I do not know what sort of character it will form in the children,--this
unsettled, shifting, vagrant life, with no central home to turn to,
except what we carry in ourselves. It was a windy day, and, judging by
the look of the trees, on the way to Southport, it must be almost always
windy, and with the blast in one prevailing direction; for invariably
their branches, and the whole contour and attitude of the tree, turn from
seaward, with a strangely forlorn aspect. Reaching Southport, we took an
omnibus, and under the driver's guidance came to our tall stone house,
fronting on the sands, and styled "Brunswick Terrace." . . . .
The English system of lodging-houses has its good points; but it is,
nevertheless, a contrivance for bearing the domestic cares of home about
with you whithersoever you go; and immediately you have to set about
producing your own bread and cheese. However, Fanny took most of this
trouble off our hands, though there was inevitably the stiffness and
discomfort of a new housekeeping on the first day of our arrival; besides
that, it was cool, and the wind whistled and grumbled and eddied into the
chinks of the house.
Meanwhile, in all my experience of Southport, I have never yet seen the
sea, but only an interminable breadth of sands, looking pooly or plashy
in some places, and barred across with drier reaches of sand, but no
expanse of water. It must be miles and miles, at low water, to the
veritable sea-shore. We are about twenty miles north of Liverpool, on
the border of the Irish Sea; and Ireland and, I suppose, the Isle of Man
intervene betwixt us and the ocean, not much to our benefit; for the air
of the English coast, under ocean influences, is said to be milder than
when it comes across the land,--milder, therefore, above or below
Ireland, because then the Gulf Stream ameliorates it.
Betimes, the forenoon after our arrival, I had to take the rail to
Liverpool, but returned, a little after five, in the midst of a rain,--
still low water and interminable sands; still a dreary, howling blast.
We had a cheerful fireside, however, and should have had a pleasant
evening, only that the wind on the sea made us excessively drowsy. This
morning we awoke to hear the wind still blustering, and blowing up
clouds, with fitful little showers, and soon blowing them away again, and
letting the brightest of sunshine fall over the plashy waste of sand. We
have already walked forth on the shore with J----- and R-----, who pick
up shells, and dig wells in the sand with their little wooden spades;
but soon we saw a rainbow on the western sky, and then a shower came
spattering down upon us in good earnest. We first took refuge under the
bridge that stretches between the two portions of the promenade; but as
there was a chill draught there, we made the best of our way home. The
sun has now again come out brightly, though the wind is still tumbling a
great many clouds about the sky.
Evening.--Later, I walked out with U----, and, looking seaward, we saw
the foam and spray of the advancing tide, tossed about on the verge of
the horizon,--a long line, like the crests and gleaming helmets of an
army. In about half an hour we found almost the whole waste of sand
covered with water, and white waves breaking out all over it; but, the
bottom being so nearly level, and the water so shallow, there was little
of the spirit and exultation of the sea in a strong breeze. Of the long
line of bathing-machines, one after another was hitched to a horse, and
trundled forth into the water, where, at a long distance from shore, the
bathers found themselves hardly middle deep.
September 19th.--The wind grumbled and made itself miserable all last
night, and this morning it is still howling as ill-naturedly as ever, and
roaring and rumbling in the chimneys. The tide is far out, but, from an
upper window, I fancied, at intervals, that I could see the plash of the
surf-wave on the distant limit of the sand; perhaps, however, it was only
a gleam on the sky. Constantly there have been sharp spatters of rain,
hissing and rattling against the windows, while a little before or after,
or perhaps simultaneously, a rainbow, somewhat watery of texture, paints
itself on the western clouds. Gray, sullen clouds hang about the sky, or
sometimes cover it with a uniform dulness; at other times, the portions
towards the sun gleam almost lightsomely; now, there may be an airy
glimpse of clear blue sky in a fissure of the clouds; now, the very
brightest of sunshine comes out all of a sudden, and gladdens everything.
The breadth of sands has a various aspect, according as there are pools,
or moisture enough to glisten, or a drier tract; and where the light
gleams along a yellow ridge or bar, it is like sunshine itself.
Certainly the temper of the day shifts; but the smiles come far the
seldomest, and its frowns and angry tears are most reliable. By seven
o'clock pedestrians began to walk along the promenade, close buttoned
against the blast; later, a single bathing-machine got under way, by
means of a horse, and travelled forth seaward; but within what distance
it finds the invisible margin I cannot say,--at all events, it looks like
a dreary journey. Just now I saw a sea-gull, wheeling on the blast,
close in towards the promenade.
