JOURNAL CONTINUED.
Monday, 11th.Find
other Richmonds in the field, the Kembles being announced
also, for to-night, at the Holiday Theatre, under the
management of Mr. De Camp: I occupying “Front
Street,” with what is termed the regular Baltimore
company. My front will prove in the rear, I fear.
This untoward meeting was purely
accidental; a thing not desired or premeditated by
either party: my interest and inclination making
it desirable that I should give these attractive objects
to the rest of the world, what sailors term, “a
wide berth.” Shame that I should say so,
and a lady concerned too!
The Front Street.A
huge theatre, nearly as large as Covent-Garden.
At night, I found there was indeed ample space “and
verge enough.” My clients, however, were
uproariously merry, and made up for half an audience
by bestowing upon the performance a double allowance
of applause.
Tuesday, 12thAt
’em again!“the Holiday”
against “the Front!” I have discovered
that the people are with us; “the
Holiday” being considered the aristocratic house,
and “the Front,” being, indeed, the work
of an opposition composed of the sturdy democracy of
the good city.
The manager says that last night our
side was taken by surprise, but that now our forces
are afoot. The worst of my case is, that I am
compelled, mal-gré bon-gré, to laugh at my “beggarly
account of empty boxes:” my tragic rivals
may, at least, have the satisfaction of lowering upon
their empty pit. But the people are for
us, consequently the right is with us; ergo,
we must prevail.
Eight o’clock P.M.A
narrower selvage round the vast area of our parterre.
“Front Street” for ever!
Wednesday, 12th.I,
this night at least, had the satisfaction of seeing
my antagonists; for in the side-box I spied Messrs.
Kemble and De Camp laughing to my teeth. I would
have forgiven this, and joined with the wags, had
my forces been assembled; but the musters on our side
I find are not yet quite complete.
Tuesday, 18th.The
struggle continued until yesterday without either
party being able to claim an absolute victory; nor
is it for me now to record a triumph, since I left
the allies yet camping on the field, whilst on their
part they must at least admit that I marched off with
all the honours of war.
This day returned to Philadelphiaweather
yet unbroken. Reached Mr. Head’s in time
to come in with the dinner.
Wednesday, Noth.Took
a long walk round the city; the weather fine.
About midday Chestnut-street assumed quite a lively
and very attractive appearance, for it was filled
with shopping-parties of well-dressed women, and presented
a sprinkling of carriages neatly appointed and exceedingly
well horsed.
Satisfied that I am correct in my
judgment, when I assert that this population has the
happiness to possess an unusual share of handsome
girls. They walk with a freer air and more elastic
step than their fair rivals of New York; have clear
brunette complexions, and eyes of great
beauty.
The theatre very full, and the dress-boxes
containing a large proportion of ladies.
21st.On horseback
early; crossed the Schuylkill, over the Manayunk bridge,
and back by the right bank of the river. The piers
of a viaduct, about to be thrown from the opposite
heights by the Lancaster Rail-road Company, already
much elevated since my first visit here in September.
Highly beneficial to the community, no doubt; but destructive
of the repose and seclusion of this charming scene.
The sweetest spots, and such as one would most desire
to conserve, seem to be always the places peculiarly
selected for these useful but most unpicturesque invasions.
23rd.Visited the
dock-yard in company with Lieutenant I d.
A three-decker, classed according to law as a seventy-four,
almost ready to be sent off the stocksa
noble ship. A frigate is housed close by her,
but looks a mere toy when one views it immediately
after having contemplated the proportions of the Pennsylvania.
This dockyard is smaller, and in appearance inferior
every way to that of Boston.
27th.Having exhausted
all the rides in the immediate neighbourhood, I this
day determined upon widening my circle; so went, accompanied
by K r, about fifteen miles up
the Delaware by the Bristol road.
On the way-side we halted to look
upon a mansion, made memorable for ever by one of
those wild atrocities, the details of which indeed
appear, upon review, fitter for the pages of romance
than for a journal of every-day life, yet too striking
to be heard and forgotten, or passed by without comment.
I must only premise, that the affair I am about to
describe is of recent occurrence, and strictly true
in all its horrible details.
THE TEMPERANCE HOUSE.
Within these three years the house
in question was inhabited by its builder, a respectable
citizen, together with his wife, a woman of much intelligence,
and possessed of considerable beauty, though no longer
young. They had for many years kept a creditable
academy; but had, a short time before the commencement
of this relation, retired with ample means from the
exercise of their honourable profession, built this
house, and with an only child, a handsome girl of sixteen,
here dwelt, as far as their neighbours could judge,
contented and happy. It is certain that they
were well considered and respected by all who knew
anything of them.
One afternoon, whilst the master was
busied in his garden before the house, a passing wayfarer
halted by his fence, and besought some refreshment.
The accent of the stranger was foreign, and his aspect
and whole appearance, although haggard and miserably
needy, still bore evidence of better days, as his
address did of gentle condition.
After a moment’s questioning,
Mr. C asked the hungered and weary
traveller to enter his house; and, with the hospitable
promptitude of country life, a comfortable meal was
set before him.
Before another hour had elapsed, so
strongly did the stranger’s story of himself
interest the kind nature of his host, this act of common
charity was succeeded by an invitation to him to remain
for a few days as the guest of the house, which was
thankfully accepted.
