As we were already acquainted with the first part of the road to Columbus, we thought we should not lose much by this plan, and we wished besides to try the sleeping cars, which has not proved altogether a successful experiment as far as papa is concerned, for he had very little sleep, and is very headachy to-day in consequence. Thrower, too, was quite knocked up by it; my powers of sleeping at all times and places prevented my suffering in the same way, and I found these sleeping cars very comfortable. They are ingeniously contrived to be like an ordinary car by day; but by means of cushions spread between the seats and a flat board let down half way from the ceiling, two tiers of very comfortable beds are made on each side of the car, with a passage between. The whole looks so like a cabin of a ship, that it is difficult not to imagine oneself on board a steamboat. Twenty-four beds, each large enough to hold two persons, can be made up in the cars, and the strange jumble of ladies and gentlemen all huddled together was rather ludicrous, and caused peals of laughter from some of the laughter-loving American damsels. The cots areprovided with pillows and warm quilted counter-panes and curtains, which are all neatly packed away under the seats in the daytime. The resemblance to the steamboat in papa's half-waking moments seemed too much for his brain to be quite clear on the subject of where he was. Thrower, who had shared my couch, got upsea sickat about four in the morning, the motion of the carriage not suiting her while in a recumbent position, and retired to a seat at one end of the carriage. As we neared Columbus, papa became very restless, and made a descent from over my head, declaring the heat was intolerable. "Where," said I, "is your cloth cap?" "Oh!" he answered, "I have thrown that away long ago; that's gone to the fishes." He said he had so tossed himself about, that he did not think he had a button left on his coat; things were not, however, quite so bad as this, and on finding my couch too cold for him, I at last succeeded in making your dear restless fidgetty papa mount up again to his own place, where, to my comfort, and no doubt to his own also, he soon fell asleep. I got up at five and sat by poor Thrower, and watched the lights of the rising sun on hills, valleys, and rivers for an hour; when in came the conductor, and thrusting his lamp into the face of the sleepers, and giving them a shake, told themto get up, a quarter of an hour being allowed them for breakfast. In one second the whole place was alive; down came gentlemen without their boots, and ladies with their night caps, and in a few minutes all were busily employed in the inn, breakfasting. I had said we did not care about missing the first part of the road which we had seen before; but the joint light of a brilliant full moon and the snow on the hills, made us see the dear old Ohio and the bold Kentucky banks as clearly, almost, as if it had been daylight, till we retired to our beds; and, even then, I could not help lying awake to view the glorious scene out of my cabin window.
When we got up this morning we were entering a new country, and for many miles went along a beautiful valley of one of the tributaries of the Ohio. We again fell in with the Ohio at Steubenville, having traced the tributary down to its mouth. Our road then lay along the bank of the Ohio for about seventy miles, and anything more perfect in river scenery it would be difficult to imagine. Many large tributaries fell into it, the mouths of which we crossed over long bridges, and from these bridges had long vistas up their valleys. For about thirty miles we had the bold banks of Virginia opposite to us; but, after that, we quitted the stateof Ohio, and for forty miles the course of the river was through the state of Pennsylvania. A number of steamboats enlivened the scene, with their huge stern wheels making a great commotion in the water. The river too was studded with islands, and the continuous bend, the river taking one prolonged curve from Steubenville to Pittsburg, added greatly to the beauty of the scene. On approaching Pittsburg we crossed the Alleghany, which is a fine broad stream. The Monongahela, which here meets it, is a still finer one, and the two together, after their junction, constitute the noble river which then, for the first time, takes the name of the Ohio, or, as it is most appropriately called by the French, "La belle rivière"—for anything more beautiful than the seventy miles of it which we saw to-day it would be difficult to imagine.
We are lodged here at a very comfortable hotel, facing the Alleghany river. The town forms a triangle, situated between this river and the Monongahela, and after dinner, having arrived here early, we took a walk from the hotel, across the town, until we arrived at the latter river. The opposite bank here is of great height, and we crossed a bridge, 1500 feet long, with the magnanimous intention of going to the top of the hill to see themagnificent prospect which the summit is said to afford. But our strength, and breath, and courage failed us before we had ascended a third of the height, although there is a good carriage road up and in good condition, from the hard frost which still prevails. The view, however, even at that height, was very fine, although it was greatly marred by the smoky atmosphere which hangs over the city. After recrossing the bridge we went to the point forming the apex of the triangle, to see the confluence of the two rivers, and, as we could from there look up both rivers and down the Ohio, the view is very remarkable. The town itself disappointed us; but, perhaps, we expected more than we ought reasonably to have done from a great and dirty manufacturing town.
Harrisburgh, Nov. 18th.—We started this morning by the six o'clock train in order to see the wonderful Pennsylvania railroad by daylight. It is the great rival of the Baltimore and Ohio railway, on which we travelled with Mr. Tyson, and we were rather anxious to have an opportunity of comparing the two, which, having now seen them both, we feel competent to do. The great change which nature presents now, to what it did when the leaves were in full foliage, may make usunderrate the beauties of the road we passed over to-day, but, notwithstanding this, we think there can be no doubt that the Baltimore and Ohio, taken as a whole, is by far the most picturesque and beautiful. The length of the two roads is very nearly the same; but, while the whole of the Baltimore and Ohio was beautiful, one side of the mountain being as much so as the other, the first part of the road to-day, till we reached the summit level, was very much of the same character as many other mountain regions we have passed. For many miles the road followed the course of the Conemaugh, crossing and recrossing the river, but without any very striking feature. But the moment we had passed through a tunnel, 3612 feet long, and began the descent of 2200 feet, on the eastern side of the Alleghany chain, the scene quite baffled description. The summit level of the Baltimore and Ohio is 500 feet higher; but the descent occupies a distance of seventeen miles, while the descent to-day was effected in eleven, so that, with all our partiality for the Baltimore and Ohio, it must be confessed there is nothing on it so wonderful and sublime as this. One curve was quite appalling, and it was rendered more so by the slow rate at which the train moved—not more, I should think, than at the rate of two miles an hour—certainly not nearly so fast as we could have walked, so that we had full leisure to contemplate the chasm into which we should have been plunged headlong had the slightest slip of the wheels occurred. How they can ever venture to pass it at night is quite surprising. The curve is like a horse shoe, and goes round the face of a rock which has been cut away to make room for the road. Another superiority in the road we travelled to-day is the much greater height of the surrounding mountains, and the extent of the distant views;—but the greater height of the mountains had the attendant disadvantage of the trees being chiefly pines, instead of the lovely forest trees, of every description, which adorned the hills amongst which we travelled in Maryland and Virginia, by the Baltimore and Ohio railway.
