The Englishwoman in America

I >> Isabella Lucy Bird >> The Englishwoman in America

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I was hereafter informed that to those who go down stairs, and ask to see
the "_striped pig_" wine and spirits are produced; that a request to speak
with "_Dusty Ben_" has a like effect, and that, on asking for
"_sarsaparilla_" at certain stores in the town, the desired stimulant can
be obtained. Indeed it is said that the consumption of this drug is
greater in Maine than in all the other States put together. But in justice
to this highly respectable State, I must add that the drunkenness which
forced this stringent measure upon the legislature was among the thousands
of English and Irish emigrants who annually land at Portland. My only
companion here was a rosy-cheeked, simple country girl, who was going to
Kennebunk, and, never having been from home before, had not the slightest
idea what to do. Presuming on my antiquated appearance, she asked me "to
take care of her, to get her ticket for her, for she dare'nt ask those men
for it, and to let her sit by me in the car." She said she was so
frightened with something she'd seen that she didn't know how she should
go in the cars. I asked her what it was. "Oh," she said, "it was a great
thing, bright red, with I don't know how many wheels, and a large black
top, and bright shining things moving about all over it, and smoke and
steam coming out of it, and it made such an awful noise it seemed to shake
the earth."

At half-past three we entered the cars in a long shed, where there were no
officials in uniform as in England, and we found our way in as we could.
"All aboard!" is the signal for taking places, but on this occasion a loud
shout of "Tumble in for your lives!" greeted my amused ears, succeeded by
"Go a-head!" and off we went, the engineer tolling a heavy bell to notify
our approach to the passengers in _the streets along which we passed_.
America has certainly flourished under her motto "Go a-head!" but the
cautious "All right!" of an English guard, who waits to start till he is
sure of his ground being clear, gives one more confidence. I never
experienced the same amount of fear which is expressed by _Bunn_ and other
writers, for, on comparing the number of accidents with the number of
miles of railway open in America, I did not find the disadvantage in point
of safety on her side. The cars are a complete novelty to an English eye.
They are twenty-five feet long, and hold about sixty persons; they have
twelve windows on either side, and two and a door at each end; a passage
runs down the middle, with chairs to hold two each on either side. There
is a small saloon for ladies with babies at one end, and a filter
containing a constant supply of iced water. There are rings along the roof
for a rope which passes through each car to the engine, so that anything
wrong can be communicated instantly to the engineer. Every car has eight
solid wheels, four being placed close together at each end, all of which
can be locked by two powerful breaks. At each end of every car is a
platform, and passengers are "prohibited from standing upon it at their
peril," as also from passing from car to car while the train is in motion;
but as no penalty attaches to this law, it is incessantly and continuously
violated, "free and enlightened citizens" being at perfect liberty to
imperil their own necks; and "poor, ignorant, benighted Britishers" soon
learn to follow their example. Persons are for ever passing backwards and
forwards, exclusive of the conductor whose business it is, and water-
carriers, book, bonbon, and peach venders. No person connected with these
railways wears a distinguishing dress, and the stations, or "depots" as
they are called, are generally of the meanest description, mere wooden
sheds, with a ticket-office very difficult to discover. If you are so
fortunate as to find a man standing at the door of the baggage-car, he
attaches copper plates to your trunks, with a number and the name of the
place you are going to upon them, giving you labels with corresponding
numbers. By this excellent arrangement, in going a very long journey, in
which you are obliged to change cars several times, and cross rivers and
lakes in steamers, you are relieved of all responsibility, and only
require at the end to give your checks to the hotel-porter, who regains
your baggage without any trouble on your part.

This plan would be worthily imitated at our termini in England, where I
have frequently seen "unprotected females" in the last stage of frenzy at
being pushed out of the way, while some persons unknown are running off
with their possessions. When you reach a _depot_, as there are no railway
porters, numerous men clamour to take your effects to an hotel, but, as
many of these are thieves, it is necessary to be very careful in only
selecting those who have hotel-badges on their hats.

