"t •^^rvo"^ \ .# '^ .^^ .#" '-^^ ^ -^ , ,v ^AO^ ^^0^ >'^^v.o,%^'-'- v^' ^.^0, ^ 9^ - W«^W^ pj ^^" ^-^ cP^ ?\.^l."'v'''^. > ^. .ells. .^<^' ^ : "^-. .<^^ ^ '• ^^^„ A THE POETRY OF TRAVELLING IN THE UNITED STATES. BY CAROLINE OILMAN. WITH ADDITIONAL SKETCHES, BY A FEW FRIENDS ; AND A WEEK AMONG AUTOGRAPHS, BY REV. S. OILMAN. The Traveller delighteth in the view Of charge and choice, of sundry kind of creatures, To mprk the habits, and to note the hue Of far born people, and their sundry natures, Their shapes, their speech, their gait, their looks, their features. Breton's Longing ojja^ Blessed Heart. <^'- ' / NEW.YOR'i^^ Washing-' S. COLMAN, 141 NASSAU STREET. 1838. Entered according to Act of Congregs of the United States of America, in the year 1838, by Samuel Colman, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. ^ N E w - Y o R k: PriiJted by Scatcherd & Adams. No. :«Goid Street. ^^/ THIS WORK 13 GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO THOSE INDIVIDUALS, WHOSE HOSPITALITY MADE TRAVELLING POETICAL, BY C. G. PREFACE. A WORK of the character here presented to the public carries upon its " very head and front " its own recommendation or its failure. It makes no pretensions to add much weight to the stock of literature. It will prove a sufficient satisfac- tion to the author, should it be found to give new interest to the valuable department of the pleasant reading of the day. The intention was to present something in the same volume which might prove attractive to both the Northern and Southern reader ; to make the book particularly a gratifying and instructive companion to all classes of travellers who circulate through the land ; and if it come to this, it will be a source of gratification to the writer, as it is presumed it may be to all who love that land, to find some- thing done, in this manner, to increase a good sympathy between different portions of the coun- try. CONTENTS. 'Es OF A Northern Excursion. Page Norfolk, - - - - 1 Washington, D. C. - - - 3 Congressional Burying Ground I - - 8 May Day, - - - - - - 12 Mount Vernon, - - - 18 Baltimore, - - - 22 Armelle Nicholases Account of Herself , - - 27 Philadelphia, - - - 30 Released Convict's Cell, - . - - 51 J^ew- York. . . . 53 Gowhannus, Long Island, - - - 62 Fishkill Landing, . - - 63 The Fairy Isle, and the Lady Archers, - - m The Faeries' Song, - - - 67 The Domestic Squirrel, - - - - 68 Denning' s Point, Fishkill, - - - 70 West-Point, - - - 71 We St- Point Eagle, , , - 74 Troy, - - . ^ - - 77 Sortg of the Wanderer, - . - - 80 Saratoga, - - - - - - 84 Saratoga Lake, - - - - 87 Utica, - - - 88 Music on the Canal, - - - 92 Trenton Falls, - . - - 95 Auburn, - - . » - - 98 Canandaigua, - - - 100 CONTENTS. Page Buffalo, - - . - - - 101 Niagara Falls, Upper Canada, - - 106 Cataract House - - . - 110 Kingston, Lake Ontario^ - . . - 116 Montreal, - - - - - 119 Quebec, - - . . . 121 Burlington, - . - - 131 Bellow's Tails, - - . . 133 Watertown, - . . . - 134 Cambridge, - - - , 138 PAi ^gte Kappa Celebration, - - 145 Washington's Elm, - - . 155 Mount Auburn, - - - - 164 Worcester, - . - - 173 fifa^ew, ----- - 178 Charlestown, - - . - 185 Quincy, --_-.- 189 iWr. Dowse' s Library, Cambridge port, - 190 Boston, - - - . _ 190 Mr. Alcott's School, 193 Swedenborgian Chapel, - . - 197 S«cre(i Music— Children's Church, 198 Bethel Church, . - - - 200 o<^^, - 203 St. MichaeVs Spire, 206 TES OF A Southern Excursion. Excursion itp Cooper River, 211 Chatsworth, Ashley River, - 223 A Southern Scene, _ - - 272 JV/«ry ATiTia Gibbes, the Heroine of Stono, 238 Sullivan's Island, - - - - 245 il So%Uhern Sketch, 250 The Blind Negro Communicant, - 255 Southern Local Sketch, . - - 257 Private Collection of Paintings, - 260 CONTENTS. Page Sketches from Buncombe ^ - - - - 268 Mountain Lodge, ----- 281 Letters from, Georgia— The Gold Mines, - - 284 Tallulah Falls, ----- 295 Hymn — Palls of Toccoa, - - - - 299 Coweta Falls, ----- 305 Scenery on the Chattahouchie, - - - 310 The Soldier^s Mound, _ - - - 316 Private Journal from Charleston to New- York, - 325 Dialogue between Body and Spirit, - - 325 The Private Conveyance, - - - 327 The Stage Coach, - . . - 335 The Blue Ridge, ----- 336 French Broad River — Paint Rock, - - 341 The Bed Sulphur, the Salt Sulphur, and the White Sulphur Springs, ----- 348 Lexington, Va. ----- 356 The Natural Bridge, - - - - 359 Wyer^s Cave. - - - - - 361 A Week among Autographs. Autograph Collections, - - - - 373 Anecdote of Campbell, - - . - 377 The Science of the Autograph Collector, - - 378 Curious Letters, ----- 384 Letters from Distinguished Foreigmrs, - - 391 #^^ NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. Norfolk, April 24, 1836. '' Once more upon the waters ! yet once more ! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider." The sea, however, was not unto me " like a horse that knows its rider," but rather like an old mule that kicked and jerked backward. Yet let me not say a word against the South Carolina, that bore me from Charleston. She is a " brave ship," and long may she stem the waves in security, transport- ing happy hearts in her ocean cradle, an emblem of the State whose name she bears. Let me not recal mere physical suffering, nor the wry looks of ladies with soiled night-caps, and the more forlorn aspect of sea-sick men with long beards ; it is enough that it was a bright April day when we neared the Chesapeake. How curious are the as- sociations connected with a name ! I had been amused in early life with the term Rip Raps ; and all the books and newspapers in the world could not divest me of the association of belaboured knuckles, until I saw this odd-looking fortification, and felt that 1 was gazing on a favorite retreat of the first officer in our country. And Point Com- 1 2 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. fort too, — old Point Comfort ; it is a very great piece of simplicity to acknowledge, but I was quite startled with the uncomfortable looking guns. Spring was slowly advancing, and it was pleasant to see stripes of green struggling through the discoloured grass on the banks, like a smile on a harsh counte- nance. The Marine Hospital is a noble edifice externalh^ and I learned that it is equally well arranged in its various departments ; but two officers told me that nothing w^ould induce them to avail themselves of its advantages. How extensively this feeling pre- vails with regard to such establishments ! I learn- ed, for the first time, that there is a tax of two dol- lars levied on every individual who arrives in this country, whether native or foreigner, for the main- tenance of the United States' Navy Hospitals. Norfolk appeared to me to have been underrated in its appearance ; — however it may be, I enjoyed the good fare at a well-attended hotel, walked in business streets that looked busy, and in retired streets where the hand of taste had not been idle. A beautiful flower, now pressed in my Bible, was gathered for me by a fair hand in a choice green- house on Sunday, and I found a noble temple in which to offer up my grateful thanks to God for guiding me thus far. I must stop to give merited praise to the crowded congregation in Bishop ^' Mead's church, for the oneness with which they joined in the forms of the Liturgy. They knelt to- gether, rose together, and their voices ascended in ^ NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 3 religious harmony from the pews with the fine choir above. No individual looked as if the ser- vice was for others and not for him. A polite acquaintance conducted us, on Saturday afternoon, to the Navy Yard and Dry Dock at Gosport. After crossing the ferry we entered Portsmouth, and a little cluster of houses on the right, called Charleston, stirred up associations that might well claim a rivalry, insignificant as was the spot, with the noble work of art we were to contem- plate. Washington, D. C. I enjoyed beyond description our excursion up the Potomac in the fine steam-boat Columbia. A fresh, pure breeze threw new life into my frame ; friends, as agreeable as kind, beguiled the way ; and the sun, bright and clear, shone above without ex- hausting me. The captain of the Columbia has been sailing up and down the river forty years. When asked if his sleepless nights did not injure his health, his reply was, that he became sick if he did not keep awake four nights in the week, and was actually made so once by sleeping every night for a fortnight. The shad and herring fisheries produce an ani- mated effect at this season of the year on the Po- tomac. Nets are thrown out all along for many miles ; and the fishermen's huts, with their curl- ing smoke, scattered along the shore, and their skiffs, apparently reposing on the waters, give a 4 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. picturesque effect to the scene. Our captain inform- ed us that some of the nets are three miles long ; in this case the fishermen have to take advantage of the tide to aid them in drawing them in. The sea- son of fishing lasts but six weeks. And now Mount Vernon appeared. I had had dreams, or thoughts like dreams, of this scene from childhood. My earliest idea was, of a high moun- tain set apart, where I fancied Washington to have stood, taller