Senhor Mina, for this was the guest’s
name, was, as he said, a political exile, and having
strong claims of a pecuniary kind upon the American
government, he was on his way to the capital to prosecute
them; when, through a total failure of his resources,
he became exposed to the misery and want from which
this providential chance had so happily rescued him.
His appearance at this point arose from his inability
to pay his fare on board the steam-boat; where some
altercation taking place between him and the captain,
who charged him with a design to cheat, it ended in
his being summarily set ashore to make the best of
his way to the end of his journey.
The senhor was a scholar, was intelligent,
and, what was better, interesting, having visited
many lands, and encountered many of the adventurous
perils of war and travel. He was here a penniless
soldier in “the land of the brave”a
friendless exile for liberty in the “home of
the free.” He talked well; and by his enthusiastic
discourses in favour of equality and independence,topics
which possess a charm for most American ears,he
quickly gained an interest in the best feelings of
his honest host. He sang as all Spaniards sing,
and touched the guitar as only Spaniards can; and
with this artillery won yet more suddenly the love
of his host’s frail wife.
Time passed rapidly in a little circle
so happily constituted to banish tedium: nor
was business wanting to occupy a due share, for the
senhor despatched many letters; and, having established
a correspondence with the foreign-office, the necessity
for his own presence at the seat of government next
became manifest. This was no sooner made known
to Mr. C than ample means were
placed at Senhor Mina’s disposal; when, with
the best wishes of the whole family, he took a short
farewell of Pennsylvania.
The absence of the interesting stranger
was signalized by a change in the habits and condition
of this household as sudden as that which had attended
his first introduction to it. Mrs. C
grew gradually fretful, restless, and anxious; which
might well be, for her husband was on a sudden laid
up with sickness, and their only child studiously
shunned their society, locking herself within her chamber,
or moping about the grounds she had so lately bounded
over in the buoyancy of health and happy youth.
The sequel was not long in arriving:
the sick man daily grew worse and weaker; and his
wife, as was perfectly natural, daily grew more wretched
and impatient. She was assiduous to a jealous
degree in the performance of her duties and close
attendance on her husband’s bed; she mixed his
medicines, prepared his food and such diluents as were
considered best calculated to allay the fever that
for ever burned him up. With his hand within
her’s, she watched his last agonies, which were
protracted and extreme; and received from his lips
grateful acknowledgments of her unwearied kindness,
and his dying blessing.
So far all went unsuspectedly and
well: for one month the widow lived unseen and
retired, as became a sorrowing woman; but about the
end of that period, to the great surprise of the neighbourhood,
she was made again a bride by the grateful stranger,
Senhor Mina.
And now it was that men began to shake
their heads and find their tongues; comments upon
the shameless precipitancy of this wedding were everywhere
heard, mixed up with strange surmises, and suspicions
too horrible to remain long suppressed.
Curious inquiries were next made amongst
the domestics, and one servant girl quickly called
to mind having noticed a sediment in the remains of
a basin of soup prepared by her mistress for the sick
man, which having been thrown to the poultry, together
with some of the rice, these had all since withered
and died; nay, a hardy hog even, whose portion had
been small, with difficulty weathered an attack of
sickness which had quickly followed.
A legal inquiry was next demanded
by the roused public, upon which such strong evidence
appeared as to render the exhumation of the body necessary:
the contents of the stomach were yet in a condition
to admit of chemical analyzation, and the exhibition
of a large portion of arsenic was by these means proven
past doubt.
The unconscious senhorwith
whom, during this part of the process, they had prevented
the miserable woman holding any communicationwas
meantime busily prosecuting his affairs, whatever they
were, amidst the gaieties of Washington. One
night, upon his return from a public ball, he was
arrested by an officer who had just reached his quarters
with a criminal warrant, taken back to the scene of
his ingratitude, and, together with the partner of
his crime, put upon trial for the murder of his benefactor.
The guilt of both parties was established,
I believe, beyond a doubt; but some legal loophole
was found by which the woman was permitted to elude
the capital punishment, and condemned to live.
The ungrateful guest was sentenced to be hanged:
shortly before the time of execution he made full
confession of his having planned and instigated the
poisoning of his unsuspecting host, and died the death
of an assassin.
Here is a suite of horrors, plainly
and briefly set down, sufficient to supply stuff for
any murder-loving three-volume novelist; yet is there
one other, and that not least, to be added; for it
appeared in the progress of the trial, and time in
the ordinary course confirmed this evidence, that
the poor child, the daughter of the murderess, had
fallen a victim to the lust of this devil, Mina.
The fate of the girl and her infant
I could not rightly learn; all that was known, indeed,
being her removal to some distant part of the continent.
The mother, it was believed, yet resided within the
walls her guilt has made for ever infamous.
The house is always pointed out to
the passing stranger, and was, when I saw it, no unfit
monument of its owner’s crime, and the curse
which so quickly followed on it. Its fences were
thrown down, its outhouses in ruin, the paths about
it overgrown with filthy weeds; and the latticed window-shutters,
once gay as green paint could make them, now dirty
and broken, were left to swing loose from every wall.
Still, evidences of its being inhabited were exhibited
about the yard, where a dog and a few fowls lay basking;
and suspended from the branch of a blighted tree,
standing near the fallen entrance-gate, hung an ill-inscribed
sign, bearing the inscription “Temperance
House” in large characters.
A singular change,the
abode of the grossest lust, and the scene of the foulest
murder, perhaps, ever combined in the full catalogue
of crime, changed into a temple to Temperance.
JOURNAL.
