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 UCSD Lib.
 
 Cheap Edition of the Works of Mr. Charles Dickens. 
 
 Uniformly printed in crown octavo, Corrected and Revised throughout, 
 with new Prefaces by the Author. 
 
 THE PICKWICK PAPERS. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by C. R. LMLIE, R.A. Cloth, 5s. 
 
 NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 
 
 With a Frontispiece by T. WBBSTSB, R.A. Cloth, 5*. 
 
 THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by GKO CATTKBMOLE. Cloth, 4*. 
 
 BARNABY RUDGE. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by H. K. BBOWNB. Cloth, 4*. 
 
 MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by FBAMK STONK. Cloth, 5*. 
 
 OLIVER TWIST. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by GEOBGECRUIKSIIAXK. Cloth, &.&?. 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by CL ARKSOX STANFIBLD, R.A. Cloth, 2*. &d. 
 
 SKETCHES BY BOZ. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by G EOROE CRUIKSHAXK. Cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The above can be had, handsomely bound in half morocco, at 2s. <xL, extra.
 
 AMERICAN NOTES.
 
 > 
 
 FOR 
 
 GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 BY CHABLES DICKENS. 
 
 WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY C. STANFIELD, R.A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1855.
 
 LONDON : 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFH1 AUS.
 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
 TO THOSE FRIENDS OF MINE IN AMERICA, 
 
 WHO, 
 
 GIVING ME A WELCOME I MUST EVER GRATEFULLY AND PROUDLY 
 REMEMBER, 
 
 LEFT MY JUDGMENT 
 
 FBEE; 
 
 AND WHO, LOVING THEIR COUNTRY, 
 
 CAN BEAR THE TRUTH, WHEN IT IS TOLD GOOD HUMOUREDLY, 
 AND IN A KIND SPIRIT.
 
 PREFACE TO THE CHEAP EDITION. 
 
 IT is nearly eight years since this book was first published. I 
 present it, unaltered, in the Cheap Edition ; and such of my 
 opinions as it expresses, are quite unaltered too. 
 
 My readers have opportunities of judging for themselves 
 whether the influences and tendencies which I distrust in 
 America, have any existence but in my imagination. They 
 can examine for themselves whether there has been anything in 
 the public career of that country during these past eight years, 
 or whether there is anything in its present position, at home or 
 abroad, which suggests that those influences and tendencies 
 really do exist. As they find the fact, they will judge me. If 
 they discern any evidences of wrong-going, in any direction that 
 I have indicated, they will acknowledge that I had reason in what 
 I wrote. If they discern no such thing, they will consider me 
 altogether mistaken. 
 
 Prejudiced, I never have^been, otherwise than in favour of the 
 United States. No visitor can ever have set foot on those shores,
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 with a stronger faith in the Republic than I had, when I lauded 
 in America. 
 
 I purposely abstain from extending these observations to any 
 length. I have nothing to defend, or to explain away. The 
 truth is the truth ; and neither childish absurdities, nor unscru- 
 pulous contradictions, can make it otherwise. The earth would 
 still move round the sun, though the whole Catholic Church 
 said No. 
 
 I have many friends in America, and feel a grateful interest in 
 the country. To represent me as viewing it with ill-nature, 
 animosity, or partisanship, is merely to do a very foolish thing, 
 which is always a very easy one ; and which I have disregarded 
 for eight years, and could disregard for eighty more. 
 
 End June, 1S50.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GOING AWAY ....... ... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OUT . . . . 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BOSTON ... . 17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AN AMERICAN RAILROAD. LOWELL AND ITS FACTORY SYSTEM . . 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WORCESTER. THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. HARTFORD. NEW HAVEN. 
 
 TO NEW YORK . . . ..... 49 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, AND ITS SOLITARY PRISON , 67
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MB 
 
 WASHINGTON. THE LEGISLATURE. AND THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE . 78 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A NIGHT STEAMER OS THE POTOMAC RIVER. - VIRGINIA ROAD, AND A 
 BLACK DRIVER. RICHMOND. BALTIMORE. THE HARRISBCRG MAIL, 
 AND A GLIMPSE OF THE CITY. A CANAL BOAT . .89 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SOME FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE CANAL BOAT, ITS DOMESTIC ECONOMY, 
 AND ITS PASSENGERS. - JOURNEY TO PITTSBURG ACROSS THE 
 ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. - PITTSBURG ...... 101 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FROM PITTSBURG TO CINCINNATI IN A WESTERN STEAM-BOAT. ~ 
 
 CINCINNATI .......... 108 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FROM CINCINNATI TO LOUISVILLE IN ANOTHER WESTERN STEAM-BOAT ; 
 
 AND FROM LOUISVILLE TO ST. LOUIS IN ANOTHER. - ST. LOUIS . 114 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A JAUNT TO THE LOOKING-GLASS PRAIRIE AND BACK . . . . 122 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN TO CINCINNATI. A STAGE-COACH RIDE FROM THAT CITY TO 
 COLUMBUS, AND THENCE TO SANDUSKY. - 80, BY LAKE ERIE, TO 
 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA ... T28
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Silt 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 IN CANADA J TORONTO; KINGSTON ; MONTREAL ; QUEBEC ; ST. JOHN'S. 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN ; LEBANON J THE SHAKER VILLAGE J 
 
 AND WEST POINT . 
 
 140 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PASSAGE HOME 
 
 153 
 
 SLAVERY 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 . 159 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 170
 
 GOING AWAY AND THE PASSAGE OUT.
 
 AMERICAN NOTES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GOING AWAY. 
 
 I SHALL never forget the one-fourth 
 serious and three-fourths comical 
 astonishment, with which, on the 
 morning of the third of January 
 eighteen -hundred -and -forty -two, I 
 opened the door of, and put my head 
 into, a " state-room" on board the 
 Britannia steam-packet, twelve hun- 
 dred tons burthen per register, bound 
 for Halifax and Boston, and carrying 
 Her Majesty's mails. 
 
 That, this state-room had been spe- 
 cially engaged for " Charles Dickens, 
 Esquire, and Lady," was rendered 
 sufficiently clear even to my scared 
 intellect by a very small manuscript, 
 announcing the fact, which was 
 pinned on a very flat quilt, covering a 
 very thin mattress, spread like a sur- 
 gical plaster on a most inaccessible 
 shelf. But that this was the state- 
 room concerning which Charles 
 Dickens, Esquire, and Lady, had 
 held daily and nightly conferences for 
 at least four months preceding : that 
 this could by any possibility be that 
 small snug chamber of the imagina- 
 tion, which Charles Dickens, Esquire, 
 with the spirit of prophecy strong 
 upon him, had always foretold would 
 contain at least one little sofa, and 
 which his lady, with a modest yet 
 most magnificent sense of its limited 
 
 No. 161. 
 
 dimensions, had from the first opined 
 would not hold more than two enor- 
 mous portmanteaus in some odd 
 corner out of sight (portmanteaus 
 which could now no more be got in at 
 the door, not to say stowed away, than 
 a giraffe could be persuaded or forced 
 into a flower-pot) : that this utterly 
 impracticable, thoroughly hopeless, 
 and profoundly preposterous box, had 
 the remotest reference to, or connec- 
 tion with, those chaste and pretty, not 
 to say gorgeous little bowers, sketched 
 by a masterly hand, in the highly 
 varnished lithographic plan hanging 
 up in the agent's counting-house in 
 the city of London : that this room 
 of state, in short, could be anything 
 but a pleasant fiction and cheerful 
 jest of the captain's, invented and put 
 in practice for the better relish and 
 enjoyment of the real state-room pre- 
 sently to be disclosed : these were 
 truths which I really could not, for 
 the moment, bring my mind at all to 
 bear upon or comprehend. And I sat 
 down upon a kind of horsehair slab, 
 or perch, of which there were two 
 within ; and looked, without any ex- 
 pression of countenance whatever, at 
 some friends who had come on board 
 with us, and who were crushing their 
 faces into all manner of shapes by 
 
 B 1
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 endeavouring to squeeze them through 
 the small doorway. 
 
 We had experienced a pretty smart 
 shock before coming below, which, 
 but' that we were the most sanguine 
 people living, might have prepared us 
 for the worst. The imaginative artist 
 to whom I have already made allu- 
 sion, has depicted in the same great 
 work, a chamber of almost intermin- 
 able perspective, furnished, as Mr. 
 Robins would say, in a style of more 
 than Eastern splendour, and filled 
 (but not inconveniently so) with 
 groups of ladies and gentlemen, in the 
 very highest state of enjoyment and 
 vivacity. Before descending into the 
 bowels of the ship, we had passed 
 from the deck into a long narrow 
 apartment, not unlike a gigantic 
 hearse with windows in the sides ; 
 having at the upper end a melancholy 
 stove, at which three or four chilly 
 stewards were warming their hands ; 
 while on either side, extending down 
 its whole dreary length, was a long, 
 long, table, over each of which a rack, 
 fixed to the low roof, and stuck full of 
 drinking-glasses and cruet-stands, 
 hinted dismally at rolling seas and 
 heavy weather. I had not at that 
 time seen the ideal presentment of 
 this chamber which has since gratified 
 me so much, but I observed that one of 
 our friends who had made the arrange- 
 ments for our voyage, turned pale on 
 entering, retreated on the friend 
 behind him, smote his forehead 
 involuntarily, and said below his 
 breath, " Impossible ! it cannot be !" 
 or words to that effect. He recovered 
 himself however by a great effort, and 
 after a preparatory cough or two, cried, 
 with a ghastly smile which is still 
 before me, looking at the same time 
 round the walls, '' Ha! the breakfast- 
 room, steward eh 1" We all foresaw 
 what the answer must be : we knew 
 the agony he suffered. He had often 
 spoken of tlie saloon; had taken 
 
 in and lived upon the pictorial idea ; 
 had usually given us to understand, at 
 home, that to form a just conception of 
 it, it would be necessary to multiply 
 the size and furniture of an ordinary 
 drawing-room by seven, and then fall 
 short of the reality. When the man 
 in reply avowed the truth ; the blunt, 
 remorseless, naked truth ; " This is 
 the saloon, sir" he actually reeled 
 beneath the blow. 
 
 In persons who were so soon to 
 part, and interpose between their else 
 daily communication the formidable 
 barrier of many thousand miles of 
 stormy space, and who were for that 
 reason anxious to cast no other cloud, 
 not even the passing shadow of a 
 moment's disappointment or discom- 
 fiture, upon the short interval of 
 happy companionship that yet re- 
 mained to them in persons so situ- 
 ated, the natural transition from these 
 first surprises was obviously into peals 
 of hearty laughter ; and I can report 
 that I, for one, being still seated upon 
 the slab or perch before-mentioned, 
 roared outright until the vessel rang 
 again. Thus, in less than two 
 minutes after coming upon it for the 
 first time, we all by common consent 
 agreed that this state-room was the 
 pleasantest and most facetious and 
 capital contrivance possible ; and that 
 to have had it one inch larger, would 
 have been quite a disagreeable and 
 deplorable state of things. And with 
 this; and with showing how, by 
 very nearly closing the door, and 
 twining in and out like serpents, and 
 by counting the little washing slab as 
 standing-room, we could manage to 
 insinuate four people into it, all at one 
 time ; and entreating each other to 
 observe how very airy it was (in dock), 
 and how there was a beautiful port-hole 
 which could be kept open all day 
 (weather permitting), and how there 
 was quite a large bull's eye just over 
 the looking-glass which would render
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 shaving a perfectly easy and delightful 
 process (when the ship didn't roll too 
 much) ; we arrived, at last, at the 
 unanimous conclusion that it was 
 rather spacious than otherwise : 
 though I do verily believe that, 
 deducting the two berths, one above 
 the other, than which nothing smaller 
 for sleeping in was ever made except 
 coffins, it was no bigger than one of 
 those hackney cabriolets which have 
 the door behind, and shoot their 
 fares out, like sacks of coals, upon 
 the pavement. 
 
 Having settled this point to the 
 perfect satisfaction of all parties, con- 
 cerned and unconcerned, we sat down 
 round the fire in the ladies' cabin 
 just to try the effect. It was rather 
 dark, certainly; but somebody said, 
 '' of course it would be light, at sea," 
 a proposition to which we all assented ; 
 echoing " of course, of course ; " though 
 it would be exceedingly difficult to say 
 why we thought so. I remember, 
 too, when we had discovered and ex- 
 hausted another topic of consolation 
 in the circumstance of this ladies' 
 cabin adjoining our state-room, and 
 the consequently immense feasibility 
 of sitting there at all times and 
 seasons, and had fallen into a momen- 
 tary silence, leaning our faces on our 
 hands and looking at the fire, one of 
 our party said, with the solemn air of 
 a man who had made a discovery, 
 " What a relish mulled claret will 
 have down here !" which appeared to 
 strike us all most forcibly ; as though 
 there were something spicy and high- 
 flavoured in cabins, which essentially 
 improved that composition, and ren- 
 dered it quite incapable of perfection 
 anywhere else. 
 
 There was a stewardess, too, actively 
 engaged in producing clean sheets 
 and tablecloths from the very entrails 
 of the sofas, and from unexpected 
 lockers, of such artful mechanism, 
 that it made one's head ache to see 
 
 them opened one after another, and 
 rendered it quite a distracting cir- 
 cumstance to follow her proceedings, 
 and to find that every nook and 
 corner and individual piece of furni- 
 ture was something else besides what 
 it pretended to be, and was a mere 
 trap and deception and place of secret 
 stowage, whose ostensible purpose was 
 its least useful one. 
 
 God bless that stewardess for her 
 piously fraudulent account of January 
 voyages ! God bless her for her clear 
 recollection of the companion passage 
 of last year, when nobody was ill, and 
 everybody danced from morning to 
 night, and it was "a run" of twelve 
 days, and a piece of the purest frolic, 
 and delight, and jollity ! All happi- 
 ness be with her for her bright face 
 and her pleasant Scotch tongue, which 
 had sounds of old Home in it for my 
 fellow traveller; and for her predic- 
 tions of fair winds and fine weather 
 (all wrong, or I shouldn't be half so 
 fond of her) ; and for the ten thousand 
 small fragments of genuine womanly 
 tact, by which, without piecing them 
 elaborately together, and patching 
 them up into shape and form and case 
 and pointed application, she never- 
 theless did plainly show that all young 
 mothers on one side of the Atlantic 
 were near and close at hand to their 
 little children left upon the other; 
 and that what seemed to the uninitiated 
 a serious journey, was, to those who 
 were in the secret, a mere frolic, to be 
 sung about and whistled at ! Light 
 be her heart, and gay her merry eyes, 
 for years ! 
 
 The state-room had grown pretty 
 fast ; but by this time it had expanded 
 into something quite bulky, and 
 almost boasted a bay-window to view 
 the sea from. So we went upon deck 
 again in high spirits; and there, every- 
 thing was in such a state of bustle and 
 active preparation, that the blood 
 quickened its pace, and whirled
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 through one's veins on that clear 
 frosty morning with involuntary 
 mirthfulness. For every gallant ship 
 was riding slowly up and down, and 
 every little boat was plashing noisily 
 in the water; and knots of people 
 stood upon the wharf, gazing with a 
 kind of " dread delight" on the far- 
 famed fast American steamer; and 
 one party of men were " taking in the 
 milk," or, in other words, getting the 
 cow on board; and another were 
 filling the icehouses to the very throat 
 with fresh provisions ; with butchers'- 
 meat and gardenstuff, pale sucking- 
 pigs, calves' heads in scores, beef, veal, 
 and pork, and poultry out of all pro- 
 portion ; and others were coiling ropes, 
 and busy with oakum yarns; and 
 others were lowering heavy packages 
 into the hold ; and the purser's head 
 was barely visible as it loomed in a 
 state of exquisite perplexity from the 
 midst of a vast pile of passengers' 
 luggage ; and there seemed to be 
 nothing going on anywhere, or upper- 
 most in the mind of anybody, but pre- 
 parations for this mighty voyage. 
 This, with the brjght cold sun, the 
 bracing air, the crisply-curling water, 
 the thin white crust of morning ice 
 upon the decks which crackled with a 
 sharp and cheerful sound beneath the 
 lightest tread, was irresistible. And 
 when, again upon the shore, we turned 
 and saw from the vessel's mast her 
 name signalled in flags of joyous 
 colours, and fluttering by their side 
 the beautiful American banner with 
 its stars and stripes, the long three 
 thousand miles and more, and, longer 
 still, the six whole months of absence, 
 so dwindled and faded, that the ship 
 had gone out and come home again, 
 and it was broad spring already in 
 the Coburg Dock at Liverpool. 
 
 I have not inquired among my 
 medical acquaintance, whether Turtle, 
 and cold Punch, with Hock, Cham- 
 pagne, and Claret, and all the slight 
 
 et cetera usually included in an un- 
 limited order for a good dinner 
 especially when it is left to the liberal 
 construction of my faultless friend, 
 Mr. Radley, of the Adelphi Hotel 
 are peculiarly calculated to suffer a 
 sea -change ; or whether a plain 
 mutton-chop, and a glass or two of 
 sherry, would be less likely of con- 
 version into foreign and disconcerting 
 material. My own opinion is, that 
 whether one is discreet or indiscreet 
 in these particulars, on the eve of a 
 sea-voyage, is a matter of little con- 
 sequence ; and that, to use a common 
 phrase, " it comes to very much the 
 same thing in the end." Be this as it 
 may, I know that the dinner of that 
 day was undeniably perfect; that it 
 comprehended all these items, and a 
 great many more ; and that we all 
 did ample justice to it. And I know 
 too, that, bating a certain tacit avoid- 
 ance of any allusion to to-morrow; 
 such as may be supposed to prevail 
 between delicate -minded turnkeys, 
 and a sensitive prisoner who is to be 
 hanged next morning ; we got on very 
 well, and, all things considered, were 
 merry enough. 
 
 When the morning the morning 
 came, and we met at breakfast, it was 
 curious to see how eager we all were 
 to prevent a moment's pause in the 
 conversation, and how astoundingly 
 gay everybody was : the forced spirits 
 of each member of the little party 
 having as much likeness to his natural 
 mirth, as hot-house peas at five 
 guineas the quart, resemble in flavour 
 the growth of the dews, and air, and 
 rain of Heaven. But as one o'clock, 
 the hour for going aboard, drew near, 
 this volubility dwindled away by little 
 and little, despite the most persever- 
 ing efforts to the contrary, until at 
 last, the matter being now quite des- 
 perate, we threw off all disguise ; 
 openly speculated upon where we 
 should be this time to-morrow, this
 
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 time next day, and so forth ; and 
 entrusted a vast number of messages 
 to those who intended returning to 
 town that night, which were to be 
 delivered at home and elsewhere with- 
 out fail, within the very shortest pos- 
 sible space of time after the arrival of 
 the railway train at Euston Square. 
 And commissions and remembrances 
 do so crowd upon one at such a time, 
 that we were still busied with this 
 employment when we found ourselves 
 fused, as it were, into a dense conglo- 
 meration of passengers and passengers' 
 friends and passengers' luggage, all 
 jumbled together on the deck of a 
 small steamboat, and panting and 
 snorting off to the packet, which had 
 worked out of dock yesterday after- 
 noon and was now lying at her moor- 
 ings in the river. 
 
 And there she is ! all eyes are 
 turned to where she lies, dimly dis- 
 cernible through the gathering fog of 
 the early winter afternoon; every 
 finger is pointed in the same direc- 
 tion ; and murmurs of interest and 
 admiration as "How beautiful she 
 looks ! " " How trim she is ! " are 
 heard on every side. Even the lazy 
 gentleman with his hat on one side 
 and his hands in his pockets, who has 
 dispensed so much consolation by in- 
 quiring with a yawn of another gen- 
 tleman whether he is " going across " 
 as if it were a ferry even he con- 
 descends to look that way, and nod 
 his head, as who should say, "No 
 mistake about that : " and not even 
 the sage Lord Burleigh in his nod, 
 included half so much as this lazy 
 gentleman of might who has made 
 the passage (as everybody on board 
 has found out already; it 's impossible 
 to say how) thirteen times without a 
 single accident ! There is another 
 passenger very much wrapped-up, who 
 has been frowned down by the rest, 
 and morally trampled upon and 
 crushed, for presuming to inquire 
 
 with a timid interest how long it is 
 since the poor President went down. 
 He is standing close to the lazy gen- 
 tleman, and says with a faint smile 
 that he believes She is a very strong 
 Ship ; to which the lazy gentleman, 
 looking first in his questioner's eye 
 and then very hard in the wind's, 
 answers unexpectedly and ominously, 
 that She need be. Upon this the 
 lazy gentleman instantly falls very 
 low in the popular estimation, and 
 the passengers, with looks of defiance, 
 whisper to each other that he is an 
 ass, and an impostor, and clearly don't 
 know anything at all about it. 
 
 But we are made fast alongside the 
 packet, whose huge red funnel is 
 smoking bravely, giving rich promise 
 of serious intentions. Packing-cases, 
 portmanteaus, carpet-bags, and boxes, 
 are already passed from hand to hand, 
 and hauled on board with breathless 
 rapidity. The officers, smartly dressed, 
 are at the gangway handing the pas- 
 sengers up the side, and hurrying the 
 men. In five minutes' time, the 
 little steamer is utterly deserted, and 
 the packet is beset and over-run by 
 its late freight, who instantly pervade 
 the whole ship, and are to be met 
 with by the dozen in every nook and 
 corner : swarming down below with 
 their own baggage, and stumbling 
 over other people's; disposing them- 
 selves comfortably in wrong cabins, 
 and creating a most horrible confusion 
 by having to turn out again ; madly 
 bent upon opening locked doors, and 
 on forcing a passage into all kinds of 
 out-of-the-way places where there is no 
 thoroughfare ; sending wild stewards, 
 with elfin hair, to and fro upon the 
 breezy decks on unintelligible errands, 
 impossible of execution : and in short, 
 creating the most extraordinary and 
 bewildering tumult. In the midst of 
 all this, the lazy gentleman, who 
 seems to have no luggage of any kind 
 not so much as a friend, even
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 lounges up and down the hurricane- 
 deck, coolly puffing a cigar ; and, as 
 this unconcerned demeanour again 
 exalts him in the opinion of those 
 who have leisure to observe his pro- 
 ceedings, every time he looks up at 
 the masts, or down at the decks, or 
 over the side, they look there too, as 
 wondering whether he sees anything 
 wrong anywhere, and hoping that, in 
 case he should, he will have the good- 
 ness to mention it. 
 
 What have we here 1 The captain's 
 boat! and yonder the captain him- 
 self. Now, by all oar hopes and 
 wishes, the very man he ought to be ! 
 A well-made, tight-built, dapper little 
 fellow ; with a ruddy face, which is a 
 letter of invitation to shake him by 
 both hands at once ; and with a clear, 
 blue honest eye, that it does one good 
 to see one's sparkling image in. "Ring 
 the bell ! " " Ding, ding, ding ! " the 
 very bell is in a hurry. " Now for 
 the shore who's for the shore?" 
 " These gentlemen, I am sorry to say." 
 They are away, and never said, Good 
 b'ye. Ahl now they wave it from 
 the little boat. " Good b'ye ! Good 
 b'ye 1 " Three cheers from them ; 
 three more from us ; three more from 
 them : and they are gone. 
 
 To and fro, to and fro, to and fro 
 again a hundred times ! This waiting 
 for the latest mail-bags is worse than alL 
 If we could have gone off in the midst 
 of that last burst, we should have 
 started triumphantly : but to lie here, 
 two hours and more, in the damp fog, 
 neither staying at home nor going 
 abroad, is letting one gradually down 
 into the very depths of dulness and 
 low spirits. A speck in the mist, at 
 last ! That 's something. It is the 
 boat we wait for! That's more to 
 the purpose. The captain appears on 
 the paddle-box with his speaking- 
 trumpet; the officers take their sta- 
 tions ; all hands are on the alert ; the 
 flagging hopes of the passengers 
 revive; the cooks pause in their 
 savoury work, and look out with faces 
 full of interest. The boat comes 
 alongside ; the bags are dragged in 
 anyhow, and flung down for the mo- 
 ment anywhere. Three cheers more : 
 and as the first one rings upon our 
 ears, the vessel throbs like a strong 
 giant that has just received the breath 
 of life; the two great wheels turn 
 fiercely round for the first time ; and 
 the noble ship, with wind and tide 
 astern, breaks proudly through the 
 lashed and foaming water.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PASSAGE OUT. 
 
 WE all dined together that day ; and 
 a rather formidable party we were : 
 no fewer than eighty-six strong. The 
 vessel being pretty deep in the water, 
 with all her coals on board and so 
 many passengers, and the weather 
 being calm and quiet, there was but 
 little motion ; so that before the 
 dinner was half over, even those pas- 
 sengers who were most distrustful of 
 themselves plucked up amazingly; 
 and those who in the morning had 
 returned to the universal question, 
 " Are you a good sailor 1 " a very de- 
 cided negative, now either parried the 
 inquiry with the evasive reply, " Oh ! 
 I suppose I 'm no worse than anybody 
 else ; " or, reckless of all moral obliga- 
 tions, answered boldly " Yes : " and 
 with some irritation too, as though 
 they would add, " I should like to 
 know what you see in me, sir, parti- 
 cularly, to justify suspicion ! " 
 
 Notwithstanding this high tone of 
 courage and confidence, I could not 
 but observe that very few remained 
 long over their wine ; and that every- 
 body had an unusual love of the open 
 air ; and that the favourite and most 
 coveted seats were invariably those 
 nearest to the door. The tea-table, 
 too, was by no means as well attended 
 as the dinner-table ; and there was 
 less whist-playing than might have 
 been expected. Still, with the excep- 
 tion of one lady, who had retired with 
 some precipitation at dinner-time, im- 
 mediately after being assisted to the 
 finest cut of a very yellow boiled leg 
 of mutton with very green capers, 
 there were no invalids as yet ; and 
 walking, and smoking, and drinking 
 of brandy-and-water (but always in 
 
 the open air), went on with unabated 
 spirit, until eleven o'clock or there- 
 abouts, when " turning in " no sailor 
 of seven hours' experience talks of 
 going to bed became the order of 
 the night. The perpetual tramp of 
 boot-heels on the decks gave place to 
 a heavy silence, and the whole human 
 freight was stowed away below, except- 
 ing a very few stragglers, like myself, 
 who were probably, like me, afraid to 
 go there. . 
 
 To one unaccustomed to such scenes, 
 this is a very striking time on ship- 
 board. Afterwards, and when its no- 
 velty had long worn off, it never ceased 
 to have a peculiar interest and charm 
 for me. The gloom through which 
 the great black mass holds its direct 
 and certain course; the rushing water, 
 plainly heard, but dimly seen; the 
 broad, white, glistening track, that 
 follows in the vessel's wake ; the men 
 on the look-out forward, who would 
 be scarcely visible against the dark 
 sky, but for their blotting out some 
 j score of glistening stars ; the helms- 
 man at the wheel, with the illumi- 
 nated card before him, shining, a 
 speck of light amidst the darkness, 
 like something sentient and of Divine 
 intelligence ; the melancholy sighing 
 of the wind through block, and rope, 
 and chain; the gleaming forth of 
 light from every crevice, nook, and 
 tiny piece of glass about the decks, as 
 though the ship were filled with fire 
 ] in hiding, ready to burst through, any 
 ! outlet, wild with its resistless power 
 of death and ruin. At first, too, and 
 even when the hour, and all the 
 objects it exalts, have come to be 
 familiar, it is difficult, alone and
 
 I 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 thoughtful, to hold them to their 
 proper shapes and forms. They 
 change with the wandering fancy; 
 assume the semblance of things left 
 far away; put on the well-remembered 
 aspect of favourite places dearly loved; 
 and even people them with shadows. 
 Streets, houses, rooms ; figures so like 
 their usual occupants, that they have 
 startled me by their reality, which 
 far exceeded, as it seemed to me, all 
 power of mine to conjure up the 
 absent ; have, many and many a time, 
 at such an hour, grown suddenly out of 
 objects with whose real look, and use, 
 and purpose, I was as well acquainted 
 as with my own two hands. 
 
 My own two hands, and feet like- 
 wise, being very cold, however, on this 
 particular occasion, I crept below at 
 midnight. It was not exactly comfort- 
 able below. It was decidedly close ; 
 and it was impossible to be unconscious 
 of the presence of that extraordinary 
 compound of strange smells, which is 
 to be found nowhere but on board 
 ship, and which is such a subtle per- 
 fume that it seems to enter at every 
 pore of the skin, and whisper of the j 
 hold. Two passengers' wives (one of 
 them my own) lay already in silent 
 agonies on the sofa; and one lady's 
 maid (my lady's) was a mere bundle 
 on the floor, execrating her destiny, 
 and pounding her curl-papers among 
 the stray boxes. Everything sloped 
 the wrong way : which in itself was an 
 aggravation scarcely to be borne. I 
 had left the door open, a moment 
 before, in the bosom of a gentle de- 
 clivity, and, when I turned to shut it, 
 it was on the summit of a lofty 
 eminence. Now every plank and 
 timber creaked, as if the ship were 
 made of wicker-work ; and now 
 crackled, like an enormous fire of 
 the driest possible twigs. There was 
 nothing for it but bed; so I went 
 to bed. 
 
 It was pretty much the same for 
 
 the next two days, with a tolerably 
 fair wind and dry weather. I read in 
 bed (but to this hour I don't know 
 what) a good deal; and reeled on 
 deck a little ; drank cold brandy-and- 
 water with an unspeakable disgust, 
 and ate hard biscuit perseveringly : 
 not ill, but going to be. 
 
 It is the third morning. I am 
 awakened out of my sleep by a dismal 
 shriek from my wife, who demands to 
 know whether there 'a any danger. I 
 rouse myself, and look out of bed. 
 The water-jug is plunging and leaping 
 like a lively dolphin ; all the smaller 
 articles are afloat, except my shoes, 
 which are stranded on a carpet-bag, 
 high and dry, like a couple of coal- 
 barges. Suddenly I see them spring 
 into the air, and behold the looking- 
 glass, which is nailed to the wall, 
 sticking fast upon the ceiling. At the 
 same time the door entirely disap- 
 pears, and a new one is opened in the 
 floor. Then I begin to comprehend 
 that the state-room is standing on its 
 head. 
 
 Before it is possible to make any 
 arrangement at all compatible with 
 this novel state of things, the ship 
 rights. Before one can say, " Thank 
 Heaven ! " she wrongs again. Before 
 one can cry she is wrong, she seems to 
 have started forward, and to be a 
 creature actively running of its own 
 accord, with broken knees and failing 
 legs, through every variety of hole 
 and pitfall, and stumbling constantly 
 Before one can so much as wonder, 
 she takes a high leap into the air. 
 Before she has well done that, she 
 takes a deep dive into the water. 
 Before she has gained the surface, she 
 throws a summerset. The instant she 
 is on her legs, she rushes backward. 
 And so she goes on staggering, heav- 
 ing, wrestling, leaping, diving, jump- 
 ing, pitching, throbbing, rolling, and 
 rocking : and going through aJl these 
 movements, sometimes by turns, and
 
 FOB GENERAL 'CIRCULATION. 
 
 sometimes all together : until one feels 
 disposed to roar for mercy. 
 
 A steward passes. " Steward ! " 
 " Sir ) " " What is the matter ] what 
 do you call this ) " "Bather a heavy sea 
 on, sir, and a head-wind." 
 
 A head-wind ! Imagine a human 
 face upon the vessel's prow, with fifteen 
 thousand Sampsons in one bent upon 
 driving her back, and hitting her 
 exactly between the eyes whenever 
 she attempts to advance an inch. 
 Imagine the ship herself, with every 
 pulse and artery of her huge body 
 swoln and bursting under this mal- 
 treatment, sworn to go on or die. 
 Imagine the wind howling, the sea 
 roaring, the rain beating : all in furious 
 array against her. Picture the sky 
 both dark and wild, and the clouds, 
 in fearful sympathy with the waves, 
 making another ocean in the air. Add 
 to all this, the clattering on deck and 
 down below; the tread of hurried 
 feet ; the loud hoarse shouts of sea- 
 men; the gurgling in and out of 
 water through the scuppers; with, 
 every now and then, the striking of a 
 heavy sea upon the planks above, 
 with the deep, dead, heavy sound of 
 thunder heard within a vault ; and 
 there is the head-wind of that January 
 morning. 
 
 I say nothing of what may be called 
 the domestic noises of the ship : such 
 as the breaking of glass and crockery, 
 the tumbling down of stewards, the 
 gambols, overhead, of loose casks and 
 truant dozens of bottled porter, and 
 the very remarkable and far from 
 exhilarating sounds raised in their 
 various state-rooms by the seventy 
 passengers who were too ill to get up 
 to breakfast. I say nothing of them : 
 for although I lay listening to this 
 concert for three or four days, I don't 
 think I heard it for more than a 
 quarter of a minute, at the expiration 
 of which term, I lay down again, 
 excessively sea-sick. 
 
 Not sea-sick, be it understood, in 
 the ordinary acceptation of the term : 
 I wish I had been : but in a form 
 which I have never seen or heard 
 described, though I have no doubt it 
 is very common. I lay there, all the 
 day long, quite coolly and contentedly; 
 with no sense of weariness, with no 
 desire to get up, or get better, or take 
 the air ; with no curiosity, or care, or 
 regret, of any sort or degree, saving 
 that I think I can remember, in this 
 universal indifference, having a kind 
 of lazy joy of fiendish delight, if 
 anything so lethargic can be dignified 
 with the title in the fact of my wife 
 being too ill to talk to me. If I may 
 be allowed to illustrate my state of 
 mind by such an example, I should 
 say that I was exactly in the condition 
 of the elder Mr. Willet, after the in- 
 cursion of the rioters into his bar at 
 Chigwell. Nothing would have sur- 
 prised me. If, iu the momentary 
 illumination of any ray of intelligence 
 that may have come upon me in the 
 way of thoughts of Home, a goblin 
 postman, with a scarlet coat and bell, 
 had come into that little kennel before 
 me, broad awake in broad day, and, 
 apologising for being damp through 
 walking in the sea, had handed me a 
 letter, directed to myself, in familiar 
 characters, I am certain I should not 
 have felt one atom of astonishment : 
 I should have been perfectly satisfied. 
 If Xeptune himself had walked in, 
 with a toasted shark on his trident, I 
 should have looked upon the event as 
 one of the very commonest everyday 
 occurrences. 
 
 Once once I found myself on 
 deck. I don't know how I got there, 
 or what possessed me to go there, but 
 there I was ; and completely dressed 
 too, with a huge pea-coat on, and a 
 pair of boots such as no weak man in 
 his senses could ever have got into. I 
 found myself standing, when a gleam 
 of consciousness came upon me, hold-
 
 10 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 ing on to somethipg. I don't know 
 what I think it was the boatswain : 
 or it may have been the pump : or 
 possibly the cow. I can't say how 
 long I had been there ; whether a day 
 or a minute. I recollect trying to 
 think about something (about any- 
 thing in the whole wide world, I was 
 not particular) without the smallest 
 effect. I could not even make out 
 which was the sea, and which the sky; 
 for the horizon seemed drunk, and was 
 flying wildly about, in all directions. 
 Even in that incapable state, however, 
 I recognised the lazy gentleman stand- 
 ing before me : nautically clad in a 
 suit of shaggy blue, with an oilskin 
 hat. But I was too imbecile, although 
 I knew it to be he, to separate him 
 from his dress ; and tried to call him, 
 I remember, Pilot. After another in- 
 terval of total unconsciousness, I found 
 he had gone, and recognised another 
 figure in its place. It seemed to wave 
 and fluctuate before me as though 1 
 saw it reflected in an unsteady looking 
 glass ; but I knew it for the captain ; 
 and such was the cheerful influence o: 
 his face, that I tried to smile : yes 
 eren then I tried to smile. I saw by 
 his gestures that he addressed me 
 but it was a long time before I coul< 
 make out that he remonstrated against 
 my standing up to my knees in wate 
 as I was ; of course I don't know 
 why. I tried to thank him, bu 
 couldn't. I could only point to m; 
 boots or wherever I supposed m; 
 boots to be and say in a plaintiv 
 roice, " Cork soles :" at the same tim 
 endeavouring, I am told, to sit down 
 in the pool. Finding that I was quifc 
 insensible, and for the time a maniac 
 he humanely conducted me below. 
 
 There I remained until I got be 
 ter : suffering, whenever I was recom 
 mended to eat anything, an amount 
 anguish only second to that which 
 said to be endured by the apparent! 
 drowned, in the process of restoratio 
 
 o life. One gentleman on board had 
 letter of introduction to me from a 
 mutual friend in London. He sent it 
 elow with his card, on the morning 
 f the head- wind; and I was long 
 roubled with the idea that he might 
 e up, and well, and a hundred times 
 i-day expecting me to call upon him 
 n the saloon. I imagined him one of 
 hose cast-iron images I will not call 
 hem men who ask, with red faces 
 nd lusty voices, what sea-sickness 
 means, and whether it really is as bad 
 as it is represented to be. This was 
 ery torturing indeed ; and I don't 
 hink I ever felt such perfect gratifi- 
 ation and gratitude of heart, as I did 
 when I heard from the ship's doctor 
 hat he had been obliged to put a 
 arge mustard poultice on this very 
 gentleman's stomach. I date my re- 
 covery from the receipt of that 
 ntelligence. 
 
 It was materially assisted though, I 
 lave no doubt, by a heavy gale of 
 wind, which came slowly up at sunset, 
 when we were about ten days out, and 
 raged with gradually increasing fury 
 until morning, saving that it lulled 
 for an hour a little before midnight. 
 There was something in the unnatural 
 repose of that hour, and in the after 
 gathering of the storm, so inconceiv- 
 ably awful and tremendous, that its 
 bursting into full violence was almost 
 a relief. 
 
 The labouring of the ship in the 
 troubled sea on this night I shall never 
 forget. " Will it ever be worse than 
 this?" was a question I had often 
 heard asked, when everything was 
 sliding and bumping about, and when 
 it certainly did seem diificult to com- 
 prehend the possibility of anything 
 afloat being more disturbed, without 
 toppling over and going down. But 
 what the agitation of a steam-vessel is, 
 on a bad winter's night in the wild 
 Atlantic, it is impossible for the most 
 vivid imagination to conceive. To say
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 1) 
 
 that she is flung down on her side in 
 the waves, with her masts dipping into 
 them, and that, springing up again, 
 she rolls over on the other side, until 
 a heavy sea strikes her with the noise 
 of a hundred great guns, and hurls 
 her back that she stops, and stag- 
 gers, and shivers, as though stunned, 
 and then, with a violent throbbing at 
 her heart, darts onward like a monster 
 goaded into madness, to be beaten 
 down, and battered, and crushed, and 
 leaped on by the angry sea that 
 thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, and 
 wind, are all in fierce contention for 
 the mastery that every plank has its 
 groan, every nail its shriek, and every 
 drop of water in the great ocean its 
 howling voice is nothing. To say 
 that all is grand, and all appalling 
 and horrible in the last degree, is no- 
 thing. Words cannot express it. 
 Thoughts cannot convey it. Only a 
 dream can call it up again, in all its 
 fury, rage, and passion. 
 
 And yet, in the very midst of these 
 terrors, I was placed in a situation so 
 exquisitely ridiculous, that even then 
 I had as strong a sense of its absurdity 
 as I have now : and could no more 
 help laughing than I can at any other 
 comical incident, happening under 
 circumstances the most favourable to 
 its enjoyment. About midnight we 
 shipped a sea, which forced its way 
 through the skylights, burst open the 
 doors above, and came raging and 
 roaring down into the ladies' cabin, to 
 the unspeakable consternation of my 
 irife and a little Scotch lady who, by 
 the way, had previously sent a mes- 
 sage to the captain by the stewardess, 
 requesting him, with her compliments, 
 to have a steel conductor immediately 
 attached to the top of every mast, and 
 to the chimney, in order that the ship 
 might not be struck by lightning. 
 They, and the handmaid before-men- 
 tioned, being in such ecstacies of fear 
 that I scarcely knew what to do with 
 
 them, T naturally bethought myself of 
 some restorative or comfortable cor- 
 dial ; and nothing better occurring to 
 me, at the moment, than hot brandy- 
 and-water, I procured a tumbler-full 
 without delay. It being impossible to 
 stand or sit without holding on, they 
 were all heaped together in one corner 
 of a long sofa a fixture extending 
 entirely across the cabin where they 
 clung to each other in momentary 
 expectation of being drowned. When 
 I approached this place with my spe- 
 cific, and was about to administer it 
 with many consolatory expressions, to 
 the nearest sufferer, what was my dis- 
 may to see them all roll slowly down 
 to the other end ! And when I stag- 
 gered to that end, and held out the 
 glass once more, how immensely 
 baffled were my good intentions by 
 the ship giving another lurch, and 
 their all rolling back again ! I sup- 
 pose I dodged them up and down this 
 sofa, for at least a quarter of an hour, 
 without reaching them once ; and by 
 the time I did catch them, the brandy- 
 and- water was diminished, by constant 
 spilling, to a tea-spoonful. To com- 
 plete the group, it is necessary to re- 
 cognise in this disconcerted dodger, an 
 individual very pale from sea-sickness, 
 who had shaved his beard and brushed 
 his hair, last, at Liverpool : and whose 
 only articles of dress (linen not in- 
 cluded) were a pair of dreadnought 
 trousers ; a blue jacket, formerly ad- 
 mired upon the Thames at Richmond ; 
 no stockings; and one slipper. 
 
 Of the outrageous antics performed 
 by that ship next morning; which 
 made bed a practical joke, and getting 
 up, by any process short of falling 
 out, an impossibility ; I say nothing. 
 But anything like the utter dreari- 
 ness and desolation that met my eyes 
 when I, literally "tumbled up" on 
 deck at noon, I never saw. Ocean 
 and sky were all of one dull, heavy, 
 uniform, lead colour. There was no
 
 12 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 extent of prospect even over the 
 dreary waste that lay around us, for 
 the sea ran high, and the horizon 
 encompassed us like a large black 
 hoop. Viewed from the air, or some 
 tall bluff on shore, it would have been 
 imposing and stupendous no doubt ; 
 but seen from the wet and rolling 
 decks, it only impressed one giddily 
 and painfully. In the gale of last 
 night the life-boat had been crushed by 
 one blow of the sea like a walnut-shell ; 
 and there it hung dangling in the 
 air: a mere faggot of crazy boards. 
 The planking of the paddle-boxes had 
 been torn sheer away. The wheels 
 were exposed and bare ; and they 
 whirled and dashed their spray about 
 the decks at random. Chimney, 
 white with crusted salt; topmasts 
 struck ; stormsails set ; rigging all 
 knotted, tangled, wet, and drooping : 
 a gloomier picture it would be hard to 
 look upon. 
 
 I was now comfortably established 
 by courtesy in the ladies' cabin, where, 
 besides ourselves, there were only 
 four .other passengers. First, .'the 
 little Scotch lady before-mentioned, 
 on her way to join her husband at 
 New York, who had settled there 
 three years before. Secondly and 
 thirdly, an honest young Yorkshire- 
 man, connected with some American 
 house ; domiciled in that same city, 
 and carrying thither his beautiful 
 young wife to whom he had been 
 married but a fortnight, and who was 
 the fairest specimen of a comely 
 English country girl I have ever seen. 
 Fourthly, fifthly, and lastly, another 
 couple : newly-married too, if one 
 might judge from the endearments 
 they frequently interchanged : of 
 whom I know no more than that they 
 were rather a mysterious, run-away 
 kind of couple ; that the lady had , 
 great personal attractions also ; and ! 
 that the gentleman carried more guns ' 
 with him than Robinson Crusoe, wore 
 
 a shooting-coat, and had two great 
 dogs on board. < On further considera- 
 tion, I remember that he tried hot 
 roast pig and bottled ale as a cure 
 for sea-sickness ; and that he took 
 these remedies (usually in bed) day 
 after day, with astonishing perse- 
 verance. I may add, for the informa- 
 tion of the curious, that they decidedly 
 failed. 
 
 The weather continuing obstinately 
 and almost unprecedentedly bad, we 
 usually straggled into this cabin, more 
 or less faint and miserable, about an 
 hour before noon, and lay down on 
 the sofas to recover ; during which 
 interval, the captain would look in to 
 communicate the state of the wind, 
 the moral certainty of its changing 
 to-morrow (the weather is always 
 going to improve to-morrow, at sea), 
 the vessel's rate of sailing, and so 
 forth. Observatioas there were none 
 to tell us of, for there was no sun to 
 take them by. But a description of 
 one day will serve for all the rest. 
 Here it,is. 
 
 The captain being gone, we com- 
 pose ourselves to read, if the place be 
 light enough ; and if not, we doze 
 and talk alternately. At one, a bell 
 rings, and the stewardess comes down 
 with a steaming dish of baked pota- 
 toes, and another of roasted apples ; 
 and plates of pig's face, cold ham, salt 
 beef; or perhaps a smoking mess of 
 rare hot collops. We fall to upon 
 these dainties; eat as much as we 
 can (we have great appetites now) ; 
 and are as long as possible about it. 
 If the fire will burn (it will sometimes) 
 we are pretty cheerful. If it won't, 
 we all remark to each other that it 's 
 very cold, rub our hands, cover our- 
 selves with coats and cloaks, and lie 
 down again to doze, talk, and read 
 (provided as aforesaid), until dinner- 
 time. At five, another bell rings, 
 and the stewardess re-appears with 
 another dish of potatoes boiled this
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 13 
 
 time and store of hot meat of 
 various kinds : not forgetting the 
 roast pig, to be taken medicinally. 
 We sit down at table again (rather 
 more cheerfully than before) ; prolong 
 the meal with a rather mouldy des- 
 sert of apples, grapes, and oranges ; 
 and drink our wine and brandy-and- 
 water. The bottles and glasses are 
 still upon the table, and the oranges 
 and so forth are rolling about accord- 
 ing to their fancy and the ship's way, 
 when the doctor comes down, by 
 special nightly invitation, to join our 
 evening rubber : immediately on 
 whose arrival we make a party at 
 whist, and as it is a rough night and 
 the cards will not lie on the cloth, we 
 put the tricks in our pockets as we 
 take them. At whist we remain with 
 exemplary gravity (deducting a short 
 time for tea and toast) until eleven 
 o'clock, or thereabouts ; when the 
 captain comes down again, in a sou'- 
 wester hat tied under his chin, and a 
 pilot-coat: making the ground wet 
 where he stands. By this time the 
 card-playing is over, and the bottles 
 and glasses are again upon the table ; 
 and after an hour's pleasant conversa- 
 tion about the ship, the passengers, 
 and things in general, the captain 
 (who never goes to bed, and is never 
 
 out of humour) turns up his coat lover of disorder would desire to see. 
 
 are full of water, and all the cabins 
 are leaky. The ship's cook, secretly 
 swigging damaged whiskey, has been 
 found drunk ; and has been played 
 upon by the fire-engine until quite 
 sober. All the stewards have fallen 
 down stairs at various dinner-times, 
 and go about with plasters in various 
 places. The baker is ill, and so is 
 the pastry-cook. A new man, horribly 
 indisposed, has been required to fill 
 the place of the latter officer ; and 
 has been propped and jammed up 
 with empty casks in a little house 
 upon deck, and commanded to roll 
 out pie-crust, which he protests (being 
 highly bilious) it is death to him to 
 look at. News ! A dozen murders 
 on shore would lack the interest of 
 these slight incidents at sea. 
 
 Divided between our rubber and 
 such topics as these, we were running 
 (as we thought) into Halifax Harbour, 
 on the fifteenth night, with little 
 wind and a bright moon indeed, we 
 had made the Light at its outer en- 
 trance, and put the pilot in charge 
 when suddenly the ship struck upon 
 a bank of mud. An immediate rush 
 on deck took place of course; the 
 sides were crowded in an instant; and 
 for a few minutes we were in as lively 
 a state of confusion as the greatest 
 
 The passengers, and guns, and water- 
 casks, and other heavy matters, being 
 all huddled together aft, however, to 
 lighten her in the head, she was soon 
 got off; and after some driving on 
 
 towards an uncomfortable 
 
 line of 
 been 
 
 collar for the deck again; shakes 
 hands all round ; and goes laughing 
 out into the weather as merrily as to 
 a birth-day party. 
 
 As to daily news, there is no dearth 
 of that commodity. This passenger 
 
 is reported to have lost fourteen objects (whose vicinity had 
 pounds at Vingt-et-un in the saloon j announced very early in the disaster 
 yesterday ; and that passenger drinks by a loud cry of " Breakers a-head ! '') 
 his bottle of champagne every day, and j and much backing of paddles, and 
 how he does it (being only a clerk), i heaving of the lead into a constantly 
 nobody knows. The head engineer i decreasing depth of water, we dropped 
 has distinctly said that there never ! anchor in a strange outlandish-look- 
 was such times meaning weather i ing nook which nobody on board 
 and four good hands are ill, and have could recognise, although there was 
 given in, dead beat. Several berths land all about us, and so close that we
 
 14 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 could plainly see the waving branches 
 of the trees. 
 
 It was strange enough, in the silence 
 of midnight, and the dead stillness 
 that seemed to be created by the 
 sudden and unexpected stoppage of 
 the engine which had been clanking 
 and blasting in our ears incessantly 
 for BO many days, to watch the look 
 of blank astonishment expressed in 
 every face : beginning with the officers, 
 tracing it through all the passengers, 
 and descending to the very stokers 
 and furnace-men, who emerged from 
 below, one by one, and clustered to- 
 gether in a smoky group about the 
 hatchway of the engine-room, com- 
 paring notes in whispers. After 
 throwing up a few rockets and firing 
 signal-guns in the hope of being hailed 
 from the land, or at least of seeing a 
 light but without any other sight or 
 sound presenting itself it was deter- 
 mined to send a boat on shore. It 
 was amusing to observe how very kind 
 Borne of the passengers were, in volun- 
 teering to go ashore in this same boat : 
 for the general good, of course : not 
 by any means because they thought 
 the ship in an unsafe position, or con- 
 templated the possibility of her heel- 
 ing over in case the tide were running 
 out. Nor was it less amusing to 
 remark how desperately unpopular 
 the poor pilot became in one short 
 minute. He had had his passage out 
 from Liverpool, and during the whole 
 voyage had been quite a notorious 
 character, as a teller of anecdotes and 
 cracker of jokes. Yet here were the 
 very men who had laughed the loudest 
 at his jests, now nourishing their fists 
 in his face, loading him with impre- 
 cations, and defying him to his teeth 
 as a villain ! 
 
 The boat soon shoved off", with a 
 lantern and sundry blue lights on 
 board; and in less than an hour 
 returned ; the officer in command 
 bringing with him a tolerably tall 
 
 young tree, which he had plucked 
 up by the roots, to satisfy certain 
 distrustful passengers whose minds 
 misgave them that they were to be 
 imposed upon and shipwrecked, and 
 who would on no other terms believe 
 that he had been ashore, or had done 
 anything but fraudulently row a little 
 way into the mist, specially to deceive 
 them and compass their deaths. Our 
 captain had foreseen from the first 
 that we must be in a place called the 
 Eastern passage ; and so we were. 
 It was about the last place in the 
 world in which we had any business 
 or reason to be, but a sudden fog, and 
 some error on the pilot's part, were the 
 cause. We were surrounded by banks, 
 and rocks, and shoals of all kinds, 
 but had happily drifted, it seemed, 
 upon the only safe speck that was 
 to be found thereabouts. Eased 
 by this report, and by the assurance 
 that the tide was past the ebb, we 
 turned in at three o'clock in the 
 morning. 
 
 I was dressing about half-past nine 
 next day, when the noise above 
 hurried me on deck. When I had 
 left it over-night, it was dark, foggy, 
 and damp, and there were bleak hills 
 all round us. Now, we were gliding 
 down a smooth, broad stream, at the 
 rate of eleven miles an hour : our 
 colours flying gaily ; our crew rigged 
 out in their smartest clothes : our 
 officers in uniform again ; the sun 
 shining as on a brilliant April day 
 in England ; the land stretched out 
 on either side, streaked with light 
 patches of snow; white wooden houses; 
 people at their doors; telegraphs 
 working ; flags hoisted ; wharfs ap- 
 pearing ; ships ; quays crowded with 
 people : distant noises ; shouts ; men 
 and boys running down steep places 
 towards the pier : all more bright and 
 gay and fresh to our unused eyes 
 than words can paint them. We came 
 to a wharf, paved with uplifted faces ;
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 got alongside, and were made fast, 
 after some shouting and straining of 
 cables ; darted, a score of us along 
 the gangway, almost as soon as it 
 was thrust out to meet us, and be- 
 fore it had reached the ship and 
 leaped upon the firm glad earth 
 again! 
 
 I suppose this Halifax would have 
 appeared an Elysium, though it had 
 been a curiosity of ugly dulness. But 
 I carried away with me a most plea- 
 sant impression of the town and its 
 inhabitants, and have preserved it to 
 this hour. Nor was it without regret 
 that I came home, without having 
 found an opportunity of returning 
 thither, and once more shaking hands 
 with the friends I made that day. 
 
 It happened to be the opening of 
 the Legislative Council and General 
 Assembly, at which ceremonial the 
 forms observed on the commencement 
 of a new Session of Parliament in 
 England were so closely copied, and 
 so gravely presented on a small scale, 
 that it was like looking at West- 
 minster through the wrong end of a 
 telescope. The governor, as her 
 Majesty's representative, delivered 
 what may be called the Speech from 
 the Throne. He said what he had to 
 say manfully and well. The military 
 band outside the building struck up 
 " God save the Queen" with great 
 vigour before his Excellency had 
 quite finished ; the people shouted ; 
 the in's rubbed their hands ; the out's 
 shook their heads; the Government 
 party said there never was such a 
 good speech ; the opposition declared 
 there never was such a bad one ; the 
 Speaker and members of the House 
 of Assembly withdrew from the bar 
 to say a great deal among themselves 
 and do a little : and, in short, every- 
 thing went on, and promised to go on, 
 just as it does at home upon the like 
 occasions. 
 
 The town is built on the side of a 
 
 hill, the highest point being com- 
 manded by a strong fortress, not yet 
 quite finished. Several streets of 
 good breadth and appearance extend 
 from its summit to the water-side, and 
 are intersected by cross streets 
 running parallel with the river. The 
 houses are chiefly of wood. The 
 market is abundantly supplied : and 
 provisions are exceedingly cheap. 
 The weather being unusually mild at 
 that time for the season of the year, 
 their was no sleighing: but there 
 were plenty of those vehicles in yards 
 and bye-places, and some of them, 
 from the gorgeous quality of their 
 decorations, might have " gone on" 
 without alteration as triumphal cars in 
 a melo-drama at Astley's. The day 
 was uncommonly fine ; the air 
 bracing and healthful ; the whole 
 aspect of the town cheerful, thriving, 
 and industrious. 
 
 We lay there seven hours, to deliver 
 and exchange the mails. At length, 
 having collected all our bags and all 
 our passengers (including two or three 
 choice spirits, who, having indulged 
 too freely in oysters and champagne, 
 were found lying insensible on their 
 backs in unfrequented streets,) the 
 engines were again put in motion, and 
 we stood off for Boston. 
 
 Encountering squally weather again 
 in the Bay of Fundy, we tumbled and 
 rolled about as usual all that night 
 and all next day. On the next after- 
 noon, that is to say, on Saturday, 
 the twenty-second of January, an 
 American pilot-boat came alongside, 
 and soon afterwards the Britannia 
 steam-packet, from Liverpool, eighteen 
 days out, was telegraphed at Boston. 
 
 The indescribable interest with 
 which I strained my eyes, as the first 
 patches of American soil peeped like 
 molehills from the green sea, and fol- 
 lowed them, as they swelled, by slow 
 and almost imperceptible degrees, 
 into a continuous line of coast, can
 
 16 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 hardly be exaggerated. A sharp keen 
 wind blew dead against us; a hard 
 frost prevailed on shore ; and the cold 
 was most severe. Yet the air was so 
 intensely clear, and dry, and bright, 
 that the temperature was not only 
 endurable, but delicious. 
 
 How I remained on deck, staring 
 about me, until we came alongside 
 the dock, and how, though I had had 
 as many eyes as Argus, I should 
 have had them all wide open, and all 
 employed on new objects are topics 
 which I will not prolong this chapter 
 to discuss. If either will I more than 
 hint at my foreigner-like mistake, in 
 supposing that a party of most active 
 persons, who scrambled on board at 
 the peril of their lives as we 
 approached the wharf, were newsmen, 
 answering to that industrious class at 
 home ; whereas, despite the leathern 
 wallets of news slung about the necks 
 of some, and the broad sheets in the 
 hands of all, they were Editors, who 
 boarded ships in person (as one 
 gentleman in a worsted comforter 
 informed me), "because they liked 
 the excitement of it." Suffice it in 
 this place to say, that one of these 
 invaders, with a ready courtesy for 
 which I thank him here most grate- 
 fully, went on before to order rooms 
 at the hotel ; and that when I fol- 
 lowed, as I soon did, I found myself 
 rolling through the long passages 
 
 with an involuntary imitation of the 
 gait of Mr. T. P. Cooke, in a new 
 nautical melo-drama. 
 
 " Dinner, if you please," said I to 
 the waiter. 
 
 " When ? " said the waiter. 
 
 " As quick as possible," said I. 
 
 " Right away 1 " said the waiter. 
 
 After a moment's hesitation, I 
 answered, "No," at hazard. 
 
 " Not right away ? " cried the waiter, 
 with an amount of surprise that made 
 me start. 
 
 I looked at him doubtfully, and re- 
 turned, " No ; I would rather have it 
 in this private room. I like it very 
 much." 
 
 At this, I really thought the waiter 
 must have gone out of his mind : as 
 I believe he would have done, but 
 for the interposition of another man, 
 who whispered in his ear, " Directly." 
 
 " Well ! and that's a fact ! " said the 
 waiter, looking helplessly at me : 
 " Right away." 
 
 I saw now that " Right away" and 
 " Directly" were one and the same 
 thing. So I reversed my previous 
 answer, and sat down to dinner in ten 
 minutes afterwards ; and a capital 
 dinner it was. 
 
 The hotel (a very excellent one), is 
 called the Tremont House. It has 
 more galleries, colonnades, piazzas, 
 and passages than I can remember, or 
 the reader would believe.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN all the public establishments of 
 America, the utmost courtesy prevails. 
 Most of our Departments are suscep- 
 tible of considerable improvement in 
 this respect, but the Custom-house 
 above all others would do well to take 
 example from the United States and 
 render itself somewhat less odious and 
 offensive to foreigners. The servile 
 rapacity of the French officials is suf- 
 ficiently contemptible ; but there is a 
 surly boorish incivility about our 
 men, alike disgusting to all persons 
 who fall into their hands, and discre- 
 ditable to the nation that keeps such 
 ill-conditioned curs snarling about its 
 gates. 
 
 When I landed in America, I could 
 not help being strongly impressed 
 with the contrast their Custom-house 
 presented, and the attention, polite- 
 ness and good humour with which its 
 officers discharged their duty. 
 
 As we did not land at Boston, in 
 consequence of some detention at the 
 wharf, until after dark, I received my 
 first impressions of the city in walk- 
 ing down to the Custom-house on the 
 morning after our arrival, which was 
 Sunday. I am afraid to say, by the 
 way, how many offers of pews and 
 seats in church for that morning were 
 made to us, by formal note of invita- 
 tion, before we had half finished our 
 first dinner in America, but if I may 
 be allowed to make a moderate guess, 
 without going into nicer calculation, 
 I should say that at least as many 
 sittings were proffered us, as would 
 have accommodated a score or two of 
 grown-up families. The number of 
 creeds and forms of religion to which 
 
 No. 162. c 
 
 the pleasure of our company was re- 
 quested, was in very fair proportion. 
 
 Not being able, in the absence of 
 any change of clothes, to go to church 
 that day, we were compelled to decline 
 these kindnesses, one and all ; and I 
 was reluctantly obliged to forego the 
 delight of hearing Dr. Channing, who 
 happened to preach that morning for 
 the first time in a very long interval. 
 I mention the name of this distin- 
 guished and accomplished man (with 
 whom I soon afterwards had the 
 pleasure of becoming personally ac- 
 quainted), that I may have the grati- 
 fication of recording my humble 
 tribute of admiration and respect for 
 his high abilities and character ; and 
 for the bold philanthropy with which 
 he has ever opposed himself to that 
 most hideous blot and foul disgrace 
 Slavery. 
 
 To return to Boston. "When I got 
 into the streets upon this Sunday 
 morning, the air was so clear, the 
 houses were so bright and gay; the 
 signboards were painted in such 
 gaudy colours ; the gilded letters 
 were so very golden ; the bricks were 
 so very red, the stone was so very 
 white, the blinds and area railings 
 were so very green, the knobs and 
 plates upon the street doors so mar- 
 vellously bright and twinkling; and 
 all' so slight and unsubstantial in 
 appearance that every thoroughfare 
 in the city looked exactly like a scene 
 in a pantomime. It rarely happens 
 in the business streets that a trades- 
 man, if I may venture to call anybody 
 a tradesman, where everybody is a 
 merchant, resides above his store ; so
 
 18 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 that many occupations are often car- 
 ried on in one house, and the whole 
 front is covered with boards and in- 
 scriptions. As I walked along, I 
 kept glancing up at these boards, 
 confidently expecting to see a few of 
 them change into something ; and I 
 never turned a corner suddenly with- 
 out looking out for the clown and 
 pantaloon, who, I had no doubt, were 
 hiding in a doorway or. behind some 
 pillar close at hand. As to Harlequin 
 and Columbine, I discovered immedi- 
 ately that they lodged (they are 
 always looking after lodgings in a 
 pantomime) at a very small clock- 
 maker's, one story high, near the 
 hotel ; which, in addition to various 
 symbols and devices, almost covering 
 the whole front, had a great dial 
 hanging out to be jumped through, 
 of course. 
 
 The suburbs are, if possible, even 
 more unsubstantial-looking than the 
 city. The white wooden houses (so 
 white that it makes one wink to look 
 at them), with their green jalousie 
 blinds, are so sprinkled and dropped 
 about in all directions, without seem- 
 ing to have any root at all in the 
 ground ; and the small churches and 
 chapels are so prim, and bright, and 
 highly varnished ; that I almost be- 
 lieved the whole affair could be taken 
 up piecemeal like a child's toy, and 
 crammed into a little box. 
 
 The city is a beautiful one, and 
 cannot fail, I should imagine, to im- 
 press all strangers very favourably. 
 The private dwelling-houses are, for 
 the most part, large and elegant ; the 
 shops extremely good ; and the public 
 buildings handsome. The State House 
 is built upon the summit of a hill, 
 which rises gradually at first, and 
 afterwards by a steep ascent, almost 
 from the water's edge. In front is a 
 preen inclosnre, called the Common. 
 The site is beautiful : and from the 
 top there is a charming panoramic 
 
 view of the whole town and neigh- 
 bourhood. In addition to a variety 
 of commodious offices, it contains 
 two handsome chambers: in one the 
 House of Representatives of the State 
 hold their meetings : in the other, 
 the Senate. Such proceedings as I 
 saw here, were conducted with perfect 
 gravity and decorum ; and were cer- 
 tainly calculated to inspire attention 
 and respect. 
 
 There is no doubt that much of the 
 intellectual refinement and superiority 
 of Boston, is referable to the quiet 
 influence of the University of Cam- 
 bridge, which is within three or four 
 miles of the city. The resident pro- 
 fessors at that university are gentle- 
 men of learning and varied attain- 
 ments ; and are, without one exception 
 that I can call to mind, men who 
 would shed a grace upon, and do 
 honour to, any society in the civilised 
 world. Many of the resident gentry 
 in Boston and its neighbourhood, and 
 I think I am not mistaken in adding, 
 a large majority of those who are at- 
 tached to the liberal professions there, 
 have been educated at this same 
 school. Whatever the defects of 
 American universities may be, they 
 disseminate no prejudices ; rear no 
 bigots ; dig up the buried ashes of no 
 old superstitions; never interpose 
 between the people and their improve- 
 ment; exclude no man because of 
 bis religious opinions ; above all, in 
 their whole course of study and in- 
 struction, recognise a world, and a 
 broad one too, lying beyond the 
 college walls. 
 
 It was a source of inexpressible 
 pleasure to me to observe the almost 
 mperceptible, but not less certain 
 effect, wrought by this institution 
 among the small community of 
 Boston; and to note at every turn 
 the humanising tastes and desires it 
 has engendered ; the affectionate 
 friendships to which it has given rise;
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 19 
 
 the amount of vanity and prejudice it 
 has dispelled. The golden calf they 
 worship at Boston is a pigmy com- 
 pared with the giant effigies set up in 
 other parts of that vast counting- 
 house which lies beyond the Atlantic; 
 and the almighty dollar sinks into 
 something comparatively insignifi- 
 cant, amidst a whole Pantheon of 
 better gods. 
 
 Above all, I sincerely believe that 
 the public institutions and charities 
 of this capital of Massachusetts are 
 as nearly perfect, as the most con- 
 siderate wisdom, benevolence, and 
 humanity, can make them. I never 
 in my life was more affected by the 
 contemplation of happiness, under 
 circumstances of privation and be- 
 reavement, than in my visits to these 
 establishments. 
 
 It is a great and pleasant feature 
 of all such institutions in America, 
 that they are either supported by the 
 State or assisted by the State ; or (in 
 the event of their not needing its 
 helping hand) that they act in con- 
 cert with it, and are emphatically the 
 people's. I cannot but think, with a 
 view to the principle and its tendency 
 to elevate or depress the character of 
 the industrious classes, that a Public 
 Charity is immeasurably better than 
 a Private Foundation, no matter how 
 munificently the latter may be en- 
 dowed. In our own country, where 
 it has not, until within these later 
 days, been a very popular fashion with 
 governments to display any extraordi- 
 nary regard for the great mass of the 
 people or to recognise their existence 
 as improveable creatures, private 
 charities, unexampled in the history 
 of the earth, have arisen, to do an in- 
 calculable amount of good among the 
 destitute and afflicted. But the 
 government of the country, having 
 neither act nor part in them, is not 
 in the receipt of any portion of the 
 gratitude they inspire : and, offering 
 
 very little shelter or relief beyond 
 that which is to be found in the work- 
 house and the jail, has come, not un- 
 naturally, to be looked upon by the 
 poor rather as a stern master, quick 
 to correct and punish, than a kind 
 protector, merciful and vigilant in 
 their hour of need. 
 
 The maxim that out of evil cometh 
 good, is strongly illustrated by these 
 establishments at home ; as the re- 
 cords of the Prerogative Office in 
 Doctors' Commons can abundantly 
 prove. Some immensely rich old 
 gentleman or lady, surrounded by 
 needy relatives, makes, upon a low 
 average, a will a-week. The old gentle- 
 man or lady, never very remarkable 
 in the best of times for good temper, 
 is full of aches and pains from head to 
 foot ; full of fancies and caprices ; full 
 of spleen, distrust, suspicion, and 
 dislike. To cancel old wills, and in- 
 vent new ones, is at last the sole 
 business of such a testator's existence ; 
 and relations and friends (some of 
 whom have been bred up distinctly to 
 inherit a large share of the property, 
 and have been, from their cradles, 
 specially disqualified from devoting 
 themselves to any useful pursuit, on 
 that account) are so often and so un- 
 expectedly and summarily cut off, 
 and re-instated, and cut off again, that 
 the whole family, down to the remotest 
 cousin, is kept in a perpetual fever. 
 At length it becomes plain that the 
 old lady or gentleman has not long to 
 live; and the plainer this becomes, 
 the more clearly the old lady or gentle- 
 man perceives that everybody is in a 
 conspiracy against their poor old dying 
 relative ; wherefore the old lady or 
 gentleman makes another last will 
 positively the last this time conceals 
 the same in a china tea-pot, and ex- 
 pires next day. Then it turns out, 
 that the whole of the real and per- 
 sonal estate is divided between half-a- 
 dozen charities; and that the dead 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 and gone testator has in pure spite I fine winter morning : an Italian sky 
 
 above, and the air so clear and bright 
 on every side, that even my eyes, 
 which are none of the best, could 
 follow the minute lines and scraps of 
 tracery in distant buildings. Like most 
 other public institutions in America, 
 of the same class, it stands a mile or 
 two without the town, in a cheerful 
 healthy spot ; and is an airy, spacious, 
 handsome edifice. It is built upon a 
 height, commanding the harbour. 
 When I paused for a moment at the 
 door, and marked how fresh and free 
 the whole scene was what sparkling 
 bubbles glanced upon the waves, and 
 welled up every moment to the sur- 
 face, as though the world below, like 
 that above, were radiant with the 
 bright day, and gushing over in its 
 fulness of light : when I gazed from 
 sail to sail away upon a ship at sea, a 
 tiny speck of shining white, the only 
 cloud upon the still, deep, distant 
 blue and, turning, saw a blind boy 
 with his sightless face addressed that 
 way, as though he too had some sense 
 within him of the glorious distance : 
 I felt a kind of sorrow that the place 
 should be so very light, and a strange 
 wish that for his sake it were darker. 
 It was but momentary, of course, and 
 a mere fancy, but I felt it keenly for 
 all that. 
 
 The children were at their daily 
 tasks jn different rooms, except a few 
 who were already dismissed, and were 
 at play. Here, as in many institu- 
 tions, no uniform is worn ; and I was 
 very glad of it, for two reasons. 
 Firstly, because I am sure that 
 nothing but senseless custom and 
 want of thought would reconcile us to 
 the liveries and badges we are so fond 
 of at home. Secondly, because the 
 absence of these things presents each 
 child to the visitor in his or her own 
 proper character, with its individuality 
 unimpaired ; not lost in a dull, ugly, 
 monotonous repetition of the same 
 
 helped to do a great deal of good, at 
 the cost of an immense amount of 
 evil passion and misery. 
 
 The Perkins Institution and Massa- 
 chusetts Asylum for the Blind, at 
 Boston, is superintended by a body of 
 trustees who make an annual report 
 to the corporation. The indigent blind 
 of that state are admitted gratuitously. 
 Those from the adjoining state of 
 Connecticut, or from the states of 
 Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire, 
 are admitted by a warrant from the 
 state to which they respectively be- 
 long ; or, failing that, must find 
 security among their friends, for the 
 payment of about twenty pounds 
 English for their first year's board 
 and instruction, and ten for the second. 
 " After the first year," say the trustees, 
 " an account current will be opened 
 with each pupil ; he will be charged 
 with the actual cost of his board, 
 which will not exceed two dollars per 
 week;" a trifle more than eight shil- 
 lings English; " and he will be credited 
 with the amount paid for him by the 
 state, or by his friends ; also with his 
 earnings over and above the cost of 
 the stock which he uses ; so that all 
 his earnings over one dollar per week 
 will be his own. By the third year it 
 will be known whether his earnings 
 will more than pay the actual cost of 
 his board ; if they should, he will have 
 it at his option to remain and receive 
 his earnings, or not. Those who prove 
 unable to earn their own livelihood 
 will not be retained ; as it is not de- 
 sirable to convert the establishment 
 into an almshouse, or to retain any 
 but working bees in the hive. Those 
 who by physical or mental imbecility 
 are disqualified for work, are thereby 
 disqualified from being members of 
 an industrious community ; and they 
 can be better provided for in establish- 
 ments fitted for the infirm." 
 
 I went to see this place one very
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 21 
 
 unmeaning garb : which is really an 
 important consideration. The wis- 
 dom of encouraging a little harmless 
 pride in personal appearance even 
 among the blind, or the whimsical 
 absurdity of considering charity and 
 leather breeches inseparable com- 
 panions, as we do, requires no 
 comment. 
 
 Good order, cleanliness, and com- 
 fort, pervaded every corner of the 
 building. The various classes, who 
 were gathered round their teachers, 
 answered the questions put to them 
 with readiness and intelligence, and 
 in a spirit of cheerful contest for pre- 
 cedence which pleased me very much. 
 Those who were at play, were glee- 
 some and noisy as other children. 
 More spiritual and affectionate friend- 
 ships appeared to exist among them, 
 than would be found among other 
 young persons suffering under no 
 deprivation ; but this I expected and 
 was prepared to find. It is a part of 
 the great scheme of Heaven's merciful 
 consideration for the afflicted. 
 
 In a portion of the building, set 
 apart for that purpose, are workshops 
 for blind persons whose education is 
 finished, and who have acquired a 
 trade, but who cannot pursue it in an 
 ordinary manufactory because of their 
 deprivation. Several people were at 
 work here ; making brushes, mat- 
 tresses, and so forth ; and the 'cheer- 
 fulness, industry, and good order 
 discernible in every other part of the 
 building, extended to this department 
 also. 
 