I must, however, do justice here to the eastern side of the mountains. For more than 100 miles we closely followed the course of the Juniata, from its source to where it ends its career by falling, quite a magnificent river, into the Susquehanna, about twenty-two miles above this place. After the junction, the noble Susquehanna was our companion for that distance, this town being situated upon it. The source of the Juniata is seen very soon afterpassing Altamont, and perhaps we were more disposed to do justice to the beauty of the river, from the happy frame of body and mind we were in, owing to the excellent dinner we had just partaken of at that place, consisting of roast beef, roast turkey, apple tart, cranberry preserve, and a most superlative Charlotte Russe—pretty good fare for an hotel in a mountain pass! No wine or stimulants of any kind were allowed, or what the consequence might have been on papa's restless state of mind it would be difficult to say; as it was, I counted that he rose from his seat to look at the view from the other side of the car, thirty times in the space of an hour and a half, making a move, therefore, upon an average, of once in every three minutes; and this he afterwards continued to do as often as the road crossed the river. I foolishly, at first, partook of his locomotive propensities, but my exhausted frame soon gave way, so that he declares I only saw one half of its beauties, namely, the half on the side where I was seated; but this half was ample to satisfy any reasonable mortal. I am at a loss to imagine what our fellow-travellers could have thought of him, as they lounged on their seats, and scarcely ever condescended to look out of window.
We arrived here, not the least tired with our longjourney, though it occupied twelve hours, and were so fresh afterwards, that we started after tea, this being the great annual Thanksgiving-day, to the nearest place of worship we could find, which turned out to be a Baptist "Church," as it is called here, where we heard a most admirable sermon, and felt we had reason to offer up our thanks with as much earnestness as any one of the congregation, for having been spared to make this journey to the Far West, and to have returned to civilised life, without encountering a single difficulty or drawback of any kind. I may as well state, that this Thanksgiving-day was established by the Puritans, and is still kept up throughout the whole of the United States, its object being to return thanks for the blessings of the year, and more especially for the harvest. There are services in all the churches, and we much regretted not finding out till late yesterday, that this was the day set apart for it, for had we known this, we should not have travelled to-day; but once on our journey, with the fear of snow accumulating in the mountains, we were afraid of stopping on the road, and we were very glad to be able to attend the service this evening. There is something very beautiful, I think, in thus setting apart one day in theyear for such a purpose, and it is interesting too, as being a relic left by the Puritans.
November 19th.—We are quite charmed with this place, which is a rare exception to all the other capitals we have seen, inasmuch as more has not been undertaken than has been carried out; in fact, it has much more the appearance of a village than of a large city. The beauty of the river surpasses all description. It is a mile wide, and bends gracefully towards the direction of the mountains through the gorge from which it issues forth in its course towards Chesapeake Bay, and here, where the hills recede to a distance, it expands into a great width, and its face is covered with islands. The only drawback to its being a grand river is its shallowness, and want of adaptation, therefore, to the purpose of navigation. There are no splendid steamboats to be seen here as on the Ohio, which make one feel that river, at the distance of more than 2000 miles from the sea, to be a noble highway of commerce, linking together with a common interest distant portions of this vast continent. In the Susquehanna, one feels that there is nothing but its beauty to admire, but thisisperfect.
Two bridges connect the town with the opposite shore, each of them being about a mile long. Theweather is so piercingly cold, that we did not venture across, but we took a long walk up the banks, of the river. The town of Harrisburgh is very small, consisting of only three or four streets parallel to the river, intersected by about a dozen others at right angles to it. The centre one of these is a fine broad street, closed in at the further end by the Capitol. This is a handsome, but unpretending building of red brick, adorned by a portico, and, as usual, surmounted by a dome. On entering at the top of a flight of stairs, there is a circular area, covered in by the dome. Out of this, on one side, is a very neat Senate House, and on the opposite side is the House of Representatives. The State library, a very good one, is upstairs. The flight of stairs up to this, which is continued up to the dome, is wide and handsome, and of such easy ascent, that I ventured up to the top, in order to take a bird's-eye view of the scenery we so much enjoyed below. We were very well repaid for the trouble, especially as the gallery was glazed, so that we could see the view without being exposed to the cutting wind which was blowing outside.
The houses here are generally of brick, painted a deep red colour, which, not being in too great masses, and picked out with a good deal of white,has a very good effect. Some few houses, however, especially towards the outskirts of the town, were of wood, painted white. We yesterday passed many villages and towns of these pretty houses, but with the snow lying around them, scarcely whiter than the houses themselves, they had a very chilly appearance, and looked far less tempting than the houses of this description in New England when we first saw them, each in its pretty clean lawn, and surrounded by a lovely foliage. To return to this town—and, as a climax to its perfection, it has, out and out, the most comfortable hotel we have seen in America. It is quite a bijou, with a very pretty façade, and, being new last year, everything is in the best style. The ground floor, as is generally the case in this country, consists, like the Hôtel du Louvre in Paris, of good shops, which gives a gayer appearance to the whole than if it were one mass of dwelling rooms. We find it so comfortable that, instead of going on this afternoon to Philadelphia, we mean to remain here to-night, and to go on to-morrow to New York.
New York, Nov. 22nd.—We took one more walk at Harrisburgh, before starting on Saturday. The morning was lovely, and from the hill above the town, which we had time to reach, the view wasvery beautiful. But, of all the picturesque things that I have lately seen, I think the scene which presented itself this morning, when I opened our bedroom shutters at six o'clock, was the most striking. The night, on which I had looked out before going to bed, was clear and most beautiful; but a few stars now only remained as the day had begun to dawn, and the east was reddened by the approaching sunrise. Below the window was a very large market-place, lighted up and crowded with buyers and sellers. The women all had on the usual bonnet worn by the lower classes in this country,—a sun-bonnet, made of coloured cotton, with a very deep curtain hanging down the back. They wore besides warm cloaks and coloured shawls, and the men large wide-awakes. I have already described the brilliantly red houses, and the day being sufficiently advanced to bring out the colour very conspicuously, I think I never saw a prettier or busier scene, nor one which I could have wished more to have drawn, but there was no time even to attempt it.
