DELAWARE.NEWCASTLE.RAILROAD.FRENCH-TOWN.ELK RIVER.NORTH
POINT.BAY OF CHESAPEAKE.BALTIMORE.
Quitting one of these great seaports
by the ordinary conveyance of steamboat, early on
a fine winter morning, is at once an amusing and interesting
event.
Hastily summoned by your servant,
who, himself not over early, bustles up to your bedside
with “Just five minutes after six o’clock,
sir,” you start from a slumber that has been
for some time back uneasy enough, broken up by visions
of steamboats, locomotives, canvass-back ducks, Nott’s
stoves, and crowded cabin-tables.
At the first shake out you jump, well
aware how peremptory is the steamer’s bell above
all other belles,make hasty toilet,
and bustle into the hall, where a few half-burned
candles yet outface the daylight; and here you find
a dozen newly-awakened misérables like yourself,
equipped for some steamer.
The waiter inquires if you would like
a cup of coffee, which as a matter of course you accept;
and, hurrying after him into the next room, you are
yet in the act of blowing and sipping your Mocha, which
for once you find sufficiently hot, when a friend
pops his head in to say that the baggage-cart is off,
and your latest second of time come. Remedy there
is none; a delay of one minute is fatal, since no timekeeper
is so punctual as an American steamer anywhere north
of the Potomac.
Out you trudge, great-coated, muffled
up in fur and shawl, to find the street silent and
untrodden, except by a straggler or twain bending
their steps hurriedly towards Chestnut. As you
turn out of South-third into this great thoroughfare
you observe an immediate change; the stragglers preceding
you have mingled with the main current, and are quickly
confounded amidst a confused jumble of men, women,
and children, carts, coaches, and wheelbarrows, pressing
in long columns of march down towards the Delaware.
In the distance may be seen, curling
from below, wavy pillars of dense black smoke, intermingled
with vicious-looking lines of thin whitish vapour,
which rush through and tower high over the more sluggish
smoke with a savage, hissing sound that almost drowns
the bell, now tolling a last summons.
The wharf is gained: here lie
the boats side by side, one going north, the other
south: they are surrounded by a crowd,friends
making hasty adieus; porters, of all shades of colour,
hurrying to and fro, aiding, scrambling, and squabbling,
with the important air and ceaseless loquacity everywhere
characteristic of the African race.
Amidst this motley throng the unoccupied
and observant man will easily pick out many individuals
of gaunt outline, a bilious aspect and a staid sober
demeanour, each carrying a small valise, a carpet-bag,
a long Boston coat or cloak, and steadily and deliberately
making a straight course for the common bourne, unaided
and unaiding, self-sustained, independent, and, each
for himself alone.
At length, after a few last hasty
bangs, the heavy bell clappers cease to move; the
porters quit the luggage-cars and spring nimbly ashore;
the independent gentlemen dispose of their kits,
each after the fashion and on the spot he “judges”
most convenient; the hissing sound of escaping steam
suddenly stops, and this momentary silence is succeeded
by the quick motion of the paddle-wheels.
The vicious-looking columns of white
vapour melt away; wheeling majestically about, the
huge boats steadily head towards their opposite courses,
and, in the next moment, are rushing, like unslipped
greyhounds, through the smooth waters of the Delaware.
And now occasionally arrive discoveries,
at once whimsical and amusing to all save the sufferers.
A lady with her children going South, for instance,
finds out that her husband, or her carriage and horses,
one or both, have gotten by mistake aboard the New
York boat, and are off back again to the North:
perhaps you get a glimpse of the miserable biped in
question, like a waterman, looking one way and going
the other. Without great care, these little accidents
will occur, as I can vouch for; as the lines depart
full drive at the same instant, stopping is out of
the question; and the disunion of a day, at least,
is the consequence of one moment’s delay or
mistake.
