The season continued to wear away without any severe demonstration; and
by the 19th of February, the day on which I reached New York on my way
from Washington to Boston, I found the first boat advertised for the
passage, just open, to Providence,--a piece of good luck, by hitting
which I was saved a land journey of two hundred miles.
We were detained by a fog in the Sound for a few hours, but reached
Providence by three o'clock P.M. next day, and were just ten hours going
the forty miles between that place and Boston; one extra bad bit of
about three miles took an excellent team exactly two hours to pull
through it. I could not conceive the possibility of this road, which I
had seen three months before in a very fair condition, being so utterly
washed out; but the heavy snows of these Northern States would penetrate
ways of adamant, and will for ever exclude them from attaining the
perfection of a well-kept turnpike.
A little after one o'clock A.M. I was rattled up to the door of the
Tremont; where, late as the hour was, I found friends waiting up for me,
and experienced what at all times is a pleasure, but more especially
after such a cold jolting,--a warm welcome.
I was now a resident of this city for a month, during which time I
enjoyed a continued series of the most friendly attentions. I found
three or four men, who, like myself, were fond of riding, and together
we rambled over the whole of the surrounding country; and a beautiful
country it is, with its island-gemmed bay and gaily-painted country
seats. One of these, the house of Colonel Thomas Perkins, is seated
within grounds well kept and tastefully laid out, with a very extensive
range of noble hot-houses, within which, at this season and in this
latitude, the fruit and flowers of the tropics were to be found in their
freshest bloom and beauty. I think these grounds are more agreeably
broken, offer a greater variety of soil, and command a finer prospect of
land and sea, than any place I ever visited of equal dimensions.
We wanted nothing, on many of the fine open mornings we now had, but a
pack of good foxhounds: the land is better cleared than it is farther
south, the covers smaller, with fewer swamps, and no fencing that might
not be crept round or got over by even a moderate-going man.
I had heard a good many amusing anecdotes of the infinite respect with
which the country people of New England view and address persons of
their own grade, and the utter disregard of decent ceremony which they
evince towards all others: there appeared something so whimsically
exaggerated in these stories, that I never had received them as
veritable history; and when the Duke of Saxe Weimar told of the
coachman's inquiring "Are you the man going to Portland? because, if you
are, I'm the gentleman that's a going to drive you," I set it down for a
good joke, illustrative, perchance, of a _brusquerie_ of manner which
did exist, but not in itself strictly true. I have, however, during my
present sojourn here, received good corroborative evidence of its being
a veracious report.
I went out on one occasion to partake of a fine black bear, that had
been killed at a house famous for the plenty, the quality, and cooking
of game. There were eight or nine men of the party, some of whom had
ridden out on horseback: in going over a rail-fence close to the house
we were to dine at, the horse I rode struck both hind feet and cast his
shoes: as soon as I got into the yard, where some of the party had
already dismounted, I inquired for the ostler. A good-humoured,
active-looking fellow immediately made his appearance, with whom, being
desirous to have my nag's feet looked after before we set out on our
return, I was led into the following dialogue.
"Pray, have you a smithy in this neighbourhood?"
"We've gotten a blacksmith or two, I guess."
"At what distance is the nearest blacksmith's forge?"
"Well, I don't 'no; there is a shop about half a mile maybe, or
ther'bouts."
"Can you have this horse taken down there to get the two hind shoes put
on?"
"Guess not, 'cept I car' him down myself."
"Well, will you carry him down yourself?"
"Well, you see, I can't tell about that nohow at present. Guess I will,
if I can tho', by an' by."
"But why can't you say whether you will or will not? I'll pay you for
your trouble. Have you any objection to taking the horse down?"
"Oh no! not at all, by no means. I've no objection nohow to obleege you,
if, you see, I can find some other gentleman to look after my horses
whiles I go."