After leaving Harrisburgh our road lay for some miles along the course of the Susquehanna, and papa, who had bought a copy of Gertrude of Wyoming, made me read it aloud to him, to thegreat astonishment of our fellow-travellers and at the expense of my lungs, the noise of a railway carriage in America not being much suited for such an occupation. The river presented a succession of rich scenery, being most picturesquely studded with islands. We were quite sorry to take leave of it; but after these few miles of great beauty, the road made a dash across the country to Philadelphia. Papa, during the whole of the morning, had been most wonderfully obtuse in his geography, and was altogether perplexed when, before reaching Philadelphia, we came to the margin of the river we had to cross to reach that town. He had been quite mystified all the morning at Harrisburg, and at fault as to the direction in which the river was running, and as to whether the streets we were in were at right angles or parallel to it. This state of confusion became still worse when we got into the carriage, as he had miscalculated on which side, after leaving the town, we should first see the river, and had placed me on the left side of the car, when it suddenly appeared, in all its glory, on the right. He almost lost his temper, we all know how irritable hecanbecome, and exclaimed impatiently,—"Well, are we now on this side of the river or the other?" but his puzzle at Philadelphia was from the river whichwe then came upon, being the Schuylkill, while he thought we had got, in some mysterious way, to the Delaware, on thewestbank of which the town is situated, as well as on theeastof the Schuylkill. The discovery of the river it really was of course solved the puzzle; but for a long time he insisted that the steamboat we were to embark upon, later in the day, on the Delaware, must be the one we now saw, and it was all the passengers could do to persuade him to sit still. He exclaimed, "But why not stay on this side, instead of crossing the river to cross back again to take the cars?" It was altogether a ludicrous state of confusion that poor Papa was in; but it ended, not only in our crossing the river, but in our traversing the whole town of Philadelphia, at its very centre, in the railway cars, going through beautiful streets and squares; and, as we went at a slow pace, we had a capital view of the shops and of the town, which was looking very clean and brilliant, the day being fine and frosty.
We made no stay at Philadelphia, but at length taking the cars on the east side of the Delaware, we proceeded in them to South Amboy; where, embarking again, we had a fine run of twenty-four miles between Staten Island and the coast of New Jersey, and reached this placein time for dinner. We regretted thus turning our backs on Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and Washington, without seeing more of them; but the time we have spent in the west has exceeded what we had counted on this part of our journey occupying, and we are anxious to get home to you all.
On our railway and on the steamer, we had with us a body of the firemen of Philadelphia, who were on their way to pay to their brother-firemen here one of those complimentary visits we have spoken of. There was loud cheering from their cars as we left Philadelphia, and as we passed through the different towns on the road, which was well responded to by the bystanders who had collected to witness the sight. The men were dressed in a most picturesque uniform, and had a good brass band, which played during the whole time that we were on board the steamer. On landing, there were bonfires on the quay, and rockets let off in honour of their arrival; but, though the crowd was great, we had not the slightest difficulty in landing, for all these matters are carried on with the greatest order in this country, which is the more remarkable, as the people have very excitable natures. Late at night, when we were going to bed, a company of firemencrossed this street with lights and torches, with a band playing, and dragging a fire-engine covered with lamps; forming quite a moving blaze of light.
We yesterday spent our first Sunday in New York, having hitherto been always away on that day; and we heard a wonderfully impressive and admirable sermon from Dr. Tyng. The church in which he preached was of very large dimensions, but his voice penetrated it throughout; he stood on a small platform instead of a pulpit, with a low desk in front, so that his whole figure could be seen. He had a good deal of action, but it was in very good taste, and the matter of his sermon was beyond all praise. The text was from the latter part of Col. i. 17, "And by Him all things consist." In the afternoon we heard a good, but not so striking a sermon, from Dr. Bedell; and it was suggested to us to go in the evening to the Opera-house to hear a great Presbyterian preacher, Mr. Alexander; but this we did not feel disposed to do. The Opera-house is being made use of, as our Exeter Hall is, for Special Services.
I think I may as well fill up the rest of this sheet by describing the arrangements of American hotels. There are frequently two entrances, one for ladies and the other for gentlemen. That for the ladiesleads by a private staircase to the ladies' drawing-room; and the gentlemen's entrance opens upon what is called the office. Whether there are separate entrances or not, the gentleman is at once conducted to the office, which is usually crowded with spitters and smokers; and there he enters his name in the travellers' book. This done, the waiter shows him to the drawing-room, where the lady has been requested, in the meantime, to wait, and they are then taken, often through long and wide passages, to their bedrooms. A private drawing-room may be had by paying extra for it; but the custom is to do without one, and to make use of the ladies' drawing-room, which is always a pretty room, and often a very handsome one. In it are invariably to be found a piano, at which the ladies frequently perpetrate most dreadful music; a marble table, in the centre of which always stand a silver tray and silver tankard and goblets containing iced water, a rocking chair, besides other easy-chairs and sofas, and a Bible. It is a rare thing not to find a Bible, the gift of a Society, in every bedroom and drawing-room in the hotel. The bedrooms never have bed-curtains, and sometimes no window-curtains; but the windows usually have Venetian or solid shutters.
The dining-hall is a spacious apartment, often 80or sometimes 100 feet long, and in some large hotels there are two of these, one used for railway travellers, and the other for the regular guests. The meals are always at atable-d'hôte, with printed bills of fare; the dishes are not handed round, as in Germany, but the guests are required to look at the bill of fare and name their dishes, which does not seem a good plan, as one's inclination is always to see how the dish looks before ordering it. Everything comes as soon as asked for, and there is a great choice of dishes. There is very little wine drunk at table, but to every hotel there is appended a bar, where, we are told, the gentlemen make amends for their moderation at table by discussing gin sling, sherry cobbler, &c.; but of course I know nothing of this, excepting from hearsay. The utmost extent of Papa's excesses on the rare occasions when he went into these bars, was to get a glass of Saratoga water; but he has failed to give me any description of what he saw. The breakfasts are going on usually from seven till nine. The general dinner-hour is one; but there is sometimes a choice of two hours, one and three. Tea, consisting of tea, coffee, and sweet cakes and preserves, takes place at six; and there is a cold meat supper at nine. Meals are charged extra if taken in private. It is a goodplan in travelling never to reserve oneself at the end of the day's journey for the hotel dinner, as there is a chance of arriving after it is over, when the alternative is to go without; the railway dinners are quite as good, find often better, than those at the hotel. The use of the ladies' drawing-room is restricted to ladies and gentlemen accompanying them; no single gentleman, is allowed to sit in it unless invited by a lady; but there is a separate reading-room for gentlemen, supplied with newspapers, and there is generally another room reserved for smoking, but the accommodation in these rooms is, in general, very inferior to those set apart for the ladies. In the hall of the hotel there is frequently a counter for the sale of newspapers, books, and periodicals, and all hotels have a barber's shop, which is a marvellous part of the establishment. The fixed charge at the hotels is generally from 8s. to 10s. per day for each person.
