We quitted Cincinnati the beginning of March, 1830, and I believe there was not one of our party who did not experience a sensation of pleasure in leaving it. We had seen again and again all the queer varieties of it’s little world; had amused ourselves with it’s consequence, it’s taste, and it’s ton, till they had ceased to be amusing. Not a hill was left unclimbed, nor a forest path unexplored; and, with the exception of two or three individuals, who bore heads and hearts peculiar1 to no clime, but which are found scattered2 through the world, as if to keep us every where in good humour with it, we left nought3 to regret at Cincinnati. The only regret was, that we had ever entered it; for we had wasted health, time, and money there.
We got on board the steam-boat which was to convey us to Wheeling at three o’clock. She was a noble boat, by far the finest we had seen. The cabins were above, and the deck passengers, as they are called, were accommodated below. In front of the ladies’ cabin was an ample balcony, sheltered by an awning4; chairs and sofas were placed there, and even at that early season, nearly all the female passengers passed the whole day there. The name of this splendid vessel5 was the Lady Franklin. By the way, I was often amused by the evident fondness which the Americans shew for titles. The wives of their eminent6 men constantly receive that of “Lady.” We heard of Lady Washington, Lady Jackson, and many other “ladies.” The eternal recurrence7 of their militia8 titles is particularly ludicrous, met with, as they are, among the tavern-keepers, market-gardeners, &c. But I think the most remarkable9 instance which we noticed of this sort of aristocratical longing10 occurred at Cincinnati. Mr. T— in speaking of a gentleman of the neighbourhood, called him Mr. M—. “General M—, sir,” observed his companion. “I beg his pardon,” rejoined Mr. T—, “but I was not aware of his being in the army.” “No, sir, not in the army,” was the reply, “but he was surveyor-general of the district.”
The weather was delightful11; all trace of winter had disappeared, and we again found ourselves moving rapidly up the stream, and enjoying all the beauty of the Ohio.
Of the male part of the passengers we saw nothing, excepting at the short silent periods allotted12 for breakfast, dinner, and supper, at which we were permitted to enter their cabin, and place ourselves at their table.
In the Lady Franklin we had decidedly the best of it, for we had our beautiful balcony to sit in. In all respects, indeed, our accommodations were very superior to what we had found in the boat which brought us from New Orleans to Memphis, where we were stowed away in a miserable13 little chamber14 close aft, under the cabin, and given to understand by the steward15, that it was our duty there to remain “till such time as the bell should ring for meals.”
The separation of the sexes, so often mentioned, is no where more remarkable than on board the steam-boats. Among the passengers on this occasion we had a gentleman and his wife, who really appeared to suffer from the arrangement. She was an invalid16, and he was extremely attentive17 to her, as far, at least, as the regulations permitted. When the steward opened the door of communication between the cabins, to permit our approaching the table, her husband was always stationed close to it to hand her to her place; and when he accompanied her again to the door, he always lingered for a moment or two on the forbidden threshold, nor left his station, till the last female had passed through. Once or twice he ventured, when all but his wife were on the balcony, to sit down beside her for a moment in our cabin, but the instant either of us entered, he started like a guilty thing and vanished.
While mentioning the peculiar arrangements which are thought necessary to the delicacy18 of the American ladies, or the comfort of the American gentlemen, I am tempted19 to allude20 to a story which I saw in the papers respecting the visits which it was stated Captain Basil Hall persisted in making to his wife and child on board a Mississippi steam-boat, after bring informed that doing so was contrary to law. Now I happen to know that neither himself or Mrs. Hall ever entered the ladies’ cabin during the whole voyage, as they occupied a state-room which Captain Hall had secured for his party. The veracity21 of newspaper statements is, perhaps, nowhere quite unimpeachable22, but if I am not greatly mistaken, there are more direct falsehoods circulated by the American newspapers than by all the others in the world, and the one great and never-failing source of these voluminous works of imagination is England and the English. How differently would such a voyage be managed on the other side of the Atlantic, were such a mode of travelling possible there. Such long calm river excursions would be perfectly23 delightful, and parties would be perpetually formed to enjoy them. Even were all the parties strangers to each other, the knowledge that they were to eat, drink, and steam away together for a week or fortnight, would induce something like a social feeling in any other country.