My companions, who had been enjoying this cross-examination of my
equivocal friend, now laughed outright, and heartily did I join in the
guffaw: they were to "the manner born," and it was my puzzled expression
that so tickled them; to me, after the first surprise was over, the
whole thing was indescribably droll. I caught instantly "another
gentleman," an idler about the public-house door, who, for a shilling,
found the cast shoes, and undertook to do for the horses whilst the
first gentleman, of the stable, led my nag away to the forge.
This was a very fair specimen, but we were to be favoured with another
and a better. Mr. T. P----s, a son of the Colonel's, one of the foremost
citizens of this State, was driven out in his English landau, with
certain delicacies not to be expected where we dined. As the coachman,
who was a servant of the old Colonel's, drew up by the inn-door, he was
immediately recognised, and saluted most cordially by the landlord; who,
addressing him by his name,--Jenkins, or whatever it was,--hoped he was
quite well, and was "uncommon glad to see him." During this ceremony,
Mr. P----s had alighted; and, in order to be particularly civil,
observed with great good-humour to the landlord,
"Ah, my friend, what you remember Jenkins, do you?"
"Why yes, I guess I ought," replied our host of the game; "I've know'd
Muster Jenkins long enough, seein' he's the _gentleman_ as used to drive
old Tom P----'s coach."
The fact was, the man knew the Colonel--or old Tom P----s, as he styled
him--quite well, but had forgotten Mr. P----s, who had been much in
Europe, and was, moreover, put quite out of his latitude by the English
landau Mr. Jenkins was driving: he guessed, I suppose, that this
_gentleman_ had hired a new master, and had consequently turned off the
family of his old one.
Odd as all this sounds, the strangest part of the matter is, that there
appears no disrespect, nor churlishness of manner, conveyed or implied
by this reversal of conventional distinctions. I can at least answer for
the ostler, who required some other _gentleman_ as _aide_, turning out
on this, and on other occasions, a most assiduously civil fellow; and as
for our host, he served up the steaks of his bear as though it might
never have danced to any but the "genteelest o' tunes," and himself have
been its instructor.
He certainly gave us, in a plain but comfortable way, the best game
dinner possible, including trout and codling of the finest flavour. Let
me add, that I liked the bear vastly; and, after assisting to pick his
ribs, carried away the skin which had once covered them,--not the least
delicate portion of this bruin, by the way, for it was the blackest and
richest fur, of the kind, I ever saw.
I quitted this hospitable city on the 10th of March, and remained in New
York until the 20th, when I departed for Pittsburg _via_ Philadelphia;
although, from the little I had seen of stageing, I would have given a
trifle to have been off the engagement, which I had made without
contemplating the difficulties to be expected in a stage journey of
three hundred miles over the Alleghanies at this early season. I had
latterly, however, heard enough of the condition of this route, or line
as it is called; but the intelligence was of a colour anything but
cheering.
At Philadelphia I took my place for Pittsburg, in the "Good Intent
line," professing to carry only six inside; but this excellent intention
of the worthy proprietors must be consigned to the commissioners of
pavement in a certain unmentionable place, since it was never fulfilled.
We commenced our journey with seven, the book-keeper making it a favour
that we should take in one gentleman who was greatly pressed for time. I
perceived, as we started, another person get outside, which made us
eight.
We were very soon transferred to the Columbia rail-road, which was in
progress and now travelled upon for about twenty-one miles: along this I
was rolled over the viaduct whose commencement I had noted, and, I
believe, regretted. According to Mitchell's description, it crosses the
Schuylkill at a place called Peter's Island; is one thousand and
forty-five feet long and forty-one wide, being thirty feet above
water-mark. Of the elevation, when I crossed on this occasion, we had an
excellent opportunity of forming an opinion; for, except a pathway in
the centre, the spaces between the beams had not yet been filled in, so
that we looked through on to the water running beneath: the workmen were
hard at it covering over and filling up; but it was passable in its
present state, and therefore, "Go a-head was the word:"--there's no time
lost here, i'faith! Immediately on crossing this viaduct, you come on an
inclined plane two thousand eight hundred and five feet long: this
struck me as being admirably contrived.