We have just settled to sail for England on the 1st December, so I shall have only one more journal letter to write to you, and shall be myself the bearer of it.
FOOTNOTE:[13]The account referred to was written as far back as 1839, and is so much more accurate a description of the Falls, and of the canal, than that given in the Railway Guide, that I must here extract it."The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by an irregular ledge of rock stretching across the river. They are only perceptible at low water, the whole descent being but twenty-two feet, while the difference of level between the highest and lowest stages of the water is about sixty feet. When the river is full, they present, therefore, no serious obstruction to the navigation. To obviate the inconvenience, however, at low water, a canal, called the Louisville and Portland Canal, has been constructed round the falls, which is deserving of notice, as being, perhaps, the most important work of the kind ever undertaken. The cross section of the canal is 200 feet at the top of the bank, 50 feet at the bottom, and 42 feet deep, making its capacity about fifteen times greater than that contemplated for the Erie Canal after its enlargement is completed: its sides are sloping and paved with stone. The guard lock contains 21,775 perches of masonry, being equal to that of fifteen locks on the New York Canals; and three others contain 12,300 perches. This canal is capable of admitting steamboats of the largest class. It is scarcely two miles in length; but, considering the quantity of mason work, and the difficulty of excavating earth and rock from so great a depth, together with the contingencies attending its construction, from the fluctuations in the depth of the river, it is probably no over-statement when it is said, that the work in it is equal to that of seventy or seventy-five miles of an ordinary canal.
[13]The account referred to was written as far back as 1839, and is so much more accurate a description of the Falls, and of the canal, than that given in the Railway Guide, that I must here extract it."The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by an irregular ledge of rock stretching across the river. They are only perceptible at low water, the whole descent being but twenty-two feet, while the difference of level between the highest and lowest stages of the water is about sixty feet. When the river is full, they present, therefore, no serious obstruction to the navigation. To obviate the inconvenience, however, at low water, a canal, called the Louisville and Portland Canal, has been constructed round the falls, which is deserving of notice, as being, perhaps, the most important work of the kind ever undertaken. The cross section of the canal is 200 feet at the top of the bank, 50 feet at the bottom, and 42 feet deep, making its capacity about fifteen times greater than that contemplated for the Erie Canal after its enlargement is completed: its sides are sloping and paved with stone. The guard lock contains 21,775 perches of masonry, being equal to that of fifteen locks on the New York Canals; and three others contain 12,300 perches. This canal is capable of admitting steamboats of the largest class. It is scarcely two miles in length; but, considering the quantity of mason work, and the difficulty of excavating earth and rock from so great a depth, together with the contingencies attending its construction, from the fluctuations in the depth of the river, it is probably no over-statement when it is said, that the work in it is equal to that of seventy or seventy-five miles of an ordinary canal.
[13]The account referred to was written as far back as 1839, and is so much more accurate a description of the Falls, and of the canal, than that given in the Railway Guide, that I must here extract it.
"The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by an irregular ledge of rock stretching across the river. They are only perceptible at low water, the whole descent being but twenty-two feet, while the difference of level between the highest and lowest stages of the water is about sixty feet. When the river is full, they present, therefore, no serious obstruction to the navigation. To obviate the inconvenience, however, at low water, a canal, called the Louisville and Portland Canal, has been constructed round the falls, which is deserving of notice, as being, perhaps, the most important work of the kind ever undertaken. The cross section of the canal is 200 feet at the top of the bank, 50 feet at the bottom, and 42 feet deep, making its capacity about fifteen times greater than that contemplated for the Erie Canal after its enlargement is completed: its sides are sloping and paved with stone. The guard lock contains 21,775 perches of masonry, being equal to that of fifteen locks on the New York Canals; and three others contain 12,300 perches. This canal is capable of admitting steamboats of the largest class. It is scarcely two miles in length; but, considering the quantity of mason work, and the difficulty of excavating earth and rock from so great a depth, together with the contingencies attending its construction, from the fluctuations in the depth of the river, it is probably no over-statement when it is said, that the work in it is equal to that of seventy or seventy-five miles of an ordinary canal.
NEW YORK— ASTOR LIBRARY.— COOPER INSTITUTE.— BIBLE HOUSE.— DR. RAE— DR. TYNG.— TARRYTOWN.— ALBANY.— SLEIGHING— FINAL RETURN TO BOSTON.— HALIFAX.— VOYAGE HOME.— CONCLUSION.
NEW YORK— ASTOR LIBRARY.— COOPER INSTITUTE.— BIBLE HOUSE.— DR. RAE— DR. TYNG.— TARRYTOWN.— ALBANY.— SLEIGHING— FINAL RETURN TO BOSTON.— HALIFAX.— VOYAGE HOME.— CONCLUSION.
Albany, Nov. 27th, 1858.
My last letter was despatched to you on the 23rd inst.;—that evening we dined at Mr. Aspinwall's. He has a handsome house in New York, and a large picture gallery, and as we wished to see this by daylight, we called on him after breakfast on the following morning, and had an opportunity of examining the pictures, many of which are very good, especially some by early Dutch masters.
Mr. Aspinwall afterwards took us to the Astor Library. This library was founded by the munificence of the late Mr. Astor, a very rich merchant, who bequeathed a large sum of money for the purpose. It is remarkably well arranged and pretty, and capable of containing about 300,000 volumes. Mr. Cogswell, the librarian, showed us some of the most valuablebooks. He was acquainted with Papa's name, as he had bought his book in London for the library, and appeared familiar with its contents. He said he valued it as filling up a gap in the financial history of America that was not supplied by any work in this country.
Mr. Aspinwall took us afterwards to the Cooper Institute, founded by Mr. Peter Cooper, another very eminent citizen of New York, who has done this good deed in his lifetime. He happened to be there, and as Mr. Aspinwall introduced us to him, he showed us round the building himself. He is a rich ironmonger, and an eccentric man. The building has cost 100,000l.; it is intended for public lectures and for a school of design. At the time we were there, some specimens of drawings, penmanship, &c., by the scholars of the Free Schools in New York were being exhibited, and were, in general, very creditable performances. We went to the top of the building, and, the weather being remarkably clear and fine, we had a good view of the town and of the surrounding country. Anything like country, however, can only be seen on one side across the Hudson, although, on the opposite side of New York Bay, Staten Island can be seen stretching "right away" to the south;but the wonderful sight is the immense city itself, extending for miles in a northern direction.