Sunday, December 1st.A
little cloudy, but mild and pleasant. We have
up to this date no severe weather; and, indeed, with
the exception of now and then a day not colder than
some which we experienced in September, have had no
remembrancer of the approach of frost: but I
fancy old father Winter “’bides his time,”
and will not spare us when his icy wings are once
loosed upon the north-east wind.
Rode to German Town, and down the
ravine of the Wisihissing. A stranger, looking
over the continuous level which is presented to his
view on a first glance at the country surrounding
Philadelphia, has many pleasant surprises in store,
if he be of an errant habit and much given to exploration;
since there are several ravines of singular wildness
in this vicinity, having bridle-paths connecting them
with the different roads, and a great deal of broken
country, whose variety well repays the adventurous
equestrian.
This is a mode of proceeding I would
counsel every traveller to follow who desires to become
well acquainted with the general character of a country,
as but little of this can be known from a hasty drive
along the common line of road. Never let the
idea of being badly mounted deter a man from this
experiment; but let him send for the best hack that
the place may afford, or, what is a better plan, go
and see after one.
In America, although all the nags
thus procured may not prove the smoothest goers in
the world, they will uniformly be found strong and
well up to their work. Only let the stranger acquire
the habit of getting into saddle with promptitude
on arriving at a strange place, and more may be seen
of its neighbourhood, and known of its condition, by
this means, in a morning foray or two, than a month
of idling will compass.
Saturday, 14th.Back
again to Baltimore to act in Front-street the same
night.
A clear cold morning until about midday,
when it became overcast, with some rain and wind,
which, just as we cleared the Elk river, was exchanged
for snow. Not an inch of our way did we see after
this: the boat was frequently stopped, and soundings
carefully made; our speed was reduced to the slowest
possible pace, and every precaution taken that prudence
could suggest to the experience of our captain.
Night came on, however, and we had the pleasant prospect
of passing it in the bay of the Chesapeake, or on
one of the shoals, or shores, about us, when happily
our look-out got a momentary glimpse of Fort M’Henry,
which we were about to pass to the southward.
Had we done so, we must in a short time have grounded
in the Patapsco, there to rest for the coming clear
weather: as it was, a short time saw us snug in
harbour, although we could hardly see ourselves when
we got there.
I was too late for Front-street, a
circumstance which I did not regret, remembering its
situation and the state of the weather, but consoled
myself readily over a canvass-back duck and a tumbler
of Monongahela,when old, equal, if mixed
with hot water, even to Innishtowen; at least I remember
I thought so on this occasion.
Retired early to my room, intending
to read for an hour, having observed a cheery-looking
fire in it whilst changing my wet things. It was
exceedingly cold without; the snow fell thick, and
the sight of a grate full of cinders, glowing like
lumps of iron at red heat, was especially enlivening.
I sat down to read, but in a few minutes found my eyes
become strangely dim: after a vain attempt to
clear them by ablution, I resigned my book, gave way
to the headache and weariness, which grew worse every
minute, and got into my bed, concluding these unpleasant
symptoms were occasioned by previous cold and exposure
to the weather.
I lay down, but to rest was impossible;
my temples throbbed, the veins became swollen and
tense, whilst my breathing grew short and difficult:
getting at last a little alarmed, and, indeed, fearing
a fainting fit, I rose to ring for my servant; but
not finding the bell, opened my chamber-door with
the intention of seeking some assistance.
I had not proceeded many steps down
the passage before I felt my illness abate, in a manner
quite as sudden and strange as its advance had been;
my sight became clear, my pulse grew regular, my breathing
natural; and after a momentary pause, almost of doubt
at this rapid restoration to health and ease, I retraced
my steps to my chamber, feeling glad that I had not
communicated a false alarm in a house where two or
three sudden deaths, from what was called cholera,
had already predisposed the inmates to be nervous.
On re-entering my room, the cause
of my late symptoms became manifest in the first breath
I inhaled of the atmosphere; even as it now was, comparatively
purified by a current of fresh air, the gaseous smell
continued disagreeable and distressing.
I sent for the fireman of the hotel,that
is, the person so called who lights and looks after
the hundred fires going in one of these establishments:
he was a countryman and a staunch personal friend;
and, after hearing my story and removing the anthracite
coal, he pledged himself never to burn anything but
wood in my chamber for the time to come.
I next questioned my friend as to
whether he had ever before known any person as severely
affected from the same cause. He said he had heard
gentlemen complain now and again, “But the cowld
soon makes them get used to it,” said Pat; adding,
that most persons left a little of the window open
if the weather permitted.
This was my first and last experiment
with this coal, which is nevertheless burned almost
universally in the north, though they have abundance
of fine Nova Scotia coal, that appears little inferior
to the best Lancashire. Liverpool coal is a good
deal used in New York; but the ladies give the preference
uniformly to the anthracite, which does not yield
much dust or black smoke, and consequently preserves
for a longer period both furniture and dress:
it also renders a room quickly and equally warm without
requiring attendance, when once lighted, burning constantly
with a red heat, and fiercely or otherwise in proportion
to the draft, which all the stoves here permit to
be regulated at will.
Nevertheless, I think all its advantages
are nothing when weighed against the injurious effect
the atmosphere it generates must have upon the health
of those constantly within its influence.
It may, with great advantage, be used
for hall-stoves, for heating air-pipes, or in situations
where there is a ready circulation of air; but ought
not, I think, to be continued in the drawing-rooms
of families or in the chambers of the studious.
