabouts. The town appears very clean, and is altogether a very striking-looking, bustling, thriving, and admirably- situated place. The Capitol looks imposing at the head of State Street, one hundred and thirty feet above the Hudson. 18 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAriER III. DIFFICULTY OF CONVEYING THE IMPRESSION CAl'SED HY A FIRST VIEW OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. AN ATTEMPT TO DO SO. — THE FALLS nESCRIBET). A THUNDER SToRM OVER THE GREAT CATARACTS. THE RAINBOW. KINDNESS AND COUR- TESY OF THE AMERICANS. THEIR SPIRIT or ENTERPRISE. LUXURIOUS APP0INT^:ENTS OF AMERICAN STEAMERS. THE DIMENSIONS OF THE FALLS, — GOAT ISLAND. QUANTITY OF WATER PRECIPITATED OVER THE FALLS. — GRAND AND NAVY ISLANDS. We arrived at Niagara to-day from Buffalo, and put up at the Clifton House. It will not be expected that I should tell what my first feelings and impressions were on behold- ing this thrice-glorious cataract, for I hardly am, in the least, conscious of what they were myself. I only know this ; it scarcely seemed to me at all like what any painting or any description had represented it to be, except only in the shape of the great Canadian Fall. "When the train we were in stopped, the roar of the cataract burst on our ears most majestically. It was a moment of intense ex- citement, and on we hastened, and stood very '# liiu^i,,^' FA LS OF . lAGARA. Y A FIUST ro DO SO. VEU TlIK N'l) CUUR- IPUISE. — IS. THE NTITY OF ND NAVY Buffalo, It will lat my )eholcl- hardly Y were seemed )r any except Fall, d, the most se ex- d very M shortly within a few feet of t verge A the American Fall, and looking < . to tl.e mag- nificent Horseshoe. There we wore in the audiencc-cliam])er of the great Water King. If one saw the sun for the first time, could one describe it 1 Do not expect me yet to say anything of Niagara ; at least anything to the purpose. The garrulous mood will very likely come on me presently ; when, perhaps, I shall quite tire the reader with my rhap- sodies, so that he may have cause to wish all my powers of expression were still frozen up by awe and admiration, like the notes in the horn, as related of Baron Alunchausen. AVhat a wonderful thing can water become! One feels, on looking at Niagara, as if one had never seen that element before. Were I to try and tell what I felt at my second and third look at the Mighty Wonder, I think it was still confusion and bewilderment, mingled with a slight disappointment at the apparent height of the cataract, and very much the reverse with regard to the general features and breadth ; and now I can most truly say it is far more magnificent than I had anticipated it to be, though my expectations were of the very highest order. For the spray (I can already find courage to 20 TRAVELS IN AMKlilCA. ;l .1 !li 11' ill! ill tl ! speak of that) — it Is wluit cncluuits iiic tlio most in the whole stupeiuhjusly iiuigiiilicent scene. It is a very stormy windy day, carrying the huge columns of that beauteous spray to an immense height, so it is seen to the greatest advantage. I think it sometimes seems really celestial ! it looks like something not of this world. This hotel is very close to the i'alls, and, as I write, I have only to look up, to sec them. The noise is extremely fine, like the stormy roaring of a tempest-shaken sea, only the sound is more measured, and conveys an idea of a calm, kingly defiance, altogether inexpressibly grand and solemn. Besides feeling as if it were a presumption to attempt to write about Niagara, thus in its overpowering presence as it were, I find it very difficult to write at all now, as I am drawn to the window and balcony constantly (whence one sees both falls fully), by the irresistible fascination of this most wonderful water ; and the changes that take place almost momentarily are a source of great interest. At one time it looks enveloped and almost hidden in spray ; an instant afterwards, perhaps, it shines forth fully revealed ; now it seems covered with gloom, and looks black and frowning, and full of wrath and terror ; and now the sun (which iiriMiiinj FALLS OF XTAflAKA. 21 ic must C'lUV It iC huge nnic'iise anliige. titil! it . This I write, ic noise ng of a is more [I calm, y grand umption LIS in its it very rawn to (whence osistible r ; and entarily time it spray ; }s forth ;d with md full (which alone appeurs worthy to he its comrade and com- pirr) hrcaks forth, and makes it all one glory. V is enchanted, and indepernhMitly of the intensi' cniovment Xiii'-ara allonls her, she is (It'liuhtc'l to lind herself once more in the country, when; all looks beautifully green and fresh. Her l»ed-room window opens on the American Tall. 1 went there just now, to have a view from that side, and I cannot tell how mueli one delights in the immense variety and diversiiied points of view these matchless cataracts present. ThouLih 1 have been here so sliort a time, I think 1 have already seen them display a hundred dillerent aspects. From V 's win- dow I saw a wonderfully beautiful rainbow on the water ; one-half of the American Fall was in deep shadow, and the other in dazzling sunlight. A small cloud was just passing over the sun above it. I must now — the first overpowering im- pression having ])een conrpiered — try to speak a little of what I think and feel about this glorious Fall. But what language could ever do justice to its more than magnificence ? It seems to belong really to some grander world, of more gigantic proportions and sub- limer features than our own. ■ ■ i! % mi.;,!,!] I 1 . ! '^ ■! ! liti,.. 22 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Before I came here, I erroneously supposed that one should be immensely struck, and overpowered, and enchanted at first, but that afterwards there would be a certain degree of monotony attached to that unvarying sub- limity, which I wrongly believed to be the great characteristic of Niagara. But, how miserably did I do it injustice ! Perhaps the most peculiar and transcendent attribute ot this matchless cataract, is its almost endless variety. The in- numerable diversities of its appearance, the continual countless rapid alterations in its aspect ; in short, the perpetually varying phases which it displays, are indeed wondrous and truly indescribable. This is a great deal owing to the enormous volumes of spray which are almost incessantly shifting and changing their forms like the clouds above. Niagara, indeed, has its own clouds, and they not only give it the great charm and interest of an ever- beautiful and exquisite variety, but also en- viron it with a lovely and bewildering atmo- sphere of mystery, which seems the very crown of its manifold perfections and glories. Niagara has its changes like the sea, and in its lesser space circumscribed, they seem fully as comprehensive and multitudinous. I have dwelt long on this, because I do not remember |piyihflBUASK.'\«k&!l$E:>^£^h.' ^.-.Si;c-I:^MHB2hi£^»>tHI^JH<»UA..n THUNDER-STORxM AT NIAGARA. 23 nd in fully have ember '§ to have seen this mighty and transcendant feature of Niagara particularly noticed in any of the descriptions I have ever read of it, and it has most especially delighted and astonished me. We were so very fortunate as to have a tre- mendous thunder-storm here on Tuesday night, and it may be guessed what a tremendous thun- derstorm must be here ! The heavens seemed literally opening just over the great cataracts, and the intensely vivid lightning, brighter than day, lit up the giant Falls, and seemed mixed and mingling with the dazzling mountains of spray, which then looked more beautiful and beatific than ever. It was a wild windy night, as if all the elements were revelling together in a stormy chaotic carnival of their own, till it really presented altogether a scene almost too awfully magnificent. The deafening roar of the crashing thunder was yet louder than the roar of the cataract, and completely appeared to drown it while it lasted ; but the moment the stormy roll of the thunder died away, it was grand indeed to hear again the imposing, unceasing sound of Niagara — like the voice of a giant conqueror uttering a stunning but stately cry of victory. Then soon the bellowing thunder broke forth again, fiercer and louder than before ; and oh, the 24 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. m II' I lightning ! it seemed like a white-winged sun- break when it l^lazed on the snowy glare of the ever-foaming cataracts. I hardly ever saw before such dazzling lightning ; and those reverberating peals of Niagara- out-voicing thunder were truly ter- rific, and appeared quite close. Heaven and Earth seemed shouting to one another in those sublime and stupendous voices ; and what a glorious hymn they sang between them ! At first, the lightning was only like summer flashes, and it kept glancing round the mad- dened waters as if playing with them, and defying them in sport ; but, after a little while, a fearful flash, updarted really like a sudden sun, behind the great Horse-shoe Fall, and the whole blazed out into almost unendurable light in a moment. The storm continued during the whole night. From our drawing-room windows we have a magnificent view of the Horse-shoe Fall, and almost the whole of the American one besides : and what a sublime pomp and pageant of Nature it is ! What a thrilling, soul-stirring sight ; and, ever new and ever changing, and eternally suggesting fresh thoughts, fresh feel- ings and emotions. Just now, a violent gust of wind drove a huge cloud of spray quite on L\ M -m ^f^i^iiii^d^^s^i^^s^^tik DESCRiniON OF THE FALLS. 25 3d SUTl- ;lare of lazzling eals of ily ter- pen and in those what a m! At summer he mad- em, and tie while, t sudden and the ndurable ontinued have a i'all, and I besides : reant of -stirring ling, and lesh feel- lent gust quite on our side of the Canadian Falls, and it was hovering between the two glorious cataracts like a mighty, suspended avalanche, till it dis- persed. This transcendcntly beautiful spray is generally most brilliantly white, like sun- lit snow. We saw a vast resplendent rainbow on the water itself on Tuesdav afternoon, of colours quite unimaginably bright, and we had a marvellously glorious sunset last evening. There were flaming, blood-red reflections on the rocks, trees, and islands ; but the . nost delicate suff'usions only, of a rich soft rose colour, rested on the fantastic forms of the matchless spray — as if it softened and refined everything that came near it, and made all that touched it as rare and exquisite as its own etherialized self. He who has not seen, can have no idea of the absorbing nature of the admiration excited in one's mind by this surpassing and astounding marvel of creation : I feel quite enthralled and fascinated by it, and time seems to fly by at an electric -telegraph pace here, while I am watching it. I feel so rooted and riveted to this spot by the unutterable enchantments of this mas- terpiece of Nature, I can scarcely helieve that two days have passed since I first arrived. One becomes here, indeed, utterly Niagarized; VOL. L c ; ! 26 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. and, the great cataract goes sounding through all one's soul, and heart, and mind, commin- gling with all one's ideas and impressions, and uniting itself with all one's innermost feelings and fancies. The sounds of the fall vary nearly as much as their aspect : sometimes very hollow, at other times solemn and full-toned, like an host of organs uttering out their grand voices together ; and sometimes, as I heard it said, the other day, with a rolling kettle-drum, gong-like sound, in addition — as if it were a temporary and accidental accompaniment to their majestic oceanic roar. I have come patriotically to the British side, but not from any want of liking for the mighty neighbours of the Canadians. Great injustice has been done to the Ame- ricans, and we have been accustomed too impli- citly to believe the often unfair and unfounded reports of prejudiced travellers. Instead of dis- courteous and disobliging manners we find them all that is most civil and obliging. Amongst the less educated, no doubt, occasionally, some of the faults so unsparingly attributed to them, may be found ; but they appear to me, as far as I have had any opportunity of judging as yet, a thoroughly hospitable, kind-hearted, and generous-minded people. ■:s:s^- ENTERPRISE OF AMERICANS. 27 irough mmin- is, and 'eelings nearly !S very l-toned, X grand leard it e-drum, i were a oaent to \fQ come not from pighbours ,lie Ame- 00 impli- afounded id of dis- ind them Amongst lly, some to tliem, e, as far dging as jted, and And then, what a noble enterprising people they are ! What miraculous progress and im- provement is visible on every side in the United States. One town we came through, Buffalo, was, fifteen years ago, I was told, a mere Indian village : it is now a mighty city. Albany is also a magnificent town ; the streets are strik- ingly broad and straight ; — the trottoirs are about the width of Dover Street ! The steamers on the Hudson are perfect palaces, and fairi) palaces to boot ! being the most delicate and finished creations of art and fancy you can imagine ; larger than the far-famed " Great Britain," and apparently lighter than the rain- bowed coracle of a nautical sylph : a floating island of painting, marble, gilding, stained glass, velvet hangings, satin draperies, mirrors in richly-carved frames, and sculptured orna- ments, with beautiful vases of flowers, Chinese lamps of various indescribable fantastic forms, arabesques, chandeliers, — in short, you might fancy yourself in Ilaroun Alraschid's palace. It was very agreeable, steaming along in the Bucentaur-beating vessel, and looking on the fine scenery of the lovely Hudson, in the most charming warm, soft, sunny weather. And now the potent wondrous magnet, tlie mighty mystery that mortals call Niagara, draws me c 2 M JilllHIllili'l! |( i i mil; Jllli !i ' ? i, ,- m^ 28 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. to the windows, and I must go and watch that worhl of wonders. By the way, what a fortunate thing it was that the noble old Indian name was retained for this. Plow dis- tracting it would have been, to have had it named Smith's-fall, or Patch's-plunge. It rains a little now, and the vast black clouds hovering near the snowy spray, have a truly noble and striking effect ; like the Shadowy Angel, Death, about to bound on his Pale Courser ; but everything is noble and beauteous here ! there is scarcely a cloud in the sky. that does not pay its tribute, and fling its fresh fairy- gift on these magical waters. I have, as yet, seen nothing of moonlight and starlight on them. We see, constantly, a small steamer, called " The Maid of the Mist," going almost close to the foot of the Falls. The river Niagara forms the outlet of the waters of Lake Erie, and of all the great Upper Lakes, which, together with Erie and Ontario, are estimated to contain nearly one half the fresh water on the surface of the globe ! At the distance of about three- fourths of a mile above the Falls, the river begins a rapid descent, making, within this distance, a constant succession of slopes, equal to about fifty-two feet on the American side, and fifty- seven on the Canadian. It forms ■M HORSE-SIIOE FALL. 29 watch vhat a )le old ow dis- had it i clouds a truly )hadowy lis Pale eauteous sky- that }sh fairy- yet, seen them. ;r, called close to .ra forms and of her with contain e surface lut three- Ithe river hin this es, equal can side, It forms an impetuous current just above the Falls, and turns a right angle to the north-east, and then its width becomes suddenly contracted, from three miles to three-quarters of a mile. The river's depth below the cataract exceeds three hundred feet. Goat, or Iris Island (con- taining somewhere about seventy-five acres) divides the gigantic cataract into two parts, but on the western, or British side, is the principal channel. The channel between Goat Island and the eastern shore is also divided by a small island. The noble river falls perpendicularly over the precipice from a hundred and seventy to two hundred feet. The Horse-shoe, or Crescent, Fall is so called from its shape : it looks to me like a mighty scooped-out throne for some King of the oceans of a hundred worlds. In the eastern channel, between Goat and Luna Islands, the stream's breadth is only about ten yards : it forms a lonely, separate cascade, and assists one to form a due estimate of the enormous width of the awful cataracts thun- dering near it. Between Luna Island and the shore, with a comparatively shallow stream, the descent of the fall is said to be greater by several feet than at the Horse-shoe Fall. An inge- i^I'ilH III !!l i k 80 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. niously constructed bridge connects Goat Island with the shore, from whence you have an ex- cellent view of the Rapids ; indeed the bridge crosses the American branch of the river in the midst of them. You look on your right hand, and there is the roaring American Fall almost close to you. Goat Island is a gem of beauty, and its lovely foliage and bowery walks seem to charm away a little of the overpowering awfulness from its tremendous neighbour. It is said that if, as is supposed, the cataract has backed all the way from Queenstown, it must have taken about forty thousand years for it to recede to its present situation. The quantity of water precipitated over the Falls is estimated by Professor Dwight to be 11,524,375 tons per hour; by Darby at 1,672,704,000 cubic feet per hour, and by Pickemat 113,510,000, or 18,524,000 cubic feet a minute. Among the islands which diversify the sur- face of the Niagara river, is Grand Island, which contains 18,000 acres of good and fer- tile soil, covered with rich forests. Navy island is another, and it terminates in a beautiful point about a mile and a-half above the Fall. Island an ex- bridge •iver in ir right lan Fall and its ,0 charm wfulness said that xcked all vc taken recede to over the [ht to be larby at and by loo cubic the sur- |d Island, and fer- Is. Navy Ites in a alf above PORT STANLEY. 31 CHAPTER IV. POUT TALnOT. — CANADIAN CAUUIAGES. — VAST EXTENT OF AME- nrcAN WOODS. — the hotel at pout Stanley — lake euie. — MR. a AND HIS family. — COL. TALBOT, THE " LAST OF THE MOHICANS." — INSTANCE OF THE MEMOUY OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. ANOTHER STORY OF THE SAME KIND. — A RECUUUENCE TO NIAGARA. A SECOND THUNDER-STORM. — AMERICAN FORESTS. — LAKE ERIE HY SUNSET. THE MAPLE AND THE SUGAR MADE FROM IT. COLDNESS OF CANADIAN WINTERS. We arrived at Port Talbot, Canada West, a day or two ago from Niagara, where we stayed a fortnight. This is a delightful place. We went back to Buffalo, then crossed a part of Lake Erie (we were a day and a night on board the steamer " London "), and, landing at Port Stanley, we had some refreshments at the little hotel there, where we were well taken care of by the particularly attentive and oblig- ing proprietors; and then we came on in a hired carriage through beautiful woods to this beautiful spot. The road, however, was not equally beautiful, and we broke down, which, apparently not un- 32 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. foreseen accident, our driver took very uncon- cernedly and philosophically, and immediately set about repairing the damage. A carriage breaking down is of little moment indeed in the woods of Canada, where they are usually of a tough and rough kind, and where the charioteer (who, I believe, is generally expected to be somewhat experienced in this way) speedily rec- tifies the injury by cutting down the first likely tree by the road side, and adapting it to his pur- pose by some " rough and ready " kind of craft. In this instance I had little doubt but that our damaged vehicle would come out of the hands of our Jehu nearly, if not quite, as good as new ; for its " build " was such, t]\at he might very probably have been himself the coachniaker originally, as well as coach-driver and coach-breaker. We were soon jolting and pitching plong as merrily as ever, and arrived without any bones broken, as we flattered ourselves, at the hospitable door of Port Tal- bot. Its kind and friendly proprietor, with Colonel and Mrs. A , his nephew and niece, received us with the most amiable cordiality, and we are quite enchanted with the place. The house is beauteously situated on a high bank close to Lake Erie, of which I have a magnificent view from my window. Within EMIGRAiNTS' WOODEN HOUSES. 33 iiece, lality, le. high Lve a fithin ■;■* I ■li view of the house (which lias splciulid groups of trees close to it) stretch away mighty woods, which probably continue without interruption, except from the lakes and the strides of Ame- rican civilization in Michigan and Wisconsin, to the very shores of the Pacific. I could not have " realized " such enormous worlds of woods as I have even already seen, without beholding them with my own eyes. On our way from Port Stanley here, we passed numbers of neat, newly -erected wooden houses of emigrants, looking generally very com- fortable, and occasionally exceedingly pretty ; with the bright cheerful-looking clearings about them, and the grandeur of the fine sombre old forests stretching away around them, as if to shut out the every-day vjorkUy world. Colonel and Mrs. A have made this house delight- fully comfortable, and there is an air of true English comfort and of that indescribable refine- ment, which the gorgeously-furnished saloons and chambers of the hotels we have lately been at, in New York, and other places, did not possess. Everything is in the perfection of good taste. The drawing-room is a most charming apartment, with large windows reach- ing down to the ground, presenting a lovely view of that fresh-water sea, Lake Erie. c 5 34 TUAVKLS IN AMERICA. tm'i :il; ,.,■!,! ' My own room is really quite luxuriously appointed in some particulars : lirst and fore- most witli regard to some splendid decorations and draperies of l)eautiful old Greek lace, which our fair hostess brought with her from the Ionian Islands, where she had resided for some time (what a change, from such an ancient world as grand old Greece, to this grand young one, Canada !), ])ut there is nothing gaudy, and nothing that looks out of place here or unsuited to the general character of simplicity of the house, owing to the exquisite arrangement of all the subordinate parts, and the graceful tact with which everything has been ordered and contrived. The amiable lady of the house tells me she went through a great deal of discomfort when they first established themselves here, which I can readily believe ; but she seems to make a capital and very contented emigrant now. Her charming children — one or more of whom are little Greeks, that is, born in Corfu — seem to have suifered nothing from the rigour of a Canadian winter, and they appear thoroughly to enjoy a Canadian summer. Colonel Talbot does not live in this house, but in a sort of shanty, which agrees extremely with my idea (probably a very imperfect one) of an Indian "LAST OF TIIF MOHICANS. 1' nr) ously fure- xtions lace, m the ' some iicicnt young y, and isuited of the lent of [ul tact ed and kic she when which make t now. whom — seem ur of a roughly Talbot sort of y idea Indian wigwiini, close by. He is going, almost im- inediiitely, to rebuild it, and make a good-sized coinlnrtuble liousc of it. His life has l)eeu replete with adventures, since lie came out here as a settler between forty and fifty years ago. He has performed almost prodigies here, and possesses immense tracts of country in these wild regions. In former davs, he used to milk his own cows, and drive them home from their pasturing places, for many miles sometimes ; and besides, he did all the household work in his establishment; cooked, churned butter, washed, &c. His energy and perseverance were finally rewarded with great success ; and he is lord of almost a principality here, and of a very flourishing one, apparently, too. He tells me he is in reality " the last of the Mohicans," having been adopted many years ago into this gal- lant tribe, and called by them by an Indian name, which I will not attempt to spell. He told me a remarkable instance of the accurate memory of the North American Indians. It seems that, having been away, and not having seen any of the tribe for a great many years, one day, on his return, he met an Indian, whom he did not in the least recognise, but who, the moment he saw him, repeated softly »■ t. 36 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. '• *:'''> >S- his Indian name in the usual, calm, impressive manner of the red man. Another story, not of a Mohican, but of a gentleman, apparently quite as cool in his pro- ceedings, amused me much. It appears, some years ago, the Colonel called to his servant to bring him some warm water for shaving pur- poses. The servant did not answer ; and after repeatedly calling in vain, Colonel Talbot ascertained at length that the man had inarched off, having, I believe, spoken before of feeling discontented where he was, but without giving any reason to think he would shake the dust of Port Talbot from his shoes so suddenly. Some years afterwards. Colonel Talbot one morning called for warm water, and in walked the truant, most demurely, jug in hand, and proceeded to take upon himself all his once repudiated valet duties, in the most quiet and regular manner imaginable, as if he had never been absent from his post for an hour. He alluded not to what had occurred ; nor did Colonel Talbot. The Mohican could not easily surpass that, I think, in coolness and self- possession, and Colonel Talbot, too, was evi- dently not made one of the tribe for nothing. It reminds me of a Yankee story of a man who sent his young son for a log to put m SECOND THUNDER-STORM. 37 issive of a I pro- sorae mt to ; pur- and .^albot arched eeling giving 3 dust denlj. t one ^Talked and once et and never He )r did easily self- s evi- thing. man 10 put on the fire. The son brought a mere stick, and papa whipped him ; so the young gentle- man went out again for a large log, and — never returned ; at least not till twenty- five years afterwards, when, one evening, the choleric, corporal-punishment-loving old gentleman, was calling to one of his grandsons to bring in a " large log for the fire," and in stalked son number 1, 2, or 3, as the case might be, who had so unconscionably absented himself, with a Brobdignagian log in his dexter hand. The old gentleman looked quietly up, exa- mined the log, threw it carelessly on the fire, and then addressed his returned runaway : — " This 'ere log '11 do ; but you Ve been a darned long time a-fetching it." Let me go back to Niagara. The reader may imagine our good fortune ; we had a second thunder-storm there, far finer than the first. It continued through the whole night, and the lightning was unspeakably terrific, like a long succession of rising suns behind the falls, dazzling, bewildering, almost blinding it was; but most inconceivably, incommuni- cably glorious. A church was struck not far off", and severely damaged. V is much afraid generally, during a thunder-storm ; but we both fortunately happened to think 38 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I '! HP'i 1 m ■■mn it was sheet lightning (for till it comes very near, you cannot hear the thunder for the chorus of the cataracts). But for this I think she would have been much alarmed, for the sight was awfully tremendous. As it was, she even ventured to look at it from the balcony. How almost supernaturally sublime it looked ! Between all the flashes, for a moment or two it was pitchy dark ; then, when out-leaped the piercing lightning, the cataracts burst into full view, instantaneously of course, in all their overwhelming majesty and grandeur. V exclaimed that it looked like Vesuvius in vast eruption f which she saw last year), hovering and bla j j over Niagara ; and really it was a very fair simile, if you can imagine an intermittent Vesuvian eruption. I think, next to Niagara, I admire these enormous forests, with their wild wondrous luxuriance of foliage, of every exquisite shade of the most lustrous and resplendent green : they are sublime. Lake Erie looked splendid ia a very fine sunset the other evening. It seemed almost paved with many -coloured jewels, and long bars of light, of divers and brilliant hues, crossed it. At another time, it appeared strewn all over, from the horizon to m CANADIAN WINTERS. 39 the shore, with myriads of all sorts and species of roses ! Amongst the many beauteous trees here, I have admired much the sugar maples. By the way, I tasted some of the sugar the other day, and thought it excellent. In tea or coffee I should not know it from the cane sugar ; but alone, it tastes, I think, very much like sugar- candy. The children had a little picnic in the woods. V was superlatively happy, super- intending various cookings and contrivings. Our charming hostess says this place is so cold in the winter, that even with an enormous fire in the room, her ink has frozen in the inkstand while she has been writing a letter. I suppose this is owing to the isolated situation of the house, and to the immense forests almost con- tiguous to it, for I believe no such intensity of cold (or YQTy rarely) is experienced in the cities and towns of Canada. 40 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER V. UETUim TO NEW YORK. COURTESY AND HOSPITALITY OF THE AMERICANS. BUTTERFLIES AND HUMMING-BIRDS. — RAILROADS THROUGH AMERICAN FORESTS. — RAPID PROGRESS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. — PORT STANLEY. — CAPTAIN BAWBEE. DE- SCRIPTION OF BUFFALO. TRADING FACILITIES OF THAT CITY. THE UNITED STATES' MILITARY ACADEMY. — MONUMENT TO KOSCIUSKO. HIS GARDEN. WEST POINT. — THE TRAITOR ARNOLD AND MAJOR ANDRE. — CONSTITUTION ISLAND. — OPPRESSIVE HEAT OF THE WEATHER. We again find ourselves, on the 25th June, in the busy, stirring, populous, go-ahead State of New York. We have suffered much from the heat : it was really intense during our journey. The number of people who are said to have died from the effects of coup de soleil here, is quite extraordinary. I like the Americans more and more : either they have improved wonderfully lately, or else the criticisms on them have been cruelly ex- aggerated. They are particularly courteous and obliging ; and seem, I think, amiably anxious that foreigners should carry away a favourable impression of them. As for me, let 1 COURTESY OF AMERICANS. 41 OF THE AILROADS .MERICAN K. DE- lAT CITY. MENT TO TRAITOR 5LAND. — ;i June, State from g our re said e soleil either or else lly ex- irteous miably way a e, let other travellers say what they please of them, I am determined not to be prejudiced, but to judge of them exactly as I find them; and I shall most pertinaciously continue to praise them (if I see no good cause to alter my present humble opinion), and most especially for their obliging civility and hospitable atten- tion to strangers, of which I have already seen several instances. I have witnessed but very few isolated cases, as yet, of the unrefined habits so usually ascribed to them ; and those cases decidedly were not among the higher orders of people ; for there seems just as much difference in America as anywhere else in some respects. The superior classes here have almost always excellent manners, and a great deal of real and natural, as well as acquired refinement, and are often besides (which perhaps will not be believed in fastidious England) extremely dis- tinguished-looking. By the way, the captains of the steam-boats appear a remarkably gentle- manlike race of men in general, particularly courteous in their deportment, and very con- siderate and obliging to the passengers. I must not forget to mention the delight with which, at Port Talbot, we beheld some beautiful humming-birds flying about in the garden, and [1 ■ '),•<' 42 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. such gorgeous butterflies ; it was quite a plea- sure to look at them ! It seemed so strange to see these tropical-looking humming-birds flut- tering about amid the bowers and trees, that we know are doomed to be stripped of all their beauty by the icy terrors of the severe Canadian winter. But these little, delicate, diminutive, winged "flowers of loveliness" migrate. They leave the winter behind them : those lovely, tiny, glittering, wings bear the little feathered miniatures to the sunny south, to revel among magnolias and roses, when here all is snow or storm. Though we had a very hot journey from Buffalo to New York, yet we had the advantage, for a considerable part of the way, of going through charmingly shadowy forests. Railroads in the United States are not like railroads in other countries, for they fly, plunging through the deep umbrageous recesses of these vasty, widely-spreading woods, whose sweeping ver- dure-loaded boughs, go arching and branching about the " cars" in all directions, shedding a deep, delicious, intensely-green light around, which bathes everything and everybody in a sea of molten emerald, and is excessively refreshing to the passengers' eyes, though eminently unbecoming to the said passengers' PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 43 in complexions ; for they all look there exactly as if they were playing at "snap dragon," and the very ruddiest and most rubicund turn to a sort of livid, ghastly, plague-struck looking green ; but this may serve to give you an idea, peradventure (and, I assure you, not an exaggerated one), of the cool, and verdant, and dt^piy-tinted reflections from these over- shadowing masses of forests. Every thing in nature and art almost seems to flourish here. Schools, universities, manufac- tories, societies, institutions, appear spreading over the length and breadth of the land, and all seem on such a gigantic scale here too! Lakes, forests, rivers, electric telegraphs, hotels, conflagrations, inundations, rows, roads, acci- dents, tobacco, juleps, bowie knives, beards, pistols, &c. ! moderation or littleness appear not to belong to America, where Nature herself leads the way and seems to abhor both, showing an example of leviathanism in every tiling, which the people appear well inclined to follow. We were quite sorry to leave charming Fort Talbot. V intensely regretted the poul- try, the picnics, the sweet pickaninnies, and the ponies, besides divers other bewitching delights ; and I lamented over my beauteous bower of old Greek lace, my splendid view i t,A 44 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. i ' i tit of the lovely Lake Sea, and, above all, the kind friends who had made our sojourn there so exceedingly enjoyable. We had an enchanting drive through the glorious forest on our return to Port Stanley in Mrs. A. 's carriage. Colonel A driving us. It was very different from the bumping, thumping, break-bone, and break-down vehicle we had made our last little journey in through those noble woods. By the time we got to Port Stanley the steamer was ready to start ; and after inquiring concerning the health of our kind hostess at the hotel, we put ourselves on board the " London," under Captain Bawbee's obliging care. This sin- gular name is pronounced Baby, which had a rather curious effect when you heard it addressed to a very manly-looking and tall person, which the Captain of the good steamer " London " happened to be. Our voyage over, we stopped at Buffalo, which is situated at the north-east end of Lake Erie. It has alto- gether a commanding position as a place of business, being at the western extremity of the Erie Canal, and at the eastern termination of the navigation of those mighty lakes, Erie, Hu- ron, and Michigan. The city is partly built on high ground, and commands extensive views ■m Mi DESCRIPTION OF BUFFALO. 45 rd tall amer over, t the alto- ce of >fthe on of Hu- It on ■sriews f 1 of the Lake, Niagara River, and the Canadian shore. Its population is about forty thousand, ^lain Street is a very handsome street, more than two miles long, and one hundred and twenty feet broad. Buffalo has a court-house, a county clerk's office, a jail, and two markets, in the upper story of one of which is to be found the common council chamber and city offices. There are about twenty churches, several banks, a theatre, and numerous very excellent and capacious hotels. Tiie one we were at. The Western, was an exceedingly good one, and we experienced there the greatest civility and attention. A pier, extending fifteen hundred feet, on the :>uutli side of the mouth of Buffalo Creek (which creek forms the harbour of Buffalo), constitutes a substantial breakwater for the protection of vessels from the furious gales occasionally experienced there. There is a handsome lighthouse, forty-six feet high, and twenty in diameter, placed at the head of the pier, built of a yellow-tinged lime-stone. Buffalo, from the trading facilities it enjoys by the canal and railroad, in connection with the lake navigation, is a great commercial mart, that lake navigation having an extent of some thousands of miles. With Albany it has com- m 46 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. munication on the east by canal, and thence by a regular chain of railroads five hundred and twenty- five miles long, on with Boston. And on the north-east it is also connected by rail- road with the Niagara Falls and Lewiston. What a mighty city will this most likely be twenty years hence ! We came from Albany in a rapid and beau- tiful steamer called " Tlie Alida ;" the day was almost insufferably hot, and the quantity of ice-water consumed by the passengers was truly j)rodigious. We took up some very military-looking students at West Point, from " the United States Alilitary Academy " there. Their uniform was handsome, though very simple, and they were as upright as Prussian soldiers. The academy was established in 1802. There are, I understand, two stone barracks, a building for winter exercises, two hundred and seventy-five feet long ; a gothic building, one hundred and fifty feet long, with three towers for astronomical apparatus, and an observatory ; a chapel, an hospital, a mess-hall ; seventeen separate dwellings for officers con- nected with the institution ; workshops, cavalry - stables, store-rooms, laboratory, and a magazine, with various other buildings, including twenty- five dwellings, for families belonging to the I I iilll'i! CONSTITUTION ISLAND. 47 thence cd and And ly rail- kviston. ely be . beau- e day lantity irs was 3 very , from ' there. I very 'ussian ed in stone s, two gothic with nd an -hall ; con- valry- azine, irenty- the establishment. There is a monument on the grounds, erected to Kosciusko, by the cadets, at an expense of live thousand dollars. On tlic river bank is " Kosciusko's garden," whither the Polish chief was wont to retire for meditation or study. West Point was one of the most important fortresses during the great Revolutionary War : it was considered the key of the country, as it commanded the river, which admitted vessels of heavy burden as far as Hudson, and hin- dered the English from holding communication with Canada. The English commanders, on this account, were very desirous of obtaining it, and its surrender was to have been the first fruit of the treason of Arnold ; but in this he was baulked by the arrest of the unfortunate Major Andre. On the east shore, opposite to West Point, is " Constitution Island," where are the ruined remains of a fort, erected during the Eevolu- tion. A huge chain was extended from the island to West Point, to obstruct the passage of the river by the troops. Part of this iden- tical chain is said to be shown now at West Point. The scenery was extremely lovely all about there, — the Hudson Highlands wearing all 48 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. fUi\l their sunny, summer beauty. One can hardly imagine tliat blackest of all demons, War, flinging his hideous shadow over such a charm- ing, smiling, lovely prospect ; but what scene of beauty or gracefulness does he ever respect ? A mile above West Point, is the "West Point Iron Foundry," which claims to be the most extensive establishment of the kind in the country. I think of going to Washington when this blazing weather moderates a little, taking, e?i route, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The thermometer here and in the neigh- bourhood has been 98° and 100°, they say, in the shade, and people declare it was never so hot in New York before, — at least not for many years. At Albany we found the heat, if possible, more oppressive : not a breath of air seemed stirring. Suddenly we hailed with delight a gentle movement of the light muslin curtain round the window, indi- cating a soft wind. V - rushed to the win- dow to inhale it, but as speedily rushed back again, declaring it was as hot as the air of ten furnaces. The present is a broiling morning : a sky like a great turquoise roof on fire, a sun like a hundred suns, a breathless clear atmo- sphere, without the least dream of anything that reminds you of air, — and there is a thun- EXCESSIVE HEAT. 49 dcring salute going on now (for what, I know not, unless they are saluting the sun, who certainly seems victorious over everything and everybody just now, striking down man and horse) which cruelly makes one think of '* villanous saltpetre,'* and such hot compounds, when Wenham Lake ice, and the expedition to the North Pole, arc the only fit and pleasant subjects for reflection at present. VOL. I. i 50 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER YI. HOSTON. THE PAUK. — THE TREMONT HOTEL. — ITS LUXURIOUS APPOINTMENTS. — MR. AND MRS. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. — THE " BOOK OF THE WORLD." DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON ; THE BRIDGES. — THEIR IMMENSE LENGTH. THE WESTERN AVENUE. — BOSTON HARBOUR. — ANTICIPATED REJOICINGS ON THE ANNI- VERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. BOSTON NEWSPAPERS AND REVIEWS. — SUPPLY OF WATER TO THE CITY. — ITS DOCKS AND WHARVES. — PUBLIC BUILDINGS. THE STATE HOUSE. THE CUSTOM HOUSE. — THE ATHENAEUM. THE EXCHANGE AND THE LOWELL INSTITUTE. — THE CROWDED STORES. — CONSTANT ALARM OF FIRES. On July 3rd we arrived at Boston, and took up our quarters at Tremont House. Boston is a very handsome, very large, and very clean town, apparently kept in admir- able order : it has a pretty little park, called by the modest name of " the Common," and a splendid State House, magnificently situated on Beacon Hill ; this is a very imposing- looking structure, and crowns the height su- perbly. The town reminds me of an English one in many respects, but yet more of a Dutch one. SSfJ^PiKW^w^ COMMEMORATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 51 UXURIOUS K. — THE ON ; THE [ AVENUE. :he ANNI- WSPAPEIIS ITS DOCKS HOUSE. ANGE AND CONSTANT id took e, and admir- , called and ituated posing- ht su- nglish Dutch To-inorrow they have a grand commemora- tive festival, in honour of their independence, and we, poor English, must make up our minds to hear them " Yankee-doodling," and " Ilail- Columbiaing," all day long, I shall shut my- self up pretty closely on the occasion to save my feelings of nationality, especially as I have no idea of seeing " the Crown of England " burnt in a fire-work and consumed to aslies, as it is announced in a pompous advertise- ment it is going to be, for the pleasing recrea- tion of Brother Jonathan. I hope, I must con- fess, that just at that moment it will rain in torrents, and put out their very impertinent and presumptuous pyrotechnics without loss of time : the English crown thus may not be consumed to a cinder after all. It will be suspected that I am exceedingly wroth against said Brother Jonathan just now ! but it is a spite and anger confined exclusively to the 4th of July ! and on the 5th I shall be quite friends with him again ; nay, I almost think my fury may be hushed before the 4th itself dawns ; though, if what I hear is correct of the immense and noisy excitement in general through the whole night preceding " Inde- pendence day," the lullaby will be of a rather rough description ! But our American cousins i> 2 52 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. !• '-9 INI III!! ->■ are such a good-humoured, kindly-dispositioned people, that I think one could not well be sulky with them long. Apropos of noise, — I be- lieve, to keep our tempers a little, it would be a good plan to stuff our ears with cotton, and so be " independent,'" in our turn, of their un- civil serenadings, salutings, drummings, trum- petings, and fireworkings. The Americans are very busy just now abusing the French for their Roman war : they call them cowards, and all sorts of hard names. As they are in this mood they might as well, for variety's sake, burn the Gallic liberty cap to-morrow instead of the crown of England. They are, evidently, very indignant at the anti-republican turn affairs are taking in France. However, France has become lately such a spinning, twisting-about volcanic teeto- tum, that who can guess what news the next steamer may bring out 1 To-day is a beauteous day — not too hot, yet sunny-bright, and with a charming fresh breeze. We have comfortable, quiet, private apartments in this huge hotel : our drawing-room is a very nice one, and is quite away from all the bustle of visitors arriving and departing. The master, or rather masters (for there are two, if not more), are extremely civil ; and the attendance is very DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON. oS tioned sulky -Ibe- luld be •n, and sir un- trum- ,t now war : ►f hard T might Gallic rown of dignant taking e lately ; teeto- le next lot, yet breeze. :tments a very bustle master, more), is very 'J ■n >m 4>. good. Finger-posts are placed in some of the passages to direct bewildered and foot-sore wanderers to their own rooms. I think a few light omnibuses might run on the different lines of passage with much profit. Immense as the hotel is, our apartments are so secluded that we hear but little noise, and suffer no in- convenience whatever from the house being very full. I have not yet dined one day in public since my arrival in America — it must be extremely unpleasant for ladies. We have made acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Abbott Lawrence (Mr. Bancroft was good enough to give me letters to them at Lady J 's request, as I had not the pleasure of knowing him) ; they leave America in October. They are most kind and friendly ; he is one of the great merchant princes of this wonderful land, and a very distinguished man ; and JMrs. Lawrence appears to be everything that is amiable and kind. ^Ir. Lawrence has just given me a very interesting book, called " The Book of the World : " it is replete with informa- tion, and is written nearly up to the present day, and it really seems to be almost what it calls itself, which is a pretty " considerable deal." This good city of Boston is connected with "1 I 'Hi >:■'( 54 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. the surrounding country by bridges and arti- ficial avenues, being built upon a peninsula of nearly three miles in length, with an average breadth of a mile, and with many elevations from fifty to one hundred and ten feet above the sea, giving the city a remarkably noble ap- pearance, particularly, I am told, when beheld from the sea, which view of it I have not yet seen. The population is one hundred and twenty-five thousand. Its Indian name was Shawmut, but the first settlers called it Trimoun- tain, from the three hills on which it is built. Boston communicates with East Boston (for- merly Noddle's Island) and Chelsea by means of steam ferry-boats, which ply regularly during the day. Amongst the most peculiar curiosi- ties of the place are the bridges, which differ in their construction from any thing of their kind elsewhere, and their immense length and the lovely views they present, make them very interesting and attractive, especially to fo- reigners. With Roxbury, Boston is connected by the Neck which forms the peninsula on which the city is built. With Charlestown it is united by the Charles river, or Old Charles- town bridge, and by Warren-bridge. The for- mer is one thousand four hundred and three feet long, forty-two in breadth, and cost more BRIDGES OF BOSTON. 55 1(1 arti- isula of average ivations t above )ble ap- beheld not yet ed and me was rimoun- 1 built. }n (for- ' means r during curiosi- differ ■ their til and m very to fo- inected ula on own it harles- .''he for- tliree 3t more than fifty thousand dollars. Warren-bridge is one thousand three hundred and ninety feet ; breadth, forty-five. No toll is taken on these bridges : there was one formerly ; but on their becoming State property it was done away with. West Boston-bridge, leading to Old Cam- bridge, rests on one hundred and eighty piers, and, with causeway and abutments, is six thousand one hundred and ninety feet long. Craigie's or Canal-bridge, leading to Lechmere Point, in East Cambridge, is two thousand seven hundred and ninety- six feet long and forty feet broad : a branch extends from it to Prison Point, Charlestown, one thousand eight hundred and twenty feet long, and thirty- five feet wide. The Western avenue or mill- dam reaches from the foot of Beacon-street to Sewell's-point in Brookline. It is strongly constructed of stones and earth, and is a mile and a half long, and from sixty to one hundred feet broad. Tliis encloses about six hundred acres of flats, over which formerly the tide flowed. This enclosure is divided by a cross dam, which, aided by flood and ebb-gates, forms a receiving basin, producing thereby a great ex- tent of water-power at all periods. This work cost about seven hundred thousand dollars lifT^^^"" M:f'i' 56 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. |:i Boston Free-bridge, to South Boston, is five hundred feet long, thirty-eight wide. South Boston-bridge, leading from the " Neck " to South Boston, is one thousand five hundred and fifty feet long ; width, forty feet.* They are all well lighted by lamps, and in addition to them, numerous as they are, there are vari- ous railroad bridges or viaducts over the river. Does not Boston deserve to be called the City of Bridges'? It possesses one of the best harbours in the United States. The harbour extends from Nantasket to the city, and spreads from Na- hant to Hingham, containing seventy-five square miles : it contains many islands, among them some beautiful ones : it is safe and spacious. The inner harbour has a depth of water suflS- cient for five hundred vessels of the largest class to ride at anchor in safety, with so nar- row an entrance as scarcely to admit two ships abreast. Boston consists of three parts : Boston on the Peninsula, South Boston, and East Bos- ton. The " Neck," or Isthmus, which formerly constituted the only connection of the Penin- sula with the main land, still forms the main avenue to the city from the south. Boston * These figures are taken from " Appleton's Railway Com- panion." AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS. 57 is five South ck" to undred They ddition 'e vari- e river, tie City in the 5 from \m Na- square ; them acious. r suffi- largest 30 nar- ) ships Boston >t Bos- -merly enin- main Boston y Com- liarbour is defended by Forts Independence and Warren, the latter of which is on Governor Island, and tlie former on Castle Island. The outside harbour is protected by a strong for- tress on George's Island. Of course sight-seeing to-morrow is out of the question, and from the moment when the sun rises on seas of sherry-cobblers and cata- racts of mint-juleps, miles of flags, wildernesses of crackers, pyramids of edibles, mountains of lollypops, and monster-trains, and legions of little boys (and little girls, too, if my informa- tion be correct), wlio, I hear, generally shoot with pistols at friend, or foe, or each other, during tlie day, and frequently end by maim- ing themselves severely, — there will be no peace in Boston. But though I did not like their promised entertainment of fireworks, yet, when I recollect how abominably ill England behaved before she forced this country into a revolution, I can— nationality notwithstanding — rejoice with them a little in their joy at the return of the Anniversary of their Indepen- dence, and feel a slight something of their exuberant exultation, and, therefore, not only endure philosophically, but greet cordially, their festive demonstrations — except the fireworks and that thrice vilianous and atrocious de- D 5 45 ■■ 58 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ii vice. They stick in my throat terribly. I won- der whether it will rain to-morrow evening ! In my transatlantic travels, I do not feel so far away from home as I thought I should ; the Cunard steamers are so regular and rapid in their passage, they are now generally here to the day they are expected. What a fast age we live in ! The American newspapers amuse me much ; they are so unlike anything else of their kind. There are thirty-six newspapers published here, of which twelve are daily, the rest are semi- weekly and weekly. In addition to these, there are a good many reviews and magazines. " The North American Review " is, I believe, the most distinguished of the former. Boston is capitally provided with water from Long Pond, now named Cochituate Lake. This lake covers an area of six hundred and fifty- nine acres, and drains a surface of eleven thou- sand four hundred acres. In some places it is seventy feet deep, and is elevated one hundred and twenty-four feet above tide-water in Bos- ton harbour : the Boston reservoir, situated on Beacon-hill, covers an area of forty thousand feet. The water is brought in an oval aque- duct, in height six feet four inches, and five feet in width, laid in brick (with the hydraulic I ^ I PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF BOSTON. 59 ihou- it is dred Bos- d on sand ique- five b.ulic cement), about fourteen miles and a half from Cochituate Lake to Brooklyn, where it dis- charges itself into a reservoir of thirty acres in extent. The water from Brooklyn is forced by its own pressure through pipes of thirty and thirty-five inches in diameter, to the two re- servoirs in the city ; that on Mount Wash- ington, at South Boston, which will contain a superficies of seventy thousand, and that on Beacon-hill, of thirty-eight thousand feet. When full, the latter will contain three mil- lions of gallons. These reservoirs will deliver to the city of Boston ten-millions of gallons a day of the purest and best water. Wise Bostonians ! The entire cost of the construction I have heard will probably fall within three millions of dollars. Wise Bostonians ! I say again : they will probably save that much in drugs and medicine ere many years pass over their heads. The doctors must be the only people who will suiFer from this liberal supply of the pure element. The docks and wharves surrounding the city form one of its distinctive features. There are about two hundred of them. Long Wharf is one thousand eight hundred feet long, and two l-^ ^^ I ''I GO TRAVELS IN AMERICA. hundred feet wide, and contains seventy-six spacious stores. There are numbers of tine public buildings lierc. The State-house is among the finest : its foundation is one hundred and ten feet above the level of the sea. From the dome there is a splendid view of the city, the bay, with its lovely islands, and the wide expanse of surrounding country : the Bosto- nians boast that it is one of the finest views in the Union, if not in the world. The last is saying too much. Here the State legislature holds its annual session. The new Custom House is handsome: it is in the form of a cross, and has very super!) porticoes. The Court House is a line build- ing : the material is Quincy-granite. The Athenaeum, in Beacon-street, has a library of about forty -live thousand volumes, and a rich cabinet of coins, medals, &c. The Ex- change is a fine structure ; it was finished in 1842. The Lowell Institute was founded by a Mr. Lowell, who died at Bombay, in 1836. He bequeathed about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the support of regular courses of popular and scientific lectures : by his will he provides for the maintenance and support of public lectures on natural and re- vealed religion, physics, chemistry, with their M .m BOSTON FINE- ENGINES. CI it is iperb uild- The )rary d a Ex- 1(1 in by a 836. fifty ular by and re- lieir applications to the arts, geology, botany, and other useful and interesting subjects. These lectures are all free ; they are delivered from October to April, during which period four or five courses (of twelve lectures each) are usually delivered. This town has a multitude of stores teeming witli goods of every description, which are ac- tually running over from their crammed and loaded shelves and counters, and often ))lockade the foot-pavemonts : the}' told us the people were so honest, that those unprotected goods, literally thrown at their feet, were never car- ried olf ; but I have seen complaints of the custom in the papers occasionally, — accounts, not of shoplifting exactly, but side-walk-lifting, with observations as to the impropriety of thus almost tempting poor people to be dishonest. I recollect, when I first visited Genoa, think- ing art and fancy seemed to overflow there from the very windows of its stately palaces, so gorgeous were the richly-coloured paintings of saints, historical personages, and other sub- jects on their walls. Here, more suitably to the character of the people, it is industry and utilitarianism that can hardly be contained within bounds and limits. There are constant alarms of fires here. I I t;2 TRAVKLS IN AMERICA. |J ' tliink hardly •:. ngnt has i)assed without our hciiring the en«:.,ii;s goinix full speed somewhere or other ; l)ut in general it proves a false alarm, ami after posting along in "hut haste," on find- ing all cool and (piiet where they were bound to, they come deliberately l)ack, to make the same little "promenade" again on the follow- ing night. The first night, V and I were quite anxious to ascertain where the dreadful fire could be, for the engines went thundering through the streets at a terrific pace, making a prodigious noise : we soon found that we might sit up all night and every night at Boston, if we paid any attention to these gad-about en- gines taking their gallops about every half- hour. \ ihsVi m 'f 1 ■-.it j# ^M '^.:> I lliUi PLAN I'OR FUTURE. (13 CHAPTER VII. PLANS F<>U Tin; KITUIII',. MISICAL TASTK OK TIIK NKW KNO- LA.NDKH^'. — i'llnl.KIIA IN NKW YORK. — TUANSl'A IlKNCY OF THK AMKKK AN A LMoSl'IIKKK. — AMFRICAN NKWsrM'KUS. — TIIKIH PKIISONALITIKS. A SIONAL INSTANCK. — MKS. S. M oK NKW VoKK AND IIKII FAMILY. MISS U oF HoSToN. TIIF. LitL'l) TALKING ASCIUMEI) TO AMKIIK'AN LADIKS, TIIK TOWN OF (iLOLCKSTKH. — ITS TRADE. On the •27th July we came to Cape Ann Pavilion, Gloucester, Massachusetts. The place is truly charming. The hotel is almost in the sea, like a very huge and gaily-decorated bathing machine — (the only one here by the way !) There is a wide, beautiful covered verandah all round the house ; then comes a wee narrow strip of beach, then a low stone wall, some rocks, and then the Atlantic, so close, that I cannot imagine the house can be quite safe in winter, unless they intend to strengthen and heighten the defensive wall. The hotel is quite new. It may be imagined, how clean, and fresh, and nice it is. As to travelling about, and seeing sights, in ¥m : ii »x;s''y II if !;• II 64 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. H SO hot a climate as America is in the summer, it is out of the question, I find ; but this, I believe, is an unusually hot summer, — the hottest, I am told, but one, they have had for twenty-four years. I think of staying quietly at the sea till summer is over, and it is safe and pleasant to travel : of course, this will necessarily prolong my stay : every body- assures me I must not think of going south- wards till October, particularly this year, con- sidering cholera, and the great heat. I think we have fortunately found a very quiet and healthy spot here. I was going to I^ewport, but heard of this being so very nice, that 1 thought I would try it first, and I think I shall remain here some time. We have de- lightful rooms on the ground floor, opening on the sea. It is very much like being afloat in a line-of-battle ship, we are so close to the grand old Atlantic. The New Englanders appear to me generally a very quiet people, and very fond of music : we hear them playing and singing a great deal. Some of them sing exceedingly well, too, airs out of Italian operas, &c. They have a good pianoforte in the ladies' public drawing-room, which has plent}^ of work on its hands, or rather plenty of hands on its keys from morn- X''.- Jff: ■ Jiil m M i CHOLERA IN NEW YORK. 65 rally M ing till night. They have an excellent piano- forte maker at Boston named Chickering. I hear from New York of a sad increase of cholera in that city. j\Iy correspondent, poor Mrs. Barclay, who writes in evident low spirits, tells me of the death of some of their friends from this terrible disease : one of her own family had had it slightly. I believe the wisest thing to do is to dismiss the sub- ject from the mind as much as possible, putting one's whole trust where safety and protection can alone be found. At the same lime, of course, it is right to be properly pre- pared, and to use the necessary remedies at the very first moment of alarm, and to be prudent and careful in diet. From all I can learn of the spread of cholera on this side of the At- lantic, I believe most of the fatal cases arise from carelessjiess and neglect at first, and total disregard of the premonitory symptoms. The weather is lovely in this delectable place. I think the atmosphere in America is much like that in beauteous Italy, it is so exquisitely clear and transparent. Thus the grand features of this country are presented to the eye tiirough a lovely lucid medium, and it is indeed a country of " magnificent distances,'' as somo one named its unfinished capital. ■11' •* I >' mi' \U lifirM: fcJ i 66 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. As yet, however, we have seen but little of it, and that little seems less when we recollect how much there is to be seen. Pine-apples and newspapers are rather cheap here ! The first (and fine ones) at a penny a-piece (owing a good deal to the prevalence of cholera^ which makes people afraid of eating them), and the second, I am told, many of them at a half-penny (English) — these are of course small, but really sometimes full of in- formation and news. Some of their more distinguished papers are admirably written, and replete with varied and extensive information and tidings from all the corners of the earth : there seems in general in their tone, I think, more heartiness of feeling and more freshness and originality than in ours. What I do not like in the daily American press, is the perpetual and sometimes puerile and paltry attempts at wit and humour, which they seem to think in- dispensable, whether in seasoD or out of season. They sometimes mingle this often rather ponder- ous pleasantry with the most serious accounts of accidents and di^iasters. Then their abuse of the authorities and people in office is beyond all idea violent. In the opposition papers, the most unmerciful vituperations are poured forth against some of their most eminent men ; i'i PERSONALITIES OF NEVVSPArERS. 67 of it, collect ch-eap penny alence eating my of are of of in- more n, and nation earth : think, shness ot like petual pts at k in- jason. )nder- Ints of ise of jyond Lpers, loured men; *, realli/ if you did not see their names you would sometimes think they were speaking of the most atrocious criminals. It might almost make one imagine that three quarters of the popula- ti(M are in a state of perpetual irritation and disapi)ointment at not being President them- selves, or, at least, Secretary of state. Taylor is one of the most popular of men, and all seem to be proud of, as well as attached to, their far-famed " Old Zack ; " yet I have seen such epithets as these applied to him in their public prints, — '' Journeyman butcher,'^ " Moloch,^' " .Alonster," " Nero," " Tyrant," " Ig- nominious cheat," " No three men could be found on a jury to credit him on his oath," "dolt," "tool," "fool," "cypher," "Cyclops," " fly on a coach wheel," " disgrace to the coun- try," &c. Still this is only an ebullition of, perhaps, vjU'.te transitory v. rath ; and the next day their ,:,u(;d ''Old Zack" will be forgiven. We h?/'o mi/U: acquaintance with a very agreealjlo lady liore. Airs. S. M , of New York. Si!fi has chaniang unaffected manners, and api'v ars to be very accomplished : she sings remarkal ly well, and has a handsome Italian- looking face. Her husband and daughter-in- law are here \\Vta her ; the latter, I believe, older than herself. Iler little grandson-in-law 'm Ir-' . 'I li^:-'' TRAVELS IN AMERICA. is a pretty dark child, and his youthful grand- mamma appears excessively attached to him. A friend of Mrs. M 's, a Miss G , of Boston, is one of the loveliest young American ladies I have yet seen : she is fair, and a little reminds me of our own beautiful Lady C. V , in the cast of her countenance and the line of feature. She looks particularly pretty in the bathing hat, a large Swiss-looking straw hat which she sometimes wears also out walk- ing. She appears to have the softest and sweet- est manners imaginable ; and all she does and says seems characterised by extreme grace and gentleness. There is no loud talking and con- stant giggling, of which travellers have so often accused American young ladies, and which, I believe, wherever it is to be found, is greatly owing to their being partly educated at large public schools, which, perhaps, gives them a habit of pitching their voice high in order to make themselves heard among numbers, I am happy to say I have not yet met with any who have that unrefined disagreeable habit. The town of Gloucester, where we are, has a population of about six thousand : its trade is entirely maritime. The harbour is reckoned one of the finest on the whole coast of the Atlantic. The town contains seven churches •'4i4*,, TRADE OF GLOUCESTER. 6f) and various public buildings : the inhabitants are mostly employed in the halibut, cod, and mackerel fisheries ; and there are about seven- teen thousand tons of shipping here. Quite a little navy (chiefly from Newfoundland station) came in the other day to take shelter in the harbour from a gale at sea. If it is true that Newport is very foggy, which I am told it is, I think this must be a far preferable place of summer residence. Colonel Green and his lady called on me tlie other day. lie is the accomplished editor of an excellent Boston paper. I trade loned the :hes m •I ■■■'■ff«'' >!i) 70 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER MIL KETUUN TO BOSTON. FIIIE ENOINKS AND TIIEIU HOUSES. THE CUADLK OF AMERICAN MnEUTY. — FANEUIL HALL. — BOSTON PROHIBITION OF STRKET-SMOKINO. — STATIK OF WASHINGTON IN THE STATE HOUSE. - ANECDOTE CONNECTED WITH IT. A DRUM rUESEUVED IN THE STATE HOUSE. VISIT TO CAM- BRIDGE. - - MOUNT AUBURN. — HARVARD UNIVERSITY. PRO- FESSORS PIERCE, SILLIMAN, GUYON, SPARKS, AND AGASSIZ. LIVE CORAL INSECTS PRESERVl.D BY PROFESSOR AOASSIZ REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THEM. — MUSEUM OF PROFESSOR AGASSIZ. The weather on this 16th of August, is very pleasant at Boston. I hear it has been terribly- oppressive, and we were fortunate to be at charming breezy Cap'j Ann. I was surprised tlie other day at my nephew- in-law, E. W , suddenly making Ids ap- pearance h'^re. He is going to visit Newport instanter, and then is oiF to Canada. He in- troduced the other dav a friend of his to me, M*' C. S , a most agreeable and highly-in- formed person. The thunder-storms have been as rare in America as in England this year : we had one iililS; t-'feik^. FIRE-ENGINES. 71 le 111- k) lue, ly-in- :e in one however, the night before hf^^. I hope it will do good, and clear away tht unulcra a little. "We had a disagreeable little fright some time ago here, occasioned by the passage being on fire close to V 's room (it was owing to something wrong about the gas-pipes). It was early in the night fortunately, and as I thought most likely some of the numerous fire-engines would be within call, taking their usual con- stitutional walk or canter (in short, taking the air if there was no fire to take), I did not feel much trepidation. The fire was easily over- come, and thereafter I felt for some time more secure than usual, thinking that for a fortnight or more people would be particularly careful hereabouts concerning fire, in consequence of this little warning, and that I should hear those fidgetty engines at exercise without much apprehension of their being called into requisition by us. By the way, there is a team of ghostly look- ing white horses attached to one of these engines, that truly seem to have no repose. Like the restless phantoms of wicked horses, they haunt the streets at the witching hour of night, and seem to wander over the face of the granite city, without object or aim, as if disturbed in their graves by the proximity of \y\ y^v.s^.. m .1 w i ■ ^ \ _ Iffl.H" liii 72 TRAVELS IN AMF^RICA. SO many railroads here, and feeling, like Othello, their " occupation gone" — at least that of their fellows. I saw the other day the place where the first blood was shed in the great Revolution — the righteous Revolution, if ever there was one deserving to be so called ; yet ray English feel- ings make me dislike always to dwell on the details of it. Faneuil Hall is the American cradle of liberty. Would the reader like a slight sketch of the cot where so sturdy and chopping an infant first began to crow and squall '? This, in America, universally-venerated structure has stood for about one hundred and nine years, and was presented to the city of Boston by Peter Faneuil, a respected mer- chant. Here the chiefs of the Revolution ha- rangued the people in those troublous and perilous times, and here often some of the most distinguished orators of America pour forth the living fire of their eloquence. It is a large building, but not architecturally remarkable. The lower story is occupied by stores. The hall on the second story is seventy- six feet square and twenty-eight high, having galleries on three sides, supported by two ranges of Ionic columns. Portraits of Wash- ington and Mr. Faneuil hang on the walls. WASHINGTON S STATUE. 73 1 i I ■i i Above this hall is one of about the same dimensions, devoted to military exercises. There is a regulation here that reminded me of Vienna. People are not permitted to smoke in the streets. (I know not whether this is still in force at Vienna, after the various changes there.) This they appear to submit very patiently and unmurmuringly to, albeit the Cradle of Liberty lifts its protecting walls so near them. The State House, on its noble site, with its handsome dome, is very striking ; its colonnade is fine. There is an excellent statue of Wash- ington in the large hall : it is enveloped in folds of massive drapery, and so easily do the graceful robes hang, that it is related of a countrywoman coming one day to see it, that she exclaimed she could not judge of the statue till they " tuk that sorter sheet off of it." It was a more natural mistake than that of a purblind lady visiting at , who, on entering the hall, gazed with respectful ad- miration at the representation of an Egyptian mummy, and it was found afterwards she had imagined it to be a former Bishop of Norwich in his full canoi}icals, and as such thought it a remarkable likeness, and a work of great ex- cellence ! VOL. I. E 74 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. In the interior of the State House are the two cliambers of the legislature. The House of ] representatives has accommodation for about four hundred jv^i'sons, and the Senate-chamber is rather smaller. An ancient drum is to be seen there taken in one of the earlier revolu- tionary battles : did it hear the glorious words Mr. Webster once spoke, concerning its bro- ther-drums of Britain 1 If it did, I marvel almost it did not burst out into an extemporaneous and self-beating rub-a-dub in echo to those noble, generous, and spirit-stirring strains ; if a drum had a heart in its skin, it would surely have done so. " England, the beat of whose drum, keeping company with the hours," &c., — would that my memory could serve me to repeat some of this eloquent outburst — but, alas ! I am far from sure that even these few words are correct. The first time we went to Cambridge we went to see our amiable friends Mrs. and Miss Everett. They are in the President's house, and are to continue there for the present. After sitting a little while with J\Irs. Everett, we went with ^Ir. and Miss Everett, in their carriage to Mount Auburn, the spacious and beautiful cemetery. The finely diversified grounds occupy about one hundred acres, in general profusely adorned with a rich variety of •f HARVATtD UNIVERSITY. 75 trees, and in some places planted with orna- mental shrul)bery : there are some tombs graced with charming flower-beds. There are also some pretty sheets of water there : it is divided into different avenues and paths, which have various names. Generally they are called after the trees or flowers that abound there, such as lily, pop- lar, cyi»ress, violet, woodl)ine, and others. It is, ind« ' a beauteous city for the dead. The birds were singing most mellifluously and mer- rily, — it was ({uite a din of music that they kept up in these solemn but lovely shades. The views from Mount Auburn are fine and extensive. There are some graceful and well- executed monuments within its precincts. Afterwards we went with Mr. Everett to see a little of the colleges, and then visited the mineralogical cabinet. Harvard Eniversitv is the most ancient, and is reckoned the best endowed institution in the Union. It was founded in 1G)38, and from a donation made to it bv the Rev. John Harvard it was called after him. AVe paid a brief visit to the great telescope, merely to look at it, however, and not through it, for it was then dull, and very cloudy, with no prospect of its being otherwise during the evening, — it is a refracting tele- scope. ^Ir. Bond himself was not there, but E 2 i -> 11 •-'' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) k // {./ ^.^. ,.V % ••<'- ,^4i < *ii /. ^ ^ % 1.0 I.I 11.25 no |2j8 |Z5 1.4 HiotQgraphic Sciences CorjMration 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •^ l\ V <^ <^ o^ '^^ ^ 76 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I- ■ i. liis son was, who is already a distinguished and enthusiastic astronomer. Mr. Bond, sen., was one of the discoverers of the eighth sa- tellite of Saturn. Another time we went to the soiree, which Mr. and Mrs. Everett gave on the occasion of the meeting of the American Association of Science at Cambridge. There I saw, of course, many learned cele- brities. Among them — Professor Pierce, Pro- fessor Silliman, Professor Guyon, Professor Sparks (the new President of Harvard Uni- versity), and Professor Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist (I found he was a cousin of my old governess. Mademoiselle Anno Agassiz). This very distinguished man — one of the great contributors to the world^s stores of science and knowledge — is an extremely agree- able member of society, and a very popular one. His manners are particularly frank, pleasing, cordial, and simi)le ; and though deeply absorbed, and intensely interested in his laborious scientific researches, and a most thorough enthusiast in his study of natural philosophy, yet he rattled merrily away on many of the various light topics of the day with the utmost gaiety, good humour, and spirit. - V M. AGASSIZ. 77 He has succeeded, after great trouble and persevering indefatigable care, in preserving alive some coral insects, the first that have ever been so preserved, and he kindly promised me an introduction to those distinguished architects. We accordingly >vent, accompanied by Mr. Everett, the following day. M. Agassiz was up stairs very much occupied by some scientific investigation of importance, and he could not come down, but he allowed us to enter the all but hallowed precincts devoted to the much-cherished coral insects. M. Agassiz had been away a little while pre- viously, and left these treasures of his heart under the charge and superintendence of his assistant. This poor care-worn attendant, we were told, almost lost his own life in pre- serving the valuable existence of these little moving threads, so much did he feel the weighty responsibility that devolved upon him, and with such intense anxietv did he watch the complexion, the contortions, all the twist- ings and twirlings, and twitchings, and fling- ings and writhings of the wondrous little crea- tures, and assiduously marking any indications of petite sante among them. They were kept in water carefully and frequently changed, and various precautions were indispensably neces- fi ■;i 78 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. sary to be taken in order to guard their exqui- sitely delicate derai-semi existences. Glad enough was the temporary gentlcman- in- waiting, and squire-of-the-body to these interesting zoophytes to see i\[. Agassiz return, and to resign his charge into his hands. With him this exceeding care and watchfulness was indeed nothing but a labour of love, and probably no nurse or mother ever fondled a weakly infant with more devoted tenderness and anxious attention than ^I. Agassiz dis- played towards his dearly-beloved coral in- sects. As to me, I hardly dared breathe while looking at them for fear I should blow their precious lives away, or some catastrophe should happen while we were there, and we should be suspected of coralicide I However, the sight was most interesting. We watched them as they flung about what seemed their fibre- like white arms, like microscopic opera dancers or windmills ; but these apparent arms are, I believe, all they possess of bodies. How wonderful to think of the mighty works that have been performed by the fellow-insects of these little restless labourers. What are the builders of the Pyramids to them ? What did the writers of the " Arabian Nights " imagine CORAL INSECTS. 7.0 ["S it f I equal to their more magical acliievcments '( AVill men ever keep coral insects ])y tlieni to lay the foundations of a few islands and con- tinents Avlien the population grows too large for the earthy portion of earth 'i People keep silkworms to spin that beautiful fabric for them : and M. Agassiz has shown there is no impracticability. I looked at the large bowl containing the weird workers with unflagging interest, till I could almost fancy minute reefs of rock were rising up in the basin. What a world of marvels we live in, and alas that the splendid wonders of science should be shut out from so many myriads of mankind : for that the marvellous is inalienablv dear to human nature, witness all the fairy tales, ghost stories, and superstitions of all kinds that have abounded and been popular from age to age. Penny Magazines and such works have done much, but much there remains to be done to bring tlie subjects not only with- in reach, but to make them more universally popular and attractive, and less technical. At last we took leave of those marine curi- osities, and wended our way back, sorry not to have seen ^I. Agassiz (who was still absorbed in dissecting or pickling for immortality some ex- traordinary fish that he had discovered), l)ut . I ^i1 •'Mi ■ft. J 80 f TRAVELS IN AMERICA. (Icliglited to have had the opportunity of see- ing his protefjces. " M. Agassiz ouglit indeed to have an ex- tensive museum," said " for I believe everybody in the States makes a point of send- ing oil' to him, post haste, every imaginable reptile, and monster, and nondescript that they happen to find." I should, assuredly not like to have the opening of his letters and parcels if that is the case. re 1- Ic ■y :e Is PLYMOUTH, NEW ENGLAND. 81 CHAPTER IX. PLYMOUTH, — THK IMLOUIM-KA TIIKUS. — MllS. WAUIIFN, A DESCEND- ANT OF ONK OK THK IMLGIU.MS. — VISIT KKOM MK. I'KF.SCOTT THE IIISTOKIAN. — OKAVKS OF TIIK IMLC.RIM-FATIIKKS. Vlf^lTS FROM DANIEL WEUSTEIl AND FROM MK. N. P.WILLIS. SA- MOSET THE INDIAN CHIEF. ENERGY OF THE PILURIM-FATHEK*:. ALTERED FACE OF THEIR COUNTRY. We have come to famous Old Plym.outh, to see the interesting spot where the lirst pilgrim- fathers landed. We paid a visit to the rock which it is said their feet first touched : it has been conveyed to the centre of the village. Here they landed after their perilous voyage in the " Mayflower," on the 22nd of December, 1620. Plymouth boasts of being the first town built by civilized beings in New England. The inhabitants celebrate the interesting anni- versary of the landing every year. We visited one of the lineal descendants of the pilgrims, soon after our arrival here. Mrs. Warren is the mother of Judge W^arren (with whom we went) ; she is a most charming, delightful old lady, with the most gentle, ami- E 5 '■ V: 'I I'M |.