 On the ringing of a bell, the pupils 
 all repaired, without any guide or 
 leader, to a spacious music-hall, where 
 they took their seats in an orchestra 
 erected for that purpose, and listened 
 with manifest delight to a voluntary 
 on the organ, played by one of them- 
 selves. At its conclusion, the per- 
 former, a boy of nineteen or twenty, 
 gave place to a girl ; and to her 
 
 accompaniment they all sang a hymn, 
 and afterwards a sort of chorus. It 
 was very sad to look upon and hear 
 them, happy though their condition 
 unquestionably was ; and I saw that 
 one blind girl, who (being for the 
 time deprived of the use of her limbs, 
 by illness) sat close beside me with 
 her face towards them, wept silently 
 the while she listened. 
 
 It is strange to watch the faces of 
 the blind, and see how free they are 
 from all concealment of what is 
 passing in their thoughts ; observing 
 which, a man with eyes may blush to 
 contemplate the mask he wears. 
 Allowing for one shade of anxious 
 expression which is never absent from 
 their countenances, and the like of 
 which we may readily detect in our 
 own faces if we try to feel our way in 
 the dark, every idea, as it rises within 
 them, is expressed with the lightning's 
 speed, and nature's truth. If the 
 company at a rout, or drawing-room 
 at court, could only for one time be 
 as unconscious of the eyes upon them 
 as blind men and women are, what 
 secrets would come out, and what a 
 worker of hypocrisy this sight, the 
 loss of which we so much pity, would 
 appear to be ! 
 
 The thought occurred to me as I 
 sat down in another room, before a 
 girl, blind, deaf, and dumb ; desti- 
 tute of smell ; and nearly so, of taste : 
 before a fair young creature with 
 every human faculty, and hope, and 
 power of goodness and affection, 
 inclosed within her delicate frame, 
 and but one outward sense the 
 sense of touch. There she was, before 
 me ; built up, as it were, in a marble 
 cell, impervious to any ray of light, 
 or particle of sound ; with her poor 
 white hand peeping through a chink 
 in the wall, beckoning to some good 
 man for help, that an Immortal soul 
 might be awakened. 
 
 Long before I looked upon her, the
 
 22 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 help had come. Her face was radiant 
 with intelligence and pleasure. Her 
 hair, braided by her own hands, was 
 bound about a head, whose intellectual 
 capacity and development were beau- 
 tifully expressed in its graceful out- 
 line, and its broad open brow; her 
 dress, arranged by herself, was a pat- 
 tern of neatness and simplicity ; the 
 work she had knitted, lay beside her ; 
 her writing-book was on the desk she 
 leaned upon. From the mournful 
 ruin of such bereavement, there had 
 slowly risen up this gentle, tender, 
 guileless, grateful-hearted being. 
 
 Like other inmates of that house, 
 she had a green ribbon bound round 
 her eyelids. A doll she had dressed 
 lay near upon the ground. I took it 
 up, and saw that she had made a green 
 fillet such as she wore herself, and 
 fastened it about its mimic eyes. 
 
 She was seated in a little enclosure, 
 made by school-desks and forms, writ- 
 ing her daily journal. But soon finish- 
 ing this pursuit, she engaged in an 
 animated communication with a 
 teacher who sat beside her. This was 
 a favourite mistress with the poor 
 pupil. If she could see the face of her 
 fair instructress, she would not love 
 her less, I am sure. 
 
 I have extracted a few disjointed 
 fragments of her history, from an ac- 
 count, written by that one man who 
 has made her what she is. It is a 
 very beautiful and touching narrative; 
 and I wish I could present it entire. 
 
 Her name is Laura Bridgman. "She 
 was born in Hanover, Jf ew Hampshire, 
 on the twenty-first of December, 1829. 
 She is described as having been a very 
 sprightlyand pretty infant, with bright 
 blue eyes. She was, however, so puny 
 and feeble until she was a year and a 
 half old, that her parents hardly hoped 
 to rear her. She was subject to severe 
 fits, which seemed to rack her frame 
 almost beyond her power of endur- 
 ance : and life was held by the feeblest 
 
 tenure: but when a year and a half 
 old, she seemed to rally; the dangerous 
 symptoms subsided; and at twenty 
 months old, she was perfectly well. 
 
 " Then her mental powers, hitherto 
 stinted in their growth, rapidly deve- 
 loped themselves ; and during the 
 four months of health which she en- 
 joyed, she appears (making due allow- 
 ance for a fond mother's account) to 
 have displayed a considerable degree 
 of intelligence. 
 
 " But suddenly she sickened again ; 
 her disease raged with great violence 
 during five weeks, when her eyes and 
 ears were inflamed, suppurated, and 
 their contents were discharged. But 
 though sight and hearing were gone 
 for ever, the poor child's sufferings 
 were not ended. The fever raged 
 during seven weeks ; for five months 
 she was kept in bed in a darkened 
 room ; it was a year before she could 
 walk unsupported, and two years be- 
 fore she could sit up all day. It was 
 now observed that her sense of smell 
 was almost entirely destroyed; and, 
 consequently, that her taste was much 
 blunted. 
 
 " It was not until four years of age 
 that the poor child's bodily health 
 seemed restored, and she was able to 
 enter upon her apprenticeship of life 
 and the world. 
 
 " But what a situation was hers ! 
 The darkness and the silence of the 
 tomb were around her : no mother's 
 smile called forth her answering 
 smile, no father's voice taught her to 
 imitate his sounds : they, brothers 
 and sisters, were but forms of matter 
 which resisted her touch, but which 
 differed not from the furniture of the 
 house, save in warmth, and in the 
 power of locomotion ; and not even 
 in these respects from the dog and 
 the cat. 
 
 " But the immortal spirit which 
 had been implanted within her could 
 not die, nor be maimed nor muti-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 23 
 
 lated ; and though most of its 
 avenues of communication with the 
 world were cut off, it began to mani- 
 fest itself through the others. As 
 soon as she could walk, she began to 
 explore the room, and then the house ; 
 she became familiar with the form, 
 density, weight, and heat, of every 
 article she could lay her hands upon. 
 She followed her mother, and felt her 
 hands and arms, as she was occupied 
 about the house ; and her disposition 
 to imitate, led her to repeat every- 
 thing herself. She even learned to 
 sew a little, and to knit." 
 
 The reader will scarcely need to be 
 told, however, that the opportunities 
 of communicating with her, were 
 very, very limited ; and that the 
 moral effects of her wretched state 
 soon began to appear. Those who 
 cannot be enlightened by reason, can 
 only be controlled by force ; and this, 
 coupled with her great privations, 
 must soon have reduced her to a worse 
 condition than that of the beasts that 
 perish, but for timely and unhoped- 
 for aid. 
 
 " At this time, I was so fortunate as 
 to hear of the child, and immediately 
 hastened to Hanover to see her. I 
 found her with a well-formed figure ; 
 a strongly-marked, nervous-sanguine 
 temperament ; a large and beautifully- 
 shaped head ; and the whole system 
 in healthy action. The parents were 
 easily induced to consent to her 
 coming to Boston, and on the 4th of 
 October, 1837, they brought her to the 
 Institution. 
 
 " For a while, she was much bewil- 
 dered ; and after waiting about two 
 weeks, until she became acquainted 
 with her new locality, and somewhat 
 familiar with the inmates, the at- 
 tempt was made to give her know- 
 ledge of arbitrary signs, by which 
 she could interchange thoughts with 
 others. 
 
 " There was one of two wavs to be 
 
 adopted : either to go on to build up 
 a language of signs on the basis of 
 the natural language which she had 
 already commenced herself, or to 
 teach her the purely arbitrary 
 language in common use : that is, to 
 give her a sign for every individual 
 thing, or to give her a knowledge of 
 letters by combination of which she 
 might express her idea of the exist- 
 ence, and the mode and condition of 
 existence, of any thing. The former 
 would have been easy, but very inef- 
 fectual ; the latter seemed very diffi- 
 cult, but, if accomplished, very 
 effectual. I determined therefore to 
 try the latter. 
 
 " The first experiments were made 
 by taking articles in common use, 
 such as knives, forks, spoons, keys, 
 &c., and pasting upon them labels 
 with their names printed in raised 
 letters. These she felt very carefully, 
 and soon, of course, distinguished that 
 the crooked lines spoon, differed as 
 much from the crooked lines k e y, as 
 the spoon differed from the key in 
 form. 
 
 " Then small detached labels, with 
 the same words printed upon them, 
 were put into her hands; and she 
 soon observed that they were similar 
 to the ones pasted on the articles. 
 She showed her perception of this 
 similarity by laying the label key 
 upon the key, and the label spoon 
 upon the spoon. She was encouraged 
 here by the natural sign of approba- 
 tion, patting on the head. 
 
 " The same process was then re- 
 peated with all the articles which she 
 could handle; and she very easily 
 learned to place the proper labels 
 upon them. It was evident, however, 
 that the only intellectual exercise was 
 that of imitation and memory. She 
 recollected that the label book was 
 placed upon a book, and she 
 repeated the process first from imi- 
 tation, next from memory, with only
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 the motive of love of approbation, 
 but apparently without the intellec- 
 tual perception of any relation between 
 the things. 
 
 " After a while, instead of labels, 
 the individual letters were given to 
 her on detached bits of paper : they 
 were arranged side by side so as to 
 spell book, key, &c. ; then they were 
 mixed up in a heap and a sign was 
 made for her to arrange them herself, 
 so as to express the words book, key, 
 &c. ; and she did so. 
 
 "Hitherto, the process had been 
 mechanical, and the success about as 
 great as teaching a very knowing dog 
 a variety of tricks. The poor child had 
 sat in mute amazement, and patiently 
 imitated everything her teacher did ; 
 but now the truth began to flash upon 
 her : her intellect began to work : 
 she perceived that here was a way by 
 which she could herself make up a 
 sign of anything that was in her own 
 mind, and show it to another mind ; 
 and at once her countenance lighted 
 up with a human expression : it was 
 no longer a dog, or parrot : it was an 
 immortal spirit, eagerly seizing upon 
 a new link of union with other spirits ! 
 I could almost fix upon the moment 
 when this truth dawned upon her 
 mind, and spread its light to her 
 countenance ; I saw that the great 
 obstacle was overcome; and that 
 henceforward nothing but patient and 
 persevering, but plain and straight- 
 forward, efforts were to be used. 
 
 " The result thus far, is quickly 
 related, and easily conceived ; but not 
 so was the process ; for many weeks 
 of apparently unprofitable labour were 
 passed before it was effected. 
 
 " When it was said above, that a 
 sign was made, it was intended to say, 
 that the action was performed by her 
 teacher, she feeling his hands, and 
 then imitating the motion. 
 
 " The next step was to procure a 
 set of metal types, with the different 
 
 letters of the alphabet cast upon their 
 ends; also a board, in which were 
 square holes, into which holes she 
 could set the types; so that the 
 letters on their ends could alone be 
 felt above the surface. 
 
 " Then, on any article being handed 
 to her, for instance, a pencil, or a 
 watch, she would select the compo- 
 nent letters, and arrange them on her 
 board, and read them with apparent 
 pleasure, 
 
 "She was exercised for several weeks 
 in this way, until her vocabulary be- 
 came extensive ; and then the impor- 
 tant step was taken of teaching her 
 how to represent the different letters 
 by the position of her fingers, instead 
 of the cumbrous apparatus of the 
 board and types. She accomplished 
 this speedily and easily, for her intel- 
 lect had begun to work in aid of her 
 teacher, and her progress was rapid. 
 
 " This was the period, about three 
 months after she had commenced, 
 that the first report of her case was 
 made, in which it is stated that ' she 
 has just learned the manual alphabet, 
 as used by the deaf mutes, and it is a 
 subject of delight and wonder to see 
 how rapidly, correctly, and eagerly, 
 she goes on with her labours. Her 
 teacher gives her a new object, for 
 instance, a pencil, first lets her exa- 
 mine it, and get an idea of its use, 
 then teaches her how to spell it by 
 making the signs for the letters with 
 her own fingers : the child grasps her 
 hand, and feels her fingers> as the 
 different letters are formed ; she turns 
 her head a little on one side, like a 
 person listening closely ; her lips are 
 apart ; she seems scarcely to breathe ; 
 and her countenance, at first anxious, 
 gradually changes to a smile, as she 
 comprehends the lesson. She then 
 holds up her tiny fingers, and spells 
 the word in the manual alphabet; 
 next, she takes her types and arranges 
 her letters; and last, to make sure
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 that she is right, she takes the whole 
 of the types composing the word, and 
 places them upon or in contact with 
 the pencil, or whatever the object 
 may be.' 
 
 " The whole of the succeeding year 
 was passed in gratifying her eager 
 inquiries for the names of every object 
 which she could possibly handle; in 
 exercising her in the use of the manual 
 alphabet ; in extending in every pos- 
 sible way her knowledge of the phy- 
 sical relations of things : and in proper 
 care of her health. 
 
 " At the end of the year a report of 
 her case was made, from which the 
 following is an extract. 
 
 " 'It has been ascertained beyond 
 the possibility of doubt, that she can- 
 not see a ray of light, cannot hear the 
 least sound, and never exercises her 
 sense of smell, if she have any. Thus 
 her mind dwells in darkness and still- 
 ness, as profound as that of a closed 
 tomb at midnight. Of beautiful sights, 
 and sweet sounds, and pleasant odours, 
 she has no conception ; nevertheless, 
 she seems as happy and playful as a 
 bird or a lamb ; and the employment of 
 her intellectual faculties, or the ac- 
 quirement of a new idea, gives her a 
 vivid pleasure, which is plainly marked 
 in her expressive features. She never 
 seems to repine, but has all the buoy- 
 ancy and gaiety of childhood. She is 
 fond of fun and frolic, and when play- 
 ing with the rest of the children, her 
 shrill laugh sounds loudest of the 
 group. 
 
 " ' When left alone, she seems very 
 happy if she have her knitting or 
 sewing, and will busy herself for hours : 
 if she have no occupation, she evi- 
 dently amuses herself by imaginary 
 dialogues, or by recalling past impres- 
 sions; she counts with her fingers, 
 or spells out names of things which 
 she has recently learned, in the 
 manual alphabet of the deaf mutes. 
 In this lonely self-communion she 
 
 seems to reason, reflect, and argue : 
 if she spell a word wrong with the 
 fingers of her right hand, she instantly 
 strikes it with her left, as her teacher 
 does, in sign of disapprobation; if 
 right, then she pats herself upon the 
 head, and looks pleased. She some- 
 times purposely spells a word wrong 
 with the left hand, looks roguish for 
 a moment and laughs, and then with 
 the right hand strikes the left, as if 
 to correct it. 
 
 " ' During the year she has attained 
 great dexterity in the use of the 
 manual alphabet of the deaf mutes ; 
 and she spells out the words and sen- 
 tences which she knows, so fast and 
 so deftly, that only those accustomed 
 to this language can follow with the 
 eye the rapid motions of her fingers. 
 
 " ' But wonderful as is the rapidity 
 with which she writes her thoughts 
 upon the air, still more so is the ease 
 and accuracy with which she reads the 
 words thus written by another; grasp- 
 ing their hands in hers, and following 
 every movement of their fingers, as 
 letter after letter conveys their mean- 
 ing to her mind. It is in this way 
 that she converses with her blind 
 playmates, and nothing can more 
 forcibly show the power of mind in 
 forcing matter to its purpose than a 
 meeting between them. For if great 
 talent and skill are necessary for two 
 pantomimes to paint their thoughts 
 and feelings by the movements of the 
 body, and the expression of the coun- 
 tenance, how much greater the diffi- 
 culty when darkness shrouds them 
 both, and the one can hear no sound ! 
 
 " ' When Laura is walking through 
 a passage-way, with her hands spread 
 before her, she knows instantly every 
 one she meets, and passes them with 
 a sign of recognition : but if it be a 
 girl of her own age, and especially if 
 it be one of her favourites, there is 
 instantly a bright smile of recogni- 
 tion, and a twining of arms, a grasping
 
 26 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 of hands, and 'a swift telegraphing 
 upon the tiny fingers; whose rapid 
 evolutions convey the thoughts and 
 feelings from the outposts of one mind 
 to those of the other. There are 
 questions and answers, exchanges of 
 joy or sorrow, there are kissings and 
 partings, justas between little children 
 with all their senses.' 
 
 " During this year, and six months 
 after she had left home, her mother 
 came to visit her, and the scene of 
 their meeting was an interesting 
 one. 
 
 " The mother stood some time, 
 gazing with overflowing eyes upon 
 her unfortunate child, who all uncon- 
 scious of her presence, was playing 
 about the room. Presently Laura ran 
 against her, and at once began feeling 
 her hands, examining her dress, and 
 trying to find out if she knew her ; 
 but not succeeding in this, she turned 
 away as from a stranger, and the poor 
 woman could not conceal the pang 
 she felt, at finding that her beloved 
 child did not know her. 
 
 " She then gave Laura a string of 
 beads which she used to wear at 
 home, which were recognised by the 
 child at once, who, with much joy, 
 put them around her neck, and sought 
 me eagerly to say she understood the 
 string was from her home. 
 
 " The mother now tried to caress 
 her, but poor Laura repelled her, pre- 
 ferring to be with her acquaintances. 
 
 "Another article from home was 
 now given her, and she began to look 
 much interested ; she examined the 
 stranger much closer, and gave me to 
 understand that she knew she came 
 from Hanover ; she even endured her 
 caresses, but would leave her with 
 indifference at the slightest signal. 
 The distress of the mother was now 
 painful to behold; for, although she 
 had feared that she should not be 
 recognised, the painful reality of being 
 treated with cold indifference by 
 
 a darling child, was too much for 
 woman's nature to bear. 
 
 " After a while, on the mother 
 taking hold of her again, a vague 
 idea seemed to flit acrossLaura's mind, 
 that this could not be a stranger ; she 
 therefore felt her hands very eagerly, 
 while her countenance assumed an 
 expression of intense interest; she 
 became very pale, and then suddenly 
 red; hope seemed struggling with 
 doubt and anxiety, and never were 
 contending emotions more strongly 
 painted upon the human face : at this 
 moment of painful uncertainty, the 
 mother drew her close to her side, 
 and kissed her fondly, when at once 
 the truth flashed upon the child, and 
 all mistrust and anxiety disappeared 
 from her face, as with an expression 
 of exceeding joy she eagerly nestled 
 to the bosom of her parent, and 
 yielded herself to her fond embraces. 
 
 " After this, the beads were all un- 
 heeded; the playthings which were 
 offered to her were utterly disregarded; 
 her playmates, for whom but a mo- 
 ment before she gladly left the 
 stranger, now vainly strove to pull 
 her from her mother; and though 
 she yielded her usual instantaneous 
 obedience to my signal to follow me, 
 it was evidently with painful reluc- 
 tance. She clung close to me, as if 
 bewildered and fearful ; and when, 
 after a moment, I took her to her 
 mother, she sprang to her arms, and 
 clung to her with eager joy. 
 
 " The subsequent parting between 
 them, showed alike the affection, the 
 intelligence, and the resolution of the 
 child. 
 
 " Laura accompanied her mother 
 to the door, clinging close to her all 
 the way, until they arrived at the 
 threshold, where she paused, and felt 
 around ; to ascertain who was near 
 her. Perceiving the matron, of whom 
 she is very fond, she grasped her with 
 one hand, holding on convulsively
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 27 
 
 to her mother with the other; and 
 thus she stood for a moment : then 
 she dropped her mother's hand ; put 
 her handkerchief to her eyes; and 
 turning round, clung sobbing to the 
 matron ; while her mother departed, 
 with emotions as deep as those of her 
 child. 
 
 " It has been remarked in former 
 reports, that she can distinguish dif- 
 ferent degrees of intellect in others, 
 and that she soon regarded almost 
 with contempt, a newcomer, when, 
 after a few days, she discovered her 
 weakness of mind. This unamiable 
 part of her character has been more 
 strongly developed during the past 
 year. 
 
 " She chooses for her friends and 
 companions, those children who are 
 intelligent, and can talk best with 
 her ; and she evidently dislikes to be 
 with those who are deficient in intel- 
 lect, unless, indeed, she can make 
 them serve her purposes, which she 
 is evidently inclined to do. She takes j 
 advantage of them, and makes them 
 wait upon her, in a manner that she : 
 knows she could not exact of others ; j 
 and in various ways she shows her 
 Saxon blood. 
 
 " She is fond of having other child- 
 ren noticed and caressed by the 
 teachers, and those whom she respects ; 
 but this must not be carried too far, 
 or she becomes jealous. She wants 
 to have her share, which, if not the 
 lion's, is the greater part ; and if she 
 does not get it, she says, ' My mother 
 will love me.' 
 
 "Her tendency to imitation is so 
 strong, that it leads her to actions 
 which must be entirely incomprehen- 
 sible to her, and which can give 
 her no other pleasure than the grati- 
 fication of an internal faculty. She 
 has been known to sit for half an 
 hour, holding a book before her sight- 
 less eyes, and moving her lips, as she 
 
 has observed seeing people do when 
 reading. 
 
 " She one day pretended that her 
 doll was sick ; and went through all 
 the motions of tending it, and giving 
 it medicine ; she then put it carefully 
 to bed, and placed a bottle of hot 
 water to its feet, laughing all the 
 time most heartily. When I came 
 home, she insisted upon my going to 
 see it, and feel its pulse ; and when I 
 told her to put a blister on its back, 
 she seemed to enjoy it amazingly, and 
 almost screamed with delight. 
 
 " Her social feelings, and her affec- 
 tions, are very strong ; and when she 
 is sitting at work, or at her studies, 
 by the side of one of her little friends, 
 she will break off from her task every 
 few moments, to hug and kiss them 
 with an earnestness and warmth that 
 is touching to behold. 
 
 " When left alone, she occupies and 
 apparently amuses herself, and seems 
 quite contented ; and so strong seems 
 to be the natural tendency of thought 
 to put on the garb of language, that 
 she often soliloquizes in the finger 
 language, slow and tedious as it is. 
 But it is only when alone, that she is 
 quiet : for if she become sensible of 
 the presence of any one near her, she 
 is restless until she can sit close beside 
 them, hold their hand, and converse 
 with them by signs. 
 
 " In her intellectual character it is 
 pleasing to observe an insatiable thirst 
 for knowledge, and a quick percep- 
 tion of the relations of things. In her 
 moral character, it is beautiful to be- 
 hold her continual gladness, her keen 
 enjoyment of existence, her expan- 
 sive love, her unhesitating confidence, 
 her sympathy with suffering, her con- 
 scientiousness, truthfulness, and hope- 
 fulness." 
 
 Such are a few fragments from the 
 simple but most interesting and in- 
 structive history of Laura Bridgman. 
 The name of her great benefactor and
 
 28 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 friend, who writes it, is Doctor Howe. 
 There are not many persons, I hope 
 and believe, who, after reading these 
 passages, can ever hear that name with 
 indifference. 
 
 A further account has been pub- 
 lished by Dr. Howe, since the report 
 from which I have just quoted. It 
 describes her rapid mental growth 
 and improvement during twelve 
 months more, and brings her little 
 history down to the end of last year. 
 It is very remarkable, that as we 
 dream in words, and carry on imagi- 
 nary conversations, in which we speak 
 both for ourselves and for the shadows 
 who appear to us in those visions of 
 the night, so she, having no words, 
 uses her finger alphabet in her sleep. 
 And it has been ascertained that when 
 her slumber is broken, and is much 
 disturbed by dreams, she expresses 
 her thoughts in an irregular and con- 
 fused manner on her fingers : just as 
 we should murmur and mutter them 
 indistinctly, in the like circumstances. 
 
 I turned over the leaves of her 
 Diary, and found it written in a fair 
 legible square hand, and expressed in 
 terms which were quite intelligible 
 without any explanation. On my 
 saying that I should like to see her 
 write again, the teacher who sat be- 
 side her, bade her, in their language, 
 sign her name upon a slip of paper, 
 twice or thrice. In doing so, I ob- 
 served that she kept her left hand 
 always touching, and following up, 
 her right, in which, of course, she held 
 the pen. No line was indicated by 
 any contrivance, but she wrote straight 
 and freely. 
 
 She had, until now, been quite un- 
 conscious of the presence of visitors ; 
 but, having her hand placed in that 
 of the gentleman who accompanied 
 me, she immediately expressed his 
 name upon her teacher's palm. In- 
 deed her sense of touch is now so 
 exquisite, that having been acquainted 
 
 with a person once, she can recognise 
 him or her after almost any interval. 
 This gentleman had been in her com- 
 pany, I believe, but very seldom, and 
 certainly had not seen her for many 
 months. My hand she rejected at 
 once, as she does that of any man who 
 is a stranger to her. But she retained 
 my wife's with evident pleasure, 
 kissed her, and examined her dress 
 with a girl's curiosity and interest. 
 
 She was merry and cheerful, and 
 showed much innocent playfulness in 
 her intercourse with her teacher. 
 Her delight on recognising a favourite 
 playfellow and companion herself a 
 blind girl who silently, and with an 
 equal enjoyment of the coming sur- 
 prise, took a seat beside her, was 
 beautiful to witness. It elicited from 
 her at first, as other slight circum- 
 stances did twice or thrice during my 
 visit, an uncouth noise which was 
 rather painful to hear. But on her 
 teacher touching her lips, she im- 
 mediately desisted, and embraced her 
 laughingly and affectionately. 
 
 I had previously been into another 
 chamber, where a number of blind 
 boys were swinging, and climbing, 
 and engaged in various sports. They 
 all clamoured, as we entered, to the 
 assistant-master, who accompanied 
 us, " Look at me, Mr. Hart ! Please, 
 Mr. Hart, look at me!" evincing, I 
 thought, even in this, an anxiety pe- 
 culiar to their condition, that their 
 little feats of agility should be seen. 
 Among them was a small laughing 
 fellow, who stood aloof, entertaining 
 himself with a gymnastic exercise for 
 bringing the arms and chest into 
 play ; which he enjoyed mightily ; 
 especially when, in thrusting out his 
 right arm, he brought it into contact 
 with another boy. Like Laura 
 Bridgman, this young child was deaf, 
 and dumb, and blind. 
 
 Dr. Howe's account of this pupil's 
 first instruction is so very striking,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 29 
 
 and so intimately connected with 
 Laura herself, that I cannot refrain 
 from a short extract. I may premise 
 that the poor boy's name is Oliver 
 Caswell ; that he is thirteen years of 
 age ; and that he was in full possession 
 of all his faculties, until three years 
 and four months old. He was then 
 attacked by scarlet fever : in four 
 weeks became deaf ; in a few weeks 
 more, blind ; in six months, dumb. 
 He showed his anxious sense of this 
 last deprivation, by often feeling the 
 lips of other persons when they were 
 talking, and then putting his hand 
 upon his own, as if to assure himself 
 that he had them in the right 
 position. 
 
 " His thirst for knowledge," says 
 Dr. Howe, " proclaimed itself as soon 
 as he entered the house, by his eager 
 examination of every thing he could 
 feel or smell in his new location. For 
 instance, treading upon the register 
 of a furnace, he instantly stooped 
 down, and began to feel it, and soon 
 discovered the way in which the 
 upper plate moved upon the lower 
 one ; but this was not enough for him, 
 so lying down upon his face, he ap- 
 plied his tongue first to one then to 
 the other, and seemed to discover 
 that they were of different kinds of 
 metal. 
 
 " His signs were expressive : and 
 the strictly natural language,laughing, 
 crying, sighing, kissing, embracing, 
 &c., was perfect. 
 
 "Some of the analogical signs which 
 (guided by his faculty of imitation) he 
 had contrived, were comprehensible ; 
 such as the waving motion of his 
 hand for the motion of a boat, the 
 circular one for a wheel, &c. 
 
 " The first object was to break up 
 the use of these signs and to sub- 
 stitute for them the use of purely arbi- 
 trary ones. 
 
 " Profiting by the experience I had 
 gained in the other cases, I omitted 
 
 several steps of the process before 
 employed, and commenced at once 
 with the finger language. Taking 
 therefore, several articles having short 
 names, such as key, cup, mug, &c., 
 and with Laura for an auxiliary, I sat 
 down, and taking his hand, placed it 
 upon one of them, and then with my 
 own, made the letters key. He felt 
 my hands eagerly with both of his, 
 and on my repeating the process, he 
 evidently tried to imitate the motions 
 of my fingers. In a few minutes he 
 contrived to feel the motions of my 
 fingers with one hand, and holding 
 out the other he tried to imitate them, 
 laughing most heartily when he suc- 
 ceeded. Laura was by, interested 
 even to agitation ; and the two pre- 
 sented a singular sight : her face was 
 flushed and anxious, and her fingers 
 twined in among ours so closely as to 
 follow every motion, but so lightly as 
 not to embarrass them ; while Oliver 
 stood attentive, his head a little aside, 
 his face turned up, his left hand 
 grasping mine, and his right held out : 
 at every motion of my fingers his 
 countenance betokened keen atten- 
 tion ; there was an expression of 
 anxiety as he tried to imitate the 
 motions ; then a smile came stealing 
 out as he thought he could do so, and 
 spread into a joyous laugh the mo- 
 ment he succeeded, and felt me pat 
 his head, and Laura clap him heartily 
 upon the back, and jump up and 
 down in her joy. 
 
 "He learned more than a half dozen 
 letters in half an hour, and seemed 
 delighted with his success, at least in 
 gaining approbation. His attention 
 then began to flag, and I commenced 
 playing with him. It was evident 
 that in all this he had merely been 
 imitating the motions of my fingers, 
 and placing his hand upon the key, 
 cup, &c., as part of the process, with- 
 out any perception of the relation be- 
 tween the sign and the object.
 
 30 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 " When he was tired with play I 
 took him back to the table, and he 
 was quite ready to begin- again his 
 process of imitation. He soon learned 
 to make the letters for key, pen, pin ; 
 and by having the object repeatedly 
 placed in his hand, he at last perceived 
 the relation I wished to establish be- 
 tween them. This was evident, be- 
 cause, when I made the letters p i n, 
 or pen, or cup, he would select the 
 article. 
 
 "The perception of this relation 
 was not accompanied by that radiant 
 flash of intelligence, and that glow of 
 joy, which marked the delightful mo- 
 ment when Laura first perceived it. 
 I then placed all the articles on the 
 table, and going away a little distance 
 with the children, placed Oliver's 
 fingers in the positions to spell key, on 
 which Laura went and brought the 
 article : the little fellow seemed to be 
 much amused by this, and looked 
 very attentive and smiling. I then 
 caused him to make the letters 
 bread, and in an instant Laura went 
 and brought him a piece : he smelled 
 at it ; put it to his lips ; cocked up 
 his head with a most knowing look ; 
 seemed to reflect a moment; and 
 then laughed outright, as much 
 as to say, ' Aha ! I understand now 
 how something may be made out of 
 this.' 
 
 " It was now clear that he had the 
 capacity and inclination to learn, that 
 he was a proper subject for instruc- 
 tion, and needed only persevering 
 attention. I therefore put him in 
 the hands of an intelligent teacher, 
 nothing doubting of his rapid pro- 
 gress." 
 
 Well may this gentleman call that 
 a delightful moment, in which some 
 distant promise of her present state 
 first gleamed upon the darkened mind 
 of Laura Bridgman. Throughout his 
 life, the recollection of that moment 
 will be to him a source of pure, un- 
 
 fading happiness ; nor will it shine 
 least brightly on the evening of his 
 days of Noble Usefulness. 
 
 The affection that exists between 
 these two the master and the pupil 
 is as far removed from all ordinary 
 care and regard, as the circumstances 
 in which it has had its growth, are 
 apart from the common occurrences 
 of life. He is occupied now, in de- 
 vising means of imparting to her, 
 higher knowledge ; and of conveying 
 to her some adequate idea of the 
 Great Creator of that universe in 
 which, dark and silent and scentless 
 though it be to her, she has such deep 
 delight and glad enjoyment. 
 
 Ye who have eyes and see not, and 
 have ears and hear not ; ye who are 
 as the hypocrites of sad countenances, 
 and disfigure your faces that ye may 
 seem unto men to fast ; learn healthy 
 cheerfulness, and mild contentment, 
 from the deaf, and dumb, and blind ! 
 Self-elected saints with gloomy brows, 
 this sightless, earless, voiceless child 
 may teach you lessons you will do well 
 to follow. Let that poor hand of hers 
 lie gently on your hearts ; for there 
 may be something in its healing touch 
 akin to that of the Great Master 
 whose precepts you misconstrue, whose 
 lessons you pervert, of whose charity 
 and sympathy with all the world, not 
 one among you in his daily practice 
 knows as much as many of the worst 
 among those fallen sinners, to whom 
 you are liberal in nothing but the 
 preachment of perdition ! 
 
 As I rose to quit the room, a pretty 
 little child of one of the attendants 
 came running in to greet its father. 
 For the moment, a child with eyes, 
 among the sightless crowd, impressed 
 me almost as painfully as the blind 
 boy in the porch had done, two hours 
 ago. Ah ! how much brighter and 
 more deeply blue, glowing and rich 
 though it had been before, was the 
 scene without, contrasting with the
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 31 
 
 darkness of so many youthful lives 
 within ! 
 
 1 At SOUTH BOSTON, as it is called, in 
 a situation excellently adapted for the 
 purpose, several charitable institu 
 tions are clustered together. One 01 
 these, is the State Hospital for the 
 insane; admirably conducted on 
 those enlightened principles of concili- 
 ation and kindness, which twenty 
 years ago would have been worse than 
 heretical, and which have been acted 
 upon with so much success in our 
 own pauper asylum at Hanwell. 
 " Evince a desire to show some confi- 
 dence, and repose some trust, even in 
 mad people," said the resident phy- 
 sician, as we walked along the galle- 
 ries, his patients flocking round us 
 unrestrained. Of those who deny or 
 doubt the wisdom of this maxim 
 after witnessing its effects, if there be 
 such people still alive, I can only say 
 that I hope I may never be summoned 
 as a Juryman on a Commission of 
 Lunacy whereof they are the subjects; 
 for I should certainly find them 
 out of their senses, on such evidence 
 alone. *- 
 
 Each ward in this institution is 
 shaped like a long gallery or hall, 
 with the dormitories of the patients 
 opening from it on either hand. 
 Here they work, read, play at skittles, 
 and other games; and when the 
 weather does not admit of their 
 taking exercise out of doors, pass the 
 day together. In one of these rooms, 
 seated, calmly, and quite as a matter 
 of course, among a throng of mad- 
 women, black and white, were the 
 physician's wife and another lady, 
 with a couple of children. These 
 ladies were graceful and handsome ; 
 and it was not difficult to perceive at 
 a glance that even their presence 
 there, had a highly beneficial influ- 
 ence on the patients who were grouped 
 about them. 
 
 Leaning her head against the 
 chimney-piece, with a great assump- 
 tion oi dignity and refinement of 
 manner, sat an elderly female, in as 
 many scraps of finery as Madge Wild- 
 fire herself. Her head in particular 
 was so strewn with scraps of gauze 
 and cotton and bits of paper, and had 
 so many queer odds and ends stuck 
 all about it, that it looked like a 
 bird's-nest. She was radiant with 
 imaginary jewels ; wore a rich pair of 
 undoubted gold spectacles; and 
 gracefully dropped upon her lap, as 
 we approached, a very old greasy 
 newspaper, in which I dare say she 
 had been reading an account of 
 her own presentation at some Foreign 
 Court. 
 
 I have been thus particular in 
 describing her, because she will serve 
 to exemplify the physician's manner 
 of acquiring and retaining the confi- 
 dence of his patients. 
 
 " This," he said aloud, taking me 
 by the hand, and advancing to the 
 fantastic figure with great politeness 
 not raising her suspicions by the 
 slightest look or whisper, or any kind 
 of aside, to me : " This lady is the 
 boste'ss of this mansion, sir. It 
 belongs to her. Nobody else has 
 anything whatever to do with it. It 
 is a large establishment, as you see, 
 and requires a great number of 
 attendants. She lives, you observe, 
 in the very first style. She is kind 
 enough to receive my visits, and to 
 permit my wife and family to reside 
 icre ; for which it is hardly necessary 
 ;o say, we are much indebted to 
 icr. She is exceedingly courteous, 
 ou perceive," on this hint she 
 jowed condescendingly, "and will 
 )ermit me to have the pleasure of 
 ntroducing you : a gentleman from 
 Sngland, Ma'am : newly arrived from 
 England, after a very tempestuous 
 massage : Mr. Dickens, the lady of 
 he house!"
 
 32 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 We exchanged the most dignified 
 salutations with profound gravity and 
 respect, and so went on. The rest of 
 the madwomen seemed to understand 
 the joke perfectly (not only in thia 
 case, but in all the others, except 
 their own), and to be highly amused 
 by it. The nature of their several 
 kinds of insanity was made known to 
 me in the same way, and we left each 
 of them in high good humour. Not 
 only is a thorough confidence estab- 
 lished, by these means, between 
 physician and patient, in respect of 
 the nature and extent of their hallu- 
 cinations, but it is easy to understand 
 that opportunities are afforded for 
 seizing any moment of reason, to 
 startle them by placing their own 
 delusion before them in its most 
 incongruous and ridiculous light 
 
 Every patient in this asylum sits 
 down to dinner every day with a 
 knife and fork ; and in the midst of 
 them sits the gentleman, whose man- 
 ner of dealing with his charges, I 
 have just described. At every meal, 
 moral influence alone restrains the 
 more violent among them from 
 cutting the throats of the rest ; but 
 the effect of that influence is reduced 
 to an absolute certainty, and is found, 
 even as a means of restraint, to say 
 nothing of it as a means of cure, a 
 hundred times more efficacious than 
 all the strait-waistcoats, fetters, and 
 hand-cuffs, that ignorance, prejudice, 
 and cruelty have manufactured since 
 the creation of the world. 
 
 In the labour department, every 
 patient is as freely trusted with the 
 tools of his trade as if he were a sane 
 man. In the garden, and on the farm, 
 they work with spades, rakes, and hoes. 
 For amusement, they walk, run, fish, 
 paint, read, and ride out to take the 
 air in carriages provided for the pur 
 pose. They have among themselves 
 a sewing society to make clothes for 
 the poor, which holds meetings, passes 
 
 resolutions, never comes to fisty cuffs 
 or bowie-knives as sane assemblies 
 lave been known to do elsewhere ; 
 and conducts all its proceedings with 
 .he greatest decorum. The irrita- 
 rility, which would otherwise be 
 expended on their own flesh, clothes, 
 and furniture, is dissipated in these 
 pursuits. They are cheerful, tranquil, 
 and healthy. 
 
 Once a week they have a ball, in 
 which the Doctor and his family, with 
 all the nurses and attendants, take an 
 active part. Dances and marches 
 are performed alternately, to the 
 enlivening strains of a piano ; and 
 now and then some gentleman or lady 
 (whose proficiency has been previously 
 ascertained) obliges the company 
 with a song : nor does it ever dege- 
 nerate, at a tender crisis, into a 
 screech or howl ; wherein, I must 
 confess, I should have thought the 
 danger lay. At an early hour they 
 all meet together for these festive 
 purposes ; at eight o'clock refresh- 
 ments are served ; and at nine they 
 separate. 
 
 Immense politeness and good- 
 breeding are observed throughout. 
 They all take their tone from the 
 Doctor ; and he moves a very Chester- 
 field among the company. Like other 
 assemblieSjthese entertainments afford 
 a fruitful topic of conversation among 
 the ladies for some days ; and the 
 gentlemen are so anxious to shine on 
 these occasions, that they have been 
 sometimes found "practising their 
 steps " in private, to cut a more dis- 
 tinguished figure in the dance. 
 
 It is obvious that one great feature 
 of this system, is the inculcation and 
 encouragement, even among such un- 
 happy persons, of a decent self-respect. 
 Something of the same spirit pervades 
 all the Institutions at South Boston. 
 
 There is the House of Industry. In 
 that branch of it, which is devoted to 
 the reception of old or otherwise help-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 33 
 
 less paupers, these words are paintec 
 on the walls : " WORTHY OF NOTICE 
 SELF-GOVEKNMENT, QUIETUDE, AND 
 PEACE, ARE BLESSINGS." It is not 
 assumed and taken for granted thai 
 being there they must be evil-disposed 
 and wicked people, before whose 
 vicious eyes it is necessary to nourish 
 threats and harsh restraints. They 
 are met at the very threshold with this 
 mild appeal. All within-doors is very 
 plain and simple, as it ought to be, 
 but arranged with a view to peace and 
 comfort. It costs no more than any 
 other plan of arrangement, but it be- 
 speaks an amount of consideration for 
 those who are reduced to seek a shelter 
 there, which puts them at once upon 
 their gratitude and good behaviour. 
 Instead of being parcelled out in great, 
 long, rambling wards, where a certain 
 amount of weazen life may mope, and 
 pine, and shiver, all day long, the 
 building is divided into separate 
 rooms, each with its share of light and 
 air. In these, the better kind of 
 paupers live. They have a motive for 
 exertion and becoming pride, in the 
 desire to make these little chambers 
 comfortable and decent. I do not 
 remember one but it was clean and 
 neat, and had its plant or t\vo upon 
 the window-sill, or row of crockery 
 upon the shelf, or small display of 
 coloured prints upon the white- washed 
 wall, or, perhaps, its wooden clock 
 behind the door. 
 
 The orphans and young children 
 are in an adjoining building; sepa- 
 rate from this, but a part of the same 
 Institution. Some are such little 
 creatures, that the stairs are of lillipu- 
 tian measurement, fitted to their tiny 
 strides. The same consideration for 
 their years and weakness is expressed 
 in 4heir very seats, which are perfect 
 curiosities, and look like articles of 
 furniture for a pauper doll's-house. I 
 can imagine the glee of our Poor Law 
 Commissioners at the notion of these 
 
 No. 163. 
 
 seats having arms and backs; bat 
 small spines being of older date than 
 their occupation of the Board-room at 
 Somerset House, I thought even this 
 provision very merciful and kind. 
 
 Here again, I was greatly pleased 
 with the inscriptions on the wall, which 
 were scraps of plain morality, easily 
 remembered and understood : such as 
 " Love one another " " God remem- 
 bers the smallest creature in his crea- 
 tion : " and straightforward advice of 
 that nature. The books and tasks 
 of these smallest of scholars, were 
 adapted, in the same judicious man- 
 ner, to their childish powers. When 
 we had examined these lessons, four 
 morsels of girls (of whom one was 
 blind) sang a little song, about the 
 merry month of May, which I thought 
 (being extremely dismal) would have 
 suited an English November better. 
 That done, we went to see their 
 sleeping-rooms on the floor above, in 
 which the arrangements were no less 
 excellent and gentle than those we 
 had seen below. And after observing 
 that the teachers were of a class and 
 character well suited to the spirit of 
 the place, I took leave of the infants 
 with a lighter heart than ever I have 
 taken leave of pauper infants yet. 
 
 Connected with the House of In- 
 dustry, there is also an Hospital, 
 which was in the best order, and had, 
 I am glad to say, many beds unoccu- 
 pied. It had one fault, however, which 
 is common to all American interiors : 
 the presence of the eternal, accursed, 
 suffocating, red-hot demon of a stove, 
 whose breath would blight the purest 
 air under Heaven. 
 
 There are two establishments for 
 joys in this same neighbourhood. One 
 s called the Boylston school, and is 
 an asylum for neglected and indigent 
 .>oys who have committed no crime, 
 >ut who in the ordinary course of 
 things would very soon be purged of 
 that distinction if they were not taken 
 
 I
 
 34 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 from the hungry streets and sent 
 here. The other is a House of Re- 
 formation for Juvenile Offenders. 
 They are both under the same roof, 
 but the two classes of boys never come 
 in contact. 
 
 The Boylston boys, as may be readily 
 supposed, have very much the advan- 
 tage of the others in point of personal 
 appearance. They were in their school- 
 room when I came upon them, and 
 answered correctly, without book, 
 such questions as where was England ; 
 how far was it ; what was its popula- 
 tion; its capital city; its form of 
 government ; and so forth. They sang 
 a song too, about a farmer sowing his 
 seed : with corresponding action at 
 such parts as " 'tis thus he sows," "he 
 turns him round," " he claps his 
 hands ; " which gave it greater interest 
 for them, and accustomed them to act 
 together, in an orderly manner. They 
 appeared exceedingly well taught, and ! 
 not better taught than fed ; for a more i 
 chubby-looking full-waistcoated set of 
 boys, I never saw. 
 
 The juvenile offenders had not such 
 pleasant faces by a great deal, and in 
 this establishment there were many 
 boys of colour. I saw them first at 
 their work (basket-making, and the 
 manufacture of palm-leaf hats), after- 
 wards in their school, where they sang 
 a chorus in praise of Liberty : an odd, 
 and, one would think, rather aggra- 
 vating, theme for prisoners. These 
 boys are divided into four classes, each 
 denoted by a numeral, worn on a 
 badge upon the arm. On the arrival 
 of a newcomer, he is put into the 
 fourth or lowest class, and left, by 
 good behaviour, to work his way up 
 into the first. The design and object 
 of this Institution is to reclaim the 
 youthful criminal by firm but kind 
 and judicious treatment ; to make his 
 prison a place of purification and im- 
 provement, not of demoralisation 
 and corruption ; to impress upon him 
 
 that there is but one path, and that 
 one sober industry, which can ever 
 lead him to happiness ; to teach him 
 how it may be trodden, if his foot- 
 steps have never yet been led that 
 way ; and to lure him back to it if 
 they have strayed : in a word, to snatch 
 him from destruction, and restore him 
 to society a penitent and useful mem- 
 ber. The importance of such an 
 establishment, in every point of view, 
 and with reference to every considera- 
 tion of humanity and social policy, 
 requires no comment. 
 
 One other establishment closes the 
 catalogue. It is the House of Correc- 
 tion for the State, in which silence is 
 strictly maintained, but where the 
 prisoners have the comfort and mental 
 relief of seeing each other, and of 
 working together. This is the im- 
 proved system of Prison Discipline 
 which we have imported into England, 
 and which has been in successful 
 operation among us for some years 
 past. 
 
 America, as a new and not over- 
 populated country, has in all her pri- 
 sons, the one great advantage, of being 
 enabled to find useful and profitable 
 work for the inmates ; whereas, with 
 us, the prejudice against prison labour 
 is naturally very strong, and almost 
 insurmountable, when honest men, 
 who have not offended against the 
 laws, are frequently doomed to seek 
 employment in vain. Even in the 
 United States, the principle of bring- 
 ing convict labour and free labour 
 into a competition which must ob- 
 viously be to the disadvantage of the 
 latter, has already found many oppo- 
 nents, whose number is not likely to 
 diminish with access of years. 
 
 For this very reason though, our 
 best prisons would seem at the first 
 glance to be better conducted than 
 those of America. The treadmill is ac- 
 companied with little or no noise ; five 
 hundred men may pick oakum in the
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 35 
 
 same room, without a sound ; and 
 both kinds of labour admit of such 
 keen and vigilant superintendence, 
 as will render even a word of personal 
 communication among the prisoners 
 almost impossible. On the other hand, 
 the noise of the loom, the forge, the 
 carpenter's hammer, or the stone- 
 mason's saw, greatly favour those op- 
 portunities of intercourse hurried 
 and brief no doubt, but opportunities 
 still which these several kinds of 
 work, by rendering it necessary for 
 men to be employed very near to each 
 other, and often side by side, without 
 any barrier or partition between them, 
 in their very nature present. A visi- 
 tor, too, requires to reason and reflect 
 a little, before the sight of a number 
 of men engaged in ordinary labour, 
 such as he is accustomed to out of 
 doors, will impress him half as strongly 
 as the contemplation of the same 
 persons in the same place and garb 
 would, if they were occupied in some 
 task, marked and degraded every- 
 where as belonging only to felons in 
 jails. In an American state prison 
 or house of correction, I found it dif- 
 ficult at first to persuade myself that 
 I was really in a jail : a place of igno- 
 minious punishment and endurance. 
 And to this hour I very much question 
 whether the humane boast that it is 
 not like one, has its root in the true 
 wisdom or philosophy of the matter. 
 I hope I may not be misunderstood 
 on this subject, for it is one in which 
 I take a strong and deep interest. I 
 incline as little to the sickly feeling 
 which makes every canting lie or 
 maudlin speech of a notorious crimi- 
 nal a subject of newspaper report and 
 general sympathy, as I do to those 
 good old customs of the good old 
 times which made England, even so 
 recently as in the reign of the Third 
 King George, in respect of her cri- 
 minal code and her prison regulations, 
 one of the most bloody-minded and 
 
 barbarous countries on the earth. If 
 I thought it would do any good to 
 the rising generation, I would cheer- 
 fully give my consent to the disinter- 
 ment of the bones of any genteel 
 highwayman (the more genteel, the 
 more cheerfully), and to their expo- 
 sure, piece-meal, on any sign-post, 
 gate, or gibbet, that might be deemed 
 a good elevation for the purpose. My 
 reason is as well convinced that these 
 gentry were utterly worthless and 
 debauched villains, as it is that the 
 laws and jails hardened them in their 
 evil courses, or that their wonderful 
 escapes were effected by the prison- 
 turnkeys who, in those admirable 
 days, had always been felons them- 
 selves, and were, to the last, their 
 bosom-friends and pot-companions. 
 At the same time I know, as all men 
 do or should, that the subject of Pri- 
 son Discipline is one of the highest 
 importance to any community; and 
 that in her sweeping reform and bright 
 example to other countries on this 
 head, America has shown great wis- 
 dom, great benevolence and exalted 
 policy. In contrasting her system 
 with that which we have modelled 
 upon it, I merely seek to show that 
 with all its drawbacks, ours has some 
 advantages of its own.* 
 
 * Apart from profit made by the usefu) 
 labour of prisoners, which we can never 
 hope to realise to any great extent, and 
 which it is perhaps not expedient for us 
 to try to gain, there are two prisons in 
 London, in all respects equal, and in some 
 decidedly superior, to any I saw or have 
 ever heard or read of in America. One is 
 the Tothill Fields Bridewell, conducted by 
 Lieutenant A. F. Tracey, R.N. ; the other 
 the Middlesex House of Correction, super- 
 intended by Jlr. Chesterton. This gentle- 
 man also holds an appointment in the 
 Public Service. Both are enlightened and 
 superior men : and it would be as difficult 
 to find persons better qualified for the 
 functions they discharge with firmness, zeal, 
 intelligence, and humanity, as it would be 
 to exceed the perfect order and arrangement 
 of the institutions they govern. 
 
 D2
 
 36 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 The House of Correction which has 
 led to these remarks, is not walled, like 
 other prisons, but is palisaded round 
 about with tall rough stakes, some- 
 thing after the manner of an enclosure 
 for keeping elephants in, as we see it 
 represented in Eastern prints and 
 pictures. The prisoners wear a parti- 
 coloured dress ; and those who are 
 sentenced to hard labour, work at 
 nail-making or stone-cutting. When 
 I was there, the latter class of labourers 
 were employed upon the stone for a 
 new custom-house in course of erection 
 at Boston. They appeared to shape it 
 skilfully and with expedition, though 
 there were very few among them 
 (if any) who had not acquired the art 
 within the prison gates. 
 
 The women, all in one large room, 
 were employed in making light 
 clothing, for New Orleans and the 
 Southern States. They did their work 
 in silence, like the men; and like 
 them, were overlooked by the person 
 contracting for their labour, or by 
 some agent of his appointment. In 
 addition to this, they are every mo- 
 ment liable to be visited by the prison 
 officers appointed for that purpose. 
 
 The arrangements for cooking, 
 washing of clothes, and so forth, are 
 much upon the plan of those I have 
 seen at home. Their mode of be- 
 stowing the prisoners at night (which 
 is of general adoption) differs from 
 ours, and is both simple and effective. 
 In the centre of a lofty area, lighted 
 by windows in the four walls, are five 
 tiers of cells, one above the other; 
 each tier having before it a light iron 
 gallery, attainable by stairs of the 
 same construction and material : ex- 
 cepting the lower one, which is on 
 the ground. Behind these, back to 
 back with them and facing the op- 
 posite wall, are five corresponding 
 rows of cells, accessible by similar 
 means : so that supposing the pri- 
 soners locked up in their cells, an 
 
 officer stationed on the ground, with 
 his back to the wall, has half their 
 number under his eye at once; the 
 remaining half being equally under 
 the observation of another officer on 
 the opposite side ; and all in one great 
 apartment Unless this watch be 
 corrupted or sleeping on his post, it 
 is impossible for a man to escape ; for 
 even in the event of his forcing the 
 iron door of his cell without noise 
 (which is exceedingly improbable), 
 the moment he appears outside, and 
 steps into that one of the five galleries 
 on which it is situated, he must be 
 plainly and fully visible to the officer 
 below. Each of these cells holds a 
 small truckle-bed, in which one pri- 
 soner sleeps ; never more. It is small, 
 of course; and the door being not 
 solid, but grated, and without blind 
 or curtain, the prisoner within is at 
 all times exposed to the observation 
 and inspection of any guard who may 
 pass along that tier at any hour or 
 minute of the night. Every day, the 
 prisoners receive their dinner, singly, 
 through a trap in the kitchen wall ; 
 and each man carries his to his sleep- 
 ing cell to eat it, where he is locked 
 up, alone, for that purpose, one hour. 
 The whole of this arrangement struck 
 me as being admirable; and I hope 
 that the next new prison we erect in 
 England may be built on this plan. 
 
 I was given to understand that in 
 this prison no swords or fire-arms, or 
 even cudgels, are kept ; nor is it pro- 
 bable that, so long as its present ex- 
 cellent management continues, any 
 weapon, offensive or defensive, will 
 ever be required within its bounds. 
 
 Such are the Institutions at South 
 Boston ! In all of them, the unfor- 
 tunate or degenerate citizens of the 
 State are carefully instructed in their 
 duties both to God and man ; are sur- 
 rounded by all reasonable means of 
 comfort and happiness that their con- 
 dition will admit of; are appealed to,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 37 
 
 as members of the great human family 
 however afflicted, indigent, or fallen ; 
 are ruled by the strong Heart, and 
 not by the strong (though immeasur- 
 ably weaker) Hand. I have described 
 them at some length : firstly, because 
 their worth demanded it ; and 
 secondly, because I mean to take 
 them for a model, and to content my- 
 self with saying of others we may 
 come to, whose design and purpose 
 are the same, that in this or that re- 
 spect they practically fail, or differ. 
 
 I wish by this account of them, im- 
 perfect in its execution, but in its just 
 intention, honest, I could hope to 
 convey to my readers one hundredth 
 part of the gratification, the sights I 
 have described, afforded me. 
 
 To an Englishman, accustomed to 
 the paraphernalia of Westminster 
 Hall, an American Court of Law is as 
 odd a sight as, I suppose, an English 
 Court of Law would be to an American. 
 Except in the Supreme Court at 
 Washington (where the judges wear 
 a plain black robe), there is no such 
 thing as a wig or gown connected 
 with the administration of justice. 
 The gentlemen of the bar being bar- 
 risters and attorneys too (for there is 
 no division of those functions as in 
 England) are no more removed from 
 their clients than attorneys in our 
 Court for the Eelief of Insolvent 
 Debtors are, from theirs. The jury 
 are quite at home, and make them- 
 selves as comfortable as circumstances 
 will permit. The witness is so little 
 elevated above, or put aloof from, the 
 crowd in the court, that a stranger 
 entering during a pause in the pro- 
 ceedings would find it difficult to pick 
 him out from the rest. And if it 
 chanced to be a criminal trial, his 
 eyes, in nine cases out of ten, would 
 wander to the dock in search of the 
 prisoner, in vain ; for that gentleman 
 would most likely be lounging among 
 
 the most distinguished ornaments of 
 the legal profession, whispering sug- 
 gestions in his counsel's ear, or making 
 a toothpick out of an old quill with 
 his penknife. 
 
 I could not but notice these differ- 
 ences, when I visited the courts at 
 Boston. I was much surprised at 
 first, too, to observe that the counsel 
 who interrogated the witness under 
 examination at the time, did so silting. 
 But seeing that he was also occupied 
 in writing down the answers, and re- 
 membering that he was alone and had 
 no "junior," I quickly consoled myself 
 with the reflection that law was not 
 quite so expensive an article here, as 
 at home ; and that the absence of 
 sundry formalities which we regard 
 as indispensable, had doubtless a very 
 favourable influence upon the bill of 
 costs. 
 
 In every Court, ample and commo- 
 dius provision is made for the accom- 
 modation of the citizens. This is the 
 case all through America. In every 
 Public Institution, the right of the 
 people to attend, and to have an inte- 
 rest in the proceedings, is most fully 
 and distinctly recognised, There are 
 no grim door-keepers to dole out their 
 tardy civility by the sixpenny-worth ; 
 nor is there, I sincerely believe, any 
 insolence of office of any kind. No- 
 thing national is exhibited for money ; 
 and no public officer is a showman. 
 We have begun of late years to imi- 
 tate this good example. I hope we 
 shall continue to do so ; and that in 
 the fulness of time, even deans and 
 chapters may be converted. 
 
 In the civil court an action was 
 trying, for damages sustained in some 
 accident upon a railway. The wit- 
 nesses had been examined, and 
 counsel was addressing the jury. The 
 learned gentleman (like a few of his 
 English brethren) was desperately 
 long-winded, and had a remarkable 
 capacity of saying the same thing
 
 38 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 over and over again. His great theme 
 was " Warren the Engine driver," 
 whom he pressed into the service of 
 every sentence he uttered. I listened 
 to him for about a quarter of an hour ; 
 and, coming out of court at the expira- 
 tion of that time, without the faintest 
 ray of enlightenment as to the merits 
 of the case, felt as if I were at home 
 again. 
 
 In the prisoners' cell, waiting to 
 be examined by the magistrate on 
 a charge of theft, was a boy. This 
 lad, instead of being committed to a 
 common jail, would be sent to the 
 asylum at South Boston, and there 
 taught a trade ; and in the course of 
 time he would be bound apprentice 
 to some respectable master. Thus, 
 his detection in this offence, instead 
 of being the prelude to a life of infamy 
 and a miserable death, would lead, 
 there was a reasonable hope, to his 
 being reclaimed from vice, and be- 
 coming a worthy member of society. 
 
 I am by no means a wholesale ad- 
 mirer of our legal solemnities, many 
 of which impress me as being exceed- 
 ingly ludicrous. Strange as it may 
 seem too, there is undoubtedly a de- 
 gree of protection in the wig and 
 gown a dismissal of individual 
 responsibility in dressing for the part 
 which encourages that insolent 
 bearing and language, and that gross 
 perversion of the office of a pleader 
 for The Truth, so frequent in our 
 courts of law. Still, I cannot help 
 doubting whether America, in her 
 dei-ire to shake off the absurdities and 
 abuses of the old system, may not 
 have gone too far into the opposite 
 extreme ; and whether it is not de- 
 sirable, especially in the small com- 
 munity of a city like this, where each 
 man knows the other, to surround the 
 administration of justice with some 
 artificial barriers against the " Hail 
 fellow, well met " deportment of every- 
 day life. All the aid it can have in 
 
 the very high character and ability of 
 the Bench, not only here but else- 
 where, it has, and well deserves to 
 have ; but it may need something 
 more : not to impress the thoughtful 
 and the well-informed, but the igno- 
 rant and heedless ; a class which 
 includes some prisoners and many 
 witnesses. These institutions were 
 established, no doubt, upon the prin- 
 ciple that those who had so large a 
 share in making the laws, would cer- 
 tainly respect them. But experience 
 has proved this hope to be fallacious ; 
 for no men know better than the 
 Judges of America, that on the 
 occasion of any great popular excite- 
 ment the law is powerless, and 
 cannot, for the time, assert its own 
 supremacy. 
 
 The tone of society in Boston is 
 one of perfect politeness, courtesy, 
 and good breeding. The ladies are 
 unquestionably very beautiful in 
 face : but there I am compelled to 
 stop. Their education is much as 
 with us ; neither better nor worse. I 
 had heard some very marvellous 
 stories in this respect; but not be- 
 lieving them, was not disappointed. 
 Blue ladies there are, in Boston ; but 
 like philosophers of that colour and 
 sex in most other latitudes, they 
 rather desire to be thought superior 
 than to be so. Evangelical ladies 
 there are, likewise, whose attachment 
 to the forms of religion, and horror 
 of theatrical entertainments, are most 
 exemplary. Ladies who have a 
 passion for attending lectures are to 
 be found among all classes and all 
 conditions. In the kind of provincial 
 life which prevails in cities such as 
 this, the Pulpit has great influence. 
 The peculiar province of the Pulpit 
 in New England (always excepting 
 the Unitarian ministry) would appear 
 to be the denouncement of all inno- 
 cent and rational amusements. The 
 church, the chapel, and the lecture-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 39 
 
 room, are the only means of excite- 
 ment excepted ; and to the church, 
 the chapel, and the lecture-room, the 
 ladies resort in crowds. 
 
 Wherever religion is resorted to, 
 as a strong drink, and as an escape 
 from the dull monotonous round of 
 home, those of its ministers who 
 pepper the highest will be the surest 
 to please. They who strew the 
 Eternal Path with the greatest amount 
 of brimstone, and who most ruthlessly 
 tread down the flowers and leaves 
 that grow by the way-side, will be 
 voted the most righteous ; and they 
 who enlarge with the greatest perti- 
 nacity on the difficulty of getting into 
 heaven, will be considered by all true 
 believers certain of going there : 
 though it would be heard to say by 
 what process of reasoning this con- 
 clusion is arrived at. It is so at home, 
 and it is so abroad. With regard to 
 the other means of excitement, the 
 Lecture, it has at least the merit of 
 being always new. One lecture 
 treads so quickly on the heels of 
 another, that none are remembered ; 
 and the course of this month may be 
 safely repeated next, with its charm 
 of novelty unbroken, and its interest 
 unabated. 
 
 The fruits of the earth have their 
 growth in corruption. Out of the 
 rottenness of these things, there has 
 sprung up in Boston a sect of philoso- 
 phers known as Transcendentalism. 
 On inquiring what this appellation 
 might be supposed to signify, I was 
 given to understand that whatever 
 was unintelligible would be cer- 
 tainly transcendental. Not deriv- 
 ing much comfort from this elucida- 
 tion, I pursued the inquiry still 
 further, and found that the Transcen- 
 dentalists are followers of my friend 
 Mr. Carlyle, or I should rather say, of 
 a follower of his, Mr. Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson. This gentleman has 
 written a volume of Essays, in which, 
 
 among much that is dreamy and fan- 
 ciful (if he will pardon me for saying 
 so) there is much more that is true 
 and manly, honest and bold. Trans- 
 cendentalism has its occasional va- 
 garies (what school has not ?) but it 
 has good healthful qualities in spite 
 of them ; not least among the num- 
 ber a hearty disgust of Cant, and an 
 aptitude to detect her in all the mil- 
 lion varieties of her everlasting 
 wardrobe. And therefore if I were a 
 Bostonian, I think I would be a Tran- 
 scendentalist. 
 
 The only preacher I heard in Bos- 
 ton was Mr. Taylor, who addresses 
 himself peculiarly to seamen, and who 
 was once a mariner himself. I found 
 his chapel down among the shipping, 
 in one of the narrow, old, water-side 
 streets, with a gay blue flag waving 
 freely from its roof. In the gallery 
 opposite to the pulpit were a little 
 choir of male and female singers, a 
 violoncello, and a violin. The 
 preacher already sat in the pulpit, 
 which was raised on pillars, and orna- 
 mented behind him with painted 
 drapery of a lively and somewhat 
 theatrical appearance. He looked a 
 weather-beaten hard-featured man, of 
 about six or eight and fifty; with 
 deep lines graven as it were into his 
 face, dark hair, and a stern, keen 
 eye. Yet the general character 
 of his countenance was pleasant and 
 agreeable. 
 
 The service commenced with a 
 hymn, to which succeeded an extem- 
 porary prayer. It had the fault of 
 frequent repetition, incidental to all 
 such prayers ; but it was plain and 
 comprehensive in its doctrines, and 
 breathed a tone of general sympathy 
 and charity, which is not so commonly 
 a characteristic of this form of 
 address to the Deity as it might be. 
 That done he opened his discourse, 
 taking for his text a passage from the 
 Songs of Solomon, laid upon the
 
 40 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 desk before the commencement o 
 the service by some unknown 
 member of the congregation : " Who 
 is this coming up from the wilder 
 ness, leaning on the arm of her 
 beloved !" 
 
 He handled his text in all kinds o: 
 ways, and twisted it into all manner 
 of shapes; but always ingeniously, 
 and with a rude eloquence, well 
 adapted to the comprehension of his 
 hearers. Indeed if I be not mistaken 
 he studied their sympathies and un 
 derstandings much more than the 
 display of his own powers. His 
 imagery was all drawn from the sea, 
 and from the incidents of a seaman's 
 life ; and was often remarkably good. 
 He spoke to them of " that glorious 
 man, Lord Nelson," and of Colling- 
 wood ; and drew nothing in, as the 
 saying is, by the head and shoulders, 
 but brought it to bear upon his pur- 
 pose, naturally, and with a sharp 
 mind to its effect. Sometimes, when 
 much excited with his subject, he had 
 an odd way compounded of John 
 Bunyan, and Balfour of Burley of 
 taking his great quarto bible under 
 his arm and pacing up and down the 
 pulpit with it; looking steadily 
 down, meantime, into the midst of 
 the congregation. Thus, when he 
 applied his text to the first assem- 
 blage of his hearers, and pictured the 
 wonder of the church at their pre- 
 sumption in forming a congregation 
 among themselves, he stopped short 
 with his bible under his arm in 
 the manner I have described, and pur- 
 sued his discourse after this manner: 
 "Who are these who are they 
 who are these fellows ? where do they 
 come from ? Where are they going to ? 
 Come from ! What 's the answer ?" 
 leaning out of the pulpit, and 
 pointing downward with his right 
 hand : " Prom below !" starting 
 back again, and looking at the 
 sailors before him : " From below, my 
 
 brethren. From under the hatches of 
 sin, battened down above you by the 
 evil one. That's where you came 
 from ! " a walk up and down the 
 pulpit : " and where are you going" 
 stopping abruptly : " where are you 
 going 1 Aloft ! " very softly, and 
 pointing upward : " Aloft ! " louder : 
 "aloft ! "louder still : That 's 
 where you are going with a fair 
 wind, all taut and trim, steering 
 direct for Heaven in its glory, where 
 there are no storms or foul weather, 
 and where the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the weary are at rest." 
 Another walk : " That 's where 
 you 're going to, my friends. That 's 
 it. That 's the place. That 's the 
 port. That's the haven. It's a 
 blessed harbour still water there, in 
 all changes of the winds and tides; 
 no driving ashore upon the rocks, or 
 slipping your cables and running out 
 to sea, there: Peace Peace Peace 
 all peace ! " Another walk, and 
 patting the bible under his left arm : 
 " What ! These fellows are coming 
 from the wilderness, are they ? Yes. 
 From the dreary, blighted wilderness 
 of Iniquity, whose only crop is Death. 
 But do they lean upon anything do 
 they lean upon nothing, these poor 
 seamen?" Three raps upon the 
 bible : " Oh yes. Yes. They lean 
 upon the arm of their Beloved" three 
 more raps : " upon the arm of their 
 Beloved" three more, and a walk : 
 " Pilot, guiding-star, and compass, all 
 in one, to all hands here it is" 
 three more : " Here it is. They can 
 do their seaman's duty manfulty, and 
 be easy in their minds in the utmost 
 peril and danger, with this" two 
 more : " They can come, even these 
 poor fellows can come, from the wil- 
 derness leaning on the arm of their 
 Beloved, and go up up up ! " 
 raising his hand higher, and higher, 
 at every repetition of the word, so 
 that he stood with it at last stretched
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 41 
 
 above his head, regarding them in a 
 strange, rapt manner, and pressing 
 the book triumphantly to his breast, 
 until he gradually subsided into some 
 other portion of his discourse. 
 
 I have cited this, rather as an in- 
 stance of the preacher's eccentricities 
 than his merits, though taken in con- 
 nection with his look and manner, and 
 the character of his audience, even this 
 was striking. It is possible, however, 
 that my favourable impression of him 
 may have been greatly influenced and 
 strengthened, firstly, by his impres- 
 sing upon his hearers that the true 
 observance of religion was not incon- 
 sistent with a cheerful deportment 
 and an exact discharge of the duties 
 of their station, which, indeed, it 
 scrupulously required of them ; and 
 secondly, by his cautioning them not 
 to set up any monopoly in Paradise 
 and its mercies. I never heard these 
 two points so wisely touched (if indeed 
 I have ever heard them touched at all), 
 by any preacher of that kind, before. 
 
 Having passed the time I spent in 
 Boston, in making myself acquainted 
 with these things, in settling the 
 course I should take in my future 
 travels, and in mixing constantly with 
 its society, I am not aware that I have 
 any occasion to prolong this chapter. 
 Such of its social customs as I have 
 not mentioned, however, may be told 
 in a very few words. 
 
 The usual dinner-hour is two 
 o'clock. A dinner party takes place 
 at five ; and at an evening party, they 
 seldom sup later than eleven ; so that 
 it goes hard but one gets home, even 
 from a rout, by midnight. I never 
 could find out any difference between 
 a party at Boston and a party in Lon- 
 don, saving that at the former place 
 all assemblies are held at more rational 
 hours ; that the conversation may pos- 
 sibly be a little louder and more 
 cheerful ; that a guest is usually ex- 
 pected to ascend to the very top of 
 
 the house to take his cloak off; that 
 he is certain to see, at every dinner, 
 an unusual amount of poultry on the 
 table ; and at every supper, at least 
 two mighty bowls of hot stewed 
 oysters, in any one of which a half- 
 grown Duke of Clarence might be 
 smothered easily. 
 
 There are two theatres in Boston, of 
 good si/e and construction, but sadly 
 in want of patronage. The few ladies 
 who resort to them, sit, as of right, in 
 the front rows of the boxes. 
 
 The bar is a large room with a stone 
 floor, and there people stand and 
 smoke, and lounge about, all the 
 evening : dropping in and out as the 
 humour takes them. There too the 
 stranger is initiated into the mysteries 
 of Gin-sling, Cocktail, Sangaree, Mint 
 Julep, Sherry-cobbler, Timber Doodle, 
 and other rare drinks. The House is 
 full of boarders, both married and 
 single, many of whom sleep upon the 
 premises, and contract by the week 
 for their board and lodging: the 
 charge for which diminishes as they 
 go nearer the sky to roost. A public 
 table is laid in a very handsome hall 
 for breakfast, and for dinner, and for 
 supper. The party sitting down 
 together to these meals will vary in 
 number from one to two hundred : 
 sometimes more. The advent of each 
 of these epochs in the day is pro- 
 claimed by an awful gong, which 
 shakes the very window frames as it 
 reverberates through the house, and 
 horribly disturbs nervous foreigners. 
 There is an ordinary for ladies, and an 
 ordinary for gentlemen. 
 
 In our private room the cloth could 
 not, for any earthly consideration, 
 have been laid for dinner without a 
 huge glass dish of cranberries in the 
 middle of the table ; and breakfast 
 would have been no breakfast unless 
 the principal dish were a deformed 
 beef-steak with a great flat bone in 
 the centre, swimming in hot butter,
 
 42 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 and sprinkled with the very blackest 
 of all possible pepper. Our bedroom 
 was spacious and airy, but (like every 
 bedroom on this side of the Atlantic) 
 very bare of furniture, having no cur- 
 tains to the French bedstead or to the 
 window. It had one unusual luxury, 
 however, in the shape of a wardrobe 
 
 of painted wood, something smaller 
 than an English watch-box : or if this 
 comparison should be insufficient to 
 convey a just idea of its dimensions, 
 they may be estimated from the fact 
 of my having lived for fourteen days 
 and nights in the firm belief that it 
 was a shower-bath.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AN AMERICAN RAILROAD. LOWELL AND ITS FACTORY SYSTEM. 
 
 BEFORE leaving Boston, I devoted one 
 day to an excursion to Lowell. I as- 
 sign a separate chapter to this visit ; 
 not because I am about to describe it 
 at any great length, but because I 
 remember it as a thing by itself, and 
 am desirous that my readers should 
 do the same. 
 
 I made acquaintance with an Ameri- 
 can railroad, on this occasion, for the 
 first time. As these works are pretty 
 much alike all through the States, 
 their general characteristics are easily 
 described. 
 
