Troy, like a modern academy, is classical, as well as commercial, having
Mount Olympus on one side, and Mount Ida in its rear. The panorama from
the summit of the latter is splendid. A few years back a portion of
Mount Ida made a slip, and the avalanche destroyed several cottages and
five or six individuals. The avalanche took place on a dark night and
in a heavy snow storm. Two brick kilns were lighted at the time, and,
as the mountain swept them away, the blaze of the disturbed fires called
out the fire engines, otherwise more lives would have been lost.
Houses, stables, and sheds, were all hurled away together. Horses,
children, and women, rolled together in confusion. One child had a very
strange escape. It had been forced out of its bed, and was found on the
top of a huge mass of clay, weighing forty or fifty tons; he was crying,
and asking who had put him there. Had all the inhabitants of the
cottages been within, at least forty must have perished; but
notwithstanding the severity of the weather, the day being Sunday, they
had all gone to evening meeting, and thus, being good Christians, they
were for once rewarded for it on this side of the grave.
As I surveyed the busy scene below me, the gentleman who accompanied me
to the summit of the mountain, informed me that forty-three years ago
his father was the first settler, and that then there was but his one
hut in the place where now stood the splendid town.
But signs of the times were manifest here also. Commerce had stopped
for the present, and a long line of canal boats was laid up for want of
employment.
I remained two hours perched upon the top of the mountain. I should not
have staid so long, perhaps, had they not brought me a basket of
cherries, so that I could gratify more senses than one. I felt
becomingly classical whilst sitting on the precise birth-place of
Jupiter, attended by Pomona, with Troy at my feet, and Mount Olympus in
the distance; but I was obliged to descend to lumber and gin-slings, and
I set off for Albany, where I had an engagement, having been invited to
attend at the examination of the young ladies at the seminary.
Here again is a rivalry between Albany and Troy, each of them glorying
in possessing the largest seminary for the education of young ladies,
who are sent from every State of the Union, to be finished off at one or
the other of them. Here, and indeed in many other establishments, the
young ladies now quitting it have diplomas given to them, if they pass
their examinations satisfactorily. They are educated upon a system
which would satisfy even Miss Martineau, and prepared to exercise the
rights of which she complains that women have been so unjustly deprived.
Conceive three hundred modern Portias, who regularly take their
degrees, and emerge from the portico of the seminary full of algebra,
equality, and the theory of the constitution! The quantity and variety
crammed into them is beyond all calculation. The examination takes
place yearly, to prove to the parents that the preceptors have, done
their duty, and is in itself very innocent, as it only causes the young
ladies to blush a little.
This afternoon they were examined in algebra, and their performance was
very creditable. Under a certain age girls are certainly much quicker
than boys, and I presume would retain what they learnt if it were not
for their subsequent duties in making puddings, and nursing babies. Yet
there are affairs which must be performed by one sex or the other, and
of what use can algebra and other abstruse matters be to a woman in her
present state of domestic thraldom.
The theory of the American constitution was the next subject on which
they were examined; by their replies, this appeared to be to them more
abstruse than algebra: but the fact is, women are born tories, and admit
no other than petticoat government as legitimate.
The next day we again repaired to the hall, and French was the language
in which they were to be examined, and the examination afforded us much
amusement.
The young ladies sat down in rows on one side of the room. In the
centre, towards the end, was an easel, on which was placed a large black
board on which they worked with chalk the questions in algebra,
etcetera,--a towel hanging to it, that they might wipe out and correct.
The French preceptor, an old Emigre Count, sat down with the examiners
before the board, the visitors (chiefly composed of anxious papas and
mammas) being seated on benches behind them. As it happened, I had
taken my seat close to the examining board, and at some little distance
from the other persons who were deputed or invited to attend. I don't
knew how I came there. I believe I had come in too late; but there I
was, within three feet of every young lady who came up to the board.
"Now, messieurs, have the kindness to ask any question you please," said
the old Count. "Mademoiselle, you will have the goodness to step
forward." A question was proposed in English, which the young lady had
to write down in French. The very first went wrong: I perceived it, and
without looking at her, pronounced the right word, so that she could
hear it. She caught it, rubbed out the wrong word with the towel, and
rectified it. This was carried on through the whole sentence, and then
she retreated from the board that her work might be examined. "Very
well, very well, indeed, Miss, c'est parfaitement bien;" and the young
lady sat down blushing. Thus were they all called up, and one after
another prompted by me; and the old Count was delighted at the success
of his pupils.
Now, what amused me in this was the little bit of human nature; the
_tact_ displayed by the sex, which appears to be innate, and which never
deserts them. Had I prompted a boy, he would most likely have turned
his head round towards me, and thus have revealed what I was about; but
not one of the whole class was guilty of such indiscretion. They heard
me, rubbed out, corrected, waited for the word when they did not know
it, but never by any look or sign made it appear that there was any
understanding between us. Their eyes were constantly fixed on the
board, and they appeared not to know that I was in the room. It was
really beautiful. When the examination was over, I received a look from
them all, half comic, half serious, which amply repaid me for my
assistance.
As young ladies are assembled here from every State of the Union, it was
a _fair_ criterion of American beauty, and it must be acknowledged that
the American women are the _prettiest_ in the whole world.