We rather crowded into this last day all the sights that we had hitherto omitted to see at New York; for we went also to the Bible House, a very large building near the Cooper Institute. In this Bible House not only are copies of the Bible sold, as in our corresponding institution in London, but the whole process of printing, making up, and binding the Bible is carried on. The number of Bibles and Testaments issued by the establishment is very great, amounting, during the last year, to 712,045. During that period there were 250,000 Bibles printed and 381,000 Testaments, besides 500 books for the blind printed in raised types, making a total of 631,500 volumes; and this, owing to a scarcity of funds, arising out of the late pecuniary pressure, is a decrease from the year before of 110,000 volumes, so that it was from the store in hand that the excess of the volumes issued above the number printed was taken. These Bibles and Testaments are in every language, and in every form and size. The machinery is worked by steam, and the immense building is warmed from the same source. Some idea of its extent may be conceived by the factthat there are twelve miles of pipes used in this warming process.[14]
After this hard day's work we dined at Mr. Russell's, to meet Dr. Rae, the Arctic traveller, and in the evening we went to the Geographical Society to hear a lecture on his last northern expedition, when he gained all the information known respecting poor Sir John Franklin, in search of whom he had been sent by the British Government. He showed us many relics of that unfortunate party, consisting of spoons, watch-cases, &c.; the lecture was very interesting, especially with regard to the origin and transportation of boulders. He produced an enormous head of a deer, which had a curious horn in front between the two side ones; this is a common appendage to the antlers of the deer of that region. He told us an amusing anecdote of his having been present when Professor Owen was lecturing on this strange appearance, and described the wisdom of this provision, to enable the animal to clear its way in the snow in search of its food below it; but Dr. Rae was able entirely tooverset this theory, by stating that the whole horny appendages of this deer are always shed before any snow makes its appearance on the ground.
At dinner we met Mr. Rutherford, who begged us to go after the lecture to see his observatory, in which, he said, he had the best and largest telescope in America, not excepting the one at Washington; we went therefore to see it, though the lecture was not over till half-past ten, and were repaid by a sight of Jupiter, and his belts and satellites: but though the telescope was larger than the one at Washington, being of the same focal length, and having an object glass nearly two inches wider, it did not strike us as being so clear and good an instrument. It is undoubtedly, however, a very fine one, and entirely of American make. Much as we have had to record this day, there was more jumbled into it; but instead of going to see the last sight I have to record, it obtruded itself upon us at every turn. This was a military procession, flags flying, &c., to commemorate the evacuation of the town of New York by the British, after the first war of Independence. A great dinner is always given on this day by the members of the Order of Cincinnati, and Papa was asked to go to it, but our engagement to Mr. Russell prevented his accepting the invitation.
I think the only further thing of interest which I have to record about our visit this time to New York, was our calling on Dr. Tyng; he is a most interesting person, and talked much about revivals and slavery. He said there was undoubtedly a greater degree of serious feeling gradually spreading in New York, especially among the artisans and labouring classes; but he could see nothing of that work of the Spirit on the large scale which others speak of, and he thinks the nature and extent of the revivals have been over-estimated.
With regard to slavery, Dr. Tyng is a very good judge, as, for the first six years of his ministry, he had a considerable parish in the slave state of Maryland, extending over a large tract of plantation lands, cultivated entirely by slaves. The slave population in this parish was about 8000, and he says the treatment of the slaves was almost all that could be desired for their temporal comfort, as far as good clothing, good food, and kind treatment went, and he had known but very few cases of slaves being ill-treated or even flogged during his six years' residence there: still no one can condemn more strongly than he does the whole system, as lowering and degrading the moral tone, both of the white and the black population.
As I shall probably have no occasion to allude again to slavery, as the rest of our short stay on this continent will now be among the free states, I may say I have seen nothing to lessen, and everything to confirm, the strong impression I have always entertained respecting it. Besides what we have seen, we have read as much as we could on the subject, and must record a little book called "Aunt Sally, or the Cross the Way to Freedom," as being the most faithful account of the evils of slavery we have met with. It is the story of a female slave's life, and is said to be strictly true and devoid of all exaggeration, and it is a most touching account of the power of religion in her case, in upholding her through a long life of trials and degradation.[15]
On Friday, the 26th instant, we took our final leave of New York. We left it by the Hudson River Railway, the same by which we went to West Point two days after our arrival in America, and it was curious to contrast our feelings on getting into the cars now with those which we experienced when we first set our foot into them; we thought at first that we never could encounter a long journeyin them, and dreaded all sorts of disasters. Yet now, independently of steamboat travelling, we have travelled altogether in railways over more than 5500 miles, and it is somewhat singular that in the great number of separate journeys we have taken, we have only on one occasion been late on arriving at our destination, which was on reaching Chicago. The train was then two hours late in a journey of 281 miles, and that not owing to any accident, but solely to the slippery state of the rails, after a heavy rain, which rendered caution necessary. The only hitch from accident (if it was one), was for five minutes at Rome, on the New York Central Railway, when we were delayed for that time, on account of what William told us was "something wrong with the engine." We have only 200 miles left to travel between this and Boston, and we have great reason to be thankful for having performed so long a journey not only in perfect safety, but without any anxiety, and scarcely any fatigue.[16]
One marked improvement in the eastern over the western railways, is in the gentlemen's special accomplishment of spitting being much less active in the east, owing to their chewing tobacco less vigorously. In the west it is dreadful to see and hear how this habit goes on during the whole day, not out of window, but on the floors of the cars and omnibuses, and all over the hall and passages of the hotels.
But to return to our journey from New York on the Hudson. It was a beautiful day, and the scenery quite lovely. We had only twenty-seven miles to go to Mr. Bartlett's, to whom we had brought letters from England, and who asked us to pass the first night of our journey at his country place near Tarrytown. On arriving at the station there, he drove us to his house, which stands on an eminence three miles higher up the river. The river here is rather more than three miles in width, but the atmosphere was so clear that every house on the opposite bank could be distinctly seen, and the opposite shore is so high, that we could hardly imagine the river to beas wide as it is. The view from the house is perfectly magnificent. The eye takes in a distance of thirty miles up and down the river, there being here a long reach, having almost the appearance of a lake, the river above and below not being more than from a mile to a mile and a half in width. Immediately opposite Tarrytown is the town of Nyach, which is connected with Tarrytown by a steam ferry. In passing from Tarrytown to Mr. Bartlett's house, we drove through the Sleepy Hollow, the scene of one of Washington Irving's tales, and passed the old Dutch church, which is mentioned by him in the legend, as the place of sanctuary where Ichabod took refuge. In fact, the whole scenery is classic ground here; and Mr. Irving himself, who has rendered it so, lives only two miles off, at Sunnyside.