|V \u^ ft: 82 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ^1 I El able, and polished manners imaginable ; lier house was as delightful as herself ! and was, I believe, certainly one of the original houses built by the pilgrim-fathers. Mrs. Warren seated me on a precious old-fashioned chair, that actually had come over in the *' Mayflower." I fancy there are pseudo- Mayflower chairs enough in various parts of ^lassachusetts to set up a score of upholsterers in business ; but this, there is no doubt, really came over with the venerable voyagers, as it belonged to the de- scendant of one of the earliest governors. There were a number of old family pictures in the room, some of them by Copley, father of our greatly-distinguished Lord Lyndhurst (who was born, I think, in Boston). I had the great pleasure of a visit from Mr. Prescott before I left Boston ; he came from Nahant to see me with his daughter. I was delighted to have an opportunity of making acquaintance with this justly celebrated histo- rian, whose works I had read with such lively interest. Even by the side of his handsome (and, by the way, very English-looking) daugh- ter, he still looks quite a young man, and he seems to have a flow of spirits equal to those of Lord Stanley : there is not a particle of pom- posity about him, and his style of conversation m MR. PRESCOTT. 8.S is of the most fresh, original, agreeable, aiul striking kind ; and with all his stores of learn- ing, and varied knowledge, there is the most complete absence possible of anything approach- ing to pedantry. His eyesight is, unfortunately, defective, but no one would observe this in society. lie appeared rather absent. A short time after he had taken leave and left the room with his daughter, we heard a knock at the door ; on saying, " come in,'' Mr. Prescott appeared again, and said he had left his cane there. He looked, and we looked, chairs were inspected, sofas pushed about, and tables trotted out from their places, when presently I heard a subdued excla- mation from iMr. Prescott, who had found the cane — in his hand, where I certainly did not think of looking for it. He laughed good-hu- mouredly at his forgetfulnesb, tud he and his cane vanished jiresently together. We have visited the churchyard here, whicli contains some interesting graves of the old pil- grims. Altogether, there is much to attract and to please in Plymouth, and I am very glad I came here. I have just seen that great man, Mr. Webster, and also Mrs. Webster who, I find, are now staying in this hotel. He is a friend of my ^'1 I !•! 84 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. rs:; father's ; but as T was abroad when he was at Belvoir Castle, I had never before seen liini. I was, as everybody must be, I should think, very much struck l^y liis magnificent countenance — that prodigiously massive brow, those mighty eyes, that seem as if they were calmly looking down the depths of ages, and that grand air of repose (which especially ap- peared to me to characterise his aspect) have a sort of quiet mountainous grandeur about them that makes one think, that old Homer, had he not been blind, might so have looked, or the awful Son of Coelus and Terra ! His fea- tures have more, I think, of the Oriental than the Occidental cast ; but then you seldom see so much intellect in an Eastern countenance. It is, indeed, a very un-American face, for their features are ordinarily rather sharp and delicate. Mr. and Mrs. Webster have kindly asked me to go to Green Harbour ; the invitation was most cordial and friendly. " Come, pray, and re- main there as long as you can — we shall do all we can to make your stay agreeable," &c. I look forward very much to going and seeing this great man in his own house. I hear he occupies himself much with farming and va- rious country pursuits. I am afraid there will be no change in THE PILGRIM-FATIIKRS. S.*) American policy with regard to protection. The South are for free trade, and if they can carry the day they will have it. I have just had a very agreeable visit from Mr. N. P. Willis. V was highly delighted to see this well known and popular American author, of whom she had often heard. I hope to sec Mrs. Willis to-morrow ; she is the niece and adopted daughter of Mr. Grinnel, brother to the Mr. Grinnel to whom I have letters from Mr. C . There are six churches in this small town, and two academies. The hotel is called Samo- set House, after the friendly Indian chief whom the settlers found here in the olden time. It sounds so like Somerset that I begin to think my cousin the Duke of Beaufort must claim some very distant relationship with this old chieftain of Massachusetts, and we, of course, too ! I remember finding something like traces of the De Rooses in Africa : so at this rate, it seems, I shall establish very amicable relations of my own between far-apart and widely ex- tended countries. I believe there is some curious tradition of this identical old Samoset accosting the newly-arrived pilgrims with some words of broken English ; but I do not exactly recollect the story. 86 TRAVELS IN AMLUICA. What energy and determination those old pilgrim-fathers showed, and the poor pilgrim- mothers too (who, as some one justly observed the other day, seemed usually consigned to an unmerited oblivion). What hardships and heart- quakings must they not have gone through when all this now cheerful and cultivated and inhabited country, with its profusion of towns and villages, and its multiplicity of railways, was one huge wild-waving pine forest ! Fancy their surprise if they could look upon it noir ; and the iron trains, and the electric telegraphs, and their dandy French-costumed mustachioed sons, and their polka-dancing daughters ; what would great grandmamma think of that 1 Mrs. Hemans' lovely lines on the Landing of the Pilgrim-fathers, and the beautiful music poor Mrs. Arkwright wedded to them, have often lately recurred to my memory ! MR. WEDSTKKS DOMAIN. .S7 CILVrTER X. <;UF.F.N IIAlinoni, TIIK skat ok UAMKI. \VKH?iTI",ll. — Ills ni'ESTJi. — nKsrillPTIoN (tK Ills MANSION'. — Till'. MII.ITIA (IF.NKIIAI.. — KNTKKl'KISK uK AMKIlirAN l,AI)Y-TRA VKM.KllS. — AN INSTANi E. MRS. C- - FIIK.M CHINA, — (lUKAT INTEM.KCTl' AL I'oWKIlS OK MR. WKIISTI'.U. — A STOIIM. — "MYKINtiOoM Full A PIN." — ANF.nxiTK UK LADY . — TIIK SoLK A.MKHU'AN WITH AN AIUSTOCKATM! TITLE. KXTUAuKDINA IIY I Dl'l LA IIITY (tF Mil. wehsteii in nkw encjlani). — ankcddte ok Mil. wehstku. that statesman and Mil. CLAY NEVER IMIESIDKNTS OF THE UNITED STATES. A (AISE AHSMJNED. — APPOINTMENT oF IL- LITEIIATE POLITICAL POI^TMASTEKS. — MODE <)K LlVINi; AT GREEN HAUllOUR. We have been much charmed with our visit to Green Harbour, Marshfiekl, the Ijeautiful domain of Mr. Webster. It is a charming and particularly enjoyable place, almost close to the sea. The beach here is something mar- vellous, eight miles in breadth, and of splendid hard floor-like sand, and when this is covered by the rolling Atlantic, the waves all but come up to the neighbouring green, grassy fields. Very high tides cover them. There is a very agreeable party in the house, including Mr. and Miss Everett, &c., and in i 88 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. addition to the guests here, those staying at Mr. F. Webster's (Mr. Webster's son) generally assemble here in the evening ; among them was Miss S . She was an exceedingly pleasant and agreeable young lady, full of life, spirits, information, and good humour, joined to mild and amiable manners. Miss F was another very pleasing s;)ecimen of an accomplished American young lady. This house is very prettily fitted up. It strikes me as being partly in the English and partly in the French style, exceedingly com- fortable, and with a number of remarkably pretty drawing-rooms opening into one ano- ther, which always is a judicious arrangement I think ; it makes a party agreeable and un- formal. There are a variety of pictures and busts by American artists, and some of them are exceedingly good. There is a picture in the chief drawing room of ]\Ir. Webster's gallant son who was killed in the Mexican war. The two greatest of America's statesmen each lost a son in that war, Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster. There is also a fine picture of Mr. Webster himself, which, however, though a masterly painting, does not do justice to the distin- guished original. It was executed some years ago ; but I really think it is not so handsome \p*'' MR. WEBSTER S HOUSE. 89 as the great statesman is now, with liis Oljm- pus-like brow, on which are throned such di- vinities of thought, and with tliat wonderful countenance of might and majesty. The dining-room here is a charming apart- ment with all its windows opening to the ground, looking on the garden ; and it is deli- ciously cool, protected from the sun by the overshadowing masses of foliage of the most magnificent weeping (American) elms. These colossal trees stand just before the house, and are pre-eminently beautiful : they seem to unite in their own gigantic persons the exquisite and exceeding grace of the weeping willow, with the strength and grandeur of the towering elm. I was told a curious fact last night. Every- where, through the length and breadth of the states, the sycamore trees this year are blighted and dying. The walls of the dining-room are adorned chiefly with English engravings, among which there is one of my father. My bed-room is profusely decorated with prints of different English country houses and castles. The utmost good taste and refinement are percep- tible in the arrangements of the house, and a most enchanting place of residence it is. All the domestics of the house are coloured 4, 90 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. m ■if" ^U*- persons, which is very seldom indeed the case in this part of the United States. Mr. Web- ster tells me he considers them the best pos- sible servants, much attached, contented and grateful, and he added, he would "fearlessly trust them with untold gold" They certainly must be good ones to judge by the exquisite neatness and order of everything in the es- tablishment. Mr. Webster's farm liere consists of one thousand five hundred acres : he has a hundred head of cattle. Mr. F. Webster has been a good deal in India, and he was mentioning the other evening that he was struck, in several of the English schools in that country, by the tone of some political lessons that were taught there. For instance, with regard to freedom and representation of the people, &c. ; the natives were forcibly re- minded of their own unrepresented state, by questions bearing on the subject — the United States being instanced as an example of almost universal suffrage ; Great Britain itself of a less extensive elective franchise ; France, of what- ever France was then ; and Ilindostan espe- cially pointed out as having nothing of the kind, as if they really wished to make the poor Hindoos discontented with their present state. AMERICAN LADY-TRAVELLERS. 91 To be sure they might as well go to Persia and Turkey for their examples. Mr. F. \Vcl)ster seemed to think the Hindoos were beginning a little to turn their thoughts to such political subjects. While we were at dinner a day or two ago, a new guest, who had arrived rather late from New York, walked in, being announced as a general. He was a very military looking man indeed with a formidable pair of mustachios. Some turn in the conversation reminding me of the j\Iexican war, I asked if General had served in ^lexico. Mr. laughed, and told me he was in the militia, and had never smelt powder in his life. What enterprising travellers American ladies sometimes are ! ^ly Atlantic- crossing perform- ances seem very little in comparison with some of their expeditions. It would not surprise me that any who have ever gone to settle in the far-off portions of the country, and been doomed to undergo such rugged experiences as those described in the American work (by a lady) called " A new Home, Who '11 Follow V should laugh at hardships and discomforts which might reasonably perhaps deter less seasoned and experienced travellers ; but it must be a very different case with those habit- 'tti! 92 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ' uated only to refinements and luxuries. Mr. Webster had told me he had expected for some little time past the arrival of a lady, a relative of his, who had lately left China for the United States ; she was to leave her husband in the Celestial flowery land, her intention being, I believe, to see her relatives and friends at home, and then to rejoin him in the course of some months in China. Like the gallant chieftain spoken of before, she arrived late, and during dinner the doors were thrown open and " Mrs. P , from China," was announced. She came in, and met her relatives and friends, as quietly as if she had merely made a " petite promenade de quinze jours" (as the French boasted they should do when they went to besiege Antwerp). She seated herself at table, when a few ques- tions were asked relative to her voyage. " Had you a good passage 1 " " Very, — altogether." " How long 1 " *' About one hundred and three days " (I think this is correct, but I cannot answer to a day). *' Pleasant companions 1 " " Very much so, and with books the time passed very agreeably.'' AMERICAN LADY-TRAVELLERS. 93 All this was as quietly discussed as if the passage had been from Dover to Boulogne, and the length of the time of absence a fort- night. American ladies, perhaps, on the whole, do not travel about as much as we do, but when they do set about it, the uttermost ends of the earth seem scarcely to alarm them. The fact is, I think, that foreign travel to American ladies is rather a different thing to what it is with us. Living so close, comparatively speak- ing, to all the most interesting places in the world, — Italy, with its countless associations and glories of art, — Switzerland, with its crown of mountains and enchanting scenery, and other classic lands, — we can so easily and so quickly indulge ourselves with these glorious and inter- esting spectacles ; but if our transatlantic sister wishes to gaze on the time-honoured monuments and transcendent works of art of Old Imperial Rome, or the magical enchantments of Naples, or the Arabian Night- like glories of the Al- hambra and Granada ; or to speed to that Mecca of the Americans — Paris; there rolls the broad Atlantic, and she must prepare for the fatigues of a regular sea voyage before she can hope to accomplish it. Thus their ideas of foreign travel are necessarily more comprehen- \r i ' i 94 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. It:- sivc, and, perhaps more expansive than ours. Without doubt after crossing the Atlantic the Pacific becomes less formidable ; but I need not talk of foreign travel, when part of their own America, — California, — is at such a mighty distance from them. " Mrs. P , from China," I found to be a delightful person, and I was excessively inter- ested in many things she told me during a long conversation we had in the evening. Some of her accounts of Chinese proceedings amused me greatly. Together with other things, she told me that at Canton, among the crowded popula- tion who live in boats, it was a regular custom, as soon as a boy could crawl about on his hands and knees, to fasten carefully around his head a sort of life-preserving apparatus, in case little Master Chinaman should, when occa- sionally left to his own inventions, pop over- board, and the brother of the sun and moon lose a valuable subject. But no such tender precautions are ever taken with regard to the poor little Celestial misses. Their brows and waists are left unbound by the guardian blad- der, and if they become a morsel for the fishes, so much the better for the finny hon vivant, and also for the afi'ectionate parental wo/i-bar- barians ! It is not unlikely, if this is the case. DRIVE WITH MR. WEBSTER. 95 that these poor little supernumeraries are some- times assisted by a sly push in their aquatic excursions. !Mr. Webster was good enough to drive me out yesterday, and a most splendid drive we had. At one part, from a rather high emi- nence, we had a glorious panoramic view : it was really sublime : ocean, forest, hill, valley, promontory, river, field, glade, and hollow, were spread before us ; altogether they formed a truly magnificent prospect. One almost seemed to be looking into boundless space. We paused at this spot a little while to admire the beautiful scene. How meet a companion the giant Atlantic seemed for that mighty mind, to some of whose noble sentiments I had just been listening with delight and veneration, and yet how far beyond the widest sweep of ocean, is the endless expanse of the immortal intellect, — time-overcoming, — creation-com- pelling ! However, while I was thus up in the clouds, they (condescendingly determining, I suppose, to return my call) suddenly came down upon us, and unmercifully. St. S within ! what a rain it was ! The Atlantic is a beautiful ob- ject to look at, but when either he, or some cousin-german above, takes it into his head to I'l 9G TRAVELS IN AMERICA. fe & it: I,: act the part of shower-bath extraordinary to you, it is not so pleasant. My thoughts im- mediately fled away from ocean (except the desceriding one), forest, hill, dale, and all the circumjacent scenery, to centre ignominiously on my bonnet, to say nothing of the tip of my nose, which was drenched and drowned com- pletely in a half second. My veil — humble defence against the fury of the elements ! — ac- commodated its dripping self to the features of my face like the black mask of some despe- rate burglar, driven against it, also, by the wind, that blew a "few," I can assure the reader. IIow Mr. Webster contrived to drive, I know not, but drive he did, at a good pace too, for " after us," indeed, was " the deluge ;" I could scarcely see him ; a wall of water separated us, but ever and anon I heard faintly, through the hissing and splashing and lashing and pattering of the big rain, his deep, sonorous voice, recommending me to keep my cloak well about me, which no mortal cloak of any spirit will ever allow you to do at such needful moments — not it ! " My kingdom for a pin." I recollect Lady , telling me how her life had once hung on a pin. Thus it was ; she was driving herself one day across a MR. WEBSTER S SEAT. 97 bleak, broad moor in Yorkshire, and it began rather suddenly to rain, and blow tremen- dously. Excepting a cloak, slie was very lightly clothed, and this said cloak blew open, flew back, and made itself as odious as possible, and left her chilled by the wind, and drenched by the rain. She was delicate, and extremely afraid of cold, and was shivering from head to foot : at lust a friendly pin was found, and be- hold — perhaps her lungs and her life were thus saved ! When we arrived at Green Harbour, we found Mrs. Webster very anxious for the poor rain-beaten wayfarers. She took every kind care of me, and except a very slight soup^on of a cold, the next morning, I did not suffer any inconvenience. Mr. Webster had com- plained of not being very well before (I think a slight attack of hay-asthma), but I was glad to meet him soon afterwards at dinner, not at all the worse for the tempestuous drive ; and for my part, I could most cordially thank him for the glorious panorama he had shown me, and the splendid drive through what seemed almost interminable woods : and (since we had got safely through it), I was not sorry to have witnessed the very excellent imitation of the Flood which had been presented before (and VOL. I. F 98 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. some of it into) my astonished eyes. Mr. Webster told me the drive through the woods would have been extended, but for the rain, ten miles ! He took me the other day to a room I had not before visited, and showed me a beautiful picture of a lovely and only daughter, whom he had the great misfortune to lose last year. I am about to leave this delightful place, for I have an engagement to go and dine at Nahant to-morrow, with Mr. and !Mrs. Prescott. The latter I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting. I believe she has very delicate health. I made acquaintance at Plymouth with a charming Mrs. Thayer : her father is said to be the only American who possesses and is uni- versally known by an aristocratic title : he is the lineal descendant of an ancient Dutch family. I believe the title is " The Patroon.'' I cannot describe to you the almost ado- ration with which Mr. Webster is regarded in New England. The newspapers chronicle his every movement, and constantly contain anec- dotes respecting him, and he invariably is treated with the greatest respect by everybody, and, in fact, his intellectual greatness seems all but worshipped. Massachusetts boasts, with ANECDOTE OF MR. WEBSTER. 99 a commendable pride and exultation, that he is one of her children. A rather curious anec- dote has been going the round of the papers lately. It appears Mr. Webster was at Mar- tha's Vineyard a short time ago, and he drove up to the door of the principal hotel, at Edgar Town, the capital, accompanied by some of his family, and attended, as usual, by his coloured servants. Now it must be observed that Mr. Webster has a swarthy, almost South-Spanish complexion, and when he put his head out of the window and inquired for apartments, the keeper of the hotel, casting dismayed glances, first at the domestics of different shades of sable and mahogany, and then at the fine dark face of Mr. Webster, excused himself from provid- ing them with accommodation, declaring he made it a rule never to receive any coloured persons. (This in New England ! if the tale be true.) The great statesman and his family were about to seek for accommodation else- where — thinking the hotel-keeper alluded to his servants, — when the magical name of " glo- rious Dan" becoming known, mine host, peni- tent and abashed, after profuse apologies, entreated him to honour his house with his presence. " All 's well that ends well." One cannot wonder at the Americans' ex- F 2 ' m f: 100 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. treme admiration of the genius and the statesman-like qualities of their distinguished countryman, his glorious and electrifying elo- quence, his great powers of ratiocination, his solid judgment, his stores of knowledge, and his large and comprehensive mind — a mind of that real expansion and breadth which, heaven knows, too few public men can boast of. But what does excite wonder is, the singular fact, that neither ho nor that other idol of the western world, Mr. Clay, should ever have been chosen to fill the highest office in the United States. It has been explained to me thus : the greatest and most distinguished statesmen in America are so thoroughly identified with some particular party, that naturally all the men of other parties (and party-spirit appears to run very high in America) are violently op- posed to them. A comparatively unknown politician, therefore, who has made himself popular in some other sphere — as the present President, for instance, "^^ — has a better chance to occupy the presidential chair than the best and most renowned of their statesmen. In short, as regards the politics of their chief * I need hanlly point out to the reader that President Taylor died since these remarks were written . « PATRONAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 101 Ln lef Int magistral' they appear universally to prefer what is called in sporting circles in Hngland, a " dark iiurse." Whether this peculiarity in the working of their constitutional polity be for good or for evil, where the chief magis- trate for the time being has so vast an amount of power and patronage, I leave those more conversant with such subjects to decide. Speaking of patronage, it may ))e well to allude to the army of postmasters whom every successive President has the privilege (of which it is said he uniformly avails himself) of turn- ing out on his election. In the newly-ap- pointed legions of this class of administrators, it is not experience, I am told, or fitness in any way for the post, that is considered, but the direction their votes have taken ; and I have been assured that sometimes persons are ap- pointed — certainly extraordinarily illiterate for America — who cannot read, and others who cannot spell. In one of the public prints I saw the other day an attack on a recently appointed post- master to Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana. This functionary wrote from his then abode to some one at the place of his future labours, and spelt the name of the town thus : — hi !.' w J 02 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. " Indian Apolis." Deponent sayeth not whether he added the name of the state as Indian Anna. The mode of living at Green Harbour is exceedingly agreeable, quiet, and unostenta- tious, yet all is conducted with the most unbounded hospitality. Every one is judi- ciously allowed to follow their own tastes and inclinations, and read, walk, drive, write, or whatever else they may like, without any formality or interference. U' Hi" VISIT TO MR. PRESCOTT. 103 kl CHAPTER XL VISIT TO MU. AND MRS. PRESCOTT AT NAHANT. — PAUCITY OF TREES THERE. — A MAGNIFICENT WATER-MELON. BEAUTY OF BOSTON HARBOUR. POETICAL ADDITIONAL NAMES GIVEN TO AMERICAN CITIES. — NEW BEDFORD. — ITS POPULATION AND TRADE. DELICATE POLITENESS OF A DESCENDANT OF WIL- LIAM PENN. — Martha's vineyard. — the hostess, her son AND DAUGHTER. — W^OODSVILLE. — NAUSHON. ITS LOVELI- NESS. THE ONE GRAVE. — REFLECTION SUGGESTED DY IT. AN ANCIENT PLACE OF INDIAN SEPULTURE. VERSES SU(;- GESTED BY NAUSHON. To-day we went and dined early with Mr. and Mrs. Prescott at Nahant, where they are staying for the summer. They have a charm- ing country villa on the beautiful peninsula of Nahant. The town of Nahant is a very plea- sant watering-place, about twelve miles from Boston by water, and sixteen by land. Near Mr. Prescott's house is a magnificent-looking hotel with numerous piazzas : the sea-coast view from his villa is boundless, and the per- petually high and dashing waves fling their fan- tastic foam, without ceasing, against the wild jagged rocks, which abound in every direction. 104 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. We started by railroad to go there, and very near us in the car was a respectable looking negro. Mr. C. S , who was in the same car with us (also going to dine at Mr. Prescott's), pointed this man out to me, at the same time saying, that this could not by possibility have happened two years ago in this State, so strong then were the prejudices against any approach to, or appearance of, amalgamation with the black race. No one could certainly appear more humble and quiet, less presuming or forward in his new position, than did this coloured individual. On our way to Mr. Prescott's, we stopped to pay a visit to Mrs. Page, the sister of Mrs. F. Webster. She has a very pretty little coun- try house at Nahant : she made many inquiries, with much kind feeling, after those friends whom she remembers at Belvoir Castle, where she was staying with Mr. and Mrs. Webster. I have already mentioned that Mr. Prescott is one of the most agreeable people I ever met with — as delightful as his own most de- lightful books : he talks of going to Europe next year. He tells me he has never visited either Mexico or Peru. I am surprised that the interest he must have felt in his own matchless works did not impel him to go to BEAUTY OF BOSTON HARBOUR. 105 both. Mrs. Prescott is very delicate, with most gentle and pleasing manners. One of the guests was a niece of Lord Lyndhurst, her mother being Lord Lyndhurst's sister. After a most interesting and agreeable visit, we returned by water to Boston. The sea was blue as a plain of sparkling sapphire — quite Mediterraneanic ! Nahant is certainly a delightful place of summer residence, though it wants shade : trees in general most positively refuse to grow there, and there are but a few, which are taken as much care of as if they were the most precious exotics ; but Nahant and they do not agree. They have quite a pouting sulky look ; and it is almost as sad to look at them as it is to see the girdled trees, which look like skeletons of malefactors bleach- ing in the wind. At dessert, at Mr. Prescott^s, there was a huge magnificent water-melon, that almost might have taken the place of the Cochituate Pond, and supplied Boston with the crystal element for a day. In returning through the harbour of Boston from Nahant, we were full of admiration of its scenery : the many lovely islands with which it is beautifully studded, and the superb view of Boston itself, so nobly surmounted by its crown-like State-house, enchanted us. F 5 106 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Since I wrote this, we have had a very agreeable little tour. We had received, through Mrs. W , a kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell to visit them at New Bed- ford. That town is called "the City of Palaces," from the beautiful buildings it con- tains : it is also the great whaling metropolis of the north. It is about fifty-six miles from hence. The Americans give their cities most poetical and significant designations, and sometimes one town will have a variety of these. For instance, this, I believe, is not only called the Granite City, but the Trimountain City. Phi- ladelphia is the city of Brotherly Love, or the Iron City. Buffalo, the Queen City of the Lakes; New Haven, the City of Elms, &c. I think the American imagination is more florid than ours. I am afraid matter-of-fact John Bull, if he attempted such a fanciful classifica- tion, would make sad work of it. Perhaps we should have Birmingham, the City of Buttons or Warming-pans ; Nottingham, the City of Stockings ; SheflSeld, the City of Knives and Forks, and so forth. Mr. and Mrs. Willis, and Mr. Willis's musical brother, were at Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinneirs beautiful mansion. We paid a visit A DESCENDANT OF PENN. 107 to an immense whale-ship that is in the course of busy preparation for her voyage — to the South Seas, I believe. The whale-fishery is very extensively carried on at New Bedford. The population is about fifteen thousand, almost all engaged directly or indirectly in this trade. There are about two hundred and twenty-nine vessels engaged in the fishery, which is said to be continually increasing. The system on which they conduct their whaling operations, seems to be a very judicious one. Every one of the crew has a share in the profits or losses of the expedition ; it becomes, therefore, his interest to do all he possibly can to render the voyage a prosperous one. All are eager, all on the look-out, all are quite sure to exert their energies to the utmost, and perhaps this is one secret of the success that attends American whaling-ships. Mrs. Grinnell had a little conversazione the other evening, and among the visitors was a beautiful young Quaker lady, a descendant of William Penn. She was an extremely pleasing person, and her conversation was very animated and interesting. Imagining that perhaps I had never been in the society of Quakers before, she cleverly contrived to converse in the most pleasant and delightful manner, without once *..^ 108 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. bringing in either " thee " or " thou/' or " you " though she was talking to rae almost all the evening. I remarked this omission, and was after- wards certain of it when Mrs. Willis told me the lady informed her of the fact before going away, and gave her that reason for her deli- cate and scrupulous abstinence. She would not say " you" in short ; and " thee " and " thou " she thought would appear strange to me. I was told her family are in possession of a splendid silver tea-service which belonged to their celebrated ancestor, William Penn. We went from New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard, an island in the Atlantic not far from New Bedford. There we stayed a few days at an unpretending neat hotel of small dimensions, — not the chief hotel, where the mistress, we found, was unaccommodating and disobliging — a very rare thing in America. On taking refuge at the other hotel, we found we had reason to congratulate ourselves, for a more kind-hearted attentive person I never found than our new hostess. She, poor soul, was in affliction at the time ; for her son was about to go off to California — indeed his de- parture took place for that distant region the morning after our arrival. MARTHA S VINEYARD. 109 What misery has this Californian emigration brought on thousands of families — unknown, incalculable wretchedness ! There was, as may be supposed, a melancholy chorus of wailing and sobs when the dreaded moment actually arrived ; but her domestic sorrows did not make the excellent mother of the family neg- lect her guests. Nothing was omitted that could conduce to our comfort ; and her daugh- ter's attention and her own were unremit- ting. Her daughter was a smart intelligent lassie. One day, when she was in the room, the mother hurried in to ask some question rela- tive to dinner, or something of the kind. She had previously been baking, and her hands, and arms too, I believe, were white with flour. This very much annoyed her neat, particular, and precise daughter, who kept dusting her daintily, and trying to wipe it off, and draw- ing her mother's attention to it with great per- tinacity. At last the mother said she hadn't had time to get rid of it — hoped the lady would excuse it, with other apologies, and the daughter was a little pacified. One should hardly have expected so much susceptibility in such matters in a little out-of-the-way town on an island like Martha's Vineyard. I I ♦■ ■-.■ t ■> ■ i A • h 'i 1 •i no TRAVELS IN AMERICA. When we came away I felt it was quite a friend I was taking leave of, though we had been there so short a time, so good and kind did we find her. On the table in her little parlour, instead of the horrid novels so com- monly to be seen in America, were the " Penny Magazine," and other works of that species. From Martha's Vineyard we went to Woods- ville, a quiet little village by the sea. I had promised to pay a visit to Mrs. J. Grinnell, at the residence of a friend of hers, situated on an island very near this place (to which Mr. and Mrs. J. Grinnell had lately gone from New Bedford). We were at a very nice little hotel, indeed, at Woodsville, the master of which was a Mr. Webster, who had called one of his sons Daniel, after the famous statesman, the pride of old Massachusetts. At this hotel there was an admirable spe- cimen of an American female waiter and house- maid ; in short, a domestic factotum. She was excessively civil, obliging, active, and atten- tive, not in the slightest degree forward vr intrusive, always willing to do whatever one required of her. Altogether a very prepossess- ing personage is Mademoiselle Caroline, — not the famous female equestrian of Paris, but the ■f '-1, LOVELINESS OF NAUSIION. HI excellent and accomplished waitress and cham- bermaid at Woodsville, whom I beg to intro- duce to the reader, and to immoaalitv. The mistress of the hotel cooked for us herself, and she was quite a cordon blue, I assure you. Her chicken pies and her puddings were of the sublimest description. The morning was lovely, the sea sparkling with a myriad lustres, the air of Ausonian clearness and purity, when we went to Naushon, an exquisite little island (one of a cluster of the islands called the Elizabeth Group). We started in a small boat manned by the two sons of our host, and before very long we entered a little creek, and soon landed on the beautiful shore of fairy-like Naushon. (This is of course its old Indian name, and long may it retain it). We found Mr. Grinnell kindly waiting to receive us and drive us to the island palace of the proprietor of Naushan, for to Mr. S the whole beauteous island belongs. — AVhat an enviable possession ! Though not given to pilfering propensities, I should like to pick Mr. S 's pocket of this gem ! We started in a somewhat sledge-like vehicle, d la fieche (as our old Belgian courier Marcotte used to say), for the house, and soon found ourselves seated \ 1 ♦ ■ i 112 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. f li in a large cool apartment with Mrs. Grinnell, and the kindly cordial Lord and l.ady of the Isle, whose welcome had much of unworldly heartiness about it. I longed to explore the beautiful island, and when I did so, my anti- cipations were not disap[)ointed. Naushon is a little America in itself. There are miniatures of her wild, illimitable, awful old forests — a beautiful little diamond edition of her wonderful lakes, a fairy representation of her variety of scenery, a page torn from her an- cient Indian associations and remains. There too are her customs, her manners, her spirit, and character ; in short, it is a little pocket America (and enough to make the chief super- intendent of any police himself a pickpocket), a Liliputian Western World, a compressed Columbia. But its trees are not Liliputian, they are magnificent. We drove under a varied shade for a long time, and saw lovely views through openings in the woods. At last, after tearing and crackling along through a thick growth of timber and underwood, we emerged upon a truly mag- nificent prospect. We were on a height, and on either side were lovely woods, valleys, and gentle eminences ; and in front the glorious Atlantic. After enjoying this beauteous view THE SINGLE GRA E. 113 for some time, the Lord of Nauslion took us t' see a still, secluded part of the forest, wl c in the midst of a sunny clearing, surrounds by partly overshadowing trees in the heart of that sequestered island, embosomed in the mighty ocean, was a single grave, that of the only and adored son of our amiable hosts ; indeed, their only child. Almost close to this simple grave was a semicircular seat. " There often," said ^Ir. S , " we come in the summer time, and spend the evening, and frequently bring our friends, too, with us, and it is a melancholy happiness to feel he is near — almost, as it were, with us." Here we all remained for some time : the birds were singing, the sea so calm you could scarcely just then at that distance hear its everlasting resounding voice. You might look through the opening in the woods, up and up, and the clear cloudless sky would seem almost receding from your gaze (like the horizon when you are advancing towards it), yet bluer and bluer, brighter and brighter. All was beauty and enchantment ! and there lay the lonely dead — who could dare to say in unconsecrated ground ? where Nature was so wild and beauti- ful, and Nature's Creator seemed so nigh — and where that grand untrodden ground with no- t I ;i !« 114 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. thing to desecrate it, was ever bathed by the tears of hallowed parental affection i How blessed and sacred it appeared ! To think, in contrast with this grave, of our dead in crowded city church-yards ! But I trust that unutter- ably detestable system will soon be done away with. If what I have related seems strange to you, you must recollect that in America it is often the case ; at least, I have frequently heard so before I came here. In the quiet garden, or in the wood near the house, often sleep in their last slumber the beloved members of the family, not banished from the every-day associations of the survivors, and almost seem- ing to have still some participation in their feelings, in their woes, and their pleasures. I could almost fancy, after seeing that Eden for the dead, Mount Auburn, and remembering this affectionate custom, that it is one reason why death does not seem a thing to be dreaded or deplored in America, as with us. If I re- collect correctly, the only words on the modest head-stone were, " To our beloved Son." After willingly remaining some time here, beside this simple Christian tomb, we went to see an ancient place of Indian sepulture. The corpses, I believe, had mostly been dug up — VERSES ON NAUSHON. Wo poor Indians ; hardly allowed to rest in their graves ! Mr. S told me that the first time Naushon liad passed into white men's hands from those of the red chiefs, this ex- quisite island, with all its lovely and splendid woods, its herds of wild deer, and all its fair lands, it had been sold for an old coat ; (I think a little fire-watcr must have entered into the bargain). After hearing this, I began to think feu squire and squaw Naushon of the olden time, and their clan hardly deserved to rest in their graves. Our excellent hosts most kindly pressed us to stay at Naushon, but my plans did not admit of this ; so, enchanted with their de- lectable island, and full of gratitude for all their cordial friendliness and truly American hospitality towards us, we took leave of them and Mrs. Grinnell, in the evening, and returned to the main land. The weather became very unpropitious, and it blew and rained heavily. However we arrived in damp safety at our hotel. I will venture to give some verses which I wrote for an album at Naushon, begging the reader not to be severe in his criticisms ; for constantly travelling, as I have lately been, is not favourable to verse manufacturing. 