Sunday, 15th.The
snow lying about a foot deep in the streets, but in
places drifted to a great height: numbers of make-shift
sleighs already jingling about the town, Baltimore
having precedence of the northern cities this year
in an amusement not often enjoyed here.
I had a trial of the sleigh for a
couple of hours; and in company with a fat friend
was bumped over the gutters through the soft snow,for
on it we could not be said to ride,whilst
every inequality of the streets was made evident to
our bones.
This is a species of amusement into
which the Northerns enter with a spirit of positive
enthusiasm: man, woman, and child all talk of,
and look forward to, the arrival of sleighing-time
as a season of the highest festivity. In New
York, I am told, the first heavy fall of snow brings
even business to a stand-still, and the whole population
is seen whirling over the streets in every description
of vehicle that can be lifted off its wheels and lodged
upon runners.
The regular fancy sleighs I have frequently
examined: they are tastefully and comfortably
built, and fitted up with all sorts of furs,skins
of bear and buffalo, and various other beasts; are
lined and betasseled in a way that renders them quite
beautiful; and might defy the recognition of their
nearest of kin.
18th.The snow has
vanished wholly, and the weather is again mild as
spring: the Southerners yet lingering here upon
the confines of the north are, however, alarmed by
this early demonstration of the absence of winter
so far south, and daily set off for their yet sunny
abodes in Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, or Louisiana.
Our excellent table is gradually thinning
off; and King David’s labour, as grand carver,
is daily abridged. We this day had a haunch of
Virginia venison, with fat an inch and half deep,
the flavour equal to anything I ever ate: it
is the first fat venison I have seen in the country.
Canvass-back still in abundance, and not to be wearied
of. This, I find, is the true place to eat these
rare birds: their case is well understood here,
and they are treated to a nicety.
Saturday, 21st.Back
to Philadelphia, on my way to New Yorkwill
pass this night in the City of Squares, and Sundaythe
day positively warm; observed, however, a thin flaking
of ice stealing over the shaded surface of the Elk
river.
Monday, 23rd.Once
more in New York, via the Delaware and Raritan.
Although on Sunday it was feared that these rivers
would be closed with ice, we had only a little coating
of Jack Frost to break through, suffering no detention,
and found the bay perfectly free; arriving here about
three o’clock.
27th.Walked to
the top of Broadway, which has lost much of its crowd,
but is yet quite bustling enough to be a very lively
and pleasant lounge.
Went into the Episcopalian church
near the Park, the graves of Montgomery and Emmett
being the chief attraction: the monuments erected
to their memories stand outside, close upon the street.
Just as I turned out of the gate, after having read
the inscription upon the monument of the latter, I
was joined by R t, who gave me an
interesting account of the last meeting of the devoted
brothers.
Thomas Emmett being at Rotterdam,
after his release from Fort George, on his way to
the United States, chanced to be in waiting for his
letters at the post-office, when a man stepping from
the crowd threw himself into his arms with exclamations
of glad recognition: it was his brother Robert,
just arrived from Paris, and attending here on a like
errand.
“And from whence come you?”
demanded Robert, the first congratulations being past.
“Just escaped from poor Ireland,”
replied the senior brother; adding, “and whither
are you now bound?”
“Just escaping to poor Ireland,” was the
reply.
The meeting was a short one; Robert
would listen to no word of accompanying his family
in their exile. He declared his only desire was
either to procure for his country even justice, and
freedom from neglect and oppression, or for himself
a grave, and oblivion of her people’s sufferings
and degradation.
The brothers parted here, never again
to meet. Robert quickly found the fate he courted,
and sleeps beneath the soil he died for,mistakingly
it may be, but neither unwept, unpitied, nor unsung.
The senior pursued his more prudent
course, and landed with his wife and children in this
city, unknown, and having slight recommendation beyond
his misfortunes and his country; these, however, proved
all-sufficient to procure for him the sympathy and
respect of the citizens from whom he sought adoption.
He rested amongst them, became one of them, and lived
to see his children standing with the best and most
esteemed of the country.
In the fulness of his honours Thomas
Addis Emmett died, and on the most conspicuous part
of Broadway stands the obelisk of marble reared in
honour of his memory, and bearing testimony to the
high talent and the many virtues of the Irish exile,
the banished rebel, or the unsuccessful patriot; for
the terms are yet unhappily considered by some as
synonymous, and may be selected by each according to
his political creed. By his family and associates,
however, he appears to have been truly beloved, and
by all men to have been viewed as an upright citizen
and a most able counsel; his eloquence at the bar being
still the theme of frequent enthusiastic eulogium.
This night went to a dance at the
hospitable house of Mr. C ne,
the first occasion which afforded me a view of the
New York belles in society. The party was not
large, but there were several very pretty women, and
waltzing and music alternated in charming succession:
there were two ladies who sang with infinite taste
and sweetness, and we kept it up until rather a late
hour for a sober country. My impression of the
New York women is, that they are frank, lively, and
intelligent, with much gentleness in their manners
and address: in short, that these were very amiable
and attractive specimens of their sex and country.
20th.Went to look
over the Opera-house, which has been built here very
suddenly by subscription. It is about the size
of the Lyceum; arranged after the French fashion,
having stalls, a parterre, and balcon
below; and above, two circles of private boxes, the
property of subscribers. Some of these are fitted
up in a style of extravagance I never saw attempted
elsewhere. There has been a sort of rivalry exercised
on this head, and it has been pursued with that regardlessness
of cost which distinguishes a trading community where
their amour propre is in question.