After giving us some luncheon, Mr. Bartlett took Papa a walk up a high hill behind the house, the view from which he describes as perfectly enchanting; but it would be difficult for anything to surpass the one seen from the house, combining every possible feature of wood, hill, dale, and water; but if I cannot describe this, it would be equally impossible to describe the perfect taste and beauty of the house itself. The chief features are the carving of the wooden staircase, the chimney-pieces in the libraryand dining-room, and of the book-cases in the library. The carpet of the drawing-room was Aubusson tapestry, and the furniture was entirely from French patterns or imported from Paris, where it was made on purpose for the different rooms; every part of the house, including the bed-rooms, was filled with choice engravings. One bed-room specially struck us, the paper and chintz furniture of which were exactly of the same pattern of roses on a white ground, and the effect was beautiful; but there were many others in equally good taste, all with French papers. Hot and cold water were laid on in the rooms, and hot air likewise, though not so as to be in the least oppressive. Mrs. Bartlett's bed-room and dressing-room were the climax of all. The woodwork throughout the house was varied in every story: there was black oak, red pine, and white pine, all of very fine grain; the hall was covered with encaustic tiles from Minton's; the offices were in keeping, dairy, laundry, &c. Papa went over the farm and gardens, which were in the same exquisite order; and there were greenhouses and hothouses, which looked at a distance like a little Crystal Palace. Mrs. Bartlett is a very amiable person, but a great invalid, and seldom leaves her room.
This morning we proceeded on our way to this place; before getting into the train at twelve o'clock, we drove over to Sunnyside; but, alas! Mr. Irving was out, and we could only walk about his grounds, and peep in at his study window. As this brought us to Tarrytown sooner than we counted upon, I had time to climb up one of the hills, and much enjoyed the view, although it was not so extensive as the one Papa saw yesterday. As we got northward, on our way to Albany, the snow, which had almost disappeared at Tarrytown, became very deep, the land was covered with a white garment, and the river partially with a coating of ice. At Hudson, opposite the Catskill mountains, we, for the first time, saw sledging, sledges having there taken the place of the usual carriages which come to meet the train. There were many carts, also, and an omnibus, all on sledges, and the whole had a singularly wintry appearance.
We are housed again at the Delavan House, and find the twenty-four damsels have donned long sleeves to their gowns, which are now of dark cotton instead of pink; but their hoops are as large, and their faces as impudent as ever, forcing Papa to restrain his grin, particularly when they stand in double file on each side of the table, all in thesame pose, with their arms crossed before them, when we enter the dining-room.
We are glad to find ourselves again here, for this hotel bears away the palm from all others we have seen in America, with the exception of that at Harrisburgh, which can alone compare with it in the general beauty of the rooms. To describe, for instance, the bedroom in which we are now sitting. The room is about twenty-four feet square, having two large windows looking to the street, and a mirror and handsome marble consol-table between them. The windows have very handsome gilt cornices, with tamboured muslin curtains, and others of a blue and gold coloured damask; there are two large sofas, and four small chairs of dark walnut wood, carved and covered with the same material as the curtains, and a smaller chair with a tapestry seat—also a large rocking-chair covered with Utrecht velvet. The bed is of prettily carved black walnut, the wash-hand-stand the same, with marble slab; there is a very handsome Brussels carpet, a large round table, at which I am now writing, a very handsome bronze and ormolu lustre, with six gaslights, and two ormolu candelabra on the chimney-piece. The chimney-piece is of white marble, and over it is a most gorgeously carved mirror. The room is aboutfourteen feet high; the ceiling slightly alcoved and painted in medallions of flowers on a blue ground, with a great deal of very well painted and gilt moulding, which Papa at first thought was really in relief. The paper is a white ground, with a gold pattern, and a coloured border above, and below, and at the angles of the room; the door leads into a very fine wide passage, and there are two others, each leading into an adjoining room, all painted pure white; so is the skirting-board; and the door handles are white porcelain. Thrower's room, next ours, is much the same, but of about half the size. There are Venetian blinds to the windows, not made to draw up, but folding like shutters, and divided into several small panels. Our two windows look into a broad cheerful street, in which the snow is lying deep, and the whole scene is enlivened, every now and then, by the sleighs and their merry bells as they pass along.
Nov. 29th.—Yesterday the morning was very brilliant. Being desirous of seeing a Shaker village, and the nature of their service, we had ordered a vehicle over night to be ready at nine o'clock, when a sleigh made its appearance at the door, with skins of fur and every appliance to keep us warm. These sleighs are most elegant machines, and this onehad a hood, though this is not a common appendage. It was drawn by a pair of horses, the driver standing in front. The road was, at first, up a steep hill, but the horses seemed as if they had no weight behind them. On reaching the high land the view, looking back upon the river, was very pretty. The whole country was deeply covered with snow, and in many places, where it had drifted, it had the appearance of large waves, of which the crests curled gracefully over, and looked as if they had been frozen in the act of curling: some of these crests or waves were four or five feet above the level of the road. We were about an hour reaching the village, and were much disappointed to find the gate at the entrance closed, and a painted board hung on it, to announce there would be no meeting that day. Nothing could exceed the apparent order and decorum of the place; but we could not effect a closer approach, though our driver tried hard to gain admittance for us. We therefore returned to Albany, but took a different road home, and enjoyed our sleighing much; and the cheerful sound of the bells round our horses' necks was quite enlivening; still, in spite of our wraps, we must confess that we were not sorry when it was over. On our return to the town we entereda church and heard the end of a sermon. It was a large Baptist church; but we were rather late, for we were told, by a boy at the door, that "the text had been on about forty minutes;" but, to judge from the sample we had of the discourse, we were probably no great losers. The church was a handsome building, but we were chiefly attracted by the following notice, in large letters, at the entrance.
"Come in, if only for a few moments; all are welcome."
After leaving the church we walked towards the Capitol, which is situated at the end of a very wide street, State Street, and, as this street rises by a tolerably steep ascent from the river, there is an extensive view over the river and the adjacent country from the plateau on which the Capitol stands. There are two very handsome buildings adjoining, of fine white stone, with Greek porticoes; but the Capitol itself, which is a considerably older building than the others, is of red brick. We had not time to explore further, for a heavy snow storm came on, which lasted for the rest of the day.