An emigrant-car is attached to each train, but there is only one class:
thus it may happen that you have on one side the President of the Great
Republic, and on the other the _gentleman_ who blacked your shoes in the
morning. The Americans, however, have too much respect for themselves and
their companions to travel except in good clothes, and this mingling of
all ranks is far from being disagreeable, particularly to a stranger like
myself, one of whose objects was to see things in their everyday dress. We
must be well aware that in many parts of England it would be difficult for
a lady to travel unattended in a second-class, impossible in a third-class
carriage; yet I travelled several thousand miles in America, frequently
alone, from the house of one friend to another's, and never met with
anything approaching to incivility; and I have often heard it stated that
a lady, no matter what her youth or attractions might be, could travel
alone through every State in the Union, and never meet with anything but
attention and respect.

I have had considerable experience of the cars, having travelled from the
Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence,
and found the company so agreeable in its way, and the cars themselves so
easy, well ventilated, and comfortable, that, were it not for the
disgusting practice of spitting upon the floors in which the lower classes
of Americans indulge, I should greatly prefer them to our own exclusive
carriages, denominated in the States "_'coon sentry-boxes_." Well, we are
seated in the cars; a man shouts "Go a-head!" and we are off, the engine
ringing its heavy bell, and thus begin my experiences of American travel.

I found myself in company with eleven gentlemen and a lady from Prince
Edward Island, whom a strange gregarious instinct had thus drawn together.
The engine gave a hollow groan, very unlike our cheerful whistle, and,
soon moving through the town, we reached the open country.

Fair was the country that we passed through in the States of Maine, New
Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Oh very fair! smiling, cultivated, and
green, like England, but far happier; for slavery which disgraces the New
World, and poverty which desolates the Old, are nowhere to be seen.

There were many farmhouses surrounded by the nearly finished harvest, with
verandahs covered with vines and roses; and patriarchal-looking family
groups seated under them, engaged in different employments, and enjoying
the sunset, for here it was gorgeous summer. And there were smaller houses
of wood painted white, with bright green jalousies, in gardens of
pumpkins, and surrounded by orchards. Apples seemed almost to grow wild;
there were as many orchards as corn-fields, and apple and pear trees grew
in the very hedgerows.

And such apples! not like our small, sour, flavourless _things_, but like
some southern fruit; huge balls, red and yellow, such as are caricatured
in wood, weighing down the fine large trees. There were heaps of apples on
the ground, and horses and cows were eating them in the fields, and rows
of freight-cars at all the stations were laden with them, and little boys
were selling them in the cars; in short, where were they not? There were
smiling fields with verdant hedgerows between them, unlike the untidy
snake-fences of the colonies, and meadows like parks, dotted over with
trees, and woods filled with sumach and scarlet maple, and rapid streams
hurrying over white pebbles, and villages of green-jalousied houses, with
churches and spires, for here all places of worship have spires; and the
mellow light of a declining sun streamed over this varied scene of
happiness, prosperity, and comfort; and for a moment I thought--O
traitorous thought!--that the New England was fairer than the Old.

Nor were the more material evidences of prosperity wanting, for we passed
through several large towns near the coast--Newbury Port, Salem, and
Portsmouth--with populations varying from 30,000 to 50,000 souls. They
seemed bustling, thriving places, with handsome stores, which we had an
opportunity of observing, as in the States the cars run right into the
streets along the carriage-way, traffic being merely diverted from the
track while the cars are upon it.

