1 who think, and feel, and marvel, and worship, where there is ample opportunity for the indulgence of every scope of human thought. Well, that's over, and we are now in the United States of America, the boasted soil of freedom, and the abused soil of slavery, the wonder of the world at large, and of itself in particular, the refuge of the best and the worst of mankind-in short, one mighty link in the chain which binds together the universe. We repeat that it is foreign to our purpose to enter upon any minute history of this marvellous country, or upon the essential qualifications of character which distinguish its people-a task that has been accomplished from time to time by abler pens than our own; our aim is rather to point out peculiarity, habit, and system, where it can be done with possible advantage to ourselves, and without discourtesy to others, and where observation may be turned into amusement. We are not going over any beaten track, for the marvellous growth of the place, the enlargement of idea, the rapidity of invention, the earnestness of action, is such, that no sooner has one publication gone fairly through the press, than food presents itself for the composition and issue of another. We shall hope to raise a laugh out of the most humorous body of people in Christendom, but most certainly shall not do it at their expense; and grieved indeed should we be if, at the termination of our travail, we could be accused of sporting with the amour propre, or wounding the feelings, of a single inhabitant of the broad lands of Columbia. The title we have given to this unpretending volume will sufficiently speak for itself; for while we shall supply the reader, who is bold enough to wade through its pages, with a sufficient quantity of general matter, our attention will be more especially directed to an examination of New England, from which so much of the actual greatness of America has sprung, and which constitutes so much of it at the present hour. It is the cradle in which, when an infant, the giant was nursed; and due notice must therefore be taken of mother and child. We mean no disrespect to the miraculous city of New York, when we say that it gives by no means a fair representation of a genuine American capital; at least one-third of its vast population is the spawn of other lands, for to every three natives you have at least one foreigner-the predominance of those sons of immigration being Irish and German. The census of New York, if strictly scrutinized, would be found to consist of human contributions from every part of the habitable globe, who tend very much to disfigure the genuine character of the natives. This is not so much the case in any other State of the Union, though we by no means wish it to be inferred that every portion of it is not, to a certain extent, so inflicted. In New England, it is clearly less discernible; and the genuine American character is nowhere so conspicuous as in the peculiar realm of Yankeeism. We are perfectly well aware that a New Yorker would feel himself regularly insulted if you were tó designate him as a Yankee, and so would a Yankee if you were to call him anything else—but this aim at distinction is foreign to the purpose. We shall talk about New York, and other parts of the States, as much as from time to time may appear necessary, and just as much as we like. In the meanwhile, we shall direct our immediate attention to New England. It seems almost part and parcel of Old England; and as they better understand each other than nearly all other portions of the great Republic, there can be no possible objection to its holding the first position-the place d'honneur, if any such there be-in these our perambulating observations. Some, perhaps, will think that we are too laudatory in our opinions that we have allowed personal attention to take precedence of national examination, and that we are altogether cautious, instead of being critical. Nonsense! We can praise without the slightest appearance of servility, or any fear of our eulogium being open to the charge of truckling. We can hold up other people, without letting down ourselves. Vainglory and idle boasting are poor substitutes for truth and justice-those alone we fight for, wherever they are to be met with. Proper reliance is far better than injudicious confidence that alone we stand by. We shall speak of men and things as we have found them, and only hope we shall encounter the same condition of both, wherever the compass may direct our course; but read on, reader, and judge for yourself. CHAPTER II. Boston-Its importance-Its general appearance and character-Puritanism and republicanism-Bunker Hill wit-The Pilgrim Stone-Down East-Irishmen at a premium-Sleighing-Jews versus Yankees-A game supper-Anecdote of a one-horse cutter-A new species of crop. IN entering into an examination of the general feature which New England presents to the observer, and of the peculiarities connected therewith, it is best to begin at the fountain-head; and as Boston is its metropolis, and one of the most important places in the States, we cannot do better than make that our starting-post. It is as delightful a city to gaze upon, and as delightful an one to live in, as any beneath the blue canopy that encircles all. It has more the appearance of the best of English towns than any we have visited, and its inhabitants follow the fashion of their locality, and are more like ourselves in character than any others. It is unnecessary to state that Boston was the landmark of the earliest display of Puritanism which wàs imported by the Pilgrims, and of the Republicanism which followed that importation; and we question whether, from the first moment a footstep was imprinted on Plymouth Rock* to the present hour, the spirit of either inspiration is much abated or altered. We have not space to descant on the exact remaining quantity of the