Silk velvets, damask, and gilt furniture
form the material within many; and, as the parties
consult only their own taste, the colours of these
are various as their proprietors’ fancies.
I do not find the ensemble bad, however; whilst
the shape and mounting of the salle are both
unexceptionable.
This effort, however creditable to
the good taste of the city, is premature, and must
be doomed to more failures than one before it permanently
succeeds. A refined taste for the best kind of
music is not consequent upon the erection of an opera-house,
nor is it a feeling to be created at will. Even
in the metropolis of England, with a capital so disproportionate,
and possessing such superior facilities for the attainment
of novelty, did the continuance of this refined amusement
depend solely upon the love of good music, it would
quickly die, if not be forgotten.
From time to time, a small, but efficient
and really good Italian troop, will, beyond doubt,
find liberal encouragement in the great northern cities,
and also in New Orleans, provided they make a short
stay in each; but, rapidly as events progress here,
I will undertake to predict that a century must elapse
before even New York can sustain a permanent operatic
establishment.
JOURNAL CONTINUED.
NEW YEAR’S DAY IN NEW YORK.
With an unclouded sky, and a sun as
bright and genial as we would desire on a May morning,
the first day of January 1834 makes its bow to the
New York public; and in no place does this same day
meet heartier welcome, or witness better cheer.
On this day, from an early hour, every
door in New York is open, and all the good things
possessed by the inmates paraded in lavish profusion.
The shops and banks alone are closed: Mammon for
this day sees his altars in one spot on earth deserted.
Meantime every sort of vehicle is put in requisition;
and if a man owns but a single acquaintance in the
wide city, he on this day sets forth in kind heart
to seek and shake him by the hand.
On this day all family bickerings
are made up; fancied or real wrongs admitted, explained,
and forgiven. The first twenty-four hours of the
new year in New York is a right Trêve de Dieu,
during which foes cease from strife, the long divided
are re-united, and friendly compacts renewed and drawn
closer: even Avarice, more wary of approach than
the hare, on this day forgets to bolt his door, or
calculate the cost of bidding welcome to his visitor.
The stranger is also made sensible
of the benevolent influence of this kindly day, if
I may draw any inference from my own case. At
an early hour a gentleman of whom I had a slight knowledge
entered my room, accompanied by an elderly person
I had never before seen, and who, on being named,
excused himself for adopting such a frank mode of making
my acquaintance, which he was pleased to add he much
desired, and at once requested me to fall in with
the custom of the day, whose privilege he had thus
availed himself of, and accompany him on a visit to
his family.
I was the last man on earth likely
to decline an offer made in such a spirit; so, entering
his carriage which was in waiting, we drove to his
house in Broadway, where, after being presented to
a very amiable lady, his wife, and a pretty, gentle-looking
young girl, his daughter, I partook of a sumptuous
luncheon, drank a glass of champagne, and, on the
arrival of other visitors, made my bow, well pleased
with my visit.
My host now begged me to make a few
calls with him, explaining, as we drove along, the
strict observances paid to this day throughout the
State, and tracing the excellent custom to the early
Dutch colonists.
I paid several calls in company with
my new friend, at each place met a hearty welcome,
and witnessed the same abundant preparation; but to
lunch at each was, with the best intentions possible,
quite out of the question. After a considerable
round, my companion suggested that I might possibly
have some compliments to make on my own account, and
so leaving me, begged me to consider his carriage
perfectly at my disposal.
This was very kind, but I at the time
knew only two or three families; and indeed, on being
left to myself in solitary state, where every carriage
that whirled by was filled with merry stranger faces,
my courage oozed away. So, leaving a card or
two, and making a couple of hurried visits, I returned
to my hotel, to think over the many beneficial effects
likely to grow out of such a charitable custom, and
to wish for its continued observance.
We have days enough of division in
each year, and should indeed welcome and cherish one
which inculcates peace and good-will to all; a day
on which little coolnesses are explained away, past
kindnesses confirmed, and injuries consigned to oblivion.
At night, the theatre was filled to
suffocation by a joyous throng, although this portion
of the season is not propitious to theatricals; but
on to-day, as though no house must be left unvisited
by any of its ordinary frequenters, the Park came
in for a full participation in the benefit of this
honoured custom.
Friday, 3rd.The
prevailing topics of the new year are the President
and his quondam chum, Major Jack Downing;
the agitation of the community on the Bank question
becoming daily more violent, as the limitation placed
on credit embarrasses trade by narrowing its resources.
I observe, however, that, in the midst of much wordy
violence, the bulk of the people appear confident that
matters will, to use a coinage of their own, “eventuate
for their ultimate benefit.” Meanwhile,
the government and the laws appear equally omnipotent;
and although much embarrassment is unquestionably
felt in the money-market, and all stock become unseasonably
low for the sellers, yet is the country generally
admitted to be very prosperous, and perfectly able
to meet this shock without any permanent or ruinous
difficulty. We shall see.
Went to Mrs. H ’s
box at the opera,the “Donna
del Lago,” for Bordogni’s benefit:
a very pretty woman, very well instructed; but with
a little pipe, in which sweetness cannot make up for
want of force. Fanti, a really good actress,
and, although with a veiled voice, a capital singer,
is not so much considered, I discover, as Bordogni.