Most of the railways in the States have only one track or line of rails,
with occasional sidings at the stations for the cars to pass each other. A
fence is by no means a matter of necessity, and two or three animals are
destroyed every day from straying on the line. The engines, which are
nearly twice the size of ours, with a covered enclosure for the engineer
and stoker, carry large _fenders_ or guards in front, to lift incumbrances
from the track. At eight o'clock we found ourselves passing over water,
and between long rows of gas-lights, and shortly afterwards the cars
stopped at Boston, the Athens of America. Giving our baggage-checks to the
porter of the American House, we drove to that immense hotel, where I
remained for one night. It was crammed from the very basement to the most
undesirable locality nearest the moon; I believe it had seven hundred
inmates. I had arranged to travel to Cincinnati, and from thence to
Toronto, with Mr. and Mrs. Walrence, but on reaching Boston I found that
they feared fever and cholera, and, leaving me to travel alone from
Albany, would meet me at Chicago. Under these circumstances I remained
with my island friends for one night at this establishment, a stranger in
a land where I had few acquaintances, though I was well armed with letters
of introduction. One of these was to Mr. Amy, a highly respected merchant
of Boston, who had previously informed me by letter of the best route to
the States, and I immediately despatched a note to him, but he was absent
at his country-house, and I was left to analyse the feeling of isolation
inseparable from being alone in a crowd. Having received the key of my
room, I took my supper in an immense hall, calculated for dining 400
persons. I next went into the ladies' parlour, and felt rather out of
place among so many richly dressed females; for as I was proceeding to
write a letter, a porter came in and told me that writing was not allowed
in that saloon. "Freedom again," thought I. On looking round I did feel
that my antiquated goose-quill and rusty-looking inkstand were rather out
of place. The carpet of the room was of richly flowered Victoria pile,
rendering the heaviest footstep noiseless; the tables were marble on
gilded pedestals, the couches covered with gold brocade. At a piano of
rich workmanship an elegantly dressed lady was seated, singing "And will
you love me always?"--a question apparently satisfactorily answered by the
speaking eyes of a bearded Southerner, who was turning over the pages for
her. A fountain of antique workmanship threw up a _jet d'eau_ of iced
water, scented with _eau de Cologne_; and the whole was lighted by four
splendid chandeliers interminably reflected, for the walls were mirrors
divided by marble pillars. The room seemed appropriate to the purposes to
which it was devoted--music, needlework, conversation, and flirting. With
the single exception of the rule against writing in the ladies' saloon, a
visitor at these immense establishments is at perfect liberty to do as he
pleases, provided he pays the moderate charge of two dollars, or 8_s._ a
day. This includes, even at the best hotels, a splendid _table-d'hote_, a
comfortable bedroom, lights, attendance, and society in abundance. From
the servants one meets with great attention, not combined with deference
of manner, still less with that obsequiousness which informs you by a
suggestive bow, at the end of your visit, that it has been meted out with
reference to the probable amount of half-sovereigns, shillings, and
sixpences at your disposal.

It will not be out of place here to give a sketch of the peculiarities of
the American hotel system, which constitutes such a distinctive feature of
life in the States, and is a requirement arising out of the enormous
extent of their territory, and the nomade life led by vast numbers of the
most restless and energetic people under the sun.

"People will turn hastily over the pages when they corne to this" was the
remark of a lively critic on reading this announcement; but while I
promise my readers that hotels shall only be described _once_, I could not
reconcile it to myself not to give them information on "Things as they are
in America," when I had an opportunity of acquiring it.

The American House at Boston, which is a fair specimen of the best class
of hotels in the States, though more frequented by mercantile men than by
tourists, is built of grey granite, with a frontage to the street of 100
feet. The ground floor to the front is occupied by retail stores, in the
centre of which a lofty double doorway denotes the entrance, marked in a
more characteristic manner by groups of gentlemen smoking before it. This
opens into a lofty and very spacious hall, with a chequered floor of black
and white marble; there are lounges against the wall, covered over with
buffalo-skins; and, except at meal-times, this capacious apartment is a
scene of endless busy life, from two to three hundred gentlemen constantly
thronging it, smoking at the door, lounging on the settees, reading the
newspapers, standing in animated groups discussing commercial matters,
arriving, or departing. Piles of luggage, in which one sees with dismay
one's light travelling valise crushed under a gigantic trunk, occupy the
centre; porters seated on a form wait for orders; peripatetic individuals
walk to and fro; a confused Babel of voices is ever ascending to the
galleries above; and at the door, hacks, like the "_eilwagon_" of Germany,
are ever depositing fresh arrivals. There is besides this a private
entrance for ladies. Opposite the entrance is a counter, where four or
five clerks constantly attend, under the superintendence of a cashier, to
whom all applications for rooms are personally made. I went up to this
functionary, wrote my name in a book, he placed a number against it, and,
giving me a key with a corresponding number attached, I followed a porter
down a long corridor, and up to a small clean room on the third story,
where to all intents and purposes my identity was lost--merged in a mere
numeral. At another side of the hall is the bar, a handsomely decorated
apartment, where lovers of such beverages can procure "toddy," "night-
caps," "mint julep," "gin sling," &c. On the door of my very neat and
comfortable bed-room was a printed statement of the rules, times of meals,
and charge per diem. I believe there are nearly 300 rooms in this house,
some of them being bed-rooms as large and commodious as in a private
mansion in England.

