[From _The Medical Student in Europe_ (Maysville, Kentucky, 1849)]
Havre is a place of about 25,000 inhabitants, has fine docks, which
are accessible in high tide, and a considerable amount of shipping.
Many of the streets are narrow and crooked, with narrow sidewalks and
in many cases none at all. The houses are stuccoed, and generally
present rather a sombre aspect. Three-fourths of the women we saw in
Havre wore no bonnets, but simply a cap. Some of them were mounted
upon donkeys, with a large market basket swung down each side of the
animal; these of course were the peasants. My attention was attracted
by the large sumpter horses here, which draw singly from eight to ten
bales of cotton, apparently with considerable ease.
On the day after we arrived at Havre we ascended the hill which rises
at one extremity of the city. The various little winding pathways up
the hill, have on each side massive stone walls, with now and then a
gateway leading to a private residence almost buried in a thicket of
shrubbery and flowers. Upon the hill are situated some most delightful
and elegant mansions, with grounds beautifully ornamented with shade
trees, shrubbery, flowers and handsome walks. These salubrious
retreats have a double charm when compared with the thronged, narrow,
and noisy streets of the city below. Beyond these _Villas_ were fields
of grass and grain undivided by fences, with here and there a farm
house surrounded by a clump of trees.
In Havre we found delightful cherries and strawberries, as well as a
variety of vegetables; the oysters and fish here though in abundance
are of rather an inferior quality, the oysters are very small and of a
decided copperish taste. At breakfast, which we took at any hour in
the morning that we thought proper, we ordered such articles as suited
our fancy, generally however a cup of coffee, a beef steak, eggs, an
omelet or something of this sort. We dined about five in the evening
upon soups, a variety of meats and vegetables, well prepared, and a
dessert of strawberries and other fruits, nuts, etc. The meats and
vegetables were not placed upon the table, but each dish was passed
around separately--the table being cleared and clean plates placed
for each course. We were compelled to eat slowly or wait for some
time upon others.
This would not suit one of our western men who is for doing everything
in a minute, but the plan certainly has its advantages--one, of
promoting digestion by giving time for the mastication of the food, and
another, of no small moment for an epicure, that of having things fresh
from the oven. My own objection to the plan was, that I never knew how
much of an article to eat, as I did not know what would next be
introduced. Such an objection fails, of course, in many of the hotels
where the bill of fare is stereotyped, and where with more precision
than an almanac-maker you can foretell every change that will take place
during the ensuing year. Our table was well supplied with wine, which is
used as regularly at dinner as milk by our Kentucky farmers. When our
bill was made out, each item was charged separately, so much for
breakfast, mentioning what it consisted of--so much for dinner--so much
per day for a room, so much for each candle we used, and so on. A French
landlord in making out your bill goes decidedly into minutiae.