I was very sorry when we were once again to be re-packed in our stage.
Though one gets accustomed to anything in time, I never exactly brought
myself to view these frequent transfers as a part of travelling to be
rejoiced in. Our system of running a coach through a journey is not yet
adopted here; they still stick to the old plan,--every proprietor his
own vehicle; consequently you are for ever trundling from one to
another, to your own great discomfiture, and to the destruction of any
but the toughest sort of trunks.
I forget how often we changed coach on this journey; indeed, I fancy
that, during the third night out, I might have effected a transfer or
two in my sleep; but I recollect that they were vexatiously frequent,
and would have been more grievous had the weather been less generally
fair.
My fellow passengers were, luckily, with one exception, thin spare
fellows, all citizens of the frontier State of Illinois; the fat subject
was a countryman of my own, who had been for many years a resident at
Pittsburg, and was a merry, contented son of Erin as ever jolted over
these rough roads, which he informed me he did once at least in every
season.
We soon shook into shape: the condition of the turnpike, after the woful
accounts I had received, appeared to me exceedingly passable; indeed, it
was infinitely better than any part of the one between Washington and
Baltimore, or than the Boston and Providence turnpike, as I had last
experienced it. The country through which we rode was under excellent
cultivation; the barns attached to the roadside houses were all large,
brick-built, and in the very neatest condition. The approach to
Lancaster, a fine town about forty miles from Philadelphia, was very
beautiful, and bespoke the people rich in agricultural wealth. I have
seldom seen a finer valley, or one under more careful cultivation.
The next large place we arrived at was Harrisburg, the capital of the
State of Pennsylvania: it was midnight when we reached it; but I
immediately walked to look at the State-house, where the legislature
assembles, and about which are ranged the public offices.
The mass appeared large; and the effect of the buildings with their
lofty classic porticos, viewed under the influence of a fine starlight
night, was imposing enough: the situation is well chosen, appearing like
a natural elevation in the midst of a plain, and overlooking the waters
of the Susquehannah, above whose banks the city is built.
One always feels something like disappointment on entering one of these
capitals, although previously aware that the site is selected with
regard only to the general convenience of the community, and without
reference to the probabilities of its ever becoming important for its
trade or of monstrous size. A European accustomed to seek in the capital
of a country the highest specimens of its excellence in art, and the
utmost of its refinement in literature, and indeed, in all which relates
to society, is necessarily hard to reconcile to these small rustic
cities, whose population is doubled by villages he has only heard named
for the first time whilst journeying on his way to the Liliputian
mistress of them all. As places of meeting for the legislature, I am of
those who think the smallness of the population an advantage. Firstly,
the members are freed from the expense consequent upon living in large
cities; and next, the chambers are removed from having their
deliberations overawed or impeded by any of those sudden outbreaks of
popular madness to which all people are prone, and to which the nature
of this government more immediately exposes it, without possessing any
power quickly to arrest or even control such licence.
Harrisburg is highly spoken of for the salubrity as well as the beauty
of its site, and gives promise of becoming important in point of
population; at present its inhabitants are about four thousand.
From this we steered away to the southward, until at Chambersburg we
struck the direct road leading from Baltimore to Pittsburg. We had a
rough night of it; but a halt of an hour at Chambersburg in the morning,
enabled me to make a comfortable toilet and get an excellent breakfast.
Here we took the first spur of the mountains, and from this were on a
continual ascent.
Up the longer and steeper hills I constantly walked, and was often an
hour in advance of the stage. This mountain region is certainly a very
fine one, and I do not think its grandeur has ever been done justice to
in description. Its attributes are all gigantic: it has the picturesque
ruggedness of the Appenines, without their barrenness; since the valleys
lying between the ridges, wherever they have been cleared, give
evidences of the richest soil. A view from any hill top, however, shows
these clearings to be mere specks in the surrounding forest, which yet
clothes richly the sides of each interminable ridge you cross, fringes
their most rugged summits, and waves over the loftiest peaks.