September 21st.--Yesterday morning was bright, sunny and windy, and cool
and exhilarating. I went to Liverpool at eleven, and, returning at five,
found the weather still bright and cool. The temperature, methinks, must
soon diminish the population of Southport, which, judging from
appearances, must be mainly made up of temporary visitors. There is a
newspaper, The Southport Visitor, published weekly, and containing a
register of all the visitants in the various hotels and lodging-houses.
It covers more than two sides of the paper, to the amount of some
hundreds. The guests come chiefly from Liverpool, Manchester, and the
neighboring country-towns, and belong to the middle classes. It is not a
fashionable watering-place. Only one nobleman's name, and those of two
or three baronets, now adorn the list. The people whom we see loitering
along the beach and the promenade have, at best, a well-to-do,
tradesmanlike air. I do not find that there are any public amusements;
nothing but strolling on the sands, donkey-riding, or drives in
donkey-carts; and solitary visitors must find it a dreary place. Yet one
or two of the streets are brisk and lively, and, being well thronged,
have a holiday aspect. There are no carriages in town save donkey-carts;
some of which are drawn by three donkeys abreast, and are large enough to
hold a whole family. These conveyances will take you far out on the
sands through wet and dry. The beach is haunted by The Flying Dutchman,
--a sort of boat on wheels, schooner-rigged with sails, and which
sometimes makes pretty good speed, with a fair wind.
This morning we have been walking with J----- and R----- out over the
"ribbed sea sands," a good distance from shore. Throughout the week, the
tides will be so low as not to cover the shallow basin of this bay, if a
bay it be. The weather was sullen, with now and then a faint gleam of
sunshine, lazily tracing our shadows on the sand; the wind rather quieter
than on preceding days. . . . In the sunshine the sands seem to be
frequented by great numbers of gulls, who begin to find the northern
climate too wintry. You see their white wings in the sunlight, but they
become almost or quite invisible in the shade. We shall soon have an
opportunity of seeing how a watering-place looks when the season is quite
over; for we have concluded to remain here till December, and everybody
else will take flight in a week or two.
A short time ago, in the evening, in a street of Liverpool, I saw a
decent man, of the lower orders, taken much aback by being roughly
brushed against by a rowdy fellow. He looked after him, and exclaimed
indignantly, "Is that a Yankee?" It shows the kind of character we have
here.
October 7th.--On Saturday evening, I gave a dinner to Bennoch, at the
Adelphi Hotel. The chief point or characteristic of English customs was,
that Mr. Radley, our landlord, himself attended at table, and officiated
as chief waiter. He has a fortune of 100,000 pounds,--half a million of
dollars,--and is an elderly man of good address and appearance. In
America, such a man would very probably be in Congress; at any rate, he
would never conceive the possibility of changing plates, or passing round
the table with hock and champagne. Some of his hock was a most rich and
imperial wine, such as can hardly be had on the Rhine itself. There were
eight gentlemen besides Bennoch.
A donkey, the other day, stubbornly refusing to come out of a boat which
had brought him across the Mersey; at last, after many kicks had been
applied, and other persecutions of that kind, a man stepped forward,
addressing him affectionately, "Come along, brother,"--and the donkey
obeyed at once.
October 26th.--On Thursday, instead of taking the rail for Liverpool, I
set out, about eleven, for a long walk. It was an overcast morning, such
as in New England would have boded rain; but English clouds are not
nearly so portentous as American in that respect. Accordingly, the sun
soon began to peep through crevices, and I had not gone more than a mile
or two when it shone a little too warmly for comfort, yet not more than I
liked. It was very much like our pleasant October days at home; indeed,
the climates of the two countries more nearly coincide during the present
month than at any other season of the year. The air was almost perfectly
still; but once in a while it stirred, and breathed coolly in my face; it
is very delightful, this latent freshness, in a warm atmosphere.