On the level of the entrance is a magnificent eating saloon, principally
devoted to male guests, and which is 80 feet long. Upstairs is a large
room furnished with a rare combination of splendour and taste, called "The
Ladies' Ordinary," where families, ladies, and their invited guests take
their meals. Breakfast is at the early hour of seven, and remains on the
table till nine; dinner is at one, and tea at six. At these meals "every
delicacy of the season" is served in profusion; the daily bill of fare
would do credit to a banquet at the Mansion House; the _chef de cuisine_
is generally French, and an epicure would find ample scope for the
gratification of his palate. If people persist in taking their meals in a
separate apartment, they are obliged to pay dearly for the indulgence of
their exclusiveness. There are more than 100 waiters, and the ladies at
table are always served first, and to the best pieces.

Though it is not part of the hotel system, I cannot forbear mentioning the
rapidity with which the Americans despatch their meals. My next neighbour
has frequently risen from his seat after a substantial and varied dinner
while I was sending away my soup-plate. The effect of this at a _table-
d'hote_, where 400 or 600 sit down to dine, is unpleasant, for the swing-
door is incessantly in motion. Indeed, the utter absence of repose is
almost the first thing which strikes a stranger. The incessant sound of
bells and gongs, the rolling of hacks to and from the door, the arrivals
and departures every minute, the trampling of innumerable feet, the
flirting and talking in every corridor, make these immense hotels more
like a human beehive than anything else.

The drawing-rooms are always kept very hot by huge fires of anthracite
coal, and the doors are left open to neutralise the effect. The
temperance at table filled me with surprise. I very seldom saw any
beverage but pure iced-water. There are conveniences of all descriptions
for the use of the guests. The wires of the electric telegraph, constantly
attended by a clerk, run into the hotel; porters are ever ready to take
your messages into the town; pens, paper, and ink await you in recesses in
the lobbies; a man is ever at hand to clean and brush soiled boots--in
short, there is every contrivance for abridging your labour in mounting up
stairs. But the method of avoiding the confusion and din of two or three
hundred bells must not be omitted. All the wires from the different rooms
centre at one bell, which is located in a case in the lobby, with the
mechanism seen on one side through a sheet of plate-glass. The other side
of the case is covered with numbers in rows. By each number is a small
straight piece of brass, which drops and hangs down when the bell is
sounded, displaying the number to the attention of the clerk, who sends a
waiter to the apartment, and places the piece of brass in its former
position.

Steam laundries are connected with all the large hotels. At American House
the laundry is under the management of a clerk, who records all the minor
details. The linen is cleansed in a churn-like machine moved by steam, and
wrung by a novel application of the principle of centrifugal force; after
which the articles are dried by being passed through currents of hot air,
so that they are washed and ironed in the space of a few minutes. The
charge varies from six to ten shillings a dozen. There are also suites of
hot and cold baths, and barbers' shops.

Before I understood the mysteries of these hotels, I used to be surprised
to see gentlemen travelling without even carpet-bags, but it soon appeared
that razors and hair-brushes were superfluous, and that the possessor of
one shirt might always pass as the owner of half a dozen, for, while
taking a bath, the magic laundry would reproduce the article in its
pristine glories of whiteness and starch. Every attention to the comfort
and luxury of the guest is paid at American House, and its spirited
proprietor, Mr. Rice, deserves the patronage which the travelling public
so liberally bestow upon him. On ringing my bell it was answered by a
garcon, and it is rather curious seldom or never to see a chambermaid.

CHAPTER VI.

A suspected bill--A friend in need--All aboard for the Western cars--The
wings of the wind-American politeness--A loquacious conductor--Three
minutes for refreshments--A conversation on politics--A confession--The
emigrant car--Beauties of the woods--A forest on fire--Dangers of the
cars--The Queen City of the West.

I rose the morning after my arrival at five, hoping to leave Boston for
Cincinnati by the _Lightning Express_, which left at eight. But on
summoning the cashier (or rather _requesting_ his attendance, for one
never _summons_ any one in the States), and showing him my hill of
exchange drawn on Barclay and Company of London, he looked at _me_, then
at _it_, suspiciously, as if doubting whether the possessor of such a
little wayworn portmanteau could he the _bona fide_ owner of such a sum as
the figures represented. "There's so much bad paper going about, we can't
possibly accommodate you," was the discouraging reply; so I was compelled
patiently to submit to the detention.