and larger than other men, dictating to the country. Older fancies came, and I have thrown the light of imagination round the spot, while his figure in the front ground grew bright in the con- templation. The place was actually before me now, and my heart thrilled with the consciousness that he had stood there, that there his dust reposed, that there were nurtured those thoughts which made me pohtically what I am. I am not given to tears, but they started to my eyes. I put the world behind me as a vain thing, and was alone with Washing- ton. We reached the city. I would rather, for my own taste, have seen the capitol divested of the dome ; but it is an imposing building, and the more I look upon it, the more I enjoy its beautiful propor- tions and its emerald terraces. And now it is midnight, and I am here. It is only five days since we bade farewell to Charleston. A serenade of French horns is sounding before our residence. I know not how many fair hands are drawing aside their curtains, for one is as much a NOTES OF A NOKTHERN EXCURSION. 5 stranger to one's next neighbor in these large esta. blishments as in a crowded city, I should have said that we passed the evening at the rooms of one of the members of the House. It was really amusing to hear the announcement of names from all quarters of the Union. If any thing can remove prejudices, it is coming here and seeing this variety. But prejudice is a tough old knot, and will not be removed half the time without killing root and branch too. Here are persons whom I have not seen for years, with the same little tricks, graceful or otherwise, of manner : one plays with his fingers, another rubs his thigh, another feels his chin, just as he did twenty years ago, and keeps his likes and dislikes in the same proportion ; he is the same man, too, perhaps, for good and for evil. Thanks, indeed, for my good fortune. Mr. Clay speaks to-morrow on the Land Bill. I can scarcely think of sleep when this prospect is before me — such a realization of my wishes — indeed, thus has it been with me since my last final struggle to quit for a while my quiet home. Blue skies have looked down, kind hands have been extended, kind hearts opened, and now in the field of mind I am likely to reap a rich harvest. One feels, on leaving the quiet South, passing ra- pidly on, and entering Washington while Congress is in session, as if inhaling gas. Any one of the attractions here would be great singly, but when one combines the imposing view of the public buildings, refined and various society, where the play of so- 1* 6 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. cial feelings softens the glow of powerful intellect, and the debates, where mind follows mind like wave upon wave, now showing the light foam of dancing billows, now rushing and sparkling like a gathered sea, and swallowing up the less powerful waters ; all these things coming suddenly on a retired indi- vidual, are for a few days bewildering. The galleries were crowded to hear Mr. Clay's speech — (many suppose his last.) The Land Bill is a hackneyed theme, and Mr. Clay was oppressed by indisposition ; but still I saw the power beneath, with which he has wielded, and will, under other circum- stances, still wield the lever of human sympathies. He spoke three hours. There is something as sub- lime as melancholy to me in the decline of a states- man ; and the thought, that a mind which has ruled so many minds should lie by like a severed branch, would be only melancholy, if the doctrine of immor- tality did not come in and tell of its probable tri- umphant change hereafter, when the knee shall not tremble, nor the hand be raised to the moist and dizzy brow, nor the voice grow tremulous with age or care. The mind of this great man did not seem to me to be faded. There is the shadow of an eclipse rather over his heart than his intellect, which will, must burst forth again and again. A visit to Washington is certainly imperfect without an introduction to the President. Nothing can be more striking than the gentleness and cour- tesy of his manner to ladies and youth, contrasted with his energetic will. He pronounced, at our NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 7 visit, a tender and beautiful eulogium on his late pastor in this city, as being " one of those good trees which were known by their fruits." The Congressional burying-ground is an interest- ing place, though not so picturesque as such a spot should be. The monument to Gerry, former Vice- President, is rich ; but there is a setness about the long line of tombs of the senators and representa- tives rather