 There are no first and second class 
 carriages as with us ; but there is a 
 gentleman's car and a ladies' car : the 
 main distinction between which is 
 that in the first, everybody smokes ; 
 and in the second, nobody does. As a 
 black man never travels with a white 
 one, there is also a negro car ; which 
 is a great blundering clumsy chest, 
 such as Gulliver put to sea in, from 
 the kingdom of Brobdingnag. There 
 is a great deal of jolting, a great deal 
 of noise, a great deal of wall, not 
 much window, a locomotive engine, a 
 shriek, and a bell. 
 
 The cars are like shabby omnibuses, 
 but larger : holding thirty, forty, fifty, 
 people. The seats, instead of stretch- 
 ing from end to end, are placed cross- 
 wise. Each seat holds two persons. 
 There is a long row of them on each 
 side of the caravan, a narrow passage 
 up the middle, and a door at both ends. 
 In the centre of the carriage there is 
 usually a stove, fed with charcoal or 
 anthracite coal ; which is for the most 
 part red-hot. It is insufferably close ; 
 and you see the hot air fluttering be- 
 
 tween yourself and any other object 
 you may happen to look at, like the 
 ghost of smoke. 
 
 In the ladies' car, there are a great 
 many gentlemen who have ladies with 
 them. There are also a great many 
 ladies who have nobody with them : 
 for any lad jv may travel alone, from 
 one end of the United States to the 
 other, and be certain of the most 
 courteous and considerate treatment 
 everywhere. The conductor or check- 
 taker, or guard, or whatever he may 
 be, wears no uniform. He walks up 
 and down the car, and in and out of 
 it, as his fancy dictates ; leans against 
 the door with his hands in his pockets 
 and stares at you, if you chance to be 
 a stranger; or enters into conversa- 
 tion with the passengers about him. 
 A great many newspapers are pulled 
 out, and a few of them are read. 
 Everybody talks to you, or to any- 
 body else who hits his fancy. If you 
 are an Englishman, he expects that 
 that railroad is pretty much like an 
 English railroad. If you say "No," 
 he says " Yes ] " (interrogatively), and 
 asks in what respect they differ. You 
 enumerate the heads of difference, 
 one by one, and he says " Yes ]" (still 
 interrogatively) to each. Then he 
 guesses that you don't travel faster in 
 England ; and on your replying that 
 you do, says " Yes ? " again (still inter- 
 rogatively), and, it is quite evident, 
 don't believe it. After a long pause 
 he remarks, partly to you, and partly 
 to the knob on the top of his stick, 
 that "Yankees are reckoned to be 
 considerable of a go-ahead people too ;" 
 upon which you say " Yes," and then
 
 44 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 he says "Yes" again (affirmatively 
 this time) ; and upon your looking out 
 of window, tells you that behind that 
 bill, and some three miles from the 
 next station, there is a clever town in 
 a pmart lo-ca-tion, where he expects 
 you have con-eluded to stop. Your 
 answer in the negative naturally leads 
 to more questions in reference to your 
 intended route (always pronounced 
 rout) ; and wherever you are going, 
 you invariably learn that you can't 
 get there without immense difficulty 
 and danger, and that all the great 
 sights are somewhere else. 
 
 If a lady take a fancv to any male 
 passenger's seat, the gentleman who 
 accompanies her gives him notice of 
 the fact, and he immediately vacates 
 it with great politeness. Politics are 
 much discussed, so are banks, so is 
 cotton. Quiet people avoid the ques- 
 tion of the Presidency, for there will 
 be a new election in three years and 
 a half, and party feeling runs very 
 high : the great constitutional feature 
 of this institution being, that directly 
 the acrimony of the last election is 
 over, the acrimony of the next one 
 begins; which is an unspeakable 
 comfort to all strong politicians and 
 true lovers of their country : that is 
 to say, to ninety-nine men and boys 
 out of every ninety-nine and a 
 quarter. 
 
 Except when a branch road joins 
 the main one, there is seldom more 
 than one track of rails ; so that the 
 road is very narrow, and the view, 
 where there is a deep cutting, by no 
 means extensive. When there is 
 not, the character of the scenery is 
 always the same. Mile after mile of 
 stunted trees : some hewn down by 
 the axe, some blown down by the 
 wind, some half fallen and resting on 
 their neighbours, many mere logs 
 half hidden in the swamp, others 
 mouldered away to spongy chips. 
 The very soil of the earth is made up 
 
 of minute fragments such as these; 
 each pool of stagnant water has its 
 crust of vegetable rottenness ; on 
 every side there are the boughs, and 
 trunks, and stumps of trees, in every 
 possible stage of decay, decomposition, 
 and neglect. Now you emerge for a 
 few brief minutes on an open country, 
 glittering with some bright lake or 
 pool, broad as many an English river, 
 but so small here that it scarcely has 
 a name ; now catch hasty glimpses of 
 a distant town, with its clean white 
 houses and their cool piazzas, its prim 
 New England church and schoolhouse ; 
 when whir-r-r-r! almost before you 
 have seen them, comes the same dark 
 screen : the stunted trees, the stumps, 
 the logs, the stagnant water all so 
 like the last that you seem to have 
 been transported back again by 
 magic. 
 
 The train calls at stations in the 
 woods, where the wild impossibility 
 of anybody having the smallest reason 
 to get out, is only to be equalled by 
 the apparently desperate hopelessness 
 of there being anybody to get in. It 
 rushes across the turnpike road, where 
 there is no gate, no policeman, no 
 signal : nothing but a rough wooden 
 arch, on which is painted " WHEN THE 
 
 BELL RISGS, LOOK OUT FOE THE LoCO- 
 
 MOTIVE." On it whirls headlong, 
 dives through the woods again, 
 emerges in the light, clatters over 
 frail arches, rumbles upon the heavy 
 ground, shoots beneath a wooden 
 bridge which intercepts the light for 
 a second like a wink, suddenly 
 awakens all the slumbering echoes 
 in the main street of a large town, 
 and dashes on haphazard, pell-mell, 
 neck-or-nothing, down the middle of 
 the road. There with mechanics 
 working at their trades, and people 
 leaning from their doors and windows, 
 and boys flying kites and playing 
 marbles, and men smoking, and 
 women talking, and children crawling,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 and pigs burrowing, and unaccus 
 tomed horses plunging and rearing 
 close to the very rails there on, on, 
 on tears the mad dragon of an 
 engine with its train of cars ; scatter 
 ing in all directions a shower o: 
 burning sparks from its wood fire 
 screeching, hissing, yelling, panting 
 until at last the thirsty monster stops 
 beneath a covered way to drink, the 
 people cluster round, and you have 
 time to breathe again. 
 
 I was met at the station at Lowell 
 by a gentleman intimately connected 
 with the management of the factories 
 there ; and gladly putting myself 
 under his guidance, drove off at once 
 to that quarter of the town in which 
 the works, the object of my visit, were 
 situated. Although only just of age 
 for if my recollection serve me, it 
 has been a manufacturing town barely 
 one-and-twenty years Lowell is a 
 large, populous, thriving place. Those 
 indications of its youth which first 
 attract the eye, give it a quaintness 
 and oddity of character which, to a 
 visitor from the old country, is 
 amusing enough. It was a very dirty 
 winter's day, and nothing in the whole 
 town looked old to me, except the 
 mud, which in some parts was almost 
 knee-deep, and might have been de- 
 posited there, on the subsiding of the 
 waters after the Deluge. In one 
 place, there was a new wooden church, 
 which, having no steeple, and being 
 yet unpainted, looked like an enor- 
 mous packing-case without any di- 
 rection upon it. In another there 
 was a large hotel, whose walls and 
 colonnades were so crisp, and thin, 
 and slight, that it had exactly the 
 appearance of being built with cards. 
 I was careful not to draw my breath 
 as we passed, and trembled when I 
 saw a workman come out upon the 
 roof, lest with one thoughtless stamp 
 of his foot he should crush the struc- 
 ture beneath him, and bring it rattling 
 
 down. The very river that moves 
 the machinery in the mills (for they 
 are all worked by water power), seems 
 to acquire a new character from the 
 fresh buildings of bright red brick 
 and painted wood among which it 
 takes its course ; and to be as light- 
 headed, thoughtless, and brisk a young 
 river, in its murmurings and tum- 
 blings, as one would desire to see. 
 One would swear that every " Bakery," 
 " Grocery," and " Bookbindery," and 
 other kind of store, took its shutters 
 down for the first time, and started 
 in business yesterday. The golden 
 pestles and mortars fixed as signs 
 upon the sun-blind frames outside the 
 Druggists', appear to have been just . 
 turned out of the United States' 
 Mint; and when I saw a baby of 
 some week or ten days old in a wo- 
 man's arms at a street corner, I found 
 myself unconsciously wondering where 
 it came from : never supposing for an 
 instant that it could have been born 
 in such a young town as that. 
 
 There are several factories in Lowell, 
 each of which belongs to what we 
 should term a Company of Proprie- 
 tors, but what they call in America a 
 Corporation. I went over several of 
 these; such as a woollen factory, a 
 carpet factory, and a cotton factory : 
 examined them in every part ; and 
 saw them in their ordinary working 
 aspect, with no preparation of any 
 cind, or departure from their ordinary 
 every-day proceedings. I may add 
 that I am well acquainted with our 
 manufacturing towns in England, 
 and have visited many mills in Man- 
 chester and elsewhere in the same 
 manner. 
 
 I happened to arrive at the first fac- 
 ory just as the dinner hour was over, 
 and the girls were returning to their 
 work; indeed the stairs of the mill 
 were thronged with them as I ascended. 
 ?hey were all well-dressed, but not to 
 my thinking above their condition :
 
 46 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 for I like to see the humbler classes 
 of society careful of their dress and 
 appearance, and even, if they please, 
 decorated with such little trinkets as 
 come within the compass of their 
 means. Supposing it confined within 
 reasonable limits, I would always 
 encourage this kind of pride, as a 
 worthy element of self-respect, in any 
 person I employed ; and should no 
 more be deterred from doing so, be- 
 cause some wretched female referred 
 her fall to a love of dress, than I would 
 allow my construction of the real 
 intent and meaning of the Sabbath to 
 be influenced by any warning to the 
 well-disposed, founded on his backslid- 
 ings on that particular day, which 
 might emanate from the rather doubt- 
 ful authority of a murderer in New- 
 gate. 
 
 These girls, as I have said, were all 
 well dressed : and that phrase neces- 
 sarily includes extreme cleanliness. 
 They had serviceable bonnets, good 
 warm cloaks, and shawls; and were 
 not above clogs and pattens. More- 
 over, there were places in the mill in 
 which they could deposit these things 
 without injury ; and there were con 
 veniences for washing. They were 
 healthy in appearance, many of them 
 remarkably so, and had the manners 
 and deportment of young women 
 not of degraded brutes of burden. I 
 I had seen in one of those mills (but 
 did not, though I looked for some 
 thing of this kind with a sharp eye) 
 the most lisping, mincing, affected 
 and ridiculous young creature tha 
 my imagination could suggest,! shoul 
 have thought of the careless, moping 
 slatternly, degraded, dull reverse ( 
 have seen that), and should have been 
 still well pleased to look upon her. 
 
 The rooms in which they worker 
 were as well ordered as themselves 
 In the windows of some, there wer 
 green plants, which were trained t< 
 shade the glass ; in all, there was as 
 
 much fresh air, cleanliness, ami comfort, 
 is the nature of the occupation would 
 ossibly admit of. Out of so large a 
 umber of females, many of whom 
 ere only then just verging upon 
 omanhood, it may be reasonably sup- 
 osed that some were delicate and 
 ragile in appearance : no doubt there 
 vere. But I solemnly declare, that 
 rom all the crowd I saw in the dif- 
 erent factories that day, I cannot 
 ecal or separate one young face that 
 gave me a painful impression ; not 
 me young girl whom, assuming it to 
 >e matter of necessity that she should 
 gain her daily bread by the labour of 
 icr hands, I would have removed 
 rom those works if I had had the 
 
 power. 
 
 They reside in various boarding- 
 louses near at hand. The owners of 
 ;he mills are particularly careful to 
 allow no persons to enter upon the 
 possession of these houses, whose cha- 
 racters have not undergone the most 
 searching and thorough inquiry. Any 
 complaint that is made against them, 
 by the boarders, or by any one else, is 
 fully investigated j and if good ground 
 of complaint be shown to exist against 
 them, they are removed, and their 
 occupation is handed over to some 
 more deserving person. There are a 
 few children employed in these fac- 
 tories, but not many. The laws of 
 the State forbid their working more 
 than nine months in the year, and 
 require that they be educated during 
 the other three. For this purpose 
 there are schools in Lowell ; and there 
 are churches and chapels of various 
 persuasions, in which the young 
 women may observe that form of 
 worship in which they have been 
 educated. 
 
 At some distance from the factories, 
 and on the highest and pleasantest 
 pround in the neighbourhood, stands 
 their hospital, or boarding-house for 
 the sick : it is the best house in those
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 47 
 
 parts, and was built by an eminent 
 merchant for bis own residence. Like 
 that institution at Boston, which I 
 have before described, it is not par- 
 celled out into wards, but is divided 
 into convenient chambers, each of 
 which has all the comforts of a very 
 comfortable home. The principal 
 medical attendant resides under the 
 same roof; and were the patients 
 members of his own family, they could 
 not be better cared for, or attended 
 with greater gentleness and consider- 
 ation. The weekly charge in this 
 establishment for each female patient 
 is three dollars, or twelve shillings 
 English ; but no girl employed by any 
 of the corporations is ever excluded 
 for want of the means of payment. 
 That they do not very often want the 
 means, may be gathered from the 
 fact, that in July, 1841, no fewer than 
 nine hundred and seventy-eight of 
 these girls were depositors in the 
 Lowell Savings Bank : the amount of 
 whose joint savings was estimated at 
 one hundred thousand dollars, or 
 twenty thousand English pounds. 
 
 I m now going to state three facts, 
 which will startle a large class of 
 readers on this side of the Atlantic, 
 very much. 
 
 Firstly, there is a joint-stock piano 
 in a great many of the boarding- 
 houses. Secondly, nearly all these 
 young ladies subscribe to circulating 
 libraries. Thirdly, they have got up 
 among themselves a periodical called 
 THE LOWELL OFFERING, "A repository 
 of original articles, written exclusively 
 by females actively employed in the 
 mills," which is duly printed, pub- 
 lished, and sold ; and whereof I 
 brought away from Lowell four hun- 
 dred good solid pages, which I have 
 read from beginning to end. 
 
 The large class of readers, startled 
 by these facts, will exclaim, with one 
 voice, " How very preposterous ! " On 
 my deferentially inquiring why, they 
 
 will answer, " These tilings are above 
 their station." In reply to that ob- 
 jection, I would beg to ask what their 
 station is. 
 
 It is their station to work. And 
 they do work. They labour in these 
 mills, upon an average, twelve hours 
 a day, which is unquestionably work, 
 and pretty tight work too. Perhaps 
 it is above their station to indulge in 
 such amusements, on any terms. Are 
 we quite sure that we in England 
 have not formed our ideas of the 
 " station" of working people, from 
 accustoming ourselves to the contem- 
 plation of that class as they are, and 
 not as they might be ? I think that 
 if we examine our own feelings, we 
 shall find that the pianos, and the 
 circulating libraries, and even the 
 Lowell Offering, startle us by their 
 novelty, and not by their bearing upon 
 any abstract question of right or 
 wrong. 
 
 For myself, I know no station in 
 which, the occupation of to-day cheer- 
 fully done and the occupation of to- 
 morrow cheerfully looked to, any one 
 of these pursuits is not most humanis- 
 ing and laudable. I know no station 
 which is rendered more endurable to 
 the person in it, or more safe to the 
 person out of it, by having ignorance 
 for its associate. I know no station 
 which has a right to monopolise the 
 means of mutual instruction, improve- 
 ment, and rational entertainment ; 
 or which has ever continued to be a 
 station very long, after seeking to 
 do so. 
 
 Of the merits of the Lowell Offering- 
 as a literary production, I will only 
 observe, putting entirely out of sight 
 the fact of the articles having been 
 written by these girls after the arduous 
 labours of the day, that it will com- 
 pare advantageously with a great 
 many English Annuals. It is plea- 
 sant to find that many of its Tales 
 are of the Mills and of those who
 
 48 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 work in them ; that they inculcate 
 habits of self-denial and contentment, 
 and teach good doctrines of enlarged 
 benevolence. A strong feeling for the 
 beauties of nature, as displayed in the 
 solitudes the writers have left at 
 home, breathes through its pages like 
 wholesome village air ; and though a 
 circulating library is a favourable 
 school for the study of such topics, it 
 has very scant allusion to fine clothes, 
 fine marriages, fine houses, or fine 
 life. Some persons might object to 
 the papers being signed occasionally 
 with rather fine names, but this is an 
 American fashion. One of the pro- 
 vinces of the state legislature of Mas 
 sachusetta is to alter ugly names into 
 pretty ones, as the children improve 
 upon the tastes of their parents. 
 These changes costing little or no- 
 thing, scores of Mary Annes are 
 solemnly converted into Bevelinas 
 every session. 
 
 It is said that on the occasion of a 
 visit from General Jackson or General 
 Harrison to this town (I forget which, 
 but it is not to the purpose), he 
 walked through three miles and a half 
 of these young ladies all dressed out 
 with parasols and silk stockings. But 
 as I am not aware that any worse 
 consequence ensued, than a sudden 
 looking-up of all the parasols and 
 silk stockings in the market; and 
 perhaps the bankruptcy of some spe- 
 culative New Englander who bought 
 them all up at any price, in expec- 
 tation of a demand that never came ; 
 I set no great store by the circum- 
 stance. 
 
 In this brief account of Lowell, and 
 inadequate expression of the gratifica- 
 tion it yielded me, and cannot fail to 
 afford to any foreigner to whom the 
 condition of such people at home is a 
 subject of interest and anxious specu- 
 
 lation, I have carefully abstained from 
 drawing a comparison between these 
 factories and those of our own land. 
 Many of the circumstances whose 
 strong influence has been at work for 
 years in our manufacturing towns 
 have not arisen here ; and there is no 
 manufacturing population in Lowell, 
 so to speak : for these girls (often the 
 daughters of small farmers) come from 
 other States, remain a few years in 
 the mills, and then go home for good. 
 
 The contrast would be a strong one, 
 for it would be between the Good and 
 Evil, the living light and deepest 
 shadow. I abstain from it, because I 
 deem it just to do so. But I only the 
 more earnestly adjure all those whose 
 eyes may rest on these pages, to pause 
 and reflect upon the difference be- 
 tween this town and those great haunts 
 of desperate misery : to call to mind, 
 if they can in the midst of party strife 
 and squabble, the efforts that must be 
 made to purge them of their suffering 
 and danger : and last, and foremost, 
 to remember how the precious Time 
 is rushing by. 
 
 I returned at night by the same 
 railroad and in the same kind of car. 
 One of the passengers being exceed- 
 ingly anxious to expound at great 
 length to my companion (not to me, 
 of course) the true principles on which 
 books of travel in America should be 
 written by Englishmen, I feigned to 
 fall asleep. But glancing all the way 
 out at window from the corners of my 
 eyes, I found abundance of entertain- 
 ment for the rest of the ride in watch- 
 ing the effects of the wood fire, which 
 had been invisible in the morning but 
 were now brought out in full relief by 
 the darkness : for we were travelling 
 in a whirlwind of bright sparks, which 
 showered about us like a storm of 
 fiery snow.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WORCESTER. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT RIVER. HARTFORD. 
 TO NEW YORK. 
 
 NEW HAVEN. 
 
 LEAVING Boston on the afternoon of 
 Saturday the fifth of February, we 
 proceeded by another railroad to 
 Worcester : a pretty New England 
 town, where we had arranged to re- 
 main under the hospitable roof of the 
 Governor of the State, until Monday 
 morning. 
 
 These towns and cities of Xew 
 England (many of which would be 
 villages in Old England), are as 
 favourable specimens of rural America, 
 as their people are of rural Americans. 
 The well-trimmed lawns and green 
 meadows of home are not there : and 
 the grass, compared with our orna- 
 mental plots and pastures, is rank, 
 and rough, and wild: but delicate 
 slopes of land, gently-swelling hills, 
 wooded valleys, and slender streams, 
 abound. Every little colony of houses 
 has its church and school-house peep- 
 ing from among the white roofs and 
 shady trees ; every house is the whitest 
 of the white; every Venetian blind the 
 greenest of the green ; every fine day's 
 sky the bluest of the blue. A sharp 
 dry wind and a slight frost had so 
 hardened the roads when we alighted 
 at Worcester, that their furrowed 
 tracks were like ridges of granite. 
 There was the usual aspect of newness 
 on every object, of course. All the 
 buildings looked as if they had been 
 built and painted that morning, and 
 could be taken down on Monday with 
 very little trouble. In the keen evening 
 air, every sharp outline looked a hun- 
 dred times sharper than ever. The 
 clean cardboard colonnades had no 
 No. 164. 
 
 more perspective than a Chinese 
 bridge on a tea-cup, and appeared 
 equally well calculated for use. The 
 razor-like edges of the detached cot- 
 tages seemed to cut the very wind as 
 it whistled against them, and to send 
 it smarting on its way with a shriller 
 cry than before. Those slightly-built 
 wooden dwellings behind which the 
 sun was setting with a brilliant lustre, 
 could be so looked through and 
 through, that the idea of any inhabi- 
 tant being able to hide himself from 
 the public gaze, or to have any secrets 
 from the public eye, was not enter- 
 tainable for a moment. Even where 
 a blazing fire shone through the un- 
 curtained windows of some distant 
 house, it had the air of being newly- 
 lighted, and of lacking warmth ; and 
 instead of awakening thoughts of a 
 snug chamber, bright with faces that 
 first saw the light round that same 
 hearth, and ruddy with warm hang- 
 ings, it came upon one suggestive of 
 the smell of new mortar and damp 
 walls. 
 
 So I thought, at least, that evening. 
 Next morning when the sun was 
 shining brightly, and the clear church 
 ! bells were ringing, and sedate people 
 in their best clothes enlivened the 
 ! pathway near at hand and dotted the 
 distant thread of road, there was a 
 pleasant Sabbath peacefulness on 
 everything, which it was good to feel. 
 It would have been the better for an 
 old church ; better still for some old 
 graves ; but as it was, a wholesome 
 ! repose and tranquillity pervaded the
 
 30 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 scene, which after the restless ocean 
 and the hurried city, had a doubly 
 grateful influence on the spirits. 
 
 We went on next morning, still by 
 railroad, to Springfield. From that 
 place to Hartford, whither we were 
 bound, is a distance of only five-and- 
 twenty miles, but at that time of the 
 year the roads were so bad that the 
 journey would probably have occupied 
 ten or twelve hours. Fortunately, 
 however, the winter having been un- 
 usually mild, the Connecticut River 
 was " open," or, in other words, not 
 frozen. The captain of a small steam- 
 boat was going to make his first trip 
 for the season that day (the second 
 February trip, I believe, within the 
 memory of man), and only waited for 
 us to go on board. Accordingly, we 
 vent on board, with as little delay as 
 might be. He was as good as his 
 word, and started directly. 
 
 It certainly was not called a small 
 steam-boat without reason. I omitted 
 to ask the question, but I should think 
 it must have been of about half a pony 
 power. Mr. Paap, the celebrated 
 Dwarf, might have lived and died 
 happily in the cabin, which was fitted 
 with common sash-windows like an 
 ordinary dwelling-house. These win- 
 dows had bright-red curtains, too, 
 hung on slack strings across the lower 
 panes ; so that it looked like the par- 
 lour of a Lilliputian public-house, 
 which had got afloat in a flood or some 
 other water accident, and was drifting 
 nobody knew where. But even in this 
 chamber there was a rocking-chair. It 
 would be impossible to get on any- 
 where, in America, without a rocking- 
 chair. 
 
 I am afraid to tell how many feet 
 short this vessel was, or how many 
 feet narrow : to apply the words length 
 and width to such measurement would 
 be a contradiction in terms. But I 
 may state that we all kept the middle 
 of the deck, lest the boat should un- 
 
 expectedly tip over; and that the 
 machinery, by some surprising process 
 of condensation, worked between it 
 and the keel : the whole forming a 
 warm sandwich, about three feet thick. 
 
 It rained all day as I once thought 
 it never did rain anywhere, but in the 
 Highlands of Scotland. The river was 
 full of floating blocks of ice, which 
 were constantly crunching and crack- 
 ing under us ; and the depth of water, 
 in the course we took to avoid the 
 larger masses, carried down the middle 
 of the river by the current, did not 
 exceed a few inches. Nevertheless, we 
 moved onward, dexterously; and being 
 well wrapped up, bade defiance to the 
 weather, and enjoyed the journey. The 
 Connecticut River is a fine stream ; 
 and the banks in summer-time are, I 
 have no doubt, beautiful : at all events, 
 I was told so by a young lady in the 
 cabin ; and she should be a judge of 
 beauty, if the possession of a quality 
 include the appreciation of it, for a 
 more beautiful creature I never looked 
 upon. 
 
 After two hours and a half of this 
 odd travelling (including a stoppage 
 at a small town, where we were saluted 
 by a gun considerably bigger than our 
 own chimney), we reached Hartford, 
 and straightway repaired to an ex- 
 tremely comfortable hotel : except, as 
 usual, in the article of bed-rooms, 
 which, in almost every place we 
 visited, were very conducive to early 
 rising. 
 
 We tarried here, four days. The 
 town is beautifully situated in a 
 basin of green hills ; the soil is rich, 
 well-wooded, and carefully improved. 
 It is the seat of the local legislature 
 of Connecticut, which sage body en- 
 acted, in bygone times, the renowned 
 code of "Blue Laws," in virtue whereof, 
 among other enlightened provisions, 
 any citizen who could be proved to 
 have kissed his wife on Sunday, was 
 punishable, I believe, with the stocks.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 51 
 
 Too much of the old Puritan spirit 
 exists in these parts to the present 
 hour; but its influence has not tended, 
 that I know, to make the people less 
 hard in their bargains, or more equal 
 in their dealings. As I never heard 
 of its working that effect anywhere 
 else, I infer that it never will, here. 
 Indeed, I am accustomed, with refer- 
 ence to great professions and severe 
 faces, to judge of the goods of the 
 other world pretty much as I judge 
 of the goods of this; and whenever 
 I see a dealer in such commodities 
 with too great a display of them in 
 his window, I doubt the quality of the 
 article within. 
 
 In Hartford stands the famous oak 
 in which the charter of King Charles 
 was hidden. It is now inclosed in a 
 gentleman's garden. In the State- 
 house is the charter itself. I found 
 the courts of law here, just the same 
 as at Boston ; the public Institutions 
 almost as good. The Insane Asylum 
 is admirably conducted, and so is the 
 Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. 
 
 I very much questioned within my- 
 self, as I walked through the Insane 
 Asylum, whether I should have known 
 the attendants from the patients, but 
 for the few words which passed be- 
 tween the former, and the Doctor, in 
 reference to the persons under their 
 charge. Of course I limit this re- 
 mark merely to their looks ; for the 
 conversation of the mad people was 
 mad enough. 
 
 There was one little prim old lady, 
 of very smiling and good-humoured 
 appearance, who came sidling up to 
 me from the end of a long passage, 
 and with a curtsey of inexpressible 
 condescension, propounded this un- 
 accountable inquiry : 
 
 " Does Pontefract still flourish, sir, 
 upon the soil of England ? " 
 
 " He does, ma'am," I rejoined. 
 
 " "When you last saw him, sir, he 
 was " 
 
 " Well, ma'am," said I, " extremely 
 well. He begged me to present his 
 compliments. I never saw him look- 
 ing better." 
 
 At this, the old lady was very much 
 delighted. After glancing at me 
 for a moment, as if to be quite sure 
 that I was serious in my respectful 
 air, she sidled back some paces ; sidled 
 forward again; made a sudden skip 
 (at which I precipitately retreated a 
 step or two) ; and said : 
 
 "7am an antediluvian, sir." 
 
 I thought the best thing to say was, 
 that I had suspected as much from 
 the first. Therefore I said so. 
 
 "It is an extremely proud and plea- 
 ant thing, sir, to be an antediluvian," 
 said the old lady. 
 
 " I should think it was, ma'am," I 
 rejoined. 
 
 The old lady kissed her hand, gave 
 another skip, smirked and sidled down 
 the gallery in a most extraordinary 
 manner, and ambled gracefully into 
 her own bed-chamber. 
 
 In another part of the building, 
 there was a male patient in bed ; very 
 much flushed and heated. 
 
 " Well !" said he, starting up, and 
 pulling off his night-cap : " It 's all 
 settled, at last. I have arranged it 
 with queen Victoria." 
 
 " Arranged what ? " asked the 
 Doctor. 
 
 " Why, that business," passing his 
 hand wearily across his forehead, 
 " about the siege of New York." 
 
 " Oh !" said I, like a man suddenly 
 enlightened. For he looked at me 
 for an answer. 
 
 " Yes. Every house without a 
 signal will be fired upon by the 
 British troops. No harm will be done 
 to the others. No harm at all. Those 
 that want to be safe, must hoist flags. 
 That 's all they '11 have to do. They 
 must hoist flags." 
 
 Even while he was speaking he 
 seemed, I thought, to have some faint
 
 52 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 idea that his talk was incoherent. 
 Directly he had said these words, he 
 lay down again ; gave a kind of a 
 groan ; and covered his hot head with 
 the blankets. 
 
 There was another : a young man, 
 whose madness was love and music. 
 After playing on the accordion a 
 march he had composed, he was very 
 anxious that I should walk into his 
 chamber, which I immediately did. 
 
 By way of being very knowing, and 
 humouring him to the top of his 
 bent, I went to the window, which 
 commanded a beautiful prospect, and 
 remarked, with an address upon which 
 1 greatly plumed myself : 
 
 "What a delicious country you 
 have about these lodgings of yours." 
 
 "Poh !" said he, moving his fingers 
 carelessly over the notes of his instru- 
 ment : " Wdl enough for such an In- 
 stitution as this!" 
 
 I don't think I was ever so taken 
 aback in all my life. 
 
 " I come here just for a whim," he 
 said coolly. " That 's all." 
 
 " Oh ! That 's all !" said I. 
 
 " Yes. That 's all. The Doctor 's 
 a smart man. He quite enters into 
 it. It 's a joke of mine. I like it 
 for a time. You needn't mention it, 
 but I think I shall go out next 
 Tuesday ! " 
 
 I assured him that I would consider 
 our interview perfectly confidential ; 
 and rejoined the Doctor. As we 
 were passing through a gallery on our 
 way out, a well-dressed lady, of quiet 
 and composed manners, came up, and 
 proffering a slip of paper and a pen, 
 begged that I would oblige her with 
 an autograph. I complied, and we 
 parted, 
 
 " I think I remember having had a 
 few interviews like that, with ladies 
 out of doors. I hope she is not 
 mad?" 
 
 Yes." 
 
 " On what subject ? Autographs 1 " 
 
 " No. She hears voices in the 
 air." 
 
 "Well!" thought I, "it would be 
 well if we could shut up a few false 
 prophets of these later times, who 
 have professed to do the same ; and I 
 should like to try the experiment on 
 a Mormonist or two to begin with." 
 
 In this place, there is the best Jail 
 for untried offenders in the world. 
 There is also a very well-ordered State 
 prison, arranged upon the same plan 
 as that at Boston, except that here, 
 there is always a sentry on the wall 
 with a loaded gun. It contained at 
 that time about two hundred pri- 
 soners. A spot was shown me in the 
 sleeping ward, where a watchman was 
 murdered some years since in the 
 dead of night, in a desperate attempt 
 to escape, made by a prisoner who had 
 broken from his cell. A woman, too, 
 was pointed out to me, who, for the 
 j murder of her husband, had been a 
 j close prisoner for sixteen years. 
 
 " Do you think," I asked of my 
 conductor, " that after so very long an 
 imprisonment, she has any thought 
 or hope of ever regaining her 
 liberty ? " 
 
 " Oh dear yes," he answered. " To 
 be sure she has." 
 
 " She has no chance of obtaining it, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Well, I don't know :" which, by 
 ' the bye, is a national answer. " Her 
 friends mistrust her." 
 
 " What have they to do with itl" I 
 naturally inquired. 
 
 " Well, they won't petition." 
 
 " But if they did, they couldn't get 
 her out, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Well, not the first time, perhaps, 
 nor yet the second, but tiring and 
 wean-ing for a few years might do it." 
 
 " Does that ever do it?" 
 
 " Why yes, that '11 do it sometimes. 
 Political friends '11 do it sometimes. 
 It's pretty often done, one way or 
 another."
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 53 
 
 I shall always entertain a very plea- 
 sant and grateful recollection of 
 Hartford. It is a lovely place, and I 
 had many friends there, whom I can 
 never remember with indifference. 
 We left it with no little regret on the 
 evening of Friday the llth, and tra- 
 velled that night by railroad to New 
 Haven. Upon the way, the guard 
 and I were formally introduced to 
 each other (as we usually were on such 
 occasions), and exchanged a variety 
 of small-talk. We reached New Haven 
 at about eight o'clock, after a journey 
 of three hours, and put up for the 
 night at the best inn. 
 
 New Haven, known also as the 
 City of Elms, is a fine town. Many 
 of its streets (as its alias sufficiently 
 imports) are planted with rows of 
 grand old elm-trees; and the same 
 natural ornaments surround Yale 
 College, an establishment of consider- 
 able eminence and reputation. The 
 various departments of this Institu- 
 tion are erected in a kind of park or 
 common in the middle of the town, 
 where they are dimly visible among 
 the shadowing trees. The effect is 
 very like that of an old cathedral 
 yard in England; and when their 
 branches are in full leaf, must be 
 extremely picturesque. Even in the 
 winter time, these groups of well- 
 grown trees, clustering among the 
 busy streets and houses of a thriving 
 city, have a very quaint appearance : 
 seeming to bring about a kind of com- 
 promise between town and country ; 
 as if each had met the other half-way, 
 and shaken hands upon it ; which is 
 at once novel and pleasant. 
 
 After a night's rest, we rose early, and 
 in good time went down to the wharf, 
 and on board the packet New York for 
 New York. This was the first American 
 steamboat of any size that I had seen ; 
 and certainly to an English eye it 
 was infinitely less like a steamboat 
 than a huge floating bath. I could 
 
 hardly persuade myself, indeed, but 
 that the bathing establishment off 
 Westminster Bridge, which I left a 
 baby, had suddenly grown to an 
 enormous size ; run away from home; 
 and set up in foreign parts as a steamer. 
 Being in America, too, which our 
 vagabonds do so particularly favour, 
 it seemed the more probable. 
 
 The great difference in appearance 
 between these packets and ours, is, 
 that there is so much of them out of 
 the water : the main-deck being en- 
 closed on all sides, and filled with 
 casks and goods, like any second or 
 third floor in a stack of warehouses ; 
 and the promenade or hurricane-deck 
 being a-top of that again. A part of 
 the machinery is always above this 
 deck ; where the connecting-rod, in a 
 strong and lofty frame, is seen working 
 away like an iron top-sawyer. There 
 is seldom any mast or tackle : 
 nothing aloft but two tall black 
 chimneys. The man at. the helm is 
 shut up in a little house in the fore 
 part of the boat (the wheel being con- 
 nected with the rudder by iron chains, 
 working the whole length of the 
 deck) ; and the passengers, unless 
 the weather be very fine indeed, 
 usually congregate below. Directly 
 you have left the wharf, all the life, 
 and stir, and bustle of a packet cease. 
 You wonder for a long time how she 
 goes on, for there seems to be nobody 
 in charge of her ; and when another 
 of these dull machines comes splash- 
 ing by, you feel quite indignant with 
 it, as a sullen, cumbrous, ungraceful, 
 unshiplike leviathan : quite forgetting 
 that the vessel you are on board of, is 
 its very counterpart. 
 
 There is always a clerk's office on 
 the lower deck, where you pay your 
 fare; a ladies' cabin; baggage and 
 stowage rooms ; engineer's room ; 
 and in short a great variety of per- 
 plexities which render the discovery 
 of the gentlemen's cabin, a matter of
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 some difficulty. It often occupies the 
 whole length of the boat (as it did 
 in this case), and has three or four 
 tiers of berths on each side. When I 
 first descended into the cabin of the 
 New York, it looked, in my unaccus- 
 tomed eyes, about as long as the 
 Burlington Arcade. 
 
 The Sound which has to be crossed 
 on this passage, is not always a very 
 safe or pleasant navigation, and has 
 been the scene of some unfortunate 
 accidents. It was a wet morning, and 
 very misty, and we soon lost sight of 
 land. The day was calm, however, 
 and brightened towards noon. After 
 exhausting (with good help from a 
 friend) the larder, and the stock of 
 bottled beer, I lay down to sleep : 
 being very much tired with the 
 fatigues of yesterday. But I awoke 
 from my nap in time to hurry up, and 
 see Hell Gate, the Hog's Back, the 
 Frying Pan, and other notorious loca- 
 lities, attractive to all readers of famous 
 Diedrich Knickerbocker's History. 
 We were now in a narrow channel, 
 with sloping banks on either side, 
 besprinkled with pleasant villas, and 
 made refreshing to the sight by turf 
 and trees. Soon we shot in quick 
 succession, past a lighthouse ; a mad- 
 house (how the lunatics flung up their 
 caps and roared in sympathy with the 
 headlong engine and the driving 
 tide !) ; a jail ; and other buildings : 
 and so emerged into a noble bay, 
 whose waters sparkled in the now 
 cloudless sunshine like Nature's eyes ; 
 turned up to Heaven. 
 
 Then there lay stretched out before 
 us, to the right, confused heaps of 
 buildings, with here and there a spire 
 or steeple, looking down upon the 
 herd below; and here and there, again, 
 a cloud of lazy smoke ; and in the 
 foreground a forest of ships' masts, 
 cheery with flapping sails and waving 
 flags. Crossing from among them to 
 the opposite shore, were steam ferry- 
 boats laden with people, coaches, 
 horses, waggons, baskets, boxes : 
 crossed and recrossed by other ferry- 
 boats : all travelling to and fro : and 
 never idle. Stately among these 
 restless Insects, were two or three 
 large ships, moving with slow majestic 
 pace, as creatures of a prouder kind, 
 disdainful of their puny journeys, and 
 making for the broad sea. Beyond, 
 were shining heights, and islands in 
 the glancing river, and a distance 
 scarcely less blue and bright than the 
 sky it seemed to meet The city's 
 hum and buzz, the clinking of cap- 
 stans, the ringing of bells, the barking 
 of dogs, the clattering of wheels, 
 tingled in the listening ear. All of 
 which life and stir, coming across the 
 stirring water, caught new life and 
 animation from its free companion- 
 ship ; and, sympathising with its 
 buoyant spirits, glistened as it seemed 
 in sport upon its surface, and hemmed 
 the vessel round, and plashed the 
 water high about her sides, and, 
 floating her gallantly into the dock, 
 flew off again to welcome other 
 comers, and speed before them to the 
 busy port.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE beautiful metropolis of America 
 is by- no means so clean a city as 
 Boston, but many of its streets have 
 the same characteristics ; except that 
 the houses ' are not quite so fresh- 
 coloured, the sign-boards are not quite 
 so gaudy, the gilded letters not quite 
 so golden, the bricks not quite so red, 
 the stone not quite so white, the blinds 
 and area railings not quite so green, 
 the knobs and plates upon the street 
 doors, not quite so bright and twink- 
 ling. There are many bye-streets, 
 almost as neutral in clean colours, 
 and positive in dirty ones, as bye 
 streets in London ; and there is one 
 quarter, commonly called the Five 
 Points, which, in respect of filth and 
 wretchedness, may be safely backed 
 against Seven Dials, or any other 
 part of famed St. Giles's. 
 
 The great promenade and thorough- 
 fare, as most people know, is Broad- 
 way; a wide and bustling street, 
 which, from the Battery Gardens to 
 its opposite termination in a country 
 road, may be four miles long. Shall 
 we sit down in an upper floor of the 
 Carlton House Hotel (situated in the 
 best part of this main artery of New 
 York), and when we are tired of look- 
 ing down upon the life below, sally 
 forth arm-in-arm, and mingle with 
 the stream ] 
 
 Warm weather ! The sun strikes 
 upon our heads at this open window, 
 as though its rays were concentrated 
 through a burning-glass ; but the day 
 is in its zenith, and the season an un- 
 usual one. Was there ever such a 
 sunny street as this Broadway ! The 
 pavement stones are polished with the 
 
 tread of feet until they shine again ; 
 the red bricks of the houses might be 
 yet in the dry, hot kilns ; and the 
 roofs of those omnibuses look as 
 though, if water were poured on them, 
 they would hiss and smoke, and smell 
 like half-quenched fires. No stint of 
 omnibuses here ! Half a dozen have 
 gone by within as many minutes. 
 Plenty of hackney cabs and coaches 
 too ; gigs, phaetons, large-wheeled 
 tilburies, and private carriages 
 rat her of a clumsy make, and not very 
 different from the public vehicles, but 
 built for the heavy roads beyond the 
 city pavement. Negro coachmen and 
 white; in straw hats, black hats, 
 white hats, glazed caps, fur caps ; in 
 coats of drab, black, brown, green, 
 blue, nankeen, striped jean and linen; 
 and there, in that one instance (look 
 while it passes, or it will be too late), 
 in suits of livery. Some southern 
 republican that, who puts his blacks 
 in uniform, and swells with Sultan 
 pomp and power. Yonder, where 
 that phaeton with the well-clipped 
 pair of grays has stopped standing 
 at their heads now is a Yorkshire 
 groom, who has not been very long in 
 those parts, and looks sorrowfully 
 round for a companion pair of top- 
 boots, which he may traverse the city 
 half a year without meeting. Heaven 
 save the ladies, how they dress ! We 
 have seen more colours in these ten 
 minutes, than we should have seen 
 elsewhere, in as many days. What 
 various parasols ! what rainbow silks 
 and satins ! what pinking of thin 
 stockings, and pinching of thin shoes, 
 and fluttering of ribbons and silk
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 tassels, and display of rich cloaks with 
 gaudy hoods and linings ! The young 
 gentlemen are fond, you see, of turn- 
 ing down their shirt-collars and cul- 
 tivating their whiskers, especially 
 under the chin ; but they cannot ap- 
 proach the ladies in their dress or 
 bearing, being to say the truth, 
 humanity of quite another sort. 
 Byrons of the desk and counter, pass 
 on, and let us see what kind of men 
 those are behind ye : those two 
 labourers in holiday clothes, of whom 
 one carries in his hand a crumpled 
 scrap of paper from which he tries to 
 spell out a hard name, while the other 
 looks about for it on all the doors and 
 windows. 
 
 Irishmen both ! You might know 
 them, if they were masked, by their 
 long-tailed blue coats and bright 
 buttons, and their drab trowsers, 
 which they wear like men well used 
 to working dresses, who are easy in 
 no others. It would be hard to keep 
 your model republics going, without 
 the countrymen and countrywomen of 
 those two labourers. For who else 
 would dig, and delve, and drudge, and 
 do domestic work, and make canals 
 and roads, and execute great lines of 
 Internal Improvement ! Irishmen 
 both, and sorely puzzled too, to find 
 out what they seek. Let us go down, 
 and help them, for the love of home, 
 and that spirit of liberty which admits 
 of honest service to honest men, and 
 honest work for honest bread, no 
 matter what it be. 
 
 That's well! We have got at the 
 right address at last, though it is writ- 
 ten in strange characters truly, and 
 might have been scrawled with the 
 blunt handle of the spade the writer bet- 
 ter knows the use of, than a pen. Their 
 way lies yonder, but what business 
 takes them there] They carry sav- 
 ings : to hoard up 1 No. They are 
 brothers, those men. One crossed 
 the sea alone, and working very hard 
 
 for one half year, and living harder, 
 saved funds enough to bring the 
 other out. That done, they worked 
 together side by side, contentedly 
 sharing hard labour and hard living 
 for another term, and then their 
 sisters came, and then another 
 brother, and, lastly, their old mother. 
 And what now ? Why, the poor old 
 crone is restless in a strange land, and 
 yearns to lay her bones, she says, 
 among her people in the old grave- 
 yard at home : and so they go to pay 
 her passage back : and God help her 
 and them, and every simple heart, 
 and all who turn to the Jerusalem 
 of their younger days, and have an 
 altar-fire upon the cold hearth of their 
 fathers. 
 
 This narrow thoroughfare, baking 
 and blistering in the sun, is Wall 
 Street : the Stock Exchange and Lom- 
 bard Street of New York. Many a 
 rapid fortune has been made in this 
 street, and many a no less rapid ruin. 
 Some of these very merchants whom 
 you see hanging about here now, have 
 locked up money in their strong- 
 boxes, like the man in the Arabian 
 Nights, and opening them again, have 
 found but withered leaves. Below, 
 here by the water side, where the 
 bowsprits of ships stretch across the 
 footway, and almost thrust themselves 
 into the windows, lie the noble Ame- 
 rican vessels which have made their 
 Packet Service the finest in the world. 
 They have brought hither the foreign- 
 ers who abound in all the streets : not 
 perhaps, that there are more here, 
 than in other commercial cities ; but 
 elsewhere, they have particular haunts, 
 and you must find them out; here, 
 they pervade the town. 
 
 We must cross Broadway again ; 
 gaining some refreshment from the 
 heat, in the sight of the great blocks 
 of clean ice which are being carried 
 into shops and bar-rooms; and the 
 pine-apples and water-melons pro-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 57 
 
 fusely displayed for sale. Fine streets 
 of spacious houses here, you see ! 
 Wall Street has furnished and dis- 
 mantled many of them very often and 
 here a deep green leafy square. Be 
 sure that is a hospitable house with 
 inmates to be affectionately remem- 
 bered always, where they have the 
 open door and pretty show of plants 
 within, and where the child with 
 laughing eyes is peeping out of window 
 at the little dog below. You wonder 
 what may be the use of this tall flag- 
 staff in the bye street, with something 
 like Liberty's head-dress on its top : 
 so do I. But there ia a passion for 
 tall flagstaff's hereabout, and you may 
 see its twin brother in five minutes, if 
 you have a mind. 
 
 Again across Broadway, and so 
 passing from the many-coloured crowd 
 and glittering shops into another 
 long main street, the Bowery. A 
 rail-road yonder, see, where two stout 
 horses trot along, drawing a score or 
 two of people and a great wooden ark, 
 with ease. The stores are poorer 
 here ; the passengers less gay. Clothes 
 ready-made, and meat ready-cooked, 
 are to be bought in these parts ; and 
 the lively whirl of carriages is ex- 
 changed for the deep rumble of carts 
 and waggons. These signs which are 
 so plentiful, in shape like river buoys, 
 or small balloons, hoisted by cords to 
 poles, and dangling there, announce, 
 as you may see by looking up, " OYS- 
 TERS IN EVERY STYLE." They tempt 
 the hungry most at night, for then 
 dull candles glimmering inside, illu- 
 minate these dainty words, and make 
 the mouths of idlers water, as they 
 read and linger. 
 
 What ia this dismal-fronted pile of 
 bastard Egyptian, like an enchanter's 
 palace in a melodrama ! a famous 
 prison, called The Tombs. Shall we 
 go in? 
 
 So. A long narrow lofty building, 
 stove-heated as usual, with four gal- 
 
 leries, one above the other, going 
 round it, and communicating by 
 stairs. Between the two sides of each 
 gallery, and in its centre, a bridge, 
 for the greater convenience of cross- 
 ing. On each of these bridges sits a 
 man : dozing or reading, or talking to 
 an idle companion. On each tier, are 
 two opposite rows of small iron doors. 
 They look like furnace doors, but are 
 cold and black, as though the fires 
 within had all gone out. Some two 
 or three are open, and women, with 
 drooping heads bent down, are talk- 
 ing to the inmates. The whole is 
 lighted by a skylight, but it is fast 
 closed; and from the roof there 
 dangle, limp and drooping, two use- 
 less windsails. 
 
 A man with keys appears, to show 
 us round; A good-looking fellow, 
 and, in his way, civil and obliging. 
 
 " Are those black doors the cells?" 
 
 'Yes." 
 
 "Are they all full]" 
 
 " Well, they 're pretty nigh full, 
 and that 'a a fact, and no two ways 
 about it." 
 
 " Those at the bottom are unwhole- 
 some, surely ? " 
 
 " Why, we do only put coloured 
 people in 'em. That 's the truth." 
 
 " When do the prisoners take 
 exercise ? " 
 
 " Well, they do without it pretty 
 much." 
 
 "Do they never walk in the yard?" 
 
 " Considerable seldom." 
 
 " Sometimes, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Well, it 's rare they do. They 
 keep pretty bright without it." 
 
 " But suppose a man were here for 
 a twelvemonth. I know this is only 
 a prison for criminals who are charged 
 with grave offences, while they are 
 awaiting their trial, or are under 
 remand, but the law here, affords 
 criminals many means of delay. What 
 with motions for new trial, and in 
 arrest of judgment, and what not, a
 
 53 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 prisoner might be here for twelve 
 months, I take it, might he not ? " 
 
 " Well, I guess he might." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that in all 
 that time he would never come out at 
 that little iron door, for exercise 1 " 
 
 " He might walk some, perhaps 
 not much." 
 
 " Will you open one of the doors?" 
 
 " All, if you like." 
 
 The fastenings jar and rattle, and 
 one of the doors turns slowly on its 
 hinges. Let us look in. A small 
 bare cell, into which the light enters 
 through a high chink in the wall. 
 There is a rude means of washing, a 
 table, and a bedstead. Upon the 
 latter, sits a man of sixty ; reading. 
 He looks up for a moment ; gives an 
 impatient dogged shake; and fixes 
 his eyes upon his book again. As we 
 withdrew our heads, the door closes 
 on him, and is fastened as before. 
 This man has murdered his wife, and 
 will probably be hanged. 
 
 " How long has he been here ? " 
 
 "A month." 
 
 " When will he be tried 1 " 
 
 " Next term." 
 
 " When is that 1 " 
 
 " Next month." 
 
 " In England, if a man be under 
 sentence of death, even he has air 
 and exercise at certain periods of 
 the day." 
 
 " Possible ? " 
 
 With what stupendous and un- 
 translatable coolness he says this, and 
 how loungingly he leads on to the 
 women's side : making, as he goes, a 
 kind of iron castanet of the key and 
 the stair-rail .' 
 
 Each cell door on this side has a 
 square aperture in it Some of the 
 women peep anxiously through it at 
 the sound of footsteps ; others shrink 
 away in shame. For what offence can 
 that lonely child, of ten or twelve 
 years old, be shut up here ? Oh ! 
 that boy ? He is the son of the pri- 
 
 soner we saw just now ; is a witness 
 against his father; and is detained 
 here for safe-keeping, until the trial ; 
 that 's all. 
 
 But it is a dreadful place for the 
 child to pass the long days and nights 
 in. This is rather hard treatment for 
 a young witness, is it not] What 
 says our conductor ? 
 
 " Well, it an't a very rowdy life, and 
 that 's a fact ! " 
 
 Again he clinks his metal castanet, 
 and leads us leisurely away. I have a 
 question to ask him as we go. 
 
 " Pray, why do they call this place 
 The Tombs?" 
 
 " Well, it's the cant name." 
 
 " I know it is. Why ?" 
 
 " Some suicides happened here, 
 when it was first built. I expect it 
 come about from that." 
 
 " I saw just now, that that man's 
 clothes were ccattered about the floor 
 of his cell. Don't you oblige the pri- 
 soners to be orderly, and put such 
 things away?" 
 
 " Where should they put 'em?" 
 
 " Not on the ground surely. What 
 do you say to hanging them up ?" 
 
 He stops and looks round to em- 
 phasise his answer : 
 
 " Why, I say that's just it When 
 they had hooks they would hang 
 themselves, so they're taken out of 
 every cell, and there's only the marks 
 left where they used to be !" 
 
 The prison-yard in which he pauses 
 now, has been the scene of terrible 
 performances. Into this narrow, 
 grave-like place, men are brought out 
 to die. The wretched creature stands 
 beneath the gibbet on the ground ; 
 the rope about his neck ; and when 
 the sign is given, a weight at its other 
 end comes running down, and swings 
 him up into the air a corpse. 
 
 The law requires that there be pre- 
 sent at this dismal spectacle, the 
 judge, the jury, and citizens to the 
 amount of twenty-five. From the
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 59 
 
 community it is hidden. To the dis- 
 solute and bad, the thing remains 
 a frightful mystery. Between the 
 criminal and them, the prison-wall is 
 interposed as a thick gloomy veil. It 
 is the curtain to his bed of death, his 
 winding-sheet, and grave. From him 
 it shuts out life, and all the motives 
 to unrepenting hardihood in that last 
 hour, which its mere sight and pre- 
 sence is often all-sufficient to sustain. 
 There are no bold eyes to make him 
 bold ; no ruffians to uphold a ruffian's 
 name before. All beyond the pitiless 
 stone wall, is unknown space. 
 
 Let us go forth again into the 
 cheerful streets. 
 
 Once more in Broadway ! Here 
 are the same ladies in bright colours, 
 walking to and fro, in pairs and 
 singly ; yonder the very same light 
 blue parasol which passed and re- 
 passed the hotel-window twenty times 
 while we were sitting there. We are 
 going to cross here. Take care of the 
 pigs. Two portly sows are trotting 
 up behind this carriage, and a select 
 party of half-a-dozen gentlemen hogs 
 have just now turned the corner. 
 
 Here is a solitary swine lounging 
 homeward by himself. He has only 
 one ear; having parted with the 
 other to vagrant-dogs in the course of 
 his city rambles. But he gets on very 
 well without it ; and leads a roving, 
 gentlemanly, vagabond kind of life, 
 somewhat answering to that of our 
 club-men at home. He leaves his 
 lodgings every morning at a certain 
 hour, throws himself upon tb.3 town, 
 gets through his day in some manner 
 quite satisfactory to himself, and re- 
 gularly appears at the door of his own 
 house again at night, like the myste- 
 rious master of Gil Bias. He is a 
 free-and-easy, careless, indiffereut kind 
 of pig, having a very large acquain- 
 tance among other pigs of the same 
 character, whom he rather knows by 
 sight than conversation, as lie seldom 
 
 troubles himself to stop and exchange 
 civilities, but goes grunting down the 
 kennel, turning up the news and 
 small-talk of the city in the shape of 
 cabbage-stalks and offal, and bearing 
 no tails but his own : which is a very 
 short one, for his old enemies, the 
 dogs, have been at that too, and have 
 left him hardly enough to swear by. 
 He is in every respect a republican 
 pig, going wherever he pleases, and 
 I mingling with the best society, on an 
 1 equal, if not superior footing, for 
 i every one makes way when he 
 i appears, and the haughtiest give him 
 the wall, if he prefer it. He is a 
 great philosopher, and seldom moved, 
 unless by the dogs before mentioned. 
 Sometimes, indeed, you may see his 
 small eye twinkling on a slaughtered 
 friend, whose carcase garnishes a 
 butcher's door-post, but he grunts out 
 " Such is life : all flesh is pork ! " 
 buries his nose in the mire again, and 
 waddles down the gutter : comforting 
 himself with the reflection that there 
 is one snout the less to anticipate stray 
 cabbage-stalks, at any rate. 
 
 They are the city scavengers, these 
 pigs. Ugly brutes they are ; having, 
 for the most part, scanty, brown backs, 
 like the lids of old horse-hair trunks : 
 spotted with unwholesome black 
 blotches. They have long, gaunt 
 legs, too, and such peaked snouts, 
 that if one of them could be persuaded 
 to sit for his profile, nobody would 
 recognise it for a pig's likeness. They 
 are never attended upon, or fed, or 
 driven, or caught, but are thrown 
 upon their own resources in early 
 life, and become preternaturally 
 knowing in consequence. Every pig 
 knows where he lives, much better 
 than anybody could tell him. At 
 this hour, just as evening is closing 
 in, you will see them roaming towards 
 bed by scores, eating their way to the 
 last. Occasionally, some youth among 
 them who has over-eaten himself, or
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 has been much worried by dogs, trots 
 shrinkingly homeward, like a prodi- 
 gal son : but this is a rare case : per- 
 fect self-possession and self-reliance, 
 and immovable composure, being 
 their foremost attributes. 
 
 The streets and shops are lighted 
 now ; and as the eye travels down the 
 long thoroughfare, dotted with bright 
 jets of gas, it is reminded of Oxford 
 Street, or Piccadilly. Here and there 
 a flight of broad stone cellar-steps 
 appears, and a painted lamp directs 
 you to the Bowling Saloon, or Ten- 
 Pin alley : Ten-Pins being a game of 
 mingled chance and skill, invented 
 when the legislature passed an act 
 forbidding Nine -Pins. At other 
 downward nights of steps, are other 
 lamps, marking the whereabouts of 
 oyster-cellarspleasant retreats, say 
 I : not only by reason of their won- 
 derful cookery of oysters, pretty nigh 
 as large as cheese-plates, (or for thy 
 dear sake, heartiest of Greek Pro- 
 fessors !) but because of all kinds of 
 eaters of fish, or flesh, or fowl, in 
 these latitudes, the swallowers of 
 oysters alone are not gregarious ; but 
 subduing themselves, as it were, to 
 the nature of what they work in, and 
 copying the coyness of the thing they 
 eat, do sit apart in curtained boxes, 
 and consort by twos, not by two 
 hundreds. 
 
 But how quiet the streets are ! 
 Are there no itinerant bands; no 
 wind or stringed instruments] No, 
 not one. By day, are there no 
 Punches, Fantoccini, Dancing-dogs, 
 Jugglers, Conjurors, Orchestrinas, or 
 even Barrel-organs! No, not one. 
 Yes, I remember one. One barrel- 
 organ and a dancing-monkey spor- 
 tive by nature, but fast fading into a 
 dull, lumpish monkey, of the Utilita- 
 rian school. Beyond that, nothing 
 lively ; no, not so much as a white 
 mouse in a twirling cage. 
 
 Are there no amusements ? Yes. 
 
 There is a lecture-room across the 
 way, from which that glare of light 
 proceeds, and there may be evening 
 service for the ladies thrice a week, or 
 oftener. For the young gentlemen, 
 there is the counting-house, the store, 
 the bar-room : the latter, as you may 
 see through these windows, pretty 
 full. Hark ! to the clinking sound 
 of hammers breaking lumps of ice, 
 and to the cool gurgling of the pounded 
 bits, as, in the process of mixing, they 
 are poured from glass to glass ! No 
 amusements 7 What are these suckers 
 of cigars and swallowers of Strong 
 drinks, whose hats and legs we see in 
 every possible variety of twist, doing, 
 but amusing themselves ? What are 
 the fifty newspapers, which those pre- 
 cocious urchins are bawling down the 
 street, and which are kept filed within, 
 what are they but amusements ] Not 
 vapid waterish amusements, but good 
 strong stuff; dealing in round abuse 
 and blackguard names; pulling off 
 the roofs of private houses, as the 
 Halting Devil did in Spain ; pimping 
 and pandering for all degrees of 
 vicious taste, and gorging with coined 
 lies the most voracious maw ; imput- 
 ing to every man in public life the 
 coarsest and the vilest motives ; 
 scaring away from the stabbed and 
 prostrate body-politic, every Samari- 
 tan of clear conscience and good deeds ; 
 and setting on, with yell and whistle 
 and the clapping of foul hands, the 
 vilest vermin and worst birds of 
 prey. No amusements ! 
 
 Let us go on again ; and passing 
 this wilderness of an hotel with stores 
 about its base, like some Continental 
 theatre, or the London Opera House 
 shorn of its colonnade, plunge into 
 the Five Points. But it is needful, 
 first, that we take as our escort these 
 two heads of the police, whom you 
 would know for sharp and well-trained 
 officers if you met them in the Great 
 Desert. So true it is, that certain
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 61 
 
 pursuits, wherever carried on, -will 
 stamp men with the same character. 
 These two might have been begotten, 
 born, and bred, in Bow Street. 
 
 We have seen no beggars in the 
 streets by night or day ; but. of other 
 kinds of strollers, plenty. Poverty, 
 wretchedness, and vice, are rife enough 
 where we are going now. 
 
 This is the place : these narrow ways, 
 diverging to the right and left, and 
 reeking everywhere with dirt and filth. 
 Such lives as are led here, bear the 
 same fruits here as elsewhere. The 
 coarse and bloated faces at the doors, 
 have counterparts at home, and all i 
 the wide world over. Debauchery 
 has made the very houses prematurely j 
 old. See how the rotten beams are ! 
 tumbling down, and how the patched j 
 and broken windows seem to scowl 
 dimly, like eyes that have been hurt 
 in drunken frays. Many of those 
 pigs live here. Do they ever wonder 
 why their masters walk upright in 
 lieu of going on all-fours ? and why 
 they talk instead of grunting ] 
 
 So far, nearly every house is a low 
 tavern ; and on the bar-room walls, 
 are coloured prints of Washington, 
 and Queen Victoria of England, and 
 the American Eagle. Among the 
 pigeon-holes that hold the bottles, 
 are pieces of plate-glass and coloured 
 paper, for there is, in some sort, a 
 taste for decoration, even here. And 
 as seamen frequent these haunts, 
 there are maritime pictures by the 
 dozen : of partings between sailors 
 and their lady-loves, portraits of 
 William, of the ballad, and his Black- 
 Eyed Susan ; of Will Watch, the 
 Bold Smuggler; of Paul Jones the 
 Pirate, and the like : on which the 
 painted eyes of Queen Victoria, and of 
 Washington to boot, rest in as strange 
 companionship, as on most of the 
 scenes that are enacted in their won- 
 dering presence. 
 
 What place is this, to which the 
 
 squalid street conducts us! A kind 
 of square of leprous houses, some of 
 which are attainable only by crazy 
 wooden stairs without. What lies 
 beyond this tottering flight of steps, 
 that creak beneath our tread ? a miser- 
 able room, lighted by one dim candle, 
 and destitute of all comfort, save that 
 which may be hidden in a wretched 
 bed. Beside it, sits a man : his elbows 
 on his knees : his forehead hidden in 
 his hands. " What ails that man 1 " 
 asks the foremost officer. " Fever," 
 he sullenly replies, without looking 
 up. Conceive the fancies of a fevered 
 brain, in such a place as this ! 
 
 Ascend these pitch-dark stairs, 
 heedful of a false footing on the 
 trembling boards, and grope your 
 way with me into this wolfish den, 
 where neither ray of light nor breath 
 of air, appears to come. A negro lad, 
 startled from his sleep by the officer's 
 voice he knows it well but com- 
 forted by his assurance that he has 
 not come on business, officiously bestirs 
 himself to light a candle. The match 
 flickers for a moment, and shows great 
 mounds of dusky rags upon the 
 ground ; then dies away and leaves a 
 denser darkness than before, if there 
 can be degrees in such extremes. He 
 stumbles down the stairs and pre- 
 sently comes back, shading a flaring 
 taper with his hand. Then the mounds 
 of rags are seen to be astir, and rise 
 slowly up, and the floor is covered with 
 heaps of negro women, waking from 
 their sleep : their white teeth chatter- 
 ing, and their bright eyes glistening 
 and winking on all sides with surprise 
 and fear, like the countless repetition 
 of one astonished African face in some 
 strange mirror. 
 
 Mount up these other stairs with no 
 less caution (there are traps and pit- 
 falls here, for those who are not so 
 well escorted as ourselves) into the 
 housetop ; where the bare beams and 
 rafters meet over-head, and calm night
 
 62 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 looks down through the crevices in 
 the roof. Open the door of one of 
 these cramped hutches full of sleeping 
 negroes. Pah ! They have a charcoal 
 fire within; there is a smell of singeing 
 clothes, or flesh, so close they gather 
 round the brazier ; and vapours issue 
 forth that blind and suffocate. From 
 every corner, as you glance about you 
 in these dark retreats, some figure 
 crawls half-awakened, as if the judg- 
 
 us ! What will we please to call for ? 
 A dance ? It shall be done directly, 
 sir : " a regular break-down." 
 
 The corpulent black fiddler, and his 
 friend who plays the tambourine, 
 stamp upon the boarding of the small 
 raised orchestra in which they sit, and 
 play a lively measure. Five or six 
 couple come upon the floor, marshalled 
 by a lively young negro, who is the wit 
 of the assembly, and the greatest 
 
 ment-hour were near at hand, and dancer known. He never leaves off 
 every obscene grave were giving up its making queer faces, and is the delight 
 dead. Where dogs would howl to lie, of all the rest, who grin from ear to 
 women, and men, and boys slink off ear incessantly. Among the dancers 
 to sleep, forcing the dislodged rats toJ are two young mulatto girls, with large, 
 move away in quest of better lodgings, black, drooping eyes, and head-gear 
 Here too are lanes aiid alleys, paved after the fashion of the hostess, who 
 with mud knee-deep, underground are as shy or feign to be, as though 
 chambers, where they dance and game ; they never danced before, and so look 
 the walls bedecked with rough designs down before the visitors, that their 
 of ships, and forts, and flags, and partners can see nothing but the long 
 American Eagles out of number : fringed lashes. 
 
 ruined houses, open to the street, But the dance commences. Every 
 whence, through wide gaps iii the gentleman sets as long as he likes to 
 walls, other ruins loom upon the eye, i the opposite lady, and the opposite 
 as though the world of vice and lady to him, and all are so long about 
 misery had nothing else to show : it that the sport begins to languish, 
 hideous tenements which take their when suddenly the lively hero dashes 
 name from robbery and murder : all in to the rescue. Instantly the fiddler 
 that is loathsome, drooping, and j grins, and goes at it tooth and nail ; 
 decayed is here. i there is new energy in the tambourine; 
 
 Our leader has his hand upon the new laughter in the dancers ; new 
 latch of " Almack's," and calls to us ! smiles in the landlady; new confidence 
 from the bottom of the steps ; for in the landlord ; new brightness in the 
 the assembly-room of the Five-Point very candles. Single shuffle, double 
 fashionables is approached by a de- shuffle, cut and cross-cut : snapping 
 scent. Shall we go in ] It is but a his fingers, rolling his eyes, turning 
 
 in his knees, presenting the backs of 
 his legs in front, spinning about on his 
 toes and heels like nothing but the 
 man's fingers on the tambourine ; 
 dancing with two left legs, tv. - o right 
 legs, two wooden legs, two wire legs, 
 two spring legs all sorts of legs and 
 no legs what is this to him 1 And in 
 what walk of life, or dance of life, does 
 man ever get such stimulating ap- 
 plause as thunders about him, when, 
 having danced his partner off her 
 
 moment. 
 
 Heyday ! the landlady of Almack's 
 thrives ! A buxom fat mulatto woman, 
 with sparkling eyes, whose head is 
 daintily ornamented with a handker- 
 chief of many colours. Nor is the 
 landlord much behind her in his 
 finery, being attired in a smart blue 
 jacket, like a ship's steward, with a 
 thick gold ring upon his little finger, 
 and round his neck a gleaming golden 
 watch-guard. How glad he is to see
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 feet, and himself too, he finishes by 
 leaping gloriously on the bar-counter, 
 and calling for somethingto drink, with 
 the chuckle of a million of counterfeit 
 Jim Crows, in one inimitable sound ! 
 
 The air, even in these distempered 
 parts, is fresh after the stifling atmos- 
 phere of the houses; and now, as we 
 emerge into a broader street, it blows 
 upon us with a purer breath, and the 
 stars look bright again. Here are The 
 Tombs once more. The city watch- 
 house is a part of the building. It 
 follows naturally on the sights we have 
 just left Let us see that, and then 
 to bed. 
 
 What! do you thrust your common 
 offenders against the police discipline 
 of the town, into such holes as these] 
 Do men and women, against whom 
 no crime is proved, lie here all night 
 in perfect darkness, surrounded by 
 the noisome vapours which encircle 
 that flagging lamp you light us with, 
 and breathing this filthy and offensive 
 stench ! Why, such indecent and dis- 
 gusting dungeons as these cells, would 
 bring disgrace upon the most despotic 
 empire in the world ! Look at them, 
 man you, who see them every night, 
 and keep the keys. Do you see what 
 they are ? Do you know how drains 
 are made below the streets, and 
 wherein these human sewers differ, 
 except in being always stagnant 1 
 
 Well, he don't know. He has had 
 five-and-twenty young women locked 
 up in this very cell at one time, and 
 you 'd hardly realise what handsome 
 faces there were among 'em. 
 
 In God's name ! shut the door upon 
 the wretched creature who is in it now, 
 and put its screen before a place, quite 
 unsurpassed in all the vice, neglect, 
 and devilry, of the worst old town in 
 Europe. 
 
 Are people really left all night, un- 
 tried, in those black sties ] Every 
 night. The watch is set at seven in 
 the evening. The magistrate opens 
 
 his court at five in the morning. 
 That is the earliest hour at which the 
 first prisoner can be released ; and if 
 an officer appear against him, he is 
 not taken out till nine o'clock or ten. 
 But if any one among them die in 
 the interval, as one man did, not long 
 ago ] Then he is half-eaten by the 
 rats in an hour's time ; as that man 
 was ; and there an end. 
 
 What is this intolerable tolling of 
 great bells, and crashing of wheels, 
 and shouting in the distance ? A fire. 
 And what that deep red light in the 
 opposite direction ? Another fire. 
 And what these charred and blackened 
 walls we stand before? A dwelling 
 where a fire has been. It was more 
 than hinted, in an official report, not 
 long ago, that some of these confla- 
 grations were not wholly accidental, 
 and that speculation and enterprise 
 found a field of exert-on, even in 
 flames : but be this as it may, there 
 was a fire last night, there are two 
 to-night, and you may lay an even 
 wager there will be at least one, to- 
 morrow. So, carrying that with us 
 for our comfort, let us say, Good 
 night, and climb up stairs to bed. 
 
 One day, during my stay in New 
 York, I paid a visit to the different 
 public institutions on Long Island, 
 or Ehode Island : I forget which. 
 One of them is a Lunatic Asylum. 
 The building is handsome ; and is 
 remarkable for a spacious and elegant 
 staircase. The whole structure is not 
 yet finished, but it is already one of 
 considerable size and extent, and is 
 capable of accommodating a very large 
 number of patients. 
 
 I cannot say that I derived much 
 comfort from the inspection of this 
 charity. The different wards might 
 have been cleaner and better ordered; 
 I saw nothing of that salutary system 
 which had impressed me so favourably 
 elsewhere ; and everything had a
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 lounging, listless, madhouse air, which 
 was very painful. The moping idiot, 
 cowering down with long dishevelled 
 hair ; the gibbering maniac, with his 
 hideous laugh and pointed finger; 
 the vacant eye, the fierce wild face, 
 the gloomy picking of the hands and 
 lips, and munching of the nails: there 
 they were all, without disguise, in 
 naked ugliness and horror. In the 
 dining-room, a bare, dull, dreary 
 place, with nothing for the eye to 
 rest on but the empty walls, a woman 
 was locked up alone. She was bent, 
 they told me, on committing suicide. 
 If anything could have strengthened 
 her in her resolution, it would cer- 
 tainly have been the insupportable 
 monotony of such an existence. 
 
 The terrible crowd with which these 
 halls and galleries were filled, so 
 shocked me, that I abridged my stay 
 within the shortest limits, and de- 
 clined to see that portion of the 
 building in which the refractory and 
 violent were under closer restraint. 
 I have no doubt that the gentleman 
 who presided over this establishment 
 at the time I write of, was competent 
 to manage it, and had done all in his 
 power to promote its usefulness : but 
 will it be believed that the miserable 
 strife of Party feeling is carried even 
 into this sad refuge of afflicted and 
 degraded humanity ? Will it be be- 
 lieved that the eyes which are to 
 watch over and control the wander- 
 ings of minds on which the most 
 dreadful visitation to which our na- 
 ture is exposed has fallen, must wear 
 the glasses of some wretched side in 
 Politics 1 Will it be believed that the 
 governor of such a house as this, is 
 appointed, and deposed, and changed 
 perpetually, as Parties fluctuate and 
 vary, and as their despicable weather- 
 cocks are blown this way or that? 
 A hundred times in every week, some 
 new most paltry exhibition of that 
 narrow-minded and injurious Party 
 
 Spirit, which is the Simoom of 
 America, sickening and blighting 
 everything of wholesome life within 
 its reach, was forced upon my notice ; 
 but I never turned my back upon it 
 with feelings of such deep disgust and 
 measureless contempt, as when I 
 crossed the threshold of this mad- 
 house. 
 