It is true that the men became sufficiently24 acquainted to game together, and we were told that the opportunity was considered as so favourable25, that no boat left New Orleans without having as cabin passengers one or two gentlemen from that city whose profession it was to drill the fifty-two elements of a pack of cards to profitable duty. This doubtless is an additional reason for the strict exclusion26 of the ladies from their society. The constant drinking of spirits is another, for though they do not scruple27 to chew tobacco and to spit incessantly28 in the presence of women, they generally prefer drinking and gaming in their absence.
I often used to amuse myself with fancying the different scene which such a vessel would display in Europe. The noble length of the gentlemen’s cabin would be put into requisition for a dance, while that of the ladies, with their delicious balcony, would be employed for refreshments29, instead of sitting down in two long silent melancholy30 rows, to swallow as much coffee and beef-steak as could be achieved in ten minutes. Then song and music would be heard borne along by the midnight breeze; but on the Ohio, when light failed to shew us the bluffs31, and the trees, with their images inverted32 in the stream, we crept into our little cots, listening to the ceaseless churning of the engine, in hope it would prove a lullaby till morning.
We were three days in reaching Wheeling, where we arrived at last, at two o’clock in the morning, an uncomfortable hour to disembark with a good deal of luggage, as the steam-boat was obliged to go on immediately; but we were instantly supplied with a dray, and in a few moments found ourselves comfortably seated before a good fire, at an hotel near the landing-place; our rooms, with fires in them, were immediately ready for us, and refreshments brought, with all that sedulous33 attention which in this country distinguishes a slave state. In making this observation I am very far from intending to advocate the system of slavery; I conceive it to be essentially34 wrong; but so far as my observation has extended, I think its influence is far less injurious to the manners and morals of the people than the fallacious ideas of equality, which are so fondly cherished by the working classes of the white population in America. That these ideas are fallacious, is obvious, for in point of fact the man possessed35 of dollars does command the services of the man possessed of no dollars; but these services are given grudgingly36, and of necessity, with no appearance of cheerful goodwill37 on the one side, or of kindly38 interest on the other. I never failed to mark the difference on entering a slave state. I was immediately comfortable, and at my ease, and felt that the intercourse39 between me and those who served me, was profitable to both parties and painful to neither.
It was not till I had leisure for more minute observation that I felt aware of the influence of slavery upon the owners of slaves; when I did, I confess I could not but think that the citizens of the United States had contrived40, by their political alchymy, to extract all that was most noxious41 both in democracy and in slavery, and had poured the strange mixture through every vein42 of the moral organization of their country.
Wheeling is the state of Virginia, and appears to be a flourishing town. It is the point at which most travellers from the West leave the Ohio, to take the stages which travel the mountain road to the Atlantic cities.
It has many manufactories, among others, one for blowing and cutting glass, which we visited. We were told by the workmen that the articles finished there were equal to any in the world; but my eyes refused their assent43. The cutting was very good, though by no means equal to what we see in daily use in London; but the chief inferiority is in the material, which is never altogether free from colour. I had observed this also in the glass of the Pittsburgh manufactory, the labour bestowed44 on it always appearing greater than the glass deserved. They told us also, that they were rapidly improving in the art, and I have no doubt that this was true.
Wheeling has little of beauty to distinguish it, except the ever lovely Ohio, to which we here bid adieu, and a fine bold hill, which rises immediately behind the town. This hill, as well as every other in the neighbourhood, is bored for coal. Their mines are all horizontal. The coal burns well, but with a very black and dirty cinder45.
We found the coach, by which we meant to proceed to Little Washington, full, and learnt that we must wait two days before it would again leave the town. Posting was never heard of in the country, and the mail travelled all night, which I did not approve of; we therefore found ourselves compelled to pass two days at the Wheeling hotel.
I know not how this weary interval46 would have worn away, had it not been for the fortunate circumstance of our meeting with a bel esprit among the boarders there. We descended47 to the common sitting room (for private parlours there are none) before breakfast the morning after our arrival; several ordinary individuals entered, till the party amounted to eight or nine. Again the door opened, and in swam a female, who had once certainly been handsome, and who, it was equally evident, still thought herself so. She was tall, and well formed, dressed in black, with many gaudy48 trinkets about her: a scarlet49 fichu relieved the sombre colour of her dress, and a very smart little cap at the back of her head set off an immense quantity of sable50 hair, which naturally, or artificially, adorned51 her forehead. A becoming quantity of rouge52 gave the finishing touch to her figure, which had a degree of pretension53 about it that immediately attracted our notice. She talked fluently, and without any American restraint, and I began to be greatly puzzled as to who or what she could be; a lady, in the English sense of the word, I was sure she was not, and she was a little like an American female of what they call good standing54. A beautiful girl of seventeen entered soon after, and called her “Ma,” and both mother and daughter chattered55 away, about themselves and their concerns, in a manner that greatly increased my puzzle.