At Bedford Springs there is a most excellent inn; but the one at a
miserable village called Macconnelville, presented an aspect anything
but inviting: the precaution of Mr. Head, however, had made me
independent of supplies. On quitting the Mansion-house he had fitted up
a small basket with sundry comforts, which were of infinite use to
myself and comrades, they served as a speedy introduction and a durable
cement to our friendship.
I like these Western men; their off-hand manner makes you at once at
your ease with them: they abound in anecdote growing out of the state in
which they live, full of wild frolic and hardy adventure, and they
recount these adventures with an exaggeration of figure quite Oriental,
in a phraseology peculiar to themselves, and with a manner most
humorous.
Much amongst strangers, they have a quick appreciation of character;
and, where they take a dislike, are, I have no doubt, mighty troublesome
customers; they are, however, naturally courteous, and capable of
genuine and inbred kindness, as a little anecdote of my present trip
will serve to illustrate.
On the morning of our second night out, I observed the Major and his
friends holding a council just as we were stepping into the coach. We
were eight persons, which gave three sitters to two of the seats and two
to the third; by way of relief, my servant or myself frequently mounted
the box, enabling the parties to separate,--a luxury of no mean
importance. On this occasion I noticed, on being about to take my seat,
which was the front one, that it was unoccupied, Sam being on the box,
and three persons on each of the other seats. On requesting that one of
the sitters by my fat friend would share the vacant front with me, the
Major informed me that the arrangement was preconcerted, as they knew I
was not quite so well used to rough roads as they were, and had work
before me on getting to my journey's end; begging me to fix myself
comfortably on the seat, and try and sleep for an hour or two.
This being a piece of unpurchasable, unthought-for consideration and
civility, I conceived it as well worth notice as the many instances of
brutality which ill-used travellers put on record; but it is by no means
the only example I have seen of these rough subjects' innate kindness,
and, I may add, good-breeding. There is, with them, a give-and-take
system whilst thus roughing it in company, they seek no exclusive
advantage, and evince no selfishness; but they are quick-sighted and
shrewd observers, and I would recommend any who desire to travel
comfortably with them, to carefully suppress any exhibition of
over-regard for self.
With this precaution, let a stranger, and a British subject, be only
known as such, and if a preference should occur, I will answer for his
standing a good chance of getting it.
Here I enjoyed my first lesson in what is familiarly termed riding a
rail; and from all such railways I hope to be spared henceforward. The
term is derived from a fence-rail being occasionally used to supply the
place of a broken thoro'-brace, by which all these stages are hung; and
these are, in fact, the only sort of spring that would endure the load
and the "rough breaks" their virtue must go through.
We broke down by a sudden plump, into a hole, that would have shaken a
broad-wheeled waggon into shavings. Our driver did not approve of any of
the fence-rails in the vicinity, so plunged into the wood, accompanied
by one of my Western companions; and in ten minutes they returned,
bearing a young hickory pole, that the driver assured us was "as tough
as Andrew Jackson himself,[10] and as hard to break, though it might
give a leetle under a heavy load." This was shoved under the body of the
carriage, and rested upon the fore and hind axles: it was lashed fast,
and the spare part of the spar was left sticking out behind, like the
end of the main boom of a smack. The coach body, when rested upon this,
was found to have a considerable list to port; but to have brought it to
an even keel would have been a work of time,--not that such a thing was
contemplated for a moment. The driver was enabled by this ingenious
substitute for a carriage-spring to "go ahead:" the rest was luxury,
which the "Good-intent line" did not bargain for; so we were left to
trim ship to our liking. Contrary to all my experience, I insisted that
the heaviest part of our cargo should be stowed at the bottom, for to
have had my countryman's eighteen stone of solid stuff to prop up, for
twenty miles, would have required the shoulders of Atlas.