5 i 116 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. V ' f lift- ■'■ iWj i ' i ' I- 1 1 |» Ut H n l< m'V 1 Hi' J' # il NAUSHON. If falling stars were truly what they seem, The glittering regions of a magic dream, Then might we fancy this enchanted isle (Where such bright, varying beauties gleam and smile), Were even an after-gift, in mercy sent. Straight from yon golden-fretted firmament ; Rapt from those lustrous paths, to vision bared, A down-dropped star from yon grand circle spared ; Fallen in a gracious moment from the sky. To charm to rapture man's earth-wearied eye, From harsher haunts and sceneries to beguile, To almost Eden's loss to reconcile. A home for world-sick angel-hearts to be, A wilder, freer Paradise at sea ; Hung, gem-like, where to stormless deeps are given The best reflections of its parent heaven ! The loveliest likeness that this planet wears, Of kindred glories — sister stars and spheres ! But since 'tis not so, let me hope, at least — Kind new-made friends — by its possession blest, That while no fallen-star hath spread for you A bowered Elysium midst these waves of blue, Your hearts, your hopes, your virtues yet will make This radiant island, for your own bright sake, A rising-star in guardian-angels' eyes, That, better-seeing, watch the heavenward rise, The unceasing soul-flight of its human guests Far, far beyond where sun or system rests ; (Till they, and thoUf in their remembering thought Fair isle ! to faith's own glorious goal are brought). Ah, yes, a mounting world, be this hushed spot. Where th' earthlier globe's vain mockeries are forgot, A star of rising heaven -bound souls, that feel, 'Midst such rare scenes, fresh hopes, fresh trusts and zeal, VERSES ON NAUSHON. And, looking on this lustrous retilm below — In morn's creation-burst, or sunset's glow — This little heaven of beauty, peace, and love, Who could forget the kindred heaven above ? Though, in thyself, fair isle ! thou mayst not soar To be their bower of bliss for evermore, Nor midst the unfading realms of splendour shine. And hallowed fields, and mansions, all divine ; Thy deathless dwellers there may cherish yet (Where worlds ne'er sink, nor suns of glory set), Thy precious memory's truth, in ages bright. That through eternity shall speed their flight. Thus thou mayst find thy changeless home within. The unbounded soul released from earth and sin, As now within the unbounded sea, that smiles Round thee, like molten skies, sweet isle of isles ! 117 • i '%^ ^ 118 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 1% CHAPTER XII. THE UriND ASYLUM AT BOSTON AND LAURA BRIDOEMAN. NEW HAVEN, THE " CITY OF ELMS." YALE COLLEGE.— ITS OBJECTS OF SCIENCE AND ART. PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, JUN. — GOVERNOR YALE. — HIS EPITAPH. — HIS ENGLISH CONNEXIONS. BLACK DOMESTIC SERVANTS, i^ TWO OPINIONS OF THEM. — A SABLE COUNT d'oKSAY. THE AMERICAN CHARACTER. — SCENERY ABOUT NEW HAVEN. KATYDIDS, TREE-FROGS AND CRICKETS. CONNECTICUT YANKEES. I HAD been very anxious to pay a visit to the Blind Asylum and Laura Bridgeman, at Boston. Perhaps the reader will remember the very interesting account given of poor Laura by Mr. Dickens, in his work on America, and Dr. Howe's wonderful and successful mode of teaching her. She is blind, and deaf, and dumb, and has hardly any sense of smell or taste. They told us at the asylum that if they gave her strong cayenne pepper, or anything equally pungent, she would appear to taste it slightly, but nothing less powerful. After Mr. Dickens's excellent and elaborate description, I need only say that we found Laura apparently well and contented, though LAURA BRIDGEMAN. 119 be d she is tjlig it and delicate-looking, and has a rather pensive, serious expression of counte- nance. A lady, who we understood was a governess, especially devoted to her, told us Laura Bridgeman had enjoyed a late visit into the country much ; and though she could neither see the views, nor hear the merry song of birds, nor smell the sweet odour of flowers, yet she appeared to inhale the freshness of the free air with delight. She added that Laura was now learning geometry, and that she took very deep interest in it, and made great and rapid progress. Is not this wonderful 1 When we first entered, the teacher was hold- ing an open letter in one hand, while with the other she was repeating the contents of it to the poor girl, by telling it very rapidly on the fingers of Laura's lifted hand. This was a letter from her country friends, and it was extraordinary to observe each eloquent change of expression that past over Laura's intelligent and most speaking face. Wonder, pleasure — sometimes a slight shade of vexation and disap- pointment — regret, affection, mirth, sympathy, doubt, anxiety, hope, expectation ; all seemed to impress themselves by turns on the voiceless and sightless one's features. — I could almost read the letter on Laura's eloquent face, which those y€ I It ',i. ,'.\.. ''^H i ( '. iljM i. iMil ■laB i 120 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. mute signs, quick as lightning, were conveying to her mind ! I might well have been reminded of the illumined alabaster vase to which some one imaginatively compared a celebrated poet's countenance, for really Laura's face appeared almost like a crystal one, and the mighty mystery of mind seemed peering through the transparent casket. I do not think I ever saw any features that had a voice to help them, or eyes to look with, speak so impressively with their varied changes. All her features and movements seemed forced by her active mind to act as voice, tongue, and eyes. When we first entered the asylum, the blind children were singing, in a sort of music-hall, furnished with a good organ. What a pleasure must this be to these poor bereaved beings ! Their voices sounded very sweet and solemn, and they had evidently been carefully taught. The Institution for the Blind is admir- ably situated, on open and elevated ground, and commands a noble and splendid prospect of the island-studded harbour, the city, and the circumjacent country : its lofty position, and the pure air that circulates around it, are, no doubt, highly conducive to the health of the pupils. But how mournful to think, on looking (( CITY OF ELMS. 1^ 121 out of the vast opened windows of the esta- blishment, that all this beauty and glory can shine not to those poor benighted eyes ! New Haven is lovely ; but I must explain to what it owes its principal charm : it is to the exceeding profusion of its stately elms, which render it not only one of the most charming but one of the most " unique " cities I ever beheld. From these trees it is called the " City of Elms," and it may be imagined how delightful a place of residence they must make it in the heat of an American summer. Even now we find their shade very welcome ; and wherever we go, in street or suburb, we see these umbrageous trees — in short, I i;hink, there are multitudinous avenues of them. We lately paid a very interesting visit to the college library with a lady to whom I had a letter, and who has been most friendly and kind since our stay here. In this city is Yale College, which is said to have a greater number of students than any other college in the United States. Yale College was founded at Killingworth, in 1701, and subsequently esta- blished at New Haven 1717. There are several college halls, about one hundred and four feet long by forty feet wide and four stories high ; VOL. I. G fl y I' i t m 122 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. a hall for theological students, a chapel, the Lyceum, and the Athenaium. Behind the main building is another range which contains a building devoted to an interesting collection of paintings ])y Col. Trumbull ; a chemical labo- ratory, and the Common's Hall, which has in its second story a hne mineralogical cabinet, supposed to be by far the most complete in the United States. Buildings devoted to the law and medical departments are hard by. We saw in the library a likeness of poor Major Andre, drawn by himself, just before his exe- cution, and a lock of his hair. I was particularly interested in my visit to the cabinet of minerals. They boast that they have some specimens far superior to any corre- sponding ones in the British Museum, but this is a knotty point which I am not at all com- petent to decide. The specimens of meteoric iron struck me certainly as extraordinarily fine : one piece was truly enormous, and if the theory of some natural philosophers respecting their lunar origin be correct, it seems almost fright- ful to think of such an iron rock being launched at us from such a distance ! We had better take care and keep on good terms with the moon, if she can bombard us thus. One can hardly help wondering, when gazing on that GOVERNOR YALE. 123 e: id ;r le it huge projectile, how so many poets and poet- asters have escaped lier vengeance, making her, as they do, the target for their rhym- ing arrows, without mercy or compunction. Long suffering must the "Casta Diva" hv indeed ! Besides my letter to ]\Irs. W , I had one for Mrs. D . They both appear highly- accomplished and agreeable persons, and are nearly related to wealthy planters in the south. Owing to ^Irs. D being absent from New Haven during the greater part of the time we were there, I saw the more of Mrs. W and her daughter : I found them most particularly pleasing and amiable. It was with them we went to the colleges, the library and mineralo- gical cabinet. We had the advantage of meet- ing Professor Silliman, jun. at the latter, who was kind enough to accompany us round, and his elucidatory observations rendered our visit far more attractive and interesting than it would otherwise have been. The chief benefactor of the college, Governor Yale (from whom the institution received its name), died July 8, 1721. Here is the old gentleman's epitaph (in the churchyard at Wrexham) : — G 2 124 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. (•■* >-ll i m " Under this tomb lyes interred Elihu Yale, of Place Gronow, Esq. Born 5tli April, 1648, and dyed the 8th of July, 1721, aged seventy-three years. Born in America, in Europe bred, In Afric travelled, and in Asia wed. Where long he lived and thrived ; at London dead. Much good, some ill he did ; so hope all 's even, And that his soul through Mercy 's gone to Heaven. You that survive and read, take care. For this most certain exit to prepare ; For only the actions of the Just Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust." The last two lines are a naughty plagiarism from old Shirley, and poor Charles Lamb would have taken, perhaps, offence at the previous two. Touching the plagiarism, it is more par- donable than the almost parody I once saw in a country churchyard in England, on Lord Byron's fine lines— " Bright be the place of thy soul," &c. The line— ** On earth she was all but divine," was thus rendered : — " On earth she was all we could wish.*^ The rhyme was unmercifully sacrificed ; not even did they deign to press an extraneous line, slightly altered into the service, and say — " And the spoon ran away with the dish." YALE COLLEGE. 125 I return to old Governor Yale.* One of his daughters married a son of the then Duke of Devonshire ; another, a grandson of the Earl of Guilford. It was he of whom Collins says in his " Peerage of England :" — " he brought such quantities of goods from India that, finding no house large enough to stow them in, he had a public sale of the overplus, and that was the first auction in England." Yale College was instituted when Connecti- cut was in its infancy, and has exerted a powerful influence over its literary, moral, social, and religious character. A new depart- ment was established in the college in 1847, called the Department of Philosophy and the Arts. The gentleman I have mentioned. Pro- fessor Silliman, jun., instructs in elementary and analytical chemistry, mineralogy, and metallurgy. I was talking, the other day, to Mrs. W and her daughter of the capabilities of the black people for making good domestic servants, and remarking how very civil, attentive, and intelli- * On the monument to Governor Eaton is a quaint inscrip- tion. He was buried here, with his son-in-law and daughter near him. It thus concludes : — " T' attend you, sir, under these framed stones, Are come your honoured son and daughter Jones, On each hand to repose their wearied bones." 126 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. n 1 if-' jw- gcnt wo had uniformly found the ])lack waiters and attendants wc had occasionally encountered. I was surprised to hear them condemn them un- conditionally, and declare they carefully avoided having any of them in their house ; speaking in no measured terms of their having many uneradicably bad habits. How different from Mr. Webster's expressed opinion concerning them ! But it is very natural that they should, from their Carolinian antecedents, be disposed not to judge the coloured race with much im- partiality ; and it is certainly probable that, after being accustomed to them as slaves, they would be likely to be a little impatient of them as servants. Altogether, I can easily imagine the household arrangements, under the circumstances of the case, not being con- ducted very harmoniously or satisfactorily to either party. The old black waiter who attends on us here is an admirable specimen of his class. He is invaluable to the master of the establish- ment, and I find he is constantly spoken of by the white servants, quite respectfully, as " Mr. Williams." He speaks particularly good English, without any twang, and has the manners of a quiet, highly-respectable English butler. AMERICAN CHARACTER. 127 of lily er m- to We saw one very curious specimen of a dandy among his fcllow-colourists, lounging down the street. lie was a saljlc Count d'Orsay. His toilette was the most elabo- rately recherche you can imagine. He seemed intensely and harmlessly happy in his coat and waistcoat, of the finest possil^le materials ; and the careful carelessness of the adjustment of the wool and hat was not readily to be surpassed. The more I see of American society, the more I like it. In general, I should say, they are a peculiarly sensitive people, and yet very forbearing and not easily offended. They are generally accused of being conceited. I can only say, as far as I have seen, their candour appears to be far more remarkable than their conceit. Indeed, I have perpetually found them volunteer remarks on what they consider defects in their manners and customs, with the greatest possible good-humour and ingenuous- ness. Nay, I have sometimes, in common honesty, found myself compelled to take their part against themselves. In travelling, their courtesy, their good-temper, their obligingness, their utter unselfishness, are beyond all praise. This town is delightfully situated. It is built round the head of the bay, and is partly ii| il 128 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I 'i' i skirted by an ampliitheatrc of hills, of which two, at their termination, present steep blull's, which rise, indeed, almost perpendicularly to the height of three hundred and seventy feet. The population is about 20,500. We have liad several charming drives with Mrs. and Miss W . The country surrounding New Haven is very picturesque and fine, and these bluffs look very imposing. They took us to see some exceedingly nice country houses, with grounds well laid out. Their own mansion was a very pretty one (as was also ^Mrs. D 's), completely embowered in trees, ex- cept on one side, where there was a beautiful garden. The noise the katydids, tree-frogs, and crickets make at New Haven, is inconceivable — almost enough to interrupt the students at their labours. The former repeat very plainly the sound that gives them their name, in a most positive and authoritative manner ; and, after a little time, you will hear others ap- parently replying, " Katy-didn't." Of course the prodigious number of these insects at New Haven arises from the multitude of trees. The Americans, I find, call the New Eng- landers Yankees in general ; though, I believe, CONNhCTICUT YANKKES. 12D the meaning of tlic term varies according to the section of the country you happen to he in. They tell me that almost all the Ame- ricans met with ahroad, especially those who venture into remote localities, such as India, China, Australia, Polynesia, and other distant regions, are Yankees, i. e.y New Englanders ; and that of these, by far the greater part are the enterprising, active, indefatigable, Con- necticut Yankees. It is said, if you ask a Connecticut Yankee, in any part of the world, how he is, he will, if not "sick," answer " moving, sir," equivalent to saying " well ;" for, if well, he is sure to be on the move. f G 5 I 130 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XIII. I \ li_ It '■''>. BRIDGEPORT. — THE IRISH HOUSEMAID. ULTRA-REPUBLICANS EVEN IN AMERICA. — THE GREAT CllOTON AQUEDUCT DE- SCRIBED. — SUPPLY OF WATER TO NEW YORK. — NEW YORK TROTTERS DELMONICo's HOTEL. EXCURSION WITH AMERICAN FRIENDS. — GLORIOUS SCENERY OF STATEN's ISLAND. — GREEN- WOOD CEMETERY. ITS EXTENT, SCENERY AND MONUMENTS. MISS LYNCH THE POETESS AND FUEDERIKA BREMER. In coming here (to Delmonico^s Hotel, New York), on the 1 4th October, from New Haven, we stopped at Bridgeport, at a rather indifferent hotel, — that is to say, compared with the gene- rality of the hotels in the United States. I believe it is near that town that the well- known Mr. Barnum, of Tom Thumb and " woolly horse'' notoriety, has his abode— his splendid abode, I fancy I may say, if the accounts gene- rally given of it are correct. We did not see Bridgeport to advantage, as it rained a good deal while we were there. Both V and I were quite sorry to leave the City of Elms, and our very kind friends Mrs. and Miss W , and Mrs. D , who had made our sojourn there so singularly agree- AN IRISH HOUSEMAID. 131 able. I should think Bridgeport is a pretty place when you can see it, which we could scarcely do for the cascade-like rain during our short stay. There was a poor Irish housemaid there who touched our feelings extremely : we had watched her with compassion in the pouring rain milking the cows, her gown-skirt over her head, crouched in the wet grass. When she came in with our tea we asked her some ques- tions about her leaving Ireland, and she appeared delighted to talk about the "ould country ;" ill off as she had been there. She seemed to think it the most beauteous and charming place on the face of the globe. Every time we saw her after that, we had a little talk about " the fair Emerald Isle ;" and on our coming away, when I gave her a little gratuity, she fairly burst into tears and thanked me most heartily ; but, I verily believe, more for talking to her about beautiful " ould Ireland," and displaying interest in her simple history, than for the trifle I presented her with. She sobbed out as we took leave, " Och sure, my heart warmed towards ye from the first, when I found ye was from the ould countries ! " thus cordially uniting together the land of the Saxon with her own far-off Erin. I have been reading some extracts from late 132 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ii I American newspapers, which I enclose, concern- ing the tariff. It is easily to be seen that there are radicals and ultra- republicans in the United States as well as elsewhere, which I think is scarcely well known to politicians in England. What intemperance of language there is in these extracts ! To judge by the meeting described, they seem just as violent as the malcontents of Europe, and fully as discontented with their government ; but if they ever did more than talk here, they would find no merciful Louis the Sixteenths, or Charles the Tenths, or hesi- tating, compromising, concession-making Louis Philippes : the executive would deal with them at once with determination, promptitude, and just whatever amount of severity might be deemed necessary. I have found those kindest of friends, Mrs. Barclay and Mrs. W. Barclay here. Mrs. Barclay most kindly invited me to spend the winter with them in Georgia, but as 1 wished ex- tremely to go down the Mississippi to New Orleans, I, with great reluctance, declined their truly friendly proposal. We went with them one day to see the high bridge of the great Croton aqueduct. It is very magnificent in- deed. This bridge crosses Harlem river and is made of stone : it is one thousand four THE CROTON AQUEDUCT. 133 hundred and fifty feet long, with fourteen piers, eight of which bear arches of eighty feet span, and seven others of fifty feet span, one hun- dred and fourteen feet above tide water at the top. It has cost about nine hundred thousand dollars. The whole cost of the aque- duct will be about fourteen million dollars. " The aqueduct commences about five miles from the Hudson," says * Appleton's Railroad Companion,' "and is about forty miles from the city hall. The dam, which is two hundred and fifty feet long, seventy feet wide at the bottom and seven at the top, and forty feet high, is built of stone and cement. A pond five miles in length is created by the dam, covering a surface of four hundred acres, and containing five hundred million gallons of water. From the dam the aqueduct proceeds, some- times tunnelling through solid rocks, crossing valleys by embankments and brooks by cul- verts, until it reaches Harlem river. It is built of stone, brick, and cement, arched over and under ; is six feet three inches wide at the bottom, seven feet eight inches at the top of the side walls, and eight feet ^ve inches high ; it has a descent of thirteen inches and a quar- ter per mile, and will discharge sixty millions of gallons in twenty-four hours." i\ 134 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Then follows a description of the High Bridge, and it goes on to say : " The receiving reservoir is at Eighty-sixth-street and Sixth- avenue, covering thirty-five acres, and containing one hundred and fifty million gallons of water. There is now no city in the world better sup- plied with pure and wholesome water than New York, and the supply would be abundant if the population were five times its present num- ber." Another account I have seen proceeds to say, that the distributing reservoir on ]\Iur- ray's-hill, in Fortieth-street, covers about four acres, and is constructed of stone and cement, raised forty-five feet above the street, and con- tains twenty millions of gallons. The water is thence distributed over the city in iron pipes, laid sufficiently deep under ground so as to be secure from frost. As we returned from the " High Bridge," we were passed by some of the famous New York trotters, who flew by at a most wonderful pace, drawing after them almost invisible little light vehicles. Delmonico's is a most excellent hotel, admir- ably conducted : it has all sorts of comforts and conveniences ; charming apartments, delightful baths of all kinds, and during the whole day a number of extremely good carriages for hire i;i iir STATEN S ISLAND. 135 by the hour, or just as you choose, are drawn up before the door. In addition to this, the attendance is remarkably good. We dined at Mr. H. Grinn ell's, '"• the other evening (to whom I had letters from Mr. C ) : he is brother of Mr. J. Grinnell, at whose hospitable house we were staying at New Bedford. I like Mrs. H. Grinnell exceedingly, and her daughter seems a most thoroughly well- educated and accomplished young lady. ^Mr. Grinnell showed us some specimens of Califor- nian gold that looked remarkably pure. Their drawing-rooms were adorned with some beau- tiful Italian paintings. I have just returned from an agreeable little excursion to Staten's Island, to dine and sleep at Mr. and Mrs. Cunard's enchanting villa in this beautiful locality. No words can describe the magnificence of American autumnal colour- ing. When the sun rose on the rainbow-tinted woods of the island in the morning, what a glorious blazing world we beheld ! The scenery of Staten's Island is superb, and not only is that well worthy of admiration, but its situa- tion commands a glorious view of the Bay of New York, Long Island, &c. * This is the gentleman who subscribed so munificently to the American expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. . ; II I !i U> t' J I 136 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. We had, indeed, a delightful visit, though from my stupidly misunderstanding what Mr. Cunard said, I thought it was limited to a din- ner invitation, and, consequently, we arrived at the house maid-less, trunkless, and carpet- bag-less. Light was soon thrown upon the mistake ; but we found though we had not burnt our ships, yet that no mode of retreat was open to us, for the last steamer for New York had already departed. However, Mrs. Cunard most kindly supplied us with all possible parapher- nalia and caparisons and appointments, and we passed a charming evening listening to the beautiful instrumental music, with which Mrs. Cunard, who is an admirable performer, enter- tained us delightfully. I must now give a brief account of Green- wood Cemetery, which we visited the other day in company with Mr. and Miss Grinnell, who obligingly insisted on taking us there, and showing us the place. It is in the south part of Brooklyn, about three miles from Fulton Ferry (you may also go to Greenwood by the new ferry, at Whitehall^ which lands you in the vicinity of the cemetery on a very long pier). Greenwood contains two hundred and forty-two acres, of which a great part is beau- tifully covered by woods of a natural growth ; GREENWOOD CEMETERY. 137 and I think the suprisingly brilliant colours of Autumn are more striking and exquisite here than those at Staten Island, or New Haven, or in the country before we came to New York. These were perfectly extraordinary — the most dazzling scarlet, the most golden and vivid yellows and tyrian purples, and rich, deep, velvet-like crimsons, ar'^ -elicate pale prim- rose-tints, and soft surviving greens, and rose- hues, such as flush the lips of Indian shells — all cast their sumptuous shadowings over the quiet graves, like the reflections from richly-painted windows "blushing with the blood of kings and queens," in some mighty old cathedral. The views from the heights of the cemetery were sublime. I admired the one from Ocean Hill the most. There is a lovely variety of valleys, elevations, plains, groves, and glades, and paths. When will London have anything even approaching to this magnificent cemetery 1 The ocean rolling and moaning, with its fine melancholy, organ- like sounds, so near, like a mighty mourner, she cannot have, nor the gorgeous pall cast over the tombs by a Western Autumn ; but all the rest she could have, and yet has not. The Cemetery is traversed by many winding paths and avenues, all beautiful and solemn. ii 138 TRAVILLd IN AMERICA. Some of the monuments are interesting. There is one to an Iowa Indian Princess, named Do- humme ; another handsome one to a young lady who was killed while returning from a ball. There is one thing which I did not quite like, and yet it is not only useful, but necessary, and that is, having " Guide Boards " given to visi- tors, to direct them in these solemn labyrinths. We were told that, but for this precaution, many persons would probably lose themselves in the Cemetery ; still, there is something not in keeping with all the rest in these melancholy, methodical maps ; but that is only fanciful. We met, a short time since, at ^Ir. and Mrs. Willis's, Miss Lynch, the poetess : she is ex- pecting Miss Frederika Bremer to pay her a visit, shortly. Miss Bremer's works are very popular in the States. I believe she is going to remain in America some time. Miss Lynch, who has kindly sent me a delightful volume of her poems, reminded me a little of our poor L. E. L. in her manner and conversation. PHILADELPHIA. \m CHAPTER XIV. PIHLADELPIIIA. INCESSANT UPUOAU IN THAT CITY. — IT:^ CfS- TOM-HOUSE AND CEMETEUIES. nALTIMOUE. — I5ATTLE AND WASHINGTON MONUMENTS. THE CATHOLIC CATHEDllAL. THE MERCHANTS SHOT TOWEIl. — ITS TIIAUE AND COMMERCE. — ITS INCREASE AND POPULATION. — BALTIMORE CLIPPERS. BARNUM's HOTEL. SENSITIVENESS OF AMERICANS TO COLD. — THE DEAF GENTLEMAN AND HIS STENTORIAN FRIEND. — ANTHRICITE COAL FIRES. We came to Baltimore, via Philadelphia ; and though I very much admired the regularity of the Iron City's streets, and the beauty of many of the principal buildings, its profusion of white marble, and its perfection of cleanli- ness, I was glad to escape from its unearthly nightly noises, and the wars and rumours of wars which seemed unceasing and ever-increas- ing in the City of Brotherly Love, — to Baltimore. The Society of Friends at any rate, methinks, must gain many converts in the former place. Verily I was a Quaker all the time I stayed there, and still tremble at the recollection of it. All night a sound, as of a masque and proces- sion of one hundred menageries let loose, filled I* 1:5 140 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. j 1 one's ears. The deserts of Africa seemed to have disgorged half their denizens on the beautiful streets of fair Philadelphia ; while bells, horns, gongs, and rattling fire-engines, helped to swell the hideous chorus. I had understood there had been, some time ago, serious riots at Philadelphia, but that thej were all over now, and I was, naturally, surprised at this hubbub ; but on inquiring the next morning, all I learnt was, — it was the fashion of the dwellers of Mojamensing, a suburb of Philadelphia, called, I believe, a " district," to regale the ears of the inhabitants of that city frequently with such harmonious serenades. These gentlemen appear to indulge in very peculiar notions of music and melody, and to be resolved that at least their neigh- bours shall admire no rival harmonists, by leaving them completely deafened by their din. The Moyamensingists, in short, seem to look upon a riot or a row, or something resembling it, as the first necessary of life : they also would seem to entertain a new theory with regard to sleep, and to consider it as a wholly need- less indulgence. To any one not participating in these sentiments, Philadelphia (while thus apparently at the mercy of this theoretical and experimentalizing suburb) cannot be an !■ APPEARANCE OF BALTIMORE. 141 eligible place of residence, I think : Sancho Panza certainly would shun it ; for blessed, he declared, was the man who invented sleep. It is said, it is the coloured people residing in Moyamensing, who are the chief ringleaders of these frequent riots ; but I know not how this may be. At New York I heard the au- thorities at Philadelphia very much found fault with for their supineness in allowing these dis- turbances to take place : if there was a proper amount of energy and resolution displayed, it was said, Philadelphia might be as orderly and tranquil as the other cities of the United States. Our hotel is opposite a beautiful building, the Custom House, (formerly the United States Bank), of the Doric order of architecture, built in imitation of the Parthenon at Athens, but lacking the side colonnades; it reminded me much of its glorious prototype, except in its situation, which is unfavourable to it. There are some fine cemeteries here : " Laurel Hill," " Green Mount Cemetery," and others which my brief stay did not allow me to visit. Baltimore is a very handsome city, situated on the north side of the Patapsco River. Jones's Fall, a confluent of the Patapsco, divides it into two parts. (This is an ill-sounding conjunc- tion of Anglo-Saxon and Indian names. Again J 42 TRAVKLS IN AMERICA. I \ i I rejoice at the luck that spared Niagara from a denomination similar to the preceding one !) Three fine stone bridges and four wooden ones crossing this stream connect the different parts of the city. The streets of Baltimore are, in general, very regular, clean, broad, and straight, and it has several fine monuments, amongst which tower conspicuously. Battle ^lonument, and Washing- ton Monument. The Catholic Cathedral is a noble structure : it has the largest organ in the Union;— this instrument has six thousand pipes and thirty-six stops : and the cathedral has two valuable paintings, one presented by Louis the Sixteenth, and the other (" St. Louis ])urying his officers and soldiers slain before Tunis") given by Charles the Tenth. The Merchants' Shot Tower here rises above all the monuments that distinguish Baltimore : it is two hundred and fifty feet high, and is said to be higher than any similar building in the world, exceed- ing by one foot that at Villach, in Carinthia. Baltimore is said to be the greatest flour market in existence (within twenty miles of the city there are seventy or more flouring mills) ; and no city in the United States deals so extensively in tobacco. The Patapsco affords numerous valuable mill sites (falling eight hun- HALTIMORE IIARnoUR. Utl drcd feet in tliirty miles) ; and Jones's Falls also yield a considerable water-i)ower — it has thus great advantages for nianufactiires, and they appear to keep pace with its commerce. This nourishing city spreads rapidly: one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine houses were erected during the year 1847, the assessed value of which is more than two million six hundred thousand dollar?. The population, in 1840, was 102,:31)^; it is now said to be about 125,000. The capital of i\laryland contr^'ns upwards of one hundred churches. Tl Mary- land University is here : it constitutes one ^f the most important institution^^ oi the kind in the country. Canton, a skeleton suburb of the city of mo- numents, is waiting for nothing but— houses ; like the magnificent library at E , that had everything complete except books. Baltimore has an admirable harbour, which is incessantly crowded with shipping : and who has not heard of cLo Baltimore clippers, that start " before the wind has time to reach their sails, and never allow it to come up with them?" We are at a magnificent hotel here, called " Barnum's," and its comforts and excellent arrangements are scarcely to be surpassed. It ^M i 144 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 1' is admirably conducted, and if it has not quite the " gentleman-like porters " spoken of in some of the hotel cards, it has, at least, a set of most attentive and assiduous domestics. In coming by the railroad here, I was struck one evening by the dread the Americans ap- pear to have of catching cold. The car was extremely close, and V and I let down our window, and much enjoyed the cool, fresh air, which we thus secured in our immediate vicinity — we beheld instantly a simultaneous stir among the passengers. At first, I could not think that the fresh, but hardly cold, air, I had been instrumental in introducing to the crowded and suffocating car occasioned this movement; but I soon ascertained that such was the fact, on seeing a gentleman carefully barricading himself with a large carpet-bag against the assaults of his aerial foe. His ap- pearance, just peeping over this gaudy-pat- terned, defensive wall, was rather comical. One opened a vast umbrella, and disappeared behind its ample shade from scrutiny and the supposed severity of the elements, looking — as there was neither rain nor sun — like that Asiatic potentate above whose head, as a sign of roy- alty, an umbrella is reverentially and habitually carried. There was a general raising of collars AMEfiiCAN DRKAD OF COLD. Us Z sttS Irt' ^i'' «'"-'-« Of hats, courteous and Ibli?''^'"^' ''"' ''" '^^^e too not suTtl at ;„ '!;;f to/emonstrate, and I am "nost no i I aslf ! """'""' '^'"^ ""' ^<=tuallj- Shall I confesr-t t T™ ^'^^^'"fi'ure. " apparent annoyance I hn,i „ <. ^l magnanimity to r.ise the glas 'ij lu ' that, though unpalatable to them ,f. """' pathic dosp nf nn. • ' '"'* homoeo- fore we get to oufin, '" "" ''^ ^^"^^-^ be- onlj a lU e paTof T' ' '^"''" ^'' '''''' '^^^ onlypersons close to ' "'"'°" "P*^"' ^"^^ ^^e I ought t a e XltT: T'"^- ^ ''"'"^ I can only hope "L ft''*'"'''"'''"^' ''"* did not ''^ ^^ '^ certainly H i-i i! ii :i I 146 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. tion. In consequence of this proximity, we found Baltimore by day almost as noisy as Philadelphia by night. At first I could not imagine what the shouting was, and thought a caravan of lions or Moyamensingers had arrived, and were accommodated with apart- ments close by. Soon, however, the various friendly inquiries roared out, and the low, milder answers, informed me of the truth. J was sorry, but really could not help hear- ing the communications addressed to the deaf gentleman, and being enlightened by them con- siderably about " lots," and " sales," and " dol- lars." What a comical effect it sometimes had to hear the most insignificant remarks hal- looed out with Apollonicon-loudness, and often with a wrong emphasis, from the difficulty of sustaining and pitching the voice properly, in speaking to the deaf in that tone of "live thunder " which people ordinarily employ under such circumstances. I believe one ought, in- stead, to speak low and distinctly. Hark ! listen to Stentor! — for one must whether one will or no. The louder shouts are italicised. " 1 guess so, sir : that chap in the pepper and salt coat popped in ; he hemmed and hawed at first, and then squeaked out,-^" " What ? " *' Squeaked, I say,'' with a roar. Plea^sirt. Hike t^r *u ''^" '' "»' ""- tasteIa.i;fe^tSX'--Unwhieh to give headaches, andTobe ty uia:,?""' and oa like a free hor,P » **;.'^""e' « goes on the poker, and hentherrt"' "' f^' "^'^ I think its great iX sTt ^ '"' long without any necessifv f I ''"'« '° room earthquake ff ^ ^ ' ^^""^ ^'^'''^^S- f 'hi 11 11 2 148 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XV. \m i THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. — PENNSYLVANIA-AVENUE. — THE "city of MAGNIFICENT DISTANCES." — THE STENTORIAN GEN- TLEMAN AND HIS HOGS. THE CAPITOL DESCRIBED. — MONU- MENT TO WASHINGTON. THE NAVY YARD. — GEORGETOWN. — A DIGRESSION TO TUNIS. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. THE POST- OFFICE. THE PATENT OFFICE. THE TREASURY. THE PRESI- DENT'S MANSION THE " WHITE HOUSE." — VISIT TO GENERAL TAYLOR, THE LATE PRESIDENT. — HIS DAUGHTER, MRS. BLISS. APPEARANCE OF GENERAL TAYLOR. HIS AFFABILITY. HIS CONVERSATION. — INVITATION TO THE AUTHORESS. — HEAT OF THE WEATHER IN NOVEMBER. n Washington would be a beautiful city if it were built ; but as it is not I cannot say much about it. There is the Capitol, however, stand- ing like the sun, from which are to radiate majestic beams of streets and avenues of enor- mous breadth and astonishing length ; but at present the execution limps and lingers sadly- after the design. This noble metropolitan myth hovers over the north bank of the Potomac (this Indian name means, I believe, the wild swan, or the river of the wild swan), about one hun- ~^^4U CITY OF WASHINGTON. 