The house was quite filled, the boxes
rejoicing in a display of pretty faces few salles
d’opera might be admitted to rival.
The prevailing head-dress exceedingly showy and fanciful,
a little too much so perhaps:but these
are doings which, after all, change with each season;
therefore fashion can alone be arbiter. On the
subject of beauty I speak fearlessly, all men, having
clear eyesight, being, upon this point, admitted as
competent witnesses. The parterre, too,
was occupied by a few parties of well-dressed women;
but its prevailing character, stalls included, was
sombre and great-coatish,not quite up
to the pit of the King’s Theatre;there
was more applause though, therefore I presume more
enjoyment, which is the main object after all.
At the close of the performance several delicate bouquets,
together with a pretty coronal or two of choice flowers,
were showered on the stage in compliment to the fair
beneficiere.
Wednesday, 12th.Winter
has at length arrived in person, and his active bridge-maker
is laying for him a firm icy path across the waters.
It was reported yesterday that the passage between
Staten Island and New Jersey was no longer open, Amboy
Creek being thickly frozen from Newark Bay to the
Raritan. On reaching the steamboat this morning,
I found that the report was a correct one, and that
our only practicable passage lay through the Narrows
and round the south end of Staten Island. The
occasion thus presented of a winter view of the bay
quite reconciled me to this more exposed and circuitous
route, as it, in truth, amply compensated for it.
It was just seven A.M. when I reached
the dock where the boat lay, to all appearance firmly
imbedded in thick ice; the river, I perceived, was
still pretty clear. Punctual as usual, the bell
ceased to clang; the paddle-wheels were vigorously
applied; and in a few moments we burst our bonds,
thrusting the thick flakes of ice aside, and darting
into the clear river free from all farther impediment.
There were very few passengers, and
I had the promenade deck to my exclusive use.
Although day had not long broke, the clearness and
purity of the atmosphere gave to the most distant
parts of the landscape an outline cold and distinct,
and brought all objects apparently much nearer to
each other, and to the looker-on, than they had ever
before appeared. The city of Jersey, the woods
of Hoboken, and the far-off bluffs of the Palisadoes,
were each seen to stand separated and alone; not blended
together into one harmonizing mass, as, through the
medium of a rich warm atmosphere, I had hitherto viewed
them. The effect was for a moment to render this
scene, which frequent observation had made familiar,
quite strange to me; and at the same time to invest
its now separate portions with new and peculiar attractions.
The yet quiet city soon dropped astern;
and on a good plan of its streets one might have traced
the earliest and most notable of its sections, if
not the particular houses, by the thin spiral lines
of smoke which curled distinctly high above the chimneys
from which they escaped.
We held our course close along the
east side of Staten Island; and as we shot by the
quarantine establishment, with its hospital and many
offices, the sun rose, without one attendant cloud,
over the forest heights of Brooklyn, burnishing, as
with gold, every window and weathercock opposed to
its radiance.
The drooping boughs of the graceful
willow tribes, and all the neighbouring shrubs, which
only a moment before I had shivered to look upon,
bent down, as they appeared, beneath a load of ungenial
icicles, were now, as though touched by some enchanter’s
wand, sparkling and brilliant, reminding one of the
diamond-growing trees of young Aladdin’s cave.
The Narrows were next passed, but
the view seaward was bleak and cheerless: the
Neversink hills for the first time appearing to me
worthy such a high-sounding distinction. Not
a symptom of frost was here, although the wind had
ceased to stir the waters of the bay, and to the sun
alone was left the task of opposing the advance of
the ice-king. Sol, though with diminished powers,
had made a glorious rally on this day; for not a thicket
or creek within sight but rejoiced in his cheering
rays, and gladly owned his supremacy.
The smoothness of the sea enabled
our boat to make rapid way; and by a little after
ten o’clock we were landed at Amboy, where we
found the train awaiting our arrival. As we left
our first stage, Hights-town, an accident occurred
similar to the one I had, on my last trip southward,
seen attended by such fearful consequences. We
were proceeding, luckily at a moderate rate, when
the axle of the engine-tender broke in two: the
car occupied by myself and three others led the van,
yet the first intimation we got of the break-down
of our tender was our running foul of it with a bump
that fairly unshipped us all, pitching the occupiers
of the hind-seats head-on into the laps of those vis-a-vis
to them. Happily, this was the worst of the present
mischance: the engine was speedily arrested,
a sound axle drawn from the near car to replace the
one fractured, myself and the others belonging to the
carriage thus hauled out of the line were stowed in,
as supernumeraries, elsewhere, and, after a delay,
of some forty minutes, off we bowled again.
Halting for a few moments at Bordentown,
where the Delaware steamer waits when the river is
practicable, it now spread away below us in a solid
mass; and we pursued our journey by the railroad provided
for such seasons so far as it was at this time completed,
that is, for some eight or nine miles farther on.
This point achieved, we discovered a group of the
clumsy-looking stage-coaches of the country, to the
number of twelve, each having a team of four horses,
ready harnessed, standing amongst the trees below.
The cold was by this time extreme;
bustle was the word, therefore, amongst all parties,drivers,
porters, and passengers; and in a quarter of an hour
the transfer was completed, the luggage packed, the
people arranged, and the caravan in motion. The
place had quite a wild, lone, forest air; and it was
a curious scene to view the bustle, and hear the noise,
so uncongenial to the spot, and no less so to observe
the coaches wheeling about amongst the trees as each
Jehu sought to make the best of his way into the lane
at a little distance.