Boston, Nov. 30th.—Yesterday morning westarted early for this place, and the journey occupied the whole day. We had travelled this road before when the country was rich in its summer clothing, and the contrast was very strange as we saw it to-day. The heavy fall of snow the night before had covered not only the ground but the trees of the forests and the ponds and lakes, which were all frozen over. The Connecticut, however, glided calmly along, though it too was frozen over above the places where falls in the river obstructed the current. We passed several of these, which had a curious appearance, long and massive icicles hanging along the whole crest of the fall, and curiously intermingling with the water which was pouring over the rocks. The beautiful New England villages were as white as ever, the white snow scarcely detracting from the purity of the whiteness of the buildings. It was a splendid day, without a cloud in the sky, and the sun shining on the snow gave it a most brilliant and sparkling appearance.
To-day we have been chiefly engaged in shopping; but we contrived, besides, to see the public Library and Athenæum, as well as the Hospital and Prison, which Papa went over with Lord Radstock when we were first here, both of which fully bear out the account he gave me of them.We feel quite sad to think that this is our last day in America, for we have enjoyed ourselves much; Papa has, indeed, up till late this evening, been engaged in business; but you are not to suppose from this that he has never had any relaxation; I am most thankful to say, on the contrary, that much of our time has been a holiday, and I trust his health has much benefited by our travels. But, whatever our regrets may be at leaving this interesting country, I need scarcely say with what delight we look forward to a return home to our dear children, where, I trust, a fortnight hence, to find you all well and prospering. We embark, at nine to-morrow morning, in the "Canada" for Liverpool, where I shall hope to add a few lines to this on landing.
December 11th, off Cape Clear.—As it may be late to-morrow before we land, and we may not have time to write from Liverpool, I shall close this now, or at all events only add a line from that place. Barring a severe gale of wind, our voyage has been tolerably prosperous since we left Halifax; but I must not anticipate, as I wish to say a little more about Boston, for I omitted in my last day's Journal to mention the admirable arrangement on the Western Railway, by which we came fromAlbany, as regards checking the luggage. This practice, as I have already told you, is universal, but, generally speaking, one of theemployésof the Packet Express Company takes charge of the checks before the passengers leave the cars, and for a trifling charge the luggage is delivered at any hotel the passenger may direct; where this is not done, the checks are usually given to the conductor of the omnibus, of which almost every hotel sends its own to the station. But this latter practice leads to much noise, each conductor shouting out the name of his hotel, as is done at Boulogne and elsewhere on the arrival of the packets. On gliding into the spacious station at Boston we were prepared to encounter this struggle, our checks not having been given up in the car; but, to our surprise, there was a total absence of this noisy scene, and on looking out we saw along the platform a range of beautiful gothic recesses, over each of which was written the name of an hotel, and we had only to walk along till we came to "Tremont House," when, without a word passing, we slipped into the hand of a man stationed within, the checks for our baggage, he simply indicating "No. 2" as the omnibus we were to get into. Walking to the end of the platform, we found a complete row of omnibuses, all consecutively numbered, and marched in silence to No. 2, which in a minute or two drove off with us and the other passengers destined for the Tremont House; we found this, as before, a very comfortable hotel, and our luggage was there within a few minutes after our arrival.
Before quitting the subject of the American hotels, we ought to state that, from what we hear, unhappy single gentlemen meet with a very different fate to that of persons travelling in company with ladies. One poor friend greatly bewailed his lot after he had left his wife at Toronto; on presenting himself at the "office" of the hotel he used to be eyed most suspiciously, especially when they saw his rough drab coloured travelling dress, for the criterion of a genteel American is a black coat and velvet collar. He was accordingly sent in general to a garret, and other travellers have told us the same; one on board the steamers quite confirmed this account, and told us he considered it a piece of great luxury when he had a gaslight in his room. He made this remark on our reading to him the account I have given of our room in Albany and its splendid six-light candelabra.
But to go on with our adventures: we embarked on board the steamer at 9A.M.on Wednesday,the 1st December. The view of the harbour of Boston, formed by a variety of islands, was most beautiful, in spite of the deep snow which covered them. The day was brilliantly sunny, but intensely cold, and it continued bitterly cold till we reached Halifax on Thursday night. The Boston steamers always touch at that place, and the liability to detention by fogs in making the harbour, renders this passage often a disagreeable one in the foggy season; but when the weather is as cold as now, it is invariably clear, and we steered up the beautiful harbour of Halifax with no interruption but that caused by the closing in of the day, rendering it necessary to slacken our speed as we neared the town. It was dark when we arrived, but having two hours to spare, we took a walk, and after passing through the town-gate, saw what we could of the place, respecting which I felt great interest, from my father having been Chief-justice there many years; his picture by West, of which we have a copy in D. P. H. by West himself, is at the Court House; but of course we could not see it so late at night; and, in fact, could only go to one or two shops to make some purchases as memorials of the place. It began to snow hard before we returned on board, and the cold was so intense, though less sosince the snow began, that the upper part of the harbour above where we stopped was frozen over.
We took Sir Fenwick Williams, of Kars, and a great many other officers, on board at Halifax, and sailed again at midnight. Next day the intense cold returned, and a severe north-wester made it almost impossible to keep on deck. Every wave that dashed over us, left its traces behind in a sheet of ice spread over the deck, and in the icicles which were hanging along the bulwarks, and formed a fringe to the boats which were hanging inside the ship; one poor passenger, with a splendid beard, told us he found it quite hard and stiff, and we could have told him how much we admired the icicles which were hanging to it. The thermometer, however, was only at 15°, it being the wind that made it so intensely cold. I did not get on deck, for, owing to the coating of ice, walking on it became a service of some danger; and I did my best to keep Papa from going up, though he often insisted on doing so, to enjoy the beauty of the scene. The captain says that it is sometimes most trying to be on this coast in winter, as the thermometer, instead of being 15° above zero as it was then, is often 15° below, when the ropes and everything become frozen. This cold lasted till Monday, when we were clear of "thebanks," and fairly launched into the wide Atlantic. The wind continued to blow strongly from the north-west, with a considerable amount of sea, which put an end to my even thinking of going on deck, but Papa persevered, and every day passed many hours there, walking up and down and enjoying it much, especially as it was daily getting warmer. I wished much I could have accompanied him, but by this time I was completely prostrated by sea-sickness.