14J) rev m le lu- dred and twenty miles from Chesapeake bay and at the head of tide water. Pennsylvania- avenue is splendid : it is about three hundred feet broad ; but the houses are not colossal enough to be in keeping with the immense space appropriated to the thoroughfare. They should be at least as high as the highest of old Edinburgh houses, instead of like those of London, which some one compared to the Paris ones making a profound curtsey. Now these Pennsylvania-avenue habitations seem making a very distant curtsey indeed to their opposite non-neighbours ; and it made us think of people at an immensely wide dining-table, separated as "far as the poles asunder,' by way of a pleasing rencontre and social intercourse. How- ever, that is merely fancy ; you do not want to talk across the streets; and this appearance would vanish if the houses were taller and larger. Washington is called the "City of Magni- ficent Distances : " it reminds one a little of a vast plantation with the houses purposely kept far apart to give them room to grow and spread : the "sidewalks" of Pennsylvania- avenue are twenty-six feet wide. My unseen friend, Stentor, was in the same railroad car with us from Baltimore to this m 150 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. place, and the gentleman who was hard of hear- ing as well — at least I can hardly think there can be two sets of lungs of such marvellous power in the same country. Still, the theme of his discourse was very different ; one subject occupied him all the way, — it was hogs. The car was full, I was at some distance from him, but no other voice was heard — how could it be 1 Poor Stentor ! he was lamenting with a most lachrymose roar, the abduction of some mag- nificent swine : their size was something pro- digious, unparalleled {maestoso) ^ their fat (in a melting tone) unheard of, — they were Sten- tor's ! The howl with which this dreadful fact was enunciated made one start. But this was not all. Some friends, possessors of almost equally enchanting animals, had lost theirs too. " One wonderfully splendid creature of enormous dimensions (emphatically ex- pressed in a perfect hurrah), and promising to grow much huger, was found killed (this in a lack-a-daisical bellow of grief and ire), sup- posed to be with a spiteful motive, but the wretches will suffer for it, (a nine-times-nine, and-one-cheer-more sort of a tone) ! It was the most magnificent hog quite, that ever—" and here, wonderful to relate, the noise of the railroad, together perhaps with his own emo- DESCRIPTION OF THE CAPITOL 151 }> tions, overpowered the narrator. There was that terrible din that they make sometimes in the States when another train is expected. Very quickly, however, this was over, and there was Stentor shouting as loud as ever, or rather louder, as if indignant at the interruption. "The lovely interesting widow was much afflicted," continued he. " What," thought I, " can he mean, the widow of the pig ! " I found soon she was the proprietress of the fat animal he was grieving for. He thundered on in the same way, and on the same subject, till we arrived • and if he did not leave his poor friend much more deaf than he found him, it is matter of surprise. What an invalu- able " muezzin " he would make ! I have had the great pleasure since I came here of making acquaintance with Madame C. do la B , the Spanish ministress here, the authoress of a most charming and enter- taining work on Mexico, published some years ago. It made one long to go to Mexico, and I find it is not at all impracticable, from Madame C 's account. I have a great mind to try it. We went to see the Capitol soon after our arrival. There is a fine colossal statue by Greenhough, of Washington, placed in front of 152 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ,i ! fi it. The Capitol itself is a very noble-looking and imposing structure, though I think dis- advantageously situated with regard to the city, as it seems rather to present the appear- ance of running away from it, while, like the flight of Louis Philippe in the memorable days of February, there is nothing running after it. However, it is an exceedingly striking and handsome building, and is otherwise very finoly situated. It is built on an elevation that is about seventy-two feet above tide water. It is of the Corinthian order of architecture, and is built of freestone ; and the front, including the wings, is three hundred and fifty-two feet long, and the depth of the wings is one hundred and twenty-one feet. The projection in the main front, which looks to the East (hardly com- plimentary to the West, in this world of the West), is decorated by a handsome portico of twenty-two lofty Corinthian columns. The broad steps leading to the portico are adorned by pedestals, on one of which is a group in marble, representing Columbus, with a globe in his outstretched hand, and an Aboriginal American of that New World he discovered, a female figure, in a lovely, half-crouching, atti- tude of veneration and wonder, beside him. 1 ■ THE NAVV YARD. 1 .'^*» The remaining pedestals will, in process uf time, no doubt, be ornamented by groups of statuary. To the highest top of the dome the height of the building is one hun- dred and twenty feet. The rotunda, which is under the dome, is ninety-five feet in dia- meter, and the same in height. In this rotunda there are some celebrated pictures by Trum- bull representing historical subjects. The hall of the House of Representatives is in the second story of the south wing. Its form is semicircular ; it is ninety- six feet long and sixty feet high, and has a dome supported by twenty-four columns of native variegated marble, whose capitals are of Italian marble. The chair of the Speaker occupies, so to say, the centre of the chord of the arc, the mem- bers' seats radiate back from the chair t(j the massive pillars. Congress is not sitting now. The Senate chamber is in the second story of the north wing, semicircular like the other, but of smaller dimensions, being seventy- eight feet long and forty-five feet high. The library is a fine room, containing thirty thou- sand volumes. After seeing the Capitol, we went to have a glimpse of the Navy Yard. There we beheld two mountainous-looking ship-houses, a man-of- I I u n o J 54 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. \ If '> t \i ^ war steamer, the Alleghany, lately dismantled, &c. Keeping guard on board the Alleghany, was an old Irish marine, with his face tied up for the tooth-ache, — a most lugubrious-looking sentinel. We saw a sadder sight after that, a large number of slaves, who seemed to be forging their own chains, but they were making chains, anchors, &c., for the United States navy. I hope and think slavery will be done aw^ay with soon in the district of Columbia, where it seems indeed strikingly out of place.'" Madame C. de la B kindly took us to Georgetown a day or two ago in her carriage. It is on the left bank of the Potomac river, two miles to the west of AVashington, from which it is separated by Rock creek, over which are two bridges. I think the situation of Georgetown delightful : it commands a fine view of the Potomac, of Washington, and the circumjacent country. Here you observe a number of handsome buildings and pleasant- looking country seats, and here, I believe, many of the corps diplomatique reside. Dr. Heap, American consul at Tunis (whom we made acquaintance with there), called on me lately. I was glad to see him, but very sorry to learn that he had had more than one * Since the letters were written this has taken place. THE PRESIDENT S MANSION. 155 melancholy loss lately. Ills cliarniing daughter, Mrs. Ferrier, was in a very delicate, indeed alarming, state of health while we were there : she has since died, and she left her husband suffering from the same complaint — con- sumption. Dr. Heap told mc how well the 13cy had behaved on the occasion of the death of my poor much-esteemed friend, Sir Thomas Reade. He sent two thousand troops to attend the funeral, and offered the Abdellia to Lady Reade for her life, if she would like to live tliere. I was so much reminded of Tunis by the way in which Dr. Heap shook the forclinger of the right hand before his chin, whenever he wished to say " No." This negative sign is constantly used there ; and I remember little dear Peter Reade, at five years old, gravely shaking his little finger backwards and forwards before his innocent childish countenance, when asked any thing from which he dissented, as solenmly as the oldest Moor in the Regency. The General Post-Office here is a handsome, white marble building, classical and simple. The Patent Office is to the north of it, and is a very noble structure. The Treasury is splendid, and has a colonnade of extraordinarily great length and beauty. The President's mansion, usually called the " White House," is of ample size, and I i : \ne TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ft I ^ of simple architecture ; it has alto; lljcr a noble efTect : quiet lawns surround it, >»;•• ;p over the worst part of abo- minable roads, t/) the almost dislocation of ttiieir limb^ and the bumping and thumping of their unfortunate heads against the hard roof of the vehicle. If there be any truth in phre- nology, what changes in character must be wrought during a journey across the Allegha- nies! The morose cynic may come out sweet as syrup ; the humble with an ambition, that will be already practised in "overvaulti ig itself" and tumbling on the other side ! A Pennsyl- vanian Quaker might be shaken out of all his trembling sectarianism, or a French ncvel- writer .tossed into a demure Broadbrim. I can answer for our tempers being very mate- rially changed. I am particularly sorry to miss ^Jceing V.v. Clay, for whom I had a letter i mtir J action from Mr. : it is the omy disappointment I have yet had in America. lie crossed the AUeghanies for Washington in good time to avoid bad roads and l)a«l weather. The first he certainly did not. We stopped at Pittsburg on Cui way hither at an excellent hotel, called the Moaongahela :s » 'til m 1 ! ' * ', i\ .Vf N in 162 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. House. At Pittsburg we went to see some manufactories, and iron foundries, in a sort of coal-scuttle on wheels. No mourning coach was ever so thoroughly black, methinks, inwardly and outwardly ; and, that we might be in keeping with our vehicle, we found it obligingly undertook (without any outlay or trouble on our part) to put us all into decent mourning. Pittsburg has as sable a complexion as Shef- field. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and the Alleghany (the latter name, I believe, means " clear water ■'^), which by their union form the noble Ohio. These two rivers, together, avail not to cleanse sooty Pittsburg ; if they did, as Coleridge said of the Rhine at Cologne, nothing could ever wash them clean again (though it has not the hundred and seventy-two distinct " mauvaises odeurs " of that city) . Nevertheless, in spite of its brunette colouring, it is a handsome town. With its suburbs, it contains about seventy-five thousand inhabitants ; some say a hundred thousand. A great number of Germans are settled at Pittsburg. In one manufactory (a glass one) we heard hardly anj^ language but German spoken. An American in that manufactory looked rather reproachfully at us, with a glassy eye — or an FOUNDRIES IN PITTSBURG. 168 It re X m in eye to the glass — and said, we English were underselling them in articles of this material. I bore the " brittle " impeachment as well as I could ; — this glass was slii)pery ground, and I was fain to slide off it. In the place we next went to, without meaning to insinuate anything to the prejudice of Pittsburg, which is a well-principled and orthodox city, I doubt not, it really appeared to me they had dealings in the black art — (I must beg to disclaim any allusion to the half- mourning tints which seem the fashion here) — so wondrous was the rapidity of the processes, and the way in which the workmen appeared to be snowballing one another with huge lumps and blocks of red hot iron. The noise was very great, and the glare ; but in the midst of the confusion a woman stood with a mite of a baby in her arms, an infant Cyclop, or young Yulcan himself, in bib and tucker, — to judge by the coolness with which it surveyed the scene and listened to the noise, as if the whole were got up foi its especial edification, and it would like much to have all those pretty playthings that were being tossed about on all sides. It was late, and our " coal-scuttle" stopped the way, so we departed, still leaving little Vulcan evidently deeply engaged in teaching k t 164 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I A': his own young idea how to shoot, or to toss those nice balls of red hot iron, which he would also have liked uncommonly to stuff into his mouth, big as they were. We stepped most gingerly into our jetty coach ; but in vain did we try to escape being made finished chimney-sweepers. Methinks it must have served a subterraneous apprenticeship in some coal-mine as a lowly waggon for conveyance of that article, before it was promoted to its pre- sent office above-ground — the reverse of the fate of mortals. The driver was hopelessly black, having the features, however, of a white man, and the brogue of the Green Erin. lie affected to guard our dresses from the wheel as we ascended, which delicate attention was but a refinement of barbarity, adding insult to in- jury. We met a number of similarly sable coaches, but I think ours bore the belle. There are twenty-five furnaces, and five forges and rolling mills in Pittsburg, besides which, there are woollen and cotton factories, machine shops, tanneries, and hardware, cutlery, and several other manufactories in abundance. The city is lighted by s^as, which is produced by the bituminous coal that fills the hills which surround Pittsburg. Most of the exten- sive manufactories are not m the city, but are SUSPENSION BRIDGE AT WHEELING. 165 distributed over a circle of about five .ai!; ' radius from the Court house, wliich stands on Grant's Hill. One of the suburbs of Pittsburg is called Birmingham. The Ohio quite exceeded my expectations : the river and the scenery are both beautiful. We came under a splendid new suspension bridge at Wheeling, which is, however, a bone of contention just now between various parties. It seems, the bridge is not high enough for some of the lofty funnels of the steamers, and several of these have had some very hard knocks. There are great complaints in con- sequence : and the poor captains of these crippled boats seem, to judge by the news- papers, to take their disfigurement and dis- comfiture quite to heart. Captain This has felt himself grievously wounded through the knock-down blows dealt at the splendid steamer " Explosion," by the bridge aforesaid ; and Captain That thinks he will never entirely recover — indeed, will carry sympathetically to the end of his days the marks left on his beautiful steamer, the " Racer." If there is any safety in new steamers, we need not just now bo afraid of boilers bursting, or any such foreseen accidents, on these rivers ; for, since this new and destructiovi-dealing bridge has been built, it is extraordinary how ■:;i I I m ' i1 166 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. every steamer on the river, according to the complainants* statements (save those with low funnels) seems equally "new," "splendid," and just " come out." It must be provoking, it is true, to be knocked on the head, — of your steamer, and to be forced to cut her down yourself without mercy. That bridge, in short, proves a " bridge of sighs " to the navigators of the Ohio. As for our boat, being of mode- rate proportions, she did not receive the slight- est contusion on her crown. She was, (though not holding her head as high as some) an ex- tremely fine and comfortable vessel. The captains of these steamers appear uni- versally a most gentleman-like set of persons, and the clerks are always as civil and obliging as possible. The other day, having heard one particular steamer was the best, I sent to take places in it : all was arranged and paid, but the person who had taken the tickets had mistaken a rival boat for the one specified. When I found out this misunderstanding, which was not till we went down to the wharf to embark, I went to the clerk (not liking the appearance of this boat so much as that of the opposition one to which we had been recommended) and informed him of the error that had been committed, and asked if we might be allowed to change. He most cour- ii GERMAN AND IRISH IMMIGRANTS. 167 teously complied, and returned the money. In the hurry of departure, I did not do what I noiv feel sorry I did not — return sucli civility by going by the smaller boat after all ; for such obliging conduct deserves to meet with reci- procal complaisance. We only stopped a day at Cincinnati, for the hotels were all crowded, which made it extreme- ly uncomfortable. The " Queen City of the West," is built on the north bank of the Ohio. It has floating wharves, which are rendered necessary by the continual and rapid fluctua- tions of the river. It is a very handsome city, and in a remarkably fine situation. In 1840, the population was 46,338 ; and now it is estimated at about 110,000. I asked them, at Pittsburg, and other places, how they liked the German immigrants. You almost invariably receive the same reply to this ques- tion : — " Very much. They are the best immi- grants possible : industrious, generally sober and quiet — not quarrelsome like the Irish." Then they added—" but we could not do with- out the Irish. They build all our railroads, make our roads, canals, and do all the hardest work in the country." " Wanderers ! who come from many a distant zone, To gaze on Nature's Transatlantic throne : — Wanderers ! — whose fet.'t like mine ne'er trod before, This proud, magnificently-various shore ; n m •'•til' I I(i8 TRAVELS IN A3!ERICv\. (% Ne'er liglitly view the thousand seenes sublinie Of great America's resplendent ehme ; But still, in thoughtful mood's observnnt cnre Weigh well the many-mingling glories then; Since all the loftier wonders of the land Are most admired, when best ye u/ider 'aind. 'Tis a glad, gracious study for the soul, As part by part the Heaven-stamped leaves unroll, To watch the crowning triumphs still expand, The will, the wisdom live along the land ! Not only all-majestic Nature here Sj)eaks to each kindling thought, but far and near A large and mighty meaning seems to lurk, A glorious mind is everywhere at work ! — A bold, grand spirit rules and reigns arotmd, And sanctifies the common air and ground ; And glorifies the lowliest herb and stone With conscious tints and touches of its own ; — A spirit ever flashing back the sun. That scorns each prize while aught is to be won ; — More boundless than the prairie's wondrous sweep, Or the old Atlantic's long-resounding deep ; — And more luxuriant than the forest's crowd Of matriarch trees, by weightiest foliage bowed ; — More rich than California's teeming mould, Whose hoarded sumbeams laugh to living gold ; — More soaring far than the immemorial hills, More fresh and flowing than their streams and rills, That mind of quenchless energy and power Which springs from strength to strength, hour after hour ; Man'L glorious mind in its most glorious mood, — That seems for aye, on every side to brood In this empurpled and exultant land So gladly bowed beneath its bright command. Man's sovereign mind in its most sovereign march. Embracing eavth, like light's own rainbowed arch. That soul — that mind, 'tis every where revealed, — It crowns the steep, it gilds the cultured field. !l i VERSES TO EMIGRANTS. IC!) 11, ir is. er hour ; Bills science, nrt, nnd studious knowledge aid, Till all hath heard its voice, and all obeyed. It charms the waste, and paves the rushing stream, And scarce allows the sun a vagrant beam ; The obiTciuious lightning to its service trains. And bids the elements to wear its chains. It tames the rugged soil of rocks, — and flings From seas to sens the shadow of its wings ; And Time and Space in that great shadow rest, And watch to serve their ruler-sons' behest ; And still its growing, gathering influence spreads. And still abroad its d'vn great lite it sheds O'er mount and lake r cataract, field, and flood — O'er rock, and cave, uiul isle, o'er plain and wood : It lives, it lightens, and its might inspires Each sej)arate scene with fresh creative lircs. Where'er it moves a wondering world awakes. And fust all nature's form its likeness takes ; — It quickening thrills, and kindles and pervades Her startled deserts and receding shades. Her mightiest solitudes and paths unknown, Her deep-veiled shrines, and well-springs pure and lone. America's great Mind, — the true New World, Launched like the sun, 'gainst th' elder darkness hurled ; Hung, as The Heavens are hung, above them all, And holding their sublimest powers in thrall ! It must be confessed that Cincinnati, the pride of the banks of " La belle Riviere," is in faci what its nickname, " Porkopolis," im- plies — the Empire City of Pigs, as well as of the West ; but it is fortunate that they con- descendingly allow human beings to share that truly magnificent location with them. VOL. I. I ill V5 / M "w '/ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I IL25 i 1.4 1.6 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation // // ^ ^^.^ i i/. \ 4 •>^ \ :\ ^-\ ^O^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) S72-4S03 170 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. -%■ CHAPTER XVII. i ' I)P:SCRIPTI0N of LOUISVILLE. its trade and NATUUAL PRODIC- TIONS. — ITS SOIL AND RIVERS. THE KENTUCKY CAVES. — A VISIT TO ONE. ITS AVENUES, DOMES, CATARACTS, PITS, AND RIVERS. — A SEA IN IT. THE VOCIFEROUS BATS. — ECHOES OF THE CAVE. — THE CAVE ONCE THE RESIDENCE OF CONSUMPTIVE PATIENTS. THE EYELESS FISH. THE NARROW PATH AND THE FAT ENGLISHMAN. VAST EXTENT OF THE CAVE. — VERSES SUGGESTED BY IT. We have had a very interesting expedition to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. But, first, a word of Louisville itself. It is a fine city, and the best lighted, I think, that I have seen in the United States. I imagine the Louisvillians are proud of this, as they have their diligences start at four o'clock in the winter's morning ! It is the chief com- mercial city of Kentucky, and lies on the south bank of the Ohio. The canal from Portland enables large steamers to come to the wharves. An extensive trade is carried on here, and there are manufactories of various descriptions, the facilities ofiered by the enormous water-power of the region assisting greatly in the development DESCRIPTION OF LOUISVILLE. 171 ith Ind les. jre ihe of iDt of this department of industry. There are numerous factories, foundries, woollen and cotton mills, flour mills, &c. The population is about forty-seven thousand : in 1800, it was only six hundred. Kentucky is a very prosperous state. The natural growths of the soil are — the black cherry, black walnut, chestnut, honey-locust, buck-eye, pawpaw, mulberry, sugar-maple, ash, elm, white-thorn, cotton-wood, an abun- dance of grape-vines, and various others. Part of the country we traversed in going to " The Cave," is called the " barrens ;" other portions looked very fertile, and reminded me exceedingly of England. " The Barrens," were bestowed some time ago gratuitously on actual settlers, as the legislature of the State were under the erroneous impression that the tract was of little value ; but it proved to be re- markably good grain land, and particularly well adapted to grazing and the successful rearing of cattle. Below the mountains, the whole of Kentucky, it appears, rests on an enormous bed of lime- stone, generally about eight feet beneath the surface. Everywhere in this formation are found apertures, which they denominate " Sink holes." Through these the flowing waters of the rivers disappear into the earth. Several lu h ^ I 2 172 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. of these were pointed out to us on our jour- ney. Owing to this, the waters in Kentucky arc more impoverished and diminished during the hot and dry season, than those of any other portion of the United States, and the lesser streams vanish entirelv. The banks of the rivers are quite natural curiosities. Very profound channels are usually worn in the calcareous rock, which they pass over in their course. The Kentucky river espe- cially is said to have sublime precipices of great height, on either side, consisting of almost perpendicular banks of solid limestone. There are several huge caves between Green and Cumberland rivers ; but the one we went to see is the largest. The size of it may be guessed when I inform the reader that we walked in it the first day eight miles, four in and four out ; and the second fourteen, seven in and seven out, hardly traversing any of the same ground, except just at the beginning. In fact, this marvellous cave is a little sub- terranean state in itself, that might almost claim to be admitted separately into the Union, if it had any population besides mum- mies and bats (and, alas ! the former have disappeared, to our regret). The cave contains, it is said, two hundred MAMMOTH GAVE. 173 and twenty-six avenues ! Ic has, besides, forty- seven domes, eight cataracts, twenty-three pits, and several rivers — one, the river Styx — and, I believe, a small sea, the Dead Sea. The Echo river (called so from its possessing a very re- markable and powerful echo) is wide enough and deep enough to float the largest steamer- The great dome is four hundred feet high. In 1813, two Indian mummies were found here, wrapped in highly-ornamented deerskins ; so that it is evident, though the white men have only of late years discovered this gigantic cavern, the red warriors knew of it in days of yore. There was a great deal of saltpetre found in this cave, and the remains of the furnaces, and large mounds of ashes, are still to be seen near the entrance. In one of the most beautiful chambers we saw in the interior of this vast underground Palace of Nature, the roof appeared to represent a firmament of stars ! A comet, with its train of light, seemed sparkling in the distance. And in another place, the appearance of the roof was that of an "inverted flower-garden" (as Profes- sor , at Washington, happily called it, in describing the wonders of this under-world to me). The bats, which are " located" near the mouth of the cave (where, spacious an area as it l:S^ \^k. 174 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. is, there are excellent lodgings for man and bat — if any of the former are tired of this very superficial earth), are the noisiest little rascals I ever met with. Jabbering like monkeys, chattering like magpies, they appear to re- pudiate all connexion with their humble, quiet little cousins, the mice. They made such a din when we entered their chosen precincts, that it seemed as if they were hissing us off the subterranean stage on which wc were making our debut, rather agitated at our novel position ; or perhaps they were intending those suspicious sounds for cheers — nine times nine, and one cheer more — and the Kentish (or, rather, the Kentuckyish) fire, at our entry. Without caring to silence this bat-tery, we proceeded, and soon invaded the haunts of old Silence herself. Ours being almost entirely a female party, it will readily be imagined, we did little to disturb the stillness of the place ! One English and one American gentleman, how- ever, were also there ; and I cannot answer equally for them, especially the latter, who, however, did the honours of the cave most ad- mirably. He knew every nook of it, brought out the echoes splendidly, with " The Arkansas Hunters," " Uncle Ned," " ! Susianna," and other far-famed works of the great masters, MAMMOTH CAVE. 175 .S finishing with " Yankeedoodle," and repeated some really very fine and striking lines, author unknown. There is a magnificent natural church in the cave ; and here divine service has been performed, we were assured. Of course, we had a great number of torches, or rather lamps with us. Bengal lights are some- times used here, but we had not given due warning, and none were to be procured. Some of the sadder things to be seen in this gloomy stronghold of Nature, are the remains of a number of small ruined houses, erected within the cave for consumptive pa- tients, the constantly equable temperature of this solemn place being considered as of great efficacy in restoring them to health. This idea is, however, I should imagine, almost abandoned, if we may judge by the dilapidated structures before alluded to ; indeed, we un- derstand that the depressing efiect on the spirits of the sufferers tended greatly to counteract the beneficial influence of the unvarying and mild temperature. They were obliged to re- move these melancholy habitations to some distance from each other, as they found the constant sound of the hollow cough reverbe- rating through the vaulted galleries irritated the nerves, and affected the spirits of the m 176 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. invalids grievously. I cannot imagine it doing any good in a single instance ; yet it is said some apparent cures were performed ; but on returning to the upper earth and the cheerful- ness of day, the symptoms of the disorder im- mediately returned, and, therefore, the only hope of continued existence was in renouncing all its delights and charms ; in perpetuating this most dreary exile, in living as much like the dead as possible, and in anticipating and re- hearsing, as it were, the loneliness, the gloom, the silence of the grave. These ruined tene- ments made me shudder ; sepulchres of the living as they must have been. Even for the short time I was in the cave I felt a strange oppression, and a longing for the sun and the free fresh air again, that was almost painful. Notwithstanding this, you can undergo much greater fatigue in the cave than outside — owing, I was told, to the remarkable elasticity of the air there ; but walking so long and over such frightfully-rugged ground made me very thirsty. Some of the springs were of delicious water, but one that we drank of was like sulphur : we should have thought it horrible under other circumstances, but were so suffering from drought, that we found it then and there exquisite. MAMMOTH CAVE. 177 One of the most singular curiosities of tliis stupendous cave are the eyeless fish that arc found in one of the rivers : they are not only destitute of eyes, but have not the faintest, slightest rudiments of the organ, or place for it : the skull is perfectly smooth. I had heard these fish much talked of by Professors A and G at Cambridge, and was anxious to see one: there were some swimming about in the river, but I could not thus examine their peculiarities satisfactorily; subsequently, I got a preserved one in spirits. They are to be purchased of the guides. There is in the cave an extraordinarily narrow path, between immense rocks, through which a human being can with difficulty force his way. The American gentleman I have alluded to before gave an amusing account of a fat Englishman accomplishing this feat, and emerging on the othei side, all sorts of shapes — a kind of Proteus, exhibiting at one and the same time, a pleasing variety of appearances. One arm jammed into his side, one cheek alarm- ingly flattened, and the other, by the contrast, apparently pufled out preposterously, as if the material of the one had been squeezed into the other. By all accounts he must have looked something like a huge pillow, of which the I 5 178 TRAVELS IN AMEKICA. feathers had been displaced in one part, and huddled up in another, which, in short, had shifted its cargo of down ! and that required shaking and putting to rights. By degrees the metamorphosis ceased, and he shortly regained his natural shape, but then the poor wretch had to endure a second martyrdom ! I know not the end of his history, perhaps he staid on the other side for a while, practised abstemiousness, and went into training, and so came out of the cave a " lean and slippered pantaloon," having gone in like a Falstqf, This " Winding Way" is popularly known as ** The Fat Man's Misery." It is the tall man's also, for even women have here and there to bend almost double. One longed to walk with one's head under one's arm, in imitation of some of the gentry who figure in ghost stories. I suffered several times from a severe concussion of my bonnet, and only narrowly escaped a compound fracture of the comb. As to the cave altogether, it is magnificent — that is, what we saw of it ; for many parts of it we did not see at all, which are already explored, and it is said people may go on exploring for three hundred miles or more ; I should be sorry to try the experiment. After this under-ground jaunt, — after this sort of tern- MAMMOTH CAVE. 179 of My Ion ter porary burial, I think one almost requires a dozen or so of balloon-ascensions to restore the equilibrium of one's feelings, and take away the subterraneousness of one's sensations, and ungrovcllize oneself ; — in short, to carry oil' a little of the superabundant earthliness that one feels has been acquired by walking below ground, where should be nothing but graves and gas-pipes, and cellars and worms, and Guy Fawkeses, and sorcerers, and mummies, and trains of gunpowder, and fossil Ichthiosauruses. Stalactites and stalagmites are beautiful and interesting, but they seem to me to have a sort of magnetism of petrifaction about them, and to inoculate one with ossification. Glad was I when we wended our way from these mighty vaults, with their imitation stars and hob- goblin roses : we had to pass again by the same great Hall by which we entered, under the living leathern canopy of the imminent bats, which almost grazed or stuck to our much-enduring bonnets as we passed — so low was the roof in some places. THE MAMMOTH CAVES IN KENTUCKY. And have a thousand burning worlds on high, And tens of thousands marshalled in the sky, Scattering their splendour o'er Heaven's boundless plain Besieged thy gates for ages, — and in vain ? 180 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. th Novcr tlie gentle Pleind liorc hath gnzctl ; Not here hutli ivt-r (hishing c«)iut't hhi/cd ; Nor keciust lightning sent one arrowy rny, 'Midst thewe drond Ktrongholils of t)ic night to l)lfty, Nor here the artillery of the thunder even E'er woke one echo of the Voice of Heaven. Stars from their spheres huve shot — hut here unniissed, Of them this frowning under-worM ne'er wist. Still of the sun unseen, there lives a sign, His warmth comes even to this sepulchral shrine. Vet hy no chongi* seems the awful gloom beguiled, Here rain nor rainhow ever wept nor smiled. Yet oh ! the hanging gardens glittering there Where sunshine laughs not, and no dews appear ; And not a butterfly pursues its flight, Giving and gaining hues more freshly bright. Behold the inverted beds of sumptuous flowers, — That wealth of stony blooms, and frozen bowers, Those spectral buds, those sparry branches drear, That pomp of floral petrifactions there, Those ghostly wreaths — those braids of shadowy leaves, Which Nature, as in stern self-mockery, weaves, Roses and sunflowers ; tulips rich, and bells Of sumptuous lilies, where no sweetness dwells ; And sculptured irises, and dahlias pale, Unknown to spring's bright ray, or autumn's gale, All in a deadly beauty coldly clad, A funeral pomp, bcwilderingly sad. How sweet, — how exquisite compared with these, The lowliest hedge-flower, touched by dew and breeze ! How dear, compared with such stark frigid shows. The wan and withered ruins of a rose, That once has looked on day's bright star, and grown Something that seemed a stray smile of his own. True, 'tis most beautiful, most wondrous too. This tranced — this spell-bound nature, calm and new ; MAMMOTH CAVE. 181 Hut yet iliis mockery of eurtli'« luavcn-bom things. Tliouj;li fair, thou^'li glorious, hut iles|ioiulince hriugs. 'Tis like Death's jtfthice with liis eohl white shctw, Of all thiit most should smile with life's fresh glow. For me, I long to leave these preeiuets drear, Shun this cold ghost of Nature reigning here, (So fixed, so fate-like, life and motion seem Near this, the fleeting fictions of a dream), And once again the glad Creation hail, That tells with thousand tongues the eternal talc. Give back the world ! the changeful hues and forms. The hurrying shadows of its very storms. Oh ! for a mountain-scene to lift me now On high ; as 'twere to clinib near Heaven's sweet brow ; Give me those scenes, fresh, moving, breathing, free, Where even midst gloom, a tlunisand glories be. And sound, ye clarion-tones of winds, which make The stately forests to their centres shake ! Give even the quivering darkness of that Night, Which heaves and hovers as 'twere taking flight ! And give the change of seasons and of hours, The strife of elements, the shock of powers ! And life-like shiftings, and awakening signs, True, quickening tones from Nature's thousand shrines. Give me, for these cold vaults, and these bare halls, The glistening smile of streams, — the roar of falls ; The startling wonders of the restless deep. The towering headland, and the cloud-capped steep ; Glaciers for stalactites, keen moons for spars, For these dull gauds Heaven's galaxies of stars ; Nay, humbler be the yearning, less the prayer, Give any scene of outward Nature fair. For th' awful mysteries of this solemn cave, — Give but a breath, a cloud, a flower, a wave ; For all the dreadful splendours that it boasts. One mirrored ray from yonder starry hosts ! i i 182 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XVIII. A CONVERSATION IN A COACH. A LOQUACIOUS GENTLEMAN. — THE OTHER PASSENGER. — HIS APPEARANCE. AN AMERICAN ARGUMENT TO CillNG THE POTENCY OF MONEY TO MAKE A GENTLEMAN. AN EXHIBITION OF GENUINE FEELING. — A KENTUCKIAN's notion of ENGLAND, — THE SLIGHT VALUE SET ON HUMAN LIFE IN AMERICA. THE DUEL. — PIGS PARA- MOUNT IN LOUISVILLE. — HERDS OF SWINE ON THE ALLE- GHANIES. THE HOTEL KEEPER AND THE KENTUCKY CAVE. — DANGER ATTENDING A VISIT TO THE CAVES. I CANNOT refrain from giving a conversation which I heard as we came by the coach to Louisville. One of the speakers was a very agree- able and apparently well-informed gentleman, who seemed to have seen a great deal of the world. When he first entered the ** stage," it would seem it was with the benignant intention of giving a sort of conversazione in the coach, in which, after a few preliminary interrogatories to the various passengers (as if to take the size and measure of their capacities), he sustained all the active part, not calling upon them for the slightest exercise of their conversational powers. He varied the entertainment occasionally, by 1 LOQUACIOUS GENTLEMAN. 183 soliloquizing and monopolyloguizing ; and ever and anon it appeared as if he addressed the human race generally, or was speaking for posterity in a very elevated tone indeed, and seemingly oblivious of that fraction of the con- temporaneous generation who were then largely benefiting by his really most animated and amusing discourse — for he was thoroughly ori- ginal and very shrewd and entertaining. Where had he not been ? What had he not seen '? what not met, tried, suffered, sought, found, dared, done, won, lost, said ? The last we could give the most implicit credence to, no matter how large the demand. Now he told us, or the ceiling of the coach, how he had been eighteen months in the Prairies (which keep very open house for all visitors), shoot- ing herds of buffaloes, and with his cloak for his only castle, and all his household furniture, and how he had been all this time without bed or bread : and he described the longing for the last, much in the way Mr. Ruxton does in his account of Prairie excursions ; and now — but I will not attempt to follow him in all his wondrous adventures. Suffice it to say, Robinson Crusoe, placed in juxtaposition with him, was a mere fire-side stay-at-home sort of personage, one who had 184 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. never left his own comfortable arm-chair, in comparison. In short, the adventures were mar- vellous and manifold, and all told in the same agreeable, lively, Scheherezade-like sort of a manner — so agreeable, indeed, that I am sure had Judge Lynch himself had any little ac- count to settle with him, he would have post- poned, — d la Sultan of the Indies, — any trifling beheading or strangling, or unpleasant little opei'iition of the sort, to hear the end of the tale. After these narratives and amusing lectures had been poured forth continuously for a length of time, it chanced that a quiet country- man-like person got into the coach, bundle and stick in hand. After a few questions to this rustic wayfarer, our eloquent orator left off his historic and other tales, and devoted himself to drawing out, and "squeezing the orange of the brains" of this apparently sim- ple-minded and unlettered man. The discourse that ensued was a singular one — to take place, too, in the United States between Americans. The new-comer was a Kentuckian by birth, who had not very long ago gone to settle in Indiana. He called himself a mechanic, — these facts came out in answer to the queries put to him by our unwearied talker, — but he NOBLE-SPIRITED MECHANIC. 