 At a short distance from this build- 
 ing is another called the Alms House, 
 that is to say, the workhouse of New 
 York. This is a large Institution 
 also : lodging, I believe, when I was 
 there, nearly a thousand poor. It was 
 badly ventilated, and badly lighted ; 
 was not too clean ; and impressed me, 
 on the whole, very uncomfortably. 
 But it must be remembered that New 
 York, as a great emporium of com- 
 merce, and as a place of general re- 
 sort, not only from all parts of the 
 States, but from most parts of the 
 world, has always a large pauper 
 population to provide for; and labours, 
 therefore, under peculiar difficulties 
 in this respect Nor must it be for- 
 gotten that New York is a large town, 
 and that in all large towns a vast 
 amount of good and evil is intermixed 
 and jumbled up together. 
 
 In the same neighbourhood is the 
 Farm, where young orphans are nursed 
 and bred. I did not see it, but I 
 believe it is well conducted ; and I 
 can the more easily credit it, from 
 knowing how mindful they usually 
 are, in America, of that beautiful pas- 
 sage in the Litany which remembers 
 all sick persons and young children. 
 
 I was taken to these Institutions by 
 water, in a boat belonging to the 
 Island Jail, and rowed by a crew 
 of prisoners, who were dressed in 
 a striped uniform of black and buff, 
 in which they looked like faded 
 tigers. They took me, by the same 
 conveyance, to the Jail itself. 
 
 It is an old prison, and quite a 
 pioneer establishment, on the plan I
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 have already described. I was glad 
 to hear this, for it is unquestionably a 
 very indifferent one. The most is 
 made, however, of the means it pos- 
 sesses, and it is as well regulated as 
 such a place can be. 
 
 The women work in covered sheds, 
 erected for that purpose. If I remem- 
 ber right, there are no shops for the 
 men, but be that as it may, the 
 greater part of them labour in certain, 
 stone-quarries near at hand. The 
 day being very wet indeed, this 
 labour was suspended, and the pri- 
 soners were in their cells. Imagine 
 these cells, some two or three hundred 
 in number, and in every one a man 
 locked up ; this one at his door for 
 air, with his hands thrust through 
 the grate ; this one in bed (in the 
 middle of the day, remember) ; and 
 this one flung down in a heap upon 
 the ground, with his head against the 
 bars, like a wild beast. Make the 
 rain pour down, outside, in torrents. 
 Put the everlasting stove in the 
 midst ; hot, and suffocating, and 
 vaporous, as a witch's cauldron. 
 Add a collection of gentle odours, 
 such as would arise from a thousand 
 mildewed umbrellas, wet through, and 
 a thousand buck-baskets, full of half- 
 washed linen and there is the prison, 
 as it was that day. 
 
 The prison for the State at Sing 
 Sing, is, on the other hand, a model 
 jail. That, and Auburn, are, I believe, 
 the largest and best examples of the 
 silent system. 
 
 In another part of the city, is the 
 Ecfuge for the Destitute : an Insti- 
 tution whose object is to reclaim 
 youthful offenders, male and female, 
 black and white, without distinction ; 
 to teach them useful trades, appren- 
 tice them to respectable masters, and 
 make them worthy members of so- 
 ciety. Its design, it will be seen, is 
 similar to that at Boston ; and it is a 
 no less meritorious and admirable 
 
 establishment. A suspicion crossed 
 my mind during my inspection of 
 this noble charity, whether the super- 
 intendent had quite sufficient know- 
 ledge of the world and worldly cha- 
 racters ; and whether he did not 
 commit a great mistake in treating 
 some young girls, who were to all 
 intents and purposes, by their years 
 and their past lives, women, as though 
 they were little children ; which cer- 
 tainly had a ludicrous effect in my 
 eyes, and, or I am much mistaken, in 
 theirs also. As the Institution, how- 
 ever, is always under the vigilant ex- 
 amination of a body of gentlemen of 
 great intelligence and experience, it 
 cannot fail to be well conducted ; and 
 whether I am right or wrong in this 
 slight particular, is unimportant to 
 its deserts and character, which 
 it would be difficult to estimate too 
 highly. 
 
 In addition to these establishments, 
 there are in New York, excellent 
 hospitals and schools, literary institu- 
 tions and libraries ; an admirable fire 
 department (as indeed it should be, 
 having constant practice), and chari- 
 ties of every sort and kind. In the 
 suburbs there is a spacious cemetery ; 
 unfinished yet, but every day improv- 
 ing. The saddest tomb I saw there 
 was "The Strangers' Grave. Dedi- 
 cated to the different hotels in this 
 city." 
 
 There are three principal theatres. 
 Two of them, the Park and the 
 Bowery, are large, elegant, and 
 handsome buildings, and are, I grieve to 
 write it, generally deserted . The third, 
 the Olympic, is a tiny show-box for vau- 
 devilles and burlesques. It is singu- 
 larly well conducted by Mr. Mitchell, 
 a comic actor of great quiet humour 
 and originality, who is well remem- 
 bered and esteemed by London play- 
 goers. I am happy to report of this 
 deserving gentleman, that his benches 
 are usually well filled, and that his
 
 66 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 theatre rings with merriment every 
 night. I had almost forgotten a small 
 summer theatre, called Niblo's, with 
 gardens and open air amusements 
 attached ; but I believe it is not 
 txempt from the general depression 
 under which Theatrical Property, or 
 what is humorously called by that 
 name, unfortunately labours. 
 
 The country round New York, 
 ia surpassingly and exquisitely pic- 
 turesque. The climate, as I have 
 already intimated, is somewhat of the 
 warmest. What it would be, without 
 the sea breezes which come from its 
 beautiful Bay in the evening time, I 
 will not throw myself or my readers 
 into a fever by inquiring. 
 
 The tone of the best society in this 
 city, is like that of Boston ; here and 
 there, it may be, with a greater infu- 
 sion of the mercantile spirit, but gene- 
 rally polished and refined, and always 
 most hospitable. The houses and 
 tables are elegant; the hours later 
 and more rakish ; and there is, 
 perhaps, a greater spirit of contention 
 in reference to appearances, and the 
 display of wealth and costly living. 
 The ladies are singularly beautiful. 
 
 Before I left New York I made 
 
 arrangements for securing a passage 
 home in the George Washington 
 packet ship, which was advertised to 
 sail in June : that being the month 
 in which I had determined, if pre- 
 vented by no accident in the course 
 of my ramblings, to leave America. 
 
 I never thought that going back to 
 England, returning to all who are 
 dear to me, and to pursuits that have 
 insensibly grown to be a part of my 
 nature, I could have felt so much 
 sorrow as I endured, when I parted at 
 last, on board this ship, with the 
 friends who had accompanied me 
 from this city. I never thought the 
 name of any place, so far away and so 
 lately known, could ever associate 
 itself in my mind with the crowd of 
 affectionate remembrances that now 
 cluster about it. There are those in 
 this city who would brighten, to me, 
 the darkest winter-day that ever 
 glimmered and went out in Lapland ; 
 and before whose presence even Home 
 grew dim, when they and I exchanged 
 that painful word which mingles with 
 our every thought and deed ; which 
 haunts our cradle-heads in infancy, 
 and closes up the vista of our lives 
 in age.
 
 FOR CEN ? ERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, AND ITS SOLITARY PRISON. 
 
 THE journey from New York to building of white marble, which had 
 
 Philadelphia, is made by railroad, and 
 two ferries ; and usually occupies be- 
 tween five and six hours. It was a fine 
 evening when we were passengers in 
 the train : and watching the bright 
 
 a mournful ghost-like aspect, dreary 
 to behold. I attributed this to the 
 sombre influence of the night, and on 
 rising in the morning looked out 
 again, expecting to see its steps and 
 
 sunset from a little window near the j portico thronged with groups of 
 door by which we sat, my attention | people passing in and out. The door 
 was attracted to a remarkable appear- was still tight shut, however ; the 
 ance issuing from the windows of the same cold cheerless air prevailed ; 
 
 and the building looked as if the 
 marble statue of Don Guzman could 
 alone have any business to transact 
 
 gentlemen's car immediately in front 
 of us, which I supposed for some time 
 was occasioned by a number of indus- 
 trious persons inside, ripping open 
 feather-beds, and giving the feathers 
 to the wind. At length it occurred 
 to me that they were only spitting, 
 which was indeed the case ; though 
 how any number of passengers which 
 it was possible for that car to contain, 
 could have maintained such a playful 
 and incessant shower of expectoration, 
 I am still at a loss to understand : 
 notwithstanding the experience in all 
 salivatory phenomena which I after- 
 wards acquired. 
 
 I made acquaintance, on this 
 journey, with a mild and modest 
 young quaker, who opened the dis- 
 course by informing me, in a grave 
 whisper, that his grandfather was the 
 inventor of cold-drawn castor oil. I 
 mention the circumstance here, 
 thinking it probable that this is the 
 first occasion on which the valuable 
 medicine in question was ever used as 
 a conversational aperient. 
 
 We reached the city, late that night. 
 Looking out of my chamber window, 
 before going to bed, I saw, on the 
 opposite side of the way, a handsome 
 
 within its gloomy walls. I hastened 
 to enquire its name and purpose, 
 and then my surprise vanished. It 
 was the Tomb of many fortunes ; the 
 Great Catacomb of investment ; the 
 memorable United States Bank. 
 
 The stoppage of this bank, with all 
 its ruinous consequences, had cast (as 
 I was told on every side) a gloom on 
 Philadelphia, under the depressing 
 effect of which, it yet laboured. It 
 certainly did seem rather dull and 
 out of spirits. 
 
 It is a handsome city, but distract- 
 ingly regular. After walking about 
 it for an hour or two, I felt that I 
 would have given the world for a 
 crooked street. The collar of my 
 coat appeared to stiffen, and the brim 
 of my hat to expand, beneath its 
 quakerly influence. My hair shrunk 
 into a sleek short crop, my hands 
 folded themselves upon my breast of 
 their own calm accord, and thoughts 
 of taking lodgings in Mark Lane 
 over against the Market Place, and of 
 making a large fortune by speculations 
 in corn, came over me involuntarily.
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 Philadelphia is most bountifully 
 provided with fresh water, which is 
 showered and jerked about, and 
 turned on, and poured off, every- 
 where. The Waterworks, which are 
 on a height near the city, are no less 
 ornamental than useful, being taste- 
 fully laid out as a public garden, and 
 kept in the best and neatest order. 
 The river is dammed at this point, 
 and forced by its own power into 
 certain high tanks or reservoirs, 
 whence the whole city, to the top 
 stories of the houses, is supplied at a 
 very trifling expense. 
 
 There are various public institu- 
 tions. Among them a most excellent 
 Hospital a quaker establishment, 
 but not sectarian in the great benefits 
 it confers ; a quiet, quaint old Library, 
 named after Franklin ; a handsome 
 Exchange and Post Office ; and so 
 forth. In connection with the quaker 
 Hospital, there is a picture by West, 
 which is exhibited for the benefit of 
 the funds of the institution. The 
 subject, is, our Saviour healing the 
 sick, and it is, perhaps, as favourable 
 a specimen of the master as can be 
 Been anywhere. Whether this be 
 high or low praise, depends upon the 
 reader's taste. 
 
 In the same room, there is a very 
 characteristic and life-like portrait by 
 Mr. Sully, a distinguished American 
 artist. 
 
 My stay in Philadelphia was very 
 short, but what I saw of its society, 
 I greatly liked. Treating of its gene- 
 ral characteristics, I should be dis- 
 posed to say that it is more provincial 
 than Boston or New York, and that 
 there is afloat in the fair city, an 
 assumption of taste and criticism, 
 savouring rather of those genteel dis- 
 cussions upon the same themes, in 
 connection with Shakspeare and the 
 Musical Glasses, of which we read in 
 the Vicar of Wakefield. Near the 
 city, is a most splendid unfinished 
 
 marble structure for the Girard Col- 
 lege, founded by a deceased gentleman 
 of that name and of enormous wealth, 
 which, if completed according to the 
 original design, will be perhaps the 
 richest edifice of modern times. But 
 the bequest is involved in legal dis- 
 putes, and pending them the work 
 has stopped ; so that like many other 
 great undertakings in America, even 
 this is rather going to be done one of 
 these days, than doing now. 
 
 In the outskirts, stands a great 
 prison, called the Eastern Peniten- 
 tiary: conducted on a plan peculiar 
 to the state of Pennsylvania. The 
 system here, is rigid, strict, and hope- 
 less solitary confinement. I believe 
 it, in its effects, to be cruel and 
 wrong. 
 
 In its intention, I am well con- 
 vinced that it is kind, humane, and 
 meant for reformation ; but I am per- 
 suaded that those who devised this 
 sytem of Prison Discipline, and those 
 benevolent gentlemen who carry it 
 into execution, do not know what it is 
 that they are doing. I believe that 
 very few men are capable of estimat- 
 ing the immense amount of torture 
 and agony which this dreadful punish- 
 ment, prolonged for years, inflicts 
 upon the sufferers ; and in guessing at 
 it myself, and in reasoning from what 
 I have seen written upon their faces, 
 and what to my certain knowledge 
 they feel within, I am only the more 
 convinced that there is a depth of 
 terrible endurance in it which none 
 but the sufferers themselves can 
 fathom, and which no man has a 
 right to inflict upon his follow crea- 
 ture. I hold this slow and daily 
 tampering with the mysteries of the 
 brain, to be immeasurably worse than 
 any torture of the body : and because 
 its ghastly signs and tokens are not 
 so palpable to the eye and sense of 
 touch as scars upon the flesh ; because 
 its wounds are not upon the surface,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 and it extorts few cries that human 
 ears can hear; therefore I the more 
 denounce it, as a secret punishment 
 which slumbering humanity is not 
 roused up to stay. I hesitated once, 
 debating with myself, whether, if I 
 had the power of saying "Yes" or 
 " No," I would allow it to be tried in 
 certain cases, where the terms of 
 imprisonment were short ; but now, I 
 solemnly declare, that with no rewards 
 or honours could I walk a happy man 
 beneath the open sky by day, or lie 
 me down upon my bed at night, with 
 the consciousness that one human 
 creature, for any length of time, no 
 matter what, lay suffering this un- 
 known punishment in his silent cell, 
 and I the cause, or I consenting to it 
 in the least degree. 
 
 I was accompanied to this prison 
 by two gentlemen officially connected 
 with its management, and passed the 
 clay in going. from cell to cell, and 
 talking with the inmates. Every 
 facility was afforded me, that the 
 utmost courtesy could suggest. No- 
 thing was concealed or hidden from 
 my view, and every piece of informa- 
 tion that I sought, was openly and 
 frankly given. The perfect order of 
 the building cannot be praised too 
 highly, and of the excellent motives 
 of all who are immediately concerned 
 in the administration of the system, 
 there can be no kind of question. 
 
 Between the body of the prison 
 and the outer wall, there is a spacious 
 garden. Entering it, by a wicket in 
 the massive gate, we pursued the 
 path before us to its other termina- 
 tion, and passed into a large chamber, 
 from which seven long passages radi- 
 ate. On either side of each, is a long, 
 long row of low cell doors, with a 
 certain number over every one. 
 Above, a gallery of cells like those 
 below, except that they have no nar- 
 row yard attached (as those in the 
 ground tier have), and are somewhat j 
 
 smaller. The possession of two of 
 these, is supposed to compensate for 
 the absence of so much air and exer- 
 cise as can be had in the dull strip 
 attached to each of the others, in an 
 hour's time every day ; and therefore 
 every prisoner in this upper story has 
 two cells, adjoining and communicat- 
 ing with, each other. 
 
 Standing at the central point, and 
 looking down these dreary passages, 
 the dull repose and quiet that pre- 
 vails, is awful. Occasionally, there is 
 a drowsy sound from some lone 
 weaver's shuttle, or shoemaker's last, 
 but it is stifled by the thick walls and 
 heavy dungeon-door, and only serves 
 to make the general stillness more 
 profound. Over the head and face of 
 every prisoner who comes into this 
 melancholy house, a black hood is 
 drawn ; and in this dark shroud, an 
 emblem of the curtain dropped be- 
 tween him and the living world, he is 
 led to the cell from which he never 
 again comes forth, until his whole 
 term of imprisonment has expired. 
 He never hears of wife or children ; 
 home or friends ; the life or death of 
 any single creature. He sees the pri- 
 son-officers, but with that exception 
 he never looks upon a human coun- 
 tenance, or hears a human voice. He 
 is a man buried alive ; to be dug out 
 in the slow round of years ; and in 
 the mean time dead to everything 
 but torturing anxieties and horrible 
 despair. 
 
 His name, and crime, and term of 
 suffering, are unknown, even to the 
 officer who delivers him his daily 
 food. There is a number over his 
 cell-door, and in a book of which the 
 governor of the prison has one copy, 
 and the moral instructor another : 
 this is the index to his history. Be- 
 yond these pages the prison has no 
 record of his existence : and though 
 he live to be in the sr.me cell ten 
 weary years, he has no means of
 
 70 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 knowing, down to the very last hour, 
 in what part of the building it is 
 situated ; what kind of men there are 
 about him ; whether in the long win- 
 ter nights there are living people near, 
 or he is in some lonely corner of the 
 great jail, with walls, and passages, 
 and iron doors between him and the 
 nearest sharer in its solitary horrors. 
 
 Every cell has double doors : the 
 outer one of sturdy oak, the other of 
 grated iron, wherein there is a trap 
 through which his food is handed. 
 He has a Bible, and a slate and pen- 
 cil, and, under certain restrictions, 
 has sometimes other books, provided 
 for the purpose, and pen and ink and 
 paper. His razor, plate, and can, and 
 basin, hang upon the wall, or shine 
 upon the little shelf. Fresh water is 
 laid on in every cell, and he can draw 
 it at his pleasure. During the day, 
 his bedstead turns up against the 
 wall, and leaves more space for him 
 to work in. His loom, or bench, or 
 wheel, is there ; and there he labour?, 
 sleeps and wakes, and counts the sea- 
 sons as they change, and grows old. 
 
 The first man I saw, was seated at 
 his loom, at work. He had been 
 there, six years, and was to remain, I 
 think, three more. He had been con- 
 victed as a receiver of stolen goods, 
 but even after this long imprison- 
 ment, denied his guilt, and said he 
 had been hardly dealt by. It was his 
 second offence. 
 
 He stopped his work when we went 
 in, took off his spectacles, and an- 
 swered freely to everything that was 
 said to him, but always with a strange 
 kind of pause first, and in a low, 
 thoughtful voice. He wore a paper 
 hat of his own making, and was 
 pleased to have it noticed and com- 
 mended. He had very ingeniously 
 manufactured a sort of Dutch clock 
 from some disregarded odds and ends ; 
 and his vinegar-bottle served for the 
 pendulum. Seeing me interested in 
 
 this contrivance, he looked up at it 
 with a great deal of pride, and said 
 that he had been thinking of improv- 
 ing it, and that he hoped the hammer 
 and a little piece of broken glass be- 
 side it "would play music before 
 long." He had extracted some colours 
 from the yarn with which he worked, 
 and painted a few poor figures on the 
 wall. One, of a female, over the door, 
 he called " The Lady of the Lake." 
 
 He smiled as I looked at these con- 
 trivances to wile away the time ; but 
 when I looked from them to him, I 
 saw that his lip trembled, and could 
 have counted the beating of his heart. 
 I forget how it came about, but some 
 allusion was made to his having a 
 wife. He shook his head at the word, 
 turned aside, and covered his face with 
 his hands. 
 
 " But you are resigned now ! " said 
 one of the gentlemen after a short 
 pause, during which he had resumed 
 his former manner. He answered 
 with a sigh that seemed quite reck- 
 less in its hopelessness, " Oh yes, oh 
 yes ! I am resigned to it." "And are 
 a better man, you think 1 " " Well, I 
 hope so : I 'm sure I hope I may be." 
 " And time goes pretty quickly 1 " 
 " Time is very long, gentlemen, within 
 these four walls ! " 
 
 He gazed about him Heaven only 
 knows how wearily ! as he said these 
 words; and in the act of doing so, 
 fell into a strange stare as if he had 
 forgotten something. A moment 
 afterwards he sighed heavily, put on 
 his spectacles, and went about his 
 work again. 
 
 In another cell, there was a Ger- 
 man, sentenced to five years' impri- 
 sonment for larceny, two of which 
 had just expired. With colours pro- 
 cured in the same manner, he had 
 painted every inch of the walls and 
 ceiling quite beautifully. He had 
 laid out the few feet of ground, be- 
 hind, with exquisite neatness, and
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 71 
 
 had made a little bed in the centre, 
 that looked by the bye like a grave. 
 The taste and ingenuity he had dis- 
 played in everything were most ex- 
 traordinary : and yet a more dejected, 
 heart-broken, wretched creature, it 
 would be difficult to imagine. I never 
 saw .such a picture of forlorn affliction 
 and distress of mind. My heart bled 
 for him ; and when the tears ran down 
 his cheeks, and he took one of the 
 visitors aside, to ask, with his trem- 
 bling hands nervously clutching at 
 his coat to detain him, whether there 
 was no hope of his dismal sentence 
 being commuted, the spectacle was 
 really too painful to witness. I never 
 saw or heard of any kind of misery 
 that impressed me more than the 
 wretchedness of this man. 
 
 In a third cell, was a tall strong 
 black, a burglar, working at his proper 
 trade of making screws and the like. 
 His time was nearly out. He was not 
 only a very dexterous thief, but was 
 notorious for his boldness and hardi- 
 hood, and for the number of his pre- 
 vious convictions. He entertained us 
 with a long account of his achieve- 
 ments, which he narrated with such 
 infinite relish, that he actually seemed 
 to lick his lips as he told xis racy anec- 
 dotes of stolen plate, and of old ladies 
 whom he had watched as they sat at 
 windows in silver spectacles (he had 
 plainly had an eye to their metal even 
 from the other side of the street) and 
 had afterwards robbed. This fellow, 
 upon the slightest encouragement, 
 would have mingled with his profes- 
 sional recollections the most detestable 
 cant ; but I am very much mistaken 
 if he could have surpassed the unmiti- 
 gated hypocrisy with which he 'de- 
 clared that he blessed the day on 
 which he came into that prison, and 
 that he never would commit another 
 robbery as long as he lived. 
 
 There was one man who was allowed, 
 as an indulgence, to keep rabbits. His 
 
 room having rather a close smell in 
 consequence, they called to him at the 
 door to come out into the passage. 
 He complied of course, and stood 
 shading his haggard face in the un- 
 wonted sunlight of the great window, 
 looking as wan and unearthly as if he 
 had been summoned from the grave. 
 He had a white rabbit in his breast ; 
 and when the little creature, getting 
 down upon the ground, stole back into 
 the cell, and he, being dismissed, crept 
 timidly after it, I thought it would 
 have been very hard to say in what 
 respect the man was the nobler animal 
 of the two. 
 
 There was an English thief, who had 
 been there but a few days out of seven 
 years : a villanous, low-browed, thin- 
 lipped fellow, with a white face ; who 
 had as yet no relish for visitors, and 
 who, but for the additional penalty, 
 would have gladly stabbed me with 
 his shoemaker's knife. There was an- 
 other German who had entered the 
 jail but yesterday, and who started 
 from his bed when we looked in, and 
 pleaded, in his broken English, very 
 hard for work. There was a poet, who 
 after doing two days' work in every 
 four-aud-twcnty hours, one for himself 
 and one for the prison, wrote verses 
 about ships (he was by trade a mariner), 
 and " the maddening wine-cup," and 
 his friends at home. There were very 
 many of them. Some reddened at the 
 sight of visitors, and some turned very 
 pale. Some two or three ha-1 prisoner 
 nurses with them, for they were very 
 sick ; and one, a fat old negro whose 
 leg had been taken off within the jail, 
 had for his attendant a classical scholar 
 and an accomplished surgeon, himself 
 a prisoner likewise. Sitting upon the 
 stairs, engaged in some slight work, 
 was a pretty coloured boy. " Is there 
 no refuge for young criminals in Phi- 
 ladelphia, then?" said I. "Yes, but 
 only for white children." Xoble aris- 
 tocracv in crime !
 
 72 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 There was a sailor who had been 
 there upwards of eleven years, and who 
 in a few months' time would be free. 
 Eleven years of solitary confinement ! 
 
 " I am very glad to hear your time 
 is nearly out." What does he say? 
 Nothing. Why does he stare at his 
 hands, and pick the flesh upon his 
 fingers, and raise his eyes for an in- 
 stant, every now and then, to those 
 bare walls which have seen his head 
 turn grey ? It is a way he has some- 
 times. 
 
 Does he never look men in the face, 
 and does he always pluck at those 
 hands of his, as though he were bent 
 on parting skin and bone 1 It is his 
 humour : nothing more. 
 
 It is his humour too, to say that he 
 does not look forward to going out ; 
 that he is not glad the time is drawing 
 near ; that he did look forward to it 
 once, but that was very long ago ; that 
 he has lost all care for everything. It 
 is his humour to be a helpless, crushed, 
 and broken man. And, Heaven be his 
 witness that he has his humour tho- 
 roughly gratified ! 
 
 There were three young women in 
 adjoining cells, all convicted at the 
 same time of a conspiracy to rob their 
 prosecutor. In the silence and soli- 
 tude of their lives they had grown to 
 be quite beautiful. Their looks were 
 very sad, and might have moved the 
 sternest visitor to tears, but not to 
 that kind of sorrow which the con- 
 templation of the men awakens. One 
 was a young girl; not twenty, as I 
 recollect ; whose snow-white room was 
 hung with the work of some former 
 prisoner, and upon whose downcast 
 face the sun in all its splendour shone 
 down through the high chink in the 
 wall, where one narrow strip of bright 
 blue sky was visible. She was very 
 penitent and quiet; had come to be 
 resigned, she said (and I believe her) ; 
 and had a mind at peace. "In a 
 word, you are happy here 1" said one 
 
 of my companions. She struggled 
 she did struggle very hard to answer, 
 Yes : but raising her eyes, and meet- 
 ing that glimpse of freedom over-head, 
 she burst into tears, and said, " She 
 tried to be ; she uttered no complaint ; 
 but it was natural that she should 
 sometimes long to go out of that one 
 cell : she could not help that," she 
 sobbed, poor thing ! 
 
 I went from cell to cell that day ; 
 and every face I saw, or word I heard, 
 or incident I noted, is present to my 
 mind in all its painfulness. But let 
 me pass them by, for one, more plea- 
 sant, glance of a prison on the same 
 plan which I afterwards saw at Pitts- 
 burgh. 
 
 When I had gone over that, in the 
 same manner, I asked the governor if 
 he had any person in his charge who 
 was shortly going out. He had one, 
 he said, whose time was up next day ; 
 but he had only been a prisoner two 
 years. 
 
 Two years ! I looked back through 
 two years in my own life out of jail, 
 prosperous, happy, surrounded by 
 blessings, comforts, and good fortune 
 and thought how wide a gap it was, 
 and how long those two years passed 
 in solitary captivity would have been. 
 I have the face of this man, who was 
 going to be released next day, before 
 me now. It is almost more memorable 
 in its happiness than the other faces 
 in their misery. How easy and how 
 natural it was for him to say that the 
 system was a good one ; and that the 
 time went "pretty quick consider- 
 ing ;" and that when a man once felt 
 he had offended the law, and must 
 satisfy it, " he got along, somehow :" 
 and so forth ! 
 
 " What did he call you back to say 
 to you, in that strange flutter?" I asked 
 of my conductor, when he had locked 
 the door and joined me in the passage. 
 
 " Oh ! That he was afraid the soles 
 of his boots were not fit for walking,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 73 
 
 as they were a good deal worn when 
 he caine in ; and that he would thank 
 me very much to have them mended, 
 ready." 
 
 Those boots had been taken off his 
 feet, and put away with the rest of his 
 clothes, two years before ! 
 
 I took that opportunity of inquiring 
 how they conducted themselves imme- 
 diately before going out ; adding that 
 I presumed they trembled very much. 
 
 " Well, it 's not so much a trem- 
 bling," was the answer " though they 
 do quiver as a complete derange- 
 ment of the nervous system. They 
 can't sign their names to the book ; 
 sometimes can't even hold the pen ; 
 look about 'em without appearing to 
 know why, or where they are ; and 
 sometimes get up and sit down again, 
 twenty times in a minute. This is 
 when they 're in the office, where they 
 are taken with the hood on, as they 
 were brought in. When they get out- 
 side the gate, they stop, and look first 
 one way and then the other : not know- 
 ing which to take. Sometimes they 
 stagger as if they were drunk, and 
 sometimes are forced to lean against 
 the fence, they 're so bad : but they 
 clear off in course of time." 
 
 As I walked among these solitary 
 cells, and looked at the faces of the 
 men within them, I tried to picture to 
 myself the thoughts and feelings na- 
 tural to their condition. I imagined 
 the hood just taken off, and the scene 
 of their captivity disclosed to them in 
 all its dismal monotony. 
 
 At first, the man is stunned. His 
 confinement is a hideous vision ; and 
 his old life a reality. He throws him- 
 self upon his bed, and lies there aban- 
 doned to despair. By degrees the 
 insupportable solitude and barrenness 
 of the place rouses him from this 
 stupor, and when the trap in his 
 grated door is opened, he humbly begs 
 and prays for work. " Give me some 
 work to do, or I shall go raving mad ! " 
 
 He has it ; and by fits and starts 
 applies himself to labour ; but every 
 now and then there comes upon him 
 a burning sense of the years that 
 must be wasted in that stone coffin, 
 and an agony so piercing in the recol- 
 lection of those who are hidden from 
 his view and knowledge, that he starts 
 from his seat, and striding up and 
 down the narrow room with both 
 hands clasped on his uplifted head, 
 hears spirits tempting him to beat 
 his brains out on the wall. 
 
 Again he falls upon his bed, and lies 
 there, moaning. Suddenly he starts 
 up, wondering whether any other 
 man is near ; whether there is another 
 cell like that on either side of him : 
 and listens keenly. 
 
 There is no sound, but other pri- 
 soners may be near for all that. He 
 remembers to have heard once, when 
 he little thought of coming here him- 
 self, that the cells were so constructed 
 that the prisoners could not hear 
 each other, though the officers could 
 hear them. Where is the nearest 
 man upon the right, or on the left ] 
 or is there one in both directions'? 
 Where is he sitting now with his 
 face to the light ] or is he walking to 
 and fro ] How is he dressed ] Has 
 he been here long ] Is he much worn 
 away ] Is he very white and spectre- 
 like ] Does he think of his neighbour 
 too] 
 
 Scarcely venturing to breathe, and 
 listening while he thinks, he conjures 
 up a figure with his back towards 
 him, and imagines it moving about 
 in this next cell. He has no idea of 
 the face, but he is certain of the dark 
 form of a stooping man. In the cell 
 upon the other side, he puts another 
 figure, whose face is hidden from him 
 also. Day after day, and often when 
 he wakes up in the middle of the 
 night, he thinks of these two men 
 until he is almost distracted. He 
 i never changes them. There they are
 
 74 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 always as he first imagined them an 
 old man on the right ; a younger 
 man upon the left whose hidden 
 features torture him to death, and 
 hare a mystery that makes him 
 tremble. 
 
 The weary days pass on with so- 
 lemn pace, like mourners at a funeral; 
 and slowly he begins to feel that the 
 white walls of the cell have something 
 dreadful in them : that their colour is 
 horrible : that their smooth surface 
 chills his blood : that there is one 
 hateful corner which torments him. 
 Every morning when he wakes, he 
 hides his head beneath the coverlet, 
 and shudders to see the ghastly ceil- 
 ing looking down upon him. The 
 blessed light of day itself peeps in, an 
 ugly phantom face, through the un- 
 changeable crevice which is his prison 
 window. 
 
 By slow but sure degrees, the ter- 
 rors of that hateful corner swell until 
 they beset him at all times; invade 
 his rest, make his dreams hideous, 
 and his nights dreadful. At first, he 
 took a strange dislike to it : feeling 
 as though it gave birth in his brain to 
 something of corresponding shape, 
 which ought not to be there, and 
 racked his head with pains. Then 
 he began to fear it, then to dream of 
 it, and of men whispering its name 
 and pointing to it. Then he could 
 not bear to look at it, nor yet to turn 
 his back upon it. Now, it is every 
 night the lurking-place of a ghost : a 
 shadow : a silent something, horrible 
 to see, but whether bird, or beast, or 
 muffled human shape, he cannot tell. 
 
 When he is in his cell by day, he 
 fears the little yard without. When 
 he is in the yard, he dreads to re-enter 
 the cell. When night comes, there 
 stands the phantom in the corner. 
 If he have the courage to stand in its 
 place, and drive it out (he had once : 
 being desperate), it broods upon his 
 bed. In the twilight, and always at 
 
 the same hour, a voice calls to him by 
 name ; as the darkness thickens, his 
 Loom begins to live ; and even that, 
 his comfort, is a hideous figure, watch- 
 ing him till daybreak. 
 
 Again, by slow degrees, these hor- 
 rible fancies depart from him one by 
 one : returning sometimes, unexpect- 
 edly, but at longer intervals, and in 
 less alarming shapes. He has talked 
 upon religious matters with the gen- 
 tleman who visits him, and has read 
 his Bible, and has written a prayer 
 upon his slate, and hung it up as a 
 kind of protection, and an assurance 
 of Heavenly companionship. He 
 dreams now, sometimes, of his chil- 
 dren or his wife, but is sure that 
 they are dead, or have deserted him. 
 He is easily moved to tears ; is gentle, 
 submissive, and broken-spirited. Oc- 
 casionally, the old agony comes back : 
 a very little thing will revive it ; even 
 a familiar sound, or the scent of sum- 
 mer flowers in the air; but it does 
 not last long, now : for the world 
 without, has come to be the vision, 
 and this solitary life, the sad reality. 
 
 If his term of imprisonment be 
 short I mean comparatively, for 
 short it cannot be the last half year 
 is almost worse than all ; for then he 
 thinks the prison will take fire and 
 he be burnt in the ruins, or that he 
 is doomed to die within the walls, or 
 that he will be detained on some 
 false charge and sentenced for another 
 term : or that something, no matter 
 what, must happen to prevent his 
 going at large. And this is natural, 
 and impossible to be reasoned against, 
 because, after his long separation from 
 human life, and his great suffering, 
 any event will appear to him more pro- 
 bable in the contemplation, than the 
 being restored to liberty and his 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 If his period of confinement have 
 been very long, the prospect of release, 
 bewilders and confuses him. Ilis
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION 
 
 broken heart may flutter for ~ ^j- 
 ment, when he thinks of the world 
 outside, and what it might have been 
 to him in all those lonely years, but 
 that is all. The cell-door has been 
 closed too long on all its hopes and 
 cares. Better to have hanged him 
 in the beginning than bring him to 
 this pass, and send him forth to mingle 
 with his kind, who are his kind no 
 more. 
 
 On the haggard face of every man 
 among these prisoners, the same ex- 
 pression sat. I know not what to 
 liken it to. It had something of that 
 strained attention which we see upon 
 the faces of the blind and deaf, 
 mingled with a kind of horror, as 
 though they had all been secretly 
 terrified. In every little chamber 
 that I entered, and at every grate 
 through which I looked, I seemed to 
 see the same appalling countenance. 
 It lives in my memory, with the fasci- 
 nation of a remarkable picture. Pa- 
 rade before my eyes, a hundred men, 
 with one among them newly released 
 from this solitary suffering, and I 
 would point him out. 
 
 The faces of the women, as I have 
 said, it humanises and refines. Whe- 
 ther this be because of their better 
 nature, which is elicited in solitude, 
 or because of their being gentler 
 
 ment, MUST pass into society again 
 morally unhealthy and diseased. 
 There are many instances on record, 
 of men who have chosen, or have been 
 condemned, to lives of perfect soli- 
 tude, but I scarcely remember one,even 
 among sages of strong and vigorous 
 intellect, where its effect has not 
 become apparent, in some disordered 
 train of thought, or some gloomy 
 hallucination. What monstrous phan- 
 toms, bred of despondency and doubt, 
 and born and reared in solitude, have 
 stalked upon the earth, making 
 creation ugly, and darkening the face 
 of Heaven ! 
 
 Suicides are rare among these pri- 
 soners: are almost, indeed, unknown. 
 But no argument in favour of the 
 system, can reasonably be deduced 
 from this circumstance, although it 
 is very often urged. All men who 
 have made diseases of the mind their 
 study, know perfectly well that such 
 extreme depression and despair as 
 will change the whole character, and 
 beat down all its powers of elasticity 
 and self-resistance, may be at work 
 within a man, and yet stop short of 
 self-destruction. This is a common 
 case. 
 
 That it makes the senses dull, and 
 by degrees impairs the bodily facul- 
 ties, I am quite sure. I remarked to 
 
 creatures, of greater patience and those who were with me in this very 
 longer suffering, I do not know ; but establishment at Philadelphia, that 
 so it is. That the punishment is | the criminals who had been there 
 nevertheless, to my thinking, fully as long, were deaf. They, who were in 
 
 cruel and as wrong in their case, as in 
 that of the men, I need scarcely add. 
 Hy firm conviction is that, inde- 
 pendent of the mental anguish it 
 occasions an anguish so acute and 
 so tremendous, that all imagination 
 of it must fall far short of the reality 
 it wears the mind into a morbid 
 state, which renders it unfit for the 
 rough contact and busy action of the 
 world. It is my fixed opinion that 
 those who have undergone this punish- 
 
 the habit of seeing these men con- 
 stantly, were perfectly amazed at the 
 idea, which they regarded as ground- 
 less and fanciful. And yet the very 
 first prisoner to whom they appealed 
 one of their own selection con- 
 firmed my impression (which was 
 unknown to him) instantly, and said, 
 with a genuine air it was impossible 
 to doubt, that he couldn't think how 
 it happened, but he VMS growing very 
 dull of hearing.
 
 76 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 That it is a singularly unequal 
 punishment, and affects the worst 
 man least there is no doubt. In its 
 superior efficiency as a means of re- 
 formation, compared with that other 
 code of regulations which allows the 
 prisoners to work in company without 
 communicating together, I have not 
 the smallest faith. All the instances 
 of reformation that were mentioned 
 to me, were of a kind that might 
 have been and I have no doubt 
 whatever, in my own mind, would 
 have been equally well brought 
 about by the Silent System. With 
 regard to such men as the negro 
 burglar and the English thief, even 
 the most enthusiastic have scarcely 
 any hope of their conversion. 
 
 It seems to me that the objection 
 that nothing wholesome or good has 
 ever had its growth in such unnatural 
 solitude, and that even a dog or any 
 of the more intelligent among beasts, 
 would pine, and mope, and rust away, 
 beneath its influence, would be in 
 itself a sufficient argument against 
 this system. But when we recollect, 
 in addition, how very cruel and severe 
 it is, and that a solitary life is always 
 liable to peculiar and distinct objec- 
 tions of a most deplorable nature, 
 which have arisen here, and call to 
 mind, moreover, that the choice is 
 not between this system, and a bad 
 or ill-considered one, but between it 
 and another which has worked well, 
 and is, in its whole design and prac- 
 tice, excellent ; there is surely more 
 than sufficient reason for abandoning 
 a mode of punishment attended by so 
 little hope or promise, and fraught, be- 
 yond dispute, with such a host of evils. 
 
 As a relief to its contemplation, I 
 will close this chapter with a curious 
 story, arising out of the same theme, 
 which was related to me, on the occa- 
 sion of this visit, by some of the 
 gentlemen concerned. 
 
 At one of the periodical meetings of 
 
 the inspectors of this prison, a working 
 man of Philadelphia presented himself 
 before the Board, and earnestly re- 
 quested to be placed in solitary confine- 
 ment. On being asked what motive 
 could possibly prompt him tomakethis 
 strange demand, he answered that he 
 had an irresistible propensity to get 
 drunk ; that he was constantly in- 
 dulging it, to his great misery and ruin ; 
 that he had no power of resistance ; 
 that he wished to be put beyond the 
 reach of temptation ; and that he 
 could think of no better way than 
 this. It was pointed out to him, in 
 reply, that the prison was for criminals 
 who had been tried and sentenced by 
 the law, and could not be made avail- 
 able for any such fanciful purposes ; 
 he was exhorted to abstain from in- 
 toxicating drinks, as he surely might 
 if he would ; and received other very 
 good advice, with which he retired, 
 exceedingly dissatisfied with the re- 
 sult of his application. 
 
 He came again, and again, and 
 again, and was so very earnest and 
 importunate, that at last they took 
 counsel together, and said, " He will 
 certainly qualify himself for admission, 
 if we reject him any more. Let us 
 shut him up. He will soon be glad 
 to go away, and then we shall get rid 
 of him." So they made him sign a 
 statement which would prevent his 
 ever sustaining an action for false 
 imprisonment, to the effect that his 
 incarceration was voluntary, and of 
 his own seeking ; they requested him 
 to take notice that the officer in 
 attendance had orders to release him 
 at any hour of the day or night, when 
 he might knock upon his door for 
 that purpose ; but desired him to 
 understand, that once going out, he 
 would not be admitted any more. 
 These conditions agreed upon, and he 
 still remaining in the same mind, he 
 was conducted to the prison, and shut 
 up in one of the cells.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 77 
 
 In this cell, the man, who had not 
 the firmness to leave a glass of liquor 
 standing untasted on a table before 
 him in this cell, in solitary confine- 
 ment, and working every day at his 
 trade of shoemaking, this man re- 
 mained nearly two years. His health 
 beginning to fail at the expiration 
 of that time, the surgeon recom- 
 mended that he should work occa- 
 sionally in the garden; and as he 
 liked the notion very much, he went 
 about this new occupation with great 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 He was digging here, one summer 
 day, very industriously, when the 
 wicket in the outer gate chanced to 
 be left open : showing, beyond, the 
 well-remembered dusty road and sun- 
 burnt fields. The way was as free to 
 him as to any man living, but he no 
 sooner raised his head and caught 
 sight of it, all shining in the light, 
 than, with the involuntary instinct of 
 a prisoner, he cast away his spade, 
 scampered off as fast as his legs would 
 carry him, and never once locked 
 i back.
 
 78 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WASHINGTON. THE LEGISLATURE. AND THE PEESIDENT's HOUSE. 
 
 WE left Philadelphia by steamboat, 
 at six o'clock one very cold morning, 
 and turned our faces towards Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 In the course of this day's journey, 
 as on subsequent occasions, we en- 
 countered some Englishmen (small 
 farmers, perhaps, or country publicans 
 at home) who were settled in America, 
 and were travelling on their own 
 affairs. Of all grades and kinds of 
 men that jostle one in the public con- 
 veyances of the States, these are often 
 the most intolerable and the most 
 insufferable companions. United to 
 every disagreeable characteristic that 
 the worst kind of American travellers 
 possess, these countrymen of ours 
 display n.n amount of insolent conceit 
 and cool assumption of superiority, 
 quite monstrous to behold. la the 
 coarse familiarity of their approach, 
 and the effrontery of their inquisi- 
 tiveness (which they are in great 
 haste to assert as if they panted to 
 revenge themselves upon the decent 
 old restraints of home) they surpass, 
 any native specimens that came within 
 my range of observation : and I often 
 grew so patriotic when I saw and 
 heard them, that I would cheerfully 
 have submitted to a reasonable fine, 
 if I could have given any other country 
 in the whole world, the honour of 
 claiming them for its children. 
 
 As Washington may be called the 
 head -quarters of tobacco -tinctured 
 saliva, the time is come when I must 
 confess, without any disguise, that 
 the prevalence of those two odious 
 practicesof chewing and expectorating 
 
 began about this time to be anything 
 but agreeable, and soon became most 
 offensive and sickening. In all the 
 public places of America, this filthy 
 custom is recognised. In the courts 
 of law, the judge has his spittoon, the 
 crier his, the witness his, and the pri- 
 soner his; wh^le the jurymen and 
 spectators are provided for, as so 
 many men who in the course of nature 
 must desire to spit incessantly. In 
 the hospitals, the students of medi- 
 cine are requested, by notices 'upon 
 the wall, to eject their tobacco juice 
 into the boxes provided for that pur- 
 pose, and not to discolour the stairs. 
 In public buildings, visitors are im- 
 plored, through the same agency, to 
 squirt the essence of their quids, or 
 " plugs," as I have heard them called 
 by gentlemen learned in this kind of 
 sweetmeat, into the national spit- 
 toons, and not about the bases of the 
 marble columns. But in some parts, 
 this custom is inseparably mixed up 
 with every meal and morning call, 
 and with all the transactions of "social 
 life. The stranger, who follows in the 
 track I took myself, will find it in its 
 full bloom and glory, luxuriant in all 
 ,its alarming recklessness, at Wash- 
 ington. And let him not persuade 
 himself (as I once did, to my shame), 
 that previous tourists have exagge- 
 rated its extent. The thing itself is 
 an exaggeration of nastiness, which 
 cannot be outdone. 
 
 On board this steamboat, there 
 were two young gentlemen, with 
 shirt-collars reversed as usual, and 
 armed with very big walking-sticks ;
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 70 
 
 who planted two seats in the middle 
 of the deck, at a distance of some four 
 paces apart ; took out their tobacco- 
 boxes; and sat down opposite each 
 other, to chew. In less than a quarter 
 of an hour's time, these hopeful youths 
 had shed about them on the clean 
 boards, a copious shower of yellow 
 rain ; clearing, by that means, a kind j 
 of magic circle, within whose limits ; 
 no intruders dared to come, and which 
 they never failed to refresh and re- 
 refresh before a spot was dry. This ' 
 being before breakfast, rather disposed j 
 me, I confess, to nausea ; but looking ! 
 attentively at one of the expectorators, | 
 I plainly saw that he was young in 
 chewing, and felt inwardly uneasy, 
 himself. A glow of delight came | 
 over me at this discovery ; and as I 
 marked his face turn paler and paler, | 
 and saw the ball of tobacco iu his i 
 left cheek, quiver with his suppressed > 
 agon}-, while yet he spat, and chewed, 
 and spat again,in emulation of his older 
 friend, I could have fallen on his neck 
 and implored him to go on for hours, j 
 We all sat down to a comfortable 
 breakfast in the cabin below, where i 
 there was no more hurry or confusion ; 
 than at such a meal in England, and ; 
 where there was certainly greater 
 politeness exhibited than at most of j 
 our stage-coach banquets. At about | 
 nine o'clock we arrived at the railroad 
 station, and went on by the cars. At 
 noon we turned out again, to cross a : 
 wide river in another steam-boat ; 
 landed at a continuation of the rail- 
 road on the opposite shore ; and 
 went on by other cars ; in which in 
 the course of the next hour or so, we 
 crossed by wooden bridges, each a - 
 mile in length, two creeks, called , 
 respectively Great and Little Gun- 
 powder. The water in both was 
 blackened with flights of canvas- i 
 backed ducks, which are most | 
 delicious eating, and abound here- 
 abouts at that season of the vear. 
 
 These bridges are of wood, have no 
 parapet, and are only just wide enough 
 for the passage of the trains ; which, 
 in the event of the smallest accident, 
 would inevitably be plunged into the 
 river. They are startling contrivances, 
 and are most agreeable when passed. 
 
 We stopped to dine at Baltimore, 
 and being now in Maryland, were 
 waited on, for the first time, by slaves. 
 The sensation of exacting any service 
 from human creatures who are bought 
 and sold, and being, for the time, a 
 party as it were to their condition, is 
 not an enviable one. The institution 
 exists, perhaps, in its least repulsive 
 and most mitigated form in such a town 
 as this ; but it ii slavery ; and though 
 I was with respect to it, an innocent 
 man, its presence filled me with a 
 sense of shame and self-reproach. 
 
 After dinner, we went down to the 
 railroad again, and took our seats in 
 the cars for Washington. Being 
 rather early, those men and boys who 
 happened to have nothing particular 
 to do, and were curious in foreigners, 
 came (according to custom) round the 
 carriage in which I sat ; let down all 
 the windows; thrust in their heads 
 and shoulders ; hooked themselves on 
 conveniently, by their elbows; and 
 fell to comparing notes on the subject 
 of my personal appearance, with as 
 much indifference as if I were a 
 stuffed figure. I never gained so 
 much uncompromising information 
 with reference to my own nose and 
 eyes, the various impressions wrought 
 by my mouth and chin on different 
 minds, and how my head looks when it 
 is viewed from behind, as on these 
 occasions. Some gentlemen were 
 only satisfied by exercising their 
 sense of touch ; and the boys (who 
 are surprisingly precocious in Ame- 
 rica) were seldom satisfied, even by 
 that, but would return to the charge 
 over and over again. Many a bud- 
 ding president has walked into my
 
 80 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 room with bis cap on his head and 
 his hands in his pockets, and stared 
 at me for two whole hours : occasion- 
 ally refreshing himself with a tweak 
 at his nose, or a draught from the 
 water-jug ; or by walking to the 
 windows and inviting other boys in 
 the street below, to come up and do 
 likewise : crying, " Here he is ! " 
 " Come on !" " Bring all your 
 brothers !" with other hospitable en- 
 treaties of that nature. 
 
 We reached Washington at about 
 half-past six that evening, and had 
 upon the way a beautiful view of the 
 Capitol, which is a fine building of the 
 Corinthian order, placed upon a noble 
 and commanding eminence. Arrived 
 at the hotel ; I saw no more of the 
 place that night; being very tired, 
 and glad to get to bed. 
 
 Breakfast over next morning, I 
 walk about the streets for an hour or 
 two, and, coming home, throw up the 
 window in the front and back, and 
 look out. Here is Washington, 
 fresh in my mind and under my eye. 
 
 Take the worst parts of the City 
 Koad and Pentonville, or the strag- 
 gling outskirts of Paris, where the 
 houses are smallest, preserving all their 
 oddities, but especially the small shops 
 and dwellings, occupied in Penton- 
 ville (but not in Washington) by 
 furniture-brokers, keepers of poor 
 eating-houses, and fanciers of birds. 
 Burn the whole down; build it up 
 again in wood and plaster ; widen it 
 a little ; throw in part of St. John's 
 Wood ; put green blinds outside all 
 the private houses, with a red curtain 
 and a white one in every window; 
 plough up all the roads ; plant a great 
 deal of coarse turf in every place 
 where it ought not to be; erect three 
 handsome buildings in stone and 
 marble, anywhere, but the more 
 entirely out of everybody's way the 
 better ; call one the Post Office, one 
 the Patent Office, and one the Trea- 
 
 sury; make it scorching hot in the 
 morning, and freezing cold in the 
 afternoon, with an occasional tornado 
 of wind and dust ; leave a brick-field 
 without the bricks, in all central 
 places where a street may naturally 
 be expected : and that's Washington. 
 
 The hotel in which we live, is a 
 long row of small houses fronting on 
 the street, and opening at the back 
 upon a common yard, in which hangs 
 a great triangle. Whenever a servant 
 is wanted, somebody beats on this 
 triangle from one stroke up to seven, 
 according to the number of the house 
 in which his presence is required ; 
 and as all the servants are always 
 being wanted, and none of them ever 
 come, this enlivening engine is in full 
 performance the whole day through. 
 Clothes are drying in this same yard ; 
 female slaves, with cotton handker- 
 chiefs twisted round their heads, are 
 running to and fro on the hotel busi- 
 ness ; black waiters cross and recross 
 with dishes in their hands ; two great 
 dogs are playing upon a mound of 
 loose bricks in the centre of the little 
 square; a pig is turning up his 
 stomach to the sun, and grunting 
 " that 'a comfortable ! " ; and neither 
 the men, nor the women, nor the 
 dogs, nor the pig, nor any created 
 creature takes the smallest notice of 
 the triangle, which is tingling madly 
 all the time. 
 
 I walk to the front window, and 
 look across the road upon a long, 
 straggling row of houses, one story 
 high, terminating, nearly opposite, 
 but a little to the left, in a melancholy 
 piece of waste ground with frowzy 
 grass, which looks like a small piece 
 of country that has taken to drinking, 
 and has quite lost itself. Standing 
 anyhow and all wrong, upon this open 
 epace, like something meteoric that 
 has fallen down from the moon, is 
 an odd, lop-sided, one-eyed kind of 
 wooden building, that looks like &
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 81 
 
 church, with a flag-staff as long as 
 itself sticking out of a steeple some- 
 thing larger than a tea-chest. Under 
 the window, is a small stand of 
 coaches, whose slave-drivers are 
 sunning themselves on the steps of 
 our door, and talking idly together. 
 
 the conflicting jealousies and interests 
 of the different States ; and very pro- 
 bably, too, as being remote from mobs : 
 a consideration not to be slighted, 
 even in America. It has no trade or 
 commcrceof its own: having littleorno 
 population beyond the President and 
 
 The three most obtrusive houses near his establishment ; the members of 
 at hand, are the three meanest. On , the legislature who reside there during 
 one a shop, which never has any- ; the session j the Government clerks 
 thing in the window, and never has ; and officers employed in the various 
 the door open is painted in large j departments; the keepers of the hotels 
 characters, " THE CITY LUNCH." At ! and boarding-houses ; and the trades- 
 another, which looks like the backway men who supply their tables. It is 
 to somewhere else, but is an indepen- very unhealthy. Few people would 
 dent building in itself, oysters are j live in Washington, I take it, who 
 procurable in every style. At the were not obliged to reside there ; and 
 third, which is a very, very little the tides of emigration and specula- 
 tailor's shop, pants are fixed to order ; [ tion, those rapid and regardless cur- 
 or, in other words, pantaloons are rents, are little likely to flow at any 
 made to measure. And that is our time towards such dull and sluggish 
 street in Washington. water. 
 
 It is sometimes called the City of The principal features of the Capi- 
 Maguificent Distances, but it might tol, are, of course, the two Houses of 
 with greater propriety be termed the Assembly. But there is, besides, in 
 City of Magnificent Intentions ; for it ! the centre of the building, a fine 
 is only on taking a bird's-eye view of i rotunda, ninety-six feet in diameter, 
 it from the top of the Capitol, that one ( and ninety-six high, whose circular 
 can at all comprehend the vast designs wall is divided into compartments, 
 of its projector, an aspiring French- ornamented by historical pictures, 
 man. Spacious avenues, that begin in Four of these have for their subjects 
 nothing, and lead nowhere ; streets, > prominent events in the revolutionary 
 mile-long, that only want houses, roads, ' struggle. They were painted by Colonel 
 and inhabitants ; public buildings that Trumbull, himself a member of Wash- 
 need but a public to be complete ; ' ington's staff at the time of their 
 and ornaments of great thoroughfares, i occurrence ; from which circumstance 
 which only lack great thoroughfares they derive a peculiar interest of their 
 
 to ornament are its leading features. 
 One might fancy the season over, and 
 most of the houses gone out of town 
 for ever with their masters. To the 
 admirers of cities it. is a Barmecide 
 Feast : a, pleasant, field for the ima- 
 
 own. In this same hall Mr. Greenough's 
 large statue of Washington has been 
 lately placed. It has great merits of 
 course, but it struck me as being 
 rather strained and violent for its sub- 
 ject. I could wish, however, to have 
 
 gination to rove in ; a monument I seen it in a better light than it can 
 
 raised to a deceased project, with not 
 even a legible inscription to record its 
 departed greatness. 
 
 ever be viewed in, where it stands. 
 
 There is a very pleasant and com- 
 modious library in the Capitol; and 
 
 Such as it is, it is likely to remain. ; from a balcony in front, the bird's-eye 
 It was originally chosen for the seat of view, of which I have just spoken, may 
 Government, as a means of averting i be had, together with a beautiful pros- 
 No. 166. G 6
 
 82 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 pcct of the adjacent country. In one 
 of the ornamented portions of the 
 building, there is a figure of Justice ; 
 whereunto the Guide Book says, " the 
 artist at first contemplated giving 
 more of nudity, but he was warned 
 that the public sentiment in this 
 country would not admit of it, and in 
 his caution he has gone, perhaps, into 
 the opposite extreme." Poor Justice ! 
 she has been made to wear much 
 stranger garments in America than 
 those she pines in, in the Capitol. Let 
 us hope that she has changed her 
 dress-maker since they were fashioned, 
 and that the public sentiment of the 
 country did not cut out the clothes 
 she hides her lovely figure in, just now. 
 
 The House of Representatives is a 
 beautiful and spacious hall, of semi- 
 circular shape, supported by handsome 
 pillars. One part of the gallery is 
 appropriated to the ladies, and there 
 they sit in front rows, and come in, 
 and go out, as at a play or concert. 
 The chair is canopied, and raised con- 
 siderably above the floor of the House ; 
 and every member has an easy chair 
 and a writing desk to himself : which 
 is denounced by some people out of 
 doors as a most unfortunate and inju- 
 dicious arrangement, tending to long 
 sittings and prosaic speeches. It is an 
 elegant chamber to look at, but a sin- 
 gularly bad one for all purposes of 
 hearing. The Senate, which is smaller, 
 is free from this objection, and is ex- 
 ceedingly well adapted to the uses for 
 which it is designed. The sittings, I 
 need hardly add, take place in the 
 day ; and the parliamentary forms are 
 modelled on those of the old country. 
 
 I was sometimes asked, in my pro- 
 gress through other places, whether I 
 had not been very much impressed by 
 the heads of the lawmakers at Wash- 
 ington ; meaning not their chiefs and 
 leaders, but literally their individual 
 and personal heads, whereon their hair 
 grew, and whereby the phrenological 
 
 character of each legislator was ex- 
 pressed : and I almost as often struck 
 my questioner dumb with indignant 
 consternation by answering " No, 
 that I didn't remember being at all 
 overcome." As I must, at whatever 
 hazard, repeat the avowal here, I will 
 follow it up by relating my impres- 
 sions on this subject in as few words 
 as possible. 
 
 In the first place it may be from 
 some imperfect development of my 
 organ of veneration I do not remem- 
 ber having ever fainted away, or having 
 even been moved to tears of joyful 
 pride, at sight of any legislative body. 
 I have borne the House of Commons 
 like a man, and have yielded to no 
 weakness, but slumber, in the House 
 of Lords. I have seen elections for 
 borough and county, and have never 
 been impelled (no matter which party 
 won) to damage my hat by throwing 
 it up into the air in triumph, or to 
 crack my voice by shouting forth any 
 reference to our Glorious Constitution, 
 to the noble purity of our independent 
 voters, or the unimpeachable integrity 
 of our independent members. Having 
 withstood such strong attacks upon 
 my fortitude, it is possible that I may 
 be of a cold and insensible tempera- 
 ment, amounting to icyness, in such 
 matters; and therefore my impres- 
 sions of the live pillars of the Capitol 
 at Washington must be received with 
 such grains of allowance as this free 
 confession may seem to demand. 
 
 Did I see in this public body an 
 assemblage of men, bound together in 
 the sacred names of Liberty and 
 Freedom, and so asserting the chaste 
 dignity of those twin goddesses, in all 
 their discussions, as to exalt at once 
 the Eternal Principles to which their 
 names are given, and their own cha- 
 racter, and the character of their 
 countrymen, in the admiring eyes of 
 the whole world 1 
 
 It was but a week, since an aged,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 83 
 
 grey-haired man, a lasting honour to 
 the land that gave him birth, who 
 has done good service to his country, 
 as his forefathers did, and who will 
 be remembered scores upon scores of 
 years after the worms bred in its cor- 
 ruption, are but so many grains of 
 duet it was but a week, since this 
 old man had stood for days upon his 
 trial before this very body, charged 
 with having dared to assert the infamy 
 of that traffic, which has for its ac- 
 cursed merchandise men and women, 
 and their unborn children. Yes. 
 And publicly exhibited in the same 
 city all the while ; gilded, framed and 
 glazed ; hung up for general admira- 
 tion ; shown to strangers not with 
 shame, but pride ; its face not turned 
 towards the wall, itself not taken 
 down and burned ; is the Unanimous 
 Declaration of The Thirteen United 
 States of America, which solemnly de- 
 clares that All Men are created Equal ; 
 and are endowed by their Creator with 
 the Inalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, 
 and the Pursuit of Happiness ! 
 
 It was not a month, since this same 
 body had sat calmly by, and heard a 
 man, one of themselves, with oaths 
 which beggars in their drink reject, 
 threaten to cut another's throat from 
 ear to ear. There he sat, among them ; 
 not crushed by the general feeling of 
 the assembly, but as good a man as any. 
 
 There was but a week to come, and 
 another of that body, for doing his 
 duty to those who sent him there; 
 for claiming in a Republic the Liberty 
 and Freedom of expressing their sen- 
 timents, and making known their 
 prayer ; would be tried, found guilty, 
 and have strong censure passed upon 
 him by the rest. His was a grave 
 offence indeed ; for years before, he 
 had risen up and said, "A gang of 
 male and female slaves for sale, war- 
 ranted to breed like cattle, linked to 
 each other by iron fetters, are passing 
 now along the open street beneath 
 
 the windows of your Temple of Equa- 
 lity ! Look ! " But there are many 
 kinds of hunters engaged in the Pur- 
 suit of Happiness, and they go vari- 
 ously armed. It is the Inalienable 
 Right of some among them, to take the 
 field after their Happiness, equipped 
 with cat and cartwhip, stocks, and 
 iron collar, and to shout their view 
 halloa ! (always in praise of Liberty), 
 to the music of clanking chains and 
 bloody stripes. 
 
 Where sat the many legislators of 
 coarse threats ; of words and blows 
 such as coalheavers deal upon each 
 other, when they forget their breed- 
 ing ] On, every side. Every session 
 had its anecdotes of that kind, and 
 the actors were all there. 
 
 Did 1 recognise in this assembly, a 
 body of men, who applying them- 
 selves in a new world to correct some 
 of the falsehoods and vices of the old, 
 purified the avenues to Public Life, 
 paved the dirty ways to Place and 
 Power, debated and made laws for 
 the Common Good, and had no party 
 but their Country ] 
 
 I saw in them, the wheels that move 
 the meanest perversion of virtuous 
 Political Machinery that the worst 
 tools ever wrought. Despicable trick- 
 ery at elections ; under-handed tam- 
 perings with public officers ; cowardly 
 attacks upon opponents, with scurril- 
 ous newspapers for shields, and hired 
 pens for daggers ; shameful trucklings 
 to mercenary knaves, whose claim to 
 be considered, is, that every day and 
 week they sow new crops of ruin with 
 their venal types, which are the dra- 
 gon's teeth of yore, in everything but 
 sharpness ; aidings and abettings of 
 every bad inclination in the popular 
 mind, and artful suppressions of all 
 its good influences : such things as 
 these, and in a word, Dishonest Fac- 
 tion in its most depraved and most 
 unblushing form, stared out from 
 every corner of the crowded hall. 
 
 o 2
 
 M 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 Did I see among them, the intelli- 
 gence and refinement : the true, 
 honest, patriotic heart of America 1 
 Here and there, were drops of its 
 blood and life, but they scarcely 
 coloured the stream of desperate ad- 
 venturers which sets that way for 
 profit and for pay. It is the game of 
 these men, and of their profligate 
 organs, to make the strife of politics 
 so fierce and brutal, and so destructive 
 of all self-respect in worthy men, that 
 sensitive and delicate-minded persons 
 shall be kept aloof, and they, and 
 such as they, be left to battle out 
 their selfish views unchecked. And 
 thus this lowest of all scrambling 
 fights goes on, and they who in other 
 countries would, from their intelli- 
 gence and station, most aspire to 
 make the laws, do here recoil the 
 farthest from that degradation. 
 
 That there are, among the repre- 
 sentatives of the people in both 
 Houses, and among all parties, some 
 men of high character and greni 
 abilities, I need not say. The fore- 
 most among those politicians who are 
 known in Europe, have been already 
 described, and I see no reason to 
 depart from the rule I have laid (Town 
 for my guidance, of abstaining from 
 all mention of individuals. It will be 
 sufficient to add, that to the most 
 favourable accounts that have been 
 written of them, I more than fully 
 and most heartily subscribe ; and that 
 personal intercourse and free commu- 
 nication have bred within me, not the 
 result predicted in the very doubtful 
 proverb, but increased admiration and 
 respect. They are striking men to 
 look at, hard to deceive, prompt to 
 act, lions in energy, Crichtons in 
 varied accomplishment, Indians in 
 fire of eye and gesture, Americans 
 in strong and generous impulse ; and 
 they as well represent the honour 
 and wisdom of their country at home, 
 as the distinguished gentleman who 
 
 is now its minister at the British 
 Court sustains its highest character 
 abroad. 
 
 I visited both houses nearly every 
 day, during my stay in Washington. 
 On my initiatory visit to the House 
 of Representatives, they divided 
 against a decision of the chair ; but 
 the chair won. The second time I 
 went, the member who was speak- 
 ing, being interrupted by a laugh, 
 mimicked it, as one child would in 
 quarrelling with another, and added, 
 " that he would make honourable 
 gentlemen opposite, sing out a little 
 more on the other side of their mouths 
 presently." But interruptions are 
 rare ; the speaker being usually heard 
 in silence. There are more quarrels 
 than with us, and more threatenings 
 than gentlemen are accustomed to 
 exchange in any civilised society of 
 which we have record : but farm-yard 
 imitations have not as yet been im- 
 ported from the Parliament of the 
 United Kingdom. The feature in 
 oratory which appears to be the most 
 practised, and most relished, is the 
 constant repetition of the same idea 
 or shadow of an idea in fresh words ; 
 and the inquiry out of doors is not, 
 " What did he say 1 ?" but, " How long 
 did he speak ]" These, however, are 
 but enlargements of a principle which 
 prevails elsewhere. 
 
 The Senate is a dignified and deco- 
 rous body, and its proceedings are 
 conducted with much gravity and 
 order. Both houses are handsomelj' 
 carpeted; but the state to which 
 these carpets are reduced by the uni- 
 versal disregard of the spittoon with 
 which every honourable member is 
 accommodated, and the extraordinary 
 improvements on the pattern which 
 are squirted and dabbled upon it in 
 even- direction, do not admit of being 
 described. I will merely observe, that 
 I strongly recommend all strangers 
 ; not to look at the floor ; and if they
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 85 - 
 
 happen to drop anything, though it 
 be their purse, not to pick it up with 
 aa ungloved hand on any account. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable too, at 
 first, to say the least, to see so many 
 honourable members with swelled 
 faces ; and it is scarcely less remark- 
 able to discover that this appearance 
 is caused by the quantity of tobacco 
 they contrive to stow within the hol- 
 low of the cheek. It is strange enough 
 too, to see an honourable gentleman 
 leaning back in his tilted chair with 
 his legs on the desk before him, 
 shaping a convenient " plug" with his 
 penknife, and when it is quite ready 
 for use, shooting the old one from his 
 mouth, as from a pop-gun, and clap- 
 ping the new one in its place. 
 
 I was surprised to observe that even 
 steady old chewers of great experience, 
 are not always good marksmen, which 
 has rather inclined me to doubt that 
 general proficiency with the rifle, of 
 which we have heard so much in Eng- 
 land. Several gentlemen called upon 
 me who. in the course of conversation, 
 frequently missed the spittoon at five 
 paces; and one (but he was certainly 
 short-sighted) mistook the closed sash 
 for the open window, at three. On 
 another occasion, when I dined out, 
 and was sitting with two ladies and 
 some gentlemen round a fire before 
 dinner, one of the company fell short 
 of the fire-place, six distinct times. 
 I am disposed to think, however, that 
 this was occasioned by his not aiming 
 at that object; as there was a white 
 marble hearth before the fender, which 
 was more convenient, and may have 
 suited his purpose better. 
 
 The Patent Office at Washington, 
 famishes an extraordinary example of 
 American enterprise and ingenuity : 
 for the immense number of models it 
 contains, are the accumulated inven- 
 tions of only five years : the whole of 
 the previous collection having been 
 destroyed by fire. The elegant struc- 
 
 ture in which they are arranged, is one 
 of design rather than execution, for 
 there is but one side erected out of 
 four, though the works are stopped. 
 The Post Office, is a very compact, 
 and very beautiful building. In one 
 of the departments, among a collection, 
 of rare and curious articles, are depo- 
 sited the presents which have been 
 made from time to time to the Ame- 
 rican ambassadors at foreign courts 
 by the various potentates to whom 
 they were the accredited agents of'the 
 Republic : gifts which by the law they 
 are not permitted to retain. I confess 
 that I looked upon, this as a very 
 painful exhibition, and one by no 
 means flattering to the national stan- 
 dard of honesty and honour. That 
 can scarcely be a high state of moral 
 feeling winch imagines a gentleman 
 of repute and station, likely to be 
 corrupted, in the discharge of his 
 duty, by the present of a snuff-box, or 
 a. richly-mounted sword, or an Eastern 
 shawl ; and surely the Nation who 
 reposes confidence in her appointed 
 servants, is likely to be better served, 
 than she who makes them the subject 
 of such very mean and paltry sus- 
 picions. 
 
 At George Town, in the suburbs, 
 there is a Jesuit College ; delightfully 
 situated, and, so far as I had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing, well managed. Many 
 persons who are not members of the 
 Romish Church, avail themselves, I 
 believe, of these institutions, and of 
 the advantageous opportunities they 
 afford for the education of their chil- 
 dren. The heights in this neighbour- 
 hood, above the Potomac River, are 
 very picturesque; and are free, I 
 should conceive, from some of the in- 
 salubrities of Washington. The air, 
 at that elevation, was quite cool and 
 refreshing, when in the city it was 
 burning hot. 
 
 The President's mansion is more like 
 an English club-house, both within
 
 86 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 and without, than any other kind of 
 establishment with which I can com- 
 pare it. The ornamental ground about 
 it has been laid out in garden walks ; 
 they are pretty, and agreeable to the 
 eye ; though they have that nncom- 
 fortable air of having been made yes- 
 terday, which is far from favourable 
 to the display of such beauties. 
 
 My first visit to this house was on 
 the morning after my arrival, when I 
 was carried thither by an official gen- 
 tleman, who was so kind as to charge 
 himself with my presentation to the 
 President. 
 
 We entered a large hall, and having 
 twice or thrice rung a bell which 
 nobody answered, walked without fur- 
 ther ceremony through the rooms on 
 the ground floor, as divers other gen- 
 tlemen (mostfy with their hats on, 
 t jid their hands in their pockets) were 
 doing very leisurely. Some of these 
 had ladies with them, to whom they 
 were showing the premises; others 
 were lounging on the chairs and sofas ; 
 others, in a perfect state of exhaustion 
 from listlessness, were yawning drear- 
 ily. The greater portion of this 
 assemblage were rather asserting their 
 supremacy than doing anything else, 
 as they had no particular business 
 there, that anybody knew of. A few : 
 were closely eyeing the moveables, as . 
 if to make quite sure that the Presi- j 
 dent (who was far from popular) had 
 not made away with any of the furni- 
 ture, or sold the fixtures for his private 
 benefit. 
 
 After glancing at these loungers ; 
 who were scattered over a pretty . 
 drawing-room, opening upon a ter- ! 
 nee which commanded a beautiful 
 prospect of the river and the adjacent . 
 country ; and who were sauntering 
 too, about a larger state-room called , 
 the Eastern Drawing-room ; we went 
 up stairs into another chamber, where 
 were certain visitors, waiting for 
 audiences. At sight of my conductor, 
 
 a black in plain clothes and yellow 
 slippers who was gliding noiselessly 
 about, and whispering messages in 
 the ears of the more impatient, made 
 a sign of recognition, and glided off to 
 announce him. 
 
 We had previously looked into 
 another chamber fitted all round with 
 a great bare wooden desk or counter, 
 whereon lay files of newspapers, to 
 which sundry gentlemen were refer- 
 ring. But there were no such means 
 of beguiling the time in this apart- 
 ment, which was as unpromising and 
 tiresome as any waiting-room in one 
 of our public establishments, or any 
 physician's dining-room during his 
 hours of consultation at home. 
 
 There were some fifteen or twenty 
 persons in the room. One, a tall, 
 wiry, muscular old man, from the 
 west; sunburnt and swarthy; with a 
 brown-white hat on his knees, and a 
 giant umbrella resting between his 
 legs; who sat bolt upright in his 
 chair, frowning steadily at the carpet, 
 and twitching the hard lines about his 
 mouth, as if he had made up his 
 mind " to fix" the President on what 
 he had to say, and wouldn't bate him 
 a grain. Another, a Kentucky 
 farmer, six-feet-six in height, with 
 his hat on, and his hands under his 
 coat-tails, who leaned against the wall 
 and kicked the floor with his heel, as 
 though he had Time's head under his 
 shoe, and were literally " killing" him. 
 A third, an oval-faced, bilious-looking- 
 man, with sleek black hair cropped 
 close, and whiskers and beard shaved 
 down to blue dots, who sucked the 
 head of a thick stick, and from time 
 to time took it out of his mouth, to 
 see how it was getting on. A fourth 
 did nothing but whistle. A fifth did 
 nothing but spit. And indeed all 
 these gentlemen were so very per- 
 severing and energetic in this latter 
 particular, and bestowed their favours, 
 so abundantly upon the carpet, that I
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 87 
 
 take it for granted the Presidential 
 housemaids have high wages, or, to 
 speak more genteelly, an ample 
 amount of " compensation :" which 
 is the American word for salary, in 
 the case of all public servants. 
 