Miserably uncomfortable as the driver’s
seat is before these machines, I, as usual where the
course was strange to me, requested leave to share
it with him. I had cast about to select a team;
and was soon seated, well rolled in broadcloth and
bear-skin, behind four dark bays that might have done
credit to a better judgment.
We soon got into a very narrow lane,
through which lay the first few miles. In this
the ruts, or track, as it is here called, was over
a foot deep: on either side grew trees, thick
and low-branched; therefore my companion and I had
as much as we could do to avoid broken heads and keep
the track. I looked impatiently, after practising
this dodging exercise some time, for the great road
which the driver told me was “a bit further
ahead;” and at last we broke from our leafy shelter
into it, but with little advantage that I could discover;
for, though our heads were in less peril, our necks,
I considered, required more especial looking after
than ever. We certainly had here wider space,
and a free choice of ruts or tracks, for there were
several; but not one of them less profound than those
we had hitherto ploughed through. In one or two
places, the road was deeply trenched in every direction,
and the edges of these cuts so glazed with new-formed
ice that I expected my friend who was pilot would
pass the box and back out. But no such thing,
faith! he steered round all impediments as coolly
as the wind that whistled through the half-frozen
reins he held.
Finding one place in the road quite
impassable, he cast his eyes about him for a moment,
and chose the best part of the right bank; when, gathering
up his leaders, he first vexed them a little with the
whip, and then, putting them fairly at it, gained
its summit, drove along for a hundred yards, crashing
through a thick cover of shrubs growing breast-high,
when having thus turned the impracticable bit of highway,
he coolly dropped down into it again. On looking
back, I saw each team taking in succession the line
we had thus led over.
This was all performed clumsily enough,
as far as appearance went, I allow; but cleverly and
confidently, though with leaders hardly within calling
distance: and four snaffle-bits, and a pig-whip,
being the only means of dictation and control possessed
by the coachman. The more I see of these queer
Whips the better I like them: it assuredly is
impossible to conceive anything more uncoachmanlike
than their outward man; but they grapple with the
constantly occurring difficulties of their strange
work hardily and with superior intelligence.
I have seen a pass on the high-road
between Albany and New York, where a descending driver
perceiving that collision with a coming carriage was
from the slippery condition of the hill unavoidable,
and also being aware that such an event would be fatal
to both parties, on the instant turned his horses
to the near bank, and dashed down into the bed of the
Mohawk, a descent of more than a hundred feet, as nearly
perpendicular as may well be. His presence of
mind and courage saved both his own passengers and
those in the other vehicle, with the loss of his coach
and one of his horses only. The man was publicly
thanked and rewarded, and, I believe, yet waggons
the same road.
One might almost back one of these
crack hands to hunt a picked team of their own, a
cross country, with the Melton hounds, coach and all;
and if it was not for the pace, it would not
be such a very bad bet either.
At Camden we quitted our vehicular
mode of progressing, and took once more to the water,
or rather to the ice, since it certainly ruled over
the broad Delaware. In many places this was strong
enough to sustain the weight of our little steamer’s
bow, and only gave way beneath repeated heavy blows
of the iron-sheathed paddles.
After a hard fight we forced a path
through all obstacles, and as the clock struck four
were alongside the Chestnut-street wharf; having,
notwithstanding the delays occasioned by our mishap
and various changes, accomplished the hundred miles
in exactly ten hours.
I was expected, found a dinner prepared
for five o’clock, and, going at once to my chamber
to dress, thought I had never seen the Mansion-house
look to greater advantage. A well-warmed and carpeted
corridor led to my snug little room, the window of
which looking into the inner court, afforded one of
the most attractive winter prospects imaginable, in
the form of entire carcasses of several fat bucks
all hanging in a comely row, and linked together by
a festooning composed of turkey, woodcock, snipe,
grouse, and ducks of several denominations. Although
quartered here for a month to come, I felt fortified
against any fear of famine by this single glance without;
nor did my interior appear less inviting, cheered
as this was by a brisk fire of hickory, several logs
of which lay athwart my hearth, sustained by a couple
of antique-looking brass dogs, blazing and crackling
most uproariously: this is a fire I prefer even
to one of Liverpool coal; and how it can ever be superseded
by that quiet, unsocial, unearthly-looking and smelling,
anthracite, I am at a loss to guess!
THE DUTCH AND IRISH COLONIES OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Here are two colonies yet existing
within this State,samples of both indeed
may be found within a few miles of Philadelphia,and
these constitute with me a never-failing source of
interest and amusement. They are composed of
Dutch and Irish, often located on adjoining townships,
but keeping their borders as clearly defined as though
the wall of China were drawn between them. No
two bodies exist in nature more repellent; neither
time, nor the necessities of traffic, which daily
arise amongst a growing population, can induce a repeal
of their tacit non-intercourse system, or render them
even tolerant of each other. I have understood
that Pat has on occasions of high festivity been known
to extend his courtesy so far as to pay his German
neighbours a call to inquire kindly whether “any
gintlemen in the place might be inclined for a fight;”
but this evidence of good-nature appears to have been
neither understood nor reciprocated, and, proof against
the blandishment, Mynheer was not even to be hammered
into contact with “dem wilder Irisher.”
It is a curious matter to observe
the purity with which both people have conserved the
dialect of their respective countries, and the integrity
of their manners, costume, prejudices, nay, their very
air, all of which they yet present fresh and characteristic
as imported by their ancestors, although some of them
are the third in descent from the first colonists.