186 had, as I have said, much more the appearance of a respectable country, farming man — and indeed, I believe, mechanic means here, in a general sense, a labourer. He seemed a fine, honest-hearted, straight-forward, noble-spirited son of the plough ; and his lofty, earnest, ge- nerous sentiments were spoken in somewhat unpolished but energetic and good language ; and what particularly struck me was a really beautiful and almost child-like simplicity of mind and manner, that was combined with the most uncompromising firmness and unflinching adherence in argument, to what he conceived to be right. His features were decidedly plain, but the countenance was very fine, chiefly characterized by great ingenuousness, commingled with gen- tleness and benevolence ; and yet bearing evi- dent traces of strength, determination, and energetic resolution. It was rather a compli- cated countenance, so to say, notwithstanding its great openness and expression of downright truth and goodness. After opening the conversation with him, as you would an oyster, by the introduction of a pretty keen knife of inquisitorial questions, the chief speaker began to hold forth, caprici- ously enough, on the essentials and distinguish- 186 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ing attributes of a gentleman. He declared, emphaticallj, that one qualification alone was necessary, and that money only made a gentle- man, according to the world, and. above all, in the United States (quite a mistake is this, I fully believe). " Let a man," said he, " be dressed here in everything of the best, with splendid rings on his fingers, and plenty of money to spend at the ends of them, and he may go where he will, and be received as a gentleman ; aye, though he may be a gambler, a rogue, or a swindler, and you, now, you may be a good honest mechanic ; but he will at once get into the best society in these parts, which you would never dream even of attempt- ing to accomplish, — " " But he would not be a gentleman,'* broke in the Kentuckian, indignantly. " Na, sir ; nor will I ever allow that money only makes the gentleman : it is the principle, sir, and the inner feeling, and the mind, — and no fine clothes can ever make it ; and no rough ones unmake it, that's a fact. And, sir, there 's many a better gentleman following the plough in these parts than there is among the richer classes : I mean those poor men who ""re con- tented with their lot, and work hard and try no mean shifts and methods to get on and up DOES MONEY MAKE THE GENTLEMAN? 187 in the world ; for there *s little some *ill stick at to get at money ; and such means a true gentleman (what / call a gentleman) will avoid like pison, and scorn utterly." " Now that 's all very well for you to talk so here just now ; but you know yourself, I don't doubt, that your own object, as well as all the world's around you, is to make money. It is with that object that you work hard and save up : you do not work only to live, or make yourself more comfortable, but to get money : and money is the be-all and end-all of all and everybody ; and that only commands consi- deration and respect." " That only, sir, would never command mine, and—" " Why, how you talk now ! if you meet a fine dressed-out gentleman in one of these stages, you look on him as one directly — you don't ask him did he mahe or take his money, — what 's that to you ? — there he is, and it is not for you to busy or bother yourself to find out all the private particulars of his history; and if you find him, as I say, well dressed in superfine, and he acts the gentleman to you, he may be the greatest rogue in existence, but he will be treated by you like a gentleman, — yes, even by you." 188 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. a flowing through its almost interminable mighty wildernesses of forest in solitary grandeur, or watering a thousand teeming plantations with its turbid swelling waves, receiving its splendid tributaries (the Ohio, Arkansas river, &c.) as if they were so many dew-drops, and sweeping on as if with a magnificent unconcern and disdainful indifference, apparently wholly un- altered and unaffected by these immense and majestic accessories to its might and greatness. The breadth of this ever-broad river is scarcely visibly changed, though the depth is of course very often greatly increased, as stream after stream rolls into its great waters. In the very absence of change here, is there not something sublime ? In every way it is unlike every other river I ever saw, and appears to be a sort of molten flowing world in itself. By night the scene is one of startling in- terest and of magical splendour. Hundreds of lights are glancing in different directions, from the villages, towns, farms, and plantations on * shore, and from the magnificent " floating palaces " of steamers, that frequently look like moving mountains of light and flame, so bril- liantly are these enormous river-leviathans illuminated, outside and inside. Indeed, the spectacle presented is like a dream of enchant- W n tarn m m I ■H\i 214 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. : :| ment. Imagine steamer after steamer coming sweeping, sounding, thundering on, blazing with these thousands of lights, casting long brilliant reflections on the fast-rolling waters beneath ; — (there is often a number of them, one after the other — like so many comets in Indian file) ! Some of these are so marvellously and daz- zlingly lighted, they really look like Alad- din's palace on fire (which it in all likelihood would be in America), sent skurrying and dashing down the stream, while, perhaps, just then all else is darkness around it. I delighted, too, in seeing, as you very fre- quently do, the twinkling lights in the numerous cottages and homesteads, dotted here and there ; and you may often observe large wood-fires lit on the banks, looking like merry-making bon- fires. These, I believe, are usually signals for the difierent steamers to stop to take up passengers, goods, and animals. I recollect, on one occa- sion, our captain was hard-hearted : the steamer was overflowing with passengers already, and continued on her course, notwithstanding there was a perfect conflagration for a signal on shore, to induce him to pause. There must have been some person or persons extraordi- narily anxious to be taken up, for the hubbub made on shore was surprising : there were FLOATING TREES. 215 furious shouts, waving of hats, a hurricane of cries and gesticulations, and people running with great perseverance along the banks yell- ing and squalling like maniacs. In vain — on we went, and our imaginations might fill up this mysterious outline of circumstances as they pleased. For me, I felt sure cotton was at the bottom of it, somehow. I heard, however, afterwards, that there had been lately bands of disorderly emigrants, who had got taken on board the steamers there- abouts, and who had made themselves very disagreeable company while on board, and yet who thought the benefit of their society was sufficient payment for their passage. Some of these gentry were probably the bawlers and bonfire-makers we had left behind us, stamp- ing and handkerchief-hoisting. It is quite curious to see the hosts of floating trees, agitated and restless, and ever-tossing about in the rapid current, and occasionally rolling and writhing in a little whirlpool. They look sometimes like a hundred sea-serpents at a blow ! Who could believe that birds had ever built and sung in their branches ? or that they ever were apparelled in the sweet livery of spring '? — they have become such black, mummified monsters, and look so hideous and Mi '# ?*il ill ^^i 216 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. il H( forlorn, drifting helplessly along, in the giant stream. We were badly " snagged" twice. Once was really a very severe snagging, though we sur- vived it ; but I assure you the shock might give one a faint idea of being blown up. The first time a large tree was stuck in such a manner through the left paddle-box that the wheel couldn't move, and a great deal of delay was occasioned by our having to stop for the hands to extricate the wheel from its disabling situation. The most serious of all our snaggings (for we were favoured with a great variety of samples) was once in the night. We were asleep in our cabins, when we were suddenly woke up by an immense stunning shock, and the steamer stopped immediately, quivering, so to say, in every nerve of her huge body. There were a great number of horses and mules on board, and they became dreadfully frightened, and commenced rearing, kicking, plunging and snorting furiously, and the noise and uproar really, altogether, sounded most frightful for a time — for of course there was no lack of shouting, yelling, and rushing back- ward and forwards. After a little while, on went the powerful steamer again, plunging SNAG THROUGH PADDLE-BOX. 217 tlirongh the tliick darkness with the great blunt arrow that liad struck her so sorely, fast in her poor wounded side ; but, this time, it had just missed the wheel. Another snag subsequently hit her in the opposite side ; but the wheel fortunately escaped that also, so away she went, something like a savage belle, of whom I hctve lately read, with wooden skewers in her two ears. When morn- ing came, eager was the rush of all to see the extent of the damage inflicted. There stuck the grim snag right through the paddle-box, as fixed as fate, and there we left it when we left the steamer. I believe, however, it was then in process of extraction. Besides these very severe hurts, the unfor- tunate steamer suflPered a long succession of bumps and thumps (as well as her passengers) from a whole series of snags, almost through the whole night. They would not let one repose for a quarter of an hour together in peace. The vessel went, jarring and jumping along in as disagreeable a manner as it is well possible to imagine ; very much as if she was playing at leap-frog, or hopping on one paddle for a wager. The poor mules and horses uttered a most vigorous kicking protest against such rough treatment, and that additional VOL. I. L m ■■■fm m 218 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. hubbub did not improve the quiet or comfort of the bipeds. I was very glad when we arrived at Natchez (built, I suppose, on the scene of Chateau- briand's lovely work "Les Natchez"). From thence we availed ourselves of the President's kind invitation, to go and see his cotton plan- tation, and it was a truly interesting sight to us. The late President's son was there, and re- ceived us with the kindest hospitality. The slaves were mustered and marshalled for us to see ; cotton was picked from the few plants that had survived the late terrible overflowing of the Mississippi ; and the interior of one of the slaves' houses was exhibited to us. As to the slaves themselves, they were as well fed, com- fortably clothed, and kindly cared for in every way as possible, and seemed thoroughly happy and contented. The dwelling-house we went to look at was extremely nice : it was a most tastefully decorated and an excellently fur- nished one ; the walls were covered with prints, and it was scrupulously clean and neat. Y expressed a great wish to see some of the small sable fry, and a whole regiment of little robust, rotund, black babies were forth- with paraded for her especial amusement : it if !l THE president's COTTON TLANTATION. 211) >nie of ^th- it was a very orderly little asscinljlagc, and it cannot be imagined how nice and clean they all looked. Such a congregation of little smiling, good-natured, raven roly-polies, I never saw collected together before. One perfect duck of a child was only about three weeks old, but it comported itself quite in as orderly a manner as the rest — as if it had been used to give parties and assemblies, and receive any quan- tity of company, from every nation on earth, all its days, or rather hours. It was as black as a little image carved in polished ebony, and as plump as a partridge (in mourning). These pitchy-coloured piccaninnies differed from white children in one essential particular, for they were all perfectly quiet and silent ; all wide awake, but all still and smiling. After tlie main body had departed a small straggler was brought in (whose mother, per- haps, had lavished additional cares upon its state toilette) ; and it alone, apparently alarmed at finding itself thus unsupported and insu- lated, testified its disapprobation at the pre- sence of English visitors by a very mild squall. We saw an older child afterwards, who was very nearly white, with lovely features and fair hair ; the mother was a ^lulatto, and the father almost white. L 2 & f.y 1 .iii 'i 220 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. V was liiglily dcliglited with the whole company of little inky imps from first to last, nursing and fondling them in high glee ; and it may be readily conceived that the mothers stood by equally enchanted at having their little darkies so appreciated, — and not a little proud ; showing their splendid glittering teeth almost from ear to ear. All the slaves were evidently taken the kindest care of on General Taylor's planta- tion. ]\Ien, women, and children all appeared to adore IVIr. Taylor, who seemed extremely kind to them, and affable with them. He informed us he sleeps always in his own rustic shanty, surrounded by the slaves' quarters, without bolt, bar, or lock of any description on his doors, and that the negroes were not fastened or shut up in any way. This shanty was a very nice wooden building, with a colonnaded pro- menade in front, looking on the river, and had a capital sitting room, very cool and pleasant. The overseer's house was at a little distance. The principal mansion boasted, too, of a good and large collection of books, among which Mr. Taylor showed me an illustrated Mexican " Don Quixote." He had brought it with him from Mexico, and added, that it was said to be the first work ever illustrated in that AN AGED SLAVE. "I'll country. The engravings were well executed, and the designs were spirited and clever. We saw an aged slave, a hundred years old, and apparently quite hale and hearty. lie did not seem to be the least deaf or decrepit, or to have lost his faculties in any way : hu had quite polished and graceful manners, some- thing like an old French marquis of the viellle cour. lie really reminded me a little in his courteous salutations of dear old Marquis de TAigle, who used to tell me at the Chfiteau d'O of his dancing minuets with poor Marie Antoinette. He came daintily forward and treated us to most Chesterfieldian bows and reverences, with multitudinous respectful inquiries after our health and well-being. " What do I owe you for those chickens you sold to me a little while ago 1" asked the Pre- sident's son of the old slave. " One dollar and five bits," replied the centenarian with the most unhesitating accuracy and promptitude. The money was immediately paid to him. Mr. Taylor had told me before that he always bought his poultry of this old man, who was allowed to rear them on his own account, " and who, I assure you, invariably charges the very highest prices for them," added lie, laughing. ■m yJ-1 IV I.; SI I i i ■ ■ **. a h ilf 222 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. :? i I took an opportunity of ofl'ering this sable Sir Charles (irandison a trifling l)ack-sheesh, to reward him a little for his walk to the lodge to see us (though, by the way, we were told it was no unusual exertion for him, as he very frequently came there) ; the bowing in- creased to almost ko-tooing, and he went on his way rejoicing and bowing still, like a self-acting porcelain Chinese ]\landarin, " nid- nid-nodding." We brought away a tiny bale of the Pre- sident's beautiful white cotton, just as it came off the tree. When the slaves were collected together in front of the house for our inspection, they had each, as a treat, some tobacco given them, which is what they dearly love. This they afterwards proceeded to smoke to our healths, to which I had no sort of objection, provided they did not wish me to hob and nob with them. They were generally fine stout-looking people, and had not at all a stupid air. One very remarkably intelligent-looking youth was Mr. Taylor's valet ; and the latter informed me that this young negro had taught himself to read and to write. For some time Mr. Taylor had remarked that he sat up very late, and after observing this repeatedly, he resolved on i I IREATMENT OF NEOROES. 223 watching him, to set; what object he had in maintaining these lengthened vigils, lie thus discovered the fact. The poor aspiring darkic had saved every candle-end he could find, and deprived himself of sleep night after night to accomplish his design. Might not such a one become a Toussaint TOuverture in time ? Alas ! there are too many interests involved — even those of the slaves themselves — to permit the immediate extinction of slavery. I am quite aware that on plantations such as the one I have been writing about, one sees entirely the couleur de rose of the business ; but I believe it is very rarely the negroes are ill-treated, except, as I was told by an American, occa- sionally by small farmers, emigrants, who have never had such power before, and who are often led into abusing it. The French are said to be very severe masters, but I was constantly assured the worst of all are the coloured people themselves. This will appear less astonishing when it is recollected that these people are universally ignorant and uneducated, without any proper moral training to teach them to restrain and subdue their naturally violent and inflammable passions and tempers. I cannot but think, too, that sometimes when the proprietor himself does not live much ■f* A Ml %\ I'T i;i -■ m 224 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. i I on his estate, or personally superintend his coloured labourers, they are harshly used by the overseer. One must guard against be- lieving all the exaggerations and prejudiced statements that one hears ; but I have been told some painful things relating to this, that seemed certainly from unimpeachable authority. Mr. told me at New Orleans that an overseer had actually offered to flog one of the negroes under his charge to show him how it was done, and this in the most careless man- ner, as if it was quite a common-place propo- sition. I can hardly help thinking the man had been piqued by some remarks of Mr. , and said this as a sort of bravado, to show him he defied his opinion. The other story is, I fear, more vraisemblable. An overseer was talking of the idleness and carelessness of the negroes being sometimes very irritating and provoking — as no doubt they may be — and, said he, " when that rascal did so and so, I shot him, that 's a fact, for I got so mad I couldn't do nothing else." I have heard, not overseers, but other persons say the same sort of thing fre- quently, as an excuse for very intemperate and inconsiderate conduct towards others, and they seem to think this exonerates them from all blame, as if they were really not responsible THE SLAVE WAITER. Mmtmtf agents at the time. A gentleman conversing with me some time since in the West, on the subject of some new regulations on board one of the steam-boats, said that the bhick waiter, on briijging him some beefsteaks and hot pota- toes that he had ordered for luncheon, required payment down before the savoury and smoking refection was tasted. Highly indignant, the gentleman remonstrated, nay recommended the ebony-complexioned waiter to " absquotilate,'' without loss of time. He remarked he was above all suspicion, and while he was getting out his purse and counting out the coin, tlie beefsteaks would be very fast deteriorating in value. Poor Pompey declared the captain s orders were absolute, and that all were re- quired to submit, and again reiterated his request for immediate payment. "I got so mad at this," exclaimed the narrator, " tliat I took up the whole tray and flung it and the contents in his ugly face." I am afraid there is generally method in this pleaded mad- ness of a moment, for its victims are commonly the helpless and unresisting. Mr. had gone to see the jail, and he remarked some singularly ferocious-looking men, who proved to be Spaniards. " Ay, they are right desperate chaps, them," exclaimed the L 5 W: I ' n 4 k rr 226 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. jailer or turnkey who accompanied him ; " I reckon them furriners 'ud think no more of murdering a man right slick, nor you would of walloping your nigger." But I am saying more than I intended on this theme ; and of all people in the world, the English have the least right to find fault with the Americans for retaining still the legacy which they had from England, that melancholy and dangerous keepsake that was her gift — a gift forced on their acceptance too. I must confess one sees very original adver- tisements in their papers sometimes. The other day this one caught my eye : — " To be sold immediately, a negro woman, and a case of damaged Marseilles soap:" and often you see mules, carts, wheel-barrows, negroes, and farming utensils, all huddled up together in a comprehensive advertisement. How compre- hensive, alas ! They do not seem to think ; but of one thing I feel quite certain, from many observations I have made, if you had the power to liberate all the slaves in the United States, you would find not a tenth, not a twentieth — perhaps not a hundredth part of them — would accept their freedom from your hands. I have had an almost sleepless night of mos- quito torment. The housemaids assured me m PERSECUTION FROM MOSQITOES. 1^27 5S, Id le that the mosquitoes hardly ever bite now, — that their gay season was over, and that they were living very retired lives ; occupying their leisure, I suppose, in improving their minds. If they would but learn to have a little philan- thropy ! But they would perhaps answer, they " already like man very much indeed." Ah ! it is quite a platter affection, a cupboard love. Hearing the satisfactory report I have quoted above, I left my net rolled up last night, and was almost eaten up alive. I could hardly sleep a wink the whole night, and passed its long hours chiefly in the pleasant occupation of violently boxing my own ears, in ineffectual attempts to deal death and destruction at those unpitying tormentors. They are the most ubiquitous little monsters in existence, and the most unkillable : you give yourself a blow that might knock down the " Mammoth horse," and, though sorely hurt, rejoice in thinking you have pulverized the foe, and you feel him instanter biting away at the very hand which hit the blow, or, laughing at you (and stabbing at you, too), perched on the top of your own nose. These Lilliputian lancers came on like the clouds of irregular Cossack cavalry that so harassed the French in their direful Russian t % ■I ■V* I, Mi m 228 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. retreat, — they are here, there, and everywhere, their terrible " hoorah," and deadly dreadful little war-whoops, freezing one with horror. In the day time it is hateful enough, but at night far worse. However, at night, one has the happy resource of the " bars," as they call the net apparatus here, but none in the day. It would perchance lengthen one's life a little, or at any rate spare oneself from sore anguish, to adopt Cromwell's plan, and wear a coat of mail under one's outer apparel, but soon would these clever little assassins, these " Thugs " of domestic life, find a joint in one's armour ; and then should one not be like those ancient warriors, who, by a cruel device of the enemy, found themselves closed up and imprisoned in cuirasses almost red-hot ? j ii ST. CHARLES HOTEL, NEW ORLEANS. 229 CHAPTER XXL TIIK ST. CHARLES HOTEL AT NEW ORLEANS. — THE SWEDISH WAITER AND JENNY LIND. — OPPRESSIVE HEAT IN DECEMBER IN NEW ORLEANS. — VAST QUANTITIES OF COTTON. — THE PROBABLE FUTURE ASPECT OF THE BANKS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. COMMERCK OF NEW ORLEANS. THE CITY. — ITS PORT. — ITS INHABITANTS. ITS CHURCHES. — THE CITY SUBJECT TO INUNDATIONS. PLACES OF SEPULTURE ABOVE GROUND. WRECK OF THE LOUISIANA STEAMER. WONDERFUL CAPA- BILITIES OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. — THE AMERI- CANS NOT EXTRAVAGANT WHEN THEY DESCRIBE THE RE- SOURCES OF THEIR COUNTRY. — ALLIGATORS. — THE RED RIVER. THE ARTIFICIAL EMBANKMENTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI AT NEW ORLEANS. THEIR INSECURITY. .H ^n We are quite suffering from the heat of the weather here, and we are told it is unusual to be so oppressively warm at New Orleans in the month of December. We are at a very splendid and comfortable hotel, called " the Verandah ;" it reminds me much of a Parisian one. The St. Charles is the largest of all the hotels in New Orleans, but it is much crowded, and we were recommended to try this, as it is quieter, and thus pleasanter 'f ■xl l-f 230 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I for ladies. The St. Cliarles looks a little like St. Peter's at a distance, — it is surmounted by an immense dome ; it boasts, likewise, of a splendid Corinthian portico. It is said to be the largest in America. The attendance at this Verandah hotel is admirable, and all the arrangements excellent. But the charges are much higher than usual in the States. We are waited upon by a little Swede almost fresh from Jenny-Lind land ; and he asked me at dinner yesterday, in an anxious tone, whether I had ever heard his gifted coun- trywoman sing. I replied in the affirmative. " Then I come from two miles of her in Sweden — I am from two miles of her " (from where she lives in Sweden). — " Indeed !" — " Yes, and I have known her from a little child. She is very good and fine, oh, very fine ; and I hear in England they much like her." I assented, and, eloquent in the praise of his northern land's nightingale, he continued, " She sings so beautiful ; she is a wonderful singer ! No- thing like her, very great — very fine and great ^' — and then, by way of crowning all his praises, he exclaimed, with prodigious emphasis, " Oh, she is veri/ neat, very neatr I was not quite sure what particular form of encomium was intended to be conveyed by that expression. NEW ORLEANS SHIPPING. 231 IS ir JS, te but, nevertheless, signified my concurrence un- hesitatingly, as it was evident he considered this a " clincher," for he spoke quite " in italics." The quantity of shipping here seems to be enormous, and the quays and the Levee (as the great promenade which interposes itself between the Crescent City and the Mississippi is called) were so c^v'^^-ed with huge bales of cot- ton (though it is far from a productive year) that the ground was literally strewn with little lumps of it, fallen from the plethoric bales in moving them. It almost looked as if it had been snowing in large flakes. I think one might drive a tolerably profitable trade as a gleaner by picking up the scattered cotton, collecting it, and making it up into a few second-hand bales. You might almost glean enough to freight a small ship, — or stock a little warehouse. Once or twice in our Mississippi voyages (for we stopped to see various places, and thus our voyage was performed in separate divisions, aud by different steamers) we found ourselves in vessels that appeared to eyes inexperienced in such matters to be alarmingly overladen by the heaped-up cotton bales. I recollect on dis- embarking from one steamer, that she really seemed, as we watched her from the wharf I :'¥■'■ Vf 'ii.^ m m v\ 232 TRAVELS IN AMFHICA. where we had landed, to be all but submerged. She looked as though she went along her course making the most profound curtsies imaginable into the water, and how she kept her head above the element in question I know not. We have luckily got large and airy apart- ments in this same Verandah hotel ; for if they were not so I know not how we should endure the heat. It is now evening — considerably past the middle of December — and we are sit- ting with broad immense French windows wide open, and, of course, we have no fire, and yet it is suffocatingly hot, and we are gasping for breath ; but as the New Orleanists themselves are grumbling and scolding at this weather, as unseasonable and insufferable, I presume we may expect a speedy termination to this frying- pan temperature. A very agreeable and charming French Louis- ianian lady, who had travelled with us across the Alleghany Mountains, called to see me the other day. She assured me she was suffering much from the great heat, and seldom remem- bered it so oppressive. Madame V had just returned from Paris. She was travelling in company with her mother, husband, and several friends of theirs, forming altogether a very large and agreeable party. Amongst them THE CITY OF COTTON. 233 was a Greek gentleman, who had lately settled in New Orleans, and a M. , who had tra- velled a great deal, and was a remarkably well-informed and j)leasing person. Almost whenever we look out of the window, we behold cotton in vast quantities, carried through the streets in rather awkward-look- ing carts or drays, which recalls to us that we are in the Crescent City, — the City of Cotton par excellence. It is called the former name from its semicircular conformation, following the sweeping curves of the ^lississippi shore. It is built on the left bank of that mighty stream, and is about a hundred miles from where it mingles its far-travelled waters with those of the Gulf of j\Iexico, — far-travelled indeed ! In its irresistible flow, through how many climates and latitudes has it gone, sound- ing and sweeping on, in its majestic breadth and more awful depth, and its haughty power, and gigantic features — more like a long sea than a mere river — a drawn-out Adriatic — an attenuated Mediterranean. Campbell's fine line would apply to it length- wise, as to the ocean : — " The lightning's wing sinks halfway o'er thee like a wearied bird." I shall want a microscope when I return to England ; so miserably small and petty will :f, •■.fi'l ■iil • !..l ^:i ■i i 234 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. seem its rivers, its hills — all its features. Mag- nifying glasses might save one's patriotic vanity a little, till we get used to the miniature scale. The Mississippi springs to life amid the chilly glare of everlasting snows, and it ends its mighty career beneath a burning sky, ay, almost under the flaming heavens of the tropics. Nothing gives one a better idea of the immensity and greatness of this sublime river, than the reflection that a vast space, comprising about two millions of square miles, pours its surplus waters into this king of rivers. It is indeed a Long Sea. Then not easily can one forget, in looking on those wonderful waters, what change another hundred years will almost certainly have produced on the vast scenes which they lave. What very na- tions of men will crowd on its busy shores, and throng its immense valley ! What a world of wonders will be presented to the future voyager! What industry, what pros- perity, what splendour, what yet undreamed- of attainments of civilization, and triumphs of science, and achievements of art ! Already you see the beginnings of all these. The desert is gradually blooming, the forest is retreating, the habitations of men are rising in all directions, fleets of steamers and other POSITION OF NEW ORLEANS. 235 craft arc covering the face of the river ; thou- sands of enterj)rising settlers arc setting foot on the shores, and advancing further and further into the beleaguered wilderness, — but a hundred years hence, nay, fifty ! Imagina- tion almost fails to paint to herself what shall then be unfolded and displayed in broad day to the gladdened vision. In a commercial point of view, New Orleans stands in a pre-eminently advantageous posi- tion. The ]\Iississippi, with its numerous fine tributaries, lays at its feet the products of about twenty-five thousand miles of navigation (only reckoning streams navigable for large vessels), through regions of almost unparalleled fertility and of still greater promise ; and it carries back the varied and extensive contributions of nearly every country and every climate. The city proper is built in the form of a parallelogram ; its whole length (including the incorporated fauxbourgs) is said not to be less than five miles parallel with the river. Some of the streets are extremely handsome, but present a very foreign appearance. There is one enor- mously wide street, or " place," with trees in rows down the middle of it, something like Eaton Square. There are a good many villas in the suburbs, W ;.*iit! 1 : j,l 23C TRAVKLS IN AMKRICA. i ■ i surrounded witli gardens, in whicli orange and other beautiful trees abound. I should think the best possible view of New Orleans, is the one we saw on our arrival from the river. It is indeed magnificent, seen from there ; and what a noble and busy aspect did its fine port present, crowded with vessels of all sorts, descriptions, sizes, nations, and ap- pearances; splendid steamboats by hundreds, and a multiplicity of river craft, rafts, barges, flat-bottomed boats, &c. The inhabitants of New Orleans consist chiefly of Americans, and French and Spanish Louisianians. French is the language generally talked in the streets, in short, the prevailing tongue ; but there are some of all nations. There are many churches in New Orleans, some antique-looking, and others apparently of a very recent date. We attended a Pro- testant one, lately finished, of admirable archi- tecture. The cathedral, or Church of St. Louis, in the Place d' Amies, is a venerable- looking edifice. Whenever the Mississippi overflows in the least, the streets of New Orleans are inundated ; but the Levee (designed chiefly for the pur- pose) prevents the great body of the swelling waters from entirely annihilating the place. PECUUARITTES OF SVAV ORLEANS. 237 the Lted; pur- lliiig lace. Not long ago, there was a very serious overflow. Tlie crevasses were fearful, and some ahirm was entertained for [)arts of the city, lioats were the only means of conveyance in the streets, and windows the ways of ingress and egress. It must have been like Venice, but an impromptu sort of Venice, without the need- ful contrivances and conveniences. New Orleans has .several peculiarities of its own, even when it is not thu.i unceremoniously entered by the Mississippi. For inst;'nce, the cellars and graves are tibove gi und. With regard to the cellars, the basemc uc stor^^ of the houses is usually raised vc y c onsiderabiy above the surface, the hall door being reached by :< flight of steps. The graves are also elevated. The dead are buried in sepulchral houses, which are termed here " ovens." These often contain three or four tiers. Those belonging to the wealthy are frequently very handsome, and built with m'^.rble walls. There are walks leading to different parts of this singular ceme- tery, paved neatly with shells. Were they to attempt to dig into the marshy ground, they would drown the remains of their lost friends and relatives, and write their loved names in- deed in water. There was something very melancholy in m I 238 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ! ? the appearance of the cemetery, that we saw. Altogether, the damp swamp of the unwhole- some-looking ground, the low, flat, gloomy inclosure, with its cold and sombre houses of death, and the carelessness and neglect visible, I thought, in general made it a very mournful spectacle. I believe it is not considered pru- dent to stay long in this sad place, which may account for its seeming rather deserted and uncared-for. Certainly, in general, however little value America may seem to attach to life, before Death, in their magnificent ceme- teries, they usually spread a " feast of roses." While speaking of melancholy subjects, I cannot resist repeating an anecdote I heard the other day from Mrs. . Soon after the horrible catastrophe of the Louisiana steamer, the numerous unknown, unclaimed bodies were laid out on the Levee, for their friends or rela- tives to identify and remove them. A friend of Mrs. , a young man of rather delicate health, wished, out of curiosity, to see this appalling spectacle. His friends remonstrated with him, and earnestly sought to dissuade him, telling him that, in his state of health, and subject as he was to nervous depression of spirits, he should carefully avoid such a frightful scene ; but he disregarded all their PROCESSION OF FREEMASONS. 239 representations and entreaties, and decided on going. He went, and on beholding the ghastly sight, the hideous rows of mutilated bodies, some mere trunks, and all in the most awfully dreadful condition, he was seized with shiver- ing and fainting ; he was quickly conveyed home, but never rallied from the shock ; and, after lingering a few days, he died. The noise of the terrific explosion of the " Louisiana " was heard at a great distance, and fragments of the boiler flew in different directions very far. A mule, in one of the streets, was cut completely in two, by a frag- ment, and on the Levee, numbers of persons were killed. We saw the other day, from our windows, an immense procession of Freemasons — at least, such I imagined them to be. They were very handsomely attired and decorated ; but one of their number was a most ferocious-looking personage, with a tremendous beard — such a beard 1 An extravagant humorist might say that a fox-hunter would be fiiin to draw that cover for a fox, with a probability of success. You might think, in looking at him, that he at least might bear a charmed life among bursting boilers, railroad collisions, and such disasters, and dangers, and fatal accidents; for m m m m hi 240 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. pi; ■I if Death stared him in the face, poor Death would surely run off, frightened to death himself. One cannot but think what a wonderful place this same New Orleans will probably become in the future. It is calculated that the Great Valley of the Mississippi, now only containing, comparatively speaking, a mere handful of inhabitants, could easily sustain and comfortably accommodate one hundred and fifty millions of people. Now the population is about ten millions. AYhat a future ! what a country! and what a noble people, to work out its grand destiny, and to fill up magnificently the magnificent designs of Na- ture. It is all petty malice and jealousy which make people talk of their exaggerated expressions and ideas. A man must have imagination indeed, must out-Shakspeare Shak- speare, the myriad-minded, and the very lord of imagination, to deal in hyperbolical extravagance here. What would be exaggera- tion in other countries, is here the simplest moderation, and in all probability lags behind the reality. The fact is, they feel their des- tiny, and their country's destiny, and they would be stocks and stones if they did not ; and if, in England, we are disposed to think they "greatly daring" talk, we should remem- SWEDISH WAITER. 241 -a- est nd es- )t; Ink ber a little what a prospect lies before them. Nature, their present, their future — all is in such an exaggerated mood here, all on such a stupendous scale ! For them to have little views, and entertain trifling projects, or hold petty opinions, with regard to their mighty country's advancement and progress, would be as absurd as to see a party of giants in go-carts or in pinafores, and playing at " Tom Thumb" and " Goody Two Shoes." People take different views of things. Our little Swedish waiter seems to think America was especially designed and provided by Nature as a vast receptacle and a sort of asylum for destitute or somewhat needy Swedes ; a kind of country of ease for Sweden in particular, who kindly allowed her advantages to be shared by a few other refugees from a few other nations. Regarded in this rather modest light, it appeared to give him tolerable satisfac- tion, on the whole ; though on some points he seemed inclined to think, a little change would be beneficial, such as having a Swedish Pre- sident here, and trifles of that sort. However, he was an excellent waiter, and laboured most zealously in his vocation ; always at hand, always active, attentive, and in good-humour : he must be invaluable to the master of this busy hotel. ■if i ,*■ !.'