 AVe had not waited in this room 
 many minutes, before the black mes- 
 senger returned, and conducted us 
 nito another of smaller dimensions, 
 where, at a business-like table covered 
 with papers, sat the President him- 
 self. He looked somewhat worn and 
 anxious, and well he might : being at 
 war with everybody but the ex- 
 pression of his face was mild and 
 pleasant, and his manner was remark- 
 ably unaffected, gentlemanly, and 
 agreeable. I thought that in his 
 whole carriage and demeanour, he 
 became his station singularly well. 
 
 Being advised that the sensible 
 etiquette of the republican court, 
 admitted of a traveller, like myself, 
 declining, without any impropriety, 
 an invitation to dinner, which did not 
 reach me until I had concluded my 
 arrangements for leaving Washington 
 some days before that to which it 
 referred, I only returned to this house 
 once. It was on the occasion of one 
 of those general assemblies which 
 are held on certain nights, between 
 the hours of nine and twelve 
 o'clock, and are called, rather oddly, 
 Levees. 
 
 I went, with my wife, at about ten. 
 There was a pretty, dense crowd of 
 carriages and people in the court- 
 yard, and so far as I could make out, 
 there were no very clear regulations 
 for the taking up or setting down of I 
 company. There were certainly no 
 policemen to soothe startled horses, 
 either by sawing at their bridles or 
 flourishing truncheons in their eyes ; 
 and I am ready to make oath that 
 no inoffensive persons were knocked 
 violently on the head, or poked 
 acutely in their backs or stomachs ; 
 
 or brought to a stand still by any 
 such gentle means, and then taken 
 into custody for not moving on. But 
 there was no confusion or disorder. 
 Our carriage reached the porch in its 
 turn, without any blustering, swear- 
 ing, shouting, backing, or other dis- 
 turbance : and we dismounted with as 
 much ease and comfort as though we 
 had been escorted by the whole 
 Metropolitan Force from A to Z 
 inclusive. 
 
 The suite of rooms on the ground- 
 floor, were lighted up ; and a military 
 band was playing in the hall. In the 
 smaller drawing-room, the centre of a 
 circle of company, were the President 
 and his daughter-in-law, who acted as 
 the lady of the mansion : and a very 
 interesting, graceful, and accom- 
 plished lady too. One gentleman 
 who stood among this group, 
 appeared to take upon himself the 
 functions of a master of the cere- 
 monies. I saw no other officers or 
 attendants, and none were needed. 
 
 The great drawing-room, which I 
 have already mentioned, and the 
 other chambers on the ground-floor, 
 were crowded to excess. The com- 
 pany was not, in our sense of the 
 term, select, for it comprehended 
 persons of very many grades and 
 classes ; nor was there any great 
 display of costly attire : indeed some 
 of the costumes may have been, for 
 aught I know, grotesque enough. 
 But the decorum and propriety of 
 behaviour which prevailed, were 
 unbroken by any rude or disagreeable 
 incident ; and every man, even 
 among the miscellaneous crowd in 
 the hall who were admitted without 
 any orders or tickets to look on, ap- 
 peared to feel that he was a part of 
 the Institution, and was responsible 
 for its preserving a becoming cha- 
 racter, and appearing to the best ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 That these visitors, too, whatever
 
 88 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 their station, were not without some 
 refinement of taste and appreciation 
 of intellectual gifts, and gratitude to 
 those men who, by the peaceful exer- 
 cise of great abilities shed new charms 
 and associations upon the homes of 
 their countrymen, and elevate their 
 character in other lands, was most 
 earnestly testified by their reception 
 of Washington Irving, my dear friend, 
 who had recently been appointed Mi- 
 nister at the court of Spain, and who 
 was among them that night, in his 
 new character, for the first and last 
 time before going abroad. I sincerely 
 believe that in all the madness of 
 American politics, few public men 
 would have been so earnestly, devo- 
 tedly, and affectionately caressed, as 
 this most charming writer : and I have 
 seldom respected a public assembly 
 more, than I did this eager throng, 
 when I saw them turning with one 
 mind from noisy orators and officers 
 of state, and flocking with a generous 
 and honest impulse round the man of 
 quiet pursuits : proud in his promo- 
 tion as reflecting back upon their 
 country : and grateful to him with 
 their whole hearts for the store ofj 
 graceful fancies he had poured out 
 among them. Long may he dispense 
 such treasures with unsparing hand ; 
 and long may they remember him as 
 worthily ! 
 
 The term we had assigned for the 
 duration of our stay in Washington, 
 was now at an end, and we were to 
 begin to travel ; for the railroad dis- 
 tances we had traversed yet, in jour- 
 neying among these older towns, are 
 on that great continent looked upon 
 as nothing. 
 
 I had at first intended going South 
 
 I to Charleston. But when I came to 
 consider the length of time which this 
 journey would occupy, and the prema- 
 ture heat of the season, which even at 
 Washington had been often very try- 
 ing; and weighed moreover, in my 
 own mind, the pain of living in the 
 constant contemplation of slavery, 
 against the more than doubtful 
 chances of my ever teeing it, in the 
 time I had to spare, stripped of the 
 disguises in which it would certainly 
 be dressed, and so adding any item to 
 the host of facts already heaped toge- 
 ther on the subject ; I began to listen 
 to old whisperings which had often 
 been present to me at home in Eng- 
 land, when I little thought of ever 
 being here; and to dream again of 
 cities growing up, like palaces in fain- 
 tales, among the wilds and forests of 
 the west 
 
 The advice I received in most quar- 
 ters when I began to yield to my 
 desire of travelling towards that point 
 of the compass was, according to cus- 
 tom, sufficiently cheerless : my com- 
 panion being threatened with more 
 perils, dangers, and discomforts, than 
 I can remember or would catalogue if 
 I could ; but of which it will be suffi- 
 cient to remark that blowings-up in 
 steam-boats and breakings down in 
 coaches were among the least. But, 
 having a western route sketched out 
 for me by the best and kindest autho- 
 rity to which I could have resorted, 
 and putting no great faith in these 
 discouragements, I soon determined 
 on my plan of action. 
 
 This was to travel south, only to 
 Richmond in Virginia ; and then to 
 turn, and shape our course for the Far 
 West ; whither I beseech the reader's 
 company, in a new chapter.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 89 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A NIGHT STEAMER ON THE POTOMAC RIVER. VIRGINIA ROAD, AND A BLACK 
 DRIVER. RICHMOND. BALTIMORE. THE HARHISBURG MAIL, AND A 
 GLIMPSE OF THE CITY. A CANAL BOAT. 
 
 WE were to proceed in the first in- 
 stance by steamboat : and as it is usual 
 to sleep on board, in consequence of 
 the starting-hour being four o'clock in 
 the morning, we went down to where 
 she lay, at that very uncomfortable 
 time for such expeditions when slip- 
 pers are most valuable, and a familiar 
 bed, in the perspective of an hour or 
 two, looks uncommonly pleasant. 
 
 light of one of the lamps, look at my 
 watch and think it must have stopped ; 
 and wonder what has become of the 
 faithful secretary whom I brought 
 along with me from Boston. He is 
 supping with our late landlord (a Field 
 Marshal, at least, no doubt) in honour 
 of our departure, and may be two 
 hours longer. I walk again, but it 
 gets duller and duller : the moon goes 
 
 It is ten o'clock at night : say half- ! down : next June seems farther off in 
 past ten : moonlight, warm, and dull ; the dark, and the echoes of my foot- 
 
 enough. The steamer (not unlike a 
 child's Noah's ark in form, with the 
 machinery on the top of the roof), is 
 riding lazily up and down, and bump- 
 ing clumsily against the wooden pier, 
 as the ripple of the river trifles with 
 its unwieldy carcase. The wharf is 
 some distance from the city. There 
 is nobody down here ; and one or two 
 dull lamps upon the steamer's decks 
 
 steps make me nervous. It has turned 
 cold too ; and walking up and down 
 without any companion in such lonely 
 circumstances, is but poor amusement. 
 So I break my staunch resolution, and 
 think it may be, perhaps, as well to go 
 to bed. 
 
 I go on board again; open the 
 door of the gentlemen's cabin ; and 
 walk in. Somehow or other from 
 
 are the only signs of life remaining, j its being so quiet I suppose I have 
 when our coach has driven away. As taken it into my head that there is 
 soon as our footsteps are heard upon nobody there. To my horror and 
 the planks, a fat negress, particularly j amazement it is full of sleepers in 
 favoured by nature in respect of bustle, | every stage, shape, attitude, and 
 emerges from some dark stairs, and I variety of slumber : in the berths, on 
 marshals my wife towards the ladies' I the chairs, on the floors, on the tables, 
 cabin, to which retreat she goes, fol- and particularly round the stove, my 
 lowed by a mighty bale of cloaks and detested enemy. I take another step 
 great-coats. I valiantly resolve not to j forward, and slip upon the shining 
 go to bed at all, but to walk up and face of a black steward, who lies 
 down the pier till morning. I rolled in a blanket on the floor. He 
 
 I begin my promenade thinking of I jumps up, grins, half in pain and 
 all kinds of distant things and persons, j half in hospitality : whispers my own 
 and of nothing near and pace up and name in my ear ; and groping among 
 down for half-an-hour. Then I go on the sleepers, leads me to my berth', 
 board again ; and getting into the Standing beside it, I count these
 
 90 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 slumbering passengers, and get past 
 forty. There is no use in going 
 further, so I begin to undress. As 
 the chairs are all occupied, and there 
 is nothing else to put my clothes on, 
 I deposit them upon the ground : not 
 without soiling my hands, for it is in 
 the same condition as the carpets in 
 the Capitol, and from the same cause. 
 Having but partially undressed, I 
 clamber on my shelf, and hold the 
 curtain open for a few minutes while 
 i look round on all my fellow t>-avel- 
 Itjrs again. That done, I let it fall on 
 taam, and on the world : torn round : 
 and go to sleep. 
 
 I wake, of coarse, when we get 
 under weigh, for there is a good deal 
 of noise. The day is then just break- 
 ing. Everybody wakes at the same 
 time. Some are self-possessed directly, 
 and some are much perplexed to 
 make out where they are until they 
 have rubbed their eyes, and leaning 
 on one elbow, looked about them. 
 Some yawn, some groan, nearly all 
 spit, and a few get up. I am among 
 the risers : for it is easy to feel, with- 
 out going into the fresh air, that the 
 atmosphere of the cabin, is vile in the 
 last degree. I huddle on my clothes, 
 go down into the fore-cabin, get 
 shaved by the barber, and w^sh 
 myself. The washing and dressing 
 apparatus for. the passengers generally, 
 consists of two jack-towels, three 
 small wooden basins, a keg of water 
 and a ladle to serve it out with, six 
 square inches of looking-glass, two 
 ditto ditto of yellow soap, a comb and 
 brush for the head, and nothing for 
 the teeth. Everybody uses the comb 
 and brush, except myself. Even-body 
 stares to see me using my own ; and 
 two or three gentlemen are strongly 
 disposed to banter me on my preju- 
 dices, but don't. When I have made 
 my toilet, I go upon the hurricane- 
 deck, and set in for two hours of hard 
 walking up and down. The sun is 
 
 rising brilliantly; we are passing 
 Mount Vernon, where Washington 
 lies buried ; the river is wide and 
 rapid ; and its banks are beautiful. 
 All the glory and splendour of the 
 day are coming on, and growing 
 brighter every minute. 
 
 At eight o'clock, we breakfast in 
 the cabin where I passed the night, 
 but the windows and doors are all 
 thrown open, and now it is fresh 
 enough. There is no hurry or greedi- 
 ness apparent in the despatch of the 
 meal. It is longer than a travelling 
 breakfast with us; more orderly; and 
 more polite. 
 
 Soon after nine o'clock we come tc 
 Potomac Creek, where we are to land : 
 and then comes the oddest part of 
 the journey. Seven stage-coaches are 
 preparing to carry us on. Some of 
 them are ready, some of them are not 
 ready. Some of the drivers are blacks, 
 some whites. There are four horses 
 to each coach, and all the horses, 
 harnessed or unharnessed, are there. 
 The passengers art, getting out of the 
 steamboat, and into the coaches ; the 
 luggage is being transferred in noisy 
 wheelbarrows ; the horses arc frightr 
 ened, and impatient to start; the 
 black drivers are chattering to them 
 like so many monkeys; and the 
 white ones whooping like so many 
 drovers : for the main thing to be 
 done in all kinds of hostlering here, 
 is to make as much noise as possible. 
 The coaches are something like the 
 French coaches, but not nearly so 
 good. In lieu of spring?, they are 
 hung on bands of the strongest leather. 
 There is very little choice or differ- 
 ence between them; and they may 
 be likened to the car portion of the 
 swings at an English fair, roofed, put 
 upon axle-trees and wheels, and cur- 
 tained with painted cauvas. They 
 are covered with mud from the roof 
 to the wheel-tire, and have never been 
 cleaned since they were first built.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 The tickets we have received on 
 board the steamboat are marked 
 No. 1, so -we belong to coach No. 1. 
 I throw my coat on the box, and 
 hoist my wife and her maid into the 
 inside. It has only one step, and 
 that being about a yard from the 
 ground, is usually approached by a 
 chair : when there is no chair, ladies 
 trust in Providence. The coach 
 holds nine inside, having a seat across 
 from door to door, where we in Eng- 
 land put our legs : so that there is 
 only one feat more difficult in the 
 performance than getting in, and that 
 is, getting out again. There is only 
 one outside passenger, and he sits 
 upon the box. As I am that one, I 
 climb up ; and while they are strap- 
 ping the luggage on the roof, and 
 heaping it into a kind of tray behind, 
 have a good opportunity of looking 
 at the driver. 
 
 He is a negro very black indeed. 
 He is dressed in a coarse pepper-and- 
 salt suit excessively patched and 
 darned (particularly at the knees), 
 grey stockings, enormous unblacked 
 high-low shoes, and very short trou- 
 sers. He has two odd gloves : one of 
 parti-coloured worsted, and one of 
 leather. He has a very short whip, 
 broken in the middle and bandaged 
 up with string. And yet he wears a 
 low-crowned, broad-brimmed, black 
 hat : faintly shadowing forth a kind 
 of insane imitation of an English 
 coachman ! But somebody in au- 
 thority cries " Go ahead ! " as I am 
 making these observations. The 
 mail takes the lead in a four-horse 
 wagon, and all the coaches follow in 
 procession : headed by No. 1. 
 
 By the way, whenever an English- 
 man would cry " All right ! " an 
 American cries " Go ahead ! " which 
 is somewhat expressive of the national 
 character of the two countries. 
 
 The first half mile of the road is 
 over bridges made of loose planks j 
 
 laid across two parallel poles, which 
 tilt up as the wheels roll over them : 
 and IN the river. The river has a 
 clayey bottom and is full of holes, so 
 that half a horse is constantly disap- 
 pearing unexpectedly, and can't be 
 found again for some time. 
 
 But we get past even this, and 
 come to the road itself, which is a 
 series of alternate swamps and gravel- 
 pits. A tremendous place is close 
 before us, the black driver rolls bis 
 eyes, screws his mouth up very round, 
 and looks straight between the two 
 leaders, as if he were saying to him- 
 self, " we have done this often before, 
 but now I think we shall have a crash." 
 He takes a rein in each hand ; jerks 
 and pulls at both ; and dances on the 
 splashboard with both feet (keeping 
 his seat, of course) like the late la- 
 mented Ducrow on two of his fiery 
 coursers. We come to the spot, sink 
 down in the mire nearly to the coach 
 windows, tilt on one side at an angle 
 of forty-five degrees, and stick there. 
 The insides scream dismally; the 
 coach stops ; the horses flounder ; all 
 the other six coaches stop ; and their 
 four-and-twenty horses flounder like- 
 wise : but merely for company, and 
 in sympathy with ours. Then the 
 following circumstances occur. 
 
 BLACK. DKIVEB (to the horses). 
 " Hi ! " 
 
 Nothing happens. Insides scream 
 again. 
 
 BLACK DBIVER (to the horses). 
 " Ho ! " 
 
 Horses plunge, and splash the black 
 driver. 
 
 GENTLEMAN INSIDE (looking out) 
 " Why, what on airth " 
 
 Gentleman receives a variety of 
 splashes and draws his head in again, 
 without finishing his question or 
 waiting for an answer. 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (still to the horses). 
 "Jiddy! Jiddy!" 
 
 Horses pull violently, drag the
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 coach out of the hole, and draw it 
 up a bank ; so steep, that the black 
 driver's legs fly up into the air, and 
 he goes back among the luggage 
 on the roof. But he immediately 
 recovers himself, and cries (still to 
 the horses), 
 
 "Pill!" 
 
 No effect On the contrary, the 
 coach begins to roll back upon No. 2, 
 which rolls back upon No. 3, which 
 rolls back upon No. 4, and so on, 
 until No. 7 is heard to curse and 
 swear, nearly a quarter of a mile 
 behind. 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). 
 " Pill ! " 
 
 Horses make another struggle to 
 get up the bank, and again the coach 
 rolls backward. 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (louder than before). 
 " Pe-e-e-ill ! " 
 
 Horses make a desperate struggle. 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (recovering spirits). 
 Hi, Jiddy, Jiddy, Pill ! " 
 
 Horses make another effort 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (with great vigour). 
 "Ally Loo! Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. 
 Pill. Ally Loo!" 
 
 Horses almost do it 
 
 BLACK DRIVER (with his eyes 
 starting out of his head). " Lee, den. 
 Lee, dere. Hi. Jiddy, Jiddy. Pill. 
 Ally Loo. Lee-e-e-e-e ! " 
 
 They run up the bank, and go 
 down again on the other side at a 
 fearful pace. It is impossible to stop 
 them, and at the bottom there is a 
 deep hollow, full of water. The coach 
 rolls frightfully. The insides scream. 
 The mud and water fly about us. 
 The black driver dances like a mad- 
 man. Suddenly we are all right by 
 some extraordinary means, and stop 
 to breathe. 
 
 A black friend of the black driver 
 is sitting on a fence. The black 
 driver recognises him by twirling his 
 head round and round like a harle- 
 quin, rolling his eyes, shrugging his 
 
 shoulders, and grinning from car to 
 ear. He stops short, turns to me, 
 and says : 
 
 " We shall get you through sa, like 
 a fiddle, and hope a please you when 
 we get you through sa. Old 'ooman 
 at home sir : " chuckling very much. 
 " Outside gentleman sa, he often 
 remember old 'ooman at home sa," 
 grinning again. 
 
 " Aye aye, we '11 take care of the 
 old woman. Don't be afraid." 
 
 The black driver grins again, but 
 there is another hole, and beyond 
 that, another bank, close before us. 
 So he stops short : cries (to the horses 
 again) " Easy. Eaay den. Ease. 
 Steady. Hi." Jiddy. Pill. Ally. 
 Loo," but never " Lee ! " until we are 
 reduced to the very last extremity, 
 and are in the midst of difficulties, 
 extrication from which appears to be 
 all but impossible. 
 
 And so we do the ten miles or 
 thereabouts in two hours and a half ; 
 bi caking no bones, though bruising a 
 great many ; and in short getting 
 through the distance, "like a fiddle." 
 
 This singular kind of coaching ter- 
 minates at Frederioksburgh, whence 
 there is a railway to Richmond. The 
 tract of country through which it 
 takes its course was once productive : 
 but the soil has been exhausted by 
 the system of employing a great 
 amount of slave labour in forcing 
 crops, without strengthening the land: 
 and it is now little better than a 
 sandy desert overgrown with trees. 
 Dreary and uninteresting as its aspect 
 is, I was glad to the heart to find any- 
 thing on which one of the curses of 
 this horrible institution has fallen; 
 and had greater pleasure in contem- 
 plating the withered ground, than the 
 riqhest and most thriving cultivation 
 in the same place could possibly have 
 afforded me. 
 
 In this district, as in all others 
 where slavery sits brooding, (I have
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 frequently heard this admitted, even 
 by those who are its warmest advo- 
 cates :) there is an air of ruin and 
 decay abroad, which is inseparable 
 from the system. The barns and 
 outhouses are mouldering away ; the 
 sheds are patched and half roofless ; 
 the log cabins (built in Virginia with 
 external chimneys made of clay or 
 wood), are squalid in the last degree. 
 There is no look of decent comfort 
 anywhere. The miserable stations by 
 the railway side ; the great wild wood- 
 yards, whence the engine is supplied 
 witli fuel ; the negro children rolling 
 on the ground befcre the cabin doors, 
 with dogs and pigs ; the biped beasts 
 of burden slinking past : gloom and 
 dejection are upon them all. 
 
 In the negro cur belonging to the 
 train in which we made this journey, 
 were a mother and her children who 
 had just been purchased ; the hus- 
 band and father being left behind 
 with their old owner. The children 
 cried the whole way, and the mother 
 was misery's picture. The champion 
 cf Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of 
 Happiness, who had bought them, 
 rode in the same train ; and, every 
 time we stopped, got down to sec that 
 they were safe. The black in Sinbad's 
 Travels with one eye in the middle of 
 his forehead which shone like a burn- 
 ing coal, was nature's aristocrat com- 
 pared with this white gentleman. 
 
 It was between six and seven o'clock 
 in the evening, when we drove to the 
 hotel : in front of which, and on the 
 top of the broad flight of steps lead- 
 ing to the door, two or three citizens 
 were balancing themselves on rocking- 
 chairs, and smoking cigars. We found 
 it a very large and elegant establish- 
 ment, and were^as well entertained as 
 travellers need desire to be. The 
 climate being a thirsty one, there 
 was never, at any hour of the day, a 
 scarcity of loungers in the spacious 
 bar, or a cessation of the mixing of 
 
 cool liquors : but they were a merrier 
 people here, and had musical instru- 
 ments playing to them o' nights, 
 which it was a treat to hear again. 
 
 The next day, and the next, we 
 rode and walked about the town, 
 which is delightfully situated on eight 
 hills, overhanging James Kiver ; a 
 sparkling stream, studded here and 
 there with bright islands, or brawling 
 over broken rocks. Although it was 
 yet but the middle of March, the 
 weather in this southern temperature 
 was extremely warm ; the peach trees 
 and magnolias were in full bloom ; 
 and the trees were green. In a loir 
 ground among the hills, is a valley 
 known as " Bloody Run," from a ter- 
 rible conflict with the Indians which, 
 once occurred there. It is a good 
 place for such a struggle, and, like 
 every other spot I saw associated with 
 any legend of that wild people nov,* so 
 rapidly fading from the earth, inter- 
 ested me very much. 
 
 The city is the seat of the local 
 parliament of Virginia; and in its 
 shady legislative halls, some orators 
 were drowsily holding forth to the 
 hot noon day. By dint of constant 
 repetition, however, these constitu- 
 tional sights had very little more 
 interest for me than so many paro- 
 chial vestries; and I was glad to 
 exchange this one for a lounge in a 
 well-arranged public library of some 
 ten thousand volumes, and a visit to 
 i a tobacco manufactory, where the 
 I workmen were all slaves. 
 
 I saw in this place the whole pro- 
 cess of picking, rolling, pressing, ciry- 
 i ing, packing in casks, and branding. 
 All the tobacco thus dealt with, was 
 i in course of manufacture for chewing; 
 i and one would have supposed there 
 : was enough in that one storehouse to 
 ( have filled even the comprehensive 
 jaws of America. In this form, the 
 ; weed looks like the oilcake on which 
 we fatten cattle; and even without
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 reference lo its consequences, is suffi- 
 ciently uninviting. 
 
 Many of the workmen appeared to 
 be strong men, and it is hardly neces- 
 sary to add that they -were all labour- 
 ing quietly, then. After two o'clock 
 in the day, they are allowed to sing, 
 a certain number at a time. The 
 hour striking while I was there, some 
 twenty sang a hymn in parts, and 
 sang it by no means ill ; pursuing 
 their work meanwhile. A bell rang 
 as I was about to leave, and they all 
 poured forth into a building on the 
 opposite side of the street to dinner. 
 I said several times that I should like 
 to see them at their meal ; but as the 
 gentleman to whom I mentioned this 
 desire appeared to be suddenly taken 
 rather deaf, I did not pursue the j 
 request. Of their appearance I shall 
 have something to say, presently. 
 
 On the following day, I visited a ] 
 plantation or farm, of about twelve 
 hundred acres, on the opposite bank j 
 of the river. Here again, although I ! 
 went down with the owner of the i 
 estate, to " the quarter," as that part | 
 of it in which the slaves live is called, 
 I was not invited to enter into any of 
 their huts. All I saw of them, was, ! 
 that they were very crazy, wretched j 
 cabins, near to which groups of half- 
 naked children basked in the sun, or 
 wallowed on the dusty ground. But 
 I believe that this gentleman is a 
 considerate and excellent master, who 
 inherited his fifty slaves, and is neither 
 a buyer nor a seller of human stock ; 
 and I am sure, from my own observa- 
 tion and conviction, that he is a kind- 
 hearted, worthy man. 
 
 The planter's house was an airy 
 rustic dwelling, that brought Defoe's 
 description of such places strongly to 
 my recollection. The day was very 
 warm, but the blinds being all closed, 
 and the windows and doors set wide 
 open, a shady coolness rustled through 
 the rooms, which was exquisitely 
 
 refreshing after the glare and heat 
 without. Before the windows was an 
 open piazza, where, in what they call 
 the hot weather whatever that may 
 be they sling hammocks, and drink 
 and dose luxuriously. I do not know 
 how their cool refections may taste 
 within the hammocks, but, having 
 experience, I can report that, out of 
 them, the mounds of ices and the 
 bowls of mint-julep and sherry-cobbler 
 they make in these latitude?, are 
 refreshments never to be thought of 
 afterwards, in summer, by those who 
 would preserve contented minds. 
 
 There are two bridges across the 
 river: one belongs to the railroad, 
 and the other, which is a very crazy 
 affair, is the private property of some 
 old lady in the neighbourhood, who 
 levies tolls upon the town's people. 
 Crossing this bridge, on my way back, 
 I saw a notice painted on the gate, 
 cautioning all persons to drive slowly: 
 under a penalty, if the offender were 
 a white man, of five dollars ; if a 
 negro, fifteen stripes. 
 
 The same decay and gloom that 
 overhang the way by which it is ap- 
 proached, hover above the town of 
 Richmond. There are pretty villas 
 and cheerful houses in its streets, and 
 Nature smiles upon the countryround ; 
 but jostling its handsome residences, 
 like shivery itself going hand in hand 
 with many lofty virtues, are deplor- 
 able tenements, fences unrepaired, 
 walls crumbling into ruinous heaps. 
 Hinting gloomily at things below the 
 surface, these, and many other tokens 
 of the same description, force them- 
 selves upon the notice, and are remem- 
 bered with depressing influence, when 
 livelier features are forgotten. 
 
 To those who are happily unac- 
 customed to them, the countenances 
 in the streets and labouring-places, 
 too, are shocking. All men who 
 know that there are laws against 
 instructing slaves, of which the pain*
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 95 
 
 and penalties greatly exceed in their 
 amount the fines imposed on those 
 who maim and torture them, must be 
 prepared to find their faces very low- 
 in the scale of intellectual expression. 
 But the darkness not of skin, but 
 mind which meets the stranger's 
 eye at every turn; the brutalizing 
 and blotting out of all fairer charac- 
 ters traced by Nature's hand ; immea- 
 surably outdo his worst belief. That 
 travelled creation of the great 
 satirist's brain, who fresh from living 
 among horses, peered from a high 
 casement down upon his own kind 
 with trembling horror, was scarcely 
 more repelled and daunted by the 
 sight, than those who look upon some 
 of these faces for the first time must 
 surely be. 
 
 I left the last of them behind me in 
 the person of a wretched drudge, who, 
 after running to and fro all day till 
 midnight, and moping in his stealthy 
 winks of sleep upon the stairs 
 betweenwhiles, was washing the dark 
 passages at four o'clock in the morn- 
 ing ; and went upon my way with a 
 grateful heart that I was not doomed 
 to live where slavery was, and had 
 never had my senses blunted to its 
 wrongs and horrors in a slave-rocked 
 cradle. 
 
 It had been my intention to pro- 
 ceed by James River and Chesapeake 
 Bay to Baltimore ; but one of the 
 steam-boats being absent from her 
 station through some accident, and 
 the means of conveyance being conse- 
 quently rendered uncertain, we 
 returned to Washington by the way 
 we had come (there were two con- 
 stables on board the steam-boat, in 
 pursuit of runaway slaves), and halt- 
 ing there again for one night, went on 
 to Baltimore next afternoon. 
 
 The most comfortable of all the 
 hotels of which I had any experience 
 in the United States, and they were 
 not a few, is Barnum's in that city : 
 
 where the English traveller will find 
 curtains to his bed, for the first and 
 probably the last time in America 
 (this is a disinterested remark, for I 
 never use them) ; and where he will be 
 likely to have enough water for wash- 
 ing himself, which is not at all a 
 common case. 
 
 This capital of the state of Mary- 
 land is a bustling busy town, with a 
 great deal of traffic of various kinds, 
 and in particular of water commerce. 
 That portion of the town which it 
 most favours is nona of the cleanest, 
 it is true ; but the upper part is of a 
 very different character, and has 
 many agreeable streets and public 
 buildings. The Washington Monu- 
 ment, which is a handsome pillar with 
 a statue on its summit ; the Medical 
 College ; and the Battle Monument in 
 memory of an engagement with the 
 British at North Point ; are the most 
 conspicuous among them. - 
 
 There is a very good prison in this 
 city, and the state Penitentiary is 
 also among its institutions. In this 
 latter establishment there were two 
 curious cases. 
 
 One, was that of a young man, who 
 had been tried for the murder of his 
 father. The evidence was entirely 
 circumstantial, and was very conflict- 
 ing and doubtful ; nor was it possible 
 to assign any motive which could 
 have tempted him to the commission 
 of so tremendous a crime. He had 
 been tried twice ; and on the second 
 occasion the jury felt so much hesita- 
 tion in convicting him, that they 
 found a verdict of manslaughter, or 
 murder in the second degree ; which 
 it could not possibly be, as there had, 
 beyond all doubt, been no quarrel or 
 provocation, and if he were guilty at 
 all, he was unquestionably guilty of 
 murder in its broadest and worst sig- 
 nification. 
 
 The remarkable feature in the case 
 was, that if the unfortunate deceased
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 were not really murdered by this own 
 son of his, he must have been mur- 
 uered by his own brother. The evi- 
 deucc lay in a most remarkable man 
 ncr, between those two. On all the 
 auspicious poiuts, the dead man's 
 brother was the witness: all the ex- 
 planations for the prisoner, ('some of 
 them extremely plausible) went, by 
 construction and inference, to incul- 
 pate him as plotting to fix the guilt 
 upon his nephew. It must have been 
 one of them : and the jury had to 
 decide between two sets of suspicions, 
 almost equally unnatural, unaccount- 
 able, and strange. 
 
 The other case, was that of a man 
 who once went to a certain distiller's 
 and stole a copper measure containing 
 a quantity of liquor. He was pursued 
 and taken with the property in his 
 possession, and was sentenced to two 
 years' imprisonment. On coming 
 out of tUe jail, at the expiration of 
 that term, he went back to the same 
 distiller's, and stole the same copper 
 measure containing the same quantity 
 of liquor. There was not the slightest 
 reason to suppose that the man 
 wished to return to prison : indeed 
 everything, but the commission of the 
 oflence, made directly against that 
 assumption. There are only two ways 
 of accounting for this extraordinary 
 proceeding. One is, that after under- 
 going so much for this copper mea- 
 sure he conceived he had established 
 a sort of claim and right to it The 
 other that, by dint of long thinking 
 about, it had become a monomania 
 with him, and had acquired a fascina- 
 tion which he found it impossible 
 to resist : swelling from an Earthly 
 Copper Gallon into an Ethereal 
 Golden Vat. 
 
 After remaining here a couple of 
 days I bound myself to a rigid ad- 
 herence to the plan I had laid down so 
 recently, and resolved to set forward 
 on our M-estern journey without any 
 
 more delay. Accordingly, having 
 reduced the luggage within the 
 smallest possible compass (by sending 
 back to New York, to be afterwards 
 forwarded to us in Canada, so much of 
 it as was not absolutely wanted) ; and 
 having procured the necessary creden- 
 tials to banking-houses on the way ; 
 and having moreover looked for two 
 evenings at the setting sun, with as 
 well-defined an idea of the country 
 before us as if we had been going to 
 travel into the very centre of that 
 planet ; we left Baltimore by another 
 railway at half- past eight in the morn- 
 ing, and reached the town of York, 
 some sixty miles off", by the early 
 dinner-time of the Hotel which was 
 the starting-plnce of the four-horse 
 coach, wherein we were to proceed to 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 This conveyance, the box of which 
 I was fortunate enough to secure, had 
 come down to meet us at the railroad 
 station, and was as muddy and cum- 
 bersome as usual. As more passen- 
 gers were waiting for as at the inn- 
 door, the coachman observed under 
 his breath, in the usual self-communi- 
 cative voice, looking the while at his 
 mouldy harness as if it were to that 
 he was addressing himself 
 
 " I expect we shall want the big 
 coach." 
 
 I could not help wondering within 
 myself what the size of this big coach 
 might be, and how many persons it 
 might be designed to hold ; for the 
 vehicle which was too small for our 
 purpose was something larger than 
 two English heavy night coaches, and 
 might have been the twin-brother 
 of a French Diligence. My specu- 
 lations were speedily set at rest, 
 however, for as soon as we had 
 dined, there came rumbling up the 
 street, shaking its sides like a corpu- 
 lent giant, a kind of barge on wheels. 
 After much blundering and backing, 
 it stopped at the door: rolling heavily
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 97 
 
 from side to side when its other 
 motion had ceased, as if it had taken 
 cold in its damp stable, and between 
 that, and the having been required in 
 its dropsical old age to move at any 
 faster pace than a walk, were distressed 
 by shortness of wind. 
 
 " If here ain't the Harrisburg mail 
 at last, and dreadful bright and smart 
 to look at too," cried an elderly gen- 
 tleman in some excitement, "darn 
 my mother ! " 
 
 I don't know what the sensation of 
 being darned may be, or whether a 
 man's mother has a keener relish or 
 disrelish of the process than anybody 
 else; but if the endurance of this 
 mysterious ceremony by the old lady 
 in question had depended on the 
 accuracy of her son's vision in respect 
 to the abstract brightness and smart- 
 ness of the Harrisburg mail, she would 
 certainly have undergone its inflic- 
 tion. However, they booked twelve 
 people inside ; and the luggage (in- 
 cluding such trifles as a large rocking- 
 chair, and a good-sized dining-table) 
 being at length made fast upon the 
 roof, we started off in great state. 
 
 At the door of another hotel, there 
 was another passenger to be taken up. 
 
 " Any room, sir ] " cries the new 
 passenger to the coachman. 
 
 " Well there 's room enough," replies 
 the coachman, without getting down, 
 or even looking at him. 
 
 "There an't no room at all, sir," 
 bawls a gentleman inside. Which 
 another gentleman (also inside) con- 
 firms, by predicting that the attempt 
 to introduce any more passengers 
 " won't fit nohow." 
 
 The new passenger, without any 
 expression of anxiety, looks into the 
 coach, and then looks up at the coach- 
 man : " Now, how do you mean to 
 fix it ] " says he, after a pause : " for I 
 miutt go." 
 
 The coachman employs himself in 
 twisting the lash of his whip into a 
 
 No. 167. 
 
 knot, and takes no more notice of the 
 question : clearly signifying that it is 
 anybody's business but his, and that 
 the passengers would do well to fix it, 
 among themselves. In this state of 
 things, matters seem to be approxi- 
 mating to a fix of another kind, when 
 another inside passenger in a corner, 
 who is nearly suffocated, cries faintly, 
 
 " I '11 get out." 
 
 This is no matter of relief or self- 
 congratulation to the driver, for his 
 immoveable philosophy is perfectly 
 undisturbed by anything that happens 
 in the coach. Of all things in the 
 world, the coach would seem to be the 
 very last upon his mind. The ex- 
 change is made, however, and then 
 the passenger who has given up his 
 seat makes a third upon the box, 
 seating himself in what he calls the 
 middle : that is, with half his person 
 on my legs, and the other half on the 
 driver's. 
 
 "Go a-head cap'en," cries the 
 colonel, who directs. 
 
 " G5-lang ! " cries the cap'en to his 
 company, the horses, and away we 
 go- 
 
 We took up at a rural bar-room, 
 after we had gone a few miles, an 
 intoxicated gentleman who climbed 
 upon the roof among the luggage, 
 and subsequently slipping off without 
 hurting himself, was seen in the dis- 
 tant perspective reeling back to the 
 grog-shop where we had found him. 
 We also parted with more of our 
 freight at different times, so that 
 when we came to change horses, I 
 was again alone outside. 
 
 The coachmen always change with 
 the horses, and are usually as dirty as 
 the coach. The first was dressed like 
 a very shabby English baker ; the 
 second like a Russian peasant : for he 
 wore a loose purple camlet robe with 
 a fur collar, tied round his waist with 
 a parti-coloured worsted sash ; grey 
 trousers; light blue gloves; and a
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 cap of bearskin. It had by this time 
 come on to rain very heavily, and 
 there was a cold damp mist besides, 
 which penetrated to the skin. I was 
 very glad to take advantage of a 
 stoppage and get down to stretch my 
 legs, shake the water off my great- 
 coat, and swallow the usual anti-tem- 
 perance recipe for keeping out the 
 coW. 
 
 When I mounted to my seat again, 
 I observed a new parcel lying on the 
 coach roof, which I took to be a rather 
 large fiddle in a brown bag. In the 
 course of a few miles, however, I dis- 
 covered that it had a glazed cap at 
 one end and a pair of muddy shoes at 
 the other ; and further observation 
 demonstrated it to be a small boy in 
 a snuff-coloured coat, with his arms 
 quite pinioned to his sides, by deep 
 forcing into his pockets. He was, I 
 presume, a relative or friend of the 
 coachman's as he lay a-top of the 
 luggage with his face towards the 
 rain; and except when a change of 
 position brought his shoes in contact 
 with my hat, he appeared to be asleep. 
 At last, on some occasion of our stop- 
 ping, this thing slowly upreared 
 itself to the height of three feet six, 
 and fixing its eyes on me, observed in 
 piping accents, with a complaisant 
 yawn, half quenched in an obliging 
 air ef friendly patronage, " Well now, 
 stranger, I guess you find this a'most 
 like an English arternoon, hey ? " 
 
 The scenery which had been tame 
 enough at first, was, for the last ten 
 or twelve miles, beautiful. Our road 
 wound through the pleasant valley of 
 the Susquehanna ; the river, dotted 
 with innumerable green islands, lay 
 upon our right; and on the left, a 
 steep ascent, craggy with broken rock, 
 and dark with pine trees. The mist, 
 wreathing itself into a hundred fan- 
 tastic shapes, moved solemnly upon 
 the water ; and the gloom of evening 
 gave to all an air of mystery and 
 
 : silence which greatly enhanced its 
 natural interest. 
 
 We crossed this river by a wooden 
 bridge, roofed and covered in on all 
 j sides, and nearly a mile in length. It 
 was profoundly dark ; perplexed, with 
 great beams, crossing and recrossing 
 it at every possible angle; and 
 through the broad chinks and cre- 
 vices in the floor, the rapid river 
 gleamed, far down below, like a legion 
 of eyes. We had no lamps; and as 
 the horses stumbled and floundered 
 through this place, towards the dis- 
 tant speck of dying light, it seemed 
 interminable. I really could not at 
 first persuade myself as we rumbled 
 heavily on, filling the bridge with 
 hollow noises, and I held down my 
 head to save it from the rafters above, 
 but that I was in a painful dream ; for 
 I have often dreamed of toiling 
 through such places, and as often 
 argued, even at the time, " this can- 
 not be reality." 
 
 At length, however, we emerged 
 upon the streets of Harrisburg, whose 
 feeble lights, reflected dismally from 
 the wet ground, did not shine out 
 upon a very cheerful city. We were 
 soon established in a snug hotel, 
 which though smaller and far less 
 splendid than many we put up at, is 
 raised above them all in my remem- 
 brance, by having for its landlord 
 the most obliging, considerate, and 
 gentlemanly person I ever had to deal 
 with. 
 
 As we were not to proceed upon 
 our journey until the afternoon, I 
 walked out, after breakfast the next 
 morning, to look about me; and 
 was duly shown a model prison on 
 the solitary system, just erected, and 
 as yet without an inmate ; the trunk 
 of an old tree to which Harris, the 
 first settler here (afterwards buried 
 under it) was tied by hostile Indians, 
 with his funeral pile about him, when 
 he was saved by the timely appear-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 ance of a friendly party on the oppo- 
 site shore of the river; the local 
 legislature (for there was another of 
 those bodies here, again, in full 
 debate) ; and the other curiosities of 
 the town. 
 
 I was very much interested in look- 
 ing over a number of treaties made 
 from time to time with the poor 
 Indians, signed by the different chiefs 
 at the period of their ratification, and 
 preserved in the office of the Secre- 
 tary to the Commonwealth. These 
 signatures, traced of course by their 
 own hands, are rough drawings of the 
 creatures or weapons they were called 
 after. Thus, the Great Turtle makes 
 a crooked pen-and-ink outline of a 
 great turtle; the Buffalo sketches a 
 buffalo ; the War Hatchet seta a rough 
 image of that weapon for his mark. 
 So with the Arrow, the Fish, the 
 Scalp, the Big Canoe, and all of them. 
 
 I could not but think as I looked 
 at these feeble and tremulous pro- 
 ductions of hands which could draw 
 the longest arrow to the head in a 
 stout elk-horn bow, or split a bead or 
 feather with a rifle-ball of Crabbe's 
 musings over the Parish Register, 
 and the irregular scratches made with 
 a pen, by men who would plough a 
 lengthy furrow straight from end to 
 end. Nor could I help bestowing 
 many sorrowful thoughts upon the 
 simple warriors whose hands and 
 hearts were set there, in all truth and 
 honesty ; and who only learned in 
 course of time from white men how to 
 break their faith, and quibble out of 
 forms and bonds. I wondered, too, 
 how many times the credulous Big 
 Turtle, or trusting Little Hatchet, 
 had put his mark to treaties which 
 were falsely read to him; and had 
 signed away, he knew not what, until 
 it went and cast him loose upon the 
 new possessors of the land, a savage 
 indeed. 
 
 Our host announced, before our 
 
 early dinner, that some members of 
 the legislative body proposed to do us 
 the honour of calling. He had kindly 
 yielded up to us his wife's own little 
 parlour, and when I begged that he 
 would show them in, I saw him look 
 with painful apprehension at its pretty 
 carpet ; though, being otherwise occu- 
 pied at the time, the cause of his 
 uneasiness did not occur to me. 
 
 It certainly would have been more 
 pleasant to all parties concerned, and 
 would not, I think, have compromised 
 their independence in any material 
 degree, if some of these gentlemen 
 had not only yielded to the prejudice 
 in favour of spittoons, but had aban- 
 doned themselves, for the moment, 
 even to the conventional absurdity of 
 pocket-handkerchiefs. 
 
 It still continued to rain heavily, 
 and when we went down to the Canal 
 Boat (for that was the mode of con- 
 veyance by which we were to proceed) 
 after dinner, the weather was as 
 unpromising and obstinately wet as 
 one would desire to see. Nor was the 
 sight of this canal boat, in which we 
 were to spend three or four days, by 
 any means a cheerful one ; as it in- 
 volved some uneasy speculations con- 
 cerning the disposal of the* passengers 
 at night, and opened a wide field of 
 inquiry touching the other domestic 
 arrangements of the establishment, 
 which was sufficiently disconcerting. 
 
 However, there it was a barge 
 with a little house in it, viewed from 
 the outside ; and a caravan at a fair, 
 viewed from within : the gentlemen 
 being accommodated, as the specta- 
 tors usually are, in one of those loco- 
 motive museums of penny wonders; 
 and the ladies being partitioned off 
 by a red curtain, after the manner of 
 the dwarfs and giants in the same 
 establishments, whose private lives are 
 passed in rather close exclusiveness. 
 
 We sat here, looking silently at the 
 row of little tables, which extended 
 
 i
 
 100 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 down both sides of the cabin, and 
 listening to the rain as it dripped and 
 pattered on the boat, and plashed 
 with a dismal merriment in the 
 water, until the arrival of the railway 
 train, for whose 'final contribution to 
 our stock of passengers, our departure 
 was alone deferred. It brought a 
 great many boxes, which were bumped 
 and tossed upon the roof, almost as 
 painfully as if they had been depo- 
 sited on one's own head, without the 
 intervention of a porter's knot ; and 
 several damp gentlemen, whose clothes, 
 
 on their drawing round the stove, 
 began to steam again. No doubt it 
 would have been a thought more com- 
 fortable if the driving rain, which 
 now poured down more soakingly 
 than ever, had admitted of a window 
 being opened, or if our number had 
 been something less than thirty ; but 
 there was scarcely time to think as 
 much, when a train of three horses was 
 attached to the tow-rope, the boy upon 
 the leader smacked his whip, the rudder 
 creaked and groaned complainingly, 
 and we had begun our journey.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SOME FURTHER ACCOUNT OF THE CANAL BOAT, ITS DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AND ITS 
 PASSENGERS. JOURNEY TO PITTSBURG ACROSS THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS. 
 PITTSBURG. 
 
 As it continued to rain most perse- 
 veringly, we all remained below : the 
 damp gentlemen round the stove, 
 gradually becoming mildewed by the 
 action of the fire ; and the dry gen- 
 tlemen lying at full length upon the 
 seats, or slumbering uneasily with 
 their faces on the tables, or walking 
 up and down the cabin, which it was 
 barely possible for a man of the 
 middle height to do, without making 
 bald places on his head by scraping 
 it against the roof. At about six 
 o'clock, all the small tables were put 
 together to form one long table, and 
 everybody sat down to tea, coffee, 
 bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, 
 steak, potatoes, pickles, ham, chops, 
 black puddings, and sausages. 
 
 "Will you try," said my opposite 
 neighbour, handing me a dish of 
 potatoes, broken up in milk and 
 butter, "will you try some of these 
 fixings 1 " 
 
 There are few words which perform 
 such various duties as this word "fix." 
 It is the Caleb Quotem of the Ameri- 
 can vocabulary. You call upon a 
 gentleman in a country town, and his 
 help informs you that he is " fixing 
 himself" just now, but will be down 
 directly : by which you are to under- 
 stand that he is dressing. You in- 
 quire, on board a steamboat, of a 
 fellow passenger, whether breakfast 
 will be ready soon, and he tells you 
 he should think so, for when he was 
 last below, they were " fixing the 
 tables : " in other words, laying the 
 cloth. You beg a porter to collect 
 your luggage, and he entreats you 
 
 not to be uneasy, for he '11 " fix it pre- 
 sently : " and if you complain of indis- 
 position, you are advised to have 
 recourse to Doctor so and so, who will 
 " fix you " in no time. 
 
 One night, I ordered a bottle of 
 mulled wine at an hotel where I was 
 staying, and waited a long time for it ; 
 at length it was put upon the table 
 with an apology from the landlord 
 that he feared it wasn't " fixed pro- 
 perly." And I recollect once, at a 
 stage-coach dinner, overhearing a very 
 stern gentleman demand of a waiter 
 who presented him with a plate of 
 underdone roast-beef, "whether he 
 called that, fixing God A'mighty's 
 vittles 1 " 
 
 There is no doubt that the meal, 
 at which the invitation was tendered 
 to me which has occasioned this 
 digression, was disposed of somewhat 
 ravenously ; and that the gentlemen 
 thrust the broad-bladed knives and 
 the two-pronged forks further down 
 their throats than I ever saw the same 
 weapons go before, except in the 
 hands of a skilful juggler : but no 
 man sat down until the ladies were 
 seated ; or omitted any little act of 
 politeness which could contribute to 
 their comfort. Nor did I ever once, 
 on any occasion, anywhere, during my 
 rambles in America, see a woman 
 exposed to the slightest act of rude- 
 ness, incivility, or even inattention. 
 
 By the time the meal was over, the 
 rain, which seemed to have worn 
 itself out by coming down so fast, 
 was nearly over too ; and it became 
 feasible to. go on deck : which was a
 
 102 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 great relief, notwithstanding its being 
 a very small deck, and being rendered 
 still smaller by the luggage, which 
 was heaped together in the middle 
 under a tarpaulin covering ; leaving, 
 
 attention at these contrivances (won- 
 dering to find such literary prepara- 
 tions in such a place), I descried on 
 each shelf a sort of microscopic sheet 
 and blanket ; then I began dimly to 
 
 on either side, a path so narrow, that comprehend that the passengers were 
 
 the library, and that they were to be 
 arranged, edge-wise, on these shelves, 
 
 it became a science to walk to and 
 fro without tumbling overboard into 
 the canal. It was somewhat embar- 
 rassing at first, too, to have to duck 
 nimbly every five minutes whenever 
 the man at the helm cried " Bridge ! " 
 and sometimes, when the cry was 
 "Low Bridge," to lie down nearly 
 fat. But custom familiarises one to 
 anything, and there were so many 
 bridges that it took a very short time 
 to get used to this. 
 
 As night came on, and we drew in 
 sight of the first range of hills, which 
 are the outposts of the Alleghany 
 mountains, the scenery, which had 
 been uninteresting hitherto, became 
 more bold and striking. The wet 
 ground reeked and smoked, after the 
 heavy fall of rain ; and the croaking 
 of the frogs (whose noise in these 
 parts is almost incredible) sounded 
 as though a million of fairy teams 
 with bells, were travelling through 
 the air, and keeping pace with us. 
 The night was cloudy yet, but moon- 
 light too : and when we crossed the 
 Susquehanna river over" which there 
 is an extraordinary wooden bridge 
 with two galleries, one above the 
 other, so that even there, two boat 
 teams meeting, may pass without 
 confusion it was wild and grand. 
 
 I have mentioned my having been 
 in some uncertainty and doubt, at 
 first, relative to the sleeping arrange- 
 ments on board this boat. I remained 
 in the same vague state of mind until 
 ten o'clock or thereabouts, when going 
 below, I found suspended on either 
 side of the cabin, three long tiers of 
 'hanging book-shelves, designed ap- 
 parently for volumes of the small 
 octavo size. Looking with greater 
 
 till morning. 
 
 I was assisted to this conclusion by 
 seeing some of them gathered round 
 the master of the boat, at one of the 
 tables, drawing lots with all the anxie- 
 ties and passions of gamesters de- 
 picted in their countenances ; while 
 others, with small pieces of cardboard 
 in their hands, were groping among 
 the shelves in search of numbers 
 corresponding with those they had 
 drawn. As soon as any gentleman 
 found his number, he took possession 
 of it by immediately undressing him- 
 self and crawling into bed. The ra- 
 pidity with which an agitated gam- 
 bler subsided into a snoring slumberer, 
 was one of the most singular effects I 
 have ever witnessed. As to the ladies, 
 they were already abed, behind the 
 red curtain, which was carefully drawn 
 and pinned up the centre ; though as 
 every cough, or sneeze, or whisper, 
 behind this curtain, was perfectly 
 audible before it, we had still a lively 
 consciousness of their society. 
 
 The politeness of the person in 
 authority had secured to me a shelf in 
 a nook near this red curtain, in some 
 degree removed from the great body 
 of sleepers : to which place I retired, 
 with many acknowledgments to him 
 for his attention. I found it, on after- 
 measurement, just the width of an 
 ordinary sheet of Bath post letter- 
 paper ; and I was at first in some un- 
 certainty as to the best means of 
 getting into it. But the shelf being 
 a bottom one, I finally determined on 
 lying upon the floor, rolling gently 
 in, stopping immediately I touched 
 the mattress, and remaining for the
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 103 
 
 night, with that side uppermost, what- 
 ever it might he. Luckily, I came 
 upon my back at exactly the right 
 moment. I was much alarmed on 
 looking upward, to see, hy the shape 
 of his half yard of sacking (which 
 his weight had bent into an exceed- 
 ingly tight bag), that there was a 
 very heavy gentleman above me, 
 whom the slender cords seemed quite 
 incapable of holding; and I could 
 not help reflecting upon the grief of 
 my wife and family in the event of 
 his coming down in the night. But 
 as I could not have got up again with- 
 out a severe bodily struggle, which 
 might have alarmed the ladies ; and 
 as I had nowhere to go to, even if I 
 had ; I shut my eyes upon the danger, 
 and remained there. 
 
 One of two remarkable circum- 
 stances is indisputably a fact, with 
 reference to that class of society who 
 travel in these boats. Either they 
 carry their restlessness to such a pitch 
 that they never sleep at all ; or they 
 expectorate in dreams, which would, 
 be a remarkable mingling of the real 
 and ideal. All night long, and every 
 night, on this canal, there was a per- 
 fect storm and tempest of spitting ; 
 and once my coat, being in the very 
 centre of a hurricane sustained by 
 five gentlemen (which moved ver- 
 tically, strictly carrying out Reid's 
 Theory of the Law of Storms,) I was 
 fain the next morning to lay it on the 
 deck, and rub it down with fair water 
 before it was in .a condition to be 
 worn again. 
 
 Between five and six o'clock in the 
 morning we got up, and some of us 
 went on deck, to give them an oppor- 
 tunity of taking the shelves down ; 
 while others, the morning being very 
 cold, crowded round the ru?ty stove, 
 cherishingthenewly kindled fire, and 
 filling the grate with those voluntary 
 contributions of which they had been 
 so liberal all night. The washing ac- 
 
 commodations were primitive. There 
 was a tin ladle chained to the deck, 
 with which every gentleman who 
 thought it necessary to cleanse him- 
 self (many were superior to this weak- 
 ness), fished the dirty water out of the 
 canal, and poured it into a tin basin, 
 secured in like manner. There was 
 also a jack-towel. And, hanging up 
 before a little looking-glass in the bar, 
 in the immediate vicinity of the bread 
 and cheese and biscuits, were a public 
 comb and hair-brush. 
 
 At eight o'clock, the shelves being 
 taken down and put away and the 
 tables joined together, everybody sat 
 down to the tea, coffee, bread, butter, 
 salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, 
 pickles, ham, chops, black-puddings, 
 and sausages, all over again. Some 
 were fond of compounding this variety, 
 and having it all on their plates at 
 once. As each gentleman got through 
 his own personal amount of tea, coffee, 
 bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, 
 steak, potatoes, pickles, ham, chops, 
 black-puddings, and sausages, he rose 
 up and walked olF. When everybody 
 had done with everything, the frag- 
 ments were cleared away : and one of 
 the waiters appearing anew in the cha- 
 racter of a barber, shaved such of the 
 company as desired to be shaved; 
 while the remainder looked on, or 
 yawned over their newspapers. Dinner 
 was breakfast again, without the tea 
 and coffee ; and supper and breakfast 
 were identical. 
 
 There was a man on board this 
 boat, with a light fresh-coloured face, 
 and a pepper-and-salt suit of clothes, 
 who was the most inquisitive fellow 
 that can possibly be imagined. He 
 never spoke otherwise than interro- 
 gatively. Hewas an embodied inquiry. 
 Sitting down or standing up, still or 
 moving, walking the deck or taking 
 his meals, there he was, with a great 
 note of interrogation in each eye, two 
 in his cocked ears, two more in his
 
 104 
 
 AMERICAN* NOTES 
 
 turned-up nose and chin, at least half 
 a dozen more about the corners of his 
 mouth, and the largest one of all in 
 his hair, which was brushed pertly off 
 his forehead in a flaxen clump. Even- 
 button in his clothes said, "Eh? 
 What's that! Did you speak! Say 
 thrt again, will yon!" He was always 
 wide awake, like the enchanted bride 
 who drove her husband frantic ; always 
 restless ; always thirsting for answers ; 
 perpetually seeking and never find- 
 ing. There never was such a curious 
 
 I wore a fur greatcoat at that time, 
 and before we were well clear of the 
 wharf, he questioned me concerning 
 it, and its price, and where I bought 
 it, and when, and what fur it was, and 
 what it weighed, and what it cost. 
 Then he took notice of my watch, 
 and asked what thai cost, and whether 
 it was a French watch, and where I 
 got it, and how I got it, and whether 
 I bought it or had it given me, and 
 how it went, and where the keyhole 
 was, and when I wound it, every night 
 or every morning, and whether I ever 
 forgot to wind it at all, and if I did, 
 what then! Where had I been to 
 last, and where was I going next, and 
 where was I going after that, and had 
 I seen the President, and what did he 
 say, and what did I say, and what did 
 he say when I had said that ! Eh ! 
 Lor now! do tell ! 
 
 Finding that nothing wonld satisfy 
 him, I evaded his questions after the 
 first score or two, and in particular 
 pleaded ignorance respecting the 
 name of the fur whereof the coat was 
 made. I am unable to say whether 
 this was the reason, bnt that coat 
 fascinated him ever afterwards; he 
 usually kept close behind me as I 
 walked, and moved as I moved, that 
 he might look at it the better ; and 
 he frequently dived into narrow places 
 after me at the risk of his life, that 
 he might have the satisfaction of 
 
 passing his hand up the back, and 
 rubbing it the wrong way. 
 
 We had another odd specimen on 
 board, of a different kind. This was 
 a thin-faced, spare-figured man of 
 middle age and stature, dressed in a 
 dusty drabbish-coloured suit, such as I 
 never saw before. He was perfectly 
 quiet during the first part of the 
 journey : indeed I don't remember 
 having so much as seen him until he 
 was brought out by circumstances, as 
 great men often are. The conjunction 
 of events which made him famous, 
 happened, briefly, thus. 
 
 The canal extends to the foot of the 
 mountain, and there, of course, it 
 stops; the passengers being conveyed 
 across it by land carriage, and taken 
 on afterwards by another canal-boat, 
 the counterpart of the first, which 
 awaits them on the other side. There 
 are two canal lines of passage-boats ; 
 one is called The Express, and one (a 
 cheaper one) The Pioneer. The Pio- 
 neer gets first to the mountain, and 
 waits for the Express people to come 
 up; both sets of passengers being 
 conveyed across it at the same time. 
 We were the Express company ; bnt 
 when we had crossed the mountain, 
 and had come to the second boat, the 
 proprietors took it into their heads to 
 draft all the Pioneers into it likewise, 
 so that we were five-and forty at least, 
 and the accession of passengers was 
 not at all of that kind which improved 
 the prospect of sleeping at night Our 
 people grumbled at this, as people do 
 in such cases ; but suffered the boat 
 to be towed off with the whole freight 
 aboard nevertheless; and away we 
 went down the canal. At home, I 
 should have protested lustily, but 
 being a foreigner here, I held my 
 peace. Not so this passenger. He 
 cleft a path among the people on deck 
 (we were nearly all ca deck), and 
 without addressing anybody whomso- 
 ever, soliloquUed c follows :
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION'. 
 
 105 
 
 " This may suit you, this may, but 
 it dont suit me. This may be all very 
 well with Down Easters, and men of 
 Boston raising, but it won't suit my 
 figure no how ; and no two ways 
 
 from the brown forests of the Missis- 
 sippi, / am "and so on, as before. 
 He was unanimously voted one of the 
 tables for his bed at night there is a 
 great contest for the tables in con- 
 
 about that ; and so I tell you. Now! ' sideration of his public services : and 
 I 'm from the brown forests of the he had the wannest corner by the 
 Mississippi, / am, and when the sun ; stove throughout the rest of the jour- 
 shines on me, it does shine a little. I ney. But I never could find out that 
 It don't glimmer where / live, the sun \ he did anything except sit there ; nor 
 don't. No. I 'm a brown forester, I i did I hear him speak again until, in 
 am. I an't a Johnny Cake. There ' the midst of the bustle and turmoil 
 are no smooth skins where I live. I of getting the luggage ashore in the 
 We 're rough men there. Rather. If dark at Pittsburg, I stumbled over 
 Down Easters and men of Boston him as he sat smoking a cigar on the 
 raising like this, I 'm glad of it, but cabin steps, and heard him muttering 
 I 'm none of that raising nor of that to himself, with a short laugh of defi- 
 breed. No. This company wants a ance, " I an't a Johnny Cake, / an't. 
 little fixing, it does. I 'm the wrong j I 'm from the brown forests of the 
 sort of man for 'em, 7 am. They j Mississippi, 7 am, damme ! " I am 
 won't like me, tJiey won't. This is inclined to argue from this, that he 
 piling of it up, a little too mountain- had never left off saying so ; but I 
 ofis, this is." At the end of every one could not make affidavit of that part 
 of these short sentences he turned of the story, if required to do so by 
 upon his heel, and walked the other my Queen and Country, 
 way ; checking himself abruptly when As we have not reached Pittsburg 
 he had finished another short sen- yet, however, in the order of our nar- 
 tence, and turning back again. ] rative, I may go on to remark that 
 
 It is impossible for me to say what breakfast was perhaps the least desir- 
 terrific meaning was hidden in the able meal of the day, as an addition 
 words of this brown forester, but I to the many savoury odours arising 
 know that the other passengers looked from the eatables already mentioned, 
 on in a sort of admiring horror, and there were whiffs of gin, whiskey, 
 that presently the boat was put back brandy, and rum, from the little 
 to the wharf, and as many of the bar hard by, and a decided seasoning 
 Pioneers as could be coaxed or bullied j of stale tobacco. Many of the gentle- 
 into going away, were got rid of. | men passengers were far from parti- 
 
 When we started again, some of the ' c-ular in respect of their linen, which 
 boldest spirts on board, made bold to was in some cases as yellow as the 
 say to the obvious occasion of this , little rivulets that had trickled from 
 improvement in our prospects, "Much I the corners of their mouths in chew- 
 obliged to you, sir :" whereunto the ! ing, and dried there. Nor was the 
 brown forester (waving his hand, and j atmosphere quite free from zephyr 
 still walking up and down as before), ' whisperings of the thirty beds which 
 replied, " No you an't. You 're none had just been cleared away, and of which 
 o' my raising. You may act for your- [ we werefurtherand more pressingly re- 
 selves, you may. I have pinted out ' minded by the occasional appearance 
 the way. Down Easters and Johnny on the table-cloth of a kind of Game, 
 Cakes can follow if they please. I , not mentioned in the Bill of Fare, 
 an't a Johnny Cake, 7 an't. I am And yet despite these oddities
 
 106 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 and even they had, for me at least, a 
 humour of their own there was much 
 in this mode of travelling which I 
 heartily enjoyed at the time, and look 
 back upon with great.pleasure. Even 
 the running up, bare-necked, at five 
 o'clock in the morning, from the 
 tainted cabin to the dirty deck ; scoop- 
 ing up the icy water, plunging one's 
 head into it, and drawing it out, all 
 fresh and glowing with the .cold ; was 
 a good thing. The fast, brisk walk 
 upon the towing-path, between that 
 time and breakfitdt, when every vein 
 and artery seemed to tingle with 
 health ; the exquisite beauty of the 
 opening day, when light came gleam- 
 ing off from every thing ; the lazy 
 motion of the boat, when one lay idly 
 on the deck, looking through, rather 
 than at, the deep blue sky ; the gliding 
 on at night, so noiselessly, past frown- 
 ing hills, sullen with dark trees, and 
 sometimes angry in one red burning 
 spot high up, where unseen men lay 
 crouching round a fire; the shining 
 out of the bright stars, undisturbed by 
 noise of wheels or steam, or any other 
 sound than the liquid rippling of the 
 water as the boat went on : all these 
 were pure delights. 
 
 Then, there were new settlements 
 and detached log-cabins and frame- 
 houses, full of interest for strangers 
 from an old country : cabins with 
 simple ovens, outside, made of clay ; 
 and lodgings for the pigs, nearly as 
 good as many of the human quarters ; 
 broken windows, patched with worn- 
 out hat", old clothes, old boards, frag- 
 ments of blankets and paper; and 
 home-made dressers standing in the 
 open air without the door, whereon 
 was ranged the household store, not 
 hard to count, of earthen jars and 
 pots. The eye was pained to see the 
 stumps of great trees thiokly strewn 
 in every field of wheat, and seldom to 
 lose the eternal swamp and dull mo- 
 rass, with hundreds of rotten trunks 
 
 and twisted branches steeped in its 
 unwholesome water. It was quite sad 
 and oppressive, to come upon great 
 tracts where settlers had been burning 
 down the trees, and where their 
 wounded bodies lay about, like those 
 of murdered creatures, while here and 
 there some charred and blackened 
 giant reared aloft two withered arms, 
 and seemed to call down curses on his 
 foes. Sometimes, at night, the way 
 wound through some lonely gorge, 
 like a mountain pass in Scotland, 
 shining and coldly glittering in the 
 light of the moon, and s>o closed in by 
 high steep hills all round, that there 
 seemed to be no egress save through 
 the narrower path by which we had 
 come, until one rugged hill-side seemed 
 to open, and, shutting out the moon- 
 light as we passed into its gloomy 
 throat, wrapped our new course in 
 shade and darkness. 
 
 We had left Harrisburg on Friday. 
 On Sunday morning we arrived at the 
 foot of the mountain, which is crossed 
 by railroad. There are ten inclined 
 planes ; five ascending, and five de- 
 scending; the carriages are dragged 
 up the former, and let slowly down 
 the latter, by means of stationary en- 
 gines ; the comparatively level spaces 
 between, being traversed, sometimes 
 by horse, and sometimes by engine 
 power, as the case demands. Occasion- 
 ally the rails are laid upon the extreme 
 verge of a giddy precipice; and looking 
 from the carriage window, the traveller 
 gazes sheer down, without a stone or 
 scrap of fence between, into the moun- 
 tain depths below. The journey is very 
 carefully made, however; only two car- 
 riages travelling together ; and while 
 proper precautions are taken, is not 
 to be dreaded for its dangers. 
 
 It was very pretty travelling thus, 
 at a rapid pace along the heights of 
 the mountain in a keen wind, to look 
 down into a valley full of light and 
 softness : catching glimpses, through
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 107 
 
 the tree-lops, of scattered cabins ; chil- 
 dren running to the doors ; dogs burst- 
 ing out to bark, whom we could see 
 without hearing ; terrified pigs scam- 
 pering homewards; families sitting 
 out in their rude gardens; cows gazing 
 upward with a stupid indifference ; 
 men in their shirt-sleeves looking on 
 at their unfinished houses, planning 
 out to-morrow's work ; and we riding 
 onward, high above them, like a whirl- 
 wind. It was amusing, too, when we 
 had dined, and rattled down a steep 
 pass, having no other moving power 
 than the weight of the carriages them- 
 selves, to see the engine released, long 
 after us, come buzzing down alone, 
 like a great insect, its back of green 
 and gold so shining in the sun, that if 
 -it had spread a pair of wings and 
 soared away, no one would have had 
 occasion, as I fancied, for the least 
 surprise. But it stopped short of us 
 in a very business-like manner when 
 we reached the canal ; and, before we 
 left the wharf, went panting up this 
 hill again, with the passengers who 
 had waited our arrival for the means 
 of traversing the road by which we 
 had come. 
 
 On the Monday evening, furnace 
 fires and clanking hammers on the 
 banks of the canal, warned us that we 
 approached the termination of this 
 part of our journey. After going 
 through another dreamy place a 
 long aqueduct across the Alleghany 
 Eiver, which was stranger than the 
 bridge at Harrisburg, being a vast 
 low wooden chamber full of water 
 we emerged upon that ugly confusion 
 of backs of buildings and crazy gal- 
 leries and stairs, which always abuts 
 on water, whether it be river, sea, 
 canal, or ditch : and were at Pittsburg. 
 
 Pittsburg is like Birmingham in 
 England ; at least its townspeople say 
 so. Setting aside the streets, the 
 shops, the houses, waggons, factories, 
 public buildings, and population, per- 
 
 haps it may be. It certainly has a 
 great quantity of smoke hanging about 
 it, and is famous for its iron-works. 
 Besides the prison to which I have 
 already referred, this town contains a 
 pretty arsenal and other institutions. 
 It is very beautifully situated on the 
 Alleghany River, over which there are 
 two bridges; and the villas of the 
 wealthier citizens sprinkled about the 
 high grounds in the neighbourhood, 
 are pretty enough. We lodged at a 
 most excellent hotel, and were admi- 
 rably served. As usual it was full of 
 boarders, was very large, and had a 
 broad colonnade to every story of the 
 house. 
 
 We tarried here, three days. Our 
 next point was Cincinnati : and as this 
 was a steam-boat journey, and western 
 steamboats usually blow up one or 
 two a week in the season, it was 
 advisable to collect opinions in re- 
 ference to the comparative safety of 
 the vessels bound that way, then lying 
 in the river. One called The Mes- 
 senger was the best recommended. 
 She had been advertised to start posi- 
 tively, every day for a fortnight or so, 
 and had not gone yet, nor did her 
 captain seem to have any very fixed 
 intention on the subject. But this i . 
 the custom : for if the law were ta 
 bind down a free and independent 
 citizen to keep his Avord with the 
 public, what would become of the 
 liberty of the subject ? Besides, it is 
 in the way of trade. And if passen- 
 gers be decoyed in the way of trade, 
 and people be inconvenienced in the 
 way of trade, what man, who is a 
 sharp tradesman himself, shall say 
 " We must put a stop to this?" 
 
 Impressed by the deep solemnity 
 
 of the public announcement, I (being 
 
 then ignorant of these usages) was for 
 
 hurrying on board in a breathless 
 
 , state, immediately ; but receiving 
 
 private and confidential information 
 
 i that the boat would certainly not
 
 1C8 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 start until Friday, April the First, we 
 made ourselves very comfortable in 
 
 the mean while, and went on board at 
 noon that day. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 FROM PITTSBURG TO CINCINNATI IN A WESTERN STEAM-BOAT. CINCINNATI. 
 
 THE Messenger was one among a 
 crowd of high-pressure steamboats, 
 clustered together by the wharf-side, 
 which, looked down upon from the 
 rising ground that forms the landing- 
 place, and backed by the lofty bank 
 on the opposite side of the river, 
 appeared no larger than so many 
 floating models. She had some forty 
 passengers on board, exclusive of the 
 poorer persons on the lower deck ; and 
 in half an hour, or less, proceeded on 
 her way. 
 
 We had, for ourselves, a tiny state- 
 room with two berths in it, opening 
 out of the ladies' cabin. There was, 
 undoubtedly, something satisfactory 
 in this " location," inasmuch as it was 
 in the stern, and we had been a great 
 many times very gravely recom- 
 mended to keep as far aft as possible, 
 "because the steamboats generally 
 blew up forward." Nor was this an 
 unnecessary caution, as the occur- 
 rence and circumstances of more than 
 one such fatality during our stay 
 sufficiently testified. Apart from 
 this source of self-congratulation, it 
 was an unspeakable relief to have any 
 place, no matter how confined, where 
 one could be alone : and as the row 
 of little chambers of which this was 
 one, had each a second glass-door 
 besides that in the ladies' cabin, 
 which opened on a narrow gallery 
 outside the vessel, where the other 
 passengers seldom came, and where 
 one could sit in peace and gaze upon 
 the shifting prospect, we took pos- 
 session of our new quarters with 
 much pleasure. 
 
 If the native packets I have already 
 described be unlike anything we are 
 in the habit of seeing on water, these 
 western vessels are still more foreign 
 to all the. ideas we are accustomed to 
 entertain of boats. I hardly know 
 what to liken them to, or how to de- 
 scribe them. 
 