I breakfasted at seven in the ladies' ordinary, without exchanging a
syllable with any one, and soon after my kind friend, Mr. Amy, called upon
me. He proved himself a friend indeed, and his kindness gave me at once a
favourable impression of the Americans. First impressions are not always
correct, but I am happy to say they were fully borne out in this instance
by the uniform kindness and hospitality which I experienced during my
whole tour. Mr. Amy soon procured me the money for my bill, all in five-
dollar notes, and I was glad to find the exchange greatly in favour of
England. He gave me much information about my route, and various cautions
which I found very useful, and then drove me in a light "waggon" round the
antiquated streets of Boston, crowded with the material evidences of
prosperity, to his pretty villa three miles distant, in one of those
villages of ornamental dwelling-houses which render the appearance of the
environs of Boston peculiarly attractive. I saw a good deal of the town in
my drive, but, as I returned to it before leaving the States, I shall
defer my description of it, and request my readers to dash away at once
with me to the "far west," the goal alike of the traveller and the
adventurer, and the El Dorado of the emigrant's misty ideas.

Leaving American House with its hall swarming like a hive of bees, I drove
to the _depot_ in a hack with several fellow-passengers, Mr. Amy, who was
executing a commission for me in the town, having promised to meet me
there, but, he being detained, I arrived alone, and was deposited among
piles of luggage, in a perfect Babel of men vociferating, "Where are you
for?" "Lightning Express!" "All aboard for the Western cars," &c. Some one
pounced upon my trunks, and was proceeding to weigh them, when the stage-
driver stepped forward and said, "It's a lady's luggage," upon which he
relinquished his intention. He also took my ticket for me, handed me to
the cars, and then withdrew, wishing me a pleasant journey, his prompt
civility having assisted me greatly in the chaotic confusion which attends
the departure of a train in America. The cars by which I left were
guaranteed to take people to Cincinnati, a distance of 1000 miles, in 40
hours, allowing time for refreshments! I was to travel by five different
lines of railway, but this part of the railway system is so well arranged
that I only took a ticket once, rather a curious document--a strip of
paper half a yard long, with passes for five different roads upon it;
thus, whenever I came upon a fresh line, the conductor tore off a piece,
giving me a ticket in exchange. Tickets are not only to be procured at the
stations, but at several offices in every town, in all the steamboats, and
in the cars themselves. For the latter _luxury_, for such it must
certainly be considered, as it enables one to step into the cars at the
last moment without any preliminaries, one only pays five cents extra.

The engine tolled its heavy bell, and soon we were amid the beauties of
New England; rocky hills, small lakes, rapid streams, and trees distorted
into every variety of the picturesque. At the next station from Boston the
Walrences joined me. We were to travel together, with our ulterior
destination a settlement in Canada West, but they would not go to
Cincinnati; there were lions in the street; cholera and yellow fever, they
said, were raging; in short, they left me at Springfield, to find my way
in a strange country as best I might; our _rendezvous_ to be Chicago.

At Springfield I obtained the first seat in the car, generally the object
of most undignified elbowing, and had space to admire the beauties among
which we passed. For many miles we travelled through a narrow gorge,
between very high precipitous hills, clothed with wood up to their
summits; those still higher rising behind them, while the track ran along
the very edge of a clear rushing river. The darkness which soon came on
was only enlivened by the sparks from the wood fire of the engine, so
numerous and continuous as to look like a display of fireworks. Just
before we reached Albany a very respectable-looking man got into the car,
and, as his manners were very quiet and civil, we entered into
conversation about the trade and manufactures of the neighbourhood. When
we got out of the cars on the east side of the river, he said he was going
no farther, but, as I was alone, he would go across with me, and see me
safe into the cars on the other side. He also offered to carry my reticule
and umbrella, and look after my luggage. His civility so excited my
suspicions of his honesty, that I did not trust my luggage or reticule out
of my sight, mindful of a notice posted up at all the stations, "Beware of
swindlers, pickpockets, and luggage-thieves."

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