Whilst walking up the mountains, I frequently overtook settlers moving
with all their worldly goods over to the great Western valley. I
generally exchanged a few words with them, and with the more
communicative now and then had a considerable long talk. Most of them
were small farmers and mechanics from the Northern States, who followed
here in the wake of kindred or neighbours, their plan arranged and
their location determined upon. One or two heads of families, however,
told me they were just going to look about, and did not know rightly
where they might set up.
I overtook one old couple attending a single-horse waggon up
Laurel-hill; and surely, if any laurels awaited them at the summit, they
were hardly enough won. The appearance of this pair attracted me as I
approached the rocky platform where for a moment they had halted to
breathe: the woman was a little creature, dressed in an old-fashioned
flowered gown, with sleeves tight to the elbows, met by black mittens of
faded silk, and a very small close bonnet of the same colour. She had
small brass buckles in her shoes; a cane, like those borne by running
footmen, in one hand, and upon the other arm a small basket, rolled up
within which lay a tabby cat, with which she held a conversation in what
sounded to me like broken French and English.
The man was a son of Anak in altitude, somewhat bent by years, but
having a soldierlike air. His white hair was combed back, and gathered
behind into a thick club: he wore a long greatcoat, which, if made for
him, gave testimony to a considerable falling-off in his proportions,
for it hung but loosely about him; had a very broad-leaved hat set
jauntily on one side of his head; and supported his steps upon a sturdy
stick.
I saluted this singular-looking pair, and was by the lady honoured with
an especially gracious curtsey, whilst the gaunt old man bade me good
day in an accent decidedly foreign. I patted the cat of the basket,
addressing it in French, and was in a moment overwhelmed by the delights
of its mistress, who _ciel_'d, and _mon-Dieu_'d, and _quel-plaisir_'d,
until, if her tall _mari_ had not stepped in to the rescue, I do not
know to what lengths her delight might not have carried her.
The horse was sufficiently rested; the man who drove it was ready to
proceed; and the ancient Parisienne, for such she was, had once more to
ensconce herself beneath the canvass covering of the waggon, into which
I had the honour of assisting herself and her cat, amidst thanks and
excuses blended with all the graceful volubility of a well-bred
Frenchwoman,--for well-bred she was, beyond a doubt.
"My poor little woman!" said the old giant, as, after the twentieth
adieu, I joined him where he waited a little in advance of the waggon,
and quickened my pace to keep up with his strides,--"she is made too
happy for to-day to hear a gentleman address her in her own language,
and by whom she can be understood;" adding, "You are not a Frenchman,
sir?"
"I am not," said I, smiling; "but should imagine you are, by the
compliment you so adroitly infer."
"No, sir," rejoined mine ancient, "I am a Biscayan; bred a ship-builder,
but at present a house-carpenter."
"But you speak English like a native: how is that?" inquired I, desirous
of continuing the dialogue thus begun.
"I have been forty years in this good country, and have made better
progress than my poor little woman, though she is well educated and I
have no learning to help me."
"Madame, then, is not Spanish?"
"No, sir, she is of Paris; and, what is very odd, that is nearly all she
ever told me of herself. It was in the winter of 1792 that I first met
my poor little woman: I had slept within a few miles of Havre, and was
just turned away from the cabaret, when a little boy joined me,
requesting that I would let him walk with me to the town. We fell into
chat, when I discovered that my new friend had no passport, but that he
had money, and was desirous to escape from France, no matter to what
place. He was in great trouble; cried much; said he had lost all his
friends, and begged me not to desert him.
"It would be too long a story to tell you all the trouble I had to get
him on board ship with me; but, sir, that little boy is now in the
waggon where you handed him."
"Your wife!" exclaimed I, affecting surprise, and really greatly
interested. "But when did she disclose her sex to you?"