chilling to the eye which associates poetry with the grave. It has been mentioned to me as a favorite idea with some of the members of Congress to make Mount Vernon the Congressional burying-ground ; to erect the great Washington monument there, and remove those which have been raised on the present site. This would indeed be worthy of the noble plans which have already been accomplished in the capitol and its grounds. Whe- ther, however, there is not something more touching in the lonely burial-place of our country's idol, even if its waving trees and natural flowers are not better suited to those deep musings which absorb him who comes to pay his tribute to that shrine, it is difficult to say. Many laborers are at work on the Congressional burial-ground in this city; but every thing looks stiff, as if the unconscious occupants there were really placed for show. Tomb nods to tomb, each marble has its brother, And every monument reflects the other. In a drive this morning with Colonel and his 8 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. lady, we saw a solitary grave in the woods ; and its contrast to the studied character of the Congres- sional burying-ground led my thoughts into the fol- lowing train : — THE CONGRESSIONAL BURYING-GROUND, AND THE WOODLAND GRAVE. The pomp of death was there, — The lettered urn, the classic marble rose, And coldly, in magnificent repose, Stood out the column fair. The hand of art was seen Throwing the wild flowers from the gravelled walk; — The sweet wild flowers, — that hold their quiet talk Upon the uncultured green. And now, perchance, a bird Hiding amid the trained and scattered trees, Sent forth his carol on the scentless breeze, — But they were few 1 heard. Did my heart's pulses beat'? And did mine eye o'erflow with sudden tears, Such as gush up 'mid memories of years. When humbler graves we meet 1 A humbler grave I met, On the Potomac's leafy banks, when May^ Weaving spring flowers, stood out in colors gay. With her young coronet. A lonely, nameless grave, Stretching its length beneath th' o'erarching trees, Which told a plaintive story, as the breeze Came their new buds to v/ave. NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. But the lone turf was green As that which gathers o'er more honored forms ; Nor with more harshness had the wintry storms Swept o'er that woodland scene. The flower and springing blade Looked upward with their young and shining eyes. And met the sunlight of the happy skies, And that low turf arrayed. And unchecked birds sang out The chorus of their spring-time jubilee ; — And gentle happiness it was to me, To list their music-shout. And to that stranger-grave The tribute of enkindling thoughts, the free And unbought power of natural sympathy, Passing, I sadly gave. And a religious spell On that lone mound, by man deserted, rose, — A conscious presence from on high ; which glows Not where the worldly dwell. I was surprised to find myself as much interested in the House as in the Senate. The play of features is more diversified, the range of passion wider. In the midst of some eloquent and powerful passages of Colonel Bell of Tennessee, I saw a lad enter, and present a bunch of hyacinths to an old gentleman, a member. If his thoughts did not wander to some far-off spot, where flowers were tended by young and loving hands, I know not the language of eyes ; but while I was romancing, another lad entered, and pour- 10 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. ed biscuit enough for a family-supply into the table- drawer of another member, and my speculations were changed. I am never weary of looking at the capitol, in all its various external and internal arrangements. I give myself eye, ear, and soul even to the most in- consequential debates, and when certain men do rise, 1 feel such a thrill rush through my heart as makes me feel that enthusiasrri belongs not to youth only. I have considered self fortunate in hearing a debate mostly from western men, in the senate, on the subject of removing obstructions in the Missis- sippi ; not that there was much eloquence — indeed, the subject did not call for it — but that I witnessed developements of the state feeling, which seems to be growing throughout our country. Oh, that west, ern giant ! how it is striding along — all sinew, and nerve, and impulse, like its own rushing river, bear- ing down obstacles, and treading with its great foot on things heretofore held immoveable. Washington is not, as I expected, a good place for removing mere state feelings. My constituents ! the very phrase carries with it a host of local sympa- thies, perhaps prejudices. 