Our way lies downward, and the long
line of quays is dashed by like lightning. You
have just time to mark, well pleased, the early activity
of the numerous little steamers plying to and fro between
Camden and the city ferries. You cast perchance
a rambling glance over those pretty villages, above
which the ruddy hue of morning is serenely spreading,
and, even as you gaze, behold them melt away in the
river’s haze.
The Navy-yard, with the huge wooden
mansions built to shelter the “Pennsylvania”
and a neighbour frigate, glide, as it were, hastily
by; and nothing remains to break the monotony of the
long level lines skirting the river, and hardly rising
above it.
Of this prospect the eye soon becomes
weary, and now is the time to look upon your fellow-passengers.
You descend from the upper or promenade deck, which,
if the morning be chilly, you have most likely held
in sole occupation. On the next deck beneath,
seated back to back upon long ranges of settees, you
behold the female portion of the living freight; for,
I take it for granted, this is the first direction
of your regards, and a pleasant task it often turns
out to be; for, as I have already said, and shall
probably yet more strongly confirm hereafter, the
average of female beauty in America is high, and but
few women are without those always striking points,
fine expressive brows and eyes, which, shaded by a
tasteful bonnet, and accompanied by a certain coquettish
air, leave little wanting to ensure the admiration
of the passing stranger.
Having lounged about here for a turn
or two, you find yourself reminded of a certain indispensable
ceremony by a Stentor-lunged black, who most perseveringly
vociferates, “Gentlemen who have not yet paid,
will please step to the captain’s office and
settle their passage.”
At your convenience you obey this
gentle hint; securing at the same time a ticket for
breakfast, now becoming a very important consideration,
assailed by a good natural appetite, sharpened in the
shrewd air of a clear, cold morning. At last,
ring goes the bell; and the deck, already thinned
of the more anxious, or more provident, of the party,
becomes, at that magic tinkle, a desert.
On descending the stair, you perceive
two long ranges of table thickly bestrewn with dishes
containing beefsteak, ham, fish, chicken, game, omelettes,together
with hot rolls, cakes, and bread of every other form
and denomination, with tea and coffee, borne about
as called for; the whole arranged with an attention
to neatness and propriety quite surprising when you
consider the place, and the difficulties which are
inseparable from having to cater and cook for such
a multitude.
If you are not of an active habit,
or if you object to remain stewing in the cabin for
a time waiting on the event, you observe at a glance
that, ample as the tables appear, every seat is occupied.
Here is no reservation of placespossession
is your only admitted right, and, were the President
himself too late, he must sit out, or be admitted of
the party on courtesy: of this, however, let
me add, it never was my chance to perceive any lack.
One of the black waiters, recognising you for a frequent
passenger, is touched by your appealing glance, motions
you to follow him, advancing at the same time a stool
with an insinuating air between two goodhumoured-looking
men, with “Please, make a little room for this
gentleman.”
A niche is readily conceded; and,
casting an eye right, left, or straightforward, you
can hardly fail to find something to your liking.
The board is soon clear of the “Rapids,”a
large family in most such places; and now you acquire
ample space to prove your prowess in.
Having breakfasted, you once more
mount the upper deck and breathe the pure air of heaven,
unpolluted by that unpleasant gas which escapes from
the iron coal burnt in the cabin stoves. Such
at least was my constant habit: the natives,
I observed, although accustomed to a climate whose
vicissitudes are extreme, never appear voluntarily
to face the cold, but for the most part, abide below,
congregated in concentric circles, of which a red-hot
stove, filled with that to me deadly abomination,
anthracite coal, forms the centre.
Wrapping well up, I found, even in
the severest season, no difficulty in facing the open
air, and have more than once paced the upper deck for
a passage of three or four hours without having my
territory invaded, or at most only for a few minutes
by some adventurous spirit, who invariably dived down
after a shiver or two.
Here then, between your meals, you
may promenade upon a noble deck fifty feet long, smoking
your cigar, and eyeing the flitting forest or meadow,
amidst dreamy reveries of William Penn’s description
of the populous tribes of the Delaware, and that first
simple treaty which consigned to the unwarlike strangers
a country and a home, a treaty which was a deed of
disinheritance to the posterity of the donors, and
of destruction to their nation, of whom, in their own
land, their name has long been the sole memorial left.