 In the first place, they have no 
 mast, cordage, tackle, rigging, or 
 other such boat-like gear; nor have 
 they anything in their shape at all 
 calculated to remind one of a boat's 
 head, stern, sides, or keel. Except 
 that they are in the water, and dis- 
 play a couple of paddle-boxes, they 
 might be intended, for anything that 
 appears to the contrary, to perform 
 some unknown service, high and dry, 
 upon a mountain top. There is no 
 visible deck, even : nothing but a 
 long, black, ugly roof, covered with 
 burnt-out feathery sparks ; above 
 which tower two iron chimneys, and 
 a hoarse escape valve, and a glass 
 steerage-house. Then, in order as 
 the eye descends towards the water, 
 are the sides, and doors, and windows 
 of the state-rooms, jumbled as oddly 
 together as though they formed a 
 small street, built by the varying 
 tastes of a dozen men : the whole is 
 supported on beams and pillars rest- 
 ing on a dirty barge, but a few inches 
 above the water's edge : and in the 
 narrow space between this upper 
 structure and this barge's deck, are 
 the furnace fires and machinery, open 
 at the sides to every wind that blows, 
 and every storm of rain it drives along 
 its path.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 109 
 
 Passing one of these boats at night, 
 and seeing the great body of fire, ex- 
 posed as I have just described, that 
 rages and roars beneath the frail pile 
 of painted wood : the machinery, not 
 warded off or guarded in any way, 
 but doing its work in the midst of 
 the crowd of idlers and emigrants 
 and children, who throng the lower 
 deck : under the management, too, of 
 reckless men whose acquaintance with 
 its mysteries may have been of pix 
 months' standing : one feels directly 
 that the wonder is, not that there 
 should be so many fatal accidents, 
 but that any journey should be safely 
 made. 
 
 Within, there is one long narrow 
 cabin, the whole length of the boat ; 
 from which the state-rooms open, on 
 both sides. A small portion of it at 
 the stern is partitioned off for the 
 ladies ; arid the bar is at the opposite 
 extreme. There is a long table down 
 the centre, and at either end a stove. 
 The washing apparatus is forward, on 
 the deck. It is a little better than on 
 board the canal boat, but not much. 
 In all modes of travelling, the Ame- 
 rican customs, with reference to the 
 means of personal cleanliness and 
 wholesome ablution, are extremely 
 negligent and filthy ; and I strongly 
 incline to the belief that a con- 
 siderable amount of illness is refer- 
 able to this cause. 
 
 We are to be on board the Mes- 
 senger three days : arriving at Cin- 
 cinnati (barring accidents) on Monday 
 morning. There are three meals a 
 day. Breakfast at seven, dinner at 
 half-past twelve, supper about six. 
 At each, there are a great many small 
 dishes and plates upon the table, with 
 very little in them ; so that although 
 there is every appearance of a mighty 
 " spread," there is seldom really more 
 than a joint : except for those who 
 fancy slices of beet-root, shreds of 
 dried beef, complicated entanglements 
 
 of yellow pickle ; maize, Indian corn, 
 apple-sauce, and pumpkin. 
 
 Some people fancy all these little 
 dainties together (and sweet preserves 
 beside), by way of relish to their roast 
 pig. They are generally those dys- 
 peptic ladies and gentlemen who eat 
 unheard-of quantities of hot corn 
 bread (almost as good for the diges- 
 tion as a kneaded pin-cushion), for 
 breakfast, and for supper. Those who 
 do not observe this custom, and who 
 help themselves several times instead, 
 usually suck their knives and forks 
 meditatively, until they have decided 
 what to take next : then pull them 
 out of their mouths : put them in the 
 dish ; help themselves ; and fall to 
 work again. At dinner, there is 
 nothing to drink upon the table, but 
 great jugs full of cold water. Nobody 
 says anything, at any meal, to any- 
 body. All the passengers are very 
 dismal, and seem to have tremendous 
 secrets weighing on their minds. 
 There is no conversation, no laughter, 
 no cheerfulness, no sociality, except 
 in spitting ; and that is done in silent 
 fellowship round the stove, when the 
 meal is over. Every man sits down, 
 dull and languid ; swallows his fare as 
 if breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, 
 were necessities of nature never to be 
 coupled with recreation or enjoy- 
 ment ; and having bolted his food in 
 a gloomy silence bolts himself, in the 
 same state. But for these animal 
 observances, you might suppose the 
 whole male portion of the company to 
 be the melancholy ghosts of departed 
 book-keepers, who had fallen dead at 
 the desk : such is their weary air of 
 business and calculation. Under- 
 takers on duty would be sprightly 
 beside them ; and a collation of 
 funeral-baked meats, in comparison 
 with these meals, would be a spark- 
 ling festivity. 
 
 The people are all alike, too. There 
 is no diversity of character They
 
 110 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 travel about on the same errands, say 
 and do the same things in exactly the 
 same manner, and follow in the same 
 dull cheerless round. All down the 
 long table, there is scarcely a man 
 who is in anything different from his 
 neighbour. It is quite a relief to have, 
 sitting opposite, that little girl of fif- 
 teen with the loquacious chin : who, 
 to do her justice, acts up to it, and 
 fully identifies nature's handwriting, 
 for of all the small chatterboxes that 
 ever invaded the repose of drowsy 
 ladies' cabin, she is the first and fore- 
 most. The beautiful girl, who sits a 
 little beyond her farther down the 
 table there married the young man 
 with the dark whiskers, who sits 
 beyond her, only last month. They 
 are going to settle in the very Far 
 West, where he has lived four years, 
 but where she has never been. They 
 were both overturned in a stage-coach 
 the other day (a bad omen anywhere 
 else, where overturns are not so 
 common), and his head, which bears 
 the marks of a recent wound, is bound 
 up still. She was hurt too, at the 
 same time, and lay insensible for some 
 days ; bright as her eyes are, now. 
 
 Further down still, sits a man who 
 is going some miles beyond their place 
 of destination, to " improve" a nev/ly 
 discovered copper mine. He carries 
 the village that is to be with him : 
 a few frame cottages, and an apparatus 
 for smelting the copper. He carries 
 its people too. They are partly 
 American and partly Irish, and herd 
 together on the lower deck; where 
 they amused themselves last evening 
 till the night was pretty far advanced, 
 by alternately firing off pistols and 
 singing hymns. 
 
 They, and the very few who have 
 been left at table twenty minutes, 
 rise, and go away. We do so too ; and 
 passing through our little state-room, 
 resume our seats in the quiet gallery 
 without. 
 
 A fine broad river always, but in 
 i some parts much wider than in others.: 
 and then there is usually a green 
 island, covered with trees, dividing it 
 into two streams. Occasionally, we 
 stop for a few minutes, maybe to take 
 in wood, maybe for passengers, at 
 some small town or village (I ought 
 to say city, every place is a city here) ; 
 but the banks are for the most part 
 deep solitudes, overgrown with trees, 
 which, hereabouts, are already in leaf 
 and very green. For miles, and miles, 
 and miles, these solitudes are un- 
 broken by any sign of human life or 
 trace of human footstep ; nor is any- 
 thing seen to move about them but 
 the blue jay, whose colour is so bright, 
 and yet so delicate, that it looks like 
 a flying flower. At lengthened in- 
 tervals a log cabin, with its little space 
 of cleared land about it, nestles under 
 a rising ground, and sends its thread 
 of blue smoke curling up into the 
 sky. It stands in the corner of the 
 poor field of wheat, which is full of 
 great unsightly stumps, like earthy 
 butchers' -blocks. Sometimes the 
 ground is only just now cleared : the 
 felled trees lying yet upon the soil : 
 and the log-house only this morning 
 begun. As we pass this clearing, the 
 settler leans upon his axe or hammer, 
 and looks wistfully at the people from 
 the world. The children creep out 
 of the temporary hut, which is like a 
 gipsy tent upon the ground, and clap 
 their hands and shout The dog only 
 glances round at us ; and then looks 
 up into his master's face again, as if 
 he were rendered uneasy by any sus- 
 pension of the common business, and 
 had nothing more to do with plea- 
 surers. And still there is the same, 
 eternal foreground. The river has 
 washed away its banks, and stately 
 trees have fallen down into the stream. 
 Some have been there so long, that 
 they are mere dry grizzly skeletons. 
 Some have just toppled over, and
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 HI 
 
 having earth yet about their roots, 
 are bathing their green heads in the 
 river, and putting forth new shoots 
 and branches. Some are almost 
 sliding down, as you look at them. 
 And some were drowned so long ago, 
 that their bleached arms start out 
 from the middle of the current, and 
 seem to try to grasp the boat, and 
 drag it under water. 
 
 Through such a scene as this, the 
 unwieldy machine takes its hoarse 
 sullen way : venting, at every revolu- 
 tion of the paddles, a loud high-pres- 
 sure blast ; enough, one would think, 
 to waken up the host of Indians who 
 lie buried in a great mound yonder : 
 so old, that mighty oaks and other 
 forest trees have struck their roots 
 into its earth ; and so high, that it is 
 a hill, even among the hills that Na- 
 ture planted round it. The very 
 river, as though it shared one's feel- 
 ings of compassion for the extinct 
 tribes who lived so pleasantly here, in 
 their blessed ignorance of white exist- 
 tence, hundreds of years ago, steals 
 out of its way to ripple near this 
 mound : and there are few places 
 where the Ohio sparkles more brightly 
 than in the Big Grave Creek. 
 
 All this I see as I sit in the little 
 stern-gallery mentioned just now. 
 Evening slowly steals upon the 
 landscape, and changes it before me, 
 when we stop to set some emigrants 
 ashore. 
 
 Five men, as many women, and a 
 little girl. All their worldly goods 
 are a bag, a large chest and an old 
 chair: one, old, high-backed, rush- 
 bottomed chair : a solitary settler in 
 itself. They are rowed ashore in the 
 boat, while Ihe vessel stands a little 
 off awaiting its return, the water 
 being shallow. They are landed at 
 the foot of a high bank, on the sum- 
 mit of which are a few log cabins, 
 attainable only by a long winding 
 path. It is growing dusk; but the 
 
 sun is very red, and shines in the 
 water and on some of the tree-tops, 
 like fire. 
 
 The men get out of the boat first ; 
 help out the women; take out the 
 bag, the chest, the chair; bid the 
 rowers "good bye;" and shove the 
 boat off for them. At the first plash 
 of the oars in the water, the oldest 
 woman of the party sits down in the 
 old chair, close to the water's edge, 
 without speaking a word. None of 
 the others sit down, though the chest is 
 large enough for many seats. They 
 all stand where they landed, as if 
 stricken into stone; and look after 
 the boat. So they remain, quita still 
 and silent: the old woman and her 
 old chair, in the centre ; the bag and 
 chest upon the shore, without any- 
 body heeding them : all eyes fixed 
 upon the boat. It comes alongside, is 
 made fast, the men jump on board, 
 the engine is put in motion, and we 
 go hoarsely on again. There they 
 stand yet, without the motion of a 
 hand. I can see them, through my 
 glass, when, in the distance and in- 
 creasing darkness, they are mere 
 specks to the eye : lingering there 
 still : the old woman in the old chair, 
 and all the rest about her : not stir- 
 ring in the least degree. And thus I 
 slowly lose them. 
 
 The night is dark, and we proceed 
 within the shadow of the wooded 
 bank, which makes it darker. After 
 gliding past the sombre maze of- 
 boughs for a long time, 'we come 
 upon an open space where the tall 
 trees are burning. The shape of 
 every branch and twig is expressed in 
 a deep red glow, and as the light wind 
 stirs and ruffles it, they seem to vege- 
 tate in fire. It is such a sight as we 
 read of in legends of enchanted 
 forests : saving that it is sad to see 
 these noble works wasting away so 
 awfully, alone ; and to think how 
 many years must come and go before
 
 112 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 the magic that created them will 
 rear their like upon this ground again. 
 But the time will come : and when, 
 in their changed ashes, the growth of 
 centuries unborn has struck its roots, 
 the restless men of distant ages will 
 repair to these again unpeopled soli- 
 tudes ; and their fellows, in cities far 
 away, that slumber now, perhaps, 
 beneath the rolling sea, will read, 
 in language strange to any ears in 
 being now but very old to them, of 
 primeval forests where the axe was 
 never heard, and where the jungled 
 ground was never trodden by a human 
 foot. 
 
 Midnight and sleep blot out these 
 scenes and thoughts : and when the 
 morning shines again, it gilds the 
 house-tops of a lively city, before 
 whose broad paved wharf the boat is 
 moored ; with other boats, and flags, 
 and moving wheels, and hum of men 
 around it; as though there were 
 not a solitary or silent rood of 
 ground within the compass of a thou- 
 sand miles. 
 
 Cincinnati is a beautiful city ; 
 cheerful, thriving, and animated. I 
 have not often seen a place that com- 
 mends itself so favourably and plea- 
 santly to a stranger at the first glance 
 as this does : with its clean houses of 
 red and white, its well-paved roads, 
 and foot-ways of bright tile. Nor 
 does it become less prepossessing on a 
 closer acquaintance. The streets are 
 broad and airy, the shops extremely 
 good, the private residences remark- 
 able for their elegance and neatness. 
 There is something of invention and 
 fancy in the varying styles of these 
 latter erections, which, after the dull 
 company of the steamboat, is per- 
 fectly delightful, as conveying an 
 assurance that there are such qualities 
 still in existence. The disposition to 
 ornament these pretty villas and 
 render them attractive, leads to the 
 culture of trees and flowers, and the 
 
 laying out of well-kept gardens, the 
 sight of which, to those who walk 
 along the streets, is inexpressibly re- 
 freshing and agreeable. I was quite 
 charmed with the appearance of the 
 town, and its adjoining suburb of 
 Mount Auburn ; from which the city, 
 lying in an amphitheatre of hills, forms 
 a picture of remarkable beauty, and ia 
 seen to great advantage. 
 
 There happened to be a great Tem- 
 perance Convention held here on the 
 day after our arrival ; and as the order 
 of march brought the procession 
 under the windows of the hotel in 
 which we lodged, when they started 
 in the morning, I had a good oppor- 
 tunity of seeing it. It comprised 
 several thousand men; the members 
 of various " Washington Auxiliary 
 Temperance Societies ;" and was mar- 
 shalled by officers on horseback, who 
 cantered briskly up and down the 
 line, with scarves and ribbons of 
 bright colours fluttering out behind 
 them gaily. There were bands of 
 music too, and banners out of number : 
 and it was a fresh, holiday-looking 
 concourse altogether. 
 
 I was particularly pleased to see the 
 Irishmen, who formed a distinct so- 
 ciety among themselves, and mustered 
 very strong with their green scarves ; 
 carrying their national Harp and 
 their Portrait of Father Mathew, high 
 above the people's heads. They 
 looked as jolly and good-humoured as 
 ever ; and, working (here) the hardest 
 for their living and doing any kind of 
 sturdy labour that came in their way, 
 were the most independent fellows 
 there, I thought. 
 
 The banners were very well painted, 
 and flaunted down the street famously. 
 There was the smiting of the rock, 
 and the gushing forth of the waters ; 
 and there was a temperate man with 
 "considerable of a hatchet" (as the 
 standard-bearer would probably have 
 said), aiming a deadly blow at a ser-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 113 
 
 pent which was apparently about to 
 spring upon him from the top of a 
 barrel of spirits. But the chief 
 feature of this part of the show was a 
 huge allegorical device, borne among 
 the ship-carpenters, on one side 
 whereof the steamboat Alcohol was 
 represented bursting her boiler and 
 exploding with a great crash, while 
 upon the other, the good ship Tem- 
 perance sailed away with a fair wind, 
 to the heart's content of the captain, 
 crew, and passengers. 
 
 After going round the town, the 
 procession repaired to a certain ap- 
 pointed place, where, as the printed 
 programme set forth, it would be 
 received by the children of the differ- 
 ent free school?, " singing Temper- 
 ance Songs." I was prevented from 
 getting there, in time to hear these 
 Little Warblers, or to report upon 
 this novel kind of vocal entertain- 
 ment : novel, at least, to me : but I 
 found, in a large open space, each 
 society gathered round its own ban- 
 ners, and listening in silent attention 
 to its own orator. The speeches, 
 judging from the little I could hear 
 of them, were certainly adapted to 
 the occasion, as having that degree of 
 relationship to cold water which wet 
 blankets may claim : but the main 
 thing was the conduct and appear- 
 ance of the audience throughout the 
 day ; and that was admirable and full 
 of promise. 
 
 Cincinnati is honourably famous 
 for its free-schools, of which it has so 
 many tkat no person's child among 
 its population can, by possibility, 
 want the means of education, which 
 are extended, upon an average, to 
 four thousand pupils, annually. I 
 was only present in one of these esta- 
 blishments during the hours of in- 
 struction. In the boys' department, 
 which was full of little urchins (vary- 
 ing in their ages, I should say, from 
 six years old to ten or twelve), the 
 
 No. 168. 
 
 master offered to institute an extem- 
 porary examination of the pupils in 
 algebra ; a proposal, which, as I was 
 by no means confident of my ability 
 to detect mistakes in that science, I 
 declined with some alarm. In the 
 girls' school, reading was proposed; 
 and as I felt tolerably equal to that 
 art, I expressed my willingness to 
 hear a class. Books were distributed 
 accordingly, and some half dozen 
 girls relieved each other in reading 
 paragraphs from English History. But 
 it seemed to be a dry compilation, infi- 
 nitely above their powers ; and when 
 they had blundered through three or 
 four dreary passages concerning the 
 Treaty of Amiens, and other thrilling 
 topics of the same nature (obviously 
 without comprehending ten words), 
 I expressed myself quite satisfied. 
 It is very possible that they only 
 mounted to this exalted stave in the 
 Ladder of Learning for the astonish- 
 ment of a visitor ; and that at other 
 times they keep upon its lower rounds; 
 but I should have been much better 
 pleased and satisfied if I had heard 
 them exercised in simpler lessons, 
 which they understood. 
 
 As in every other place I visited, the 
 Judges here were gentlemen of high 
 character and attainments. I was in 
 one of the courts for a few minutes, 
 and found it like those to which I 
 have already referred. A nuisance 
 cause was trying ; there were not 
 many spectators ; and the witnesses, 
 counsel, and jury, formed a sort of 
 family circle, sufficiently jocose and 
 snug. 
 
 The society with which I mingled, 
 was intelligent, courteous, and agree- 
 able. The inhabitants of Cincinnati 
 are proud of their city, as one of the 
 most interesting in America : and 
 with good reason : for beautiful and 
 thriving as it is now, and containing, 
 as it does, a population of fifty thou- 
 sand souls, but two-and-fifty years 
 8
 
 114 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 have passed away since the ground on 
 which it stands (bought at that time 
 for a few dollars) was a wild wood, 
 
 and its citizens were but a handful of 
 dwellers in scattered log huts upon 
 the river's shore. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FROM CINCINNATI TO LOUISVILLE IN ANOTHER WESTERN STEAMBOAT J AND FROM 
 LOUISVILLE TO ST. LOUIS IN ANOTHER. ST. LOUIS. 
 
 LEAVING Cincinnati at eleven o'clock 
 in the forenoon, we embarked for 
 Louisville in the Pike steam-boat, 
 which, earning the mails, was a 
 packet of a much better class than 
 that in which we had come from 
 Pittsburg. As this passage does not 
 occupy more than twelve or thirteen 
 hours, we arranged to go ashore that 
 night : not coveting the distinction 
 of sleeping in a state-room, when it 
 was possible to sleep anywhere else. 
 
 There chanced to be on board this 
 boat, in addition to the usual dreary 
 crowd of passengers, one Pitchlynn, a 
 chief of the Choctaw tribe of Indians, 
 who sent in his card to me, and with 
 whom I had the pleasure of a long 
 conversation. 
 
 He spoke English perfectly well, 
 though he had not begun to learn 
 the language, he told me, until he 
 was a young man grown. He had 
 read many books ; and Scott's poetry 
 appeared to have left a strong impres- 
 sion on his mind : especially the 
 opening of The Lady of the Lake, 
 and the great battle scene in Mar- 
 mion, in which, no doubt from the 
 congeniality of the subjects to his 
 own pursuits and tastes, he had great 
 interest and delight. He appeared to 
 understand correctly all he had read ; 
 and whatever fiction had enlisted his 
 sympathy in its belief, had done so 
 keenly and earnestly. I might almost 
 say fiercely. He was dressed in our 
 ordinary every-day costume, which 
 
 hung about his fine figure loosely, 
 and with indifferent grace. On my 
 telling him that I regretted not to 
 see him in his own attire, he threw 
 up his right arm, for a moment, as 
 though he were brandishing some 
 heavy weapon, and answered, as he 
 let it fall again, that his race were 
 losing many things besides their 
 dress, and would soon be seen upon 
 the earth no more : but he wore it at 
 home, he added proudly. 
 
 He told me that he had been away 
 from his home, west of the Mississippi, 
 seventeen months : and was now re- 
 turning. He had been chiefly at 
 Washington on some negotiations 
 pending between his Tribe and the 
 Government : which were not settled 
 yet (he said in a melancholy way), 
 and he feared never would be : for 
 what could a few poor Indians do, 
 against such well-skilled men of busi- 
 ness as the whites ? He had no love 
 for Washington ; tired of towns and 
 cities very soon ; and longed for the 
 Forest and the Prairie. 
 
 I asked him what he thought of 
 Congress? He answered, with a 
 smile, that it wanted dignity, in an 
 Indian's eyes. 
 
 He would very much like, he said, 
 to see England before he died ; and 
 spoke with much interest about the 
 great things to be seen there. When 
 I told him of that chamber in the 
 British Museum wherein are preserved 
 household memorials of a race that
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 115 
 
 ceased to be, thousands of years ago, 
 he was very attentive, and it was not 
 hard to see that he had a reference in 
 his mind to the gradual fading away 
 of his own people. 
 
 This led us to speak of Mr. Catlin's 
 gallery, which he praised highly : 
 observing that his own portrait was 
 among the collection, and that all 
 the likenesses were "elegant." Mr. 
 Cooper, he said, had painted the Red 
 Man well ; and so would I, he knew, 
 if I would go home with him and 
 hunt buffaloes, which he was quite 
 anxious I should do. When I told 
 him that supposing I went, I should 
 not be very likely to damage the buf- 
 faloes much, he took it as a great joke 
 and laughed heartily. 
 
 He was a remarkably handsome 
 man ; some years past forty I should 
 judge ; with long black hair, an aqui- 
 line nose, broad cheek bones, a sun- 
 burnt complexion, and a very bright, 
 keen, dark, and piercing eye. There 
 were but twenty thousand of the 
 Choctaws left, he said, and their 
 number was decreasing every day. 
 A few of his brother chiefs had been 
 obliged to become civilised, and to 
 make themselves acquainted with 
 what the whites knew, for it was 
 their only chance of existence. But 
 they were not many; and the rest 
 were as they always had been. He 
 dwelt on this : and said several times 
 that unless they tried to assimilate 
 themselves to their conquerors, they 
 must be swept away before the strides 
 of civilised society. 
 
 When we shook hands at parting, 
 I told him he must come to England, 
 as he longed to see the land so much : 
 that I should hope to see him there, 
 one day : and that I could promise 
 him he would be well received and 
 kindly treated. He was evidently 
 pleased by this assurance, though he 
 rejoined with a good-humoured smile 
 and an arch shake of his head, that 
 
 the English used to be very fond of 
 the Ked Men when they wanted their 
 help, but had not cared much for 
 them, since. 
 
 He took his leave ; as stately and 
 complete a gentleman of Nature's 
 making, as ever I beheld ; and moved 
 among the people in the boat, another 
 kind of being. He sent me a litho- 
 graphed portrait of himself soon 
 afterwards ; very like, though scarcely 
 handsome enough ; which I have care- 
 fully preserved in memory of our brief 
 acquaintance. 
 
 There was nothing very interesting 
 in the scenery of this day's journey, 
 which brought us at midnight to 
 Louisville. We slept at the Gait 
 House; a splendid hotel; and were 
 as handsomely lodged as though we 
 had been in Paris, rather than hun- 
 dreds of miles beyond the Alleghanies. 
 
 The city presenting no objects of 
 sufficient interest to detain us on our 
 way, we resolved to proceed next day 
 by another steamboat, the Fulton, 
 and to join it, about noon, at a suburb 
 called Portland, where it would be 
 delayed some time in passing through 
 a canal. 
 
 The interval, after breakfast, we 
 devoted to riding through the town, 
 which is regular and cheerful : the 
 streets being laid out at right angles, 
 and planted with young trees. The 
 buildings are smoky and blackened, 
 from the use of bituminous coal, but 
 an Englishman is well used to that 
 appearance, and indisposed to quarrel 
 with it. There did not appear to be 
 much business stirring; and some 
 unfinished buildings and improve- 
 ments seemed to intimate that the 
 city had been overbuilt in the ardour 
 of " going a-head," and was suffering 
 under the re-action consequent upon 
 such feverish forcing of its powers. 
 
 On our way to Portland, we passed 
 a " Magistrate's office," which amused 
 me, as looking far more like a dame 
 
 i2
 
 116 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 school than any police establishment : 
 for this awful Institution was nothing 
 but a little lazy, good-for-nothing 
 front parlour, open to the street; 
 wherein two or three figures (I pre- 
 sume the magistrate and his myrmi- 
 dons) were basking in the sunshine, 
 the very effigies of languor and re- 
 pose. It was a perfect picture ol 
 Justice retired from business for want 
 of customers ; her sword and scales 
 sold off; napping comfortably with 
 her legs upon the table. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere in these parts, 
 the road was perfectly alive with pigs 
 of all ages; lying about in every 
 direction, fast asleep ; or grunting 
 along in quest of hidden dainties. I 
 had always a sneaking kindness for 
 these odd animals, and found a con- 
 stant source of amusement, when all 
 others failed, in watching their pro- 
 ceedings. As we were riding along 
 this morning, I observed a little inci- 
 dent between two youthful pigs, which 
 was so very human as to be inex- 
 pressibly comical and grotesque at 
 the time, though I daresay, in telling, 
 it is tame enough. 
 
 One young gentleman (a very deli- 
 cate porker with several straws stick- 
 ing about his nose, betokening recent 
 investigations in a dunghill), was 
 walking deliberately on, profoundly 
 thinking, when suddenly his brother, 
 who was lying in a miry hole unseen 
 by him, rose up immediately before 
 his startled eyes, ghostly with damp 
 mud. Never was pig's whole mass of 
 blood so turned. He started back at 
 least three feet, gazed for a moment, 
 and then shot off as hard as he could 
 go : his excessively little tail vibrat- 
 ing with speed and terror like a dis- 
 tracted pendulum. But before he 
 had gone very far, he began to reason 
 with himself as to the nature of this 
 frightful appearance ; and as he rea- 
 soned, he relaxed his speed by gradual 
 degrees, -.until at last he stopped, and 
 
 faced about. There was his brother, 
 with the mud upon him glazing in 
 the sun, yet staring out of the very 
 same hole, perfectly amazed at his 
 proceedings ! He was no sooner as- 
 sured of this ; and he assured himself 
 so carefully that one may almost say 
 he shaded his eyes with his hand to 
 see the better ; than he came back at 
 a round trot, pounced upon him, and 
 summarily took off a piece of his tail ; 
 as a caution to him to be careful what 
 he was about for the future, and never 
 to play tricks with his family any 
 more. 
 
 We found the steam-boat in the 
 canal, waiting for the slow process of 
 getting through the lock, and went 
 on board, where we shortly afterwards 
 had a new kind of visitor in the person 
 of a certain Kentucky Giant whose 
 name is Porter, and who is of the 
 moderate height of seven feet eight 
 inches, in his stockings. 
 
 There never was a race of people 
 who so completely gave the lie to 
 history as these giants, or whom all 
 the chroniclers have so cruelly libelled. 
 Instead of roaring and ravaging about 
 the world, constantly catering for 
 their cannibal larders, and perpetu- 
 ally going to market in an unlawful 
 manner, they are the meekest people 
 in any man's acquaintance : rather in- 
 clining to milk and vegetable diet, 
 and bearing anything for a quiet life. 
 So decidedly are amiability and mild- 
 ness their characteristics, that I con- 
 fess I look upon that youth who dis- 
 tinguished himself by the slaughter 
 of these inoffensive persons, as a false- 
 hearted brigand, who, pretending to 
 philanthropic motives, was secretly 
 influenced only by the wealth stored 
 up within their castles, and the hope 
 of plunder. And I lean the more to 
 this opinion from finding that even 
 the historian of those exploits, with 
 all his partiality for his hero, is fain 
 to admit that the slaughtered mon-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 117 
 
 sters in question were of a very inno- 
 cent and simple turn ; extremely 
 guileless and ready of belief; lending 
 a credulous ear to the most impro- 
 bable tales ; suffering themselves to 
 be easily entrapped into pits ; and 
 even (as in the case of the Welsh 
 Giant) with an excess of the hospit- 
 able politeness of a landlord, ripping 
 themselves open, rather than hint at 
 the possibility of their guests being 
 versed in the vagabond arts of sleight- 
 of-hand and hocus-pocus. 
 
 The Kentucky Giant was but ano- 
 ther illustration of the truth of this 
 position. He had a weakness in the 
 region of the knees, and a trustful- 
 ness in his long face, \vhich appealed 
 even to five-feet-nine for encourage- 
 ment and support. He was only 
 twenty-five years old, he said, and had 
 grown recently, for it had been found 
 necessary to make an addition to the 
 legs of his inexpressibles. At fifteen 
 he was a short boy, and in those days 
 his English father and his Irish 
 mother had rather snubbed him, as 
 being too small of stature to sustain 
 the credit of the family. He added 
 that his health had not been good, 
 though it was better now ; but short 
 people are not wanting who whisper 
 that he drinks too hard. 
 
 I understand he drives a hackney- 
 coach, though how he does it, unless 
 he stands on the footboard behind, 
 and lies along the roof upon his chest, 
 with his chin in the box, it would be 
 difficult to comprehend. He brought 
 his gun with him, as a curiosity. 
 Christened "The Little Eifle," and 
 displayed outside a shop-window, it 
 would make the fortune of any retail 
 business in Holborn. When he had 
 shown himself and talked a little 
 while, he withdrew with his pocket- 
 instrument, and went bobbing down 
 the cabin, among men of six feet high 
 and upwards, like a lighthouse walk- 
 ing among lamp-posts. 
 
 Within a few minutes afterwards, 
 we were out of the canal, and in the 
 Ohio river again. 
 
 The arrangements of the boat were " 
 like those of the Messenger, and the 
 passengers were of the same order of 
 people. We fed at the same times, on 
 the same kind of viands, in the same 
 dull manner, and with the same ob- 
 servances. The company appeared 
 to be oppressed by the same tre- 
 mendous concealments, and had as 
 little capacity of enjoyment or light- 
 heartedness. I never in my life did 
 see such listless, heavy dulness as 
 brooded over these meals : the very 
 recollection of it weighs me down, and 
 makes me, for the moment, wretched. 
 Reading and writing on my knee, in 
 our little cabin, I really dreaded the 
 coming of the hour that summoned 
 us to table ; and was as glad to escape 
 from it again, as if it had been a 
 penance or a punishment. Healthy 
 cheerfulness and good spirits forming 
 a part of the banquet, I could soak 
 my crusts in the fountain with Le 
 Sage's strolling player, and revel in 
 their glad enjoyment: but sitting 
 down with so many fellow-animals to 
 ward off thirst and hunger as a busi- 
 ness ; to empty, each creature, his 
 Yahoo's trough as quickly as he can, 
 and then slink sullenly away ; to 
 have these social sacraments stripped 
 of everything but the uere greedy 
 satisfaction of the natural cravings ; 
 goes so against the grain with me, 
 that I seriously believe the recollec- 
 tion of these funeral feasts will be a 
 waking nightmare to me all my life. 
 
 There was some relief in this boat, 
 too, which there had not been in the 
 other, for the captain (a blunt good- 
 natured fellow), had his handsome 
 wife with him, who was disposed to 
 be lively and agreeable, as were a few 
 other lady-passengers who had their 
 seats about us at the same end of the 
 table. But nothing could have made
 
 118 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 head against the depressing influence 
 of the general body. There was a 
 magnetism of dulness in them which 
 would have beaten down the most 
 facetious companion that the earth 
 ever knew. A jest would have been a 
 crime, and a smile would have faded 
 into a grinning horror. Such deadly 
 leaden people ; such systematic plod- 
 ding weary insupportable heaviness; 
 such a mass of animated indigestion 
 in respect of all that was genial, jovial, 
 frank, social, or hearty ; never, sure, 
 was brought together elsewhere since 
 the world began. 
 
 Nor was the scenery, as we ap- 
 proached the junction of the Ohio and 
 Mississippi rivers, at all inspiriting in 
 its influence. The trees were stunted 
 in their growth ; the banks were low 
 and flat : the settlements and log 
 cabins fewer in number : their inha- 
 bitants more wan and wretched than 
 any we had encountered yet. No 
 songs of birds were in the air, no 
 pleasant scents, no moving lights and 
 shadows from swift passing clouds. 
 Hour after hour, the changeless glare 
 of the hot, unwinking sky, shone upon 
 the same monotonous objects. Hour 
 after hour, the river rolled along, as 
 wearily and slowly as the time itself. 
 
 At length, upon the morning of the 
 third day, we arrived at a spot so 
 much more desolate than any we had 
 yet beheld, that the forlornest places 
 we had passed, were, in comparison 
 with it, full of interest. At the junc- 
 tion of the two rivers, on ground so 
 flat and low and marshy, that at cer- 
 tain seasons of the year it is inundated 
 to the house-tops, lies a breeding-place 
 of fever, ague, and death ; vaunted in 
 England as a mine of Golden Hope, 
 and speculated in, on the faith of 
 monstrous representations, to many 
 people's nri. A dismal swamp, on 
 which the half-built houses rot away : 
 cleared here and there for the space 
 of a few yards; and teeming, then, 
 
 with rank unwholesome vegetation, in 
 whose baleful shade the wretched wan- 
 derers who are tempted hither, droop, 
 and die, and lay their bones ; the 
 hateful Mississippi circling and eddy- 
 ing before it, and turning off upon 
 its southern course a slimy monster 
 hideous to behold ; a hotbed of disease, 
 an ugly sepulchre, a grave uncheered 
 by any gleam of promise: a place with- 
 out one single quality, in earth or air 
 or water, to commend it : such is this 
 dismal Cairo. 
 
 But what words shall describe the 
 Mississippi, great father of rivers, who 
 (praise be to Heaven) has no young 
 children like him ! An enormous 
 ditch, sometimes two or three miles 
 wide, running liquid mud, six miles 
 an hour : its strong and frothy current 
 choked and obstructed everywhere by 
 huge logs and whole forest trees : now 
 twining themselves together in great 
 rafts, from the interstices of which a 
 sedgy lazy foam works up, to float 
 upon the water's top; now rolling past 
 like monstrous bodies, their tangled 
 roots showing like matted hair ; now 
 glancing singly by like giant leeches ; 
 and now writhing round and round in 
 the vortex of some small whirlpool, 
 like wounded snakes. The banks low, 
 the trees dwarfish, the marshes swarm- 
 ing with frogs, the wretched cabins 
 few and far apart, their inmates hol- 
 low-cheeked and pale, the weather very 
 hot, mosquitoes penetrating into every 
 crack and crevice of the boat, mud 
 and slime on everything : nothing 
 pleasant in its aspect, but the harm- 
 less lightning which flickers every 
 night upon the dark horizon. 
 
 For two days we toiled up this foul 
 stream, striking constantly against the 
 floating timber, or stopping to avoid 
 those more dangerous obstacles, the 
 snags, or sawyers, which are the hidden 
 trunks of trees that have their roots 
 below the tide. When the nights are 
 very dark, the look-out stationed in
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 119 
 
 the head of the boat, knows by the 
 ripple of the water if any great impe- 
 diment be near at hand, and rings a 
 bell beside him, which is the signal 
 for the engine to be stopped : but 
 always in the night this bell has work 
 to do, and after every ring, there 
 comes a blow which renders it no easy 
 matter to remain in bed. 
 
 The decline of day here was very 
 gorgeous ; tinging the firmament 
 deeply with red and gold, up to the 
 very keystone of the arch above us. 
 As the sun went down behind the 
 bank, the slightest blades of grass 
 upon it seemed to become as distinctly 
 visible as the arteries in the skeleton 
 of a leaf; and when, as it slowly sank, 
 the red and golden bars upon the 
 water grew dimmer, and dimmer yet, 
 as if they were sinking too ; and all 
 the glowing colours of departing day 
 paled, inch by inch, before the sombre 
 night ; the scene became a thousand 
 times more lonesome and more dreary 
 than before, and all its influences 
 darkened with the sky. 
 
 We drank the muddy water of this 
 river while we were upon it. It is 
 considered wholesome by the natives, 
 and is something more opaque than 
 gruel. I have seen water like it at 
 the Filter-shops, but nowhere else. 
 
 On the fourth night after leaving 
 Louisville, we reached St. Louis, and 
 here I witnessed the conclusion of an 
 incident, trifling enough in itself but 
 very pleasant to see, which had inte- 
 rested me during the whole journey. 
 
 There was a little woman on board, 
 with a little baby; and both little 
 woman and little child were cheerful, 
 good-looking, bright-eyed, and fair to 
 see. The little woman had been pass- 
 ing a long time with her sick mother 
 in Xew York, and had left her home 
 in St. Louis, in that condition in 
 which ladies who truly love their lords 
 desire to be. The baby was born in 
 her mother's house ; and she had not 
 
 seen her husband (to whom she was 
 now returning), for twelve months : 
 having left him a month or two after 
 their marriage. 
 
 Well, to be sure there never was a 
 little woman so full of hope, and ten- 
 derness, and love, and anxiety, as this 
 little woman was : and all day long 
 she wondered whether " He " would 
 be at the wharf ; and whether " He " 
 had got her letter; and whether, if 
 she sent the baby ashore by somebody 
 else, " He " would know it, meeting it 
 in the street : which, seeing that he 
 had never set eyes upon it in his life, 
 was not very likely in the abstract, 
 but was probable enough, to the young 
 mother. She was such an artless little 
 creature; and was in such a sunny, 
 beaming, hopeful state; and let out 
 all this matter clinging close about 
 her heart, so freely ; that all the other 
 lady passengers entered into the spirit 
 of it as much as she ; and the captain 
 (who heard all about it from his wife), 
 was wondrous sly, I promise yon : 
 inquiring, every time we met at table, 
 as in forgetfulness, whether she ex- 
 pected anybody to meet her at St. 
 Louis, and whether she would want 
 to go ashore the night we reached it 
 (but he supposed she wouldn't), and 
 cutting many other dry jokes of that 
 nature. There was one little weazen, 
 dried-apple-faced old woman, who 
 took occasion to doubt the constancy 
 of husbands in such circumstances of 
 bereavement ; and there was another 
 lady (with a lap dog) old enough to 
 moralize on the lightness of human 
 affections, and yet not so old that she 
 could help nursing the baby, now and 
 then, or laughing with the rest, when 
 the little woman called it by its 
 father's name, and asked it all manner 
 of fantastic questions concerning him 
 in the joy of her heart. 
 
 It was something of a blow to the 
 little woman, that when we were 
 within twenty miles of our destination,
 
 120 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 it became clearly necessary to put this 
 baby to bed. But she got over it 
 with the same good humour ; tied a 
 handkerchief round her head ; and 
 came out into the little gallery with 
 the rest. Then, such an oracle sA she 
 became in reference to the localities ! 
 and such facetiousness as was dis- 
 played by the married ladies ! and 
 such sympathy as was shown by the 
 single ones ! and such peals of laughter 
 as the little woman herself (who would 
 just as soon have cried) greeted- every 
 jest with ! 
 
 At last, there were the lights of 
 St. Louis, and here was the wharf, and 
 those were the steps : and the little 
 woman covering her face with her 
 hands, and laughing (or seeming to 
 laugh) more than ever, ran into her 
 own cabin, and shut herself up. I have 
 no doubt that in the charming incon- 
 sistency of such excitement, she 
 stopped her ears, lest she should hear 
 " Him " asking % for her : but I did 
 not see her do it. 
 
 Then, a great crowd of people 
 rushed on board, though the boat was 
 not yet made fast, but was wandering 
 about, among the other boats, to find 
 a landing place : and everybody 
 looked for the husband : and nobody 
 saw him : when, in the midst of us all 
 Heaven knows how she ever got there 
 there was the little woman clinging 
 with both arms tight round the neck 
 of a fine, good-looking, sturdy young 
 fellow ! and in a moment afterwards, 
 there she was again, actually clapping 
 her little hands for joy, as she dragged 
 him through the small door of her 
 small cabin, to look at the baby as he 
 lay asleep ! 
 
 We went to a large hotel, called the 
 Planters House : built like an English 
 hospital, with long passages and bare 
 walls, and skylights above the room- 
 doors for the free circulation of air. 
 There were a great many boarders in 
 it ; and as many lights sparkled and 
 
 glistened from the windows down into 
 the street below, when we drove up, 
 as if it had been illuminated on some 
 occasion of rejoicing. It is an excel- 
 lent house, and the proprietors have 
 most bountiful notions of providing 
 the creature comforts. Dining alone 
 with my wife in our own room, one 
 day, I counted fourteen dishes on the 
 table at once. 
 
 In the old French portion of the 
 town, the thoroughfares are narrow 
 and crooked, and some of the houses 
 are very quaint and picturesque : 
 being built of wood, with tumble-down 
 galleries before the windows, ap- 
 proachable by stairs or rather ladders 
 from the street. There are queer 
 little barbers' shops and drinking- 
 houses too, in this quarter; and 
 abundance of crazy old tenements 
 with blinking casements, such as may 
 be seen in Flanders. Some of these 
 ancient habitations, with high garret 
 gable-windows perking into the roofs, 
 have a kind of French shrug about 
 them ; and being lop-sided with age, 
 appear to hold their heads askew, 
 besides, as if they were grimacing in 
 astonishment at the American Im- 
 provements. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say, that 
 these consist of wharfs and warehouses, 
 and new buildings in all directions; 
 and of a great many vast plans which 
 are still " progressing." Already, 
 however, some very good houses, 
 broad streets, and marble-fronted 
 shops, have gone so far a-head as to 
 be in a state of completion ; and the 
 town bids fair in a few years to im- 
 prove considerably : though it is not 
 likely ever to vie, in point of elegance 
 or beauty, with Cincinnati. 
 
 The Roman Catholic religion, intro- 
 duced here by the early French set- 
 tlers, prevails extensively. Among 
 the public institutions are a Jesuit 
 college ; a convent for " the Ladies of 
 the Sacred Heart " and a large chapel
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 121 
 
 attached to the college, which was in 
 course of erection at, the time of my 
 visit, and was intended to be conse- 
 crated on the second of December in 
 the next year. The architect of 
 this building, is one of the reverend 
 fathers of the school, and the works 
 proceed under his sole direction. The 
 organ will be sent from Belgium. 
 
 In addition to these establishments, 
 there is a Eoman Catholic cathedral, 
 dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier; 
 and a hospital, founded by the muni- 
 ficence of a deceased resident, who 
 was a member of that church. It also 
 sends missionaries from hence among 
 the Indian tribes. 
 
 The Unitarian church is represented, 
 in this remote place, as in most other 
 parts of America, by a gentleman of 
 great worth and excellence. The poor 
 have good reason to remember and 
 bless it ; for it befriends, them, and 
 aids the cause of rational education, 
 without any sectarian or selfish views. 
 It is liberal in all its actions ; of kind 
 construction; and of wide benevolence. 
 
 There are three free-schools already 
 erected, and in full operation in this 
 city. A fourth is building, and will 
 sooii be opened. 
 
 Xo man ever admits the unhealthi- 
 ness of the place he dwells in (unless 
 he is going away from it), and I shall 
 therefore, I have no doubt, be at issue 
 with the inhabitants of St. Louis, in 
 questioning the perfect salubrity of 
 its climate, and in hinting that I 
 think it must rather dispose to fever, 
 in the summer and autumnal seasons. 
 Just adding, that it is very hot, lies 
 among great rivers, and has vast 
 tracts of undrained swampy land 
 around it, I leave the reader to form 
 his own opinion. 
 
 As I had a great desire to see a 
 Prairie before turning back from the 
 furthest point of my wanderings ; and 
 as some gentlemen of the town had, 
 in their hospitable consideration, an 
 equal desire to gratify me ; a day was 
 fixed, before my departure, for an 
 expedition to the Looking-Glass 
 Prairie, which is within thirty miles 
 of the town. Deeming it possible 
 that my readers may not object to 
 know what kind of thing such a gipsy 
 party may be at that distance from 
 home, and among what sort of objects 
 it moves, I will describe the jaunt in 
 another chapter.
 
 J22 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A JAUNT TO THE LOOKING-GLASS PRAIRIE AND liACK. 
 
 I MAY premise that the word Prairie 
 is variously pronounced paraaer, par- 
 earer, and paroarer. The latter mode 
 of pronunciation is perhaps the most 
 in favour. 
 
 We were fourteen in all, and all 
 young men : indeed it is a singular 
 though very natural feature in the 
 society of these distant settlements, 
 that it is mainly composed of adven- 
 turous persons in the prime of life, 
 and has very few grey heads among 
 it. There were no ladies : the trip 
 baing a fatiguing one : and we were 
 to start at five o'clock in the morning 
 punctually. 
 
 I was called at four, that I might 
 be certain of keeping nobody waiting; 
 and having got some bread and milk 
 for breakfast, threw up the window 
 and looked down into the street, ex- 
 pecting to see the whole party busily 
 astir, and great preparations going on 
 below. But as everything was very 
 quiet, and the street presented that 
 liopeless aspect with which five o'clock 
 in the morning is familiar elsewhere, 
 I deemed it as well to go to bed again, 
 and went accordingly. 
 
 I awoke again at seven o'clock, and 
 by that time the party had assembled, 
 and were gathered round, one light 
 carriage, with a very stout axletree ; 
 one something on wheels like an 
 amateur carrier's cart ; one double 
 phaeton of great antiquity and un- 
 earthly construction ; one gig with a 
 great hole in its back and a broken 
 head ; and one rider on horseback 
 who was to go on before. I got into 
 the first coach with three companions; 
 
 the rest bestowed themselves in the 
 other vehicles ; two large baskets 
 were made fast to the lightest ; two 
 large stone jara in wicker cases, tech- 
 nically known as demi-johns, were 
 consigned to the "least rowdy" of 
 the party for safe keeping ; and the 
 procession moved off to the ferry-boat, 
 in which it was to cross the river 
 bodily, men, horses, carriages, and all, 
 as the manner in these parts is. 
 
 We got over the river in due course, 
 and mustered again before a little 
 wooden box on wheels, hove down all 
 aslant in a morass, with " MERCHANT 
 TAILOR " painted in very large letters 
 over the door. Having settled the 
 order of proceeding, and the road to 
 be taken, we started off once more 
 and began to make our way through 
 an ill-favoured Black Hollow, called, 
 less expressively, the American 
 Bottom. 
 
 The previous day had been not to 
 say hot, for the term is weak and 
 lukewarm in its power of conveying 
 an idea of the temperature. The town 
 had been on fire ; in a blaze. But at 
 night it had come on to rain in tor- 
 rents, and all night long it had rained 
 without cessation. We had a pair of 
 very strong horses, but travelled at 
 the rate of little more than a couple 
 of miles an hour, through one un- 
 broken slough of black mud and 
 water. It had no variety but in 
 depth. Now it was only half over 
 the wheels, now it hid the axletree, 
 and now the coach sank down in it 
 almost to the windows. The air re- 
 sounded in all directions with the loud
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 123 
 
 chirping of the frogs, who, with the 
 pigs (a coarse, ugly breed, as unwhole- 
 some-looking as though they were the 
 spontaneous growth of the country), 
 had the whole scene to themselves. 
 Here and there we passed a log hut ; 
 but the wretched cabins were wide 
 apart and thinly scattered, for though 
 the soil is very rich in this place few 
 people can exist in such a deadly 
 atmosphere. On either side of the 
 track, if it deserve the name, was the 
 thick " bu.h ;" and everywhere was 
 stagnant, slimy, rotten, filthy water. 
 
 As it is the custom in these parts to 
 give a horse a gallon or so of cold water 
 whenever he is in a foam with heat, 
 we halted for that purpose, at a log 
 inn in the wood, far removed from 
 any other residence. It consisted of 
 one room, bare-roofed and bare-walled 
 of course, with a loft above. The 
 ministering priest was a swarthy 
 young savage, in a shirt of cotton 
 print like bed-furniture, and a pair of 
 ragged trousers. There were a couple 
 of young boys, too, nearly naked, 
 lying idly by the well ; and they, and 
 he, and the traveller at the inn, turned 
 out to look at us. 
 
 The traveller was an old man with 
 a grey gristly beard two inches long, 
 a shaggy moustache of the same hue, 
 and enormous eyebrows; which almost 
 obscured his lazy, semi-drunken 
 glance, as he stood regarding us with 
 folded arms : poising himself alter- 
 nately upon his toes and heels. On 
 being addressed by one of the party, 
 he drew nearer, and said, rubbing his 
 chin (which scraped under his horny 
 hand like fresh gravel beneath a 
 nailed shoe), that he was from Dela- 
 ware, and had lately bought a farm 
 "down there" pointing into one of 
 the marshes where the stunted trees 
 were thickest. He was " going," he 
 added, to St. Louis, to fetch his family, 
 whom he had left behind ; but he 
 seemed in no great hurry to bring on 
 
 these incumbrances, for when we 
 moved away, he loitered back into 
 the cabin, and was plainly bent on 
 stopping there so long as his money 
 lasted. He was a great politician of 
 course, and explained his opinions at 
 some length to one of our company; 
 but I only remember that he con- 
 cluded with two sentiments, one of 
 which was, Somebody for ever ; and 
 the other, Blast everybody else ! 
 which is by no means a bad abstract 
 of the general creed in these matters. 
 
 When the horses were swollen out 
 to about twice their natural dimen- 
 sions (there seems to be an idea here, 
 that this kind of inflation improves 
 their going), we went forward again, 
 through mud and mire, and damp, 
 and festering heat, and brake and 
 bush, attended always by the music 
 of the frogs and pigs, until nearly 
 noon, when we halted at a place called 
 Belleville. 
 
 Belleville was a small collection of 
 wooden houses, huddled together in 
 the very heart of the bush and swamp. 
 Many of them had singularly bright 
 doors of red and yellow ; for the place 
 had been lately visited by a travelling 
 painter, " who got along," as I was 
 told, " by eating his way." The 
 criminal court was sitting, and was at 
 that moment trying some criminals 
 for horse-stealing : with whom it 
 would most likely go hard : for live 
 stock of all kinds being necessarily 
 very much exposed in the woods, is 
 held by the community in rather 
 higher value than human life ; and 
 for this reason, juries generally make 
 a point of finding all men indicted 
 for cattle-stealing, guilty, whether 
 or no. 
 
 The horses belonging to the bar, 
 the judge, and witnesses, were tied 
 to temporary racks set up roughly in. 
 the road ; by which is to be understood, 
 a forest path, nearly knee-deep in mud 
 and slime.
 
 124 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 There was an hotel in this place 
 which, like all hotels in America, had 
 its large dining-room for the public 
 table. It was an odd, shambling, 
 low-roofed out-house, half-cowshed 
 and half-kitchen, with a coarse brown 
 canvas table-cloth, and tin sconces 
 stuck against the walls, to hold 
 candles at supper-time. The horse- 
 man had gone forward to have coffee 
 and some eatables prepared, and they 
 were by this time nearly ready. He 
 had ordered " wheat-bread and 
 chicken fixings," in preference to 
 u corn-bread and common doings." 
 The latter kind of refection includes 
 only pork and bacon. The former 
 comprehends broiled ham, sausages, 
 veal cutlets, steaks, and such other 
 viands of that nature as may be sup- 
 posed, by a tolerably wide poetical 
 construction, "to fix" a chicken 
 comfortably in the digestive organs 
 of any lady or gentleman. 
 
 On one of the door-posts at this 
 inn, was a tin plate, whereon was 
 inscribed in characters of gold "Doc- 
 tor Crocus;" and on a sheet of paper, 
 pasted up by the side of this plate, 
 was a written announcement that 
 Dr. Crocus would that evening deliver 
 a lecture on Phrenology for the benefit 
 of the Belleville public ; at a charge, 
 for admission, of so much a head. 
 
 Straying up stairs, during the pre- 
 paration of the chicken-fixings, I 
 happened to pass the Doctor's cham- 
 ber ; and as the door stood wide open, 
 and the room was empty, I made 
 bold to peep in. 
 
 It was a bare, unfurnished, com- 
 fortless room, with an unframcd por- 
 trait hanging up at the head of the 
 bed ; a likeness, I take it, of the 
 Doctor, for the forehead was fully 
 displayed, and great stress was laid 
 by the artist upon its phrenological 
 developments. The bed itself was 
 covered with an old patchwork 
 counterpane. The room was destitute 
 
 of carpet or of curtain. There was a 
 damp fire-place without any stove, 
 full of wood ashes ; a chair, and a 
 very small table ; and on the last- 
 named piece of furniture was dis- 
 played, in grand array, the doctor's 
 library, consisting of some half-dozen 
 greasy old books. 
 
 Now, it certainly looked about the 
 last apartment on the whole earth 
 out of which any man would be 
 likely to get anything to do him good. 
 But the door, as I have said, stood 
 coaxingly open, and plainly said in 
 conjunction with the chair, the por- 
 trait, the table, and the books, "Walk 
 in, gentlemen, walk in ! Don't be 
 ill, gentlemen, when you may be well 
 in no time. Doctor Crocus is here, 
 gentlemen, the celebrated Doctor 
 Crocus ! Doctor Crocus has come all 
 this way to cure you, gentlemen. If 
 you haven't heard of Doctor Crocus, 
 it 'i your fault, gentlemen, who live 
 a little way out of the world here : 
 not Doctor Crocus's. Walk in, gen- 
 tlemen, walk in ! " 
 
 In the passage l>elow, when I went 
 down stairs again, was Doctor Crocus 
 himself. A crowd had nocked in 
 from the Court House, and a voice 
 from among them called out to the 
 landlord, "Colonel! introduce Doctor 
 Crocus." 
 
 " Mr. Dickens," says the colonel, 
 "Doctor Crocus." 
 
 Upon which Doctor Crocus, who is 
 a tall, fine-looking Scotchman, but 
 rather fierce and warlike in appear- 
 ance for a professor of the peaceful 
 art of healing, bursts out of the con- 
 course with his right arm extended, 
 and his chest thrown out as far as it 
 will possibly come, and says : 
 
 " Your countryman, sir ! " 
 
 Whereupon Doctor Crocus and I 
 shake hands ; and Doctor Crocus 
 looks as if I didn't by any means 
 realise his expectations, which, in a 
 linen blouse, and a great straw hat
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 125 
 
 with a green ribbon, and no gloves, 
 and my face and nose profusely orna- 
 mented with the stings of mosquitoes 
 and the bites of bugs, it is very likely 
 I did not. 
 
 " Long in these parts, sir ? " says I. 
 " Three or four months, sir," says 
 the Doctor. 
 
 "Do you think of soon returning 
 to the old country, sir 1 ?" says I. 
 
 Doctor Crocus makes no verbal 
 answer, but gives me an imploring 
 look, which says so plainly ' Will you 
 ask me that again, a little louder, if 
 you please ] ' that I repeat the 
 question. 
 
 " Think of soon returning to the 
 
 old country, sir!" repeats the Doctor. 
 
 " To the old country, sir," I rejoin. 
 
 Doctor Crocus looks round upon 
 
 the crowd to observe the effect he 
 
 produces, rubs his hands, and says, 
 
 in a very loud voice : 
 
 '' Not yet awhile, sir, not yet. You 
 won't catch me at that just yet, sir. 
 I am a little too fond of freedom for 
 tfiat, sir. Ha, ha ! It 'e not so easy 
 for a man to tear himself from a free 
 country such as this is, sir. Ha, ha ! 
 No, no ! Ha, ha ! None of that till 
 one 'a obliged to do it, sir. No, 
 no ! " 
 
 As Doctor Crocus says these latter 
 words, he shakes his head, knowingly, 
 and laughs again. Many of the by- 
 standers shake their heads in concert 
 with the doctor, and laugh too, and 
 look at each other as much as to say, 
 ' A pretty bright and first-rate sort of 
 chap is Crocus ! ' and unless I am 
 very much mistaken, a good many 
 people went to the lecture that night, 
 who never thought about phrenology, 
 or about Doctor Crocus either, in all 
 their lives before. 
 
 From Belleville, we went on, 
 through the same desolate kind of 
 waste, and constantly attended, with- 
 out the interval of a moment, by the 
 same music ; until, at three o'clock 
 
 in the afternoon, we halted once more 
 at a village called Lebanon to inflate 
 the horses again, and give them some 
 corn besides : of which they stood 
 much in need. Pending this cere- 
 mony, I walked into the village, 
 where I met a full sized dwelling- 
 i house coming down-hill at a round 
 ; trot, drawn by a score or more of 
 | oxen. 
 
 The public-house was so very clean 
 and good a one, that the managers of 
 the jaunt resolved to return to it and 
 ' put up there for the night, if possible. 
 This course decided on, and the horses 
 being well refreshed, we again pushed 
 forward, and came upon the Prairie 
 at sunset. 
 
 It would be difficult to say why, or 
 how though it was possibly from 
 having heard and read so much about 
 it but the effect on me was disap- 
 pointment. Looking towards the 
 setting sun, there lay, stretched out 
 before my view, a vast expanse of 
 level ground ; unbroken, save by one 
 thin line of trees, which scarcely 
 amounted to a scratch upon the great 
 blank ; until it met the glowing sky, 
 wherein it seemed to dip : mingling 
 with its rich colours, and mellowing 
 in its distant blue. There it lay, a 
 tranquil sea or lake without water, if 
 such a simile be admissible, with the 
 day going down upon it : a few birds 
 wheeling here and there: and soli- 
 tude and silence reigning paramount 
 around. But the grass was not yet 
 high ; there were bare black patches 
 on the ground ; and the few wild 
 flowers that the eye could sec, were 
 poor and scanty. Great as the picture 
 was, its very flatness and extent, 
 which left nothing to the imagination, 
 tamed it down and cramped its inte- 
 rest. I felt little of that sense of 
 freedom and exhilaration which a 
 Scottish heath inspires, or even our 
 English downs awaken. It was lonely 
 and wild, but oppressive in its barren
 
 126 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 monotony. I felt that in traversing 
 the Prairies, I could never abandon 
 myself to the scene, forgetful of all 
 else; as I should do instinctively, 
 were the heather underneath my feet, 
 or an iron-bound coast beyond ; but 
 should often glance towards the dis- 
 tant and frequently-receding line of 
 the horizon, and wish it gained and 
 passed. It is not a scene to be for- 
 gotten, but it is scarcely one, I think 
 (at all events, as I saw it), to remem- 
 ber with much pleasure, or to covet 
 the looking-on again, in after life. 
 
 We encamped near a solitary log- 
 house, for the sake of its water, and 
 dined upon the plain. The baskets 
 contained roast fowls, buffalo's tongue 
 (an exquisite dainty, by the way), 
 ham, bread, cheese, and butter ; bis- 
 cuits, champagne, sherry ; lemons and 
 sugar for punch; and abundance of 
 rough ice. The meal was delicious, 
 and the entertainers were the soul of 
 kindness and good humour. I have 
 often recalled that cheerful party to 
 my pleasant recollection since, and 
 shall not easily forget, in junketings 
 nearer home with friends of older 
 date, my boon companions on the 
 Prairie. 
 
 Returning to Lebanon that night, 
 we lay at the little inn at which we 
 had halted in the afternoon. In point 
 of cleanliness and comfort it would 
 have suffeied by no comparison with 
 any village alehouse, of a homely 
 kind, in England. 
 
 Rising at five o'clock next morning, 
 I took a walk about the village : none 
 of the houses were strolling about to- 
 day, but it was early for them yet, 
 perhaps : and then amused myself by 
 lounging in a kind of farm-yard be- 
 hind the tavern, of which the leading 
 features were, a strange jumble of 
 rough sheds for stables ; a rude colon- 
 nade, built as a cool place of summer 
 resort ; a deep well ; a great earthen 
 mound for keeping vegetables in, in 
 
 winter time ; and a pigeon-house, 
 whose little apertures looked, as they 
 do in all pigeon-houses, very much 
 too small for the admission of the 
 plump and swelling-breasted birds 
 who were strutting about it, though 
 they tried to get in never so hard. 
 That interest exhausted, I took a sur- 
 vey of the inn's two parlours, which 
 were decorated with coloured prints 
 of Washington, and President Madison, 
 and of a white faced young lady (much 
 speckled by the flies), who held up 
 her gold neck- chain for the admira- 
 tion of the spectator, and informed 
 all admiring comers that she was 
 " Just Seventeen : " although I should 
 have thought her older. In the best 
 room were two oil portraits of the 
 kit-cat size, representing the landlord 
 and his infant son ; both looking as 
 bold as lions, and staring out of the 
 canvas with an intensity that would 
 have been cheap at any price. They 
 were painted, I think, by the artist 
 who had touched up the Belleville 
 doors with red and gold ; for I seemed 
 to recognise his style immediately. 
 
 After breakfast, we started to 
 return by a different way from that 
 which we had taken yesterday, and 
 coming up at ten o'clock with an en- 
 campment of German emigrants car- 
 rying their goods in carts, who had 
 made a rousing fire which they were 
 just quitting, stopped there to refresh. 
 And very pleasant the fire was ; for, 
 hot though it had been yesterday, it 
 was quite cold to-day, and the wind 
 blew keenly. Looming in the dis- 
 tance, as we rode along, was another 
 of the ancient Indian burial-places, 
 called The Monks' Mound ; in me- 
 mory of a body of fanatics of the 
 order of La Trappe, who founded a 
 desolate convent there, many years 
 ago, when there were no settlers 
 within a thousand miles, and were all 
 swept off by the pernicious climate : 
 in which lamentable fatality, few
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 127 
 
 rational people will suppose, perhaps, 
 that society experienced any very 
 severe deprivation. 
 
 The track of to-day had the same 
 features as the track of yesterday. 
 There was the swamp, the bush, the 
 perpetual chorus of frogs, the rank 
 unseemly growth, the unwholesome 
 steaming earth. Here and there, 
 and frequently too, we encountered 
 a solitary broken-down waggon, full 
 of some new settler's goods. It was 
 a pitiful sight to see one of these 
 vehicles deep in the mire ; the axle- 
 tree broken ; the wheel lying idly 
 by its side ; the man gone miles 
 away, to look for assistance ; the 
 woman seated among their wan- 
 dering household gods with a baby 
 at her breast, a picture of forlorn, 
 defected patience ; the team of oxen 
 
 crouching down mournfully in the 
 mud, and breathing forth such clouds 
 of vapour from their mouths and 
 nostrils, that all the damp mist and 
 fog around seemed to have come 
 direct from them. 
 
 In due time we mustered once 
 again before the merchant tailor's, 
 and having done so, crossed over to 
 the city in the ferry-boat : passing, 
 on the way, a spot called Bloody 
 Island, the duelling-ground of St. 
 Louis, and so designated in honour 
 of the last fatal combat fought there, 
 which was with pistols, breast to 
 breast. Both combatants fell dead 
 upon the ground ; and possibly some 
 rational people may think of them, 
 as of the gloomy madmen on the 
 Monks' Mound, that they were no 
 great loss to the community.
 
 128 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RETURN TO CINCINNATI. A STAGE-COACH RIDE FROM THAT CITY TO COLUMBUS, 
 AND THENCE TO SANDDSKY. SO, BY LAKE ERIE, TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 
 
 As I had a desire to travel through 
 the interior of .the state of Ohio, and 
 to "strike the lakes," as the phrase 
 is, at a small town called Sandusky, 
 to which that route would conduct us 
 on our way to Niagara, we had to 
 return from St. Louis by the way we 
 had come, and to retrace our former 
 track as far as Cincinnati. 
 
 The day on which we were to take 
 leave of St. Louis being very fine; 
 and the steamboat, which was to have 
 started I don't know how early in 
 the morning, postponing, for the third 
 or fourth time, her departure until 
 the afternoon ; we rode forward to an 
 old French village on the river, called 
 properly Carondelet, and nicknamed 
 Tide Poche, and arranged that the 
 packet should call for us there. 
 
 The place consisted of a few poor 
 cottages, and two or three public- 
 houses ; the state of whose larders 
 certainly seemed to justify the second 
 designation of the village, for there 
 was nothing to eat in any of them. 
 At length, however, by going back 
 some half a mile or so, we found a 
 8oJ ; *ary house where ham and coffee 
 wee procurable ; and there we tarried 
 to await the advent of the boat, 
 which would come in sight from the 
 green before the door, a long way off. 
 
 It was a neat, unpretending village 
 tavern, and we took our repast in a 
 quaint little room with a bed in it, 
 decorated with some old oil paintings, 
 which in their time had probably 
 done duty in a Catholic chapel or 
 monastery. The fare was very good, 
 
 ; and served with great cleanliness. 
 
 I The house was kept by a character- 
 
 ! istic old couple, with whom we had a 
 
 long talk, and who were perhaps a 
 
 very good sample of that kind of 
 
 people in the West. 
 
 The landlord was a dry, tough, 
 hard-faced old fellow (not so very old 
 either, for he was but just turned 
 sixty, I should think), who had been 
 out with the militia in the last war 
 with England, and had seen all kinds 
 of service, except a battle; and he 
 had been very near seeing that, he 
 added : very near. He had all his 
 life been restless and locomotive, with 
 an irresistible desire for change ; and 
 was still the son of his old self : for if 
 he had nothing to keep him at home, 
 he said (slightly jerking his hat and 
 his thumb towards the window of the 
 room in which the old lady sat, as we 
 stood talking in front of the house) 
 he would clean up his musket, and be 
 off to Texas to-morrow morning. Ho 
 was one of the very many descendants 
 of Cain proper to this continent, wh 
 seem destined from their birth to 
 serve as pioneers in the great human 
 army : who gladly go on from year 
 to year extending its outposts, and 
 leaving home after home behind 
 them ; and die at last, utterly regard- 
 less of their graves being left 
 thousands of miles behind, by the 
 wandering generation who succeed. 
 
 His wife was a domesticated kind- 
 hearted old soul, who had come with 
 him "from the queen city of the 
 world," which, it seemed, was Phila-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 129 
 
 delpaia ; but had no love for this 
 Western country, and indeed had 
 little reason to bear it any ; having 
 seen her children, one by one, die 
 here of fever, in the full prime and 
 beauty of their youth. Her heart 
 was sore, she said, to think of them ; 
 and to talk on this theme, even to 
 strangers, in that blighted place, 
 so far from her old home, eased it 
 somewhat, and became a melancholy 
 pleasure. 
 
 The boat appearing towards even- 
 ing, we bade adieu to the poor old 
 lady and her vagrant spouse, and 
 making for the nearest landing-place, 
 were soon on board The Messenger j 
 again, in our old cabin, and steaming 
 down the Mississippi. 
 
 If the coming up this river, slowly \ 
 making head against the stream, be ! 
 an irksome journey, the shooting j 
 down it with the turbid current is i 
 almost worse : for then the boat, pro- i 
 ceeding at the rate of twelve or '' 
 fifteen miles an hour, has to force its j 
 passage through a labyrinth of float- ! 
 ing logs, which, in the dark, it is ; 
 often impossible to see beforehand or j 
 avoid. All that night, the bell was 
 never silent for five minutes at a time ; ; 
 and after every ring the vessel reeled i 
 again, sometimes beneath a single | 
 blow, sometimes beneath a dozen 
 dealt in quick succession, the lightest 
 of which seemed more than enough to 
 beat in her frail keel, as though it had 
 been pie-crust. Looking down upon 
 the filthy river after dark, it seemed 
 to be alive with monsters, as these 
 black masses rolled upon the surface, 
 or came starting up again, head first, 
 when the boat, in ploughing her way 
 among a shoal of such obstructions, } 
 drove a few among them for the ! 
 moment under water. Sometimes, ' 
 the engine stopped during a long 
 interval, and then before her and 
 behind, and gathering close about her 
 on all sides, were so many of these ill- 
 No. 169. 
 
 favoured obstacles that she was fairly 
 hemmed in ; the centre of a floating 
 island ; and was constrained to pause 
 until they parted, somewhere, as dark 
 clouds will do before the wind, and 
 opened by degrees a channel out. 
 
 In good time next morning, how- 
 ever, we came again in sight of the 
 detestable morass called Cairo ; and 
 stopping there to take in wood, lay 
 alongside a barge, whose starting 
 timbers scarcely held together. It was 
 moored to the bank, and on its side 
 was painted " Coflee House ;" that 
 being, I suppose, the floating paradise 
 to which the people fly for shelter 
 when they lose their houses for a 
 month or two beneath the hideous 
 waters of the Mississippi. But look- 
 ing southward from this point, we 
 had the satisfaction of seeing that 
 intolerable river dragging its slimy 
 length and ugly freight abruptly off 
 towards New Orleans ; and passing a 
 yellow line which stretched across the 
 current, were again upon the clear 
 Ohio, never, I trust, to see the Mis- 
 sissippi more, saving in troubled 
 dreams and nightmares. Leaving it 
 for the company of its sparkling 
 neighbour, was like the transition 
 from pain to ease, or the awakening 
 from a horrible vision to cheerful 
 realities. 
 
 We arrived at Louisville on the 
 fourth night, and gladly availed our- 
 selves of its excellent hotel. Next 
 day we went on in the Ben Franklin, 
 a beautiful mail steam-boat, and 
 reached Cincinnati shortly after mid- 
 night. Being by this time nearly 
 tired of sleeping upon shelves, we 
 had remained awake to go ashore 
 straightway; and groping a passage 
 across the dark decks of other boats, 
 and among labyrinths of engine- 
 machinery and leaking casks of 
 molasses, we reached the streets, 
 knocked up the porter at the hotel 
 where we had staid before, and were,
 
 130 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 to our great joy, safely housed soon 
 afterwards. 
 
 We rested but one day at Cincin- 
 nati, and then resumed our journey 
 to Sandusky. As it comprised two 
 varieties of stage-coach travelling, 
 which, with those I have already 
 glanced at, comprehend the main 
 characteristics of this mode of transit 
 in America, I will take the reader as 
 our fellow-passenger, and pledge my- 
 self to perform the distance with all 
 possible despatch. 
 
 Our place of destination in the first 
 instance is Columbus. It is distant 
 about a hundred and twenty miles 
 from Cincinnati, but there is a mac- 
 adamised road (rare blessing !) the 
 whole way, and the rate of travelling 
 upon it is six miles an hour. 
 
 We start at eight o'clock in the 
 morning, in a great mail-coach, whose 
 huge cheeks are so very ruddy and 
 plethoric, that it appears to be troubled 
 with a tendency of blood to the head. 
 Dropsical it certainly is, for it will 
 hold a dozen passengers inside. But, 
 wonderful to add, it is very clean and 
 bright, being nearly new ; and rattles 
 through the streets of Cincinnati gaily. 
 
 Our way lies through a beautiful 
 country, richly cultivated, and luxu- 
 riant in its promise of an abundant 
 harvest. Sometimes we pass a field 
 where the strong bristling stalks of 
 Indian corn look like a crop of walk- 
 ing-sticks, and sometimes an enclosure 
 where the green wheat is springing up 
 among a labyrinth of stumps; the 
 primitive worm-fence is universal, and 
 an ugly thing it is ; but the farms are 
 neatly kept, and, save for these differ- 
 ences, one might be travelling just 
 now in Kent. 
 
 We often stop to water at a roadside 
 inn, which is always dull and silent. 
 The coachman dismounts and fills his 
 bucket, and holds it to the horses' 
 heads. There is scarcely ever any one 
 to help him; there are seldom any 
 
 loungers standing round ; and never 
 any stable-company with jokes to 
 crack. Sometimes, when we have 
 changed our team, there is a difficulty 
 in starting again, arising out of the 
 prevalent mode of breaking a young 
 horse : which is to catch him, harness 
 him against his will, and put him in 
 a stage-coach without further notice : 
 but we get on somehow or other, after 
 a great many kicks and a violent 
 struggle; and jog on as before again. 
 
 Occasionally, when we stop to 
 change, some two or three half- 
 drunken loafers will come loitering 
 out with their hands in their pockets, 
 or will be seen kicking their heels in 
 rocking-chairs, or lounging on the 
 window sill, or sitting on a rail within 
 the colonnade : they have not often 
 anything to say though, either to us 
 or to each other, but sit there idly 
 staring at the coach and horses. The 
 landlord of the inn is usually among 
 them, and seems, of all the party, to 
 be the least connected with the busi- 
 ness of the house. Indeed he is with 
 reference to the tavern, what the driver 
 is in relation to the coach and passen- 
 gers : whatever happens in his sphere 
 of action, he is quite indifferent, and 
 perfectly easy in his mind. 
 