1 see other great men beside C and P in the senate, but how is it that when they rise I feel as if the reputation of a father or brother was at stake ? I meet in society gentlemen of brilliant minds, and sound thought, and polished manners ; but how is it that the Southern delegates seem to me clothed with double interest 1 The secret is all in state feeling. NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 11 I am sorry for this, sorry for the clanship which prevails, for it seems to me that at Washington the Union only, and its great interests, should fill our thoughts ; but thus it is ; and I am carried away by the stream, a'nd a word against Carolina is a per- sonal offence to me. Amid the clanship, however, there is a general and beautiful courtesy, which in private leads to the happiest results ; a pleasant jest is the very hardest weapon used, and that sparingly. The extreme Northern and Southern members are on terms of the most agreeable intercourse. A singular, and to me affecting contrast to the general tone and contents of the public buildings here, is presented by the exhibition of the Indian portraits and costumes in the War Department, and the display of mrchanical art in the patent office.* It speaks a language of such power, that if one had time to think in Washington, it would afford mus- ing for the day ; but one is hurried away — a debate is to be heard, where some speaker is to move or try to move the nation ; or a party for Mount Ver- non are going to steal from this busy scene, and grow pensive over the tomb of Washington, or Georgetown is to be visited, with its institutions ; the Jesuits' college, curious from its calm contrast to this hurrying spot, and the Nunnery, where young voices are tuned to harmony in a quiet so deep that even the ripple of the world's waters is not heard * This valuable building has been destroyed by fire. 12 NOTES OF A NORTnERN EXCURSION. or mere fashion calls us, with its imperative voice, to look at some new shrine'; or etiquette, still more imperiously forces us from what we would, to what we must do. May. The May Day Ball. Nature will not be crushed even at Washington, or rather Carusi, in his bril- liant saloon, erected her banner last evening. Bat Nature was crushed, poor thing, at Carusi's, who, with all his art, could not control the immense con- course which pressed to see the Queen of May and her Floras as they passed in procession up the hall. Many a mother's heart leaped as the thought of her absent ones rushed upon her memory while looking on those young flower-crowned brows. I was glad that I could not hear a word of the addresses, though I stood close to the Queen ; I was glad that the fair crowner, when she unpinned the wreath from her pretty blue cushion that was handed her by a little cupid-boy, clapped tlie pin in her mouth, though it had not the effect of Demos- thenes' pebbles ; I was glad of all this, because it showed that, though the society is necessarily very artificial here, these young creatures were still na- tural beings. Had the pretty crowner deliberately replaced her pins in the cushion, and spoken oratori- cally, I should not have loved her half so well. The May day ball gives an interesting view of Washing- ton. Every lady in the city is invited, and every gentleman may attend by purchasing a ticket for a NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 13 small sum. What a mixture of emotions are swel- ling in such a crowd ! I met a friend of my youth unexpectedly. She kissed me with sudden impulse, and there was a struggle with her tears. An In- dian passed us — not perhaps, " A man without a teai*,'' for he was dressed in the costume of civilization, except a brilliant belt of bead-work, that told us what he hud been. " The stoic of the woods" had become a Washington beau. Almost the first small sleeves that have been seen in America for seven years appeared at Carusi's, on the person of a Virginia lady, who has been to France. What a sensation ! There was half a shudder among the company as they felt the im- mense sacks on their armvS, contrasted with those new sleeves without one relieving plait, tight — tight as a suit of armour, from the shoulder to the elbow. A pair of black mits w^ere on the arm, which ren- dered the novelty more striking from the contrast in colour, the dress being white. Both Houses have adjourned to-day on account of the death of Gov. Manning, one of our repre- sentatives. This adjournment gives one an oppor- tunity for long and delicious conversations with va- rious visiters. How delightfully the great men here pour out their social and home feelings, if I may use the term. Being really at home themselves, they give a peculiar charm to a stranger's intercourse. 