aforesaid rock, nor on its partial removal to' Pilgrim Hall, nor on all the associations connected therewith, nor on the enchanting locality of Burying Hill The Pilgrim Stone, or Forefather's Rock, like many other relics of antiquity, is rather the worse for wear; and when we visited Plymouth, it seemed to us to betray strong symptoms of gradual disappearance. We presume it is generally known that the forefathers of America left Plymouth in Old England, and landed at Plymouth in New England, in 1620. A recent controversy has arisen in Southampton as to that town being the one from which the Pilgrims finally departed-which is not the case. On their return from Leyden they touched at Southampton, thence proceeded to Plymouth, and from that port they bade adieu to their native land. They issued on arrival their famous manifesto (which is the first of American Constitutions) on board the " May-flower," on the 11th of November, 1620, as will be seen by this copy of it, and in the following month landed on the rock aforesaid : "In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, defender of the faith, &c., having undertaken for the glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the end aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony. In witness whereof, we have hereunder subscribed our names. Cape Cod, 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, A. D. 1620. "The hill of hallowed brow, Where the pilgrim sleepeth now," nor to indulge in those feelings which so highly and honorably excite the American's bosom upon this subduing topic; but if the corroding hand of time should ever pulverize the last morceau of this renowned stone, the memory of the spot it first was trod on will live forever in these few lines by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes: The weary pilgrim slumbers, His resting-place unknown His hands were crossed, his lids were closed, The drifting soil, the mouldering leaf, Along the sod were blown, His mound has melted into earth, His memory lives alone. So let it live, unfading, The memory of the dead, Long as the pale anemone Springs where their tears were shed: Or raining in the summer's wind In flakes of burning red, The wild rose sprinkles with its leaves Yes, when the frowning bulwarks Have sunk beneath the trampling surge In beds of sparkling sand; While in the waste of ocean One hoary rock shall stand, Here was THE PILGRIM'S LAND! The general character of New England is, to a very great extent, embodied in the people of Boston, the constitution of either of the six States differing in reality very little. They may each have some extra form of internal government, some fluctuating code of by-laws, or some local distinction; but the system, social and civil, is the same. The best society of Boston is highly refined, and every class of its society is highly intellectual-indeed, the latter qualification is one of the grand ingredients of an American's constitution-one of the great secrets of his success in life, and of the standing of his country in the scale of nations. A fool is a rare fellow to find in most parts of the Union; for the small urchin, from the earliest dawn of reason, would think his family and himself forever disgraced, if the badge of a block head could be fixed upon his brow. They are a reading public: from the daily literature on a newsvender's counter, to the thoughtful volumes of the scholar's study, nothing escapes their attention; and to such a pitch is this determination to acquire knowledge carried, that the coachman who drives you to hear a lecture will pay his money to go in and attend its delivery. It is a perseverance of the highest character, and most honorable to the energies of a nation. Boston is, in fact, the Athens of America, and its own institutions, with the institutions and lyceums of other parts of New England, stand out as literary landmarks, which seem to draw a vast line of distinction between those and other States of the Union. Though a seaport, and a most extensive emporium of commerce, the city always possesses a tranquil, genteel, and unpretending aspect—somewhat bordering even upon primitiveness; and though as forward in the march of advance as any of its neighbors, it is remote in all respects from that principle of go-aheadism which distinguishes some-especially New York. You may parade the streets of Boston without being run over by a flight of omnibus, hack, or car, at every step you take, and without the fear of a house falling on you, or a sewer falling in with you, as you musingly thread your way. Coachmen and carmen rein up as they approach a orossing, to let pedestrians pass over unsmashed;* and indeed civility and propriety are distinguishable features, in gentle and simple. The inhabitants of Boston are a strictly religious community, there being no less than ninety-seven churches and chapels, wherein some ministers of eminent learning and piety fulfil the duties of their respective creeds. On our first attendance, at Divine service, we were struck for the moment with the natural, but peculiar, substitution in the form of prayer in our ritual of "The President of the United States' in lieu of "Queen Victoria," as it hath been our wont to hear; and moreover with such pronunciation as doo for dew, of dooties for duties, of booty for beauty, and so on. There is generally at Episcopal churches a collection after worship, the clergy here having no tithings-no "one pig out of ten," and the like. The collectors pass a velvet bag into each pew, and then hand the bag to one of the three officiating priests (between whom the various portions of the service and its ceremonies are *We were within an inch of being annihilated at a corner street in Broadway, New York, and on asking the drayman why he did not knock us down at once, he replied: "Well, I guess I should if you'd a-staid there a minute longer." |