The country about Southport has as few charms as it is possible for any
region to have. In the close neighborhood of the shore, it is nothing
but sand-hillocks, covered with coarse grass; and this is the original
nature of the whole site on which the town stands, although it is now
paved, and has been covered with soil enough to make gardens, and to
nourish here and there a few trees. A little farther inland the surface
seems to have been marshy, but has been drained by ditches across the
fields and along the roadside; and the fields are embanked on all sides
with parapets of earth which appear as if intended to keep out
inundations. In fact, Holland itself cannot be more completely on a
level with the sea. The only dwellings are the old, whitewashed stone
cottages, with thatched roofs, on the brown straw of which grow various
weeds and mosses, brightening it with green patches, and sprouting along
the ridgepole,--the homeliest hovels that ever mortals lived in, and
which they share with pigs and cows at one end. Hens, too, run in and
out of the door. One or two of these hovels bore signs, "Licensed to
sell beer, ale, and tobacco," and generally there were an old woman and
some children visible. In all cases there was a ditch, full of water,
close at hand, stagnant, and often quite covered with a growth of
water-weeds,--very unwholesome, one would think, in the neighborhood of a
dwelling; and, in truth, the children and grown people did look pale.
In the fields, along the roadside, men and women were harvesting their
carrots and other root-crops, especially digging potatoes,--the
pleasantest of all farm labor, in my opinion, there being such a
continual interest in opening the treasures of each hill. As I went on,
the country began to get almost imperceptibly less flat, and there was
some little appearance of trees. I had determined to go to Ormskirk, but
soon got out of the way, and came to a little hamlet that looked antique
and picturesque, with its small houses of stone and brick, built, with
the one material and repaired with the other perhaps ages afterward.
Here I inquired my way of a woman, who told me, in broad Lancashire
dialect, "that I main go back, and turn to my left, till I came to a
finger-post"; and so I did, and found another little hamlet, the
principal object in which was a public-house, with a large sign,
representing a dance round a Maypole. It was now about one o'clock; so I
entered, and, being ushered into what, I suppose, they called the
coffee-room, I asked for some cold neat and ale. There was a jolly,
round, rather comely woman for a hostess, with a free, hospitable, yet
rather careless manner.
The coffee-room smelt rather disagreeably of bad tobacco-smoke, and was
shabbily furnished with an old sofa and flag-bottomed chairs, and adorned
with a print of "Old Billy," a horse famous for a longevity of about
sixty years; and also with colored engravings of old-fashioned
hunting-scenes, conspicuous with scarlet coats. There was a very small
bust of Milton on the mantel-piece. By and by the remains of an immense
round of beef, three quarters cut away, were put on the table; then some
smoking-hot potatoes; and finally the hostess told me that their own
dinner was just ready, and so she had brought me in some hot chops,
thinking I might prefer them to the cold meat. I did prefer them; and
they were stewed or fried chops, instead of broiled, and were very
savory. There was household bread too, and rich cheese, and a pint of
ale, home brewed, not very mighty, but good to quench thirst, and, by way
of condiment, some pickled cabbage; so, instead of a lunch, I made quite
a comfortable dinner. Moreover, there was a cold pudding on the table,
and I called for a clean plate, and helped myself to some of it. It was
of rice, and was strewn over, rather than intermixed, with some kinds of
berries, the nature of which I could not exactly make out.
I then set forth again. It was still sunny and warm, and I walked more
slowly than before dinner; in fact, I did little more than lounge along,
sitting down, at last, on the stone parapet of a bridge.
The country grew more pleasant, more sylvan, and, though still of a level
character, not so drearily flat. Soon appeared the first symptom that I
had seen of a gentleman's residence,--a lodge at a park gate, then a long
stretch of wall, with a green lawn, and afterwards an extent of wooded
land; then another gateway, with a neat lodge on each side of it, and,
lastly, another extent of wood. The Hall or Mansion-house, however, was
nowhere apparent, being, doubtless, secluded deep and far within its
grounds. I inquired of a boy who was the owner of the estate, and he
answered, "Mr. Scarisbrick"; and no doubt it is a family of local
eminence.
Along the road,--an old inn; some aged stone houses, built for merely
respectable occupants; a canal, with two canal-boats, heaped up with a
cargo of potatoes; two little girls, who were watching lest some cows
should go astray, and had their two little chairs by the roadside, and
their dolls and other playthings, and so followed the footsteps of the
cows all day long. I met two boys, coming from Ormskirk, mounted on
donkeys, with empty panniers, on which they had carried vegetables to
market. Finally, between two and three o'clock, I saw the great tower of
Ormskirk Church, with its spire, not rising out of the tower, but
sprouting up close beside it; and, entering the town, I directed my steps
first to this old church.