■ 'Mil mi A m '■■Ml \ ^ ,1 ^1 VOL. I. M 'VX li ^ I i I 242 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. We have a great fancy for tasting and try- ing all sorts of unearthly, half-supernatural dishes. We had found bear excellent in the West ; sometimes a wild buffalo capital. Had it been the country for such animals we should have ordered hippopotamus-pie, or a leg of cameleopard, or chimpanzee chops, or a few slices of rattlesnake, with orang-outang sauce. As it was, we asked for wild turkey, and wild geese, and wild racoons, or " possums." I believe these things (I do not know about the last) are accounted very good, and it amused us trying and experimentalizing on them. The recherchee cuisine of the hotel did not admit of such " curiosities of cookery ;" so very fre- quently, and with regret, our poor little Swede was constrained to bring us tame beef and mutton, and other such common-place dishes instead. However, he did his best, and brought, triumphantly, the other day, ivild ros bief (buffalo) ; and, in short, dubbed anything wild that could possibly be called so. According to him we tasted various very savage fish, and soup manufactured from particularly un- civilized turtle. We should have liked to taste alligator much, but, however, failed in so doing : it is said to be pretty good. There are very few, if any, left in the Mississippi; THE RED RIVER. 243 the numbers of steamboats there have crowded them out, and frightened them away. The Red River, with its shore, is called, I believe, the cotton planter's paradise, and it is also the alligator's, if the account I hear of the quantities there be true. In the Mississippi they abound only in the creeks and small branches. The Red River rises in the Mexican Cor- dillera, and debouches into the Mississippi about two hundred and forty miles from New Orleans: it is navigable for thirteen hundred miles above its union with the waters of the great river. But what is that compared with the united navigable channels of the Mississippi and the Missouri, which in length actually ex- ceed three thousand miles! I have heard it stated to be exactly three thousand four hun- dred and twenty miles. The artificial embankments, or Levees, that I have already alluded to, commence on the east bank, sixty miles above New Orleans, and con- tinue to extend down the river more than one hundred and thirty miles. On the west shore, the embankment commences one hundred and seventy-two miles above New Orleans; some, however, think that, instead of a protection, these artificial Levees will prove a means of M 2 ?1 i:i III I ?i I % ■ i; :■',» 244 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I (1 I s ■1- aggravating the dangers apprehended. By a natural process the river, it appears, is con- tinually raising its channel by a continued suc- cession of deposits, and also elevating its own banks ; but whether the banks are raised by Nature or by art, the result will be equal ; for by either it would seem unquestionable that the process of upheaving the bed of the river is accelerated (as the river cannot there deposit the extra material on the neighbouring sur- face), and, perhaps, the more so, as the velo- city and force of the current are considerably weakened and diminished as it advances to- wards the sea. The tremendous crevasses of this year have greatly alarmed many people. The poor Crescent City already looks up at high water to the awful river, and with very tearful eyes too sometimes, and I am not at all sure, on second thoughts, that her commanding commercial position is so very favourable and enviable a one. There is also some chance that she may find herself some day a " fair forsaken," for it is not at all unlikely that the great potentate and papa of rivers may one fine morning run off" altogether. In Mr. Mackay's " Western World " this is perfectly explained. New Orleans then w^uld AMERICAN ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 245 have no chance but to put herself upon " rol- lers/' and rush after it, taking up a new posi- tion somewhere on its banks. The electric telegraph is established on an enormous scale in America. The whole of the Western, Northern, and Southern States now hold frequent and uninterrupted communica- tion through its instrumentalitj. The great line was completed in September 1848. The other day at New Orleans they knew what had happened at Paris twelve days before— so at least I was told. ;4 1 #1 2 » 1 1^ V V 1'' 246 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXII. I ■) ' :i ;! I MOBILE. — LAKE PONCHARTIIAIN. — AN INDIAN ENCAMPMENT. — THE INDIANS AND THEIR SQUAWS. CHUMPA GIRLS. SOME ACCOUNT OF MOBILE. ITS HARBOUR. — FESTIVAL OF THE NEW YEAR. — RIVAL MUSICAL PROCESSIONS. THE MAGNOLIA GROVE. — MANNER OF LIFE OF THE INDIANS. MANIFOLD MISERIES ATTENDING WAITING FOR STEAMERS. MADAME L V . MR. CLAY. PREPARING TO START FOR MEXICO. — MADAME L V— — 's OLD BLACK SLAVE. — HER REMEMBRANCE OF WASHINGTON. — VERSES ON MADAME L V 's DECEASED CHILDREN. In the month of January 1850 we came by Lake Ponchartrain, in a very good steamer, to the Gulf, and so to Mobile. Before we embarked on the lake we had to go by railroad a distance of about six miles ; and as we were waiting in a curious circular sort of car, we saw an interesting procession of Indians — an Indian encampment on the move. The men seemed a magnificent-looking set, splendidly rigged out in very brilliant and picturesque habiliments. At a little distance, at first sight, I thought their costume looked very much like that of Highlanders in their AN INDUN ENCAMPMENT. 247 by to grande temie. They stalked along with ex- treme dignity, and their haughty walk remind- ed me of the theatrical, yet bold strutting march of the Albanians, the finest steppers I ever saw. They were as upright as their own arrows, or the tropical palms ; but not so their unlucky squaws, who followed after, bowed under the weight of papooshes, lodge-poles, pots, pans, kettles, all sorts of luggage and lumber, live and otherwise. They looked bent all manner of ways, and old — no wonder— something like a party of nomadic nutcrackers or itinerant notes of interrogation. Poor creatures! how wearily they seemed plodding along after the ungallant gentlemen of the party, who had bur- thened themselves with nothing but their guns. We had a charming little voyage over Lake Ponchartrain. I made acquaintance with a particularly nice Louisianian lady on board, who had the misfortune to have a child afflicted with a sad deformity : its little arm was a mere short stump, with something like the rudi- ments of a hand attached to it. It was a most engaging, charming, little child notwithstand- ing, full of life, good-humour, and spirits. The mother appeared to adore it, and so did the black nurse. , \ .. i- • \ U - 1 218 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I was much struck with the great mutual affection this nurse and the child showed to each other, and particularly by the ncgrcss's constant and extreme attention to the child when the lady was not there. I mentioned this to her, and also that I thought this nurse had a remarkably good and gentle manner with the child. " Yes," she replied, " but at first she was very rough, and spoke so strangely, that I could hardly understand her." I asked her the cause of this, and she proceeded to tell me that, for some reason, being obliged rather hastily to find a fresh nurse for her child, she had sent for one of the field hands — her hus- band owned a sugar plantation — who were in general rough and rugged to an inconceivable degree ; and that, if translated from the field to the house, they were almost insupportable for a short time, but gradually acquired the gentle manners and the quiet ways of speak- ing of the house servants, and entirely left off all their uncouth and almost savage habits. The blacks, it would seem, then, like all of us, more or less, are the creatures of circum- stances. We saw a most magnificent moon on the Gulf of Mexico the other evening. It ap- peared of enormous size, and of the most CHUMPA GIRLS. 24{) ,>m beautiful fire-colour — in sliort, more like a rising sun than a moon. The weather here is dcliciousl}' cool and fresh after New Orleans. This morning we had a visit from two Indian Chumpa girls. Thej are called so from carrying little faggots of pine-wood for sale for the fires, and they ge- nerally quietly march into your room without the ceremony of knocking, uttering the magic word " chumpa," which they seem to consider a sort of " Open Sesamd." They belong to the remains of the great Choctaw tribe, and there is a large camp of them not far from Mobile. The Cherokees have lately been re- moved. This place, at the mouth of the Mobile river, has become the seat of a very extensive trade, and it is the principal outlet of the commerce of the State of Alabama ; and enormous quan- tities of cotton and other staples are brought down by the different rivers from the upper districts, and also from the western portion of Georgia, and from the State of Mississippi, to this point. Next to New Orleans, this city is the largest cotton market in the Union : it has a beautiful view of the Bay, from which it receives pleasant and health-giving breezes. Near the town are numbers of '. f 1^ v\ M 5 250 TRAVELS IN AMEUICA. ;! V ■* ill I i i Mr pretty and substantial viil.v". vith delightful gardens. Mobile has a good harbour, and is well- defended by fortifications. Indian names are in the ascendant in this State : Alal)ama itself, I am told, means " Here we Rest." Then there are the Tallapoosa and Coosa Rivers, the Ca- hawba and the Chattahoochee (this river united with the Flint, forms, I believe, the Apalachi- cola, which runs through Florida). Then there is the town of Tuscaloosa, on the Black War- rior River, Tuscumbia, &c. The Bay of Mo- bile is thirty miles long and twelve broad. The city was founded by the Spaniards in 1 700, but did not become a place of import- ance or wealth till the Americans captured it in 1811. Some time ago it belonged to Florida, and it may be seen there still in a not very antiquated map. There were some marvellous processions last night, to celebrate the New Year. These ap- peared to be representations " of all the world and the rest of mankind," and a little besides this tolerably comprehensive catalogue, for Olympus was there ; and, by the way, ran rather foul of another Celestial empire, China, that occasioned some trifling discord, which soon passed away. Pig-tailed Mandarins, pa- NEW YKAU I'KSTIVAL. •251 pa- godas, and coloured lanterns on poles, (flashed with tridents, chariots, and mythological divi- nities. But the most trying part of tliat un- lucky rencontre was, that each had a good large noisy band of music, and these bands, with unfaltering intrepidity, came sounding and marching on, nothing daunted, though an harmonious, or, rather, an inharmonious col- lision was inevitable. "Tweedledum" marched from one end of the street, and " Tvveedledee " from the other; and Tweedledum puffed and blew, and twanged and flourished, and Tweedle- dee fiddled and squeaked, and grunted and groaned. " The plot thickened ;" demi-semi-quavers were fluttering convulsively in the air, and all sorts of queer crochets seemed in the heads of the musicians. Infuriated drummer-boys, from the central flowery land, rub-a-dubbed madly against the " rataplan " of their op- ponents ; either opposition empire came on, as bold as brass and catgut could make them : the fiddlers of snowy Olympus played the sublimest of jigs, and the most thrilling of polkas ; the Celestial trombones " Yankee- doodle " and " Old Virginny," with electrical effect. On they came still — would either give way 1 No : louder, and louder yet. The •k4 fi I '■J, n 252 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 11 VfV f ^ . '11 I basses and trebles, and flats and sharps, and lively s and maestosos, were jumbled together into one most horrible hash and clash of music. Where would it end ? Now comes the tug of war. Messrs. Neptune and Mars, and their myrmi- dons, advance against Chang-fo and Co. : the wind instruments were distending their cheeks almost to bursting, the drums were beaten till they were quite beat. All the notes seemed entangled together in inextricable confusion — a grand hodge-podge of sounds. And now one Mandarin shoulders poor Minerva and Jier owl into the gutter (as if she were an outer barbarian) ; another apostrophised the solemn ancient Pluto, with " Go long, there, clear off, you old critter — wake snakes, will ye," and other impressive expostulations, and even the bands of music are utterly confounded and commixed. All, however, comes right at last, the two comets have met without serious damage, and each was seen pursuing its way in its own separate orbit. I cannot describe to you the beauty of a large magnolia grove near this place. This majestic wood reaches nearly down to the beautiful blue bay, and the trees are unspeak- ably magnificent. Madame L. V tells me that when all the splendid flowers are out in INDIAN MANNER OF LIFE. 253 i? hiis I the kk- me in their full beauty and fragrance, their odorife- rous enchantments are beyond all expression. I am told their delicious scent is so powerful, that ten miles out to sea, the air is filled with the rich perfume ! We have several times visited the Choctaw camp in company with ^ladame L. V , and in her carriage. These Choctaw Indians are a singular people. As to civilization, poor creatures ! I cannot think that theirs extends beyond wearing old second-hand coats when in full dress, and in drinking the hateful "fire- water." They have adopted its ugliest points, and its vilest, but what know they of its advan- tages and benefits 1 Their mode of life in that camp seems pretty nearly as savage as it can be, except — and this is, indeed, an improve- ment — that they no longer go out in their hor- rible war parties, nor do they now depend entirely for their subsistence upon the chase. They have in general a certain nobleness of look, and the women are, many of them, very handsome. One day an Alabamian, who was not a disciple of " the Mississippi of men, the Father of Waters " (Father Wathew) came lounging into tlieir camp. His fiery and inflamed visage, and ruby nose, contrasted strangely with ihe calm, stately, finely-tinted :'::|| 'l!| i-fl i 254 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. features of the Indian. The savage, being sober, had then, really, the superiority. Apro- pos of tint : if one had been asked to point out the red man, I think the rubicund pale face would have been selected. I did not know till I came here that the Indians and negroes mutually hate each other. The Indians say the Great Spirit made first, Indians, then white men, then dogs, and then niggers. We have been detained here a long time waiting for the " Royal Mail " steamer, which has not made her appearance. Alany people, besides ourselves, have been watching for her arrival with equal anxiety, for the same cause, namely, intending to go to Mexico as passen- gers in her. Lately it has been particularly disagreeable, living this life of suspense and looking-out ; for, as the steamer was so very much after her day, it was expected she would stay the shortest possible space at Mobile Point, and the intend- ing passengers were earnestly recommended by the " Royal Mail " agents to be quite prepared to start at any time, and in no time. She might arri\e in the night, and in that case a little more time was to be allowed ; but a mere fraction. One was to sleep weasel-fashion with one QjQ open, and to keep oneself, as it were, WAITING FOR STEAMERS. '255 re re, packed and stowed, and locked and corded, and carded, all ready for almost instantaneous departure. This became, in flict, a life of per- petual packings and un packings ; for antici- ptbting with horror the confusion of a possible night departure, we had every thing ready every night in case,— and then all the indis- pensable things had all to be got out again in the morning ; and almost regularly these were found to have gone burrowing down to the bottom of the trunks and carpet-bags, after the wont of such indispensable things in general. There were constantly flying reports of the steamer being actually arrived, and the con- fusion that ensued then was indescribable ! By some strange contradiction it appeared as if every thing was so ready that nothing could be found, — in short, the discovery was made that nothing really was ready at all, but the *' Royal Mail" steamer ; su vvher. this alarm was over, all was to be ^rndone arid done over again more systematically. The former had been, so to say, only phjing at pack'"ng — a mere re- hearsal of preparation, but now it must be taken seriously in hand, and you may guess the privation of those d\ys. Talk of journeys over deserts — of dreadfully severe quarantine regulations — what were ihoy to this Tantalus- > 'ii 1 n il I'll i'l-i 1 «:! 256 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I I like state of trial — this slow starvation amid plenty — not a book could one allow oneself to take out of the trunk, because they were, of course, at the bottom. Writing materials were denied one, — watches were a luxury not to be thought of; not even an innocent pair of scis- sors, or a harmless little pincushion. Utterly useless would it have been to have purchased other books, &c. They must have all sub- mitted to the same despotic necessity, Avhich knows no law (not even Lynch -law), and must have been without hesitation or com- miseration made pitilessly "readi/" crammed into groaning boxes, and choking trunks, — in fact, we were (or we fully believed we were) utterly packed. In short, I should have had a m.ost uncomfort- able visit to Mobile but for my charming friend, Madame L. V , who is one of the most delightful people in the world, and with whom we drove out almost every day, leaving direc- tions to send all sorts of scouts after us, in case this truant vessel should arrive. Ma- dame L.V , and her mother, Mrs. W , are intimate friends of Mr. Clay, and I have heard many very interesting anecdotes of him from them. A granddaughter of ^Ir. Clay is at the Roman Catholic convent, near Mobile MR. CLAY. 257 (she was placed there for her education), and, to his regret, she has lately declared her inten- tion of taking the veil. I believe ^Ir. Clay takes great interest in her (her mother, his daughter, is dead), and is much grieved at her taking this step. Madame L. V has a very charming daughter, who is a nice companion for V . Two other lovely children Madame L. Y had the misfortune to lose, and she has not yet recovered the severe shock of their death. We went with her one day to the cemetery, where repose her darlings. It is a totally different one from that at New Orleans, and very prettily situated. I have at last a prospect of going to Mexico. The new United States Minister to that Re- public (whom I have made acquaintance with at Madame L. V ^'s house), having written to Washington and represented the inconve- nience to which he is subjected by this long delay, and the length of time that has elapsed without his being able to assume his diplomatic functions and conduct various important ne- gotiations, the authorities have ordered that a war-steamer shall be " detailed" from Pensacola to convey him and his suite to Vera Cruz. He has obligingly invited some of the detained v' In P 11 -i It I I M , 258 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. passengers to accompany him, and amongst others ourselves. Madame L. V advises us to accept this courteous offer, as most likely the English steamer that has been over due so long will not call here at all now, and I am dis- posed to do so myself. We have had a delightful drive again to-day with dear Madame L. V , and saw numbers of the Chumpa girls returning from the pine woods (which are a good many miles off) so laden with the chumpa (pine) that they could hardly move. One of Madame L. V 's slaves is a capi- tal old woman, and apparently quite an original — "qui ne se desoriginalisera pas," I should think now, as she must be hard upon a hun- dred. She perfectly remembers Washington, having seen him once driving out in a carriage on some great occasion in full dress. " E mighty fine man as ebber I seen ; his head berry white, (powder probably), he sit up so in de carriage," straightening herself and looking dig- nified with all her might, "just like so ; and old Mass^i he in stme carriage, dressed up fine too (he was one of Washington's family. Judge W). I member all berry well, for little child dying, and J ran out o' house and left it, just berry little while, cause eberry body say ' Go I t M LINES ON TWO PORTRAITS. 259 see great General Washington' and v ..t pushy me out for to go see him : little child dying, but I just ran to seen him, and people all halloa and shout berry loud." She gave us all this information in the most elevated tones, a speaking-trumpet voice. She had a white turban on, which showed off her jetty ancient countenance very picturesquely. There are two portraits of ^ladame L. V. — 's lovely lost children in her drawing room. They suggested the few following lines. age hty rry de old too dge ild ust Go 1 Bright lovely beings ! — on each imaged face, More of the angel than the child we trace — More of the immortal than the mortal see, In each mild aspect 's pictured purity. Sweet mother, check thy deeply mournful sighs, Grieve not to spare these Seraphs to the skies. Ah ! not for tliem need flow the bitter tear; How bless'd their sunny fate both There and Here I Oh ! not for them should sorrow's drops be shed, We scarce can dream they died, scarce deem they fled. Around them seemed to smile, all fresh and fair, A happier world's serener, clearer air. 'Twas scarce a change — 'twas scarce a second birth, More of Elysium knew they than of earth ? From Love to Love, from living Light to Light, How smooth the transit, and how short the fliglit ! And what to them was Death's pale kiss of Peace, That bade the flutter of life's pulse to cease 1 Though swift the stroke, though brief the warning given, 'Twas but a step from such a Home — to Heaven ! 260 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ''X. I believe, besides ourselves, Lord Mark Kerr (who is lately come from Canada, where he is Aide-de-camp to Lord Elgin), and Mr. P , United States Consul at Mazatlan, a friend of Madame L. V 's, are going in the war steamer with Governor L . It is ex- pected to arrive very shortly here, and we are all quite ready to start, I hope and trust, having subsisted almost without the barest necessaries of life for a period of about three weeks, in a high state of preparation. The weather has been rather unsettled and rough, but looks just now a little more promising for our Gulf voyage. But before I beg the reader to accompany me in my departure from the United States, I must detain him with some further remem- brances of Boston and New York, to each of which cities I propose devoting a brief chapter. BOSTON AS A COMMERCIAL CITY. 261 CHAPTER XXIII. nOSTON AS A COMMERCIAL CITY. — ITS WHARVES. ITS SHimNG. ITS TRADE. THE INDIA WHARF. — AMERICAN HOYS. — THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AMERICA. THE FASHIUNAULE QUARTER OF BOSTON. AMERICAN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. VOUNG AMERICA. — BOSTON THE METROPOLIS OF RAILROADS. GALLANTRY AND PATIENCE OF AMERICAN TRAVELLERS. FRESH POND WENHAM LAKE ICE. — MR. PRESCOTT's TOWN HOUSE. — LIBRARIES, AND LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL IN- STITUTIONS IN BOSTON. — ITS PERIODICAL LITERATURE. ITS CHARITIES. — ITS PATRONAGE OF THE ARTS. — POWER's SCULP- TURES. — FREQUENCY OF FIRES IN AMERICAN CITIES. — GENERAL APPEARANCE OF BOSTON. Boston seems one of the busiest cities in the world ; a brief visit to the commercial quarter will fully satisfy the visitor as to that fact. Beside its wooden wharves (some of which have durable stone fronts) are innumerable vessels of all dimensions and devices, and of every variety of build and rigging. The water is very deep, and large ships seem almost leaning (as if tired, after their long tempest- tossings perchance, and weary wanderings) against the warehouses and ranges of sub- I s I!, 1 i !;■ hi fiS 'I 262 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. and edifices, reserved for stantial mercial uses — for some of the slips run a little way into the land. Great numbers of these warehouses are crowded aloLg the sliore ; the packets from Europe have a convenient slip especially set apart for their accommodation, and exclusive occupation. Mr.Cunard's steamers have a one thousand feet long wharf. Al- together, the sight is an interesting one ; the eye is almost bewildered with the heterogene- ous and ever-diversified scene. The coasting trade is said to be three or four times as great as that to foreign ports. There is an extreme difference perceptible in the "naval architecture" of the crowded coast- ing craft. There are stout-looking schooners which ply between Boston and New York, a devious and diflficult voyage, and some rather quaker-looking brigs, somewhat formal and precise, and punctilious in appearance, that are preparing to run a starched and stiff course, if the weather will permit them to do so, to drab-suited Philadelphia. Pass on, and you will see the less elaborately finished craft, which are bound for the Carolina shore, and for the trading and wealthy cities of far-off Alabama and Louisiana, " 'way down south." Then there zre the fairy, knowing-looking 11 INDIA WHARF. 263 a jhev md ihat ;tiff do md [aft, md l-off Fg Baltimore clippers, their graceful masts clus- tered together like a whole dense plantation of tall slim walking-sticks for young giants. They are for the Monumental City. Then immense steamers are to be seen^ bound for various places, that look so light, despite their large size, that a strong puff of wind might peradventure lift them " right away" out the water, to continue their voyage in mid air. If you entered, you would find their furniture and appointments such as might have tasked the most skilful looms of Persia, and beggared of their costliest mate- rials the mar rs of farthest Ind. And that brings me, without further digres- sion, to what is called the " India wharf," which is nearly a thousand feet long, and about two hundred and fifty feet wide. The richly freighted ships from distant Hindostan, and jealous China, bring here their many treasures ; and those vessels, too, that are bound for these favoured lands, with innumerable wares for their different markets. Wherever you turn, on all these wharves you find the bustle of busi- ness. It would be a difficult matter to describe the profusion and superabundance of rattling and lumbering drays and carts, and barrows and trucks, the crowds of porters jostling each 3 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 21 12.5 2.2 - ^ mu us u •tlui. gij& ||i.25|||U||,.6 ^ 6" ► 0> /i ^\»V - ''^ Photographic Sciences Corporation '^^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) •73-4503 '^ '%^ ?/J W %^ O^ :; j !i ^ :'i 264 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. other, and the throngs of the busy dealers and clerks, and superintendents and assistants, and consignees on every side, or the strange chaos of commerce seemingly heaving all around you. What is there 1 nay, what is there not "? Salt, sugar, molasses, cotton, calico, marble, leather, silk, flour, coflee, fruits, oil, — stowed away in bales, barrels, boxes, bags, hogsheads, jars, casks, chests, sacks, and cases, till there seems enough to feed, and clothe, and supply half a world for a century to come, piled before you. I shall beg the reader now to seat himself on Prince somebody's carpet, as in the fairy tale, and taking leave of these busy scenes (there are, by the way, about two hundred docks and wharves altogether, surrounding Boston), fly over some zigzagging streets of huge warehouses, which streets are grim and gloomy enough, but of no great lengtli, and over the noisy reeking Irish quarter, which I am told intervenes, and the carpet shall stop the way for a time, in the centre of the city. I have mentioned before, how that the side- walks were turned into counters " of ease," for the overflowing, crammed shops; and how they looked as if it had actually rained silks and calicoes, and cottons, or as if some of the richly-laden ships, had by some magic, been AMERICAN BOYS. 265 carried into the heart of the town, and wrecked almost on the doorsteps of the stores. But look at these newly-arrived hurrying Yankees. They stalk over these piles without casting a look to the right or left, with their curious boots turned up at the points, some- thing like Turkish cimeters (these are not the dandies of Boston, but haply speculators in some of the ten thousa.nd and one lines which people speculate in, throughout these busy re- gions) ; they have an eager, on-looking, straight- forward stare, and a rather vacant, and yet anxious look, as if they had sent their minds on before them, and their bodies were hasten- ing after, and trying, at least, to keep these very go-ahead avant couriers in view — in short, running after them as well as they could. And sooth to say, these personages are rather cadaverously complexioned ; as is the wont of bodies no longer tenanted by their spiritual occupants. Look at that boy, that mannikin, with his hat so knowingly on one side, and the Turkish cimeter-like boots and all ; he is " a dreadful bright boy," that. You would see him chew and smoke, if it was not forbidden in the Trimountain City, and hang his nether limbs out of a railroad car (if you met him in one, and VOL. I. N *1 2GG TRAVELS IN AMERICA. if he could by possibility lengthen them, so as to contrive so to do) ; or he will tell you, perchance, with his tiny squeaking voice, " "We air a great people, by thunder, the greatest on the airth, and can do all things double first-rate, from blowing up a universe and a half, if it mis- behaves, to blowing half a soap-bubble. Now ; we *11 put the Atlantic and Pacific in our side- pockets any day, and reduce all Europe to no- whar and a grease spot," and so forth : and very soon not only this species of boa, ting, but other ungraceful bragging (which, though not so broad, is yet sufficiently extravagant) will be entirely confined to this very young America. As this people progress and advance more and more, they will gain more the humility of true greatness. They will feel more the vast re- sponsibilities that rest upon their Titanic shoulders ; they will weigh more what stupen- dous steps they have yet to take, — what almost incomprehensibly-great destinies are slowly unfolding before them ; and these most mo- mentous and grave considerations will gradually produce their effects, and at length impress continually their views, opinions, works, and even words. They will feel more and more that their past and present colossal greatness does not make future improvement and pro- FASHIONABLE QUARTER OF BOSTON. 267 re- anic pen- most owly mo- ually press and ■more ness pro- gress, — as Napolcon^s renown was said to do of all future fame — impossible, but impera- tive, — absolutely indispensable. Nature has done so much for them, that to l)e commen- surate with her, to keep pace with their giant opportunities, they must act as giants. And we must be juiSt, too ; for, verily what would be boasting and hyperbolical rodo- montade with others, is the mere simple truth often with them. Nature speaks to them in such grandiloquent strains that she sets the example of ** tall talking." But I must return to " mes 7noid07is" We will take a glimpse at the fashionable quarter of the town. Near the Common are a number of very handsome mansions ; and in driving or walking along the streets in the neighbourhood of it you will see many splen- did equipages of the merchant princes and princesses of old " Shawmut." You will often meet a group of graceful ladies (perhaps going to shop in Washington-street), not only beau- tiful, but with contenances of the most intel- lectual expression. From all I hear and see, I believe the Boston ladies are particularly accomplished and amiable. The gentlemen look like gentlemen — not because they have lemon-coloured kid gloves, N 2 • It ! I ri 268 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. !( ! >i'n or Parisian boots, but from their whole air and manner. As to being merely well dressed in the cost-and-(iuality-of-material sense of the word, that almost everybody is. A mob in the United States is a mob in broad-cloth. If we may talk of a rabble in a republic, it is a rabble in black silk waistcoats (the favourite wear among certain classes in America) and well-brushed hats. Therefore, to look really like a gentleman in the United States, depends in nowise on the clothes, but entirely on their wearer ; and the tailor has less to do with manufacturing a gentleman here, than in per- haps any other part of the world. For in all other countries you are a little assisted to the conclusion, unwittingly, by the dress ; but here not in the least, and you must judge wholly by tair nohle et distingue, or the reverse, of the individual." It is very seldom you see any equestrians in these northern cities. Everybody chooses either to walk or go in carriages. The Com- mon is a very agreeable place for promenading ; and there you will see a great deal of little America in the shape of pretty fairy-like children, enjoying the fresh air with their Irish nurses, or their graceful mammas. Little America is unhappily, generally, YOUNG AMERICA. 269 tlly, only grown up America, seen through a tele- scope turned the wrong way. The one point, perhaps, in which I most concur with other writers on the United States, is there being no real child-like children here. The little crea- tures, looking all the time everything that is infantine and unsophisticated, will read novels and newspapers by the hour together, and the little boys will give you their opinions dic- tatorially enough occasionally ; and the little girls ** talk toilette,'' and gossip, and descant on the merits of the last French novel, or the eligibility of such a parti for a husband for such a lady ; or on the way Mrs. So and So mis- conducts her household affairs, and spends money at Newport or Saratoga Springs ; and so far this is not pleasing to our English tastes. But, nevertheless, there are many very good, and perhaps sufficient reasons assigned for the necessity that exists in this country at present for bringing up their children with a thorough knowledge of the world. The boys have all an active part to play in the mighty drama of busy life on which they are entering — nationally, politically, socially, or commercially. No drones are admitted into the great Trans- atlantic hive. There is no time to spare ; they must be ready, as soon as possible, to take their .. .11 5 '; I ^ I y i 270 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. 'r ^ .1- m places and run in the great race, or they will be distanced by their more agile and precocious contemporaneous competitors, and see prize after prize borne away by those who had learned their ABC with them, or after them. The girls are generally married early to husbands in business, and have to take care of themselves. They ordinarily live (till a com- petency is acquired and a house bought) at the enormous hotels that abound in the State, while their husbands are at their desks or counters all day. What quantities of omnibuses and hack car- riages are plying backwards and forwards from the railroad depots ! The trains seem going and coming incessantly, for Boston is a sort of metropolis of American railroads ; it is the centre of the whole railroad system of New England, and from it the iron lines radiate to all parts. The star of Massachusetts is an iron star, and its rays shine with the far- searching light of progress and power. Canals and roads give it countless other additional facilities for intercommunication and self-ac- commodation. The New England railroads are in general exceedingly well managed ; but they are not as fast as ours. They have no express trains BOSTON RAILROADS. 271 running sixty miles an hour ; but in a few years they will, I doubt not. (As to the electric telegraphs in the United States they put us en- tirely to the blush.) It has happened to me on these railroads to look out of the window, when we have stopped very suddenly, and to see a lady, lounging as slowly as possible, parasol in hand, across the rails, evidently ratlicr enjoying thus keeping the train waiting till it suited her to dawdle out of the way. As to the cows, they seem to think the iron road was especially intended for them ; but their constant habit of getting in the way, and the " cow-ketcher," which adorns every train, — invented in order to convince them of their error, — has been so often mentioned, that I will not dwell on the subject. I have heard that the railroad sometimes takes a short cut across a churchyard in this country, 'ut I never saw an instance of this, nor should I believe it. They treat and brave death lightly enough cer- tainly here ; but tlie dead are uniformly re- spected and honoured. We stopped one day in the " cars " (as they usually call the train) about a quarter of an hour, for a newly-married lady, whose husband, by some strange absence of mind, thought she had entered the car, and jumped in just be- it ■ 1 ■ 272 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. !•: fore the train started. lie paced up and down, looking for the gentle bride, in vain. At last the sympathizing conductor, on being in- formed of the mistake, had the train stopped, and the gentleman ran back and brought the lady to the cars ; the passengers all waiting with the greatest patience, and acquiescing unmur- muringly in the gallant conductor's decision ; indeed, many hardly looked up from their newspapers, as if it was the most every-day circumstance that had happened. I have invariably remarked that, eager and go-a-head as they are, the Americans are the most philosophically patient travellers in the world. You are kept waiting for a cow, or a pig, or another train coming, or a forgotten wife, and they betray no symptoms of impa- tience or indignation. The contretems is borne with the most inexhaustible stoicism and the most unvanquishable good temper. How an Englishman would fume and fret ! When we were at Cambridge the other day, we went with Mr. and Miss Everett to see Fresh Pond, which in reality supplies, as we were told, England and other parts of the world with the far-famed Wenham Lake ice. The water is like liquid diamonds, so trans- parent and sparkingly pure. The scenery MR. PRKSCOTTS TOWN-HOUSE. 