Differing in all other particulars, on this point of
character their similarity is striking.
Amongst the Germans I have had families
pointed out to me, whose fathers beheld the commencement
of the war of Independence in Pennsylvania, yet who
are at this day as ignorant of its language, extent,
policy, or population, as was the worthy pastor of
whom it is related, that, having been requested to
communicate to his flock the want of supplies which
existed in the American camp, he assured the authorities
that he had done so, as well as described to them
the exact state of affairs:
“I said to dem,”
he repeated in English, “Get op, min broders
und mine zisters, und put dem paerd
by die vagen, mit brood und corn; mit
schaap’s flesh und flesh of die groote bigs,
und os flesh; und alles be brepare
to go op de vay, mit oder goed mens, to sooply
General Vashinton, who was fighting die Englishe Konig
vor our peoples, und der lifes, und
der liberdies, op-on dem banks of de Schuylkill,
dièse side of die Vestern Indies.”
In his piggery of a residence and
his palace of a barn, in his waggon, his oxen, his
pipe, his person and physiognomy, the third in descent,
from the worthies exhorted as above, remains unchanged.
The cases upon which, as a juryman, he decides, he
hears through the medium of an official interpreter;
he has his own journal, which serves out his portion
of politics to him in Low Dutch, and in the same language
is printed such portions of the acts of the State
legislature as may in any way relate to the section
he inhabits; the only portion of the community, indeed,
which he knows, or cares to know, anything about.
My honest countrymen of the same class,
I can answer for being as slightly sophisticated as
their colder neighbours: it is true, their tattered
robes have been superseded by sufficient clothing,
and a bit of good broadcloth for Sunday or Saint’s
day, and their protracted lenten fare exchanged for
abundance of good meat, and bread, and “tay,
galore, for the priest and the mistress;” but
when politics or any stirring cause is offered to
them, their feelings are found to be as excitable,
and their temperament as fiery, as though still standing
on the banks of the Suir or the Shannon.
On all occasions of rustic holiday
they may yet be readily recognised by their slinging
gait, the bit of a stick borne in the hollow of the
hand, the inimitable shape and set of the hat, the
love of top-coats in the men, and the abiding taste
for red ribands and silk gowns amongst the women.
The inherent difference between the
two people is never more strikingly perceived than
when you have occasion to make any inquiry whilst passing
through their villages. Pull up your horse by
a group of little Dutchmen, in order to learn your
way or ask any information, and the chance is they
either run away, “upon instinct,” or are
screamed at to come within doors by their prudent
mothers; upon which cry they scatter, like scared
rabbits, for the warren, leaving you to “Try
Turner” or any other shop within hail.
For myself, after a slight experience,
I succeeded with my friends to admiration: the
few sentences of indifferent Dutch which I yet conserved
from my education amongst the Vee boors, at the Cape,
served as a passport to their civility. Without
this accomplishment, all strangers are suspected of
being Irishers; and, as such, partake of the dislike
and dread in which their more mercurial neighbours
are held by this sober-sided and close-handed generation.
On the other hand, enter an Irish
village, and by any chance see the young villains
precipitated out of the common school: call to
one of these, and a dozen will be under your horse’s
feet in a moment; prompt in their replies, even if
ignorant of that you seek to learn; and ready and
willing to show you any place or road they know anything,
or nothing, about. I have frequently on these
occasions, when asked to walk into their cabin by
the old people, on hearing their accent, and seeing
myself thus surrounded, almost doubted my being in
the valley of Pennsylvania.
So little indeed does the accent of
the Irish American,who lives exclusively
amongst his own people in the country parts,differ
from that of the settler of a year, that on occasions
of closely-contested elections this leads to imposition
on one hand and vexation on the other; and it is by
no means uncommon for a man, whose father was born
in the States, to be questioned as to his right of
citizenship, and requested to bring proofs of a three
years’ residence.
I now passed another month in this
city most agreeably, during which the weather was
never unendurably cold: sharp frosts, but not
a single fall of snow that continued over an hour
or two, or lay longer on the ground. The majority
of days I find noted in my journal as frosty but fine,
many as mild, and some even are described as warm:
there were few, indeed, during which exercise on horseback
might not have been pleasantly taken. When February
set in, and no snow had yet fallen, I heard much despair
evinced on the diminished chances of a good sleighing-time;
and, although an enemy to severe cold, I confess I
had my own regrets at not being permitted to assist
at a sleighing frolic, of which I received on all
hands such glowing descriptions.
On the eighth of this month I looked
with some anxiety for the continuance of mild weather,
as the Delaware was, happily, once more open, and
the line by way of that river and French-town resumed;
a very important event, as far as both comfort and
expedition were concerned. Indeed, a journey
by land to Baltimore was an adventure by no means to
be desired; the time of travel having varied during
the last month from three to nine days, the distance
being under a hundred miles. But the waters were
up, the bridges down; one road was washed away, and
another filled in with rocks, and roots of trees on
their travels from the Alleghanies to the Atlantic,
which rested there, abiding the next flood, without
any fear of receiving a visit ad interim from
M’Adam.
All, however, went well; the steamer
was advertised to sail on the morning of the 9th:
there were here several weather-bound Southerners,
who, like myself, were anxious to proceed as easily
as possible to the capital; and we congratulated each
other on the prospect we had of accomplishing this
by aid of steamboat and railroad, now once more available.