Mrs. Trollope's amusing book has furnished us with still another page or
two of scenes and sketches:
_Crocodiles on the Mississippi_.
"It is said that at some points of this dismal river, crocodiles are so
abundant as to add the terror of their attacks to the other sufferings of
a dwelling there. We were told a story of a squatter, who having 'located'
himself close to the river's edge, proceeded to build his cabin. This
operation is soon performed, for social feeling and the love of whiskey
bring all the scanty neighbourhood round a new comer, to aid him in
cutting down trees, and in rolling up the logs, till the mansion is
complete. This was done; the wife and five young children were put in
possession of their new home, and slept soundly after a long march.
Towards day-break the husband and father was awakened by a faint cry, and
looking up, beheld relics of three of his children scattered over the
floor, and an enormous crocodile, with several young-ones around her,
occupied in devouring the remnants of their horrid meal. He looked around
for a weapon, but finding none, and aware that unarmed he could do nothing,
he raised himself gently on his bed, and contrived to crawl from thence
through a window, hoping that his wife, whom he left sleeping, might with
the remaining children rest undiscovered till his return. He flew to his
nearest neighbour and besought his aid; in less than half an hour two men
returned with him, all three well armed; but alas! they were too late! the
wife and her two babes lay mangled on their bloody bed. The gorged
reptiles fell an easy prey to their assailants, who, upon examining the
place, found the hut had been constructed close to the mouth of a large
hole, almost a cavern, where the monster had hatched her hateful brood."
_Pig Scavengers_.
"We were soon settled in our new dwelling, which looked neat and
comfortable enough, but we speedily found that it was devoid of nearly all
the accommodation that Europeans conceive necessary to decency and comfort.
No pump, no cistern, no drain of any kind, no dustman's cart, or any other
visible means of getting rid of the rubbish, which vanishes with such
celerity in London, that one has no time to think of its existence; but
which accumulated so rapidly at Cincinnati, that I sent for my landlord to
know in what manner refuse of all kinds was to be disposed of.
"Your Help will just have to fix them all into the middle of the street,
but you must mind, old woman, that it is the middle. I expect you don't
know as we have got a law what forbids throwing such things at the sides
of the streets; they must just all be cast right into the middle, and the
pigs soon takes them off.'"
_American English_.
"I very seldom during my whole stay in the country heard a sentence
elegantly turned, and correctly pronounced from the lips of an American.
There is always something either in the expression or the accent that jars
the feelings and shocks the taste."
_Mr. Bullock_.
"About two miles below Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side of the river, Mr.
Bullock, the well known proprietor of the Egyptian Hall, has bought a
large estate, with a noble house upon it. He and his amiable wife were
devoting themselves to the embellishment of the house and grounds; and
certainly there is more taste and art lavished on one of their beautiful
saloons, than all Western America can show elsewhere. It is impossible to
help feeling that Mr. Bullock is rather out of his element in this remote
spot, and the gems of art he has brought with him, show as strangely there,
as would a bower of roses in Siberia, or a Cincinnati fashionable at
Almack's. The exquisite beauty of the spot, commanding one of the finest
reaches of the Ohio, the extensive gardens, and the large and handsome
mansion, have tempted Mr. Bullock to spend a large sum in the purchase of
this place, and if any one who has passed his life in London could endure
such a change, the active mind and sanguine spirit of Mr. Bullock might
enable him to do it; but his frank, and truly English hospitality, and his
enlightened and inquiring mind, seemed sadly wasted there. I have since
heard with pleasure that Mr. Bullock has parted with this beautiful, but
secluded mansion.
"Mr. Bullock was showing to some gentlemen of the first standing, the very
_élite_ of Cincinnati, his beautiful collection of engravings, when one
among them exclaimed, 'Have you really done all these since you came here?
How hard you must have worked!'"
_Cows_.
"These animals are fed morning and evening at the door of the house, with
a good mess of Indian corn, boiled with water; while they eat, they are
milked, and when the operation is completed the milk-pail and the meal-tub
retreat into the dwelling, leaving the republican cow to walk away, to
take her pleasure on the hills, or in the gutters, as may suit her fancy
best. They generally return very regularly to give and take the morning
and evening meal; though it more than once happened to us, before we were
supplied by a regular milk cart, to have our jug sent home empty, with the
sad news that 'the cow was not come home, and it was too late to look for
her to breakfast now.' Once, I remember, the good woman told us that she
had overslept herself, and that the cow had come and gone again, 'not
liking, I expect, to hanker about by herself for nothing, poor thing.'"
_Health of Cincinnati_.
"A gentleman told us, that when a medical man intended settling in a new
situation, he always, if he knew his business, walked through the streets
at night, before he decided. If he saw the dismal twinkle of the
watch-light from many windows he might be sure that disease was busy, and
that the 'location' might suit him well."
_Marketing_.
"It is the custom for the gentlemen to go to market at Cincinnati; the
smartest men in the place, and those of the 'highest standing' do not
scruple to leave their beds with the sun, six days in the week, and,
prepared with a mighty basket, to sally forth in search of meat, butter,
eggs, and vegetables. I have continually seen them returning, with their
weighty basket on one arm and an enormous ham depending from the other."
_Moving Houses_.
"One of the sights to stare at in America is that of houses moving from
place to place. We were often amused by watching this exhibition of
mechanical skill in the streets. They make no difficulty of moving
dwellings from one part of the town to another. Those I saw travelling
were all of them frame-houses, that is, built wholly of wood, except the
chimneys; but it is said that brick buildings are sometimes treated in the
same manner. The largest dwelling that I saw in motion was one containing
two stories of four rooms each; forty oxen were yoked to it. The first few
yards brought down the two stacks of chimneys, but it afterwards went on
well. The great difficulties were the first getting it in motion and the
stopping exactly in the right place. This locomotive power was extremely
convenient at Cincinnati, as the constant improvements going on there made
it often desirable to change a wooden dwelling for one of brick; and
whenever this happened, we were sure to see the ex No. 100 of Main-street
or the ex No. 55 of Second-street creeping quietly out of town, to take
possession of a humble suburban station on the common above it."
_Social distinctions_.
"My general appellation amongst my neighbours was 'the English old woman,'
but in mentioning each other they constantly employed the term 'lady;' and
they evidently had a pleasure in using it, for I repeatedly observed, that
in speaking of a neighbour, instead of saying Mrs. Such-a-one, they
described her as 'the lady over the way what takes in washing,' or as
'that there lady, out by the Gulley, what is making dip-candles.' Mr.
Trollope was as constantly called 'the old man,' while dray-men, butchers'
boys, and the labourers on the canal were invariably denominated 'them
gentlemen;' nay, we once saw one of the most gentlemanlike men in
Cincinnati introduce a fellow in dirty shirt sleeves, and all sorts of
detestable et cetera, to one of his friends, with this formula, 'D---- let
me introduce this gentleman to you.'"
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