 The frequent change of coachmen 
 works no change or variety in the 
 coachman's character. He is always 
 dirty, sullen, and taciturn. If he be 
 capable of smartness of any kind. 
 moral or physical, he has a faculty of 
 concealing it which is truly marvel- 
 long. He never speaks to you as you 
 sit beside him on the box, and if you 
 speak to him, he answers (if at all) in 
 monosyllables. He points out nothing 
 on the road, and seldom looks at any- 
 thing : being, to all appearance, tho- 
 roughly weary of it, and of existence 
 generally. As to doing the honours 
 of his coach, his business, as I have 
 said, is with the horses. The coach 
 follows because it is attached to them
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 131 
 
 and goes on wheels : not because you 
 are in it. Sometimes, towards the end 
 of a long stage, he suddenly breaks 
 out into a discordant fragment of an 
 election song, but his face never sings 
 along with him : it is only his voice, 
 and not often that. 
 
 He always chews and always spits, 
 and never encumbers himself, with a 
 pocket-handkerchief. The conse- 
 quences to the box passenger, espe- 
 cially when the wind blows towards 
 him, are not agreeable. 
 
 Whenever the coach stops, and you 
 can hear the voices of the inside pas- 
 sengers ; or whenever any bystander 
 addresses them, or any one among 
 them ; or they address each other ; 
 you will hear one phrase repeated over 
 and over and over again to the most 
 extraordinary extent. It is an ordi- 
 nary and unpromising phrase enough, 
 being neither more nor less than " Yes, 
 sir;" but it is adapted to every variety 
 of circumstance, and fills up every 
 pause in the conversation. Thus : 
 
 The time is one o'clock at noon. 
 The scene, a place where we are to stay 
 to dine, on this journey. The coach 
 drives up to the door of an inn. The 
 day is warm, and there are several 
 idlers lingering about the tavern, and 
 waiting for the public dinner. Among 
 them, is a stout gentleman in a brown 
 hat, swinging himself to and fro in a 
 rocking-chair on the pavement. 
 
 As the coach stops, a gentleman in 
 a straw hat looks out of the window : 
 
 STRAW HAT. (To the stout gentle- 
 man in the rocking-chair). I reckon 
 that 's Judge Jefferson, an't it 1 
 
 BROWN HAT. (Still swinging; speak- 
 ing very slowly; and without any emo- 
 tion whatever.) Yes, sir. 
 
 STRAW HAT. Warm weather, Judge. 
 
 BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. 
 
 STRAW HAT. There was a snap of 
 cold, last week. 
 
 BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. 
 
 STRAW HAT. Yes, sir. 
 
 A pause. They look at each other 
 very seriously. 
 
 STRAW HAT. I calculate you '11 have 
 got through that case of the corpora- 
 tion judge, by this time, now ] 
 
 BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. 
 
 STRAW HAT. How did the verdict 
 go, sir! 
 
 BROWN HAT. For the defendant, sir. 
 
 STRAW HAT. (Interrogatively.) Yes, 
 sir? 
 
 BROWN HAT. (Affirmatively.) Yes, sir. 
 
 BOTH. (Musingly, as each gazes down 
 the street.) Yes, sir. 
 
 Another pause. They look at each 
 other again, still more seriously than 
 before. 
 
 BROWN HAT. This coach is rather 
 behind its time to-day, I guess. 
 
 STRAW HAT. (Doubtingly.) Yes, sir. 
 
 BROWN HAT. (Looking at his watch.) 
 Yes, sir ; nigh upon two hours. 
 
 STRAW HAT. (Raising his eyebrows 
 in very great surprise.) Yes, sir ! 
 
 BROWN HAT. (Decisively, as he puts 
 up his watch.) Yes, sir. 
 
 ALL THE OTHER INSIDE PASSENGERS 
 
 (among themselves.) Yes, sir. 
 
 COACHMAN (in a very surly tone.) 
 No it a'nt. 
 
 STRAW HAT (to the coachman.) 
 Well, I don't know, sir. We were a 
 pretty tall time coming that last fifteen 
 mile. That 's a fact. 
 
 The coachman making no reply 
 and plainly declining to enter into any 
 controversy on a subject so far removed 
 from his sympathies and feelings, 
 another passenger says " Yes, sir ; " 
 and the gentleman in the straw hat in 
 acknowledgment of his courtesy, says 
 " Yes, sir " to him, in return. The 
 straw hat then inquires of the brown 
 hat, whether that coach in which he 
 (the straw hat) then sits, is not a new 
 one 1 To which the brown hat again 
 makes answer, " Yes, sir." 
 
 STRAW HAT. I thought so. Pretty 
 loud smell of varnish, sir ] 
 
 BROWN HAT. Yes, sir. 
 
 s2
 
 132 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 All, THE OTHER INSIDE PASSENGERS. 
 
 Yes, sir. 
 
 BROWN HAT (to the company in 
 general). Yes, sir. 
 
 The conversational powers of the 
 company having been by this time 
 pretty heavily taxed, the straw hat 
 opens the door and gets out ; and all 
 the rest alight also. We dine soon 
 afterwards with the boarders in the 
 house, and have nothing to drink but 
 tea and coffee. As they are both very 
 bad and the water is worse, I ask for 
 brandy ; but it is a Temperance Hotel, 
 and spirits are not to be had for love 
 or money. This preposterous forcing 
 of unpleasant drinks down the reluc- 
 tant throats of travellers is not at all 
 uncommon in America, but I never 
 discovered that the scruples of such 
 wincing landlords induced them to 
 preserve any unusually nice balance 
 between the quality of their fare, and 
 their scale of charges : on the con- 
 trary, I rather suspected them of 
 diminishing the one and exalting the 
 other, by way of recompense for the 
 loss of their profit on the sale of 
 spirituous liquors. After all, perhaps, 
 the plainest course for persons of such 
 tender consciences, would be, a total 
 abstinence from tavern-keeping. 
 
 Dinner over, we get into another 
 vehicle which is ready at the door (for 
 the coach has been changed in the 
 interval), and resume our journey; 
 which continues through the same 
 kind of country until evening, when 
 we come to the town where we are to 
 stop for tea and supper ; and having 
 delivered the mail bags at the Post- 
 office, ride through' the usual wide 
 street, lined with the usual stores nd 
 houses (the drapers always having 
 hung up at their door, by way of sign, 
 a piece of bright red cloth), to the 
 hotel where this meal is prepared. 
 There being many boarders here, we 
 sit down, a large party, and a very 
 melancholy one as usual. But there 
 
 is a buxom hostess at the head of the 
 table, and opposite, a simple Welsh 
 schoolmaster with his wife and child ; 
 who came here, on a speculation of 
 greater promise than performance, to 
 teach the classics : and they are suffi- 
 cient subjects of interest until the meal 
 is over, and another coach is ready. 
 In it we go on once more, lighted by a 
 bright moon, until midnight; when 
 we stop to change the coach again, 
 and remain for half an hour or so in a 
 miserable room, with a blurred litho- 
 graph of Washington over the smoky 
 fireplace, and a mighty jug of cold 
 water on the table : to which refresh- 
 ment the moody passengers do so 
 apply themselves that they would 
 seem to be, one and all, keen patients 
 of Doctor Sangrado. Among them is 
 a very little boy, who chews tobacco 
 like a very big one ; and a droning 
 gentleman, who talks arithmetically 
 and statistically on all subjects, from 
 poetry downwards; and who always 
 speaks in the same key, with exactly 
 the same emphasis, and with very 
 grave deliberation. He came outside 
 just now, and told me how that the 
 uncle of a certain young lady who had 
 been spirited away and married by a 
 certain captain, lived in these parts ; 
 and how this uncle was so valiant and 
 ferocious that he shouldn't wonder if 
 he were to follow the said captain to 
 England, " and shoot him down in the 
 street, wherever he found him ; " in 
 the feasibility of which strong mea- 
 sure I, being for the moment rather 
 prone to contradiction, from feeling 
 half asleep and very tired, declined to 
 acquiesce : assuring him that if the 
 uncle did resort to it, or gratified any 
 other little whim of the like nature, 
 he would find himself one morning 
 prematurely throttled at the Old 
 Bailey ; and that he would do well to 
 make his will before he went, as he 
 would certainly want it before he had 
 been in Britain very long.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 133 
 
 On we go, all night, and bye and 
 bye the day begins to break, and 
 presently the first cheerful rays of 
 the warm sun come slanting on us 
 brightly. It sheds its light upon a 
 miserable waste of sodden grass, and 
 dull trees, and squalid huts, whose 
 aspect is forlorn and grievous in the 
 last degree. A very desert in the 
 wood, whose growth of green is dank 
 and noxious like that upon the top 
 of standing water : where poisonous 
 fungus grows in the rare footprint on 
 the oozy ground, and sprouts like 
 witches' coral, from the crevices in the 
 cabin wall and floor ; it is a hideous 
 thing to lie upon the very threshold 
 of a city. But it was purchased years 
 ago, and as the owner cannot be dis- 
 covered, the State has been unable to 
 reclaim it. So there it remains, in the 
 midst of cultivation and improvement, 
 like ground accursed, and made 
 obscene and rank by some great 
 crime. 
 
 We reached Columbus shortly be- 
 fore seven o'clock, and staid there, to 
 refresh, that day and night : having 
 excellent apartments in a very large 
 unfinished hotel called the Neill 
 House, which were richly fitted with 
 the polished wood of the black walnut, 
 and opened on a handsome portico 
 and stone verandah, like rooms in 
 some Italian mansion The town is 
 clean and pretty, and of course is 
 " going to be " much larger. It is the 
 seat of the State legislature of Ohio, 
 and lays claim, in consequence, to 
 some consideration and importance. 
 
 There being no stage-coach next 
 day, upon the road we wished to take, 
 I hired " an extra," at a reasonable 
 charge, to carry us to Tiffin ; a small 
 town from whence there is a railroad 
 to Sandusky. This extra was an 
 ordinary four-horse stage-coach, such 
 as I have described, changing horses 
 and drivers, as the stage-coach would, 
 but was exclusively our own for the 
 
 journey. To ensure our naving 
 horses at the proper stations, and 
 being incommoded by no strangers, 
 the proprietors sent an agent on the 
 box, who was to accompany us the 
 whole way through ; and thus at- 
 tended, and bearing with us, besides, 
 a hamper full of savoury cold meats, 
 and fruit, and wine ; we started off 
 again, in high spirits, at half-past six 
 o'clock next morning, very much de- 
 lighted to be by ourselves, and dis- 
 posed to enjoy even the roughest 
 journey. 
 
 It was well for us, that we were in 
 this humour, for the road we went 
 over that day, was certainly enough 
 to have shaken tempers that were not 
 resolutely at Set Fair, down to some 
 inches below Stormy. At one time 
 we were all flung together in a heap 
 at the bottom of the coach, and at 
 another we were crushing our heads 
 against the roof. Now, one side was 
 down deep in the mire, and we were 
 holding on to the other. Now, the 
 coach was lying on the tails of the 
 two wheelers ; and now it was rearing 
 up in the air, in a frantic state, with 
 all four horses standing on the top of 
 an insurmountable eminence, looking 
 coolly back at it, as though they 
 would say " Unharness us. It can't 
 be done." The drivers on these roads, 
 who certainly get over the ground in 
 a manner which is quite miraculous, 
 so twist and turn the team about in 
 forcing a passage, corkscrew fashion, 
 through the bogs and swamps, that it 
 was quite a common circumstance on 
 looking out of the window, to see the 
 coachman with the ends of a pair of 
 reins in his hands, apparently driving 
 nothing, or playing at horses, and the 
 leaders staring at one unexpectedly 
 from the back of the coach, as if they 
 had some idea of getting up behind. 
 A great portion of the way was over 
 what is called a corduroy road, which 
 is made by throwing trunks of trees
 
 124 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 into a marsh, and leaving them to 
 settle there. The very slightest oi 
 the jolts with which the ponderous 
 carriage fell from log to log, was 
 enough, it seemed, to have dislocated 
 all the bones in the human body. It 
 would be impossible to experience a 
 similar set of sensations, in any other 
 circumstances, unless perhaps in at- 
 tempting to go up to the top of St. 
 Paul's in an omnibus. Never, never 
 once, that day, was the coach in any 
 position, attitude, or kind of motion 
 to which we are accustomed in 
 coaches. Never did it make the 
 smallest approach to one's experience 
 of the proceedings of any sort of 
 vehicle that goes on wheels. 
 
 Still, it was a fine day, and the 
 temperature was delicious, and though 
 we had left Summer behind us in the 
 west, and were fast leaving Spring, 
 we were moving towards Niagara and 
 home. We alighted in a pleasant 
 wood towards the middle of the day, 
 dined on a fallen tree, and leaving 
 our best fragments with a cottager, 
 and our worst with the pigs (who 
 swarm in this part of the country 
 like grains of sand on the sea-shore, 
 to the great comfort of our commis- 
 sariat in Canada), we went forward 
 again, gaily. 
 
 As night came on, the track grew 
 narrower and narrower, until at last 
 it so lost itself among the trees, that 
 the driver seemed to find his way by 
 instinct. We had the comfort of 
 knowing, at least, that there was no 
 danger of his falling asleep, for every 
 now and then a wheel would strike 
 against an unseen stump with such a 
 jerk, that he was fain to hold on 
 pretty tight and pretty quick, to keep 
 himself upon the box. Nor was there 
 any reason to dread the least danger 
 from furious driving, inasmuch as 
 over that broken ground the horses 
 had enough to do to walk ; as to 
 shying, there was no room for that ; 
 
 and a herd of wild elephants could 
 not have run away in such a wood, 
 with such a coach at their heels. So 
 we stumbled along, quite satisfied. 
 
 These stumps of trees are a curious 
 feature in American travelling. The 
 varying illusions they present to the 
 unaccustomed eye as it grows dark, 
 are quite astonishing in their number 
 and reality. Now, there is a Grecian 
 urn erected in the centre of a lonely 
 field ; now there is a woman weeping 
 at a tomb ; now a very common-place 
 old gentleman in a white waistcoat, 
 with a thumb thrust into each arm- 
 hole of his coat ; now a student 
 poring on a book ; now a crouching 
 negro ; now, a horse, a dog, a cannon, 
 an armed man : a hunch-back throw- 
 ing off his cloak and stepping forth 
 into the light. They were often as 
 entertaining to me as so many glasses 
 in a magic lantern, and never took 
 their shapes at my bidding, but 
 seemed to force themselves upon me, 
 whether I would or no ; and strange 
 to say, I sometimes recognised in 
 them counterparts of figures once 
 familiar to me in pictures attached to 
 childish books, forgotten long ago. 
 
 It soon became too dark, however, 
 even for this amusement, and the trees 
 were so close together that their dry 
 branches rattled against the coach on 
 either side, and obliged us all to keep 
 our heads within. It lightened too, 
 for three whole hours; each flash 
 being very bright, and blue, and 
 long ; and as the vivid streaks came 
 darting in among the crowded 
 branches, and the thunder rolled 
 gloomily above the tree tops, one 
 could scarcely help thinking that 
 there were better neighbourhoods 
 at such a time than thick woods 
 afforded. 
 
 At length, between ten and eleven 
 o'clock at night, a few feeble lights 
 appeared in the distance, and Upper 
 Sandusky, an Indian village, where
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 135 
 
 we were to stay till morning, lay 
 before us. 
 
 They were gone to bed at the log 
 Inn, which was the only house oi 
 entertainment in the place, but soon 
 answered to our knocking, and got 
 some tea for us in a sort of kitchen 
 or common room, tapestried with old 
 newspapers, pasted against the wall. 
 The bed-chamber to which my wife 
 and I were shown, was a large, low, 
 ghostly room ; with a quantity of 
 withered branches on the hearth, and 
 two doors without any fastening, 
 opposite to each other, both opening 
 on the black night and wild country, 
 and so contrived, that one of them 
 always blew the other open : a no- 
 velty in domestic architecture, which 
 I do not remember to have seen 
 before, and which I was somewhat 
 disconcerted to have forced on my 
 attention after getting into bed, as I 
 had a considerable sum in gold for 
 our travelling expenses, in my dress- 
 ing-case. Some of the luggage, how- 
 ever, piled against the pannels, soon 
 settled this difficulty, and my sleep 
 would not have been very much 
 affected that night, I believe, though 
 it had failed to do so. 
 
 My Boston friend climbed up to 
 bed, somewhere in the roof, where 
 another guest was already snoring 
 hugely. But being bitten beyond 
 his power of endurance, he turned out 
 again, and fled for shelter to the 
 coach, which was airing itself in front 
 of the house. This was not a very 
 politic step, as it turned out ; for the 
 pigs scenting him, and looking upon 
 the coach as a kind of pie with some 
 manner of 'meat inside, grunted 
 round it so hideously, that he was 
 afraid to come out again, and lay 
 there shivering, till morning. Xor 
 was it possible to warm him, when he 
 did come out, by means of a glass of 
 brandy ; for in Indian villages, the 
 legislature, with a very pood and wise 
 
 intention, forbids the sale of spirits by 
 tavern keepers. The precaution, 
 however, is quite inefficacious, for the 
 Indians never fail to procure liquor of 
 a worse kind, at a dearer price, from 
 travelling pedlars. 
 
 It is a settlement of the Wyandot 
 Indians who inhabit this place. 
 Among the company at breakfast was 
 a mild old gentleman, who had been 
 for many years employed by the 
 United States Government in con- 
 ducting negotiations with the Indians, 
 and who had just concluded a treaty 
 with these people by which they 
 bound themselves, in consideration 
 of a certain annual sum, to remove 
 next year to some land provided for 
 them, west of the Mississippi, and a 
 little way beyond St. Louis. He gave 
 me a moving account of their strong 
 attachment to the familiar scenes of 
 their infancy, and in particular to the 
 burial-places of their kindred ; and of 
 their great reluctance to leave them. 
 He had witnessed many such re- 
 movals, and always with pain, though 
 he knew that they departed for their 
 own good. The question whether 
 this tribe should go or stay, had been 
 discussed among them a day or two 
 before, in a hut erected for the pur- 
 pose, the logs of which still lay 
 upon the ground before the inn. 
 When the speaking was done, the ayes 
 and noes were ranged on opposite 
 sides, and every male adult voted in 
 tiis turn. The moment the result 
 was known, the minority (a large 
 one) cheerfully yielded to the rest, 
 and withdrew all kind of opposition. 
 
 We met some of these poor Indians 
 afterwards, riding on shaggy ponies. 
 They were so like the meaner sort 
 of gipsies, that if I could have seen 
 any of them in England, I should 
 lave concluded, o| a matter of course, 
 that they belonged to that wandering 
 and restless people. 
 
 Leaving this town directly after
 
 136 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 breakfast, we pushed forward again, 
 L fertt J oy er a rather worse ff>3eil,hau yester- 
 day, if possible, and arrived about 
 noon at Tiffin, where we parted with 
 the extra. At two o'clock we took 
 the railroad ; the travelling on which 
 was very slow, its construction being 
 indifferent, and the ground wet and 
 marshy ; and arrived at Sandusky 
 in time to dine that evening. We 
 put up at a comfortable little hotel 
 on the brink of Lake Erie, lay there 
 that night, and had no choice but to 
 wait there next day, until a steamboat 
 bound for Buffalo appeared. The 
 town, which was sluggish and unin- 
 teresting enough, was something like 
 the back of an English watering-place, 
 out of the season. 
 
 Our host, who was very attentive 
 and anxious to make us comfortable, 
 was a handsome middle-aged man, 
 who had come to this town from New 
 England, in which part of the 
 country he was "raised." When I 
 say that he constantly walked in and 
 out of the room with his hat on ; and , 
 stopped to converse in the same free- j 
 and-easy state ; and lay down on our | 
 sofa, and pulled his newspaper out of j 
 his pocket, and read it at his ease ; I 
 merely mention these traits as cha- 
 racteristic of the country : not at all 
 as being matter of complaint, or as 
 having been disagreeable to me. I 
 should undoubtedly be offended by 
 such proceedings at home, because 
 there they are not the custom, and 
 where they are not, they would be 
 impertinencies ; but in America, the 
 only desire of a good-natured fellow 
 of this kind, is to treat his guests 
 hospitably and well ; and I had no 
 more right, and I can truly say no 
 more disposition, to measure his con- 
 duct by our English rule and standard, 
 than I had to quarrel with him for 
 not being of the exact stature which 
 would qualify him for admission into 
 the Queen's grenadier guards. As 
 
 little inclination had I to find fault 
 with a funny old lady who was an 
 upper domestic in this establishment, 
 and who, when she came to wait upon 
 us at any meal, sat herself down com- 
 fortably in the most convenient 
 chair, and producing a large pin to 
 pick her teeth with, remained per- 
 forming that ceremony, and stead- 
 fastly regarding us meanwhile with 
 much gravity and composure (now 
 and then pressing us to eat a little 
 more), until it was time to clear away. 
 It was enough for us, that whatever 
 we wished done was done with great 
 civility and readiness, and a desire 
 to oblige, not only here, but every- 
 where else; and that all our wants 
 were, in general, zealously anticipated. 
 
 We were taking an early dinner at 
 this house, on the day after our 
 arrival, which was Sunday, when a 
 steamboat came in sight, and pre- 
 sently touched at the wharf. As 
 she proved to be on her way to 
 Buffalo, we hurried on board with all 
 speed, and soon left Sandusky far 
 behind us. 
 
 She was a large vessel of five 
 hundred tons, and handsomely fitted 
 up, though with high-pressure 
 engines ; which always conveyed that 
 kind of feeling to me, which I should 
 be likely to experience, I think, if I 
 had lodgings on the first floor of a 
 powder-mill. She was laden with 
 flour, some casks of which commodity 
 were stored upon the deck. The 
 captain coming up to have a little 
 conversation, and to introduce a 
 friend, seated himself astride of one 
 of these barrels, like a Bacchus of 
 private life ; and pulling a great clasp- 
 knife out of his pocket, began to 
 " whittle" it as he talked, by paring 
 thin slices off the edges. And he 
 whittled with such industry and 
 hearty good will, that but for his 
 being called away very soon, it 
 must have disappeared bodily, and
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 137 
 
 left nothing in its place but grist and 
 shavings. 
 
 After calling at one or two flat 
 places, with low dams stretching out 
 into the lake, whereon were stumpy 
 lighthouses, like windmills without 
 sails, the whole looking like a Dutch 
 vignette, we came at midnight to 
 Cleveland, where we lay all night, 
 and until nine o'clock next morning. 
 
 I entertained quite a curiosity iu 
 reference to this place, from having 
 seen at Sandusky a specimen of its 
 literature in the shape of a newspaper, 
 which was very strong indeed upon 
 the subject ,, of Lord Ashburton's 
 recent arrival at Washington, to 
 adjust the points in dispute between 
 the United States Government and 
 Great Britain : informing its readers 
 that as America had "whipped" 
 England in her infancy, and whipped 
 her again in her youth, so it was 
 clearly necessary that she must whip 
 her once again in her maturity ; and 
 pledging its credit to all True 
 Americans, that if Mr. Webster did 
 his duty in the approaching negotia- 
 tions, and sent the English Lord 
 home again in double quick time, they 
 should, within two years, sing " Yankee 
 Doodle in Hyde Park, and Hail 
 Columbia in the scarlet courts <fi 
 Westminster" ! I found it a pretty 
 town, and had the satisfaction of 
 beholding the outside of the office of 
 the journal from which I have just 
 quoted. I did not enjoy the delight 
 of seeing the wit who indited the 
 paragraphs in question, but I have 
 no doubt he is a prodigious man in 
 his way, and held in high repute by a 
 select circle. 
 
 There was a gentleman on board, 
 to whom, as I unintentionally learned 
 through the thin partition which 
 divided our state-room from the 
 cabin in which he and his wife con- 
 versed together, I was unwittingly 
 the occasion of very great uneasiness. 
 
 I don't know why or wherefore, but I 
 appeared to run in his mind perpe- 
 tually, and to dissatisfy him very 
 much. First of all I heard him say : 
 and the most ludicrous part of the 
 business was, that he said it in my 
 very ear, and could not have commu- 
 nicated more directly with- me, if he 
 had leaned upon my shoulder, and 
 whispered me : " Boz is on board still, 
 my dear." After a considerable 
 pause, he added, complainingly, 
 " Boz keeps himself very close :" 
 which was true enough, for I was not 
 very well, and was lying down, with a 
 book. I thought he had done with 
 me after this, but I was deceived ; for 
 a long interval having elapsed, during 
 which I imagine him to have been 
 turning restlessly from side to side, 
 and trying to go to sleep ; he broke 
 out again, with " I suppose that Boz 
 will be writing a book bye and bye, 
 and putting all our names in it !" at 
 which imaginary consequence of being 
 on board a boat with Boz, he groaned, 
 and became silent. 
 
 We called at the town of Erie, at 
 eight o'clock that night, and lay there 
 an hour. Between five and six next 
 morning, we arrived at Buffalo, where 
 we breakfasted ; and being too near 
 the Great Falls to wait patiently 
 anywhere else, we set off by the train, 
 the same morning at nine o'clock, to 
 Niagara. 
 
 It was a miserable day ; chilly and 
 raw ; a damp mist falling ; and the 
 trees in that northern region quite 
 bare and wintry. Whenever the 
 train halted, I listened for the roar ; 
 and was constantly straining my eyes 
 in the direction where I knew the 
 Falls must be, from seeing the river 
 rolling on towards them ; every 
 moment expecting to behold the 
 spray. Within a few minutes of our 
 stopping, not before, I saw two great 
 white clouds rising up slowly and 
 majestically from the depths of the
 
 138 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 earth. That was all. At length we 
 alighted : and then for the first time, 
 I heard the mighty rush of water, 
 and felt the ground tremble under- 
 neath my feet. 
 
 The bank is very steep, and was 
 slippery with rain, and half-melted 
 ice. I hardly know how I got down, 
 bat I was soon at the bottom, and 
 climbing, with two English officers 
 who were crossing and had joined me, 
 over some broken rocks, deafened by 
 the noise, half-blinded by the spray, 
 and wet to the skin. We were at the 
 foot of the American Fall. I could 
 see an immense torrent of water 
 tearing headlong down from some 
 great height, but had no idea of shape, 
 or situation, or anything but vague 
 immensity. 
 
 When we were seated in the little 
 ferry-boat, and were crossing the 
 swoln river immediately before both 
 cataracts, I began to feel what it was : 
 but I was in a manner stunned, and 
 unable to comprehend the vastness of 
 the scene. It was not until I came 
 on Table Eock, and looked Great 
 Heaven, on what a fall of bright-green 
 water ! that it came upon me in its 
 full might and majesty. 
 
 Then, when I felt how near to my 
 Creator I was standing, the first effect, 
 and the enduring one instant and 
 lasting of the tremendous spectacle, 
 was Peace. Peace of Mind, tran- 
 quillity, calm recollections of the 
 Dead, great thoughts of Eternal 
 Best and Happiness : nothing of 
 gloom or terror. Niagara was at 
 once stamped upon my heart, an 
 Image of Beauty; to remain there, 
 changeless and indelible, until its 
 pulses cease to beat, for ever. 
 
 Oh, how the strife and trouble of 
 daily life receded from my view, 
 and lessened in the distance, during 
 the ten memorable days we passed on 
 that Enchanted Ground ! What 
 voices spoke from out the thundering 
 
 water; what faces, faded from the 
 earth, looked out upon me from its 
 gleaming depths; what Heavenly 
 promise glistened in those angels' 
 tears, the drops of many hues, 
 that showered around, and twined 
 themselves about the gorgeous 
 arches which the changing rainbows 
 made ! 
 
 I never stirred in all that time from 
 the Canadian side, whither I had 
 gone at first. I never crossed the 
 river again; for I knew there were 
 people on the other shore, and in such 
 a place it is natural to shun strange 
 company. To wander to and fro all 
 day, and see the cataracts from all 
 points of view ; to stand upon the 
 edge of the Great Horse Shoe Fall, 
 marking the hurried water gathering 
 strength as it approached the verge, 
 yet seeming, too, to pause before it 
 shot into the gulf below; to gaze 
 from the river's level up at the tor- 
 rent as it came streaming down; 
 to climb the neighbouring heights 
 and watch it through the trees, and 
 see the wreathing water in the rapids 
 hurrying on to take its fearful plunge ; 
 to linger in the shadow of the solemn 
 rocks three miles below ; watching 
 the river as, stirred by no visible 
 cause, it heaved and eddied and 
 awoke the echoes, being troubled yet, 
 far down beneath the surface, by its 
 giant leap; to have Niagara before 
 me, lighted by the sun and by the 
 moon, red in the day's decline, and 
 grey as evening slowly fell upon it ; to 
 look upon it every day, and wake up 
 in the night and hear its ceaseless 
 voice : this was enough. 
 
 I think in every quiet season now, 
 still do those waters roll and leap, and 
 roar and tumble, all daylong; still 
 arc the rainbows spanning them, a 
 hundred feet below. Still, when the 
 un is on them, do they shine and 
 flow like molten gold. Still, when 
 the day is gloomy, do they fall like
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 139 
 
 snow, or seem to crumble away like 
 the front of a great chalk cliff, or roll 
 down the rock like dense white 
 smoke. But always does the mighty 
 stream appear to die as it comes down, 
 and always from its unfathomable 
 grave arises that tremendous ghost of 
 
 spray and mist which is never laid : 
 which has haunted this place with the 
 same dread solemnity since Darkness 
 brooded on the deep, and that first 
 flood before the Deluge Light 
 came rushing on Creation at the word 
 of God.
 
 140 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IN CANADA J TORONTO J KINGSTON ; MONTREAL ; QUEBEC J ST. JOHN'S. IN THE 
 UNITED STATES AGAIN J LEBANON J THE SHAKER VILLAGE J AND WEST POINT. 
 
 I WISH to abstain from instituting 
 any comparison, or drawing any par- 
 allel whatever, between the social 
 features of the United States and 
 those of the British Possessions in 
 Canada. For this reason, I shall 
 confine myself to a very brief account 
 of our journeyings in the latter 
 territory. 
 
 But before I leave Niagara, I must 
 advert to one disgusting circumstance 
 which can hardly have escaped the 
 observation of any decent traveller 
 who has visited the Falls. 
 
 On Table Rock, there is a cottage 
 belonging to a Guide, where little 
 relics of the place are sold, and where 
 visitors register their names in a book 
 kept for the purpose. On the wall of 
 the room in which a great many of 
 these volumes are preserved, the fol- 
 lowing request is posted : " Visitors 
 will please not copy nor extract the 
 remarks and poetical effusions from 
 the registers and albums kept here." 
 
 But for this intimation, I should 
 have let them lie upon the tables on 
 which they were strewn with careful 
 negligence, like books in a drawing- 
 room : being quite satisfied with the 
 stupendous silliness of certain stanzas 
 with an anti-climax at the end of 
 each, which were framed and hung up 
 on the wall. Curious, however, after 
 reading this announcement, to see 
 what kind of morsels were so care- 
 fully preserved, I turned a few leaves, 
 and found them scrawled all over 
 with the vilest and the filthiest 
 ribaldry that ever human hogs de- 
 lighted in. 
 
 It is humiliating enough to know 
 that there are among men, brutes so 
 obscene and worthless, that they can 
 delight in laying their miserable pro- 
 fanations upon the very steps of 
 Nature's greatest altar. But that 
 these should be hoarded up for the 
 delight of their fellow swine, and 
 kept in a public place where any eyes 
 may see them, is a disgrace to the 
 English language in which they are 
 written (though I hope few of these 
 entries have been made by English- 
 men), and a reproach to the English 
 side, on which they are preserved. 
 
 The quarters of our soldiers at 
 Niagara, are finely and airily situated. 
 Some of them are large detached 
 houses on the plain above the Falls, 
 which were originally designed for 
 hotels ; and in the evening time, 
 when the women and children were 
 leaning over the balconies watching 
 the men as they played at ball and 
 other games upon the grass before 
 the door, they often presented a little 
 picture of cheerfulness and anima- 
 tion which made it quite a pleasure 
 to pass that way. 
 
 At any garrisoned point where the 
 line of demarcation between one 
 country and another is so very narrow 
 as at Niagara, desertion from the 
 ranks can scarcely fail to be of fre- 
 quent occurrence : and it may be 
 reasonably supposed that when the 
 soldiers entertain the wildest and 
 maddest hopes of the fortune and 
 independence that await them on the 
 other side, the impulse to play traitor, 
 which such a place suggests to dis-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 141 
 
 honest minds, is not weakened. But 
 it very rarely happens that the men 
 who do desert, are happy or contented 
 afterwards ; and many instances hare 
 been known in which they have con- 
 fessed their grievous disappointment, 
 and their earnest desire to return to 
 their old service if they could but be 
 assured of pardon, or of lenient treat- 
 ment Many of their comrades, not- 
 withstanding, do the like, from time 
 to time ; and instances of loss of life 
 in the effort to cross the river with this 
 object, are far from being uncommon. 
 Several men were drowned in the 
 attempt to swim across, not long 
 ago ; and one, who had the madness 
 to trust himself upon a table as a 
 raft, was swept down to the whirl- 
 pool, where his mangled body eddied 
 round and round some days. 
 
 I am inclined to think that the 
 noise of the Falls is very much ex- 
 aggerated ; and this will appear the 
 more probable when the depth of the 
 great basin in which the water is 
 received, is taken into account. At 
 no time during our stay there, was 
 the wind at all high or boisterous, but 
 we never heard them, three miles off, 
 even at the very quiet time of sunset, 
 though we often tried. 
 
 Queenston, at which place the 
 steamboats start for Toronto (or I 
 should rather say at which place they 
 call, for their wharf is at Lewi.ston 
 on the opposite shore), is situated in 
 a delicious valley, through which the 
 ^Niagara river, in colour a very deep 
 green, pursues its course. It is ap- 
 proached by a road that takes its 
 winding way among the heights 
 by which the town is sheltered ; and 
 seen from this point is extremely 
 beautiful and picturesque. On the 
 most conspicuous of these heights 
 stood a monument erected by the 
 Provincial legislature in memory oi 
 General Brock, who was slain in a 
 battle with the American Forces, 
 
 after having won the victory. Some 
 vagabond, supposed to be a fellow of 
 the name of Lett, who is now, or 
 who lately was, in prison as a felon, 
 blew up this monument two years 
 ago, and it is now a melancholy ruin, 
 with a long fragment of iron railing 
 hanging dejectedly from its top, and 
 waving to and fro like a wild ivy 
 branch or broken vine stem. It is of 
 much higher importance than it may 
 seem, that this statue should be 
 repaired at the public cost, as it ought 
 to have been long ago. Firstly, be- 
 cause it is beneath the dignity of 
 England to allow a memorial raised 
 in honour of one of her defenders, to 
 remain in this condition, on the very 
 spot where he died. Secondly, be- 
 cause the sight of it in its present 
 state, and the recollection of the 
 unpunished outrage which brought it 
 to this pass, is not very likely to 
 soothe down border feelings among 
 English subjects here, or compose 
 their border quarrels and dislikes. 
 
 I was standing on the wharf at this 
 place, watching the passengers em- 
 barking in a steamboat which pre- 
 ceded that whose coming we awaited, 
 and participating in the anxiety with 
 which a sergeant's wife was collecting 
 her few goods together keeping one 
 distracted eye hard upon the porters, 
 who were hurrying them on board, 
 and the other on a hoopless washing- 
 tub for which, as being the most 
 utterly worthless of all her moveables, 
 she seemed to entertain particular 
 affection when three or four soldiers 
 with a recruit came up and went on 
 board. 
 
 The recruit was a likely young 
 fellow enough, strongly built and well 
 made, but by no means sober : indeed 
 he had all the air of a man who had 
 been more or less drunk for some 
 days. He carried a small bundle 
 over his shoulder, slung at the end of a 
 walking-stick, and had a short pipe in
 
 142 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 his mouth. He was as dusty and dirty 
 as recruits usually are, and his shoes 
 betokened that he had travelled on 
 foot some distance, but he was in a 
 very jocose state, and shook hands 
 with this soldier, and clapped that one 
 on the back, and talked and laughed 
 continually, like a roaring idle dog as 
 he was. 
 
 The soldiers rather laughed at this 
 blade than with him : seeming to say, 
 as they stood straightening their 
 canes in their hands, and looking 
 coolly at him over their glazed stocks, 
 " Go on, my boy, while you may ! 
 you 11 know better bye and bye :" 
 when suddenly the novice, who had 
 been backing towards the gangway in 
 his noisy merriment, fell overboard 
 before their eyeys, and splashed heavily 
 down into the river between the vessel 
 and the dock. 
 
 I never saw such a good thing as 
 the change that came over these 
 soldiers in an instant Almost before 
 the man was down, their professional 
 manner, their stiffness and constraint, 
 were gone, and they were filled with 
 the most violent energy. In less 
 time than is required to tell it, they 
 had him out again, feet first, with the 
 tails of his coat flapping over his eyes, 
 everything about him hanging the 
 wrong way, and the water streaming 
 off at every thread in his threadbare 
 dress. But the moment they set him 
 upright and found that he was none 
 the worse, they were soldiers again, 
 looking over their glazed stocks more 
 composedly than ever. 
 
 The half-sobered recruit glanced 
 round for a moment, as if his first 
 impulse were to express some grati- 
 tude for his preservation, but seeing 
 them with this air of total unconcern, 
 and having his wet pipe presented to 
 him with an oath by the soldier who 
 had been by far the most anxious of 
 the party, he stuck it in his mouth, 
 thrust his hands into his moist 
 
 pockets, and without even shaking 
 the water off his clothes, walked 
 on board whistling ; not to say as if 
 nothing had happened, but as if he 
 had meant to do it, and it had been a 
 perfect success. 
 
 Our steamboat came up directly 
 this had left the wharf, and soon bore 
 us to the mouth of the Niagara; 
 where the stars and stripes of America 
 flutter on one side, and the Union 
 Jack of England on the other : and 
 so narrow is the space between them 
 that the sentinels in either fort can 
 often hear the watchword of the other 
 country given. Thence we emerged 
 on Lake Ontario, an inland sea ; 
 and by half-past six o'clock were at 
 Toronto. 
 
 The country round this town being 
 very flat, is bare of scenic interest ; 
 but the town itself is full of life and 
 motion, bustle, business, and improve- 
 ment. The streets are well paved, 
 and lighted with gas ; the houses are 
 large and good ; the shops excellent. 
 Many of them have a display of goods 
 in their windows, such as may be seen 
 in thriving county towns in England : 
 and there are some which would do 
 no discredit to the metropolis itself. 
 There is a good stone prison here; 
 and there are, besides, a handsome 
 church, a court-house, public offices, 
 many commodious private residences, 
 and a government observatory for 
 noting and recording the magnetic 
 variations.' In the College of Upper 
 Canada, which is one of the public 
 establishments of the city, a sound 
 education in every department of 
 polite learning can be had, at a very 
 moderate expense : the annual charge 
 for the instruction of each pupil, not 
 exceeding nine pounds sterling. It 
 has pretty good endowments in the 
 way of land, and is a valuable and 
 useful institution. 
 
 The first stone of a new college had 
 been laid but a few days before, by the
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 143 
 
 Governor General. It will be a 
 handsome, spacious edifice, ap- 
 proached by a long avenue, which is 
 already planted and made available 
 as a public walk. The town is well- 
 adapted for wholesome exercise at all 
 seasons, for the footways in the 
 thoroughfares which lie beyond the 
 principal street, are planked like 
 floors, and kept in very good and 
 clean repair. 
 
 It is a matter of deep regret that 
 political differences should have run 
 high in this place, and led to most 
 discreditable and disgraceful results. 
 It is not long since guns were dis- 
 charged from a window in this town 
 at the successful candidates in an 
 election, and the coachman of one of 
 them was actually shot in the body, 
 though not dangerously wounded. 
 But one man was killed on the same 
 occasion ; and from the very window 
 whence he received his death, the 
 very flag which shielded his murderer 
 (not only in the commission of his 
 crime, but from its consequences), 
 was displayed again on the occasion 
 of the public ceremony performed by 
 the Governor General, to which I 
 have just adverted. Of all the 
 colours in the rainbow, there is but 
 one which could be so employed : I 
 need not say that flag was orange. 
 
 The time of leaving Toronto for 
 Kingston, is noon. By eight o'clock 
 next morning, the traveller is at the 
 end of his journey, which is performed 
 by steamboat upon Lake Ontario, 
 calling at Port Hope and Coburg, the 
 latter a cheerful thriving little town. 
 Vast quantities of flour form the chief 
 item in the freight of these vessels. 
 We had no fewer than one thousand 
 and eighty barrels on board, between 
 Coburg and Kingston. 
 
 The latter place, which is now the 
 seat of government in Canada, is a very 
 poor town, rendered still poorer in 
 the appearance of its market-place by 
 
 the ravages of a recent fire. Indeed, 
 it may be said of Kingston, that one 
 half of it appears to be burnt down, 
 and the other half not to be built up. 
 The Government House is neither 
 elegant nor commodious, yet it is 
 almost the only house of any impor- 
 tance in the neighbourhood. 
 
 There is an admirable jail here, 
 well and wisely governed, and excel- 
 lently regulated, in every respect. 
 The men were employed as shoe- 
 makers, ropemakers, blacksmiths, 
 tailors, carpenters, and stonecutters ; 
 and in building a new prison, which 
 was pretty far advanced towards com- 
 pletion. The female prisoners were 
 occupied in needlework. Among 
 them was a beautiful girl of twenty, 
 who had been there nearly three 
 years. She acted as bearer of secret 
 despatches" for the self-styled Patriots 
 on Navy Island, during the Canadian 
 Insurrection : sometimes dressing as 
 a girl, and carrying them in her stays; 
 sometimes attiring herself as a boy, 
 and secreting them in the lining of 
 her hat. In the latter character she 
 always rode as a boy would, which 
 was nothing to her, for she could 
 govern any horse that any man could 
 ride, and could drive four-in-hand 
 with the best whip in those parts. 
 Setting forth on one of her patriotic 
 missions, she appropriated to herself 
 the first horse she could lay her hands 
 on ; and this offence had brought her 
 where I saw her. She had quite a 
 lovely face, though as the reader may 
 suppose from this sketch of her 
 history, there was a lurking devil in 
 her bright eye, which looked out 
 pretty sharply from between her 
 prison bars. 
 
 There is a bomb-proof fort here of 
 great strength, which occupies a bold 
 position, and is capable, doubtless, of 
 doing good service ; though the town 
 is much too close upon the frontier to 
 be long held, I should imagine, for
 
 144 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 its present purpose in troubled times. 
 There is also a small navy-yard, where 
 a couple of Government steamboats 
 were building, and getting on vigo- 
 rously. 
 
 We left Kingston for Montreal on 
 the tenth of May, at half-past nine 
 in the morning, and proceeded in a 
 steamboat down the St. Lawrence 
 river. The beauty of this noble stream 
 at almost any point, but especially in 
 the commencement of this journey 
 when it winds its way among the 
 thousand Islands, can hardly be ima- 
 gined. The number and constant 
 successions of these islands, all green 
 and richly wooded; their fluctuating 
 sizes, some so large that for half an 
 hour together one among them will 
 appear as the opposite bank of the 
 river, and some so small that they are 
 mere dimples on its broad bosom ; 
 their infinite variety of shapes; and 
 the numberless combinations of beau- 
 tiful forms which the trees growing 
 on them, present : all form a picture 
 fraught with uncommon interest and 
 pleasure. 
 
 In the afternoon we shot down some 
 rapids where the river boiled and 
 bubbled strangely, and where the 
 force and headlong violence of the 
 current were tremendous. At seven 
 o'clock we reached Dickenson's Land- 
 ing, whence travellers proceed for two 
 or three hours by stage-coach : the 
 navigation of the river being rendered 
 so dangerous and difficult in the in- 
 terval, by rapids, that steamboats do 
 not make the passage. The number 
 and length of those portages, over 
 which the roads are bad, and the 
 travelling slow, render the way be- 
 tween the towns of Montreal and 
 Kingston, somewhat tedious. 
 
 Our course lay over a wide, unin- 
 closed tract of country at a little 
 distance from the river side, whence 
 the bright warning lights on the 
 dangerous parts of the St. Lawrence 
 
 shone vividly. The night was dark 
 and raw, and the way dreary enough. 
 It was nearly ten o'clock when we 
 reached the wharf where the next 
 steamboat lay; and went on board, 
 and to bed. 
 
 She lay there all night, and started 
 as soon as it was day. The morning 
 was ushered in by a violent thunder- 
 storm, and was very wet, but gradually 
 improved and brightened up. Going 
 on deck after breakfast, I was amazed 
 to see floating down with the stream, 
 a most gigantic raft, with some thirty 
 or forty wooden houses upon it, and 
 at least as many flag masts, so that it 
 looked like a nautical street. I saw 
 many of these rafts afterwards, but 
 never one so large. All the timber, 
 or " lumber," as it is called in America, 
 which is brought down the St. Law- 
 rence, is floated down in this manner. 
 When the raft reaches its place of 
 destination, it is broken up ; the ma- 
 terials are sold; and the boatmen 
 return for more. 
 
 At eight we landed again, and 
 travelled by a stage-coach for four 
 hours through a pleasant and well- 
 cultivated country, perfectly French 
 in every respect : in the appearance 
 of the cottages ; the air, language, and 
 dress of the peasantry ; the sign-boards 
 on the shops and taverns; and the 
 Virgin's shrines, and crosses, by the 
 wayside. Nearly every common la- 
 bourer and boy, though he had no 
 shoes to his feet, wore round his waist 
 a sash of some bright colour: generally 
 red : and the women, who were work- 
 ing in the fields and gardens, and 
 doing all kinds of husbandry, wore, 
 one and all, great flat straw hats with 
 most capacious brims. There were 
 Catholic Priests and Sisters of Charity 
 in the village streets ; and images of 
 the Saviour at the corners of cross- 
 roads, and in other public places. 
 
 At noon we went on board another 
 steamboat, and reached the village of
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 145 
 
 Lachine, nine miles from Montreal, 
 by three o'clock. There, we left the 
 river, and went on by land. 
 
 Montreal is pleasantly situated on 
 the margin of the St. Lawrence, and 
 is backed by some bold heights, about 
 which there are charming rides and 
 drives. The streets are generally 
 narrow and irregular, as in most 
 French towns of any age ; but in the 
 more modern parts of the city, they 
 are wide and airy. They display a 
 great variety of very good shops ; and 
 both in the town and suburbs there 
 are many excellent private dwellings. 
 The granite quays are remarkable for 
 their beauty, solidity, and extent. 
 
 There is a very large Catholic cathe- 
 dral here, recently erected ; with two 
 tall spires, of which one is yet un- 
 finished. In the open space in front 
 of this edifice, stands a solitary, grim- 
 looking, square brick tower, which has 
 a quaint and remarkable appearance, 
 and which the wiseacres of the place 
 have consequently determined to pull 
 down immediately. The Government 
 House is very superior to that at 
 Kingston, and the town is full of life 
 and bustle. In one of the suburbs is 
 a plank road not footpath five or 
 six miles long, and a famous road it 
 is too. All the rides in the vicinity 
 were made doubly interesting by the 
 bursting out of spring, which is here 
 so rapid, that it is but a day's leap from 
 barren winter, to the blooming youth 
 of summer. 
 
 The steamboats to Quebec, perform 
 the journey in the night ; that is to 
 say, they leave Montreal at six in the 
 svening, and arrive in Quebec at six 
 next morning. We made this 
 excursion during our stay in Montreal 
 (which exceeded a fortnight), and 
 were charmed by its interest and 
 beauty. 
 
 The impression made upon the 
 visitor by this Gibraltar of America : 
 its giddy heights; its citadel sus- 
 
 No. 170. 
 
 pended, as it were, in the air; its 
 picturesque steep streets and frowning 
 gateways; and the splendid views 
 which burst upon the eye at every 
 turn : is at once unique and lasting. 
 
 It is a place not to be forgotten or 
 mixed up in the mind with other 
 places, or altered for a moment in the 
 crowd of scenes a traveller can recall. 
 Apart from the realities of this most 
 picturesque city, there are associations 
 clustering about it which would make 
 a desert rich in interest. The dan- 
 gerous precipice along whose rocky 
 front, Wolfe and his brave com- 
 panions climbed to glory ; the Plains 
 of Abraham, where he received his 
 mortal wound; the fortress so chival- 
 rously defended by Montcalm ; and 
 his soldier's grave, dug for him while 
 yet alive>by the bursting of a shell ; 
 are not the least among them, or 
 among the gallant incidents of history. 
 That is a noble Monument too, and 
 worthy of two great nations, which 
 perpetuates the memory of both brave 
 generals, and on which their names 
 are jointly written. 
 
 The city is rich in public institu- 
 tions and in Catholic churches and 
 charities, but it is mainly in the pros- 
 pect from the site of the Old Govern 
 ment House, and from the Citadel, 
 that its surpassing beauty lies. The 
 exquisite expanse of country, rich in 
 field and forest, mountain-height and 
 water, which lies stretched out before 
 the view, with miles of Canadian vil- 
 lages, glancing in long white streaks, 
 like veins along the landscape ; the 
 motley crowd of gables, roofs, and 
 chimney tops in the old hilly town 
 immediately at hand; the beautiful 
 St. Lawrence sparkling and flashing 
 in the sunlight ; and the tiny ships 
 below the rock from which you gaze, 
 whose distant rigging looks like 
 spiders' webs against the light, while 
 casks and barrels on their decks 
 dwindle into toys, and busy mariners 
 
 10
 
 146 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 become so many puppets : all this, 
 framed by a sunken window in the 
 fortress and looked at from the 
 shadowed room within, forms one of 
 the brightest and most enchanting 
 pictures that the eye can rest upon. 
 
 In the spring of the year, vast num- 
 bers of emigrants who have newly 
 arrived from England or from Ireland, 
 pass between Quebec and Montreal on 
 their way to the back woods and new 
 settlements of Canada. If it be an en- 
 tertaining lounge, (as I very often found 
 it) to take a morning stroll upon the 
 quay at Montreal, and see them 
 grouped in hundreds on the public 
 wharfs about their chests and boxes, it 
 is matter of deep interest to be their 
 fellow-passenger on one of tKese 
 steamboats, and, mingling with the 
 concourse, see and hear them un- 
 observed. 
 
 The vessel in which we returned from 
 Quebec to Montreal was crowded with 
 them, and at night they spread their 
 beds between decks (those who had 
 beds, at least), and slept so close and 
 thick about our cabin door, that the 
 passage to and fro was quite blocked 
 up. They were nearly all English ; 
 from Gloucestershire the greater part; 
 and had had a long winter-passage 
 out ; but it was wonderful to see how 
 clean the children had been kept, and 
 how untiring in their love and self- 
 denial all the poor parents were. 
 
 Cant as we may, and as we shall to 
 the end of all things, it is very much 
 harder for the poor to be virtuous than 
 it is for the rich ; and the good that 
 is in them, shines the brighter for it. 
 In many a noble mansion lives a man, 
 the best of husbands and of fathers, 
 whose private worth in both capacities 
 is justly lauded to the skies. But 
 bring him here, upon this crowded 
 deck. Strip from his fair young wife 
 her silken dress and jewels, unbind 
 her braided hair, stamp early wrinkles 
 on her brow, pinch her pale cheek 
 
 with care and much privation, array 
 her faded form in coarsely patched 
 attire, let there be nothing but his 
 love to set her forth or deck her out, 
 and you shall put it to the proof 
 indeed. So change his station in the 
 world, that he shall see in those 
 young things who climb about his 
 knee : not records of his wealth and 
 name : but little wrestlers with him 
 for his daily bread ; so many poachers 
 on his scanty meal ; so many units to 
 divide his every sum of comfort, and 
 farther to reduce its small amount. 
 In lieu of the endearments of child- 
 hood in its sweetest aspect, heap upon 
 him all its pains and wants, its sick- 
 nesses and ills, its fretfulness, caprice, 
 and querulous endurance : let its 
 prattle be, not of engaging infant 
 fancies, but of cold, and thirst, and 
 hunger : and if his fatherly affection 
 outlive all this, and he be patient, 
 watchful, tender ; careful of his chil- 
 dren's lives, and mindful always of 
 their joys and sorrows ; then send 
 him back to Parliament, and Pulpit, 
 and to Quarter Sessions, and when he 
 hears fine talk of the depravity of 
 those who live from hand to mouth, 
 and labour hard to do it, let him 
 speak up, as one who knows, and tell 
 those holders forth that they, by 
 parallel with such a class, should be 
 High Angels in their daily lives, 
 and lay but humble siege to Heaven 
 at hut. 
 
 Which of us shall say what he 
 would be, if such realities, with small 
 relief or change all through his days, 
 were his ! Looking round upon these 
 people : far from home, houseless, 
 indigent, wandering, weary with 
 travel and hard living : and seeing 
 how patiently they nursed and tended 
 their young children ; how they con- 
 sulted ever their, wants first, then half 
 supplied their own ; what gentle 
 ministers of hope and faith the women 
 were; how the men profited by their
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 147 
 
 example ; and how very, very seldom 
 even a moment's petulance or harsh 
 complaint broke out among them : I 
 felt a stronger love and honour of my 
 kind come glowing on my heart, and 
 wished to God there had been 
 many Atheists in the better part of 
 human nature there, to read this 
 simple lesson in the book of Life. 
 
 We left Montreal for New York 
 again, on the thirtieth of May ; cross- 
 ing to La Prairie, on the opposite 
 shore of the St. Lawrence, in a steam- 
 boat; we then took the railroad to 
 St. John's, which is on the brink of 
 Lake Cham plain. Our last greeting 
 in Canada was from the English 
 officers in the pleasant barracks at 
 that place (a class of gentlemen who 
 had made every hour of our visit me- 
 morable by their hospitality and 
 friendship) ; and with " Kule Bri- 
 tannia" sounding in our ears, soon left 
 it far behind. 
 
 But Canada has held, and always 
 will retain, a foremost place in my 
 remembrance. Few Englishmen are 
 prepared to find it what it is. Ad- 
 vancing quietly ; old differences set- 
 tling down, and being fast forgotten ; 
 public feeling and private enterprise 
 alike in a sound and wholesome state ; 
 nothing of flush or fever in its system, 
 but health and vigour throbbing in its 
 steady pulse : it is full of hope and 
 promise. To me who had been accus- 
 tomed to think of it as something left 
 behind in the strides of advancing 
 society, as something neglected and 
 forgotten, slumbering and wasting in 
 its sleep the demand for labour and 
 the rates of wages ; the busy quays of 
 Montreal ; the vessels taking in their 
 cargoes, and discharging them; the 
 amount of shipping in the different 
 ports; the commerce, roads, and public 
 works, all made to last ; the respecta- 
 bility and character of the public 
 journals ; and the amount of rational 
 
 comfort and happiness which honest 
 industry may earn : were very great 
 surprises. The steamboats on the 
 lakes, in their conyeniences, cleanli- 
 ness, and safety; in the gentlemanly 
 character and bearing of their cap- 
 tains ; and in the politeness and per- 
 fect comfort of their social regulations; 
 are unsurpassed even by the famous 
 Scotch vessels, deservedly so much 
 esteemed at home. The inns are 
 usually bad: because the custom of 
 boarding at hotels is not so general 
 here as in the States, and the British 
 officers, who form a large portion of 
 the society of every town, live chiefly 
 at the regimental messes : but in 
 every other respect, the traveller in 
 Canada will find as good provision 
 for his comfort as in any place I 
 know. 
 
 There is one American boat the 
 vessel which carried us on Lake Cham- 
 plain, from St. John's to Whitehall 
 which I praise very highly, but no 
 more than it deserves, when I say that 
 it is superior even to that in which we 
 went from Queenston to Toronto, or 
 to that in which we travelled from the 
 latter place to Kingston, or I have no 
 doubt I may add, to any other in the 
 I world. This steamboat which is called 
 the Burlington, is a perfectly exquisite 
 achievement of neatness, elegance, and 
 order. The decks are drawing-rooms; 
 the cabins are boudoirs, choicely fur- 
 nished and adorned with prints, pic- 
 tures, and musical instruments ; every 
 nook and corner in the vessel is a 
 perfect curiosity of graceful comfort 
 and beautiful contrivance. Captain 
 ! Sherman her commander, to whose 
 j ingenuity and excellent taste these 
 I results are solely attributable, has 
 bravely and worthily distinguished 
 himself on more than one trying occa- 
 ! sion : not least among them, in having 
 the moral courage to carry British 
 I troops, at a time (during the Canadian 
 rebellion) when no other conveyance 
 
 L2
 
 148 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 was open to them. He and his vessel 
 are held in universal respect, both by 
 his own countrymen and ours; and 
 no man ever enjoyed the popular 
 esteem, who, in his sphere of action, 
 won and wore it better than this 
 gentleman. 
 
 By means of this floating palace we 
 were soon in the United States again, 
 and called that evening at Burlington ; 
 a pretty town, where we lay an hour 
 or so. We reached Whitehall, where 
 we were to disembark, at six next 
 morning ; and might have done so 
 earlier, but that these steamboats lie 
 by for some hours in the night, in 
 consequence of the lake becoming 
 very narrow at that part of the journey, 
 and difficult of navigation in the dark. 
 Its width is so contracted at one point, 
 indeed, that they are obliged to warp 
 round by means of a rope. 
 
 After breakfasting at Whitehall, we 
 took the stage-coach for Albany : a 
 large and busy town, where we arrived 
 between five and six o'clock that after- 
 noon ; after a very hot day's journey, 
 for we were now in the height of 
 summer again. At seven we started 
 for New York on board a great North 
 River steamboat, which was so crowded 
 with passengers that the upper deck 
 was like the box lobby of a theatre 
 between the pieces, and the lower one 
 like Tottenham Court Road on a Sa- 
 turday night. But we slept soundly, 
 notwithstanding, and soon after five 
 o'clock next morning, reached New 
 Fork. 
 
 Tarrying here, only that day and 
 night to recruit after our late fatigues, 
 we started off once more upon our last 
 journey in America. We had yet five 
 days to spare before embarking for 
 England, and I had a great desire to 
 gee " the Shaker Village," which is 
 peopled by a religious sect from whom 
 it takes its name. 
 
 To this end, we went up the North 
 Eiver again, as far as the town of 
 
 Hudson, and there hired an extra V. 
 carry us to Lebanon, thirty miles dis- 
 tant : and of course another and a 
 different Lebanon from that village 
 where I slept on the night of the 
 Prairie trip. 
 
 The country through which the road 
 meandered, was rich and beautiful ; 
 the weather very fine ; and for many 
 miles the Kaatskill mountains, where 
 Rip Van Winkle and the ghastly 
 Dutchmen played at ninepins one 
 memorable gusty afternoon, towered 
 in the blue distance, like stately clouds. 
 At one point, as we ascended a steep 
 hill, athwart whose base a railroad, 
 yet constructing, took its course, we 
 came upon an Irish colony. With 
 means at hand of building decent 
 cabins, it was wonderful to see how 
 clumsy, rough, and wretched, its 
 hovels were. The best were poor pro- 
 tection from the weather ; the worst 
 let in the wind and rain through wide 
 breaches in the roofs of sodden grass, 
 and in the walls of mud ; some had 
 neither door nor window; some had 
 nearly fallen down, and were imper- 
 fectly propped up by stakes and poles; 
 all were ruinous and filthy. Hideously 
 ugly old women and very buxom 
 young ones, pigs, dogs, men, children, 
 babies, pots, kettles, dunghills, vile 
 refuse, rank straw, and standing water, 
 all wallowing together in an insepa- 
 rable heap, composed the furniture of 
 every dark and dirty hut. 
 
 Between nine and ten o'clock at 
 night, we arrived at Lebanon : which 
 is renowned for its warm baths, and 
 for a great hotel, well adapted, I have 
 no doubt, to the gregarious taste of 
 those seekers after health or pleasure 
 who repair here, but inexpressibly 
 comfortless to me. We were shown into 
 an immense apartment, lighted by 
 two dim candles, called the drawing- 
 room : from which there was a 
 descent by a flight of steps, to 
 another vast desert called the dining-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 149 
 
 room : our bed chambers were among 
 certain, long rows of little white- 
 washed cells, which opened from 
 either side of a dreary passage ; and 
 were so like rooms in a prison that I 
 half expected to be locked up when I 
 went to bed, and listened involun- 
 tarily for the turning of the key on 
 the outside. There need be baths 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood, for 
 the other washing arrangements were 
 on as limited a scale as I ever saw, 
 even in America : indeed, these bed- 
 rooms were so very bare of even such 
 common luxuries as chairs, that I 
 should say they were not provided 
 with enough of anything, but that 
 I bethink myself of our having been 
 most bountifully bitten all night. 
 
 The house is very pleasantly situ- 
 ated, however, and we had a good 
 breakfast. That done, we went to 
 visit our place of destination, which 
 was some two miles off, and the way 
 to which was soon indicated by a 
 finger-post, whereon was painted, " To 
 the Shaker Village." 
 
 As we rode along, we passed a party 
 of Shakers, who were at work upon 
 the road ; who wore the broadest of 
 all broad-brimmed hats ; and were in 
 all visible respects such very wooden 
 men, that I felt about as much sym- 
 pathy for them, and as much interest 
 in them, as if they had been so many 
 figure-heads of ships. Presently we 
 came to the beginning of the village, 
 and alighting at the door of a house 
 where the Shaker manufactures are 
 sold, and which is the head-quarters 
 of the elders, requested permission to 
 see the Shaker worship. 
 
 Pending the conveyance of this 
 request to some person in authority, 
 we walked into a grim room, where 
 several grim hats were hanging on 
 grim pegs, and the time was grimly 
 told by a grim clock, which uttered 
 every tick with a kind of struggle, as 
 if it broke the grim silence reluc- 
 
 tantly, and under protest. Banged 
 against the wall were six or eight stifl 
 high-backed chairs, and they partook 
 so strongly of the general grimness, 
 that one would much rather have sat 
 on the floor than incurred the smallest 
 obligation to any of them. 
 
 Presently, there stalked into this 
 apartment, a grim old Shaker, with 
 eyes as hard, and dull, and cold, as 
 the great round metal buttons on his 
 coat and waistcoat; a sort of calm 
 goblin. Being informed of our desire, 
 he produced a newspaper wherein the 
 body of elders, whereof he was a 
 member, had advertised but a few 
 days before, that in consequence oi 
 certain unseemly interruptions which 
 their worship h,ad received from 
 strangers, their chapel was closed to 
 the public for the space of one year. 
 
 As nothing was to be urged in op- 
 position to this reasonable arrange- 
 ment, we requested leave to make 
 some trifling purchases of Shaker 
 goods; which was grimly conceded. 
 We accordingly repaired to a store in 
 the same house and on the opposite 
 side of the passage, where the stock 
 was presided over by something alive 
 in a russet case, which the elder said 
 was a woman; and which I suppose 
 was a woman, though I should not 
 have suspected it. 
 
 On the opposite side of the road 
 was their place of worship : a cool 
 clean edifice of wood, with large win- 
 dows and green blinds : like a spa- 
 cious summer-house. As there was 
 no getting into this place, and 
 nothing was to be done but walk up 
 and down, and look at it and the 
 other buildings in the village (which 
 were chiefly of wood, painted a dark 
 red like English barns, and composed 
 of many stories like English factories), 
 I have nothing to communicate to 
 the reader, beyond the scanty results 
 I gleaned the while our purchases 
 were making.
 
 150 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 These people are called Shakers 
 from their peculiar form of adoration 
 which consists of a dance, performec 
 by the men and women of all ages 
 who arrange themselves for that pur 
 pose in opposite parties : the men firsi 
 divesting themselves of their hats anc 
 coats, which they gravely hang 
 against the wall before they begin 
 and tying a ribbon round their shirt- 
 sleeves, as though they were going to 
 be bled. They accompany themselves 
 with a droning, humming noise, and 
 dance until they are quite exhausted 
 alternately advancing and retiring in 
 a preposterous sort of trot The 
 effect is said to be unspeakably absurd : 
 and if I may judge from a print of 
 this ceremony which I have in my 
 possession ; and which I am informed 
 by those who have visited the chapel, 
 is perfectly accurate ; it must be infi- 
 nitely grotesque. 
 
 They are governed by a woman, and 
 her rule is understood to be absolute, 
 though she has the assistance of a coun- 
 cil of elders. She lives, it is said, in 
 strict seclusion, in certain rooms 
 above the chapel, and is never shown 
 to profane eyes. If she at all resemble 
 the lady who presided over the store, 
 it is a great charity to keep her 
 as close as possible, and I cannot 
 too strongly express my perfect con- 
 currence in this benevolent pro- 
 ceeding. 
 
 All the possessions and revenues of 
 the settlement are thrown into a com- 
 mon stock, which is managed by the 
 elders. As they have made converts 
 among people who were well to do in 
 the world, and are frugal and thrifty, 
 it is understood that this fund pros- 
 pers: the more especially as they 
 have made large purchases of land. 
 Nor is this at Lebanon the only Shaker 
 settlement : there are, I think, at 
 least, three others. 
 
 They are good farmers, and all their 
 produce is eagerly purchased and 
 
 highly esteemed. "Shaker seeds, 
 " Shaker herbs," and " Shaker dis 
 tilled waters," are commonly an 
 nounced for sale in the shops o 
 towns and cities. They are good 
 breeders of cattle, and are kind and 
 merciful to the brute creation. Con 
 sequently, Shaker beasts seldom fail 
 to find a ready market. 
 
 They eat and drink together, after 
 the Spartan model, at a great public 
 table. There is no union of the sexes 
 and every Shaker, male and female 
 is devoted to a life of celibacy. Rumour 
 has been busy upon this theme, but 
 here again I must refer to the lady of 
 the store, and say, that if many of the 
 sister Shakers resemble her, I treat 
 all such slander as bearing on its face 
 the strongest marks of wild improba- 
 bility. But that they take as pro- 
 selytes, persons so young that they 
 cannot know their own minds, and 
 cannot possess much strength of reso- 
 lution in this or any other respect, I 
 can assert from my own observation 
 of the extreme juvenility of certain 
 youthful Shakers whom I saw at 
 work among the party on. the road. 
 
 They are said to be good drivers of 
 bargains, but to be honest and just 
 in their transactions, and even in 
 horse-dealing to resist those thievish 
 tendencies which would seem, for 
 some undiscovered reason, to be 
 almost inseparable from that branch 
 of traffic. In all matters they hold 
 their own course quietly, live in their 
 gloomy silent commonwealth, and 
 show little desire to interfere with 
 other people. 
 
 This is well enough, but neverthe- 
 ess I cannot, I confess, incline to- 
 wards the Shakers ; view them with 
 much favour, or extend towards them 
 any very lenient construction. I so 
 abhor, and from my soul detest that 
 >ad spirit, no matter by what class 
 or sect it may be entertained, which 
 would strip life of its healthful graces,
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 151 
 
 rob youth of its innocent pleasures, 
 pluck from maturity and age their 
 pleasant ornaments, and make exis- 
 tence but a narrow path towards the 
 grave : that odious spirit which, if it 
 could have had full scope and sway 
 upon the earth, must have blasted 
 and made barren the imaginations of 
 the greatest men, and left them, in 
 their power of raising up enduring 
 images before their fellow-creatures 
 yet unborn, no better than the beasts : 
 that, in these very broad-brimmed 
 hats and very sombre coats in stiff- 
 necked solemn-visaged piety, in short, 
 no matter what its garb, whether it 
 have cropped hair as in a Shaker 
 village, or long nails as in a Hindoo 
 temple I recognise the worst among 
 the enemies of Heaven and Earth, 
 who turn the water at the marriage 
 feasts of this poor world, not into 
 wine but gall. And if there must be 
 people vowed to crush the harmless 
 fancies and the love of innocent de- 
 lights and gaieties, which are a part of 
 human nature : as much a part of it 
 as any other love or hope that is our 
 common portion : let them, for me, 
 stand openly revealed among the 
 ribald and licentious ; the very idiots 
 know that they are not on the Im- 
 mortal road, and will despise them, 
 and avoid them readily. 
 
 Leaving the Shaker village with a 
 hearty dislike of the old Shakers, and 
 a hearty pity for the young ones: 
 tempered by the strong probability of 
 their running away as they grow older 
 and wiser, which they not uncom- 
 monly do : we returned to Lebanon, 
 and so to Hudson, by the way we had 
 come upon the previous day. There, 
 we took steamboat down the North 
 Eiver towards New York, but stopped, 
 some four hours' journey short of it, 
 at AVest Point, where we remained 
 that night, and all next day, and next 
 night too. 
 
 In this beautiful place : the fairest 
 
 among the fair and lovely Highlands 
 of the North River : shut in by deep 
 green heights and ruined forts, and 
 looking down upon the distant town 
 of Newburgh, along a glittering path 
 of sunlit water, with here and there a 
 skiff, whose white sail often bends on 
 some new tack as sudden flaws of 
 wind come down upon her from the 
 gullies in the hills : hemmed in, 
 besides, all I'ound with memories of 
 Washington, and events of the revo- 
 lutionary war : is the Military School 
 of America. 
 
 It could not stand on more appro- 
 priate ground, and any ground more 
 beautiful can hardly be. The course 
 of education is severe, but well de- 
 vised, and manly. Through June, 
 July, and August, the young men 
 encamp upon the spacious plain 
 whereon the college stands; and all 
 the year their military exercises are 
 performed there, daily. The term of 
 study at this institution, which the 
 State requires from all cadets, is four 
 years; but, whether it be from the 
 rigid nature of the discipline, or the 
 national impatience of restraint, or 
 both causes combined, not more than 
 half the number who begin their 
 studies here, ever remain to finish 
 them. 
 
 The number of cadets being about 
 equal to that- of the members of 
 Congress, one is sent here from every 
 Congressional district : its member 
 influencing the selection. Commis- 
 sions in the service are distributed on 
 the same principle. The dwellings of 
 the various Professors are beautifully 
 situated ; and there is a most excel- 
 lent hotel for strangers, though it has 
 the two drawbacks of being a total 
 abstinence house (wines _and spirits 
 being forbidden to the students), and 
 of serving the public meals at rather 
 uncomfortable hours : to wit, break- 
 fast at seven, dinner at one, and 
 supper at sunset.
 
 152 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 The beauty and freshness of this 
 calm retreat, in the very dawn and 
 greenness of summer it was then the 
 beginning of June were exquisite 
 indeed. Leaving it upon the sixth, 
 and returning to New York, to em- 
 bark for England on the succeeding 
 day, I was glad to think that among 
 the last memorable beauties which 
 
 had glided past us, and softened in 
 the bright perspective, were those 
 whose pictures, traced by no common 
 hand, are fresh in most men's minds ; 
 not easily to grow old, or fade beneath 
 the dust of Time : The Kaatskill 
 Mountains, Sleepy Hollow, and the 
 Tappaan Zee.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 .53 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PASSAGE HOME. 
 
 I NEVER had so much interest before, 
 and very likely I shall never have so 
 much interest again, in the state of 
 the wind, as on the long looked-for 
 morning of Tuesday the Seventh of 
 June. Some nautical authority had 
 told me a day or two previous, " any- 
 thing with west in it, will do ; " so 
 when I darted out of bed at daylight, 
 and throwing up the window, was 
 saluted by a lively breeze from the 
 north-west which had sprung up in 
 the night, it came upon me so freshly, 
 rustling with so many happy associa- 
 tions, that I conceived upon the spot 
 a special regard for all airs blowing 
 from that quarter of the compass, 
 which I shall cherish, I dare say, 
 until my own wind has breathed its 
 last frail puff, and withdrawn itself 
 for ever from the mortal calendar. 
 
 The pilot had not been slow to take 
 advantage of this favourable weather, 
 and the ship which yesterday had 
 been in such a crowded dock that she 
 might have retired from trade for 
 good and all, for any chance she 
 seemed to have of going to sea, was 
 now full sixteen miles away. A 
 gallant sight she was, when we, fast 
 gaining on her in a steamboat, saw 
 her in the distance riding at anchor : 
 her tall masts pointing up in graceful 
 lines against the sky, and every rope 
 and spar expressed in delicate and 
 thread-like outline : gallant, too, when 
 we, being all aboard, the anchor came 
 up to the sturdy chorus " Cheerily 
 men, oh cheerily ! " and she followed 
 proudly in the towing steamboat's 
 wake : but bravest and most gallant 
 jf all, when the tow-rope being 1 cast 
 
 adrift, the canvass fluttered from her 
 masts, and spreading her white wings 
 she soared away upon her free and 
 solitary course. 
 