In travelling, as I did much and alone,
this was always the current set of my day-dreaming.
I never could draw on fancy to the exclusion of the
Red-man; but, on the contrary, constantly detected
myself re-peopling every wood with the wild forms
of the aborigines, and in each distant skiff that
darted over the broad stream picturing the fragile
canoe, and its plumed and painted occupant.
The town of Wilmington, the chief
place of the little State of Delaware, shows very
attractively from the river, with which it communicates
by a navigable creek, and, together with the neighbouring
springs of the Brandywine, is in high repute for the
beauty of its scenery as well as for its general salubrity.
Arrived at Newcastle, an ancient but
not very populous city,which nevertheless
possessed an interest in my eyes, from the circumstance
of my having chosen to write about it long before
I ever dreamed of seeing it,you quit the
steamer, and, seating yourself in one of the long line
of railway cars awaiting you, are whisked over the
intervening neck to French-town,by courtesy
so called, since the town is yet to be,a
distance of sixteen miles in about fifty minutes; and
are there reshipped on the Elk river, down which you
rush, at the usual rapid rate, amidst scenery that
is really charming.
At the junction of the Susquehannah,
the view up the two fine rivers, with the dividing
headland, the numerous winding creeks, deep shady
coves, and spacious bays, all well wooded and backed
by a range of bold mountainous ridges, calls for unqualified
admiration, and cannot be too often seen.
The vast bay of the Chesapeake now
opens gradually out before you. On the right
lie the Gunpowder and other rivers, famous as the favourite
feeding-ground of the canvass-back; and here you find
amusement in watching the innumerable flocks, or rather
clouds, of every denomination of the duck tribe, which,
disturbed by the noisy steamer, rise from the water
in numbers that hide the sun.
Boats too, of a beautiful model and
most varmint rig, now begin to thicken on the
track, working up, close-hauled, into the eye of the
wind, or going, right before it, with the foresail
guy’d out on one side and mainsail on the other,
showing an uncommon spread of canvass. Here and
there, too, the masts of tall ships rise, as more gravely
they seek their port, or win their way to the yet
distant ocean, performing a voyage before they reach
the sea.
North Point is next passed by; and
the fate of poor Ross is yet occupying the mind, when
the city-crowned hill begins to open on the view,
and Baltimore, with all its domes, spires, and columns,
stands forth in bold relief against the evening sky.
A bustle soon after commences on deck:
the ladies draw closer their hoods and cloaks, and
the men move to and fro, warned by the sable Mentor
of the place, who paces the decks below and above with
a ceaseless cry of “Ladies and gentle-men
will be pleased to step forward, and point out their
bag-gage.”
A general loading of wheelbarrows
is now the order of the hour; most of the waiters
exercising the office of porters, and carrying with
them their barrows. The landing-place gained,
you are hailed by many voices ringing in a rich brogue,
“Coach, your honour! Long life to ye! want
a carriage?” and eager looks and ready uplifted
fingers woo you for an assenting nod. Nowhere
on this continent is the presence of Pat so immediately
recognizable as in this good catholic city, where the
office of Jarvey is nearly a monopoly amongst my poor
countrymen, who appear to have left no tittle of their
good-humour, eager importunity, and readiness of wit
behind them.
Being once known, I felt at all my
future landings quite at home here, as these honest
fellows were to me particularly attentive. Driving
to Barnum’s hotel, the stranger may count on
a hearty welcome from King David (whom Heaven long
preserve!) and from his household much civility; and
here, with capital fare, over a fire of wood,never
use anthracite in a close room,will find,
if he has been as observant as he ought, much to amuse
and gratify him in a retrospective glance over a journey
of some hundred miles, performed with little fatigue
or inconvenience, between the chief cities of quaker
Pennsylvania and catholic Maryland.