The weather, though blowy, continued very fine till Tuesday at four o'clock, when Papa came down and told me to prepare for a gale; an ominous black cloud had shown itself in the north-west horizon; this would not of itself have created much sensation, had it not been accompanied by an extraordinary fall in the barometer; it had, in fact, been falling for twenty-four hours, for at noon on Monday it stood rather above 30, and at midnight was as low as 29·55, which, in these latitudes, is a great fall. But on Tuesday, at nineA.M., it had fallen to 28·80, when it began rapidly to sink, till at half-past three it stood at 28·40, showing a fall of more than an inch and a half since the preceding day at noon. It seems that this is almost unprecedented, so that when the little black cloud appeared, every sail was takenin, and the main topmast and fore top-gallantmast lowered down on deck, and this was not done a bit too soon, for by half-past four, it blew a hurricane. The captain told a naval officer on board, that he had thought of putting the ship's head towards the gale, to let it blow past, but on further consideration, he put her right before it, though at the expense of losing a good deal of ground, as it made us go four points out of our course. Papa, who was on deck, said it was most magnificent to hear the fierce wind tearing past the vessel, and to see the ship not swaying in the least one way or another, but driving forwards with the masts perpendicular, as if irresistibly impelled through the water, without appearing to feel the waves. But alas, alas, this absence of motion, which was a paradise to me, lasted but some twenty minutes, while the fury of the blast continued. We ran before the gale for the next four hours, when it sufficiently moderated to enable us to resume our proper course.
The gale continued, however, till four next morning, and such a night I never passed. The doctor said, neither he nor any officer in the ship could sleep, and next morning the poor stewardess and our peculiar cabin boy mournfully deplored their fate, the former being forced to confess that, thoughfor years accustomed to the sea, she had been desperately sick. In fact no one had ever known the vessel to roll before as she did this night, and the sounds were horrible. The effect of one sea, in particular, striking the ship was appalling, from the perfect stillness which followed it. The vessel seemed quite to stagger under the blow and to be paralysed by it, so that several seconds must have elapsed before the heavy rolling recommenced. This, and the creaking and groaning of the vessel, had something solemn about it; but some minor sounds were neither so grand nor so philosophically borne by either Papa or myself. One of the most persevering of these arose from my carelessness in having forgotten to bolt the door of a cupboard which I made use of, in our cabin, the consequence of which was that, with every lurch of the vessel, the door gave a violent slam, and our lamp having been put out at midnight, as it invariably was, we were in total darkness, and without the means of ascertaining whether the irritating noise proceeded, as we suspected, from the cupboard door, or from one of the doors having been left open in the passage adjoining our cabin. It would have been dangerous to have got up in the dark, and with a violent lurching of the vessel, to discover the realcause of this wearisome noise. I had a strong feeling of self-reproach in my own mind at having brought such a calamity on poor Papa, when it could have been avoided if I had been a little more careful before going to bed. On, therefore, the noise went, for the rest of that night, with great regularity—slam—slam—slam—defying every attempt to obtain even five minutes of sleep. With the first gleam of dawn I plainly saw that our own peccant door was the cause, and I was able by that time, with some caution, to rise and secure the bolt, and thus relieve ourselves, and probably our neighbours, from the weary sound.
Sleep, however, on my part was, under any circumstances, out of the question, for I was under great anxiety lest Papa should be pitched out of his berth, as he slept in the one above mine. Before retiring for the night I had consulted the surgeon on the subject, having heard that a steward had been once thrown out of his berth in this vessel under similar circumstances. The surgeon assured me that he had never heard of such an accident, and Papa reminded me that his height would save him from such a calamity, for the berths being only six feet long he could, by stretching himself out to his full length, wedge himself in and hold on by his head and heels, andso, in fact, he did; but many passed the night on the floors in their cabin, particularly the children, who had not the advantage of being six feet three. Next morning the surgeon said he would not himself have slept where Papa did, and I suspect few of the upper berths were occupied. So much for the value of a medical opinion!
I was very sorry I could not go on deck on either of the following days, for though the gale had abated, the wind continued sufficiently strong to keep up a splendid sea. Papa, however, says that it was more the force of the wind when the gale first began, than the height of the sea that was remarkable, as the gale did not last long enough to get up apropersea, though what that would have been I cannot imagine, as the effects, such as they were, were sufficiently serious for me. Since then, things have gone on prosperously, but we have only to-night come in sight of the lights on Cape Clear. The sea mercifully is somewhat smoother, and has allowed me to write this long story; and I am going to bed with a fairer prospect of sleep than I have had for the last few nights.
Sunday night, Sept. 12th.—The wind got up again in the night, and has delayed us much, so that we are still outside the bar of the Mersey: forsome hours it has been doubtful whether we should land to-night in Old England, or pass another night on board. The uncertainty of our fate has caused an evening of singular excitement, owing to several of the passengers going perpetually on deck and bringing down news, either that we were in the act of crossing the bar, or that we had crossed it, or that all this was wrong and that we were still outside. As often as it was announced, and that with the most positive assertion, that we should land to-night, there was great joy and glee among all the passengers, excepting ourselves and a few others who had visions of a late Custom House examination in a dark and dismal night with pouring rain, and a conviction that landing before morning would not bring us to London any sooner than doing so early to-morrow, and so we secretly hoped all the time that we were neither on nor over the bar. Betting, as usual, began on the subject, and the excitement was still at its height when official information was brought to us that we neither had attempted nor meant to attempt to cross the bar till five o'clock to-morrow morning. We have therefore easily made up our minds to what I fear is a disappointment to many. We trust now to have a quiet night, for we are lying-to, and are as still as at anchor, and hope on awakingto-morrow morning, to find ourselves in the dock at Liverpool; in which case we shall rush up by an early train to London.
Here, therefore, ends our Journal; but before closing it, I must add a few lines to say what cause we have had to feel deeply thankful for all the mercies that have followed us by land and by sea. We have travelled a distance of nearly 6000 miles, in a country where accidents frequently occur, both on the railways and in steam-boats, and have never for one moment been exposed to peril, or experienced one feeling of anxiety. We have met everywhere with great attention, kindness, and hospitality, and have been preserved in perfect health. Besides our land and river journeys, we have made two long voyages across the wide Atlantic, and in the midst of a tempest, which was a very severe one, the Hand of God protected us and preserved us from danger, and, better still, kept our minds in peace and confidence, and in remembrance that He who ruleth the waves, could guide and succour us in every time of need, so that even I felt no fear; Papa has had more experience of storms at sea, and was less likely to feel any, but his confidence, too, was in knowing that we were under Divine protection, and that our part was toTRUST; and in this we had our reward.
In thus enumerating the many subjects of thankfulness during our absence from home, I must reckon as one of the chief of our blessings, the comfort we have experienced in so constantly receiving the very best accounts of you all; and when we think of the many thousands of miles that have separated us, we may indeed feel full of gratitude that, neither on one side of the ocean nor the other, have we had any reason for anxiety concerning each other. In a few hours more, we shall, I trust, have the joy and gladness of seeing all your dear faces again, and be rejoicing together over our safe return from our interesting and delightful expedition to theNew World.