After breakfast, being much in want of amusement, I seated myself by her, and entered into conversation. I found her nothing loth, and in about a minute and a half she put a card into my hand, setting forth56, that she taught the art of painting upon velvet57 in all its branches.
She stated to me, with great volubility, that no one but herself and her daughter knew any thing of this invaluable58 branch of art; but that for twenty-five dollars they were willing to communicate all they knew.
In five minutes more she informed me that she was the author of some of the most cutting satires59 in the language; and then she presented me a paper, containing a prospectus60, as she called it, of a novel, upon an entirely61 new construction. I was strangely tempted to ask her if it went by steam, but she left me no time to ask any thing, for, continuing the autobiography62 she had so obligingly begun, she said, “I used to write against all the Adams faction63. I will go up stairs in a moment and fetch you down my sat-heres against that side. But oh! my dear madam! it is really frightful64 to think how talent is neglected in this country. Ah! I know what you are going to say, my dear madam, you will tell me that it is not so in yours. I know it! but alas65! the Atlantic! However, I really must tell you how I have been treated: not only did I publish the most biting sat-heres against the Adams faction, but I wrote songs and odes in honour of Jackson; and my daughter, Cordelia, sang a splendid song of my writing, before eight hundred people, entirely and altogether written in his praise; and would you believe it, my dear madam, he has never taken the slightest notice of me, or made me the least remuneration. But you can’t suppose I mean to bear it quietly? No! I promise him that is not my way. The novel I have just mentioned to you was began as a sentimental66 romance (that, perhaps, after all, is my real forte), but after the provocation67 I received at Washington, I turned it into a sat-herical novel, and I now call it Yankee Doodle Court. By the way my dear madam, I think if I could make up my mind to cross that terrible Atlantic, I should be pretty well received, after writing Yankee Doodle Court!”
I took the opportunity of a slight pause to ask her to what party she now belonged, since she had forsworn both Adams and Jackson.
“Oh Clay! Clay for ever! he is a real true-hearted republican; the others are neither more nor less than tyrants68.”
When next I entered the sitting-room69 she again addressed me, to deplore70 the degenerate71 taste of the age.
“Would you believe it? I have at this moment a comedy ready for representation; I call it ‘The Mad Philosopher.’ It is really admirable, and its success certain, if I could get it played. I assure you the neglect I meet with amounts perfectly to persecution72. But I have found out how to pay them, and to make my own fortune. Sat-here, (as she constantly pronounced satire) sat-here is the only weapon that can revenge neglect, and I flatter myself I know how to use it. Do me the favour to look at this,”
She then presented me with a tiny pamphlet, whose price, she informed me, was twenty-five cents, which I readily paid to become the possessor of this chef d’oeuvre. The composition was pretty nearly such as I anticipated, excepting that the English language was done to death by her pen still more than by her tongue. The epigraph, which was subscribed73 “original,” was as follows:
“Your popularity’s on the decline:
You had your triumph! now I’ll have mine.”
These are rather a favourable specimen74 of the verses that follow.
In a subsequent conversation she made me acquainted with another talent, informing me that she had played the part of Charlotte, in Love a la mode, when General Lafayette honoured the theatre at Cincinnati with his presence.
She now appeared to have run out the catalogue of her accomplishments75; and I came to the conclusion that my new acquaintance was a strolling player: but she seemed to guess my thoughts, for she presently added. “It was a Thespian76 corps77 that played before the General.”
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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awning
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| n.遮阳篷；雨篷 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sedulous
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| adj.勤勉的，努力的 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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grudgingly
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goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cinder
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| n.余烬，矿渣 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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satires
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| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
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prospectus
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| n.计划书；说明书；慕股书 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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autobiography
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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thespian
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| adj.戏曲的；n.演员；悲剧演员 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
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