27M around is worthy of being mirrored in it. I am told, in the winter it is one of the gayest scenes in the world. Dining the time of the ice-cutting, innumerable sleighs assemble on the spot, and the beau monde of Boston are all to be met there. The clear jmlished ice is cut into blocks, about two and twenty inches square, for which operation a machine expressly constructed and invented, is used (called the ice-cutter), and it is then covered with sawdust, packed, and sent to all quar- ters of the earth, — India and China among others. We went to see Mr. Prescott's town-house the other day, — a very handsome and spacious one, with a large li})rary. He has a number of good pictures and busts ; among the former, some fine ones of Spanish monarchs. Framed and hung up in one of the rooms, we saw a portion of the rich lace that adorned the shroud of Cortez. Boston is, I think, very rich in libraries, both public and private. It contributes very largely to the literary advancement and reputation of native literature, and it has a remarkable number of literary and of philo- sophical institutions. It has some of the most valuable periodicals and journals of the coun- 4 1 , iN a 274 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ^ii • ■ 'm, try. I have just been informed there arc fifty weekly newspapers in Boston, besides sixteen daily ones ; but this is only a small part of the periodical literature of Boston. This mightiest city of New England, there- fore, seems to advance with simultaneous pro- gression in every varied walk. Unsurpassed — nay, hitherto, in some respects, unrivalled — in material prosperity and practical development, she sedulously devotes her unwearied energies also, to cultivating to the highest point all the mental faculties. The intellectual studies of her inhabitants are pursued with ardour and vigour ; and on all sides you see evidences of this truth, in the numerous and excellent educational establishments and admirable sci- entific institutions. The instruction of the people is a para- mount consideration in the public charities, and among the crowded seminaries and schools are several most munificently endowed by some of the public-spirited citizens of the Granite City. The arts, too, seem to flourish and improve here, and to keep pace with the ceaseless march of knowledge and erudition. Music, painting, and sculpture here exert their exquisite influence and weave their magic spells. There is a gallery of sculpture, in FRKQUENCY OF FIRES. '27 r> which Power's matchless works are exiiibitcd ; and tliough some of the less initiated and refined may call the " Greek slave " (as 1 have read in some jocular account of it) " the greatest piece of whittling in the world," — they appear most sincerely and earnestly to admire it and the other beautiful works of art in the saloons. Music, too, is making great progress. It appears to me that refinement and ele- vation of taste are advancing here as rapidly as science, knowledge, wealth, and prosperity. Those who wish to indulge in any invidious and vituperative observations respecting Ame-. rica had better make haste, or they will find themselves absolutely compelled to praise and admire instead. Not only in Boston but uni- versally in New England the habits of the people seem daily becoming more and more polished and refined. Boston just now is not very full : the greater part of the wealthy inhabitants are gone to the watering places. I find it is a custom here sometimes, on going into the country, merely to turn the key in the lock of the house-door. No domestic is left in charge of the vacated building, but it is left to take care of itself. This city is well lighted. Speaking of light- i 276 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. i\ ing, however, I must say in America the fires, so frightfully frequent, render gas almost a work of supererogation. If you arrive at a town at night, you may be pretty sure you will find it illuminated by a convenient con- flagration ; and though they do not exactly intend to burn dcvvn their houses to light travellers the better through their streets (as extravagant a mode as Charles Lamb tells us was adopted in some wild country for pig- roasting before cookery was known), yet it really has that effect, as we found from prac- tical experience. Boston and the other towns in New England are all lighted by gas, but I think the lighting arrangements sometimes are a little neglected, and, in some few towns, rather insufficient. State-street is a very busy and wealthy- looking street in Boston, and Tremont-row, hard by our hotel, is a particularly handsome one. But this is altogether a very striking town, although its streets are not so regular and wide as those of many smaller towns. Boston was planned in old times, when much irregularity prevailed in the system of city building. Besides this, it is very much cir- cumscribed, from its situation on a rather vandykeing Peninsula, with a surface far from ar r- er m GENERAL APPEARANCE OF BOSTON. 277 regular, joined by a mere narrow strip of terra firma to the main land. In short, the city proper is in confined and straitened circumstances. It wants some territorial ac- quisitions to increase its accommodation for building-ground, ornamental space, &c. If ^I. Agassiz would set his coral insects to work, to enlarge and spread the available land around, he would confer a signal service on the city, which, nevertheless, is, all things considered, a very noble capital. Towns and villages in numbers have started up around it, to relieve it of its superabundant population, but these ofl'shoots hardly add to the stateliness of its appearance. Notwith- standing this, it is a " great place," as they say here ; and, as a lady, who is not a beauty, often takes more care of her personal appear- ance, and endeavours to rectify, and to com- pensate fur, the mistakes and niggardliness of Nature, by additional attention to various little arts of pleasing, — so Boston, disadvan- tageously situated in some few rospects for imposing architectural show and symmetrical display, makes amends for these inconvenien- ces and unfavourable conditions, by the most scrupulous order and cleanliness, and the most finished propriety and exquisite management. Ill 278 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Il This is one reason, I believe, why it reminds me of a promoted Amsterdam, — that is, hoisted on a hill, — and other towns in Holland. The houses are of granite and brick, and a flight of marble steps often conducts you to the hall doors of Boston's hospitable mansions. BUSTLE IN NEW YORK. 279 CHAPTER XXIV. BUSTLE IN THE STREETS OF NEW YORK. — TRINITY CHURCH. — WALL STREET. THE PARK. — THE SHOPS IN BROADWAY. TRAFFIC IN BROADWAY. IRISH AND GERMAN EMIGRANTS. WHARVES OF NEW YORK. ITS SHIPPING. — THE ASTOR HOUSE HOTEL. THE EXCHANGE. — THE CUSTOM HOUSE. THEATRES. — THE CITY HALL THE CHAIR OF WASHINGTON. — CHURCHES. — BENEVOLENT, LITERARY, AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS. SQUARES, MANSIONS. FOREIGNERS IN NEW YORK. — SYMPA- THY BETWEEN AMERICA AND RUSSIA. THOSE TWO NATIONS. ANECDOTE OF AN AMERICAN IN RUSSIA. PEARL STREET. MILITARY COMPANIES IN NEW YORK. — THE MILITIA. — THE FIREMEN. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN AMERICA. — THE BATTERY. THE HALL OF JUSTICE. THE BOWERY. New York is certainly altogether the most bustling, cheerful, lifeful, restless city I have yet seen in the United States. Nothing and nobody seem to stand still for half a moment in New York ; the multitudinous omnibuses, which drive like insane vehicles from morning till night, appear not to pause to take up their passengers, or it is so short a pause, you have hardly time to see the stoppage, like the in- stantaneousness of a flash of lightning. How on earth the people get in or out of them, I i 280 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. Il do not know: the man behind surely must some- times shut a person half in and half out, and cut them in two, but neither he nor they have time to notice such trifles. You see them thrust, and shoved, and pushed, and crammed through the hastily opened door, as if they were the merest " live lumber/' Empty or full, these omnibuses seem never to go slower. I have seen dozens upon dozens of them go by perfectly empty, but just as much in a hurry, tearing and dashing along, as if full of people too late for the train. You almost wonder at the houses standing still in New York, and begin to think them rather slow and behind the age. You feel surprised they are not built on wheels. I did hear, indeed, of whole suburban streets being removed the other day, to a more eligible situation on rollers, or something of that kind — but I will not vouch for the fact. New York has been so often and so minutely described, that I shall not dwell on the details of its plan, situation, or appearance. I will only mention a few points that struck me. Perhaps the building I was the most pleased with, in New York, is the Trinity Church. I do not profess to understand ecclesiastical architecture, but if one of its perfections be SHOPS IN BROADWAY. 281 ^g II d the raising the thoughts and contemplations from earth to heaven, then must Trinity Church be deserving of the highest commendation. Its spire is unspeakably beautiful (three hundred feet high), and almost seems to pierce the sky like a flash of retorted lightning. It is situ- ated on the western side of Broadway, exactly opposite the entrance of Wall-street into it. Wall-street is the busiest street in New York, and answers to our Lombard- street in London. The park is pretty, but too small for such a city as New York. It has a beautiful foun- tain, and is splendidly illuminated at night by thousands of lamps. There are numerous superior shops in Broadway, but the most pre-eminently magnificent is " Stewart's ; " it is one of the finest structures I ever saw, its front being composed entirely of white marble. Mr. Stewart is going to add im- mensely to this splendid store, and it will occupy almost as much space as the Palazzo Doria at Rome. Crowds of carriages, private and public, are to be seen in Broadway, passing and re-pass- ing every moment, filled with ladies, beauti- fully dressed, in the most elaborate Parisian toilettes. Among the thousands of fashionable promenaders who are thronging the side-walks. 282 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. there is often to be seen, a group of Irish or German emigrants, just as they have come from the crowded packets, the latter looking very picturesque, with their national costume. I saw the other day, a large party of these poor people. They looked like Bavarian peasants, and they, as well as several pudding- like children who accompanied them, seemed struck with utter astonishment, at the noise and incessant bustle of animated Broadway. The carriages scampered by as if all New York was going to turn out, and leave them in undisputed possession. They looked so be- wildered, that I fancied they were perhaps come from some of the quiet hamlets I have seen by the side of the Danube, where time and the river seem to flow by with equal calmness. But look a little beyond that German group. From what part of the world do those most extraordinary masqueraders come ? One has got only half a hat, another, two joined in one, and their habiliments are marvellously grotesque. Their hair, in some instances, hangs nearly on their shoulders, in others it radiates away very respectfully from the skull, as if controlled by some mysterious centrifugal force of the brain within. In the name of WHARVES IN NEW YORK. 283 3S, fortune, whence are they 1 They look intelli- gent, resolute, self-confident — in the name of fortune, indeed ! for perhaps these men, at the moment you are half-pitying them, half- wondering at their forlorn and destitute ap- pearance, are worth millions of money, and to-morrow, they will shine out in all the splendour of a New York exquisite's toilette. They are returned Californians, just landed, come to enjoy in " the States," the golden fruits of their toils, their perseverance, and their industry. The wharves of New York, during the business season, are densely lined with the shipping of every maritime country under the sun. Merchantmen of every size are there, and for at least three miles, they present an uninterruptedly continued forest of masts, and cordage, commingling, apparently, with the chimneys of almost innumerable steamers. More than a thousand sailing vessels, nearly a hundred steamers, about eighty tow-boats, and two hundred canal-boats, may usually be found in the noble harbour of New York, during the busy time of year. In the severest winter, this harbour is never obstructed by ice, so that vessels are not inconvenienced on that account. 284 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. I have already mentioned the magnificence of the New York hotels, but must just add, that the enormous Astor House not only is said to be furnished with its own private print- ing press for striking off the diurnal bills of fare, but it also makes all its own gas. How- ever, it does not yet, I believe, manufacture its own linen or plate ! The Merchants' Exchange I was much struck with. It has a glorious portico, formed by a towering and imposing colonnade, the shafts of whose noble Ionic columns are separately com- posed of enormous blocks of granite. We entered the great room, and were amazed at its magnificent proportions. It is a rotunda, and of vast diameter, adorned with high marble Corinthian columns. Beyond this, at the corner of Nassau and Wall Streets, is the Custom House for the port of New York. It is two hundred feet long, ninety feet wide, and eighty feet high, and is constructed wholly of superb white marble : the form is that of a Grecian temple of the Doric order of architecture. The front look- ing to Wall Street displays an immensely broad and lofty flight of steps, also of white marble. I understand it has a second similar front on a street at the back, which runs parallel to Wall NEW YORK THEATRES. 285 Street (Pine Street, I believe). Each front has a noble portico. It is made fire-proof through- out, huge slabs of marble covering the whole roof. The great Hall of business is a rotunda, sixty feet in diameter, with recesses and gal- leries, making it eighty feet. It has an ela- borately stuccoed dome, supported by sixteen Corinthian columns. The Custom House is built on the site of the Old City Hall, in the open gallery of which Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States. There are numerous theatres in New York. We visited none of them, so I cannot describe their internal appearance and accommodations. One, called the Park Theatre, is exactly oppo- site the Astor House. Not far beyond the Park Theatre stands a rather gloomy and unattractive building : it is called Tammany Hall, and is the place where the Loco Focos are (or were) wont to assemble. Still a little further up, and within the area of the Park, stands, beautifully situated, the City Hall. Its front elevation is of white marble, and is omaraented with pilasters and columns of the Corinthian, Ionic, and Composite orders, rising one above the other in regular gradation. 286 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ■ I In the Common Council Room is a chair (which is still used by the President), that Washington sat in when he presided over the first American Congress, which assembled in New York. From the cupola that surmounts the build- ing, a view of the whole vast city is commanded ; and in this there is a clock ; and there is also an apartment constantly occupied, night and day, by a watchman, whose office it is to keep a perpetual look out for fires, and to give the alarm, by striking an enormous bell which hangs in a belfry in the rear of the cupola, and which is exclusively used for this purpose. By this bell the man watches with a hammer in his hand, ready to give the necessary notice when he observes the least indication of fire. The sound can be heard from one end of the city to the other, and is almost instantaneously responded to by a hundred others in every direction. The number of strokes indicates the particular ward. There are nearly three hundred churches, I believe, in this city. There are a considerable number of excellent Literary, Benevolent, and Scientific Institutions. Some of the squares of New York are very handsome. Washington Square is prettily laid out with walks, and FORKIGNERS IN NEW YORK. 287 les, I lable and lares ;ton land shaded witli flourishing trees. Union Square has a fountain in the centre, and is enclosed with a handsome iron fence. St. John's Park is also embellislied with a fountain, and adorned with trees. Some of tlic private mansions in New York have quite an imposing and palatial appear- ance, and are very magnificently furnished. All the States have their representatives in the crowded and ever-animated thorough- fares of this populous city — nay, I might say indeed, so have almost all the nations of the earth. The French appear to muster numerically stronger than any other people, but this arises from the fact, that nearly all the New Yorkers are accoutred in Parisian costume. Their very hair is cut and combed, and their beards trim- med and clipped strictly d la FraiK^aise, which does not in general improve their personal appearance. Looking merely to the people, you might often fancy yourself in the Boule- vards, instead of in Broadway. Au reste, Ger- mans, Swedes, Poles, Italians, and hosts of others meet you at every turn. There are but few Russian visitors here it seems ; but I am very much struck by the apparent entente cordiale that exists between Russia and the 28S TIIAVKLS IN AMKRICA. United States. There seems an inexplicable instinct of sympathy, some mysterious magne- tism at work, which is drawing by degrees these two mighty nations into closer contact. Napo- leon, we know, prophesied that the world, ere long, would be either Cossack or Republican. It seems as if it would first be pretty equally shared between these two giant powers. I cannot resist dwelling a little on this interesting subject. Russia is certainly the grand representative of despotic principles, as the United States are the representatives of democratic ones. How is it that these antagonistic principles, embodied in those two mighty governments, allow them to be so friendly and cordial towards one an- other 1 In the first place, the Emperor Nicholas is a very far-seeing and astute politician ; he keenly feels all the benefits that may accrue to him from cultivating the best possible under- standing with the United States. He has deep and profound motives for this, which, if he lives long enough, time will gradually develope, to the astonishment of many, perhaps, who ought to be more alive to the signs of the times than they are ; and in the second place, there is a sympathy between those apparently dis- similar countries. PRKSlNT and future of AMERICA. 280 licablc nagne- 3 these Napo- Id, ere blican. squally n this liussia an^l the United States are the two young, growing, ^^iiint nations of the world — tlie Leviathans of the lands ! They enjoy extraordinary advantages ; the older nations seem to have paved and prepared the path before them. Around the footsteps of cither living and far-striding collossus, science and knowledge have shed the most surprising light ; the most astounding and marvellous and mo- mentous discoveries have been made ; the most useful triumphs achieved. Man almost seems a second time to have been hailed master of the creation — civilization has penetrated the uttermost corners of the earth — time and space and the lightning are his familiars and his servants. With all these advantages, those two grand young nations are strong to the race, and fresh to the glorious contest. Far off, in the future, centuries and ages beyond this present hour, is their culminating point. What to other nations may be work and la- bour, to them is but, as it were, healthful relaxation, the exercising of their mammoth limbs, the quickening of the mighty current of their buoyant and bounding life-blood, the conscious enjoyment of their own inexhaustible vitality. There is much similarity, in short, in the VOL. I. I I 290 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. position of those two vast powers. The ex- traordinary increase in tlie United States of wealth, of territory, of population, and the wondrous opening of fresh avenues, and new approaches incessantly to mightier dominion, greater influence, and vaster resources, are known to all ; but though assuredly not even remotely approximating to the United States, in the advancement of mental energies and intelligence, or in commercial enterprise and facilities, or manufacturing capabilities, or even in the thousand practical manifestations of civilization, and internal improvements, and progressive material prosperity and develop- ment, yet Russia is making immense strides, too, on her part. Her population has increased to sixty millions ; she is beginning to develope her gigantic resources ; her physical power is stupendous and paramount ; her internal con- dition flourishing and apparently stable. She is strong in her geographical position, pro- tected to the rear by Nature herself, — by in- hospitable wildernesses and world-wide barriers of ice — thus she can unhesitatingly afford to fling her whole Titan strength and force into the van. Her foreign policy is most energe- tically administered, as well as most skilfully and successfully conceived. AMERICA AND RUSSIA. 291 She has plenty of time, too, before her — she can watch and she can wait. She is concili- ating those who would seem to be her natural enemies ; economizing, for the present, her interference ; consolidating her energies and means ; improving her opportunities, and plac- ing herself, move by move, in the most formidable attitude, both for offence and de- fence, and playing the mightiest and the most magnificent game that perhaps has ever yet been played on earth. Still there is, undoubtedly, the greatest pos- sible difference between her and America. The former is constantly watching other na- tions, adapting herself to meeting and con- fronting their policy, waiting to snatch, to seize, and to conquer. Her chief energies seem to have an outward tendency — an out- ward direction. In America, on the contrary, those noble energies have a more central action. She is ever occupied in incalculably important internal improvements ; her glo- rious task is of a more domestic kind. In her own vast regions are her giant powers perpetually at work, advancing, perfecting, en- riching, and strengthening ! Her internal inter- communications, her extension of navigation and commerce, her expanding manufacturing o 2 292 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. industry demand the most incessant atten- tion. The most carefully finished touches are sedulously given to the comprehensive ma- chinery by which is regulated, in various modes, to a certain extent, the momentous schemes and enterprizes of that speculating, industrious, active-minded community. All that concerns their privileges, their well-being, their personal rights, attracts the most deep and unwearied interest ; while reforms, skil- fully adapted to the spirit of the age — such as measures for the attainment of a more speedy and efficient administration of justice ; the revision and amelioration of divers laws and systems ; the establishment of harmony be- tween conflicting and antagonistic interests ; and, above all, increased provisions for the happiness, through munificently-enlarged op- portunities for the enlightenment and educa- tion of the people, have occupied, and do occupy, her indefatigable politicians, admi- nistrators, and citizens. She has nothing to do with, or to gain from, intrigues of diplomacy and Machiavelian ma- chinations of policy. Her stupendous work is at home, but her influence is felt to the farthest ends of the earth, and her shadow is spreading from pole to pole. Like a AMERICA AND RUSSIA. 298 ,tten- s are ma- irious mtous .ating, All being, i deep , skil- iuch as speedy i; the Ns and y i^e- erests ; or the d op- educa- nd do admi- from, m ma- work Ito the khadow iike a colossal tree, she stands, and firmly stands, while she grows and spreads, and her roots are deepening while her branches are ex- panding. Nay, she is framing additional supports, new stems and trunks, like the Indian Banyan, so that, while uprearing her glorious bulk and stature in height, she is ever multiplying her props and her foundations. Russia is anxious to foment contentions and jealousies between other nations, for her own ulterior purposes and profit. America would merely incline towards a constitutional propagandism, and that chiefly from a generous desire felt by all her people, from her lofti- tiest statesman to her lowliest citizen, — that others should participate in what, with a thorough straightforward conscientiousness, they firmly believe to be the most precious of benefits and advantages — their free in- stitutions and popular forms of political organization. If Canada (and that is certainly not a very unlikely event) should be annexed at any future time to the United States, the latter and Russia would bo adjoining countries. The two grand extremes would meet. Despo- tism and democracy would shake hands over 294 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. ^ il I: a rivulet, and smile at each other across a footpath. Russia is determined to be on the best possible terms with the United States at any rate, and I have been over and over again impressed with that conviction, since I have been in America ; and that the latter takes her flattery, — her complimentary cordiality, and gentle insidious advances very kindly, is most plainly evident. The empire of the Czar is wonderful cer- tainly ; but how much it seems dwarfed when compared with America ! Its progression is chiefly or wholly in physical advancement ; but that of the United States is in both material and mental aggrandizement. Russia will leave no methods untried, to attach the United States to her interests, — to ensure at least her complete neub^ality, in the event of contingencies, which her telescopic view stea- dily contemplates, and her mighty hand ever labours to bring about. She has no desire whatever to try her strength against the rival young giant — to wrestle (like the mighty athletes of old) with that tremendous com- petitor, in the Amphitheatre of Nations, for the edification of the world. She knows the prophecy, and has some faith in it, but is AMERICA AND RUSSIA. 295 )ss a best , any again have takes lality, ly, is I cer- when ion is fnent ; both lussia h the Lire at nt of stea- ever desire rival ighty com- s, for s the ut is bent on substituting (for a time at all events) ''and" for "or." The world may be shared, may be Cossack and Republican. She posi- tively will be modestly content, for a season, with only half a world. A Cossack hemisphere may hob and nob in a friendly manner with a republican one, over the conquered empires of earth and of the ocean. I have spoken of Russia watching ; Ame- rica watches too, but unlike the contem- poraneous colossus, it is more the powerful pulsations of her own mighty heart that draw her regards. If all is right there, the future is at her feet, and she knows it. And she has occasion to watch, for more reasons than one ; for there are symptoms of grave disorder threatening there, and strange signs of the dissolution of the great federal compact. No- thing more convinces the uninitiated stranger of this fact, than the incessant denuncia- tions thundered against disunion, the accu- mulated protestations and manifestations and deprecations, all to the same effect. I think they exaggerate the evil that would arise, in the event of dissolution, but the subject is too deep for discussion here. After this long prose, I cannot resist repeating an amusing anecdote I heard the other day, 296 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. relative to an American in Russia. This gen- tleman had a great wish to see the Czar, and asked the United States minister to procure him an introduction ; but the public recep- tions were over, and the minister told him it was impracticable. Somewhat indignant, and resolved to test the assumed impracticability, the traveller addressed a letter to one of the Em- peror's aides-de-camp, I believe, and solicited an interview with his Imperial Majesty, as he had " brought some acorns from the grave of the great Washington, expressly to lay at the Emperor's feet, well knowing how the character of the mighty liberator was ap- preciated," &c. Success crowned his efforts ; he had the interview he desired, and not only that, but he dined with the Czar, and the following day was invited to drive out with him, and had the pleasure of passing the United States minister while seated by the side of the mighty Nicholas, and of making him a very patronizing bow as he dashed by in the imperial carriage : so runs the story. Pearl-street, a labyrinthine street in New York, which is said to have been oiiginally built by the Dutch, along a cow-track, is a very zigzagging thoroughfare indeed. One would really almost think the Dutch cows had taken PEARL STREET, NEW YORK. 297 ap- rts ; only the ith the the :ing by few Jiy a luld :en to drinking draughts, not of water " as deep as the rolling Zuyderzee." It is very narrow, and the houses arc very high, like those in Old Edinburgh ; waves and billows of merchandise of every description and denomination seem pouring over from the brimming stores and warehouses, into the inconveniently narrow street. If you were in Paris, you might think the street had been purposely ob- structed with stubborn barricades ; but there are no enfans de la patne, with pikes and muskets to oppose your progress behind them. So if you can climb like a cat, or twist your- self about like a serpent, or a slippery eel, you have every chance of surmounting those costly and peaceful obstacles to your progress. Look at those two tall Kentuckians, with their tufted chins, somewhere about seven feet " above snakes ; " they can take a few of the interposing calico-mountains and cotton pyra- mids in their stride, but at last even they must stop and scramble over or through with difficulty and exertion. Like Damocles' sword too, over your head, are suspended from high cranes threatening loads, that would soon pulverize you out of your difficulties, and reduce you to very convenient dimensions, if they chanced to tumble upon you. 298 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. There are a great number of military com- panies in New York, and some of them are really very martial-looking indeed. I am told there is a company of Highlanders, formed by the sons of far Caledonia ; and there are Ger- man, French, Italian companies, &c. There are a number of target companies, each known by some particular name — usually, I believe, that of a favourite leader who is locally popular among them. Others take their appellation from some celebrated historical character, and others from anything that happens to occur to them, it would seem. A few of them are " The Washington Market Chowder Guard " (chowder is a famous dish in the United States), " Bony Fusileers, " " Pea- nut Guard," " Sweet's Epicurean Guard " (surely these must be confectioners), " George R. Jack- son and Company's Guard," " Nobody's Guard," " Oregon Blues," " Tenth Ward Light Guard," " Carpenter Guard," " First Ward Magnet- izers," " Tompkins' Butcher Association Guard," " Mustache Fusileers," " Henry Rose Light Guard," " Atlantic Light Guard," " Junior In- dependence Guard,'' and multitudes of others. The militia numbers about one hundred companies, which comprise six thousand men. The Target Companies are said not to fall short TARGET COMPANIES. 299 >» iight |r In- lers. idrecl Imen. short of ten thousand men. I am iuiOrmed that the passion of arms is beginning to manifest itself very much here, and the youths are not happy till they are enrolled in some of those bands. It is said that thousands of the boldest spirits in the Mexican campaign, who were ever in the van, and at the post of danger, rushing to the cannon's mouth with fiery valour, and storming, with irresistible intrepidity, the strongholds of the enemy, were those who had figured in such " Target Companies " as these. Generally a target, profusely decorated with flowers, is carried before the company, borne on the stalwart shoulders of a herculean spe- cimen of the African race, to be shot at for a prize, or for glory, and the " bubble reputa- tion " alone. On its return from the excursion and practice, the target will display many an evidence of the unerring skill and markman- ship of the young and gallant corps. I re- marked before, that it is supposed that the love and desire of military distinction is in- creasing. In corroboration of this, I find it observed in one of their papers, that the Ame- rican boy, after delightedly firing oIF his pistol or his miniature cannon, on "Independence Day," or other national anniversaries and fes- tivals, in commemoration of particular events. 300 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. rests not now on his Ijudding laurels till he becomes a member of one of these Target Com- panies. Fired with youthful patriotism, and glowing with a boyish ambition, he desires ardently in some way to distinguish himself among his fellow-striplings; and, once admit- ted as a member, he strives hard to attain the post of lieutenant or captain among his companions in arms. Subsequently he aspires to join a more regular militia corps ; but it is said, there are many instances wheie their devotion to the Target Company, which ori- ginally inspired them with military enthu- siasm is so strong, that they will not desert its ranks for those of the most brilliant and best-appointed militia company in New York. There are so many of those enrolled bands, that they and the omnibuses share the honour of filling, and rousing the echoes of busy Broad- way. I hear that some of the best and finest of their organizations are formed out of the fire companies, who thus take upon themselves a twofold responsibility, the protection of the property and lives of the citizens from a most formidable and merciless foe, and the rendering themselves capable of discharging the patriotic duty of crushing any enemy to their institu- NEW YORK FIREMEN. 3t of fire res a the lost [ring (otic itu- tions that may threaten the country, either domestic or foreign. Nowiiere, on the earth, 1 sliould think, are such numerous and splendid bodies of firemen ; and in no place under the sun, or moon, I honestly think, have they such extensive, incessant, and unlimited practice. And what men in the world ought to make such admirable warriors as firemen 1 At all times, but especially at the dead hour of mid- night, forced to leave their homes at a moment's notice, to start from slumber, after, perhaps, a day of wearying toil and harassing vexations — to confront the direst extremes of cold and heat — to brave the "pitiless pelting" of the storm— to face the raging element, that is their remorseless and tremendous antagonist — to dare almost every imaginable peril without the prospect of reward, or of promotion, or even of renown and glory — they should certainly make heroes, when fame and victory beckon them proudly onward. They are trained, too, to strict discipline ; taught to obey every word of command of their superiors, and to act together in concert, and it may be imagined they would prove gallant can- didates for glory in the field. Often the lieu- tenants and captains of the Target Companies are artisans, labourers, clerks, and mechanics. VOL. I. p 302 TRAVKLS IN AMKUICA. The coiniuini(?s elect their ofHccrs, and con- stantly without the least favour — I borrow the expression of an American writer — shown "to class, or rank, or wealth." The man who is most distinguished by these advantages, fre- (|uently shoulders his musket as a private ; and yet he may most largely subscribe to the company's exi)ensos for yearly "excursions/* and otlier contingencies and needs. I have already mentioned the number of the electric telegrai)hs in America. I nmst just add, that on one particular occasion the New York Herald (on the 5th of January 1848), contained ten closely printed columns of im- portant matter, that had all been received during the preceding evening and night over the wires. The entire length of the electric lines in the United States, which, indeed, bring within speaking limits nearly every portion of this vast Union, is stated on fair authority to be ten thousand, seven hundred and twelve miles, of which three thousand and six hundred miles are traversed by double wires ; but while I am writing, more are probably completed. Indeed, if it is not an Irish bull, I should say, that in order to keep pace with what is going on in this indefatigable country, this unparal- leled hive of industry and intelligence, you TIIK lUTTKUY. M):) )f the . just I New 848), f im- jcived over cctric 3ring on of ty to velve dred hile ted. say, oing ral- you should go far n-Itftid ; and it' I had hohlly said fifteen thousand miles, perhaps I should have l>een nearer the truth l»v the tinn' niv words are read. The Americans, from wliat T hear, are re- markably ex])ert operators on the electric wires, — those slender threads that are, with- out doubt, charged witli tlie mighty task of revolutionizing and incredibly elevating the intellectual and mental condition of the wliolc inhal)ited world. One of the most charming appendages to New York is the Batterv, which is close to Delmonico's Hotel (where we are now stay- ing). It is situated at the commencement of Broadway, that lengthy Mississippi of streets ; and it is adorned with a profusion of noble trees, some of very large size, and is laid out in broad gravelled walks, commanding a charming view of the harbour, and its very ornamental islands, of the almost in- numerable vessels constantly arriving and departing, and of the adjacent fair shores of New Jersey, and of Staten, and Long Island. There are gras^ (.dats in the Battery, all of which are intersected with paths and walks, and overshadowed by trees, that look like veterans of the primeval forest. It is not a 304? TRAVELS IN AMERICA. very fashionable promenade, but this arises probably from its being so far from the fashion- able streets and squares of the city. When the first steamer that ever crossed the Atlantic arrived at New York, the Battery is said to have presented a most heart- stirring and majestic spectacle. The " Sirius " was the name of this precursor of all the magni- ficent steam Leviathans that have followed in her triumphant path. The moment it was reported that her shadowy flag of smoke was seen floating in the direction of the Narrows, the hundreds of thousands of citizens of New York, aroused and excited to the utmost by the an- nouncement of an event so congenial to their energetic natures and zealous enterprising tem- peraments, rushed with simultaneous impe- tuosity to the Battery to greet the triumphant stranger. Instead of the " Sirius" ascending the East river directly to dock, she passed the thronged Battery, as in graceful and grateful acknowledgment of the sympathy and breath- less interest shown in her success, and swept grandly past it again, close to the densely- lined shore, while the air was literally rent by the enthusiastic shouts and deafening hurrahs of thousands and thousands of people, pro- claiming how a noble victory had been gained HALL OF JUSTICE. 305 in pro- ined — a victory without bloodshed, or suffering, or loss, or sorrow, to any single being, but of prolit and incalculable benefit to the whole race of mankind, and the unborn myriads of the most distant posterity. May these be the victories that in future may blaze with all the pomp of glory, and all the festive splendour of suc- cess — victories that, instead of severing na- tions and people, shall unite them in bands of universal brotherhood ! There is no frowning artillery here to make the Battery agree with its warlike name — no mighty walls, no upheaved mounds. It was once, I believe, applied to the use its name points out, but has been entirely dismantled, and looks the very abode of peace and repose. So in due course of time may all the earth witness one grand disarmament and dismant- ling of all her warlike strongholds, and Reason and Justice reign paramount ! Speaking of justice, there is one very gloomy- looking building in New York, called "The Hall of Justice." The architecture professes to be Egyptian, and the edifice is built of a rather dark-coloured granite, quarried at Hollowell in Maine. Its architectural ponderous massive- ness, combined with the sombre hue of the material, gives the building a truly prison- 306 TRAVELS IN AMERICA. like aspect, and has caused it to obtain the sobriquet of " The Tombs." It occupies a square, bounded by Centre, Elm, Franklin, and Leonard Streets. New York, as a whole, strikes one as unlike every city ever beheld before. The cosmopo- litanism of her citizens, the extraordinary stir and bustle and tumult of business going on per- petually, — the heterogeneous compounds, and kaleidoscopical varieties presented at every turn, bewilder and surprise the traveller. Besides the ever-teeming tumultuous Broad- way, there is another street that deserves, perhaps, especial mention in any description of New York, and that is the Bowery, a com- plete business street, which also traverses longitudinally the city. This street has been aptly named the Holborn of the empire city of the West. It runs parallel to Broadway, and changes its title of street for the more rural appellation of " Avenue," when it leaves the town behind it. I have mentioned the East river, and ought perhaps to add, that it is a continuation of Long Island Sound on the east, uniting it with the estuary of the Hudson, and sepa- rating Long Island from New York. It is of scanty width, but deep, and at particular HELL GATE. 307 States of the tide it has a very heavy current Long Island Sound (or one part of it, I am "Ot quite certain which portion) is called the Hell Gate, which name is a corruption of the old name, Hurl Gate. END OP THE FIRST VOLUME. LONDON : Printed by S.\MUEL Bentley & Co Bangor House, Shoe Lane.