 In the after cabin we were only 
 fifteen passengers in all, and the 
 greater part were from Canada, where 
 some of us had known each other. 
 The night was rough and squally, so 
 were the next two days, but they flew 
 by quickly, and we were soon as 
 cheerful and as snug a party, with an 
 honest, manly-hearted captain at our 
 head, as ever came to the resolution 
 of being mutually agreeable, on land 
 or water. 
 
 We breakfasted at eight, lunched 
 at twelve, dined at three, and took 
 our tea at half-past seven. We had 
 abundance of amusements, and dinner 
 was not the least among them : firstly, 
 for its own sake ; secondly, because of 
 its extraordinary length : its duration, 
 inclusive of all the long pauses be- 
 tween the courses, being seldom less 
 than two hours and a half; which 
 was a subject of never-failing enter- 
 tainment. By way of beguiling the 
 tediousness of these banquets, a select 
 association was formed at the lower 
 end of the table, below the mast, to 
 whose distinguished president mo- 
 desty forbids me to make any further 
 allusion, which, being a very hilari- 
 ous and jovial institution, was (preju- 
 dice apart) in high favour with the 
 rest of the community, and particu- 
 larly with a black steward, who lived 
 for three weeks in a broad grin at the 
 marvellous humour of these incorpo- 
 rated worthies. 
 
 Then, we had chess for those who
 
 154 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 played it, whist, cribbage, books, back- 
 gammon, and shovelboard. In all 
 weathers, fair or foul, calm or windy, we 
 were every one on deck, walking up 
 and down in pairs, lying in the boats, 
 leaning over the side, or chatting in 
 a lazy group together. We had no 
 lack of music, for one played the 
 accordion, another the violin, and 
 another (who usually began at six 
 o'clock A.M.) the key-bugle : the com- 
 bined effect of which instruments, 
 when they all played different tunes, 
 in different parts of the ship, at the 
 same time, and within hearing of each 
 other, as they sometimes did (every- 
 body being intensely satisfied with 
 his own performance), was sublimely 
 hideous. 
 
 When all these means of entertain- 
 ment failed, a sail would heave in 
 sight; looming, perhaps, the very 
 spirit of a ship, in the misty distance, 
 or passing us so close that through 
 our glasses we could see the people on 
 her decks, and easily make out her 
 name, and whither she was bound. 
 For hours together we could watch 
 the dolphins and porpoises as they 
 rolled and leaped and dived around 
 the vessel ; or those small creatures 
 ever on the wing, the Mother Carey's 
 chickens, which had borne us com- 
 pany from New York bay, and for a 
 whole fortnight fluttered about the 
 vessel's stern. For some days we 
 "had a dead calm, or very light winds, 
 during which the crew amused them- 
 selves with fishing, and hooked an 
 unlucky dolphin, who expired, in all 
 his rainbow colours, on the deck : an 
 event of such importance in our bar- 
 ren calendar, that afterwards we dated 
 from the dolphin, and made the day 
 on which he died, an era. 
 
 Besides all this, when we were five 
 or six days out, there began to be 
 much talk of icebergs, of which wan- 
 dering islands an unusual number had 
 been seen by the vessels that had 
 
 come into New York a day or two 
 before we left that port, and of whoso 
 dangerous neighbourhood we were 
 warned by the sudden coldness of the 
 weather, and the sinking of the mer- 
 cury in the barometer. While these 
 tokens lasted, a double look-out was 
 kept, and many dismal tales were 
 whispered, after dark, of ships that 
 had struck upon the ice and gone 
 down in the night; but the wind 
 obliging us to hold a southward 
 course, we saw none of them, and the 
 weather soon grew bright and warm 
 again. 
 
 The observation every day at noon, 
 and the subsequent working of the 
 vessel's course, was, as may be sup- 
 posed, a feature in our lives of para- 
 mount importance ; nor were there 
 wanting (as there never are) sagacious 
 doubters of the captain's calculations, 
 who, so soon as his back was turned, 
 would, in the absence of compasses, 
 measure the chart with bite of string, 
 and ends of pocket-handkerchiefs, and 
 points of snuffers, and clearly prove 
 him to be wrong by an odd thousand 
 miles or so. It was very edifying to 
 see these unbelievers shake their 
 heads and frown, and hear them hold 
 forth strongly upon navigation : not 
 that they knew anything about it, 
 but that they always mistrusted the 
 captain in calm weather, or when the 
 wind was adverse. Indeed, the mer- 
 cury itself is not so variable as this 
 class of passengers, whom you will 
 see, when the ship is going nobly 
 through the water, quite pale with 
 admiration, swearing that the captain 
 beats all captains ever known, and 
 even hinting at subscriptions for a 
 piece of plate ; and who, next morn- 
 ing, when the breeze has lulled, and 
 all the sails hang useless in the idle 
 air, shake their despondent heads 
 again, and say, with screwed-up lips, 
 they hope that captain is a sailor but 
 they shrewdly doubt him.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 156 
 
 It even became an occupation in 
 the calm, to wonder when the wind 
 would spring up in the favourable 
 quarter, where, it was clearly shown 
 by all the rules and precedents, it 
 ought to have sprung up long ago. 
 The first mate, who whistled for it 
 zealously, wSs much respected for his 
 perseverance, and was regarded even 
 by the unbelievers as a first-rate sailor. 
 Many gloomy looks would be cast 
 upward through the cabin skylights 
 at the flapping sails while dinner was 
 in progress ; and some, growing bold 
 in ruefulness, predicted that we should 
 land about the middle of July. There 
 are always on board ship, a Sanguine 
 One, and a Despondent One. The 
 latter character carried it hollow at 
 this period of the voyage, and tri- 
 umphed ever the Sanguine One at 
 every meal, by inquiring where he 
 supposed the Great Western (which 
 left JS"ew York a week after us) was 
 now: and where he supposed the 
 ' Cunard ' steam-packet was now : 
 and what he thought of sailing ves- 
 sels as compared with steam-ships 
 now : and so beset his life with pes- 
 tilent attacks of that kind, that he too 
 was obliged to affect despondency, for 
 very peace and quietude. 
 
 These were additions to the list of 
 entertaining incidents, but there was 
 still another source of interest. We 
 carried in the steerage nearly a 
 hundred passengers : a little world of 
 poverty : and as we came to know 
 individuals among them by ^iinif, 
 from looking down upon the deck 
 where they took the air in the day- 
 time, and cooked their food, and very 
 often ate it too, we became curious to 
 know their histories, and with what 
 expectations they had gone out to 
 America, and on what errands they 
 were going home, and what their cir- 
 cumstances were. The information 
 we got on these heads from the car- ' 
 penter, who had charge of these 
 
 people, was often of the strangest 
 kind. Some of them had been in 
 America but three days, some but 
 three months, and some had gone out 
 in the last voyage of that very ship 
 in which they were now returning 
 home. Others had sold their clothes 
 to raise the passage-money, and had 
 hardly rags to cover them ; others 
 had no food, and lived upon the 
 charity of the rest : and one man, 
 it was discovered nearly at the end of 
 the voyage, not before for he kept 
 his secret close, and did not court 
 compassion had had no sustenance 
 whatever but the bones and scraps of 
 fat he took from the plates used in 
 the after-cabin dinner, when they were 
 put out to be washed. 
 
 The whole system of shipping and 
 conveying these unfortunate persons, 
 is one that stands in need of thorough 
 revision. If any class deserve to be 
 protected and assisted by the Govern- 
 ment, it is that class who are banished 
 from their native land in search of 
 the bare means of subsistence. All 
 that could be done for these poor 
 people by the great compassion and 
 humanity of the captain and officers 
 was done, but they require much 
 more. The law is bound, at least 
 upon the English side, to see that too 
 many of them are not put on board 
 one ship : and that their accommoda- 
 tions are decent : not demoralising 
 and profligate. It is bound, too, in 
 common humanity, to declare that no 
 man shall be taken on board without 
 his stock of provisions being pre- 
 viously inspected by some proper 
 officer, and pronounced moderately 
 sufficient for his support upon the 
 voyage. It is bound to provide, or to 
 require that there be provided, a 
 medical attendant ; whereas in these 
 ships there are none, though sickness 
 of adults, and deaths of children, on 
 the passage, are matters of the very 
 commonest occurrence. Above all it
 
 J56 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 is the duty of any Government, be it 
 monarchy or republic, to interpose 
 and put an end to that system by 
 which a firm of traders in emigrants 
 purchase of the owners the whole 
 'tween-decks of a ship, and send on 
 board as many wretched people 
 as they can lay hold of, on any 
 terms they can get, without the 
 smallest reference to the conveniences 
 of the steerage, the number of berths, 
 the slightest separation of the sexes, 
 or anything but their own immediate 
 profit. Nor is even this the worst of 
 the vicious system : for, certain crimp- 
 ing agents of these houses, who have 
 a per centage on all the passengers 
 they inveigle, are constantly travelling 
 about those districts where poverty 
 and discontent are rife, and tempting 
 the credulous into more misery, 
 by holding out monstrous induce- 
 ments to emigration which can never 
 be realised. 
 
 The history of every family we had 
 on board was pretty much the same. 
 After hoarding up, and borrowing, 
 and begging, and selling everything 
 to pay the passage, they had gone out 
 to New York, expecting to find its 
 streets paved with gold; and had 
 found them paved with very hard and 
 very real stones. Enterprise was dull ; 
 labourers were not wanted ; jobs of 
 work were to be got, but the payment 
 was not. They were coming back, even 
 poorer than they went. One of them 
 was carrying an open letter from a 
 young English artisan, who had been 
 in New York a fortnight, to a friend 
 near Manchester, whom he strongly 
 urged to follow him. One of the 
 officers brought it to me as a curiosity. 
 " This is the country, Jem," said the 
 writer. " I like America. There is 
 no despotism here ; that ' the great 
 thing. Employment of all sorts is 
 going a-begging, and wages are 
 capital. You have only to choose a 
 trade, Jem, and be it. I haven't made 
 
 choice of one j-et, but I shall soon. 
 At present I haven't quite made up 
 my mind whetfier to be a carpenter 
 or a tailor." 
 
 There was yet another kind of pas- 
 senger, and but one more, who, in 
 the calm and the light winds, was a 
 constant theme of conversation and 
 observation among us. This was an 
 English sailor, a smart, thorough- 
 built, English man-of-war's-man from 
 his hat to his shoes, who was serving 
 in the American navy, and having got 
 leave of absence was on his way home to 
 see his friends. When he presented 
 himself to take and pay for his passage, 
 it had been suggested to him that 
 being an able seaman he might as 
 well work it and save the money, but 
 this piece of advice he very indig- 
 nantly rejected : saying, " He'd be 
 damned but for once he'd go aboard 
 ship, as a gentleman." Accordingly, 
 they took his money, but he no 
 sooner came aboard, than he stowed 
 his kit in the forecastle, arranged to 
 mess with the crew, and the very 
 first time the hands were turned up, 
 went aloft like a cat, before anybody. 
 And all through the passage there he 
 was, first at the braces, outermost on 
 the yards, perpetually lending a hand 
 everywhere, but always with a sober 
 dignity in his manner, and a sober 
 grin on his face, which plainly said, 
 " I do it as a gentleman. For my own 
 pleasure, mind you ! " 
 
 At length and at last, the promised 
 wind came up in right good earnest, 
 and away we went before it, with, 
 every stitch of canvas set, slashing 
 through the water nobly. There was 
 a grandeur in the motion of the 
 splendid ship, as overshadowed by her 
 mass of sails, she rode at a furious 
 pace upon the waves, which filled 
 one with an indescribable sense of 
 pride and exultation. As she plunged 
 into a foaming valley, how I loved 
 to see the green waves, bordered
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 167 
 
 deep with white, come rushing on 
 astern, to buoy her upward at their 
 pleasure, and curl about her as she 
 stooped again, but always own her 
 for their haughty mistress still ! On, 
 on we flew, with changing lights upon 
 the water, being now in the blessed 
 region of fleecy skies ; a bright sun 
 lighting us by day, and a bright moon 
 by night; the vane pointing directly 
 homeward, alike the truthful index to 
 the favouring wind and to our cheerful 
 hearts ; until at sunrise, one fair 
 Monday morning the twenty-seventh 
 of June, I shall not easily forget the 
 day, there lay before us, old Cape 
 Clear, God bless it, showing, in the 
 mist of early morning, like a cloud : 
 the brightest and most welcome cloud, 
 to us, that ever hid the face of Hea- 
 ven's fallen sister Home. 
 
 Dim speck as it was in the wide 
 prospect, it made the sunrise a more 
 cheerful sight, and gave to it that 
 sort of human interest which it seems 
 to want at sea. There, as elsewhere, 
 the return of day is inseparable from 
 some sense of renewed hope and glad- 
 ness; but the light shining on the 
 dreary waste of water, and showing it 
 in all its vast extent of loneliness, 
 presents a solemn spectacle, which 
 even night, veiling it in darkness and 
 uncertainty, does not surpass. The 
 rising of the moon is more in keeping 
 with the solitary ocean ; and has an 
 air of melancholy grandeur, which in 
 its soft and gentle influence, seems to 
 comfort while it saddens. I recollect 
 when I was a very young child having 
 a fancy that the reflection of the moon 
 in water was a path to Heaven, trod- 
 den by the spirits of good people on 
 their way to God ; and this old feeling 
 often came over me again, when 
 I watched it on a tranquil night 
 at sea. 
 
 The wind was very light on this same 
 Monday morning, but it was still in the 
 right quarter, and so, by slow degrees, 
 
 we left Cape Clear behind, and sailed 
 along within sight of the coast ot 
 Ireland. And how merry we all 
 were, and how loyal to the George 
 Washington, and how full of mutual 
 congratulations, and how venture- 
 some in predicting the exact hour 
 at which we should arrive at Liverpool, 
 may be easily imagined and readily 
 understood. Also, how heartily we 
 drank the captain's health that day 
 at dinner ; and how restless we be- 
 came about packing up : and how 
 two or three of the most sanguine 
 spirits rejected the idea of going to 
 bed at all that night as something 
 it was not worth while to do, so near 
 the shore, but went nevertheless, and 
 slept soundly; and how to be so 
 near our journey's end, was like a 
 pleasant dream, from which one feared 
 to wake. 
 
 The friendly breeze freshened again 
 next day, and on we went once more 
 before it gallantly : descrying now 
 and then an English ship going 
 homeward under shortened sail, while 
 we with every inch of canvas crowded 
 on, dashed gaily past, and left her far 
 behind. Towards evening, the wea- 
 ther turned hazy, with a drizzling 
 rain ; and soon became so thick, that 
 we sailed, as it were, in a cloud. 
 Still we swept onward like a phan- 
 tom ship, and many an eager eye 
 glanced up to where the Look-out 
 on the mast kept watch for Holyhead. 
 
 At length his long-expected cry 
 was heard, and at the same moment 
 there shone out from the haze and 
 mist ahead, a gleaming light, which 
 presently was gone, and soon re- 
 turned, and soon was gone again. 
 Whenever it came back, the eyes of 
 all on board, brightened and sparkled 
 like itself: and there we all stood, 
 watching this revolving light upon 
 the rock at Holyhead, and prais- 
 ing it for its brightness and its 
 friendly warning, and lauding it, in
 
 158 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 short, above all other signal lights that 
 ever were displayed, until it once more 
 glimmered faintly in the distance, far 
 behind us. 
 
 Then, it was time to fire a gnn, for 
 a pilot ; and almost before its smoke 
 had cleared away, a little boat with 
 a light at her mast-head came bear- 
 ing down upon us, through the 
 darkness, swiftly. And presently, 
 our sails being backed, she ran 
 alongside ; and the hoarse pilot, 
 wrapped and muffled in pea-coats and 
 shawls to the very bridge of his wea- 
 ther-ploughed-up nose, stood bodily 
 among us on the deck. And I think 
 if that pilot had wanted to borrow fifty 
 pounds for an indefinite period on no 
 security, we should have engaged to 
 lend it him, among us, before his boat 
 had dropped astern, or (which is the 
 same thing) before every scrap of news 
 in the paper he brought with him had 
 become the common property of all 
 on board. 
 
 We turned in pretty late that 
 
 night, and turned out pretty early next 
 morning. By six o'clock we clustered 
 on the deck, prepared to go ashore , 
 and looked upon the spires, and 
 roofa, and smoke, of Liverpool. By 
 eight we all sat down in one of ite 
 Hotels, to eat and drink together for 
 the last time. And by nine we had 
 shaken hands all round, and broken 
 up our social company for ever. 
 
 The country, by the railroad, 
 seemed, as we rattled through it, like 
 a luxuriant garden. The beauty of 
 the fields (so small they looked !), the 
 hedge-rows, and the trees ; the pretty 
 cottages, the beds of flowers, the old 
 churchyards, the antique houses, and 
 every well-known object; the ex- 
 quisite delights of that one journey, 
 crowding in the short compass of 
 a summer's day, the joy of many 
 years, and winding up with Home 
 and all that makes it dear; no 
 tongue can tell, or pen of mine 
 describe.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 159 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE upholders of slavery in America 
 of the atrocities of which system, I 
 shall not write one word for which 
 I have not ample proof and warrant 
 may be divided into three great 
 classes. 
 
 The first, are those more moderate 
 and rational owners of human cattle, 
 who have come into the possession of 
 them as so many coins in their trading 
 capital, but who admit the frightful 
 nature of the Institution in the ab- 
 stract, and perceive the dangers to 
 society with which it is fraught : 
 dangers which however distant they 
 may be, or howsoever tardy in their 
 coming on, are as certain to fall upon 
 its guilty head, as is the Day of Judg- 
 ment. 
 
 The second, consists of all those 
 owners, breeders, users, buyers and 
 sellers of slaves, who will, until the j 
 bloody chapter has a bloody end, own, 
 breed, use, buy, and sell them at all 
 hazards ; who doggedly deny the 
 horrors of the system, in the teeth of 
 such a mass of evidence as never was 
 brought to bear on any other subject, 
 and to which the experience of every 
 day contributes its immense amount ; 
 who would at this or any other mo- 
 ment, gladly involve America in a war, 
 civil or foreign, provided that it had 
 for its sole end and object the asser- 
 tion of their right to perpetuate 
 slavery, and to whip and work and 
 torture slaves, unquestioned by any 
 human authority, and unassailed by 
 any human power; who, when they 
 speak of Freedom, mean the Freedom 
 to oppress their kind, and to be 
 savage, merciless, and cruel ; and of 
 
 whom every man on his own ground, 
 in republican America, is a more ex- 
 acting, and a sterner, and a less re- 
 sponsible despot than the Caliph 
 Haroun Alraschid in his angry robe 
 of scarlet. 
 
 The third, and not the least nu- 
 merous or influential, is composed of 
 all that delicate gentility which can- 
 not bear a superior, and cannot brook 
 an equal ; of that class whose Repub- 
 licanism means, " I will not tolerate a 
 man above me: and of those below, 
 none must approach too near ;" whose 
 pride, in a land where voluntary ser- 
 vitude is shunned as a disgrace, must 
 be ministered to by slaves ; and whose 
 inalienable rights can only have their 
 growth in negro wrongs. 
 
 It has been sometimes urged that, 
 in the unavailing efforts which have 
 been made to advance the cause of 
 Human Freedom in the republic of 
 America (strange cause for history to 
 treat of!), sufficient regard has not 
 been had to the existence of the first 
 class of persons ; and it has been con- 
 tended that they are hardly used, in 
 being confounded with the second. 
 This is, no doubt, the case ; noble 
 instances of pecuniary and personal 
 sacrifice have already had their growth 
 among them ; and it is much to be 
 regretted that the gulf between them 
 and the advocates of emancipation 
 should have been widened and deep- 
 ened by any means : the rather, as 
 there are, beyond dispute, among 
 these slave-owners, many kind masters 
 who are tender in the exercise of their 
 unnatural power. Still it is to be 
 feared that this injustice i.s inseparable
 
 160 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 from the state of things with which 
 humanity and truth are called upon 
 to deal. Slavery is not a whit the 
 more endurable because some hearts 
 are to be found which can partially 
 resist its hardening influences; nor 
 can the indignant tide of honest wrath 
 stand still, because in its onward 
 course it overwhelms a few who are 
 comparatively innocent, among a host 
 of guilty. 
 
 The ground most commonly taken 
 by these better men among the advo- 
 cates of slavery, is this : " It is a )>ad 
 system ; and for myself I would wil- 
 lingly get rid of it, if I could ; most 
 willingly. But it is not so bad, as you 
 in England take it to be. You are 
 deceived by the representations of 
 the emancipationists. The greater 
 part of my slaves are much attached 
 to me. You will say that I do not 
 allow them to be severely treated ; 
 but I will put it to you whether you 
 believe that it can be a general prac- 
 tice to treat them inhumanly, when it 
 would impair their value, and would 
 be obviously against the interests of 
 their masters." 
 
 Is it the interest of any man to 
 steal, to game, to waste his health 
 and mental faculties by drunkenness, 
 to lie, forswear himself, indulge 
 hatred, seek desperate revenge, or do 
 murder? No. All these are roads 
 to ruin. And why, then, do men 
 tread them? Because such inclina- 
 tions are among the vicious qualities 
 of mankind. Blot out, ye friends of 
 slavery, from the catalogue of human 
 passions, brutal lust, cruelty, and the 
 abuse of irresponsible power (of all 
 earthly temptations the most difficult 
 to be resisted), and when ye have 
 done so, and not before, we will in- 
 quire whether it be the interest of a 
 master to lash and maim the slaves, 
 over whose lives and limbs he has an 
 .absolute controul ! 
 
 But again : this class, together 
 
 with that last one I have named, the 
 miserable aristocracy spawned of a 
 false republic, lift up their voices and 
 exclaim " Public opinion is all suffi- 
 cient to prevent such cruelty as you 
 denounce." Public opinion ! Why, 
 public opinion in the slave States is 
 slavery, is it not 1 Public opinion, in 
 the slave States, has delivered the 
 slaves over, to the gentle mercies of 
 their masters. Public opinion has 
 made the laws, ajid denied the slaves 
 legislative protection. Public opinion 
 has knotted the lash, heated the 
 branding-iron, loaded the rifle, and 
 shielded the murderer. Public opinion 
 threatens the abolitionist with death, 
 if he venture to the South ; and drags 
 him with a rope about his middle, in 
 broad unblushing noon, through the 
 first city in the East. Public opinion 
 has, within a few years, burned a 
 slave alive at a slow tire in the city of 
 St Louis ; and public opinion has to 
 this day maintained upon the bench 
 that estimable Judge who charged 
 the Jury, impanelled there to try his 
 murderers, that their most horrid 
 deed was an act of public opinion, and 
 being so, must not be punished by 
 the laws the public sentiment had 
 made. Public opinion hailed this 
 doctrine with a howl of wild applause, 
 and set the prisoners free, to walk the 
 city, men of mark, and influence, and 
 station, as they had been before. 
 
 Public opinion ! what class of men 
 have an immense preponderance over 
 the rest of the community, in their 
 power of representing public opinion 
 in the legislature ? the slave owners. 
 They send from their twelve States 
 one hundred members, while the 
 fourteen free States, with a free popu- 
 lation nearly double, return but a 
 hundred and forty-two. Before whom 
 do the presidential candidates bow 
 down the most humbly, on whom do 
 they fawn the most fondly, and for 
 whose tastes do they cater the most
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 161 
 
 assiduously in their servile protesta- 
 tions ? The slave owners always. 
 
 Public opinion ! hear the public 
 opinion of the free South, as expressed 
 by its own members in the House of 
 Representatives at Washington. " I 
 have a great respect for the chair," 
 quoth North Carolina, "I have a 
 great respect for the chair as an 
 officer of the house, and a great re- 
 spect for him personally ; nothing but 
 that respect prevents me from rushing 
 to the table and tearing that petition 
 which has just been presented for the 
 abolition of slavery in the district of 
 Columbia, to pieces." "I warn the 
 abolitionists," says South Carolina, 
 "ignorant, infuriated barbarians as 
 they are, that if chance shall throw 
 any of them into our hands, he may 
 expect a felon's death." " Let an 
 abolitionist come within the borders 
 of South Carolina," cries a third ; 
 mild Carolina's colleague ; " and if 
 we can catch him, we will try him, 
 and notwithstanding the interference 
 of all the governments on earth, in- 
 cluding the Federal government, we 
 will HANG him." 
 
 Public opinion has made this law. 
 It has declared that in Washington, 
 in that city which takes its name 
 from the father of American liberty, 
 any justice of the peace may bind 
 with fetters any negro passing down 
 the street and thrust him into jail : 
 no offence on the black man's part is 
 necessary. The justice says, "I choose 
 to think this man a runaway:" and 
 locks him up. Public opinion im- 
 powers the man of law when this is 
 done, to advertise the negro in the 
 newspapers, warning his owner to 
 come and claim him, or he will be 
 sold to pay the jail fees. But sup- 
 posing he is a free black, and has no 
 owner, it may naturally be presumed 
 that he is set at liberty. No : HE is 
 
 SOLD TO RECOMPENSE HIS JAILER. This 
 
 has been done again, and again, and 
 No. 171. 
 
 again. He has no means of proving 
 his freedom ; has no adviser, mes- 
 senger, or assistance of any sort or 
 kind ; no investigation into his casa 
 is made, or inquiry instituted. He 
 a free man, who may have served for 
 years, and bought his liberty, is 
 thrown into jail on no process, for no 
 crime, and on no pretence of crime : 
 and is sold to pay the jail fees. This 
 seems incredible, even of America, 
 but it is the law. 
 
 Public opinion is deferred to, in 
 such cases as the following; which is 
 headed in the newspapers : 
 
 " Interesting Law-Case. 
 " An interesting case is now on trial 
 in the Supreme Court, arising out of 
 the following facts. A gentleman 
 residing in Maryland had allowed an 
 aged pair of his slaves, substantial 
 though not legal freedom for several 
 years. While thus living, a daughter 
 was born to them, who grew up in 
 the same liberty, until she married a 
 free negro, and went with him to 
 reside in Pennsylvania. They had 
 several children, and lived unmolested 
 until the original owner died, when 
 his heir attempted to regain them ; 
 but the magistrate before whom they 
 were brought, decided that he had no 
 jurisdiction in the case. The owner 
 seized the woman and her children in 
 the night, and carried them to Mary- 
 land." 
 
 " Cash for negroes," " cash for 
 negroes," " cash for negroes," is the 
 heading of advertisements in great 
 capitals down the long columns of the 
 crowded journals. Woodcuts of a 
 runaway negro with manacled hands, 
 crouching beneath a bluff pursuer in 
 top boots, who having caught him. 
 grasps him by the throat, agreeably 
 diversify the pleasant text. The 
 leading article protests against " that 
 abominable and hellish doctrine of 
 
 11
 
 162 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 abolition, which is repugnant alike to 
 every law of God and nature." The 
 delicate mama, who smiles her acqui- 
 escence in this sprightly writing as 
 she reads the paper in her cool piazza, 
 quiets her youngest child who clings 
 about her skirts, by promising the boy 
 "a whip to beat the little niggers 
 with." But the negroes, little and 
 big, are protected by public opinion. 
 
 Let us try this public opinion by 
 another test, which is important in 
 three points of view : first, as showing 
 how desperately timid of the public 
 opinion slave owners are, in their 
 delicate descriptions of fugitive slaves 
 in widely circulated newspapers ; 
 secondly, as showing how perfectly 
 contented the slaves are, and how very 
 seldom they run away; thirdly, as 
 exhibiting their entire freedom from 
 scar, or blemish, or any mark of cruel 
 infliction, as their pictures are drawn, 
 not by lying abolitionists, but by 
 their own truthful masters. 
 
 The following are a few specimens 
 of the advertisements in the public 
 papers. It is only four years since 
 the oldest among them appeared ; 
 and others of the same nature con- 
 tinue to be published every day, in 
 shoals. 
 
 " Ran away, degress Caroline. Had 
 on a collar with one prong turned 
 down." 
 
 " Ran away, a black woman, Betsy. 
 Had an iron bar on her right leg." 
 
 " Ran away, the negro Manuel. 
 Much marked with irons." 
 
 " Ran away, the negress Fanny. 
 Had on an iron band about her neck." 
 
 "Ran away, a negro boy about 
 twelve years old. Had round his neck 
 a chain dog-collar with ' De Lamport' 
 engraved on it." 
 
 " Ran away, the negro Hown. Has 
 a ring of iron on his left foot. Also, 
 Grise, his wife, having a ring and 
 chain on the left leg." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro boy named 
 
 James. Said boy was ironed when 
 he left me." Sr 
 
 " Committed to jail, a man who 
 calls his name John. He has a clog 
 of iron on his right foot which will 
 weigh four or five pounds." 
 
 " Detained at the police jail, the 
 negro wench, Myra. Has several 
 marks of LASIIIXG, and has irons on 
 her feet." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro woman and 
 two children. A few days before she 
 went off, I burnt her with a hot iron, 
 on the left side of her face. I tried 
 to make the letter M." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro man named 
 Henry; his left eye out, some scars 
 from a dirk on and under his left 
 arm, and much scarred with the 
 whip." 
 
 " One hundred dollars reward, for 
 a negro fellow, Pompey, 40 years old. 
 He is branded on the left jaw." 
 
 " Committed to jail, a negro man. 
 Has no toes on the left foot" 
 
 " Ran away, a negro woman named 
 Rachel. Has lost all her toes except 
 the large one." 
 
 " Ran away, Sam. He was shot a 
 short time since through the hand, 
 and has several shots in his left arm 
 and side." 
 
 " Ran away, my negro man Dennis. 
 Said negro has been shot in the left 
 arm between the shoulders and elbow, 
 which has paralysed the left hand." 
 
 " Ran away, my negro man named 
 Simon. He has been shot badly, in 
 his back and right arm." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro named Arthur. 
 Has a considerable scar across his 
 breast and each arm, made by a 
 knife ; loves to ' talk much of the 
 goodness of God." 
 
 " Twenty-five dollars reward for 
 my man Isaac. He has a scar on his 
 forehead, caused by a blow ; and one 
 on his back, made by a shot from a 
 pistol." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro girl called
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 163 
 
 Mary. Has a small scar over her 
 eye, a good many teeth missing, the 
 letter A is branded on her cheek and 
 forehead." 
 
 " Ran away, negro Ben. Has a 
 scar on his right hand ; his thumb 
 and forefinger being injured by being 
 shot last fall. A part of the bone 
 came out. He has also one or two 
 large scars on his back and hips." 
 
 " Detained at the jail, a mulatto, 
 named Tom. Has a scar on the right 
 cheek, and appears to have been 
 burned with powder on the face." 
 
 " Ean away, a negro man named 
 Ned. Three of his fingers are drawn 
 into the palm of his hand by a cut. 
 Has a scar on the back of his neck, 
 nearly half round, done by a knife." 
 
 " Was committed to jail, a negro 
 man. Says his name is Josiah. His 
 back very much scarred by the whip; 
 and branded on the thigh and hips 
 in three or four places, thus (J SI). 
 The rim of his right ear has been bit 
 or cut off." 
 
 " Fifty dollars reward, for my fellow 
 Edward. He has a scar on the corner 
 of his mouth, two cuts on and under 
 his arm, and the letter E on his arm." 
 
 " Ean away, negro boy Ellie. Has 
 a scar on one of his arms from the 
 bite of a dog." 
 
 " Ran away, from the plantation of 
 James Surgette, the following negroes : 
 Randal, has one ear cropped; Bob, 
 has lost one eye ; Kentucky Tom, has 
 one jaw broken," 
 
 " Ran away, Anthony. One of his 
 ears cut off, and his left hand cut with 
 an axe." 
 
 " Fifty dollars reward for the negro 
 Jim Blake. Has a piece cut out of 
 each ear, and the middle finger of 
 the left hand cut off to the second 
 joint." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro woman named 
 Maria. Has a scar on one side of her 
 cheek, by a cut. Some scars on her 
 back." 
 
 "Ran away, the Mulatto wench 
 Mary. Has a cut on the left arm, a 
 scar on the left shoulder, and two 
 upper teeth missing." 
 
 I should say, perhaps, in explana- 
 tion of this latter piece of description, 
 that among the other blessings which 
 public opinion secures to the negroes, 
 is the common practice of violently 
 punching out their teeth. To make 
 them wear iron collars by day and 
 night, and to worry them with dogs, 
 are practices almost too ordinary to 
 deserve mention. 
 
 "Ran away, my man Fountain. 
 Has holes in his ears, a scar on the 
 right side of his forehead, has been 
 shot in the hind parts of his legs, 
 and is marked on the back with the 
 whip." 
 
 " Two hundred and fifty dollars 
 reward for my negro man Jim. He 
 is much marked with shot in his 
 right thigh. The shot entered on 
 the outside, halfway between the hip 
 and knee joints." 
 
 " Brought to jail, John. Left ear 
 cropt." 
 
 " Taken up, a negro man. Is very 
 much scarred about the face and body, 
 and has the left ear bit off." 
 
 "Ran away, a black girl, named 
 Mary. Has a scar on her cheek, and 
 the end of one of her toes cut off." 
 
 "Ran away, my Mulatto woman, 
 Judy. She has had her right arm 
 broke." 
 
 '' Ean away, my negro man, Levi. 
 His left hand has been burnt, and I 
 think the end of his forefinger is off." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro man, NAMED 
 WASHINGTON. Has lost a part of his 
 middle finger, and the end of his little 
 finger." 
 
 " Twenty-five dollars reward for my 
 man John. The tip of his nose is 
 bit off." 
 
 " Twenty-five dollars reward for the 
 negro slave, Sally. Walks as though 
 crippled in the back." 
 
 H 2
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 "Ran away, Joe Dennis. Has a 
 small notch in one of his ears." 
 
 " Ran away, negro boy, Jack. Has 
 a small crop out of his left ear." 
 
 " Ran away, a negro man, named 
 Ivory. Has a small piece cut out of 
 the top of each ear." 
 
 While upon the subject of ears, I 
 may observe that a distinguished abo 
 litionist in New York once received a 
 negro's ear, which had been cut off 
 close to the head, in a general post 
 letter. It was forwarded by the free 
 and independent gentleman who had 
 caused it to be amputated, with a 
 polite request that he would place the 
 specimen in his " collection." 
 
 I could enlarge this catalogue with 
 broken arms, and broken legs, and 
 gashed flesh, and missing teeth, and 
 "acerated backs, and bites of dogs, 
 and brands of red-hot irons innumer- 
 able : but as my readers will be suffi- 
 ciently sickened and repelled already, 
 I will turn to another branch of the 
 subject. 
 
 These advertisements, of which a 
 similar collection might be made for 
 every year, and month, and week, and 
 day ; and which are coolly read in 
 families as things of course, and as a 
 part of the current news and small- 
 talk ; will serve to show how very 
 much the slaves profit by public 
 opinion, and how tender it is in their 
 behalf. But it may be worth while to 
 inquire how the slave owners, and the 
 class of society to which great numbers 
 of them belong, defer to public opinion 
 in their conduct, not to their slaves but 
 to each other ; how they are accus- 
 tomed to restrain their passions ; what 
 their bearing is among themselves; 
 whether they are fierce or gentle ; 
 whether their social customs be brutal, 
 sanguinary, and violent, or bear the 
 impress of civilisation and refinement. 
 
 That we may have no partial evi- 
 dence from abolitionists in this in- 
 quiry, either, I will once more turn 
 
 to their own newspapers, and I will 
 confine myself, this time, to a selec- 
 tion from paragraphs which appeared 
 from day to day, during my visit to 
 America, and which refer to occur- 
 rences happening while I was there. 
 The italics in these extracts, as in the 
 foregoing, are my own. 
 
 These cases did not ALL occur, it 
 will be seen, in territory actually 
 belonging to legalised Slave States, 
 though most and those the very worst 
 among them did, as their counterparts 
 constantly do; but the position of the 
 scenes of action in reference to places 
 immediately at hand, where slavery is 
 the law ; and the strong resemblance 
 between that class of outrages and the 
 rest; lead to the just presumption 
 that the character of the parties con- 
 cerned was formed in slave districts, 
 and brutalised by slave customs. 
 
 "Horrible Tragedy. 
 
 " By a slip from The Southport 
 Telegraph, Wisconsin, we learn that 
 the Hon. Charles C. P. Arndt, Member 
 of the Council for Brown county, was 
 shot dead on Hie floor of Hie Council 
 chamber, by James R. Vinyard, Mem- 
 ber from Grant county. The affair 
 grew out of a nomination for Sheriff 
 of Grant county. Mr. E. S. Baker 
 was nominated and supported by Mr. 
 Arndt. This nomination was opposed 
 by Vinyard, who wanted the appoint- 
 ment to vest in his own brother. In 
 the course of debate, the deceased 
 made some statements which Vinyard 
 pronounced false, and made use of 
 violent and insulting language, deal- 
 ing largely in personalities, to which 
 Mr. A. made no reply. After the 
 adjournment, Mr. A. stepped up to 
 Vinyard, and requested him to retract, 
 which he refused to do, repeating the 
 offensive words. Mr. Arndt then 
 made a blow at Vinyard, who stepped 
 back a pace, drew a pistol, and shot 
 him dead.
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 165 
 
 '' The issue appears to have been 
 provoked on the part of Vinyard, 
 who was determined at all hazards to 
 defeat the appointment of Baker, and 
 who, himself defeated, turned his ire 
 and revenge upon the unfortunate 
 Arndt." 
 
 " The Wisconsin Tragedy. 
 
 "Public indignation runs high in 
 the territory of Wisconsin, in relation 
 to the murder of C. C. P. Arndt, in 
 the Legislative Hall of the Territory. 
 Meetings have been held in differ- 
 ent counties of Wisconsin, denouncing 
 the practice of secmtly bearing arms 
 in the Legislative chambers of the 
 country. We have seen the account 
 of the expulsion of James R. Vinyard, 
 the perpetrator of the bloody deed, 
 and are amazed to hear, that, after 
 this expulsion by those who saw Vin- 
 yard kill Mr. Arndt in the presence 
 of his aged father, who was on a visit 
 to see his son, little dreaming that he 
 was to witness his murder, Judge 
 Dunn has discharged Vinyard on 
 bail. The Miners' Free Press speaks 
 in terms of merited rebuke at the out- 
 rage upon the feelings of the people 
 of Wisconsin. Vinyard was within 
 arm's length of Mr. Arndt, when he 
 took such deadly aim at him, that he 
 never spoke. Vinyard might at plea- 
 sure, being so near, have only wounded 
 him, but he chose to kill him." 
 
 " Murder. 
 
 " By a letter in a St. Louis paper of 
 the 14th, we notice a terrible outrage 
 at Burlington, Iowa. A Mr. Bridg- 
 inan having had a difficulty with a 
 citizen of the place, Mr. Ross ; a 
 brother-in-law of the latter provided 
 himself Avith one of Colt's revolving 
 pistols, met Mr. B. in the street, and 
 discharged the contents of Jive of the 
 barrels at him : each shot taking effect. 
 Mr. B., though horribly wounded, and 
 
 j dying, returned the fire, and killed 
 Ross on the spot." 
 
 Terrible death of Robert Potter. 
 
 " From the ' Caddo Gazette,' of the 
 12th inst., we learn the frightful 
 death of Colonel Robert Potter. .... 
 He was beset in his house by an 
 enemy, named Rose. He sprang from 
 his couch, seized his gun, and, in his 
 night clothes, rushed from the house. 
 For about two hundred yards his 
 speed seemed to defy his pursuers; 
 but, getting entangled in a thicket, 
 he was captured. Rose told him that 
 he intended to act a generous part, 
 and give him a chance for his life. 
 He then told Potter he might run, 
 and he should not be interrupted till 
 he reached a certain distance'. Potter 
 started at the word of command, and 
 before a gun was fired he had reached 
 the lake. His first impulse was to 
 jump in the water and dive for it, 
 which he did. Rose was close behind 
 him, and formed his men on the bank 
 ready to shoot him as he rose. In a 
 few seconds he came up to breathe ; 
 and scarce had his head reached the 
 surface of the water when it was com- 
 pletely riddled with the shot of their 
 guns, and he sunk, to rise no more ! " 
 
 "Murder in Arkansas. 
 
 " We understand that a severe ren- 
 contre came off a few days since in the 
 Seneca Nation, between Mr. Loose, 
 the sub-agent of the mixed band of 
 the Senecas, Quapaw, and Shawnees, 
 and Mr. James Gillespie, of the mer- 
 cantile firm of Thomas G. Allison and 
 Co., of Maysville, Benton, County 
 Ark, in which the latter was slain 
 with a bowie-knife. Some difficulty 
 had for some time existed between 
 the parties. It is said that Major 
 Gillespie brought on the attack with 
 a cane. A severe conflict ensued, 
 during which two pistols were fired
 
 166 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 by Gillespie and one by Loose. Loose 
 then stabbed Gillespie with one of 
 those never failing weapons, a bowie- 
 knife. The death of Major G. is 
 much regretted, as he was a liberal- 
 minded and energetic man. Since 
 the above was in type, we have 
 learned that Major Allison has stated 
 to some of our citizens in town that 
 Mr. Loose gave the first blow. We 
 forbear to give any particulars, as the 
 mailer will be the subject of judicial 
 investigation" 
 
 "Foul Deed. 
 
 "The steamer Thames, just from 
 Missouri river, brought us a handbill, 
 offering a reward of 500 dollars, for 
 the person who assassinated Lilburn 
 W. Baggs, late Governor of this State, 
 at Independence, on the night of the 
 6th inst. Governor Baggs, it is stated 
 in a written memorandum, was not 
 dead, but mortally wounded. 
 
 " Since the above was written, we 
 received a note from the clerk of 
 the Thames, giving the following par- 
 ticulars. Gov. Baggs was shot by 
 some villain on Friday, 6th inst., in 
 the evening, while sitting in a room 
 in his own house in Independence. 
 His son, a boy, hearing a report, ran 
 into the room, and found the Gover- 
 nor sitting in his chair, with his jaw 
 fallen down, and his head leaning 
 back ; on discovering the injury done 
 his father, he gave the alarm. Foot 
 tracks were found in the garden below 
 the window, and a pistol picked up 
 supposed to have been overloaded, 
 and thrown from the hand of the 
 scoundrel who fired it. Three buck 
 shots of a heavy load, took effect ; one 
 going through his mouth, one into 
 the brain, and another probably in or 
 near the brain ; all going into the 
 back part of the neck and head. The 
 Governor was still alive on the morning 
 of the 7th ; but no hopes for his reco- 
 
 very by his friends, and but slight 
 hopes from his physicians. 
 
 "A man was suspected, and the 
 Sheriff most probably has possession 
 of him by this time. 
 
 " The pistol was one of a pair stolen 
 some days previous from a baker in 
 Independence, and the legal autho- 
 rities have the description of the 
 other." 
 
 " Rencontre. 
 
 " An unfortunate affair took place 
 on Friday evening in Chatres Street, 
 in which one of our most respectable 
 citizens received a dangerous wound, 
 from a poignard in the abdomen. 
 From the Bee (N/ew Orleans) of yester- 
 day, we learn the following particulars. 
 It appears that an article was pub- 
 lished in the French side of the paper 
 on Monday last, containing some 
 strictures on the Artillery Battalion 
 for firing their guns on Sunday morn- 
 ing, in answer to those from the 
 Ontario and Woodbury, and thereby 
 much alarm was caused to the families 
 of those persons who were out all 
 night preserving the peace of the city. 
 Major C. Gaily, Commander of the 
 battalion resenting this, called at the 
 office and demanded the author's 
 name ; that of M. P. Arpin was 
 given to him, who was absent at the 
 time. Some angry words then passed 
 with one of the proprietors, and a 
 challenge followed; the friends of 
 both parties tried to arrange the 
 affair, but failed to do so. On Friday 
 evening, about seven o'clock, Major 
 Gaily met Mr. P. Arpin in Chatres 
 Street, and accosted him. ' Are you 
 Mr. Arpin? ' 
 
 " ' Yes, Sir.' 
 
 " ' Then I have to tell you that you 
 are a ' " (applying an appropri- 
 ate epithet) 
 
 " ' I shall remind you of your words, 
 sir.' 
 
 " ' But I have said I would break 
 my cane on your shoulders.'
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 167 
 
 " ' I know it, but I have not yet 
 received the blow.' 
 
 " At these words, Major Gaily, 
 having a cane in his hands, struck Mr. 
 Arpin across the face, and the latter 
 drew a poignard from his pocket and 
 stabbed Major Gaily in the abdomen. 
 
 "Fears are entertained that the 
 wound will be mortal. We under- 
 stand that Mr. Arpin Jtas given secu- 
 rity for his appearance at the Crimi- 
 nal Court to answer the cliarge." 
 
 " Affray in Mississippi. 
 
 " On the 27th ult., in an affray 
 near Carthage, Leake county, Missis- 
 sippi, between James Cottingham and 
 John Wilburn, the latter was shot by 
 the former, and so horribly wounded, 
 that there was no hope of his recovery. 
 On the 2nd instant, there was an affray 
 at Carthage between A. C. Shark ey 
 and George Goff, in which the latter 
 was shot, and thought mortally 
 wounded. Sharkey delivered him- 
 self up to the authorities, but changed 
 his mind and escaped ! " 
 
 " Personal Encounter. 
 
 " An encounter took place in Sparta, 
 a few days since, between the bar- 
 keeper of an hotel, and a man named 
 Bury. It appears that Bury had 
 become somewhat noisy, and that the 
 barkeeper, determined to preserve 
 order, had threatened to shoot Bury, 
 whereupon Bury drew a pistol and 
 shot the barkeeper down. He was 
 not dead at the last accounts, but 
 slight hopes were entertained of his 
 recovery." 
 
 " Duel. 
 
 " The clerk of the steamboat Tri- 
 bune informs us that another duel 
 was fought on Tuesday last, by Mr. 
 Bobbins, a bank officer in Vicksburg, 
 and Mr. Fall, the editor of the Vicks- 
 burg Sentinel. According to the 
 arrangement, the parties had six 
 
 pistols each, which, after the word 
 ' Fire ! ' they were to discharge as fast 
 as they pleased. Fall fired two pistols 
 without effect. Mr. Bobbins' first 
 shot took effect in Fall's thigh, who 
 fell, and was unable to continue the 
 combat." 
 
 " Affray in Clarke County. 
 
 " An unfortunate affray occurred in 
 Clarke county (Mo.) near Waterloo, 
 on Tuesday the 19th ult., which origi- 
 nated in settling the partnership con- 
 cerns of Messrs. M'Kane and M'Allia- 
 ter, who had been engaged in the 
 business of distilling, and resulted in 
 the death of the latter, who was shot 
 down by Mr. M'Kane, because of his 
 attempting to take possession of seven 
 barrels of whiskey, the property of 
 M'Kane, which had been knocked off 
 to M'Allister at a sheriff's sale at one 
 
 j dollar per barrel. M'Kane immedi- 
 ately fled and at the latest dates had 
 not been taJxn. 
 
 "This unfortunate affray caused 
 considerable excitement in the neigh- 
 bourhood, as both the parties were 
 men with large families depending 
 upon them and stood well in the 
 
 , community." 
 
 I will quote but one more para- 
 I graph, which, by reason of its mon- 
 | strous absurdity, may be a relief to 
 these atrocious deeds. 
 
 " Affair of Honor. 
 
 " We have just heard the particu- 
 lars of a meeting which took place on 
 Six Mile Island, on Tuesday, between 
 two young bloods of our city : Samuel 
 Thurston, agf.d fifteen, and William 
 Hine, aged thirteen years. They were 
 attended by young gentlemen of the 
 same age. The weapons used on the 
 occasion, were a couple of Dickson's 
 best rifles ; the distance, thirty yards. 
 They took one fire, without any 
 damage being sustained by either
 
 168 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 party, except the ball of Thurston's 
 gun passing through the crown of 
 Bine's hat. Through the intercession 
 of the Board of Honour, the challenge 
 was withdrawn, and the difference 
 amicably adjusted." 
 
 If the reader will picture to him- 
 self the kind of Board of Honour 
 which amicably adjusted the difference 
 between these two little boys, who in 
 any other part of the world would have 
 been amicably adjusted on two por- 
 ters' backs and soundly flogged with 
 birchen rods, he will be possessed, no 
 doubt, with as strong a sense of its 
 ludicrous character, as that which sets 
 me laughing whenever its image rises 
 up before me. 
 
 Now, I appeal to every human 
 mind, imbued with the commonest of 
 common sense, and the commonest of 
 common humanity; to all dispas- 
 sionate, reasoning creatures, of any 
 shade of opinion ; and ask, with these 
 revolting evidences of the state of 
 society which exists in and about the 
 slave districts of America before them, 
 can they have a doubt of the real con- 
 dition of the slave, or can they for a 
 moment make a compromise between 
 the institution or any of its flagrant 
 fearful features, and their own just 
 consciences] Will they say of any 
 tale of cruelty and horror, however 
 aggravated in degree, that it is im- 
 probable, when they can turn to the 
 public prints, and, running, read 
 such signs as these, laid before them 
 by the men who rule the slaves : in 
 their own acts and under their own 
 hands] 
 
 Do we not know that the worst 
 deformity and ugliness of slavery are 
 at once the cause and the effect of the 
 reckless license taken by these free- 
 born outlaws 1 Do we not know that 
 the man who has been born and bred 
 among its wrongs ; who has seen in 
 his childhood husbands obliged at the 
 
 word of command to flog their wives; 
 women, indecently compelled to hold 
 up their own garments that men 
 might lay the heavier stripes upon 
 their legs, driven and harried by 
 brutal overseers in their time of 
 travail, and becoming mothers on the 
 field of toil, under the very lash itself; 
 who has read in youth, and seen his 
 virgin sisters read, descriptions of 
 runaway men and women, and their 
 disfigured persons, which could not 
 be published elsewhere, of so much 
 stock upon a farm, or at a show of 
 beasts : do we not know that that 
 man, whenever his wrath is kindled 
 up, will be a brutal savage ? Do we 
 not know that as he is a coward in his 
 domestic life, stalking among his 
 shrinking men and women slaves 
 armed with his heavy whip, so he will 
 be a coward out of doors, and carrying 
 cowards' weapons hidden in his breast 
 will shoot men down and stab them 
 when he quarrels ] And if our reason 
 did not teach us this and much be- 
 yond ; if we were such idiots as to 
 close our eyes to thai fine mode of 
 training which rears up such men; 
 should we not know that they who 
 among their equals stab and pistol in 
 the legislative halls, and in the 
 counting-house, and on the market- 
 place, and in all the elsewhere peaceful 
 pursuits of life, must be to their de- 
 pendants, even though they were free 
 servants, so many merciless and un- 
 relenting tyrants 1 
 
 What ! shall we declaim against the 
 ignorant peasantry of Ireland, and 
 mince the matter when these American 
 taskmasters are in question] Shall 
 we cry shame on the brutality of those 
 who ham-string cattle : and spare the 
 lights of Freedom upon earth who 
 notch the ears of men and women, 
 cut pleasant posies in the shrinking 
 flesh, learn to write with pens of red- 
 hot iron on the human face, rack 
 their poetic fancies for liveries of
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 169 
 
 mutilation which their slaves shall i 
 wear for life and carry to the grave, i 
 break living limbs as did the soldiery ! 
 who mocked and slew the Saviour of \ 
 the world, and set defenceless crea- 
 tures up for targets ! Shall we 
 whimper over legends of the tortures 
 practised on each other by the Pagan 
 Indians, and smile upon the cruelties 
 of Christian men ! Shall we, so long 
 as these things last, exult above the 
 scattered remnants of that stately 
 race, and triumph in the white enjoy- 
 ment of their broad possessions 1 
 Bather, for me, restore the forest and 
 the Indian village; in lieu of stars 
 and stripes, let some poor feather 
 flutter in the breeze; replace the 
 streets and squares by wigwams ; and 
 though the death-song of a hundred 
 
 haughty warriors fill the air, it will 
 be music to the shriek of one un- 
 happy slave. 
 
 On one theme, which is commonly 
 before our eyes, and in respect of 
 which our national character is chang- 
 ing fast, let the plain Truth be spoken, 
 and let us not, like dastards, beat 
 about the bush by hinting at the 
 Spaniard and the fierce Italian. When 
 knives are drawn by Englishmen in 
 conflict let it be said and known : 
 " We owe this change to Republican 
 Slavery. These are the weapons of 
 Freedom. With sharp points and 
 edges such as these, Liberty in 
 America hews and hacks her slaves ; 
 or, failing that pursuit, her sons 
 devote them to a better use, and turn 
 them on each other."
 
 170 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 THERE are many passages in this book, 
 where I have been at some pains to 
 resist the temptation of troubling 
 my readers with my own deductions 
 and conclusions : preferring that they 
 should judge for themselves, from 
 such premises as I have laid before 
 them. My only object in the outset, 
 was, to carry them with me faithfully 
 wheresoever I went : and that task I 
 have discharged. 
 
 But I may be pardoned, if on such 
 a theme as the general character of 
 the American people, and the general 
 character of their social system, as 
 presented to a stranger's eyes, I desire 
 to express my own opinions in a few 
 words, before I bring these .volumes 
 to a close. 
 
 They are, by nature, frank, brave, 
 cordial, hospitable, and affectionate. 
 Cultivation and refinement seem but 
 to enhance their warmth of heart and 
 ardent enthusiasm ; and it is the pos- 
 session of these latter qualities in a 
 most remarkable degree, which ren- 
 ders an educated American one of the 
 most endearing and most generous of 
 friends. I never was so won upon, as 
 by this class ; never yielded up my 
 full confidence and esteem so readily 
 and pleasnrably, as to them ; never can 
 make again, in half-a-year, so many 
 friends for whom I seem to entertain 
 the regard of half a life. 
 
 These qualities are natural, I impli- 
 citly believe, to the whole people. 
 That they are, however, sadly sapped 
 and blighted in their growth among 
 the mass; and that there arc influ- 
 ences at work which endanger them 
 
 I still more, and give but little present 
 I promise of their healthy restoration ; 
 is a truth that ought to be told. 
 
 It is an essential part of every 
 national character to pique itself 
 mightily upon its faults, and to deduce 
 tokens of its virtue or its wisdom from 
 their very exaggeration. One great 
 blemish in the popular mind of Ame- 
 rica, and the prolific parent of an 
 | innumerable brood of evils, is Univer- 
 sal Distrust. Yet the American citi- 
 zen plumes himself upon this spirit, 
 even when he is sufficiently dispas- 
 sionate to perceive the ruin it works ; 
 and will often adduce it, in spite of 
 his own reason, as an instance of the 
 great sagacity and acuteness of the 
 people, and their superior shrewdness 
 and independence. 
 
 " You carry," says the stranger, 
 " this jealousy and distrust into every 
 transaction of public life. By repel- 
 ling worthy men from your legislative 
 assemblies, it has bred up a class of 
 candidates for the suffrage, who, in 
 their every act, disgrace your Institu- 
 tions and your people's choice. It 
 has rendered you so fickle, and so 
 | given to change, that your inconstancy 
 ; has passed into a proverb ; for you no 
 I sooner set up an idol firmly, than you 
 | are sure to pull it down and dash it 
 into fragments : and this, because 
 directly you reward a benefactor, or a 
 public servant, you distrust him, 
 merely because he is rewarded; and 
 immediately apply yourselves to find 
 out, either that you have been too 
 bountiful in your acknowledgments, 
 ! or he remiss in his deserts. Any man
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 171 
 
 who attains a high place among you, 
 from the President downwards, may 
 date his downfall from that moment ; 
 for any printed lie that any notorious 
 villain pens, although it militate di- 
 rectly against the character and con- 
 duct of a life, appeals at once to your 
 distrust, and is believed. You will 
 strain at a gnat in the way of trust- 
 fulness and confidence, however fairly 
 won and well deserved ; but you will 
 swallow a whole caravan of camels, if 
 they be laden with unworthy doubts 
 and mean suspicions. Is this well, 
 think you, or likely to elevate the 
 character of the governors or the 
 governed, among you ] " 
 
 The answer is invariably the same : 
 " There 's freedom of opinion here, 
 you know. Every man thinks for j 
 himself, and we are not to be easily j 
 overreached. That 's how our people 
 come to be suspicious." 
 
 Another prominent feature is the 
 love of " smart " dealing : which gilds 
 over many a swindle and gross breach 
 of trust ; many a defalcation, public 
 and private ; and enables many a 
 knave to hold his head up with the 
 best, who well deserves a halter : 
 though it has not been without its I 
 retributive operation, for this smart- j 
 ness has done more in a few years to j 
 impair the public credit, and to cripple j 
 the public resources, than dull honesty, j 
 however rash, could have effected in | 
 a century. The merits of a broken 
 speculation, or a bankruptcy, or of a 
 successful scoundrel, are not guaged 
 by its or his observance of the golden 
 rule, " Do as you would be done by," 
 but are considered with reference to 
 their smartness. I recollect, on both 
 occasions of our passing that ill-fated 
 Cairo on the Mississippi, remarking 
 on the bad effects such gross, deceits 
 must have when they exploded, in 
 generating a want of confidence 
 abroad, and discouraging foreign in- 
 vestment : but I was given to under- 
 
 stand that this was a very smart 
 scheme by which a deal of money had 
 been made : and that its smartest 
 feature was, that they forgot these 
 things abroad, in a very short time, 
 and speculated again, as freely as 
 ever. The following dialogue I have 
 held a hundred times : " Is it not a 
 very disgraceful circumstance that 
 such a man as So and So should be 
 acquiring a large property by the 
 most infamous and odious means, and 
 notwithstanding all the crimes of 
 which he has been guilty, should be 
 tolerated and abetted by your Citi- 
 zens ? He is a public miisance, is he 
 not 1 " " Yes, sir." " A convicted 
 liar?" "Yes, sir." "He has been 
 kicked, and cuffed, and caned?" 
 " Yes, sir." " And he is utterly dis- 
 honourable, debased, and profligate?" 
 " Yes, sir." " In the name of wonder, 
 then, what is his merit ? " " Well, 
 sir, he is a smart man." 
 
 In like manner, all kinds of defi- 
 cient and' impolitic usages are referred 
 to the national love of trade ; though, 
 oddly enough, it would be a weighty 
 charge against a foreigner that he 
 regarded the Americans as a trading 
 people. The love of trade is assigned 
 as a reason for that comfortless custom, 
 so very prevalent in country towns, 
 of married persons living in hotels, 
 having no fireside of their own, and 
 seldom meeting from early morning 
 until late at night, but at the hasty 
 public meals. The love of trade is a 
 reason why the literature of America 
 is to remain for ever unprotected : 
 " For we are a trading people, and 
 don't care for poetry :" though we do, 
 by the way, profess to be very proud 
 of our poets : while healthful amuse- 
 ments, cheerful means of recreation, 
 and wholesome fancies, must fade be- 
 fore the stern utilitarian joys of trade. 
 
 These three characteristics are 
 strongly presented at every turn, full 
 in the stranger's view. But, the foul
 
 172 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 growth of America has a more tangled 
 root than this; and it strikes its 
 fibres, deep in its licentious Press. 
 
 Schools may be erected, East, West, 
 North, and South ; pupils be taught, 
 and masters reared, by scores upon 
 scores of thousands ; colleges may 
 thrive, churches may be crammed, 
 temperance may be diffused, and ad- 
 vancing knowledge in all other forms 
 walk through the land with giant 
 strides : but while the newspaper 
 press of America is in, or near, its 
 present abject state, high moral im- 
 provement in that country is hope- 
 less. Year by year, it must and will 
 go back ; year by year, the tone of 
 public feeling must sink lower down ; 
 year by year, the Congress and the 
 Senate must become of less account 
 before all decent men; and year by 
 year, the memory of the Great Fathers 
 of the Revolution must be outraged 
 more and more, in the bad life of their 
 degeneiate child. 
 
 Among the herd of journals which 
 are published in the States, there are 
 some, the reader scarcely need be 
 told, of character and credit. From 
 personal intercourse with accom- 
 plished gentlemen connected with 
 publications of this class, I have de- 
 rived both pleasure and profit But 
 the name of these is Few, and of the 
 others Legion; and the influence of 
 the good, is powerless to counteract 
 the mortal poison of the bad. 
 
 Among the gentry of America ; 
 among the well-informed and mode- 
 rate : in the learned professions ; at 
 the bar and on the bench : there is, 
 as there can be, but one opinion, in 
 reference to the vicious character of 
 these infamous journals. It is some- 
 times contended I will not say 
 strangely, for it is natural to seek 
 excuses for such a disgrace that their 
 influence is not so great as a visitor 
 would suppose. I must be pardoned 
 for saying that there is no warrant 
 
 for this plea, and that every fact and 
 circumstance tends directly to the 
 opposite conclusion. 
 
 When any man, of any grade of 
 desert in intellect or character, can 
 climb to any public distinction, no 
 matter what, in America, without first 
 ! grovelling down upon the earth, and 
 bending the knee before this monster 
 of depravity; when any private ex- 
 cellence is safe from its attacks ; when 
 any social confidence is left unbroken 
 ; by it, or any tie of social decency and 
 , honour is held in the least regard ; 
 i when any man in that Free Country 
 j has freedom of opinion, and presumes 
 : to think for himself, and speak for 
 ; himself, without humble reference to 
 I a censorship which, for its rampant 
 ignorance and base dishonesty, he 
 utterly loathes and despises in his 
 heart ; when those who most acutely 
 feel its infamy and the reproach it 
 casts upon the nation, and who most 
 denounce it to each other, dare to set 
 their heels upon, and crush it openly, 
 in the sight of all men : then, I will 
 believe that its influence is lessening, 
 and men are returning to their manly 
 senses. But while that Press has its 
 evil eye in every house, and its black 
 hand in every appointment in the 
 state, from a president to a postman ; 
 while, with ribald slander for its only 
 stock in trade, it is the standard 
 literature of an enormous class, who 
 must find their reading in a news- 
 paper, or they will not read at all ; so 
 long must its odium be upon the 
 country's head, and so long must the 
 evil it works, be plainly visible in 
 the Republic. 
 
 To those who are accustomed to 
 the leading English journals, or to 
 the respectable journals of the Con- 
 tinent of Europe ; to those who are 
 accustomed to anything else in print 
 and paper; it would be impossible, 
 without an amount of extract for 
 which I have neither space nor in-
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 173 
 
 clination, to convey au adequate idea 
 of this frightful engine in America. 
 But if any man desire confirmation of 
 my statement on this head, let him 
 repair to any place in this city of 
 London, where scattered numbers of 
 these publications are to be found ; 
 and there, let him form his own 
 opinion.* 
 
 It would be well, there can be no 
 doubt, for the American people as a 
 whole, if they loved the Heal less, and 
 the Ideal somewhat more. It would 
 be well, if there were greater encou- 
 ragement to lightness of heart and 
 gaiety, and a wider cultivation of 
 what is beautiful, without being 
 eminently and directly useful. But 
 here, I think the general remon- 
 strance, " we are a new country," 
 which is so often advanced as an 
 excuse for defects which are quite 
 unjustifiable, as being, of right, only 
 the slow growth of an old one, may be 
 very reasonably urged: and I yet 
 hope to hear of there being some 
 other national amusement in the 
 United States, besides newspaper 
 politics. 
 
 They certainly are not a humorous 
 people, and their temperament 
 always impressed me as being of a 
 dull and gloomy character. In 
 shrewdness of remark, and a certain 
 cast-iron quaintness, the Yankees, or 
 people of New England, unquestion- 
 ably take the lead ; as they do in most 
 other evidences of intelligence. But 
 in travelling about, out of the large 
 cities as I have remarked in former 
 parts of these volumes I was quite 
 
 * NOTE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION Or let 
 him refer to an able, and perfectly truth- 
 ful article, in The Foreign Quarterly Re- 
 view, published in the present month of I 
 October; to which my attention has been at- j 
 tracted, since these sheets have been passing ! 
 through the press. He will find some spe- 
 cimens there, by no means remarkable to I 
 any man who has been in America, but j 
 sufficiently striking to one who has not. 
 
 oppressed by the prevailing serious- 
 ness and melancholy air of business : 
 which was so general and unvarying, 
 that at every new town I came to, I 
 seemed to meet the very same people 
 whom I had left behind me, at the 
 last. Such defects as are perceptible 
 in the national manners, seem, to me, 
 to be referable, in a great degree, to 
 this cause : which has generated a 
 dull, sullen persistence in coarse 
 usages, and rejected the graces of life 
 as undeserving of attention. There 
 is no doubt that Washington, who 
 was always most scrupulous and exact 
 on points of ceremony, perceived the 
 tendency towards this mistake, even 
 in his time, and did his utmost to 
 correct it. 
 
 I cannot hold with other writers on 
 these subjects that the prevalence of 
 various forms of dissent in America, 
 is in any way attributable to the 
 non-existence there of an established 
 church : indeed, I think the temper 
 of the people, if it admitted of such 
 an Institution being founded amongst 
 them, would lead them to desert it, 
 as a matter of course, merely because 
 it was established. But, supposing it 
 to exist, I doubt its probable efficacy 
 in summoning the wandering sheep to 
 one great fold, simply because of the 
 immense amount of dissent which pre- 
 vails at home ; and because I do not 
 find in America any one form of 
 religion with which we in Europe, or 
 even in England, are unacquainted. 
 Dissenters resort thither in great 
 numbers, as other people do, simply 
 because it is a land of resort; and 
 great settlements of them are founded, 
 because ground can be purchased, and 
 towns and villages reared, where there 
 were none of the human creation 
 before. But even the Shakers emi- 
 grated from England ; our country is 
 not unknown to Mr. Joseph Smith, 
 the apostle of Mormonism, or to his 
 benighted disciples; I have beheld
 
 174 
 
 AMERICAN NOTES 
 
 religious scenes myself in some of our I off his gloves ; slowly produced a 
 populous towns which can hardly be measure from the uttermost depths of 
 surpassed by an American camp- his coat pocket; and requested me, 
 
 meeting; and I am not aware that 
 any instance of superstitious impos- 
 ture on the one hand, and supersti- 
 tious credulity on the other, has had 
 its origin in the United States, which 
 *we cannot more than parallel by the 
 precedents of Mrs. Southcote, Mary 
 Tofts the rabbit-breeder, or even 
 Mr. Thorn of Canterbury : which latter 
 case arose, sometime after the dark 
 ages had passed away. 
 
 The Republican Institutions of 
 America undoubtedly lead the people 
 to assert their self-respect and their 
 equality ; but a traveller is bound to 
 bear those Institutions in his mind, 
 and not hastily to resent the near ap- 
 proach of a class of strangers, who, at 
 home, would keep aloof. This cha- 
 racteristic, when it was tinctured with 
 no foolish pride, and stopped short of 
 no honest service, never offended me ; 
 and f very seldom, if ever, experienced 
 its rude or unbecoming display. Once 
 or twice it was comically developed, 
 as in the following case ; but this was 
 an amusing incident, and not the rule 
 or near it. 
 
 I wanted a pair of boots at a certain 
 town, for I had none to travel in, but 
 those with the memorable cork soles, 
 which were much too hot for the 
 fiery decks of a steam boat. I there- 
 fore sent a message to an artist in 
 boots, importing, with my compli- 
 ments, that I should be happy to see 
 him, if he would do me the polite 
 favour to call. He very kindly re- 
 turned for answer, that he would " look 
 round " at six o'clock that evening. 
 
 I was lying on the sofa, with a book 
 and a wine-glass, at about that time, 
 when the door opened, and a gentle- 
 man in a stiff cravat, within a year or 
 two on either side of thirty, entered, in 
 his hat and gloves ; walked up to the 
 looking-glass; arranged his hair; took 
 
 in a languid tone, to " unfix " my 
 straps. I complied, but looked with 
 some curiosity at his hat, which was 
 still upon his head. It might have 
 been that, or it might have been the 
 heat but he took it off. Then, he 
 sat himself down on a chair opposite 
 to me ; rested an arm on each knee ; 
 and, leaning forward very much, took 
 from the ground, by a great effort, the 
 specimen of metropolitan workman- 
 ship which I had just pulled off: 
 whistling, pleasantly, as he did so. 
 He turned it over and over ; surveyed 
 it with a contempt no language can 
 express ; and inquired if I wished 
 him to fix me a boot like that ? I 
 courteously replied, that provided the 
 boots were large enough, I would 
 leave the rest to him ; that if con- 
 venient and practicable, I should not 
 object to their bearing some resem- 
 blance to the model then before him ; 
 but that I would be entirely guided 
 by, and would beg to leave the whole 
 subject to, his judgment and discre- 
 tion. " You an't partickler, about 
 this scoop in the heel I suppose then?" 
 says he : "We don't foller that, here." 
 I repeated my last observation. He 
 looked at himself in the glass again ; 
 went closer to it to dash a grain or 
 two of dust out of the corner of his 
 eye ; and settled his cravat. All this 
 time, my leg and foot were in the air. 
 "Nearly ready, sir?" I inquired. 
 " Well, pretty nigh," he said ; " keep 
 steady." I kept as steady as I could, 
 both in foot and face ; and having by 
 this time got the dust out, and found 
 his pencil-case, he measured me, and 
 made the necessary notes. When he 
 had finished, he fell into his old 
 attitude, and tak ing up the boot again, 
 mused for some time. "And this," he 
 said, at last, "is an English boot, is it! 
 This Is a London boot, eh?" " That sir."
 
 FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. 
 
 175 
 
 I replied, "is a London boot." He 
 mused over it again, after the manner 
 of Hamlet with Yorick's skull ; 
 nodded his head, as who should say 
 " I pity the Institutions that led to 
 the production of this boot ! " ; rose ; 
 put up his pencil, notes, and paper 
 glancing at himself in the glass, 
 all the time put on his hat; drew on 
 his gloves very slowly ; and finally 
 walked out. When he had been gone 
 about a minute, the door reopened, 
 and his hat and his head reappeared. 
 He looked round the room, and at the 
 boot again, which was still lying on 
 the floor ; appeared thoughtful for a 
 minute; and then said "Well, good 
 arternoon." " Good afternoon sir," 
 said I : and that was the end of the 
 interview. 
 
 There is but one other head on 
 which I wish to offer a remark ; and 
 that has reference to the public health. 
 In so vast a country, where there are 
 thousands of millions of acres of land 
 yet unsettled and uncleared, and on 
 every rood of which, vegetable de- 
 composition is annually taking place ; 
 where there are so many great rivers, 
 and such opposite varieties of climate ; 
 there cannot fail to be a great amount 
 of sickness at certain seasons. But I 
 may venture to say, after conversing 
 with many members of the medical 
 profession in America, that I am not 
 singular in the opinion that much of 
 the disease which does prevail, might 
 be avoided, if a few common precau- 
 tions were observed. Greater means 
 of personal cleanliness, are indis- 
 pensable to this end ; the custom of 
 hastily swallowing large quantities of 
 animal food, three times a-day, and 
 rushing back to sedentary pursuits 
 after each meal, must be changed ; 
 the gentler sex must go more wisely 
 
 clad, and take more healthful exercise'; 
 and in the latter clause, the males 
 must be included also. Above all, 
 in public institutions, and throughout 
 the whole of every town and city, the 
 system of ventilation, and drainage, 
 and removal of impurities requires to 
 be thoroughly revised. There is no 
 local Legislature in America which 
 may not study Mr. Chadwick's excel- 
 lent Report upon the Sanitary Con- 
 dition of our Labouring Classes, with 
 immense advantage. 
 
 I HAVE now arrived at the close of 
 this book. I have little reason to be- 
 lieve, from certain warnings I have 
 had since I returned to England, that 
 it will be tenderly or favourably re- 
 ceived by the American people ; and 
 as I have written the Truth in relation 
 to the mass of those who form their 
 judgments and express their opinions, 
 it will be seen that I have no desire 
 to court, by any adventitious means, 
 the popular applause. 
 
 It is enough for me, to know, that 
 what I have set down in these pages, 
 cannot cost me a single friend on the 
 other side of the Atlantic, who is, in 
 anything, deserving of the name. For 
 the rest, I put my trust, implicitly, in 
 the spirit in which they have been 
 conceived and penned ; and I can bide 
 my time. 
 
 I have made no reference to my 
 reception, nor have I suffered it to 
 influence me in what I have written ; 
 for, in either case, I should have of- 
 fered but a sorry acknowledgment, 
 compared with that I bear within my 
 breast, towards those, partial readers 
 of my former books, across the 
 Water, who met me with an open 
 hand, and not with one that closed 
 upon an iron muzzle.
 
 LONDON" I 
 BRADBURY fSJ) EVANS, rBJJTTERS, VTHITEFWABa.
 
 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 University of California, San Diego 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 JUN I 4 
 
 UCSD Libr.