14 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. I am alternately attracted by the deep running stream of political thought in one, the playful, fan- ciful sallies of another, and the calm, dignified, af- fectionate manners of others from different quarters of our country. I attend the debates, I flatter myself, with right views ; not with an eager curiosity to hear this or that man, a desire perhaps subdued by private in- tercourse, which furnishes a richer knowledge of characters and minds ; not with a nervous anxiety about any particular question ; but, gazing on the great stream of things, I watch, with almost equal interest, the leaf that is floating down the tide, and the mighty bark laden with thought and power. The Houses are like a vast map, on which, though there be small as well as large cities laid down, they are inhabited by human beings, who belong to the. whole family of our country, and the spot which now seems insignificant may be destined, in the many commercial and political changes to which we are incident, to be "a great people." Such, too, may be the varied destinies of the minds and the topics brought together here. To a feminine glance, the Navy Yard at Wash- ington is more attractive than at Gosport, from its neat and tasteful arrangement. There is something in visiting a great war-vessel that fills my mind for a long time. It is a perfect poem, from its first giant arrangement on the stocks, until it is sent forth to its intended work of destruction, a miniature floating world. The Columbia, now fitting out at NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 15 the Washington Navy Yard, and carrying fifty-four guns, is less in dimensions and power than the Vir- ginia at Norfolk or the Pennsylvania at Philadel- phia. I was glad of an opportunity of visiting her with an experienced and intelligent officer. She is finished but not furnished, and the eye therefore is not deceived by attractive decorations, but takes in her immense capacity, in all its apparent simplicity, but actually consummate art. The armoury in the yard is as prettily arranged as a lady's boudoir, and it presents a curious association of thought to see such deadly weapons of destruction a matter of taste- ful exhibition. All the iron work for the United States' Navy is made in this yard. The steam apparatus is wonder- fully simple and beautiful. I watched the operation of moulding the red-hot iron with those huge trap- hammers ; and as my head was full of Congress at the time, I likened the heated and flashing iron to the members, excited in debate, when down comes upon them, in some powerful mind, a trap-hammer of legislation, and shivers and moulds them at its will. There are a kw trophies here of considerable inte- rest ; two brass cannon, taken at Tripoli, on the grounds ; a lion, the figure-head from the Macedonia in the armoury, and others which I forget. Mr. Clay and Mr. Walker of Mississippi have had some sparring. Mr. Clay was excited, and in ten minutes showed more of character, and withering satirical power than in his whole speech on the Land Bill. I could scarcely realize that he was the 16 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. calm speaker who dwelt so long on argumentative illustrations and numerical details. The shake of his arm was like Jupiter's ; and the repetition of some single word, for which he has lonk€ii : the varied, illostratiTc, dassical, plajfbl strain of ***, whose heart is on his lips, bat whose heart nerer so fkr precedes his head as not to show yon how Tomg that is ; with the de^ reflecting rmws of ***, who fore^ yoa to think, and who seems to hare an in. teOectoal diTing-befl, with which he kKfks clearly at objects not even seen by the cc^miDon eye. Then there is oor Irish senator, the Congre^onal Demo- 22 NOTES OF A NORTHERN EXCURSION. critus, whose jests in private are sunbeams, but in the senate chamber are to his opponents sun- beams radiating from steel — these, and many more, infuse a life into conversation untouched in variety elsewhere. I am absolutely jealous at a large Washington party, of the intellectual waste ; not so in small circles, where mind acts directly on mind, >i apd every thought is treasured. Baltimore. Washington is behind us — its beautiful Capitol, on which the eye lingers in unsated admiration, has faded away ; as we leave it the heart is full — the mind is full. Great and elevating scenes, farewell ; new and tender friends, farewell ; a stranger has fed on your thousand flowers, and has borne away the hive of memory, overflowing with honied stores ! As we entered the rail-road car, an old man took his seat in front of us, dressed in homespun, with a miserable hat, sun-burnt face, a chaw of tobacco in his mouth, and two soiled bundles in his hand. I shrank instinctively from the contact, and dreaded two hours' intercourse with such a low-looking creature ; it even occurred to me that there ought to be a se- parate car for well and ill-dressed people. After a while he took out an old leather pocket-book, and among a few other loose papers, unfolded one which had the seal and signature of Lewis Cass ; and as my eye ran over the plain printing, I perceived that it was the pension certificate of Edward Dennis of Maryland, a revolutionary soldier. What a change NOTES OV A NORTHERN EXCURSION. 23 came over him ! There was the difference to me in his countenance of Moses when he ascended and descended the mount — a glory was around him I • The old man turned the paper over and over, read it and re-read it. He wanted sympathy. " This is worth a long journey," said he at length, showing it to a passenger near him ; " four hundred dollars down, and eighty dollars a-year, for a man seventy-eight years old ;" and he took out the bills from the pocket-book, and a large handful of Gene- ral Jackson's shiners from his waistcoat. I longed to give him my purse to put his money in, but was ashamed ; my hand was on it, but I drew it back ; it will look too sentimental, I thought, " Why have you not applied for a pension be- fore ?" said the passenger to whom he had showed the bond. The old man smiled. " Because I didn't want it. You wouldn't have had me ask for it 'till 1 wanted it, would ye ?" A gentleman, whose name, if I dared to give it, would lend a new interest to this little narrative, a New England man, but one who takes a deep interest in the South, was reading. I whispered to him the character of our fellow-traveller, and he laid down his book. After a while the old man took it up and read, without glasses, two or three pages with apparent interest. " How much might you have given for this book ?" said he to the owner. 24 *^ NOTES OF A N'ORTIIERN EXCURSIOX. *' I shall think it a cheap purchase," was the re- ply, " if an old soldier of the Revolution will accept it ;" and taking out his pencil, he wrote — " Presented to Edward Dennis, a soldier of the Revolution, by one who is now reaping the fruits of his bravery.^' The old man smiled as he received the book, turned it, looked at its cover, then within ; and tak- ing the pencil from the hand of the giver, wrote in fair characters the name which he saw on the first leaf. But after all he could not realise that it was a gift, and, as his pockets were overflowing, he took out a dollar. " No, no, my good friend," said the giver, *' put it up ;" and in a lower voice added, " don't you show your money to any body again but your wife." " No more I wont," said the old man understand- Repeatedly, during the excursion, he gave the book, inside and outside, the same long, pleased look with which he had received it. We reached Baltimore on its noble rail-road, when one, whose elegant and varied conversation had made two hours seem as moments, and the old soldier, with his treasure, went on their opposite ways. One cannot but be struck, coming from the South, with the appearance of the bricks in this noble and growing city. The texture is as fine and smooth as plaster of Paris, and the colour has peculiar fresh- ness. The prevailing idea of English travellers be- 3fOTES OF A y-j-RTB.Z'R.y EICUE^IOy. 25 gins to strike me of hcvr rif^r ever.* thin^ looks. Tlie square on which the ^^ iSLiiigion Moiiuinienr is erected, nill be an omaiLeii: :: which the Baltinoore- ans may be prood. The loaiii^iiia sboold be an ob- ject of imitation in our more Sonthem eities ; the very sound is refreshing: and I loTcd to see Ae tliirsty and weary go down the maxUe steps and en- joy the common tboogfa prioeleaB blessing of a draoglit of water. The fountain in Calvert street is picta. resqae. Orer it is a ten^^ of dasic proportions, and b^ind it a grassy spot; shaded with trees, where diildren find a cool retreat. At one of fiie mazkeis, and p^iiaps at others, is a fountain perpetually flow, ing, which, though not particulariy ornamental, has a pure and eooling aspect, and is paiticolaiiy useful in that k>caficHL. I attended Vespers at St. Mary's Chapel, which is connected with the CoD^e. The building is ama]I« but exepadufy proportioned in the Gothic style. The Cathedral nay be to others m