"Why, sir, there was no great need of disclosure after we once got to
sea; her cowardice told her story, but I kept her secret till we arrived
at Philadelphia, where we married; and in the lower part of this State
we have lived ever since quietly enough, until lately."
"And what, at your age, could induce you to cross the mountains, my
friend?"
"Why, sir, work was scarce in our country place, and I'm told there's a
heap of building raising about Pittsburg, that's one reason; but the
truth is that our politics have changed a good deal in Pennsylvania of
late. In a scuffle at the bar of our hotel, this last election, I got
knocked down and trodden on; my arm was broken, and I a good deal hurt;
and my poor woman took such a horror of the little bit of mobbing we had
that she would make me pull up stakes, and here we are on our last
move."
We walked on side by side, until the waggon was left far behind and the
coach came up. We had a long talk on the subject of politics; and,
although a stanch American and a republican, I found my friend was
opposed to "the removal of the deposits,"--the universal test of the
day,--and by no means a whole-hog man. But he said, "It is a fine
country and a fine people; I am a citizen, have lived here forty years,
and hope to die here."
Wishing that his desire might have a late fulfilment, I shook the honest
veteran's hand; and we parted for ever, after an intercourse of three
hours had created a sort of fellowship between us. Here was an humble
chapter from the romance of real life, gleaned, where such an adventure
was least expected, in one of the passes of the Alleghanies.
The walk up this hill was, independent of the good companionship I
enjoyed, in itself fine: the road circling about dark ravines, from
whose thickly-wooded deeps rose the hollow murmur of closely-pent
currents, whose waters had rarely reflected the rays of the sun; and in
other places clinging to the steep precipice, from whose side it had
been cut, and which was yet burthened with the half-burnt trunks of
hundreds of noble trees that had fallen to make place for it. The view,
too, from the summit was glorious; and I thought as I looked below,
northward and eastward, where two wide openings gave a boundless stretch
of valley to the eye, that my journey was well repaid: but it was not
over yet; and, before we reached Pittsburg, I do not know but that there
were moments when I would have retracted this burst of enthusiasm.
The third afternoon and night it rained incessantly; the road from
Youngstown, or Greensburg, being nearly as bad as that memorable
Washington turnpike. The delays, too, were unnecessary and frequent; at
some of the changing-places the servants had to be roused, and this was
no easy task. Now and then, an extra independent hand refused to get
up, or denied us help when he was up; in which case the poor devil of a
driver was left to his own resources, with, now and then, the aid of a
half-naked, wretched negro.
The travelling of the "Good Intent," taking the roads into
consideration, was a capital pace, the horses excellent; but I have set
down, that, on a pretty fair estimate, making allowance for the
exaggerations of discomfort and ill-humour, about nine hours on the
whole line were lost for want of the commonest attention, and the
passengers greatly inconvenienced without any advantage accruing to the
proprietors.
At length we emerged from the slough, and about daylight on the third
morning were rumbled over the _pave_ of Pittsburg.
The inn was closed; but the rough assault of my Western friends soon
roused the bar-keeper, who got his door open just in time to save his
lock from a huge paving-stone, with which the angry Major purposed to
test its power of resistance.
"Why, you're in an uncommon hurry," exclaimed the half-awakened
bar-keeper.
"That's more than we can say of you, stranger," retorted the Major.
"What was you about that you didn't hear the coach? Maybe it was the
rain made such a noise you couldn't?"
"No; does it rain that hard, though?" gaped the matter-of-fact mixer of
liquids.
"I guess it does; and if it wasn't that you've got the key of the
liquor, it would be only right to put you out into it for an hour; for
you are the hardest-hearted white-man I ever come across, this side the
mountains, or you'd a' moved quicker to let in a dog on such a night."
A rousing fire and some hot whisky and water soon restored our
good-humour: a bed was quickly arranged for me by a good-natured negro,
who had, I verily believe, just crawled out of it; a fire was lighted in
the little hole it occupied; and in half an hour I was fast asleep on
the banks of _la belle riviere_.